Disclaimer: Characters and settings are property of J.K. Rowling. What you don't recognize is mine. And I wish I owned the Marauders (specifically Sirius and Remus) but most unfortunately, I do not. L I own the original characters – namely Lily's friends and James's girlfriend, so far.

Important Note: Yes, this chapter has been changed. Marginally. The last chapter's been changed, too. I know James was originally the Seeker, but after some contemplation, I decided that I liked him better as a Chaser. So I changed this chapter and the last one.

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James forced his eyes open, making them adjust to the blazing white that surrounded him. Sitting up in bed, he smiled a little, looking to the side – Sirius and Janine, still in their Quidditch cords, were slumped in chairs, fast asleep. Remus and Peter were there, as well – so was Jen, who was sleeping with her head in Remus's lap. Comforts probably wouldn't like that, thought James dizzily. Aside from all his Gryffindor friends, his current girlfriend – a pretty Ravenclaw named Audrey Caphis – was also present in the room, although she sat a bit away from the others, sleeping.

His bedside table and the cot next to him, as well, were covered in gifts – flowers, cards, candy – and numerous other things. Probably from female admirers. I hope they left names. I'd like to thank them… personally. He smirked, and decided to open them later. Shaking his head, he reached out and prodded Sirius. That was hard work – his left arm was very heavy. Eventually, he gave up and half-turned on his side, using his right arm instead.

Sirius, being Sirius, did not stir at all. Thankfully, however, Remus did. He blinked blearily at James. "Oh, good. You're awake. Best not wake the girls, though – Janine is probably going to claw your eyes out if she gets up."

James blinked. "What for?"

"Er… I believe her exact words were 'He's such a git and he's so stupid; why did he have to go taunting Travers when the prat had that stupid Beater's bat? What did he go showing off for?'"

"I wasn't showing off!" said James indignantly. "I was doing what Damien Garnet told me to do – blocking Travers from getting the Snitch! You can tell her that it's her bloody brother's fault!"

"Yes, well, I told her that. Janine, being Janine, did not listen to me. So you have to tell her that. Although I'd do it at a distance, if I were you."

James rubbed his forehead (with his right hand, seeing as he couldn't lift his left). "My left arm hurts," he said woefully, looking at it.

Remus snorted. "Of course it does. You broke it in two places in the fall. Incidentally, you also cracked three ribs."

"Any other injuries?"

"I heard Madam Pomfrey say you were concussed. Apparently, she gave you lots of pokes and prods-"

"Yes, I've always thought that habit of hers was rather kinky myself," replied James with a grin.

"-And – oh, shut up, you – she gave you a potion. She said, if you tried to stand, you'd probably be dizzy, and you arm will be a little difficult to lift for a couple of days."

"A little difficult, eh?" James strained his muscles to the lift the arm – it refused to move. "That's the understatement of the century. How do you know all this, anyway?"

Remus wiggled his ears. "Werewolf hearing, remember?"

James looked mildly intrigued. "I've always wondered how you did that ear-wiggling thing. I can't do it myself. Although I can snap my fingers, which I'd demonstrate for you, if I could lift my arm." Whack. "Ouch! You're not supposed to abuse the patient, Moony!"

Remus brandished his weapon (a pillow) threateningly. "I believe we're getting off the point."

"Which was?"

"You're a prat and you should never attempt to do anything that dangerous again."

"I don't remember you saying that."

"Well, that was the point I was going to make before we got off topic. And anyway, I doubt you remember anything between the end of the match and the moment you woke up several minutes ago."

James thought. "You're right," he said with some surprise. "I don't remember a thing."

"I do. You woke up once and called me Lily when I asked what had possessed you to go after Travers. Then you asked me out, and Damien came over then and commented how he never knew you swung that way and he will make a point to avoid you in the future should you ever set your sights on him."

"You're joking, surely."

"Go on thinking that, if you want. Just don't approach him for a while. You'll send him screaming in the other direction."

James groaned. Great. Next thing you know, the rumor will be out that I'm gay. Or that I thought Remus was Evans and asked him out. Fantastic. "Did Evans hear about it?"

"Well, she wasn't there, if that's what you mean. As to if she's heard about it… well, Marlene McKinnon dropped by earlier to check on Jen and Janine."

"Oh, that's nice," said James huffily. "Don't worry about me at all."

