James:
The darkness surrounds me, completely cutting off all of my senses. I float in an abyss of nothing, until I see a bright light shining. I float closer and closer to the golden glow, and I feel a longing to touch it. An angel's voice emits from it, telling me to join her, to come into the light. I smile to myself as I draw nearer, until suddenly something stops me as I am right by that beautiful light.
I pull back. Something tells me to stop, to turn back, to not go into the light. I'm angry at this thing, and yet I obey. I feel as though I am depriving myself of eternal happiness and joy by just floating in this endless pool of black, and I really don't understand what's happening, why I'm not going there. Just as I contemplate nearing the light again, suddenly the darkness surrounding me disappears and I am left with another bright light shining at me, but this one isn't nearly so pleasant.
I feel as though I am underwater. I can't hear anything, nor can I see anything despite this blinding light that hurts my eyes. My skin burns as though it is on fire, and I find myself unable to move, unable to speak. I can faintly hear sighs of relief, and I really don't know what is going on. I close my eyes again, and fall into a deep sleep...
What must be hours later, I wake up to the same blinding light. "Ugh..." I manage to murmur, even that small movement making my face ache. The burning around my body has subsided only slightly, but I'm still in agony. "Potter! Potter!" I hear someone say, and I take a look to see who it was. I can barely see anything due to the fact that I am stuck in a horizontal position, but I do see Madam Pomfrey and Professor McGonagall leaning over me on either side of my bed.
"Thank Merlin he's all right!" Minnie G says, and with that I close my eyes, once again falling asleep.
Lily:
All of us rush into the hospital wing, and see that the curtains surrounding James' bed have been pulled back. Moving more slowly now, we walk towards them and Madam Pomfrey comes out to greet us. "Hello. Mr Potter is doing much better now. He woke up for the first time about eight hours ago, and has fallen in and out of consciousness since then. Currently he is still asleep, though I do believe that it shall not be long until he wakes up again. I was very surprised, I must say, that he actually briefly regained consciousness twice before I performed the counter curse. That shows that he really was fighting. Now, you do have to remember what Professor McGonagall told you all just before you left last night? There is only so much that I can do, only so much I can help him. If somebody feels that pull, we could very easily lose them. I know that it is probably some people's wishes that I don't speak to you so candidly, but I feel that it is only right that you know all of the details. We almost lost him last night. It was just too close. It may be weeks until he is able to remain conscious for any length of time, and possibly months before he is up and about again. I really am not sure about what shall happen, as I have never dealt with anything quite like this before. I have noticed a drastic change in his physical state since the counter curse was performed, and I can only hope that it is just as effective in the long run. Also, this could greatly impact him mentally as well. He may now have more trust issues, more paranoia. This was a very traumatic event, and one that I am not likely to ever forget. There will likely be permanent scarring and, for the first time in my career as a school nurse, am really unsure of the future. We can only hope." Madam Pomfrey says, and I nod at her words, though every doubt she has is only magnified in my brain.
What if he never recovers? What if he develops PTSD from this? What if he is forever bed bound, or can't trust anybody? What if he can never play Quidditch again? That would really break him. James Potter's future is so undecided that I can't bear it.
We all go and sit down in the hospital wing on spare seats that McGonagall brought out of nowhere. We sit there in silence for hours and hours on end, barely moving. We are all completely lost in thought, and mine are filled with worry, and yet happiness that I know that he is alive. James was so, so close to leaving us, leaving me...I can't bear it. I can't believe that Snape did this to him. My childhood best friend...almost a murderer.
Although the curtains around James' bed were previously pulled back when we entered the hospital wing, they have since been closed over again and Madam Pomfrey is doing something. Some professors are here having taken their classes off today, and they are with her trying to help James. I take a look up at the clock. Shit! It's already one in the afternoon!
Where did the time go?
Many more hours pass, and Sirius and Marlene begin to speak in whispered, anxious voices. Everyone but me eventually joins in, but I can't think of anything right now apart from the person laying half-dead ten feet away from me.
Finally, after a long time, Madam Pomfrey remerges from behind the curtain and smiles as she says, "You may go in and see him now. Be careful though, he's only just woke up. He hasn't spoken clearly yet, just a couple of indistinct mumblings, so don't try too hard to engage him in conversation.". With this, she moves out of the way and we all eagerly step forward to see our fallen friend.
I enter, and gasp when I see him. His perfectly sculpted body is completely covered in deep red gashes, a few of them still bleeding slightly. His eyes are closed, and mouth parted slightly, and I watch as he struggles to breathe in and out. Some of the cuts covering his body are so deep that I really can't imagine them ever going away. He's unconscious, but I smile at him anyways, praying silently for him.
