Disclaimer: I own nothing copyrighted by anyone like J.K. Rowling, Warner Brothers, etc.

Note: Okay, I know I should be writing my other stories, but I haven't written a James/Lily in such a long time, and I've had this idea written down for quite awhile. At this time, I think I'm just going to be posting the opening and second chapter to get a feel for how people like this. I believe I am going to write a lot of it and then post it steadily, but I still have to finish my two other stories. So let me know what you think!

Dedicated to the wonderful and talented Banana, Steph and Emily; my core compliment team. You guys keep me writing, and even review if you've read the chapter already in class or when we see each other. Steph, I included those Wizarding cigarettes I told you about, but haven't been able to work in apple cinnamon tea or the Tour De France yet, sorry.

Mediwizard Lily Evans strode quickly into the emergency ward at St. Mungo's, white robe fluttering out behind her. Her emerald eyes immediately settled on the frenzy of activity around an incoming patient, while reporters unsuccessfully snapped away speedily at the crowd. Lily groaned as this could only mean one thing: another high-profile patient to squeeze into her already chaotic roster.

'What've we got?' she snapped briskly as she reached the gurney, taking charge of the situation.

'24 year old male, attacked by a group of others outside of his apartment building. He apparently fought off a few but there were too many,' a nurse stated.

'Deatheaters?'

'Apparently, but the ministry is looking into it. The patient has multiple abrasions, but his pulse is weak and thready and there's too much blood to readily see where the main injury is,' the nurse continued to whip off the stats.

Though successfully trying to focus on the man in front of her, Lily was quite relieved when security dispersed the choking crowd of reporters who were using any means to get pictures of the patient. 'No name?' she asked, looking up from where she was gently touching the patient with one hands, while passing her wand over his body.

The nurse just grinned at her. 'Nope, but the man who came with him, his agent or something, specifically requested you.'

Lily stifled another groan. As a mediwizard to supposed 'stars', her time was constantly filled with whining celebrities only seeking her attention because it was the 'in' thing to do. And as for his name, Lily already knew that even if a name had come with this kind of case, it would not necessarily be the right one.

The tip of wand glowed blue as it passed over the man's lower stomach, and Lily knew what was wrong. 'Alright, this man's been hit with the Concerpo curse, repeatedly it looks like, as bleeding is only caused after approximately the third time the curse has been used on a person. The rest of the scratches were not made by magical means, and so I deduct that his attackers took out a little bit of aggression after he had been knocked unconscious. He's in no immediate danger but he needs a potion to stop the bleeding. Move him into room 5, and I'll be along shortly to finish up.'

Her orders were quickly carried out, and Lily sighed as she watched the gurney being wheeled down the hall. Turning, she strode the opposite way to her office in order to catch her breath.

---

Lily Vienna Evans was 24 years old, smart, gorgeous and a former Gryffindor Head Girl at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Though quite popular and well-liked by those who knew her, Lily hadn't gained public notoriety as a Mediwizard until she had found the cure of the crippling curse Sense Noir, a hex heavily favoured by the villains known as Deatheaters. This hex rendered its victims deaf, blind, mute and fully paralyzed; in essence vegetables or complete shells of their former selves. She had stumbled upon the cure when working out its formula one late night at St. Mungo's. Suddenly everything clicked into place, and the answer was right in front of her, much simpler than had been previously thought. This discovery had thrust her into the spotlight in the wizarding community, and she had become an overnight sensation. Celebrities of all kinds now sought Lily's help on every magical malady, even those in their heads because if Lily was their healer, they were front page news too.

Sinking down onto the leather couch in her office, she let out a long sigh. Lily had already pulled a full shift, and with this new patient, it seemed as if she would be there for at least another 10 hours. She knew this patient was a celebrity, but could not determine who it was as no name had been given and his face had been too beat up to be recognizable.

Groaning, she looked around shiftily (even though she knew no one was in her office) and pulled a pack of Wizard cigarettes out of her scrub pants pocket. Lighting one up, she leaned back and tried to calm down. Wizarding cigarettes were purely made for relaxing their users, with no addictive additives (unless strongly abused) or disease-causing chemicals and no awful smell. Lily tried not to use them, but with the promise of being at the hospital for at least another 10-12 hours she needed a little bit of a pick-me-up and had no time to go grab a coffee. Taking a few more drags, she pinched the filtered end and the cigarette disappeared in a puff of smoke, just as a knock was heard on the door.

Jumping up, Lily smoothed down her scrubs. 'Come in.'

A fellow Mediwizard popped his head inside. 'You okay, V?' he asked, using the staff's nickname for her.

'Oh hey Mark,' she sighed. 'Just a little tired.'

'I'll bet. I heard you just got another incoming. Haven't you already pulled a full shift?' he asked, stepping in.

'Don't remind me,' she replied, eyes shutting in exhaustion. 'If I can just ignore how long I've been here, I don't feel as bad.'

