The sun was setting on the last day of school at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, casting a pinkish glow on the grounds, and turning the clouds into a kaleidoscope of reds, pinks, yellows, purples, and blues. The scene was silent, as most of the students were in their common rooms preparing to go home in the morning.
But at the top of the Astronomy tower, wrapped in each others arms, stood a young witch and wizard, the former resting her head against the latter's shoulder, her arms wrapped around his middle. He in turn was running his hands through her thick, dark red hair, his lips resting against her forehead.
The scene was so perfectly surreal that it might have come straight out of a romance book, but the emotions inside both figures were much more complicated.
The girl felt that the moment would end too quickly, and then she would be alone...she didn't want to let go, for fear that he would take it to mean she knew this was goodbye. She wanted this to be forever: for him to be with her for the rest of their lives, but how did she tell him that if she had not already? She'd done everything in her power to show him that he was all that mattered to her, and that she loved him with all of her heart, but he had never really talked about the future much. She had often wondered if maybe he planned to break up with her, but had just been too sweet to say it...but she had never let that thought linger. She just couldn't believe they would be anything but forever...they should be forever.
The boy, however, was thinking just about the same thing. What if she planned on calling it off, and had only wanted it to last her time at school. They had been together for nearly four years now, and not once had she brought up the subject of marriage or their future. He wondered how real it was for her, because for him...she was life itself. She meant more to him than anything or anyone else, and he did not know how it would be possible to live without her. He had been in love with her for so long that being without her was unthinkable...but would telling her that right now be too sudden? He had never been one to speak his mind just whenever he felt the urge...he tended to think things through for some time before even bringing up the subject, which, he supposed, could be why he had never spoken to her about their future.
The silence was calm and perfect, but it was also tense, as if waiting to be pierced suddenly to bring the couple trapped within it back to reality. They both knew it could not last forever, but neither wanted to be the one to actually end it.
Whether she wanted to or not, however, the girl broke the silence with a small whisper, "Lysander, we should be forever."
Her words hung in the air for a moment, as he tried to absorb her words, so shocked by their message that he realized he had no idea how to respond to them.
She pulled back enough to look him in the eyes, holding both his hands in both of hers, trying to gage his reaction. She had surprised herself with what had come out when she had meant to simply say, "I love you," but his face showed he was speechless. Should she not have spoken?
His mouth opened slightly, his mind trying to rush a reply that met its approval to his voice box. He was almost scared to speak, not quite sure what would come out when he did, but it seemed his instincts were going through with whatever they were used to.
"Lily, I love you more than you know..." that was when he realized he was on the verge of tears. He just could not let go of her without her knowing, "I want us to be forever...I don't know what I'd do without you."
She was breathless. He had just silenced her worst fear, and she didn't even know what to say about it. But she was very different from him, and her mind did not care how well-thought-out the words were, she just had to let people know what she was thinking, when she was thinking it.
"Lysander...oh gosh, I love you so much..." she was drawing breaths so quickly she barely had time to let them out, trying to calm her racing heart. It was time for her to go for it, she knew. If she rethought it now, she would never try it again, "We should get married."
He gasped, then froze, looking a cross between stunned and awestruck. She had just told him what he had wanted to tell her for such a long time, he could not even remember the first time it had crossed his mind. When that thought crossed his mind, he did not even need to think it out, his heart knew what he needed to say, if only because it had been held back for such a long time.
"No," he said, shaking his head as he met her pleading look.
Her face drained of color and a look of the deepest pain crossed her face, and her beautiful, bright green eyes filled with tears that seemed moments from overflowing down her face. It hurt him to see it, and he knew that the tears that had been threatening to fall for quite a while were beginning to come to his dark blue eyes. His throat was tight, and he prayed the words would not fail him now, of all times.
He swallowed hard, forcing back the tears and said, "Lily Luna Potter, marry me."
A sound like a sigh left her lips, and the next thing he knew, she was wrapped around his torso, her lips all over his face before finally settling on his own.
He had always been fascinated by the way the two of them always fit together so perfectly, and this time was no different. No, he would never regret this.
A few minutes passed before she released his lips, and all he could do was murmur, "Was that a yes?"
She sighed happily, brushing back his jagged-cut white-blonde hair softly, "Could you possibly take it as anything else?"