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James’s Good Dream


“Busted broom, busted knee… and for what? Not even a bloody House Cup!” James had not stopped complaining yet. Sirius sat on the stool beside the bed in the hospital wing, Peter laid across the foot of it, and Remus was perched in the wide sill of the window to the right side. James sat in the bed itself, his leg being repaired by the horrible tasting skele-gro. “I didn’t even get a bloody kiss!” he said, shaking his head, “I got ripped off, mates.”

“You certainly did,” agreed Sirius without looking up. He was writing what looked like an essay on a bit of parchment.

“Practically a felony,” Peter said, flipping a page in the book he was reading.

“Throw the little ginger behind bars,” Remus added, biting his tongue and studying the drawing he was working on.

James looked around at them. “You lot suck as friends,” he announced.

Sirius looked up, “Is it our fault that you’ve had the same complaint for the last six hours, Potter? We’ve literally had this conversation two or three times an hour since we all came up here!”

James crossed his arms over his chest.

Sirius grinned and patted his shoulder, “It’s alright, mate, maybe you hit your head a wee bit harder than you think and your memory’s been impaired.”

“You know a goldfish only has a memory span of three seconds?” Remus said.

“I did not know that,” Peter said, looking up, interested, “I had a goldfish when I was wee; I named him Peter because I thought everyone was named Peter when I was little.”

Sirius stared at him for a moment, then shook his head, as though to forget he’d said it.

Pomfrey came out of the little area by her desk then, wiping her hands on her apron, “Alright you lot, it’s time to clear out. Mr. Potter has got a good deal of healing to do and he’s not going to be able to do it if you’re keeping him up half the night talking nonsense. Pip, pip! It’s bed time. And you - get down off that window, you naughty boy.”

“Sorry Madam Pomfrey,” Remus jumped down out of the window sill.

“Bye James,” Sirius called, waving as the three of them headed for the door. He glanced at Pomfrey to be sure her back was turned and mouthed We’ll Be Back and they ducked out the door.

James waved.

“Ready for another dose of the skele-gro, then?” Madam Pomfrey asked, pouring the bone-white bottle into a spoon without waiting for him to confirm. She stuck the spoonful of awful tasting potion into James’s mouth and made sure he swallowed it all.

He made a face, “UGH. That stuff is terrible!” He complained, sticking his tongue out so that it scraped across the edge of his teeth, trying to rake off the putrid taste.

“But it does the trick!” Pomfrey said and she waved her wand, closing the shutters on the windows. “Now it’s time for some sleep…” she reached in her pocket and withdrew a small blue vial. “Here we are. A potion for good dreams.” Gently, she poured the little vial off into James’s lips and the effect was almost instant, he breathed deeply, barely feeling the wrenching pain in his knee as the cap reformed itself beneath his skin. “Sleep well, Mr. Potter,” she whispered.




It was after the hour that everyone should’ve been in their dorms, but Lily Evans had a very important mission. She snuck down the hallway very carefully, determined to make it all the way to the hospital wing without being caught by Argus Filch or his cat, Mrs. Norris. Luck would have it that she didn’t see either - or Peeves, who would’ve alerted the caretaker immediately of her presence. She pushed open the door to the hospital wing very carefully, peeking ‘round the door to see if Pomfrey was up and about but it was quite dark and quiet in the ward, so she slipped inside and pushed the door shut behind her.

The shutters were closed off on the ward, but a few low-lit lanterns hung on the walls and they cast a warm, buttery sort of glow over the room. The beds were all empty, save for the furthest one, which contained the sleeping form of James Potter. She swallowed back her nervousness and walked over to his bed, pushing the stool over and climbing upon it to stare down at him.

She reached out a hand and took his and took a deep breath. “I just wanted to tell you thank you,” she said. “I didn’t expect you’d be asleep.” She considered him a moment, the way his messy hair fell over his forehead. His glasses were on the nightstand. When he was asleep, he could almost pass for good looking, she thought. Asleep, he didn’t have that arrogant grin plastered across his face. She reached out a hand and pushed the hair from his forehead.

Bloody hell it is soft, Lily thought grudgingly.

She hesitated.

He was asleep. He’d never know. He’d never be able to gloat about it…

She leaned forward and very carefully pressed a kiss on his forehead.

