A/N: My Editor didn't slaughter me, hurrah! Much love for all the lovely reviews I've gotten thus far, and thanks for not killing me, Bianca! XOXOX --Kat

" Sunrise in my Darkness"

A Lunacy in Two Parts

When James apparated into Lily's flat, he was met with a shriek.

"James bloody Potter!" There stood Lily, glorious in her half-exposed state. Her fiery hair hung in damp tendrils about her slim figure which was scarcely contained by her white cotton towel.

While James stood, awestruck, Lily stormed over to him and seized him by his collar. Heedless of his mortal peril, James noted her slipping towel with glee.

She noticed his gaze and let go of his collar only to slap him soundly on the face. "What have I told you about apparating into my flat?" she scolded, hiking her towel back up. "You wait here whilst I go get dressed." She stormed off into her bedroom, muttering all the while under her breath.

James swore quietly. "Damnit. What a start to the night!" Glancing down the hall to make sure Lily's door was closed, he pulled the small box out of his pocket and popped it open, staring down at the silver ring that fairly dripped with diamonds. "Please let this go well…"

"You can stop having pervy fantasies about me now, James. I'm ready," Lily sang out as she waltzed back into the common room, spectacular in a long midnight blue dress. James hurriedly stuffed the box back into his pocket.

"What was that?" she asked curiously.

James cleared his throat. "Pocket watch. Must make sure we're on time, I've made reservations at a charming muggle restaurant."

She grinned. "Lovely. Where is it?"

He stole a quick kiss and grinned dashingly. "It's just 'round the bend a bit, here in Kensington. It's called Byron's."

She kissed him back. "Fabulous. Is there an alley nearby that we can apparate to?"

He nodded and offered her his arm. "I know where we're going. My dear?" She took it and with a loud crack they were off.


James was nervous. Despite the over-priced champagne and delicious food, he couldn't help but be twitchier than usual.

Lily seemed completely oblivious. She chattered merrily about her recent defeat of the young Molly Weasley at chess. James smiled tolerantly; Lily had been gloating about it non-stop, much to Molly's extreme distaste.

He admired the beautiful woman as he sipped at his peach champagne soup. For all of her delicacy, she did not look like a woman who had five Death Eater kills after a month. Just a week ago, she'd added two more names to her count, and James had added his first few names to his list.

Lily cleared her throat. She'd noticed his avid stare and was giving him a strange look. "Are you feeling quite alright, love?" she asked quietly.

He nodded nervously. "Never better. Why?"

She shrugged. "Oh, it's just that this is the first time you haven't told me to sod off for yammering on about kicking Molly's arse. I'm a bit shocked."

James merely smirked. "That, my dear, is because I wasn't even listening."

With a shrug and a small smile, she went back to her soup.

James heaved a quiet sigh and looked over towards the door to a restaurant, where a very oddly dressed man could be seen--and heard--arguing with the manager. He shouted in a burly Scottish accent about not being allowed to bring his seeing-eye dog into the restaurant. He leaned back in his chair for a better look. The man was tall, but his face was completely obscured by a large balaclava and dark glasses. Ever suspicious, James muttered to Lily, "Love, I've got to--er--use the loo; I'll be right back."

He bolted for the front of the restaurant, where the man was still arguing loudly. "I'll report ye to the Council for this, laddie!" The odd-looking man was clutching a blind man's cane and carrying a leash in the other. James' face went white. The man's seeing-eye dog was an enormous shaggy black dog that wagged its tail upon seeing James. "Bloody hell," he muttered.

He dashed into the lavatory and splashed some water on his face. "I'll fucking hex them into next week," he said sotto voce, punching into the palm of his hand. He glowered darkly at the door. "Bloody Marauders, I'll kill them for this." He straightened his tie and walked back into the restaurant. With a bit of a vicious grin, he watched Remus being led poorly by Sirius to a table. Damn right, he thought. If they were going to stalk him, at least one of them wouldn't enjoy it.

When he sat back down, Lily was biting back a giggle. "Did you see that blind man being led about by his useless dog? You'd think a seeing-eye dog would be better trained!" she whispered, thoroughly amused. "He ran into a several tables and almost knocked a bottle of champagne right off one."

"What a pity," James said, trying to bite back his own laughter now. He glanced over at the table and bit back his incensed glare. Sirius had been completely unreliable around food in the past, and James heaved a quiet sigh of relief when several plates of fine steak were carried past without incident. "I heard the man arguing with the manager about even being allowed to bring his seeing-eye dog in."

She nodded, smiling, though she noted James' nervous air with a bit of a raised eyebrow. He hadn't been so twitchy since he'd successfully asked her out in September of last year. The pieces were falling into place, and she couldn't help but laugh a little. "We could all hear that, James. I'm glad he gave that manager Hell."

He did laugh at that. "You're such a softie sometimes. Honestly, how did you ever manage three more Eaters than me?"

She raised an eyebrow and said quietly, "Wouldn't you try to 'manage' as many as you could if they'd killed your parents? It's only been a little over a month since I lost them! At least your family's still alive." Her humour died quickly as she met his gaze. "I miss them so much," she murmured, voice quavering slightly.

James reached across the table and took her hands. "Lily, you'll never lose me. I'll be right here for you until my dying breath." He kissed her palms. "I love you so much, my dear." As she whispered, "I love you, too," James raised his glass of Dom Perignon 'Oenotheque'. "To us."

