Lily felt a bit awkward when they got inside, because she knew that they'd cleared out the front room for them last minute, and that this wasn't the kind of place that you could get last minute reservations for. They were all so polite, but she couldn't help but think that if she worked here and someone had called in like James or Emma had, she would be annoyed.

There was one table set in front of a large fireplace. The window overlooking the street was across from them, and she thought back to the Hallmark movies she and Mary had spent all of the previous month watching. It felt cozy in the room, cozy and intimate and romantic, especially with the snow swirling around outside the window.

There were candles and the chairs were not seated directly across from one another but not exactly right next to one another either.

It was a perfect set.

"I'm very impressed," She said quietly.

"Yeah, they pulled this together very fast and perfectly." He stepped behind her. "Let me take your coat for you," He said, and Lily shrugged out of her coat, the heat from the fire doing plenty to keep her warm. She started toward the table and then James was there to pull out her chair for her. She looked up at him before taking a seat.

He cleared his throat, "That's a nice dress."

She looked down at it and smiled. "Thank you, Mary picked it out for me."

"Of course, she did." James walked around to his chair and took a seat.

A waiter appeared with a bottle of wine before Lily could ask him what he'd meant by that and James started speaking with him about wine and Lily didn't really follow the conversation. She knew that she preferred white and that she didn't really like wine all that much, but she'd drink it to be polite.

She smiled at the waiter as he poured her a glass and then he was gone, and James took a drink before she tried it. It was red and didn't make her mouth feel too dry, so she would probably finish it.

"What are you thinking?" James asked, and Lily sighed.

"Honestly?"

"No, I'd like you to lie to me."

She rolled her eyes. "I'm thinking about Hallmark movies. This feels like a Hallmark movie set and you look like a lead." There were no Christmas decorations, but she stood by her statement. "What we're here to do seems like the set up to a Hallmark movie. After this we'll need to have a snowball fight or go ice skating- and then have a snowball fight. Wrap it all up with some hot chocolate and some mistletoe that no one knew was there," She grinned and took another sip of her wine.

"It sounds as though you've watched a fair few of these movies."

"And you sound as though you've never watched one of them."

James shrugged. "I don't think that I have."

Lily gasped and leaned forward. "Blasphemy."

"Is it really?"

"We're going to have to rectify that. We'll have a movie marathon later in the week. Or next weekend. Whenever we have time."

"You want to watch Christmas movies in January?"

"I'm a grown up, I can do whatever I want." This was decidedly untrue, given her current situation, but on this count, it was entirely true. "Hallmark movies are less of a seasonal thing and more of a spirit anyway. If there's snow on the ground, you can watch them."

James didn't look convinced.

"You have to watch at least one." She pressed. "If you hate it, then I'll probably make you watch another one, but still…" He laughed and she reached for a wine again.

"I'm not against watching one," He shrugged. "So, I suppose we can do that."

"We are. We'll eat Christmas biscuits and have hot chocolate and-"

"And that sounds like a date," He interrupted, and she rolled her eyes.

"We're literally on a date to get engaged, right now, James. That's not going to work."

"What are you talking about? What's not going to work?" He looked entirely too innocent and Lily had to fight the urge to roll her eyes again.

"You're trying to get out of watching Hallmark movies by making me feel weird about terminology and whatnot," She waved her hand at him and looked over their table. She felt like they should have some bread on the table or something.

"Terminology?" James laughed again.

"Yes, I was too honest with you about everything. I should have kept some of that to myself, I think. We're watching the movies."

"We could watch literally anything else."

"We can also watch anything else, but we're going to watch at least three of my favorites," She bit her bottom lip and looked up, trying to think about what some of her favorites were. "I tend to like the ones where royalty is involved actually. I don't know what that's says about me, but also anything that includes a bakery or the entire town pretending that they don't all work for Santa Clause-"

"Hold on, I think my grasp on what a Hallmark movie is, is vastly incorrect."

"It'll blow your mind." Lily grinned and a waiter walked out, bringing them a basket of bread and a bowl of butter. "Amazing," Her smile widened. "Thank you so much," The waiter nodded, his cheeks slightly red and then he bowed and disappeared.

