A/N Its the night of Lily's birthday...right after she and James made up. Their last day of school is tomorrow They're graduating in this fic!
James had his arms around Lily as they *stargazed* up on top of the astronomy tower.
Lily sighed.
James looked down at her.
"What was that for?"
"Tomorrow is our last official day of school." she said softly.
James leaned in to kiss her and she put her arms around his neck and returned the kiss feverishly.
"Mmm." Lily giggled when they pulled back.
James kissed her softly on each eyelid, traveled down and pecked her lightly on the nose, and once again claimed her lips in a mind searing kiss that neither one of them wanted to be the one to end.
Neither of them had to end it...Sirius did.
"OH JAMES AND LILY LOOK AT EM. MY LITTLE BUDDIES GROWING UP SO FAST!!" Sirius howled from the door to the tower.
Lily and James broke apart quickly and scrambled to their feet.
"Sirius I am so gonna kill you man." James said threateningly.
"Is that a threat mister Potter?" Sirius asked, grinning widely.
James rolled his eyes and took Lily's hand as they walked back to the Gryffindor Common Room.
James plopped down in an armchair by the fire and invited Lily to curl up in his lap.
She grinned and snuggled in close to her boyfriend, taking in his musky scent of aftershave and cologne.
James rested his chin on Lily's head and relaxed his arms around her.
"What are we gonna do after we graduate tomorrow James?" Lily asked concernedly.
James was silent for a moment before he answered.
"I want to be an auror...aside from that I have no idea."
"I almost think that I don't want to work, but thats not possible, since I have to support myself." she mused out loud.
"I might move to Scotland or somewhere where there's more action." James went on slowly.
Lily looked up.
"Scotland?! But James...I...what about...us?" she stammered, her heart in her throat at what he was going to say next.
"I don't know Lily...all I DO know is that I will never leave you." he said reassuringly.
Lily relaxed a little in his arms.
"I wouldn't want to endanger you by making you a Potter...every Potter has been killed at the hands of Voldemort..except me. I wouldn't put you through that. I couldn't." James said to himself.
"I wouldn't care what happens to me. If I died, I would die happy, because I was with you." Lily said softly.
"I couldn't...knowing...oh Lil." James said, rubbing his eyes wearily.
"Who knows, maybe he wouldn't hurt me." she said, playing with his shirt buttons absentmindedly.
"I would like to keep that ON thank you." James said laughing, as both he and Lily noticed that half of his buttons were undone.
Lily giggled and hastily buttoned them back up.
"I think Lily's subconcious made her do that. You know you want him Lily." Sirius said from his corner, laughing loudly.
"Ah shut up Sirius." James said, gently brushing a piece of Lily's hair out of her eyes.
"I'm going to head to bed. I need at least 7 hours of sleep or I am a bear." Lily said with a yawn.
"I've noticed." James said wryly, before he pulled her close for a long oxygen draining kiss.
He tweaked her nose affectionately and gave her a grin.
She smiled back and hurried up the stairs to her room.
The next afternoon, after packing, Lily and the rest of the 7th years all filed down to the Great Hall in their finest robes.
Lily clasped James' hand tightly.
He noticed that she was shaking with nervousness and he put a comforting arm around her shoulders.
"What if I don't graduate?" she asked nervously.
James laughed.
"Top of the class for 7 years...for some reason I think you graduated with honors Lily."
They all sat down and after the opening ceremony, Dumbledore began calling off names of people to come up and receive their diplomas.
"Abbott, Jennifer."
"Bones, Susan"
"Black, Sirius"
Sirius galloped up, thanked Dumbledore 6 times, bowed to the audience and hurried back to his seat, grinning.
They all congratulated him.
"Christie, Aggie"
"Davis, Michelle"
Lily twitched nervously.
"Evans, Lilian."
"Thats you...GO, Sirius said giving her a push."
She smiled and walked up to accept her diploma.
"Lily Evans has had the top scores at Hogwarts for 7 years in a row and was a prefect, and is now Head Girl. We will miss her greatly in coming years." Dumbledore said, smiling.
Lily's eyes filled with tears and she hugged Dumbledore tightly.
He hugged her back gingerly.
"Lupin, Remus"
Remus quickly grabbed his diploma, said a few words of thanks to Dumbledore, and hurried back down to his seat.
"Pettigrew, Peter."
Peter squeaked and tripped over his robes as he went up to get his diploma, and they all laughed.
