A/N: Sorry it took too long, but circumstances haven't allowed me to get
this done as often as I would like. Now the next three chapters are the
last ones of Part I of my story. Seventh Year is over and a new part
begins, I hope you have liked it so far and that you continue with the rest
of the story. : )
Chapter 18 ~ Seventh Year Memories
James stood on his bedchamber looking out the windows. His mother had moved from the master's chamber into a smaller room. She said the room held too many memories she could not deal with at the moment. James was now master of all that had belonged to his father. Including his sleeping quarters.
James felt a bit strange to move into his parent's room but his mother had insisted and he didn't want to be difficult with her. His small nieces had just arrived from Italy under the care of their nursemaid, whose care they had been under since the tragedy.
At the moment Lotty, his father's personal elf now serving as his own, was putting the finishing touches to the room.
"Lotty is done Master James, is there something else?" The elf asked as soon as he returned from the dressing room after putting all the clothes in order.
"Nothing Lotty. I will take breakfast downstairs. Do you mind asking Minnie if Mother will join me?"
"Of course Master James."
James continued looking out the window. The panoramic scene covered half of his estate. Gryffindor Manor was a large house, stately and old. It had been build centuries ago and modernized very often according to the whims of the present master. It was hard for James to think of it as his. He had known that eventually he would inherit it, but he had hoped that he would do so later in life, not so soon.
He heard a racket coming from the servants' stairs. A scolding voice and high pitch giggles. James smiled, the twins certainly had brought new life to the silent house.
The door burst open and two small girls run into the room.
"Uncle James."
"Uncle James."
"What is it Cassie, Francie, is there a ghoul after you?" He exclaimed in mock horror.
The girls giggled. "No Uncle James." "You are silly." They said.
"What is it then?" He asked kneeling in front of them.
"Look."
"We found it."
"In the garden."
"Near the pond."
The girls usually finished each other sentences. Some people found it confusing, others thought of it as charming. But their family didn't even think about it.
"Let's see what you have got there." James said looking at a tiny bundle held in Francie's hands.
He peeled the cloth surrounding whatever creature they had found. The girls stood quiet, holding their breath so as not to scare it. When the cloth had been peeled a tiny furry creature was exposed.
"What is it?"
"Uncle James."
"It's a baby rabbit. Was it alone?"
"Yes."
"We looked for his friends."
"We didn't find them."
"Can we keep him?"
"Please Uncle James."
The girls looked at him with their blue eyes trustingly and wide open. James loved the girls and couldn't help but want to keep them happy. He knew he was going to spoil them.
"Well, what does your nurse say about that?" He asked, he didn't want to seem too forthcoming. The little devils would take advantage of him.
The girls turned to look at the small woman standing by the open door.
"I'm sorry Master James, the girls escaped from me and I couldn't catch them."
"Don't worry Mrs. Manning. I know how slippery these two can be. But what do you think, should they keep the rabbit?"
"I don't know Master James, a pet is a big responsibility. It has to be fed and washed and taken care of. Do you think the girls could handle it?"
The girls were looking in horror at the two adults.
"Oh please Uncle James."
"We will take care of him."
"Please."
"Pretty please."
James looked at the small girls. A smile tugging at his lips. They were the exact replica of his sister. They had Elizabeth's black curls, her bright blue eyes and her bubbling personality. From their father they inherited his tanned skin color and his curiosity of all human life.
"Very well, you can keep him. But you are in charge of it. I don't want to see nurse looking after it for you because you didn't bother t do so." He said shaking his finger at them.
The girls brightened and hugged James by the legs.
"Yay Uncle James."
"We will take care of it."
James laughed and hugged them back.
"Well now you rapscallions. Let's go to breakfast, or have you eaten already?"
"We had bread with Jam."
"But we can keep you company."
They looked up to him with their bright eyes and James felt his heart do a summersault in his chest. He really missed his sister. But she had left him the most precious gifts she could ever leave him and he would take care of them and make his sister proud. "Let's go then."
The odd looking trio slowly made its way to the family dinning room. **** That same morning, Lily sat on a chair by the window. Her legs wrapped in blankets and an empty tray of food on a small table beside her.
She hated having to look at life pass her by. Sitting on a chair and not being able to do all the things she liked.
Hogwarts had been sending owls everyday with the lessons and assignments and she sent all her work back. She also received letters from her friends with the latest news of Hogwarts. She knew that because there had been no seventh year prefects Tobias Wood, Gryffindor Quidditch acting Captain and keeper, along with Evelyn O'Connel from Ravenclaw had been chosen Head Boy and Girl for the remainder of the year. She had received letters from both of them asking for her help and any input she might have for the plans that had been previously made for the upcoming events, especially the Seventh Year Ball. She knew that they had also contacted James on the subject and that he had kept in contact with them for the last couple of weeks. James. That's a name that she hadn't forgotten. It brought a wave of bittersweet memories and hopes. He hadn't written to her. But she held the hope that one day he would.
She had the feeling that people knew more about his situation than what she had been told. What could've happened?
The sound of her parents' car being brought forward snapped her out of her brooding. Her father would soon be coming for her. She was going to St. Mungos this morning, just as she had done several times for the last couple of weeks. Examinations, tests, she was bored of them but she knew she had to go through them. But at least today it would be different. She was going to start a new treatment today. Her bags were packed and she was ready to get rid off this chair that made her feel trapped and lifeless.
"So the Little Princess is leaving home once more." A mocking voice said from the door.
Lily turned to look at her sister's leering face. Petunia had not been very happy when she saw Lily back. Especially after she was informed of Lily's injury and especial treatment that she would require while she was home. In her point of view, Lily already received special treatment. Their parents had hired a personal maid for Lily, to help her with whatever needs she had. Petunia was not too happy about it.
"I'm leaving for just a couple of days." Lily quietly said. She was hurt at Petunia's behavior. She had always felt dislike from Petunia but on the last years her dislike only seem to grow. Lily couldn't understand why.
"Not enough." Petunia snapped. "At least you will not be here when Vernon brings her sister to visit. I don't want Marge to have a look at you."
"I'm sure you will enjoy her visit."
"Now that you will be gone, yes I will."
Silence filled the room. Lily didn't want to talk to her sister anymore, she would leave the room if she could, but she had no choice but to stay put.
"Ah, saying goodbye to Lily are you Petunia. Don't worry, she will be back enough and walking this time, I wager." Said Mr. Evans entering the room in high spirits.
Lily smiled, glad that she didn't have to be alone with Petunia once more.
"Ready Princess?" At Lily's nod, Mr. Evans gathered her in his arms and left the room behind. "How do you feel?"
"I'm fine Daddy."
Mrs. Evans was waiting for them at the bottom of the staircase.
"Oh good, we need to leave soon if we want to make it on time. Isn't this exciting Lily? Who would've thought that there were specialists of muggle training in a magical hospital?"
"He seems nice." Said Lily, she knew her parents liked the doctor who was treating her.
"Oh he seems superb." Exclaimed Mrs. Evans.
"Careful Mum, you are going to make Daddy jealous." Lily giggled.
Her father laughed. "I'm in constant terror that your mother will leave me for this handsome young doctor." He teased winking at his wife.
"Oh you." Mrs. Evans exclaimed with a laugh.
It didn't take long to reach the hospital. Lily passed a fun trip listening to her parents tease each other. She was happy that they were in good spirits. From the moment they left Hogwarts the Evans had been worried and the atmosphere at home had been cheerless. Things were going back to normal, she thought, and if things went right, by this time next week she would be back home and ready to walk.
Lily was very surprised when she met the doctor for the first time last week. When they had first arrived at St. Mungos, she had been tested and examined by a variety of doctors. They had almost given up hope and had started to make plans to look among muggle hospitals for a specialist in the field. On the day they had decided to tell the administration that they wouldn't be coming back, they had been introduced to a new doctor. He was in his mid thirties, blond hair, gray eyes, almost as tall as Mr. Evans who at his 6'5" towered over many men. Lily and Mrs. Evans had been enchanted by his manners and charming personality. Mr. Evans was very suspicious and wary of his skill. What kind of doctor would be that charming? But when they were told of his training they had been very impressed.
Mr. Darcy was muggle born, after graduation from Hogwarts he had gone into training in magical medicine. After he completed his training he had decided to continue studying medicine, but he had nothing else to learn from the magical world. With the help of the Ministry of Magic, he was accepted in Oxford University where he completed his medical degree. At his return to the magical world he decided to put his knowledge into practice, as a result of his combined efforts he had developed treatment for maladies that had been too tricky to treat with magic and where only muggle medicine could help.
During all the time Lily had been examined and tested, he had been studying her case and had finally found a way to help her. The Evans were excited, they hadn't been aware that Muggle knowledge could have been combined with magical skill. But they didn't care what way it was done as long as Lily would be able to walk once more.
This morning, Dr. Darcy was waiting for them near the entrance to the hospital. Because the Evans were muggles a special charm had to be performed every time they neared the hospital in order for them to enter. They had become used to it, and Mr. Evans thought of it as an adventure that allowed him to learn more about the world his daughter belonged to.
The car stopped in front of an old, broken down building. It looked near collapse and full of trash.
"Ah, there is my favorite patient. How are you doing this morning Lily?" Said Dr. Darcy with a smile as he neared the car pushing a wheel chair.
"I'm doing good." She answered with a smile. She definitely had gotten a soft spot for Dr. Darcy.
"Excellent. What about you my dear Mrs. Evans, you are looking more beautiful than ever." He winked.
Mrs. Evans giggled. "Really Doctor, if I was some years younger I would throw my hat your way."
"If you were some years younger my dear, I would've let you go. You are making me jealous Doctor." Laughed Mr. Evans, he didn't seem to mind the flirtatious nature of the young medic.
Doctor Darcy laughed and shook his head. The small group walked toward the door. White washed walls. Pristine floors. Nurses and doctors walking from one place to another. All this and more met their eyes. The Evans had become accustomed at the hectic pace the hospital seemed to run. They had become well known to the staff, and as they passed, they were greeted by all.
"Good luck Lily." One nurse said.
"Hello Lily." A medic called.
"You are looking wonderful Lily."
