Author's Note: There's not a whole lot of plot here. I really just wanted to write Sirius being all big-brother-ish to Lily, and then some nice James/Lily cuteness and cuddling. So that's basically what this is.

Gemma O'Malley belongs to Ally/prongsridesagain, and if you haven't read her story (Where You'll Find Me Know) you should definitely go do that! All else belongs to JK Rowling.

It was half past eleven o'clock in the morning and all of the seventh year Gryffindors ought to have been in double potions with the Hufflepuffs. Except at half past eleven o'clock that morning, one Lily Evans was laying huddled under a pile of blankets in her dormitory, surrounded by a pile of used tissues and a cup of tea, half drunk and cold by now. She had tried to make it out of bed this morning, but she was almost immediately pushed back into it by her friends after she emerged from the curtains of her four-poster. She was informed by Gemma that she looked paler and deader than Nearly Headless Nick. And Mary made the charming comment that one look at her would have James running to don a hazmat suit, which is not really the desired attire for intimate moments.

So with little complaint, but plenty of promises from her friends to copy all the notes for the day, Lily retreated to the comfort of her blankets. Plus a few extra that she summoned from the beds of her roommates. Surely they wouldn't mind. After all, they cared about her well being, and right now she just needed 6 blankets to be warm.

She awoke suddenly at eleven, after three hours of failed attempts at napping. She looked to her bedside table, reaching out to take a sip of water when she realized that the glass was gone. She could have sworn it was there when she went back to sleep that morning, but no, it wasn't anywhere to be seen. Just as she was gathering the courage to brave the world outside her bed, she heard a familiar but shocking voice coming from the bathroom door behind her.

"Sirius?" she managed to croak.

"The one and only. At your service!" he said with a smile, setting her now full glass of water on the table.

"But what are you doing here? How did you- on second thought, I don't want to know." She shook her head and immediately regretted it—she could feel her brain bouncing back and forth inside her skull. And it echoed. She let out a groan, sinking back into her pillows.

"Oh man, Lily. You really are sick."

"What? Did you think I just decided to skip today? Because that's so like me."

"Well I did have a hard time believing Gems when she said you were skipping classes today. You're never sick, Evans."

Lily merely groaned in agreement, her eyes closing in an attempt to ignore the pain in her throat and head.

"What are you doing here, though? Not that I don't mind the company," said Lily weakly, smiling ever so slightly at the last bit.

"Gemma was really worried about you but she couldn't come up to check on you. And you know I'm just a caring and chivalrous lad and volunteered my services to come up for her."

"You liar. You just wanted out of Potions."

Sirius laughed and shrugged. "An added bonus. Now come on, you should have some water." He helped to pull her up on her pillows and then handed her the glass of water.

Sirius spent a few minutes filling her in on all she had missed in Transfiguration earlier that morning. Of course, he only seemed to include funny anecdotes about their classmates rather than the material that McGonagall had actually covered. But she didn't mind. It was nice just to have some company. And her mom had always said that laughter was the best medicine.

Ten minutes later the door to the dorm burst open and Gemma O'Malley came running in, her arms full of papers and books.

"Oh good! You're up."

Lily shrugged and sent her a reassuring smile.

"You still look awful though," she said, as she got closer.

"Oh thanks Gemma. Really nice. Are those all my notes?"

"Sorry, Lily," she looked apologetic for a moment. She deposited the stack of parchment on the bed beside her. "Yeah, these are the notes from Transfiguration and Potions."

"Don't worry, Gems. I already filled her in on Transfiguration," said Sirius.

Gemma raised her eyebrows at him, and then turned back to Lily, shaking her head. "He's just been telling you how badly Robbie Teller's spell backfired and gave him feathers up and down his arms, hasn't he?"

Lily nodded, trying to keep herself from laughing because it hurt so badly whenever she did.

"What? It was funny!" exclaimed Sirius when Gemma smacked him on his arm.

"Well, we should get going. You should really rest some more, Lily."

"I think I'll just look over these for a bit and then go back to sleep."

"Oh no you don't," said Sirius, scooping the papers up and dropping them on Marlene's bed all the way across the room. "You need to rest. James will kill me if I go letting you study right now."

