When the boys stumble into the house holding up a wounded, bleeding James, Lily drops everything and runs to him. James tries for a smile—he always does, but a cry makes him drop that facade when Frank accidentally grabs him too tight. Lily doesn't have time to ask any questions before she's screaming, hands shaking as she pulls James away from them. She can barely hold him up by herself, but she doesn't care enough.
"Get out," she says.
Frank hesitates, looking back at Gideon and Fabian, who are already heading towards the door.
"Lily," Frank pleads.
"Get out!" she repeats, "Get out. Now."
Since James is, clearly, too far gone to object, Frank sighs. "Okay. Listen, I'll get Alice. We'll come to help."
"Go! Now!"
She practically drags James to their bathroom and helps him get in the bathtub. He's warm, or maybe his blood is—she can't tell.
"Can you hear me? James? I think you should try and stay awake. Just for a little bit, please," she begs. "James, please."
"I'm here," his voice is barely above a whisper, "I'm here, Lily, it's alright. Just a couple of scratches."
"Shut up, you idiot. I can't believe-"
Lily sets her hand on the edge of the bathtub and takes a deep breath. Any I told you so's will have to wait until she knows he's going to be alive long enough to hear them.
"Okay, let's get your clothes off."
Where there would usually be a joke there is compliance. Lily's hands are cold against his skin, and he hisses when she manages to get his shirt off. His wounds are sticky and ugly. He's lucky Lily paid any attention when it came to healing magic. Their medicine cabinet—a mix of Muggle and Wizard remedies that Lily put little thought into assembling—is chaos, and it takes a moment and a shattered bottle on the floor before she finds the familiar purple liquid that had cleaned so many of James' Quidditch injuries before.
He doesn't get the chance to even try to refuse it before Lily dabs a soaked piece of cotton onto the cut on his arm.
"Fuck," he groans out.
"I'm sorry," Lily whispers. "I'm sorry, I have to."
When he looks up at her he sees the tears in her eyes and ultimately notices the way her hands are shaking like he's never seen before.
"It's okay," he says. Lily doesn't seem to hear him, so he cups her face and repeats it. "It's okay. It's going to be fine."
His fingers stain her cheek with blood. She looks down and takes another deep breath before reaching for a different piece of cotton that isn't drenched in his blood. A few more of those and all of his wounds are clean (or cleaner than before), but the blood is starting to dry on his skin.
"I'll help you shower," Lily tells him. "Wash the blood off."
"Okay," James mumbles, getting more and more tired.
Lily tries standing up but James clings onto her arm. She looks at him, confused, but the pleading look in his eyes makes her kneel back down.
"It's okay," it's her turn to comfort him. "It's alright. Do you need a second?"
"Yeah," he nods. "I think I hurt my shoulder."
"Let me see," Lily helps him move forward for a moment, humming. "Yeah, it looks like there might be a bruise there tomorrow. We'll deal with it if there is, okay? We can always ask Marlene or Remus. They'll know better than me."
They spend a moment in silence. Lily kisses his eyebrow, her hand tangled in his hair as it often is.
"Are you ready?" she asks. Then she points to his jeans. "I'll help you take those off-"
Before she can say anything else, James interrupts—"Will you get in with me?"
Her eyes soften and she nods. She holds out her hand and helps him up out of the tub. She kisses his chest tenderly and James lets out a shaky sigh. She unbuttons his pants and helps him take them off. He has to lean against the wall or sit on the toilet, even hold on to her to keep from falling a few times, but they manage. Lily gives him a worried smile and starts to unbutton her own shirt before he reaches out to help her, kissing her hair.
Once they're both naked Lily starts the shower and lets the water warm up. While they wait, James—who is leaning against their sink—slips an arm around her waist and pulls her toward him. She turns so they're chest to chest, careful not to hurt him. The blood is mostly dry now, but she wouldn't care if it wasn't.
"I'm fine," James says, though it sounds more like he's saying it to make himself believe it.
Lily catches it. "You're okay. You're fine," she nods. "You'll heal up just fine."
James' eyes begin to fill with tears so he closes them and tilts his head up towards the ceiling. Lily kisses his injured shoulder.
"I don't know what happened," he whispers. "One moment things were fine and then-"
"I know," Lily assures him. "I know. It's okay. I'll take care of you, alright?"
That's the only thing I want, he thinks.
She wipes his tears with her thumb and takes his hand. "Come on, let's get you cleaned up and then you'll feel better."
They get in the shower and, not wanting the water to sting, Lily grabs the shower head and starts cleaning the blood off his body. She's so focused on her task, so careful not to hurt him, so kind to let him hold onto her because of his weakness. James wants to thank her a thousand times in a thousand different ways, but when he wants his body to move, his mouth to say something, nothing happens. He is so, so tired.
He puts a hand on the shower head and when Lily looks at him in confusion, he points to the mount above her head. Lily still looks confused.
"Let me wash you up, too," he says.
"James, it's fine. Let's just get you into something comfy-"
"Please. Let's just take a shower together."
Lily hesitates and ultimately nods. "Okay. Hold onto me, okay? If you feel like you need to sit down-"
"I'll tell you."
She gives him a look that says you better mean it. He washes her hair, she tries to wash his but remembers he's a bit too tall for that. They laugh about it. They wash each other before Lily steps out of the tub and helps him out, too, before handing him a towel.
"Stay here, I'll get you some clothes. I don't want you to get cold."
He chuckles and her face lights up.
"Fine," he mutters. His face takes on a more serious expression. "I love you."
Lily smiles at him, though it barely helps the worry in her face. "I love you," she kisses him.