939 Wednesday Morning

The morning was still dark and cold, but the loud sound of coughing awoke Severus. He slowly blinked and stirred from his deep slumber. Glancing around, he sees Lily quietly reading a textbook. Her glossy crimson hair falls over her shoulders with a portion pulled back away from her face by an emerald-colored ribbon. A small gift that he had bought at Hogsmeade on a whim, but one that Lily always wore.

A spark of pleasure flashes through his eyes, before Severus hoarsely says, "What time is it?"

"There is still an hour left until breakfast in the Great Hall," Lily automatically replied, before stiffing. Her textbook slides out of her lap as relief fills her emerald eyes. "You're awake!" She gasped rushing over to his side.

"Yeah," Severus sheepishly confessed. "I woke up last night when Rowan was still here."

Lily let out a watery chuckle of relief and gratitude. "Mm, Madam Pomfrey has been having a difficult time keeping me and Rowan away, but especially Rowan. Rowan just tends to gaze at you with that levelheaded gaze and suddenly you found that your arguments tend to get weaker and weaker until even Madam Pomfrey finally gave up on persuading Rowan to desist."

"That's Rowan alright," Severus murmured with a crooked proud grin. His smile slowly dims as he reaches up to touch Lily's face with his hand. Lily leans her face into his touch and closes her eyes to keep the moisture in her eyes at bay.

"You don't know how worried I was, Severus," Lily shakily confessed. "I thought I had lost you," her voice fell to whisper. "It was though the whole world had been pulled out from me and I just couldn't imagine a world without you in it."

Severus's cheeks flush at Lily's words. "I'm not going anywhere," he sincerely vowed. "I have no intentions of going anywhere else."

Sparkling emerald eyes open and Lily leans closer to his face and so does Severus. Two pairs of lips draw closer to each other when the white linen curtains are loudly pulled back. The figure of Madam Pomfrey briskly says, "Mr. Prince, I expect that you are awake," and ignores the two red-faced teens hastily pulling apart from each other,

Madam Pomfrey does not even arch a brow. She was the Hogwarts infirmary matron. The number of things she had seen in the grand scheme of things was nothing in her eyes. After all, she was the health caregiver to an entire school filled with hormonal youths…

"I'll see you later, Severus," Lily flushing fiercely promised, before scurrying away with her book bag only stopping to pick up the fallen book on the ground.

Poor Severus was left utterly alone and deathly mortified with Madam Pomfrey. He had the urge to hide under the stark white linen bedsheets. While Severus desperately wished to disappear Madam Pomfrey quickly checked him over, before smiling in satisfaction. "You are still a bit weak, Mr. Prince, but I'll have you on your feet by the end of the week. Now drink your potion down. There's a nice bowl of sweetened porridge with currants waiting for you."

Severus shudders and tries not to gag at the awful potion taste. Madam Pomfrey hands a small sweet for Severus to wash the taste away before carefully setting the porridge on his lap. "Try to at least half of the bowl, Mr. Prince," she sternly instructed, before retreating and pulling the curtains closed shut around him.

Feeling a bit of hunger, Severus leans back against the bedframe and begins to eat. He found himself to be hungrier than he previously thought since he ate most of the contents of the bowl leaving only the bottom of the bowl untouched. Setting the bowl down, he frowns, before slipping out of the bed to visit the loo. Feeling less dizzy than last night, but still weak, he carefully peeks out and sees that Madam Pomfrey is occupied before shuffling away.

Once comfortable again, Severus much more quickly returned and crawled back into bed. His trip to the loo had tired him a bit out, but he still felt wide awake. Bored, he glanced around before falling upon a copy of Witch Weekly. Having nothing better to do, he grabbed the copy of the magazine and began to read it. He actually found a fascinating article on the properties of moonstones. Although not before too long he began to quietly fill out one of the quizzes in the magazine.

The soft screech of a curtain startled Severus causing him to hastily hide the quiz he was filling out under his blanket. He is surprised to see that it is James by himself. The rest of the marauders, Sirius, Remus, and Peter were notably missing.

"Hey," James quietly said ignoring Severus's flustered look and taking a seat next to him. He gave Severus a quick look over please to seem to look much better than on his last visit. "I'm glad to see you awake, Severus," he quietly teased. "Think Bramble will be up and running for our monthly tradition?"

"Of course, Prongs," Severus loftily smirked, before glancing at James. "Lily left not that long ago; I doubt she would have made it up the Gryffindor Tower in such a short length of time." He thoughtfully paused glancing at James's pale and thinner visage.

"Rowan had mentioned in passing that you hadn't been sleeping," Severus intently observed his friend. "Did you come down to see Madam Pomfrey for a dose of the dreamless sleep potion?"

James's hazel eyes flicker behind his silver round spectacles, before he replies, "Mm, I haven't been sleeping very much as of late," which was not a lie. However, Madam Pomfrey had him come down each morning to take a calming draught in front of her as part of his treatment regime.

"I'm sorry, James," Severus onyx eyes filled with remorse. "I did not mean to pry; I should have realized that you would be unable to sleep with your recent loss."

"It's fine, Severus," James quietly said running a hand through his long locks that are pulled back with a ribbon. He leaned back in his seat and crossed his ankle over the other. "Besides, I'm not the only one in mourning," he said pointedly glancing at Severus.

Severus lets out a semi-bitter snort. "It's been a long time since Rowan, and I have had any semblance of parents." He paused before flatly saying, "We've mourned our losses long enough."

Sensing the heavy tension in the air, James does not continue to push, but he finds himself confused by the reaction of Severus and that of Rowan. Neither of them showed signs of being in mourning for their mother. Rather Severus seemed colder and harder, while Rowan went about her business as usual. He could not imagine being that put together in his youth. When his parents had passed away from Dragonpox, he had wept for days with only Lily to keep him from shattering or being killed in the war. It was HIS Lily that saved him in his darkest of hours.

Feeling age-old pain resurface James pulls away from the painful memories of the past. He loudly clears his throat and says, "I better be going, I forgot my schoolbag," which wasn't a lie. He had dropped off his schoolbag in the library and Madam Pin-, Madam Filch, the newly married librarian had permitted it.

"Alright," Severus stifled a yawn, "Say hello to everyone for me."

"Got it," James replied in a noncommitment fashion, before hurrying away and closing the white linen curtains behind him.

Severus pensively frowns, before eagerly reaching for the copy of Witch Weekly hidden under his sheets. It was for research purposes! Or at least that is what he said as he filled out the quiz just as diligently as many of the female clientele of Witch Weekly did. But that's what they all always said…