"Hey Lily!" James said getting up from the couch and greeting his girlfriend as she walked downstairs. Lily smiled and Sirius grinned back at her. Remus kept reading his book in the living room, but he nodded, acknowledging her presence. It was the summer vacation and the four teenagers had graduated from Hogwarts a mere few days ago.
"Good morning, boys. What do you want for breakfast?" She knew the answer before she asked the question. The three boys smiled warmly at Lily as she shook her head, grinning good-naturally, and headed into the kitchen with James. It was her turn to make breakfast and James wanted to help her. In no time at all, the small table was covered with pancakes, bacon, and eggs. The boys ate as fast as they could.
"It's a nice day," James said dropping his fork with a loud clatter. "What do you want to do today?" he asked Lily.
"Let's go to the beach!" Sirius said. James glared at him, but Lily nodded eagerly. Remus nodded as well as he magically washed the dishes.
"Alright then. Let's go. I'll meet you down here in three minutes." Lily dashed upstairs to put on her adorable cherry bikini and red flip-flops. She knew James would love it. Lily pulled a cute, bright red mini shirt on, so she could walk around town without attracting too much attention. She then hurried downstairs where the others were waiting patiently for her.
"You look cute!" James commented. He took her arm in his and walked into the warm sunshine. It was a short walk to the beach. They spent the entire morning there playing in the sand and swimming in the cool ocean.
At one point, Sirius had tried to surf and had ended up losing the surfboard he had rented. The others made sure that they would never let him forget that. It began to drizzle in the late afternoon.
"I love it when it rains in the summer," Lily said spinning circles. "The cool rain and the hot air . . ." James smiled as he pulled on his jeans. He felt around in the pockets.
"We should go," he said glancing meaningfully at Sirius and Remus. "It's getting dark." Lily sighed as Remus bent down to pick up the picnic basket and the blanket. Sirius grabbed the umbrella and the towels off the ground and swung them around his shoulder.
"Okay," Lily said at last squeezing the water out of her hair. Sirius elbowed James hard in the ribs because he was staring at Lily, again. He had a habit of doing that. The walk home was a quiet one. No one said much and the conversations were short and to the point. When they neared the Potter Mansion, James stopped and held Lily back. Sirius and Remus hurried up the path to spy on the two inside the cool house.
"It's so beautiful here," Lily said looking around. You could see the beach from the house, yet it wasn't too close or too far. The sun was setting and the sky was pink and light orange mixed together. As Lily watched the sunset, James pulled a box from his pocket. He took a deep breath. And then another. At last Lily turned towards him.
James kneeled down so that he was on one knee. He opened the box to reveal a beautiful diamond ring inside. There was an emerald, the exact same shade of Lily's bright eyes, glistening in the middle of the sea of diamonds. Lily's eyes grew wide as she gazed at the ring and then to James.
"Lily, I love you and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Will you marry me?" he asked hopefully. Lily's eyes were sparkling more then usual and James realized that this was because she had tears ready to fall.
"Yes James. I would love to be your wife," she said jumping into his arms. He slid the ring carefully onto Lily's forefinger and stood up. He walked over to a small garden bench and pulled her on top of him. Lily leaned against James's chest and kissed him gently. He smiled and kissed her back. After a while, he ran his tongue along her lips, begging for entry into her mouth. Lily let him in. This was the best day of their lives.
"What is taking him so long?" Sirius asked Remus. James had been out of view for the past half hour. "Do you think Lily rejected him and she ran away leaving James here?"
"Nah," Remus said shaking his head firmly. "They'll be back soon enough. Stop worrying about them." Sure enough the door opened thirty-five minutes later.
"There you are! We were wondering where the two of you disappeared to," Sirius said smiling at his friends. James and Lily were holding hands and smiling broadly. In fact, neither Sirius nor Remus had ever seen James so happy in his life. And that was saying something as he was always grinning about something. Usually it was about his pranks or when Lily smiled politely at him, but today it was even more complete then usual.
"She said 'yes,'" James said stating the obvious. Sirius shook his head slowly.
"You're pathetic Prongs." All the same he was so happy, that it was like he was getting married instead of his best friend.