"Potter, James...the best prankster Hogwarts has ever seen. He gets a special award...most detentions in 7 years at Hogwarts, coming in with 813, just ahead of Mr. Black who got 812."
Sirius grumbled.
"I was the one who got him that extra detention...its not fair. I deserve it to."
Lily giggled.
James grinned and got up to receive his diploma.
"Sirius, man, I couldn't have done it with out ya!" he shouted from the stage.
They all laughed, and Sirius bowed.
They all ignored the rest of the names as they went down the "farewell line" saying goodbye to their teachers.
Lily was sobbing as she said goodbye to Dumbledore and McGonagall and she promised she would keep in touch.
James steered Lily away when they were done, and Dumbledore cleared his throat.
"I now present to you, the group of 4 younsters who made the last 7 years so entertaining.....The Marauders!"
James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter all lined up, grinning, and took a deep bow.
James decided that was the perfect moment to set off their final prank.
"THREE, TWO, ONE!!" he and Sirius shouted...and the teachers chairs all blew up from under them, leaving the teachers singed and disgruntled.
James and Sirius slapped high fives and everyone laughed.
"Ladies and Gentlemen...the class of nineteen hundred and eighty-five."
The crowd applauded uproarously, and the students...er graduates, exited.
2 hours later, while sitting on the Hogwarts Express, Lily was furiously blinking back tears as the train came to a stop.
"Bye Lil." Sirius managed.
Lily threw her arms around him and sobbed into his shoulder.
Sirius put his arms around her comfortingly and patter her back gently as they whispered their goodbyes.
"I'm gonna miss you Sirius Black."
"And I you, Lily Po...er Evans." he replied with a smirk.
Lily kissed him on the cheek quickly.
"Love you Padfoot, you're the best friend a girl could ask for." she said softly.
Sirius smiled sadly and walked out.
Lily hugged Remus just as hard and spent longer talking to him quietly.
"Remus, thanks for everything. You're the best and I will never forget you. I'll send you an owl in the morning." she said softly as he left the train.
He nodded, smiled briefly and left.
Lily even hugged Peter, who looked surprised, but happy.
"Bye Pete. I'll owl you ok?" Lily asked, wiping her tears.
Peter nodded and hopped off the train.
Now came the hard part.
The whole day she had tried to push thoughts of this out of her brain, but here it was.
She rushed into James' arms and cried softly into his shoulder.
"Shhh Lil, its ok. Everything will turn out alright."
"I love you James Potter." Lily said for the first time in all their years together.
James' eyes lit up and he grinned down at the girl he loved more than anything in the world.
"I love you too Lily." he replied.
They clasped hands and walked off the train.
They both hesitated, kissed, promised to owl each other, and walked their separate ways.
Lily, disappointed and not knowing why, hurried down the walk, her chunky high heeled sandals clicking against the sidewalk.
It was raining.
Matches my mood perfectly. Lily thought sourly as she was soaked to the skin.
Even though she wasa wizard, Lily was dressed in the latest muggle fashion: tight, stretchy capri pants, and an emerald green halter top that brought out her eyes.
With about half a block to go, Lily thought she heard someone calling her name.
She whipped around, and searched through the rain for a familiar face.
James was running towards her and she stared at him, stunned.
"Miss me already?" she asked with a small smile once he had reached her.
She brushed her wet hair out of her face and looked up at him.
"Lily...I know what I said before and I really don't want you to get hurt or killed like the rest of my family. But you also said that you were willing to take the risk, and I realized, when you walked away from me, that I couldn't let you just walk out of my life. I love you too much for that." he hesitated. "Look, Lily, I want to be with you. I can't let you go. You're the best thing that has ever happened to me. You make me happy. I can't see myself living without you. And the only way that I can keep you, would be if you would accept to being my wife. Its what I want most in this whole world. To be with you. So Lily Jessica Evans...will you marry me?"
Lily gasped as James took a ring out of his pocket, and bent down on on knee.
"I...oh." Lily said, stunned.
James gave her a half smile but his eyes were worried.
Lily blinked as she stared into his face and thought long and hard about what she wanted in life.
What she wanted was so simple.
She wanted to be with him, nothing more, nothing less.
James now looked thoroughly worried that she was going to say no.
"James, yes. I am willing to take that risk, if it means being with you from now until the end." Lily said softly, eyes shining with love and happy tears.
James slipped the ring on her finger, jumped up, and Lily threw her arms around him and kissed him passionately, and she just knew. She knew that this was the way it was supposed to be.
