James panicked. Is she still breathing? What the hell can I do? Get Sirius he can help. Wait I shouldn't move her it might hurt her or the baby? Get Dumbledore! But I can't leave her here! Summon him! In the meantime, make sure she and the baby are ok and don't move her too much. A faint pulse beat from her heart. Her breathing was shallow and came in jagged gasps. Taking out his wand, James made a breathing tube that would help get her air flowing easier and conjured a stretcher. Next step, Dumbledore. James was about to say the spell when the wizened wizard burst in, robes billowing. With one swift look around the room he took the stretcher and slammed the door.
It took James a minute for it all to sink in. When it did, he got mutely up to his feet and dashed out of the room so fast it created a slight breeze. He nearly ran into Dumbledore as he exited the Hospital wing.
"Is she all right sir? Please tell me she and the baby are fine." He panted between words.
"Mr. Potter will you please come to my office." It was a command spoken with a grave tone.
Following him down the winding corridors, a large stone gargoyle blocked the entrance.
"Sugar quill." The gargoyle rolled upward into a tower of stairs. James stepped onto it and watched the magnificent room loom closer and closer.
"Professor I don't understand. What's wrong with Lily?" his voice trembled.
"Were you aware your fiancée was pregnant James?" Dumbledore asked.
"Yeah she had just told me after I proposed. What's this got to do with anything?"
"Everything Mr. Potter. I have just received a letter from Lily's sister. And what a letter it was. I should think you would like to read it later, but for now to the point. Ms. Evans was drugged with her dinner. A muggle drug that can be obtained in the wizarding world too. Perhaps you are familiar with it, it's called a sleeping pill and could be extremely harmful to pregnant women. How did that pill get in her goblet Potter?"
"Are you accusing me?'
"No. I am not I am simply wondering if you know how because it has seriously complicated the pregnancy. If Lily doesn't receive care continuously to rid it of her system, she and your baby will die."
James let this all sink in. Something wet dripped down his nose, and he realized he was crying. Dumbledore stared at him, and moved around his desk to comfort him.
"You may go up to the wing, seeing as you have special permission from Madam Pomfrey. "
James moved as if in a trance. Soon he arrived at the hospital door, and pushing it slightly, it creaked open.
Lily was lying on a bed in blue hospital pajamas. Her face was pale, and her red hair was tangled and flat. She looked so frail, sleeping on the bed. Kneeling by her side, he took her hand. It was stone cold. The tears began flowing freely now, and days and nights passed.
Lily's World
It was beautiful, like heaven. Her red hair was adorned with flowers that matched her glittering white dress. Green grass tickled her feet as she walked around barefoot. A bench was sitting in a glen. It was covered with lilies and a little pond was near it. Fish jumped out of the water every so often to catch a bug, and their scales glistened. And sitting on the bench was James. Lily gasped and ran over, kissing him lovingly. He picked her up and spun her around, his face lit up in a huge smile. Lily laughed and threw her head back, following her hair as it spun around in circles. This place was so much nicer than the place she left. She didn't want to leave; she wanted to stay here forever. As the nights and days passed, she splashed in ponds, discovered a waterfall, and rolled down grassy hills. One day she ate raspberries until her hands were tinged pink. Every night, she and James sat on a bluff and looked at the stars. The shone clearer here than anywhere else she had ever been. Then as the night grew longer, she would lie down and fall asleep in his lap, only to be shook awake to watch a beautiful sunrise. Nothing could ever ruin this happy feeling, or so she thought.
Someone kept talking to her though. It was a voice, very familiar in its tone. Somebody wanted her back, wanted her to come back and be with him. To have a baby.
Baby? What baby I'm not pregnant! At least I don't think so. She thought, scrunching her face in concentration.
"James am I pregnant?" Lily asked him.
"Do you look pregnant?" he replied.
"Well, no."
"Then you aren't my dear. Now please, let's go back to just being stupid and in love."
"Okay." Lily was giggling, but she was still unappeased. That voice kept nagging at her, telling her that something wasn't right in this perfect world.
