Weeks after their last term as Hogwarts students James had set up a special date for him and Lily. He first asked permission from her patents then proceeded to create a lavish invitation with frills and bows and sent it to her via owl.
Lily received the letter, and at first glance was terrified at what she would find upon opening; but she forced the gaudy parchment open and found the invitation to dinner for two for the upcoming weekend. It detailed that he would pick her up at a quarter to 6, travel to their dinner reservation at 6:30, walk around a park after the meal for half an hour and then the trip home.
It was a good thing Lily loved James for she was half scared to find what would REALLY happen that evening; but when the time drew near on the day of the date she found the nicest dress in her closet and pulled her hair into an elegant up-do with the help of her mother and applied make-up and perfume.
She sat on the edge of her bed, her hands nervously squeezing a small pillow at her side when the doorbell rang right on time. She swallowed hard, terrified at what she had gotten herself into.
She heard the dulcet tone of James’ voice along with the deep warbled noises that came from her father, followed by the quiet, yet firm tone from her mother as they invited him inside. Lily strained her ears as she heard the front door shut and the voices grew fainter as they left the front entry and went into the living room.
Lily sighed deeply and stood when her mother called for her. She dropped the pillow onto her bed; the stuffing squished and distorted in places where she squeezed too hard; left her room and the comforts it held and made her way down the stairs and into the living room.
When she entered the room she was surprised to find the three of them laughing at a joke either James or her father had told and gaped in surprise at James’ appearance. He was wearing a dark suit with a green tie and he had even tried to tidy his hair. When his eyes met Lily he stood up and smiled at her.
“Lily dear, James has just told us about his first time driving a car. We had no idea that cars were such a foreign idea to the Wizarding World!” Lily smiled at her mom and laughed slightly before replying,
“Well, it may not be the Wizarding World so much as the Wizards themselves. James doesn’t know how to use a telephone either.” Lily smiled at the guffaws from her parents and then turned, startled when she heard a scoff behind her.
Lily spun in place and was shocked to find her sister Petunia poking her head through the door.
“Can’t use a telephone, why that’s preposterous, next you will tell us that he can’t even use the postal system.” Lily bit her lip and bit back a retort as the mood in the room took a turn from pleasant to awkward.
“James,” Lily started, “this is my sister Petunia. Petunia, this is James Potter. The one I told you about.” Petunia came into the room, and folded her arms over her chest as she studied the man standing in front of them
“Well, at least he isn’t that nasty greasy haired boy. He was horrid, this guy doesn’t seem that much better though. Mum, if you excuse me, I’m going out.” And with that Petunia left the room with another scoff and the awkward silence remained.
“Erm, shall we go Lily? Our reservation is soon.” Lily nodded and gave her mum and dad a kiss on the cheek before following James out into the warm summer night.
Once the door was shut behind them James took Lily’s hand in his and walked her down the front walk to a motorcycle that was parked on the street.
Lily gaped. “And how, may I ask, did you learn to drive a motorcycle?” James smiled and handed her a helmet off the seat.
“Sirius taught me over the last few weeks. It’s his bike; we’re just borrowing it for a bit.” Lily frowned and strapped the huge helmet carefully over her perfectly pinned hair before getting on the bike behind James. She wrapped her arms around his waist and held her breath as they took off down the street.
The drive went smoothly and James was surprisingly good at driving. They took many detours and turns before they finally ended up at an abandoned block of houses, where James parked the motorcycle
“This is where we are having dinner?” Lily asked as she took the helmet off looking up at the houses to their right. James chuckled and took her hand and led her behind a fence. He leaned over and plucked a broom out of a well hidden hiding place and got on.
“We’ve a lot farther to go if we are to get to the correct place before sunset.” Lily shook her head, she should’ve known that James would make this more complicated than it needed to be, but she got on the broom behind him and they flew off over a field, and finally landed at the far edge of a lake.
James helped Lily from the broom and led her towards a gazebo, which was set up against the water, the beams bent and broken, paint peeling from weather. As they drew nearer lights appeared around the gazebo and a small table for two sat in the middle.
The seemingly old and decrepit Gazebo was revealed to be newly refurbished; the beams strong and newly painted and a string of lights were wrapped around the poles for light.
“I cast a charm on it so that only we could see what it really was. Y’know, just like Hogwarts.” Lily squeezed James’ hand and stepped into the Gazebo, taking it all in.
“It’s beautiful James. You always manage to amaze me.” He chuckled and stepped around her, pulling her chair out for her.
She sat in the chair and waited for him to be seated before speaking again.
“How do you always manage to create something so beautiful?”
“I don’t know. I just think about something that would make you happy and I end up with something like this.” James waved his hand above his head and smiled. Lily looked at her hands, and a blush formed on her cheeks.
“Shall we begin the first course?” Lily nodded and they began eating, the sun setting over the lake next to them.
Dinner went smoothly and before Lily knew it they were flying off into the darkness, father west than they had parked the motorcycle and finally landed in the middle of a huge park.
They walked for a few minutes and Lily could tell that something was starting to eat at James; he kept rubbing his hands on his pants and glanced at the watch on his arm multiple times.
Lily’s mood plummeted, maybe James was still bothered by what her sister had said about him and Severus, or maybe he was just wanting the date to get over, was he disappointed with her reactions? Lily swallowed as James led her to a bench and took a seat.
What is wrong? Lily wanted to ask him as they sat down. She placed her hands in her lap and watched as James fought a battle inside himself for the next five minutes before he turned to her, a huge boyish grin on his face. Lily blinked and measured his mood, which had gone from extremely uncomfortable to giddiness within seconds.
He took her hand in his and smiled at her.
“Lily.”
“James?” His smile brightened and his eyes were soft. He swallowed and wiggled on the bench.
“Lily, how long have you known me?”
“Since year one at Hogwarts.”
“And long did it take for you to go out with me?” Lily laughed lightly, trying to hide her uneasiness and confusion.
“Quite a while.” James nodded.
“I know, we hadn’t had very many years together and all but since our goodbye at the platform after school got out, and these few weeks since vacation started I’ve been thinking a lot.”
“James, what is going on?” James swallowed again and began speaking again.
“You are, the most amazing person I have ever met, and I can’t believe how short a time it took for us to fall in love, it was almost like,” he paused and took a deep breath, “the fates put it that way, and it was by fate that I came across the most wonderful present for you.” He dug in his suit pocket and pulled out a small black box. He pulled something from the box and put it in her hand. He clasped her hand into a fist and gave her a small kiss before kneeling on the ground in front of her. He nodded towards her hand and bit back a smile.
Lily looked down to her hand and opened it. There, nestled in the palm of her hand was a small silver ring.
“Lily, will you marry me?” Lily’s breath caught in her throat as she studied the ring, it was a small silver band with diamonds that grew in size on either side of a simple diamond. Lily looked from the ring to James’s face before it hit her.
The reason he had been so nervous for the last half hour was because he was proposing! Lily smiled in relief and tears pricked in her eyes.
“Yes, yes of course I will.” James proceeded to take the ring from her hand and slipped it onto the correct finger as tears spilled from her eyes.
James took his seat back on the bench and Lily threw her arms around his neck, kissing his neck, his jaw and finally his lips repeating the same word over and over again.
“Yes!”