DISCLAIMER: I don't own: Lily, Marauders, Hogwarts, etc, the Beatles, the record shop, or Rob, Dick and Barry. The latter belong to Nick Hornby, from his excellent novel High Fidelity. Read it!! I own: Lena, Ally, Kim, Anna, and Lena's hat/tea cozy. It is my hat. It is not a tea cozy, but that's what my friends call it. Meanies.
Chapter 22: Healers and Nurses"Lily, Orion's here," Ally called. It was quiet in the Room of Requirement that night, as the Quidditch players were practicing, though they were due back soon. Lily reckoned they'd be thawing themselves from their brooms about now. She took the letter from her owl and allowed him a sip of her tea before he flew off.
"Who is it from?" Kim asked.
"Mum and dad," Lily replied. "Nothing much is happening, they're a bit disappointed that I'm staying for Christmas."
"You'll see them when we go shopping, won't you?" Ally asked.
"Yeah, but you know, they'll miss me," she said. It had been her parents that had asked if Lily could spend the day in London, as she wouldn't be spending Christmas with them. Everyone was going now, including the boys. It was to be the next Hogsmeade weekend, just before the holidays began.
"How are you going with present ideas?" Kim asked.
"Well, the boys are sorted, thanks to you," Ally said. Kim had come up with an excellent idea for the boys presents, so all the girls were going together to pay for them, leaving the manufacture to Kim. "How are they coming along, Kim?"
"I have James' done, that was easy, I had the patterns from Lena's," she said.
"I should get James something extra, though," Lily mused. "Lena's got Sirius that watch …"
"I had an even better idea for Remus' present," Kim said.
"What?" Lily asked.
"You know the way he loves guitars and is always learning the Beatles songs?" Kim said, and Lily nodded happily. "Well," Kim went on, "He'd love an electric guitar."
"Yeah," Lily said. "It'd be cool, we'd all have one!"
"Who?" Peter asked.
"I have one at home, and a bass, and James has been dropping hints to his parents for weeks," she said. "His mum wrote to me yesterday, she wants me to help her buy one in London."
"Ooh, meeting the parents, eh?" Kim teased. Lily stuck out her tongue.
"If the wind changes you'll be stuck like that," Sirius commented, having just entered the room. He slumped onto the couch nearest the fire.
"God, I'm freezing," Lena said, joining him.
"Hello," Remus said, kneeling near the fireplace.
"How was practice?" Lily asked James, who had sat on another chair beside the fire.
"Cold," he replied, as she sat on his lap and handed him a cup of tea. He grinned. "You've got me spoiled, Lily Evans," he said. She smiled and attempted to warm him up a bit.
No one else noticed, having become quite accustomed to the couple's behaviour. They were, after all, nothing compared to Sirius and Lena, who were a great deal more affectionate. Remus dragged himself up and over to the table. He wasn't feeling well, probably because full moon was tomorrow, but he also felt a cold coming on. He pulled out his Transfiguration books and tried his best to concentrate.
"Are you alright?" Kim asked. He faked a grin.
"Just a bit tired after Quidditch," he said.
"Are you sure?" she asked. He nodded.
"I'm fine," he lied. It was partly true, Quidditch had made it worse. James had offered to let him of, but he had insisted on going.
"Remus?" Kim said, bringing him back to his senses with a jolt.
"Yes?" he said, noting her concerned face. "I'm ok, honest." She grinned.
"Do you know that essay that's due on the Patronus for Defence Against the Dark Arts?" she asked. He nodded. "Well, I'm stuck," she said. "Do you think you could give me a hand tomorrow in the library?" Remus had been about to smile before she finished the sentence.
"I'd love to," he said, truly meaning it, "but … I – I have to visit my mum tomorrow, she's ill."
"Sorry," Kim said quickly. " I didn't know – never mind."
"I'll help you now, if you'd like," he offered, but she shook her head.
