Summary: It's been a little over a year since Lily and James began dating and now James has a question to ask Lily. The only problem is that the setting has to be perfect. So James tries asking again and again and again. Will he ever manage to get his question out? And when he does, what will Lily say?

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Harry Potter characters. I only own things that you do not recognize, which is not very much, this is all just for fun! Really!

Author's Note: This is a sequel to Excuse Me, Miss Evans. It is not necessary to read that story beforehand. I use my characters from that story and I may refer to some events from it, but it is nothing pertaining to this plot. If you're ever bored, check it out. On that note, have fun reading the first chapter and let me know what you think! I always appreciate your reviews!

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Will You, Miss Evans?

1: In which James has a realization

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"Let me get that for you."

Lily smiled gratefully up at James as he opened the door for her. All at once the crisp November air wrapped around her, making her shiver. James lightly draped his arm around her shoulder as the two of them headed out of the small restaurant where they had been dining.

"You're quiet tonight, James." Lily laughed at James' confused expression.

He simply nodded his head and they continued walking. Lily couldn't help but nudge James' side once more to try and get his attention.

"Are you alright?" Lily asked.

"Yes," James answered quickly as he snuck a glance down at Lily in her green dress and light jacket that didn't seem suitable for the cold.

"Are you sure that you're warm enough?"

"Yes," Lily responded in similar fashion with a smile.

The two continued walking in their silence and soon enough they reached Lily's flat. Buddha had been sitting on the steps outside and quickly jumped off into the night as the two arrived at the door.

"I'd invite you in, but you seem a little preoccupied tonight, James," Lily spoke hesitantly.

"It's really nothing, I'm just thinking," James responded softly as he carefully met Lily's amused eyes.

"A sickle for your thoughts?"

James just looked at Lily as if were contemplating something. In response, Lily held out her hand for James to take.

James just looked at Lily's hand as if she were mad. Lily smiled slightly, although the smile appeared more like a grimace. She withdrew her hand quickly, and acted nonchalant as if she had never extended it out in the first place.

"Let's dance." Lily finished the statement with a little twirl before she held out her hand again.

Her eyes met James' to find him staring at her as if he had never seen her before in his life.

"Right, I'll just go inside then. Goodnight." Lily kissed his cheek before turning and going inside her flat. James just watched the door for a few seconds before knocking on it quickly.

Lily swung the door open, her face flushed. "What is it James?"

James took a step inside the house and pulled Lily into a tight hug. Surprised by his actions, Lily wrapped her arms around him in similar fashion after a few seconds. James kept holding on as tight as he could.

"Are you sure you're feeling alright, James?" Lily asked yet again.

"Yes, I'm feeling perfectly fine," James responded as he pulled away from Lily and gently kissed her. Before Lily had a chance to return his kiss, James had pulled away.

"Goodnight."

And Lily was left looking at the dark street. The soft glow of the street lamp shone a few houses down, illuminating the road before it flew back into darkness. With a sigh Lily closed the door.

I wonder if I'll ever honestly understand that boy.

XXX

"James! You'll never guess what happened!" Sirius exclaimed the second that James apparated into the flat.

James simply looked over at Sirius with a glare that clearly stated 'This is not the time.' Sirius, on the other hand, simply ignored it.

"Jamsie! Come on! You know you want to know this! Don't pretend like you don't!" Sirius playfully nudged James in the ribs. The same way that Lily had earlier at dinner, bringing James back crashing down to the present.

The biggest smile that Sirius had ever seen broke out on James's face.

"James, are you alright?" Sirius asked, eyeing James' happy face warily.

"I'm wonderful," James gushed, as Sirius looked on disgustedly.

"What's going on? Oh, wait, I've got it!" Sirius exclaimed as he bounced over to James' side of the room. "You shagged Lily, didn't you? I knew you had it in you, Prongs!"

"No!" James exclaimed, rather quickly. "I mean, no, I didn't shag Lily, but I have realized something."

"You're not breaking up with her are you?" Sirius asked, with all seriousness.

"No! Of course not! Where would you even get an idea like that?"

"Sorry," Sirius replied with a roll of his eyes. "I don't get it. If you didn't shag Lily and you aren't breaking up with her, I don't see what is so important. It can't be more important than the news I have for you!"

"I want to marry her," James breathed. "I've decided that I, James Potter, without a doubt, want to marry Lily Evans."

Sirius seemed to disregard the last comment as he began his own story.

