Her back was hunched over a packet of parchment, her brow was furrowed in concentration, her thumb resting thoughtfully on her lip. The straps of her pale yellow sundress were slipping down her shoulders revealing freckled, velvety skin. She was leaning under the great big Oak across from the Black Lake. The May sun reflected on the lake causing sparkles of diamonds to lie amongst the ripples of the water.
Still looking down she muttered quietly, “James? How should I revise the second paragraph to the Amortentia analysis?”
At the lack of response, she looked up hesitantly. Her next words were captured by his soft lips.
Lily was his drug. Heavenly and captivating. She was his. Her giggles sounded like the flutter of butterfly wings. Her smile could chase away and resentment or bitterness that coursed through your veins. She truly was a gift sent from the heavens and they had sent her right down to him.
He released her and leaned his forehead on hers.
“Hi,” she whispered, a rosy blush blooming and growing on her cheeks.
James was her drug. Alluring and doting. He was hers. His love was unmatched. The ghosts of touches and brushes throughout her day. She could feel his love floating towards her with a gust of wind and right now, she could feel it blowing in her hair and lapping at her feet. Love was in his every word, every action.
He drooped his head into her neck, inhaling the flowers that seemed to bloom there. She hummed in approval as he lay back down onto the grass, one arm bent under his head. He lifted his other hand up to gently brush her exposed shoulders with his calloused fingers.
“You’re blushing,” he whispered.
Looking down to face him, she cocked her head in confusion.
“You’re burning, Lily. Your skin is getting all red.”
Lily didn’t seem a bit concerned, and instead, dropped down next to him— allowing her hair to play out around her like an angel’s halo. Her skin was bathing in the warmth— warmth from the sun, and warmth from her close proximity to James.
She turned her head to look at him, but his eyes were already transfixed on her. He moved slowly to brush a blade of grass off her cheek, smiling warmly. Their eyes, tied together for what seemed like years, broke apart at the sound of booming laughter.
Simultaneously turning to see what was the source of the intruding noise, they were met with Sirius’ crooked smile, his gray eyes glistening with mischief.
“Hello, love birds! Darling Lily looking dashing as ever,” he chortled as he took big strides to reach them.
Already beginning to stand up, Lily puckered her lips and sent an air kiss his way— which he pretended to bite, and then proceeded to thoughtfully swallow.
“You’re not still working on the Potions essay are you, Evans?”
Lily looked down at her feet where her half-finished essay lay— untouched for the better half of her time sitting with James.
“Come off it, Black. Maybe if you didn’t make me throw that frisbee at you all day yesterday it would be done.”
Sirius pouted— charming almost every heart at Hogwarts, just not hers— and made a running sprint to grab her. Lily shrieked and James noted how even in shock, any noise that escaped from her soft lips was laced in honey and sugar. Coated in golden specks from the gods. A ray of hopeful sunshine. It was adorable and giggly and so uplifting that his heart seemed to burst along the seams as well as his cheeks that rose in a splitting smile.
Lily now hollering for James, was across one of Sirius’ shoulders and he ran for the lake. She was flailing and kicking and everything around her seemed to move in slow motion as she felt her body hit the water. Maybe no time was passing at all. She was just enjoying the endless time she had, the endless time where she never had to leave, the endless time before she was faced with the real world.