Lily raised her head a fraction of an inch, and groaned. She was sore all over. Leaning forward a little, she saw that James was staring out the window.
"Hey," she said, sitting up a little more and cringed as pain exploded in her chest. It's nothing. She assured herself. Just a few bruises.
"Oh, you're awake." James got up and paced a bit.
"The others send word yet?" Lily flexed the muscles in her neck, wincing stiffly. She'd spent hours lying in the same immobile position. She saw a pile of sweets and candy on the seats opposite her. The trolley must have come while she was out.
"Nope." James stole a glance at her from under his floppy, messy hair.
"Anyway, back to that discussion we were having before," said Lily, gazing out the window.
"Which one?" James asked, gazing at her.
"The one about Sev." Lily said, absentmindedly curling a piece of her hair with her good hand.
"Sev," James teased again. "You so like him."
"Do not. He's dead to me." Lily rolled her eyes.
"No, he's not. You wish he'd apologize again. You'd forgive him. And you like someone, so it fits." He grinned, as if he had just solved one of the great mysteries of the universe.
"What are you talking a-"
"Save your breath, sweat heart. You talk in your sleep." He was still grinning. He sat beside her and curled her hair around her wand, which he still had.
"No way do I like that scumba-"
"Lily, Lily, Lily. I don't like to hear bad words out of such a cute mouth." He dropped his voice toward the end of the sentence, his own mouth curling into a smile again. He leaned over and kissed her forehead. "Now, it's time for you to sleep again." And with that he tilted the last of the potion into her mouth.
When Lily woke again, the lanterns were lit and the pile of sweets was all but gone. James had changed into his robes, and was playing with her wand, making things like toy boats and tissue boxes magically appear in front of him. He glanced at her, and she feigned sleep, closing her eyes and breathing deeply. He smiled at her, and her heart leapt. She closed her mind to the thoughts that had popped up, lured by his smile. She closed her heart and mind to him, and tried not to notice little details, like the way his glasses distorted his eyes at the angle she lay at, or how he was doing advanced charms no seventh year ought to be capable of. He glanced over at her again, and then looked around him. He approached her, sitting beside her, and brushed her still bloody red hair away from her pale face. He leaned over her and he was about to kiss her when-
"Stop right there!" Lily sat up abruptly and winced.
"Gotcha!" James laughed hysterically, rolling on the ground.
"You knew I was awake?" Lily asked.
"Yuh-huh." James sat down on the seats across from her, tearing open the wrapper of a chocolate frog.
"How?" She cocked her head in genuine curiosity, ignoring the little explosions of pain along her neck.
"When I smiled at you, you smiled back." He grinned at his victory.
"How do you know I don't always smile in my sleep?" Lily grinned.
"You never did before." He lied.
"What? You watched me while I was sleeping? How creepy and Edward-like."
"Who's Edward?" He asked her, conjuring up a patronus and petting it.
"Oh my god! My sister would kill you. It's this vampire romance novel thing. I hate it. It's like blasphemy to real magic." Lily laughed.
"Hey, Lily," He began. "No, shut up for a sec. Why won't you go out with me?"
It was a good question, and she probably would have answered it, too, but just then-
"Attention all students! We are nearing the castle, so please leave all baggage and pets on the train. They will be carried up separately."
James got up and stretched.
"I supposed you'll have to go up in those clothes." He said ruefully, jerking his head and raising his eyebrows.
"What's wrong with them?" Lily asked indignantly. She wore jeans and a white t-shirt. Nothing special, but still nothing to sneeze at.
"Nothing, accept that they're covered in your blood." James laughed. "Well, this always works. Scourgify!" Lily flinched, but she felt a light breeze and smelled soap, and when she looked down, craning her neck painfully, her clothes were clean.
"Very nice," She said admiringly.
"Thank you very much." James posed cockily.
"Ha ha." Lily looked out the window. The castle came into view in all of its beauty.
"Ok, we're almost there." James shifted his robes and pulled out Lily's wand.
"What are you gonna do?" Lily asked suspiciously.
"Just lift you." He promised. "Locomoter Lily!" He waved the wand, and Lily floated in the air, just at the right height. Then he put his arms beneath her, supporting her, and she fell into his arms.
"Uggghhhh." she groaned, closing her eyes.
"What? Did I hurt you?" James shook his shaggy hair out of his eyes and inspected her with concern.
"No, I just can't freaking wait to get seen with you carrying me through Hogsmeade." Lily opened her green eyes again and wrinkled her nose. James kept his eyes on her face and shifted her in his arms. She groaned and closed her eyes again, burying her face in his shoulder. He smiled smugly when he knew she couldn't see. Shifting her hair over so that the bloody part couldn't be seen, and walked out of the compartment.
"Whoa, Potter, what's with the red head?"
"Hey, what happened to Evans?"
"Did she faint?"
"Did she die?"
"Did you hurt her?"
"Did you find her?"
"Did you get lucky?"
James ginned as she waded through the crowds of students leaving the compartments.
"Hey, there you guys are!" Kylie waved them over from a few feet behind them.
"Hi, where were you guys?" James slowed down with difficulty as the people surged around him.
"Oh, Sirius's fault." Remus Admitted. "He started talking to Esmeralda Vane, and we got stuck in that general area until they went missing."
"Missing?" Asked James.