James had his arms around Lily as they *stargazed* up on top of the astronomy tower.
Lily sighed.
James looked down at her.
"What was that for?"
"Tomorrow is our last official day of school." she said softly.
James leaned in to kiss her and she put her arms around his neck and returned the kiss feverishly.
"Mmm." Lily giggled when they pulled back.
James kissed her softly on each eyelid, traveled down and pecked her lightly on the nose, and once again claimed her lips in a mind searing kiss that neither one of them wanted to be the one to end.
Neither of them had to end it...Sirius did.
"OH JAMES AND LILY LOOK AT EM. MY LITTLE BUDDIES GROWING UP SO FAST!!" Sirius howled from the door to the tower.
Lily and James broke apart quickly and scrambled to their feet.
"Sirius I am so gonna kill you man." James said threateningly.
"Is that a threat mister Potter?" Sirius asked, grinning widely.
James rolled his eyes and took Lily's hand as they walked back to the Gryffindor Common Room.
James plopped down in an armchair by the fire and invited Lily to curl up in his lap.
She grinned and snuggled in close to her boyfriend, taking in his musky scent of aftershave and cologne.
James rested his chin on Lily's head and relaxed his arms around her.
"What are we gonna do after we graduate tomorrow James?" Lily asked concernedly.
James was silent for a moment before he answered.
"I want to be an auror...aside from that I have no idea."
"I almost think that I don't want to work, but thats not possible, since I have to support myself." she mused out loud.
"I might move to Scotland or somewhere where there's more action." James went on slowly.
Lily looked up.
"Scotland?! But James...I...what about...us?" she stammered, her heart in her throat at what he was going to say next.
"I don't know Lily...all I DO know is that I will never leave you." he said reassuringly.
Lily relaxed a little in his arms.
"I wouldn't want to endanger you by making you a Potter...every Potter has been killed at the hands of Voldemort..except me. I wouldn't put you through that. I couldn't." James said to himself.
"I wouldn't care what happens to me. If I died, I would die happy, because I was with you." Lily said softly.
"I couldn't...knowing...oh Lil." James said, rubbing his eyes wearily.
"Who knows, maybe he wouldn't hurt me." she said, playing with his shirt buttons absentmindedly.
"I would like to keep that ON thank you." James said laughing, as both he and Lily noticed that half of his buttons were undone.
Lily giggled and hastily buttoned them back up.
"I think Lily's subconcious made her do that. You know you want him Lily." Sirius said from his corner, laughing loudly.
"Ah shut up Sirius." James said, gently brushing a piece of Lily's hair out of her eyes.
"I'm going to head to bed. I need at least 7 hours of sleep or I am a bear." Lily said with a yawn.
"I've noticed." James said wryly, before he pulled her close for a long oxygen draining kiss.
He tweaked her nose affectionately and gave her a grin.
She smiled back and hurried up the stairs to her room.
The next afternoon, after packing, Lily and the rest of the 7th years all filed down to the Great Hall in their finest robes.
Lily clasped James' hand tightly.
He noticed that she was shaking with nervousness and he put a comforting arm around her shoulders.
"What if I don't graduate?" she asked nervously.
James laughed.
"Top of the class for 7 years...for some reason I think you graduated with honors Lily."
They all sat down and after the opening ceremony, Dumbledore began calling off names of people to come up and receive their diplomas.
"Abbott, Jennifer."
"Bones, Susan"
"Black, Sirius"
Sirius galloped up, thanked Dumbledore 6 times, bowed to the audience and hurried back to his seat, grinning.
They all congratulated him.
"Christie, Aggie"
"Davis, Michelle"
Lily twitched nervously.
"Evans, Lilian."
"Thats you...GO, Sirius said giving her a push."
She smiled and walked up to accept her diploma.
"Lily Evans has had the top scores at Hogwarts for 7 years in a row and was a prefect, and is now Head Girl. We will miss her greatly in coming years." Dumbledore said, smiling.
Lily's eyes filled with tears and she hugged Dumbledore tightly.
He hugged her back gingerly.
"Lupin, Remus"
Remus quickly grabbed his diploma, said a few words of thanks to Dumbledore, and hurried back down to his seat.
"Pettigrew, Peter."
Peter squeaked and tripped over his robes as he went up to get his diploma, and they all laughed.
