AN: Please review. Also, try to suspend disbelief a bit and realize that this set in the late 1970s, in the Wizarding World.
They did not return home until half past ten. James, even though he was awake, still had to be finished patched up. Fitted with a sling, stitches on his head and an array of bandages, he and Lily looked like a matching set. After they were put back together they were ushered over to another corner of the large room to give a statement to Gideon. Apparently, some of the members were suspicious about them showing up out of the blue. It seemed ages before Frank reappeared.
"We're flooing, apparating, even side-along, is dangerous with James' condition."
"Are you coming with us?" Lily asked as she clutched to James' good arm.
"I want to talk with Charles," he said. "Besides, if you come home with James looking like that Agatha will have a coronary. If I'm there at least I can explain." Frank put a hand on Lily and steered them both towards the fireplace. It was a matter of seconds before they were engulfed in green flames and transported to Charles' office. Frank stepped out first, the couple followed suit. "How long before they come down?" Frank sat in one of the more comfortable looking chairs, shut his eyes and took a deep breath.
"Any minute," James informed him, brushing the ash off of his shoulders as he collapsed on the loveseat, pulling Lily with him. "Shouldn't have done that," he muttered, rubbing his chest. "Emmeline thinks I bruised my ribs."
"You what?" It was Agatha, a robe thrown over her pyjamas, looking at her son with wide eyes. "What happened to you?" Rushing over she petted his hair and made soft noises. "I am very angry, but right now…"
"Honey, he looks like he's already been attended to and we have a guest." He gestured towards Frank, who now sat ramrod straight, a serious expression pinned on his face. "Why don't you take them up to bed, I'll talk with Frank."
"We can manage," Lily insisted.
"Darling," Charles drawled, by now it was quite clear he wasn't quite all the way here. "You aren't even wearing shoes."
"She has me," James said.
"You're half dressed," Charles retorted. It was true, Emmeline had torn away most of his clothes, he was only wearing a blood stained t-shirt, dress shoes and slacks. A few moments passed, he sighed and pinched his nose. "Go to Lily's room, Merlin knows you won't sleep in separate beds."
Lily blushed and James grinned as they staggered to their feet, making an interesting looking couple. Both were leaning on each other for support, as Lily tried not to touch James' bad arm, or push too hard on his ribs. As she did this, he tried to make sure she wasn't putting too much pressure on her sprained ankle, even though Lily said that a bee sting hurt worse than the sprain.
By the time Frank had left and the Potters were back in bed, Lily was on the opposite side of the bed so she could curl against the side of James that was uninjured. Her breathing was soft and rather slow, a comfort to James. Absent mindedly he played with Lily's hair as he stared at the ceiling. He thought about her proposal, his non-verbal affirmation. He wanted Lily as his wife, now, not later. It felt natural with her, why should they put it off until they're older? He waited six years for her, he wasn't going to let her go now.
Taking a deep breath he wished the dull pain at the back of his head would go away. Emmeline had told him that despite the nasty blow to the back of his head, there appeared to be no concussion. He had actually came to a few moments after Frank and Lily left, but after that Emmeline patched him up well enough to stabilize him. Once they got to head quarters she gave him a pain potion so powerful it knocked him out again while she did some of the more ghastly spells, Emmeline could never tolerate screams of pain.
Some time during the night he did eventually fall asleep and woke up in the morning to Lily's hair tickling his face, her breath hot. "James?" she murmured, hands brushing against his cheek.
"Mmm hmmm…"
"Time to get up."
"Holiday, no classes, sleep in."
"It's nearly eleven."
His eyes popped open as he saw a fully clothed Lily with wet hair hovering above him. The traces of last night were pretty much gone, except for a few minor scrapes and bruises. "Godric, why didn't you wake me?"
"You hit me with a pillow. Come on, Mopsy made scones and I just brewed a fresh pot of tea. Sirius has been awake for an hour, so he'll be-"
"Lily, love, could you shut up?" he groaned, moving himself to a sitting position. "I have the worst headache and it's not even from a hangover."
"You can't stay in bed all day," she murmured, pulling her hand away from him.
"I wasn't planning on it. In fact I might head over to Diagon Alley."
"Why?"
"Christmas shopping."
"I'll go with you."
"No…" James shook his head and grabbed at Lily, his hand ending up on her forearm. "Were you serious yesterday?"
"I'm never Sirius, I'm Lily," she joked.
"I'm not playing around. I have to know if you hit your head as hard as I did and-"
Lily leaned forward, putting a finger on his lips. "I wouldn't joke about something like that. I was being sincere, sorry if-"
"Don't apologize," James interrupted. "Why did you propose, though? I convinced you to think about marriage a day ago and the next thing I know you're asking me to marry you."
