Chapter 24: Proposals

Marlene couldn't believe the nerve of her brother springing an arranged marriage on her when last year he just wanted them to be friends. Something must have happened to him to up his game. If only her parents knew what was going on in the life of their darling son. She scoffed, she was however going to have to come up with some excuse. Nobody refused a magically arranged marriage.

Sighing and kicking a spider that had dared to scuttle across her path she made her way out of the dungeons and headed up to the common room.

"Marry me instead." Sirius said getting down on one knee and using what looked like a small stuffed wolf as a ring.

Marlene stared at him, she wasn't sure how to react. Was he joking? She was saved from answering by James who laughed.

"Paddy mate, she's trying to get out of marriage not looking to tie her self down so early in the game, she's only eighteen, she's still getting used to you." James smirked and deftly ducked out the way when the stuffed wolf flew through the air towards him. He picked it up and chucked it back but Marlene caught it and hugged it.

"Don't hurt Loup." She exclaimed like a child and kissed the stuffed wolf on it's forehead.

Lily giggled. They were all – minus Remus, in James new bedroom. It was the perfect place to sit and talk. The girls were allowed in and the Head-Students rooms had privacy charms on them to prevent unwanted eavesdroppers.

Marlene had decided to tell the boys (for she had told Lily almost straight away) about what Dumbledore had asked her to do. Sirius had taken it better than she expected; he had just told her to be careful and when asked if he was angry had just shaken his head and said: "Not if it helps put that madman away for ever, Dumbledore asked you to do it and I trust Dumbledore."

"I've been thinking." Lily said and ignoring James' dramatic gasp she continued. "If a magical arrangement is anything like a muggle arrangement then nothing can be done without parental permission."

"In normal cases that would be true, but Marlene is eighteen." James countered.

"Could you tell your parents?" Peter asked but Marlene just shook her head.

"I don't want to put them in danger." She screwed up face. "I could write to Martyn and stress the importance of school and NEWTs that could buy me two years at least."

"You thinking of failing?" Sirius asked returning to the sofa. James had been a little bit wand-happy when he got his new room. He had kept the desk, wardrobe and bed but had moved them around, he had also added a small two-seater sofa and two armchairs. He had a feeling his room would be used as a private common room for the seventh years. He had been right.

"Regulus is a year younger than us." Marlene stated as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Sirius blushed, "Yeah that could work." He muttered.

Peter squirmed in his armchair, "Why did you call the wolf Loup?"

"A tribute to Lupin perhaps?" Said James thinking it through.

"Maybe it's because Loup is French for Wolf." Sirius said smirking at his own intelligence.

Lily stared at him. "Vous parlez français?"

Sirius stared back, "Oui un peu."

Marlene giggled and quickly translated to Peter and James who were speechless.

"Anyway it's not a un loup c'est un chien." Sirius said breaking his stare with Lily and turning back to Marlene.

Marlene raised an eyebrow and stared disbelievingly at him. "It's looks like Remus."

"Don't let Moony hear you say that." James whispered and Peter snickered

Sirius pouted, "It's a dog it's meant to be me."

Lily who was sitting on James bed extracted what looked to be a stuffed deer from under his pillows. James lunged embarrassed but missed after tripping on a corner of his rug. Lily laughed and used one of the legs on the deer to wave at everyone in the room. "Is the story of the wolf/dog the same as Bambi?"

James frowned and sat down on the bed next to Lily. "'Bambi' as you so called it, is a representation of me, Peter has a Rat and Moony has a wolf, Sirius' is a grim. I know it doesn't look like a grim but the muggle lady we bought them from didn't know what a grim was and 'Loup' was the only one left. We bought them with the intention of giving them to our kids."

"Aw that's sweet." Marlene gushed and placed Loup on Sirius head. "But none of you have kids, and in case you haven't had the 'talk' it takes two to tango."

Sirius blushed and handed Loup back to Marlene. "I brought him down to give to you, I kept forgetting to give you him to you."

Marlene blinked. "Thanks hun, in that case it's no longer Loup it's Snuffles!" Sirius groaned as everyone else laughed.

James looked around and asked the question that had been bugging him for a while. "What's Bambi?"

His answer was three cushions and a surprisingly patient explanation from Lily.

James scratched his nose with his quill and glanced over at Lily. They had been back at Hogwarts for over a month now and so far he and Lily had been getting on better than ever. It helped that they patrolled together and ran prefect meetings together and ended up eating together. He tried to concentrate on his Muggle Studies homework but his mind was fixed firmly on the red-head sitting two tables away. He glanced up again just in time to see Marlene get up and walk towards the restricted section.

He stood up slowly and casually made his way over to Lily's table, he could sense Peter and Remus staring at him (Sirius had followed Marlene), he resisted the urge to mess up his hair and used the bookshelf behind her table as a pretence for what he was doing.

He took a small breath, all he had to do was ask her to join him in Hogsmeade on Saturday, there was nothing else to it. It wasn't like he hadn't asked her out before, he'd been doing it at least every day since they first started school.

There was a small curse from the table and a couple of thuds as some books hit the floor. James whirled round and knelt down to help pick up the books. Lily looked down at him surprised. "Thank you." She said accepting the books.

James smiled. "Erm can I ask you something?"

Lily raised an eyebrow, "You're not thinking of proposing are you? I enjoyed having a year without your elaborate hair-brained scams to get me to go out with you."