"Potter, James...the best prankster Hogwarts has ever seen. He gets a special award...most detentions in 7 years at Hogwarts, coming in with 813, just ahead of Mr. Black who got 812."
Sirius grumbled.
"I was the one who got him that extra detention...its not fair. I deserve it to."
Lily giggled.
James grinned and got up to receive his diploma.
"Sirius, man, I couldn't have done it with out ya!" he shouted from the stage.
They all laughed, and Sirius bowed.
They all ignored the rest of the names as they went down the "farewell line" saying goodbye to their teachers.
Lily was sobbing as she said goodbye to Dumbledore and McGonagall and she promised she would keep in touch.
James steered Lily away when they were done, and Dumbledore cleared his throat.
"I now present to you, the group of 4 younsters who made the last 7 years so entertaining.....The Marauders!"
James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter all lined up, grinning, and took a deep bow.
James decided that was the perfect moment to set off their final prank.
"THREE, TWO, ONE!!" he and Sirius shouted...and the teachers chairs all blew up from under them, leaving the teachers singed and disgruntled.
James and Sirius slapped high fives and everyone laughed.
"Ladies and Gentlemen...the class of nineteen hundred and eighty-five."
The crowd applauded uproarously, and the students...er graduates, exited.
2 hours later, while sitting on the Hogwarts Express, Lily was furiously blinking back tears as the train came to a stop.
"Bye Lil." Sirius managed.
Lily threw her arms around him and sobbed into his shoulder.
Sirius put his arms around her comfortingly and patter her back gently as they whispered their goodbyes.
"I'm gonna miss you Sirius Black."
"And I you, Lily Po...er Evans." he replied with a smirk.
Lily kissed him on the cheek quickly.
"Love you Padfoot, you're the best friend a girl could ask for." she said softly.
Sirius smiled sadly and walked out.
Lily hugged Remus just as hard and spent longer talking to him quietly.
"Remus, thanks for everything. You're the best and I will never forget you. I'll send you an owl in the morning." she said softly as he left the train.
He nodded, smiled briefly and left.
Lily even hugged Peter, who looked surprised, but happy.
"Bye Pete. I'll owl you ok?" Lily asked, wiping her tears.
Peter nodded and hopped off the train.
Now came the hard part.
The whole day she had tried to push thoughts of this out of her brain, but here it was.
She rushed into James' arms and cried softly into his shoulder.
"Shhh Lil, its ok. Everything will turn out alright."
"I love you James Potter." Lily said for the first time in all their years together.
James' eyes lit up and he grinned down at the girl he loved more than anything in the world.
"I love you too Lily." he replied.
They clasped hands and walked off the train.
They both hesitated, kissed, promised to owl each other, and walked their separate ways.
Lily, disappointed and not knowing why, hurried down the walk, her chunky high heeled sandals clicking against the sidewalk.
It was raining.
Matches my mood perfectly. Lily thought sourly as she was soaked to the skin.
Even though she wasa wizard, Lily was dressed in the latest muggle fashion: tight, stretchy capri pants, and an emerald green halter top that brought out her eyes.
With about half a block to go, Lily thought she heard someone calling her name.
She whipped around, and searched through the rain for a familiar face.
James was running towards her and she stared at him, stunned.
"Miss me already?" she asked with a small smile once he had reached her.
She brushed her wet hair out of her face and looked up at him.
"Lily...I know what I said before and I really don't want you to get hurt or killed like the rest of my family. But you also said that you were willing to take the risk, and I realized, when you walked away from me, that I couldn't let you just walk out of my life. I love you too much for that." he hesitated. "Look, Lily, I want to be with you. I can't let you go. You're the best thing that has ever happened to me. You make me happy. I can't see myself living without you. And the only way that I can keep you, would be if you would accept to being my wife. Its what I want most in this whole world. To be with you. So Lily Jessica Evans...will you marry me?"
Lily gasped as James took a ring out of his pocket, and bent down on on knee.
"I...oh." Lily said, stunned.
James gave her a half smile but his eyes were worried.
Lily blinked as she stared into his face and thought long and hard about what she wanted in life.
What she wanted was so simple.
She wanted to be with him, nothing more, nothing less.
James now looked thoroughly worried that she was going to say no.
"James, yes. I am willing to take that risk, if it means being with you from now until the end." Lily said softly, eyes shining with love and happy tears.
James slipped the ring on her finger, jumped up, and Lily threw her arms around him and kissed him passionately, and she just knew. She knew that this was the way it was supposed to be.