Chapter Text
“I think this may be the happiest I’ve ever been.”
James smiled in response, an arm resting behind his head, the other across his stomach. His eyes had fluttered closed behind his glasses, his face basking in the rays of the sun above him. One leg was slightly bent at the knee while the other sprawled languidly on the grass.
“Agreed.”
A happy sigh, a content murmur of agreement, a soft rustle of shoes being kicked off feet.
The sun was glorious, the sky an endless, cloudless vast of brilliant blue.
A gentle breeze in the air prevented the warmth of the day from being stifling, and whispered pleasantly through their hair and across their faces.
They lay in the grass of near the lake, green blades softly tickling bare limbs, the sound of water lapping with therapeutic rhythm nearby.
The final NEWT exam had taken place the previous day, meaning they were all officially free of schoolwork. The exhaustion from the workload of the past few months had suddenly hit them full force, meaning plans for a weekend long party had been quickly changed after one night of celebratory drinking.
Lily sighed in happiness again, stretching her legs and pointing her toes as she tilted her head up to the sun. “Today I officially do not want to do anything,” she declared.
After a second of consideration, she turned her head to look at James lay next to her. She shielded her eyes from the sun with a cupped hand and regarded him thoughtfully. He squinted an eye open to look back at her, a smile playing across his lips.
“Except you. I’d do you,” she added matter-of-factly.
James’ smile immediately tugged into a lazy grin of pride.
“Urgh,” Sirius said with disgust, and made a point of getting up and moving away from them both to lie on the other side of Peter.
“Is that right?” James smirked, ignoring his best friend as he rolled onto his side to face Lily. He rested his head on one hand and with the other ran a finger slowly up her bare thigh, up across the fabric of her shorts and vest top, gently across her collar bone, ghosted up her neck and then curled around a lock of her hair.
A slow smile grew across Lily’s face in response, her eyes darkening as they stayed locked on his and her hand reached out to trace across his jaw.
“Here?” he teased. “Or… the shack? Quidditch changing rooms will probably be closer?”
Lily shrugged one shoulder, trying to bite back her smile. “I mean, I want to be with you… everywhere.”
James thought if his grin were to grow any wider then his face would physically crack in two.
“No, I can not cope with you two today.”
“There are actual laws against this kind of thing in public, you know.”
“Right, piss off and take this elsewhere!”
“You use the Shrieking Shack?”
Lily laughed at the outburst from their friends, rolling over onto her stomach and shoving Mary’s shoulder, who lay on her other side and was looking at her in disdain. She bent her legs at the knee and kicked them backwards and forwards, spreading her fingers and running them through the sun warmed lawn in front of her.
She turned her head back to face James. He was still watching her, his eyes sparkling with amusement, smile still etched across his face.
“Looks like I’ll have to wait until later to get my hands on you, Potter,” she smiled mischievously, her eyes bright with pleasure.
James sighed loudly in mock-irritation and rolled once more onto his back, his arm resuming its spot behind his head. He was still grinning as his eyes fluttered closed again, and he moved his free hand to lace his fingers through Lily’s.