'Why don't you just ask for some time off? Haven't you been here like 13 out of the past 14 days?'

'Are you here for some other reason that just to remind me of the life I do not possess?' Lily threw her long red hair up into a tight ponytail.

Mark just laughed. 'Actually, one of your nurses passed me outside and said that your guy in room 5 is stable and the bleeding has been stopped, so you can go deal with him whenever you're ready.'

Lily heaved herself up onto her feet. 'I'll go now. No need in wasting more time, just sitting here won't make my shift go any faster.'

'Atta girl. Hey, I'm just on call now, so if you're up to it, swing by my room if you get a break and we'll grab coffee.'

Reaching the door, Lily smiled. 'That's the best invitation I've heard all day. All week actually. Thanks Mark.'

Leaving her colleague at the door of her office, Lily bustled down the hall towards her new patient. As long as his bleeding had stopped, she wasn't that worried about him for the present. His cuts and scrapes would heal, and he would have to be kept under observation for a while as he recovered from the after effects of the Concerpo curse. But the toughest time was yet to come: the next 48 hours would be critical, as this would be the time where any internal injuries would come to light and when the lasting damage upon the patient could be guessed at.

When Lily entered room 5, she was met with a bustling group of people. Even though the patient was now stable, he needed to be prepped for further inspection, procedures and his prolonged stay in the hospital.

A nurse crossed to Lily and handed her a clipboard with a sheaf of parchment listing the patient's vitals. 'He's all set up for the night, and so we'll leave you to work your magic.'

'Have you gotten any type of name yet?'

'Actually, his agent or whatever said that for publicity reasons they cannot disclose his real name, and so for now the agent said that the name going down on all charts is John Smith. Real creative, hunh?'

Lily laughed. 'It's what they're paid for.'

'And apparently this 'John' will also respond to being called 'J' when he's awake. I made a note of it on his chart.'

'Thanks Jane.' She looked around the room. 'Alright everyone, thanks for your help but I'll take over from here.'

Just then, a disembodied voice sounded throughout the room. 'All available emergency staff to the portal. Multiple incoming assault victims in critical condition. I repeat, all available emergency staff to the portal.'

Lily was left alone with 'John' in a whirlwind of motion as the staff practically bolted out of the room. She quickly moved over to the bed where the unconscious man lay, surrounded by beeping magical machines monitoring his condition. Taking out her wand, she passed it a few times over his body, noting how severe the effects of the curse had been on her patient. She worked silently on the man for the next 2 hours, first healing the gash across his stomach. She noted a few broken bones that had been passed over, and felt that his collarbone had been completely shattered. Opening his mouth, she poured a vial of Skelegrow down 'John's' throat, massaging it to make him swallow. Now his bones would knit back together while he slept, and so his discomfort in that area would be minimal. With a few flicks of her wand, Lily healed his worst bruises and closed the deep cuts all over his body, but left the scratches to heal themselves. Over the time that she had been working on 'John', she had noticed that her new patient had quite a nice body.

'Good job Lily,' she said scathingly to herself. 'Now you're attracted to an unconscious patient. You really need to get out more. And he's not even that good-looking.'

But as she looked down at him, she realized that she was just lying to herself. Now that she had healed him, she saw that this 'John' was, as her best friend Arabella liked to say, 'a first-class grade A hottie'. Now that his features were actually visible, she could see a very attractive face innocently slumbering there. The cuts just gave him a dangerous rakish look, as black hair tumbled down crazily over a high clear brow. A deep cut ran through one eyebrow, promising a slight scar, and the vain part of Lily was glad that nothing had marred the man's perfectly sculpted cheekbones. But something about this patient was very familiar to her, and Lily had the weirdest feeling that this wasn't the first time she had seen this man, as if they had known each other previously. But she shook herself out of it, and continued to work on her patient. After another half-hour, she had done all she could for him and made 'John' as comfortable as possible. But Lily didn't want to head back out into the chaos of the emergency ward, and decided to stay in room 5 for the next few hours, keeping the man under close 'observation.' She jotted down her intentions on a spare piece of parchment, and, enchanting it, she sent it flying down the corridor to the nursing station by the portal so that they knew where to find her.

Lily often didn't have time to purely observe her patients, and so this one act really relaxed her. She was so high-profile and so most of her patients were in and out of her office so quickly that she really didn't get to have anything approaching a normal conversation with them. And because her roster was so booked, she never got to help out on cases with 'normal' patients, something that she sorely missed. Lily focussed her attention back on 'John', wondering exactly how he had gotten into this mess. He looked awfully familiar, but then he was a celebrity. She searched her brain, trying to remember who he truly was.

'Well, his body is quite toned, especially his upper body, which makes me think sports,' she thought. 'He probably plays Quidditch.' Lily knew that this information wasn't going to help her any, as she didn't follow that sport since leaving Hogwarts. She leaned forward in her seat, until she was almost touching the bed. 'But if you are a Quidditch star, why would someone want to hurt you? I know people get passionate about their favourite teams, but no one in the wizarding world would take their team spirit to an extreme like hurting an opposing player.' Lily hadn't noticed that she had started speaking out loud to 'John.'

