James rolled his eyes, and headed back up tot he common room, trudging his feet with him lazily as he walked up the stairs with his shoulders slumped and his head tilted back. He shoved one of the curtains aside on his darkly stained four poster bed and plopped down on the mattress. He swung his feet in front of him and crossed his hands of on his stomach. He lay there for merely seconds, before reaching into his navy blue robes for the velvet box once again. James opened it, staring at the perfectly polished golden ring, with a small diamond stone set into the middle. He smiled to himself, and closed it, putting it back into his pocket safely.

Dinner approached quickly, and James sat down watching Lily uncontrollably. Although she hid it well, he knew that Lily was anxious about the present she would be receiving later on in the night, by the way she kept wiping the side of her face with her sleeve and the way she kept twirling her hair around her finger. He sighed, reaching for the basket of bread in front of him, and putting a few pieces on to his plate. James took a bite, and set it back down, pushing his plate away from him. He wiped the palm of his hands on his lap, shaking inside as the time got closer to 7:30. After dinner was over, James, Sirius and Remus walked back to the Gryfindor common room as Lily branched off to go and see some of her other friends. The three of them walked silently but James noticed both Sirius and Remus glaring at each other with wide grins on their faces as though having a snide conversation about him behind his back. He withdrew his attention, and looked at his feet as he walked, occasionally looking up to see how close they were. When Remus submitted the password, they crept through the portrait hole, and walked toward the empty chairs sitting in the middle of the room. James sat down immediately, quickly pulling his knees to his chest, and burying his face in his arms. Sirius looked at him for a moment before walking over and kneeling beside the chair he was sitting on.

"What's up mate?" Sirius asked, eyeing Remus.

James shook his head and didn't answer for a moment.

"Nothing's really wrong," he replied, looking up and adjusting his glasses. Sirius raised an eyebrow, and shook his head.

"There's obviously something wrong. You can't hide it. You hardly touched your food at dinner," he began. "and I know that you're telling me a load of rubbish because you're usually the first one to dig in and stuff your face with food...and you know it."

"But I-," James tried to begin but Sirius interrupted him before he had even the smallest chance to reply.

"Then, you hardly spoke, and I know something's wrong when you don't speak. You're usually the loudest person at the table because you're always yelling at people to pass you more food after you emptied your plate."

James crossed his arms stubbornly.

"and I know that you can't hide the fact that something's wrong, after I watched the girlish way you kept wiping the sweat off of your forehead. So I personally think that you should shut up with trying to say that you're fine because I know you aren't. I believe that Moony here agrees with me as well," Sirius finished gesturing his hand toward Remus, waiting for him to agree fully.

Remus nodded his head, and stood up.

"I could not have put it better myself."

James rolled his eyes, and was about to respond but Lily had walked into the room. He checked the watch dangling off of his wrist.

"Half-past seven," James said to himself, as Lily walked up to him.

He stood up, wrapping his hands around her waist, as she stood on the balls of her feet, giving him a small peck on the lips.

"I'm here like you wanted me to be," she said, smiling sweetly and looking into James' eyes.

James grinned, his cheeks turning a deep shade of scarlet as he saw Sirius and Remus making childish faces behind Lily's back. He grabbed Lily's hand, leading her over to a place that was more private than where they were standing. James pulled Lily's waist closer to his and pulled her into a deep kiss.

"I wanted to ask you something," he said to Lily, as their lips parted.

Lily furrowed her eyebrows.

"Don't tell me that you wanted me to meet you here just to ask me a question," she said sarcastically, but the serious look on James' face didn't change.

"I don't know what's going to happen after this year," he began.

Lily tilted her head to the side.

"The one thing I do know though, is that I don't see any person after you. I also know that I want to spend the rest of my life with you."

James pulled out the box buried deep in his pocket, and opened it revealing the gold ring.

"So I want to make a promise to you, that no matter what I will always come back to you."

Lily covered her mouth. A small glistening tear slid down the side of her face, but James still continued.

"I also want you to accept this ring as my promise."

Lily nodded, and James took the ring out of the velvet box, and slid it on to Lily's pinky finger. She didn't speak, but instead lept on James with a wide smile on her face.

"I'll take that as a yes then?" he asked her, with a small chuckle.

"Of course," Lily replied. "It's beautiful."

James wiped the tears off of her face with the sleeve of his robe, and looked toward where Sirius and Remus were sitting. They were staring at the both of them with wide eyes, and a look of curiosity.

Lily whispered into James' ears.

"Let's see how much we can torture them."

James nodded, and grinned knowing exactly what she was talking about, as they both sat down on the leather couch across from them.

"Well?" Remus asked, putting down the transfiguration book and the parchment that he was holding in his hand.

James sighed, as Lily lay her head on his stomach.

"Well what?" James asked suggestively, as he closed his eyes.

"What happened?" Sirius asked

"Oh whatever do you mean?" Lily asked in reply, giggling softly to herself.