"You aren't feeling well," she said, putting a hand to his forehead. "You could have the 'flu. You should go to Madame Pomfrey."
"I'm ok, honest," he repeated. "I just need a good night's sleep, that's all." He gathered his books up and called goodbye to the others, wishing more than ever that tomorrow wouldn't come.
*****
"Has Remus left already?" Lena asked the next morning at breakfast. Sirius nodded as she kissed him on the cheek.
"Poor thing," Lily said. "Is his mum really ill?"
"Yeah," James said.
"Remus not here?" Kim asked, just arriving.
"Yes he is, he's concealed about my person," Lily said sarcastically. Kim made a face.
"Good," she said, and everyone stared at her.
"What?" Sirius asked.
"Because I wanted to talk about his Christmas present," she went on, and everyone relaxed.
"What about it?" James asked.
"Well, as I was telling the others last night, he'd love an electric guitar," she said.
"Yeah!" James exclaimed. "Brilliant idea!"
"But they're expensive," Kim continued, "we'd all have to chip in."
"Yeah," Sirius said. "That sounds alright."
"Count me in," added James.
"And me," Lena said.
"I'll do it," Ally said.
"Et moi," Lily added. Noticing the other's confused looks, she added "It means and me."
"Ok," Peter shrugged.
*****
After Lena had dressed for bed that night, she crept up to the boy's dorms to see Sirius, having suddenly had an urge to talk to him … but when she reached the room, Frank was the only one there, and he was sleeping soundly.
"They've gone on a prank without Remus," she thought, checking the time. "They won't be much longer …" She decided to sit and wait for them to get back. Flopping onto his bed, she extracted his copy of Quidditch Weekly from his bedside locker and started to read it. After a while, her eyelids became heavy and she realized just how comfortable Sirius' bed was …
When the boys returned, they were freezing, and dressed quickly for bed.
"N-night," Sirius chattered, pulling open his hangings, and jumping a mile. "What the—" he shouted, shocked to see someone curled up on his bed. The figure started and looked up to see the source of the noise.
"'Lo," Lena said sleepily, still curled up.
"Hello," Sirius said. "Did you go up the wrong staircase?"
"I came to talk to you, but you weren't here," she said groggily. "I must've fallen asleep waiting."
"So you took over my bed?" he basked.
"Leave me alone," she mumbled, turning away from him.
"It's my bed!" he exclaimed.
"Well get in," she said.
"With you?" he asked.
"Yes," she said. "I've stayed here before."
"But that was different," Sirius said. "You were upset—"
"Siri, please don't make me walk all the way back to my room," she begged. "I've warmed up here."
"You want to stay here?" he asked.
"That was the idea," she said.
"Just to sleep?" he checked. She nodded. He shrugged, ignoring the highly amused and suggestive noises emanating from behind Peter's hangings. "Well, budge over," he said, and she hopped up to get under the covers. He shivered and cuddled into her.
"You're freezing," she said. "What were you doing outside at this hour? And I'm telling Remus on you."
"Why?"
"You went on a prank without him," she said, moving slightly, and hitting his thigh in the process.
"Ow!" Sirius exclaimed in a whisper, springing up.
"What's wrong?" Lena asked.
"Oh – I just hurt my leg, that's all," he said hurriedly, lying down in an attempt to pretend that he was ok. But Lena wasn't having it.
"Where?" she asked.
"It's nothing serious," he said. "I thought you wanted to sleep."
"Let me see it," she said, and the look in her eyes reminded Sirius so much of Madame Pomfrey that he knew it would be pointless to argue. He sighed, and pulled down his pyjamas bottoms. Lena's embarrassment at catching a glimpse of his Tornadoes boxer shorts disappeared as soon as she saw the huge diagonal gash on her boyfriend's thigh. She gasped.
"Sirius Adalbert Black!" she exclaimed. "That's 'nothing serious'? Were you just going to leave it?"
"Sorry Madame Pomfrey," he muttered.
"Don't joke!" she said. "You should have gone to her!"
