Lily left the library late that night. She had been finishing the Arithmacy problems Professor Wright set for homework and it was tedious work. She was thinking about the essay she had to do tomorrow for Herbology and wondered if Alice would help her a bit, Alice had a knack for Herbology. The plants liked her as stupid as it sounded. Lily could recall a lesson in second year when they were re-potting baby mandrakes and Alice had been able to soothe her mandrake so quickly that Professor Postumus gave Gryffindor fifteen points. The essay in question was about a famous herbologist by the name of Artemis Germain who had discovered the effects of the Fire Seeds produced from the Fire Seed Bush.

"Andrew!" she said breathlessly. "What're you doing out here? It's just passed curfew!"

"I know, I'm patrolling tonight. What're you doing out here?"

"I was headed back to the common room. Arithmacy homework."

"Why're you in such a rush for?"

"I've just realised something and I've got to apologise to Potter."

"Potter? Lily, you have to stay away from him! He's attacking muggle-borns! You're a muggle-born."

Lily thought about what James had said. "No," she said standing a little straighter. "I'm a witch and so was Scott. Potter didn't attack her, I know it now but I doubted him after I said I'd help him so now I really need to apologise. I mean how daft was I to believe anything that Pierce woman said? She obviously just wants the case shut even if that means putting an innocent person in Azkaban."

"Lily," Andrew said alarmed. "You can't talk to Potter! He'll attack you."

Lily rolled her eyes but she was smiling, "No, he won't! Don't you see? He's being framed. I don't know why, but I'll find out. Night, love." She pecked his lips before running off and barely heard Andrew when he yelled, "You're not to see Potter or we're over!"

Lily skidded to a stop, her black shoes slipping on the stone floors. An icy chill went through her. She turned around slowly to face Andrew.

"Then I guess we're over." With that she turned and continued running to the Gryffindor common room except now she was fighting tears.

How could Andrew make her choose? That wasn't what a relationship was supposed to be about. You were supposed to have the other person's back no matter what. She never did do well with ultimatums but she was still shocked at how easily her decision had come to her. Just like that, she didn't have a boyfriend anymore. She'd chosen Potter, she suddenly realised and then she shook her head, telling herself not to be absurd. She ended it because he gave her an ultimatum and that had been the one thing her mother had always told her about relationships: "If a boy threatens to break up with you because of a decision you make, you dump him faster than you can blink." So Lily had.

Lily bursted into the bustling common room and headed straight for her dormitory. Marlene and Ella saw her immediately and noticed her distraught face and followed her up the stairs.

"What happened?" Ella asked as Lily burst into tears completely. Now that she was crying she didn't know how she had held it in so long. "Did Potter kiss you?"

"Ella!" Marlene scolded.

"What? It's a valid question."

"I'm pretty sure that if Potter kissed Lily, she wouldn't be crying. Half the girls in Gryffindor can testify that he is an excellent kisser. Just ask Allison Hopkins, she only bragged about it everyday of that miserable month when they were dating in the dreadful year of '75."

"Guys!" Lily whined and the girls snapped their attention back to Lily. "Potter didn't kiss me."

"He tried to kill you?" Ella asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Ella!" Lily and Marlene chorused.

"No, he didn't. This has nothing to do with Potter except that it does. Oh God, Andrew and I broke up and I don't know why I did it I was just so angry. Who was he to give me an ultimatum!?"
"An ultimatum," Marlene said cringing, "You never do well with those."

"Right," Lily said and she continued to ramble on about how she had told Andrew that she needed to apologise to Potter and that he said if she spoke to Potter the relationship was over.

"Please don't say you picked Potter!" Ella exclaimed and Marlene nudged her.

"Lily's bad with ultimatums," Marlene reminded her before turning to Lily, "Look you don't have to talk to Potter tonight. Tomorrow, you're going to find Andrew and talk to him. You'll explain that you're really bad with ultimatums. You're short term needs outweigh the long term needs in that moment and you make stupid, rash decisions. He'll understand."

"Right."

