The Marauders: Year Six #Wattys2017

For You to Say Yes

For You to Say Yes

It was Lily's idea to sleep on the beach. They stole blankets and pillows from the cottage, and they laid them out on the sand, started a small fire and roasted sausages on sticks for dinner with hardboiled eggs and cups of lukewarm coffee that they used their wands to heat up. They angled the blankets so they lay side by side, staring up at the stars far overhead, dots of white light in the sky, just talking about Hogwarts and their friends there and the brilliant parties Sirius was going to throw come autumn...

Sirius transformed into Snuffles after a bit, laying between James and Lily so that each of them were using him as a pillow and Sirius's tail wagged gently for a few moments, curling 'round James's knee, while his nose tucked beneath Lily's hair. They could feel the moment when Sirius fell asleep, the long panting of the dog turning into steady breathing that moved rhythmically beneath their heads.

It had been quiet for quite sometime when...

"Potter?" Lily asked.

"Evans?"

"Just checking if you're awake," she answered.

"I am," he replied. Then, jokingly, "Are you?"

"No."

He smiled. James closed his eyes, relishing the feeling of being where he was with present company.

"What are you afraid of?" Lily's voice was quiet.

James opened his eyes, staring at the silhouette of the dog's fur in his vision. He had taken off his glasses and put then in his trainer for safe keeping, so the world was blurry past the end of his nose and he could only just make out the shape of Lily's head over the crest of the dog between them.

He took such a long time answering that Lily thought he might have fallen asleep.

"Losing the people I love," James answered finally. "You?"

"Me, too," Lily said.

James closed his eyes again. "Evans."

"What?"

"Will you go out with me?"

Lily sighed.

She didn't need to answer - the sigh had answered. James said, "Sorry. Nevermind."

She didn't say anything. She wasn't sure she'd meant to sigh.

He said, "I'm sorry I keep asking."

"It's okay."

He rolled over so that his back was to the dog, and to Lily, and he stared across the moonlit beach, over the silver sand and the shadows of the dunes.

"James?"

"Evans?"

"Don't give up."

His heart rate increased. "No?" he asked.

"No," she said quietly.

He paused. A memory from long ago - a year ago - slipped through his mind... Walking down the street in Godric's Hollow with Albus Dumbledore...

"Do you reckon everyone has... a soul mate?" James had asked, looking up at the headmaster.

Dumbledore had continued on staring ahead. "A soul mate?" he asked.

"Someone they... belong to... someone they fit with. Like a puzzle piece. Like two halves of the same person."

Dumbledore had considered this. "I suppose I do."