Chapter 5
The next thing I felt was a rhythmic and even pressure on my chest, someone was counting "eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen…" Then there was a pressure on my lips and I felt wonderful air enter my lungs again. I coughed and then breathed again, taking in huge gasping breaths. I never thought I'd miss air that much. The world suddenly came back to me, that is, the blackness lifted from my eyes and I could see again. And what was the first thing I saw? Lily's beautiful face hovering over mine, just inches away from mine, looking down on me with a worried expression. She smiled as she realized I was awake and breathing. A tear fell from her eye and she attacked me with a huge hug, holding me so tight I thought I might pass out again. It was like she was trying to keep me there by pure force of will.
"Lily, um, as nice as it is to have you finally holding me, um, I'm having a bit of trouble breathing here." I managed to get out.
"Oh, sorry." She said, standing up from the ground where she had been kneeling before. I sat up slowly and turned and sat on the bench like a normal person would. There was a small crowd gathered around the bench that was slowly dispersing now that the action was over. Sirius, Remus, Peter, and Rachel were all standing next to the bench with worried and relieved looks on their unnaturally pale faces.
"What's wrong with you lot? You look like someone just died."
"Hey guys, what's going on? What's with the crowd?" Rebby asked as she and Becca walked up to the bench.
"James… breathing… stopped… died… Lily…" Peter stuttered.
"What is this moron talking about? And why are you all so pale? And why is Lily crying?"
"James and I were racing to the exit of the bookstore, and he collapsed onto the bench afterwards because he was out of breath, then Remus and Sirius sat on him, they were joking around and…" Lily started.
"And then James turned bright red and purple, and he couldn't breath. We thought he was joking, and then Lily shoved the two of them off of him, yelling that he couldn't breathe. James stopped breathing all together and passed out or something. We were all freaking out but Lily, she…" Rachel continued.
"She just knelt down and started giving him CPR. Then he started breathing again and…" Remus said.
"She saved him." Sirius finished. "We nearly bloody killed our best friend and she bloody saved him." Sirius pounced on Lily and gave her a huge hug before she even knew what was going on. He picked her up and spun her around. "You wonderful, wonderful woman, you saved him!" Sirius said. He gave her a kiss on both cheeks as he sat her back on her feet.
"Um, you're welcome?" Lily said, slightly in shock.
"I told you you'd be a wonderful healer." I said giving her a proud smile. "Thank you, very much Lily." I said appreciatively. I tried to stand up to give her a hug as well, but I got really dizzy and fell back onto to the bench. Lily was at my side in an instant playing nurse, making sure I wasn't going to fall over or pass out again. Checking my pulse (where did she learn how to do that?), and making sure I was comfortable.
"You shouldn't try to stand up for a while. You need to rest for a bit. We should probably take you back to the rooms so you can sit and rest. You're heart beat is regular, that's good. And you seem to be breathing regularly now too. The color is coming back into your face as well, that's always a good sign." Lily stood up from the bench and offered me her hand. "Come on, I'll help you back to the room. Up you go." She helped me stand up and I nearly fell back into the bench again, but she caught my weight on her shoulder and, with some help from Sirius, helped me walk back to the room.
By the time we had reached the Leaky Cauldron, I could practically walk on my own, though I was still a bit dizzy, and all Lily had to really do was lead me and make sure I didn't walk into a wall or something stupid like that. I had developed a horrible head ache, my brain felt like it was about to split my skull open and leak onto the floor through my ears. Sounds gross, huh? Well, just think how it feels. Yeah 'Ouch' doesn't even begin to cover it. Lily led me through the pub and up the stairs to my room where she had me sit up in my bed and lean back against some pillows.
"It's better for you to sit up; it's harder to breath on your back." She explained. She took my pulse again and asked me if I needed anything.
"You know, you're going to hate me for saying this, but I might as well take advantage of my current pity-worthy status and say it. You're kind of cute when you worry over people."
Lily stopped and looked at me. Everyone else looked at me, then her, then me again, then her and waited for her to bite my head off. But she didn't.
"Well, I'll let it go this once, seeing as you nearly became a paraplegic today." Lily said fidgeting with the edge of the sheet. "Now, do you need anything? How do you feel?"
"Um, my head hurts, and my throat is a bit dry." I said, somewhat stunned. Everyone else was stunned too; every single one of them stood there with their mouths hanging open.
Lily walked over to a table by the window and poured me a glass of water and handed it to me. "I'll be right back." She said and disappeared from the room.