"But do you really want to be with someone who expects that they can tell you what to do and who to see?" Ella asked.

"You don't like Andrew?" Lily asked. "But you two always get along fine."

Ella snorted. "When we're in the library doing homework and not talking, you mean?"

"Right," Lily said again. "But then why'd you care if I picked Potter?"

Ella rolled her eyes, "Just because I don't like him doesn't mean you don't! You really are quite oblivious sometimes. You really like Andrew, Lily. I've never seen you this torn up over a relationship."

"Right." But Lily didn't think that was quite the case. She did really like Andrew but she felt as though she were more upset by the whole Potter-is-an-accused-attempted-murderer thing.

"I – I need to go for a walk."

"Lily, it's past curfew."

"A great time for me to practice my disillusion charm."

Lily smiled as she walked out of the dorm and down the stairs. When she was just behind the portrait hole she cast the charm on herself and felt like water was being poured down the back of her shirt. She left the common room and the Fat Lady asked who was there but Lily didn't respond — it sort of would have defeated the purpose of being invisible.

Lily didn't know where exactly she was going, all she knew was that she needed air. She needed to think. She wanted to do something she hadn't done before. She wanted to fly, to soar, to forget everything. She wanted to run and run and run until her cheeks were so red that they clashed with her hair and then lie down on the grass and point out the different constellations that she'd spent her years in Astronomy learning. She wanted to be free but she didn't know how to get it. Life was so complicated. So hard. She liked Andrew. She liked him enough to know that if she gave them a chance she could love him one day but something was holding her back, tying her wings down and not letting her soar.

Marlene said he'd understand but what if he didn't? And that was all right and good but, what if she didn't want him to understand? Did that make her an awful person? Doubt fogged her mind so much that she couldn't even see the headlights through it. There was no shining thought, no momentary clarity. Lily didn't know what to do and she wanted to kick and punch and scream because Lily always knew what to do. She always did the right thing but not because she had to but because she knew that was what she had to do. But she didn't know anymore.

A part of her was screaming at her to help Potter and another part of her was screaming to fix her relationship with Andrew. Lily was faced with a difficult decision. What do you do when both decisions are the right decisions but you can only pick one? Lily knew deep down what she had to do. Perhaps she had known since the situation had presented itself like an ugly beast sniffing the air for prey.

In muggle school, Lily had a test and their teacher told them a secret about the questions of the test. They were multiple choice and whilst Lily was only in third grade her teacher took examinations very seriously. She had told the class the secret to answering multiple choice questions:

"If you are unsure which one is the right one if they both sound correct, choose the most correct one."

So what do you do when both decisions are the right decisions but you can only pick one? You pick the most right one.

—

Marlene sat angrily in bed, staring determinedly at Ella who was determinedly avoiding Marlene, and Adaline and Alice watched with anticipating looks. Ella was laying in bed, her eyes closed but Marlene knew she wasn't really sleeping — she was faking to avoid talking to Marlene.

"You've been avoiding me," Marlene said. She hated being shut out.

"You're being naggy."

Marlene frowned. "Why is everyone calling me a bloody nag?"

"Because you are one," Ella said matter-of-factly.

"Who else is calling you a nag?" Alice frowned.

"Nate and that's not the point! Ella, please stop ignoring me and just talk to me," Marlene pleaded. "You haven't so much as looked at me since the morning!"

"I answered your question just now!" Ella protested. "How am I ignoring you if I'm responding to you?"

"You're still not looking at me." Marlene crossed her arms.

"Because I am trying to sleep."

Marlene scoffed, "Please, we all know you sleep with your curtains closed and even if you didn't I can tell that you're faking."

"Are you a mind reader now?"

"You're avoiding me. And you're avoiding Putley."

"For the billionth time, Adams. I don't want to talk about it." Marlene rolled her eyes. "I don't need to talk everything to death like you do. I declined his date and that's that. Leave. It. Alone."

"No," Marlene insisted. "I won't. Because you only declined his date because you think he'll think your damaged goods or something preposterous like that when really he won't think any differently about you. You're just using your family issues as an excuse because you're scared."

