"Hey, hidethespider. Why do you keep uploading new fanfictions before updating the ones you already have runnning?" you may want to ask. I don't know. I always have an idea that I want to finish with the recurring stories (except With every piece of my soul which is on hiatus indefinitely), but sometomes inbetween those moments when I actually do update I have inspiration to write something lighter. So here it is… a one shot, with our favourite pairing (taking up 50% of all my stories here now), yes, you know the drill. James and Lily forever and all that.
She sought him out in the afternoon. She'd had to check quite a few places before locating him without his friends (for once), in the great hall reading the Daily Prophet and sipping coffee.
"Hey there", she said, sitting down beside him. He put the paper down and grinned at her. "Well hello there future mrs Potter and mistress of my heart." Lily couldn't help but blush, despite his cheesyness. He leaned forward to kiss her but she turned her face down to look at her hands. James stopped in his movement, straightned up again and crossed his arms over his chest, scanning her face when she looked up again. "Alright, what is going on?" he demanded, though not pushing her to answer immediately, letting her answer in her own time.
"Are you sure we are doing the right thing?" she asked eventually. "Getting married straight out of school?" James looked perplexed. "What do you mean?" he asked.
Lily shrugged. "I am not sure… It's just… marriage. It's so official, you know?" she said. James' face was unreadable now. "Well, that's kind of the point of marriage", he said sharply. "Are you saying you don't want to?" Lily looked down on her hands again, swirling the Potter heirloom which James had given her the day before, around her left ring finger. James continued. " I mean… If you have doubts about us…" He swallowed. "About me…" He tried so hard to keep his face neutral, not wanting to express how scared he really was. "Then we'll break off the engagement. I don't want you to go along with such a life-altering event if you are not sure it's what you really want."
Lily's eyes shot up again and she frantically shook her head. "No, James. That's not it. I do not have doubts about you, I love you, and my greatest wish is to have a future with you but…" She made a short pause. "There is a war going on. A war in which people like me become a target. Muggleborns. You are a pureblood, James! You can use your name as a shield in this war, but if you'd be nestling yourself up with me you'd become a target too. It would be egotistical of me not to take that into consideration." Tears had started prickling behind her eyes now.
"Is that what this is about?" James asked in shock. "Of course I could sit around in my parents' manor house being served firewhiskey by our houself, like some other purebloods, and occasionally shrug at the regular news of muggleborns being slaughtered every day – but what kind of person would I be then?" James uttered. Lily was for a moment at a loss for words at James' brutal honesty.
"I know you are not like that, James. But sometimes I wish you could be… if only for keeping yourself safe. Maybe I am not right for you in the end. If you married a pureblood witch, you would be safe."
"Yes, I am pureblood! I know, I get it!", James exclaimed. "I'm pureblood, just like most of them", he said the last word with so much disdain in his voice (Lily knew he was talking about the Death Eaters), "but the difference between me and them is that they do whatever they are told, like puppets, while I fight against them because my conscience tells me they are wrong. That's what makes me the person I am. And you, Lily Evans, are the most right thing that has ever happened to me. You are part of the reason I am prepared to be on the fighting side of this war. Like you said, I could sit around doing nothing and not be much affected about what is happening out there, but how could I do that knowing they want a world where you, the love of my life, would not be welcome - or any of your kind. You are just as much of a witch as I am a wizard. You are just as worthy of your magic as I am, and as long as there are people out there thinking otherwise we have to fight against that bigotry. But the point is, Lily, that I would fight them whether I had you or not, and I am prepared to go down for that cause if it makes any difference in the end. If our time is limited I want to spend every remaining moment with you, which is why I want to marry you as soon as we finish Hogwarts", he said earnestly. "So, then… if you have any other reason for not wanting to be with me or for doubting this whole thing then I will let you go without a fuss." He paused for a moment, trying to convey everything he wanted to say with his next words.
"But as I have told you; I am prepared to fight for what I believe is right. With you being the most right thing in my life, if this is the only reason you might want to break this off then I am prepared to fight for you before anything else. I don't care if that makes me a target or a blood traitor, because I'd rather be a blood traitor than be wrong. I'd rather be a target by your side than be safe alone. Do you understand what I am saying, Lily?" he asked, staring intensely into her eyes, from which tears had now started to spill.
"Oh James", she sobbed. "That was so beautiful and I love you so much and I can't believe I ever doubted the 'rightness' of us. Of course I'll marry you. Thanks for making me see sense", she said, leaning forward throwing her arms around him, soaking the part of the shirt which covered his collar bone with her tears. He pulled her close enough to feel the warmness of her reddened face against his skin.
"You do bring out the best in me, James Potter." James started laughing at those words, causing Lily to break away from his embrace. She looked at him in confusion.
James shrugged. "What? I am just happy we have moved on from the times when you used to shout at me, calling me a toe-rag, for bringing out the worst in you", he said, throwing her his trademark grin which she had come to love so much.