Disclaimer: I am not J.K. Rowling.

It's been so long and I'm really sorry! School has finally ended so have my exams! Wooohooooo! So now I can write fanfic and get back to the fun stuff. Anyways I hope you guys continue to read my story please and to review also!

Chapter 5-Comfort

Lily POV

My eyes opened slowly to find lights blinding me. My body ached and my muscles felt sore. I tried to sit up but it hurt too much so I just slumped back down in the bed.

"Lils! You're okay," I heard Marlene say. Turning my head to look around me, I realized that my friends were all sitting around me with worried looks on their faces. "We were all so worried about you." The girls nodded in agreement.

"How do you feel?" Alice asked softly, grabbing my hand.

"A little sore," I replied. "What happened?"

"No. Well yeah I remember Avery torturing me and everything going black. Then I woke up screaming but I don't understand why. I don't think that anybody was there hurting me."

"No one was there sweetheart." I turned my head towards the sound of Madam Pomfrey's voice. "Thank Merlin you're okay. I was so worried when you started screaming last night. It was just part of the aftermath of the Cruciatus Curse. You felt the same pain as if someone was performing the curse on you. Drink this and it should help some of the pain that you are feeling go away." She set down a blue potion next to my bedside and walked back into her office.

"How long have I been out?" I asked, looking at their faces.

"Don't worry. It's only the first day back," Macy said. I looked at the window and saw that it was still pretty early.

"Great. So I can still go to the classes that are left of today and still won't miss anything-"

"Woah woah woah. You're not going anywhere. You are going to sit here. Drink the potion. Rest up and feel better."

"But-"

"No buts. We need you to be able to get back on your feet again without feeling pain Lils," Marlene said. She reached for the potion and handed it to me. "Drink," I brought the potion to my mouth and took a sip. I fought the urge to spit it out as it tasted disgusting. As I looked around the room, I realized that Kathy was missing.

"Where's Kathy?" I asked curiously.

"Well its' second period and we have free but Kathy's still taking Care of Magical Creatures so that's where she is now," Elizabeth said. I nodded in understanding.

"So what happened to Avery?"

"Well nobody's really sure where he is right now but they're trying to find him," Alice said.

"And once they do, Professor Dumbledore said he would be expelled," Liz said.

"Although I'd really rather deal with him myself," Marlene said bitterly.

"Believe me, I think all of us want to deal with him ourselves but then we'd end up getting in trouble," Elizabeth said, bitterness in her voice as well.

"Lils, I'm so sorry. I'm such an awful friend," Marlene said, sounding on the verge of tears. I couldn't understand why she'd day that. She was the greatest friend a girl could've possibly had. Now that I got a closer look at her, I realized that there were circles under her eyes, an obvious sign that she hadn't slept.

"For what?" I asked.

"He hurt you and I was there. I didn't protect you."

"Marlene, that's crazy. He had all of you under the Body-Binding Spell anyways. How were you guys going to do anything?"

"It doesn't matter. I should've been more alert. I should've been able to defend you."

"Yeah, we all should've been," Macy agreed. I couldn't believe my ears. How could they even think like that? I knew that if they could've done something, then they would've done it. They definitely wouldn't have let me get hurt on purpose. I couldn't stand to see them beat themselves up over something as silly as this."

"Guys that's crazy. With that type of logic, I should've been able to defend myself too. Listen, you guys would've helped if you could've. Don't beat yourself up over this. I'm fine. No harm done. Marlene, you're the greatest best friend a girl could possibly ask for. And you guys are all amazing friends. Don't blame yourselves for something you had no control over." They all looked at me with smiles on their faces. Satisfied that they had cheered up a bit, I finished drinking the rest of that atrocious potion.

The girls caught me up on what I had missed in the Sorting and Dumbledore's speech. "It was so scary. I don't think I've ever seen him so serious before," Elizabeth said worriedly. We talked about that a little more and I became more aware of the attacks that were happening on my kind. When the bell signaled the end of their free period, I was sad to see them go.

"Bye Lily," Macy said as she hugged me.

"Feel better," Alice said.

"Rest up," Liz said also giving me a hug.

Marlene gave me a bone crushing hug that would not help with my recovery. "We'll tell Kathy that you're awake."

"Bye guys," I waved to them. They waved back and exited the Hospital Wing.

James POV

"It is imperative that you understand the importance of Potions in your future careers. Some of you excel in this particular subject but the rest need to practice in order to pull through these N.E.W.T. s…" I tuned out Slughorn's rant about how important Potions was and how much we would need it in our lives. The only reason I was in this class was because I wanted to become an Auror. The only thing that made it a little enduring in the past was Lily. She would've been hung up on every word and little detail Slughorn was saying with her forehead crinkled the way it did when she was concentrating on something. And now she wasn't here.

I looked around to see her friends. They had come in a lot more relaxed and smiling except for Marlene. Even though I was worried about her, I didn't dare approach her since I knew she wasn't about to speak to me yet.

Me and Sirius were both still totally wierded out by the talk we had with Dumbledore this morning. "It's because I know that the two of you will take better care of her than anyone else." I would definitely do anything to protect Lily but Dumbledore had to understand that she hated me. He had to know that even if I tried- the bell ran interrupting my thoughts.