"Careful with that," James sounded as though he was about to tease her, so she looked away from the bread long enough for him to continue. "That smile of yours, it's too powerful for you to just throw at unsuspecting wait staff like that."

She picked up a breadstick and pointed it at him. "You sir," She wagged it a bit. "Are very good at flirting." Then she looked over her shoulder at the door the waiter had rushed out of. "Though, yes, he did look a bit flustered, didn't he?" James laughed.

"You're very hard to compliment, you know that?"

"No I'm not," Lily scoffed. "I love having people say nice things about me." He laughed again. "Alright, I see what you mean. If your intention is to make me blush or murmur a bashful thanks, then yes, I'm rather hard to compliment. You're not though. I've seen you blush quite a few times."

"You have not."

She scoffed again, "I have so. Though it's normally because of something you say. And you blushed when I complimented your hair in front of your friends."

"Well I've seen you blush as well," He countered. Lily nodded.

"Yes, but I blush because of things Mary puts in my head, or because I'm overthinking things."

"Not because I tell you that you're pretty."

"No." She shook her head. "I think I blushed when you told me that you thought I would be a good queen though." James nodded, looking thoughtful.

"Alright, I'll change my approach." He almost ran a hand through his hair again and swore when he lowered it back to the table.

"Why did you style it today?" She asked, her voice full of concealed laughter.

"Because I kept hearing my mum nagging me as I was getting ready." He sighed. "'Really James Potter? Did I raise you to look as though you've just rolled out of bed when you propose marriage?'"

Lily laughed and shook her head, her heart only sort of skipping at the mention of marriage. Which was ridiculous, she should have been used to that concept by now. "I can't say for certain, because I've never met her, but I'm sure that was a spot-on impression of your mother."

James sighed and took a drink of his wine. "Sometimes I listen to her. Tonight, was one of those nights."

"If Mary was here, she'd make a comment about how looking as though you just rolled out of bed wouldn't be a bad thing."

"Oh, I'm sure she'd be more explicit than that." He grinned.

They continued their easy conversation through the meal, teasing back and forth and for a long time, Lily forgot that there were people watching them outside the window. She didn't look for them once, she didn't feel as though they were watching her over her shoulder. She just let herself have a nice time with James and the breadbasket that seemed to magically fill itself.

And then they brought out dessert and Lily realized that he was probably going to do it rather soon. She bit the tip of her tongue and looked down at her fruit tart that was not as appetizing to her as the bread was. But she picked up her fork and took a bite anyway.

"Are you upset that they didn't bring us something with chocolate on it?" James asked, taking a bite of his tart.

Lily gave him a small smile and shrugged. "I'm not going to pretend that I wouldn't prefer chocolate. But also, I just remembered that people are watching us."

"I'm not going to ask in here." James said, looking toward the window, the first time either one of them had since they had sat down.

"No?" She raised her brow. "This was your idea though, wasn't it?"

"Yeah, but I feel like they've all caught on by now. I think I want to throw them for a bit of a loop."

Lily pressed her lips together intrigued and once again feeling as though James was her partner against the reporters. "Alright. So, what's the new plan."

"Oh, I think I want to keep it a surprise for you as well."

Lily frowned. "No. I don't like surprises. I've told you this."

"I know, but I want you to look genuinely surprised."

Lily shook her head. "Emma is not going to like that you changed the plans. She wanted this to happen today."

"I know. I'll tell her that I was the one who changed the plans."

Lily looked at him and remembered the look on his face when they had been about to get out of the car.

"I'm not having second thoughts, I just had a better idea than clichély proposing to you in a fancy restaurant."

"Alright." Lily nodded and took another bite of her dessert. It was mainly pears.

They finished up fairly quickly, and then they were walking back through the restaurant, Lily holding his arm. "Why don't we walk down the street to that confectionary shop? Grab some chocolate for our movie night?"

"Well then the movie night will have to be tonight, because if we get chocolate today, I will eat it today." Lily agreed, tightening her coat around her and then stepping closer to James as they walked through the doors to the street.

