A/N: Thank you to everyone who had read and reviewed so far! I finally have the major event that is going to happen in this story, but I need your help. The HP universe is vast (but wonderful), so I'm afraid of mistakes that I may make as I write the rest of this story. If you see something that doesn't fit in with JK's fabulous vision of the HP world, please let me know in the reviews and I will make the necessary changes. Thank you, and I hope you enjoy this chapter! :)

Chapter 13

"Bloody hell, this hurts."

The worried parents looked up from their seats in the Hospital Wing. Harry's hair, which he usually kept tidy now that he was Head Auror, was running in all directions; he had a habit of pushing his fingers through it when he was nervous or stressed. Their youngest child had been sleeping in her mother's arms for the past hour. Albus was sitting on the ground in front of Harry—his father had thought he had seen him lean his head back a time or two, as if he were nodding off to sleep. However, the boy seemed determined to stay focused on the hospital bed in hopes that his brother would wake up.

"James?" Albus was the first to say.

"'Course…who do you think it is?" came a grunted response. "Where am I? What are Mum and Dad doing here?"

Ginny quickly set her daughter down on the chair, which caused the young girl to stir. "Oh James!" his mother yelled as she ran over to his bedside where she began covering his face with kisses.

"Am I dying or something?" James snapped weakly. "Mum…stop kissing me!"

"Never!" Ginny said with a laugh, although tears were beginning to stream down her face. "I will never stop kissing you. And I will never yell at you ever again, I promise you, James Potter, as long as I live…"

"Now I know I'm dying. What happened?"

"You took quite a fall off your broom," responded Harry, his voice breaking slightly with emotion.

"We were watching you from the stands," Lily told him sleepily. "Your broom started wobbling and then you sort of…fell."

James furrowed his brow. "Is it broken? Please tell me its broken…hate that broom."

His mother sighed as she pushed his dark hair away from his face. "Honey, how are you feeling? Is there any pain? Does your head feel odd? Do you think Neville healed all of your injuries?"

"I'm just sore all over. It doesn't feel like anything is broken." James moved his legs around on his bed just to make sure.

"Is he awake?" came a distant, high-pitched voice. "Oh, good..." A plump woman wearing a short burgundy and white dress came hurrying into the room.

"Madam Eccleston," Ginny began. "Can you please give him something for the pain?"

"Ahh, yes, yes." The matron quickly walked over to her cabinet, which held a variety of medicines and potions, and began mixing a few of the bottles together. With a puff of gray smoke, her mixture was complete. "Drink this," she said, thrusting the bottle out to James, who sniffed it and immediately wrinkled his face with disgust.

"No way! It smells like old socks," the young boy said loudly.

"James!" Ginny snapped. "Drink the medicine! Madam Eccleston is trying to help you."

"So much for not yelling at me anymore…" James grumbled as he took the bottle from the woman. After taking a deep breath, he plugged his nose and gulped the contents down.

Running his fingers through his hair once more, Harry collapsed into his seat with a sigh. "When will he be allowed to leave the informatory?"

"I want to keep him for today for observation," the woman replied. "That potion works wonders, but it can make him sick up. If the pain has receded by then, he can return to class. But he shouldn't do anything strenuous for a week; his bones need time to rest."

"But I have a Quidditch game on Friday!" James cried. "I have to practice this week."

"James…we need to talk about that…" Harry began. "Madam Eccleston, do you mind excusing us for a few minutes?"

"Of course," she said kindly. "I'll go to the kitchen to have some breakfast made for you."

When she was gone, Harry turned back to his son, dreading the conversation that was about to take place. James wasn't going to be happy, and Harry felt that he didn't have enough energy to argue with the young boy.

"Dad it was an accident!" James said quickly. He winced in pain as he sat up on the bed, turning to his mother with pleading eyes. "Mum, I'll be more careful next time, I promise…"

Ginny sighed. "It's not that, sweetheart. When your father was in school, someone hexed his broom to try to get him to fall off. With your father's position in the Ministry…well, it would make sense that what happened on your broom was done by someone watching the game."

