James, slowly, opened his eyes. Everything was so blurry. Someone was staring down at him, but James couldn’t figure out whom.
James groaned as his head gave a painful throb and he clasp his hand on is forehead. He withdrew it when he realized that there was a bandage already there.
“Hey, you’re awake, James,” came the voice of Sirius.
“Sirius?” James called out, a little louder than necessary, “Is that you?”
“No, its Snape,” Sirius said sarcastically. “Of course it me, you goof.” Someone handed James his glasses and he slipped them on his head.
“You gave up quite a scare, James,” Remus uttered.
“Not me, I wasn’t scared,” Peter remarked, sitting straighter on his seat.
“You nearly wet yourself,” Sirius shot back at him.
“Ugh… what happened? What happened back on the platform?” James, painfully, sat up and leaned his back against the train window.
“Well… um, you kind of… fainted,” Peter told him.
“No, no, no, no, no, Wormtail. ‘Passed out’ is a cooler term,” Sirius corrected, “James ‘passed out.’ Got it?”
“‘Passed out’? H-how?”
“We don’t know. Maybe you couldn’t breathe, or maybe too much blood was in your head,” Remus informed James.
“Well, was Lily looking? Did I look… cool?”
“Heck no,” Sirius laughed, “You looked rather stupid if you ask me.”
“Well, I bet I didn’t look as stupid as you did when you were giggling like mad!” James’s joke seemed to cover up how he felt inside.
How could he just faint? Him! James Potter! Faint! Just because of a simple spell Sirius cast? And in front of Lily!
James couldn’t have felt more stupid.
“D-did anyone else see?” James prayed silently that the answer was no.
“Nope, but Lily’s bound to tell.” Remus looked at Sirius and Peter and they nodded in agreement,
“Oh, she’d better not.”
“Whoa, James. You sounded… evil… when you said that.” Sirius took a small step back.
James swung his legs over the seat and stood up. “I’m gonna talk to her.” He reached his hand into his robe pocket, but withdrew it empty handedly.
“Um… guys… have you seen my wand?”
“You’re wand? No.” Sirius shrugged and showed his bare hands. “I only have mine.”
“You sure?”
“Yup.”
“Maybe Lily has it,” Remus suggested.
“Or maybe not,” Peter said, “Maybe its on the platform.”
At just the moment, the clock’s hand struck eleven and the train started to move.
“Oh, no…” James whispered. “No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!” He grabbed his untidy, black hair in stress and ran out the door. He pressed his face against the window, trying to see if his wand was still on the platform. But there were too many people standing there to tell. James walked backwards into the compartment and slammed the door shut.
“I lost my wand!” James shouted in frustration.
“Well, go see if Lily has it. If she saw it, she wouldn’t have left it lying about!” Remus recommended.
“How would you know? I bet she would have loved to see me fail my classes. I bet she snapped it in half and threw it on the railroad tracks!”
“She would have done no such thing!”
“Oh yeah? Try me!”
“Alright! Just for your information, it was Lily who saved your life!”
James stood there, stunned and hardly daring to believe it. “Sh-she what?”
“You heard me! She saved your life. You weren’t breathing so with some of her quick-thinking, she saved you!”
“And not by the mouth-to-mouth operation, James,” Sirius joked.
“S-so, she cared about me?” James asked. He still didn’t believe it.
“Well, cared enough about you to let you breathe again.”
James leaned against the window and slid to the floor. “She loves me…” He took a golden snitch out of his pocket and it began flying around his head again… and again… and again… and again….
“Now, I would go that far, James…” Remus warned.
“What are you talking about, Remus?” Sirius sighed, leaning against the wall, hands behind his head. “Of course its some kind of warm feeling.”
“Wow…” Peter murmured. “I wish someone loved me.” Peter eyes were attempting to follow the speeding snitch, but he got so dizzy, he closed his eyes.
“No one loves you, Peter.” Sirius smiled.
James looked at Sirius and grinned. “I’m gonna ask her out.”
“That’s way to far…” Remus said under his breath.
“Are you KIDDING, Remus? You’re the MAN, James!” Sirius gave James a hearty clap on the back. “Go ask her out right now!”
“Um… I don’t think that’s possible…” Peter announced. His eyes had opened again and he was staring out into the hallway.
“Why not?” James interrogated as he caught the snitch out of midair.
“Just look out the window.” Peter pointed to where he meant.
James looked, and his heart plummeted and he let go of the snitch in surprise. Peter was pointing to Lily Evans. But Lily was not alone. Amos Diggory accompanied her.
James’s blood began to boil, furiously.