James:
James was trying to keep a level head. Just because she'd come back to him did not mean she had forgiven him. It did not mean she wanted to marry him. And it most certainly did not mean she loved him.
But, Merlin, whatever it did mean she'd chosen to show up looking like a dream.
"You're gorgeous," he breathed as he shut the door between his room and Sirius'.
She smiled and sat in one of the chairs in his large room. James tripped trying to make it to the other chair. He was positive if he looked away from her she'd vanish.
"Careful," Lily reached out to steady him.
"Lily, I…"
"James, we…"
James shoved his hand in his hair, "You go first."
Lily bit her lip, "I want to figure out how I feel about you. I thought I might love you when we were traveling and then all of a sudden you're my arranged husband and you knew I was supposed to be your wife but you said nothing. And, and I recognize that you had been trying to tell me for a while who you were. But," she frowned, "I'm really upset with you for lying to me all this time. So I came here because I want to know if I do love you, and if I do, if we can be happy together."
James thought he was going to pass out.
She wanted to give them a chance! She'd come to him because she thought she loved him too before she knew who he was!
She was giving him a second chance!
"Lily, I'm so sorry, and I promise you there will be no more lying. I want us to be happy together, to go horseback riding and practice archery, just like we dreamed about." He smiled encouragingly at her.
Lily sighed and looked down at her hands, "I want to trust you."
James reached across to intertwine his hand with hers. "I fear there's a 'but' lingering behind your lips."
"James," she hesitated a moment, "what was true? How do I know what was lies to keep us traveling together and what was real?"
James felt his smile fall from his face.
"Lily," he squeezed her hand, "everything was true except leading you to think that I didn't know who you were and that there were people after me as well. All those stories, they're real. I can take you to meet Georgina, the head maid with the best stories that I scrubbed the main hall to hear. And Ruth can tell you how the whole capital scoured the streets looking for their six-year-old Crown Prince when he went after his father."
James took hope from the little chuckle he pulled from her lips.
"Lily, everything I told you was real, every story is true, every feeling, I meant it."
Lily finally looked up at him from their intertwined hands.
"Why did you agree to marry a princess you'd never met? Why agree to marry me in the first place?"
James frowned, where to begin?
"Lily there are no good reports coming out of Privet. The rumors I was getting were mostly wrong, but I didn't know that until I had spent a few hours in Privet. I'm a magic-user, and if Privet reached out to me to marry off their princess, then I felt confident that their princess was likely a magic user too. And I was worried if I said no, then that princess would suffer. I didn't know if I'd actually marry you, but I knew I could keep you safe if the rumors that Privet wasn't safe for magic users were true. And that was far more important to me because I was worried I might have needed to create some sort of underground escape route for all of Privet's magic users to make it to Godric's Hollow since one of the most common rumors was that they were burning magic users."
James ran a heavy hand over his face at the memory.
"Before I knew you, Privet's princess was to be the first refugee in my rescue mission. And I hoped you would have a better description of what was going on. I didn't know if I needed to get Arthur and Rosmerta involved or not, but I didn't want to sit by while some monarchy decided they could abuse their power to hurt their citizens."
James pushed his free hand into his hair.
"So maybe it wasn't completely altruistic, you being here was hopefully a way to get the information I needed, and if we felt like a marriage would work then I guess I probably would have married you, but I was fully prepared to set you up as a noblewoman here and let you live your life however you wanted."
Lily looked up at him silently as she processed his answer. But James couldn't seem to let it be silent between them.
"I am so sorry. I'm sorry for betraying your trust. I'm sorry I hurt you. I'm sorry I didn't just explain all of this from the beginning. If I had known how amazing you were, how I was going to fall in love with you, how... If I'd known… If… Lily, I promise, if you give us a chance to work through this, I'll prove that I can be the man you want to be with."
She bit her lip and James feared it was hesitation he saw in her eyes. So he gave her the best assurance he could.
"And if you decide you don't want this if you don't want me," he swallowed hard, "I'll give you refuge here in Godric's Hollow. I'll set you up as a noblewoman in your own right and you'll be safe from your sister and from me and can live out your life as you wish, with whom you wish."
Lily was quiet for a long moment before she squeezed his hand.
"Can we start over? Can we pretend that I showed up because Petunia sent me? Can we get to know each other knowing that the end goal is seeing if we could be happy together, married?"
