Fic: All Tied Up, Chapter 4: Journey's End
Title: All Tied Up
Chapter 4: Journey's End
Rating: G
Word count: 1,504
Genre: romance, humor
Ships: L/J
Status: WIP
Notes: NOT the last chapter!!!
Disclaimer: All Harry Potter characters, objects, settings, and plots are the property of J.K. Rowling. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise associated with Harry potter. No copyright infringement is intended and no money is being made from the writing of this fanfiction.
Back to Chapter 3
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
It is evening by the time Lily liberates her newest envelope from its armored captor and follows the clue within it out onto the grounds. She’s surprised when she leaves the building at how quickly the afternoon has gone by-it’s nearly evening now-but she can’t complain. She’s been having far too much fun to worry about lost time.
Lily nearly runs as she makes her way around the far side of the lake. She is headed for a secluded spot she knows of where the lake curves away from the school-a spot near the Forbidden Forest, tucked slightly behind a large boulder near the lakeshore. There is a tree there with a wide trunk and low-hanging branches where Lily and James often meet to study or relax. This, she knows, is the solution to the newest clue.
She expects to have to find another clue when she gets there-perhaps by climbing to some awful high branch and plucking the envelope down like a piece of fruit-but instead what she finds is a shockingly huge box. It’s wrapped in red, shiny paper-the thick, expensive kind-and tied with a golden ribbon at least as wide as her hand when she spreads her fingers apart. The ribbon is tied in a gigantic loopy bow on top, and there’s a large white label resting on one corner of the box beside it. The front of the label says “Lily” in large letters and a familiar gold ink.
Lily approaches the box with caution-clearly this is the end of her journey (because she’s not sure what she could possibly find after this that could top whatever is inside a box of this size), and the thought of a practical joke is back in her head. She lifts the tag first, and has to use both hands to hold it straight. She flips it over and finds writing on the other side that reads, “Yours to have and to hold from this day forward.”
“Well, that’s not at all cryptic,” Lily murmurs, tugging the tag loose and dropping it gently to the ground.
She reaches for the ribbon next, taking hold of one end and pulling it until the bow comes loose and unravels neatly, the smooth, golden loops slithering from the box to land in bright, shining coils on the ground.
She moves to lift the box lid then, but the red paper sparks beneath her fingertips and she jerks her hand back. The sparks continue to go off, though, spreading until it seems the whole box is consumed by them, and then they all suddenly fly apart, sparks darting off brightly in every direction, swirling around and around until they finally dissipate.
Leaving James kneeling before her. On one knee.
“James!” Lily gasps and steps back in shock, her hand flying up to cover her mouth.
“Hey there, Lils,” he says with a crooked grin. Lily, can’t say anything; her eyes dart back and forth between his nervous expression and his hands, clenched together around something small and square. When she just continues to stare, James sucks in a deep breath and starts talking. “I know we’re young,” he begins, and Lily’s eyes tear up. “And, it’s...it’s soon. Maybe it’s too soon.” James hesitates, and his uncertainty is endearing; Lily feels the tears start to spill over and blinks quickly to clear her eyes. “But...but I love you, Lily. I feel like I’ve always loved you. I can’t imagine life without you, and honestly, I don’t want to. What I want...what I want is to spend the rest of my life with you.” He pauses again, takes a deep breath. “So, Lily Evans, will you marry me?”
Gold and red sparks rise into the air and then gather into letters above James’s head, spelling out the words “SAY YES” as James holds out his hands, an open ring box cupped in his palms.
Lily is fully crying by now, the tears flowing unchecked and unnoticed until she tries to speak and her voice catches instead. She sucks in a breath and dashes the tears from her eyes; she doesn’t even notice when they keep coming, just drops her trembling hand from her mouth and finally whispers, “Yes.”
James’s eyes go wide. “Was that...was that a yes?” he whispers back.
“Yes,” she whispers again. She clears her throat. “Yes, that was a yes,” she manages in a slightly stronger voice.
In moments, James has her left hand held tight between both of his, and he’s pressing his lips to her knuckles over and over, just below the place where a sparkling diamond ring now adorns her finger.
“Thank you, thank you,” he’s whispering between kisses. She lets out a tiny, involuntary sob and drops to her knees too, cupping James’s face between her hands so he can press kisses to her lips instead. It’s only when she pulls away that she feels the wetness on her fingers and sees the tear tracks on his face as well. She chokes out a laugh as she brushes first at his cheeks and then her own, trying and failing to wipe away their tears with her wet fingers. He laughs too, then reaches up and catches at her hands, pulling them down to rest against his chest as he kisses her again.
It’s hard to kiss him properly when they’re both grinning so broadly.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
If she’d been asked before it happened, Lily would have thought that having a quiet picnic dinner after a proposal of marriage would be anticlimactic. She would have been wrong.
