AN: I realized that I'm more than 100 pages ahead of you guys in this story, and that's a solid eleven chapters, so you're getting a double update this weekend! Both because I don't need to be that far ahead, and because you deserve to have this scene in it's entirely without a week interrupting it. I mean, I needed it to be two chapters, otherwise it would be way too long, but you can have both chapters this weekend.

These two chapters were a blast to write and I really hope that you enjoy them!

The next morning, they played badminton. Lily was winning for most of the first half, to the point where she felt confident enough to be cocky about the whole thing, but then James came up from behind and ended up crushing her.

She accused him of cheating, and he told her he managed to win because she was cheering him on.

"I was doing the exact opposite of cheering you on," She pouted, hands on her hips as they went inside for breakfast.

"Well I respond better to trash talk than regular cheering anyway." He shrugged, uncapping his water bottle and taking a swig. Lily thought about reaching over and squeezing the bottom so he would get doused, but then Emma appeared in front of them and coughed.

"I hope you two had a good game." Lily's pout became more pronounced. "I take it you won, James."

"Twice now," He grinned like a prat and Lily scowled at him.

"Good on you," Emma smiled back at him and then pulled out her phone. "Another damn email from Rita-"

"I'm not talking to her." Lily interjected.

"Of course, you're not." Emma waved her comment away and huffed. "She always adds something about 'fears swimming in your eyes' or how Mary and you will probably run off together someday soon."

"I wouldn't discount that last one." Lily shrugged, nabbing James' water bottle and taking a swig.

"Pardon you," James sounded indigent and Lily smirked as she took another drink.

"She's only joking," Emma finally looked up at the two of them and clapped her hands together. Lily didn't bother to correct her. "So, I know today is Sunday, and we have family time on Sunday, and we don't do press, but I'm thinking that we might put all that on hold until after the coronation."

"No." Lily shook her head as she recapped James' water bottle and handed it back to him. "No, we've never done press on Sunday."

"I know that, but I was thinking that we should probably go ahead and get the engagement over and done with so we can stop fielding 'will the wedding happen' questions and move on to 'who will be designing the dress' questions. Also, looking at the timeline of things, it kind of has to happen today anyway, since the wedding is only weeks away."

Lily's eyes had slowly gotten wider and wider during that last sentence. She felt, rather than saw, James turn to look at her. When she didn't say anything, he turned back to Emma.

"You want to do the engagement today?" He asked, and his voice didn't sound as light and joyful as it had a few moments ago, but it also didn't sound like the endless scream into the void that was going on in Lily's head just then.

She had known that this was coming, hadn't she? She had thought that she'd prepared herself better for this.

"The sun is out, it's not freezing- probably because of global warming, but if we're all going to die we might as well enjoy what we can - and not to get too media savvy on you, but if we do it today, we control the rest of the week in terms of news. There will be no more speculation stories, everyone will be reporting on this! And then on Lily's birthday and the wedding and there will be no more wildcards." Lily knew that that was mostly true. They had waited a week, but it was already the twelfth and they did have to get the ball rolling.

And so, before she was done processing the fact that Emma was resigned to die at the hands of global warming, she was nodding her head and shaking herself out of her stupor. "That makes sense." She agreed.

Emma blinked in surprise. "Really? I thought you'd give some argument about how I needed to stay out of it and just let the two of you run the show."

"Are you just handing me arguments now?" Lily asked, trying to smile. Judging by Emma and James' face, she probably hadn't succeeded. "Do you have a plan for this?" She wasn't sure who she was asking. Emma answered.

"No." She said quickly. "I mean, it should be where there are reporters, but other than that, I have no input here. Because it is up to the two of you."

"Could have used more of a heads up," James ran his hand along his jawline and started fiddling with the top of his water bottle. "Is that all the press you were talking about for the day?"

