Contrary to what you may think, no one had any idea that James Potter was absolutely head over heels crazy in love with Lily Evans. Or anyone, for that matter. Ok, sure, he had asked her out that once (demanded her out might be more accurate) but as far as the student body was concerned, that had just been for laughs. Well, little did they know that that moment under the tree had ben James freaking out. Give him some credit! He'd only just come to terms with his feelings and Lily never approached him. He panicked! Well, at least, that was his excuse.

Do you want to know a secret? James panicked a lot.

A huge clatter announced his entrance; a crash as the door to the seventh year boy's dorm cracked against the wall and a string of curses so laud Hagrid could probably hear. The three boys in the room were on their feet in a flash the moment they took in James' burning red cheeks and quick, hyperventilating breaths. Sirius flung an arm around his best friend's shoulder and led him over to the closest bed. James threw his glasses to the nightstand and gripped t his hair until the skin on his forehead pulled tight.

"I asked Evans to marry me!"

The day had gone like every other day had that Spring: beautiful, almost warm, almost humid, with the distinct smell of flowers everywhere you went (even the dungeons). Luckily for everyone, it was the Friday after a string of particularly nasty exams so homework was light and spirits were mending. Even more luckily, the weather was finally becoming warm enough for the students to forgo their uniform sweaters and undo a few buttons. Not exempt from this group was Lily, who had gone out onto the grounds to meet James out of Herbology.

Was that a strange thing to do? Not for best friends it wasn't. And that's exactly what they called themselves. Best friends. No one was exactly sure when a regular friendship had even started. Sirius suspected that it had something to do with the string of letters the two had exchanged over the summer before their sixth year (letters the likes of which Sirius still couldn't get his paws on).

Whatever the boy had said to the livid redhead, they had returned to Hogwarts on intriguingly friendly terms. Sirius in particular was not very happy about the new formed friendship no matter how happy it made James. But… despite how prudish she could be sometimes… on occasions… maybe… oh hell ok Sirius liked her, too. Everyone did, alright? Sheesh, it's no big deal or anything. Now, stop making everything about Sirius and pay attention.

So- Lily went out to the green houses to meet James so that they could grab an early dinner before leading a prefect's meeting. The spring sun was low in the sky but still warm and giving them just a couple more hours of daylight. James always had a weak spot for the spring sun since the day he'd pushed Lily into the lake in fourth year in May. From what he could see through the Bat Bogey Hex, the light had made her hair look orange (orange being one of the colors for the Chuddley Cannons and, by proxy, his favorite). But dry, the sinking sun made her hair glow and cast a funny gold color across her face an oxford shirt. Seeing the sun's light reflect off her skin all the way down her neck and collar bones was not what James was expecting to see when- covered head to foot in dirt- he met Lily at the corner of the building. He hadn't realized it was that warm until that very moment. His tie was suddenly much too tight and he tugged at it with a cough. Lily tilted her head at him (oh no, please, not that look).

"Are you alright? You're looking a little flushed."

James swatted at the hand she had raised t check his temperature.

"I'm fine," he said a little too sharply. Lily squinted at him but took the snap with a grain of salt.

"Let's go, yea?" she turned and waited for him to step up so they could walk side by side.

Did I mention that James was so in love with her he considered a trip to St. Mungo's? He was having what he often referred to as a Lily Attack; defined by sweaty palms, run away tongue, heart palpitations, and severe lapse in judgment.

But she was so pretty and he was so in love with her it hurt.

"Will you marry me?" he blurted out at the top of his voice. He hadn't even realized what his words really meant even when Lily tripped over her own foot and choked on her breath. Wide green eyes met frantic hazel. Lily ran her hand through her locks until it met with a small knot at the end. In the span of that moment, James could have sworn that time had stopped just to mock him but it still wasn't clicking what he'd asked.

"Um… wow…" Lily laughed out nervously. "I mean really, wow but… um… yes?"

Oh… now it clicked and time sped up so fast that what felt like a few seconds of him standing there, slack-jawed and desperate for a response was actually close to two minutes.

Naturally, James did the only reasonable thing.

He panicked and ran away. All the way around the castle, up the stairs, through the common room, and into the dorm.