"I think he got lucky." Remus smiled sheepishly. (AN: can you tell we like this phrase?)
"Hey there Lily, how're you doing?" Iris tilted her head, trying to see Lily's face, totally ignoring the embarrassing conversation happening a foot away.
"Ok, really dizzy." Lily raised her head a fraction.
"That's weird." Iris sounded concerned. She waved over Kylie, who unhooked her arm from Remus's and fell back to walk behind James. The two girls walked slowly so that they could talk to Lily.
"Lily's dizzy, but she shouldn't be." Iris announced. Kylie and Iris exchanged meaningful looks. Lily had an idea of what they were talking about, but with James carrying her, she decided to keep her mouth shut. Before Lily knew it, they were in the carriages and then at the castle.
Lily woke from a short doze to James carrying her up spiral stairs.
"Huh? What?" She mumbled, dazed.
"We just got here. Headed to the hospital wing." He told her, shifting her to be more secure.
"Oh," She closed her eyes again, and barely felt James put her down minutes later.
"-And she's been asleep on and off ever since the potion you sent wore off."
"I see. Lily, can you hear me?" Lily sat up to the sound of Madam Pomfrey's voice. She moaned in pain, and sat back. She had been set down on a bed near the door of the hospital wing. James stood on one side of the bed, Madam Pomfrey on the other.
"Ah, Lily. Please try not to move. You may have broken ribs." Lily lay very still. Madam Pomfrey cast a spell with her wand. Suddenly, a red light spread over Lily. Red lines surged over her skin. James stepped forward, concerned. It seemed to make perfect sense to Madam Pomfrey, who inspected Lily head to toe.
"Ah, let's see. We've got a shattered ankle, a twisted ankle, a broken wrist . . . Oh, my."
"What?" James asked.
"Two broken ribs and . . . something is not right there. Lily, turn your head." Lily did.
"Oh, dear. Her spine. There's a hairline crack."
"She'll be okay, right?" James sounded worried.
"Of course, even the cracked spine I can fix right now, but . . ."
"What?" Lily asked.
"Lily, dear. Magic is not easy on the body, and full healing is hard, even with magic. I'm afraid that this may take time. You may have to visit me again, and take some kind of potion." She drew her wand and, in a trice mended Lily's broken bones.
"Now, I'm going to give James your prescription. You two will be rooming together, so it'll be easier." As Lily slept drowsily, she took James aside. While distributing the medicine, she whispered. "One thing I couldn't tell Lily- the real reason full healing isn't possible at this time." James turned to her, shocked. "Lily's been cursed. Somebody must have shot a spell at her while she was passed out, right before you found her. It's a terrible curse- not deadly, but one of sleep. It's why she's been so tired, so dizzy. I could tell by just looking at her."
"Kind of like the Draught of Living Death?" He asked, absentmindedly messing up his hair.
"In a way. But in spell from, you see. The long-term affects would be that she would sleep forever. Muggles would call it a coma. Fortunately, she was hit with a bad attempt at the spell. She will find it very hard to wake up in the morning, but that is the extent."
"That's it?" He laughed nervously.
"This is no laughing matter." Madam Pomfrey warned. "If she is not woken up every morning, she'll keep sleeping forever."
"How do I wake her up?" asked James.
"These." Madam Pomfrey extended a small jar. Inside, James could see purple roots, and what looked like crushed leaves. The mixture solidified, and turned to salt.
"Smelling salts." James realized.
"Exactly. Also, to fend off the spell, she must take this potion at lunch and dinner." She thrust a flask of pink liquid into James's hands.
"Thanks, Madam Pomfrey. Can we go to the feast now?"
"Yes, Potter. Take good care of her."
James helped Lily gingerly to her feet, as she was a little stiff.
"Ah!" Her out-of-use legs collapsed beneath her. Helping her up, James helped her along the hallway.
"Potter, what are you doing he-?"
"I might ask you the same thing, Snivellus." James sneered at Snape. Snape was holding a bloody handkerchief to his nose, and James remembered their little encounter. He almost smiled. To think that he had caused Snape annoyance was excellent.
"Lily, I can see the quality of the company you keep had nose-dived." Snape kept his eyes on James.
"It was a lot worse when you and I were friends." Lily's eyes were alive with anger.
"Lily-"
"YOU DON'T YOU CALL ME LILY! IT'S EVANS TO YOU, YOU…YOU IDIOT!" Lily shouted.
"Evans-"
"Oh, shut up Snape, Lily doesn't want to see a hair on your greasy head." James put an arm around her, which she didn't notice, as she was still pretty numb. Sanpe obviously did notice it, because he sneered at James and began to walk off.
"Don't forget to order some more of that extra grease shampoo." James said over his shoulder.
"Yeah, I found that website you asked for: ." Lily laughed and they walked away. "It sells shampoo grease in 300-pound packs!"
"Yeah! What's a webbite?" James added.
"See ya, Snivellus!" Lily called as they walked away.
"You used my evil nick-name for Snape!" James exclaimed.
"Whatever, I'm just hungry. Let's go down to the feast." She said.
And they did.
So just to clear some stuff up: Lily was hit with a really bad spell, which makes her drowsy and dizzy all the time.
And can you guys tell we like the phrase 'get lucky'?
Thanks for reading! Please review!
Lots of Harry Potter related love,
ihearthp96 and Rashelleah95