A proposal for Lily

Lily opened her eyes to a dormitory flooded with a bright light which could only mean one thing: snow. She rushed to the window and smiled; a thick layer of glittering white covered the grounds. Every year the snowfall at Hogwarts entranced her with its beauty and lifted her mood.
Having washed and dressed, she skipped down the spiral staircase to the Common Room, where an inviting ruby fire was already crackling in the grate. Lily spotted Alice climbing out of the portrait hole and hurried to catch her up.
"Morning," she greeted Alice, a kind, shy girl in the year above Lily. "Congratulations on your date!"
Alice said nothing, but smiled and blushed faintly. Last night Frank Longbottom had asked her to the Yule Ball in front of the whole of Gryffindor house in the Common Room, much to the delight of the girls and the amusement of the boys.
They chatted all the way to the Great Hall, until Alice took the seat Frank had saved for her. Lily spotted a free space next to Remus, who was sat with Sirius and Peter, further along the table and headed off towards him, resigning herself to the teasing she was likely to get from Sirius.
"Mind if I sit here?" she asked Remus. He looked up, smiled and nodded, and Lily was sad to see how tired he looked. "Are you ok, Remus? You look terrible."
"He's fine," Sirius cut in with a wicked grin on his lips. "He was just up quite late last night." Remus ignored this and assured Lily that he would be quite alright after a few good nights' sleep, although she was not entirely convinced. She was well aware that he, Sirius, James and Peter frequently left the castle at night, and she also knew Severus' theory as to why they did this, however she did not feel it was her place to pry. Besides, she was not particularly bothered about what they did; all she really cared about was that he was ok.
"Has James decided against gracing us with his presence this morning?" It was unusual for the group to be minus one, and Lily had hoped to see him this morning, however she hoped her question seemed casual.
"No idea. He was up and out of bed before we woke up" Sirius replied, somewhat too innocently, and Lily saw Remus smile to himself out of the corner of her eye. "Why are you so interested anyway, Evans?" He winked. Lily rolled her eyes, praying that a blush would not give her away, and turned her attention to breakfast, consolidating herself with the thought that sometimes with James it was best not to know what he was up to.
All of a sudden, the huge oak doors swung open with a mighty groan and a student flew in on a broomstick, and it took Lily a second to realise it was James. The whole hall fell into a hush and the students' eyes followed him curiously. He circled above the tables, held his wand to his throat to amplify his voice, and addressed the school:
"My good witches and wizards of Hogwarts, I would be eternally grateful if you would allow me a few minutes of your attention. Far be it from me to deny you the right to eat breakfast, so I won't take long. I just have a quick question for someone."
He flew down in a graceful curve towards where Lily was sat, and came to a stop just above the toast rack. She looked up at him in a mixture of delight, amusement and embarrassment.
"Lily Evans," he said, "will you do me the enormous honour of going to the Yule Ball with me?"
Lily could not stop the smile spreading across her face in spite of her embarrassment. She nodded her head, and the answering smile James gave her banished the self-consciousness which blazed across her cheeks. The Hall erupted into claps and cheers, with a few scathing remarks drifting over no doubt from the Slytherin table, but which did not bother Lily in the slightest. Across the table, Sirius guffawed into his pumpkin juice, and James casually flicked his wand towards him, sending a large snowball straight into his face. Sirius lunged at James, laughing loudly, but he dodged lithely out of the way and slipped into the empty space next to Lily.
"Just thought I'd go one up on Frank from last night", he announced cheerfully, and promptly began to help himself to toast. Lily leaned towards him and gave him a delicate kiss on his icy, snow-flushed cheek.