ALWAYS AND FOREVER

Every move you make, everything you say is right

The room was nice, but Lily didn't see it. Her eyes existed only for the gorgeous man in front of her. "Merlin, James," she said, her face close to his. She spoke no more. No words needed to be said. She didn't have to tell James she loved him. She knew he could see it, feel it in everything she did today.

James wasn't sure how it had happened, but they were on the bed now, still clothed, Lily lying next to him, their faces touching. He wanted to tell her how beautiful she was, but he couldn't put it in to words. He wasn't sure he could put anything into words right now.

He kissed her, and he tried to tell her in that deep, slow, passionate kiss everything that he had thought and felt and known since he had first laid eyes on her. He tried to tell her how much he loved her, because that kind of love couldn't be put into words. It had to be shared in physical unity.

And then suddenly James' jacket was lying a foot away on the floor. Lily was slowly unbuttoning his shirt, savouring every moment. It didn't have to be fast. They had all the time in the world.

And then his shirt joined his jacket, and Lily was tracing her hands over his bare chest. I love you, every move said. I want you. Every move she made was right. Everything was perfect and beautiful and overwhelming.

He wanted her, too. But he still couldn't speak, he still couldn't express what he wanted so badly to tell her, so overwhelmed was he with feeling and emotion. James' hands were in Lily's hair, but, without any conscious command from his brain, they moved down to her back, and settled where the zipper of her dress lay.

And then the beautiful dress came off to reveal the much, much more beautiful woman underneath.

For a moment, neither man nor woman moved. There was a split second of supernatural silence, so thick and pure that it seemed unreal.

And then finally, James found his voice. He found it, lost somewhere in the beautiful depths of Lily's green eyes, and he said, in a voice so thick with emotion that he feared it would crack, "Lily Potter is the most beautiful woman in the world."

Lily smiled softly, tears sparkling in her dazzling eyes, and replied, "More beautiful than Lily Evans?"

James nodded. He looked at the floor, where all their clothes lay, and he looked at the angelic being beside him, and he kissed her, and he said, "Because she's mine."

And he was on top her all of a sudden, and it was the best feeling in the world: part love, part satisfaction that any moment, any one second of his life could be so wonderfully full. His lips found hers again, and he loved every minute of it—his thoughts were disjointed until they made no sense anymore, and he was ready, and she was ready, and this was what he was made for—loving Lily Evans with all his heart and soul and being.

Nothing could match this, final unity with his one and his only, final perfect togetherness. This was closeness that could not be matched by anything else. This was something that was theirs and theirs alone, something that would never belong to anybody else. This was perfect. This was everything he thought it would be, and better. A thousand times better than he could have ever imagined that loving Lily could ever be.

Minutes seemed to pass by in mere seconds, time was on a fast forward, and James was doing everything he could, trying to please her, trying to know what she needed from him. Every move said that he loved her. Every move she made in response told him that she loved him, too. This was unreal; this was heaven.

The air was thick with emotion, with words unsaid, and every sense was on overdrive, everything that James saw and heard and felt that night was magnified a hundred thousand times in his euphoria that at last, at last, he and Lily were perfectly together, like two puzzle pieces, fitting perfectly beside each other. One could not exist without the other.

The night was sparkling and spotless, the air was thick with it, love shared, love made, love between two people, so deeply passionate in that one moment that neither could speak, neither could even think for feeling and loving and knowing, knowing that this was it, this was everything that mattered: each other, Lily and James Potter, together, one heart, one love, always and forever.

James woke the next morning very late. He had half a mind to get up and get dressed, but he didn't want to wake Lily. Instead he kept perfectly still, his arms still around her, and let thoughts of last night flood his mind. James didn't know it was possible to feel so happy.

He was just deciding that he would have to get up soon, because he really had to pee, when Lily opened her eyes. "Good morning, beautiful," he said, smiling. Lily blinked sleepily.

"Morning, James." Lily gave him the sort of look that made James kiss her. He sighed.

Lily pulled herself out of bed and pulled on clothes—a pair of jeans and a turtleneck for the chilly October day. Cringing, she saw the time on the clock—it was nearly noon. And even so, she thought, laughing, she'd hardly slept at all.

James tiredly pulled himself out of bed, too, dressing and coming over to where Lily stood. He felt more connected to her than ever before. They shared something that he shared with no one else. Something special, that was reserved for the kind of love that James had only ever felt for Lily. The kind of crazy, stupid love that made you do things like charm music out of your wand, that made you take dance lessons, that made you give your whole self over to another person, knowing that they had given you their whole self, too, and knowing that they would never ask for it back.

It was the kind of thing, James thought, which he would never have believed possible. Only two years ago, he had been so different. Lily had changed him. Lily had made him better. Lily made him want to be better.

The following week was the best of Lily's life. James and Lily hadn't wanted a fancy, far-off honeymoon. They had rented a small, adorable cottage not far from Godric's Hollow, and there they stayed for seven days, full of that perfect, amazing buzz that was only felt from fresh love.

On October 9th, the happy newlyweds returned to Godric's Hollow. Mrs Potter and Mrs Evans had been unpacking all of Lily's things, and the wedding gifts, and when Lily stepped in the house she was amazed. It wasn't huge like the Potter house, but it was big, plenty big for a family of two.

Lily smiled at that word. She and James weren't just a couple anymore. They were a family.

"Welcome home," James said.