Summary: James is quite anxious about dropping to one knee, so he employs his best mates' help.
A/N: These scenes fit into the timeline around chapter 59, but I didn't want to post this before the final chapter as it would then have spoilers for it! Enjoy :D
March 1980
"Pads!" James tumbled through the Floo into Sirius, Remus, and Lily's flat. Silence was his response for a long moment, and James ran a hand through his hair anxiously, messing it up more than it already was, "Moony! You around? I need your help!"
"Merlin, Prongs! Why are you here so early?" Remus came stumbling down the hall leading to the bedrooms, sandy blonde hair sticking up, scarred torso on display as he scrubbed sleep out of his eyes, "what's with all the shouting?"
"Morning, Moony," James grinned cheekily, following Remus into the kitchen as the other Marauder started assembling things for coffee and breakfast, "I need advice."
Remus turned to him with a raised eyebrow, milk in one hand, wand in the other, "you want advice from me or Pads?" He laughed, "you know you're going to get very different advice depending on who you ask?"
James accepted the cup of black coffee Remus poured him, "that's why I need advice from you both. Is Wormtail around?" He laughed.
"Probably. You'd have to go next door to his and Frank's flat and wake him up though, most likely." Remus snorted and shrugged, nodding towards the front door, "you'll need to force Sirius to get up properly too. He was still in bed groaning about stupid people coming into our flat and shouting way too early in the morning when I left to see what the shouting was about."
James grinned, his hazel eyes sparkling as he left Remus in the kitchen cooking breakfast for his boyfriend and Lily. He took his coffee – and another for Sirius – through to the bedroom, waving at Lily as he passed her door to see her sitting on the side of her bed.
"What are you doing here, James? It's not even eight yet!" She popped her head round her doorjamb after he'd passed it, looking him over, seeming surprised to see him up and fully dressed so early as if he didn't get up to go into work every day.
"Need some advice from Padfoot and Moony before Hermione notices I'm gone."
Lily raised an eyebrow, a look nearly identical to the one Remus had given him – they'd been living together too long clearly. She was clearly worried about whatever he was hiding from Hermione, "what in Merlin's name do you need to ask them?"
"Don't worry about it," James would have waved her off if he'd had a free hand, but as it was he just shrugged and carried on the short distance further down the hall to Sirius' room (the three all kept separate rooms to allow for whatever sleeping configuration they wanted), shoving the door open with a booted foot, "rise and shine, Pads!" He called cheerfully as he stepped into the room, a smirk on his face at the annoyed groan that came from the bed.
"What the fuck do you want, Prongs?"
"Here, drink your coffee before I ask you any questions," James put his cup down on the bedside table and passed Sirius his coffee when he propped himself up against his pillows, holding the covers over his lap as he did, "are you naked underneath that, Pads?"
"Yea, what you gonna do about it, Prongs?" Sirius snorted and gulped down half his cup of coffee, panting a little when he burnt his tongue by drinking it too fast, "you're the one that barged into my room at fuck o'clock in the morning. I sleep naked," he said with a smirk, grey eyes flashing with amusement as he scratched at the dark hair that covered his chest, and turned to face James, "what's going on Prongs?"
James dropped his head back to stare at the ceiling, "I need some advice from you and Moony. Get dressed and come through to the kitchen. I'm gonna go get Wormy."
James did what he said and left the flat quickly to grab a very reluctant and tired Peter from his and Frank's flat. He returned to find a fully dressed Remus and half-dressed Sirius in the kitchen, the former frying eggs and ordering Sirius around to make toast for them all. In the meantime it looked like Lily had left them to it. He wouldn't be surprised if she was demanding answers from her boyfriend and his boyfriend later though.
When they all finally sat down, with more coffee and breakfast courtesy of Remus, the other Marauders all started pestering him about why he'd forced them all to get up so early, "alright, alright jeez," James held his hands up, a piece of toast speared on his fork in his hand, "you should all be bloody used to getting up early anyway," he said with a laugh.
"Come on, Prongs. What's bugging you so much you rushed over here on a Sunday when you'd usually spend it in bed with Hermione?"
"Urgh too much information Pads," Remus held his hand up, nose wrinkled, "I don't want to think about anyone having sex, but especially not our friends."
Sirius barked out a laugh, but mimed zipping his mouth shut. He ruffled a hand through his black curls compulsively and then reached out to take Remus' hand and pressed a kiss to the back of it gallantly, "as my lord commands," Remus smacked Sirius with the back of his hand, taking it back from his boyfriend, but he couldn't hide the smile hidden behind his faux-stern look.
James dropped his head into his hands, spearing his fingers through his messy hair. He could feel the stares of his three friends on his back, "I don't know how to propose to Hermione," he groaned into his hands, voice muffled.