He is better, definitely better.
We just watch him for a while, and this small action really does help to calm my nerves. It's only at dinner time that Madam Pomfrey comes in to see us. "Right everyone. That's enough for today! You can all go down and have dinner in the Great Hall. It's not overly likely that Mr Potter shall regain consciousness tonight but you may come and see him tomorrow after school." she says, and we all begrudgingly leave, Sirius pulling at least six excuses out of the bag to try and stay, and each excuse fails miserably.
We head down to the Great Hall silently, and I still struggle to speak. I hold a small conversation with Mar, who reassures me a bit. Well, there is one thing that has come out of this ordeal - I'm almost certain that my friends know about my little crush now! I see Marly and Ali giving me the occasional strange look, and the way Mar says some things makes me think that she knows. Ah well - they were going to find out somehow, right?
When we enter the Great Hall, everyone goes totally silent and looks up at us. Wow, news really does travel fast! Apparently the injury of one of the 'Kings' of Hogwarts is a very big deal! I hear small whispers break out all over the hall, and these are just a few that I can hear...
"I heard that Potter fought against five death eaters!" a small first year Gryffindor boy mutters to one of his friends, and the friend gasps in shock. Hmmmm...not quite!
"I heard that Black and Potter fought again You-Know-Who himself in the girls toilets!" some third year girls whisper at the Ravenclaw table, and this one does make me laugh. Oh, just picture that scene! And it would be even better if Moaning Myrtle was there as well!
"I heard that Black valiantly defended himself against a giant spider while Potter bravely fought against a snake!" a couple of second year Hufflepuffs say, and I really have no clue how they came up with that!
Upon hearing these mutterings, Sirius just over dramatically rolls his eyes, and hops into his seat. "Black! Black! Are the rumours true?" people immediately say to him, and he once again rolls his eyes as he gets to his feet again. "Oh, for fucks sake! Who are you, the blasted paparazzi? No, I did not fight Voldemort! No, there were no death eaters in the school! My best friend is perfectly ok in the hospital wing! Now shut up and start eating again!" he says impatiently, and everyone obeys.
Sirius groans as he sits back down again, and immediately tucks in to his dinner. I'm quite surprised that he didn't come down for lunch - Sirius Black needs his food! I guess that that really just shows how much James means to him!
I don't have much of an appetite, but I force a bowl of vegetable soup and a small roll down my throat before leaving again, heading up to the Head's common room with Marly, who has agreed to sleep over again tonight, along with everyone else. I really do hope James is back soon, because the common room just isn't the same without him.
I sit down in front of the fire, trying my best to read a book but I really just cannot get into it. I eventually give up once everyone else enters, and quickly lay down on the sofa. I don't know what time I drift off at, but I welcome sleep eagerly, just wanting to get away from it all for just a minute.
Thursday dawns bright and early, and I get up quickly. My neck is a little stiff from the strange position I fell asleep in, but I give it a quick stretch before getting up and getting dressed. Today is pretty average, I suppose. The teachers are being quite lenient with us, not setting quite so much homework and not calling us out in class.
To my relief, the school day ends quickly and all of us rush out of Charms the second it ends. the only bad class today was Potions because I actually had to work with...him. I asked - no, begged Slughorn to let me change, because I can't bear to look at him now, but Slughorn said no. Damn it!
He tried speaking to me multiple times. "Hey Li-" he said, before I cut him off. "Shut the fuck up." I muttered, not even looking at the ignorant piece of shit. And you best believe that as soon as I could I bloody sprinted to Charms!
All of us arrive at the hospital wing, and Madam Pomfrey comes out to meet us. Instead of the smile, or even a glimmer of hope on her face which we were expecting, she comes out totally downcast. No! No, no, no!
"I'm afraid that I can't let you in at the moment." she says, and Sirius and I both collapse slightly, and I lean on Remus for support, tears burning in my eyes. "He's relapsed slightly. I'm hoping that it's not too serious, but I can't be sure. As I've never seen anything of this sort before, I'm not sure how deep the bleeding is, and I fear that the spell has somehow pierced one of Mr Potter's organs. I'm sorry, but I'm trying my best. I have to ask you to leave, and I will send any updates by way of Patronus.". I let out a breathy gasp, and Remus just about catches me under my arms as I fall to the floor.
This can't be happening! It just can't!
A/N - Hey everyone! I just have a quick question - do you prefer longer chapters with less frequent updates or shorter chapters with more frequent updates? Also, I hope you enjoyed this! xoxo