Disclaimer: Not mine.
Here it is! Way too long, I know, but I had so much stuff to do, I really should be studying right now... oh well. I've got time. This is the last chapter of this story, I really hope you've enjoyed it. Please review, maybe telling me what you liked/didn't like, how I could improve, etc. If that's too much, a simple 'hate it' or 'love it' would suffice :-) i love you guys! So, without further ado, I give you:
Afternoon Tea
Chapter 5
James sat on Lily's hospital bed, gazing down at her with a smile lighting his face. It had been 15 hours since he was told that his Lily was going to be alright. Her room now slightly resembled a flower shop; many people had called to visit Lily once the healers had given the ok. Sirius was once again down at the cafeteria to fill his never-ending stomach. Remus was out taking a walk; he had been sitting in Lily's room with James for hours. He tried to convince his best friend to come with him, but James wanted to be there when Lily awoke. As a result, James was now alone with a soundly sleeping Lily.
...A soundly sleeping Lily who just stretched her arm above her head.
Who just wriggled her toes, rubbed her eyes, and doesn't seem to be sleeping soundly anymore.
"Lily?" James asked softly, framing her face in his hands.
James watched as Lily slowly fluttered her beautiful emerald green eyes open.
"James." She smiled at him, then grimaced in pain when she tried to sit up.
"Shhh... lie back down love, lie back down. Oh Lily…" James leaned close to her after lowering her gently back down onto her bed. His eyes were filled with tears as he kissed his love gently on her forehead, then took her hand in both of his and kissed each finger with care.
"James, I'm in St. Mungo's, aren't I?"
James nodded, smiling softly at her.
"How long have I been asleep?"
"A little less than two days."
"Two days? Merlin, what happened to me?"
James sighed and closed his eyes for a brief moment before telling Lily to scoot over some. He lied down next to her facing her on his side, placing an arm on her waist.
"You remember Voldemort?"
Lily nodded slowly, then spoke.
"I remember dueling with him; he hit me with a curse… all I remember is a lot of pain, then I think I blacked out."
"You did. I don't want to relive the details of the battle right now; I'll tell you later if you want. Long story short, the Order came and saved the day.Sirius took you on his broom to St. Mungo's, Dumbledore took me on his. We were both in pretty bad shape when we got here. I woke up after about 4 hours. Voldemort had used Serpensortia and I wasn't quick enough to evade the bite."
Lily gasped, her hand flying to her mouth.
"But James, those are so poisonous! If the Order hadn't gotten there when they did, you could have… Oh James!"
She wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her face in his chest. He held her close to him, stroking her hair.
"Shhh, it's ok now, we're both ok, everything's alright." James whispered into her hair.
There was a light knock on the door followed by Remus entering.
"Lily!"
Remus rushed over to her. James sat up so there was enough room for Remus to sit on the edge of the bed. He gently sat down and held Lily's other hand.
"How are you feeling?"
"Surprisingly tired, after sleeping for so long. Other than a few aches and pains though, I'm brilliant."
"Good." Remus smiled.
"Is Sirius here?"
"Yeah, he's stuffing his face in the cafeteria." James answered.
Lily laughed, "Typical."
"I'm so glad you're awake -"
"LILYKINS!" interrupted a new voice from the doorway.
"Hey Sirius."
"You're finally awake!"
"Yep."
Sirius strode closer to the bed and Remus and James scooted over to make room for him.
"How are you doing?"
"I'm ok." Lily replied with a smile.
"Do you have any idea what you put us through?" Sirius asked, suddenly quite serious.
"I'm sorry," Lily answered quietly.
"I mean, not only did we have to worry about you, but we had to take care of James too! Do you know how hard he is to handle when you're not around? Bloke can't even feed himself properly! I haven't ever seen anyone go so long without nourishment- I had to practically force food down his throat!"
Remus rolled his eyes and James scoffed, saying, "That's not true!"
"It is so Jamsie!"
"It is not!"
"Yes it is!"
"No it isn't!"
"Is!"
"Isn't!" James shot a hard glare at his best friend. Sirius then decided to end the conversation on his note.
"Yeah, whatever Prongsie, if that's what you want to think, that's ok, we all know what really happened. What's so funny Lily flower?"
For Lily had been shaking silently with repressed laughter since James and Sirius had started their little spat. Her eyes, watery from tears of mirth, now were glaring viciously in Sirius's direction.
"Don't call me that Sirius. And it's you two! How old are you guys?"
"I believe they're both twenty years of age Lily, although sometimes I do wonder…" Remus answered wearily.
"I rather think Lily is suggesting that you and I, James, are immature for our age. Am I correct in inferring this, Lillian?"
"Yes, Sirius, you are. Now if you would kindly leave the room and find a healer, I would greatly appreciate it. I'm starving, and I want to know what I can eat and when I can get out of here."
"I'm on it Lil's."
"Thanks Sir."
Sirius bounded out of the room to complete Lily's request after a quick nod of the head. Remus, sensing that James and Lily might want a few more moments alone, followed. As the door closed, Lily turned her attention to James as he lay back down next to her on the bed, wrapping his arm around her.
"I can't believe we made it out alive." Lily stated.
James nodded, "There were a couple of times when I thought we were dead for sure. Thank Merlin I had the mirror with me; if it wasn't for Sirius…"
"I know."
They lied in comfortable silence for a few moments before Lily broke it again.
"James?"
"Hmm?"
"What do you think Voldemort wanted from us?"
James was silent for a moment, then sighed heavily before turning to face Lily more directly.
"He wanted me, Lily. He's trying to get into Hogwarts and he needed information that I had."
Lily nodded and James continued.
