Title: Fools and Luxury
Author: Meg
A/N: Oh jeeze you guys make me feel awesome. SOOO, I'd just like to think james-s2-lily, xxxxParvati-Patilxxxx, futureauthor15, Queenie, Stargirlll, Bryanna, Zippy-Wings, laxrules18, princess of the elements, Super Cara, librastar and Lupincrazy for reviewing chapter 3. To everyone that actually gets through this chapter: PLEASE BE NICE AND REVIEW! This chapter's a little longer and my favorite so far!

Chapter 4

Lily's POV

Nothing had yet to make a smugger look on my face then when James Potter didn't show up for our date. I could picture him still struggling on the floor of our bathroom. Finally I had done some justice to Potter. This thought carried me up the lawns outside of the castle and I made my way up the trail to the entrance hall. I reached the doors and quietly opened and shut them behind me. I was intending to nip into the Great Hall for a snack when something at the bottom of the marble staircase caught my attention.

James Potter's body lay in a crumpled form on the ground. His face was barely recognizable from the blood that covered it, but his messy black hair that swept across his forehead and his hazel eyes idly blinking up at me gave it away.

Seeing him like this; leg twisted in an abnormal way, blood-spattered, looking like he was a badly put together puzzle was so alien to me. I was so used to seeing him as strong, healthy, and unbeatable to say the least. Now witnessing him in such a rutted manner created a welt to erupt deep in my throat and my heart to double in speed.

Just as I had made it over to him, his half-closed eyes took their last look at me and I swear a smile faintly came upon his lips before he fell unconscious.

My heart lurched when I realized that he was not going to wake up. I panicked. "SOMEONE HELP ME!" I screamed as loudly as I could. Of course nobody was around. "SOMEONE'S HURT! I NEED HELP!"

I looked back down at Potter, half-expecting to see him grinning up at me like this was all some clever prank. When I understood that this wasn't going to occur, my eyes began to well up and my vision blurred.

I hastily grabbed for my wand in my front pocket. "WINGARDIAN LEVIOSA!" I bawled and Potter rose into the air, his clothes hanging from his limp body.

I let him levitate in front of me while I ran up the marble staircase. Small drops of crimson that shown up at me from the steps caught my eye. I sped down corridors and up staircases with Potter a few feet in front of me at all times until I had finally made it to the Hospital Wing. I levitated Potter into the closest bed. "Madam Pomfrey!" I yelled and scanned the room for her.

She immediately bustled out of her office. "What's going on here, Ms. Evans?" She looked at me scornfully but then followed my gaze to the bed where Potter was now laying. She let out a whimper of surprise and swiftly made her way over to him. I ran over to the bedside as well.

"Is he going to be alright?" I asked anxiously as she split his pant legs to the knees and pulled his shirt up, now exposing his defined stomach. This caused my cheeks to brighten.

"We'll see dear, but you will have to leave! He's in very bad condition and I cannot be bothered while I fix him up."

I gave her a fixed look. "I'm staying" I said in a daringly low voice. "And I will not get in the way." I could tell she was caught off guard. She gave me a contemptuous look, but besides that she did not say a word.

After inspecting all his wounds and broken bones, Madam Pomfrey ran off to her office to grab the select medicines she would use on Potter. He was about half-naked at this point. Oh jeeze. Madam Pomfrey had taken off his shirt and rolled up his pant legs past his knees by this point. But before I had been alone with Potter for only a minute, she was back. She pried his mouth open carefully and let blue liquid that came from an old, brown bottle ooze into his mouth. She then carefully took her wand to each broken bone. In total he had three broken fingers. Madame Pomfrey then moved on to his broken nose, wrist and his abnormally twisted leg. The leg took longer to heal then the other bones because it was in such bad condition. "Poor boy will be limping for a while" I heard her murmur, not sure if she was talking to me or herself.

Next were his cuts. Mind you, there were many of them. Wounds covered his body allover; there was an especially deep one across his chest that looked particularly painful. Even once she had healed it there was still a long scar that existed.

The skies were the color of ebony by the time Madam Pomfrey had finished. She groggily pulled a rag from her robes and dabbed her forehead. With a sigh of relief, she gathered the medicine bottles and put them on a tray. "So…he's going to be fine?" I softly asked.

She seemed startled by the sudden start of conversation. "Well yes," she said with a firm gaze, "Hogwarts wouldn't be anywhere without me." And with that, she turned on her heel and hid away in her office.

Hmmm. She's not that conceited, is she?

I turned my gaze from the office door that just closed to Potter. The entire night guilt had run through my veins. I had gone too far this morning, even if it was Potter. I couldn't decide if the reason I was staying here with him was because I felt horribly guilty…or because I actually wanted to. "Oh, this is rubbish." I shook my head, trying to clear it. Thoughts were swimming through my mind, questioning my own motives and feelings. This is stupid. I don't have feelings for…I indolently looked over at the body occupying the bed…him. I relaxed in my chair and let my head loll to one side. I like intelligent, athletic, adventurous, mature types…wait a second…he's three of those… My chin drooped. And he certainly was handsome…My breathing deepened. No…he's immature; I don't like him one little bit…

I awoke unexpectedly from a deep sleep. The Hospital Wing torches had been extinguished and the wing had a dark and eerie feel. I had awoken because I thought I heard my name being called. Where had it come from? I rubbed my eyes and scanned the wing. No one was around. Maybe it had just been a dream… I got back into a comfortable position, waiting for sleep to come yet again.

"Lil…L-Lily."

The hair on the back of my neck stood on end and I bolted upright. The figure on the bed before me was tossing and turning; the sheets were getting caught and twisted around his body.