Ella sat up straight, flinging her legs of the side of the bed. "Fine! I'm scared!" she shouted. "I have a dad who doesn't give a damn about me and I don't want to let him come and mess me up more! I've enough issues to be getting on with so just bloody leave it alone, Adams!"

Ella snatched her wand up, the curtains shutting with a flick of her wrist and she buried herself under the covers.

Marlene looked at Adaline who mouthed, "You tried."

—

James Potter woke up sprinting to the bathroom, bile rising up in his throat. James keeled over the toilet bowl and threw up into it as Sirius sat on his bed smirking at the sight of the legendary James Potter throwing up into the toilet.

"You going soft, Prongs?" he asked. "Can't even hold down Firewhiskey now."

"Shut it," James groaned coming out of the bathroom. "Why on earth did you let me drink the whole bloody bottle, you git?"

James flopped onto Sirius's bed and tried to suffocate himself with the pillow. It was appealing for a moment. If he suffocated himself, he wouldn't have to deal with the accusations and the horrible feeling in the pit of his stomach that told him he was a bad person. No one would accuse a nice person of killing someone.

"What time is it?" James asked.

"It's just past curfew. You slept through the whole afternoon. Missed dinner too. I told you to take a shower, not fall asleep in it."

"I'm starving. Did you save me anything?"

"No, but I'm sure the elves would be happy to give you something."

"Great mate you are. Wanna come?"

"I've got to finish this stupid Defence essay. Scrivens said she would give me a detention if I skipped on homework again. Bloody hate professors like that. Like this essay is going to be any good to me when I'm duelling a bloody Death Eater! Ha!"

"What's it about then?"

"It's bloody maddening! It's something first years are expected to know. The difference between jinxes, hexes and curses and we are meant to go into detail analysing one example for each category of spells. It's going to be a pain. Oh, and we also have to judge the effectiveness of law enforcement in the usage of these dark spells." Sirius rolled his eyes and James just nodded slightly as he pulled his cloak out of his trunk. It was silvery and so thin James sometimes wondered why it had never torn or gotten a hole, but the material remained whole .

"I'm going to the kitchen. Just remember that the Imperius Curse would work well, lots of issues there you know, with not being able to prove if someone was under the curse or not and the victim not being able to report it until after the curse is lifted. You can use Priori Incantatem as a positive and … anyway I'm off to the kitchens. Maybe Hilly and Belfire will give me one of those potions that help get rid of headaches. Mine's churning like an engine."

"Can you bring me back some extra desert? I'm famished."

"Sod off, you couldn't even bring me the bone of a chicken leg and you want me to get you a pastry?"

James left the dormitory and threw the cloak over himself. When he opened the portrait hole the Fat Lady muttered something about "invisible students opening me just to go gallivanting across the school after curfew. Ha! I'll show them. Won't let them back in, will I? Hope Filch catches them." James rolled his eyes before setting off for the basement where the kitchens were.

James loved roaming around the school after hours. It was quiet and the only light that lit the corridors were that of the fiery torches on the walls that flickered and bounced and the moonlight always gave the corridors that extra touch. That feeling like anything could happen. James just didn't realise something bad would ever happen on one of his night-time strolls. He'd done this countless times before and nothing bad had ever happened.

After James ate in the kitchens he headed to one of his favourite destinations to visit in the middle of the night: The Astronomy Tower.

—

Adaline nudged Alice awake because it had been over an hour now and Lily still hadn't returned. Her bed was still perfectly made and the bathroom door was open.

"Psst," she hissed, nudging Alice.

"Hmph, what?"

"Lily's not back yet. Should we be worried?"

Alice rolled over, "She's prob-ly snogging Fort'scue in broom clos…" Alice fell back asleep again and Adaline frowned and moved onto Marlene.

"Psst, Marls," she hissed, shaking her leg. "Lily isn't back yet."

"Go 'way. Sleepin'."

Adaline rolled her eyes and went over to Ella this time. She pinched Ella's nose shut and Ella woke with a start.