The snow was still coming down, but it was back to falling lightly to the ground. The sun was starting to set, so the sky was more pink than blue or grey and the lights that had not yet been taken down were starting to turn on. The street looked charmed.

"We can have a movie night tonight then." James smiled at her. "Or I can hide the chocolate from you."

"You can try, but I'll find it. Have you had anything from this shop before? It's amazing and everything smells wonderful."

"So you'd come and sniff around my room until you found it?"

"You'd really hide it in your room? Such an obvious choice."

"It wouldn't be under my mattress or anything. You wouldn't find it."

Lily narrowed her eyes and tilted her head to the side, "You know that that's not true. I would find it." James chuckled and nodded.

"Yeah, I know."

The shop wasn't busy, though a few people did follow them in and everyone who had been in the shop moved to the walls and watched them. Lily smiled and waved at a few people, and then tried not to get nervous when people started taking out their phones to take pictures.

James distracted her with a fancy box of peppermint chocolate, and she forgot about the phones pointed in her direction. "Does peppermint fit with the Hallmark movie theme?"

She smiled widely and nodded her head, "Yes, we'll get some of those."

He tapped the top of the box and then moved to the next shelf. Lily found herself watching him instead of looking around the shop. He looked over every single item on the shelf with much more thought and consideration than Lily thought was necessary. It was chocolate. Everything was good.

They picked out a few more things and Lily said a few more hellos to the people in the shop and then they purchased their goods and went back out onto the street.

Moody took their bags for them and then James took her hand.

"How much do you hate surprises?" James asked when they were almost back to the car. Lily turned toward him, giving him a look, but then she sighed. She didn't know what his surprises would be like, but she was sure that they wouldn't be terrible like Mary jumping out of her closet and scaring her out of her pants, or her Grandmother cornering her in her office and telling her things that she didn't want to hear right before meeting with all of parliament.

"I don't hate surprises. Not good ones anyway. I hate being surprised by my Gran and Mary, because they never have good surprises."

James nodded, still looking ahead. He had that look on his face again, the one that she saw before they got out of the car. He had assured her that that face didn't meant that he was thinking about changing his mind, so she didn't know what it meant, but it made her nervous.

He tapped his fingers on the back of her hand and then let go of her hand. She looked at him to make sure that he wasn't about to mess up his hair, he could wait until they were in the car to do that, they were almost there. He just smiled at her and she smiled back before looking back in front of her. Moody was walking ahead of them with their bags.

"Are you dead set on surprising me with something?" She asked, "And can I ask you what it is? I know that defeats the purpose of a surprise, but still," She shrugged and shoulder and glanced over, but he wasn't next to her anymore.

Lily knew what he was doing as soon as she realized that he was now behind her. She knew that when she turned around, he would be down on one knee, holding up a ring box while the lights around them glowed and the sky shone pink and the snow drifted softly to the ground.

She felt the snow crunch under her shows as she turned around and was surprised to find that tears had sprung to her eyes.

This isn't real.

She reminded herself, but that did nothing to stop the tears, because she wanted this moment to be real. Maybe not now, and perhaps not with James, but she wanted some boy to look at her from one knee, with the snow and the lights and the pink sky, and ask her to marry him. James had picked the perfect spot on the street, and he'd waited until they were out in the snow after listening to her prattle on about Hallmark movies, and his ears were red and she was sure that it wasn't from the cold.

It all looked real. It all could have been real. Maybe if she'd met him earlier, before she knew that she'd have to have an arranged marriage. If the pressure was gone, if there weren't so many people building up a story about the two of them, if she didn't feel like this was her only chance and also like she no longer had a choice.

James was fantastic. He made her laugh and he matched her step for step. He challenged her and encouraged her and made silly promises, but then he kept them. He held her accountable and gave her second chances. He kept her secrets and asked her to keep his.

Her heart lurched and she covered her mouth with her hand.

It could have been real.

If they had more time.

