Disclaimer: I own nothing

Chapter 15

James was tugged forcefully as Lily fell backwards over the wall of the quidditch stand. His stomach was now desperately hanging over the edge of the wall, his arm stretched out fully as he was holding Lily's hand. For once he was glad his hand was stuck to Lily's, because if it wasn't, he would've witnessed the fall of her body tumbling down to the ground. However, it wasn't any comforting to see Lily hanging frightfully to him as she screamed, her body swaying as James tried to keep himself upright holding Lily's weight and also stop himself from falling over the wall and joining her.

"Lily! Hold on!"

Her emerald eyes looked up to him; they were shining, but this wasn't a good thing. Those eyes were panic-stricken, distressed and on the verge of tears. Those eyes were something he never wanted to see again.

"Well, considering my hand is attached to yours, it won't be that hard to hold on, James!"

Her legs were wailing helplessly, unaware on what to do or where to go since there was no stable ground to support them; just endless supplies of air.

"Great, that's great, Lily! Making sarcastic jokes in a life or death situation!" James told her positively.

Meanwhile, in another quidditch stand where the professors were standing at, they watched in horror as they saw the students in such disarray.

"Professor Dumbledore," Professor McGonagall said distraughtly, looking at Dumbledore with confusion. "You must do something!" She pleaded, wondering why the headmaster had not already acted by helping the fifth years. He didn't look at her and simply stared straight ahead, his eyes focused on James and Lily, and also at the bludgers that were still dangerously swerving around.

"Let us wait," he said steadily. Professor McGonagall looked at him with utter bewilderment. "Let's see what the young Mr. Potter can do." But he still held on to his wand tightly in case.

Lily moaned in pain as she clutched her stomach, badly bruised by the bludger. She looked down once again at the ground that seemed to be such a sustained distance away. She instantly started feeling dizzy and sick, which all added up to the amounts of fear and terror she was feeling at that moment.

For the time being, Sirius watched in terror, quickly thinking of a plan to get Lily on his broom. He glided closer to her as she hung limply by James hand.

"Don't worry, Lily!" Sirius shouted. "I'll get you on my broom!"

Lily groaned inwardly; she never liked brooms, but if that was the only way of saving her from suspending in the atmosphere, so be it.

Sirius flew across to her but suddenly the bludgers appeared again, this time not attacking Lily or James, but Sirius, or anyone else who would even try and get near to Lily as she swung helplessly in the air. Sirius yelped the minute he tried to get close to Lily, where the bludgers had turned berserk and attacked him.

"Sirius, get back!" James told him. Making the bludgers even more brutish was not helping. "Just hang on, Lily!" Suddenly, a brunette haired and fear-stricken girl had appeared at James' side. "Anna!" He greeted her, confused at her presence. This wasn't one of the most beneficial times to talk.

"Do something, you idiot!" Anna yelled at James, leaning over the edge of the wall to look at her best friend. "Lily! Are you okay?" She called down to her. Lily replied with an indignant look, breathing heavily and trying to comprehend why her companion even asked that stupid question.

"Oh! I'm just fine and dandy!" Lily shouted back, hysterically sarcastic.

"Oh yeah, Lily wanted me to explain to you about what happened in the common room," James remembered, facing Anna and going into a great detailed conversation, much to Lily's annoyance. "Well, ya see, what happened was that-"

"JAMES! Not a good time!"

Lily was pleased that James was telling Anna the misunderstanding, she was not so pleased that it was at one of the most inappropriate times.

"But I thought you-" James began to argue.

"LATER!" Lily shouted. "This is not a great time to be-Aaaaaah!" Lily stopped in mid sentence, shrieking as one of the bludgers attacked her again, after giving up trying to beat Sirius to death. Lily quickly lunged to her left, and the bludger missed her, instead pounding into the quidditch stand wall.

"LILY! Crap! Are you okay!" James yelled.

She swung mercifully back and forth, clutching her stomach that was in worsened pain.

"James, quick, do something," Remus said anxiously, pulling on his arm.

"Me? Why me? Who put me in charge!" James said indecorously.

Remus merely shrugged in return. Nobody else seemed to be taking control of the situation; Remus nor Anna were confident, Sirius was busy shrieking as bludgers chased him, and Peter, well, he was too busy trembling as he whimpered on the floor, petrified by the bludgers. As James pondered on who else could help, another one of Lily's screams as the bludgers nearly dangerously amputated her legs away from her body, snapped him to his senses.