"You seemed to have acquired quite a following. I hope your boyfriend treats you kind otherwise someone will steal you away." Tease Dr. Darcy.
Lily and her parents laughed, but she was still hurt to think that James had not written, not even to ask how she was doing. But she wasn't going to think about it, she wanted to be happy about finally being treated and be able to walk.
Dr. Darcy led the Evans to a room reserved for Lily. Flowers adorned the tables around the white washed walls. The linen on the bed had been turned down and made ready for Lily.
"As you can see, the room is all ready for you." Said Dr. Darcy once they had settled in the room.
"Thank you doctor. When will she be prepared for the treatment?" Mr. Evans asked. Now that they were here he was getting nervous about this, so many thing could go wrong.
"She will go into surgery tomorrow morning. So make sure you get enough sleep Lily, I don't want you worrying about anything." Said Dr. Darcy looking seriously at Lily.
"I will. Don't worry doctor." Lily said with a smile. She was getting worried as well.
"How does the procedure work Doctor?" Mrs. Evans asked what was in everyone's mind.
"It's a fairly easy procedure. We will use a sleeping charm on Lily, also a numbing spell, that way she won't feel a thing. Once she is in the operating room she will be face down on the table, we have designed a special table for her to be comfortable. We will open up the affected area and work on the damaged bones and cartilage. Unlike muggle medicine, we won't use any equipment other than our wands. Old Ollivanders has made special wands for us for more dexterity and easily handling while operating."
"Will it be safe?" Asked Mr. Evans.
"More safer than the muggle version I wager, there is no need to worry about germs and such." Said Dr. Darcy with a smile.
"That's good to know." Sighed Mrs. Evans in relief.
"How long will it be doctor until we know if the procedure was a success?" Mr. Evans looked at his daughter. It saddened to see her like this, he couldn't handle the fact that his athletic daughter was now trapped in a wheel chair.
"I'm not sure how long it will be, but the sooner we get some response the sooner we can begin a strict physical therapy program and get her muscles strong enough to handle her weight once more."
"Oh this is so exciting!" Exclaimed Mrs. Evans hugging Lily.
Dr. Darcy laughed. "Well get some sleep Lily, we will begin at 7 tomorrow morning." And he left the room.
"I'm nervous." Said Lily in a shaky voice.
"Don't worry Princess, everything will be fine." Said Mr. Evans kissing her cheek.
"We will be here if you need us." Responded Mrs. Evans. Lily smiled and soon after she was sleeping soundly. **** In a sunny parlor room, Mrs. Susan Potter was reading an owl she had just received from a friend. She soon looked up when she heard the footsteps of her son followed by tiny running steps. She smiled. She was glad to have her remaining family with her.
"Hello mother, how was your day?" James said as soon as he entered the room. He leaned to kiss her cheek before turning to get hold of the twins who had entered the room at great speed and were in danger of running into a piece of furniture and hurt themselves.
Mrs. Potter smiled at the site of her son with her granddaughters. He had grown up so much since he returned from Hogwarts. Taking up after his father was hard for him, she knew that, but he had been doing so well. The tenants of the estate had readily accepted him and he had gained their respect in a really short time. He had begun calling her mother instead of mum, she knew it made him feel more grown up and she didn't begrudge him that. He could call her however he liked.
He was so good with the twins as well. He had been their favorite uncle before, now they simply adored him. Elizabeth did good in naming him guardian of the girls, she thought. The only thing that saddened her was the lack of spirits he had shown. She knew that something had happened with Lily. She had seen James reading notes from everybody at Hogwarts, except Lily. What had happened?
He had begun spending the afternoon taking long walks. She didn't know what he had been doing, but she readily remembered the talk she had with the Head Gardener the day before.
"He has a garden Mistress." He had said.
"A garden? Which garden?" She had asked.
"The one that is surrounded, you remember, the one with the key."
"What is he doing there?"
"We don't know Madam. He asked for a blocking charm to be put around it so that nobody could apparate inside and asked for only one key to be made and that's the one he carries."
"I wonder what he is up to."
"Do you want us to keep an eye on him?"
"No that's all right, perhaps all he needs is a little solitude."
"Very well Madam. Do you need anything else?"
"No Walton, that is all, you can return to your duties now."
The gardener had bowed and left the room soon after.
Looking now at her son she wondered once more about that garden. What is he doing in there? And why put a blocking charm around it? What was the big secret about that garden? She knew she would not ask him about it. If he wanted to keep it locked so be it.
A servant had come in with a tray of tea and biscuits. The girls squealed. They knew that cook would place some cookies specially made for them. Mrs. Potter was afraid that the girls would become quite spoiled.
"Cookies."
"Cookies."
They squealed.
"Settle down Francesca, Cassandra, I will tell cook not to make any more cookies if you don't comport yourselves." Said James in a stern voice. But he ruined the effect as he smiled soon after.
The girls listened to him, however, and sat in the couch next to their grandmother, waiting patiently to be served.
Mrs. Potter smiled. Perhaps they wouldn't be spoiled after all.
"How was your day James? It seems that you were kept busy with these two." She said.
"We went for a ride. We had to take the horses, I wanted to check on the tenants at the south of the estate. I took them up with me. Mrs. Manning needed a break. These two can be a handful sometimes." James said with a smile.
"Yes I can see that." She said smiling indulgently as she watched her granddaughters eating their cookies and sipping their milk. "How is school work?" She said turning back to him.
"Coming along. I had another owl from Tobias today. It seemed that the seeker was injured on the last game and he wanted some advise on the candidates for the position."
"Oh? And do you have some comments on them."
"Assuredly. Most of them tried out for me before."
"When are you planning to go back to Hogwarts?" She asked. Even though she wanted to keep him beside her, she knew that it would be best if he went back to school and be with his friends. He needed to get into the midst of things and get his mind off his troubles. He needed Quidditch. But most importantly, he needed Lily.
James shrugged. "I don't know. I could finish by home study, there is still a lot of things to do here that I can't drop and let them wait for me to be done with school."
"There are only five weeks left for school to be done. Things can wait for a while. Sanders could take care of things while you are away, he is a good manager, your father had great confidence in him. If something arises, he could owl you and let you know."
"I don't know mother, let me think on it."
Mrs. Potter dropped the subject, but she planned on writing some letters. Maybe his friends could have more success than she did. Maybe if she wrote to Lily? She hadn't been in contact with Rose for a while, maybe it was time for her to contact her again.
Mrs. Potter sipped her tea, watching her son teasing the small girls. The room was filled with their laughter and high spirits. It was time for them to go on with their lives. Aliaster and Elizabeth would've wanted it that way. ****
Next day was bright and sunny. Lily sat on the hospital bed looking at the sun set through her window. She had asked the nurse to give her a sleeping spell so she would be relaxed for the procedure. Her parents had yet to arrive but she knew that it won't be long until they came. The procedure was scheduled to begin in a couple of hours, and she had been awake for the last three. But she wasn't tired. She felt calm and optimistic. If by any chance the operation wasn't a success, she would continue with her life. She would finish her training via owl and become a qualified witch at the end of five weeks.
She heard hurried steps coming toward her room. It seemed that her parents had just arrived.
"Good morning Princess. You are up early." Said Mr. Evans the moment he saw her sitting up in bed.
"Morning Daddy. I wanted to see the sun set." She said with a smile.
"Ready Hun? Everything will be fine, you'll see." Said Mrs. Evans as she kissed her daughter's cheek.
"I know mum."
"Petunia won't be coming darling, she had to stay and take care of her guest." Said Mrs. Evans pursing her lips. She was still hurt that Petunia had chosen to stay behind instead of being here to give moral support to Lily.
"That's all right mum." Lily said somewhat sadly.
"Don't worry Princess. You will see her again soon." Said Mr. Evans misinterpreting the sadness he heard in her voice.
"I know Daddy, don't let it bother you." She said trying to sound bright.
"I see you got some owls since yesterday." Said Mrs. Evans as she looked around to see the cards and flowers that adorned every piece of furniture in the room.
"Yes, I awoke to find them here." Lily said with a smile. She was happy that her friends had remembered her on this day. But was somewhat sad to see that James had not send anything at all.
"Has the doctor been in here at all?" Asked Mr. Potter bringing a chair near the bed so he could be near his daughter.
"Not yet. The nurse was in but only for a minute."
"I hope he gets here soon." Said Mrs. Evans. She wanted this to be done soon.
"Don't worry love, it's still early, he will arrive in a moment." Said Mr. Evans. Even though he wanted the procedure to start, he still wanted to spend some extra time with Lily.
The Evans sat around the bed, keeping Lily entertained and letting their mind think of anything else that wasn't about the procedure. Soon it was time for Lily to get prepared.
"Hello, hello! How is our favorite patient this morning? Oh, good morning Mr. Evans, Mrs. Evans, wasn't aware you were here already." Greeted Dr. Darcy as he came into the room.
"Good morning doctor." They said.
"I will commence to prepare Lily, you are welcome to stay if you wish, but once we take her into the OR you won't be able to follow." Dr. Darcy said taking his wand out.
"That's all right doctor, we will be waiting." Said Mr. Evans.
"You can stay here or you can go to the waiting room, it is your choice of course. We will be bringing her in here as soon as the sleeping spell wears off. You won't be seeing her until then."
"Very well doctor, thank you." Said Mrs. Evans.
The couple watched closely as Dr. Darcy spoke to Lily, explaining the procedure once more. When Lily nodded her agreement, Dr. Darcy waved his wand as he said an incantation. Lily promptly fell asleep. Nurses came into the room soon after they levitated her into a cart and pulled it out of the room. Dr. Darcy stayed behind for a moment.
"Do not worry, we will do all that we can. Your daughter will walk again." He said. His usual sunny smile and charming manner being replaced by an expression of confidence.
"Thank you doctor. For everything you have done for her." Said Mr. Evans shaking the doctor's hand.
"I enjoy what I do Mr. Evans. That is why I became a doctor. I will see you as soon as the procedure is over. Will you stay here or go to the waiting room?"
"We will stay here doctor." Said Mrs. Evans.
Dr. Darcy nodded. "A nurse will bring a telly in here, we have permission to charm it for your use. Keep you entertained as you wait."