"I went over to Remus' flat tonight because you were off shagging Lily and Arabella was with her parents for a family dinner that I wasn't allowed to attend; it was something about commitment," Sirius paused for a second before shaking his head and continuing with the story. "Remus is shagging someone."

A second went by in the flat where there was absolute silence.

"YOU WHAT?" Sirius shouted, his eyes bulging out of their sockets. "But that would mean that you would have to buy a house and live in it with Lily. We wouldn't be flat mates anymore! Who will I move in with? I can't move in with Remus, he'll be shagging that girl like rabbits every chance he gets. I can't live with someone like that."

James just rolled his eyes before sobering up slightly. "I love her, Sirius. I've always known I've loved her, but today I looked across the table into her eyes and she smiled back at me and for a split second it was as if we were the only two people in the world. Then the waiter came and Lily was so startled that she knocked over her glass of water onto herself. She was so upset about it and her face turned bright red, it hasn't turned that red since before we started dating. And that's when I knew that I wanted to marry her."

Sirius just stared at James. Once again the silence filled the flat.

"You realize how mushy and cheesy that sounds don't you?" Sirius asked.

James smirked. "Of course I do."

"You also realize that the one time we really need Remus he's off shagging a girl."

"Did you actually see that he was with a girl?" James asked.

"I saw enough." Sirius smirked.

"What exactly?" James closed his eyes to prepare for the worst.

"A purse on the table," Sirius supplied proudly.

"That doesn't mean that he was shagging someone," James sighed, as if he were fed up with Sirius's antics.

"Oh yes it does, trust me, I know this information," Sirius winked.

James just shook his head.

"So if you and Lilykins are going to be married, who's going to be the best man?" Sirius asked, and for the life of him, James could not tell if he were actually seriously asking.

"You," James replied slowly.

"Good. Who's going to be the godfather to each of your 10 children? "

"Are you joking? I haven't even asked Lily to marry me! How can we be planning how many children we'll be having?" James jumped.

"You don't think she hasn't planned all your children's names? She probably has their clothes picked out already. Girls always are thinking of things like that. I'll bet she's already got your whole wedding planned!" Sirius explained matter-of-factly.

James simply shook his head.

"They're going to play Quidditch, right?" Sirius added.

"Of course they're going to play Quidditch! What kind of father do you expect me to be?" James asked before adding dreamily. "They're also going to have Lily's eyes."

"Let's hope that they don't end up with those horrid glasses that you have to wear." Sirius laughed as James glared at him from behind his frames.

"How can we be talking about children that don't exist before I even have a ring?" James asked incredulously before turning on his heel and walking to the other side of the room.

"I'm going to Remus' flat," James announced. And within a second he had apparated out of the room, leaving Sirius gaping at the spot.

'You can't go get Remus! He's busy!"

XXX

"It's beautiful, James!" Mrs. Potter exclaimed.

James was standing in the kitchen with his parents in their manor holding a black velvet box open. Inside was a simple diamond ring that seemed to glow from the deepest point of the stone and radiated throughout the room.

"Who picked it out?" Mr. Potter questioned.

"Edward!" Mrs. Potter snapped, "James is a grown boy, he's fully capable of picking out a ring!'

Mr. Potter simply rolled his eyes.

"Remus," James whispered under his breath.

"Not Sirius?" James's father asked with a twinkle in his eye.

"I don't think that Lily would agree to wear a ring that Sirius picked." James and his father shared a brief smile before Mrs. Potter caught their attention again.

"It's so sweet, you and Lily getting married," Mrs. Potter swooned. "I remember the first time I met her. You two were so sweet. I knew it would only be a matter of time."

James blushed. "It's been a few years."

"How are you planning on asking her? Oh! If you want to cook her a dinner that would be lovely, girls always appreciate a man who can cook. I can teach you a dish or two if you'd like." Mrs. Potter rambled happily as she poured tea for the two men sitting at the table.

"I haven't really thought about it yet," James admitted.

"Have you asked her father for permission?" Mr. Potter suddenly asked.

"No." James realized that this thought had not even occurred to him. He had just been planning on surprising Lily one day by getting down on one knee and opening up the box to display the ring, but now that his father mentioned it, Lily's parents would probably appreciate James asking for their permission.

"You should. You want things to start off on the right foot." Mr. Potter winked. "You see, when your mother and I got married, I made the same mistake that you almost made."

James looked perplexed.

"I didn't ask her father for permission first. Your mother, caught up in the moment, accepted and when we told her parents her father was furious."