"Alright!" James told himself. He watched the swerving bludgers and promptly tugged his wand from the back pocket of his jeans and aimed it strongly at one of the great black balls as he quickly thought of a spell.

"Finite Incantatum!" He bellowed angrily, pointing his wand. His aiming had been accurate as the bludger exploded into minuscule pieces, erupting like fireworks with sparks flying to the ground.

"What I wouldn't give for that bludger to be Malfoy's head," James muttered to himself, then aimed at the other bludger, bellowing the same spell as before and the black ball was destroyed in the same way. "Lily, I'm gonna pull you up!"

He tugged with all his strength as dragged the girl up and over the quidditch stand wall, straining at how heavy Lily was even though she looked as light as a feather. He finally pulled her over the wall and Lily collapsing into his arms. Clearly James thought that any second now she would be pushing him away, calling him profound insults, mostly likely a pervert.

However, she didn't. He was shocked when she had weakly fallen onto him, her head resting on his shoulder, her arm around his back and her hand tugging tightly at the back of his jumper; holding onto him for dear life, as if she was still hanging in the air. He was also shocked when he found himself holding Lily in return, his arm around her as he soothingly stroked her back.

That's more like it! Sirius thought joyfully, noticing how close the two were.

"Is it wrong if I'm turned on by this?" Sirius whispered to Remus, as he hovered on his broom, watching as Lily and James were clung to each other. Remus looked back at him expressionless and then answered, "Very".

"Hey, you're fine now, you're okay," James whispered to Lily, rubbing her back, "You're safe." Her heavy breathing and whimpering broke him.

James knew that hundreds of eyes were on him; students gaping at what had just happened and the quidditch players hovering in the air. Lily slowly pulled away from him, holding on the quidditch stand wall as she felt herself stumble, wincing as her stomach ached uncontrollably.

"Let's get you down to the hospital wing," James said.

Lily stared back at him, oddly curious, wondering why he was being so caring, then frailly nodded back. Remus, Peter, and Sirius from his broom, watched as James supportively helped Lily walk as they made their way out of the quidditch stand. As the two toddled, a sympathetic Anna was about to make her way and follow them: this was not good news to Sirius.

No, dammit! Anna can't follow them! Sirius screamed in his mind. Because then they won't be on their own and they have to be their own so they can get closer, and then they'll get married and I'll be their best man and they'll name their kids after me! But that cannot happen if she follows them! he concluded.

Sirius quickly flew on his broom to the quidditch player Jade, who was clutching the quaffle in her hands as she was wavering on her broom stick. He took the quaffle from her palms, zooming off quickly before she could understand what had just happened.

"Oi! Tit head! What are you doing?" Jade shouted after him.

Sirius ignored her, then flew back to the quidditch stand where Remus and Peter were at. James and Lily had exited the stand and unfortunately Anna was about to trail after them.

"Hey, Anna! Think fast!" Sirius yelled to her, flinching as he forcefully threw the quaffle in her direction: directly at her face. His plan to knock her out had worked as she turned at the sound of his voice and the quaffle smacked her in the head. She promptly blacked out, luckily falling back into Remus' arms who was behind her.

"Sirius! What the hell did you do that for?" Remus said indecorously, struggling to hold the passed out Anna by the stomach. He did not see Sirius' purpose of walloping Lily's friend with a quidditch ball and hedidn't think there would be an intelligent reason behind it.

"Because I am a dear friend and also a genius."

Remus laughed heartily at him, thinking Sirius was joking.

"No, seriously, why?" Remus asked again.

"Ha ha," Sirius said dryly, then thought of a reason which would satisfy his friend and would sound believable to him.

"Anna was going to follow James and Lily, and I know they would need some time alone."

Remus sighed back tiredly.

"Why didn't you just explain that to Anna? She probably would have understood."

Sirius looked back at him blankly.

"Because...my idea was better!" Sirius said lamely. "And, plus, I act on instincts, not on thoughts." He quickly retraced back to what he said and realised those words might not have made him look the brightest pea in the pod.

"I have to agree with you there, Padfoot," Remus said, patting him on the shoulder. He turned to the last marauder and sighed tiredly. "Not again, Wormtail," he complained, looking at Peter who was passed out on the floor, probably out of fear and shock of the bludgers. Sirius openly held two fingers to his nose to block out the profound smell. Remus was moaning in particular at the large wet patch around Peter's crotch and the puddle that was next to it.

