〖you'll be the Prince and I'll be the princess, it's a love story baby just say yes...〗

♬ 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 ~ 𝘵𝘢𝘺𝘭𝘰𝘳 𝘴𝘸𝘪𝘧𝘵 ♬

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The ballroom felt flooded with people. A sea of ostentatious ballgowns and suits took over every crevice of the opulent room. The sight might have been impressive to the untrained eye, but Princess Lily Evans was far from impressed.

It wasn't the fact that Lily wasn't aware of her privilege –this ball was being held in her honour after all– but it was more the issue that she wished it weren't.
The Princess had been made aware of the rules of society at a young age; she had the trained table manners of an adult by the age of seven, the embroidery skills by twelve, and along with learning how to use a dessert fork, or sew together a frock, she was also taught the rules regarding marriage in the peerage...

A princess was not allowed to marry two stages below her title; she was not allowed to marry without permission from her father, the king; and finally, she was most certainly not allowed to marry a prince from Hogwarts. Her kingdom of Beauxbatons had been squabbling with them for years and if news ever got out she'd courted any of their princes, the consequences would be disastrous (or so her father said).
To Lily, this simply seemed like she were destined for a loveless, political marriage and that was the furthest from what she wanted.

The ball seemed to suffocate her ears as she walked down the stairs and onto the marble dance floor, her ballgown billowing out behind her, matching the simple tiara she wore gracefully on her head.

As she proceeded through the crowd, people bowed, some offered her nods of acknowledgment and James Potter, the crown Prince of Hogwarts, winked at her when she walked past him. Lily's eyes darted around the room as she hid her blush, making sure her father hadn't seen it before accepting the hand of her friend, the Duke's son, Remus.

"You will eventually have to do something about this predicament, Lil." Remus was the only person allowed to call her Lil, and he did so as they spun around the ballroom together, talking in hushed voices.

"I know! But I cannot have my father find out that I've been clandestinely courting Prince James Potter of all people! He appears to be an absolute cad before one knows him well enough, not to mention he comes from Hogwarts!" Being the Princess of Beauxbatons, Lily was permitted to hate the rival kingdom with all the spite that a generations worth of petty squabbles could fuel. However, being her compassionate self, she took to the young Prince almost immediately, sensing that he too had never truly believed in their rivalry.

Remus spun her neatly under his arm before righting her back to face him, a determined glint in his eye.
"I know, Lil, but you must at least consider something! There will come a day when your father finds you a suitable match somewhere else, and you'll be taken from your love indefinitely!"

The princess laughed. Only her friend Remus would speak so dramatically of James, her love. Much like James himself, Remus did have a flare for melodramatics, although he tended to be much more subtle about his. Remus had always been a romantic, and that was why he'd been the first to notice she was in love at all, about a year ago when Lily had merely been around James for a month, at various social events.
Over the course of the last year, a grand total of seven people had found out about the Shakespearean love story: her sister Petunia, Remus, her ladies in waiting– Marlene and Dorcas, James' best friends– Prince Sirius Black and his brother Regulus, and finally his sister Princess Emmeline. To Lily, this seemed like far too many people, one of them could easily be a liability, despite her overwhelming affection and trust for that group of individuals, she didn't doubt that one of them might make the mistake of conferring this information to another.

She'd lived in fear but it had all felt like part of the fun, that was until her father had decided to throw her a ball, with the intention of allowing a Prince –or someone similarly as important– to catch her eye. The royal family of Hogwarts were invited on a courtesy, Lily had been firmly reminded that under no circumstances was she to spend too much time with any of the Potters.

Lily caught James' eye across the dance floor and he smiled, the sort of smile that might have been mistaken for general joy at the scene, however if one had spotted where his eyes were resting they would realise his smile was one of a lovestruck Prince.

"See, look at that. One of these days that father of yours will notice your Prince making the doe eyes and he shall have him exiled from Beauxbatons altogether!"

This idea caught Lily's attention.
"Do you think he would really do that?"

The song had ended and Remus took a step back, taking her hand and kissing her knuckles chastely, almost as if he were in a hurry.
"I'm not sure, Lil. I would act with haste however, lest we have to find out." He gave her one last reassuring smile before he was whisked off by a beautiful woman with purple hair, asking him to dance...

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"Whatever do you want, Potter?"

"Oh, now you're asking! What would I like, Princess?" James hummed, a malicious grin on his face. He loved this. Pretending to keep up their ridiculous rivalry in front of her father.
"I'd like to snap your tiara in half to begin with, that bloody diadem is just a show off move by your precious father! Like he's trying to flaunt his royalty among other royals or equal social standing. Pathetic."

The Beauxbatons Princess frowned, the crease between her eyebrows appeared and the Hogwarts Prince nearly went to kiss it.
"You call me pathetic? You see every display of riches as a power play– which it often is not!"

"'Often' not always, I see."

"Oh, hush you loathsome creature!"