"Thank you Doctor." Both said. And nervously watched the doctor leave the room.
"Don't worry love. Everything will be fine." Said Mr. Evans as he put his arms around his wife.
"I know, I know." And the sat on the bed ready to wait for the doctor to come to them. ****
It was a day like any other at Hogwarts. Sirius was sitting on a couch in the common room waiting for the others to appear, ready to go down to breakfast.
"There you are, why didn't you wait for us in the room?" Said Peter as soon as he and Remus stepped down from the dorms.
"I'm waiting for you, just didn't want to do it in the room." Said Sirius. They heard the girls coming down the stairs and turned to watch them as they did so.
"Good morning." Said Katie with a bright smile.
"Morning to you too." Said Remus.
"What are you smiling about?" Asked Sirius as he pecked her cheek with a kiss.
"Oh, I was just telling Emma about the last note I sent Lily." She said returning his kiss.
"Hmmm.I was just thinking of her. Today is her surgery isn't it?" He asked.
"Well I hope it is today because I sent her a gift to the hospital and I don't want to think of that gift going around all over the city because I sent it to the wrong place." Exclaimed Peter.
"Not to worry Peter, you got it right, it is today." Said Emma.
"Do you think James will be there?" Asked Remus.
"Well, you wrote to him about it so I suppose he will." Said Sirius.
"I didn't write to him about it, I thought Peter was supposed to." Remus exclaimed.
"Don't look at me, I told you I wouldn't say a think I never know how to say these things, I thought Sirius was." Responded Peter.
"Oh lord, I didn't write anything about it." Said Sirius hitting his head with his hand.
"We should've written Emma. But we were so sure you boys would do so." Snapped Katie.
"We could still tell him. Send him an owl right now." Proposed Peter.
"We are too late, he wouldn't get there on time. The point was for him to go early enough so she would see him there." Said Sirius in exasperation.
"Well, what can we do now?" Said Emma.
"I don't know." Said Remus running his hand on his hair.
"You are a sorry lot, we asked you to do one thing, one thing only and you blow it. Honestly!" Snapped Katie and flounced out of the room. Emma close behind, shaking her head.
"She is right we blew it." Said Sirius sitting with his face on his hands.
"We have to think of something, let's go to breakfast then we'll start on it." Said Peter.
"He is right Sirius, let's go." Said Remus pulling Sirius from the chair and leading him out of the room.
The Great Hall was full as it always was. And at the usual time, owls flew into the Hall delivering the mail to their respective owners.
The five friends opened their mail and read through the notes they had received.
"I just received a note from Mrs. Potter." Said Sirius with surprise.
"So did I." Said Remus.
"Hmmm.she says that James doesn't want to come back to Hogwarts." Said Emma.
"Well we got to get him to come back. I mean, the ball won't be the same without him." Exclaimed Peter.
"Don't worry Peter, one way or another he will be back." Said Remus.
The friends nodded and returned to their food. Their minds full of plans. ****
The Evans waited patiently in the room, it had been three hours since Lily had been taken and no news had been brought to them.
"What is taking them so long?" Exclaimed Mr. Evans as he started pacing around the room.
"Relax Edward, you really don't expect them to do everything in a hurry did you?"
"Well no, but they still could've brought some news to us by now."
"Come here, sit on this chair and watch some telly."
"I don't want to watch the telly."
"Well, you are going to anyways. You are making me nervous."
"Oh very well." Mr. Evans grumbled and sat on a chair in front of the television the nurses had brought in to the room.
"Look at all these notes! Some of them are very sweet." Exclaimed Mrs. Evans who was sitting reading the cards and notes sent with the flowers.
"Hmph, what I want to know is why James isn't here."
"I wondered that as well, but I suppose that with his father's death things have been very difficult for him and Susan."
"I suppose you are right. We haven't written to Susan with our respects."
"I wrote her a small note the day we arrived at Hogwarts, but I haven't written back."
"Maybe is time that we do so."
"You are right, it is."
The Evans were silent for a moment, each lost in their own thoughts. When they suddenly heard a tapping sound from the window.
"What is that?" Asked Mr. Evans.
"It's an owl, on the window. See it?"
"I'll open the window."
As soon as Mr. Evans opened the window the owl flew into the room coming to rest on the bed.
"Who sent it?"
"Open it, let's found out." Said Mr. Evans.
Mrs. Evans quickly neared the owl and took the letter. As soon as the letter was taken, the owl flew out the window. Mrs. Evans opened the letter and exclaimed.
"It's from Susan."
"Susan? What does she say?"
"She apologizes for not writing before, due to all the ups and downs of the last couple of days." Mrs. Evans said as she read the note.
"Well yes, that is understandable."
"She says that they are getting better, James has taken up the reins and doing very well."
"Hmph! Well if he is doing better now he should be here."
"Edward! That poor boy has gone through really rough times. But Susan says that he has fallen through some kind of depression. He doesn't want to return to Hogwarts."
"Well? What does she want us to do about it?" Mr. Evans grumbled.
"She asks if we could talk to Lily, it seems that she can't get hold of her. Do you think she doesn't know about what happened to Lily?" She asked with surprise to her husband.
He sighed. "I suppose it is possible after all that had happened James might have thought that she didn't have to learn of it. We didn't tell Lily about what happened to Aliaster and his daughter."
"You are right. Do you think we should tell her?"
"We might as well."
Mrs. Evans nodded and sat at a desk in one side of the room, where she found parchment, ink and quills and started to write a letter.
Mr. Evans started to pace the room once more, walking from one side of the room to the other.
"Edward please sit and watch the telly, you are making me nervous." Exclaimed his wife with exasperation.
"Oh very well." Mr. Evans finally sat on a chair and turned on the television.
"Good, now stay there."
The Evans waited for hours after the letter to Susan Potter had been sent. Mrs. Evans finally fell asleep on one of the couches while Mr. Evans continued flipping through channels looking for something that would take his mind of his daughter as he waited.
The sun was setting and the room was turning dark when the door finally opened. Mr. Evans jumped from his seat bumping into the couch his wife was sleeping as he did so.
"What? What happened?" She asked groggily.
"Sorry love. Someone is here." He whispered. They heard voices in the hall and the knob turning. Both waited expectantly to see who it was.
As the door opened and the doctor came into the room, both expelled the breath they didn't know they were holding. Both quickly stood and approached him.
"How did it go doctor? How is Lily?" Mrs. Evans asked wringing her hands.
"She is doing fine. She is still under the spell and won't be coming to until a few hours from now, we will bring her in here as soon as the spell wears off."
"How did the surgery go?" Mr. Evans asked once more. He was nervous of the fact that the doctor had chosen to answer the other question but not that one.
"Perhaps you should sit, this will take a while to explain." He said.
The Evans felt their stomach sink, did this mean that Lily wasn't going to walk? They sat and waited for the doctor to continue.
"Now, the surgery went on without a hitch. We relieved the pressure caused by the bones and the damaged cartilage, it looks like everything should be fine now, but we must wait. As soon as Lily wakes up I will do a preliminary exam, don't worry if nothing happens, sometimes it takes a while for the brain to realize that it's receiving messages from impulses it hasn't sensed in a while. I will do another exam tomorrow, we will know then if the surgery was a success or not."
"But, what are the odds that it went well?" Asked Mrs. Evans sitting at the edge of her seat.
"I like the odds, I don't see why she shouldn't be able to walk. But we still need to make sure that she will do so. As soon as we confirm, I will schedule her to start on physical therapy."
"How long will she need it?" Asked Mr. Evans.
"As long as she needs it. If she lost a large amount of muscle on her legs then we will need to build that muscle up before we get her to try to walk again. But if the muscle loss is not great then we will start her on walking exercises right away. We must wait and see until she regains consciousness."
"Very well doctor, thank you." Said Mrs. Evans. Dr. Darcy nodded and soon quit the room.
The Evans turned to each other. They embraced. Drawing strength from each other. Their daughter had to walk again.
They waited for two hours more. Dinner had been brought to them as nurses had come in to prepare the bed. The Evans were on pins and needles waiting for their daughter to be brought to the room. Soon enough, they saw the doctor enter once more, this time, he was followed by a couple of nurses levitating a stretcher with Lily sleeping on it.
The Evans stayed silent as they saw the nurses levitate their daughter and settle her on to the bed. They tucked her in and walked out of the room, taking the empty stretcher with them.
"Right. I will examine her now, you can stay here if you wish." The doctor said.
The Evans sat on the couch, where they had perfect view of the doctor and Lily. The doctor turned the blankets down and started checking Lily with his wand. They saw him mutter an incantation and the next moment a three dimensional x-ray image appeared in front of him. The Evans gasped, they had never thought they would see the like.
Dr. Darcy smiled and inquired. "Do you want to see it, I can explain what we did."
The Evans eagerly neared the bed and watched in awe as the imaged revolved in front of them.
"You see these bones right here?" Dr. Darcy asked. At the Evans' nod he continued. "There were causing pressure against this cartilage right here. See it? That was what was causing the nerve impulses from getting to the brain. Now what we did was this. We opened her from this point." At this moment another imaged appeared of Lily's back. "From here to here. We proceeded until we got to the bones right here." Dr. Darcy continued to explain, pointing to the images as he did so. The Evans listened to his explanation attentively.
The explanation lasted only minutes but it gave the Evans an accurate idea of what their daughter had gone through. Now they felt confidant that the doctors had done everything that was humanly possible and they were sure that their daughter would recover soon.
After the doctor made the images disappear, he continued proving Lily's legs. The Evans stood by the bed, watching every move that the doctor made. It wasn't that they didn't trust him, they just didn't want to miss anything.
Then something happened that made Mrs. Evans gasp, Mr. Evans swear and Dr. Darcy chuckle. When Dr. Darcy pinched one of Lily's toes. Lily's foot twitched. When he proded with his wand. She kicked.
"Excellent. I think it's safe to say that your daughter will walk very soon." Said Dr. Darcy with a bright smile.