"Bloody hell, Della," she grumbled.

"Lily isn't back yet."

"So?"

"Shouldn't we be worried?"

Ella lay back down and pulled the covers up. "She's probably snogging Potter in a broom closet. Go to bed, Del."

Adaline sat on her bed but pulled out a novel and flicked it open, vowing to stay awake until Lily came back.

—

Lily somehow ended up on the seventh floor in the corridor that led to the stairwell that led to the Astronomy Tower. Lily didn't know what possessed her. The Astronomy Tower was out of bounds unless with a teacher or for Astronomy lessons. But Lily was invisible and she hadn't heard footsteps for almost thirty minutes. She ran up the stairwell and when she reached the top the only thing she could see were the thousands of lights in the sky and the brightest and biggest of them all.

The moon, almost full, was shining so bright and though there were no lights lit on the Astronomy Tower, Lily could see perfectly from the silvery glow it let off.

Lily laid down on the hard floor and looked up at the sky. She pointed out several constellations in her mind and wondered if there were more people out in the Universe. Lily had always believed in aliens when she was little but Petunia didn't but Petunia didn't believe in magic either.

When Professor Ollivander, with her warm grey eyes and long brown hair, waltzed into her home on the first of August in 1971, magenta robes and dazzling earrings that seemed to shine like a glowing light. A wooden stick pointing out of one of the pockets on her robes and her shoes were the oddest leather, Lily had never quite seen a pattern like that before (it was moleskin). Lily's life was changed forever. Professor Ollivander was quite nervous at the time. She said to Lily and her parents, "This is my second year at Hogwarts and damn Dumbledore for making me part of the staff who come and tell muggle-borns their witches and wizards and oh dear, I'm awful at this." Lily and her parents had no idea what this strange woman — who seemed to have some sort of creature in her pocket that kept moving around — Professor Ollivander had sighed exasperatedly and pulled out the most bizarre looking creature. A fuzzy, sky blue ball with eyes and the tiniest legs sat in her palm as she scolded at it, "You don't like to sit still, do you?" she questioned the creature. Lily's eyes had lit up, Sev had warned her that a Professor from the school was coming but her parents looked at this woman like she was absolute nutters. They had no idea what she was talking about. But once Professor Ollivander had explained, Lily was delighted. It was all true, she could've wept with joy. She wasn't a freak. There really was a whole group of people out there who were just like Lily and Lily couldn't wait to go join them. At Hogwarts, the magic castle Sev had told her about. It was all Lily talked about until September first.

This is what Lily was thinking about when suddenly she heard a voice whisper, "Sectumsempra!" and her neck poured blood onto the floor like a waterfall forming a pretty, red lake on the grey stone, the gaps between the stones turning into rivers and streams. She only had a moment to register what was happening before she lost consciousness. Oh God, someone find me.

—

Remus, Sirius and Peter had started a mini chess tournament. Peter had already bombed out and Sirius and Remus were versing each other furiously.

"Prongs is taking a long time," Peter noted.

Sirius shrugged. "He probably went for a stroll. Brood over the fact he's going to Azkaban."

"Stop saying that," Remus said annoyed. "We'll figure something out."

"Relax. I don't say it in front of him. I'm all optimistic and shit like you told me to be."

"Comforting." He moved a pawn.

"You don't think he's doing something stupid, do you?" Peter asked worriedly.

"Define stupid, Wormy. We do a lot of stupid shit — Prongs more so," Remus commented.

Sirius looked offended. "I do stupid shit."

"I'm aware."

"Wolf," Sirius finished with a grin.

"Every time," Remus muttered. He looked around cautiously, hoping that their other — mostly silent — roommate hadn't overheard but when Remus glanced at his bed he found it empty. He frowned. Had they been too loud? Brown always opted to sleep in the common room when they were being noisy and his pillow and blankets were gone.

"Only when I'm drunk."

"You're not."

"I could be. You don't know my life," Sirius shrugged.

Remus looked at him doubtfully. "I know your life. It's quite pathetic actually."