"He wasn't furious, Edward. He was just ruffled."

"He was furious, he didn't give me a look that wasn't a glare until you were born and I had stayed through the labor by your mother's side without leaving or complaining."

"He was perfectly polite to you," Mrs. Potter announced.

"Shannon, he just didn't glare at me in front of you." Mr. Potter retorted. For a brief second James could imagine Lily and himself having a similar conversation in their kitchen with their children present.

Needless to say, despite the fact that he could see the conversation happening didn't mean that he wanted Mr. Evans glaring holes into his back whenever he was around.

"I've got to go."

James stood up and kissed his mother on the cheek. His father winked at him once more before James apparated straight away, trying to gather up the courage to ask Lily's father something he wasn't sure he'd be able to even ask Lily.

XXX

"Just breathe." James shook his head before finally reaching his hand up to knock on the door of Lily's childhood home.

This is it.

The door swung open and James had to blink to make sure that he wasn't dreaming.

"James?" He was sure his eyes went as wide as saucers and he blinked once more just to make sure that he wasn't mad.

"Er…yes…hello, Lily," James stumbled as he sheepishly smiled at Lily, who was watching him as if she had never seen him before in her life.

"Er, James, why are you here?" Lily asked, eyeing James suspiciously.

"Can't I come and visit you?" James mentally smacked himself. Lily didn't live with her parents; surely she would know that something was wrong.

"James, I don't live here. Why on earth would you be visiting me here?"

James just blinked at Lily, as if blinking would make her disappear.

"I just missed you." And that was the truth, James decided. He had missed her. It had been at least a few days since he had seen her, and he did get this strange sort of longing for her when she wasn't around.

"You're the one who left our date early," Lily responded with a bitter edge in her voice.

"Look, Lily, I'm sorry about that, I just wasn't myself that night. You see, I was just thinking that -" James stopped abruptly, closing his mouth tightly. He couldn't let out his secret until he had talked to her father, and that was going to be pretty nearly impossible if Lily were there.

"Alright." Lily didn't look as if she believed his excuse and she hesitantly held the door open for him. "Would you like to come in? My mom's just made tea."

"I'd love to." James smiled and his heart skipped a beat when Lily smiled genuinely back at him. The last thing he wanted was for Lily to begin to hate him right when he decided that he was going to propose.

" James!" Lily's mother started as he walked into the kitchen with Lily. "How are you, honey?"

James smiled. "I'm wonderful, Mrs. Evans. How are you?"

Lily eyed James as if she could hardly believe that he was really wonderful, but she didn't open her mouth. Her mother had already shoved a cup of tea into James's hands and was currently taking out biscuits for James to eat with his tea.

And it all just seemed to fit.

Lily sighed. The last thing that she expected from James at this moment was for him to propose. He wasn't exactly the type to commit. She knew that before she started dating him, but it seemed harder to accept when that's what she wanted from him more than anything.

"James Potter." Lily turned to look at her father, who was eyeing James with twinkling eyes.

"Mr. Evans," James began, with a nervous glance in Lily's direction he continued. "How are you?"

Mr. Evans simply nodded his head and smiled at James once Lily had turned away from the scene. James, in turn, wiped his sweaty palms on his pants and turned back to his tea and biscuits.

A bit later, after the tea had gone cold and the biscuits were crumbs, Mr. Evans and Mrs. Evans shared a long look that Lily noticed tiredly and James completely missed.

Mrs. Evans reluctantly shooed Lily out of the room, much to Lily's suspicion and dismay. This left Mr. Evans and James alone in the room and for a few seconds the room was silent as if no conversation were going to occur between the two men.

"Can I see the ring, James?" Mr. Evans asked suddenly, once the footsteps on the stairs had faded away.

"What?" James asked nervously, his eyes darted up the stairs as if he half expected Lily to walk down and demand to know what was going on.

When Mr. Evans refused to elaborate, James reached into the pocket of his robes and pulled out a velvet box and slid it across the table to Lily's father.

"It's beautiful." Mr. Evans closed the case and slid it back across the table to James in the same manner that James had earlier.

"How did you know?" James asked shyly, praying that Lily hadn't worked out the same idea that her father had. After all, she was a very clever witch, and the situation wasn't very complicated.

"Why else would you show up at our home looking so nervous?" Mr. Evans smiled. "I remember showing up at Rose's house to ask her father for his blessing. I was so nervous that I was stumbling over my words and my palms were all sweaty and I couldn't make eye contact with anyone."