"She'd ask—"
"She wouldn't and you know it!" Lena said, hopping out of bed and going to his trunk. "I'm not going to bother either, I know you won't tell me."
"I cut it on a branch in the Forest," he said, just to prove her wrong. "What are you doing?" She was rummaging around, taking out his cauldron, and apparently looking for something.
"You should have some," she muttered, "We had it for that last antidote … aha!" She emerged holding a jar labeled 'Murtlap Tentacles: Strained and Picked.' She poured some water into his cauldron and added the tentacles.
"You don't have to—" he started, but she had gone to the bathroom, and when she returned she was carrying two towels. "What is it?" he asked, pointing to the cauldron.
"It'll stop the stinging," she replied, "and give it a bit of a clean." She was now stooping over James' trunk, taking his cauldron. She began throwing ingredients into it. Sirius smiled.
"You're a born fusspot," he said.
"I'm right to fuss," she maintained, giving the potion a stir. "Look at your leg. This'll cure it, but it won't be ready until the morning," she went on.
"How do you know—" Sirius started to ask, but then realized that he already knew the answer. "St Mungo's," he said, as she pulled the Murtlap essence closer to the bed and dipped the towel in it. Sirius looked at it warily.
"It won't hurt," she reassured him. "It'll help, I promise. You should really be soaking the injury in it, but it's in an awkward place, so I'll just dab it on." Sirius reminded himself to recommend Healing to her as a possible career path; she went about it so professionally. He found it hard to fight off the awkwardness creeping up on him as she dabbed his thigh with the towel. She then wrapped his thigh in the other towel, and hopped back into bed.
"Thanks," he said, kissing her forehead as she snuggled into his chest, avoiding touching his injury. It felt much better, actually, and he suspected that it had as much to do with Lena as the solution. He wouldn't have enjoyed it half as much if it had been Madame Pomfrey that attended to it … His dreams that night were particularly pleasant …
He awoke the next morning with his arm around Lena's sleeping figure, and, as always on the morning after the full moon, to the sound of Remus opening the dormitory door.
"Morning," Remus said, drawing open Sirius' hangings, knowing that he would be awake. "Sleep well?" he asked, looking at Lena.
"Oh, fine thanks," Sirius replied.
"Did you—" Remus began.
"No," Sirius replied, and explained how she came to be sleeping in his bed.
"What's with the potion?" Remus wondered.
"She saw the cut," Sirius explained.
"From what I remember, the cut's not in a place visible under normal conditions," Remus said, grinning.
"She hit it, I yelped, so she made me show it to her," Sirius went on, making a face. "And then she brewed a potion and put essence of something-or-other on it."
"Oh," Remus said. "So you haven't – you know – yet?"
"Nah," Sirius said, looking at Lena. "She's so young."
"Only a couple of months younger than you," she said, taking them both by surprise.
"Do you always do that – pretending to be asleep?" Sirius asked. Lena nodded.
"You hear some very interesting things," she said. "So young! First of all, it's only about seven months, and second, it's not like I'm untouched or innocent or anything."
"Yeah, but it shows that I respect you," Sirius said.
"No, it shows that you're patronizing," she said. "We're not ready yet, and you know it."
"Sorry," he said. "You know I didn't mean – and I do respect you."
"I know," she said. "You're not like the last one at all." Remus cleared his throat.
"As large as the gossip potential is in this conversation, I'm going to ignore the part of my brain that sounds like Adele and Sophie, and remind you that I'm here," he said. Lena sat up, taking in Remus' tired and disheveled appearance.
"Are you ok?" she asked.
"Yeah, it was just a long journey," he said. Lena spotted something on his hand, and pulled up his sleeve.
"What?" she said, spotting a long gash almost identical to the one on Sirius' leg. "Not you too?"
"I fell," he said weakly.
"No, it's just like his," she said. "And you knew about his cut. How?"
"Lee, it's just a coincidence," Sirius said, but Remus shook his head.
