AN: Thank you to the couple people who reviewed! It's nice to see feed back. And thanks to the few more who are quietly following. On to the next chapter. I do not own Harry Potter and all mistakes are mine.

Chapter 8: Old Wounds

After the big win in quidditch James felt like he was finally keeping up with his life. Practices slowed down a bit seeing as their true captain, though now flying, was still recovering from his burns. Lily had congratulated him on his win and made some snarky remark about how him playing with that stupid snitch finally paid off – but she had been smiling when she said it and so James figured she no longer hated him for the Ditching of Hogsmeade. And he seemed to have finally caught up in all his classes. That brought the sixth year Gryffindors into Defense Against the Dark Arts with – to their utter dislike – the Slytherins. Seeing as the this lad Voldemort had been cropping up quite a bit, more students had taken the Advanced class than usual at the urge of both their teachers and their parents, and since volumes were so high they had been split into two House classes again.

"Now that you've read up on the more complicated Defense spells," stated Professor Vance, definitely not the best DADA teacher the student's had had in the past five years of their education, "I want you all to pair up and practice shielding, disarming, and the lot. Just fire away. I'll be grading your papers, feel free to ask questions." And with that, he left the sixteen-year-olds on their own. Vance had a very relaxed way of teaching – which a lot of students enjoyed – but also which tended to allow things to get a bit out of hand.

"Sounds like fun," James said with a grin as he stood up and their desks magically pushed aside.

"You sure you feel up to this?" Sirius asked unsurely. He had seen James cursing while shrugging his shirt on the night before. Apparently he had tweaked something at quidditch practice and his stomach and chest were bothering him where he had once had that horrible cut.

James waved him off, "Of course. It's just a little tight."

Everyone had paired off and was shuffling about, trying to find enough space to duel. Rather than forming nice rows – as some students were trying to coordinate – pairs spaced apart however they felt, crisscrossing with others, and began firing spells.

Their professor looked up from his stack of parchment as the first few spells were fired and boomed, "And nothing too powerful! I don't want kids being blasted across the room!"

The whole class grumbled their rejections to which he responded, "I mean it! Detention for a month to the first person who sends their partner into a wall."

"A month's not so bad." Sirius stated lowly with a lopsided smile.

James grinned at Sirius, "Ready?"

Sirius replied with a smirk before firing off a disarming spell.

The two were pretty evenly matched, as they had the same spells in their arsenal. And neither one seemed to be able to disarm the other before a shield charm was put up. As for the rest of the room, it was complete chaos. Students were falling down left and right, bumping into each other because there wasn't enough space, and badly aimed spells flew across the room, narrowly missing other pairs. For the sixth years it became a challenge to both deflect their partner's spells along with any other misfires that might be flying their way.

As the class went on, James and Sirius had each disarmed each other once, and both were eager to get the one up on the other. The rest of the class felt much the same, and spells were being cast with more vigor and intensity. Professor Vance was completely oblivious to the scene around him, a shield charm cast around his desk absorbing any badly aimed spells. Before long, one Slytherin was sent into a desk by his partner and arose rubbing his knee. Joey was hit by a misaimed spell and sent tumbling into Peter's elbow, coming away with a bloody lip. James had just put up a shield to deflect a stray jinx sent from someone across the room, when Sirius snuck in his own disarming spell, sending James's mahogany wand flipping into his outstretched hand.

"Doesn't count." James stated dryly, gesturing for Sirius to toss his wand back.

His best friend grinned, "Oh Prongs, it does too. You think in a real combat situation you won't have jinxes coming from all ways?"

James rolled his eyes and smiled, he opened his mouth to respond but before he could get a word out, his eyes widened as he saw another misaimed spell heading straight for his chest. With no wand to cast a shield, he put his arms up in sort of a defensive stance a split second before it hit him squarely and sent him soaring.

Sirius watched with wide eyes as James was sent flying fifteen feet across the room, before twisting to try and catch himself as he made contact with the ground. But as he rushed toward his side, James didn't spring up as he normally would have. And his eyes widened even more in horror as he took in James with his arms wrapped across his middle, eyes squeezed shut, and teeth clenched in immense pain.

