Dinner in the Great Hall that evening was a strained affair; Severus Snape had not been seen by anybody since his dash from the classroom of the disastrous Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson in the morning, and hadn't even turned up for Potions or Arithmancy after lunch. This was highly unusual, as, as Remus had pointed out to Sirius, Snape had even been known to refuse the hospital wing in favour of attending his lessons even when he had such severe influenza he could barely stop sneezing for even half a minute, much to the dismay of Madam Pomfrey and the seventh-year in general. Also conspicuously absent were Lily, who had vanished into the Gryffindor girls' dormitory at lunchtime, still in tears and refusing to emerge, and Mary Macdonald, who had opted to forgo the feast in order to comfort her friend.
The Marauders ate in silence, huddled together at the far end of the Gryffindor table by the Great Hall's door. Lightning forked across the enchanted ceiling every so often, and the thunderclaps from outside mingled with the chatter of the other students, making the silent group in the corner more inconspicuous. James scowled at his plate, stabbing pieces of chicken with his fork more viciously than was strictly necessary. Sirius, Remus and Peter were all keeping a close eye on James, who had barely uttered a word to anyone for the entire afternoon, but Sirius alone noticed how James would occasionally pause for a second, furrow his brow, and then return to mutilating his food.
"Prongs?" Sirius enquired, as Remus looked inquisitively at him. "Did you have something you wanted to say?" James frowned.
"No," he said decisively.
"Oh, OK then," said Peter, who turned back to his plate. Sirius aimed a kick at him under the table, and sure enough, he heard a dull thud as his foot found its mark on Wormtail's fleshy shin, earning him a reproachful look from Remus. Honestly, Sirius thought, it may not be polite to kick one's friends, but with Wormtail being so dense it was sometimes difficult to resist.
"Yes, actually," James muttered suddenly, still staring at his plate, as Peter dropped his potato on the floor and Remus raised an eyebrow at Sirius. "I've been doing quite a bit of thinking today." Sirius waited for an elaboration, but none came, and it was Remus who broke the new silence.
"You don't have to tell us if you don't want to, Prongs, but if you do want to, we're willing to listen." Sirius thought this was stating the obvious and unnecessary, but his best friend's brows unfurrowed slightly and he realised that Remus had said exactly the right thing. Of course. It was just like Moony to turn up the tact.
"I knew," James said simply. "I've known I loved Lily for really quite a long time, and seeing her Patronus this morning confirmed it. The moment I saw that doe I knew that she was the one, as it were, that this was the woman I could love until I died. And then," James spat, "Snivellus went and cast her Patronus!"
"I fail to see how that's a bad thing," Sirius said in between mouthfuls of runner beans. "It just means that you get to have one more thing Snivelly doesn't. It's just one more reason for him to be jealous of you." Remus frowned, but didn't berate him.
"But," James continued,"how do I know that that doe was Lily's Patronus?"
"You've lost me," Remus said. Peter was also looking bewildered.
"How do I know that doe wasn't Snivelly's Patronus all along, and she copied it from him? She was friends with him! She was the only person who was friends with him! What if she loves him, and not me?"
"You're barking, mate," Sirius said. "Lily's crazy about you. Anybody with eyes can see that."
"And it's no secret that they spent their summers together for years and years, and nobody knows what might have happened then!" James continued irately, as though he hadn't heard Sirius. "You know," he mused under his breath, "I was going to ask her to marry me." The other three Marauders gaped at him, and Peter let out a squeak.
"But Prongs, that's great!" Sirius exclaimed. "But what's all this about 'was'?" James scowled again.
"After the incident this morning, I don't think I can. Not if there's any chance that it's Snivelly she loves." James' voice broke, and he plunged his knife into his chicken breast with such force that his plate split in two. The smaller part flew across the narrow table and hit Peter in the face. Peter gave a yelp of pain, as blood started pouring from his nose. "Sorry, Wormy," James said miserably, and he vaguely waved his wand in the direction of Peter's face. "Epi..."
"Hold it, Prongs," Remus interrupted. "You don't want to risk accidentally blasting his nose off, and the state you're in, nothing would surprise me. I'll do it." Remus raised his own beech wand. "Episkey." Peter rubbed his nose and looked up at Remus with admiration.
"I wish I could do that," Peter said longingly, before turning back to James. "Anyway, Prongs, I think you should ask Lily to marry you."