"It was something Frank said to me. He told me that if I love you not to hesitate. Gideon Prewett's fiance was nineteen when she died. If something was to happen to one of us...Well, I would want you to be my husband, not my boyfriend."
"Yeah, you're right." James threw the covers off of himself and jumped out of the bed, ignoring the pain. He turned around and kissed Lily on the cheek as a second thought. "I need to get dressed and get going, is Sirius in his room?"
"Yes, but your parents said-"
"Forget what they said Lily." James was doing his best to mask his pain, taking off the sling and tossing it on the floor.
"You need that."
"I really don't, Emmeline Vance likes to play by the book, you remember when she was a Prefect."
"You're really hurt."
"You think Quidditch practice is a walk in a park? The bludger does this much damage-"
"You have a game a week after we get back from holiday. What happens when-"
"Don't worry about me."
Sirius dragged his feet as he followed James. "Prongs, this is taking forever, why did I have to come?"
"Haven't I explained it already?" he questioned. "Now, come on." James grabbed Sirius' arm and tugged him towards a store with glittering jewels displayed in the front window.
"Couldn't you force Remus to go with you on this wild goose chase? He's better at this soppy stuff than I am," Sirius complained as James grabbed his arm to pull him inside the shop. They got about a two meters inside the door when they were spotted by an older witch decked out out in Christmas robes.
"What can I do for you gentlemen? Matching bands? You know I've been seeing more-"
"No, no-" James began.
"Prongsie, you did take me to Slughorn's party…" Sirius said, clapping his hand on James' shoulder as his friend dropped his arm.
The woman's smile didn't falter, but she did gesture towards a display of mens rings.
"No, Sirius is my best man, I need a ring for my….Well, I guess she's my fiance now."
"Of course…" The woman tilted her head and looked at him for a few moments. "I know you. Charles Potter's son, am I right?"
"Yes, ma'am," he replied. Of course he would be recognized, everyone knew his father and James was always being told he was identical to his father, at least when his father was a teenager. He just hoped that those horrendous gossip magazines had something better to talk about than his engagement. As much as he loved Lily, he could only imagine the headline 'Potter Bloodline Tainted with Mud'.
"Come along." She led him through the store until she walked behind the counter and signaled him to come to a case shiny, new rings with huge jewels. "Something like this has been all the rage among young witches. Would your fiance like something like this?" She pulled out a ring with a delicate band, with a large diamond in the middle framed by three diamond chips on each side.
"Something not as extravagant; she'd love something simple, sturdy."
"Sturdy?" she questioned.
James walked away from her, perusing each of the cases as Sirius occupied himself looking at lamps with crystals hanging from the shades that stood in a remote corner. "Can you pull these out?" he questioned, and pointed to case far from the one where she started originally.
"These aren't exactly traditional. There not even…"
"I don't care, she's not exactly...Well, she likes to think she's traditional but between you and me she's the one who proposed. I know Lily'll love something like…" He stopped himself as she set the tray of rings out. Plucking one off of it, he grinned. "This one, Padfoot, come here," he shouted. "Sorry." He cringed realizing it wasn't exactly proper etiquette to shout in a place of business, even if he was the only customer.
"It's fine," she said. "Are you sure that's it?"
Sirius was now next to James looking over his shoulder as he held the ring up to the light. "Not exactly an engagement ring, but knowing Lily she'll love it."
"Yeah…" James examined it a bit more. The diamond shaped ruby sat on an antique gold band, etched with carvings reminiscent of feathers. He tried to remember that poem Lily loved. It was by a muggle woman...Hope is a thing with feathers. James let out a small chuckle, this ring was a symbol of hope, hope for a future that he so desperately wanted with the woman he loved.
Lily let out a shriek of annoyance as she unzipped her garment bag. "I don't see why I have to get ready, now. The ball's not for another two hours."
It was Christmas eve, a few days since the dinner from hell with her sister. Since then James had been acting increasingly strange. He would disappear for periods of time, had owls coming in frequently and she could tell he was lying to her. Now, he was making her get ready two hours early for no particular reason.
"Lily are you going to stop complaining?" It was Sirius, he opened the door, his head popping inside.
She grabbed a pillow off her bed and threw it at him. "I could have been naked."
"You weren't."
"James would have murdered you."
"I'm his best man, he would never do that."
"Best man?" Lily questioned as she tugged the dress off the hanger and laid it across her bed to stare at it. Agatha had taken her measurements and picked up a dress at Madame Malkins, she hadn't seen it until now. She was rather surprised at how perfect it was with the lace cap sleeves, sweetheart neckline and natural waistline. It was light gold in color, a thin belt at the waist.