Shaking it off, she followed James to a thicket of trees. A plant was doing a very strange thing. It grew, became radiant and beautiful, powerful in a sense, and then weakened. Lily drew a sharp intake of breath as she realized it was a tiger lily that was flourishing and dying. For some reason it scared her, and she started to drag James away. But her hand fell through his misty form. The world was beginning to change, and it was scaring her. Gone were the twittering birds and the flowers. It had been replaced with a barren wasteland. The sun was now scorching, burning her skin. The dress was now no more than a torn dirty rag.
Something is wrong. Something changed. I'm dying. The sick realization hit Lily hard.
Where's the voice? The voice can help me where is it though? Oh God I won't find it I will die here. Oh please just say one word you stupid voice. Panicking and begging, she looked wildly around. Like an angel from heaven, the voice spoke. Only this time it was strained, even scared. It was the first time she heard it clearly.
"Please you have to come back. I need you, your friends need you. I am not going to be able to live the rest of my life if you aren't by my side. Please come back. Be laughing and angry and alive. Have the baby safely. Please Lily just come back."
The voice broke into a sob at this moment. Lily could feel it now. There was hope; a door to a better place was somewhere. Just open your eyes and look around she thought. She closed her eyes and opened them. The desert was still around her. Try again. Concentrate on what you want the most. Lily thought. I want to see James. I want him to hold me and kiss me and tell me everything is going to be all right.
Lily opened her eyes.
In reality again
James saw her squirm. She was moving, trying to what looked like escaping something. Suddenly her bright emerald eyes shone as her eyelids flew open. James bent over her and hugged her, kissed her, and cried into her hair.
Lily leaned into him, feeling the safety of his arms. She was so happy, happier than she had been in her false reality. He was real, James was here, and she was getting married to him. But what about the baby?
"James, what about our baby? Is everything all right?"
As if on cue, Madam Pomfrey bustled in.
"Well ms. Evans, welcome back to the planet. Now maybe Mr. Potter here can leave, seeing as he hasn't for the past fifteen days. Now please, lie back so I can make sure everything is all right with you."
Worry lines creased the nurse's forehead, but then softened quite a bit as she finished.
"Nothing wrong here, although when this baby decides to come, I recommend that you be prepared for a very long labor."
"Why?" inquired Lily.
"I have a hunch, and my hunches haven't been wrong yet."
Professor Dumbledore entered the room at that moment, and what an entrance it was. His cap was askew, his hair tangled, and his robes filthy.
"Madam Pomfrey may I have a moment with them please?"
Shooting the trio a quizzical look, she left the room.
"So Lily, how are you feeling?"
"Okay I guess."
"Well I might as well tell you now. A tragedy has occurred. Your parents have incurred the wrath of Voldemort it appears. I'm sorry, Lily, but they are dead."
Lily felt herself convulse as she threw up on the bed. Tears streamed down her face as she burst into gut wrenching sobs. Her baby wouldn't know their grandparents, would never see their smiling faces. And she, Lily, would never hear the laughter of her dad's voice, would never have the nights when she and her mother pampered themselves. There would be no more holiday parties at the Evans household. There wouldn't be anything more. They would never see their grandson, would never get to escort Lily down the aisle at her wedding. Her daddy would never give her away. Her daddy was dead. Her mother wouldn't get to gush and offer advice on how to care for a newborn. She was dead.
Lily didn't know how long she cried for; she just knew that the pain hurt. She had never felt this before, it was as if a huge hole had been torn in her heart, a piece of her was now gone. Not missing, but gone.
"On a brighter note, your sister Petunia included a message. She is of course, shaken but all right, and is indeed with her own child." Dumbledore conveniently left out the part about Petunia blaming her sister entirely for her parents' deaths, and the angry hate wishes for the wedding Lily was about to have.
Lily sat there is shock. Her big sister was pregnant and alive? When had she gotten married? Oh no please not let it be that Vernon fellow he is so horrible! Lily absorbed everything slowly but surely. Soon her eyes were sparkling again as she tried to see the happiness still left in the world.
"Well James, you still have your parents. I'm sure they are dears I can't wait to meet them someday. And I bet your father could give me away if it was all right with him. And now Petunia will have no reason to talk to me at all. Quite a joyous occasion there." Lily laughed, but her heart wasn't fully in it. It would take a while to get over the deaths of her parents, but it would be a lot easier with wedding plans and a baby to get ready for.