She smiled, wiping her moist eyes. "To us." Sipping at the expensive champagne, she mused over her work with the Order and as an Auror, trying to piece together that combination and her relationship with James.

He, however, was reminiscing over their first weeks as a couple. Lily had been to Stratford-upon-Avon on summer holiday, and they'd started dating a few weeks after they came back to school. He remembered all too well the weeks of Miss Lily Evans's dramatic proclamations and the sound of her usually quiet voice booming out sonnets and speeches. When he told her that he loved her, she'd merely laughed and said, "'Even so quickly may one catch the plague?'" She'd scorned his own proclamations and romantic whisperings with a quick, "'Love is merely a madness, and I tell you, deserves as well a whip and a dark house as madmen do.'"

James had complained to Remus, but the scholarly young man had merely laughed. "Surely you don't think she'll let you romance her so easily? She strung you along for years before finally conceding that she likes you. D'you remember how well she fooled you into falling for her a second time? She's not going to use her newfound love of the bard to romance you, but to scorn you dramatically. Have you ever read Taming of the Shrew?"

"I wore her down!" he'd insisted with pride.

Remus shook his head sadly. "Prongs, my good friend, it'll be the other way around. Best of luck to you, mate." With that, he'd gone off to the library to study.

"James!"

Lily's voice startled James from his reminiscing. "Sorry, love," he said quietly. The "blind" man a few tables away was snickering under his breath and talking to his dog.

Lily laughed. "You've been boring a hole through the tablecloth." She wiped her face off with her napkin and said, "Well, I'm quite finished if you are. Where are we off to?"

He grinned at that as he offered her his arm. "We're off to the Gardens, my dear."

She ignored his offered arm. "I've got to go to the loo, James. I'll meet you up front." James nodded. The minute Lily's back was turned he shot a spectacular glare at Remus and Sirius, gesturing rudely.

Remus forgot he was feigning blindness and returned the gesture, only to have Sirius nip him on the ankle.

James laughed and walked to the front to pay the outrageous several hundred pounds, most of which went to cover the champagne. Lily joined him a moment later, and they walked off into the night.

The summer night was warm, and a light breeze danced through the park as they strolled. They talked quietly the while and stopped near the Peter Pan statue so Lily could admire it. James grimaced as he remembered the nightmare of that morning.

I've got to do it now, he thought to himself, pulling the sonnet out of his pocket. Lily was looking up at the stars, a smile playing about her lips. He looked down at the parchment and swore quietly. "Fucking hell." The ink had smeared that he could scarcely read the first line. "My glass shall not--pursue?--persuade me I am old," he whispered.

Lily turned 'round and looked at him questioningly. "What'd you say?"

He shook his head and stammered, "Non-nothing, Lily darling."

She looked at him in disbelief. "You definitely said something."

Oh, this is hopeless! he thought. "Lily, you are the sun--no, I mean, you're--"

"What?" she asked patiently, by now thoroughly bemused.

He kicked at the grass under his feet and gave up completely on either of the two previous options. He remembered again Lily's obsession with Shakespeare. He took her hands. "What was that you always used to say...'Love is merely a madness, and deserves as well a whip and a dark house as madmen do'?"

She nodded, grinning openly.

He dropped to his knees, heedless of the wet grass. "Well, love, go get yourself a whip and find a lovely dark house; I've gone completely mad with love! Marry me!" He dug the box out of his pocket and opened it, holding it up to her.

Lily burst out laughing, nodding yes even as she wiped a few tears of mirth from her eyes. Resting a hand on the statue for support, she doubled over with laughter, by now practically hysterical.

James looked rather miffed. "Lily...?" he asked, a bit concerned.

She met his eyes and tackled him, snogging him to within an inch of his life. They caressed each other passionately, much to the glee of the enormous black dog that had unceremoniously abandoned his "blind" master.

James stopped kissing Lily abruptly. She pouted and started to protest, but James held up a finger to her swollen lips. "I have to hear it, Lily. Say it, please."

She grinned, her tears by now of joy. "'My heart unto yours is knit, So that but one heart we can make of it: Two bosoms interchained with an oath; So then two bosoms and a single troth.'" She kissed him again. "Yes, a thousand times, yes, I'll marry you!" She took the ring from the box that had landed on James' chest. He carefully took it and slipped it on her finger from where he lay beneath her, kissing her hand. "I love you, Lily Marie Evans," he whispered.

"And I love you, James Harold Potter, loony as you may be. Now, come on, let's go; your back must be soaked." She stood and pulled him to his feet.

James was forced to admit that was, in fact, soaked and that his pants were clinging to his legs in a most unbecoming fashion.

She took he hand and kissed him deeply. "No, what was that you were saying about a nice dark house? If we turn off the lights, your flat should contain two nutters like quite well."


"If we shadows have offended,
Think but this, and all is mended,--
That you had but slumber'd here,
While these visions did appear."

The Shakespeare quotes:

"Even so quickly may one catch the plague?" --Twelfth Night, Act I, scene v"
Love is merely a madness..." --As You Like It, Act III, scene ii
"My heart unto yours is knit..." --A Midsummer Night's Dream, Act II, scene ii
"If we shadows have offended..." --A Midsummer Night's Dream, Act V, scene i