The picnic is magical. James conjures a wide, soft blanket for the two of them to sit on beneath their favorite tree, and a large basket pops into existence of its own volition almost as soon as he does so. When she opens it, Lily finds almost all of her favorite foods are contained within the seemingly bottomless basket. Lily eats slowly, savoring both the food and the moment, and watches as two swans swim gracefully across the surface of the lake, the sun setting slowly behind them. They are beautiful, but she wonders where they came from; she can’t recall ever seeing them before and knows the giant squid doesn’t normally tolerate company.
Then again, the squid doesn’t normally allow itself to be charmed or hexed or otherwise affected by magic in any way either, and yet, she notes as the squid slides by beneath the darkened surface of the lake nearby, the squid has an ethereal blue-green glow about it this evening. It’s surprisingly beautiful, the softly lit shape of it swimming smooth and quiet through the water. Lily wonders how James and the others got close enough to charm the thing to glow.
James reaches back into the basket and pulls out a variety of sweets as the sun finishes its evening journey and their tree flickers to life with fairy lights. A few of the fairies flutter down from the branches, flitting around their heads in an excited dance that is lovely to watch. Lily holds up a finger for one of the fairies, who lights on it with a happy twirl before darting off again. Lily ends up sharing her dessert with several of the more daring creatures, and though James tries to chastise her (informing her that if she keeps this up, he will not be sharing his desert with her when she runs out), but he can’t stop laughing at her long enough to do it properly. She doesn’t believe him anyway, and sure enough, when her dessert is gone, James happily gives her every other bite of his until both their plates are empty.
Later, James leans back against the trunk of their tree, Lily propped comfortably against him with her back pressed to his chest. She rests one hand on James’s right knee, and the fingers of their left hands are twined together over Lily’s stomach; every so often as they sit and quietly enjoy the evening, James brushes his thumb against her engagement ring in a gentle caress, then presses a kiss to her hair.
Eventually, Lily leans her head back against his shoulder and twists her head a little to look at him. His gaze softens and warms when their eyes meet, and it makes her heart flutter in happiness.
“I love you, James,” she tells him quietly, because it is true, because she hasn’t said it yet this evening (even though she’s agreed to marry him), but mostly because she can’t help but say it when he looks at her like that.
James’s thumb brushes softly over her ring, and his lips press a gentle kiss to her brow.
But his expression, when he pulls back to look at her again, is all self-satisfied, smirking Potter at his worst.
“I know,” he says, smug and full of himself, and she doesn’t even care to protest the utter arrogance of it before he leans in to kiss her.
On to Chapter 5
Chapter 4: Journey's End
Rating: G
Word count: 1,504
Genre: romance, humor
Ships: L/J
Status: WIP
Notes: NOT the last chapter!!!
Disclaimer: All Harry Potter characters, objects, settings, and plots are the property of J.K. Rowling. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise associated with Harry potter. No copyright infringement is intended and no money is being made from the writing of this fanfiction.
Back to Chapter 3
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
It is evening by the time Lily liberates her newest envelope from its armored captor and follows the clue within it out onto the grounds. She’s surprised when she leaves the building at how quickly the afternoon has gone by-it’s nearly evening now-but she can’t complain. She’s been having far too much fun to worry about lost time.
Lily nearly runs as she makes her way around the far side of the lake. She is headed for a secluded spot she knows of where the lake curves away from the school-a spot near the Forbidden Forest, tucked slightly behind a large boulder near the lakeshore. There is a tree there with a wide trunk and low-hanging branches where Lily and James often meet to study or relax. This, she knows, is the solution to the newest clue.
She expects to have to find another clue when she gets there-perhaps by climbing to some awful high branch and plucking the envelope down like a piece of fruit-but instead what she finds is a shockingly huge box. It’s wrapped in red, shiny paper-the thick, expensive kind-and tied with a golden ribbon at least as wide as her hand when she spreads her fingers apart. The ribbon is tied in a gigantic loopy bow on top, and there’s a large white label resting on one corner of the box beside it. The front of the label says “Lily” in large letters and a familiar gold ink.
Lily approaches the box with caution-clearly this is the end of her journey (because she’s not sure what she could possibly find after this that could top whatever is inside a box of this size), and the thought of a practical joke is back in her head. She lifts the tag first, and has to use both hands to hold it straight. She flips it over and finds writing on the other side that reads, “Yours to have and to hold from this day forward.”
“Well, that’s not at all cryptic,” Lily murmurs, tugging the tag loose and dropping it gently to the ground.
She reaches for the ribbon next, taking hold of one end and pulling it until the bow comes loose and unravels neatly, the smooth, golden loops slithering from the box to land in bright, shining coils on the ground.
She moves to lift the box lid then, but the red paper sparks beneath her fingertips and she jerks her hand back. The sparks continue to go off, though, spreading until it seems the whole box is consumed by them, and then they all suddenly fly apart, sparks darting off brightly in every direction, swirling around and around until they finally dissipate.