"Yes, we'll do a couple interviews and talk shows later in the week, but for today, just let them see you two get engaged and that will be enough." She nodded, probably so smiley because her job to convince them both that this was a good idea had been greatly simplified by Lily's lack of an argument. She looked down at her phone for a moment. "Should I have a car come around?"

James cleared his throat, "I think we can manage that after we come up with a plan." Lily nodded, in complete agreement.

Emma pressed her lips together and smiled at the two of them. "Alright then, I'll touch base with the two of you this evening." She started to walk away and then turned on her heel, walking backwards now as she spoke to the two of them. "Of course, if you find that you need anything, don't hesitate to ask. I'm here to help the two of you in any way that you need me."

Lily nodded and refrained from telling her that her original plan of making herself scarce was the plan that Lily was going to stick with.

But then Emma was gone, and it was just James and her now.

She clenched her jaw.

"Well that certainly adds a new dynamic to our day," James said, reaching up with his free hand and rubbing it along his jawline. Lily steeled herself and then turned to face him.

"At least you stopped being smug," She crossed her arms over her chest and looked up at him. James raised a brow and then let out a huff.

"I most certainly did not," He started walking down the hall, and Lily followed. "I just completely embarrassed you on the court and by the end of the day, I'll be engaged to a very beautiful woman. I've got loads to be smug about." He turned his head to wink at her and something started burning in her stomach. She almost stopped walking, feeling as though she had been thrown completely off balance.

She blinked at the back of his head.

She quickened her steps so that she was beside him again. "You're incorrigible, you know that?"

"Of course, I do." Still smug. "But it's hard not to be when I'm always right though. And I always win. If you ever beat me at anything, I'm sure you'll be incorrigible as well."

She scoffed and shoved his shoulder. "If I win? I win all the time!" She shoved his shoulder again.

"Hey, careful! I have to propose to you with that arm later."

And that should have made her nervous, but he was acting like she'd actually injured his arm and she couldn't stop the bubbles of laughter from erupting. "Oh stop it, you can use your other arm." Though she was still laughing while she said it and the look that James was giving her only made her laugh more.

"I can't use my left hand- I mean, I know technically I'll use both hands, but this is the one that does the heavy lifting…" He mimed opening a ring box and Lily kept laughing. "I guess they both do the same amount of work, but still. I can't do it one handed, so I still need you to refrain from injuring me."

Lily held onto his arm now to keep herself upright. "Stop it," She said, holding his side as well. "This isn't funny,"

James looked at her with his brows narrowed, "Lily, I'm not the one laughing. I for one, think that this is very serious and don't understand why you've succumb to a fit of giggles." Lily kept laughing and James tossed his arm around her shoulders and started down the hallway.

Lily took a deep breath and was able to calm herself slightly, though her smile got no smaller. "I'm laughing because you're ridiculous."

"You're laughing because you forgot that you lost, actually."

Lily almost swatted him again, "True. I suppose I did forget, but now you've reminded me, and I don't know how I'll say 'yes' to you later if you insist on reminding me."

"I have to remind you though; do you remember how cocky and arrogant you were before our first game? And then again before this game? You created this atmosphere."

Lily clicked her tongue and shook her head. "I'm a wonderful sport and would not at all tease you if you were to lose. I'd be gracious-"

"Liar." James interrupted.

"James Potter," Lily put a hand on her hip and glared up at him.

"Lily Evans," He mimicked, his own hand on his hip, his water bottle sticking out at a strange angle.

"You can't call me a liar."

"I can if you're lying."

"I'm not lying."

"Now you're double lying." He let his arm fall from around her shoulders and continued down the hall. "Now go and change into something nice. We've got an engagement to stage."

Lily started after him for a moment, not saying anything. Before he reached the end of the hallway, he stopped and turned around, his arms crossed over his chest now.

"What? Nothing to say?" He teased.

She stayed quiet for a moment. "Thank you."

James narrowed his brow. "For what?"

