Wasn't James just here?" asked Alice, looking up from a book she was reading. Her face wasn't very surprised; she just looked very, very tired.
"He was," she spat, frustrated. Alice's eyes widened at her friend's angriness. Alice patted the couch, indicating for Lily to sit down next to her. Lily stared at it for a moment, as if she thought that was going to bring her more anger. She clenched her teeth and sat down.
"Okay, let's settle this in a more mature and reasonable way—"
"I am being reasonable!" Lily exclaimed, throwing her arms in the air. Alice placed her hands on both of them and slowly pulled them down. Alice eyes her worriedly and looked into the hallway across from the couch.
"Frank is working tomorrow—please don't wake him up. He's hell when he's cranky." Alice said barely more than a whisper. She then quickly added, "I'm sure he wouldn't be very happy to find that you are the one making the noise either, being here at ten o' clock at night. Now, tell me what happened."
Lily breathed in slowly and deeply, glanced around the luxurious decorated room—the walls were painted a light tan; the couches were wool and slightly darker than the walls. Dark green and brown pillows were assorted on the ends of each couch. A large coffee table was seated in front of them with lilies placed in a Chinese vase. The oak wood flooring shined in the lighting and the large windows showed a beautiful view of the small town they lived in.
"Okay, so Sirius, James, Peter, Remus, and I were in the Three Broomsticks fancying a few glasses of firewhiskys. Then, a few Death Eaters came in, went out the back way to get into Diagon Alley for some reason. Remus, Sirius, and Peter followed. James stayed back, told me to stay—I said no. I followed James into Diagon Alley. He was made that they got away and that he couldn't find his mates. I reckoned that they went into Knockturn Alley and he said that there was no way in hell that he was going to let me go in there, and now here I sit."
Alice didn't say anything. Her hand was cupped around her neck and she was thinking. "This isn't a mystery. It just shows that he doesn't think I can take care of myself."
"Or that he doesn't want anything to happen to you,"
Lily shrugged.
"Think about Lily. He just got back from an Order mission—"
"He said nothing happened there. That they were just spying on giants—"
"—Do you honestly think he would really tell you the truth if something horrible happened? He knows you won't want to hear it."
Lily hadn't realized that, but it still didn't decrease the amount of anger that was swelled up in her body. She stuttered for a few moments, then finally found words to speak. "If he doesn't want issues like this to happen then he better start being honest with me."
"You're still going to make a big deal about this, aren't you?"
"Yes. I. Am."
. . .oOo. . .
Lily paced back and forth as she waited for James to come home. Did she want to make a big commotion about what happened? She was mad—definitely—but she just wanted make the point across that she could take care of herself.
She walked into the kitchen and leaned against the counter. She thought then, where would he apparate to? She wanted to be there waiting for him the moment he came into their apartment—like in the old movies she used to watch with her mum.
A tree branch banged against the window. That was odd. She never realized that the tree next to their apartment building could reach the apartment's window. Lily drew her wand and just stared at the window, expecting for something to happen.
Crack!
James started laughing and said, "There's a huge storm out there."
"I can see that," she said stiffly, nodding towards the window.
James tilted his head to the side and went to sit on the hand-me-down couch they had retrieved from his parents' house when they were moved to St. Mungos.
"Are you okay?"
"Er—no." she knew she sounded lame. It was completely noticeable. James only shrugged and patted the couch like Alice had done. Lily grimaced and sat down next to him, crossing her legs and arms and leaned against the couch.
There was something different about him. Maybe it was the shine in his eyes? Maybe it was the way he couldn't help but smile? Was it the way his whole face was just brightened—glowing with anxiety? The way his glasses were just a little crooked, hanging more towards the right?
"Er . . ." she said awkwardly, shifting her weight to the right and then switching her legs—crossing her left leg over her right. "Um . . . are you not telling me everything about your trip to Albania? Your 'mission?'"
His smile faded, turning into a grimace. He bit his lip very quickly, and said these few words in a slur, "No—butIknewyouwouldn'twanttoknoweverything,"
Lily's eyes knitted together. "What? Didn't catch that,"
He took a deep breath, slowly exhaled and began. "No . . . but I knew you would want to know everything. You would be worried—and I didn't want you to be." He paused and twirled his wand in his hand, then looked into Lily's face. "I've seen so many people die, Lily! It hurts me so badly! I—you—"
Lily's face twisted up in frustration. He could've said all of this in the beginning—she never wanted him to ever lie to her. "You could've said all of this yesterday! Don't think I don't want to hear it—I'm in the same boat as you, James. I've read about so many deaths in the Daily Prophet. Don't you think I'm not scared either—because I am,"
She breathed in air quickly and continued. "I don't want you to lie to me—I don't lie to you. You might've thought that you were protecting me tonight—or even not telling me the truth—but you weren't. I'm a muggleborn, James. Don't you forget that. I am who I am, and Voldemort knows that. He will find me or any other muggleborn and attempt to kill them—I'm in the Order and this is what I'm against. Don't try to protect me anymore."
He looked into her eyes for the briefest moment and sighed deeply. James seemed as if he was on the verge of tears. "Someone died in Diagon Alley tonight—and I could've saved her, Lily. I was there when it happened. Peter was placed under the Tarantallegra curse—there was no time to help him. Remus was knocked out and Sirius was dueling both of them—Mulciber and Lestrange. Mulciber disapparated only at least five feet away from the spot where he had been dueling Sirius and killed an old lady with a loose curse . . ."
Lily placed her hand on his shoulder. Good, they were getting somewhere.
"I don't want you to leave me, Lily,"
Lily closed her eyes and shook her head slowly. "What are you trying to say?"
"Will you marry me?"
A/N: How's that for a proposal? I know it's not very romantic, but I figure in the first war there weren't much time for romantic moments so . . . and I figured this is probably what kind of proposal they had.
I think this is a short chapter, but it is one of my favorites for some reason. I think it might be because it shows—again—that not all couples are perfect, Lily's hot headedness, James's carelessness for some things—but, he was mostly trying to protect her about the 'mission.' (I really didn't know what to call the 'mission'. Haha, its kind of lame).
Haha I feel so out of shape. Yesterday I had gym and we did the fifty meter dash for gym class—it was really easy and I love sprinting, even though I'm not very athletic but I am fast—but then we had to hustle to our gym teacher, but we really didn't, and then when we got back into the gym he made us do—well, I don't play basketball or track but I think they're called suicides?—to 'teach us' to hustle. No my legs, stomach muscles, and for some reason my arms all hurt (probably from all of the books I had to carry yesterday. We had all of our classes in the morning. Basically my whole desk and locker were in my arms.)
I'm going to stop whining now. REVIEW!
~ChuddleyCanons~