Mrs. Evans turned to her husband who gathered her in his arms as she sobbed with happiness. ****
Next morning seemed sunnier and warmer to the Evans. Probably because of their high spirits and buoyant emotions. Lily was going to walk once more, and they just couldn't be any happier. Lily had only woken up for a moment the night before. She had still felt groggy and tired, and had fallen asleep right away.
Now, Mr. and Mrs. Evans were waiting for Lily to wake up. They were sitting on chairs beside the bed. Mr. Evans sat reading a copy of the Daily Prophet, which he found on the table of the room, and Mrs. Evans was busy knitting.
"Would you look at that? These pictures move. I wonder how they do that." Mr. Evans exclaimed.
"Well dear, it is a magical newspaper, I imagine that all magical pictures move. You must ask Lily about it, she might know."
"Hmmm.I'm quite envious of Lily. Hogwarts seemed like a fascinating place, I would've liked my school years better if I had gone to a place like that." Mr. Evans replied.
"It did look interesting. I'm sorry we didn't have a chance to see more of it, not that we saw much, we were too busy keeping Lily company in the infirmary to pay attention to the rest of the castle."
"I'm sure that we might see more of it for Lily's graduation. I'm sure that she will want to return to Hogwarts once she recuperates."
"I'm sure you are right." Responded Mrs. Evans with a sigh.
"Look at this, they even get our kind of news in here." Exclaimed Mr. Evans as he continued to read the paper.
"Well I suppose there are some things that happen in our world that might influence theirs."
"Perhaps. I wonder what this Dark Menace is all about. They mention it a lot in here."
"Well what do the reports say, they must explain why they are reporting about it."
"Well yes they do, but I don't understand all about this You-Know-Who business." He complained.
"Well maybe you can ask Lily about it."
"It seems that I have a lot to ask her about."
Mrs. Evans laughed. Usually, her husband only got exasperated by what he read on the newspaper during election times.
They heard Lily stirring on the bed. They put aside the newspaper and the knitting and turned to watch Lily closely. They saw Lily's eyes open slowly. And then she smiled when she caught sight of her parents.
"Good morning."
"Morning Princess." Replied Mr. Evans with a smile and kissed his daughter's brow.
"Morning dear." Said Mrs. Evans as soon as her husband made room for her to greet Lily. "How are you feeling?"
"Much better. But I am hungry."
"Don't worry, somebody will be here soon with some food." Mrs. Evans said. She was glad to hear that Lily had gotten her appetite back. ****
Mrs. Potter sat at the table sorting through her mail as she ate. She was alone at the moment but knew that her son would be joining her soon. One note gained her attention. It was written in St. Mungos's stationary. She didn't know of anybody who was in the hospital. Who could it be from? As she reached for it to open it, she heard footsteps coming toward her. She turned toward the door and smiled when James came into the room.
"Good morning mother. Did you sleep well?" He asked as he leaned to kiss her cheek.
"Oh yes, most comfortable. How about you dear, did you have a good night?"
"Yes." He said as he sat at the other side of the table. Roberts stood at his side with a plate in one hand and a small silver tray on the other. After James took the plate and started to eat, Roberts presented the tray with a bow. James took it and saw his mail piled on it. "Thank you Roberts."
Roberts bowed once more and turned to stand by the table awaiting for any orders. Mrs. Potter had seen this ritual through sad eyes. James reminded her so much of her husband. His appearance, his manners, even the way he laughed, he had inherited all from his father. How many times had they sat in the same manner and gone through the same ritual that had just been performed.
She shook her head when she noticed that he had been calling to her.
"Something wrong mother?" James asked looking at her with worry in his eyes.
"No dear, just lost in thought." She said with a smile. "What are your plans for today?"
"I have to go to the village and make sure that the materials are here in time for the summer estate feast. And I promised the twins I would take them to the shops, they want a ribbon or something, I'm not sure of what really."
"You are going to spoil them."
"Well they deserve to be"." He said with a smile.
"Let's see if you will say the same when they are older." She said with a laugh.
James smiled and turned to look at his mail. He noticed that he had more than he usually did. And it was all from Hogwarts! Intrigued he started opening the envelopes.
Mrs. Potter watched him closely from beneath her eyelids. She hoped that her notes had made an impact on James' friends and that they would write to incite him into going back. She turned to her own mail and reached for the letter from St. Mungos that had attracted her attention before.
She carefully opened the envelope and started to read the note. Her eyebrows lifted and her eyes widened in surprise.
"James, why didn't you tell me?" She yelled.
James startled dropped his fork and letter on to the table. "What? What did I do now?" He said.
"Why didn't you tell me about Lily?"
James was extremely surprised. Was she talking about their break up or about the accident? "What exactly about Lily?"
"Well about her accident of course, what else is there?"
"Nothing else, as far as I can say."
"Well? Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because right after it happened Dad died and it just flew out of my head."
"Oh that's poppy cock and you know it. Really James, why didn't you tell me?"
"Mother, I don't want to talk about it."
"Hmph, that the right way to treat a girl, just ignore her when she most needs you."
"Mother."
"Especially now, when she is at St. Mungos."
"What? What is she doing at St. Mungos?"
"Well she is going through a surgery to help her walk again. In fact, Rose wrote this yesterday, so the surgery was done yesterday."
"What? Why wasn't I told about this? I'm going to kill that lot, I told them to keep me informed of everything that happened and they don't tell me about the most important thing!" He fumed.
"Well, at least I know that you care."
"Of course I care for her. I'm not an insensitive idiot."
"Why haven't you written to her? Rose says that they haven't received word from you."
"Mother, I don't want to talk about it."
"Well do you care for her or not, you certainly become a changeling when it comes to this subject."
"Ok, fine, do you want to know why I don't write? She doesn't want to see me, she doesn't want to hear from me. I was told not to get in contact with her because I agitate her. It was my fault that she had this accident, and we are not a couple any more. Happy?" James threw his napkin on his plate and stormed off the room.
"Oh dear. You always told me that I was pushy Aliaster. I blew it didn't I?" She said out loud.
Mrs. Potter sadly sat at the table hearing the front door slam a few minutes later. The butler and the footmen assisting him stood by the wall, with expressionless faces but with minds twirling. ****
"Well Lily, everything is as it should be. We will start you with physical therapy tomorrow, and we will have you walking soon." Said Dr. Darcy with a smile.
"Where will she do the therapy?" Asked Mrs. Evans as she took hold of her daughter's hand. She was afraid that it would hurt Lily, but she knew that it was best for her.
"She will need to return here everyday. I talked to the Ministry of Magic, because yours is a muggle household your house is not connected with the Floo Network, but because these are special circumstances they will make an exemption and connect you as long as Lily comes here for treatment. A nurse will Floo to your house every day at 10:00 in the morning to bring Lily here and she will return her home an hour or so later."
"When can she go home?" Asked Mr. Evans.
"She can leave today. Unlike muggle surgery there is no danger of sutures opening. She will need to rest and keep still for the rest of the day, but besides that there is nothing else to be done until tomorrow."
"Thank you Doctor, we really appreciate all you have done for Lily."
"Don't mention it, that's what I'm here for." He said with a bright smile.
Lily smiled. She was happy that everything had gone all right. She was also happy to note all the gifts that her friends had sent her. But she missed word from a certain black, messy haired boy.
"Well now, I'm going to give directions to the nurse and you can get ready to leave if you wish." The doctor said interrupting Lily's thoughts.
"Thank you doctor." The Evans said.
As soon as the doctor left the room the Evans turned to look at each other with huge smiles and soon the room was full of activity as they readied Lily to leave the hospital. ****
James stood in silence in the locked garden. It was a barren sight. No plants, a pool full of dirty water, and small gnomes running around. His gardeners wondered what he wanted with a garden like that. He wondered what he was doing with the garden.
He sighed deeply. He knew he should go back to the house and apologize to his mother. It wasn't every day that he lost his temper that way. But he wanted to be alone. He wasn't ready to see his mother yet.
He spotted a bench underneath a big oak near the pool. He slowly made his way to the bench and cleaned it with his handkerchief and sat.
What am I doing here? He thought, what I'm going to do? He missed Lily so much and wanted to see her so badly, but she didn't want to see him. She didn't want to know a thing about him. The others would've said something if she did. She went to London to undergo a treatment and he wasn't even told. What more proof did he need to know that she didn't want him around?
He couldn't help but remember all those precious moments he had spent at her side. The House Party. The Halloween Festival. All those planning meetings. He had enjoyed those meetings most of all. But the one thing he would always keep engraved on his mind would be that time in the greenhouse, where they kissed for the first time.
She had reached the tree and as she turned to look at James her robes got snagged by the tree. "Oh no! I can't get lose." She exclaimed as she tried to release her robes.
"Here let me help you, you are going to rip your robes if you keep doing that." Laughed James as he saw her struggle against the tree.
"I don't see the humor in it." Lily said with a glare toward James.
"Of course you don't, but you would if you were in my shoes." Chuckled James, he reached for the snagging branch but his efforts were impeded by Lily's movement. "Would you keep still? I can't release you if you are moving." He said with an exasperated tone.
"Sorry." She said and kept still while James tried to release her. Lily was very aware of James nearness. She could smell the scent of his soap mixed with the cologne that he used. She tried to keep her mind on something else, but her senses kept coming back to it.
"There you go." James said with a sigh of relief. He looked down at Lily and what he saw made him hold his breath.
Her eyes had turned smoky green and James felt like he was being pulled into the pools of her eyes. He breathed deeply and slowly lowered his head.
Their lips met. He kissed her slowly and when he felt her sigh he deepened the kiss.
He would remember that day for all the days of his life. ****
Lily was so happy to be home. The only dark spot of the day was her sister.
"So the Princess is back home is she?" Said Petunia with a leer the moment their parents had left Lily's room. "And it seems nothing was done to you. Now I'm going to have to bear with you until I leave."
"Nice to see you too Petunia."
"Hmph, well at least you cannot be seen as long as you stay here. Vernon is coming to dinner tonight and I don't want you to be there. Marge will be leaving tonight."
"Don't worry Pet, I don't want to see that pig fiancé of yours."
"How dare you!" And Petunia stalked off the room.
"I dare to do what I want in my room!" Yelled Lily after Petunia's retreating steps.
Well, at least I won't be bored. She thought with a smile.