"What the hell? Lily's acting strange." Rebby said.
"Yeah really. Normally she'd beat him senseless, regardless of his condition, for saying something like that, or at least yell at him and storm off." Becca added.
"Maybe she just feels sorry for him; I mean we did nearly kill him." Remus said scratching the back of his head guiltily.
"I think she's got a secret crush on James." Peter said from out of no where.
"Peter, shut up, you're a moron."
"Sorry Sirius."
"Maybe she's sick or something." Becca said.
"Maybe she bumped her head when no one was looking and she's gone insane." Rebby speculated.
"Maybe you're a load of idiots. Ever think that maybe she's smart enough to realize that someone almost died and put her differences behind her to help someone?" I spoke up. "Just because she hates me most of the time doesn't mean she can't act professional when she needs to. That's why she'll make a good healer. She knows how to act calmly in a bad situation, analyze a problem quickly and fix it. She knows how to be fair and knows her priorities. She wouldn't just let someone die, no matter who they were, if she could help it. That's why I know she'll be a great healer. It's in her nature to help people."
"Um…" Rebby said, not sure what she should actually say. Becca just sort of blinked at him. Remus smirked at me and Peter looked shocked for some reason.
"Yeah, yeah, mate, we know you love her. Stop rubbing it in."
"Rubbing what in?" I asked.
"The fact that you've found the perfect girl for you, and we haven't."
"Maybe you have and you're just too blind to see it, Sirius." I replied, glancing at Becca. Well, maybe he didn't love her, but last night I could tell he liked her, and that it was a different kind of like. He feels for her more seriously than he did all of the others, I just know it. I am his best friend after all, practically his brother. It's my job to know these kinds of things. Everyone was silent for a couple of minutes.
"Okay, take two of these with your water." Lily said as she walked back into the room. She stopped and looked around. "Why are you all so quiet?"
"Sirius was just making an ass of himself is all. Now what are these things you're trying to kill me with?"
"They won't kill you." She said, rolling her eyes and handing me the little red and yellow pills. "They're muggle medicine for pain, called Tylenol; we mainly use them for headaches, but they work for almost any pain. They're kind of like the potion Madam Pomfry gives you, but you don't have to brew them first and they take a few minutes to start working. Just pop them in your mouth and swallow them with your water really quickly."
I did as she said. The pills tasted worse than the potion Madame Pomfry, the new school Healer, gave us. I drank the rest of the water trying to get the taste out of my mouth. Then I turned to the rest of the group.
"So," I started "How was your day?"
"Pretty average until you decided to try and die on us Prongs." Sirius said.
"We're sorry about that, by the way." Remus apologized.
"Oh, please, you think I'd let you two kill me? Nah, I'm saving that right for Lily." I winked at her. To hell with the plan, I feel weird not flirting with Lily. It's just unnatural for me not to flirt with her. "So, Rachel, what did you need with Remus?"
"Oh, um, well, I…" Rachel stuttered.
"She wanted to ask me about something about the summer homework. I asked her out after I answered her question for her. She said yes." Remus smiled proudly and rocked forward on his toes. He seemed to literally grow from his happiness right there in front of my eyes.
"Good for you two!" I congratulated them.
"Way to go moony!" Sirius said.
"So now that we're dating do I get to know why they call you Moony?" Rachel asked. The girls leaned forward, as if trying to hear a non existent whisper. Remus looked kind of horrified for a moment and looked at me out of the corner of his eye. Sirius and Peter both sort of shuffled around in place and tried not to look at Remus or the girls.
"He's not allowed to say. It's a Marauder Secret. None of us can tell you why we have our names. It would ruin the effect."
"What effect? All it does is confuse people."
"Exactly. Now you're catching on, Lils." I smirked at her.
Lily glared at me for a moment "Don't call me that."
"Your friends call you that."
"You're not my friend; you're not allowed to call me that."
"What can I call you?"
"You can call me Evans. You can call me Lily when you're going to act like an adult. You are never to call me 'Lils', 'Lily flower' or anything of that nature got it?"
"Yes ma'am. Can we still be in your defense study group?"
"Yes, if you behave yourself."
"What defense study group?" Remus piped in, his eyes alight with the thought of studying. What a geek. But that's why I love him. Like a brother or a friend of course, loving him the other way would just be weird.
"We'll behave ourselves."
"We're letting them in the study group?" Rebby said incredulously.
"Yes, if they behave like adults."
"We will, already, we will."
"You better." Lily wagged a finger of warning at me.
