A/N: I GOT SO MANY REVIEWS! Thank you all so much! I love you all for reviewing like you did, it made me feel so much better. Just a heads up to all of you, I do not know Lily's birthday date, therefore I am making it up so if anyone at all knows when it is please tell me either by email or by review. Thank you all!

Oh yeah, and get ready for some serious, fluff, drama, and angst. This is a pretty sad chapter.

Chapter 12

St. Mungos

Narcissa flipped her long blinding-silver hair, giggling madly and clinching onto Lucius. He turned to her and scowled warningly, jerking his arm from her grasp. She seemed hurt but let go without any complaints.

James whipped out his wand without hesitation, " How dare you insult Lily like that in front of me." he growled baring his teeth.

At this action Remus and Sirius instantly pulled out their wands, Mallory following. Lily and Amanda had to step back, because unfortunately neither of them were 17, and still unable to use magic. Lily walked over to James and grabbed his arm.

" James, please it really isn't worth it."

" Oh, look, the Mudblood's trying to protect her sissy boyfriend," Severus said, chuckling loudly; his greasy charcoal hair shinning in the dull light of the evening sun.

James turned to him and gave him the dirtiest look he could muster, " I told you, Never to call her that!" before Lily could do anything he had done it, "oppungo!" James shouted pointing his wand at a stray cat that was passing by.

The cat jerked slightly and then instantly ran straight at Severus, its claws barred. James smirked angrily as he watched the cat climb up his pants, Snape began to scream and shake his leg as he fell onto the ground and began to roll around violently.

Bella shrieked and glared at James, " You'll be sorry potter," her eyes connected with the ones of Lily raising her wand directly at her she screamed, " Furnunculus!"

" Expelliarmus" Sirius said, just barely before before the spell could reach Lily.

Her wand whipped out of her hand and went spiraling behind her, slamming into a shop window.

" Accio Wand," Narcissa said, retrieving Bella's wand and giving it back to her.

James turned to Lily and grabbed her arm, " Get out of here Lily, I don't want you to get hurt."

She shook her head and looked at him with sorrow filled eyes, "Please James, don't do this. You might get hurt yourself!"

" I am not going to let them stand there and cut you down like that!" he said squinting his eyes and letting go of her. " Now, go, take Amanda with you. Don't worry about me I can take care of myself."

She turned and grabbed Amanda, but they didn't leave they just acted like it, standing in a alleyway, they watched.

Lucius had gotten the cat off of Snape by now, and both of them were ready to fight. Especially Severus who was angry enough to kill at this point.

He squinted his beady eyes at James and smiled sarcastically, his upper lip curling in a disgusted manner." So, this is how it is, eh Potter? You think you can take us?"

James snapped his head around at him and glared, he lifted his wand higher, " No, I don't think we can, I know we can." He pointed his wand at Narcissa, " Densa-"

" Expelliarmus!" Severus screamed sending a blinding jet of green light at him.

Lily gasped and put her hand to her mouth, she didn't know what to do. She wished more than anything that she could help, but until her birthday, June 15, she was completely useless.

"Immobulous," Remus said, finally stepping up. " Don't even think about it," he said aiming his wand at Bella who was attempting to reverse the charm.

" How dare you speak to me, you disgraceful half-bred! Incarcerous,"

Ropes appeared out of thin air, binding Remus tightly. He stumbled and fell to the ground, squirming hard to try and free himself from the tight knot.

Before anymore damage could be done Sirius and Mallory went after Bella, making it clear that she wasn't going to be doing things like that to their friends while they were around. James reversed the binding spell, but was hit in the back with a charm just as Remus was freed.

James' face began to turn red, boils forming slowly across his face. As if the pain were non-existent, he got back up immediately to fight with Lucius.

Remus and James were fighting Lucius and Snape while Mallory and Sirius held off the other two. They could hear two girls screaming and then a loud thud sounded nearby.

After a few minutes of fighting everyone had cleared the streets in fear. Shops had already closed down, because by now it was evening and Hogsmeade completely closed by seven.

