James had taken hold of her hand, leading the way down a rickety set of stairs and onto the shore of the lake. Twilight had just begun to fall and his wand was raised, enveloping them in a white glow. Lily had no idea where they were and where they were going, and while she liked to think she had a nice sense of adventure, sometimes it was nice to have a plan. Plans, however, were quite unlikely to happen when James insisted on being in charge of the evening. They reached a weeping willow, it's branches thick as a curtain, and James pulled back the leafy door and motioned for Lily to steps inside. She frowned uncertainly at him for a moment before she passed beneath the branches and gasped once she was inside. The trunk of the tree was wrapped in fairy lights that sparkled and shifted and glowed. Floating bubbles wandered through the air above her, pink and green and orange and entirely beautiful. The willow was alive with magic, the stars just barely visible somewhere far overhead.
"It's beautiful," Lily breathed, turning to kiss James and stopping, hands pressed to her mouth when she saw him. He had entered the willow ring as well, only now he was down on one knee, holding a ring between his fingers that sparkled in the shifting lights.
"Lily," James looked nervous for half a second, "on the day you were born, all of the angels watching must have realized that they'd witnessed the birth of the most beautiful girl in the world. And on the day I was born, they realized they'd seen the birth of the world's greatest Quidditch player."
Lily snorted and would have thumped him on the head if he was not genuinely trying to be charming. She let him continue.
"And then we ran across each other, and the angels said to each other "Bloody hell, they're meant to be, I'm sure of it.""
The idea of angels swearing seemed a bit of a stretch to Lily, but she made no vocal argument about the matter.
"We didn't get along at first, mostly because I was an idiot, but I truly have loved you from the start, and I don't want to spend another day without you. Marry me, Lily Evans?"
Lily feigned thought for half a moment, watching James squirm, ring in hand.
"Absolutely."
