Written for the Be Fearless and Speak Now Challenge from xAccioDramionex.
Inspired by Taylor Swift's song Long Live.
Looking at his face, she felt like she had never seen joy before.
She'd seen exuberant smiles, excited laughs, and content smirks hiding their true happiness, but it just wasn't this.
He shone like the sun, something about the brightness of his eyes and his smile.
She could forget everything bad she had ever thought of him, just looking at him at the moment.
James raised his broom in the air and shouted, "TO GRYFFINDOR!"
The crowd she was attempting to break through surrounded her with cheers so loud that it was earsplitting.
But she made no effort to stop them, because it was an earsplittingly beautiful sound.
Lily could understand now why he was so obsessed with quidditch, why he could play for hours on end and his mind still remained unfazed.
That was it, that was the moment, the moment when her whole world changed colors.
Like she had seen the world in black and white until this very moment, and the first thing she had seen in color...
James.
His joy flooded between them without his knowing, and her muscles felt as strengthened as his, her blood wanting her to move.
She made no objection, pushing aside people as she raced through the crowd, a magnificently joyous grin on her face.
And when she reached him, she never slowed her pace and nearly tackled the surprised boy to the ground as she threw her arms around him.
"Congratulations on your game," Lily whispered in his ear as he hugged her back.
"Congratulations on coming to your senses and finally liking me back," said James, grinning with an even brighter inner light.
That one smile was the one that was stuck in her mind for the rest of her life- she would never forget it.
Joy.
James.
Jubilant.
James.