"Not as pathetic as Peter's."

"Hey!"

"Sorry, Wormy," Sirius shrugged.

"Brown's sleeping in the common room again."

Sirius shrugged, "We offered to let him play with us, didn't we?"

"We did," Peter agreed.

"Maybe one of us should go get him. Apologise for being noisy."

"Why?"

"Because it's his dormitory too," Remus said annoyed. "And it must suck for him that we're all good mates and he hasn't really got anyone."

"Moony," Sirius said thoughtfully. "Are you drunk? Because you're being rather soppy."

Remus rolled his eyes, moved a chess piece and said, "Check mate."

Sirius stared at the board gobsmacked and then looked up and sighed defeatedly. "I hate you."

"Every time," Remus grinned. "Now give me back my stash of chocolate."

"You know, Moony, sharing is caring," Peter suggested.

"Wormtail's right, Moony. Sharing is caring. You care about us don't you?"

Remus swept up his chocolate off of Peter's bed. "Not enough to give you lot my chocolate that my uncle got me from Sweden."

—

James was at the foot of the Astronomy Tower when someone pushed past him, they paused for a moment for James was under the Invisibility Cloak and couldn't see him. James tried to see who it was but the person wore some sort of mask and their hood was up. James couldn't even tell if it was a girl or a boy.

James bolted up the stairs wondering what they had been running away from and his stomach lurched when he noticed red marks against the pale grey stone of the steps. James threw the cloak off of himself and shoved it into his pocket as he kept running up the stairs, hoping no one had been hurt. He halted in his tracks when he reached the top, too shocked to even process what he was seeing. He vomitted and was unsure if it was because of his hangover or because of the sight in front of him — surely the latter.

All he could see was Red. Blood on the floor. Flaming hair and black robes soaking in blood. A face so pale it disfigured the features to look like death. But the features looked so familiar. The freckles, the straight nose, the shape of the eyes, the point of the chin, the colour of her hair…Lily. It was Lily.

James ran over to her, his heart beating so fast he thought it was trying to swim in the lake on the floor, and whipped his wand out. He held it over her throat where the blood seemed to be coming from and whispered, "Vulnera sanentur" just like Professor Flitwick had taught them and Merlin, why was this happening!? But the blood stopped flowing out of her so James kept repeating the spell like he had been taught and slowly, some of the blood went back into her, the lake on the floor shrinking but not enough that James was hopeful she'd live.

"Come on, Lily," he shouted, "Stay with me. Vulnera sanentur."

The wound healed over but James knew it wouldn't be enough. He had to get her to Madam Pomfrey. She needed a Blood Replenishing Potion and lots of it. He studied Lily's chest and, though slowly, it was rising up and down. She was still breathing. She was alive.

James stowed his wand away and slid his arms under Lily and lifted her up into his arms, bridal style, blood dripping off the ends of her robes. Her head lolled and James didn't like how she felt like dead weight. He hurried down the stairs, not caring that he had blood all over him or that he would be the prime suspect. He just needed Lily to be okay.

When James neared the infirmary he started shouting, "I need help! Lily! Lily needs! She was attacked! I-" he was at a loss as of what to shout, how to get help. He was afraid. He knew Lily was still breathing but…she had lost so much blood.

"Help! Madam Pomfrey! Help!" he shouted again and not five seconds later, Madam Pomfrey came running into the hallway in her bed robes. She saw Lily in James's arms, the blood still trickling off of her robes, the blood red hair, and gasped.

"She needs help!" James shouted. "I used Vulnera sanentur to heal her but she lost so much blood and not all of it went back inside her. She's lost so much," James just kept repeating as he laid Lily on a hospital bed. Madam Pomfrey summoned a bottle of dittany and a Blood Replenishing Potion and from what James could tell it was the stronger version, meant for a huge amounts of blood loss. Madam Pomfrey got to work on saving Lily and it had been ten minutes when Professor McGonagall ran in.
"Potter!" she yelled, "What are you doing out of bed at this hour?" then she saw Lily on the bed, "My!" she gasped, "Is that a student?"