Lily shuffled from one foot to the other. "For being my friend." She shrugged one of her shoulders. "For teasing me and giving me a hard time and beating me at badminton even though I'm a horrid loser."

"That is what friends are for," James winked.

And even though that was the same word that she had used, it landed too softly, and Lily's smile felt for a fraction of a second. If James noticed, he didn't say anything.

oOo

Mary was in her room when she got there, and she screamed when Lily told her what was happening. And then she called Reginald and screamed some more. And then he screamed too, but Lily thought that was mainly because she had hurt his ear with her screaming.

Mary had refused to calm down despite Lily's many pleas, and so she got dressed to get engaged with Mary twirling around her on her tiptoes and critiquing everything she tried to pull out of her closet.

"He really likes your eyes, Lily. Wear something that makes them even more striking than they are."

Lily narrowed her eyes, "How do you know he likes my eyes?"

Mary shrugged, "James and I have secret meetings about you."

"No, you don't."

"Reggie comes to them too. Gran was there the other day."

"Stop," Lily shook her head and turned back to her clothes. She rarely picked out her clothes for special events anymore, so she really didn't know what she was doing. "I'm stressing out, Mary." She fingered a few of her gowns, chewing on her tongue as she thought of all the reasons that they were wrong for today. She'd just been in a yellow dress, she'd just been in a blue dress, she couldn't wear red- why did she even own that dress?

"I know," Mary's voice changed, and Lily knew that she was done teasing her. She wished that she wasn't, she wished things could just be light and happy and silly between them like normal. "Here, I'll help you."

"You will not," Lily huffed, though she turned away from her clothes. "You're just going to tell me to wear my pajamas and six-inch heels and then pull out a WWE belt from who knows where-"

"Lily," Mary's eyes were wide. "Take a breath and go sit down. I'll pick out your clothes for you." Lily bit the tip of her tongue again and took a breath. Mary looked actually a little worried. Had she been harsher than she'd meant to? Was her face redder than it felt?

She took another breath and walked over to her bed. "I was laughing about this not an hour ago."

"When you were with, James?"

"Yes." Lily nodded. Why wasn't she nervous about all this stuff when she was with him? Why didn't she seem to care about the fact that she was getting married when she was with James?

"So, I take it you finally beat him then?"

Mary was distracting her. Lily knew this. But she also got distracted.

"No." She spit out. "He beat me again. And by more than one point this time." Mary laughed and looked over her shoulder at her.

"And he got you to laugh afterward? You remember that one time when you pushed me into a pool and then stormed out of my backyard because I beat you at tic-tac-toe?"

"You cheated!" Lily threw her hands in the air and then caught herself. "I really need to get over this. I'm going to be in charge of a country soon." She bit her lip.

"I love that that doesn't make you as nervous as getting married does."

"I'm good at my job." Lily shrugged. "I mean, there are parts that I don't like, and parts that I need to get better at, but overall, I'm good at it. However, I think I'm too young to be getting married."

Mary shrugged. "My parents were younger than you when they got married."

"Yes," Lily lamented. "But your parents were actual soulmates."

"Maybe James is your soulmate." Mary was looking at the dresses again.

Lily bit her lip. "Don't you think I'd know if he was though?"

"No. My mum didn't talk to my dad for three weeks after they met."

"She was afraid of clowns." Lily said like it was obvious.

"Yeah, and you're afraid of James."

Lily snorted. "I am not afraid of James."

"No, you're not. You're afraid of the idea of James."

"That doesn't make any sense."

"Yeah, it does."

Lily rolled her eyes.

"Here you go," Mary pulled out a knee-length, long sleeved, cream colored dress and Lily cocked her head to the side.

"With my green coat?"

"No, the light purple one." Mary was smiling now. "I'm so good at this. Why don't you let me pick out your clothes all the time?"

Lily took in a breath and didn't bother answering her, she knew why not.