'You must also have something to do with the Ministry. That's the major cause of most peoples' injuries these days. Someone is always getting assaulted because some git doesn't like a decision that's been made. Bloody idiots,' she muttered under her breath.

The black-haired man groaned a little as he shifted his body, and Lily shut up. This was a sign that he was coming up out of his coma, and she knew that the sooner he awoke, the better for his long-term recovery. But he quickly lay flat and silent again, but Lily didn't feel the need to talk to him. The silence only interrupted by periodic beeps from the machines around the room was quite nice, and relaxed her much more than the cigarettes in her pocket. Over the next few hours, Lily sat making occasional notes about his condition and 'John' shifted a few times, but it was nothing to get excited about. When Lily felt herself nodding off, she rose out of her chair to go get a cup of coffee. But as she stood, she looked back at the patient, calmed by his peaceful slumber.

'Who would want to do something like this to you? You seem like a nice enough guy,' she turned away towards the door, 'but then anyone can appear innocent when they're unconscious.'

'They were Deatheaters if you must know,' came a groggy voice from the bed that seemed awfully familiar to Lily. She whirled around and smiled at the man.

'You're awake! Much quicker than I expected though, but that's always good when it comes to injuries and your long-term recovery. How do you feel John?'

He looked a little puzzled by this but furrowed his brow as he gingerly sat up. Lily moved over to the bed to help him, and placed a gentle hand upon his back. Once situated up against a bunch of pillows, he started to speak. 'Like I was beaten up by a bunch of Deatheaters.'

She laughed. 'Can I get you anything? I've already given you your meds for the night, and you shouldn't be in any pain. Some of your bones are still knitting together and so I would advise you to limit your movement. Okay John?'

'Why do you keep calling me that?' he asked in confusion.

'It's the name your agent gave us, in replace of your real one. For security or publicity reasons or something. But he said that you would also respond if we called you 'J.' Would that be alright?' she asked, leaning over him.

'J?' he pondered over that. 'J would be fine. But I'd like to know what to call you, especially if you're going to be the Mediwizard taking care of me.'

Lily wondered what name to give him, as she was really tired of the attention she always got when her name was heard. She wondered how long it would take before everyone forgot about her medical discovery, and secretly longed for the day when she could walk around without someone recognizing her. Lily finally decided on giving him her hospital nickname. This way, if he asked for her, people would at least know who he meant. 'Call me V.'

'V?'

'Yeah, I like to keep it simple and casual between myself and my clients, and so I give them the name I'm known by around here.'

'Well, V and J. What a team.'

'You need to get some rest and I need to go check on some things, so I'll leave you alone. Don't strain yourself and don't even think about getting up,' Lily admonished him. 'I know what you celebrities are like. You think nothing can stop you. But you were hit by an extremely powerful curse wielded by an evil wizard, and it's going to take you a while to recover. So just lie there and sleep.'

'Yes, mother,' he grinned.

Lily shook her head as she walked over to the door. 'I see I'm going to have a difficult relationship with you, Mr. J.' But as she reached the door, his voice called her attention back to him.

'I'm sorry V, but you look awfully familiar. Do I know you?' he asked. 'From outside the hospital I mean. My memory's pretty fuzzy right now; I think my head was knocked about a little.'

She shook her head. 'I don't think so. I remember pretty much everyone I meet. I guess I just have one of those faces. Besides, you probably just recognize my face from the Daily Prophet a few years back. I discovered a cure for something big and was all over the news for awhile.'

J sank down onto his pillows. 'That's probably it.'

'Please get some more rest. You'll need your energy tomorrow because officials from the Ministry will be here to question you; standard procedure in all assault cases especially those including Deatheaters. I'll be back to check on you in a few hours before I go home, but if you're in pain or need anything else before then, just press that,' Lily said, pointing to the glowing green button on the metal siding of his bed.

He just nodded, and closing his eyes, settled back down on his pillows.

Lily strode out of the room, small smile on her face, finally on her way to get that damned cup of coffee.

Uh oh, is Lily losing her professionalism? Will she be able to keep herself from being drawn to this attractive new patient? And who is he (tee hee, like you guys don't know.) Tune in next time to find out. Same fanfic time, same fanfic channel. Or not, whatever.

Note: concerpo means to tear away (in abuse) in Latin, or so the Internet tells me. I don't know Latin, and so if I've conjugated it wrong, forgive the errors.

The next chapter will be James' view of the above meeting, and will follow events after that. In the third chapter, I'll get to using their real names when writing, though they will still be referring to each other as J and V for a while.

I know this is a short opening chapter, but like I said, it's been a while since I've written a James/Lily and so I'm trying to get my bearings again. Plus, I've been attacked by little plot bunnies and have to think about how to put those in.