A/N- wriiten for QLFC SEASON 8 ROUND 11
word count -1982
prompt- where are we going?
additional prompt- 1 qudditich pitch,2 "You're the worst" / "But you love me anyway 11 suprise
James has been pacing around the dormitory for the past two hours. Remus and Sirius are perched on Sirius' bed watching him while eating breakfast that they had grabbed from the great hall. Peter is nowhere to be found.
The three of them have already finished packing their trunks for their departure. Today is the last time they are going to board the Hogwarts Express.
"James, you need to calm down," Remus tells him for the nth time in the last two hours.
"I can't. What if something goes wrong today?" James exclaims. He however stops pacing around.
"Prongs, we have everything under control. You can go on and enjoy your date with Lily," Sirius says.
"I am really nervous about today," James tells them.
"That's understandable. Frank was the same way on that day when he proposed to Alice," Remus consoles him.
"This has to be perfect otherwise Lily might leave me for ever," James is still fretting.
"You have been dating Lily for over a year now. If Lily wanted to leave you, she would have already left you," Sirius tells him.
"Very funny, Padfoot,"James grabs his pillow and throws it at Sirius's head.
"Really James, you need to stop worrying about the details and just enjoy the moment. We went over the plan many times and Remus and I personally made sure everything is in place for your date. You have nothing to worry about," Sirius chides him.
James takes a deep breath and tries to control his irregular heartbeats. "I am sorry guys. I am just so nervous about today," he apologizes.
"You don't have to apologize. It's a normal reaction when you are trying to attempt something so huge in your life. Now go on and act normal. It's your last date in Hogwarts with Lily," Remus reminds him.
"That's right, it's my last date with Lily at Hogwarts. I have to make it special for her," James seems to be getting some of his confidence back.
"That's it. You will be fine James, have some faith in yourself. Now go on Lily must be waiting for you. It's time for your date," Remus reminds him.
James gives himself a do over and tries setting his hair one last time before making his way to the door. "I will see you guys later on the train. Wish me luck," he calls back.
"I am coming with you. I am meeting Marlene downstairs. I will grab Lily's stuff for her as well," Sirius joins him.
"All the best, James. I am going to wait for Peter here. Sirius, we will join you and Marlene later," Remus bids them goodbye.
As they make their way down to the common room, they can see that Lily is already waiting for James in the common room. She is chatting with Marlene by the fireplace.
Lily looks up towards the staircase when she hears footsteps coming down. Her eyes light up seeing James walking down towards her.
As far as James is concerned, all his nervousness flees away as soon as he sees Lily's face.
"Hey, Lily Flower. You look amazing today," James compliments her as he reaches her.
"You look fine yourself," Lily returns the compliment before pulling him for a kiss.
"Good morning," Lily greets him as they pull back from the kiss.
"Good morning. Are we ready to go?" James asks her.
Lily nods her head in agreement. James looks around to see Sirius is busy kissing Marlene.
"Hey, Padfoot. We are going ahead 't forget to take care of Lily's trunk," Jamesl lets Sirius know that they are leaving. He receives a thumbs up as a reply.
Together James and Lily walk hand in hand out of the common room. "Where are we going?" Lily asks James once they are outside.
"We are going on one last special date," James replies.
Lily looks at her boyfriend and just shakes her head. She knew he had something up his sleeves to make their last morning at school special.
James takes Lily on a leisure stroll across the whole castle. They spend the next hour reminiscing the moments that they have spent in these walls for the last seven years.
James tells her all about his antics with the marauders that he had not yet told her. Lily in turn tells him about some of her memories that he was not a part.
They make a stop in the kitchen where the house elves have a basket full of food ready for them.
"Thank you for all the meals you guys gave us," James thanks the house elves present there.
The house-elves there are flustered with the praise and Lily can't help but feel proud of her man.
After leaving the kitchen they make their way to the quidditch pitch where they had their maximum amount of dates.
"I hope you don't mind taking one last flight with me before we leave Hogwarts. We can have our breakfast after we fly," James says to her.
"Of course not. I love flying with you," Lily replies.
James takes her for a fly around Hogwarts. They enjoy the view of Hogwarts from above for one last time in absolute silence. It isn't like they need words to fill the silence between them. They have built a comfortable atmosphere around them where only they exist and nothing else matters.
After they are done flying, they settle down in the middle of the quidditch pitch to have their breakfast.
James had visited the kitchen last night and told the house elves to prepare Lily favourites for their breakfast date today.