James let out a low shaky laugh. "I must've been pretty obvious then."

"Only to someone who's been through it before. I can assure you that Lily didn't have any clue as to what was happening. She was rather frazzled by that, if you hadn't noticed."

"I thought she was trying to work out why I just showed up at your house unannounced."

"Well, I don't think she's expecting this." Mr. Evans smiled as he patted James' shoulder. "You'll be a lucky man."

James wasn't sure how to take Mr. Evans's last comment, but that second Lily bounced down the stairs. James stood up from his chair. He needed time to come up with the perfect place to propose, and he wasn't sure how much longer he'd be able to keep the secret if she kept smiling at him like that.

"I've got to go." James bent down and kissed Lily's head. She sent him a glare and looked around the room frantically.

"James, we're in my parents' house. You can't just touch me however you want to! What if they see us?"

"I'm sure they'd understand." James smirked. "You're alive." James apparated, leaving Lily without having a proper chance to respond.

XXX

"Lily, I know we didn't get off on the right foot at Hogwarts. I know that when I first met you I turned your hair green. But see, the truth is, it matched your eyes…and even if I didn't realize it then, I know now, that, well, I love you, Lily…"

A feeble hoot came in response.

"That won't work," James muttered with annoyance. He ran his hands through his already messy hair.

"Lily, I have loved you since the moment that I first saw you-"

"You probably shouldn't lie that much." Remus snorted from the other side of the room where he and Sirius were standing with amused expressions watching James holding a ring out to his owl.

"What do you suggest I do, Sirius, God of Women?" James asked as he snapped the box shut and shoved it into his robes. It only took a second for his owl to fly away in a frantic attempt to be rid of James.

"I hate to be the one to point it out, but your owl wouldn't even marry you with a proposal like that." Sirius laughed.

"Don't you think I should be honest?" James asked timidly.

Remus looked as if he were about to respond to James' question, most likely along the lines of 'yes, honesty is the best way to go.' But before he had a chance Sirius had opened his mouth and shouted.

"No!"

James's face immediately turned a bright red.

"Why can't I? I mean, what's wrong with just getting down on one knee and asking her to marry me?"

"Prongs, Prongs, you can't be serious. Girls don't want you to just get down on one knee. They want extravagance, something that they can brag to their friends and family members about. They want something that they'll be able to share with their grandchildren. Not some simple proposal."

James opened and closed his mouth, apparently deciding against speaking.

"You can't be serious, James. You wanted to just ask Lily like that?"

James eyed Sirius warily, but finally nodded his head in either agreement to Sirius's question, or to the fact that he was willing to accept Sirius' help on the subject. Either way, the sheepish look on his face gave away that he agreed with Sirius.

"James, don't listen to him," Remus began. "I think that Lily would love for you to just simply ask her to marry her. She's not the type of girl that's only with you because you're some trophy. She just wants to know that you love her."

"Since when did you become the expert on women, Remus?" Sirius asked. "Have you ever even asked a girl out before?"

Sirius emphasized his last question with a rather large wink in James' direction. As if he were trying to get the information out of Remus that there had been a girl in his flat.

Remus avoided the question. "You haven't exactly proposed to anyone before, Padfoot. Unless you count the one time you attempted to suggest to McGonagall that you could shag her in order to get out of detention."

James looked scandalized. "You actually suggested that?"

"Remus is not telling the truth. I didn't suggest that I should be the one to shag her; I just suggested that she shag somebody. Plus, I had drunk too much firewhiskey and I wasn't quite myself that night," Sirius explained.

"Just ask her from your heart, James. You can't expect to do anything better than that. She'll say yes, I promise." Remus smiled.

"You can't do that! Don't listen to Remus, he can't even admit to when he's shagged someone!" Sirius exclaimed.

"What should I do?" James asked feebly.

"Well, we'll need to begin planning right away. We can't waste too much time," Sirius announced. "You helping, Remus? Or are we going to be planning this without you because you don't agree with it?"

Remus rolled his eyes before grudgingly sitting down at the table next to James.

This lot has really become insane.

XXX

Author's Note: Let me know what you think about this chapter, I'm really proud of this story. I realized that my writing was a little repetitive and the thoughts of James and Lily got a little annoying (even to me, really) so I've sort of changed the style of writing that the story is in. A HUGE thanks to all of my betas: Leah, Nanci, and Sarah, they're all AMAZING!