James let the Snitch fly a few feet away before reaching out, lightning fast, to grab it again. The glittering golden globe struggled against his grip at first before, ultimately, conceding defeat. His friends were busy discussing and dissecting the latest newspaper headline, but his thoughts were pointed in an altogether different direction.
"I'm thinking of asking Lily to marry me," he said, his quiet words cutting through the lull in conversation as if he had shouted. "Maybe in July, just after we graduate. Or I might wait for September; she does love autumn. We could fly to a mountaintop somewhere, and…" He trailed off. While he was certain about asking her, he didn't yet know exactly how he wanted to go about it. Public declarations of interest hadn't worked when he had initially been trying to get her to go out with him, but what if that didn't apply to this? They liked to keep their relationship stripped back and simple, but what if she expected fanfare for something as momentous as this?
Remus smirked. "I was wondering when you'd bring it up. Pay up, Will." He held out his hand, wriggling his fingers expectantly, and the other Gryffindor boy begrudgingly passed over a handful of sickles as he muttered under his breath that it wasn't his fault that he'd expected James to be reasonable enough to wait until after they all graduated. "Since when is James ever reasonable?" he retorted.
"At least you know she's going to say yes," Peter said, thankfully diverting James' attention from the quarrelling boys. "She's crazy about you."
"She is, isn't she?" James replied, a goofy smile spreading across his face at the reminder that Lily Evans was as mad for him as he was for her. "Sirius?" he prompted, turning to his uncharacteristically quiet best friend.
"You've talked to her about this, yeah?"
James hesitated, confused at the direction Sirius seemed to be going in. "About what?"
"Marriage. If she wants it. When she would want it. That sort of thing. We were talking about it a few weeks ago – "
"You two discussed marriage?" he asked, frowning at the thought. He loved the fact that they had become close – albeit slow – friends, but the idea of it still stumped him. Sirius tended to avoid the topics of family and marriage like a ninja evading detection, and Lily – to his knowledge, anyway – was more likely to talk to Remus or Sarah about something like that. It was wonderful if Lily and Sirius were close enough to discuss that, but…
Sirius' infectious laugh filled the room. "You make it sound like we've been sneaking around behind your back, mate. We – "
"I didn't mean – "
"I know," he said offhandedly. "But we were talking about my 'family', and the topic came up."
"What did she say?"
"That she would like to get married one day but doesn't like the idea of a surprise proposal. That it's stupid that the asker can spend weeks thinking about it while the responder only has a few seconds to make up their mind before things start getting awkward. That she hates that the responder can decide against it without consequence, whereas turning down a proposal is kind of like signing a death warrant on a relationship. And that it's the kind of thing a couple should decide upon together, not separately."
"Oh."
"I think she knows you'd want a fancy proposal and is alright with that, but bring it up with her first, at least."
"I will," he promised. "Tonight. Well, tomorrow. As soon as I have the chance."
"I'd better get to be the best man after this," Sirius commented as he returned to perusing the paper, his previous conversation about the news well and truly forgotten. "Sorry, Moony."
"It's alright. I suppose I'll let you have that."
"Let me?"
"Oh, come on," Peter said. "We all know he could talk the two of you into letting him be it if he really wanted to." His gaze flicked over to Will meaningfully before returning to rest on James. He widened his eyes and said mournfully, "'I understand. It's better that way. I don't mind.'" Angling himself so that only the three other Marauders could see his face, he mouthed, "Furry little problem," just in case they hadn't already worked out what he meant.
Remus flashed his best puppy dog eyes at the pair, letting his bottom lip tremble as if he were trying to control great emotion. Noticing the way worry sprang into their gazes, proving Peter right without even meaning to, he relaxed his expression with a laugh and dropped back on his bed. "It's fine, guys. Really. It should be Sirius. After all, if you'd gone ahead with the surprise proposal, she might have said no on principle."
"What he's saying," Sirius said, smoothly interceding as he noticed Will watching Peter and Remus almost suspiciously, "is that I will have orchestrated the betrothal singlehandedly."
All five of them erupted into laughter at that.
"Oi," James protested when he had calmed down again. "I'd like to think my brilliance and charm will have something to do with it, too, thank you very much. Well, hypothetically. If she says yes." He sighed. "I still need to talk to her first."
A/N: I hate the idea of public – and surprise – proposals with a passion. The asker can spend all the time they want deliberating over it, but then the responder is expected to be able to answer instantaneously and with full knowledge that saying they're not ready might ruin their relationship. It's okay if they've talked about it enough beforehand to already know that they both want to, but when it comes out of nowhere…
Anyway, I have a cold, of all things to get this time of year. I hope your Boxing Day is going better than mine – although it is lovely to just lounge around with my parents, even when overheated and with a runny nose. Now back to re-watching Emma!