"James?" He questioned unsurely.

He must have recognized the voice, because James's one eye peaked open, meeting Sirius's and he gasped out, "It tore open." And Sirius noticed his best friend's black robes deepening in color.

The commotion must have stirred their oblivious professor, because he suddenly appeared beside the boys. A heavy hand came down on his shoulder, stirring Sirius from his horrified shock, "Mr. Black, get Madam Pomphrey. Hurry!"

And Sirius bolted out the door, running faster than he ever had in his life, Remus on his heels without being asked.

The rest of the class stood silent and still, watching with wide eyes as James withered on the ground. Peter had taken a tentative step forward, but his struggle was written clearly on his face as he didn't know what to do. Lily heard Professor Vance mutter some healing spells, but they didn't seem to change James's state in the least. Instead he turned around and ordered the class to exit into the hallway immediately, finally realizing this was not something they should be watching. Lily hesitated, and saw James squeeze his eyes shut further in pain, his arms wrapping tighter around his middle. She instinctively changed her direction, and instead of filing out the door she found herself approaching James.

Last summer a kid in the neighborhood had cut his leg badly on a piece of broken glass, and she had watched as her mother had wrapped her jacket around the wound and applied pressure while they waited for help. And without thinking, Lily was shrugging out of her robes and kneeling next to James. She coaxed his arms away and pushed the wad of material into his middle. He hissed and recoiled in pain, but she did not give in and instead further pushed down.

She found herself whispering, "I'm here," because she wasn't sure if she could tell him, "You're okay." He obviously wasn't. And his dyed red hands wrapped themselves around her wrists, but did not push her away. Instead his eyes opened, and James looked at Lily like she was a lifeline.

It felt like forever, but it couldn't have been long before Sirius and Remus were skidding back into the room. They spotted Lily and James in the center of the floor, Professor Vance standing unsurely beside them. And Sirius's eyes locked gratefully with Lily's, and Remus gave her a curious look, but before the moment could go on Madam Pomphrey showed up behind them out of breath. As she approached, Lily tried her best to back away, but James's hand was still locked on her wrist, and so she unwrapped his fingers from their vice grip and slipped her other hand into his, trying to reassure him.

Madam Pomphrey did not hesitate, she ran her wand up and down his torso, rapidly muttering spells that Lily couldn't catch. The bleeding must have slowed, because she stopped her wand waving seemly satisfied and reached into her robes, pulling out a blue vile. She helped to prop James up a bit, and Lily could tell he was trying his best not to scream in agony, and made him drink the potion. Once he had finished, without warning she pointed her wand at his head and James passed out cold, his body going limp, causing Lily and the healer to gently guide him to the ground.

"What'd you do that for?!" Sirius asked angrily.

Pomphrey never turned his direction as she shooed Lily away and conjured a stretcher, but she answered him easily, "A sedative. He was in an immense amount of pain. Obviously. I had him drink that blood replenishing potion, and so there's no reason for him to be awake. I need to take him to the Hospital Wing now."

"Can we come?" Remus asked anxiously as he followed Professor Vance, the healer, and the stretcher holding James out of the door.

"No, there's no room for children. I need to work."

"He needs us!" Sirius protested.

Pomphrey must have heard the desperation in his voice because she finally paused a moment and turned to face him. She knew these boys better than most students, what with Remus's frequent visits to her wing. She put a hand on his shoulder and met his eyes, "The worst is over Mr. Black. I need to take him upstairs to finish repairing these wounds the best I can. I'll send for you in a few hours, when he's awake." She searched his eyes to make sure he understood and nodded at him once, before quickly continuing on her way.

And so Sirius, Lily, Remus, and Peter – who had been waiting in the hallway – watched helplessly as the stretcher holding their friend glided away.

Lily looked down at the waded up bundle of bloody robes in her hand, her other hand also covered in the red substance, and extended them further from her body with a shiver.

Sirius, who had went stalk still, had suddenly moved into action, pacing back and forth and looking like he may explode.