James blushed and quickly stood up, he had forgotten he was still on his knees. He watched Lily as she spoke, bothered by the words but the look in her eye told her she didn't really mean it.

"No erm, how are you?" He asked settling into Marlene's empty seat, he hoped she wouldn't be back soon and if Sirius had a logical head on his shoulders – which was debatable, then he would keep her busy long enough so that he and Lily wouldn't be interrupted. He could still feel Peter and Remus' eyes boring into him.

"You didn't come over to ask me that did you?" He could tell she was amused.

"You're right, you're too smart for me." He was going to have to go out and say it, "You know the Hogsmeade weekend on Saturday?"

Lily nodded her head she didn't really have anything planned apart from being dragged round the clothes shops by Mary.

"Well I was wondering if you wanted to do something, with me. Or as a group. I don't mind." He added hesitantly, he would have preferred just the two of them but it's best to start somewhere. Closing his eyes, he held his breath waiting for the slap or the insult but it never came. He opened one eye and saw that Lily was staring at him with an amused look on her face, her green eyes were smiling. James opened the other eye and met Lily's gaze.

She smiled, "That would be nice, thank you Po.... James."

James felt as if all his Christmases had come at once, after six years she had finally agreed to a date with him, he felt like jumping for joy. Composing himself he nodded. "Great." He said failing at masking his glee.

"It will probably just be us though won't it." Her glare was suspicious but she was still smiling.

James looked at her confused. "Huh? What do you mean?"

"Well Marlene and Sirius are spending the day with her parents and Peter and Remus are going to invent some random homework or something that keeps them away." She smirked.

James couldn't be sure if she was joking until a small giggle betrayed her. He smiled, "Is that a way of saying you want it to be just us?" He chanced waggling his eyebrows and Lily laughed.

"I'd like that very much."

James grinned and stood up, Lily stood up as well. "Great. Thank You. I'll erm see you later then." He felt awkward just standing there should he hug her? Shake her hand? He didn't quite know what to do. He settled for a nod and his boyish smile before turning back to his table. There was a definite bounce in his step. He heard Lily giggle embarrassedly as some fifth year girls came to gossip, it would be half way would the school by now. Lily Evans Said Yes. He could imagine it as a headline in the Daily Prophet.

Marlene was at his table when he arrived and she had a huge grin on her face. Peter, Remus and Sirius all grumbled as they handed over two gold pieces each. "This will go nicely with my winnings for correctly predicting Prongs would be Big-Head-Boy."

"You bet on me?" James asked.

Marlene grinned, "Lily actually I bet Lily would say yes, Peter said she would say no whilst Remus thought a slap and Sirius thought a hex."

James frowned and sat down in his chair. "Aw come of it Prongs it was only a small wager, any way she said yes mate, I was jumping up and down and screaming for joy when Marli said yes." Sirius grinned pulling Remus' Potion's essay towards him. Remus scowled and grabbed his essay back.

Marlene smirked and pecked Sirius on the cheek before making her way back to her table.

James sighed and grinned, Sirius was right he did have a date with Lily. He needed to plan where they would go. Madame Pudifoot's was out of the question. Not only did the pink give him a headache but Lily might just hex him if he took her there.

"You don't want to be predicting to much stuff Marl, people could catch wind." Mary said in a eerie voice later that night. Lily was at her prefect meeting and Marlene had decided to finish her homework in her dorm only Mary and Rebecca were making it very hard to concentrate.

She looked at Mary and frowned, "Like who the Department of Mysteries?"

Rebecca looked out from over the top of her Divination book. "We've been writing down everything you say and informing Professor Augury. She thinks you may be a real Seer."

"Well my Cousin's, Aunt's, Daughter was a Seer." Marlene said thoughtfully.

Mary jumped up and grabbed a little notebook. "Really?"

Marlene shook her head and smirked. "No because if you think you think about what I just said, I just related it back to me."

Both Mary and Rebecca wore almost identical looks of disappointment.

Marlene pointed to the notebook. "What is that anyway?"

Mary looked proud, "Everything you've predicted is in here including, your friends deaths, James promotion and Lily's proposal."

Marlene rolled her eyes and turned back to her Arithmancy homework. "Divination is a load of old clap-trap and guesses."

Rebecca raised an eyebrow, "Says someone who is studying Arithmancy which is basically divining with numbers."

Marlene groaned she wasn't going to win this one.

Mary and Rebecca shared a look, they were winning. "Go on then." Said Mary expectantly, quill at the ready. "Predict something."

Muttering incoherently Marlene sat up and moved her arms around dramatically, she was going to have to come up with something far-fetched and apocalyptic otherwise they wouldn't believe it and therefore leave her alone. "The world is going to...." end was too obvious, she stopped waving her arms and closed her eyes. "...depend on a... snake?" Opening one eye she saw both of them bent over their divination text books. Smiling she gathered her books and bag. She would study in Lily's room, she knew how to get passed the wards and at least it would be quiet.

A/N: Yay I had been struggling with James asking Lily out for ages but I've finally done it :D, but they are not out of the woods yet *laughs evilly*. Marlene isn't a seer just someone with a very active imagination and a very good guesser.

French translations: Vous parlez français? = Do you speak French (Formal), Oui un peu. = Yes a little, c'est un chien = it's a dog. Just in case anybody was wondering :D

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