"I think that will do." Lily pushed herself off the couch and held her hand out.

oOo

James looked absolutely stunning when Lily walked into the entrance hall. She almost tripped out of surprise.

Of course, James had always been attractive. Mary had thought Lily picked him because he was the most attractive. She hadn't, but he was. Attractive that is. The messy hair and the glasses and the crooked grin just worked for him.

And then there was his eyes. And his jaw. And his nose- could a nose be attractive?

And now he had his hair styled, a fancy coat and a scarf. He looked like he just stepped out of a Hallmark movie.

Lily was a big fan of Hallmark movies.

She cleared her throat and he turned around, his eyes widening when he saw her. She brushed her hair behind her ear self-consciously and then wondered why she was being self-conscious around James. "Well don't you look dapper?" She grinned, forcing herself to act normal. This was a fake engagement. Well actually it wasn't, it was a real engagement, but it was an arranged one. One with no feelings.

James gave her that crooked grin of his and her heart sputtered for a moment.

Okay, there were some feelings, but she wasn't sure what they were or what they meant. "I was about to tell you that you look like a princess." He chuckled. "But of course, you do, because you are a princess."

"I am." Lily nodded. "And I know I look amazing, Mary already told me." He laughed and she did a half spin, because she would probably fall if she did a full spin. James had his hand out, looking as though he were ready to catch her. She swatted it away. "I'm not going to fall."

He grabbed her hand. "I think you just jinxed yourself. I better keep this just in case."

She rolled her eyes, but she did like holding his hand, so she wasn't actually upset about it. "I suppose that's fine."

"Oh, is it?" James started leading them to the doors and Lily shrugged.

"I mean, you're not wrong. I did jinx myself. It was not smart to just flat out say that I wasn't going to fall."

"Sometimes I forget that you know how to admit when you're wrong."

"I wasn't wrong," Lily scoffed. "I never disagreed with you, I agreed with you."

"Well then I didn't know you knew how to do that."

She sighed dramatically, "Oh James, stop being so contrary."

He shook his head and started laughing. "Alright, fine. I'll just tell you that you look very pretty, like I was trying to before you told me that you already know that you look amazing."

Lily clicked her tongue, "That doesn't sound like you telling me that I'm pretty but thank you I guess." James squeezed her hand.

"Are you nervous?"

She pursed her lips and glanced over at him. "Of course, I am. What gave it away?"

"You're acting funny."

"I was being sarcastic."

He smiled at her.

"I like your hair. I didn't know that it knew how to do that." She echoed.

He kept smiling. "It won't last long. We've got two hours tops, and then it'll be a mess again."

Lily nodded. "I like it when it's a mess too."

"Very funny."

"I'm not joking, now."

"No, I meant you're acting very funny."

"I've told you how I feel about your hair before."

"Yes, but- okay. Let's just get in the car, yes?"

Lily nodded and wondered if she really was acting weird, or if he was nervous. Perhaps it was both.

Moody held the door open for both of them and Lily slid in, James settling in beside her.

"So, where are we going? Or is that a funny thing to ask?" She clasped her hands in her lap. None of this felt real. It was like she was just pretending, like it wouldn't make a real difference to her one way or the other.

She knew that wasn't true, she knew that this wasn't for pretend, but she couldn't convince herself of that. Because this was ridiculous. It was the twenty first century. People didn't get married for political reasons unless that's what they wanted to do. No one could have their job held hostage by parliament unless they agreed to get married. That sounded like the plot to a Disney movie, not something that could actually happen.

"No," James reached up to run a hand through his hair and then froze, remembering that he had it styled. "It's not a funny thing to ask. We're going to Fratelli Gemelli."

Lily nodded. She had been to the Italian restaurant before. It was one of those places that you had to have a reservation for months in advance. "You know 'Fratelli Gemelli' means 'twin brothers' right?"

"Yes," James nodded. "It only sounds good in Italian. But it's a nice place and they're setting up a private room that runs parallel to the street. It'll be a nice photo for the public."

