While Lily stood in his arms, she thought about moving in and marrying James. And then she panicked. She felt her chest begin to tighten and her throat constrict. The blood started pounding in her ears and she became a victim of vertigo.

"I've got to go," she gasped. "I have, um, something to study for, I think."

"Are you okay? You don't look like you feel well."

"I'm fine. I just need to leave now. Bye, James." Lily pressed a quick kiss to his lips before tripping to the carriages. She clambered into the one that seemed most ready to depart and stared steadfastly in the opposite direction as James. She wasn't able to remain so set, though, when the wheels began rolling and she took one quick glance.

She saw one very sad James Potter.

Lily nearly leaped out of the carriage to go comfort him, and she was actually standing up when a girl next to her tugged her back down. She was tugged back down to more than the seat; her sense of reality also came flashing back.

"What in the hell are you trying to do?" Alaina Wilkes asked with amusement. Alaina was a very clever Ravenclaw seventh year whose ascorbic wit would have fit very neatly in Slytherin House.

"If I knew, I wouldn't be trying to jump out of a carriage, now would I?" Lily asked mockingly. Looking across the carriage, she saw two second year girls giggling quietly. Moodily, she grumbled, "What's so funny?"

"You, apparently," Wilkes answered.

"What's in the box," one of the younger girls asked.

Lily remembered the soft, gray box that she was clutching in a death grip. "It's a gift that I haven't opened yet."

"Looks like a ring box."

"An engagement ring box."

"Did she ask either of you?" Wilkes asked coolly. Both girls shut up. "So. Is it an engagement ring?"

"Why didn't I just jump out of the carriage when I had a chance? Have you girls been studying for end of year exams?"

With the subject effectively changed, Lily went back to contemplating the box in her hand. By the time carriage parked itself at Hogwarts, she was actually very curious about what the ring looked like. Assuming it was a ring.

Who, exactly, was to say it was a ring? It could be something else entirely, like earrings or a magical rock or something.

It would be like James to give her a couple of pretty stones the same day he asked her to move in with her.

Of course it was a ring.

Before she could entirely lose her mind, Lily rushed toward the lake. It didn't take her long to settle against the trunk of a large tree. She wrapped her cloak tightly around her, bit her lip, and slowly popped the box open.

As predicted, it wasn't a shiny rock. Or maybe it was, depending on how it was viewed. Either way, inside of the box was a square-cut diamond on a gold band.

To Lily's unpracticed eye, it looked a whole heck of a lot like an engagement ring.

Oh, crap.

It would have been a lot easier if it was a pair of earrings.

Experimentally, she tugged the ring from its little nook in the box and held it closer to her face. After examining it quite closely, she decided it was a very satisfactory ring.

Barring the fact it was an engagement ring.

"Oh, Mum, what should I do?" Lily muttered.

Lily had always promised herself she would know what to answer when she was proposed to, and if she didn't, then the man obviously wasn't right for her. Unfortunately, James had thrown her for a rather impossible loop, and when the time had come, the decision seemed rather scary.

Her first reaction had been to jam the suspected ring on her finger and launch herself at her new fiancé. Almost immediately following, though, was a rather trapped feeling. She would be attached to James forever. She would depend on him for her happiness. They would be 'it' for each other. People would say 'James and Lily' like it was one word.

Just thinking about it made Lily feel dizzy.

Sirius, Remus, and Peter all stared at James. James was sitting on his sofa, chosen with Lily in mind, and staring pensively out the window. Granted, there wasn't much of a view, but it was better than looking at his friends.

"You did say that you didn't think she would agree immediately," Remus said casually.

"I was preparing myself for a hopefully nonexistent postponement. It does exist though."

"Even if she does say no to marrying you, I bet she'll still move in," Sirius said.

"She's Catholic. I don't think she will," Peter disagreed, and everybody shot him a dirty look. "I'm just saying, is all."

"She's a witch now, and she doesn't have any family besides her sister in England. So that gets rid of the Catholic thing. Besides that, if you hadn't asked her, James, she would've taken herself off to Italy and you would have never seen her again," Remus was again the voice of wisdom.