A/N: As I said there are two more chapters for seventh year to be over. I hope you have enjoyed my story so far. Don't forget to review!
Chapter 18 ~ Seventh Year Memories
James stood on his bedchamber looking out the windows. His mother had moved from the master's chamber into a smaller room. She said the room held too many memories she could not deal with at the moment. James was now master of all that had belonged to his father. Including his sleeping quarters.
James felt a bit strange to move into his parent's room but his mother had insisted and he didn't want to be difficult with her. His small nieces had just arrived from Italy under the care of their nursemaid, whose care they had been under since the tragedy.
At the moment Lotty, his father's personal elf now serving as his own, was putting the finishing touches to the room.
"Lotty is done Master James, is there something else?" The elf asked as soon as he returned from the dressing room after putting all the clothes in order.
"Nothing Lotty. I will take breakfast downstairs. Do you mind asking Minnie if Mother will join me?"
"Of course Master James."
James continued looking out the window. The panoramic scene covered half of his estate. Gryffindor Manor was a large house, stately and old. It had been build centuries ago and modernized very often according to the whims of the present master. It was hard for James to think of it as his. He had known that eventually he would inherit it, but he had hoped that he would do so later in life, not so soon.
He heard a racket coming from the servants' stairs. A scolding voice and high pitch giggles. James smiled, the twins certainly had brought new life to the silent house.
The door burst open and two small girls run into the room.
"Uncle James."
"Uncle James."
"What is it Cassie, Francie, is there a ghoul after you?" He exclaimed in mock horror.
The girls giggled. "No Uncle James." "You are silly." They said.
"What is it then?" He asked kneeling in front of them.
"Look."
"We found it."
"In the garden."
"Near the pond."
The girls usually finished each other sentences. Some people found it confusing, others thought of it as charming. But their family didn't even think about it.
"Let's see what you have got there." James said looking at a tiny bundle held in Francie's hands.
He peeled the cloth surrounding whatever creature they had found. The girls stood quiet, holding their breath so as not to scare it. When the cloth had been peeled a tiny furry creature was exposed.
"What is it?"
"Uncle James."
"It's a baby rabbit. Was it alone?"
"Yes."
"We looked for his friends."
"We didn't find them."
"Can we keep him?"
"Please Uncle James."
The girls looked at him with their blue eyes trustingly and wide open. James loved the girls and couldn't help but want to keep them happy. He knew he was going to spoil them.
"Well, what does your nurse say about that?" He asked, he didn't want to seem too forthcoming. The little devils would take advantage of him.
The girls turned to look at the small woman standing by the open door.
"I'm sorry Master James, the girls escaped from me and I couldn't catch them."
"Don't worry Mrs. Manning. I know how slippery these two can be. But what do you think, should they keep the rabbit?"
"I don't know Master James, a pet is a big responsibility. It has to be fed and washed and taken care of. Do you think the girls could handle it?"
The girls were looking in horror at the two adults.
"Oh please Uncle James."
"We will take care of him."
"Please."
"Pretty please."
James looked at the small girls. A smile tugging at his lips. They were the exact replica of his sister. They had Elizabeth's black curls, her bright blue eyes and her bubbling personality. From their father they inherited his tanned skin color and his curiosity of all human life.
"Very well, you can keep him. But you are in charge of it. I don't want to see nurse looking after it for you because you didn't bother t do so." He said shaking his finger at them.
The girls brightened and hugged James by the legs.
"Yay Uncle James."
"We will take care of it."
James laughed and hugged them back.
"Well now you rapscallions. Let's go to breakfast, or have you eaten already?"
"We had bread with Jam."
"But we can keep you company."
They looked up to him with their bright eyes and James felt his heart do a summersault in his chest. He really missed his sister. But she had left him the most precious gifts she could ever leave him and he would take care of them and make his sister proud. "Let's go then."
The odd looking trio slowly made its way to the family dinning room. **** That same morning, Lily sat on a chair by the window. Her legs wrapped in blankets and an empty tray of food on a small table beside her.
She hated having to look at life pass her by. Sitting on a chair and not being able to do all the things she liked.
Hogwarts had been sending owls everyday with the lessons and assignments and she sent all her work back. She also received letters from her friends with the latest news of Hogwarts. She knew that because there had been no seventh year prefects Tobias Wood, Gryffindor Quidditch acting Captain and keeper, along with Evelyn O'Connel from Ravenclaw had been chosen Head Boy and Girl for the remainder of the year. She had received letters from both of them asking for her help and any input she might have for the plans that had been previously made for the upcoming events, especially the Seventh Year Ball. She knew that they had also contacted James on the subject and that he had kept in contact with them for the last couple of weeks. James. That's a name that she hadn't forgotten. It brought a wave of bittersweet memories and hopes. He hadn't written to her. But she held the hope that one day he would.
She had the feeling that people knew more about his situation than what she had been told. What could've happened?
The sound of her parents' car being brought forward snapped her out of her brooding. Her father would soon be coming for her. She was going to St. Mungos this morning, just as she had done several times for the last couple of weeks. Examinations, tests, she was bored of them but she knew she had to go through them. But at least today it would be different. She was going to start a new treatment today. Her bags were packed and she was ready to get rid off this chair that made her feel trapped and lifeless.
"So the Little Princess is leaving home once more." A mocking voice said from the door.
Lily turned to look at her sister's leering face. Petunia had not been very happy when she saw Lily back. Especially after she was informed of Lily's injury and especial treatment that she would require while she was home. In her point of view, Lily already received special treatment. Their parents had hired a personal maid for Lily, to help her with whatever needs she had. Petunia was not too happy about it.
"I'm leaving for just a couple of days." Lily quietly said. She was hurt at Petunia's behavior. She had always felt dislike from Petunia but on the last years her dislike only seem to grow. Lily couldn't understand why.
"Not enough." Petunia snapped. "At least you will not be here when Vernon brings her sister to visit. I don't want Marge to have a look at you."
"I'm sure you will enjoy her visit."
"Now that you will be gone, yes I will."
Silence filled the room. Lily didn't want to talk to her sister anymore, she would leave the room if she could, but she had no choice but to stay put.
"Ah, saying goodbye to Lily are you Petunia. Don't worry, she will be back enough and walking this time, I wager." Said Mr. Evans entering the room in high spirits.
Lily smiled, glad that she didn't have to be alone with Petunia once more.
"Ready Princess?" At Lily's nod, Mr. Evans gathered her in his arms and left the room behind. "How do you feel?"
"I'm fine Daddy."
Mrs. Evans was waiting for them at the bottom of the staircase.
"Oh good, we need to leave soon if we want to make it on time. Isn't this exciting Lily? Who would've thought that there were specialists of muggle training in a magical hospital?"
"He seems nice." Said Lily, she knew her parents liked the doctor who was treating her.
"Oh he seems superb." Exclaimed Mrs. Evans.
"Careful Mum, you are going to make Daddy jealous." Lily giggled.
Her father laughed. "I'm in constant terror that your mother will leave me for this handsome young doctor." He teased winking at his wife.
"Oh you." Mrs. Evans exclaimed with a laugh.
It didn't take long to reach the hospital. Lily passed a fun trip listening to her parents tease each other. She was happy that they were in good spirits. From the moment they left Hogwarts the Evans had been worried and the atmosphere at home had been cheerless. Things were going back to normal, she thought, and if things went right, by this time next week she would be back home and ready to walk.
Lily was very surprised when she met the doctor for the first time last week. When they had first arrived at St. Mungos, she had been tested and examined by a variety of doctors. They had almost given up hope and had started to make plans to look among muggle hospitals for a specialist in the field. On the day they had decided to tell the administration that they wouldn't be coming back, they had been introduced to a new doctor. He was in his mid thirties, blond hair, gray eyes, almost as tall as Mr. Evans who at his 6'5" towered over many men. Lily and Mrs. Evans had been enchanted by his manners and charming personality. Mr. Evans was very suspicious and wary of his skill. What kind of doctor would be that charming? But when they were told of his training they had been very impressed.
Mr. Darcy was muggle born, after graduation from Hogwarts he had gone into training in magical medicine. After he completed his training he had decided to continue studying medicine, but he had nothing else to learn from the magical world. With the help of the Ministry of Magic, he was accepted in Oxford University where he completed his medical degree. At his return to the magical world he decided to put his knowledge into practice, as a result of his combined efforts he had developed treatment for maladies that had been too tricky to treat with magic and where only muggle medicine could help.
During all the time Lily had been examined and tested, he had been studying her case and had finally found a way to help her. The Evans were excited, they hadn't been aware that Muggle knowledge could have been combined with magical skill. But they didn't care what way it was done as long as Lily would be able to walk once more.
This morning, Dr. Darcy was waiting for them near the entrance to the hospital. Because the Evans were muggles a special charm had to be performed every time they neared the hospital in order for them to enter. They had become used to it, and Mr. Evans thought of it as an adventure that allowed him to learn more about the world his daughter belonged to.
The car stopped in front of an old, broken down building. It looked near collapse and full of trash.
"Ah, there is my favorite patient. How are you doing this morning Lily?" Said Dr. Darcy with a smile as he neared the car pushing a wheel chair.
"I'm doing good." She answered with a smile. She definitely had gotten a soft spot for Dr. Darcy.
"Excellent. What about you my dear Mrs. Evans, you are looking more beautiful than ever." He winked.
Mrs. Evans giggled. "Really Doctor, if I was some years younger I would throw my hat your way."
"If you were some years younger my dear, I would've let you go. You are making me jealous Doctor." Laughed Mr. Evans, he didn't seem to mind the flirtatious nature of the young medic.
Doctor Darcy laughed and shook his head. The small group walked toward the door. White washed walls. Pristine floors. Nurses and doctors walking from one place to another. All this and more met their eyes. The Evans had become accustomed at the hectic pace the hospital seemed to run. They had become well known to the staff, and as they passed, they were greeted by all.
"Good luck Lily." One nurse said.
"Hello Lily." A medic called.
"You are looking wonderful Lily."
"You seemed to have acquired quite a following. I hope your boyfriend treats you kind otherwise someone will steal you away." Tease Dr. Darcy.
