Safe Harbour
I watch you, standing in the shadows of the Burrow's back porch, as you laugh across the table at a joke Charlie has made. The sun shines brightly on the vibrant pink of your hair, and you look so young and so alive, so beautiful, that I am caught by a wave of familiar angst, wondering how you could possibly love me.
Then you raise your hand, leaning forward to swat Charlie, punishment for whatever comment also made you laugh, and the same sun glints off the ring on your finger, my ring, and my breath catches in my throat at the tangible reminder that against all the odds, you do love me as much as I love you. You turn your head, spot me in my inadequate hiding place, and your smile lights up your entire face. It's the smile that makes me feel like the luckiest man in the world, because I know it's only for me. You have as many faces as the moonless night sky has stars, but no matter what face you wear that smile is always there for me.
You beckon me over, and I return to my seat beside you at the long trestle table. You have saved me a portion of chocolate cake, defending it against the menacing advances of the ravenous Weasley horde, who managed to devour the rest of the puddings while I was inside the house. As I sit down, you lean against my shoulder, your hair tickling my ear. Contentment washes over me in a gentle wave, and I feel, as I always do when returning to you after even the briefest absence, that I have returned home, safe from the storms of life in our uncertain world. Anchored by your love when once I drifted with the tides of ill fortune, I know that I have reached the harbour of my soul's journeying.
A/N - The "harbour of my soul's journeying" image/phrase is borrowed from Guy Gavriel Kay's Tigana, one of my all-time favourite books.