James

Peter and I watched Lily on the phone with nervous expressions. She was pacing badly. At one point she turned to us, yelling for us to pack up camp immediately, which didn't help my worries.

Something had to be wrong for Lily to get so worked up. I hopped to my feet immediately, without protest, and started throwing things in bags.

"Peter, help me with the tents." Peter looked startled and nervous, but he helped me take them down anyway. We got them both taken down in record timing when Lily hung up the phone.

I knew it was bad when I saw that she was crying.

"Lils, what is it?" I asked, dropping the tent stakes and rushing over to her. She tucked her braids behind her ears, cheeks flushed and lips trembling.

"We need to leave. Now. Hurry." She rushed to the campsite where Peter was struggling to carry both tents. She grabbed a bunch of bags and threw them in the back of my van and I picked up what she left behind.

Lily ran up to me and grabbed the keys out of my pocket and jumped behind the wheel, revving the engine loudly.

"Okay, okay," I said, getting in beside her, Peter crawling in the backseat. Lily tore out of there and started driving.

"Lily, you're speeding. Please tell me what's wrong?"

Lily checked her speed but didn't slow down. I noticed a few stray tears slipping down her cheeks.

"Lily, please," I begged. Lily took a shaky breath, glancing at me and then back to the road. Her knuckles were white on the steering wheel.

"Sirius called me," she said quietly and I turned in my seat to face the windshield, leaning my head back and closing my eyes. I already knew where this was going.

"What'd he say?" Peter asked fearfully.

"I just...we have to get to Oxford. They're taking Remus home. In an ambulance. He was sick this morning and Sirius brought him to the hospital."

I felt like ice water had been poured down my back. I gripped the edges of the seat tightly and the next hour of driving was spent in near silence. 

And then Lily's phone started to ring. "It's my mum," she said nervously, answering the phone and putting it on the speaker. 

"Mum?"

"Lily? Oh, sweetie, pull over, would you?"

My eyes widened in fear and so did Lily's. She was assuming the worst and had started veering off the road, but my hand shot out and caught the steering wheel and I straightened out the car as Lily searched for somewhere to pull over. She settled on the shoulder of the road and I reached over and flicked on the emergency flashers. 

Lily's voice was pleading. "Mum..."

"Your dad and I got here before they arrived. I've got Sirius with me, he's fine for now. They did a screening on Remus's lungs and Lily..."

"What?" It came out as a hoarse whisper. 

"Remus has pneumonia, sweetheart. His lungs are filling up with mucus and fluid way faster than normal and he needs an emergency transplant surgery."

Those words rang in my head. I glanced over at Lily to see the new tears start to fall. 

"But--what if...we can't...what if?" Lily couldn't seem to convey what she meant. Maybe she didn't even know herself. But Mrs. Evans seemed to understand. Her own voice, though she was trying to be strong for Lily's behalf, was awfully wobbly. 

"We'll worry about the cost later, baby. Right now, you just need to get here quickly. Remus's doctor is asking around to other hospitals in the area to see if they have any organ donors for an emergency surgery, since Remus jumped to the top of the transplant list. But...before surgery, the doctors want you to be here to...to say...to say goodbye. Just in case...just in case something happens."

Mrs. Evans cut off, crying. 

"We'll be there in an hour, Mrs. Evans," I assured, because Lily was far beyond having any words. Lily's mum hung up the phone.

Lily was shaking, crying hysterically, sobs wracking her body. Peter was in shock, but he reached out a hand to rest reassuringly on her shoulder. I got out of the car and walked around to Lily's door. 

"Love, scoot over will you?" I asked gently. We were pressed for time, and there was no way I was letting Lily drive right now. 

"No, no James, no, you'll drive like a granny," she said in between sobs. 

I kissed her forehead. "I won't. But you can't drive right now. You're too distraught. I'll get us there fast, I promise, love."

Finally Lily relented and crawled over the middle into the seat I had just vacated. I pulled back onto the road and started driving as much over the speed limit as I dared. I refused to drive like a granny. 

Lily rambled the whole rest of the way about everything that could possibly go wrong. I really wished she would stop, my mind was already going to all of those places and my anxiety was going through the roof. 

Finally, after what seemed like the longest two hour car ride of my life, I pulled into the Oxford hospital parking lot that Remus was at and the three of us ran into the hospital. We ran down the halls to the lung disease wing to the waiting room and there, sitting on one of the chairs, was Lily's sister Petunia. 

She stood when she saw us and embraced Lily. Lily looked equally as surprised as I was. Petunia let go of her sister fairly quickly, but her eyes still filled with pity. She gestured to the hall behind her. 

