Remus, Sirius, and Cat ran down the hallways towards the hospital wing, plowing over the younger students in their haste.
"Out of the way, midgets!" Sirius yelled, earning some glares.
"Sirius, you can't call them midgets," Remus scolded, gasping as he tried to keep up with his athletic friends.
"Why ever not? They're tiny!"
"Because you're not a prefect!" he stated, looking as if it were obvious. "OUT OF THE WAY MIDGETS! IMPORTANT HOSPITAL WING MISSION!"
Most of the students blocking the hallways immediately jumped aside at the unexpected- and incredibly loud- sound of Remus Lupin's voice, and then watched with jaws hitting the ground as the aforementioned prestigious prefect went tearing through the hallways at top speed, crashing into a candelabra as he careened around a corner too quickly. Sirius looked at him admiringly.
"Didn't think you had it in you, Moony! Abusing power! I'm so proud of you!"
They kept running until they nearly crashed into a person pacing near the doors to the hospital wing.
"Oi! Prongs! What's the diagnosis." Sirius asked, draping his arm around the worried boy's shoulers.
"Eh? Oh. Lily's fine. She's sleeping now. Mm. P kicked me out though while Lily takes some potions. She should be letting me back in soon, though" He went back to pacing.
"You're friends are mad, did you know that, Potter?" Cat asked conversationally.
"Mmm," was the intelligent reply.
"This idiot here," she continued, pointing at Sirius, "decided to wake up the entire dormitory by attempting to go up to the girls' dorms. I'm assuming he was coming to get me. Anyway, I came downstairs to find him sprawled on his back looking confused and sleepy. Then he proceeds to tell me Lily's dieing and then drag me here, at a dead run. Mad, barking mad I tell you!"
"Hmph! I see when I'm not wanted!" Sirius huffed. "I'll just go off and get a bite to eat then!" This thought seemed to cheer him up considerably, and he went skipping off in the direction of the great hall.
"Is he always this crazy about food?" She asked.
Remus looked thoughtful for a second before replying, "He's always this crazy, period. That's why I'm around. To keep him from killing himself, and taking down the entire school at the same time."
"You need a pay raise," she muttered. "Oh well, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em!" And she too went skipping off towards the great hall.
"Aren't you going, Moony?" Remus turned around, surprised that James was able to pay attention through his worry.
"No. I want to ask you something."
"Oh?"
"I've known you for six years, going on seven. I know there's something wrong. What did Mm. P tell you?"
James sat down heavily in a chair and looked as his feet. He took a deep breath and then looked back up at his friend.
How could I have been so stupid, Moony? I let her walk all the way down the train by herself, and I should have known! That hex was tampered with to make her throw up every time food touched her stomach for two weeks! TWO WEEKS!" he cried, flushing as his voice rose. "She could have been seriously hurt by then, or even have died! I should have seen it, what with that nutter Voldemort walking around and collecting followers, half of them from Slytherin. They cursed Lily because she's a muggleborn. A 'mudblood'! They'll never acknowledge a muggleborn head girl. They'll try to hurt her again. And if they ever manage," He said, lowering his voice to a deadly calm tone, "It'll be over my dead body."
Hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
Everyone sitting in the great hall that morning jumped as two blurs- presumably people- sped into the great hall and loudly crashed into the Gryffindor table (knocking over a few goblets) before collapsing on the floor and gasping for breath.
"I won!" cried one in what would have been a happy voice had the person not been loudly huffing.
"You did not! I most definitely won!" the other countered, equally as breathless.
The entire great hall continued watching with astonishment as the two stood up and grabbed several plates of food and began filling them.
"Sirius Black, you know full well that I won that race. Besides, you're supposed to be a gentlemen and let me anyway." Cat said, smiling at him smugly.
"Whatever happened to equal rights? You're supposed to be just as good as I am, therefore I'm not required to do any such thing!" Sirius returned.
She waved it off. "Nonsense. Every girl still likes being treated with respect- not condescension. We still love it when guys act in a gentlemanly manner because they respect us!"
"What if I don't respect you? Then I'm excused!"
She smacked him hard on the arm. "Prat."
"Right, now lets get this food to Remus and James. If James can even keep anything down himself. He's so in love with her he'll probably be having 'sympathetic retching' or something." Sirius paused and smiled at the thought of the great James Potter having any sympathetic sort of anything when it came to a girl.