"No, she didn't, actually," said Remus with a smile. "I believe she said that you'd done so many stupid things in your life that this one probably wouldn't set you back much. Anyway, if she knows about it, she's probably told Lily, and if she hasn't, she's told Alyssa, which means the whole school knows by now." He smiled fondly, thinking of his girlfriend of the past two years.

"I don't know what you see in her. She never keeps her mouth shut."

"I know what he sees in her," said Sirius with a grin, now apparently awake. "And if you weren't so hung up on Evans, you'd see it too." He whistled. "Believe me, it's difficult to miss." Remus glowered at him.

"Hey! That's my friend you're talking about!" Jen King was up. She proceeded to ignore the silent scuffle that had broken out between Sirius and Remus. James looked to Janine, who was now also awake. For that matter, so were Audrey and Peter. He tried to inch away from Janine, who looked about to blow her top.

She was glaring at him very fiercely. "Don't start yelling at me," he began to say, but it was too late. Her shouts bounced off the walls.

"Are you daft!?" she shrieked at him. "Why don't you just go bash your head into a stone wall!? Or here's a great one – go throw yourself off the Astronomy Tower! Were you trying to kill yourself!?"

"Janine-" began Remus worriedly, looking towards Madam Pomfrey's office door. "You really shouldn't shout so-"

"-You're such a stupid prat!" continued Janine relentlessly. James quailed a little under her shouts. "I suppose it never occurred to you to even think why Travers had that Beater's bat? If Black hadn't sent that slowing charm at you – which, by the way, didn't work particularly well – you might have died!"

James blinked. Slowing charm? He looked at Sirius, who shrugged. "I didn't want to see your brains splattered all over the ground. Awful liability for the school, you know. Plus it would make such an awful mess to clean up. By the way. Did you know it's snowing outside now?"

"We're getting off topic," interrupted Remus. "We also had to postpone our victory party. We can't very well celebrate unless the hero of the match is there. If it weren't for you, Slytherin would have won. They're very upset about the loss, by the way. I don't think you should go anywhere without an escort."

Great. Not only is Janine out for my blood – for something that wasn't even my bloody fault – but the Slytherins are as well. "What time is it?" asked James with interest.

"Look at your watch, pillock," said Janine (albeit affectionately) as Peter answered, "Five in the morning."

James looked amused and turned to Janine. "Still angry?"

She paused. "No. But if you ever do anything like that again…"

"You'll kill me?"

"No, I'll leave the killing part to your mother. I'll… I'll do something awful."

"Nobody likes vague threats," said Sirius. "You should be more specific." She shoved him in the shoulder.

"I changed my mind. I will kill you. But first, I'll beat you half to death with a broomstick, and then set the bludgers on you. When they're done, I'll beat you with a broomstick again until you're bloody and bruised and can't even open your eyes. Then you can drown in your own blood."

"Ooh, that's very good," added Audrey with a giggle. "Nice imagery."

"Thanks."

"You could have the Thestrals eat him afterwards," suggested Jen. "I hear there are some on the grounds somewhere."

"Ooh, there's a good one. Thanks, Jen."

"No problem."

James made a face at her – half-grimace, half-grin. "Thanks, girls. I always knew I could count on you to make me feel better."

"Well, look on the bright side!" Janine paused. "Hang on, there isn't a bright side to this. Never mind. And it was just a warning, Potter. And my brother asked me to pass along the message that he'd hate to have to find another Chaser." She stood up and stretched. "I feel awful."

"Why?"

"Because I've spent the night in an uncomfortable chair with my head on Black's shoulder."

"They're hard chairs," added Peter helpfully.

"Yes. And judging by the way Black is squirming when you stretch like that, the chairs aren't the only things that are hard," added Jen with a grin. Whack. "Ouch! Remus!"

Remus waved his pillow. "Anybody else want to make stupid comments?" Long silence. "Good." He dropped the pillow on a nearby cot. "And don't even open your mouth now that the pillow's gone, Padfoot." Mercifully, everyone overlooked the nickname.

Janine sighed and bent over and touched her toes. Everybody turned to Sirius, who scowled. "What?" he snapped moodily. "It's not like I'm watching her or anything."

"That's what they all say," Jen said wisely. "I'll bet you're just driven mad with lust, and – get away from me, Lupin!" she squeaked, and dove around to the other side of the bed as Remus seized the pillow once more.