"I'll give you five galleons if you scoop up Peter's pee and make Snivellus drink it?" Sirius asked Remus excitedly. Remus rolled his eyes in response as he began to drag the unconscious Anna away to the hospital wing.

"C'mon, Moony! Five galleons! Alright, ten galleons then!"

-----------------------

James and Lily had finally made it to the Hospital Wing, but in complete silence, except for the fast breathing of Lily and her moans of pain. James kept glancing worried looks at Lily; he'd never seen her like this before. The only side he'd really seen of her was of anger, mostly when James annoyed her to such an extent that her face turned as red as her hair. At this moment, Lily's face was the complete opposite, a ghostly white.

James pushed open the door to the Hospital Wing and was startled to see Madam Pomfrey directly behind the door, hands on her hips and a frown on her lips.

"Dumbledore?" Madam Pomfrey said inquisitively, looking at James with his grey, long beard and moustache. James would've thought that his brown hair on top of his head would of been a dead give away that he was not Albus Dumbledore. Maybe Madam Pomfrey thought Dumbledore unexpectedly dyed his hair to make him look a hundred years younger?

"No, it's me, Madam Pomfrey." James said smoothly, flashing his winning smile. Lily scoffed but this only turned into violent coughing.

"Not you, Mr. Potter," she said unenthusiastically, recognising him. "Back again!"

James was slightly affronted at her greeting.

"Do you realise there are already three students in this hospital wing because of you!"

"Only three?" James said disappointedly.

Madam Pomfrey glared at him.

"I've got Miss Isabel Francis here, covered in boils because apparently you used a Furnuculus charm on her!"

James and Lily looked to a bed to their left where Isabel was asleep in bed, dishevelled hair and smeared make-up with boils not as big as before, but still noticeable. This slightly lifted Lily's spirits at the sight of Isabel looking hideous.

"It was self defence," James argued.

"Mr. Geoff Rees is also here because he has been thoroughly traumatised by a particular meat," Madam Pomfrey said icily. James acted surprised, dramatically holding a hand to his chest in horror.

"Poor bloke. What meat?" he asked.

"Bacon."

James pursed his lips, trying not to laugh hysterically. James and Lily looked to a bed to their right where Geoff was upright, rocking back and forth as he clutched his bed sheets.

"Bacon...beware...the voices…" Geoff muttered to himself.

"Oh, really? How peculiar." James faced Madam Pomfrey once more.

"Yes, very peculiar, Mr. Potter. So peculiar that you must have had something to do with it."

James was about to object but Madam Pomfrey carried on. "And finally, I have Mr. Snape here recovering from his buttocks sent on fire."

They looked to a bed in the far corner where Snape was sleeping on his front, his bum positioned upwards as if he were awaiting somebody to smack it. James immediately sniggered; Lily would've laughed along but any type of laughter caused pain in her stomach.

"I do not want a repeat of this, Mr. Potter! You're irresponsible and childish 'pranks' are-"

"Madam Pomfrey, please," James interrupted, much to her displeasure. "I would really love to listen to your shouting at how much a little, annoying berk I am," Madam Pomfrey raised her eyebrows. "But Lily next to me, is in a lot of pain because she's been hit by a bludger, and I thought healing her would be more important right now." Madam Pomfrey had been busy narrowing her eyes at James but eventually turned to Lily by his side, who was bent over, clutching her stomach.

"Oh, Miss Evans! I'm so sorry!" She apologized shamefully, just noticing the girl. She helped Lily over to a bed whilst James followed.

Lily slowly laid on the bed as James sat in a chair next to her. Madam Pomfrey lifted her shirt up to examine her stomach.

"Ow...James...look away...you perve..." Lily wheezed sorely. James smiled and looked away; the fact that Lily was calling him a pervert meant that she must've recovered from shock.

"That's a powerful hit by that bludger. I never knew you played quidditch, Miss. Evans."

"I...don't..." Lily said rasped.

Madam Pomfrey looked at her with confusion.

"The bludger went crazy and hit her," James explained instead for Lily, and Lily nodded gratefully.

"That is rather strange," the witch admitted, "Well, all I can give you is a potion to reduce the pain and severe bruising. You look like you need the rest so I suggest you sleep here."

Lily objected at the resting part of her sentence.

"No...Madam Pomfrey, I don't need...any sleep-" she started.