Lily and her parents laughed, but she was still hurt to think that James had not written, not even to ask how she was doing. But she wasn't going to think about it, she wanted to be happy about finally being treated and be able to walk.
Dr. Darcy led the Evans to a room reserved for Lily. Flowers adorned the tables around the white washed walls. The linen on the bed had been turned down and made ready for Lily.
"As you can see, the room is all ready for you." Said Dr. Darcy once they had settled in the room.
"Thank you doctor. When will she be prepared for the treatment?" Mr. Evans asked. Now that they were here he was getting nervous about this, so many thing could go wrong.
"She will go into surgery tomorrow morning. So make sure you get enough sleep Lily, I don't want you worrying about anything." Said Dr. Darcy looking seriously at Lily.
"I will. Don't worry doctor." Lily said with a smile. She was getting worried as well.
"How does the procedure work Doctor?" Mrs. Evans asked what was in everyone's mind.
"It's a fairly easy procedure. We will use a sleeping charm on Lily, also a numbing spell, that way she won't feel a thing. Once she is in the operating room she will be face down on the table, we have designed a special table for her to be comfortable. We will open up the affected area and work on the damaged bones and cartilage. Unlike muggle medicine, we won't use any equipment other than our wands. Old Ollivanders has made special wands for us for more dexterity and easily handling while operating."
"Will it be safe?" Asked Mr. Evans.
"More safer than the muggle version I wager, there is no need to worry about germs and such." Said Dr. Darcy with a smile.
"That's good to know." Sighed Mrs. Evans in relief.
"How long will it be doctor until we know if the procedure was a success?" Mr. Evans looked at his daughter. It saddened to see her like this, he couldn't handle the fact that his athletic daughter was now trapped in a wheel chair.
"I'm not sure how long it will be, but the sooner we get some response the sooner we can begin a strict physical therapy program and get her muscles strong enough to handle her weight once more."
"Oh this is so exciting!" Exclaimed Mrs. Evans hugging Lily.
Dr. Darcy laughed. "Well get some sleep Lily, we will begin at 7 tomorrow morning." And he left the room.
"I'm nervous." Said Lily in a shaky voice.
"Don't worry Princess, everything will be fine." Said Mr. Evans kissing her cheek.
"We will be here if you need us." Responded Mrs. Evans. Lily smiled and soon after she was sleeping soundly. **** In a sunny parlor room, Mrs. Susan Potter was reading an owl she had just received from a friend. She soon looked up when she heard the footsteps of her son followed by tiny running steps. She smiled. She was glad to have her remaining family with her.
"Hello mother, how was your day?" James said as soon as he entered the room. He leaned to kiss her cheek before turning to get hold of the twins who had entered the room at great speed and were in danger of running into a piece of furniture and hurt themselves.
Mrs. Potter smiled at the site of her son with her granddaughters. He had grown up so much since he returned from Hogwarts. Taking up after his father was hard for him, she knew that, but he had been doing so well. The tenants of the estate had readily accepted him and he had gained their respect in a really short time. He had begun calling her mother instead of mum, she knew it made him feel more grown up and she didn't begrudge him that. He could call her however he liked.
He was so good with the twins as well. He had been their favorite uncle before, now they simply adored him. Elizabeth did good in naming him guardian of the girls, she thought. The only thing that saddened her was the lack of spirits he had shown. She knew that something had happened with Lily. She had seen James reading notes from everybody at Hogwarts, except Lily. What had happened?
He had begun spending the afternoon taking long walks. She didn't know what he had been doing, but she readily remembered the talk she had with the Head Gardener the day before.
"He has a garden Mistress." He had said.
"A garden? Which garden?" She had asked.
"The one that is surrounded, you remember, the one with the key."
"What is he doing there?"
"We don't know Madam. He asked for a blocking charm to be put around it so that nobody could apparate inside and asked for only one key to be made and that's the one he carries."
"I wonder what he is up to."
"Do you want us to keep an eye on him?"
"No that's all right, perhaps all he needs is a little solitude."
"Very well Madam. Do you need anything else?"
"No Walton, that is all, you can return to your duties now."
The gardener had bowed and left the room soon after.
Looking now at her son she wondered once more about that garden. What is he doing in there? And why put a blocking charm around it? What was the big secret about that garden? She knew she would not ask him about it. If he wanted to keep it locked so be it.
A servant had come in with a tray of tea and biscuits. The girls squealed. They knew that cook would place some cookies specially made for them. Mrs. Potter was afraid that the girls would become quite spoiled.
"Cookies."
"Cookies."
They squealed.
"Settle down Francesca, Cassandra, I will tell cook not to make any more cookies if you don't comport yourselves." Said James in a stern voice. But he ruined the effect as he smiled soon after.
The girls listened to him, however, and sat in the couch next to their grandmother, waiting patiently to be served.
Mrs. Potter smiled. Perhaps they wouldn't be spoiled after all.
"How was your day James? It seems that you were kept busy with these two." She said.
"We went for a ride. We had to take the horses, I wanted to check on the tenants at the south of the estate. I took them up with me. Mrs. Manning needed a break. These two can be a handful sometimes." James said with a smile.
"Yes I can see that." She said smiling indulgently as she watched her granddaughters eating their cookies and sipping their milk. "How is school work?" She said turning back to him.
"Coming along. I had another owl from Tobias today. It seemed that the seeker was injured on the last game and he wanted some advise on the candidates for the position."
"Oh? And do you have some comments on them."
"Assuredly. Most of them tried out for me before."
"When are you planning to go back to Hogwarts?" She asked. Even though she wanted to keep him beside her, she knew that it would be best if he went back to school and be with his friends. He needed to get into the midst of things and get his mind off his troubles. He needed Quidditch. But most importantly, he needed Lily.
James shrugged. "I don't know. I could finish by home study, there is still a lot of things to do here that I can't drop and let them wait for me to be done with school."
"There are only five weeks left for school to be done. Things can wait for a while. Sanders could take care of things while you are away, he is a good manager, your father had great confidence in him. If something arises, he could owl you and let you know."
"I don't know mother, let me think on it."
Mrs. Potter dropped the subject, but she planned on writing some letters. Maybe his friends could have more success than she did. Maybe if she wrote to Lily? She hadn't been in contact with Rose for a while, maybe it was time for her to contact her again.
Mrs. Potter sipped her tea, watching her son teasing the small girls. The room was filled with their laughter and high spirits. It was time for them to go on with their lives. Aliaster and Elizabeth would've wanted it that way. ****
Next day was bright and sunny. Lily sat on the hospital bed looking at the sun set through her window. She had asked the nurse to give her a sleeping spell so she would be relaxed for the procedure. Her parents had yet to arrive but she knew that it won't be long until they came. The procedure was scheduled to begin in a couple of hours, and she had been awake for the last three. But she wasn't tired. She felt calm and optimistic. If by any chance the operation wasn't a success, she would continue with her life. She would finish her training via owl and become a qualified witch at the end of five weeks.
She heard hurried steps coming toward her room. It seemed that her parents had just arrived.
"Good morning Princess. You are up early." Said Mr. Evans the moment he saw her sitting up in bed.
"Morning Daddy. I wanted to see the sun set." She said with a smile.
"Ready Hun? Everything will be fine, you'll see." Said Mrs. Evans as she kissed her daughter's cheek.
"I know mum."
"Petunia won't be coming darling, she had to stay and take care of her guest." Said Mrs. Evans pursing her lips. She was still hurt that Petunia had chosen to stay behind instead of being here to give moral support to Lily.
"That's all right mum." Lily said somewhat sadly.
"Don't worry Princess. You will see her again soon." Said Mr. Evans misinterpreting the sadness he heard in her voice.
"I know Daddy, don't let it bother you." She said trying to sound bright.
"I see you got some owls since yesterday." Said Mrs. Evans as she looked around to see the cards and flowers that adorned every piece of furniture in the room.
"Yes, I awoke to find them here." Lily said with a smile. She was happy that her friends had remembered her on this day. But was somewhat sad to see that James had not send anything at all.
"Has the doctor been in here at all?" Asked Mr. Potter bringing a chair near the bed so he could be near his daughter.
"Not yet. The nurse was in but only for a minute."
"I hope he gets here soon." Said Mrs. Evans. She wanted this to be done soon.
"Don't worry love, it's still early, he will arrive in a moment." Said Mr. Evans. Even though he wanted the procedure to start, he still wanted to spend some extra time with Lily.
The Evans sat around the bed, keeping Lily entertained and letting their mind think of anything else that wasn't about the procedure. Soon it was time for Lily to get prepared.
"Hello, hello! How is our favorite patient this morning? Oh, good morning Mr. Evans, Mrs. Evans, wasn't aware you were here already." Greeted Dr. Darcy as he came into the room.
"Good morning doctor." They said.
"I will commence to prepare Lily, you are welcome to stay if you wish, but once we take her into the OR you won't be able to follow." Dr. Darcy said taking his wand out.
"That's all right doctor, we will be waiting." Said Mr. Evans.
"You can stay here or you can go to the waiting room, it is your choice of course. We will be bringing her in here as soon as the sleeping spell wears off. You won't be seeing her until then."
"Very well doctor, thank you." Said Mrs. Evans.
The couple watched closely as Dr. Darcy spoke to Lily, explaining the procedure once more. When Lily nodded her agreement, Dr. Darcy waved his wand as he said an incantation. Lily promptly fell asleep. Nurses came into the room soon after they levitated her into a cart and pulled it out of the room. Dr. Darcy stayed behind for a moment.
"Do not worry, we will do all that we can. Your daughter will walk again." He said. His usual sunny smile and charming manner being replaced by an expression of confidence.
"Thank you doctor. For everything you have done for her." Said Mr. Evans shaking the doctor's hand.
"I enjoy what I do Mr. Evans. That is why I became a doctor. I will see you as soon as the procedure is over. Will you stay here or go to the waiting room?"
"We will stay here doctor." Said Mrs. Evans.
Dr. Darcy nodded. "A nurse will bring a telly in here, we have permission to charm it for your use. Keep you entertained as you wait."
"Thank you Doctor." Both said. And nervously watched the doctor leave the room.
