James:

It had been torturous. Waiting all night, and then still having their morning meetings on top of that, but finally, they'd made it. Finally, they'd changed into warmer riding clothes and we're walking to the stables. Finally, he was going to find out what had pushed Lily to change their regular time together.

Sirius hummed as they walked out of the palace.

"What?" James turned to his brother, but he was looking at Marlene.

No surprise.

"If we're quick?" She wore a frown as she looked back at Sirius.

"Quick about what?" Lily asked.

Sirius pointed off into the distance. "Those look like storm clouds. That might be our first snow."

Lily grinned, "I love snow!"

"It snows differently up this high, Lils." Marlene frowned. "It won't be the light dusting we get back in Privet that melts the next day."

James held back his groan. "Maybe we should postpone this. Marlene is right, our snowstorms can be unforgiving and it's cold enough that it sticks and builds up quickly."

"Couldn't we just go out for an hour?"

Lily looked at Marlene with an expression that James could only call pleading. Was she really feeling so cooped up? Perhaps she needed this more than they all realized.

"Maybe just a quick ride?" He looked at Sirius who was staring at the clouds.

"We could bring a few things?" Marlene looked hesitantly at the clouds. "And stay close to the palace?"

"Alright," Sirius nodded after a moment. "Let me grab a few things and then we'll head out."

James watched Sirius nod to Marlene before moving quickly back to the palace.

The stable boys walked out with their horses then and James tried to distract himself from the foreboding feeling the clouds in the distance were giving him.

"Did you ride much in Privet?" James took Lily's hand and led her to the old mare his mother had been so fond of.

"Mostly when I was a girl, not much after I moved in with Marly." She slid her foot in the stirrup as James helped her up and into the saddle.

"My parents aren't big fans of all the effort that goes into caring for horses," Marlene chuckled.

James frowned, "Isn't your father a nobleman?"

"Yes, but he doesn't like to have more servants than necessary. Plus horses cost money, and as Vernon and Petunia made more decrees about magic users it started to squeeze the money out of us. My parents put as much of our extra as they could into helping the common magic users. The decrees put some of them into poverty."

James bristled, "This is no reflection on you, Lily, but I kind of want to start a war with your sister."

Lily laughed, "That's the story of my life."

"Alright," Sirius came out and handed Marlene a pack. "Let's have a bit of exercise and then get back here before those clouds get any ideas about unleashing a white hell on us."

Once they started riding, James' cares started to fade away with the wind that whipped around them. It felt like a dream to be riding with Lily beside him. Not even the necessity of having Sirius in front of them and Marlene behind them could dampen the feeling of freedom he only felt when he was out of the palace and away from the title he inherited. They'd been riding for about a half an hour when he had an idea.

"Sirius," he called and reigned in, "Let's show these beautiful ladies the lake."

Sirius looked back at the clouds, "I don't know James."

"It's just over the next hill," James looked back at the clouds. Had they gotten closer?

"How about we go see the lake and then we'll head right back?" Lily smiled at Sirius.

"What do you think, Marls?" Sirius looked back at her and then Lily turned that pleading face back to her sister.

James watched as Marlene looked between the two, her bottom lip between her teeth. She turned to stare at the clouds a moment before speaking.

"Can you be quick, Lily?"

James blinked. Quick with what?

"Yes."

"Alright, Sirius," Marlene glanced back at the clouds again. "Let's go see the lake."

Sirius nodded and led them down to the lake that their parents had taken them to swim in when they were boys.

The lake was in a bit of a crater, the slope of the crater not too steep but steep enough that it blocked out the wind and the view of the surrounding plains. The ride down to the water took a couple of minutes, you had to go slowly on horseback, but James took advantage of the time to regale Lily with stories of him and Sirius and his parents with their guardians coming here in the summers.

As they made it to the water's edge Marlene took Lily's reigns. "We'll wait here."

Lily bit her lip but nodded.

"Would you walk with me?" Lily asked him as she dismounted.

James felt something akin to panic strike him. Was she going to leave him? Had she decided she couldn't be with him as a king? He pushed those feelings down far enough to force a smile and dismounted with her.

"I'd like nothing better."

He offered her his hand and she squeezed it as she took it in hers. After they'd walked far enough away to not be overheard, Lily stopped them and let go of him, turning to face him instead.

"I, er, I wanted to make this something special."

James nodded, not trusting himself to speak as he watched Lily wring her hands.

"I know that I probably made you feel like your hands were tied when I came back to you. I'm sorry about that. But I wanted to tell you that I've figured out that I'm not going anywhere. I do love you, James. I've loved you since we crossed into Ottery and I never stopped loving you, even after Enid."

James blinked.

She loved him!

Her words filled his chest like warm mead filling a tankard. James felt the smile on his face and he reached out, stepping forward to pull her close to his chest. He had promised her this would make her never want to leave, he promised it would make her realize this, what they had, was all she ever needed in life. And he wanted to savor this moment. He brought his hand gently to the silky, soft skin of her cheek, tracing the line of her jaw down to her chin. Her green eyes burned up at him, and she parted her lips as he tilted her head up just a fraction higher.

"I love you."

He said it quietly before pressing his lips to hers.

James thought he might die right there. Her lips were soft and cold. Her scent was intoxicating and her hands held onto his shoulders with a possessive grip that made his head spin. He tentatively reached his tongue out to brush her lips and smiled against her at the breathy sigh she gave him. She moved her arms to snake around his neck and pulled herself closer. James pulled her flush against him, loving the juxtaposition of her cold lips and her warm tongue as Lily warmed his frigid lips.

"James!"

James cursed his brother for breaking the spell that he and Lily had been weaving around them.

"Lily!"

Marlene's yell had a sense of urgency in it and Lily turned from him. James held back his groan and looked to see why their siblings were insistent on ruining what had been a perfect moment.

Marlene pointed up at the sky.

"Hurry!"

James looked up. The snow clouds were directly above them, and James had lived in this country long enough to see that they didn't have long before the snow would fall. There was no way they could make it back to the palace beforehand.