"Do you think that the men who started the shop were actually twins?" Lily asked, turning to look out the window. It was snowing. How strange. It hadn't snowed since before Christmas.

James was looking at her, she could tell, but she kept looking out the window. "It's snowing," She said quietly.

"Yeah," James' voice was quiet as well. "I don't know who started the restaurant."

They were quiet and James started to tap his knee up and down. Lily wondered how she would feel if this was real. She looked over at James, who was staring down at his hands, his brow furrowed. What if she was in love with this man, and not just pretending for the cameras? What if he had spent weeks planning all this out? Would she know that he was going to purpose? Would he have asked her Gran for permission? Called her mum maybe?

She would have thought the snow falling from the sky romantic. She wouldn't have liked that it was public.

But it wasn't real. He hadn't even met her mum. She hadn't met his parents either.

Lily bit down on her tongue. "What are your parents like?" She blurted out, and James' leg stopped tapping and he turned to look at her. His eyes were wide. "There's just a lot I still don't know about you. We're getting engaged, I feel like I should have met them." She shrugged and then felt the desire to sink back into the seat.

James cleared his throat. "You'll meet them soon." He reached his hand up again and this time Lily caught it.

"I'm not sure styling your hair was a good call."

"I am going to ruin it." He agreed. "They're nice. They'll like you."

"That's not a lot of information."

"Tell me about your mum," He countered.

"She's… difficult." She offered.

"Mum's been arrested during five different protests."

"My mum has been married to about five different people." James let out a breath.

"So, you meant a different kind of difficult." Lily nodded.

"I suppose it was only three people, but still. She was married to Petunia's dad for a year, and then my dad in secret for almost two years, and then a man named Adam for almost seven years, and now she's with Petunia's dad again." Lily didn't like talking about this, but she also didn't like James not knowing why she didn't like talking about it.

"That's a lot of change for two little girls."

Lily shrugged. "Adam was nice, but I don't remember much about him. He was in the army so we didn't see him much. Mum started up again with Petunia's dad, David, a couple years before I found out that I was a princess."

"Ah," James nodded, and Lily wasn't sure how she felt about the fact that he sounded as though he understood where she was going with this.

"So now I live here, and they all live back in Cokesworth, and I don't really know David and my mum talks to Petunia almost every day and she doesn't answer most of my calls. She emails me." Her eyes started stinging. "It's like she wanted a do over and just pushed me out of the picture."

James reached for her hand and wrapped it in his own.

The car was winding through Main Street now, and she knew that they only had a few minutes before they reached the restaurant.

"I know that you didn't want to share that with me a few days ago," James said, and Lily squeezed his hand. "So, thank you for trusting me with that." There was more, there was so much more, but now wasn't the time to start all that. "I'm sorry that they made you feel like that."

Lily shook her head and forced herself to smile. "I think this is where we make a joke or else, I'll start crying. I don't know why I blurted that out now. I just-" She shook her head again and clenched her jaw. "I don't know."

"You want us to know each other." James offered, which was true. She was pretty sure that was what had prompted her to ask him about his parents. She just wasn't sure why she then word vomited about her own. Though knowing someone generally means allowing them to know you as well. "Can I ask you a question about Mary?"

Lily nodded. Questions about Mary seemed safe.

"She said something about being in school. Is she taking classes online or somewhere nearby?"

That was definitely a safe question. Her smile softened. "No, Mary is simply the greatest friend in the world, so she took the semester off so that she could be here with me for all of this. I told her that she didn't have to of course, but then she said that she wasn't even doing it for me, she just wasn't of a mind to miss so many balls."

James laughed. "And Reginald is a real person?"

"He'll be here next weekend for my birthday party and then you'll wish he wasn't a real person because the two of them are sickeningly in love with one another."

The car stopped.