"It's Evans. Lily," James said weakly. "Is she going to be okay?"

"Potter, an explanation," she demanded, looking at James, her face full of shock.

"There was so much blood," was all James could say. "So, so much blood. It reminded me of the Black Lake. So much blood."

"Madam Pomfrey, something for shock I think. What happened?"

"I don't know, Potter just keeps talking about all the blood. What're you doing here?"

"I was doing a quick patrol and I saw bloody footprints on the seventh floor near the Astronomy Tower. I came here straight away to see if anyone was injured. Professor Flitwick is searching the seventh floor."

"Astronomy Tower," James croaked. "A student with a mask. That's all I saw before I saw Lily. I swear I didn't do it. You can, you can do any tests you want. I didn't do it."

As more time passed, more teachers crowded the Hospital Wing and James sat on a plastic chair in the corner, head in his hands as he tried not to think about how Lily had looked when he found her and how stupid he'd been. He just let the person that did this to her, run away. He should've known that the person had done something wrong, should've stopped them or at least gotten a look of their face. Something. Instead, he'd just let them run away.

"James," Professor McGonagall kneeled in front of him and he looked at her. "Lily was very lucky you were around. She's going to live because of you."

"But I didn't get the person that did this to her. I saw them! And I just let them run away," he said glumly.

"I would like to have a word with you, Mr Potter," said a cold voice and James looked away from Professor McGonagall to see Auror Beth Pierce.

"Pierce, I hardly think now is the time to question, Potter. He's been through a great deal tonight."

"Oh yes, the little sob story of finding the girl in the Astronomy Tower and reports of a student wearing a mask. How convenient," she said flatly. "I would like to speak with Mr Potter, in my office. Now."

"You can speak to him tomorrow, after he's had rest!" Professor McGonagall told her.

"With all due respect, I am the Auror on this case and it is my duty to find out who is responsible for these crimes!"

"And with all due respect, I am a teacher, responsible for my students' health. You can speak to Potter tomorrow. In the meantime, why don't you search the castle for a student in a mask?"

Pierce stormed away and James looked at Professor McGonagall hopefully, "You don't think I did it?"

"I never thought you had," she admitted. "Now, go back up to your dormitory and get some-"

James shook his head, "No, I want to make sure she's okay."

Professor McGonagall looked at James for a moment before nodding. "Very well. You can help yourself to a bed, if you wish."

James nodded but stayed put in his chair looking at the grey curtains around the bed Lily Evans was in. He wanted to sit next to her and hold her hand. She'd felt so cold before, he hoped they gave her plenty of blankets. He wanted to get that vision out of his mind. The vision of beautiful, smart and talented Lily lying on the floor in a pool of her own blood, heart beat so weak, face so pale that James had thought she was dead.

The teachers milled around until Madam Pomfrey pushed the curtains open and said, "She's stable but she hasn't woken yet."

The curtain stayed open and before James could think twice about it, he lifted his chair and moved it right next to Lily's bed and sat himself in it. She looked better than an hour ago. Her face seemed less pale, her cheeks were a bit more rosy, James thought, but a mean red scar crossed across her throat about three inches long.

Madam Pomfrey stood next to James and said, "The scar should fade until it's just a thin line."

"But she'll always have it?" James croaked and Madam Pomfrey nodded, "Afraid so. The wound is cursed. The dittany helps but it won't fade completely."

"But she's okay?"

"She should wake up in a few hours," she assured him. "You did well, Potter. A few seconds longer and she may not have made it. You saved her."

James nodded as the words bounced around in his head. You saved her. A few seconds longer … she may not have made it. You did well, Potter. You saved her. James pulled his legs up onto the chair and wrapped his arms around them as though he was trying to hold himself together and just looked at her, waiting for her to wake up because he didn't feel like he'd saved her. He felt like he failed her.

"You can help yourself to a bed, Potter," Madam Pomfrey said before leaving James on his own with Lily.