Remus and Snape were knocked out cold, laying on the ground from spells that neither of them were able to dodge. It was only James and Lucius now.

Everything was silent, both of them had their wands up and ready to jump at any second. James was slightly distracted because he could hear Sirius and Mallory fighting only a few feet away, and just as soon as Lucius realized this moment of distraction he made his move.

" Expelliarmus!" Lucius shouted catching James off guard.

James held onto his wand with all his might, but it didn't work. Just as he wished it wouldn't, his wand flew out of his hands leaving him defenseless. He knew Lucius wasn't going to go easy on him, so he stood tall and squinted his eyes right back at him. Lucius smirked and lifted his wand pointing it at James' neck.

" I've waited for this my entire life, it's just you and me Potter." he drawled slowly

James smiled sarcastically, eying the wand, " You don't scare me, Malfoy, you and your wand can't do any damage to me."

His victorious smirk vanished and was replaced with a look of sheer hatred, " You think so, huh?"

He flicked his wand, " Crucio!"

A jet of light connected with James' chest, he screamed out in pain, crumpling to the ground, unable to regain himself. It felt as if he was on fire, with thousands of knives stabbing him on every inch of his body. He jerked violently, tossing and turning, he could feel ribs snapping right then and there.

Lucius stood above him, laughing in delight as he watched James' face cringe in pain. He said the counter curse and lifted James to his feet by his hair, just before James was about to pass out.

" You still think I cannot harm you? Are you afraid yet?" He sneered.

James grunted and grabbed his side.

Slowly and in short breaths he replied, " As... I've said before... you don't and never... will scare me, Malfoy."

" I guess I have to show you again then," he said heartlessly as yet again he raised his wand, " Crucio!"

This time James was ready, he dodged the curse skillfully and ran to his wand as fast as his legs could carry him. He snatched it up out of ashes from a previous spell and turned back to Lucius.

" Expelliarmus!" he said viciously.

Unfortunately Lucius was too quick and repelled the spell.

James had heard that he was skilled in dueling, but he had never believed it until now. He always had believed it to be nothing but talk, that all changed as the night unraveled seeming to worsen more each second.

Just then he heard footsteps behind him, he turned unwisely to see who it was, but never actually did because just that second three spells hit him at the same time, knocking him out completely.

Darkness surrounded him and before long so did silence.

XxxxX

Tears streamed down Lily's face as she watched the fight continue endlessly. She wished more and more every second that she had her wand, screw the damn rules all she wanted to do was save James. Amanda was currently holding Lily up, she had already fainted twice from watching James crumple to the ground helplessly and she couldn't bare seeing her friend faint again.

" Don't cry Lily, be strong, it's almost over!" Amanda said reassuringly, hugging her tighter.

Lily screamed as she saw Narcissa and Bella charging towards James, completely ignoring Amanda who was only trying to help.

She jerked from Amanda's grasp and fell to her knees, " NO!" she wailed as she watched James' eyes roll behind his head and fall to the ground for the second time.

Narcissa and Bella kicked James a few seconds later to see if he was knocked out and looked up at Lucius nodding. All three of them apparated away, taking Severus with them.

Once they had gone Lily flew over to James' unconscious body, her tears cascading heavily down her cheeks.

" James..." she whispered, touching his face gently which was covered in blood and large red boils. " I'm so sorry... I'm so sorry," she repeated helplessly.

Lily heard quick foot steps behind her, but she didn't move she just kept stroking his head.

" Oh my god, what happened!" she heard Mallory say.

Sirius walked up to James and shook him by the shoulders, " He's out, we have to get him to St. Mungos immediately. Amanda, can you go help Remus?" He asked, noticing Remus trying to get to his feet.

Amanda nodded and went over to Remus.

Mallory pulled Lily to her feet and hugged her, " Everything will be alright, Lils, they'll take good care of him. But you need to stop crying, James wouldn't like to see you like this now would he?"

After a brief moment Lily shook her head in response and turned to Sirius with tears still brimming her emerald eyes.