Lily looked out the window. The streets weren't crowded by any means, the weather had been fine this morning when they had been running around on the court, but the wind had picked up since then, and the snow was coming down a bit faster now. January was not a time for window shopping.

James took a deep breath and Lily squeezed his hand again. "There's no need to be so nervous," She grinned, though her heart was beating quickly in her chest. "I'm going to say 'yes,'"

"Way to spoil it for me," James teased, but it was half-hearted, and he was back to looking at his shoes. She tugged on his hand and he turned to look at her.

"You don't have to do this," She reminded him. "We can go back to the house if you want. I'm not going to make you follow through with this if you've changed your mind." A lot had happened since she'd last asked him if he still wanted to do this, and she thought it would be fair if he had changed his mind, all his joking aside.

He narrowed his eyes slightly and looked at her for an agonizingly long minute. She started chewing on her lip, thinking that perhaps he was just trying to come up with the right wording to let her down. Her heart thumped painfully.

"Lily," His voice was a bit rough now and Lily had to force her gaze to meet his again. She could already feel the tears forming and willed them to keep their distance. She had no reason to cry other than frustration anyway. Finding someone new at this point would be very difficult.

"Lily," He repeated, and she realized that she had looked away again. She looked back up at him and pressed her lips together. "I'm not going anywhere."

There was a weight to his words that she hadn't expected, and it meant something to her that she wasn't ready for. She blinked quickly and looked down at their hands, determined to keep from crying.

"Alright," She said, knowing her voice gave her away but pretending that it didn't. "I just wanted to check. I mean, I've told you before that I don't want you to feel like you have to-"

"I heard you the first time. If you still want me here, then I'm not going anywhere."

She was sure that if he wasn't holding her hand, it would be shaking. She had her other hand buried in the pocket of her coat. "Thank you," She nodded. "I do want you here."

When she looked up at him, he was smiling. "I know, I heard you the first time."

She squeezed his hand this time to tell him to stop teasing her, but she didn't mean it. "Alright, then. Now that we've got that straightened out, let's get this show on the road."

"Wait." Lily looked out the window, Moody was standing with his back to the door, watching the street and waiting for them to come out of the car.

"What?" Lily asked, turning back.

"What are we going to do after I propose?"

Lily blinked, "What?"

"What is our reaction going to be, what is going to come next?"

She started to shrug her shoulders but then she caught onto what he was trying to ask without actually asking. "I don't want to kiss you in front of a bunch of cameras, if that's what you're asking." And all the nerves and anxiety she'd been feeling thus far fused into one giant feeling of discomfort and she was sure that her voice sounded as though she'd just inhaled helium. She certainly felt like she was lacking some oxygen.

"Alright, Emma just mentioned-"

"Emma didn't mention anything about kissing."

James raised his brow. "You do know that we're going to have to kiss at our wedding, right?"

"Yes, but there won't be any press there." Lily was probably squeezing his hand too tightly, but he didn't say anything about it. "And this is entirely for the press and the public. We're staging this for them, I'm not going to kiss you for them."

Something about his smile turned mischievous. "Oh? And what do your qualifiers mean? What would you kiss me for?"

Lily opened her mouth, but then realized that she didn't want to dignify his jesting with a response. She just rolled her eyes and started to open her door. Moody quickly opened it the rest of the way and held out his hand to help her out of the car.

"I was starting to think you two weren't going to come out and that I had driven all the way out here for nothing."

"Sorry about the wait." She said, taking a deep breath of the crisp cold hair and looking up into the sky so that the snowflakes could melt on her cheeks. She had never minded the cold. Though the wind on her bare legs wasn't fantastic.

"Not a problem, your highness." He had a look on his face that Lily didn't understand, but she had enough on her mind at the moment, so she didn't ask what he was thinking. It was probably something about her, and she didn't want to hear it just then.

James offered her his arm and then they were heading into the restaurant.

AN: Don't forget to leave a review!