After The War (Romione & Hinny fan fiction)

Don't Leave Me

Lily's eyes closed on their own accord.

"Lily, you're doing it again." Ellie's whisper, followed by a light tap on her shoulder brought Lily back to reality.

She forced her eyes back open. "Sorry." She whispered.

"You don't need to apologise as long as you don't fall on the floor. Try to stand on you legs, please."

Lily sighed as her eyes threatened to close again. Her eyelids grew very heavy, and suddenly the weight of her head was unbearable.

"Lily!" Ellie hissed, "Professor Bonvox is here."

Lily tried to open her eyes again, but they felt glued.

"Can you open my eyes, Ellie?" She asked sleepily.

"Oh dear. Yes, fine." Ellie's fingertips were cold from the early morning chill of the Hogwarts corridors, and the fact that they'd spent the last twenty minutes waiting in the dungeons for Professor Bonvox to arrive didn't help.

"Your fingers are freezing!" Lily tried to escape Ellie's grasp.

"Hold still! You're making a scene. Do you want me to open your eyes or not? Almost everyone is already inside. And where is Clara?"

With trembling - and very cold - fingertips, Ellie separated Lily's eyelids until her eyes were opens.

"Not difficult now, was that?" She said as she put a hand on Lily's back and lead her inside the class. "Don't you dare close them ever again."

"Where's Clara?" Lily whispered, her voice full of concern.

"She'll come." Ellie said confidently.

"Good morning, Professor Bonvox." They said in unison as they quickly walked by the teacher's desk.

"Good morning, Miss Potter and Bouchard. Have a seat, please."

Seeing that the girls were heading towards the desk they usually shared, he motioned for them to stop.

"Miss Potter, please take a seat next to Mr Jenkins. As for Miss Bouchard... You can join Mr Moores. All the instructions are on the blackboard. I want this potion ready by the end of the lesson. Now get to work."

Lily and Ellie exchanged a glance of defeat before joining their new partners.

Lily hadn't much talked with 'Mr Jenkins' before, and she didn't remember his name, but he seemed nice. He was a tall guy with very dark brown hair and startlingly dark green eyes. His nose and cheeks were covered in freckles much like Lily's, which made Lily want to smile.

"Hi."

"Hello." He said, shifting over to the left side of the bench so Lily could sit and place her cauldron in front of them.

"I'm Lily."

He nodded, "And I'm Jade."

Lily retrieved her Potions book from her bag and opened it to page 56, as written on the blackboard. Suddenly there was a knock on the door and Clara slipped into the classroom, her hair a mess and her breath heavy from the run.

"Sorry to be late, Professor Bonvox." She said breathlessly as she hurried to take a seat in the row behind Lily's.

As Lily's attention shifted back to the first paragraph of the chapter called Boil-Cure Potion, Clara clicked her tongue rather loudly. She was quick to cover her mistake with a cough, but it had been enough for Lily to know it was intentional. Lily checked that Professor Bonvox was distracted, then turned to Clara, who grinned and mouthed 'catch it'. Lily frowned, but then she saw a vial flying - flying! - in her direction. She caught it and turned to her textbook again, shaking her head. As she popped open the vial of dark potion and swallowed it in one gulp, though, she was very grateful that she had such good friends. Clara had seen that Lily was too tired and ran to the Hospital Wing to ask a potion for Lily. If Lily hadn't fallen asleep face-down in her cauldron, that was all Clara's doing.