"Don't worry love. Everything will be fine." Said Mr. Evans as he put his arms around his wife.
"I know, I know." And the sat on the bed ready to wait for the doctor to come to them. ****
It was a day like any other at Hogwarts. Sirius was sitting on a couch in the common room waiting for the others to appear, ready to go down to breakfast.
"There you are, why didn't you wait for us in the room?" Said Peter as soon as he and Remus stepped down from the dorms.
"I'm waiting for you, just didn't want to do it in the room." Said Sirius. They heard the girls coming down the stairs and turned to watch them as they did so.
"Good morning." Said Katie with a bright smile.
"Morning to you too." Said Remus.
"What are you smiling about?" Asked Sirius as he pecked her cheek with a kiss.
"Oh, I was just telling Emma about the last note I sent Lily." She said returning his kiss.
"Hmmm.I was just thinking of her. Today is her surgery isn't it?" He asked.
"Well I hope it is today because I sent her a gift to the hospital and I don't want to think of that gift going around all over the city because I sent it to the wrong place." Exclaimed Peter.
"Not to worry Peter, you got it right, it is today." Said Emma.
"Do you think James will be there?" Asked Remus.
"Well, you wrote to him about it so I suppose he will." Said Sirius.
"I didn't write to him about it, I thought Peter was supposed to." Remus exclaimed.
"Don't look at me, I told you I wouldn't say a think I never know how to say these things, I thought Sirius was." Responded Peter.
"Oh lord, I didn't write anything about it." Said Sirius hitting his head with his hand.
"We should've written Emma. But we were so sure you boys would do so." Snapped Katie.
"We could still tell him. Send him an owl right now." Proposed Peter.
"We are too late, he wouldn't get there on time. The point was for him to go early enough so she would see him there." Said Sirius in exasperation.
"Well, what can we do now?" Said Emma.
"I don't know." Said Remus running his hand on his hair.
"You are a sorry lot, we asked you to do one thing, one thing only and you blow it. Honestly!" Snapped Katie and flounced out of the room. Emma close behind, shaking her head.
"She is right we blew it." Said Sirius sitting with his face on his hands.
"We have to think of something, let's go to breakfast then we'll start on it." Said Peter.
"He is right Sirius, let's go." Said Remus pulling Sirius from the chair and leading him out of the room.
The Great Hall was full as it always was. And at the usual time, owls flew into the Hall delivering the mail to their respective owners.
The five friends opened their mail and read through the notes they had received.
"I just received a note from Mrs. Potter." Said Sirius with surprise.
"So did I." Said Remus.
"Hmmm.she says that James doesn't want to come back to Hogwarts." Said Emma.
"Well we got to get him to come back. I mean, the ball won't be the same without him." Exclaimed Peter.
"Don't worry Peter, one way or another he will be back." Said Remus.
The friends nodded and returned to their food. Their minds full of plans. ****
The Evans waited patiently in the room, it had been three hours since Lily had been taken and no news had been brought to them.
"What is taking them so long?" Exclaimed Mr. Evans as he started pacing around the room.
"Relax Edward, you really don't expect them to do everything in a hurry did you?"
"Well no, but they still could've brought some news to us by now."
"Come here, sit on this chair and watch some telly."
"I don't want to watch the telly."
"Well, you are going to anyways. You are making me nervous."
"Oh very well." Mr. Evans grumbled and sat on a chair in front of the television the nurses had brought in to the room.
"Look at all these notes! Some of them are very sweet." Exclaimed Mrs. Evans who was sitting reading the cards and notes sent with the flowers.
"Hmph, what I want to know is why James isn't here."
"I wondered that as well, but I suppose that with his father's death things have been very difficult for him and Susan."
"I suppose you are right. We haven't written to Susan with our respects."
"I wrote her a small note the day we arrived at Hogwarts, but I haven't written back."
"Maybe is time that we do so."
"You are right, it is."
The Evans were silent for a moment, each lost in their own thoughts. When they suddenly heard a tapping sound from the window.
"What is that?" Asked Mr. Evans.
"It's an owl, on the window. See it?"
"I'll open the window."
As soon as Mr. Evans opened the window the owl flew into the room coming to rest on the bed.
"Who sent it?"
"Open it, let's found out." Said Mr. Evans.
Mrs. Evans quickly neared the owl and took the letter. As soon as the letter was taken, the owl flew out the window. Mrs. Evans opened the letter and exclaimed.
"It's from Susan."
"Susan? What does she say?"
"She apologizes for not writing before, due to all the ups and downs of the last couple of days." Mrs. Evans said as she read the note.
"Well yes, that is understandable."
"She says that they are getting better, James has taken up the reins and doing very well."
"Hmph! Well if he is doing better now he should be here."
"Edward! That poor boy has gone through really rough times. But Susan says that he has fallen through some kind of depression. He doesn't want to return to Hogwarts."
"Well? What does she want us to do about it?" Mr. Evans grumbled.
"She asks if we could talk to Lily, it seems that she can't get hold of her. Do you think she doesn't know about what happened to Lily?" She asked with surprise to her husband.
He sighed. "I suppose it is possible after all that had happened James might have thought that she didn't have to learn of it. We didn't tell Lily about what happened to Aliaster and his daughter."
"You are right. Do you think we should tell her?"
"We might as well."
Mrs. Evans nodded and sat at a desk in one side of the room, where she found parchment, ink and quills and started to write a letter.
Mr. Evans started to pace the room once more, walking from one side of the room to the other.
"Edward please sit and watch the telly, you are making me nervous." Exclaimed his wife with exasperation.
"Oh very well." Mr. Evans finally sat on a chair and turned on the television.
"Good, now stay there."
The Evans waited for hours after the letter to Susan Potter had been sent. Mrs. Evans finally fell asleep on one of the couches while Mr. Evans continued flipping through channels looking for something that would take his mind of his daughter as he waited.
The sun was setting and the room was turning dark when the door finally opened. Mr. Evans jumped from his seat bumping into the couch his wife was sleeping as he did so.
"What? What happened?" She asked groggily.
"Sorry love. Someone is here." He whispered. They heard voices in the hall and the knob turning. Both waited expectantly to see who it was.
As the door opened and the doctor came into the room, both expelled the breath they didn't know they were holding. Both quickly stood and approached him.
"How did it go doctor? How is Lily?" Mrs. Evans asked wringing her hands.
"She is doing fine. She is still under the spell and won't be coming to until a few hours from now, we will bring her in here as soon as the spell wears off."
"How did the surgery go?" Mr. Evans asked once more. He was nervous of the fact that the doctor had chosen to answer the other question but not that one.
"Perhaps you should sit, this will take a while to explain." He said.
The Evans felt their stomach sink, did this mean that Lily wasn't going to walk? They sat and waited for the doctor to continue.
"Now, the surgery went on without a hitch. We relieved the pressure caused by the bones and the damaged cartilage, it looks like everything should be fine now, but we must wait. As soon as Lily wakes up I will do a preliminary exam, don't worry if nothing happens, sometimes it takes a while for the brain to realize that it's receiving messages from impulses it hasn't sensed in a while. I will do another exam tomorrow, we will know then if the surgery was a success or not."
"But, what are the odds that it went well?" Asked Mrs. Evans sitting at the edge of her seat.
"I like the odds, I don't see why she shouldn't be able to walk. But we still need to make sure that she will do so. As soon as we confirm, I will schedule her to start on physical therapy."
"How long will she need it?" Asked Mr. Evans.
"As long as she needs it. If she lost a large amount of muscle on her legs then we will need to build that muscle up before we get her to try to walk again. But if the muscle loss is not great then we will start her on walking exercises right away. We must wait and see until she regains consciousness."
"Very well doctor, thank you." Said Mrs. Evans. Dr. Darcy nodded and soon quit the room.
The Evans turned to each other. They embraced. Drawing strength from each other. Their daughter had to walk again.
They waited for two hours more. Dinner had been brought to them as nurses had come in to prepare the bed. The Evans were on pins and needles waiting for their daughter to be brought to the room. Soon enough, they saw the doctor enter once more, this time, he was followed by a couple of nurses levitating a stretcher with Lily sleeping on it.
The Evans stayed silent as they saw the nurses levitate their daughter and settle her on to the bed. They tucked her in and walked out of the room, taking the empty stretcher with them.
"Right. I will examine her now, you can stay here if you wish." The doctor said.
The Evans sat on the couch, where they had perfect view of the doctor and Lily. The doctor turned the blankets down and started checking Lily with his wand. They saw him mutter an incantation and the next moment a three dimensional x-ray image appeared in front of him. The Evans gasped, they had never thought they would see the like.
Dr. Darcy smiled and inquired. "Do you want to see it, I can explain what we did."
The Evans eagerly neared the bed and watched in awe as the imaged revolved in front of them.
"You see these bones right here?" Dr. Darcy asked. At the Evans' nod he continued. "There were causing pressure against this cartilage right here. See it? That was what was causing the nerve impulses from getting to the brain. Now what we did was this. We opened her from this point." At this moment another imaged appeared of Lily's back. "From here to here. We proceeded until we got to the bones right here." Dr. Darcy continued to explain, pointing to the images as he did so. The Evans listened to his explanation attentively.
The explanation lasted only minutes but it gave the Evans an accurate idea of what their daughter had gone through. Now they felt confidant that the doctors had done everything that was humanly possible and they were sure that their daughter would recover soon.
After the doctor made the images disappear, he continued proving Lily's legs. The Evans stood by the bed, watching every move that the doctor made. It wasn't that they didn't trust him, they just didn't want to miss anything.
Then something happened that made Mrs. Evans gasp, Mr. Evans swear and Dr. Darcy chuckle. When Dr. Darcy pinched one of Lily's toes. Lily's foot twitched. When he proded with his wand. She kicked.
"Excellent. I think it's safe to say that your daughter will walk very soon." Said Dr. Darcy with a bright smile.
Mrs. Evans turned to her husband who gathered her in his arms as she sobbed with happiness. ****
Next morning seemed sunnier and warmer to the Evans. Probably because of their high spirits and buoyant emotions. Lily was going to walk once more, and they just couldn't be any happier. Lily had only woken up for a moment the night before. She had still felt groggy and tired, and had fallen asleep right away.