Peter also had some rather intuitive words, "If she really loves you, she'll agree to marry you. If she just wants to move in, she doesn't think it's forever. Although not without benefits, cohabitation is a sort of cheap substitute for marriage."

"I can't believe she said she needed time to make a decision. I thought women were just supposed to know."

"Maybe she was just scared," Peter suggested.

"Maybe she thinks you're gross," Sirius laughed.

James snarled viciously.

When Lily stepped in Gryffindor Tower, she was immediately accosted by Millie, and Amos looked like he was there only because he had been threatened. "Ummm, did you lot have fun in Hogsmeade?"

"We had fun, but neither of us received an engagement ring," Millie said scathingly while she dragged Lily over to a corner and then pushed her into a chair. "What in the devil is going on?"

"I'm sure I have no idea what you're talking about," Lily lied, and her eyes held Millie's rather convincingly. Until she smiled.

"I can see you know, but I'll fill you in. Apparently, two second year Ravenclaws were in a return carriage with you, and they saw you making puppy eyes at Potter and clutching a ring box. They told a dorm mate who told her fifth year Gryffindor sister, who asked me." Millie growled in a rather terrifying way, "And I want to know what's going on."

"Would you settle down? James asked me to move in with him today, and I suppose he asked me to marry him. He gave me this ring at least. Wanna see?"

"Absolutely not," Millie said tightly. "I hope you are not taking his proposal seriously."

"Come on," Lily grinned, "it's my first proposal. Revel in female satisfaction with me."

"Did you say yes?"

"I told him I needed to think about it."

"Ha!" Millie yelled with satisfaction. Several people turned to stare. "You have always told me women knew immediately somewhere deep down. If they didn't say yes, if they had to think about it, it wasn't meant."

"I think this is different, though," Lily said honestly, and she felt herself smile. "I wanted to say yes immediately, and I came very close to it. But then I started feeling nervous, and I was scared it wasn't the right thing to do. I wanted to think about it, just to make sure."

Millie sighed with satisfaction. "So you've thought about it, and now you realize you can't possibly marry him."

"I have decided no such thing. I do want to marry James. I think I do, at least." Lily smiled and began tracing a pattern on the chair arm. "I want to be happy again. I think I will be with him, but I can't be for sure. I mean, we might be married for a month and find out we aren't at all suited."

Millie looked disgusted. Amos seemed rather white, but he was the first to speak again. "I think you'll be happy with him."

Lily looked up sharply, "What?"

Amos shrugged and seemed embarrassed. "You never acted the way you do with him with me. I think you rather adore him, and if he asked you to marry him, he must feel the same way. You two are good friends, and I think you're well suited."

Millie looked ready to strangle Amos.

Lily giggled happily. "Amos, I don't think you could have said anything to help me more." She flopped back against her chair. "I'm going to marry James Potter. I'm going to move into his house after we graduate. I don't have to go to Italy. What a relief. I'm going to be so happy."

"Oh my hell. This is revolting," Millie said in disgust, and Lily thought she was going to leave for a moment.

"Here," Lily said, thrusting the box in her friend's hand, "look at the ring.

Millie opened the small box and examined the ring critically. "It'll do," she said distastefully before shoving it at Amos.

He glanced at it briefly and said, "It's nice. Congratulations on your engagement."

"I'm engaged, aren't I?" Lily asked, and started giggling again. She felt rather disgusted with the sudden display of stupidity, but decided she would only be engaged once. "I guess I should write James to let him know we're engaged. He doesn't know yet."

Lily sat on her bed with a textbook cradled in her lap in place of a desk, and she began penning the note to James. She wasn't sure what to say, so her parchment was littered with little dots and scratched circles. Everything seemed self-important or just ridiculous. She was just writing a note to James, but it seemed like a note accepting a marriage and cohabitation proposal ought to be a little special. Finally, she just wrote:

James,

I'll meet you at ten on Saturday at Caprice's.

She thought about leaving the letter at that, but then Lily thought she might want to let James know what her answer was in advance. With a smile on her face, she finished,

I'll be the redhead with the rather pretty engagement ring.

Love,

Lily