The Stag and the Doe

Chapter 7

James POV

I sit in bed, forcing myself to sit still as Madam Pomfrey has already yelled at me a few times. I keep glancing at the clock, waiting for it to be 6:30.

"If you're gonna keep fidgeting you might as well get up and change." Madam Pomfrey says, somewhat irritated. I leap out of bed, grab my clothes that are next to me, and rush for the bathroom to change. I came back and see Madam Pomfrey trying to keep Remus, Sirius, and Peter out.

"Mr.Black, you don't need to fake stomach pain to see Mr.Potter." She said, rather sternly. "And I told you, he went to get changed. He'll be back in a few minutes, just wait."

"James!" Peter exclaims when he see's me. Madam Pomfrey turns her head and before she can do anything, Peter, Remus, and Sirius are rushing by her. They all reach me at the same time, almost knocking me over.

"Get off him!" Madam Pomfrey yells, and they get off me laughing.

"How are you Prongsie?" Sirius asks with a grin stretching ear to ear.

"Hungry, lets go get food." I say. We walk out together, our laughs echoing through the halls. We marched in like old times, huge smiles on our faces, a few people rolled their eyes, some clapped, but I didn't care, I was happy to be out of the hospital wing and able to actually do things instead of being forced to stay in bed. We take our normal seats and dish out our breakfast.

"How is everyone else doing?" I ask.

"The team seemed to be ok." Sirius said.

"Lily was pretty upset, haven't seen her yet this morning." Remus said.

"This isn't her fault." I say, angrier than I wanted it to come out which cause them to all give me a look.

"Well, speaking about who's fault it is." Remus says. "Dumbledoor said there will be no retaliation"

"That's fine." I say and Sirius' jaw almost hits the table. "I'm not gonna get dragged by snivels into this petty game anymore. I wanna go get cleaned up and change into something fresh, I'll see you guys later." I get up and I see Sirius and Remus have smirks on their faces, but I act like I didn't see, and I head off to my dorm room.

Lily POV

A gentle knocking at my bedroom door wakes me up. I roll off my bed and onto the floor with a thud. Before I could even get up I hear my door fling open.

"Lily, you ok?" I turn over and see James standing over me, a concerned look on his face.

"I'm fine." I say and I begin to cry. Next thing I know, I'm laying on my bed, James sitting next to me, rubbing my back.

"Everything is ok, Lily, everything is ok." He kept saying as he rubbed my back. After a few minutes I sit up, leaning my head onto James' shoulder.

"James." I say.

"Yes, Lily." He says.

"Thank you." I say.

James POV

Thank you? For what?

"For what?" I ask.

"For, for being a good person." Lily says, tears still in her eyes. "I guess I never really got to see that side of you because of Snape."

I don't know what to say. Is this a her way of saying she likes me? It doesn't matter right now, right now I want to make sure she's ok.

"I'm sorry." I say.

"For what?" she says, somewhat alarmed.

"For being a toe rag all those years. For putting you through all of that, and what just happened." I said, and I look down at Lily and she starts to cry again.

"Oh, James. What happened wasn't your fault, it was mine." She says.

"No Lily, it's not your fault." I say, stroking her hair. "It's his fault, and his obsession over you. None of this is your fault. You've never done anything wrong." She smiled at those last words.

"Thank you James." She said.

"Do you want me to make you breakfast or do you want to go down to the Great Hall?" I ask.

"Can we just eat here? I don't wanna go down and see everyone right now." She said and I started to get up, but she grabbed me and pulled me back down. "Not yet, stay for a few minutes." She held onto me around my midsection as I rubbed her back. After a few minutes I got up again, and this time she let me get up.

I started rummaging through the cabinets to figure out what to make when Lily came down and sat at the table in the kitchen.

"What would you like?" I ask her.

"Just some eggs and toast is fine." She says, holding her stomach with one of her hands.

"Are you ok?" I ask as I start a fire.

"Stomach hurts a little." She says. "Probably from too much crying." I look and she blushes a little.

"Crying isn't illegal Lily." I say and I get her to laugh a little.

Lily POV

There are some many things going through my head, so many things I want to say.

"Thank you." Is all I manage to say.

"I'm always right here if you need me." James says. That simple line makes me fill with joy. I guess I really do love James Potter, if first year me saw me now. I chuckle to myself.

"What?" James asks.

"Oh, it's nothing." I say and he gives me a confused look. "Maybe I'll tell you later." He nods and goes back to cooking.

"By the way, do you think you could help me with my potions homework? You're a little better at it than me." He says, cracking a smile.

"Only if you help me with transfiguration." I say and he laughs. It drives me slightly insane that he's better at it than me, and he knows it.

"Deal." He says and we laugh. It feels so good to be laughing again, to have James back. God, what am I say?

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Sorry this seems a little short, just kind of ran out of ideas for this chapter