James didn't know how long he sat like that for, he nodded off a few times and Madam Pomfrey brought him a glass of water along with a goblet of potion. He looked at her questioningly.

"For that hangover," she said knowingly and James smiled sheepishly and drank up.

It had been hours and Lily hadn't moved a muscle. What if she never woke up? The thought whispered at the back of his mind like a child scared. But it was a stupid thought, James told himself, Madam Pomfrey had said that it takes patients with severe injuries a while to come to. He just needed to give her time to heal. Please wake up. Wake up. Wake up. Wake up. James nodded off again.

—

Adaline woke with a start and the first thing she noticed was that she'd fallen asleep upright. Her book lay closed on her lap and her neck cracked as she stretched her neck out. The second thing she noticed was that everyone else was still sleeping except for Lily whose bed was made up. Adaline frowned. The bed looked exactly the same as the previous night.

She clapped her hands loudly and Ella swore, "Bloody hell!"

"Lily hasn't been back all night, her bed hasn't been slept in!" Adaline threw her covers off. "I'm going to go check the common room."

She shrugged on a night robe and as she tied it she exited the dorm, trotting down the stairs quickly and scanning the common room for red hair. It was nowhere to be found. Instead she found a mop of black hair.

"Oi, Black!" Adaline shouted, "You seen Lily around?"

"Nah, you seen James?"

"No, I haven't — wait, you're looking for James?"

"Yeah, he left last night to go get food after curfew. Never came back."

"Lily left last night after curfew too," Adaline frowned. Her eyes rested on a bundle of red blankets with dark brown hair resting on a pillow. "Did you lot make Brown sleep in the common room again?"

Sirius glanced at Brown distractedly. "We didn't make him do anything. He left on his own free will. Let me know if you see James, will you?"

Adaline agreed though she doubted she'd find him in the girls dormitory. Black headed out of the portrait hole and she headed back up the stairs and rolled her eyes. No one had gotten up.

"Will you people get up?" she snapped, "Our friend is missing."

"If Lily wants to snog Fortescue-" "Or Potter" Ella chimed. "She can," Alice continued, "Just don't expect me to lose sleep over it."

"This is Lily we are talking about," Adaline reminded everyone. "Lily doesn't stay out all night like some." She looked at Alice pointedly.

"Oh hush, I was only ever in the boys dormitory, I wasn't slutty enough to stay in a broom closet all night."

"Lily isn't slutty enough to do that either," Adaline stressed.

Marlene pushed her curtains open, a frown on her face. "She's really been gone all night?"

"Yes!"

"That is odd."

"Something's wrong," Adaline insisted.

"Maybe not that odd," Alice chimed. "Maybe she was feeling rebellious. Maybe her and Fortescue sealed the deal if you know what I mean," she wagged her eyebrows quite unnecessarily because everyone knew what she was talking about.

"I don't know," Marlene frowned. "Doesn't sound like Lily."

"Let's give her until the end of breakfast to show up," Ella suggested, "If we still haven't seen her then we'll go alert a teacher."

Adaline pursed her lips but nodded.

—

He woke again when the door to the Hospital Wing banged open, slamming against the wall.

"Mr Black!" Madam Pomfrey shouted crossly, "What do you think you are doing? This is a Hospital Wing!"

"James?" he called. "Where's James?" and then the curtain was pulled back. "Prongs?"

"Mr Black! This is a Hospital Wing and visiting hours has not started! Patients are trying to sleep!"

Sirius frowned as he saw Lily with the red scar across her throat. "She was attacked?" he asked James.

"I found her."

"You saved her?"

James shrugged.

"Mr Black, leave this instant!" Madam Pomfrey demanded, her hands on her hips.

"You okay?" Sirius asked James.

James shrugged. Lily looked the same as she did a few hours ago.

"Mr Black!"

"You going to stay here?"

James nodded. Shouldn't something be different? Shouldn't she be awake by now? It's been hours. What if he didn't get there in time? What if she never woke up?

"Mr-"

"All right, all right, I'm going!" he cried before clapping James on the shoulder and leaving James alone with Lily.