His voice grew louder. "That's absolutely ridiculous. No one is out to get me! It was a stupid mistake…"

Harry sighed, standing up once more. "James. First of all, calm down…"

"I won't calm down! You're telling me that I can't play my favorite sport because you have a feeling someone from the stands hexed my broom. Just because things like that happened to you doesn't mean that they are happening to us. We aren't you, Dad! Isn't it also just as possible that I overestimated the bloody turn? I just think…"

"Stop. Now," Harry snapped. The weight of his father's glare stopped his rant, although his heart was still pounding with anger. "I know you're frustrated. I would be too. But your safety is our first priority, and we're not going to risk your life over a Quidditch game. It's just not worth it, James. You'll understand one day when you have children."

"James, we care so much about you…" Ginny began.

"If you cared about it, you would let me play Quidditch. It's the only thing that makes me happy right now." James' tone went from angry to cold. His brown eyes, narrowed in frustration, matched his voice.

"You know that's not true," his mother said gently. She extended her long fingers to push his hair away from his face once more, but he turned away from her.

Albus could barely breathe as he listened to the conversation in silence. He couldn't admit to what he had been thinking the moment James fell. Besides, what if his parents were right? What if there was someone who wanted to hurt James, and it was just a coincidence that it coincided with Albus' jealous thoughts? If were to admit to possibly causing James' fall, his brother could play the game again only to have the same outcome—only this time, it could turn out worse than a few broken bones. And if he were to tell them, he would be admitting to using a hex with wandless magic. That itself was difficult to do for a second year student; but really, he hadn't even uttered a curse. If he had been the one to make James fall, it was solely due to his thoughts and mindset at the time of the game. Was it even possible to have your thought be so powerful that you don't need a wand, or even a spell, to make them come true?

Realizing how thick he would sound if he began speaking about hexes started without a spell, Albus chose to keep his mouth shut. Still, the guilt continued to feel like it was burying him alive.

"Please don't take Quidditch away from me," said his brother's voice, now weak with emotion. "If someone wants to hurt us, they are going to do it whether I'm on the field or not."

"I don't even want to think about that…" his mother began.

"But it's true! Besides…we don't even know if someone did try to hex me! You're basically going to ruin my school year over the possibility that someone is out to get us, even though they would be able to do that whether I'm on a broom or not."

"He has a point, Ginny," Harry said slowly. He looked at his son, whose cheeks had become red with passion. The man couldn't blame him; he would have argued the same way if someone had tried to take Quidditch away from him when he was in school. And he wasn't too prideful to admit that his son was better than he had been at his age. Harry believed that James could even play for a professional team like his mother had if he put his mind to it; taking a year off, or even a few games, could hurt his chances of that.

Ginny sat down on the edge of her son's bed. Her eyes were sparking with a mixture of anger, worry, and defeat. "Alright. You can play Quidditch. But I want you to promise me to be extra careful around the castle from now on. That goes for you two as well," she said, turning to Lily and Albus. "No wondering around by yourselves. Tell McGonagall or Neville if anything or anyone seems suspicious. Do you promise me?"

"Yes, Mum," Albus replied softly.

Lily's eyes were wide with fear, but she nodded to her mother. "Do you really think someone would try to hurt us?"

"You'll be fine," said Harry. "We're just asking you to be careful." Although he missed him daily, in this moment he greatly wished that Albus Dumbledore were still alive. Although he trusted McGonagall and found her to be a brilliant witch, there was something about the gentle eyes of his former headmaster that he longed to see right now. There was no one he would have trusted more to make sure his children were safe. But that was the past, a lifetime ago really, and this problem was not in the past. He and Ginny would speak to McGonagall right away to ensure that all precautions would be taken.

"We'll be careful. I promise." James' voice had its usual teasing laughter back into it.

"But you're still not playing in the game on Friday," his mother told him. "You need to give your body time to heal. And no arguing," she said quickly as her son began to protest. "You can miss one game for the sake of your health."

"Fine," he said quickly, pretending to act disappointed. His mother would never know if he played or not, as long as Albus and Lily didn't tell her. "Now," he continued. "I'm the one who's gotten hurt and I don't feel as if I have gotten much attention today. Where's Eccleston?"

With a sigh, Ginny stood up. "Manners, please. And as long as you're okay, we are probably going to leave right after we eat. Dad has to get back to work, and I have a column due in three hours."

"You're going?" asked Albus. He felt himself start to smile when his father ruffled his hair.