James placed a hand over his heart, "that is no way to speak to a crown Prince, madam!"

The look on his face almost made her crack a smile. He was exactly like Remus in his love for dramatics, and he was particularly fond of expressing it aloud.

"That is no way to address a princess!"

James huffed, stepping slightly back from her, towards the banquet table, "fine. 'That is no way to speak to a Crown Prince, your highness,' better?"

Lily bowed shallowly, "much."

Just then the king bobbed by, eyeing James with an incredulous glare, laced with something like malice. Perhaps?
"Potter, what a... delightful surprise." The king spoke deliberately, his gaze zeroed in on James' confident demeanour as he leaned a hand on the banquet table, carefully holding a glass of champagne in the other.

"It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance again, Your Majesty. I was only here to ask your beautiful daughter to dance with me. She'll be in the arms of every important man in the country this night; you wouldn't want anyone to think you were only inviting Hogwarts Royals out of necessity, now would we?"
James chose his words just as carefully as the king, matching his blazing look for a moment before turning back to face Lily.
"What do you say, Princess? Care to dance?"

Lily grimaced, "no I do not. But I understand an agreement has been made to 'keep up appearances' as it were, and so for the sake of my father I shall dance with you."

This caused James hazel eyes to twinkle and spark with delight. There was a double meaning in her words but only he could see it, her father was clueless as he glared them by. James led her to the dance floor and out of earshot.
"That was brilliant, Lily. Nothing makes me feel more alive than a little bit of marauding."

She placed her hand on his shoulder and tried to hide her smile.
"You are ridiculous, James Potter."

⋆ ⋆ ⋆

James came to find her again when the blasted ball was over. They snuck out onto the balcony and he told her all about the stars.

When his sister, Emmeline came to fetch him, he kissed her goodbye when she wasn't looking.
"I'll come at the first excuse. Or the drop of a hat. Either way, who'd have guessed I'd be like a homing pigeon to Beauxbatons of all places?"

This made Lily laugh, whispering in his ear, "I'd certainly buy it."

That was the last thing she'd said to him before Emmeline began to drag him off, winking at Lily as she went.

Her father had been next to join her on the balcony, his expression grim, setting Lily's pulse racing.
"Father?"

"I've found you a possible husband. I'd like you to meet him, in a week's time I've arranged for you to see him."

Something Lily despised about her father was his bluntness, as much as he loved her, he did little to understand her own desire to be loved. After Lily's mother, the queen, died in childbirth, her father hadn't very much believed in love and he expected his daughter to feel the same. However growing up with Petunia, hearing her read her stories of handsome Princes and free lands had given her an unexpected romantic streak that she didn't expect her father to comprehend.

However, the prospect of marrying someone picked out by her father was enough to send Remus' idea flying to the forefront of her mind: she had to do something.

But she couldn't. Could she?...

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James wrote her letters at least twice a week, his address disguised under various aliases so as not to arouse suspicion. Lily found herself smiling every time, forgetting that she was supposed to be meeting her future husband sooner by the moment.

Dearest Lily,

Sirius has been acting rather peculiar these past few days, as have the rest of the lot round here in Hogwarts, something I hadn't expected. But I've made them promise it's not because of a leak in our group about our... 'situation.' However they do seem oddly excited. Any ideas what the heavens is going on there?

How are things down your end? What about that man your father wants to you meet? What are you going to do?

Ah, my dearest sister is calling for me, I should dash, however before I do, I would like to remind you how utterly mad about you I am. Just incase you had forgotten: I'm mad about you, Lily Evans. Utterly.

Now, that should do it, Emmeline is fit to kill me. I really should go and see what she's after instead of writing sappy letters to you.
I'll write you later, Lily.

My heart,
James

She really did try not to smile so widely at the letter in her hand, and especially tried to wipe the grin off her face when her father let himself into her chambers.

"Lily, darling," he started, watching her expression curiously, as if he could read her thoughts. "Lily, the date has been moved to tomorrow."

"T-the what?"

"The date, meeting the man I've been liaising with. You don't mind, do you?"

Lily regarded her father for a moment. She knew he wasn't a bad man, he just couldn't understand.
She held James' letter tightly behind her back, almost debating showing it to her father.

"Of course not. But I will need an extra moment of sleep if you don't mind?"

He shook his head, touching her arm gently, "of course not. Goodnight Lily."

She smiled warmly at him, still smiling until she was positive he'd left her alone. Then she flopped onto her bed and tried to think...

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Lily wasn't sure when she'd fallen asleep in the time between her father's visit and this moment, but she must have done. Because now her lady in waiting, Marlene McKinnon was gently shaking her awake.

"What's going on?"

Marlene smiled gently, eyes soft and kind.
"We're going to get you ready. Big day."

Shock flooded through her veins, along with a million other things at once. Anger, annoyance, desperation.
"Marl—"

"—hush! It'll be fine, alright? Trust me."

Marlene helped her dress, putting her in a light blue silk outfit, completed with her diadem rested in her hair.