"You will rest," she said firmly.

Lily cowered. "Okay," she squeaked. Madam Pomfrey smiled, went to a cupboard to obtain a potion and handed it to Lily.

"Please don't spit out the potion as Mr. Potter did," she said, shooting James a scowl.

Lily drunk down the potion, grimacing the taste and not coughing up the contents as James had done.

"I'll be in my office, I suggest you get some sleep," Madam Pomfrey told her, and Lily nodded obediently. It seemed more of a threat that if she wasn't asleep by the time she came out then she would be suffocated. First, before returning to her office, Madam Pomfrey first gave a sleeping potion to Geoff, forcing him to sleep so he would stop his incoherent mumblings and conversations to himself about how the 'pigs will strangle him with their bacon' and repetitive questions asked to Madam Pomfrey if she 'heard the voices?" Once the witch finally left, this placed James and Lily in silence. Lily closed her eyes, intending to sleep, but James didn't like stillness.

"Are you okay?" he asked her worriedly. Lily rolled her eyes in her painful state, why did people always ask that question when the most obvious answer was no?

"Stomach...pain...hurts..." she mumbled. James nodded in understanding.

"You're still shaking," he pointed out. He touched her arm and she notably relaxed at his touch. Reddening, he embarrassingly detracted his hand.

"You have...an annoying habit...of saving me…" Lily strained a smile. "Thanks," she whispered appreciatively.

"Hey, I couldn't of let you fall, could I? Who would be there to point out how arrogant and pig-headed I am?" he joked. Lily chuckled which caused pain.

"Don't tell…bad jokes…You're not so bad, James Potter." Her eyelids slowly drooped down as she drifted off to sleep.

"You're not so bad either, Lily Evans," James murmured back, then laid his head down on the bed, sleeping at her side.

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Lily's eyes slowly opened, her dry and thirsty throat stirred her awake. She reached out for a glass of water that was placed on a side table and drank it. Her attention was quickly set upon the sleeping James who's head was leaning uncomfortably on the bed as he sat in his chair.

"James?" She whispered, nudging him in the shoulder. "James? Oi, gramps, wake up." Lily pulled on his beard to get a faster reaction. He woke up abruptly, hair even messier then before and was looking at her with confused anxiety.

"Huh? What's happened? Are you okay?" he asked hurriedly.

"I'm fine, James," she reassured him, looking at him oddly to why he was so worried. "You shouldn't sleep like that, you'll get a bad back," Lily told him, the pain in her stomach lessened.

"I'm fine," James reassured her. He stretched and his back made a definite loud 'crunch'. " Or maybe not..."

Lily felt guilty, thinking of an idea that could solve his back problems but would be hard for her to propose to him.

"Um, you could sleep with me?" She blurted out, then pressed a hand to her mouth in horror at what she'd just said. "Oh God, I didn't mean it like that!" Lily told him, as James appeared taken aback. "I meant that I could move up and you can sleep on the bed next to me," she explained quickly, heating in the face.

James looked at her peculiarly; it wasn't everyday a girl asked to come sleep in their bed. Okay, so maybe he did get some offers by some extremely slutty girls, but he never took them up.

"Are you sure?"

"Just do it before I change my mind," Lily said. "And no funny stuff," she added in case.

She moved her body to the left edge of the bed so there was space next to her, and lifted the blanket so he could climb in. He slowly laid on the bed, both their heads resting on the one pillow, both noticing that the bed wasn't as big as they'd hoped as their bodies were practically touching. Together, they laughed nervously and tried shifting slightly to get more comfortable. Lily stopped when she felt something touch her leg under the covers.

"Did you just feel my leg?" Lily demanded.

"I think it was my beard," James replied uneasily.

"Oh."

They looked at each other, pursing their lips, but this only lasted a few seconds until they started laughing at the situation, tenseness disappeared.

"You realise how bad this will look to Madam Pomfrey?" James pointed out, a smile creeping on his lips.

Lily yawned, tiredly rubbing her eyes.

"Too tired to care..." she muttered, then drifted back to sleep, unaware her head had moved contentedly to leaning on James' shoulder.

-----------

"Padfoot, explain to me again, what we are doing with this Veritaserum?" Remus asked for the hundredth time.

Sirius and Remus were dragging the unconscious Peter and Anna to the hospital wing, but had first made a stop at Professor Mansell's classroom where Sirius had sneakily stolen some Veritaserum from the professor's private stores, unseen under the invisibility cloak. Sirius clambered along, still in his quidditch uniform, sighing tiredly as he explained his 'mastermind' plan again.

