“Bring it here in the evening, not to the breakfast table,” James had told Swift, his owl, after recruiting his parents to make a special purchase for him. It seemed the bird had understood, clever fellow, and James gave him several Owl Treats for it at the dormitory window.
The package was undamaged. He peeked in at the contents, which proved fine as well. Good. It wouldn’t do to give Lily a ruined birthday present, especially not this one.
James stared out into the mild May evening. He hoped Lily liked her present. If she didn’t, he was stuck with it, and it didn’t exactly suit him. If she did, well, it would look far better to him on her hand. If she liked it, maybe she would judge him a better person than he’d been.
He wasn’t even sure she wanted one.
He put the parcel carefully away before his friends came back from dinner and laughed at him for it, then worked on his strategy. Lily tended to be up early; he’d catch her in the Common Room to hand over her present. She’d probably like it much better than last year’s Midnight Marauder Singing Fiasco, at any rate. If they had rehearsed first, they would have known only Sirius could carry a tune, and revised their plans accordingly.
If Lily were not a music lover, that might still have gone over better. James had put a little more research into this year’s surprise.
There was no point in staring at the package and wondering. He might as well go down to dinner and wonder, then revise for N.E.W.T.s and wonder, then go to bed and wonder.
Maybe he could give it to her an evening early? No, that would be silly.
Maybe he could give it to her at midnight?
The next morning, before the window was showing more than a trace of light, James sneaked out of bed. He made the most he could of himself “ his hair was hopeless, there was nothing new in that “ and checked the package one more time. Nothing dreadful had happened to it during the night. Nothing dreadful happened now, either; his roommates snored on, leaving James to conduct his romantic fool’s errand in peace.
He lounged in a chair in the Gryffindor common room, nonchalantly reading a Quidditch book he’d read thirty times before, casually pretending he wasn’t facing the stairway to the girls’ dormitories for any particular reason. The package was nestled safely between the arm of the chair and his side. He hoped the warmth wouldn’t hurt it “ now that was just plain silly. It wasn’t that fragile.
Lily came down the stairs at least six millennia after he had settled in to wait, and smiled at his innocent greeting. “And good morning to you, too, O Sneaky One. What are you doing up at this hour?”
He grinned back, accepting that he probably never would put anything past Lily, ever. “I wanted to give you your birthday present. Privately,” he added as Morag Jones came down the stairs next.
Lily gave him a saucy wink and told Morag she would be at breakfast soon. Some joke apparently passed between them by that mysterious girl-to-girl telepathy they all seemed to have, and Morag went through the Portrait Hole giggling. Lily sat in the next chair from James. “Am I to guess what it is?”
“You’ll never guess what it is,” James told her, rather proud of himself.
“Twenty Ways to Transfigure Your Boyfriend? I’ve three copies already. You’ll have to give it to Sirius instead.”
He laughed. She’d gotten awfully comfortable with that little secret “ more than he had, really. “Not it.”
“Hmm. A magically expanding bouquet of singing roses?”
“Not even close.”
She assumed a thinking pose, clearly trying to dream up the most ridiculous possible present. That was a little disappointing.
“Give up yet?”
“Well, unless you heard me say my next pet was going to be a dragon, I have no idea.”
A dragon? She was as bad as Hagrid. “Not exactly a dragon egg. But here you go. Happy birthday.” James tried not to worry about what she would think of the contents. It was certainly no dragon.
Lily weighed the item thoughtfully, then peeled off the brown paper. She stared at her present for a long minute.
A small tadpole swam in the jar in her hands, its yolk sac still visible, nibbling algae from the glass. Lily said nothing.
“Lily, meet Junior. I thought we’d be good parents as long as I don’t have to change his diapers.”
Lily held the jar up to the light, and the little creature within bumped at the glass, trying to sample her fingers. The silence stretched.
“Do you like him?”
Lily stood from her chair, still watching her new pet “ at least, James fervently hoped it was her new pet “ and took the jar to the nearest table. She put it down gently, with a faint click of glass on wood.
She didn’t like it, James thought. Maybe she hadn’t wanted another toad. Maybe Esmerelda had meant too much to her. Maybe “
Lily faced him with a serious, solemn expression, then crossed the floor with steady, even steps. He rose to meet her. She put her hands on his shoulders, still serious, to study his face carefully.
“James Potter,” she said thoughtfully, using his full name as though he was in trouble, “will you marry me?”