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I'm not really a romantic person. Cute, romantic things are not that easy for me to do. When I was in school, I would rather have sat in the common room eating sweets with my girlfriend than sitting in Madam Puddifoot's tea shop (aka Cupid's heaven and my hell) sipping from cups of a scalding hot beverage that I don't actually like in the first place.
Don't get me wrong: I love Lily with all my heart, but stereotypical romantic gestures are most definitely not my forte.
So that makes this - what I'm planning to do for Christmas - extremely, extremely difficult.
I want to propose. And I want it to be classy, something she'll remember and tell our nieces and nephews about years down the road.
But here's the problem: I have no idea what to do.
I'm sitting in our Quidditch stadium, trying to come up with a list of ways to propose. We have a little break from practice so I'm on the ground right now with a piece of parchment and a quill.
I'm really not sure what to do. One of the things that brought us together was Quidditch, so I could base it around that. But how? Propose publicly, on the field, after a game? That's happened before - and it was really embarrassing for everyone involved when he rejected his boyfriend's ring.
Hmm. Lily currently works at the Ministry as security. Could I organise something there? No, that would be really difficult. Besides, she's deeply involved with every aspect of things like that - she'd know right away that something was up.
At this point, I'm not really sure what to do. I'm not sure what the best way to have a fancy proposal is.
Then I realize. The 'duh' moment that makes me roll my eyes as I acknowledge the truth that I should know. I've only been dating Lily for the past 5 years or so.
Lily won't want something super showy and extravagant. She'll want something quiet, private, just the two of us or close friends and family.
With that in mind, I know how I want to propose. I just have to find a ring, buy it without her noticing where all the money went, and keep it a secret for two weeks. No biggie.
I buy the ring from a small but popular shop just outside Diagon Alley, opting for something pretty (or at least what I consider to be pretty) and not gaudy. The ring has a row of small diamonds set into it. I want Lily to be able to wear it at work if she wants without having to worry about it being damaged.
I ask the shop owner for wrapping paper so I can wrap the box up and make it less obvious what it is. Then I hide it in my dresser until Christmas.
*
On Christmas Eve we wrap our presents from each other in separate rooms. I take the box out of my dresser drawer and stare at it. I'm feeling a little nervous but I'll probably be a lot more uneasy in the morning. I really hope she says yes and likes the ring.
All our presents wrapped, we put them under the small tree that we have in the main room of our apartment. We don't really need a big tree as Christmas mornings are spent with either Lily's family or my family after we open our presents.
I wake up in the morning feeling like the entire weight of the world is pressing down on me. There's a huge pit in my stomach. Some people might say that it's butterflies but it certainly doesn't feel like butterflies. It feels like a rhinoceros.
We usually eat breakfast before opening our presents. So today, we did that. Or rather, Lily ate breakfast and I pushed my sausages around on my plate wishing that we had a dog so I could feed it to them. I wasn't the slightest bit hungry but ended up forcing myself to eat half a sausage.
I had kept the box in my housecoat so that once all the other presents were opened I could propose. Now, that didn't seem like a particularly bright idea as I kept shifting to make sure the box wasn't obvious in the pocket.
In addition to the ring, I had bought Lily a bunch of other stuff that she had casually mentioned wanting. A nice, thick black cloak, because according to her the Ministry was terrible about providing equipment for it's employees. A broomstick to replace her old one from our Hogwarts years that was getting rather old. Various small assorted things.
I waited in silent agony until the last of the presents had been unwrapped. Lily stood up, gathering all her presents into a neat pile, and said, "All right, I think it's time to go shower and get ready to go visit my parents."
I stood up quickly and grabbed her hand. "Actually," I said, trying to keep the sound of nerves out of my voice, "I have one more thing." I took a deep breath to calm myself. "The past eight years that I've spent with you have been wonderful. And you know that while I don't do romance - at all, really, mainly because I'm terrible at it - I love you just as much. I wanted to do something super romantic and cute today but, as you can probably imagine, I couldn't think of anything, so I just went with straightforward instead."
I dropped to one knee and pulled the box out of my pocket. "Lily Potter," I asked, "will you marry me?"
Lily stood above me, a disbelieving smile spread across her face as she looked down at me and the engagement ring I was holding. "Oh my god," she said, the sound muffled by the hands covering her mouth. "Yes, of course!"
I stood up and removed the ring from the box, slipping it onto her left ring finger, where it looked perfect. As I kissed Lily, I thought that I was the happiest man in the world.