"We make Prongs drink the pumpkin juice with the Veritaserum, then ask him questions about him and Lily," Sirius said in simple terms.

"Haven't they suffered enough?" Remus asked, feeling slightly guilty for all the events that had happened to the unlucky two. Sirius laughed in response, Remus took this as a definite no. "Can't we just ask James without the Veritaserum?" Remus pleaded.

"No, Moony! You know Prongs is a little bugger who will lie his arse off. Only children and fools tell the truth."

"But James is both of those things. A childish fool," Remus pointed out.

"Well, yes, but still, we'll make him drink it just to be on the safe side."

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James had been slumbering until he was roughly poked in the face. He slowly opened his eyes and was greeted with, funnily enough, another pair of eyes; dark, gleaming eyes. Waking up to a pair of staring eyeballs isn't the most consoling thing in the world, so James was about to yelp in surprise, but a hand was clamped over his mouth before he could make a sound. Before he was about to struggle and punch whoever the unfamiliar person who seemed to be threatening to smother him in his sleep, he recognised the person to actually be a familiar human being.

"Padfoot! Bloody hell!" James swore as Sirius stepped back, while Remus stood by his side of the bed with an apologetic look.

"Shhh," Sirius pressed a finger to his lips. "You don't want to wake up Lily, do you?" He raised his brow.

James turned his head to see Lily stirring in her asleep, resting her head on his shoulder. James face his friends with reddening cheeks, slightly sitting himself up whilst trying not to wake the asleep girl. He felt a hand to his chin, noticing that no hair was attached to it.

"Hey, my beards gone," James said, happily caressing his now bald and naked face. He had to admit, he kind of missed his grey hair extension, only because it was a handy strangling device.

"Smooth as a nifflers bottom," Sirius commented as he lightly patted James chin. James hit his hand away and rolled his eyes as Sirius decided to take a stroll around the wing and examine the patients. He glanced around to see the room in darkness except for the glinting of the candlelight, figuring it must now be late at night. As he looked around the room, two beds caught his eye. They were empty earlier but were now occupied to add along with the group of strange and ill people in the wing.

"Is that Peter?" James asked, noticing his sleeping friend in the bed, with his trousers laid out on the bed to dry.

"Yes. He passed out and wet himself," Remus answered sadly.

"Again?" James shook his head. "He should really see someone about that..." He looked to the bed beside him where Anna was asleep with a bandaged nose.

"What the hell happened to her?" James asked.

"Sirius decided to hit her. With a quaffle."

"I had my reasons!" Sirius argued from across the room. James gave him a tired look, deciding not to ask what the explanation to clobbering Lily's friend would be. He would simply be satisfied when Anna woke up and painfully stuff a quaffle up his arse.

"Speaking of quaffles, what about the match? Who won?" James asked curiously. He sincerely hoped the Gryffindors had won by a landslide victory. James knew the only explanation of the Slytherins ever winning would be because they cheated.

"It was cancelled because of the bludgers," Remus explained. "Who do you think was controlling them?"

"I bet it was Malfoy," James said icily. Remus rolled his eyes; James blamed all his problems on Lucius Malfoy… most of them were by him, but there were rare occasional times when Malfoy was innocent.

"It couldn't have been him. He was playing quidditch," Remus recapped.

James let out a sound of disappointment, but still kept his feelings that Malfoy had been behind it.

"He probably paid someone to control them," James said hastily. "I don't care if he wasn't behind it, I'll blame him anyway. He nearly killed Lily. Twisted git."

Remus replied with a sympathetic expression, then suddenly realised the other marauder's absence.

"Padfoot, what are you doing over there?" Remus asked suspiciously as Sirius hunched over a person in a bed in the far corner.

"Nothing!" Sirius said cheerfully, skipping back over to James' bed.

"How did you guys get in here anyway?" James asked. "Normally Madam Pomfrey won't let any visitors come in this late."

"Oh, don't worry about her," Sirius reassured him. "We locked her in her office."

James gawked.

"You locked her in her office!" James whispered furiously, so not to wake the red head beside him. Sirius grinned, nodding.

"Correction. Sirius locked her office door. I watched," Remus rectified.

"It was your idea, Moony."

"Yes, but I was joking."

"Did you guys bring me any food?" James asked, changing the subject.

