A/N: This chapter is GARBAGE. i HATE it. when i first met this chapter i said, "delete yourself!"

Chapter 6: Cures

Saying it had been a rough night would have been putting it lightly.

Remus lay in his usual hospital bed in the infirmary, and this time around the other three boys had beds as well. Peter had gotten stepped on. His hand broken and his leg fractured. Sirius had gotten his shoulder dislocated and he had a scratch all down his back. He had to lay on his side until Madam Pomfry could heal it. James had a shattered knee, a gash in his side, and a broken nose, which gave him two black eyes. They were all a mess. Lucky for them, Madam Pomfry tried not to ask questions.

James had just awoken, the world still too bright, when he heard the door to the infirmary open. All he could feel was pain in his entire body. He heard Madam Pomfry sigh, exasperated.

"Ms. Evans, no visitors," Pomfry began.

"I was wondering if I could talk to you, actually," James heard Lily say.

She sounded nervous. James tried to peek through the curtains to get a look at her, but he wasn't wearing his glasses. He thought about reaching for them, but he was in too much pain. Plus, his entire face was swollen. They wouldn't fit on his fattened head anyways.

"What is it Ms. Evans? If it's about what Slughorn said, we can make a meeting— wait. You aren't pregnant are you?"

James made a fist at the thought. Who would she be—

"No, no," Lily said, "I'm not… It's my mother, Madam Pomfry. She's been ill for a while, and she seems to be getting worse."

James's heart sank. He and Mrs. Evans were still writing back and forth, but she rarely spoke about her illness. It was usually about Mr. Evans's garden, or her the drama on her favorite soap opera. It had been three months and she had only brought up her illness twice. She never even said she was getting sicker.

"I'm sorry to hear about that," Pomfry said.

"I've been searching the library whenever I can looking for a cure. All the books seem to say the same thing. I was hoping you'd be able to give me a different answer. Maybe we've made new magical advancements since the books were written…"

"I'm sorry, Ms. Evans. We keep the library stocked with the most up to date books. Potions, even some spells, don't always mix well with muggles. Strange, sometimes fatal, side effects may occur."

James's heart sank. He felt a lump form in his throat.

"I suppose I'll be going, then. Thank you."

James heard Lily leaving. He tried to sit up, but the pain was too much. He heard the door open and then close again. He tried to call out for her, but it was just a shout of strangled agony. Between the physical pain, and the sadness he felt for Mrs. Evans and Lily, he wasn't sure what the cry was for. His curtains were pulled aside and Madam Pomfry looked at him, stern.

"Whatever you boys did last night, don't you ever do it again," She warned him.

James disagreed with her. He laid back down in his bed.

Three days later, James able to leave the hospital wing. He was the last of three of them, and it was only because he maybe had to regrow most of an organ, as well as heal his knee cap. His knee was still stiff, and it hurt to breath sometimes.

He managed to get up to the Gryffindor Tower, even if it took a little longer than usual do to his new stiff knee cap. When he got to his dormitory, he looked at his dorm mates, and realized there was something going on. Tension was in the air. They were all on there separate beds, Peter was even trying to do homework.

Remus was the first to speak.

"You guys are never coming out again."

Sirius began yelling at Remus, listing loudly all the reasons as to why Remus was wrong. Remus yelled back, countering everything Sirius said with a Very Valid and Responsible Excuse. Peter looked at the both of them, back and forth, as though he couldn't decide which side to be on. James held his hand out to get them to quiet down.

"Boys…" he said, his voice steady. They didn't hear him and continued yelling. "BOYS!" He shouted it.

The shout silenced Sirius and Remus. They looked at James.

"Remus, don't be stupid."

Sirius let out one loud laugh in Remus's face. He threw himself back onto his bed, celebrating his win. Remus was mad. Fuming. He paced a few times and James gathered the words to say. He needed to be careful and strategic about this. James held up his hand, warning the other boys not to say anything.

"We do need to make changes," James said. Remus rolled his eyes, tho he smiled, "Plan better." James turned to Sirius, "This is a bigger responsibility than we first thought."

Sirius nodded in agreement. They were solemn. Remus was relieved that his friend weren't the dumb fucks he thought they were a moment ago.

"Thank you James."

James nodded once, then climbed into his bed. He pulled his curtain around him, then fell asleep. The sun still shining through the windows didn't have an effect on his exhaustion.

At four the next morning he awoke. At first, he was confused about why. He then he remembered he fell asleep so early the previous day, and had just gotten about 12 hours of sleep. He got out of bed and grabbed a book from his end table and went to the common room.

James planned on sitting in his favorite seat by the dying fire. However, it was already taken. By a sleeping Lily Evans. He thought she couldn't be comfortable sleeping in that position. Her head lolled to the side (that would hurt tomorrow) and her feet tucked under herself (must cut off all circulation). James also had the thought that she looked extra beautiful sleeping by the fire light.

"Psst." James said, trying to wake her. He poked her with the corner of his book, "Evans."

She woke with a start. She looked at him.

"Am I late for class?" She asked.

James laughed, "No, it's only four. Why are you down here?"

James sat in the chair beside her. She sat up in the seat and pushed her hair back from her face. Her hand rubbed the back of her neck, already bothering her. He watched her, waiting for her answer.

"I haven't been sleeping well," Her voice was hoarse.

"So you sleep down here?"

Lily rolled her eyes and James smiled. He wanted to make her roll her eyes liked that for the rest of his life.

"I have a lot on my mind right now."

He waited for her to say more, but she didn't seem like she was going to.

"Is it your mum?"

Lily didn't answer. Instead, she stood up and turned toward her dorm. She took three steps when James said —

"Let me know if you want to talk about it."

She ignored him and continued to her dorm. James sat back in the chair. He opened his book, then realized this chair wasn't as comfortable as the one Lily had earlier occupied. He switched to the other chair, and began to read. Although he wanted to, he couldn't pay attention to the words on the page. Instead, his head continued to wander to the girl who had sat in the chair before him and her mother. His heart ached the more he thought about it. His knee ached as well, but he didn't think they had anything to do with each other.

James found himself pulling out a piece of parchment and a quill, left on a table by somebody. He wrote a letter to Mrs. Evans, telling her all about how much he admired Lily. He wrote about how he thought she raised a great daughter. He wrote about how he hoped, one day, he'd be able to meet Mrs. Evans.