"I meant best mate, you know me, I had a bit of a pre-party by myself."
"Charles locked up the liquor and Remus confiscated your flask." Lily crossed her arms over her chest, and narrowed her eyes at him. "Leave, and send James back in her. I can make him do anything, if-"
"Please don't finish that, I don't need to know details about James intimate life." Sirius shut the door, and left Lily alone. She dropped the robe and reached for the dress and held the silky fabric against her body.
"I'm coming in," a voice called. James.
Lily paused, not bothering to try and hide, just turned around to watch as he appeared. He was dressed in his dress robes, a dark red bow tie at his neck. For once his hair was mostly neat, or at the very least did not look like he had just alighted from a broom. "I'm rubbish with zippers, help me?" she asked, unzipping the back of the dress to step in it. James walked over and moved her her loose hair to one shoulder as he placed a light hand on her shoulder the other closing the back of the head.
"I like the curls," he commented, moving them back to where they were.
"Are you going to tell me why we have to go so early?" She sat on the bed and reached underneath for her heels. "Does your grandfather need help setting up?"
"No, mum's handling all of that."
"Oh," Lily replied. "Can you get my necklace off the vanity?" She tightened the strap around her ankle as James grabbed the necklace and climbed on to the bed behind her. He moved her curls again and leaned in close as he worked the clasp. "Thank you," she whispered. "Can we talk? Things just seem odd, if you're upset about me-"
"No, of course not." James moved to sit beside her, putting an arm around her shoulder. "A bit shocked, I never expected that from you." He looked down at his watch. "Listen, everything will make sense soon enough, now we need to get to leave." Getting to his feet he pulled her up, grinning. "Just trust me, Lily."
She let him pull her downstairs, putting on their winter cloaks as the wind and snow made it almost unbearable outside. After putting a spell on her shoes to keep them dry, the pair was off. Lily let James apparate them and before she knew what was happening they were on the street...In front of the Minstry of Magic. "What is going on?"
"It's actually quite simple." He pulled her towards the entrance, standing beside the building. "You know how you asked me to marry you?"
"Oh my Godric!" Lily stared at him. "Are you serious? We can't get married now."
"Of course not now. I'm not ordained…"
"James Charles Potter….We just can't, alright?"
"Why not?" James pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket. "I just need you to sign this and we can have one of the-"
"We're seventeen! We're in school!"
"Lily, we're seventeen. That's means we're of age. When you're of age you can apparate, use magic, drink alcohol...get married."
"But why? You don't need to prove-"
"I'm not trying to prove anything!" he shouted.
"Is this about the fact I proposed to you? I thought we finally-"
"This is about the fact that I care about you and I want the Ministry to recognize that. It's like what you said, Gideon Prewett's fiance died when she was nineteen, I don't want that. Honestly, marriage is just a piece of paper." He waved it around. "But it's proof that I didn't waste six years of my life waiting for a girl that hated me."
"I never hated you," she whispered.
"Good." James smirked and dug into the pocket of his cloak, pulling out a small box. "You forgot something very important when you proposed to me." He opened the box up, showcasing the ring. "So, I thought I better do it. Will you marry me?"
She looked up at him through her lashes, a smirk crossing her face. "In five minutes, I'm not ordained."
With a laugh James pulled her close, planting a kiss on her cheek. Lily moved to kiss him on the lips, but as she pulled him closer they were interrupted. "Mate, you're up next. If you want Lily to be the next Mrs. Potter you better get in here now!" Sirius demanded.
"Come on." He pulled her closer to give her another kiss, but that was cut short.
"You'll have enough time for that afterwards!" a familiar voice shouted. Lily looked up and saw Marlene.
"What is she doing here?"
"We needed two witnesses, I thought it would only be fair if you had your maid of honor, at least I assumed it be Marlene," James admitted before they were both pulled inside the Ministry. It wasn't long before they were in the office, signing the paper and reciting the standard vows for a civil ceremony.
Every little girl dreams of her wedding, but Lily never dreamt hers would be anything like this. But then again her life went nothing like she had planned. If you told fourteen year old Lily Evans that at the age of seventeen, over Winter Holiday, she would be marrying James Potter on Christmas in a Ministry office, she would have laughed out of disbelief. But this was her life now. As James slid the band on the finger she saw the briefest flash of words engraved on the inside. "Love is as strong as death," he whispered. It was then she wrapped her arms around him, forgoing the kiss to simply just feel James around her. In that moment her destiny became clear to her. Voldemort may have been able to kill her parents, but he could never stop her from loving them. She could stop this war because she was not afraid to die, not if it was for the person she loved.