"Sirius, just let her do what she wants," said Gemma, trying to persuade her boyfriend.

"Nope. Sorry, no can do. Doctor's orders."

Lily rolled her eyes. "James is not my doctor. He hasn't even been up to see me yet," she said softly, finally voicing what had been bothering her since she woke up a short while ago. She hadn't expected him to skip all his classes or anything, but it might have been nice to receive a note at least. That boy was always going out of his way to make her smile at the stupidest things, she couldn't help but feel disappointed that he wasn't there now.

Gemma sent her a small knowing smile. "I'm sure he'll be up soon. He's just been busy this morning. You know he had to meet with McGonagall about tutoring those third years."

"Yeah, yeah I know," came Lily's disgruntled response as she sunk further into her bed, pulling the blankets back up around her once more. "Its just…" she paused, looking back and forth between her two friends, her eyes settling on Sirius. "Will you just… hint that he should come up here? I know you both somehow know how to get up here."

Sirius smirked but nodded. "Sure thing Lily. Now go back to sleep."

She felt Gemma squeeze her hand and then the dormitory door quietly close, but her eyes were already closed and her mind was drifting back off to sleep. She wasn't sure how long she had been asleep when she suddenly became aware of another person in the room. But the room was dark and she couldn't see—Gemma must have darkened the windows before leaving.

She realized as a familiar pair of footsteps neared her bed that she knew exactly who it was. And when the mattress sunk beside her, and she felt James's hand on her cheek and his lips on her forehead she finally felt relaxed for the first time that day. She turned to angle her body toward his, reaching her hand out in the darkness to find him. She shivered as he lifted the blankets to climb into bed with her, but his arms soon wrapped around her, calming and soothing her.

"I missed you," she whispered against his chest, her voice raspy.

"I'm sorry I couldn't be here sooner, Lily." He ran his hand up and down her back, her body relaxing further into his with a sigh.

"Its okay. You're here now." She lifted her head to look at his face, which was full of concern and love. "James, I'm going to get you sick."

"Nonsense. It doesn't matter," he said softly, brushing s strand of hair behind her ear. She was glad he didn't take her weak protests seriously. "Besides, I managed to sneak a batch of Pomfrey's potion for the flu, or whatever it was she was passing out to those fifth years last month. I don't know if it'll work for whatever you have, but it's worth a shot."

"Won't it just knock me out though? I've already slept for so long. And you just got here!"

"Lily," he said firmly, looking down into her eyes. "You need to take the potion. I know you think you don't need it, but you do. I know you feel awful, so don't pretend you don't." She shrugged in his arms. "You know, for somebody so great at potions, you certainly don't seem to give them much credit in your own life."

"Oh shut it Potter. Just give me the damn potion."

He pulled away from her, chuckling, and reaching into his rucksack beside the bed to pull out the vial of purple potion. He helped her sit up long enough to take the potion and chase it down with some water, before sliding back down under the covers with her.

Already she could feel the potion taking effect, a warmth flowing through her body and replacing the chills she had felt just moments earlier. She leaned her head against James's chest as his arms came to wrap around her back once more.

Thinking back to what Mary had said that morning, Lily couldn't help let out a small giggle.

"What's so funny?" asked James.

"Oh, just Mary said this morning that you'd never want to sleep with me again if you saw me looking like this." Her voice already sounded far away to her own ears.

James laughed. "Is that so? Well wouldn't she be surprised to see me here now, with you looking just as beautiful as ever."

Lily could barely manage to roll her eyes at his cheesy line. So she just played along, snuggling further into his arms.

"James?" she tried to whisper,

"Shhh, Lily. Just sleep. I'm not going anywhere."

Lily tried to nod her head but wasn't sure if her brain had actually passed the message on to her body. She felt one of his hands come up to find hers, and he gave it a light squeeze. She sighed in contentment, part of the ache already leaving her body and the pain in her throat fading.

"I love you, James."

"Love you too, Lily." The last thing she felt before drifting off to a peaceful sleep was his smiling lips against her hair.

A/N: If you review, I promise that I'll love you :) and yes, I suppose this might count as bribery.