"Hey, Lily," He said softly, the blush spreading to his cheeks. He was nervous and Lily found it terribly endearing. "I don't know what you were expecting, but I did prepare something to say. I've been trying to keep it straight in my head all day but every time you smile at me, my head goes kind of empty so I'm just going to have to wing it anyway." She pulled her hand away from her mouth and clasped it with the other one over her heart. "I'll keep it short, I promise."

Lily bit her lip. "Lily, I've never met anyone as thoughtful and kind and giving as you are. You are always thinking about the people around you, thinking about how you can help them, how you can make life easier for them, to the point where you forget about yourself sometimes.

You are full of resolve and passion, and you make me feel a bit like anything is possible whenever I'm with you and that's not a feeling that I want to let go of. Ever. Lily, will you do me the honor of taking me to be your husband?" His voice sounded a little shaky at the end there. Lily knew that her face was probably very red at the moment, despite her make up. She'd just told him how to make her blush today, and he'd gone and used it against her already.

She looked over his face before she started nodding. "Yes," She said quietly, unclasping her hands so she could reach out to him and pull him up off his knee. She hadn't even looked at the ring yet, but she needed to hug him immediately. "Yes, of course." She added, her voice just as quiet as she laced her arms around James neck and buried her face in his neck.

She shouldn't have been surprised. They had been given instructions to get engaged today. But when she'd thought about how he was going to do it, she hadn't thought he'd give a little speech first. She hadn't thought he'd say such nice things about her.

James laughed, his chest rumbling against her ear. His arms tightened around her. "I have to put the ring on your finger, Lily." He reminded her.

"In a moment." She said, keeping her arms tight around him. It felt good to be wrapped up in his arms, to be cocooned against his chest. She could feel his breath against her neck when he spoke, and it sent a chill down her spine.

"In a moment then," He pulled her closer and kissed the side of her head. Lily responded by turning her head and kissing his shoulder. It might have been a weird thing to do, since she was basically just kissing his coat, but she would hyper fixate on that later.

"Alright," She said after a moment. "Alright, I didn't even look at the ring," James laughed. "Let me see it." She pulled away and wiped at her eyes carefully. She looked at him to find his eyes searching her face. He reached out and wiped a tear off her cheek.

"It was my grandmother's ring." He said, opening the box again. "She was married for nearly seventy years, so I figured it's rather lucky."

"Seventy years?" That was a long time. She looked at the ring and smiled. It wasn't very large, and it was clearly older, but it was perfect in every way. There were small diamonds encircling the band and a larger, square emerald set on a diagonal as the centerpiece of the ring. "It's beautiful," He picked up the ring from its place in the velvet box and then tucked the empty box in his pocket before reaching for her hand. He took a deep breath and then slid the ring onto her finger. She watched his face as he did so. She wasn't certain, but she thought she saw something settle in him when the ring was in place.

"It's a perfect fit," He declared, looking up at her. "And it matches your eyes."

If she smiled any wider, her face would split in two.

And then the people who had watched this scene unfold started clapping and cheering and Lily physically felt her bubble being popped. She could pinpoint the exact second that her smile became, not entirely fake, but no longer genuine. No longer for James.

How had she managed to forget that her and James had not been the only two people on the street? Why had she reacted like she had if she hadn't been doing it for the onlookers? She bit the tip of her tongue, but kept her smile in place.

Mary was going to give her so much shit for this. Because of course she was going to tell her. She couldn't wait to get back to the castle now, lock herself in Mary's room and try and sort all this out.

But she couldn't lock herself in there all night. Because she'd told James that they could spend the night watching Hallmark movies and stuffing their faces with chocolate. And no matter how she was feeling just then, she couldn't blow him off, not again. Definitely not on purpose.

James started waving and thanking the people nearby for their well-wishes and Lily followed in suit. She made a joke about being dazed and no one commented on how she'd just stood there doing nothing for a moment. They must have thought she had been admiring her ring.

James was soon leading her back to the car, her hand tucked tightly in his and she wondered if his smile was as real as it looked.

AN: And there we have it! Two chapters and they're officially engaged!

Leave me some reviews pls and thx