When they walked outside, a huge crowd of people were standing around. They tried to get to center of it to see what all the commotion was about, but no one would move out of their way. They finally started to get closer, and Lily could see in between a few of the people standing in front of her.
"Oh my god," She muttered aloud. She could hear all the people around her talking amongst themselves. The limp body of Paul Schmidt was lying just a few feet away. Lily could hardly take it, she burst into tears as James watched, horrified. Sirius and Remus ran to get a teacher, while Lily and James were left alone. She felt broken inside, and needed to get away. She started to walk back to the castle when she heard someone call her name. It was James.
"Please, go away," she begged, as tears flooded her eyes.
"I'm not leaving, I want to help." That was the last thing she heard as her legs gave out, and her eyes rolled into the back of her head. James picked her up and carried her back to the castle.
--------
As he carried her to the hospital wing, he couldn't help but notice her stunning beauty. The way her long red hair bounced with each step, her sparkling emerald eyes, and her porcelain skin. He couln't stop looking at her, and each time he became more breathless than the last.
When he arrived, Madame Pomfrey looked at him and said, "Oh, she's only just fainted. She should be here for about an hour before she's ready to leave, you may stay if you like."
Of course James wanted to stay, he needed to take care of her. So he waited an hour and a half before he saw her stir.
The first thing she saw when she woke up was James, and it was quite a shock to her. "Wh-what happened?"
"You fainted, so I carried you here."
Everything that had happened just hours earlier came flooding back. Hogsmeade, the scream, the crowds, and Paul Schmidt. "Is he dead?"
James knew she was talking about Paul. "I think so, people are saying it was the Avada Kedavra curse," she became silent and spaced out, "Are you feeling alright?"
"Yeah..I'm fine. I'm just going to miss him, that's all." She could really tell that James was trying to handle the situation very maturely. She was thankful for that, and couldn't be happier to see James sitting next to her. "Why are you doing this for me?"
"Just think of it as me repaying you for all the pranks I've pulled," he said with a grin.
Madame Pomfrey came in to tell them that dinner had begun, so James and Lily walked to the Great Hall, and ate in silence. They both had discovered something that day that could change their lives forever.