Nobody laughed like they usually would when faced with one of James' "stupid attacks." Sirius was the first to let out a chuckle when he was sure James wasn't going to pass out.

"I bloody well knew you fancied her!"

"You don't' ask a girl you fancy to marry you, Padfoot! What do I do? What did I just bloody do?" James yelled. "Lily just agreed to marry me!"

The other three immediately stopped their laughing. Remus- James almost felt bad because everyone and their mother knew Remus had fancied Lily since second year- Remus was the only one to keep a very controlled temperament. He pushed Sirius and Peter aside so they could take up their hysterics on the floor and laugh themselves exhausted.

"Does she think you're joking?" he asked. James thought for a moment, replaying the moment in his head with his mouth wide open. He gulped and shook his head. "Were you joking?" Without thinking, he shook his head again. "Well then… you should… you should give her that… that…" If anyone had paid any mind to the werewolf, they would have been more delicate about the situation.

James jumped off Peter's bed and stumbled over to the trunk at the end of his. After some rummaging, he found the little old box his mum had given to him just two summers ago. The motions he was going through and things happening didn't even seem real. Not even peaking in the box.

"James…where even is Lily? You can' have just run off on her after asking her to marry you."

James froze, little leather box in hand. His heart was still pounding and his mind was racing too fast to understand everything that was happening. He opened the little box all the way this time, revealing an antique ring that was quite pretty but needed a good polishing. The only thing his mind was capable of was imagining the ring clean and shiny and on Lily's finger.

"I may have…" he swallowed. "Not just… I waited for her to say yes at least."

Sirius seemed to find the situation quite hilarious and didn't have enough shame to hide his laughter. Remus sympathized, more for Lily than for James.

"Sirius, this isn't funny! Lily must feel humiliated right now. She probably thinks it was a joke."

Click. James' racing heart dropped into his stomach and made him feel sick. He played through the incident in his head, trying to see it from Lily's point of view (something he wasn't particularly skilled at). He cursed panicked-James. Why was it that he only ever acted like a complete prat around Lily? King Prat. Emperor Prat. Ruler of the free world prat. He had humiliated her. She had no reason to believe he wasn't kidding.

Or maybe she thought he was kidding when he asked her and she was kidding. Ha! As if he'd let her get away with that!

"Boys!" James cried. He held up the little box triumphantly, a new found determination (read: stubbornness) setting into his expression. Sirius was the only one capable of keeping up with his train of thought and held up an invisible goblet to toast. "I'm going to go get me a wife!"

Timing was everything. And it just so happened that Lily was only just climbing through the portrait hole when James paraded down the stairs. The common room wasn't nearly empty enough for her liking but James easily ignored anyone who wasn't her.

"You're a prat," she scolded. Her cheeks were bright red from hurrying all the way to the dorm.

"King of prats, terrible person, jerk- yes, yes you're going to hex me and beat my dead in," James waved his empty hand through the air. Some of the students began looking up from whatever they were doing; it was a rare occasion that James Potter didn't defend his actions- no matter how deplorable.

It caught Lily off guard as well. Her eyes narrowed in suspicion but that didn't last long. At that very moment, James opened the box to the dingy ring and fell to one knee.

"You already said yes," he pointed out with a playfully scolding look. Lily jerked slightly, the breath knocking out of her from sheer shock. Her mouth hung open much like James had only minutes before. Very slowly, she nodded her head twice. James let out an uncharacteristically frantic laugh as he pulled out the ring. He threw the old box to the side and polished the ring with a breath and quick rub of his shirt. A couple of older students clapped but most of the students just whispered amongst themselves. It was terribly unromantic and the ring was a little bit too big and it was possibly going to all end in disaster but James couldn't care less.

Disclaimer: Don't own
Note: Please don't be upset with me! Regarding my last story- Everything I wrote after the last chapter was on my old computer which died very suddenly. I don't have the patience to rewrite something I've already written because I write for myself and just happen to post them here. I hope you understand.

The GOOD news! I am considering writing a story around this one-shot and the ~2 years leading up to it. One chapter will be one snippet from one month from September of their 6th year to this chapter here.

What do you think?