"I'll tell her, Padfoot," he said.
"Tell me what?" she asked.
"I wasn't visiting my mother yesterday," he said. "I was in hiding, because I couldn't be around people last night. It was a full moon last night, and I'm a werewolf." He analyzed her expression carefully. She looked shocked and confused, but didn't seem scared or angry.
"You're a … for how long?" she asked.
"Since I was about three," he replied.
"But then – how were they with you, if you can't be around people?" she wondered.
"We found a way around it," Sirius said, and to their relief she didn't ask any more questions. She looked at Remus for a few seconds. Finally, she smiled and gave him a hug.
"I'm right here," Sirius reminded her.
"Are you ok?" she asked Remus. He nodded. She stood up, and took up the cauldron of Murtlap essence once more. She cleaned Remus' cut and then dabbed some of the now purple potion from James' cauldron onto it, and it healed instantly.
"I was here before him," Sirius objected. Lena made a face, before she started unwrapping his makeshift bandage.
"Morning," James mumbled sleepily.
"Morning," Remus replied.
"Playing Healers and Nurses?" James asked Sirius.
"Yes," Sirius replied, grinning playfully at Lena. "A bit to the right, love." She threw the Murtlap-soaked towel in his face.
"I'm not going anywhere near what's to the right," she said. "Let's make that perfectly clear. There, you'll live," she said, finishing off. "Now pull your trousers up." She turned to James. "Did you and Peter cut yourselves open last night like those two?" she asked. "Yes, I know about Remus." James shook his head. "Evanesco," she said, clearing out the cauldrons. "Thanks," she added to James, handing him back his cauldron, and heading out the door. "See you at breakfast!" James looked from the cauldron to the other boys.
"What just happened?" he asked, still half asleep.
*****
"Lily, breath," Lena instructed. "You're going shopping, not facing the Spanish Inquisition," she said, and almost looked around to see if a person dressed in red was about to jump out from one of the toilet stalls and shout 'No one expects the Spanish Inquisition!' They were in the bathrooms of the Leaky Cauldron, and were about to head out to the pub to meet Mrs. Potter.
"Yeah, but what if she doesn't like me?" Lily fretted. "I'm not a—"
"If you were about to say 'pureblood,' you're not as smart as I thought," Kim said. "It won't matter to them, the Potters aren't like …"
"The Blacks?" Lena finished. "Yes, that's it. Look at my relationship with Mrs. Black. You can't get any worse than that." Lena pulled on her hat, a very stripy affair that reminded Lily of a green, blue and yellow tea cozy.
"Mrs. Potter will love you," Ally promised her, and they finally left the bathroom.
"Lily?" a short woman with James' eyes asked.
"Yes," Lily said. "You must be Mrs. Potter."
"Call me Anna, please," she said. "How are you managing to get rid of my son
while we do this?" she asked.
"He thinks he's distracting Remus while we get him a guitar," Lily said, smiling.
"Oh, you're getting Remus one, too?"
"Yeah, we're all chipping in," Lena said.
"So where is the shop we're going to?" Anna asked.
"I thought we'd go to the music shop in Tooting, where I live," Lily said, as they headed towards the tube station.
"Great," Anna said. "Thanks for this, I wouldn't have had a clue what to buy."
"Well, it's sort of my fault he wants one," Lily said. "I got him into the Beatles. So that's why he's looking for such an expensive present."
"I don't mind," Anna said. "I wouldn't have had the faintest idea what to get him otherwise. And I don't mind spoiling my son at Christmas."
"Sorry, I should have introduced you," Lily said. "Anna, these are my friends, Alice Davis, Kim Rookwood, and Lena White."
"Helen's daughter?" Anna asked. Lena nodded. "How's my other son, then?"
"Oh, Siri's fine," Lena said. "He's dying to know what I got him for Christmas."
"I don't know what to get him, either," Anna said. "Why can't he be into guitars, too, we could kill three birds with one stone. Which way?" she asked Lily, who steered them onto the right train.
