Written for the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry (Challenges and Assignments) Term 13

Additional challenges listed below

Word Count – 530

Flashes of green and red shone through the poorly lit room. James dodged them as well as he could and tried to be strategic with his spells, but it everything was happening too fast. He could barely think before yelling a protection spell or attacking the swarm of Death Eaters that Lily and he were fighting.

James had no idea how, but they had been ambushed by at least five of Voldemort's followers as they moved Lily's things into the old Potter Mansion. After they passed away, Fleamont and Euphemia Potter had left James their estates, which included the Mansion and the cottage in Godric's Hollow. Once Sirius had left to get his own flat, James felt lonely living in the big house by himself and asked Lily to move in with him, since she already spent most of her time there anyway.

A green spell nearly missed his right ear when James took a second to look for Lily and see how she was doing. As expected, she was doing brilliantly and didn't need his help at all, but James was still worried. There were five against two. The odds were not good.

As he cursed the anti-Apparition wards that he and Sirius had recast on the house a few days ago, James fired a jinx at the closest Death Eater and dove out of the way of another flash of light. He crawled behind the couch and gave himself time to breathe and wipe the sweat out of his forehead.

"Hey, there," said a voice by his side.

Apparently, Lily had had the same idea, as she rolled to his side behind the feeble protection.

"Lily." He looked at her dead in the eyes. "Marry me?"

"What? James, now is not the time for jokes," she said, raising her body slightly and shooting a spell at someone from the top of the couch.

"I am not joking." James stretched his arm out to the side and blindly shot a Petrificus Totalus, that had hit one of their enemies by the sound of a body hitting the floor. "If we get out of this alive, will you marry me?"

"Well, since you asked so romantically, I will."

"Great. Now, lets find a way out of here, because I am not dying before I marry you." James was beaming from ear to ear, even as the shards of a vase blown up by some curse almost hit his face.

"On three, we stand up and try to paralyze as many of them as possible, okay?" she whispered to him.

James almost laughed. That was the woman he loved. She could go from accepting a marriage proposal to devising a tactical plan in seconds.

"Okay."

"One, two, three."

They stood up at the same time and cast the spells as quickly as they could. James was sure they had hit at least two more, when he took Lily's hand and they leapt out the window, casting one Protego after the other. When they reached the point right where the anti-Apparition wards couldn't reach them, James looked at Lily and smiled.

"You said yes," he said, right before Apparating away with her.

Insane House Challenge

#721 – Plot point: A proposal at an inappropriate time

August Auction

D11/A3 – Dialogue: "Marry me?"