Potter | 𝘚𝘪𝘳𝘪𝘶𝘴 𝘉𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬

Chapter 145

       "Hang on!" Mr. Potter yelled after a long pause. "My Invisibility Cloak!?"

***

"You okay, Lily-Flower?" James asked Lily as they were walking across the yard, strolling under the moonlight.

     "Just thinking..." Lily whispered, her gaze on her feet as they walked across the green grass.

       She then sighed, wrapping her coat closer to her against the bitter coldness of autumn.

      "About what?" James mused, watching her.
    
     "The Order," Lily answered. "I mean... isn't it a scary thought, how you don't know what's awaiting you? You can just step out of the house and the next thing you know, you're either killed, tortured, or going under the Imperius Curse and ending up hurting the people you love, uncontrollably."

      James opened his mouth a few times to reply, but ended up closing it again, having no idea what he was supposed to say to possibly make her feel better.

     And worse than that, he didn't know how he was supposed to lead the conversation toward where he wanted to.

     So he just automatically went to touch his pocket, but his eyes widened when he realized that the ring box was missing.

      Panicking, he came to a halt and started searching all his pockets hastily, causing Lily to stop walking as well and to stare at him.

      "What are you doing, James?" she asked softly.

        "I-I — nothing — just — you know..." He cleared his throat. "Sorry... you were saying?"

       "Right," Lily whispered, turning on her heels to keep walking again and went on talking about the Order.

        James couldn't remember being this nervous in his entire life; he had spent days and nights preparing himself for this moment. But he had no idea where he had put the ring.

       But as Lily kept on talking, James jumped out of his skin when out of thin air, a hand appeared next to him with the little box on its palm.

       It didn't take James long to realize that the hand belonged to his sister, who was hidden under the Invisibility Cloak.

       James briskly took the box and Jenna disappeared completely under the cloak, but thankfully Lily hadn't noticed a thing. So James quickly placed the box back in his pocket, slightly relieved but still nervous.

     "...and I'm scared for Alice and Frank too," Lily went on without paying the slightest attention to James. "They work both for the Order, and the Auror department."

      "Um... Lily?"

       "And I'm worried for Peter too. The Death Eaters apparently haven't approached him yet, which means that they might do it soon."

     "Lily!" James panicked and yelled her name before he could stop himself.

       Lily turned around to face him, though they were a few feet apart from each other.

        But upon seeing her beautiful and kind green eyes looking back at him, James forgot every single word of the speech he had prepared and practiced in the mirror.

       "Er..." he started awkwardly, running a hand through his jet-black hair nervously, ruffling it up. "I — I wanted to — er — w-well —"

       Jenna wanted to leave the two alone, but when she saw how helpless James was and how he was struggling, she stopped on the spot.

     After almost nineteen years of living with him, this was the first time Jenna had seen her brother this nervous and speechless.

     Apparently the panic of forgetting the ring was still with him and had caused him to forget everything.

     Jenna couldn't let herself leave. She had to stay. She knew she had to help her brother.

      "James, you okay?" Lily asked him worriedly.

       So still under the Invisibility Cloak, Jenna walked up to her brother, whispering so quietly so only he could hear her, "Tell her: I've been thinking for some while..."

       James was confused, but decided to go along with it. And so, mustering all the confidence he had left in him, he said out loud, "Lily, I've been thinking for some while..."

      "And I realized that even though we've been together for such a short while..." Jenna kept whispering.

       "And I — well — I realized that even though we've been together for a short while..." James repeated her at the same time.

       "In the time I spent with you, you made me the happiest I've ever been," Jenna whispered in his ear.

        "In the time I spent with you, you made me the happiest I've ever been," said James, but he didn't wait anymore for Jenna as he went on, "You made me want to change for the better, and I love for that. Because... you bring out the best in me."

       Lily stared at him, her heartbeat picking up as she watched James go on in silence. And so Jenna took a step back from under the Invisibility Cloak, smiling.

      "They say that when you're in a deadly situation, your whole life flashes before your eyes," said James. "But last night when we were attacked by the Death Eaters and were nearly killed, you were the thing that came to my mind. But it kinda makes sense... because you are my whole life. I know we haven't been together for too long, but life is short... and I want to spend the rest of mine with you."

       With that, James took a shaky breath and dug into his pocket, taking out the little box. Lily placed a hand on her mouth as her eyes widened when James went on one knee and opened it to a beautiful ring.

       "Will you marry me?"

       A silence followed this.

       But then Lily burst out into tears and nodded, running toward James and hugging him as they both sat down on the grass, under the shimmering moonlight.

     And so she whispered through her tears, "Yes."