But at least this time I remembered the ring…

That was, after all, the most important part of a proposal, James thought. He'd realized this the first time he asked Lily to marry him.

Of course, he hadn't really been serious that time. The words had burst spontaneously from him after he'd seen her hex a Slytherin's eyebrows off for calling her a Mudblood. The proposal must have made a pretty good joke… why else would she have laughed so hard?

But the second time—well, that was different. They had just graduated from Hogwarts, everyone was excited. The after-party was in full swing, and she just looked so beautiful. He'd gotten as far as "Lily, wil—" but as he bent down on one knee he'd realized that he didn't even have an engagement ring. "Wil—What's that on your robes?"

"What?" she had asked, as James hastened to pull a stray string from her waistline to excuse his awkward kneeling position. Unfortunately that string was not so stray, and before he'd realized what he was doing a large tear had appeared in Lily's dress robes.

"Idiot!" Lily growled. She'd shoved him away and repaired her robes with a flick of her wand, then stalked off angrily.

Well, thought James, at least I wasn't slapped that time…

It was their two year anniversary and James had prepared a moonlight picnic. There were candles and food and he was just about to propose. His hand had closed around the tiny black box in the pocket of his robes when—POOF! Lily had turned into a giant yellow badger. There was a loud rustling from the tree above their heads, and Lily changed back to normal just in time to avoid being flattened by Sirius—who had laughed so hard he had fallen out of the tree.

"You stupid prats!" Lily shouted angrily. She chucked the box of chocolates that Sirius had tampered with directly at his head and turned on her heel.

"Lil—" James had started, but she wheeled around, slapped him across the face, and stomped away.

Lily did forgive him once she'd realized he had nothing to do with the prank, but that didn't keep James from transfiguring Sirius's hands into rather large, rotting mushrooms…

But this time things are going to be different, James told himself. This time he'd remembered the ring. This time he had checked the food for any sort of animal-related charm. This time he would not fall down the stairs while trying to get down on one knee. Or misspell her name in the Evening Prophet. Or forget to tell her to about a romantic candlelight dinner, and wind up spending the evening with a very surprised and bemused Remus Lupin. This time he was going to ask Lily to marry him, and what was more, she was actually going to get to hear it.

"Zir? Wooud yoou li'kee me to hrefeel your glaaass?"

"Huh?" James snapped out of his reverie and realized that he'd been sitting with his empty glass halfway to his mouth. "Oh… er, right… thank you." The waiter refilled his glass with what James thought was a rather smug smile.

"Noa proableem." said the waiter, bowing and walking away. James glared after him for a moment, wondering what could ever have made him think such a stupid, prissy restaurant was a good idea.

"James?" Lily asked, leaning over the table and looking at his face in a very scrutinizing way. "Is something wrong?"

"Wh—no!" said James hastily, his hand involuntarily flying to the little box in his pocket. Lily did not seem convinced.

"You've been acting jumpy all night. Are you sure you're feeling okay?" she asked, then, as a suspicious afterthought, she added "You haven't been eating anything Sirius gave you, have you?"

"No." James chuckled, shaking his head. Tonight was it, and he wasn't going to let anything ruin it. He took a sip of his newly-refilled water and shifted in his seat. Should he do it now? No, they hadn't even finished the appetizers yet, he really ought to wait until the main course arrived.

But what happens when the main course arrives? he thought anxiously. Do I propose when dinner gets here, or am I supposed to wait until she's finished eating? Are you allowed to propose during dinner?

James mentally kicked himself. How could he have been so stupid? Why did he never bother to check up on proposal etiquette? He was going to mess it up, he just knew it. And Lily was going to wind up stomping off furiously, determined to never speak to him again. And she was probably going to slap him again…

"James, are you sure nothing is bothering you?"

"What? No. Lily, really I'm fine."

"Then why are you massacring your mushrooms?" Lily asked pointedly, gazing perplexedly at his plate. James looked down—he had been so lost in thought that he hadn't realized he was still cutting up his appetizers. His stuffed mushrooms now resembled nothing so much as a large, craggily mountain.

"Er… sorry, I wasn't paying attention" he said, pushing his plate away and looking up at Lily. "Were you saying something?"

"I was telling you that my sister's getting married—"

"Married?" James said, starting at the sound of the word. His voice was unusually high pitched. Pulling himself together, he continued in a more normal tone. "Erm… Your sister, you say?"

"Yes, Petunia." Lily went on, apparently unaware of the effect the word 'married' had had on James, "You've met her—she was always eavesdropping on our conversations? Threatening to tell mum that it was us in the paper last year..."

"In the paper?" asked James, confused.

"You remember when the Evening Prophet ran that ad? 'Lillie Evens, Willyou Mary Mi? Luve, Jam Splotter.' Petunia was convinced you were proposing to me. Honestly!" Lily laughed, rolling her eyes as she did so. James's fingers tightened nervously over the box in his pocket. "I think if someone were proposing to me they'd have managed to spell my name right. Or theirs, for that matter..." She laughed again. James looked down at his mutilated mushrooms, hoping that he wasn't blushing.