James felt his smile grow across his face at the same rate that relief flooded his chest.
"That sounds perfect," he stood before turning towards her and bowing deeply.
"My poor kingdom is dim compared to your stunning beauty your Highness."
Lily laughed at him and it felt like life ringing in his ears.
"Your words are kind your Majesty, and terribly flattering." Lily smiled as James returned to the seat next to her.
"Nay, your Highness, for your beauty would be radiant even if you had traveled the roads of the world for two months wearing plain travelers clothes and plaited hair."
Lily blushed with a small smile and it was a glorious sight.
"Is this how you would have behaved if we'd met this way?"
"These are all the things I forced myself not to say when I met you in Knockturn." James took her hand and brought her knuckles to his lips, smiling when he saw her chest rise quickly with the catch of her breath. "You won my heart that night, your Highness."
"Would your Majesty consent to house me and my guardian in this arrangement?" Lily's voice started breathlessly before she seemed to pull in enough air to finish with the confidence he'd grown accustomed to hearing from her.
"I suppose it would be inappropriate for you to sleep here just yet," he smirked at Lily's laughter and the slight tinge that returned to her cheeks, "So I will most gladly give you rooms until such time you feel them tiresome."
"You're Majesty is too kind," Lily smirked.
James reached for her hand again and intertwined their fingers, "I suppose I should let you get some sleep. We have an early morning ahead of us."
"We do?" Lily frowned in confusion.
James nodded, "I told you in Ottery that I had a dozen little things I wanted your help with but couldn't ask you about them because they'd give away too much. Well, all those things are to do with the running of Godric's Hollow, and I want your input."
"Petunia kept me in the dark about the politics in Privet, James." She sighed.
"It's nothing to do with Privet," he assured her, "it's all things with what's happening here in Godric's Hollow."
"But I'm not a citizen of Godric's Hollow," she started to object but James cut her off.
"That's why you'll have the best input. You're not tainted by popular opinion or jaded from years of how it's always been. You're giving me fresh eyes."
"I was never trained in politics, James." She shook her head. "My parents had me focus completely on magic."
"See," James grinned like a cat in the cream; she'd just made his point! "You'll think of better ideas because you won't be influenced by made-up rules that we follow only because no one points out there could be something different."
"You really want me to help?" Her bright emerald eyes looked up at him skeptically.
"I'm begging you to help me, Lily." James kissed her knuckles again before stealing a kiss against the inside of her wrist.
"James!" She laughed.
"You asked for us to start over," he smirked as he set her hand back in her lap, "This is how I would have tried to woo you."
Lily bit her lip and smirked, "Would your wooing also involve kissing places other than my hand?"
James leaned in closer.
"Oh yes, but," it took all his self-control but he managed to pull back, "it would be completely planned out; it would be memorable and heart-stopping and would guarantee that you'd never want to return to Privet permanently."
Lily laughed breathlessly and James almost threw the game away to kiss her right there, but he held strong.
She was giving him a second chance and he'd be damned if he threw it away like that!
"Let's see about some rooms for you and your guardian, your Highness," he stood and offered her his hand.
Lily took his hand before moving to his arm. "Thank you, James."
"Anything for you, Lils."
James pushed on the door and frowned when it didn't open. He pushed again, with much more force, and then nearly fell through the door into Sirius' room, dragging Lily with him.
He let Lily go at the last moment, thankfully not pulling her to the ground with him. James, however, found himself splayed out on the floor of Sirius' room.
He'd have to remember to ask Robert to have a look at his door.
"Alright there, James?"
James turned to see Sirius looking incredibly smug sitting on his bed with Marlene who was tying off the plait in her hair. James pulled himself up off the floor and tried to look composed.
"Remind me to ask Robert to look at the door." James nodded to his brother.
"You're plaiting your hair?" Lily's tone had a sing-song quality to it and James looked down at her for context but Lily continued to grin at her guardian.
Marlene turned with a smile that looked decidedly happy. "It was a bit warm and I thought it would help me cool down."
"I'm sure," Lily smirked, "James is going to procure rooms for us and then wants my help with matters of State in the morning."
She moved to take James' arm again.
"Lead the way, James," Marlene stood and nodded to James, her smile still in place.
James blinked at her willingness to go along but was distracted when he noticed Sirius fall into step beside the small woman and place a discreet hand on the small of her back.
James grinned but said nothing; there'd be time to tease him for it later.