"You'll be fine, Al. And James, if you need us, all you have to do is have Madam Eccleston Floo us. And we'll be right back here."

"Right," James said with a yawn.

When the matron returned, the family ate a quick breakfast, the first meal they'd eaten together since the morning of the Hogwart's Express ride. James could admit it felt nice to have his family back together just for a moment, despite the fact that he was in a great deal of pain to do so. As his parents kissed him goodbye, he even felt a pang of sadness instead of the usual relief that he would be at school without them.

Right as his parents were about to leave, a tall girl with raven colored hair walked into the room. A Slytherin scarf was wrapped around her neck. "Hello." The girl's voice was sweet, but with a basis of its usual allure. "Madam Eccleston, is it alright if I visit James for a moment?"

Madam Eccleston looked Evelyn up and down for a moment, but nodded. "Only for a few minutes. He hasn't had any time to rest."

"Hi, Evelyn," James said, nervously dangling his feet of the side of the hospital bed. "These are my…parents. They were just leaving."

"Well, hi there," Ginny said cautiously. She glanced over at James, giving him a questioning look. "It's nice to meet you."

"Same," the girl replied before turning to Harry. "And you must be…Mr. Harry Potter?"

Harry reached out to shake her hand. There was something about the look in her eyes that made him uneasy. He had seen that look in a number of people throughout his career as an Auror. Maybe it was the Slytherin scarf she was wearing; being back at Hogwarts may have brought forth some of his silly, childhood prejudices. "It's nice to meet you, Evelyn. Pardon us for rushing out, but my wife and I have to get back to work."

"Oh?" she asked. "What do you do?"

"Ginny writes the Quidditch column for the Daily Prophet. And I'm Head Auror at the Ministry of Magic."

She tilted her head up like she always did when she was curious. Her face seemed softer than it usually did, although her eyes still held that same piercing gaze that made James' heart race. "That sounds fascinating. I would love to hear more about your job sometime, Mr. Potter."

Harry smiled. "If you're interested in working for the Ministry, we have opportunities for students to come and shadow us at our office. You wouldn't get to see anything too exciting, but it would give you a better understanding of the day-by-day tasks that are required."

"I will definitely have to look into that," Evelyn replied. James felt embarrassed, although there hadn't been anything said during the exchange to make him feel so. He supposed it was just the fact that the secret love of his life now had interaction with his family; for some reason, that made the whole situation feel more real instead of just a fantasy inside his head. He hoped his mother wouldn't make too big a deal of the fact that the girl came down to visit him in the Hospital Wing.

Lily gave her brother a quick, gentle hug. "Bye James. See you later."

"Bye," Albus said with a wave. "We'll come back to visit tonight."

"Goodbye sweetheart." His mother, despite knowing that he would be angry at her later, gave him one final kiss. "Try to get some rest."

When his family had left, James pushed his fingers through his hair; he probably looked like he ended up on the losing side of a Hippogriff attack. "Th…thanks for coming down," he managed to stammer.

She sat down on the edge of his bed, which sent chills through his body. "Had a little trouble flying last night, did we?"

"I'll have you know…" James said, his voice calm now. "My parents believe I was hexed last night. So before you go assuming that I've lost my skill, think about the fact that someone could be after me. You're lucky I made it out alive."

Her mouth curled up in a smirk. "First of all, Potter, who would be after you? You sound like a bloody fool. Second…why am I lucky that you are alive? Sounds like you're the one who's lucky; I haven't got anything to do with it."

"Well, you came all the way down here, didn't you?" the boy replied. "You must think I'm a pretty fascinating person."

She narrowed her eyes at him, sending a new round of chills through his aching body. "Ahhh, so that's it then? You're such a fascinating person that I couldn't stand to be away from you?"

James shrugged slyly. "Looks like it."

"Well then, Mr. Facinating Potter, let's see just how great you are. This Saturday is a trip to Hogsmeade…meet me in front of Honeydukes." There wasn't a question in her voice, only a firm statement. James wondered what she would do if he refused. But he was so happy in that moment he didn't dare find out.

"I guess I can do that," he replied smoothly. His eyes met hers, and he immediately felt blood rush to his cheeks. At least he knew he didn't run out of much of that due to his fall.

"See you then, Potter."

And this time, when she leaned in, it wasn't to tell him that he was late to class.