" We better hurry if we want to get him there before," she said regaining her self and gulping down a lump in her throat, " before he gets ... worse."

Remus hobbled over to them, " Is James alright?"

Mallory shook her head, " No, he got hit with the Crucatius curse by three different people all at the same time."

" Well, then," Remus said, " Let's get James to St. Mungos, Mallory, Amanda I need you to go back to James' house and prepare a room for him if he is well enough to come home, Sirius, Lily and I are going to go with him."

The girls nodded Mallory grabbed Amanda's shirt sleeve and waved to them, " I'm sure everything will be alright Lily, remember to be strong," she then closed her eyes and with a pop they were gone.

" Alright let's go,"

Sirius took hold of James, and Remus took Lily's arm with another pop they apparated to the magical hospital.

XxxxX

When they entered the large brick building they ran as fast as possible to the front desk. Despite the obvious hurry they were in all of the nurses were currently busy so they had to wait. After about five minutes of them all chatting on the phone Lily had had enough.

" Excuse me! But we have an injured man here! I would like some service, NOW!" She flared angrily.

A young woman about the age of 20 sent her a dirty look and walked over, " What do you need?"

" A room with a healer would be nice!" Lily said sarcastically, " Isn't that usually why people come here?"

The brunette shot her another nasty look and picked up a pad and a quill, " What's the problem?"

Lily rolled her eyes, " HE. IS. HURT!" Sirius grabbed her arm to stop her from attacking the woman.

" I'm sorry ma'am this just so happens to be her boyfriend and she's a bit shaken." he whispered so that he wouldn't further anger Lily.

The woman nodded, and glance over at Lily as if she were insane. She was being calmed down by Remus just then ," Understood, but what's the situation? Does he have broken bones, or is he unconscious?"

" Well, as far as I can see..." Sirius said looking at her worriedly, " both."

The woman bit her lip and nodded, " Oh, dear, well follow me then."

She hurried out from behind the desk and shuffled down the corridor to their left.

Sirius said a charm and James floated in front of the three of them. They passed many rooms, glancing in they saw varieties of patients. Some of them looked as if they had tried to transform into their animagi but had only succeed in transforming the lower part of their body. Others had deep cuts or scratches on their arms and faces.

The further they walked down the corridor the worse the injuries became. Finally when they reached the last room the woman stopped and ushered them in.

" Here you are, Room 307." she pulled out her wand and levitated James' unconscious body onto the sterile white hospital bed.

" A healer will be in soon. If you need anything just ask for Natty, that would be me."

Sirius smiled and thanked her kindly, she nodded towards him and closed the door behind her respectively.

Clearing his throat Remus placed his hand on Lily's shoulder. " Sirius and I are going to go back to the Mansion for awhile, we'll be back in the morning, someone has to keep an eye on the girls. Will you be alright here by yourself?"

She looked up at him and glanced back down at James, " Yeah, I'll be fine."

They gave her one last smile before they apparated away, leaving Lily and James alone.

When they had left she looked around the white room and shivered, wishing that James were awake so that he could hold her close and tell her that everything would be alright. But for all she knew, she would never hear his voice again. Lily would never accept that thought though even if the situation turned out to be that way.

Walking to the corner of the room she drug a white uncomfortable-looking chair next to James' bed.

Looking down at him only made tears well up in her eyes again.

" Oh, James..." She whispered, taking his limp hand into hers and stroking his dust filled hair.

Looking over his body she could tell instantly where the main damages were. His arm, the one she was not holding, was completely broken. She gagged at the sight of the bone protruding from his skin, his entire arm was black and blue with blood covering most of the skin.

The door to the room swung open and in came three woman healers that looked as if they were around the ages of forty to forty-five. They wheeled in a large cart with many different vials full of odd colored liquids and packets of strange chemicals that Lily had never heard of before.

They instantly got to work, examining every inch of his body.

One of the women walked over to her and smiled gently up at her, " Miss, I am going to have to ask you to leave the room while we are working on him."

Lily gave her a hurt look and nodded.