Sirius beamed, nodding as he emptied his pockets.

James anticipated greatly, expecting chocolate and sweets to satisfy his growling stomach. He grimaced when Sirius revealed the contents of his trouser compartments.

"Lets see..." Sirius mumbled as he dug a hand deeply in one pocket. "A sausage...some sprouts..." he listed, throwing the sausage and horrid, green vegetables onto James bed sheet. "A potato...a chicken leg..." He looked at the chicken leg, licking his lips and tempted to eat it himself. "Some peas...and, I don't know what the hell that is." Sirius finished as he placed the handful of pea's on James lap, along with a brown unrecognisable, round-ish type of food. James dreaded to think what that was or had been.

"Sirius, I don't want to sound ungrateful or anything, but this food has got bits of hairs and dirt on it from your pockets. And I shudder to think what's been in those pockets. Or in fact, in your trousers and-did that brown thing just move?" James asked, staring at the brown blob.

"Sorry, I was in a rush in the kitchens," Sirius explained. "So you're not going to eat anything?"

"I think I'll pass."

"Suit yourself," Sirius said, scooping the random food back into his pockets, but picked up the chicken leg and bit into ravenously in front of James and Remus. The boys stared at Sirius as he bit hungrily into the chicken leg and let out a loud burp once he'd finished. Sirius wiped his hands on the bed sheets, much to James' disgust.

"Fingers were made before forks. So, are you thirsty, Prongs?" Sirius launched into the plan of making James drink the pumpkin juice that was not tampered with in any way. Except for the fact that it had Veritaserum in it.

"Not particularly."

"Are you thirsty, Moony? I'm thirsty. Let's all have a drink!" Sirius said, handing a cup to the agitated Remus.

"No thanks, Padfoot-" James started, but was startled when a cup of juice was stuffed forcefully into his hand. Remus let out a nervous laugh.

"No, Padfoot, that's not James' drink!" Remus said, widening his eyes at Sirius' mistake. Sirius had dumbly handed James the cup without the Veritaserum in it. "This is your drink." Remus swapped Sirius' and James' cups around. James looked back at them suspiciously; Sirius grinned a wide smile whilst Remus anxiously chewed on his tongue.

"Alright, what have you done to it?"

"You nearly drank Sirius drink which had firewhiskey in it. I thought you'd want to have a break of the alcohol so swapped the drinks around," Remus lied.

"Oh, okay, thanks," James said gratefully, thinking that his friend wouldn't ever lie to him, except for Sirius, who lied constantly.

"Cheers!" Sirius said happily, as the boys knocked their cups together in a boyish manner. Sirius and Remus watched as James took a generous gulp of the meddled pumpkin juice, his face slacking and eyes suddenly looking faraway.

"So, Prongsie," Sirius began, beginning the interrogation, Subject: Lily Evans. "Have you ever had any sexual fantasies about Lily?-"

"Padfoot, I thought we agreed we weren't going to ask him that," Remus cut in, annoyed, but stopped when James answered.

"Yes."

James clamped a hand over mouth, horrified at his revelation as a staggered Remus and ecstatic Sirius stared at him. "Oh God, I have no idea where that came from..." James murmured, confused, and tried hiding behind his cup under the boys gaze by drinking another gulp of the juice. This was good news to his friends; the more he drank the better.

"Would you like to describe the fantasies-"

"That's enough of that question, Padfoot," Remus butted in, looking at James oddly whose eyes were flickering and twitching.

"Fine," Sirius said, then commenced to his second question. "Do you fancy Lily?"

James let out a lustful groan back.

"Hell yeah. She's so hot she melts walls."

Again, he looked abruptly shocked at the words that had come out of his mouth, while Remus and Sirius chuckled amusedly at him as he revealed his desires. James uneasily rubbed a hand through his hair in embarrassment and confusion.

Remus asked a question which he thought was more significant and hoped the answer would be more in depth. Remus questioned before Sirius would ask his questions he mentioned earlier to Remus, one to do of wet dreams and the other based on the words of 'which part of Lily turns you on the most?'

"Prongs, what were you feeling when Lily fell over the quidditch stand wall and as you held her hand?"

Sirius made an impressed at Remus' question.

James' gaze unfocused. "Petrified," he answered, expressionless.

Remus and Sirius, had until now had been having fun and all thought the Veritaserum trick had been a laugh. The news of James' fear had made their smiles instantly disappear from their faces.

