A/N: hello and welcome to my take of the 2019 Inktober Fanfiction Challenge! For those of you who are thinking wait, the what? feel free to check out this link (topic/44309/178492581/1/2019-Inktober-Fanfiction-Challenge) to the challenge itself.

And now on a different, slightly less cheerful note – the DISCLAIMER: I still don't own Harry Potter and I'm still not making any money writing fanficton. (sigh) But, oh well, at least I have a lot of fun doing it.

Here's to fanfiction!

James ran a hand through his already messy hair in frustration. Why is this so hard?

As though reading his mind, his best mate Sirius Black gave a deep chuckle from beside him. "It's not that hard, Prongs. You make it hard."

"I want it to be perfect," he said.

"There's your answer," Sirius said. "This is hard because you're such a bloody perfectionist. Evans will love any ring you get her."

"That's not the point," he defended. "It has to be special."

"You're picking out an engagement ring, Prongs, not having dinner with the Queen! Ease up a little."

"You wouldn't be saying the same if it was Marlene," James said slyly.

"I'd know better than to bring you along," Sirius countered saucily.

"Who would you bring, then?" James asked, curious despite himself.

"Moony," Sirius answered without batting an eyelash. "He's good with that kind of thing."

James slapped his forehead. "Why didn't I think of that?"

"Maybe because your head's too full of the admittedly lovely Lily," Sirius jibed. "Oh, and maybe because Moony is currently in America."

"Damn," James muttered. Sirius had a point – he was thinking more about Lily than anything else.

"You two are nauseatingly sweet," Sirius said blandly.

James rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah. Can we go back to the rings now?"

"You're the one who kept talking, Prongs."

"I'm the one who kept – where you even here for the last five minutes?"

"Stop talking and start looking at rings," Sirius chastised.

James opened and closed his mouth in indignation. Sirius just rolled his eyes and moved on.

Nearly an hour later, James was almost ready to give up entirely. "We're never going to find it," he complained to Sirius, who was looking more annoyed by the second.

"Sweet Merlin, Prongs!" he exploded after a minute or so of morose silence. "You drag me here with ridiculously sappy speeches about how much you loooooove Lily, and now you're just giving up?"

"Well, there's nothing here that… feels right," James defended lamely.

Sirius ran his hand through his hair in frustration. He must be really annoyed to be picking up on my bad habits, James reflected absent-mindedly.

"I'll tell you what doesn't feel right," Sirius snapped, interrupting James's musings. "You being so disgustingly excited about proposing to Lily, and then half-way through deciding you're just going to drop it."

"You're right, of course you are," James said distractedly, walking over to the very last display of rings. "I shouldn't be giving up so easily. After all, it's Lily."

"That's the spirit," Sirius encouraged, untactfully coughing something that sounded like "finally" into his sleeve.

But James didn't bother to call him out on it, because he had found it.

It was everything he had been looking for, and more. A slender silver band set with a single vivid emerald, with two smaller diamonds on either side. Nothing too ostentatious, and not too simple either – just what Lily would want.

"Sirius?" he called, picking up the ring. "I think I've found it."

Sirius dropped everything, making a huge clatter (he didn't seem to care much, though) and ran to James's side. "Really? Well, let's see it, then."

Reverently, James passed him the little box.

Sirius sucked in a sharp breath. "Mate…"

"It's perfect, don't you think?" James asked, taking the box back and looking down at the ring with a huge smile.

"Now I see why you wouldn't take anything else," was all Sirius could say.

"I've got the ring, now I just need to figure out how to ask her," James said, pacing nervously up and down Sirius and Marlene's living room.

"Calm down," his cousin advised, tucking a stray blonde curl behind one ear. "I've seen the ring and it's perfect. You've got nothing to worry about."

"That's not what I'm worrying about, Marls! What if –"

"Merlin, James, she's not going to say no."

"I know that – at least, I hoped – well, no, I'm sure she won't, but –"

"Then what are you worrying about?" Marlene folded her arms, arching an eyebrow at him in a mixture of amusement and exasperation.

"How do I ask her, Marly?"

"It's not that complicated," she said drily. "You open your mouth and say the words Lily Evans, will you marry me?"

"I know that," he snorted, amused despite himself (which, he reflected, had probably been the point all along.) "But the setting, Marly. Where? When?"

"Does it matter?"

"Of course it matters!" James gaped at his cousin, scandalised.

"You're such a romantic," she said, rolling her eyes with a mixture of affection and exasperation. "Myself, I'd want to be asked right after a particularly good shag."

"Marlene!"

"Okay, okay!" she relented, holding up her hands and (rather inefectually) hiding her smirk.

"You're Lily's best friend," he informed her.

"I know that," she answered sardonically.

"So, what do you think Lily would want in a proposal?"

Marlene was silent for a few moments, thinking. "She's a romantic, just like you," she began after a while. "So… take her out for a candle-lit dinner and a beach walk or something."

Meeting his eyes, she continued, "But the thing is, James, she loves you, and she'll say yes even if you ask her covered in cowpats."

He had to laugh at that image.

"Thanks," he said, pulling Marlene into an affectionate hug.

"Did I help?" she asked, slightly muffled by his shoulder.

"Not really," he admitted. "But you managed to make me stop stressing."

She smiled affectionately at him. "Excellent. Now, go get her, James."

He resolved to do just that.

He ended up asking her that same night, despite his grand plans of taking her to France.

It just slipped out, but looking back, he couldn't be happier.

They had been having a quiet dinner at home, just the two of them, and they were just getting ready for their traditional Friday night movie session (after Lily had introduced James to the wonders of TV, he had insisted they make watching it a weekly thing.)

The kitten had been mewing pathetically for the past ten minutes, and Lily had scooped it into her arms and sang softly to it until it dozed off on her shoulder. She had looked up at James, and her smile had lit up her entire face.

"Will you marry me?" he had blurted.

Lily's mouth had dropped open, her hand freezing on the kitten's back. Then she had broken into the biggest smile he had ever seen on her.

"Of course," she had breathed, and then she was in his arms and he was kissing her and thinking how much he loved her.

They had broken apart when the kitten woke up and mewed, pawing at Lily's hair in dissatisfaction.

"Spoil-sport," he had told it good-naturedly, before reaching into his pocket for the ring.

"Oh, James, you didn't have to…" Lily had tried to protest.

He had cut her off by slipping the ring onto her finger. "Of course I did, Lily. I love you."

"I love you too," she had whispered, raising her hand and admiring the ring. "Oh, James, it's perfect."

"You're perfect," he had corrected gently, leaning in and kissing her lovingly on the lips.

They were curled up together in the bed now, their fingers laced, matching smiles on their faces. Just before he fell asleep, James thought that there was no feeling more wonderful than that of the ring on Lily's finger pressing into his palm.

A/N: so my idea was to make this a multi-chapter, semi-chronological Jily series (semi-chronological in the sense that the main story will start here, at the proposal, and work through to Lily's pregnancy, with loads of flashbacks in between.)

Thanks a million for reading, and an extra thank you if you, too, are participating in the Inktober challenge.

As always, reviews are amazing and very much appreciated.

Cheers