The woman reached out to her with her slightly wrinkled hand and patted her arm, " I know you would like to stay and I would surely let you, but it is part of the policy here. I really am sorry Ma'am."

" No, really it's fine. I understand."

With that Lily left and hurried down the hall and into the empty waiting room.

XxxxX

The waiting room was just as dull and creepy as James' room had been. It was painted a yellowish green color with gray carpeting that reminded her of cement. The room was full of very uncomfortable hard wooden chairs, that looked as if they would make every inch of your body hurt.

She sat in one of these hard wooden chairs for two hours without moving and sure enough it was the most uncomfortable chair she had ever sat in.

Her legs were curled up to her chest and her arms were wrapped around her legs, securing them in the position. Lily forced her tired eyes to stay open, she looked at the clock across the room and to her dissatisfaction it was already 11:00.

She wondered to herself what was taking so long, and why it was taking so long. Was he dieing? Or was it something simple like them forgetting a certain potion that took a while to make? She didn't care what it was, she was just tired of worrying that he was on the edge of life.

Lily sat for yet another hour before hearing any news on how he was doing. At about twelve thirty the plump short woman who had asked her to leave earlier walked into the waiting room with an expression that Lily couldn't detect.

She jumped up from her chair and walked over to the woman.

" Is he alright? What's wrong with him? Is he awake yet? Can I go see him!" she said, shooting out questions faster than the poor woman could answer them.

She put her hands up and shook her head. " One thing at a time. Walk with me, will you?"

The woman turned and talked as they walked back to the room.

" I have both good and bad news. Which do you want to hear first?" She asked, shuffling along quite fast for her large size.

Lily bit her lip, " Good, .. please."

The woman took a deep breath, " Well, the good news is that he is awake and stable."

Lily smiled and sighed a breath of relief.

" Also that he only has six injuries, considering the fact that the Crucatius Curse hit him four times."

" Six!" Lily exclaimed, sending herself into her worried stage again.

The friendly woman nodded, " Yes, Three broken ribs, a collapsed lung, a shattered collar bone and his left arm is broken in five places."

Lily gasped, " Oh my... That's horrible!"

" Indeed, it is, Miss. He seems to be a nice boy too, are you his sister?"

She laughed and shook her head, " Oh, no, no, I am his girlfriend."

The woman nodded and smiled, " I see, that's why you are so frantic."

She blushed and shrugged.

"Well, don't fret because all of this will be handled and whoever caused this will be taken to trial soon enough."

" Anyway. The bad news. Ah, well, he has to stay in here until Thursday, a week from now. It takes a week for the collapsed lung to completely heal itself and to return to its stable condition."

" Even with the advanced spells and potions you have?" she asked in bewilderment.

" Yes, I'm afraid we don't have any type of cure that will work faster than that for such a serious case. Will you be staying here with Mr. Potter?" the kind lady asked as they approached his room.

She shrugged, " I think I will. But if he wants me to leave then I'll go. Can I answer that later?"

The woman nodded kindly and opened the door for her, " Surely, I'll be back in an hour."

" Thank you... Miss...?"

" Call me Alice."

Lily smiled, " Thank you Alice, it's been a pleasure."

Alice smiled and walked out of the room, once again leaving Lily and James alone.

" Lily... is that you?" she heard a weak voice say, just before it began to cough violently.

She walked up to his bed and pulled over a chair again, looking down at his frail frame and smiling sadly.

She ran her hand through his hair and kissed his forehead gently, " Shh, yes it's me. Don't talk if it hurts."

James' chocolate eyes stared up at her weakly, and without energy, but full of love and concern.

He wheezed and took a deep breath, " You weren't hurt were you?"

She shook her head, " No, although I'd rather it be me than it be you. I'm so sorry James, I wish I could've helped."

" No, don't be sorry my Lily Flower," he reached out to her with his good arm and she took his hand, " nothing is your fault."

Lily looked away and focused on the opposing wall, fighting back warm tears that wanted to fall. She had never seen him so helpless and weak before, he had always been the strong one even when they were only friends, and she didn't like it one bit this way. Now he seemed old, he was extremely pale and his normal giddiness was gone.

