Two hands slipped over the emerald eyes of Lily Evans, sending her view into darkness, except for the small stripes of sunlight appearing in between the person's fingers. She grinned, immediately recognizing the deep voice that had whispered in her ear among the other voices surrounding her as she stood waiting for the carriages to take the students to Hogsmeade station; it was the final journey she'd take from Hogwarts…

"James," she sighed.

He took her in his arms, spinning her around to face him. He kissed her.

"Can't be," Lily said jokingly, her eyes closed, a smile playing at her lips. "You kiss far better than James does."

"Ha ha ha," said James. "Very nice… very funny, really witty, Lily. Maybe I won't give you your surprise, after all."

Lily's eyes popped open and she suddenly resembled a three-year-old on Christmas. "Ooh, a surprise? You got me something? Ooh, what is it, James?" She began bouncing up and down on her toes.

"I don't know," said James with a serious look. "You were pretty mean to me, just now. I'm not sure that you deserve it any more."

"Ooh, but James! Please?" Lily whined, her yes wide.

"No, I don't think so," James said, looking thoughtful and shaking his head.

Lily kissed his left cheek. "Does that make it better?" she asked quickly, excitedly.

"I don't know, my other cheek feels pretty unloved, now," said James, grinning.

She kissed his right cheek. "Can I have my surprise now?"

"Okay," James smiled.

But then, Lily frowned. "Wait, do not tell me this was another one of Sirius's brilliant ideas. I will never forget the day in fifth year when you thought it was smart to take his advice and buy me silky red knickers and give them to me in front of the entire Gryffindor common room. They were about five sizes too big, too."

"Well, I eventually learned from my mistakes and stopped asking my friends for advice," James smiled. "But no, this wasn't an idea I got from Sirius. Or Peter, or even Remus, for that matter. This surprise is absolutely one hundred percent mine."

"Actually, I don't know if that's better or worse," Lily said seriously, taking a step back and looking him over.

"You're just so funny, today," said James. "Keep this up and I really won't let you have anything."

"Oh, but James," Lily said, "I'm only joking around and you know that."

"Merlin's beard! How do I know that? How do I know you don't really still hate me or something?" James asked reasonably.

"Because if I didn't really love you, then every time you'd come up behind me and say 'guess who', I'd hex you instead of actually guessing," Lily replied in a dangerously sweet tone.

"I only do it because I know it annoys you," James teased, sticking his tongue out at her.

Lily laughed, wrapping her arms around him. They stood for a moment, each enjoying the feeling of the other's body against their own. It was Lily who finally broke the silence.

"Don't think that I've forgotten about my surprise, yet," she said quietly.

"I figured you wouldn't," James smiled at her, kissing the top of her head.

"Am I ever going to get it?" she asked, pulling away from him and pouting.

James looked at her for a moment, thinking everything over.

"Fine, but not here. Come on," he said, grabbing her hand and dragging her away from the carriages and the other students. He took her quite a ways from the crowd before he placed a hand on each side of her face and kissed her deeply.

When she was released, Lily said, "You know, if you just wanted to do that, you didn't have to take me back here. I mean, you've done that to me in the common room about a million times –"

"Again with the sarcasm," James said, shaking his head. "I thought you said you wanted to get your surprise."

Lily immediately closed her mouth, crossing her arms and smiling at James.

"Besides, I wanted to do far more than that, Lily… You know that you mean the world to me, right?" he asked her, putting a stray strand of her crimson hair behind her ear.

Lily smiled and nodded. James continued, "You know that I love you more than anything else in the world – even more than life itself?"

Lily nodded again, still smiling through her bewilderment. She took his hands in hers for a moment. "I know that you love me, James, and I love you, too," she laughed.

"Lily, I can't live without you. I knew from the first time I saw you that you weren't any ordinary girl, and I grew to love that about you. Since we began dating this year, I knew that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you. You've made me the happiest man in the entire world so many times and I'd like you to do it once more," he said, dropping down to his knee for the second time in his life (the last time was in fifth year, followed by several hexes from Lily). He extracted a small, black velvet box from his pocket after Lily released his hands. He opened the box with a snap. On the silky, creamy-white cushion sat a golden band with a beautiful jewel in it. Lily gasped, and James continued, "Lily Evans, will you marry me?"

Lily placed a trembling hand over her mouth. James watched her uncertainly, frightened as to how she would answer. He didn't think he could live if she said no.

After a few seconds, Lily lowered her still-trembling hand. "Oh, James! Yes, of course!" she managed to choke.

James, relieved, slid the ring onto her finger. Then, he stood up, pulling Lily into his arms as she kissed him.

"I love you," she said, brushing her fingers through his jet-black, perpetually messy hair.

"I love you, too," James smiled. "Merlin only knows how much I love you."