Author's Note: Here is the sequel to my fic Nightwind School of Magic. It will start out with a handful of chapters devoted to the Phoenix Club fighting in the the war and then move on to Harry Potter's childhood and his years at school with his friends.

Disclaimer for entire fic: The Harry Potter universe belongs to fantastic author J.K. Rowling and I am merely playing in it.

In between shooting off spells at Death Eaters, James shouted to Lily, "Hey, Lils, will you marry me?"

Lily fired off a Blasting Curse at Death Eater, then shouted back, "Yes, I will, but is it really the time to propose to me?"

James Stunned a Death Eater that was about to curse Dylan, then replied, "If Robin Hood proposed to Maid Marian in the middle of a battle, why can't I?"

"I knew I shouldn't have shown you Disney's Robin Hood when you visited two summers ago," Lily groaned, then ducked a spell and hit the Death Eater that had cast it with a Cutting Curse that Severus had invented and taught his friends.

By this point, it was clear that the Death Eaters were losing. The three that were still relatively unscathed Disapparated away, leaving their seriously injured or dead colleagues behind. Nicole, who was now a qualified Mediwitch and in training to become a certified Healer, cast healing spells on the members of the Order that were injured, and then sent them on to St. Mungo's for a more in-depth healing. She then cast rudimentary healing spells on the injured Death Eaters (after James, Lily, Dylan, and Yuki had Stunned them first) so that they wouldn't die, and they were transported to the Ministry holding cells for the Department of Magical Law Enforcement to deal with.

James pulled out a small box from his pocket. "Lily, I actually was planning on proposing to you tonight, during dinner, but the heat of battle and everything...Anyway, you said yes, so here's your ring." He took out a gold band that was set with a diamond and a ruby on either side and slid it on Lily's left ring finger.

"Congrats, mate," said Sirius, grinning. "James, I'd better be best man at your wedding."

"Of course, you're my best friend," said James. "And the other guys in the Phoenix Club can be groomsmen."

Lily looked around at the group and spotted Claire. Feeling somewhat glad that she had been part of the fight (since it meant that Lily wouldn't have to find her later), Lily said, "Claire, since you are my best female friend in our group, I want you as maid of honor. The others will be bridesmaids."

"But what about your sister Petunia?" Claire asked. "Shouldn't she also be part of your wedding party?"

"Well, she's already married, so she can't exactly be a bridesmaid," Lily said. "I guess I could have her as matron of honor, though she probably won't like being referred to as a 'matron', especially since she hasn't had a baby yet."

The group then Apparated to Headquarters so that they could report. Thankfully it had been a battle they had won, and thanks to the fact that Lucius Malfoy had decided to become a spy in the Death Eater ranks, the Order had prior knowledge and had been able to thwart Voldemort's plans. Of course, only a select circle knew about Lucius's status, namely Professor Dumbledore, Headmistress Nakamura and Deputy Headmaster Ihejirika, Narcissa, and the Phoenix Club (mainly because Lucius had told Sirius, who in turn told his friends after swearing them to secrecy about it.)

Later that day, the Phoenix Club decided to have dinner together to celebrate James and Lily's engagement, the first one in their group of friends. "What are you going to name your first kid?" Marshall asked.

"Definitely not Elvendork," Lily said, shooting James a severe look. "I know the story of what happened with you and Sirius when you were chasing Death Eaters and had a run-in with some policemen last week."

"But Elvendork is a gender neutral name!" James protested, with Sirius nodding in agreement.

"I don't care, it's a stupid name," said Lily firmly. "Anyway, it's too soon to really think about baby names, Marshall, since we're only just engaged. But I suppose if James and I have a daughter, we'll continue my family tradition of giving girls flower names."

Once dinner was over, Lily and James left so that they could tell Lily's family about the engagement, and also discreetly strengthen the protection spells they had put on the two homes. Since they were fighting in the Order, it was highly likely that the Death Eaters would target Lily's Muggle relatives, so the two wanted to make sure they were as well protected as possible. Well, the two probably didn't have to do much strengthening on Petunia and Tau's home, since as they were also Makena's relatives, she had visited them last week and put up protection spells.

