This is set a couple of years after Hogwarts, and Lily and James are both about to become Aurors. Enjoy and review!
6:24 AM
Lily's bedroom
Mondays stunk, Lily decided, as she huddled under her comforter, dreading the moment she would be forced to leave its warm depths. Especially this Monday.
This was The Make or Break the Career Monday.
The Monday to End All Mondays.
Lily had to take her Auror examinations today.
6:27 AM
Lily glared at her alarm clock, willing it to stop advancing.
6:28 AM
Stupid #& clock…
6:30 AM
Lily had just made up her mind to drag herself out of bed when a loud pop echoed outside the door, and James bounced into the room.
"Lilykins!" he cried, landing right on top of her.
"Umph," Lily grunted.
"Guess what?" James looked positively ecstatic.
"Mmph," Lily said. It should be a crime to be this cheerful this early in the morning.
"Guess what today is!" James said in a sing-song voice.
"Smph umph," Lily growled into her pillow.
"Today," James announced dramatically, "is the first day of the rest of our lives."
"Ugh," came Lily's response.
"Ah, c'mon, Lily-Billy. This is exciting! Aren't you – Ack!"
Lily sat up suddenly, dislodging James from his precarious position on her bed and dumping him unceremoniously on the floor. Despite the feeling of impending doom that filled her, she melted slightly at the sight of her boyfriend sprawled on the floor, glasses askew, untidy hair even more tousled, hazel eyes dancing with mirth.
"Hey!" he mock-pouted. "That wasn't nice!"
"You're such a wuss," Lily said, dragging herself into the bathroom.
"Oh, but you love me anyway," James said, coming up behind her and kissing her ear as she sleepily put toothpaste on her toothbrush.
"Of course I do," Lily said absently. "James, would you feed Pem? He's in the kitchen."
"No way am I feeding that thing, it's evil," James said indignantly.
Lily shot him a Glare of Doom.
"Okay, okay, I'm going! Relax!"
7:30 AM
James banged on the bathroom door.
"Lily!" he yelled. "What the bloody hell are you doing in there? We're going to be late!"
"Just give me two seconds!"
"Translation: twenty minutes, minimum," James muttered under his breath. Pemberly, Lily's cat, stared up at him balefully, almost as if he knew what James had been talking about.
"What?" James demanded, a little weirded out. "It's true!"
The cat glared.
"Jeez," James muttered.
"Are you talking to yourself again?" Lily breezed out of the bathroom, looking fabulous, James thought. She seemed much more awake, but he could tell she was still dreading her upcoming exam.
"I most certainly was not!" he said indignantly. "I was talking to your evil cat!"
"Did you expect it to answer back?" Lily teased, stooping down and scratching Pem's ears. "You're not evil, are you, Pemberly?" she cooed.
James scowled. Lily rolled her eyes.
"Don't scowl, honey," she said, tweaking James' nose. "You'll get premature wrinkles.' She grabbed her bag. "Will you get that light?"
James flicked his wand at the bedroom light, and a second later they had both Disapparated.
8:04 AM
Ministry of Magic Auror Headquarters
"James!" Lily hissed as they walked into the examination room. "James!"
"What?" James said distractedly.
"Do you have any food? I didn't eat breakfast, and I can't take my test on an empty stomach!"
James felt in his pocket for a Chocolate Frog he knew he had stashed there, but came up with only the wrapper. He swore softly. Lily looked at him pleadingly.
"Would you run and get me a muffin? I want to go over some of my notes before the test."
"You've gone over them a hundred times," James said exasperatedly, but Lily gave him such a sad puppy-look that he had no choice but to leave.
"Thanks, Jamesie!" she called after him.
James rolled his eyes.
8:30 AM
"You may now begin your tests," announced the gravelly examiner.
8:36 AM
"Damn," Lily swore under her breath. She leant over to James.
"Would you lend me a quill? Mine broke!" she whispered, slightly hysterical.