Now, Mr. and Mrs. Evans were waiting for Lily to wake up. They were sitting on chairs beside the bed. Mr. Evans sat reading a copy of the Daily Prophet, which he found on the table of the room, and Mrs. Evans was busy knitting.
"Would you look at that? These pictures move. I wonder how they do that." Mr. Evans exclaimed.
"Well dear, it is a magical newspaper, I imagine that all magical pictures move. You must ask Lily about it, she might know."
"Hmmm.I'm quite envious of Lily. Hogwarts seemed like a fascinating place, I would've liked my school years better if I had gone to a place like that." Mr. Evans replied.
"It did look interesting. I'm sorry we didn't have a chance to see more of it, not that we saw much, we were too busy keeping Lily company in the infirmary to pay attention to the rest of the castle."
"I'm sure that we might see more of it for Lily's graduation. I'm sure that she will want to return to Hogwarts once she recuperates."
"I'm sure you are right." Responded Mrs. Evans with a sigh.
"Look at this, they even get our kind of news in here." Exclaimed Mr. Evans as he continued to read the paper.
"Well I suppose there are some things that happen in our world that might influence theirs."
"Perhaps. I wonder what this Dark Menace is all about. They mention it a lot in here."
"Well what do the reports say, they must explain why they are reporting about it."
"Well yes they do, but I don't understand all about this You-Know-Who business." He complained.
"Well maybe you can ask Lily about it."
"It seems that I have a lot to ask her about."
Mrs. Evans laughed. Usually, her husband only got exasperated by what he read on the newspaper during election times.
They heard Lily stirring on the bed. They put aside the newspaper and the knitting and turned to watch Lily closely. They saw Lily's eyes open slowly. And then she smiled when she caught sight of her parents.
"Good morning."
"Morning Princess." Replied Mr. Evans with a smile and kissed his daughter's brow.
"Morning dear." Said Mrs. Evans as soon as her husband made room for her to greet Lily. "How are you feeling?"
"Much better. But I am hungry."
"Don't worry, somebody will be here soon with some food." Mrs. Evans said. She was glad to hear that Lily had gotten her appetite back. ****
Mrs. Potter sat at the table sorting through her mail as she ate. She was alone at the moment but knew that her son would be joining her soon. One note gained her attention. It was written in St. Mungos's stationary. She didn't know of anybody who was in the hospital. Who could it be from? As she reached for it to open it, she heard footsteps coming toward her. She turned toward the door and smiled when James came into the room.
"Good morning mother. Did you sleep well?" He asked as he leaned to kiss her cheek.
"Oh yes, most comfortable. How about you dear, did you have a good night?"
"Yes." He said as he sat at the other side of the table. Roberts stood at his side with a plate in one hand and a small silver tray on the other. After James took the plate and started to eat, Roberts presented the tray with a bow. James took it and saw his mail piled on it. "Thank you Roberts."
Roberts bowed once more and turned to stand by the table awaiting for any orders. Mrs. Potter had seen this ritual through sad eyes. James reminded her so much of her husband. His appearance, his manners, even the way he laughed, he had inherited all from his father. How many times had they sat in the same manner and gone through the same ritual that had just been performed.
She shook her head when she noticed that he had been calling to her.
"Something wrong mother?" James asked looking at her with worry in his eyes.
"No dear, just lost in thought." She said with a smile. "What are your plans for today?"
"I have to go to the village and make sure that the materials are here in time for the summer estate feast. And I promised the twins I would take them to the shops, they want a ribbon or something, I'm not sure of what really."
"You are going to spoil them."
"Well they deserve to be"." He said with a smile.
"Let's see if you will say the same when they are older." She said with a laugh.
James smiled and turned to look at his mail. He noticed that he had more than he usually did. And it was all from Hogwarts! Intrigued he started opening the envelopes.
Mrs. Potter watched him closely from beneath her eyelids. She hoped that her notes had made an impact on James' friends and that they would write to incite him into going back. She turned to her own mail and reached for the letter from St. Mungos that had attracted her attention before.
She carefully opened the envelope and started to read the note. Her eyebrows lifted and her eyes widened in surprise.
"James, why didn't you tell me?" She yelled.
James startled dropped his fork and letter on to the table. "What? What did I do now?" He said.
"Why didn't you tell me about Lily?"
James was extremely surprised. Was she talking about their break up or about the accident? "What exactly about Lily?"
"Well about her accident of course, what else is there?"
"Nothing else, as far as I can say."
"Well? Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because right after it happened Dad died and it just flew out of my head."
"Oh that's poppy cock and you know it. Really James, why didn't you tell me?"
"Mother, I don't want to talk about it."
"Hmph, that the right way to treat a girl, just ignore her when she most needs you."
"Mother."
"Especially now, when she is at St. Mungos."
"What? What is she doing at St. Mungos?"
"Well she is going through a surgery to help her walk again. In fact, Rose wrote this yesterday, so the surgery was done yesterday."
"What? Why wasn't I told about this? I'm going to kill that lot, I told them to keep me informed of everything that happened and they don't tell me about the most important thing!" He fumed.
"Well, at least I know that you care."
"Of course I care for her. I'm not an insensitive idiot."
"Why haven't you written to her? Rose says that they haven't received word from you."
"Mother, I don't want to talk about it."
"Well do you care for her or not, you certainly become a changeling when it comes to this subject."
"Ok, fine, do you want to know why I don't write? She doesn't want to see me, she doesn't want to hear from me. I was told not to get in contact with her because I agitate her. It was my fault that she had this accident, and we are not a couple any more. Happy?" James threw his napkin on his plate and stormed off the room.
"Oh dear. You always told me that I was pushy Aliaster. I blew it didn't I?" She said out loud.
Mrs. Potter sadly sat at the table hearing the front door slam a few minutes later. The butler and the footmen assisting him stood by the wall, with expressionless faces but with minds twirling. ****
"Well Lily, everything is as it should be. We will start you with physical therapy tomorrow, and we will have you walking soon." Said Dr. Darcy with a smile.
"Where will she do the therapy?" Asked Mrs. Evans as she took hold of her daughter's hand. She was afraid that it would hurt Lily, but she knew that it was best for her.
"She will need to return here everyday. I talked to the Ministry of Magic, because yours is a muggle household your house is not connected with the Floo Network, but because these are special circumstances they will make an exemption and connect you as long as Lily comes here for treatment. A nurse will Floo to your house every day at 10:00 in the morning to bring Lily here and she will return her home an hour or so later."
"When can she go home?" Asked Mr. Evans.
"She can leave today. Unlike muggle surgery there is no danger of sutures opening. She will need to rest and keep still for the rest of the day, but besides that there is nothing else to be done until tomorrow."
"Thank you Doctor, we really appreciate all you have done for Lily."
"Don't mention it, that's what I'm here for." He said with a bright smile.
Lily smiled. She was happy that everything had gone all right. She was also happy to note all the gifts that her friends had sent her. But she missed word from a certain black, messy haired boy.
"Well now, I'm going to give directions to the nurse and you can get ready to leave if you wish." The doctor said interrupting Lily's thoughts.
"Thank you doctor." The Evans said.
As soon as the doctor left the room the Evans turned to look at each other with huge smiles and soon the room was full of activity as they readied Lily to leave the hospital. ****
James stood in silence in the locked garden. It was a barren sight. No plants, a pool full of dirty water, and small gnomes running around. His gardeners wondered what he wanted with a garden like that. He wondered what he was doing with the garden.
He sighed deeply. He knew he should go back to the house and apologize to his mother. It wasn't every day that he lost his temper that way. But he wanted to be alone. He wasn't ready to see his mother yet.
He spotted a bench underneath a big oak near the pool. He slowly made his way to the bench and cleaned it with his handkerchief and sat.
What am I doing here? He thought, what I'm going to do? He missed Lily so much and wanted to see her so badly, but she didn't want to see him. She didn't want to know a thing about him. The others would've said something if she did. She went to London to undergo a treatment and he wasn't even told. What more proof did he need to know that she didn't want him around?
He couldn't help but remember all those precious moments he had spent at her side. The House Party. The Halloween Festival. All those planning meetings. He had enjoyed those meetings most of all. But the one thing he would always keep engraved on his mind would be that time in the greenhouse, where they kissed for the first time.
She had reached the tree and as she turned to look at James her robes got snagged by the tree. "Oh no! I can't get lose." She exclaimed as she tried to release her robes.
"Here let me help you, you are going to rip your robes if you keep doing that." Laughed James as he saw her struggle against the tree.
"I don't see the humor in it." Lily said with a glare toward James.
"Of course you don't, but you would if you were in my shoes." Chuckled James, he reached for the snagging branch but his efforts were impeded by Lily's movement. "Would you keep still? I can't release you if you are moving." He said with an exasperated tone.
"Sorry." She said and kept still while James tried to release her. Lily was very aware of James nearness. She could smell the scent of his soap mixed with the cologne that he used. She tried to keep her mind on something else, but her senses kept coming back to it.
"There you go." James said with a sigh of relief. He looked down at Lily and what he saw made him hold his breath.
Her eyes had turned smoky green and James felt like he was being pulled into the pools of her eyes. He breathed deeply and slowly lowered his head.
Their lips met. He kissed her slowly and when he felt her sigh he deepened the kiss.
He would remember that day for all the days of his life. ****
Lily was so happy to be home. The only dark spot of the day was her sister.
"So the Princess is back home is she?" Said Petunia with a leer the moment their parents had left Lily's room. "And it seems nothing was done to you. Now I'm going to have to bear with you until I leave."
"Nice to see you too Petunia."
"Hmph, well at least you cannot be seen as long as you stay here. Vernon is coming to dinner tonight and I don't want you to be there. Marge will be leaving tonight."
"Don't worry Pet, I don't want to see that pig fiancé of yours."
"How dare you!" And Petunia stalked off the room.
"I dare to do what I want in my room!" Yelled Lily after Petunia's retreating steps.
Well, at least I won't be bored. She thought with a smile.
A/N: As I said there are two more chapters for seventh year to be over. I hope you have enjoyed my story so far. Don't forget to review!