A/N: Jily for my wonderful twin and wife, AJ, as promised because she's amazing. Enjoy, my love.
She doesn't know whether to laugh or cry because he looks so stupid, perching on one knee with a ring in his hand and a worried grin on his face. James Potter, the egotistical prat, is proposing to her with a ring that is the exact shade of her eyes. In the middle of a war. On the floor of the kitchen. During breakfast.
"The pancakes are burning," she warns. He rolls his eyes but she can see the cracks in his brave facade. James Potter is nervous.
"That's not what I asked, Lils," James said with a forced laugh.
"James-" Lily begins and her voice cracks. "James, I can't."
Her heart breaks and she knows he understands. She loves him but there's a war and they keep losing people to the unforgivable curses and men in Death Eater masks. This isn't the time to get married but she wants to, oh how she wants to. It takes all the self-control she has to not fling herself into his arms and kiss him till oblivion.
"Lily, I know it's not the time," he says desperately, running a hand through his already messy hair and tangling it further. "But we could die any minute now. I don't want to die without marrying you."
He looks so defeated, nothing like the cocky boy who asked her out one hundred and fifty-three times before she broke down and asked him out instead. He looks like the tired boy in the infirmary, sending out owls to plan his parent's funeral. She wonders if she looks like the girl who lost her best friend and family in the same week.
"What if we die?" she asked desperately. "What if we bloody die, James?'
James sighs tiredly, pulling her towards him. She doesn't protest. "Then at least we had the brief time together."
Looking at his face, she already knows that she has lost. "Right now, I don't know if I want to kiss you or shove you off a bridge," she says and grabs the ring, pulling it onto her hand. It fits perfectly, she knew it would, because it's James and he acts careless but he's the kind of boy who knows the size of her ring finger. He would do anything for her. She's just not sure she should let him.
"Can I pick?" he asks cheekily. Lily briefly flirts with the idea of punching him.
"No. Shut up, Potter," she says, pushing him against the wall to kiss him.
James kisses her passionately. "Talking to yourself, love?" he says and then it hits her. She's going to be a Potter too.
"Oh, God," she breathes and he chuckles against her lips.
"How about a celebration, ?" he asks and she grins cheekily.
"Only if you catch me," she says and runs. Behind her, she can hear him huff and begin chasing her with a fond chuckle.
Maybe she isn't making a mistake. Maybe she is. But either way, it'll be worth it to have James by her side.