"How can I, though, when she obviously wants him?"
"James, you're being silly," Remus pointed out. "You heard what Professor Spungen said about the stag and the doe being each others' soul mates, of course the doe is Lily's. Do you honestly think Snape would have the other half of your Patronus?"
Sirius sniggered. "Yeah Prongs, because you and Snivellus would obviously be a perfect match!" he said snidely. James frowned, but then his face began to light up, and Sirius didn't think it was only because an array of desserts had just appeared on the table in front of them.
"You're both talking... sense, actually," James said. "Yeah! I'm going to propose to Lily at the next opportunity I get, so she can't change her mind and go for Snivelly!" This time, it was Remus' turn to frown.
"But James," he calmly pointed out, "do you have any idea how cruel that would be to Snape?"
"I'm not following you, Moony," James said sceptically, as he helped himself to a bowl of trifle and began mashing it to a pulp.
"Put yourself in his position. Say you've just made yourself extremely vulnerable by revealing your love for somebody, in front of that person and their partner in addition to a host of other classmates, and then the partner proposes to them to spite you? How would you feel? You know, copying a Patronus isn't a common thing, it only happens when you really love somebody, as it means that all of your happiest memories are with them. Considering Lily has barely looked at Snape for two years, let alone spoken to him, that's really saying something. It would be nothing short of cruelty. Do you really want to inflict that on another human? I know Snape's deeply unpleasant, but surely even he doesn't deserve that?"
"Oh Moony," Sirius said. "Why've you got to be such a buzzkill? Prongs can do whatever he likes. He loves Lily, why shouldn't he marry her? And, quite frankly, Snivelly's always trying to curse Prongs at every opportunity he gets, so why should Prongs show compassion now?"
"I'm not saying Prongs shouldn't ask Lily to marry him, after all, their Patronuses speak for themselves," Remus said thoughtfully. "I'm just saying that maybe he should wait the two months until the end of term to ask her." James cleared his throat indignantly. "I realise I can't dictate that for you," Remus started again, before James could interrupt, "but it would mean that Snape would be out of the way and you couldn't be inflicting such pain on him." James didn't look entirely convinced. "At the very least, it'll make it much less likely that he'll bully the Gryffindor password out of a first-year and kill you in your sleep."
"I agree with Remus," Peter spoke up, looking hopefully up at James, whose trifle had by now reached the consistency of lumpy mashed potatoes and looked equally unappetising.
"You know, Moony, I hate it when you're right," James said quietly. "Nobody deserves that kind of torture. Even Snivellus." He spat out the final word.
"So you're willing leave it for a couple of months?" Peter inquired, chewing a mouthful of custard tart.
"Hardly," James scoffed. "But it doesn't look like I have much choice."
"You're doing the right thing, Prongs," Remus said, reaching out a hand to clap James on the shoulder. Sirius rolled his eyes, but nobody noticed.
The Marauders ended their meal in silence, and when their bowls were empty they got up and left for Gryffindor tower together.
"By the way, guys," James said after the Great Hall doors had swung shut behind them and the friends started ascending the staircase. "If any of you let slip that I intend to propose to Lily, you can expect that Filch will find out whom exactly was behind that Mrs. Norris-on-the-roof prank you pulled when I was in the hospital wing last week. He thinks it was Peeves, I heard him going on about it to Dumbledore the other day. Wouldn't it be a shame to disabuse him of that comfortable notion?"
"Mate, it wouldn't be the worst trouble we've ever been in," Sirius pointed out. "All the same, of course we're not going to let it slip."
"Padfoot's right, Prongs," Remus added. "It's an honour to be trusted with such a secret." Peter nodded vigorously.
"When you do ask her, she's bound to say yes," Peter said as they reached the portrait of the Fat Lady.
"Password?" trilled the Fat Lady.
James looked at his feet, before uttering the one word swimming around in his head. "Aspiration," he said. The portrait swung forwards and the Marauders clambered into the common room.
Author's notes: I realise that my portrayal of the Marauders has been met with some criticism, but I would just like to say that I actually do see the them (including James) as good guys. Certainly, they were childish, but I really do think that they were essentially decent, reasonable people. (Apart from Wormtail, obviously, who was punished accordingly. I do hope you enjoyed his treatment in this chapter. I know I did.) :)
Many thanks to YOU, for reading this, and especially to the reviewers. I value your input. :D