As she looked over him she noticed what had been worked on and what they had done. It didn't seem to her that they had done much work at all.

His arm was healed but it was still black and blue. James had several different vials of medication that he was due to take at certain times for his shattered collar bone, which was wrapped in gauze, and his three broken ribs. All of the boils on his face were gone, but some of the cuts weren't entirely healed, most of them were only faint marks, but some still bled lightly.

James looked up at her and squeezed her hand, " Don't be repulsed by me, and don't pity me. I went out there for you, and I don't regret it. He deserved it all... eventhough he did win." he chuckled lightly, only sending him into another fit of coughs.

She met his eyes and couldn't hold it in any longer, the tears started to flow freely and continued to flow without stopping. Like he had said he went out there for her, and now look what condition he was in.

" Oh, Lily, don't cry. Please don't cry." James said letting go of her hand and wiping her tears away.

In anger and frustration she turned from him and stormed to the other side of the room so that her back was facing him.

" James I can't help it! What am I supposed to do, sit here and look at you and smile. This is my fault, if you weren't dating me none of this would've happened."

He lowered his head and sighed, " Lily come over here, sit with me." James offered patting the empty space next to him.

Lily shook her head, " No, I might end up hurting you more."

" Please? It really doesn't hurt, they gave me medication so I can't feel pain right now. It's only a bit harder to breath, but they said that would go away in about a half hour." he said in a pleading tone.

Lily hated it when he talked to her like that, it made her heart ache and her stomach flip flop. In one swift movement she went back over to the bed and sat down on the edge.

She felt his hand rub her back comfortingly, " Everything is fine, everything will be okay. Look on the bright side I'll be out before the Ball!"

A long silence filled the room and then Lily sniffled and wiped her tears laughing lightly, " I guess you're right." she turned and looked at him.

" Lay down, I won't bite." he said quietly, giving her his signature smirk.

The redhead grinned back at him and snuggled up next to him, being very careful not to hurt him. James put his arm around her and kissed the top of her head softly.

After another long comfortable silence Lily spoke up.

" This is one of those days where you could swear you were living in hell." she said straight faced and quite serious.

James chuckled and nodded, " Yeah I guess you could say that."

A knock sounded at the door and Lily got up off of the bed, she knew it would be Alice.

" Come in," James said, politely.

Alice walked in and smiled, " Feeling any better Mr. Potter?"

James smiled, " Please call me, James. And yes, actually, the problem breathing is becoming much better."

Alice grinned and turned to Lily, who she noticed seemed very tired.

" Will you be staying here or going back home?" she asked.

Lily looked at James and then back at Alice, " I think I'll just stay here."

The middle aged woman took her wand out of her pocket and with the simple flick of it another bed, appeared. " There you go! If you need anything I'll be in room 110."

" Thanks again Alice."

" No, problem get some rest dear, you look awfully tired and stressed."

The door clicked lightly behind her and Lily walked over to her bed, stripping the covers off.

James looked at her curiously, " What the bloody are you doing?"

She smirked, " Getting ready for bed of course! I'm really tired."

" Why are you taking the blankets off if you are getting ready for bed?" He asked, now even more confused.

Lily gathered her blankets and pillows and walked over to James' bed.

" I'm not sleeping alone."

A look of realization came over him, " I should've known," he said laughing.

Carefully she crawled under the covers and rested her head on the pillow. James' arm took place around her waist again and Lily turned out the lights.

James kissed Lily on the lips and rubbed her shoulder, " G'night, Lils,"

" Goodnight." she replied in half yawn.

Lily intertwined her fingers with his lovingly, and without a care in the world they closed their eyes and fell into a dreamless sleep.

It seemed that this was how it was meant to be, Lily and James forever together. They fit together like a puzzle piece, and without the other they were never complete.

A/N: Aww, how sappy. Lol I hope you all liked it! Please give me some feedback, your reviews always cheer me up!

Love,

Lissa.