ENJOY! XD-Bee 3

James woke groggily, he blinked, he was blind- not completely but he knew he wasn't wearing his glasses- he groaned and reached to where his bedside cabinet would usually be in the Gryffindor tower, his hands fumbled in the air, no cabinet. He moaned, and tried to sit up, in doing so he suddenly felt the pain in his ribs, right arm and head. "Ah bloody hell." He gasped. He tried to move his arm; he looked down through his hazy vision to see his right arm in a sling, pain shot through his head as he moved, and he remembered the match, remembered the pain of the bludger, falling from his broom, Sirius catching him, being brought into the hospital wing...

He heard the sound of feet hurrying towards to his bed, he looked around slightly, although it made his head hurt, and saw the nurse hurrying towards him. "Good Afternoon Mr Potter." She said in a familiar tone, he was a well-known patient. "It's good to see you awake." She continued and gently pressed his glasses onto his face.

"Thanks," He breathed.

The nurse touched his brow gently, brushing his hair out of the way, "You're cold." She said concerned. She leaned towards him and looked in his eyes to check his pupils. "What do you remember?"

"What do you mean?" James asked trying desperately to sit up but when he couldn't manage, due to the pain, he slumped back into the bed restlessly.

"Do you know how you got here? Do you know what happened?" She asked kindly, as she did so she gently helped him to sit up. He thanked her with a soft smile.

"Quidditch," He said simply. "Bludger to the head. Nothing I haven't had before."

"True, I've definitely seen you many times before James," She said with a smile, she sat on the edge of his bed. "Can you just lean forward? I know it might hurt. Sorry." He leaned forward as she asked and gave a little laugh at her comment.

"This has got to be a record though hasn't it?" He grinned at the nurse who was kind faced, aging and fairly familiar to him as he'd spent so much time in the Hospital wing during his years at Hogwarts. For some reason the nurse reminded him of his mother.

The nurse prodded his head carefully, feeling the lump that the bludger's hit had caused. "What record?" She asked.

"First match of the session and I end up in the Hospital wing. Haven't done that before."

"You did end up here on your first day back to school a couple of years ago, do you remember?" She said with a laugh.

James didn't answer, of course he remembered. It had been his fifth year and unfortunately Remus's furry little problem had occurred on their first night back at school that year, Remus had lost control during his transformation, had lashed out, it had only been because Sirius had been there to cover his back that James had not been bitten. Sirius so worried of James's condition had left Remus alone with Peter in the Shack and carried James to The Hospital wing. Unable to tell the nurse about Remus's secret Sirius had fabricated a story of some silly prank that had got James injured, covering for all of them. When the Headmaster had come to check in, he had not said he knew of what himself, Sirius and Peter did for Remus each full moon but by the smile and the look of respect in his sparkling blue eyes James knew that Professor Dumbledore knew exactly what was going on.

"James, dear?" The nurse asked softly bringing him back to the present.

"Sorry," James shook his head, to clear his thoughts, which was a bad idea as it made his head hurt. "I was thinking, yeah I remember that time," He said. "So how's my head looking?" He asked in a conversational tone, now that he was focusing on how quickly he could get over these injuries. "And what have I done to my arm?"

"You broke your arm but Skele- Gro fixed it in one night, as for your head it fine now but it may be sore for awhile," The nurse explained, getting up and handing him a flask full of a medicine potion, James looked at the contents: green and slushy. "Mhm, tasty," He groaned.

"Drink it." She tutted.

James looked at the content again and wrinkled his nose; he lifted the flask to his lips with his good arm and drank. "Urgh," He groaned. "That's disgusting."

"You also bruised your ribs." She informed him, James nodded.

"Thought so,"

"Your friends have stopped by twice today already," The nurse told him, gathering up the empty flask and smiling. "I told them to go back to class and that they could visit this evening."

"So it's Monday..?" James checked nervous he'd slept through more than one day.

"Yes," She said turning to head back to her office. "Are you hungry at all James?"

James thought for a moment, he was hungry but all he really wanted was to see his friends- to see Lily. "I, er-,"

"How about some toast?" She offered.

James gave a shrug. "Ok. I guess." He settled back into his pillows and looked around, on the bedside cabinet to his left opposite to where his usually was, he saw that someone- Lily he guessed- had left his wand and had also brought him a collection of his books from his trunk, he smiled at this. James sighed and glanced at the clock on the wall it was only half past one he had hours before lessons finished before he could see Lily and the Marauders; he sighed, his bruised ribs aching, he picked up 'Quidditch through the ages' from the stack of books and leafed through it to pass the time.

By the time Lily arrived when afternoon classes had finished James had dozed off again and woke to see her sitting beside his bed, her hand holding his gently. He yawned and rubbed his face where his glasses had dug into his cheek as he'd fallen asleep with them on. He looked at Lily and smiled slightly. "Hey beautiful," He said quietly.

"James," She said her eyes watering with happiness and relief to see him awake and well. "How are you feeling?" She asked gently.

James sat up a bit and moved the book he'd fallen asleep reading, he rested it back on the bedside table. "Better," He half smiled. "Why? Were you worried?"

Lily's cheeks flushed and her eyes watered more. "Of course I was worried James." She leaned closer to him and sighed. "I was so worried. I thought – when I saw you fall, my heart stopped," Tears started down her cheeks before she could stop herself.

"Oh Lils," James whispered leaning towards her, ignoring the pain in his ribs. He pressed his forehead against hers gently and whispered. "It's okay Dear, I'm okay,"

"I know," She laughed shakily and kissed him lightly on the lips. "I just-," She squeezed his hand. "Don't ever get hurt again, don't ever leave me."

"I wouldn't dare." He promised kissing her again, longer this time, more drawn out.

"I love you." She breathed between kisses.

"I love you too." He said pulling back, he let go off her hand, absentmindedly touching where his ribs hurt, he muttered. "My ribs..."

"Oh Prongsie-," She sighed.

"Come sit up here." James said patting the bed, he shuffled over to give her room and she sat beside him. James wrapped his arms around her and she curled close to him, her head on his chest, tears still wet on her cheeks. "I'll never leave your side, not ever." He promised and kissed the top of her head.

James stayed in the Hospital Wing for two more days, the nurse refusing to let him out of bed without her help. His ribs still ached from the bruising but his arm had recovered within a day, however his head ached where the bludger had hit him.