Disclaimer: I own nada! ;)
James Potter had always had bad timing, whether it was a small and insignificant moment, or something on a larger scale.
The bad timing wasn't something he chose, just something he had to live with.
It wasn't his fault he only remembered that it was the expiry date of the Flaming Fireworks stashed under his bed halfway through his end of first year DADA exam. It was common knowledge that when the fireworks reached their expiry date, they would explode at any given time. What was he supposed to do, leave them in his dorm room to set his bed - along with all his belongings - alight? Of course he'd had to run out of the hall 20 minutes before the exam had finished! What if the fire had spread all the way through Gryffindor tower? Luckily, he was able to deactivate them before any damage had been done, but better safe than sorry, right? He'd prevented a disaster. Besides, he'd passed his exam with flying colours.
However, Professor McGonagall hadn't seen it that way. Due to his departure that had disrupted his fellow students, his crashing through the castle 'like a stampede of elephants!', and "accidentally" knocking Filch over Mrs Norris and down a flight of stairs, he'd lost Gryffindor 50 points, and consequently, the cup. He had not been too popular that night in Gryffindor tower.
And how was he supposed to know that his first kiss would be at his Uncle's funeral? It wasn't like Claire Rosley had warned him that halfway through the service she would sneak her hand onto his thigh and tighten her grip as she leaned over and pressed her lips against his. It's not like he could stop and yell at her! They were at a funeral, for Merlin's sake.
But his dad had been furious, calling him rude and disrespectful.
And all right, so he probably shouldn't have asked out the girl of his dreams whilst his best mate dangled her best mate upside-down above her head, but she was standing in front of him, green eyes blazing, looking absolutely deadly. Stunning. Too tempting; he couldn't resist! He had just blurted it out.
That stunt had cost him two bloody years spent convincing her that he wasn't a total prat.
It really was no surprise that his marriage proposal was badly-timed.
..
"Crucio."
His veins were burning, fire searing all the way through him. It was everywhere.
Make it stop.
He couldn't breathe. Someone was screaming. Was that him?
He wanted to end the pain. He wanted to die.
Please, make it stop.
It did.
He looked up to see Lily, locked in a duel with his tormentor. He dragged in a ragged breath, pulling himself to his feet.
He had to help her.
A curse flew towards the two of them, but whether it was aimed at Lily or the Death Eater, he wasn't sure. He blocked it, his shield charm causing it to rebound back to whoever had sent it. He looked for an opening to stun Lily's opponent, but they were too close and moving too quickly. He couldn't risk it.
But a distraction might work.
"Oi!" James yelled, non-verbally producing a patronus. It was harmless to the Death Eater, but he wasn't the one who would be inflicting the damage. Sure enough, the hooded figure glanced over at James, ready to block his attack. When he saw the stag, he faltered. Lily got her opening.
"Stupefy!"
The Death Eater fell.
After she'd secured ropes around him, Lily hastily made her way over to James, asking him if he was okay, but before he could reply, she was dragging him to a secluded corner at the edge of the battle, behind a wall.
As he leaned against it, he realised just how exhausted he was.
How long had he been under?
He slid to the floor and Lily knelt down next to him.
"Does anywhere hurt?"
"No," he said. Then, when she raised an eyebrow at him, "Yes... Nowhere in particular. But everywhere aches."
She nodded. She'd been under the Cruciatus before, but this was James' first time.
She transformed one of her hair pins into a beaker and filled it with water.
"Drink this. It'll help."
He did as he was told. She reached out to hold one of his hands and he let her, gladly.
"You scared me there, Potter." She said quietly, squeezing his hand.
"Nothing to worry about. I'm fine. Couldn't leave now I have you, could I?" He assured her, watching her roll her eyes but smile anyway.
"You've 'had' me for 7 months, James. Somehow I don't think it matters to Voldemort who you're dating."
She stood up and walked to the other end of the wall.
"Did you see Sirius? Or Alice? I was with them, but when you fell I tried to get there as fast as I could. Now I can't see them anywhere."
"I'm sure they're fine. They can handle themselves. Besides, Sirius won't let anything happen to Alice- Frank would gut him."
She laughed. "He would, wouldn't he?"
James watched her move along the wall, occasionally peeking over the top to get a view of the fight.
"Lily?"
She looked over at him. "Yeah?"
"Thanks. For coming back for me. I mean, I would have–"
"Of course I came back." She stated, as if it was a given.
"Yeah, well. Thanks anyway."
"You're an idiot."
He grinned. It was times like these, when she risked her life for him and acted as if it wasn't a big deal, that he loved the most. When he loved her the most.
Merlin, he was going to anyway, why not now?
"Lily?" He said, drawing his girlfriend's attention away from the fight around them once again. "Will you marry me?"
Lily stopped searching for their friends and frowned, her eyes darting down to study his face.
"What did you just say?"
He shifted his position so he was kneeling in front of her. "Will you, Lily Evans, marry me?"
He could practically hear her thoughts.
Physical health? Stable. Mental health? Not so much.
Sure enough, looking at him sceptically, she asked, "James, did you hit your head in that fall? Or is this some side effect of the cruci–"
"No. It's not." He interrupted, cutting her off.
She didn't say anything.
Shit.
"Well… I may have knocked my head but whether I did or didn't is irrelevant." He started to ramble, "It wouldn't change anything. I want to marry you. I've wanted to for a while now. Well, since I was eleven. But I mean I started to really consider it as a possibility about a month or so ago. I love you, to put it mildly."
Still nothing.
Double shit.