As James is taking out the food, Lily notices that everything that is packed is her favorite. It warms her heart that James loves her so much. Sometimes she really can't believe that she fell in love with this amazing guy.
James hands her plate over to her and they enjoy their breakfast while making idle talks.
"Sirius and Remus had their breakfast in bed today. Sirius went down to the great hall and grabbed their breakfast for them first thing in the morning," he tells her.
"Marlene too got an early breakfast with Mary today," Lily replies.
"Things are going well between them. Isn't it?" James asks her absentmindedly.
"Yeah, Marlene is very serious about him," she replies.
"Sirius feels the same about her. I really think if they can make it work for the next year then they could end up getting married," James comments.
"We will just have to wait and watch," Lily hmms in agreement.
After they are done with their breakfast, they spend a few more minutes kissing each other.
They still have some time before they have to take the carriage to the train station so they decide to go sit by the black lake to pass the time.
They are sitting on a huge rock looking over at the lake. Lily has her head on James shoulder while he has his head over hers.
Each of them is lost in their own thoughts. Their past, present and future running around in their heads. They are nostalgic about their past, content with their present and excited about their future. This is how they spent their last minutes at Hogwarts.
Later as they board the train Lily can't help but notice that James is getting fidgety by each minute. She really can't understand why he is so nervous. That is until he stops outside a compartment.
Lily watches James knock on the compartment and wait for the door to open. She is surprised to see Remus emerge from the cabin. Why did James knock instead of barging in? Before she can ponder over it Remus interrupts her thoughts.
"Finally, you guys are here. Well the cabin is all yours. I will see you guys in a few minutes," Remus tells them.
Lily watches him heading further down the train, no doubt in search of their friends, in complete wonder.
Before she can react, James pulls her into the compartment and looks at her with a serious expression that she is not used to seeing on his face. It makes her heart race.
"Lily, do you recognize this compartment?" He questions her.
Lily is confused, why is James suddenly asking her such a question? She looks around the room but she can't identify its importance. She shakes her head in a no.
James isn't disheartened. He had expected this to happen. "It's the compartment we took on our very first ride to Hogwarts. It's where we first met," he tells her.
Lily's eyes widen in realization. Now that she thinks about it, the compartment is really that same one.
James grabs her hands and holds on to them tightly. He now has Lily's complete attention.
"Lily, you might find it hard to believe but that day I knew it straight away that you are the girl I was going to marry-" James starts speaking.
Lily gasps after realizing what is going on. She is really surprised to know that James is proposing to her. She had not expected this day to come this soon. She is not going to complain though.
"Then we were sorted into the same house and I made it my mission to make you fall in love with me. I played pranks and did everything in my power to grab your attention but what I didn't realize was I was just making you hate me," James goes on.
Lily lets out a short laugh at James' words.
"But then a miracle happened. I don't know why but you fell in love with me. It still feels like a dream, you know? It feels like one day I will wake up and find out that the past year and half was just a dream," both of them are teary eyed now.
"I am forever going to be grateful for having you love me. I am always going to love you to my fullest. You are a blessing for me that I am going to cherish all my life," James promises her.
"You're the worst," Lily tells him, laughing at his cheesiness.
"But you love me anyway," he cheekily replies.
"That I do," Lily agrees.
Give her a kiss on her cheek James goes down on his knee and pulls out a black box from his pocket. "Ms Lily Evans, will you please marry me? " he asks her.
Tears are freely leaking out of Lily's eyes now. She nods her head in a yes.
James pulls her to him and slips the ring on her ring finger. Lily pulls him in for a deep kiss.
"I will marry you," Lily tells her after pulling away from the kiss.
James pulls her in a hug but before they could get lost in their world the door burst open. All their friends stood in the doorway.
"Padfoot, no," Remus tries to stop Sirius but he is a second too late.
Sirius grabs James and Lily in a huge hug and is sobbing heavily. "That was freaking beautiful, James, " he tells them.
James smacks him on his head."You were not supposed to eavesdrop". He hugs him tighter nevertheless.
"I just couldn't help it," Sirius sheepishly tells them once he has calmed down.
"It's alright. I am glad you guys are here for it," Lily waves him off.
"Really, Lily Flower? Then we should celebrate your engagement. What says guys?" Sirius takes charge.
Seeing no disagreement coming from anyone Sirius whoops in joy and goes to search the cart lady for goodies.
Taking advantage of his absence, James pulls Lily in a tight hug.
"I love you," he tells her.
"I love you too," she replies.
After the proposal, they spent the remaining train ride celebrating their engagement with their friends as they looked forward to what's ahead for them.