The following weekend, the first-years’ situation hadn’t changed a bit. Alex was spending a lot of time on her own, and Lily was spending her time with Cadrian as they avoided James, Sirius, Peter, and Remus, since James and Sirius were channeling all of their energy into making Lily miserable.
Most of the school had moved on from taunting Sirius, but of course the Slytherins weren’t quite done. Sirius had taken to enlarging James’s school bag and stuffing himself inside as they walked from class to class, so brutal were their intentions. Lily found herself one day wistfully thinking what Alex would think of all that, then quickly scolded herself and snapped out of it.
All in all, none of the Gryffindor first-years (minus Danielle and Jeniece) were very happy that weekend. On Saturday there was a Quidditch match-Gryffindor vs. Ravenclaw-and so they made their way outside into the freezing weather.
Lily and Cadrian sat by themselves on the very edge of the Gryffindors’ section. Alex was somewhere with Danielle and Jeniece; she had taken lately to studying with them at night in the common room.
The game began. Ravenclaw scored right off the bat to rousing cheers from the blue and green (the Slytherins loved seeing Gryffindor lose) end and loud groans from the Gryffindor crowd.
Play was fast-paced yet score-less for about ten minutes, and the crowd started to lose interest, chatting in small groups. Lily kept her eyes trained on the pitch. Her ears and fingers were numb, and she thought she could feel snowflakes melting on her face. “Is it snowing?” she asked Cadrian, through blue lips.
Cadrian looked up at the sky and blinked. “Yes,” she replied, “a flake just fell in my eye.” Blinking a couple more times, she shivered, pulling her coat tighter around her. “Jeez, I wish somebody would just hurry up and catch the stupid Snitch!”
“If I was out there,” came a cocky voice, “you could already be inside, drinking butterbeer by the fire.”
Lily ground her teeth, willing herself not to react to James’s pigheaded comment. Ignore him, she thought furiously, trying to direct her thoughts towards Cadrian. Just ignore him, and he’ll go away!
But apparently Lily’s telepathy skills needed some polishing up, because Cadrian turned around in her seat and told him simply to shut up.
James grinned. “Come on, you seriously want to watch this match? The score’s been 10-0 for the last fifteen minutes!”
They couldn’t really argue with that statement, of course. Lily still refused to turn around. She stared rigidly ahead, hardly seeing the Quidditch players through the swirling snow.
“Cool, it’s snowing!” exclaimed Peter. Within the last couple minutes, the snow had picked up spectacularly, and all Lily could see was a white haze. She turned to Cadrian, whose red and gold hat looked like it had been dusted with powdered sugar, and suddenly got a faceful of freezing cold snow.
Wiping the powdery substance off her face angrily, Lily got to her feet and scraped some snow off the bench. Packing it into a ball, she brought her hand back to throw when-bam-another cold ball hit her square in the face.
The impact knocked her off balance and she wobbled dangerously, her arms windmilling like crazy to keep her up. But it wasn’t enough. With a shout, she fell backward, tumbling head-over-heels on the bleachers. Her eyes squeezed tightly shut, she waited for it to end.
Finally she came to a stop. She tried to open her eyes, but when she did she became overwhelmingly dizzy. Lily closed her eyes again and slipped into black unconsciousness.
* * * * * * * * * *
Lily opened her eyes and blinked a few times, then groaned. Her head throbbed, and everything was sore. She tried to lift her head but then dropped it back down and shut her eyes.
“Lily? Are you awake?” It was Cadrian’s voice. Lily forced herself to open her eyes.
“Cady?”
“Oh, Lily! Are you okay?”
“Um…” Lily looked around. She was lying in a small cot in the hospital wing. Cadrian was sitting in a chair next to her, poring over a thick book. “I don’t know. What happened?”
“Don’t you remember?” asked Cadrian, setting the book aside. “We were at the Quidditch match and then you fell backwards over the bleachers all the way to the ground!”
Lily winced as her memory came flooding back. “Right,” she said slowly, then propped herself up onto her elbows, trying to block out the dizziness. “Um…what day is it?”
“It’s Sunday…you haven’t been sleeping that long.”
“Good.” Lily glanced out the windows to see that it was dark, the inky sky dotted by a few pale stars. “What time is it?”
Cadrian shrugged. “I’m not sure. Probably around eight.”
Lily gasped, then clutched her chest; the sharp intake of breath had sent shots of pain through her body. “I’ve been asleep that long?” she wheezed.
“Calm down, Lils…Madam Pomfrey said you’re mostly okay, just a couple bruised ribs.”
Lily took a shallow breath, not wanting to upset her ribs again. She lay back down. “Okay. When can I leave?”
“Not for a couple days, that’s what Madam said. She says you need to rest a few days.”
“That’s stupid. I’m perfectly fine,” Lily declared, though her head was still pounding horribly, and it hurt to breathe. She threw the covers off of her, got to her feet, and took a step forward.
Immediately, Lily’s headache increased tenfold, the dizziness came rushing back, and her ribs ached. Slowly and carefully, she eased herself back onto the bed. “Okay, Madam Pomfrey was right.”
