Hey guys!

Here's chapter four, hope you like it. Please please please please please review!

Disclaimer: JKR's stuff.


Afternoon Tea:

Chapter 4

It had been three hours since they reached the Hospital. Three hours of waiting and wondering. Three agonizing, tantalizing hours of sitting in uncomfortable chairs, looking up at any flash of lime green, hoping it was a healer coming with news. Hopefully good news.

"Merlin those two better be alright," Sirius breathed, blinking back tears.

Remus nodded and kept silent, not trusting his voice to function at that moment. They had heard no news about either Lily or James. Although Lily looked worse than James at first, it became apparent as they traveled to St. Mungo's that James wasn't exactly well off. The venom started creeping its way towards his upper body. Remus had quickly said a spell to constrict blood flow from his leg in hopes of keeping the poison from spreading past that appendage. He didn't know if it worked or not.

By the time they had reached St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries, James looked horrible and was ready to pass out on Dumbledore's broom. He collapsed onto the floor once they made it into thereception area. Healers immediately swarmed around him, one conjuring up a stretcher to transport him quickly to a room.

They had taken Lily away to a room also. She was still unconscious and the healers weren't sure if she would be alright or not. Remus and Sirius were the only ones in the waiting room; Dumbledore had gone back to headquarters. He would be updated by Remus and Sirius there, and would in turn inform the other members of The Order on James and Lily's conditions.

The two Marauders, as they still called themselves occasionally, looked up sharply as the door to the waiting room burst open. The healer that it revealed walked briskly over to them.

"How is he?" Sirius asked urgently.

"Mr. Potter is progressing nicely," the healer said with a smile on his face, "Not enough poison reached his heart to cause any serious damage. He will, of course, have to take it easy for quite a while, but we expect him to pull through just fine."

Remus and Sirius let out huge breaths of relief. Sirius leaned back into his chair with his hands over his face; Remus leaned forward and put his head in his hands. A sudden thought occurred to him.

"Is Lily ok?"

The healer's expression changed immediately.

"I will not give you false hope: Miss. Evans's condition is worsening. We are doing everything we can, but she has lost a dangerously high amount of blood. She is likely to go into a comatose state soon. Once she does, we are powerless. We can do nothing but wait."

Remus nodded and Sirius looked ready to cry again. He pushed back his tears and asked when they would be able to see James.

"You can go there now, he should be awake soon- and no, you can't see Lily. We will tell you when you may see her."

Sirius thanked the healer and stood up to walk to James's room, Remus following serenely.

"How is she?" asked James.

He had woken up about 45 minutes after Sirius and Remus had entered his room. His first thought once he had bearings on his surroundings was of Lily and her condition. When he was asleep, a healer had come in to update Remus and Sirius once more on how Lily was doing. The news was not promising and neither friend wanted to be the one to inform James that his beloved Lily might not make it through the night.

"How is she?" James asked again when neither Sirius nor Remus answered.

"James …" Sirius began uncertainly, but then stopped.

"How is she? Why won't you tell me? She's alright, isn't she?"

This time Remus spoke, "James… she's – she's slipped into a coma."

James just looked at Remus, expecting him to take back what he said and announce that Lily was just outside the door waiting for him. When he saw that Remus made no move to speak, James did instead.

"How-" James stopped to clear his throat. "How long will she be in it?"

"They don't know. They said that she might, oh God James, she might not make it through the night" Remus answered, his voice breaking as he finished speaking. Sirius took over as James just looked at them, willing himself to believe that his friends were lying to him, that it wasn't possible that his Lily wasn't going to be ok.

"They said that tonight she will turn one way or the other. She's being watched closely, there is always at least one healer in the room with her."

James laid his head back on his pillow with his hands over his face. Sirius leaned over and grasped his shoulder.

"She'll be fine, Prongs. She's strong, you know that. She'll fight this all the way."

James just nodded.

"When do you think they'll let me see her?"

"Well, Mr. Potter," came a voice from the doorway, "Since you have improved nicely, I'm going to move you into her room. Company can help speed the healing process. Although she is unconscious, it has been proven that some comatose patients can still hear what is going on around them." The healer looked kindly at James.

James smiled and visibly relaxed, happy that he would finally get to see her.