"Lily…"

I watched my name leave his mouth. I was shocked. Was he having a nightmare? …Why was he calling my name...Potter was squirming in every direction and I was becoming more and more frightened. I could see sweat glinting in the moonlight off his forehead and upper body.

"L-Lily…Li-...LILY."

My heart jumped out of my throat and I shot out of the chair and onto the edge of his bed.

"James!" I whispered frantically. "James, I'm here!" I hesitated to comfort him, but then slowly lay my hand upon his chest and started stroking; trying to calm him down though ironically I seemed to feel as hysterical as he was acting.

His squirming began to subside and I continued to try and calm him down. "Don't worry…it's alright, I'm here…don't worry." Again I rubbed my hand over his bare chest and I could momentarily feel his pounding heart beat. His breathing was shrill and his chest was rising up and down rapidly.

"Lily..." he repeated but this time quietly.

My pulse was slowing down and my fear was disintegrating. I pushed his dark hair out of his face and rubbed his cheek, happy that he was quieting. I can tell you I was surprised to see his closed eyelids turn into half-open slits. I could feel his hazel eyes curiously looking into mine. I could feel my cheeks tingling and I knew that they were a rosy red color. He turned his cheek inward to my hand like a cat that wanted to be scratched behind the ears. I don't know what overcame me but in the next moment I found myself embracing James Potter, my arms wrapped around his back and our faces cheek to cheek. He seemed to hesitate, but then weakly wrapped his arms around me and I could feel him slightly shaking under me.

"Please…please don't leave" he whispered into my ear.

A smile broke out on my face and I nuzzled into his neck. "I'm not leaving James, I'm right here…"

James's POV

I slowly opened my heavy eyelids and quickly found out it was a mistake; the light filling into the Hospital Wing half-blinded me and I hastily closed them shut.

The Hospital Wing?

Squinting, I re-opened my eyes. Memories of the night before quickly washed over me. Snivellus…he hexed me and that must be why I'm here…wait a minute… My heart jumped and I rolled over onto my right side. Lily Evans was curled up on a chair in a considerably uncomfortable looking manner. Her fiery hair was messy and she was cuddling up in the black hoody she was wearing. It looked a bit familiar…I looked down at my stomach and realized that not only was I topless, but she was wearing my sweater. A grin swept across my face and I was suddenly alive with energy. Perhaps she finally had given to my witty charm and extremely good looks…

I pulled the covers off my legs and was surprised to find that I was only in my boxers. "Uh oh" I mumbled under my breath. I then decided that I needed to find a housecoat as soon as possibly. I grabbed the sheet off of my bed and wrapped it around my exposed, extremely well-toned body. I swung my legs over the side of the bed and got to my feet.

"ARGHH!"

There was an excruciating pain my right leg when I put my weight on it and I fell to the stone floor. Oh sweet Jesus. Lily stirred from her place in the chair and she peered over the side. "Are you alright?!" she asked anxiously.

"I've fallen and I can't get up" I replied bitterly. My leg throbbed with pain, this had been my third time stuck on the floor in 24 hours, I was only in my boxers and Lily Evans was watching.

A mocking grin formed on her face but nonetheless, she still looked sympathetic. "You shouldn't have gotten out of bed; you've hurt your leg from last night."

"Yeah, I've noticed."

Her sympathetic look turned into a glare and she got to her feet. She took hold of both my hands (this thrilled me) and helped hoist me up off the ground. I limped over to the bed and sat back down.

I looked up at Lily who surprisingly seemed to be checking out my crotchel-area. "You're checking out my crotchel-area, you know" I let her know and beamed. I never would have guessed Lily Evans to be doing such a dirty thing.

She gave me her "Oh-shut-up" look but in the next moment it turned into a giggle.

"What?" I asked, slightly unnerved by her laughing.

"You have little pink bunnies on your boxers. And they are making babies with each other."

I looked down at myself, horrified. Just as Lily had described, little fluffy pink bunnies were bouncing around playfully on my boxers, eventually finding a partner and well...making babies. I thought I had gotten rid of these boxers years ago. They had been a joke birthday present from Padfoot in 4th year. I tried to regain my composure. "Yeah well, you do realize you stayed with me all night and called me by my first name." The memory of last night absently floated into my mind. All I really could remember was a flash of green light and then waking up, finding Lily calming me down in her arms…Besides the dream, waking up with Lily caring about me was probably the best moment that had happened to me so far at Hogwarts.

She reddened in the face but at that precise moment, Padfoot and Moony emerged from Madam Pomfrey's office; they each were holding a long wooden thing that I had never seen before.

"Ay, mate! Getting along with Lilykins, are we?" said Padfoot, grinning handsomely from ear to ear, taking in my half-naked appearance.

Remus chuckled and leaned on the wooden object he was holding. He pointed his wand at a pot plant on a bedside table and expertly transfigured it into a housecoat. He threw it into my arms.

"I owe you again" I said and put it on. "I'm bloody brilliant seeing as how Lily lightened up and stayed with me here all night." I grinned and she gave me a disdainful look.

"I'm warning you. I'll kick you in the shin of your bad leg if you say another word."

Padfoot and Moony both laughed and each passed me those strange sticks. "Madam Pomfrey says you'll need to use these until your leg gets better. They're called crutches, muggles use them" Moony informed me.

"How do they work?" I asked.

"Put them under your arms and lean on them when you walk."

I followed the instructions Moony gave me and stood up. "Oh, this doesn't seem too bad…"

"How about you try walking" suggested Padfoot. A smirk was mingling on his lips.

I took one step with the crutches. The next thing I knew, I was back on the floor.