Cadrian stood up, hovering over Lily uncertainly. “Here. Do you need help?” she asked anxiously. “Should I get Madam Pomfrey, or something?”
“No, I’m sure she’ll be here soon enough. I’m fine, really.” Lily settled back into the bed. “Do you think dinner’s still being served in the Great Hall? Because I’m starved,” she said.
Cadrian jumped to her feet. “I’ll get you something to eat. Be right back!”
“Thank you!” Lily called as Cadrian rushed out of the hospital wing.
Not five minutes after Cadrian had left, Lily heard footsteps echoing through the empty hospital wing. “Cadrian, are you back already?” Lily asked incredulously.
But it wasn’t Cadrian who stepped into view from behind the wall. It was Alex, looking shy and self-conscious.
“Oh, Alex. Um. Hi,” said Lily.
Alex toyed with a curly lock of her hair. “Hi.”
“Um…come in?” Lily said it as more of a question than an invitation. She missed hanging out with Alex and felt that the whole incident had gone way too far, but she didn’t want to admit it until Alex did.
Tentatively Alex took a few steps forward, still twisting her hair around and looking uncertain. Her sapphire eyes were oddly bright, as if tears might start flowing down her face at any second.
“Lily, I’m, um….well, look, I’m really sorry for telling James about…you know…” Alex was still a good fifteen yards away from Lily’s bed and Lily had to strain to make out every word. “Um…could we just…forget this whole thing ever happened?”
Lily grinned. “Everybody has been way too dramatic about everything lately. Including me,” she said. “I’m sorry for the way I’ve been acting.”
Alex shrugged, still twisting her dark hair around her fingers. “I guess I deserved it.”
“I wasn’t a very good friend to you.”
“Yeah, well, neither was I.” Alex eyed Lily critically. “Are you okay? A fall like that could kill you!”
“I got lucky. Just some bruised ribs,” said Lily. “I feel horrible though.”
Alex ventured closer. “Do you, um…need anything?”
“Cadrian’s getting me some food.” As if waiting for that cue, Cadrian stepped into the room, a plate piled high with Lily’s favorite foods in her hands. She stopped in her tracks when she saw Alex.
Alex turned when Cadrian came into the room. “Um. Hi, Cadrian,” she said.
“Hi…?” Cadrian looked at Alex, then to Lily, then back at Alex. “Are we…I mean…are we friends? Can we...forget about this stupid thing already?”
Alex glanced back at Lily questioningly. Lily nodded, a grin spreading across her face. Alex turned back to Cadrian and nodded as well. Cadrian grinned and brought Lily her food.
And just like that, the trio’s friendship was restored.
* * * * * * * * * * *
The next day, Lily lay apathetically in her cot. It was about one o’ clock, and she was bored out of her skull. Alex and Cadrian had promised to rush up to the hospital wing immediately after classes ended, but there were two hours still until that happy time, and the hours stretched before her in a boring eternity.
She heard Madam Pomfrey’s spiky heels clicking across the ground and groaned. Each arrival of Madam Pomfrey brought with it medicine-disgusting medicine, supposedly to heal her aching ribcage, but so far it hadn’t had much of an effect.
Soon Madam Pomfrey came into view. But she wasn’t accompanied by the big purple bottle of medicine this time.
No, following behind her was James.
Lily’s jaw dropped-what was James doing here, in the middle of class? He wasn’t sick or hurt-he looked perfectly intact, right down to the customary smirk plastered across his face. “Evans! Good to see you,” he said loudly.
“James, what are you doing here?”
“Bringing you some History of Magic notes. Professor asked me to.” James produced a bunch of papers, covered in messy handwriting. “Here you go.”
Lily took the papers suspiciously. “Um…thanks, I guess.”
“Anytime, Evans.”
Lily glanced down at the notes. “Did you hex these or something?”
James laughed. “Swear I didn’t.” Madam Pomfrey sniffed and then walked away, the high heels clicking. James lowered his voice. “Listen, Evans. I think…that it’s time to just forget about the Sirius-prank thing. You know?”
“Yeah…” said Lily hesitantly.
“No, I’m serious. I…want…us to get over it and go back to being friends.”
“Well,” said Lily slowly, “I’m not sure we were friends, exactly. But…okay.”
James flashed his hundred-watt smile. “Great! See you later, Evans.” He got to his feet and started walking out.
“Wait!” said Lily, as James reached for the doorknob. “James…why are you trying to make up with me?”
“Honestly?” asked James.
“Well, yeah…”
He cocked an eyebrow and smirked. “I miss being able to copy off your essays.” With that he left the hospital wing, leaving Lily fuming.
That’s just like him, Lily thought furiously, to do something decent, and then spoil it.
Lily, Blossoming by halfbloodprincess22
Chapter Notes: Sorry, it's a bit short again. I promise, these short chapters WILL stop!! Hope you enjoy, and REVIEW!! Thanks :)
Oh, and this chapter is dedicated to LoonyLovegood33 and krumflies11392, my really good friends! Their birthdays are right around now, so..happy birthday, guys! :) ♥