The healer tapped James's bed with her wand. It rose off the ground a few inches and started floating towards the doorway and over to Lily's room. Once they entered her room James noticed that the curtains around her bed were closed.

"If you want we can open her curtains so you can see her."

James nodded and the healer opened the curtains surrounding Lily's bed. He took in a sharp breath when he saw how bad she looked. Although the cuts and scrapes she had gotten from James running through the forest were completely mended and her bruises gone, her skin was a dark grayish color. She had even darker circles under her eyes and her chest was wrapped in white bandages.

"We've mended the gash on her chest completely. The cut was extremely deep, however. Her chest will be sore for awhile and it will hurt for her to breathe deeply, which is why the bandages are on. They will prevent her from taking too large of breaths and from feeling pain." The healer stopped for a moment to recheck Lily's vital signs before continuing.

"She has lost a lot of blood;that is something we cannot fix. It will take time for her body to make up the blood that was lost. That is why she hasn't yet awaken; her body is devoting all of its energy to replenishing its blood supply. Tonight is crucial. She will turn one way or the other. All we can do is monitor her closely and wait. We've set alarms to go off if there is any change. This way, you can have some alone time with her.There are always healers close by. If you need anything, just step out of the room and flag down someone." The healer looked James up and down.

"In fact, a short walk would be good for you; just don't overdo it," She added.

James thanked the healer as she left the room, then turned his attention towards Lily. Sirius and Remus left, letting him have some private time with her. James slowly got up out of his bed and dragged a chair to the head of Lily's. He sat down and leaned over, brushing Lily's hair off her face with his hand. He gently placed a kiss on her forehead and grasped her hand in his.

"Lil's, you were awesome. You were so strong." He looked away for a moment to gather himself. He took a deep breath and looked back at Lily. She looked so peaceful, despite her appearance. He shifted his chair closer and leaned down so they were nose to nose. His eyes roved over her face as he stroked her hair.

"Lily. I need you to do something for me. I need you to be strong again so you can come out of this. I need you to fight this for me, for you. I need you Lil's, more than anything. Please, stay strong baby, come out of this. I know you can."

James kissed her cheek and very gently leaned his head on her shoulder for a few moments, not wanting to hurt her. After one last kiss on her neck, he pulled back when he heard someone knocking on the closed door.

"Come in," he called.

Sirius walked in looking tired.

"Remus and I are going to stay at my place so you can contact us quicker if you need to. We both need rest, and you do too."

"Ok, I'll call you if there's any change."

Sirius nodded, "James, lie down and go to sleep. She's not going anywhere. She'll be fine."

James sighed and giving Lily's hand a squeeze, rose up out of his chair and went over to his own bed.

"See you later, Siri."

"Night Prongs."

As soon as Sirius closed the door, James got up again and sat back down on the chair next to Lily's bed. He knew Sirius was worried about him, but he, James, was worried about Lily. He grasped her hand in his once more and stroked her hair for awhile longer, just looking at her. Keeping her hand in his, he withdrew his other hand from her hair. He took his glasses off and placed them on Lily's bedside table. Leaning back into his chair and closing his eyes, he slowly drifted into a restless sleep.


James woke up to a high pitched beep going off. He heard running and the door to the room slammed open, bombarding him with bright white light. Clumsily, he reached for his glasses and putting them on, opened his eyes. There were three healers surrounding Lily's bed. James quickly sat up straighter.

"What's wrong? What's happened?"

"Her blood pressure is dropping fast. You're going to have to leave the room." One of the healers answered him.

"What? Why? Is she going to be-?"

"I do not know, Mr. Potter. Please go wait outside." The healer directed him towards a waiting lobby and told him someone would be along to update him on Lily's condition. Meanwhile, more healers were running down the hall to Lily's room.

James had never felt more helpless in his entire life. He ran his hands over his face and sat down on a bright blue chair in the lobby. He remembered that there was a small owlry down the hall for visitors and patients to use as needed and walked down to send an express letter to Sirius and Remus. Not ten minutes later he saw his two best friends bursting into the lobby, breathing heavily. Jamesstarted to greet them but found that his voice didn't seem to be working properly. Remus was the first to say something.

"Is she ok James?"