"Why are we joining a study group?" Sirius asked. "I'm acing Defense, and I don't even pay attention or study as it is."
"That's because you're weird Sirius. You absorb stuff." Remus said rolling his eyes.
"James does it too."
"James occasionally opens a book and pays attention."
"He does? James! You've been studying! I'm so disappointed in you." Sirius shook his head.
"I was looking up some stuff we didn't learn in class. You know, stuff we can't do without thinking about it for two seconds."
"Oh, you've been sneaking into the restricted section again haven't you?"
"No, I got the books out of the normal section in the library. That reminds me, Lily and I bought some books on defense for the study group. We got some spell books and a few books on martial arts. We thought it would be good to learn how to defend ourselves without a wand. You know, in case someone manages to get it away from us."
"You said 'we' so much in reference you and Lily that I think I'm getting dizzy." Peter said.
"Why?" Remus asked.
"It's extremely odd, and unheard of."
"No it's not. He babbles on about her all of the time: When we finally go out, when we get married, when we go on our first date, when we share our first kiss. If you paid attention, you'd know that."
"Why should I pay attention to that loud of babble?"
"He's your friend."
"Oh, right, I knew that."
"Why do you think your going to marry me?" Lily said giving James a skeptical look, like she didn't actually want to hear the answer.
"Because I love you, and while it's obviously not going to happen tomorrow, I think someday you'll love me back and then we'll get married and live happily ever after." James said, smiling cheekily at her.
"You're a moron." Lily rolled her eyes.
"I thought that was kind of sweet." Rebby said.
"I thought it was a bit romantic." Becca added.
"I thought it was a loud of crap, now shut up and agree with me before I'm forced to go to Germany and kidnap Mikki just for some support here."
"Did somebody page me?"
"MIKKI!!!!!" Lily, Becca and Rebby yelled and tackled Mikala Casanova to the ground. Mikki was 5'2" and somewhere between petite and... not petite. She had kind of pale skin and almond shaped eyes that tended to change colors randomly, though they were mostly blue. Her hair was waist length, blonde with natural red highlights, and really curly, though she had found a secret cure for frizziness . Usually it was up in a ponytail or something, today she had actually left id down, and in her tackled state on the floor it had managed to get all over her face and everyone else as well.
"Wow, I feel so loved. Can I breathe now?"
"No, never, you're not allowed." Becca said.
"Whatever. Why in bloody hell are we hanging out with the Marauders?" She said as she got off the floor and immediately pulled her hair up into a messy bun using one of the many ponytail holders she wore around her wrist to secure it.
"Why are you back early?" Lily asked.
"I asked you first."
"I caused a people avalanche and landed on them. Then I had to give Potter CPR because he was dying."
"My grandma took me to see a play and left me in the theater too long before the people all arrived. I got out of there faster than you could say 'chicken'. What can I say, big empty rooms scare me. My mom thinks I have abandonment issues because the doctors wouldn't let her hold me right after I was born. Like they could help that I was born premature and had to be ventilated to live and she couldn't hold me because of it." Mikki rolled her eyes. Everyone else blinked.
"Um… well then…" I said raising an eyebrow. "Welcome to my room, help yourself to a portion of my brain, I'm pretty sure it's leaking out onto the floor. Lily, when did you say this medicine would start working?"
"Oh, shut up whiney butt." Mikki said.
"It'll start working in a couple of minutes I'm sure." Lily walked over to me and checked my pulse once again.
"Why do you keep doing that?"
"I'm supposed to. I took CPR and basic medical classes this summer."
"Oh. Was it fun?"
"Yup, I learned that if someone doesn't have a heart beat for more than a couple of minutes there can be brain damage because their blood isn't pumping oxygen into their brain and that an average adult can't lose more than six pints of blood with out an immediate transfusion or they'll die."
"That's… nice."
"It's practical. And it was amusing to see the teacher look at me strangely when I knew the answer and the adults in his group didn't."
"Ah. I see."
"You asked. What did you do this summer?"
"I stayed at home mainly, read a couple of books, played some quidditch with the guys. The usual."
Everyone was staring at Lily and I like we we're three headed aliens. What? We can't have a normal conversation for once? Yeesh.
"So what are we doing tonight?" Rach asked.
"I don't know. Last night we just hung out on the roof. Becca and Sirius had a broom race and Becca won by like a hair. We could go out to dinner tonight I suppose." Rebby said.
"We should go catch a movie! There's a new James Bond movie coming out, and it's supposed to be pretty good." Becca suggested.