Leaving James kneeling before her. On one knee.
“James!” Lily gasps and steps back in shock, her hand flying up to cover her mouth.
“Hey there, Lils,” he says with a crooked grin. Lily, can’t say anything; her eyes dart back and forth between his nervous expression and his hands, clenched together around something small and square. When she just continues to stare, James sucks in a deep breath and starts talking. “I know we’re young,” he begins, and Lily’s eyes tear up. “And, it’s...it’s soon. Maybe it’s too soon.” James hesitates, and his uncertainty is endearing; Lily feels the tears start to spill over and blinks quickly to clear her eyes. “But...but I love you, Lily. I feel like I’ve always loved you. I can’t imagine life without you, and honestly, I don’t want to. What I want...what I want is to spend the rest of my life with you.” He pauses again, takes a deep breath. “So, Lily Evans, will you marry me?”
Gold and red sparks rise into the air and then gather into letters above James’s head, spelling out the words “SAY YES” as James holds out his hands, an open ring box cupped in his palms.
Lily is fully crying by now, the tears flowing unchecked and unnoticed until she tries to speak and her voice catches instead. She sucks in a breath and dashes the tears from her eyes; she doesn’t even notice when they keep coming, just drops her trembling hand from her mouth and finally whispers, “Yes.”
James’s eyes go wide. “Was that...was that a yes?” he whispers back.
“Yes,” she whispers again. She clears her throat. “Yes, that was a yes,” she manages in a slightly stronger voice.
In moments, James has her left hand held tight between both of his, and he’s pressing his lips to her knuckles over and over, just below the place where a sparkling diamond ring now adorns her finger.
“Thank you, thank you,” he’s whispering between kisses. She lets out a tiny, involuntary sob and drops to her knees too, cupping James’s face between her hands so he can press kisses to her lips instead. It’s only when she pulls away that she feels the wetness on her fingers and sees the tear tracks on his face as well. She chokes out a laugh as she brushes first at his cheeks and then her own, trying and failing to wipe away their tears with her wet fingers. He laughs too, then reaches up and catches at her hands, pulling them down to rest against his chest as he kisses her again.
It’s hard to kiss him properly when they’re both grinning so broadly.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
If she’d been asked before it happened, Lily would have thought that having a quiet picnic dinner after a proposal of marriage would be anticlimactic. She would have been wrong.
The picnic is magical. James conjures a wide, soft blanket for the two of them to sit on beneath their favorite tree, and a large basket pops into existence of its own volition almost as soon as he does so. When she opens it, Lily finds almost all of her favorite foods are contained within the seemingly bottomless basket. Lily eats slowly, savoring both the food and the moment, and watches as two swans swim gracefully across the surface of the lake, the sun setting slowly behind them. They are beautiful, but she wonders where they came from; she can’t recall ever seeing them before and knows the giant squid doesn’t normally tolerate company.
Then again, the squid doesn’t normally allow itself to be charmed or hexed or otherwise affected by magic in any way either, and yet, she notes as the squid slides by beneath the darkened surface of the lake nearby, the squid has an ethereal blue-green glow about it this evening. It’s surprisingly beautiful, the softly lit shape of it swimming smooth and quiet through the water. Lily wonders how James and the others got close enough to charm the thing to glow.
James reaches back into the basket and pulls out a variety of sweets as the sun finishes its evening journey and their tree flickers to life with fairy lights. A few of the fairies flutter down from the branches, flitting around their heads in an excited dance that is lovely to watch. Lily holds up a finger for one of the fairies, who lights on it with a happy twirl before darting off again. Lily ends up sharing her dessert with several of the more daring creatures, and though James tries to chastise her (informing her that if she keeps this up, he will not be sharing his desert with her when she runs out), but he can’t stop laughing at her long enough to do it properly. She doesn’t believe him anyway, and sure enough, when her dessert is gone, James happily gives her every other bite of his until both their plates are empty.
Later, James leans back against the trunk of their tree, Lily propped comfortably against him with her back pressed to his chest. She rests one hand on James’s right knee, and the fingers of their left hands are twined together over Lily’s stomach; every so often as they sit and quietly enjoy the evening, James brushes his thumb against her engagement ring in a gentle caress, then presses a kiss to her hair.
Eventually, Lily leans her head back against his shoulder and twists her head a little to look at him. His gaze softens and warms when their eyes meet, and it makes her heart flutter in happiness.
“I love you, James,” she tells him quietly, because it is true, because she hasn’t said it yet this evening (even though she’s agreed to marry him), but mostly because she can’t help but say it when he looks at her like that.
James’s thumb brushes softly over her ring, and his lips press a gentle kiss to her brow.
But his expression, when he pulls back to look at her again, is all self-satisfied, smirking Potter at his worst.
“I know,” he says, smug and full of himself, and she doesn’t even care to protest the utter arrogance of it before he leans in to kiss her.
On to Chapter 5