I Hate Everything about You
Chapter Eleven: Jagged
Lily groaned with the effort of opening her eyes, her head throbbed and her mouth felt like it had been robbed of any moisture. The sunlight streamed into her window and she pulled the covers over her head, trying, but failing in her attempts to fall back into unconsciousness.
She huffed before throwing the covers off of her body and sitting up quickly, clutching at her head when the room began spinning. Slowly this time she stood, and noticed a slip of paper on her bedside table. It was written in a neat tidy script and said simply;
Lily,
There's Pepper up Potion in the bathroom cupboard.
James.
She said a silent prayer, to whatever deity sent her James before stumbling into the bathroom. She opened the cupboard and pushed medicines and potions around until she found the little blue bottle that she quickly downed. A wave of dizziness and then her headache faded and her mouth felt normal.
She quickly pulled her long auburn waves into a messy bun on the top of her head, scrubbed her teeth, and swiped on some foundation and mascara.
Lily skidded into her room and pulled on a fresh uniform before grabbing her bag and running out of the common room toward the great hall just in time to make it to the end of breakfast.
"Hey Lily! Great party last night huh?" Sirius said as Lily neared the table, and sat down with a bright smile.
"Pretty rockin' if I do say so myself," Lily said laughing.
"As I remember it you said some pretty embarrassing things last night Lily…" Remus said trailing off with a grin.
"This sounds interesting," James said, inviting himself into the conversation.
"Do tell, I don't remember anything from last night," Hestia said scooting closer to hear, Sirius grinned as her side pressed up against his.
"Lily said something about being in love with-" He was cut off with a wave of Lily's wand.
"LILY!" Sirius exclaimed, angry.
"What?" she said innocently, picking at her nails.
"I'll do it," James said rolling his eyes but when he tried to reverse the spell nothing happened…Remus still couldn't speak.
"What did you do?" Hestia said, frustrated at not knowing a crucial piece of information about her best friend.
"Just a little spell I thought up and only I know the counter spell," Lily said triumphantly, flashing everyone a grin.
The bell rang loudly along with the groans of the friends who didn't get to hear what Remus was going to say and everyone dispersed to their classes.
Lily trailed after a frustrated Remus who was holding his throat helplessly. Suddenly she came up behind him and quickly pushed him behind a tapestry.
He looked at her with wide eyes, but narrowed them quickly.
"Now Lupin, see here, If you say one word about who I'm in love with then you'll never hear your own voice again…" She trailed off threateningly.
Remus nodded quickly, and desperately.
"Marauders honor?" she whispered.
He held his hand up, she took it, and tapped her wand on their closed fists four times. A blue glow enveloped their hands before they both pulled away, she waved her wand wordlessly and his voice was back with a gasp of air.
She turned and walked off, leaving him able to speak but speechless behind her.
Lily ran her hand through her hair in annoyance. Hogwarts seemed to become the biggest rumor mill in Europe.
People whispered in the hall, and some were brave enough to come ask her to her face, they were sent away head low and ego bruised.
"Who are you in love with?" those six words had haunted Lily for a week, and as she blew out a long breath she shook her head.
The worst part about the question is that she didn't even know herself.
James flipped the page in his old worn out paper back, a classic, Frankenstein. He was engrossed the old horror when he heard a soft bump against the common room door. He got up cautiously, grabbing his wand which was sitting on the table.
The dim fire cast shadows against the stone wall and James wrapped his hand around the door handle.
With a deep breath he opened it.
He looked at the sight below him with a gasp; Lily was slumped against the door. Her hair was matted with dirt, shirt was ripped and a dark red stain blossomed through the fabric of her jeans around her thigh.
James' wand clattered to the floor as he immediately scooped the petite girl up and brought her into the safety of the common room.
He set her down on the couch and whispered to himself, "I need to get her to the Hospital Wing…"
Her almond shaped eyes fluttered open and she managed a weak rasp of, "no…" before falling back into the darkness of unconsciousness.
James looked into her hurt face and against his better judgment he shook his head and went to the bathroom to grab a wet washcloth, antibacterial potion, and some fabric.
Lily's eyes fluttered open slowly and confusion flooded her mind.
She had brief flashes of the full moon, a black dog, and a loud snarl.
She licked her lips and tried to pull herself into a sitting position, but her muscles protested harshly and she eased her self back down with a groan.
Suddenly all the memories of the previous night came rushing back to her, and her hand and eyes immediately rushed to her leg. She was in an old pair of pajama shorts and her thigh was wrapped with clean white cloth.
Lily breathed deeply, trying to make sense of her situation before looking around.
She was in the heads common room, on the couch, and James was sleeping in the chair next to her.
With another deep breath she slowly began un-wrapping the cloth from around her thigh. Tears began to slip down her face; across the top of her milky white thigh was a long, jagged, pink, scar.
She gasped, holding her chest to keep from cursing out loud.
James woke up with a start, to the sight of Lily's helpless sobs at her scared skin.
"I did the best I could..." he said feebly as he watched her trace the raised skin.
"Thank you James, I know you tried…I really appreciate not being taken to the Hospital Wing," She said softly, turning her eyes away from her leg.
"So are you going to tell me what happened?" James said getting straight to the point.
"I can't" the green eyed witch said biting her lip.
"Okay, so it's going to be like that? I save you and you won't tell me what the hell is going on?" James' temper flared, his hazel eyes flashing.
"It's not my secret to tell," she said watching as he gave her one last contemptuous look before stalking off and slamming the door to his room.
Lily was left on the couch, with tears still slipping from her eyes.