"Yes, well, Lily would be 'so in love' with James if she ever let herself see it."
"You think they're perfect for each other too?" Sirius asked in surprise. He had always thought that Lily's friends hated the marauders as much as Lily did.
Naturally," Cat replied airily. "I've been saying it for years!" And she swept past him and out of the Great Hall.
Hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
James had no idea how he managed to get through the entire day without going mad. After breakfast, Remus had convinced him to go to classes, saying how Lily would be impressed if James brought her homework. So he had done so. But he hardly knew what material they had covered that day, as he had spent most of his time wondering if his lovely Lily was alright. When classes were finally over for the day he promptly dumped all of his school work into Remus' arms and ran to the hospital wing.
"Gracious! Mr. Potter! Do try to be a little quieter!" Mm. P. exclaimed as he came sliding to a stop, grabbing the wall to keep himself from crashing into anyone. "She's awake, you can go see her. But do not tire her out!"
"Lily!" he cried happily, making his way over to where she lounged, looking distinctly grumpy. As soon as he saw her he got suddenly nervous. "Erm..Uh..How are you feeling?"
"I'm perfectly fine! Just get. Me. Out. Of. Here. NOW!" She said, glaring at him.
"Lily," he began cautiously, "after seeing how badly off you were this morning I'm not sure it's wise to leave just ye-"
"JAMES POTTER! GET ME OUT OF HERE NOW!"
James Potter turned tail and ran to Mm. P.
"Um, 'scuse me, but Lily's feeling awfully, er, restless. Um, I was wondering if…well, maybe if I keep a very close eye on her, than maybe she could leave and if something's wrong I could bring her straight back?" he stuttered, looking at her apprehensively. He would hate to face the wrath of Lily Evans if Mm. P. said 'no'.
She looked at him calculatingly before replying. "Well, I can see I shall get no peace between the both of you if I don't let her out." James let out a breath of relief. "However, I want you to keep a VERY close watch on her. If she starts feeling the least bit of colour you are to bring her straight back here. Am I understood? And she will need to come in for a checkup tomorrow morning before breakfast."
"Great! We'll see you tomorrow then!" He walked back to the irate girl feeling much more confident than he had before. "It's alright Lily, you're free to go! You'll need to come ba-" he was cut off as she ran out of the room. Really, he couldn't finish a sentence today! What was it with everyone?
Hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
The marauders were sitting around the fireplace in the common room helping Lily with her work. Cat, having finished, was reading a book on the floor. They were all immersed in their work when two people walked up to them, which caused pandemonium.
"ANGEL! Oh my gosh! We wondered where you were, but McGonagall wouldn't tell us anything! So where HAVE you been?" This was all said very quickly and loudly by Cat, who had thrown away her book.
"Well, my mother was sick, so I had to stay behind. Nothing serious. Just pregnancy complications." A girl with long wavy brown hair and brown eyes answered. Lily looked at her closely, and noticed that her eyes were red and puffy. But before she could say anything another voice broke into her thoughts.
"Nice to see you Angelina," Remus said politely. "What about you Peter?"
The chubby boy smiled at them all before saying, "I was sick. Only food poisoning, but Mum thought it best that I didn't end up throwing up all over the train."
"Well, It's good to have you back. Now the Gryffindor circle is complete!" Sirius cried dramatically. "It's still rather hard to believe that this years Gryffindor class is the smallest in fifty years. Makes us rather famous, doesn't it? The seven bravest of the school!"
The group started chatting amongst themselves, filling in the two newcomers on what had happened while they had been away. As the clock struck ten, James rose from his seat and started gathering his books. After he noticed the strange looks he was receiving from his friends, he walked over to Lily.
"You should be getting to sleep young lady. You've recently been ill, and you need to wake up early to see Mm. P. tomorrow. So, lets get you back to the head's room."
Lily glared mutinously at him, but started gathering her things nonetheless. Goodnight, everyone! Looks like I'm being marched off to bed." They all laughed as the two walked towards the portrait. Lily was heard to quietly mutter "bloody over-protective prat!" to which James, amazingly enough smiled. If anyone had been watching or listening carefully however, they would have seen that she hid a smile, and that she didn't sound quite as sincere as she used to with her insults.