A/N: This chapter goes back and forth between Lily and James, so sorry if it's confusing. The next chapter won't be like this. Please visit my Xanga and leave a comment!
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In my head there's only you now
This world falls on me
In this world there's real and make believe
And this seems real to me
You love me but you don't know who I am
I'm tore between this life I lead and where I stand
And you love me but you don't know who I am
-Let Me Go, 3 Doors Down
Chapter 3: Real or Make Believe?
Lily shifted in her sleep. She was having the weirdest dream. Something about tea cups, hands, and old women. Suddenly she sat up. This was not her bed. It was too soft, it had silky sheets, and was really warm.
She looked around the room. There were pictures on the wall of an old couple she didn't know, but seemed familiar. A few other pictures were of her and her family. One picture was taken at a wedding.
She and James were standing by a huge cake, with Sirius and Remus. She was in a wedding gown. And James was in a tux. She felt like she was going to throw up.
And she did. Right on the satin comforter.
---
"Mr. Potter."
....
"Mr. Potter!"
...
"MR. POTTER!"
"Huh?"
"Ms. Evans is fine. She is under a `Le Temps Se rattrapera' spell. Once she realizes that she must accept her future, she will wake up," Madame Pomfrey explained. "Now please, these beds are for patients."
James looked at his surroundings. He was sitting on a bed. "Sorry. And what does that mean?"
"What does what mean, dear?" She went back over to the still form of Lily.
"What you said earlier. That spell."
"It means `Time Will Catch Up' in French. Do you know who cast it?"
"Cassandra Trelawney. Where is she?" James asked.
"She is in Azkaban. She will stay there for a week, for putting an illegal curse on a student. Merlin knows she will die in a day, at her age."
"She said she had a year left, though," he protested.
"You can change the future, Mr. Potter. Seers are like watchers, but they can't see the choices we make now. We can make our decisions. You see, most of the time when one's fortune is told, they seem to follow the choices the Seers made for them. The future is..." she stopped and looked at Lily's form on the bed beside James's. "The future is uncertain for all of us, even Seers."
---
"Lils!"
James was in this house. But he looked older.
"Get out!" Lily shouted.
"Lils, what's wrong?" He looked genuinely concerned.
"What are you doing here?"
"I live here, we live here. Why are you acting like this?"
Older James sat down on the bed and noticed the vomit. "Ew." He muttered a cleaning spell. "Now, tell me why you're acting like this."
"I don't know where I am, who you are, because you're not the James Potter I know. Where are we? Where is Hogwarts?" Lily got out of the bed and noticed she was wearing a large button-up shirt.
And nothing else.
She glared at the older James and ran to find the bathroom.
"Second door to the left," called out older James.
She snorted and found the door. Once inside, she looked in the mirror above the sink. She was also older; her eyes weren't a green as they had been when she was sixteen, like she had gone through a lot. Her hair was longer, and she looked, well, fatter. Like she hadn't been getting as much exercise, and she was eating more than usual.
She felt sick again.
---
James held Lily's limp hand in his own. She had jerked once, and that was it. Just a jerk, then she was still again. She had a frown on her face, so James knew something was wrong.
"Prongs?"
"Moony?"
"How is she?" Remus sat down next to James.
"She moved, but other than that, no progress," he replied.
"I'm sorry about the other night," Remus said, looking at where James's hand held Lily's.
"It's okay," James told him. "I shouldn't have gone crazy and yelled at you. I was stupid."
"I understand, though. You really like Lily."
"Moony?"
"Yes?"
"I think I love her."
---
"Lily, will you please come out?" older James asked Lily after she threw up again.
"No! I don't know what's happening, so I'm staying in here until I wake up!"
"You're not dreaming." Older James knocked on the door. "I'll go get my wand!"
Lily opened the door, and older James smiled at her. For some reason, the smile made Lily's heart flip, and she wondered what was happening.
"Good girl, now tell me why you're acting like this," he said.
"You won't hurt me?" Lily asked, looking in his hands for his wand.
"Of course not."
"Yesterday, I was at Hogwarts. In sixth year. Cassandra Trelawney had just told me my future, and I ran out into the corridor. Then, nothing," she explained.
Older James blinked. "So that's what happened that day. You were unconscious, but you were really here."
"I'm sorry, but you're confusing me." Lily frowned. She was sitting on the toilet seat, while James sat on the edge of the large bathtub.
"That day, Cassandra cast a spell on you to send you forward to the age of nineteen. You ran out, and when I found you, you were unconscious in the corridor. Cassandra was sent to Azkaban for putting an illegal French curse on a student. I can't remember exactly when you woke up."
"Oh." She looked down at her hands. "Do you know how I can go back?'
"Well, I think...Madame Pomfrey said that you had to believe."
---
James was asleep, still sitting at Lily's bed. He was dreaming about a fox and a stag playing instead of fighting. Then the dream changed. He was outside a door, leaning against it and talking. The door opened, and Lily came out. This Lily was different. She looked...pregnant.
He abruptly woke. He remembered how she glowed, her sparkly green eyes, the bulge in her stomach...
And he suddenly found himself wishing that it would come true.
"There he is!" Peter Pettigrew exclaimed. James looked up at the door, where Peter and Sirius were standing.
"Prongs, where have you been? We're going to pull a prank on Snivellus, and you haven't been back to the tower!" Sirius said, walking over. He noticed Lily. "What happened to Evans?"
"She's unconscious," James answered.
"How? Did you finally ask her out?" Sirius joked.
James glared at his best friend. "Try to be serious," he warned.
"No pun intended?" Sirius asked, grinning. James reached for his wand.
"Okay, okay, fine. What happened?" Sirius's tone became somber.
"Trelawney cursed her. She's stuck at the age of nineteen. We don't know when she'll wake up." James's eyes watered behind his glasses. "Or is she will wake up."
"I'm so sorry, Prongs."
James didn't answer. He watched Lily's face for any signs that she was okay. She smiled.
---
While older James was explaining what happened in sixth year, someone knocked on the front door. James went to answer it, leaving Lily to change into some of her own clothes. She found a pair of Muggle jeans and a loose t-shirt and tied her long red hair into a pony-tail.
Walking into the hallway, she heard a woman's voice and James. They were trying to talk low, but it wasn't working. She followed the voices and peeked around the doorway.
"I'm sure it's just the hormones, dear," the woman was saying. "I was like that with Bill."
"She needs to be alone, though," James said.
The woman shook her head. "No one needs to be alone. Let me see her."
"Are you talking about me?" Lily asked quietly. James looked up.
"No...Well, yeah. Mrs. Weasley-"
"Molly, dear."
"-Molly was wondering how you were."
"I'm fine," Lily told Molly. "I'm just a little worn out. Could you come back later?"
"Yes, dear. I'll be back around five. I'll bring some dinner too. Is there anything else you need?" she asked, walking around and surveying the room.
"No, Molly. We're fine," Lily told her, hugging Mrs. Weasley. "We'll see you at five."
"Bye, James, Lily."
"Bye."
Molly apparated.
"What was that?" James asked Lily.
"What was what?"
"How did you get her to leave? That was amazing."
"I have excellent people skills, Potter."
"Don't forget you're a Potter too, Lily," he joked. Lily raised her eyebrows. "Oh, sorry. I didn't mean-"
"It's okay," said Lily. "I'll just go take a nap or something." She smiled, trying to show that she was okay.
"Okay. I'll be in here."
"Okay."
---
Back in 1976, James was looking for Madame Pomfrey. He didn't go far from the hospital wing, but he didn't find her. Frustrated and tired, he went back to Lily's side. She hadn't moved.
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