The Marauders and I stood up to make our way to lunch. "You two have been awfully quiet this morning," Remus observed. "If you're worried about Lily I'm sure she's going to be fine. She's Lily Evans and Lily Evans always gets through everything."

"Still worried though Moony. I can rest easy again after she wakes up and I know that she's okay," Sirius said as we walked into the Great Hall and took a seat opposite Macy, Liz, and Alice. "Where's McKinnon and Grey?"

"Lily woke up this morning-" Macy began.

"Lily's awake!" Sirius said, a smile forming on his face.

"Yeah, we're going to eat lunch and head up there until Astronomy starts," Liz said. Me, Remus, and Sirius had already started to get up in order t make our way to the Hospital Wing.

"James, I don't think that it's a good idea for you to go," Alice said hesitantly, stopping the three of us.

"Why not?"

"How can you even ask that question?" Macy flared, her anger once again surprising me. "You are probably the last person she wants to see right now after yesterday."

"Ok, come on now!" Sirius said, exasperated.

"Girls, he said he was sorry," Remus added.

"Not to Lily, he didn't," Liz pointed out.

"Then I'll go apologize to her right now," I said.

"No means no Potter!" Macy exclaimed.

"James, if you care about her as much as you say you do, then you need to leave her alone right now. She needs to rest and you being there is not going to help her recover," Alice said gently. When she put it like that, there was no way I was going to go see her.

"Fine," I said, defeated. "You guys go on ahead."

"I'm sure she'll be fine," Remus tried to comfort me.

"Yeah. I'll tell her that you wanted to stop by," Sirius said. I watched after them as they ran out of the Great Hall, a longing expression on my face.

Lily POV

"Where is she?" Sirius asked, bursting into the Hospital Wing with Remus.

"Right here," I said from my bed. Marlene was sitting next to my bed and Kathy had went to get me some food so that I could eat.

"Hey Lils. How are you?" Remus asked.

"I'm feeling a lot better but I'd really like to get out of here," I said grumpily. "You Marauders are the masterminds of pranking and scheming. Find a way to get me out of here!"

"Nuh-uh-uh Lilyflower. You need rest," Sirius said with a smirk on his face.

"Haha very funny. I've already rested. I need to get back to my classes."

"Typical Lilyflower."

"Don't worry Lily. You always do great in all your classes," Remus said. This really bothered me. Why could nobody see how important it was for me to get to my classes. It's N.E.W.T. year for Merlin's sake!
Remus, Sirius, and Marlene stayed with me for the rest of lunch and Kathy came back towards the end with smuggled food from the kitchen. Then they headed off to Astronomy.

⃰ ⃰ ⃰

Madam Pomfrey let me out at the end of the day and I headed off to the Gryffindor Tower.

"Honeydukes," I said to the portrait of the Fat Lady when she asked for the password. When I entered I saw the Marauders sitting close to my friends. I walked towards where they were sitting.

"Hello," I said cheerfully, glad to have gotten out of the Hospital Wing.

"Hey Lils," they all said in unison.

"So I have so much to tell you Lils," Liz said, excitedly so I was guessing that a conversation about her latest crush would begin. "Today in Transfiguration-"

"Lily?" I turned around to see Potter's little sister behind me. Potter had probably put her up to something. "I know you were hurt yesterday so I just wanted to come by and make sure you were feeling better."

"Awwww. Thank you Alexa. That was really sweet of you. I'm feeling a lot better. Don't worry," I said.

"Ok! Good then. Bye!" she said perkily and skipped back to her friends.

"That was really weird," Liz said. I had to agree. Why would this who barely knew me want to make sure I was fine? I didn't know but it was too much to handle for one day.

"She was just being nice," I defended. "Guys I feel really tired so I'm going to head up to bed."

"I'll come with you," Marlene said. "I don't want to think about this stupid Transfiguration essay anyway. Don't worry. It's not due until Friday." I nodded even though I was still worried that I would be held back in my work. She got up and we made our way to the staircase leading to our dormitory.

James POV

As Lily headed to her dormitories, I got up and called after her despite my friend's protests. "Hey Evans!" Honestly, I didn't think she would turn around but at least she froze. Then she surprisingly turned to Marlene and said, "Go on without me. I'll be up soon." Then, turning towards me she said, "What do you want Potter?"

I just stared at her, not believing that she had actually turned around. At my silence, she raised her eyebrows questioningly. "I just wanted to say I was sorry about what I said yesterday. I didn't mean it at all. It just slipped out because I was angry. I know you're not any of what I said you were and I'm sorry if I made you feel like you were," I rushed out nervously. James Potter was never nervous around any other girl except for Lily Evans.

She was looking at me with narrowed eyes. "Okay. Apology accepted."

"Wait really?" I asked incredulously.

"Yeah."

I don't know what compelled me to say what I did next. "Go out with me Evans?"

She scoffed. "Of course. Just when I'm thinking that James Potter is genuinely sorry for something. No!" Then she stormed off to the dormitories.

I turned back to the Marauders and flopped down in my seat. "I'm an idiot."

"Yes you are," Sirius and Remus agreed.

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