“Ooh, wow, look at the way it gleams in the light!” Marie said eagerly, moving my ring back and forth. She plopped herself onto the bed, still not tearing her eyes away from the diamond. “You’re so lucky… and I'm so glad that you said yes!”

I smiled and joined sat up, looking down on her. “So am I.”

“And did you see everyone’s faces?” she laughed for the millionth time, mimicking a look of shock. “They all got so quiet! And, oh gosh… Milo! She looked like she could’ve died!”

“I wish she would’ve,” I grinned, taking my ring from her. I slipped it back on to my left finger, where James had put it not hours before, and sighed.

“Do you trust him now?”

“Honestly?” I asked. “It’s kind of sad, but yes… I trust him completely.”

Marie beamed up at me. “Good.”

****

I woke up the next morning and rolled over. I couldn’t help but to smile a little as the ring pressed into my hand. After sitting up and stretching, a whole new wave of emotion swept over me: sadness. We were leaving Hogwarts today.

The Common Room was fairly empty. Everyone had probably gone down to breakfast. I almost reached the bottom of my stairs when I saw James coming down from his, too. I began to make my way to him, but was cut of by a loud explosion of noise.

“SURPRISE!”

I jumped and turned to see the room full of our friends and a big banner with the words “Congratulations Soon-to-be Newlyweds!”

I threw my arms around Remus, Marie, Peter, and Sirius and smiled. “You guys are the best!”

“As are you,” Sirius grinned mischievously, kissing my hand. “And you’d better give us invitations to your wedding.”

James laughed but I made him turn pale by saying, “Yes, of course you’ll get invites… but he has to meet my parents first.”

“Parents? What?”

I could only kiss him.

****

We boarded the train. Marie and I automatically went to our compartment and stored out belongings.

“James,” she warned, and then grinned. “Ha ha, sorry. It’s a habit now.”

I nodded and lifted up my seat, just as I’d done every year since I was thirteen. I tucked myself inside of it and heard the door open.

“Any of you seen Evans?”

“No, for the bazillionth time.”

I laughed, remembering the exact same conversation at the beginning of the year, and everyone fell silent.

“Aha!” James cried as he triumphantly threw the lid off of my hiding space. “I just knew that you couldn’t just appear on the train every year!”

“Ding ding ding, we have a winner,” Marie giggled.

James wrapped me in his arms and began to tickle me. “You mean to tell me that you’ve hid from me for the better part of four years?”

I laughed fanatically until he finally stopped. After a few moments of gasping for breath, I managed to say, “Well, you were a bit of a stalker!” before he had me rolling on the floor again.