"Frightened. Afraid I was going to lose her. I don't want to lose her," he carried on robotically, turning his head to look at Lily who was sleeping peacefully obliviously. "Her green eyes. So terrifying. Shining, shining with fear." They watched dejectedly as James winced, as if remembering her eyes were so painful to him.

"I told you this was stupid idea," Sirius blamed Remus. "There's just something in my eye..." He said hastily as he rubbed the corner of his eyes, sniffing noisily.

"This was your idea, Padfoot," Remus reminded him, though with a sad tone.

James was thoroughly mystified, not knowing where any of these emotions were coming from.

"What the-….but-….why-….huh?" James fumbled, then a realisation came to him as he stared at his cup of pumpkin juice in his hand. "You turds!" he whispered furiously at them.

"Civility costs nothing, you know," Sirius commentated.

"This is Veritaserum , isn't it! You sneaky sons of a-" James started, as he was about to make his way out of the bed and give Sirius and Remus a beating, but Lily's murmur of stirring made him halt. He couldn't move or Lily would awake. Their beating would have to be later.

James remembered back to his spoken words by the potion forcing him to tell the truth.

"No...no it can't be Veritaserum ." James murmured in denial. "That would mean I like Lily-"

"Which you do. Truth is stranger then fiction, my friend," Sirius finished.

"I do, don't I…." James spoke aloud, finally agreeing to his feelings. "Oh, God...I love my enemy."

"But she's not your enemy, your friends now, remember?" Remus reminded him.

"The course of true love never did run smoothly," Sirius said effortlessly. James and Remus gave him blank looks. "Fine words butter no parsnips."

"What? Why are you rambling on about parsnips?" James asked.

Sirius patted him on the shoulder that Lily was currently not leaning on. "The bread never falls but on its buttered side." Still, James looked at him with bemusement. "Don't teach your grandmother to suck eggs."

"What the hell? My grandmother died three years ago, remember?" James reminded him.

"Oh yeah, sorry," Sirius apologized. James looked at Sirius sceptically, then came to his own conclusion what Sirius' rambling was due to.

"Moony," James began jadedly. "You've been letting him read your books again, haven't you?" he accused.

Remus looked back at him guiltily. "Just the one," he argued. "It's intellectually challenging for him. It broadens his mind."

"What book was it? 'The guide to talking crap'? Because I must say, he must of read that book previously because he's already mastered that art."

"Oi!" Sirius exploded as James and Remus smiled in unison. "I'll have you know that it was a book of proverbs. I learnt some which I could use naturally in polite conversation."

James and Remus snorted.

"The only time the words 'Sirius' and 'polite' come up in a sentence is when it reads 'Sirius is never polite'," James concluded.

"I don't think you used those proverbs 'naturally' as they made no sense in the 'polite' conversation we just had," Remus pointed out. Silently James and Remus laughed as Sirius sulked.

"Brevity is the soul of wit, so I will be brief. You like Lily, so tell her," Sirius advised James.

"But this isn't supposed to happen..." James mumbled, looking at the boys with confusion. "Me and Lily...I'm not supposed to feel this way about...I'm not supposed to...fall for her." Oddly, he found himself staring at Lily and softly moved a strand of red hair that was covering her eyelids.

Sirius and Remus were about to speak but there was sound of a twisting doorknob as a furious Madam Pomfrey tried opening her office door.

"What on earth is going on? Why is this door locked?" Madam Pomfrey said crossly, pressing her body against the door, completely furious that it was not opening.

"Uh oh," Sirius whispered.

"We'll see you tomorrow morning," Remus murmured to James. He dragged Sirius by the neck and pulled him swiftly towards the exit.

"You and Lily have a nice sleep now. Remember, no shagging in the hospital wing," Sirius said cheekily as James threw a couple peas at him that was left on his bed sheet. "And no feeling her up under the covers!"

"Get out, Padfoot!" James said hurriedly, closing his eyes at the exact time Madam Pomfrey pushed open the door, so not to look suspicious. James listened whilst his eyes were closed of the sound of the triumphant witch as she opened the door, and also her disappointment as she found the wing empty.

"Trespassers," Madam Pomfrey muttered, walking into the middle of the room and finding a chicken leg bone discarded on the floor. She looked at it in horror, picked it up and sniffed with revulsion.

"Mr. Black..." she whispered threateningly.

James grimaced at the sound of Sirius' name.