"Er, well, to be honest, the thought of not being with you makes me physically sick... This wasn't supposed to happen like this. I had a plan. I even practised proposing to Sirius a few times but we gave that up after the lads walked in on us. It was awkward, let me tell you. But that's not what I wanted to say. I had a whole speech written for you, though I can't remember what it said for the life of me now."
Nothing. Not a word. She was just staring at him disbelievingly, mouth hanging open. Was she even blinking?
Triple fucking shit!
"We were meant to go to dinner this Saturday. I was going to take you to Wanda's, that nice little restaurant near your parents' house, where we went last summer. I dragged Padfoot ring shopping with me and we spent hours looking for the right one. And- well, you get the idea. This isn't exactly how I thought it would be. Yeah, I'll shut up now."
"You're mental. Completely, impossibly insane."
Not good.
"'Insane' as in... Adorable?"
"Insane as in crazy."
Pause. Not good at all. "In a good way, or a bad way?"
"Yes."
"Yes?" He frowned. "Yes to what exactly?"
"Both!"
"Both... Crazy in a good way and in a bad way?"
"Merlin's beard, James. Yes, I will marry you, you stupid, insane prat!"
Yes. She'd said yes!
"Well, forgive me for not immediately jumping to that conclusion! You really know how to make a man sweat, Evans; that was bloody terrifying. I must've been kneeling down here for at least two minutes now." His scolding was completely ruined by the ecstatic grin covering his face, which she returned with her own dazzling smile. Relief flooded through him.
She grabbed his hands and pulled him to his feet, wrapping her arms around him and tucking her head underneath his.
"Two minutes isn't that long." She teased.
He laughed lightly, lifting her chin up a little with his fingers, then leaning over to kiss her forehead. "It is when your life's hanging in the balance."
She laughed against his neck. "You're being ridiculously melodramatic. I am sorry about making you wait though; I was kind of taken aback. I wasn't really expecting you to propose, especially right now."
"What, you mean to tell me that a proposal in the midst of a battle against Death Eaters is not romantic? It doesn't turn your legs to jelly and your stomach into a cage of nervous butterflies? I'm a little put-out, to tell you the truth; I was hoping to properly woo you."
"It's not stereotypically romantic, no. But somehow you managed to pull it off Potter. Consider me properly wooed."
"So you will?" He needed confirmation. He could listen to her saying "Yes, I will marry you, you stupid, insane prat!" a thousand times over, and would never get tired of hearing it.
"I will what?" She asked, the grin still firmly in place.
"Do you really want me to ask you again?" He was trying for an exasperated tone, but the sheer happiness flowing through him had made him utterly giddy. He couldn't have pulled off 'exasperated' convincingly if his life depended on it.
"I wouldn't mind if you did." She said, smiling.
"Well, I've changed my mind now anyway, so it doesn't matter." He said, pouting through his grin. "You're too late. And too mean. I'll find another woman to fulfil my needs; one who doesn't tease me constantly and almost give me a heart failure when she doesn't speak for a full 20 seconds as I kneel in front of her and bare my soul, declaring my undying love."
She scoffed. "'Undying love'? You've just threatened to find someone else!"
"Oh, shh."
She kissed his cheek.
"James Potter."
"Yes, Lily Evans?"
"I would love to marry you."
"I should think so!"
"And I hope you would still love to marry me. And were kidding about the finding-another-woman thing. Otherwise I would have to kill you."
"You have no idea how long I've waited to hear you say that. Not the killing me bit. The part about how you would love to marry me." He stroked her hair, his goofy grin only getting bigger.
"I figured. Just out of curiousity, why now? What was it that brought about this spur-of-the-moment proposal? Sort of bad timing, isn't it?"
"Well, I would have waited for the perfect moment, but I could have been waiting forever. And as much as I wish otherwise, there's every chance that we don't have forever. Not as long as I'd like anyway, what with all this going on." He waved around them, bringing them back to their reality. "I just... If I die, I want to go out knowing I had a good life, the best I could have in the time I was given. And the best I could have is you. Wow, this wasn't meant to be so morbid. Or so cheesy. I'm bloody terrible at this, but in all fairness it's my first time."
"Well you didn't do too badly. I agreed to spend the rest of my life with you, didn't I?" She bit her lip, eyes sparkling.
"I guess I'm a natural." He said, smirking arrogantly. There was a time when she had wanted to kill him for that smirk alone, but since they'd been together, she'd confessed to him once that although she still wanted to smack it off his face whenever he did it, she found it somehow endearing at the same time.
Remembering this, the smirk grew wider.
Her eyes narrowed a little.
"Nope, must've been beginner's luck."
He laughed, good-naturedly. "Whatever it was, I'm thankful. Anyway, isn't this the part where you scream with excitement, jump up and down before kissing me passionately?"
"Would you like me to do all that?"
"I wouldn't mind if you did." He said, echoing her earlier words.
"Maybe later, when we're not in a warzone. Would you settle for just a quick kiss for now?"
"I suppose, if I have to. Honestly, the things I put up with for you."
"Aren't you just perfect?" She said sarcastically, but he could tell she was only half joking.
"I am, aren't I?" His usual cockiness was coming back to him.
She rested her hands on his shoulders and he pulled her closer to him, his arms wrapping around her in an embrace. He leaned in to touch his lips to hers, but she beat him to it. For a period of time, it didn't matter that there was a war going on, that a battle was raging mere metres away from the couple. The fact that a madman wanted them dead was unimportant.
It could have been seconds, it could have been hours.
..
After a while, they broke apart, dazed.
She cleared her throat. "Back to the fight then?"
"Yes, dear."
"Shut it, Potter."
..
For what could possibly be the first time in his life, James' bad-timing had ended with only positive consequences.