metanoia

Chapter Seventy-eight

On their last official day at Hogwarts, Lisette and Alex fold solace in the presence of their best friend's company. Neither really slept the night before, finding each other in the Common Room in the early hours of the morning. Together they curled up under their respective blankets in the bay window of the circular room, leaning against the other as they reflected upon the past seven years of their life that they spent together in the hallowed halls of what they considered their home. Sometime in the early hours of the morning, the pair had fallen asleep as the dim morning light streamed through the window pane.

"Alex! Andy!"

The blonde was awakened by the incessant smacking on her bent knees, opening her eyes to see who'd woken her up just enough to recognize the culprit as her extremely anxious and excited cousin with Sirius, Remus and Peter flanking him. She raised her head off of the pillow she and Letti were sharing, hearing her annoyed grumbling mix with James' continued persistence in waking her up, "What the fuck do you want, James Fleamont Potter? Bloody hell, I was trying to sleep."

"Okay first of all, rude-"

"You woke me up!" Alex defended, throwing her blanket at his head before he could finish his sentence.

Lisette sat up, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes only to turn her brown eyes to James and join Alex in glaring at the Head Boy for waking them up from their scarce slumber. Though her arms were heavy from sleep, the brunette pulled her thick hair into a loose knot at the base of her neck, "I'm with her, you woke us up. What was so bloody important?"

"The plan," he simply rationalized, emphasizing the second word as he stuffed his hands in his pockets.

Alex's eyes shot open, fully awakened by James' explanation. She scrambled to her feet, struggling to remember what her part in his plan was as she collected her blanket from off the floor. She suddenly halted, fully comprehending what James was going to do and she couldn't help but wonder why today of all days was when he wanted to ask Lily Evans to marry him rather than a more special occasion, "Oh. Wait- what? You want to do that today?"

"Do what? What's the plan?" asked Letti, looking between the set of first cousins as she tried to decipher their looks before turning to the three men behind James to try and get the explanation from them.

 "Today's as good of a day as any. The sooner the better. After breakfast."

The blonde nodded, taking her best friend by the hand and began to lead her up the staircase and to the girls' dormitory, "Fair enough. If you're ready then today it is. But I'll have you know, I had plans with Amos today and now I'm going to have to cancel them."

"You can talk to Amos anytime. It's not like today will be the last time you will ever see him, you are his son's godmother," James reminded, not feeling guilty in being the reason she had to cancel her plans to spend the afternoon with Amos.

"You're lucky I love you, Jamie. Let us get dressed."

As Alexandra dragged Lisette up the stairs, briefly passing their roommates as they descended and made their way to the Great Hall for their last breakfast at Hogwarts, the brunette leaned down to meet Alex's ear, "Do I get to know what's about to happen or not?"

"No, I know how much you love surprises."

Letti watched as her best friend entered the threshold of their dormitory, making a beeline for her truck to change into a new set of clothes before the house elves would come and collect their belongings like they did at the end of every school year, "Yeah, when I know what's happening."

"I don't understand why you asked me to play Wizard's Chess with you. I'm arguably one of the worst people you could have asked. And besides, weren't you supposed to go to the Hufflepuff Common Room and talk to Amos about the War and seeing Cedric?" Lily asked as she and Alex claimed a table in the Common Room and began to set up the chess board, remembering the conversation they had the night before about how neither wanted to put their loved ones at risk now that they were set to officially fight in the War come three days time.

The blonde nodded, remembering her brief and dismissive explanation to Amos how she couldn't come because she'd promised James that she would help him in his proposal, watching as Lily carefully made her first move, "Well, that conversation can wait I suppose. I don't really look forward to telling him that I can't see him or his child until the War is over. Though I know he would understand, knowing that I have his and Ced's best interest in mind, I know he'll be upset. And as far as asking you to play with me, no one else is willing to play with me because they don't want to lose."

"Fair enough," she laughed, finding the irony in her knight being bludgeoned by Alex's rook delicious.

Not five minutes later, Peter Pettigrew descends the staircase to join many of their friends and classmates in the Common Room. He walks directly to the pair playing chess and he nonchalantly hands the redhead a single flower with a smile before leaving them to sit with Frank and Kingsley across the room. Before Lily could question the action, Remus descended the staircase carrying a muggle stereo in one hand that was playing the beginning of a familiar song. He too had a flower in his hand, laughing as he handed his friend the flower of her namesake before kissing his girlfriend on the top of her head and setting the stereo on their table.

"What is going on?" Lily loudly asks, looking around the room for someone to explain to her what was happening.

However, no one knew what was going on and those that did weren't going to. Knowing what was about to happen next, Alex barely contained her laughter as Sirius Black took his turn making his entrance with a flower. But unlike Peter, who'd completed his task in silence, and Remus, who had a song playing as he entered the room, Sirius ran into the center of the Common Room and dramatically threw the lily to Lily as he sang, "If you're filled with affection, you're too shy to convey, meditate in my direction. Feel your way."

"Yaow!" James yelped as he made his entrance, cueing laughter as he and Sirius began performing the dance that went alongside the song they were singing, "You're The One That I Want" from the movie musical Grease. "I better shape up. 'Cause you need a man."

Sirius took full advantage of this moment and transfigured his preciously styled black hair to flaming locks of red hair to resemble Lily Evans, "I need a man, who can keep me satisfied."

"I better shape up, if I'm gonna prove."

"You better prove that my faith is justified."

"Are you sure?"

The best friends sang together, dancing around the Common Room, "Yes, I'm sure down deep inside. You're the one that I want, you are the one I want."

"Oo-oo-oo, honey," the other three Marauders sang, laughing as they joined in the song. When Peter, Remus and Alex started singing along with James and Sirius the whole room filled with even louder laughter.

"The one that I want, you are the one I want."

"Oo-oo-oo, honey."

"The one that I want, you are the one I want. Oo-oo-oo, the one I need."

"One I need."

"Oh, yes, indeed, yes indeed."

"You're the one that I want."

When they'd finished their song, James stood in front of his girlfriend who'd spent the past few minutes laughing in awe of their terribly off-key performance before he got down on one knee which made her choke on her laughter and clamp one hand over her mouth. He removed the box that he'd been carrying around with him for the past few weeks, opening it to show her the family ring, "Lily Juliette Evans, you are the one that I want. The one that I want to spend the rest of my life with. The one that I'm fighting in this war to protect. I have loved you from the first time we met and I will continue loving you until my dying breath. And I know that we're young and we have a whole life ahead of us but there is no one else in this world I would rather go through this with. So, will you do me the tremendous honor of being your husband? Will you marry me?"

"You're bloody mental," she cried, nodding as she let him slide the ring on her left hand and kissed her as the Common Room roared in cheers.