"Well, I've had a lovely time debating exactly how stupid James is, but it's time to get some food. I skipped dinner and Madam Pomfrey said if I wanted to be an idiot and stay here all night, she wasn't going to give me any food. So, if you'll all excuse me…"

"Will you get me something, too?" asked Sirius hopefully.

"No."

"What about me?" asked Remus.

"Of course. Unless you want to come with me."

"Why not? Nothing better to do. Madam Pomfrey isn't letting our boy James out anytime soon." They got up, and left. Jen sighed, and closed her eyes.

"Still got a crush on Lupin?" asked Audrey curiously.

"No."

"Very good," said James encouragingly. "Again, with more feeling."

"I don't!" snapped Jen. "Drop it, Potter, or I'll drop something on your head!"

James quailed under her dire glare. "You don't have to be so touchy about it," he mumbled. Audrey laid a gentle hand on his hair, smoothing it.

"Your hair is so messy," she said affectionately. That was just a tad bit random, James thought. He saw, from the corner of his eye, the others start backing away slowly, as if to give the couple some privacy. Someone must have given Padfoot lessons in manners, he thought with amusement. Time was, he'd be hopping around, clicking pictures of me snogging a girl.

Granted, I think we were thirteen, then.

James inwardly groaned as Audrey twined her arms about his neck. She was a nice enough girl, but he was bored with her, and really wanted nothing more than to simply push her away and tell her it was over. Of course, considering he was confined to a bed and couldn't lift one of his arms, it was probably not a good idea. He wouldn't be able to fend her off if she clawed at him.

Maybe it'd help to imagine she was Lily. But that was impossible – Audrey was wispily blonde, and it was frankly impossible to imagine for even a moment that she had sparkling green eyes and vivid red hair.

Audrey was kissing him.

He ignored it, although he responded mechanically. Thinking of Lily was a bit painful. Why did she hate him so much, anyway? It probably hadn't helped that, over the years, he had done innumerable things to her – put ink in her tea, turned her hair green, magicked her bed to throw her out whenever she lay down, stuck her feet to the floor when she was in a particular hurry, glued her books together, and so many other things…

Audrey pulled away, her lips fixed into a pout. "James," she whined plaintively.

Lily was a pretty girl; that was undeniable. She was easily one of the prettiest girls in school. Yet she hated him so much. James couldn't force his brain to understand that. After all, most girls loved him. Unfortunately, many boys had found their eyes traveling to Lily Evans in class, or in the library.

"James," said Audrey again, a little more loudly, a little more angrily.

Of course, most boys were far too sensible to ever pursue a relationship with that particular redhead. James made certain of that. Any bloke who thought himself worthy of Lily had to deal with James first. Well, James hadn't earned his reputation as one of the best duelers in school without reason. After the first few duels with several boys in older years, many had learned to stay well enough alone.

"James!"

Feeling a little dazed, he forced himself to return to the present and look at Audrey's angry light blue eyes. "I'm sorry," he said contritely, even though he knew he was lying through his teeth. "I'm just feeling a little dizzy, that's all."

Her anger vanished immediately, replaced by concern. "Madam Pomfrey did say you'd feel a bit dizzy for a couple of days. Why don't you get some rest? I'll come back later."

"Yes," said James vaguely. Are all girls this gullible? Well, let's see – looking at all my past girlfriends, I think the answer to that would be YES. "I think that'd be a good idea." He wasn't tired.

"All right." She kissed his cheek, her lips lingering there for a moment. "I'll see you later, all right?"

"Yeah, all right." He waved to her, pretending to close his eyes and go back to sleep. As soon as he heard the door snap shut, he rolled out of bed, ignoring the pain shooting through his left arm. Forget this Hospital Wing, and forget Madam Pomfrey. I fully intend to be gone by the time Audrey comes back. And anyway, I'm hungry.

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A/N: Okay! That's all for this chapter. This one's a bit short, I think, so… yeah. Whatever. I got lots of reviews on Chapter 1 (thanks!) but practically none on Chapter 2 (boohoo). Don't y'all love me no more? Sniff. Ah, well. By the way, I hope Audrey isn't too annoying. She won't feature a lot. I hadn't actually intended to make her that annoying, but, well… Whatever. Keep the reviews coming, please! Peaches