"Mum, Dad, and that other boy are in there with Remus."

Peter and I followed Lily as she ran down the hall. Lily seemed to know where she was going and it occurred to me that she had been here many times in the past.

She pushed the door open and Remus was laying there in the hospital bed with a ventilator down his throat, head sinking into the pillow as his eyes fluttered, struggling to suck in a breath. 

Sirius looked up from his spot beside Remus, holding Remus's hand tightly in his two. Mrs. Evans sat on Remus's other side, hand on his head, running her fingers through his curls in a comforting manner, her eyes watering dangerously. 

Mr. Evans sat by Remus's feet, looking pained and worried. Sirius had tears just rolling down his cheeks, though his face remained emotionless. 

Just then, the man I assumed to be Remus's doctor, rushed into the room. 

"I got a call from a hospital in a neighboring town and there was a fatal car crash earlier in the day and they have a set of lungs that, by the gods, are a match for Remus. They're flying them in now. We'll start prepping Remus for surgery in a few minutes. I'll let you all have some time to talk."

Mrs. Evans seemed very relieved at this statement and nodded down at Remus. 

"Everything will be just fine, Remus, love. You're in good hands," she said.

Peter couldn't seem to find any words so, his eyes wide and watering, he stepped forward and patted Remus on the shoulder softly, before turning to wait in the waiting room with Petunia. 

"See you soon, mate," I said warmly. "You'll pull through, I know you will."

I left with Peter, leaving Sirius and the Evans with Remus. The environment was suffocating and too much for me to handle. I couldn't fathom Remus not making it out. He had too. And I truly believed that with all of my being. 

Eventually, Mr. and Mrs. Evans joined us, Mr. Evans' arm around his wife who was furiously wiping her eyes with a tissue. And then finally, Sirius and Lily came out together and a nurse came to talk to us about exactly what was about to happen.

She told us about how the lungs had just arrived and they had already taken Remus back to the operation room. They would be putting him under general anesthesia and beginning surgery soon. She said that it could take ten to twelve hours and we would be informed if something were to happen. 

Mrs. Evans checked the time on her watch to mark the time of the start of Remus's double lung transplant surgery. Sirius wouldn't stop pacing for the longest time, probably for a full hour before I was finally able to get him to sit down. His eyes had since dried of tears and he just looked shaky and panicked. I opened my arms and he crawled over to me and buried his head in my shoulder, hiding his face from the world.

I could tell by the way he fell limp against me and how his breathing evened out that he had fallen asleep. He must've been utterly exhausted. 

Lily was sitting across the way, in between her parents, staring blankly at a wall. Peter and Petunia sat beside each other, an unlikely pair. They exchanged whispered words, helping each other out on a word search they found in one of the books on the tables in the waiting room. 

Sirius slept like a rock for about roughly two hours. But he woke up at the shocked exclamations from Mr. and Mrs. Evans.

A man and woman had just entered the waiting room, both looking haggard and tired. The man was tall, with brown hair and a short, patchy beard. The woman had curly blond hair and a face I was sure I'd seen somewhere before.

Mr. and Mrs. Evans stood immediately, standing in the entrance to the hall, as if blocking the two from going any further. 

"You have nerve, coming here," Mr. Evans said, voice low in a warning tone.

The man scoffed, but Lily spoke up, standing as well. 

"Mum, dad, relax, I called them."

Mrs. Evans turned around, shooting Lily a disapproving look.

"They're Remus's parents, Mum! They deserve to know!"

Ah, so that's why they look so familiar. 

"She's right," the blonde woman said, sounding annoyed. "He's our boy, we should get to see 'im."

Remus's father looked indifferent. 

Mr. Evans narrowed his eyes and Mrs. Evans rolled hers. "No. After everything, Remus doesn't want to see you. Now that you've been informed of what's going on you...you can leave. You're not welcome here."

Remus's mum glared hard at the Evans, eyes wandering around the waiting room and her eyes lingered on Sirius and her expression softened just a little bit. Then she grabbed her husbands hand and they left as soon as they had come.

As soon as they were gone, Lily's parents turned to her, disapproval in their eyes. 

Lily's eyes filled with fresh tears. "I'm sorry, I thought--"

Mr. Evans sighed and went over to Lily, giving her a hug. "I know, sweetheart. You want to think the best of everyone. It's alright."

Everything had just started to calm down again when there was a persistent beeping over the speakers and a nurse yelling for a code blue, nurses and doctors running down the hall. My heart seized up in panic and we all stood, terrified by what that could mean, if it was even Remus at all, awaiting news.