"Who is James Bond and what is a movie?"
"Um, wow Sirius, you really don't get out into the muggle world much, do you?"
"Nope, not really."
"Well then, tonight is muggle night!"
"What?"
"It's official, tonight we are going to spend an evening like normal teenage muggle's would!" Becca declared, striking a dramatic pose as Rebby made dramatic sound effects.
"Um, okay."
"That's not actually a bad idea." Lily said. "Except that I don't know if James will be up to it."
"I'm fine Lily, really. I've been milking it. You know how much I Like the attention." I said. Well, I liked to think I was milking it. Really I was in major pain and probably in no shape to go out tonight, but I really wanted to go and have fun with everyone. Plus I hate being bed ridden. I spend way too much of my time during school stuck in the hospital wing, I'd rather not spend my summer stuck in bed as well.
"No, you bloody well not."
"What are you? My mom?"
"No, I'm the one who bloody well saved your pathetic egotistical life, now lay back, take this pill, and be good."
"Dang, prongs. You sure know how to pick them don't you?" Sirius commented.
"Excuse me? And what is that supposed to mean?"
"Oh, nothing."
"Mmm-hmm, it better be nothing or I'll have those three kick your ass."
"You think I'm afraid of a couple of girls?"
"If you're not, you should be."
"Oh, really? And why is that." Sirius asked mockingly.
Sirius had moved into the middle of the room while he was talking to Lily. Becca walked up behind him and tapped him on the shoulder. He turned around to see who was behind him. "Hi there." Becca said before grabbing both of his shoulders and pushing backwards as she stuck her ankle between his and pulled one of his legs out from underneath him, causing him to fall flat on his back. He reached up instinctively to catch himself, and his arm was caught by Becca's arm. She stopped his fall just before his head slammed into the hardwood floor, then lowered him the rest of the way down. As if this wasn't enough, she promptly straddled his chest with his arms next to his body, effectively pinning his arms to his side so he couldn't fight back. "Now, what were you saying about girls?" Becca mocked innocence and laughed as Sirius stared at her in stunned silence.
Sirius was the only one who was stunned into silence though, everyone else was laughing hysterically at him. "Dude, she just kicked your ass!" I said at him between bouts of laughter. By the time our laughter finally subsided, the majority of the people in the room had collapsed onto the floor and were now laying there in general disarray. The exceptions were Sirius and Becca, who were now locked in a staring contest, and myself, because I'm obviously still in my bed, and Lily, who had somehow ended up sprawled halfway across my quilt covered legs. No wonder I had lost the feeling in my foot.
"HAH! I win! You blinked! I win!" Becca hopped off of Sirius having, apparently, won the staring contest, and starting dancing around in place rather badly.
Lily hopped off my bed and started talking again "Anyways, I don't think you'll be ready to go anywhere until tomorrow night, but we'll all get ready and see how you feel later, okay?"
"Does that mean I'm allowed to get up and take a shower? You're not going to give me a sponge bath or something?"
"If you want a sponge bath I'm sure there are plenty of skanky Marauder fan girls who would just, like, totally, love, love, love to give you one!" Lily switched to a stereo-type teenage girl voice half way through her sentence.
"Ha, ha, ha. Jokes, that's all it ever is with you. Now when are you going to grow up and become more mature." James mimicked Lily's voice.
Lily glared at him and stepped closer to the bed. She leaned in and whispered in his ear in a seductive voice "You need to work on your impressions, James. If you ever need CPR again, just give me a call, you know where to find me." My eyes widened and I watched her walk out of the room in amazement. What the hell was that?
After the other girls and Remus and Peter had left to get ready, I voiced my confusion to Sirius. "What the hell was that?"
"What the hell was what?"
"The thing, with Lily, and that voice, and, what the bloody hell?"
"I don't know, I'm just a man, women are a mystery. They confuse the bloody hell out of me all the time. Like that thing with Erika and Samantha. What was that? If Erika didn't want me to break up with her best friend and ask her out, then why was she hitting on me, you know?" Sirius said, getting his clothes out of his trunk.
"Sirius, you're an idiot."
"And I'll never deny it." He smirked at me and disappeared into the bathroom.
Well, at least he's an honest idiot. I thought as I collapsed back on my bed, contemplating Lily's strange behavior while I mulled over the possibility that maybe, possibly, she was finally coming around. Or maybe she was just setting me up for a nice big fall. Either way I'd find out later tonight I suppose.