February 15th, 1984 Very Early Morning St. Mungo’s @perniciouspotter
James is alive.
Lily didn’t know who had told her; it all got lost in the blur of shock, relief, and slow dawning horror that had her pacing the waiting room without knowing how she’d gotten there, clinging to Remus, Sirius, and Peter in turn as they haunted the doors to the ward, hoping a Mediwix would come out and tell them something, anything, soon. Eventually they’d been let in, just for a few minutes to see the barely conscious or coherent James. The tension crackling between all of them had perhaps cut that visit even shorter than it could have been, with the nurse telling them only one of them could stay with him.
She hadn’t allowed any room for argument, just stepped forward and claimed the chair at James’s side, sinking into it and leaning forward to rest her arms on the edge of his bed. There would be time for the others later, but right now, in this moment, she’d leverage whatever slight edge being James’s girlfriend versus his best friend gave her. Maybe they weren’t happen about it, maybe it was fine; Lily didn’t take notice of anything except the rise and fall of James’s chest, the tell-tale sign that he was alive.
The ward was quiet after the nurse saw the marauders out, and it let Lily stew in the eye of her emotional storm. Emotional shock, that was what this was, and the feeling that if anyone touched her she’d shatter, or at least burst into tears. Four months without him, three of thinking he was dead, and now James was back. Here. Not well, but—alive.
Her hand edged out, brushing against his arm. The nurse had said to be careful, he’d had some sort of damage dealt to his arm, or wrist, one of them, she hadn’t been able to pay attention to which, but she knew she couldn’t grab him like she wanted to. Couldn’t hold tight and never let him go.
“Just me and you,” she whispered to him, fingers rubbing at the blankets, a poor substitute for the feeling of his skin. Biting her lip and blinking back tears, she settled in for a long vigil.