A/N: the obvious belongs to the queen.

When she finally woke up, Lily was in the hospital wing. On the bed with her were Marlene and Donna, her two best friends. They screeched when she woke up and hugged her fiercely. When they pulled back she saw their smudged makeup and realized they must have been crying over what happened. Speaking of that, what did happen? Lily thought. The last thing she remembered was thinking about how much she missed James, that bloody prat. Him and his perfect hair, perfect smile, perfect body, perfect lips that she was dying to kiss. The way he smelled and how she could feel his presence the second he walked into a room. Him and his stupid laugh and his stupid hand gestures and his stupid pranks. The way they fit together when they hugged. When he wasn't around her, Lily felt like a part of her was missing. And that's why she missed him, because when he was around she felt safe. It was all so stupid. Yeah, and that's why you got knocked out by merlin knows what. She thought again.

"So, uh, what happened?" Donna asked, breaking the ice.

Lily shrugged, "I have no idea. I was walking to the library and all of the sudden I wound up here."

Marlene knitted her eyebrows together, as if trying to piece together what she was trying to say before it was too late.

"Do you guys know what happened?" Lily asked, looking directly at Marlene.

"Um, the nurse said that whoever did it used Everte Statum. It hit you right in your back, you flipped in the air, and landed on your back, knocking you out."

"Oh," Lily said, trying to process it all. Who would do that though?

"Lil," Donna started, "Do you have any idea who did it?"

Lily shook her head, "The spell hit me from behind, I have no idea."

The other girls shook their heads, closing the conversation. But, Lily had one last question.

"Does James know?"

They shook their heads again, "No one knows but us."

Lily nodded, "Lets not tell anyone then, yeah? Just us."

"Just us."

~Two days later~

Where is she? James thought, scanning the common room for what seemed like the fiftieth time in the past ten minutes. She hadn't been anywhere in the past two days and James was starting to get worried. Not that he hadn't been worried before, he just thought she might have taken a day off, which did not sound like Lily at all. Lily would never miss school for two days at risk of falling behind in classes. James ran his fingers through his already messy hair, merlin he missed her. He missed how she always smelled like vanilla. He missed how when she smiled, she smiled with her entire face. Her pert little nose would scrunch up, her cheeks rose so high that they made her eyes almost shut. He missed how when she laughed, her entire body shook. He missed how she felt so soft and small when they hugged, the perfect contrast to his hard and tall body. He missed how she made him feel. She made him feel needed and appreciated and not just some dumb prat. This is so stupid, he thought. I'll go ask Donna. With that, James walked over to where Donna and Marlene were sitting and sat right next to them.

"Hello ladies."

"No James, we're not going to sleep with you." Donna said, not even looking up from her parchment.

"I'll have you know I've never slept with anyone!" James pronounced, which made Donna snort so hard she almost tipped her chair backwards.

"Okay James, what do you want then?"

"Where's Lily?"

With his question, Marlene straightened up and didn't look him in the eye, while Donna's hand froze mid-sentence.

"Dunno." Marlene squeaked.

James scoffed, "okay. Thanks for nothing."

He started to get up, but immediately changed his mind and sat back down.

"Where is she?" he asked again.

"James, leave us alone. We have a lot to deal with." Donna said, pushing her hair out of her face.

"I'll leave you alone when you tell me where she is. She hasn't been here in two days. Two whole days! That's not like her at all!"

"James, do you even know her?" Marlene asked, finally gaining the courage to do something but squeak her words.

"Yeah I do, and I really care about her. Her being missing has been worrying me a lot, so to save me another headache, please tell me where she is."

"No." Donna said, "Now leave."

James nodded and got up from the table, walking up the stairs to the boys dormitory. He was about to curl up under the covers when he remembered something. He got his two-way mirror from his bedside table and summoned Sirius immediately.

"Prongs, you better have a good reason for interrupting me while I'm snogging Regina Cormack."

"Yeah, I do. Where's the map?"

"Under my pillow, why?"

Before James could answer, Sirius said "Lily?"

"Yup. Have fun, Padfoot."

"Will do" Sirius winked and the mirror went blank. James bounced out of bed and went directly to Sirius' to find the map hidden under his pillow. He muttered the phrase, I solemnly swear I am up to no good, and looked for Lily's little dot. After a few minutes of searching, and figuring out where Sirius was snogging that girl, he found Lily in the infirmary. After saying the closing phrase, he returned the map to its original hiding place and went off.

When he finally got to the infirmary, he found Lily in the back corner reading a magazine. He mustered up all of the courage he had and walked over to her with a smile on his face.

"Lily."

She looked up and her face instantly turned red, "Hi James."

Bloody hell he looked dashing, she thought to herself. Yes, it had only been two days but Lily missed James a lot. Now that he was finally here she didn't know what to say.

"How'd you find me?" She finally asked

"I have my ways," he smiled, coming to sit on the edge of her bed.

She sat up a bit, quickly threw her hair behind her back, and licked her lips. Being around him suddenly, with no time to prepare, made her nervous. Luckily, he started talking before she could freak out any more.

"What happened?"

She shook her head, "Nothing."

James laughed, surprising Lily. The sound was like music to her ears, she never wanted it to stop.

"Lily, if it was nothing then you wouldn't be here, would you?"

Lily felt herself smiling, he did have a point.

"So what happened?"

"I was walking to the library and someone hit me with a spell. When I woke up I was here."

"So you're telling me that out of nowhere you were attacked and you just woke up today? You've been out for an entire day?"

Lily nodded, not entirely sure how to respond. Before she could, however, James took her in his arms. She could literally feel the heat radiating off of his body. She felt his strong arms wrap around her, fitting her against him perfectly. They were like two pieces to a puzzle.

"Lily, I'm so sorry I wasn't there." James said quietly into her hair.

She looked up at him and put her hand on his cheek,

"It wasn't your fault, there's nothing you could have done."

"Still. No one should ever hurt you. I'll find whoever did this and make them pay for it." He said fiercely, looking directly into her eyes. She never had the moment to look closely at his eyes, but merlin they were the world's most gorgeous shade of brown, dark but warm at the same time.

She didn't feel like arguing with him, so instead she took back her hand and leaned into his hug once more.

This felt good.

No, this felt right.