She pulled back almost as soon as her lips had touched his skin, as though it had scalded her.

She touched her lips and stared at him. To her horror, he opened his eyes and stared back at her.

“Well, don’t you ever say I’m not fair, Potter, I kissed you to pay you back, are you happy now?” she demanded and she slid off the stool quickly, her cheeks burning red with the embarrassment of the moment, and ran for the ward door.

“Very,” he murmured.

Lily didn’t slow until she’d safely locked herself back in her dormitory. “Bloody idiot,” she mumbled, “Bloody git.”




“...and then she bent down and she kissed me,” James said.

“And then you woke up, you great lying prat,” Sirius laughed.

James flung a spoonful of oatmeal at Sirius. “Shut it, it was real.”

“Right.” Sirius grinned and elbowed Peter, amused. “Hey, look, there’s Lily there. Let’s ask her if she’s snogged you.”

James turned around and saw Lily, Ali, Annalee, and McKenna walking up to the Gryffindor table, gathered about Annalee, looking at a copy of Teen Witch. “Oi, Evans!” James called, standing up, “Evaaans.”

She looked over and it took all her strength not to blush. “What do you want, Potter?” she demanded in her haughtiest voice.

“Sirius doesn’t believe you kissed me in the hospital wing last night,” he announced. “Set him straight.”

Annalee looked at Lily with a smirk.

Lily raised her eyebrow, “Are you mental? Why would I have kissed you? Clearly somebody’s had too much potion.” She rolled her eyes and led the other girls off.

Sirius hooted and punched James, “You bloody git.”

“But she’s lying,” James whined, “She did come and kiss me…”

Remus patted James’s shoulders, “It’s alright, mate, those sleeping draughts are really powerful.”

“It’s not the potion!” James said.

Peter smirked.

James fumed and watched as Lily settled down the far end of the table with the other girls. He could tell the way they were googling over the magazine that they were making plans for the end of term party coming up. Sirius kept on making fun of James and his supposedly quite vivid imagination, and every word that Sirius said just made James that much more angry. He stood up suddenly, nearly knocking Peter off the bench with his speed, and he walked resolutely down the length of the Gryffindor table and came to a stop behind Lily.

McKenna’s eyes met his and she giggled nervously as she reached over to poke Lily’s elbow.

Lily looked up at him.

“It wasn’t the potion,” James said. “We both know it. But if you’d rather be with a greasy-headed idiot like Severus Snape than somebody like me, then you go to it, Evans.”

“You don’t need to be nasty to Severus,” Lily snapped, “He didn’t do anything to you.”

James balled his fists, frustrated, “No. You’re right. He didn’t do anything to me.” He emphasized the words, then leaned down so he was looking in Lily’s eyes. “It’s you he’s done it to.”

Lily stared up at him, her eyes blazing with annoyance. She forced a laugh, “What are you talking about, Potter?”

“I’m talking about armortentia, Evans,” James said darkly.

“Armortentia?” Lily asked.

“Maybe you should ask Severus about it,” James shrugged, backing away. “See what he has to say for himself then.”

Lily watched as James returned to his seat with the other three.

“What is he going on about?” asked Annalee, turning back to Lily quickly, “Amortentia’s very dangerous.”

“What is it?” Ali Prewitt asked.

“Love potion,” whispered McKenna.

Ali’s eyes widened and she looked at Lily. “You don’t reckon that Severus used love potion and that’s why you fancied him so much before?”

Lily felt sick.

“No,” McKenna said, “No way could a person be given amortentia without anyone noticing. It makes you quite goofy over the person. He’d have to have given her impossibly small portions to keep it balanced.”

“And James Potter is always looking for some way to get Severus Snape in trouble,” agreed Annalee. “He really hates Severus.”

Lily nodded numbly. “Yeah…”

“And you’ve been friends with Severus since forever, haven’t you? He wouldn’t do that to his friend, would he? You know him better than any of us do,” McKenna added.

Lily looked over at the Slytherin house table, where Severus was laughing with Evan Rosier over something. She shook her head, “No, of course he wouldn’t. James Potter’s just being a toerag.” But she wished she could say it with a bit more conviction than she felt. Severus met her eyes across the room and he smiled and waved.

Lily waved back.