Beautiful.

The breeze rippled his bangs just slightly and he closed his eyes as the whispering fingers caressed his skin. An uncharacteristically blissful sigh escaped his lips as he lay against the tree, his thoughts bouncing around nothing in particular. This was the meaning of happiness; this complete ignorance to everything going on in the world around him, this peace that soaked through his skin and confirmed what so many had been saying since the moment he’d returned to Hogwarts for his 7th and final year.

James Potter had grown up. And the result had been beautiful.

His sense of humor had not been lost, but turned into something even the most unfortunate of his classmates could appreciate. His arrogance had transformed into comfortable confidence, making his seemingly flawless performance on the pitch appreciated by more than simply his teammates. His smiles had replaced his smirks (at least, most of the time), and his laughter had replaced his cruelty. Mssr. Potter was no longer hexing his enemies in the hallway, no longer picking fights (although he would jump into one if necessary), no longer acting like a child.

No one quite knew why. His friends had their ideas. Sirius knew what had happened to James’ father, Remus had predicted this change in the first place, Kiera had listened to him as his heart broke in the last months of their sixth year, and Kaisa had bore the brunt of his mistakes. His heart ached for what he had done to each of them, the results of his immaturity, but it also remained in tact; he could not take back what he had done, only learn from it. And it seemed that he had, in the most fantastic and amazing of ways.

James smiled to himself, content in his life as it stood, content to avoid reality for even just a few seconds longer and bask in the sunlight that the Giant Squid nearby seemed to be enjoying as well. But he was interrupted by the laughter of a young woman.

His eyes opened in an instant as the sound reached his ears. The pleasure in his hazel eyes was apparent at the image that met his gaze, and he sat up, grinning lazily. “What are you laughing at?”

She grinned back, widely, with a genuine happiness that James had thought he would never see directed at him, and brushed flaming red hair back from her face with the delicate hands he had often been afraid of breaking. The sprinkle of freckles across her nose were quite prominent due to the sunlight they had been exposed to, and her peridot irises glistened with amusement. “I can’t believe you’re not running about, James. You’re never this calm.”

“I feel good, today. Really good.” He reached out for her hand, and she took his, only to be pulled down on top of him. He laughed as she screeched playfully in protest before rolling into the grass beside him and making a face to combat her urge to laugh.

“That isn’t funny, you know. You could have hurt me!”

His gaze fell to her as his countenance transformed into serious concern. “What? Are you okay? What did I do?”

“I’m not hurt now, you prat.” At his look of hurt, she grinned. “I was kidding, anyway.”

Lily brushed herself off and stood up, looking down at him with her hands on her hips. It was different than it had been before; there was no disapproving glare, only bemused admiration in her eyes. James reveled in it. Standing up beside her, he stretched, and she playfully poked his abs as he did so. Retracting his arms, he quickly scooped her up before she could protest and shot off across the lawn before her yells of discontent caused him to stop and set her down.

He grinned. Lily looked at him from beneath her slender brows, but couldn’t help but laugh. “I wish it were easier to be mad at you, but I believe I may have exhausted that option during the first six years of our acquaintance.”

“Lucky me.”

“James, I want to see something.”

This caught him a bit off-guard. Smirking playfully, he replied. “Well, we’ve only been dating for a month and a half, Lily, I don’t know if I’m ready to take off my clothes for you yet.” Ducking her playful smack across the head (it seemed he had learned), he smiled. “What is it?”

But her fingers had already reached out to pull his glasses from his face. “I want to see your eyes.”

“You see them all the time.” He huffed and reached for his glasses, but missed my several inches. “I can’t see, Lily, I’m liable to die a slow and painful death if you leave me like this. I’ll walk right into the Whomping Willow, I swear-“

“Shhh!” She shushed him and put the glasses back into his hand, but something about the way she stood on her toes to looking closely at his irises kept him from putting them back on. He let her look, smiling as she gingerly put herself back on her heels. “I never knew they were speckled like they are.”

He played with a tendril of her hair before drawing his hand down to the lapel of her light jacket affectionately. “You never cared to notice before, sweetheart.”

“There are so many things about you I don’t know.”

“Ditto.” He smiled, but it dropped as she tilted her head, still serious.

“Really, James. It scares me, sometimes, how much I have yet to discover. You’re a mystery to me, in so many ways.”

“Lucky for you that I’ve given you license to dig up everything you want to know.”

“Promise me that you won’t keep anything from me.”

He nodded. “Cross my heart and hope my legs get bludgeoned off by a bludger.”

She couldn’t help but laugh. “I supposed that’s the best I’m going to get out of you, you big jerk.”

James grinned. “Ah, but you left out the word adorable. Big, adorable jerk, remember that.”

Lily smiled, looking up at him. “Mmm, my big, adorable jerk. What would I do without him?”

“You’ll never have to know.” He pressed his lips to hers gently, his thumb stroking her jaw line, before pulling away and looking at her. “Because you’ll never be without me.”

“How do I know I’m not just another girl?” The question was too innocent for him to get upset. He just put his glasses in his pocket and cradled her face.

“Because I love you, Lily.”

She looked up at him in shock for a moment before burying her face in his chest in a tight hug. Smiling to himself, he laid his head on hers and just held her, the sunshine beaming through the tree branches and reminding him of the beauty he’d been pondering only moments before.

And he was so thankful that he finally knew what beauty was. It wasn’t a good shag after a long day, a snog in the janitor’s closet, and it wasn’t a mini-skirt on great legs. It was the feeling he got every time he was with Lily Evans. There simply was no better definition.