"Your potage, Monsieur and Mademoiselle." said the waiter, placing a steaming hot bowl in front of each of them "Ze soouep." He added condescendingly, seeing the baffled look on James's face. James mumbled a vague thank you and glared into the ornately carved china bowl—hating the stupid waiter and his stupid accent and his stupid, complicated words and every stupid thing that was French.

He swirled the contents of his bowl idly, thinking of the Prophet fiasco and wondering what to do now. He couldn't bare the thought of Lily laughing at him… Should he still propose? He was a little upset with her at the moment. Doesn't she realize how hard it is to ask someone to marry you? he thought angrily.

He looked up at Lily, who was sipping her soup glumly while enumerating the many faults of Vernon Dursley. James gazed at her thoughtfully. The candles on the table were casting a wavy light on her, making her vibrant red hair look like the smoldering embers of a dying fire. Her skin seemed to be glowing in the rippling glimmer; her eyes glittered like two round clusters of emerald stars. And as she voiced her contempt for her sister's fiancé, her face was fixed with a blazing glare--her features were radiant with eloquent scorn and despair.

The return of the waiter abruptly pulled James out of this contemplative mood.

"Coq au vin" said the waiter as he laid another plate in front of each of them; and looking down his long pointed nose, he added to James: "Shickeen maronaateed wiz hred vine. Bon appétit, Monsieur. Mademoiselle."

James glared daggers at the waiter's back, making a mental note to curse him on the way out. He began slicing his chicken mutinously, imagining it to have the waiter's face.

Across the table, Lily sighed. She was cutting her meat slowly, as though being forced to carve up an innocent fowl.

"So, you're not pleased that your sister's getting… er, married?" James asked, wondering if Lily imagined her chicken to have Petunia's face rather than the waiter's.

"Hmm?" murmured Lily, looking up as though only just realizing he was still there. "Oh… I don't know. I mean, I wish she'd chosen someone better. Someone…"

"Who bears less of a resemblance to a killer whale?" James offered, smirking slightly. Lily grinned.

"Yeah, something like that." she sighed again "I mean, Petunia and I have never been what you'd call best friends, but I hate to see her unhappy. I just want what's best for her. I want her to have someone she really loves. Someone who really loves her. Someone that will want to spend the rest of his life with her..."

"But this one's already proposed," said James, slightly puzzled. Lily blinked shook her head as though trying to twitch away a particularly pesky fly.

"Proposed—Petunia—Dursley. Yes, they're going to be married. I just… wish he was better. Of course I'm happy for her. Yes." Lily gazed at James for a moment, almost like she didn't really see him; then returned to cutting her chicken.

James stared at Lily for a moment. Then a sudden realization hit him like a tidal wave.

"Lily," he said abruptly, putting down his knife and fork. "I have something I need to tell you."

"Yes?"

"I love you."

"I love you too," she said, smiling tenderly at him. James took her hand across the table and looked earnestly into her eyes.

"I've loved you for so long, Lily. As long as I can remember—or at least from that first train ride to Hogwarts, which I think is when my life really began. Before I met you, Lily, I was just an arrogant little prat." Lily snorted, James continued in a more determined voice "No, really! If you hadn't come along I probably would have taken the… shall we say, 'Sirius Black Route,' still gadding about the Wizarding World making mischief and messing up my hair—but driving a flying corvette, because it's cooler." Lily laughed and started to pull away, but James held onto her hand "But you made me see that it can be just as exciting to take the…the 'Seriously Serious Route.' Now I can't imagine not having a job, not working for the Order… you did that. It was all you. What I'm trying to say is that… that this is it." James reached into the pocket of his robes with his free hand and bent down on one knee. "I love you. More than I thought I could love anyone, ever. So, Lily Evans, will you marry me?"

For a moment Lily just stared at him. Then, slowly, her gaze moved down to the ring in his hand. James could see the shining, glittering diamond reflected in her bright eyes. Lily looked up at him again, her mouth slightly agape, then her face broke into a wide grin.

"Yes." she said, falling to her knees and flinging her arms around him.

James slipped the little ring onto her finger and kissed her. As though he had been waiting for them to do something even slightly unruly, the waiter bustled up fretfully.

"Monsieur! Mademoiselle! Whot arre you douing on ze floour? You shooud not be—ACCCCKKKK!"

James had raised his wand without even thinking. The waiter was now suspended in midair by the ankle, shouting "Oh! Let me daown, you zillah boay!"

He glanced anxiously at Lily. She looked into his eyes, a few tears moistening her beautiful eyelashes, and laughed. And James suddenly realized that he wasn't upset by this, he wasn't nervous, he didn't even hate the French anymore. Suddenly, he realized something so obvious that he couldn't believe it had not registered before: Lily really loved him. She no longer found him arrogant or pathetic; she wasn't going out with him on a whim; and she most certainly did not prefer the giant squid—as she had once assured him.

James helped Lily to her feet and started to lead her out of the restaurant, ignoring the waiter, who continued to shout unintelligibly in French. Lily smiled and threw her arms around James again, "I love you, Jam Splotter."