The Seven Year Itch

Lily opened her eyes. Her sight was bleary, but even so she didn't fail to see that it was night. She was lying in a large room with numerous beds next to her own. Her right arm felt like it was on fire and her throat was extremely dry. She coughed a few times.

"Lily?" a male voice asked. A man who had been standing by the window until now came over to her bed. He put his arms on either side of the upper part of her body and leaned over her. "Lily, are you awake?"

"Sirius?" she croaked out. He nodded.

"Where am I?"

"St Mungo's. How are you feeling?" he asked.

"Thirsty..."

He hastily poured some water in a glass that was standing on her bedside cabinet and helped her drink.

"Better now?"

"My arm hurts so much," she whimpered. "Can't you do something about it-"

"I'm sorry, Lily," he whispered, holding her left hand, "but I can't do anything-"

She gave a low wail. Sirius had a expression of helplessness on his face.

"Sirius...please-"

He held her hand and stroked her hair until darkness overcame her again.

***

When Lily awoke again, it was already morning. The sun was shining through the windows, blinding her. She blinked a few times.

"Lily!" a voice said. "How are you?"

The person came to stand next to her bed, shielding her from the sun. It was Remus.

"Better, I think," she said. That was the truth. Her arm still hurt like hell, but not as much as it had last night. "What are you doing here? I remember seeing Sirius last night..."

"Yes, he was here last night to watch over you," he answered her.

"Watch over me? Why?" she asked.

"So that James would have some sleep," Remus said, a strange expression on his face. "You've been unconscious for five days."

"Really?" Lily asked, shocked.

"Yes, and James has been here ever since. Last night, we talked him into going home to get some sleep. Sirius promised him he would stay here over the night instead of him."

"But why?" Lily asked, trying hard not to let hope creep into her voice.

"Why James stayed here all the time? He wanted to look after you."

"Why?" Lily whispered again.

Remus didn't answer, he just gave her a wry smile.

"The nurses will come with the breakfast in a few minutes. Are you hungry?"

"Not really," she said. "Where are James and Sirius now?"

"They've gone up to the Visitor's Tearoom. Sirius needed a cup of coffee. He was up all night, after all."

"On which floor am I?" she asked, eager to be told everything that had happened while she had been unconscious.

"Fourth floor, Spell Damage," he replied, sitting down on the chair next to her bed.

"And what happened? I just remember how that Death Eater cursed me-"

He gave another wry smile. Before he could say something, however, the door opened and James and Sirius entered the ward. Lily swallowed hard as her eyes met James's.

"Lily! You're awake!" Sirius exclaimed. He was babbling something, but Lily didn't listen. She stared at James, and he stared back at her.

"Lily? Lily!" Sirius called, waving his hand in front of her face.

"Sorry," she said quickly, looking away from James. "What did you say?"

"I asked you if your arm still hurts."

"Yes," Lily answered. "But not as much as last night."

James came nearer until he stood at the end of her bed. Lily refused to look at him.

"The healers will probably be here soon to check on you," Sirius told her.

"Breakfast!" a merry voice said. "Ah, Miss Evans, you're awake!"

A young nurse smiled at her, putting a tray with a bowl of porridge and a glass of orange juice on her lap.

"I'm not hungry," Lily said.

"You have to eat, Miss Evans," the nurse said. "You haven't eaten for five days!"

She went to bring the other patients their breakfast. Sighing, Lily grabbed the spoon with her shaky left hand and began eating.

"LILY!" Lily dropped her spoon in surprise. And suddenly Dorcas was strangling-erm... hugging her.

"Oh, God... finally. I was so scared, I-"

"Calm down, Dorcas," Benjy, who was standing behind her, said. "Look at her face. Imagine she had dropped dead of shock right after she woke up."

"Ha ha," Dorcas said as Lily laughed.

"This is not a tea party!" The nurse who had brought Lily breakfast glared. "Two visitors at the most!"

"It's OK, we're leaving," Sirius grumbled. "Don't get your pants in a twist."

He and Remus left, and James joined them reluctantly after Lily continued to stare at her porridge.

"So, how are you?" Dorcas asked after they had closed the door behind them.

"Alright, I think. What happened? Remus said I've been uncounscious for five days-"

"Uncounscious? Now that's one way of putting it," Dorcas muttered.

"What do you mean?" Lily asked uneasily. Benjy and Dorcas looked at each other. Finally, Benjy said, "They put you in a kind of coma."

"Kind of coma?"

"Yeah. They gave you pretty strong painkillers and sleeping draughts. They-they said the pain would be unbearable if you were awake. Yesterday they said that it would be safe to let you wake up."

Lily swallowed. Before she could say anything else, however, a couple of Healers entered the ward.

"Good morning, Miss Evans," one of them said and shook her hand. The others joined him. "How is your arm feeling?"

"It hurts," she answered truthfully.