"You're going to propose!" Peter shouted joyfully, splattering his coffee all over the table and James when he threw his hands up in the air with no regard for the half-full cup still in them.
"Yuck, Wormtail," James sat up fully, shaking his hands off briefly before Remus performed a cleaning spell for him (and the table).
"Whoops. Sorry, Prongs," Peter grinned, light blue eyes sparkling with mischief and happiness, "congrats though!"
"She's not said yes yet, Wormtail. That's the problem. I don't know how to ask her."
Sirius laughed, "however you ask her she's going to say yes Prongs."
"Have you got a ring at least?" Remus asked, ever the sensible one – when the situation asked for it – "once you've got that, you'll know when the time is right, surely?"
"Moony's right, Prongs," Peter mumbled around a coffee-soaked mouthful of egg and toast – pulling a face at the flavour and texture as he chewed, "you'll know."
"There's gotta be something in the Potter vaults right, Prongs?" Sirius made a face as Peter kept eating the adulterated food, clearly not caring enough to stop, "I remember seeing some down there when we went with mum and dad a few times."
"Yea. There's ones down there that match the betrothal set I've already got her," James fiddled with his own Potter ring as he thought, the gold signet ring a permanent fixture on his hand now.
"There you go then, Prongs," Remus reached across the table, laying his scarred, calloused hand on top of James'. James chuckled a little at the bright pink thumb nail Remus still had courtesy of Andromeda's daughter when he and Sirius had visited his cousin a few weeks ago, "get the ring and the rest'll fall into place."
"You'll know when's right," Peter interjected, nodding sagely. He ran a hand through his thin hair, leaving a few strands standing up from the static when he took his hand away.
"You think?" James asked anxiously, his stomach still in knots. He didn't want to wait until the war was over. Mostly because he didn't want to wait too long, not after so long courting – he wanted to be married to the woman he loved already. But the growing pressure of the war was getting to him and he didn't want to regret not proposing sooner.
"Yea. Now get home. You said something about Hermione not noticing you missing," Remus took his hand away from James' with one last brotherly pat, "you'll have to come up with some kind of excuse."
xxx
May 1980
"I can't propose now, Pads," James fiddled with the ring box he'd collected from the Potter vault months ago, "it's only been a month."
"Yea. It's not a good time," Sirius sat down next to the despondent man, putting a supporting hand on his shoulder.
James was sitting on the small couch in the entrance hall of Prewett Manor, hunched over and staring at the ring box. All the ex-Gryffindors had been invited to join the Prewetts for dinner that evening, filling the Manor with light and laughter as they played with the Weasley children. The merriment worked just as Hermione and the Prewett twins had planned when they'd noticed how their father had withdrawn into himself, drawing out the sadness that had sunk into the very bones of the building since Iphemia's death like poison from a wound.
James felt a little stupid, worrying so much about not being able to propose to his girlfriend when he should be supporting her as she had supported him through both Dorea and Charlus' deaths. The ring box had been burning a hole in his pocket ever since he'd gone to fetch it, waiting for the perfect time to propose. There just hadn't been one though.
"Maybe I should wait until the war is over," he whispered, "maybe it's selfish to be wanting to get married now anyway."
"It's not selfish, mate," Sirius protested vehemently, shaking his head, "Frank and Alice got married, didn't they. But you've gotta do what's best for you and Hermione, and maybe right now it isn't that."
"What do I do, then?" James finally looked up at Sirius, hazel eyes swimming with tears behind his glasses, "what if I don't get a chance to propose because of the war."
"Prongs," Sirius' voice was sad, and a deep furrow appeared between his brows, "look. I can't promise you'll both survive this. No one can. But that doesn't stop you from spending every day letting Hermione know she's loved, does it? You might not be able to propose yet, but you can spread the love," Sirius winked, grey eyes twinkling mischievously, "Moony knows I love him, and I know he loves me. Even after all the shit I pulled, and Merlin knows why. But he does. I know Lily loves me, and she knows I love her. I'm not gonna die with those regrets. Hermione knows the same with you, just like you do with her. So keep that up, and the proposal and all of that will work itself out once we're done fighting for our lives and freedom."
"Damn, Pads. When did you become so wise?" James chuckled, dodging the retaliating fist Sirius sent his way with a grin.
Sirius barked out a loud laugh, throwing his head back, lips stretched in a wide grin, "I borrowed Lily's brain for the evening," he joked, his smile widening when James laughed too, finally loosening up.
"Thanks, Padfoot," James said quietly as they headed back to join everyone else a couple minutes later.
"Any time, mate," Sirius gave him a playful shove, "you got this. When you do finally do it, it'll be spectacular."
A/N: Hope you enjoyed this little extra! The next chapter will be another extra - which will take place post ch64 - Paper Rings.