"Thank you," Lily whispered as she was finished.

"It's my job, dear. You must look your best." Marlene's eyes were twinkling a similar colour to the dress she'd just helped Lily put on.

"Whatever is going on? Please will you tell me?"

Marlene only laughed, "not a peep. Come now, let's go and meet this man your father wishes you to acquaint."

Lily allowed herself to be led into the living quarters, feeling sicker with every step. Marlene only smiled, making Lily more and more nervous. If Marlene was smiling like this, she must be putting up a front.

And by the time they'd reached their destination, Lily had convinced herself that this man was either far too old, far too young, loopy, boring, or something just as horrid.

What she did not expect was to see an equally confused Prince James Potter before her.

"Ja— dear god!" She all but ran into his arms, completely oblivious to the fact she should not be hugging him like this with her father present (she imagined there would be a chaperone strapped to her side from this moment on) but she hadn't much time to think about what was going on.

Once she'd pulled away enough to see James' face he was grinning, maybe a little sheepish but there was something delightful about his grin.

"Did you do this? What is 'this?'" Lily turned to her father just as James shrugged.

"Love, believe me, I had no idea this was happening until seconds after I'd sent you that letter."

"Then how—"

Finally she noticed her father was grinning, and it also registered exactly who else was in the room. Marlene, Remus, Dorcas, Petunia, Emmeline, Sirius and Regulus. Everyone that knew about her and James.

She pulled back from James to gaze at them, open mouthed, "you did all this?"

They all nodded, matching grins spread across their faces.
"We knew the kingdom rivalry was getting between you. Something had to happen." Dorcas began.

"We also knew that the only option either of you could think of would be to run away together and elope." Regulus went on.

"And as romantic as that idea may be, we knew what it would do to your respective kingdoms. So we decided to formulate a plan," Marlene spoke this time, eyes darting between Lily and James, the grin never leaving her face.

"We spoke to James' parents first. The king and queen were delighted to hear our plan– they didn't even bat an eyelid at the prospect of correspondence with Beauxbatons!"

"It was only when we got to speak with your majesty," Emmeline nodded towards Lily's father, "that he informed us that he and the monarchs of Hogwarts had been negotiating peace for almost a year now."

Lily's eyes went wide with disbelief as she watched her father laugh.
"I told them we were no longer at war with Hogwarts at all, we just needed a way to rally our people on board with this peace. And that, is where you two come in."

Remus chuckled at the expressions on the two lover's faces.
"So, we convinced them that the best way to bring about peace would be with a royal wedding. You two are very much the people's prince and princess– your people would follow your every move if need be."

"And everyone loves a Romeo and Juliet styled love story, even if they aren't fans of the play itself." Petunia chimed in.

"So what do you say?" Sirius concluded, his long hair swishing into his face as he alternated with gaging the expression on both their faces.
"Fancy throwing a wedding?"

Everything was quiet for far too long. Time stood still for multiple beats as everyone in the room expectantly watched Lily and James.

It was a few moments later that James broke the silence.
"Did you lot... propose to Lily for me? I didn't even get to— oof!"

Sirius must have kicked him in the shin and sent him doubling over onto one knee.
"There. Now you can propose if you wish."

Lily tried to wipe tears of laughter and James muttered something about 'no way to treat a prince' and 'getting that bastard back later.'
Though he didn't get up.

Eventually, having seemed to get over the somewhat demeaning situation, James met her eyes.
"Well?... what do you say, love? Fancy getting married and making these marauders work worth it?"

Lily laughed, wiping a different sort of tear from her eye.
"What made you have to ask?"

The whole room exploded in cheers, the king grinning from ear to ear as he watched his daughter embrace her future husband. He may have lost his love, but that didn't mean he didn't know how it felt. And what sort of king would he be to deprive his daughter of something so magical.

⋆ ⋆ ⋆

Six months later, Princess Lily Evans danced with her father. A white dress trailing the floor, making things rather difficult but neither minded.
It occurred to Lily then that she had broken her father's most important rule. She had married into Hogwarts, and somehow he didn't mind at all.

"Father?"

"Yes?"

"Did you know?"

The king frowned, "know what?"

"That James and I were in love all those times we squabbled in front of you?"

"Of course I did," he laughed, kissing the top of her head as they swayed together, "do you know why?"

"I'm afraid not."

"Because you get your acting skills from your mother. She could never lie either, I could always tell when she was pretending with me. Just like I can with you. That's why I reached out to the king and queen of Hogwarts. I knew that the two of you were together, and I knew it meant letting you go eventually. But James is a wonderful boy, and you are a wonderful girl, daughter."

Tears filled Lily's eyes as she pulled her father into a hug.
"Thank you, for all of this. For allowing me to be in love."

"You shouldn't thank me, Lily. Go and thank your husband."

Husband. What a wonderful word.

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well, I'm sorry it took so long! my heart wasn't in this one at all, I started off okay and then got so bored... whoops