He smiled apologetically. "Yes, I'm afraid it won't stop hurting for quite a time. We have to change the bandages now, and then we'll see how the gashes are healing."

"Is that really necessary?" Dorcas asked sharply. "Can't it wait a few days?" Lily looked at her, frowning.

"No, it can't," the Healer replied, his eyebrows raised. While he started to take off the bandages, Dorcas walked around the bed to hold Lily's other hand. Lily bit her lip. What was going on?

Lily tried to breathe steadily as she saw the gashes. No, it can't be, she told herself.

The word "MUDBLOOD" was carved into the skin of the inside of her arm.

"The gashes are healing rather good," the Healer muttered under his breath.

"They're not going to leave scars, are they?" Lily asked tensely. The Healer looked at her gravely. "I am sorry, Miss Evans, but they will."

Lily swallowed again.

"You are very lucky to be alive," the Healet told her. "It seems that someone performed a spell on you that reduced the blood flow. Otherwise, you would have bled to death. Have you any idea who it was?"

Lily winced. A pair of black, unreadable eyes... She had completely forgotten, but now it all came rushing back to her. Her old childhood friend Severus Snape had saved her life, but she wished he hadn't. Because him being there in Diagon Alley was the final evidence that he was a Death Eater now.

"No," Lily said, her voice sounding stricken. "I cannot remember."

"Lily-" Dorcas said when the Healers had left. "Lily..."

But Lily couldn't answer, couldn't speak because she was choking up. Tears were running down her face and she pressed her hand to her mouth in a vain attempt to stiffle her sobs.

"Lily, please," Dorcas said desperately, "I know this is horrible, but we'll find the wanker, I promise we will and then he'll pay for what he did to you."

But nothing Dorcas and Benjy said could calm Lily down, for they did know the real reason she was so upset. Finally, when Lily's lachrymal glands seemed to have run out of liquid, her two friends seemed at the verge of tears themselves, having tried everything to calm her.

"What about Potter?" Lily asked suddenly. Dorcas and Benjy looked startled.

"What d'you mean?" Benjy asked.

"Remus told me that he was here all the time while I was... asleep."

"That's true," he answered. "Wouldn't budge from your side. Didn't even go home to sleep at night. Last night, Pettigrew, Black and Lupin persuaded him to go and have some sleep, but Black had to promise him solemnly that he'd stay with you all the time while he was gone."

"Yes, and it was also him who brought you here," Dorcas said. "You were lying in a side street when I found you. I tried to revive you, but it didn't work. And then Potter came and when he saw you... I've never seen him look like this, I've never seen anyone look like this. It was uncanny."

Lily was breathless, not daring to believe what this implied. She was feeling very hot and sweaty and dizzy; the room seemed to fade away. She closed her eyes and dozed off at once.

When she awoke again, her nightdress was drenched with sweat and she felt sick. When she opened her eyes, the room started to spin. Lily tried to focus and finally found Dorcas and Benjy, who were standing a few feet away from her bed and talking in hushed voices.

"Dorcas," she retched. At once, Dorcas and Benjy were at her side and watched helplessly as Lily threw up on her mattress.

"Shit, Lily, what happened?"

But Lily couldn't answer; when she had finally stopped retching, she looked up, and suddenly Dorcas was the Death Eater who had nearly killed her-

"Get him away, Benjy! GET HIM AWAY, PLEASE-" Tears were falling from her face as she screamed. She heard shouts, but couldn't grasp their meaning.

"Lily, calm down!"

"Get a Healer! GET A HEALER!"

"What's happened?"

"Bloody hell-"

She felt a cool hand on her forehead. "High fever. It seems she's hallucinating. Something must have upset her."

Out of nowhere, a glass with a potion appeared before her face. Lily, convinced that it was some kind of poison, slapped it out of the Healer's hand and it flew against the wall. The glass broke and the potion ran down the wall.

"Stupefy!"

Dorcas watched uneasily as the Healer stunned Lily because there was no other way to force the potion down her throat.

***

BANG.

Lily was torn out off her troubled sleep at the sound of a door being slammed shut. Astonished, she saw that she had been moved into a single room. Lily racked her brains, but she couldn't remember what had happened. She couldn't see anybody else except her in the room, but she was sure that she hadn't imagined the noise.

Lily jumped violently as someone appeared suddenly out of thin air. The person was pulling off a silvery cloak. She was about to scream out, but then she saw that it was-

"James..."

He looked at her, startled. Obviously he hadn't noticed that she was awake. He took a chair and pulled it with him to sit down next to her bed. Before Lily could say anything else, he had taken her healthy hand in his hands and pulled it up to press his lips on it. She moved closer to the edge of the mattress, closer to him. She sniffed once and noticed that he smelled strongly of Firewhiskey.

"Lily, you have no idea," he mumbled, a slight slur in his voice, "no idea at all how glad I am that you're still-still here."