James mimed taking deep breaths and reached into his bag for his extra quill.
Lily bit her thumbnail nervously.
"It's okay, Lilykins, relax," James said softly, passing her the quill.
"Silence!" the examiner rasped.
12:01 PM
Ministry of Magic Atrium
"Whew," Lily sighed, collapsing next to the Fountain of Magical Brethen. "That was exhausting."
"I'll say," said James, sitting down next to her and running a hand through his hair. Far from exploding at the sight, Lily giggled and ran her own fingers through his hair. Grinning, he leant over and pressed a quick kiss to her mouth.
"C'mon," he said. "Let's go out for lunch."
12:47 PM
Leaky Cauldron
They found a quiet table in the corner of the room. James took Lily's coat and pulled out her chair for her. He put on a smarmy waiter's face.
"Excuse me, miss, but will you be requirin' anything?"
Lily snorted, then assumed a snotty, rich lady air.
"Yes, in fact, I will. To start out I need a glass of water. Purified water, not from the tap, in a clean glass – no plastic, not tasting of soap – with a squeeze of lemon. And three and a half pure ice cubes."
"Right away, ma'am," James said nasally. "How else can I be of service?"
Lily looked around appraisingly.
"You can turn up the heat, it's chilly in here."
James shot her a sly look, smarmy waiter act gone.
"I can fix that," he said, and proceeded to kiss Lily senseless.
"Yes," Lily gasped when they finally came up for air. "You fixed that magnificently."
James just grinned and helped her into her seat.
1:04 PM
"Would you pass me the ketchup, please?" Lily asked.
James handed her the bottle and watched her smother her French fries.
"Lily…" he said slowly.
"Hm?" she asked, picking up a fry and eying it closely. Apparently satisfied that it was sufficiently covered in ketchup, she popped it into her mouth. Catching sight of the look on James' face, however, she immediately looked worried.
"James, what's the matter? Are you okay?"
James swallowed. "Yeah, I'm fine," he managed. In fact, he wasn't at all fine. His stomach felt like it was full of hyperactive Chocolate Frogs. Where was his Gryffindor bravery when he needed it?
Lily was still eying him concernedly. "Are you sure? You're awfully pale."
"Yeah," James said, trying to look nonchalant. He ran his hand through his hair. "Lily?"
"Mmhm?"
James took a deep breath and reached into his pocket.
"Lily," he said. "Would you…?"
He pulled out a small black velvet box and handed it to her.
Lily's mouth full of chewed-up French fry, dropped open. She stared at him, astonished.
"Go on," James urged. "Take it!"
She reached for the box with trembling fingers. Inside was a beautiful diamond and emerald ring.
"Lily," James said softly. "Would you marry me?"
Lily couldn't breathe. She looked at James, emerald eyes shining, and a smile spread across her face.
"Yes!" she said, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Of course I will, you prat! Yes!"
James was overjoyed; he leapt up, seized Lily around the waist, lifted her up and twirled her around. She laughed and wrapped her arms around him.
"I love you, Lily Evans," he whispered, kissing her softly.
"You'll have to do a lot better than that, James Potter, but I love you too," she replied saucily, pulling his mouth down to hers and giving him a kiss to end all kisses.
The Leaky Cauldron broke out in applause and cheering.
2:17 PM
Remus' house.
"Pay up, Moony, old boy!" Sirius shouted, barging into Remus's kitchen.
"What?" Remus asked, looking up from his sandwich.
"Sirius Black, once again displaying an uncanny sense of foresight, has outsmarted the Moonster yet again!" Sirius proclaimed, standing on a chair and throwing his arms out wide.
"What are you going on about?" Remus asked.
"Lily and James!" Sirius crowed. "They're engaged!"
Comprehension dawned on Remus' face, coupled by a look of horror.
"But…but – it's before Christmas!" he gasped.
Sirius cackled gleefully. "Yup. So you owe me, what was it? Seventeen galleons, right?"
Remus scowled.