"It's an excellent shop," Lily said when they'd boarded. "I've been going there since I was eight, the owner moved the shop to my area from Holloway. At first it was just records he sold, but now he does guitars, too. That's where I bought all my guitars."
"All of them?" Anna asked. "How many do you have?"
"At the moment – six," Lily said. "A Hofner bass, an electric, a twelve string, two working acoustics and my very first acoustic that I keep for sentimental value."
"Is that all?" Lena asked, the slightest hint of laughter in her voice. Lily made a face and directed them off the tube, onto the streets of Tooting and into a medium-sized, rather dingy record shop that smelled of vinyl and housed racks full to bursting with records, with guitars scattered at irregular intervals around the shop. There was music playing in the background, though no one had a clue what it was.
"Hi, Rob, Dick, Barry," she called brightly, and the three attendants looked over.
"Lily Evans!" one of them called. "The best bass player ever to come out of Idlecombe Road."
"Pity she doesn't have a decent guitar to play on," another lamented.
"Oh, shut up, Barry," Lily said. "I own the best bass in the world."
"It's not even new," Barry went on, and the other girls knew this routine, having visited this shop over various summer holidays. Barry would insult her guitars, her record collection, and finally the Beatles. Rob would sort-of stick up for her, being a semi-Beatles fan himself, and the other clerk, Dick, would sit and do nothing until it got serious when he'd attempt to stand up to Barry.
"Hi, Dick, Rob," Lily said.
"You got it from somebody else," Barry continued, eager to have the argument. "Who was it again?"
"A person from an office near my dad's," Lily said, smiling widely.
"What does he know about guitars?" Barry challenged.
"He knows a thing or two," Lily said, laughing inwardly.
"Do you want to leave them alone for five seconds so they can find what they came in for?" Rob asked.
"No," Barry said. "She's looking for the Beatles, and I don't fancy selling anything to her."
"She's got all the Beatles records," Lena said. "We're buying guitars for our friends for Christmas."
"Don't let Lily choose them," Barry muttered. Anna smiled.
"Do you insult all of the customers, or just the regulars?" she asked.
"All of them," Lily, Dick and Rob answered in unison.
"So how do you know our Lily?" Dick asked Anna, leading her to some guitars.
"She's my son's girlfriend," Anna said, and Barry hooted loudly.
"A boyfriend, eh Lily?" he teased. "How'd you meet him? Some Beatle's fan club reunion?"
"No, he's in my year at school," Lily said.
"Ooh, yours is a mixed boarding school?" he asked. "I bet he sneaks into your room at night? Better be careful, or you won't keep your Head Girl badge."
"He's Head Boy," Lena whispered into Barry's ear. "And it's much easier for girls to sneak into boy's dorms."
"Really?" he asked.
"Yeah, it's an old castle, too, there are loads of great hiding places for couples to visit," she went on. "And our men know every nook and cranny of the school off by heart."
"How about this creamy one, Lily?" Anna asked. Lily nodded, holding the guitar.
"He'll love it," she promised Anna. "And I was thinking, this black and silver one would be perfect for Remus."
"Is it real silver or just paint?" Lena asked. Lily looked confused.
"Paint, but what does it matter?" she asked.
"Nothing, just wondering," Lena said. "It's cool, let's get it." The girls all agreed, so they paid Barry ("Rubbish choice, you don't deserve to own a guitar. You should be banned from ever playing a single chord again."), and left.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
A/N: I got my results: I can go to college!!! *dances* Wahoo!! I'm also getting a laptop!! It'll be so handy!!
*breathes*
It would really help if I could get some lovely warm fluffy reviews reassuring me, just like the ones I got for the last chapter:
WaNdA: Thank you, you are as wonderful as ever!
kevin luver: Yes, that would indeed be very cool … hmm … it does sound like Lily's dream …
Mr. Padfoot1: Thank you for wishing me luck! It must've helped …