She didn't answer, but moved closer to him until she was lying on the very edge of the mattress.

"When I saw you in Diagon Alley, I thought you were dead for a moment. It was killing me. And I swear to God, I'm going to hunt down the fucking bastard who did this to you and I'm going to rip off every limb he has before I kill him-"

"No, James," Lily said. "Don't. You'll take risks that-"

"I don't care," James cut her off. "I won't be able to rest until-"

"No," Lily whispered again. "No. Stay with me."

He let go off her hand and put his arms around her to pull her even closer. He pressed his lips on hers, and Lily thought how wonderful it would be if this moment could last forever. It would be enough, just lying in James's arms and kissing him.

***

When Lily awoke the next morning, she kept her eyes closed for a moment as the memories of yesterday came rushing back. She felt her lips tugging into a smile, which faded at once when she opened her eyes. She was alone.

Desperation filled her. She now faintly remembered what had happened the previous evening; she had been delirious. Had she only imagined James visiting her at night?

As she pondered this undesirable thought, someone knocked at the door.

"Come in," Lily said absent-mindenly. A nurse entered the room.

"Good morning," she said. "Are you feeling better?" Without waiting for an answer, she shoved a thermometer in Lily's mouth.

"Kind of," Lily mumbled.

"Good," the nurse said. "I was afraid that Potter's visit-"

"Potter was here?" Lily asked excitedly, dropping the thermometer. "James Potter? He was really here last night?"

"Yes. Take that thermometer back into your mouth, please," the nurse said sternly. "I came in here around five a.m. to check in you, and he was sitting next to your bed, fast asleep. Smelled like a whole vat of Firewhiskey. I threw him out, of course."

When Dorcas came about an hour later, she found Lily still a bit faint and feverish, but beaming as though someone had just told her that Voldemort had been defeated.

But as the day went on and Potter didn't show up, she grew more and more impatient and fidgety. By evening, she was reduced to a bundle of nerves.

"What could have happened?" she asked for the thousandth time. Dorcas sighed. "I don't know, bloody hell."

"You reckon he changed his mind?" Lily questioned anxiously.

"Lily, you know what I reckon? I reckon he has a horrible hangover, and that's why he's not coming."

"Let me tell you, Dorcas, if a man loves a woman, there's nothing that can stop him from going to her." Benjy entered the ward and dropped a package on her bed. "Here, mum wanted me to give you this."

"What is is?" Lily asked. Benjy rolled his eyes.

"Food, of course," he answered.

"Say thank you to her. And what did you mean by that?"

"That Potter won't be stopped by a hangover."

"So you think he's not-he doesn't-"

"That's not what I said, I-he-"

Benjy and Dorcas exchanged glances. Then Benjy said, "Tell her about the boggart."

"No, you tell her!"

"I don't want to!"

"Neither do I!"

"What?" Lily asked testily. "Boggart? What are you talking about?"

"Well, you see, Lily," Dorcas began hesitantly. "A week or so after youd dad's funeral, Potter taught his second-years about boggarts and during this lesson, something happened. Something that sent loads of rumours about you and Potter flying through the school."

"What?"

"Well, he wanted to demonstrate the spell, faced the boggart-and it transformed into you."

"The thing Potter is most afraid of is-me?" Lily said incredulously.

"No. You see, the boggart-Lily was... dead," Benjy said softly. "The thing Potter's most afraid of is you dying."

Lily stared at her friends, her mouth agape.

"Of course, the story spread like wildfire," Dorcas said. "The whole school knows, really. But nobody dared to tell you."

"What about Potter, anyway?" Benjy asked. "He sat next to your bed as if he'd been glued to it for five days, where is he now?"

"We don't know, which is why Lily's so nervous. He turned up last night, piss drunk, and practically told Lily that he loves her. Oh yes, and he also said that if he ever got hold of the wanker who attacked Lily, he'd rip his balls off."

"That's not what he said," Lily objected.

"But that's what he meant," Dorcas replied. Lily nodded. "True."

At that very moment, the door burst open. Lily looked up excitedly, expecting to see James, but it was-

"Sirius."

"You don't sound very enthusiastic," he said. Lily noticed that he looked completely worn out.

"Sorry, I just- do you know where James is?"

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about," he looked at Dorcas and Benjy. "Could I have a few minutes alone with her?"

They nodded silently and left the room.

"What's wrong?" Lily asked. "Did something happen?"

"Lily," he said, sitting down on her bed, "Lily, you've got to promise me something at first. You have to stay calm."

"Why? What happened?"

"Stay calm, Lily-"

"Yeah, yeah, I will-what happened?"

"James was here last night, wasn't he?"

"Yeah... why? What's going on?"

"After the nurse got him out of here, he set out to look for the Death Eater who attacked you and... he found him."

"So?" Lily prompted, a fear suddenly gripping her.

"They duelled... it was a pretty bad fight... and- James killed him."