"There's more. While you were asleep, Dumbledore paid a little visit. He said that The Order had come across some new information and that you and I could be in the center of it.They don't know muchyet, but especially considering the reason we're here right now, we need to be even more careful than we have been. I'm going to start carrying my invisibility cloak everywhere with me. I should have had it when we were in the forest. Then maybe you wouldn't have-"
"James. It's not you're fault."
"Lily, you could have been killed. You were almost killed. It was because he wanted me. And now this new information from Dumbledore… we're in so much danger, Lily. It's starting to get scary. It has been for awhile, but this… I don't know how I could live with myself if something happened to you. Lily, are you sure you still want to get-"
"Stop. Stop right there, James Potter. How could you even suggest such a thing?"
"I just thought that maybe you-"
"No, James. You thought wrong. I am quite aware of the danger we are in right now and the fact that it might increase considerably once we're married. But as you saw twenty minutes ago, when I woke up and saw you I didn't recoil and tell you to never come near me again because you were a threat to my life. I still love you James, you were not at fault for anything that happened that night. Think. The portkey was my chair, was it not? If they wanted only you, they would have charmed your chair. I am in danger with or without you. And, frankly, I would rather it be with you. I want no one else to go through this with, James. No one."
James, unable to speak, just wrapped Lily in his arms and held onto her more tightly than he had ever done before. She held back just as hard.
"Promise me you'll never think that again."
James squeezed her closer still. "I promise." He whispered huskily into her hair.
"Good." Lily replied. She pulled back from the tight grip James had her in and gently brushed her lips against his. He moaned slightly and deepened the kiss, keeping one hand around her waist and moving the other to the side of her face. Soon, the need for air overtook them and they broke apart breathing heavily. James rested his forehead on hers.
"I love you." He whispered.
Lily smiled, "I love you too." She gave him a short, but rather gratifying kiss.
The door burst open, startling Lily and James.
"Sorry if I'm interrupting anything, but I brought food, Lily!"
James sat up and acknowledged Sirius with a nod.
"The healer said that you could have whatever you wish to, but advises for you to stay closer to bland foods and to take it slow. She said something about your digestive system having to get used to food again since you've gone so long without it. Anyway, I got some bagels for you."
"Thanks Sirius." Lily said, taking the plain bagel from his outstretched hand. "Did she say when I could go home?"
"She said after an examination to make certain that you're ok, you will be sent home."
"Home." Lily said with a sigh and a smile. She suddenly sat bolt upright, despite the pain, her eyes wide.
"Lily! What's wrong?"
"James! The dishes! We never washed the dishes after dinner that night! They've been sitting there this entire time! Oh no… we're going to go home to this horrid smelling house with Merlin knows what living in the kitchen, and-"
"Lily. Lie back down. It's ok. Remus left a little bit ago to make sure the house was ready for you; he knew you wouldn'tlet yourself restif the house was dirty." Sirius explained to Lily calmly.
"Oh. Ok." Lily lay back down, visibly relaxed. She glared at James, who was trying to stifle his laughter but failing miserably.
"What's so funny?"
"You! You've beenunconscious for two days after a duel with the most powerful dark wizard that ever lived, and you're worrying about dirty dishes?"
Lily blushed and began to say a retort but thought better of it, instead letting a smilepeak through.
"I suppose that is one of the last things I should be worrying about, isn't it?"
"I dunno, Lil. Dirty dishes can be pretty dangerous." Sirius smirked.
"Shut up, you."
"I'm fine James. I can walk on my own."
"I know, but that doesn't stop me from wanting to help you anyway."
Lily rolled her eyes and sighed. Secretly she loved how James was letting her lean on him while they walked up the pathway to their house. She wanted to appear independent, because she was a very independent witch, but she just loved the feeling of James's arm around her waist, supporting her.
"We're home." James murmured into her hair as he opened their front door.
"Thank Merlin. I get to sleep in my own bed!"
James laughed softly and followed his Lily upstairs. Watching her looking around their home, excited at how well Remus had cleaned everything (He even dusted, James! Why don't you ever dust?) filled him with an enormous amount of joy and love. He had learned from the past two days how much Lily really, truly meant to him. How much he loved her antics, her little imperfections. He made a promise to himself right there that he would do everything in his power to keep her from harm.
Lily, satisfied that everything in her site was spotless, moved to their bedroom. She pulled the covers back on their bed and snuggled underneath them.
"Lily… you are aware that it isn't even dark out yet?"
"Of course I am. I'm just tired, those hospital beds are horrible."
James smiled and said ok, leaving the room to go downstairs.
"James?"
James turned back around and looked at his fiancé.
"Yeah?"
"Do you think tomorrow we could have Remus and Sirius over for dinner or something? I want to thank them for all that they've donefor us the past few days."
"Sure love, that's fine, as long as you feel well enough to cook."
"I will, and I never said you wouldn't be helping." Lily said, smirking.
"In that case… maybe they shouldn't come over for dinner…"
Lily laughed and James started to go downstairs again when she said his name once more.
"What is it?" he asked.
"Could you lay downwith me until I fall asleep?" She asked in a small voice.
James's eyes softened and he walked over to their bed, taking his shoes off along the way. He got underneath the covers, placed an arm around Lily's waist and pulled her up to him so her back was against his chest. Lily grabbed his hand and held onto it, immediately starting to drift off to sleep.
"I love you James." She whispered softly just before slipping into slumber.
"I love you too, Lily. Always." He murmured, kissing her hair. He watched her sleep until the sky grew dark,loving each breath that she took. As night grew, he too closed his eyes and dozed off to sleep.
So, finally, there it is. It took way longer than expected, and I'm really sorry. I hope it was worth it becauseI would hate to end this story on a bad note. Please, please, please review, I really love getting reviews! Again, hope you liked it.
Blue Arrow