"I – I don't know." His voice broke for the first time since he and Lily had landed in that hell hole of a forest. He let out a sob and buried his face in his hands, his whole body shaking in emotional anguish. Sirius, not used to seeing his best friend like this, didn't quite know what to do. Remus rushed forward and grabbed James by theshoulders, pulling him out of the chair. He envoloped him into a tight hug. James clung to him, all thoughts of manliness gone as he sobbed into Remus's shoulder unrestrainedly. Sirius walked up behind James and placed a hand on his shoulder. Remus tightened his grip on James, letting him get everything that had happened to him since yesterday afternoon out.

"What – what if she doesn't make it?" James sobbed even harder.

Sirius's hand clenched tighter on James's shoulder.

"Don't say that James. She is going to make it. Lily doesn't just give up on things, you know that. She's going to fight it with every fiber of her being."

"But what if it's not enough, Sirius? What if -"

"That's enough, James." This time Remus spoke. "Stop thinking that. Stop saying it. She's going to be ok."

James nodded, clenching his jaw, trying to stop himself from crying anymore. After a few minutes, he pulled away from Remus and sat back down in his chair, trying to look like everything was ok again but failing miserably. His eyes were red and bloodshot with dark circles underneath them and had an empty look to them. Sirius and Remus sat on either side of James, ready to offer support when needed. The three friends kept quiet for a half hour, each waiting and wondering. Sirius's stomach decided to break the tense silence with a loud growl. Remus let out a breath of a laugh and James's lips quirked up in a miniscule smile.

"There's a cafeteria down the hall and to your left, Padfoot." James said.

"Thanks mate." Sirius jumped up and started to leave the lobby but stopped and turned around.

"Do you want me to get you anything?"

"No, I'm fine." James answered.

"I don't need anything either." Remus said.

Sirius shrugged his shoulders and left for the cafeteria.

"Is he ever not hungry?" Remus asked exasperatedly.

"I think Snape cursed him with a bottomless stomach or something end of fifth year."

Remus laughed and then both friends fell into silence, thinking about Lily. Sirius returned a few minutes later with some muffins, agenerous amount of bagels, and three large cups of coffee.

"I know you three said you didn't want anything, but James you haven't eaten since Merlin knows when and Remus hasn't either. And I think we all need some caffeine."

Remus and James nodded, taking the food from Sirius. Sirius tore into his muffin, Remus picked at his bagel and James sipped some coffee.

"Mr. Potter?"

James looked up so fast that he spilled coffee on his lap. He hardly noticed, his mind was focusing on one thing, and that was his Lily.

"Yes?" he asked with baited breath.

"We've gotten Lily stabilized; she has made a turn- for the better. She's going to be just fine."

James let out a huge breath, "Oh God…" he sat down, shaking like a huge weight had just been lifted off of him.

"She gave us quite a scare there for a moment, but she put up a fight. She should be awake within the next day or so. Herbody still needs quite abit of rest.You may go back to the room with her."

James nodded and thanked the healer sincerely as he left.

Sirius turned to James, "See?"

James laughed, feeling elated. "Yeah. Sorry for freaking out on you guys earlier like that, I guess I just lost control."

Sirius smirked, "You could say that. Seriously though, James, its fine. That's what we're here for."

Remus nodded, "We would have been more worried if you weren't showing any emotion at all James. It's completely understandable. Don't worry about it."

James smiled, "Thanks. You guys are the best, really."

"Let's go see the wife to be." Sirius wiggled his eyebrows, earning an eye roll from James. The three friends started to leave the waiting room before Sirius stopped and turned around.

"My muffins!" he rushed back into the room and returned quickly, his arms full of muffins and bagels. Remus and James looked at Sirius, then at each other, then back to Sirius again.

"What?" Sirius asked.

"Nothing Padfoot, nothing..." James sighed.

They proceded to Lily's room, James shaking his head, Remus doing the same, and Sirius trying to decide if he wanted the blueberry muffin or the apple cinnamon muffin next.


I hope it was good; I've spent forever on this chapter, writing it and rewriting it over and over and over again. I tried to make it longer because for the next week or so I'm going to be doing some serious studying, that is after vacation this weekend hehe. AP tests coming up! So I'm not quite sure when my next update will be, hopefully not too long. I'll try and work on the next chapter this weekend on paper since there isn't a computer where I'm going. Have a Happy Easter and a happy spring break if you're on one!

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW! It helps me so much!

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