The next day, there was another battle against the Death Eaters, and this time Voldemort was involved. James and Lily narrowly escaped death, and so did Frank and Alice Longbottom, Aurors who were also part of the Order and had gotten married three months ago. Claire, however, was seriously injured in the battle, and had to be transported to St. Mungo's after Nicole had done some basic healing on her. Severus went with Claire, looking very panicky.

Once she was pronounced stable and Severus was allowed to sit with her, he broke down in tears. "I almost lost you today, Claire."

"Sev, I knew that fighting Voldemort was dangerous," she said. "I hope you're not asking me to quit the Order and stop fighting him."

Severus shook his head. "I know that it's not you. While I would like it if you did stop fighting, you would never do so, and anyway, that's not the person I fell in love with." He wiped his eyes, then continued, "I wasn't planning on asking you this for awhile yet, but I can't bear the thought of life without you. So, will you marry me? I don't have a proper ring yet, but will this do until I can go out tomorrow and buy one?" He pulled off a button from the cuff of his shirt and transfigured it into a golden-colored ring set with an aquamarine, Claire's birthstone.

"Yes, to the proposal and the ring," said Claire, smiling up at him. "In fact, don't get a new ring. This one will be more meaningful, Sev. And whenever the transfiguration wears off, we can always redo it."

"If you're sure, Claire," said Severus, bending over to kiss her. "Once you're well, I want to marry you."

"Severus!" Claire exclaimed. "What's the big rush? Besides, I'm supposed to be maid of honor at Lily's wedding and I can't very well do that if I'm married before her."

"She can pick one of our other friends to be bridesmaid," Severus said. "I just want to spend as much time as I can with you. With the war going on, there's not much point in putting things off. We love each other, and want to spend the rest of our lives together."

"But what do you plan on doing, elope? Because how else do you think we can get married in a week's time? I certainly can't plan a wedding in that time frame. And if we elope, our friends and family will never forgive us."

"We can get properly married in that time frame," Severus said. "I'll speak to Headmistress Nakamura about getting Portkeys so we can be married in Windmere. That way my mother and your parents and brother can attend. You tell the other girls, who will no doubt be your bridesmaids, what wedding dress you want, what the bridesmaid dresses should look like, and how you want Windmere Inn to be decorated for the reception. They'll handle those details. I'll get appropriate wedding robes and dress robes for the best man and groomsmen, and have Remus, whom I'm asking to be my best man, set up the bachelor party. Who do you want officiating the ceremony?"

Claire thought for a moment, then said, "Reverend van Herten. I'm not particularly religious, but I'm more Protestant than any other religion. Fine, but could change the wedding to two week's time instead? That will allow me to attend a dress fitting once I'm well, and we'll ask Professor Dumbledore to let the two of us stay out of any Order missions until after our wedding and honeymoon."

"All right then," said Severus. "I'll speak to Professor Dumbledore tomorrow and get started on the arrangements." He asked a passing Mediwitch for some parchment, ink, and a quill, and once the requested items arrived, gave them to Claire so she could write down how she wanted the wedding party and reception to look.

When visiting hours ended, she was done writing, and Severus left with the notes. The rest of the Phoenix Club were surprised to hear of Severus's desire to get married as soon as possible, but supported him. "After what happened today, I'm not surprised you want to spend as much time as you can with Claire," said Remus. "Sure, I'll be your best man, and help with the planning."

Lily was slightly put out that Claire would no longer be her maid of honor, but accepted the role of being Claire's maid of honor. She took the notes and went off to talk with their friends that were going to be bridesmaids so they could put Claire's wishes into action.

Author's Note: The run-in that Sirius and James had with a couple of Muggle police officers while chasing Death Eaters is from a short story that J.K. Rowling wrote for a charity auction, functioning as a prequel to the Harry Potter books. In it, the police officers that stop Sirius and James for speeding (while on Sirius's motorbike) ask the two for their names. James and Sirius rattle off a few random names, ending with Elvendork, which they point out is gender neutral, before apparently catching on that the polices wanted their names, not names in general.