"Who in the BLOODY HELL cast that spell?! I'm going to find out, and I'm going to kill them."

Remus and Peter looked at him apprehensively while Lily continued to stare at her hands.

He continued on, "I bet it was Snape! He saw I had disarmed James and he snuck that spell on him. I'm sure of it. Where is Regulus? That little shit is going to tell me where their common room is if I have to strangle it out of him." And he turned from his pacing and quickly made his way in the direction of the staircases.

Remus and Peter ran after him, Peter grabbing him from behind and Remus pushing him from the front.

"Calm down, Sirius! It was an accident!" Remus practically yelled, trying to get Sirius's attention as the three scuffled. "A stray spell hit James. No one targeted him. Don't go getting yourself expelled!"

"The one who cast that jinx at the quidditch match should get expelled! And if the school can't figure out who it was, I will punish Snape myself! You saw that jinx he used on James last year! It's dark magic!"

"Sirius, I know. I know! It isn't fair. But James hasn't been plotting revenge, and nor should you! You're a Gryffindor Sirius, remember that!"

Sirius stopped struggling and the three boys stood there, looking at each other, Sirius still holding James's wand as well as his own.

"James was complaining about his chest last night. I should have made him go to the hospital wing." Sirius sighed, gripping the wands tighter.

"Me and Remus saw him grab his middle last weekend when he picked up his school bag," Peter added looking down.

"At Hogsmeade he winced while he was laughing. It's been bothering him for a while." Lily added, startling the boys who had forgotten she was there.

"Evans," Sirius said walking back towards her, "Thanks for taking care of James in there. Professor Vance was obviously completely useless."

Lily responded with a shrug.

"Come on," Remus said, doubling back, grabbing the bloodied robes, and guiding her by her elbow towards the bathrooms, "Let's get you cleaned up."

James awoke with a slightly familiar feeling of bandages being tightly wrapped around his chest, making it a chore to take a deep breath. He groggily reached for his glasses and once they settled onto his eyes, he focused on the boy sitting to his right.

"Moony," he muttered, "what time is it?"

"Almost seven," came his voice, "they knocked you out for a few hours… You do remember what happened, right?"

James nodded, looking down at his bandages, "I seem to remember that I learned how to fly. Haven't conquered the landing quite yet."

"Mr. Potter," came Madam Pomphrey's voice as she noticed his stirring and approached from her desk, "drink this up." She handed him a goblet of steaming blue liquid once again and he grimaced before downing it in one gulp.

"Can I go now?" James asked, making to sit up further.

"Absolutely not," the healer responded sternly, "You are not leaving that bed. You are staying the night."

James made to protest, but she gave him a stern look and went on, "Obviously this hexed cut did not heal as well as I presumed. Your friends have informed me that you've been complaining about it the past few weeks and that your skin has looked a bit red and irritated. Frankly, I am appalled that you didn't come to me! This maybe could have been avoided. But instead, you've taken this from my hands. Tomorrow morning you're being transferred to St. Mongo's to see what they can do about it.

James processed all of this slowly, and once again before he could open his mouth, the healer continued, "No arguments. You're parents have been informed and will be meeting you there. This is serious James. That needs to be fixed properly before you bleed out!" And she grabbed the empty goblet and stalked away.

"Great." James muttered, slouching further into his pillows and wincing at the twinge he got when he moved.

"It won't be that bad. They'll get a group of top of the line healers to work on you. You'll be back in no time." Remus said reassuringly. James knew that Remus was doing his best to appease him. The young boy had spent many days at St. M's and hated even the mention of it.

James sighed and changed the subject, "Where is everyone?"

"Kicked out," Remus replied with half a smile, "Sirius was pacing. He's really worked up about the whole thing. And Peter was attempting to get him to sit down. They got into a little shuffle and Pomphrey dismissed them. I'm sure they're just behind those doors though."

"Does Padfoot think it's his fault?"

Remus shrugged, "A little. That, and he wants to murder whoever did send that hex in the first place."

James sighed deeply again, "You're all a bunch of idiots."