Welcome, this is my first one-shot fanfiction. It is told from James' P.O.V and overviews periods of his life briefly, particularly about Lily.

Disclaimer: JK Rowling owns all characters mentioned.

Definition

Some people say that there are defining moments in your life that can outline everything.

Well, I would like to say that my defining moment was solely love, but that was not entirely the case.

The moment I clapped eyes upon her was the moment I saw true beauty, the moment I felt true ache. That yearning ache followed me for the best of seven years, I was utterly entranced with her.

Lily Evans.

I could write an essay- a novel even, about how her beauty enchanted me- and about the pain that beauty inflicted upon a foolish boy, such as I was.

'Evans, can I enthral you into me?'

Complete arrogance.

'Potter, why don't you enthral yourself into a ditch?'

Gotta love that temper.

Her temper resembled a sharp, lethal iceberg- something you do not want to hit. But me, I loved to taunt her, to see that fiery goddess pierce me with those mesmerising emerald eyes, her ruby locks flowing delicately behind her shoulders.

'Is that an invitation? Because you know I'd love to go to a ditch with you.'

I had thought of that unwise response in less then a second.

I thought I was so witty, so smart and so suave. Me, James Potter, height of popularity, girls throwing themselves at my shoes- wishing they'd get the chance to be with a 'Marauder'.

'The Marauders', that's what we'd call ourselves, by 'we' I mean Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew and myself. The best of friends, I could say, but I won't. To assert that now would be quite a deceptive statement.

'You're pathetic, why don't you stick a pin in your head and deflate that egotistical bubble?'

Couldn't find one sharp enough at the time.

I'll admit, I was an arrogant little prat, trying to be Mr. Sophisticated to the ladies- Lily in particular, but I seemed to just make her detest me. Why didn't I understand that an overly pretentious git was not Lily's idea of sophisticated? Indeed, it was quite the contrary. I thought that the more arrogant I acted, the more I showed off and the more I tried to act charming, the more she would fall into my arms.

But those arms were made of smoke, shallow, depthless smoke.

'Too bad, Prongs.'

Sirius Black was my best friend and my other half. The guy who I constantly scraped the barrel of trouble with, he was like a brother to me. The girls liked the look of his shoes, too. They'd literally bend over backwards for Sirius, and he loved it. But he came from a cruel background; his parents were purebloods and detested all non-purebloods and muggles with a strong passion. Sirius was different. He hated his family and had felt nothing except remorse about the fact that his last name was 'Black'.

Remus Lupin was another best friend of mine, perhaps not as close at Sirius, but still a great comrade. He was the brains and ideas behind our extensive pranks. He'd try to keep Sirius and me in line, and we too would help keep him in line- once a month. Remus was a werewolf, the perfect explanation behind his recurring disappearances and why he would seem to be very secretive and frail. Once a month Remus, Sirius, Peter and I would escape to the Shrieking Shack and help him during his transformations. We became Animagus' for him; we wanted to aid Remus as much as possible.

Peter idolised our group, well, except himself, he wasn't very self-confident. I sometimes felt that he craved attention and simply followed us for his own benefit- popularity.

We were Messrs Moony, Padfoot, Prongs and Wormtail. The best of friends. The pinnacle of troublemaking, pranks and jokes.

A deceptive title, really.

'One day, one day she'll be mine. She will.'

I was very confident with myself.

In seventh year, I managed to find a very sharp pin, and Sirius, Remus and Peter were happy to help me pop that arrogant bubble. That was the turning point, that's when I realised 'out with the suave, in with the charming'. No more overly hazardous pranks and no more arrogant self-beliefs, well, most the time. I was Head Boy, I had to act like it and 'set an example.'- as Professor McGonagall constantly dug into me.

Lily recognised my change and started (despite one or two disputes) to warm up to the new, deflated me. However, I was desperately trying to keep my cool, fighting every temptation to puckishly say-

'I told you I'd have you, Evans.'

But I managed to resist and enjoyed every pleasurable moment that I was with Lily Evans, and the fact that I wasn't scolded with some loathsome comment. There were so many new things I discovered about her. Like the smell of her hair, (coconuts), and how soft it felt through my fingers, like silk. Her overwhelming generosity and how good it felt when she would say;

'Thanks, James.'

Quite a distinction from-

'Go away, Potter.'

Of course, I could never be a saint; it would be impossible for me to uphold my 'Marauder' title if I was more then 60.5 percent innocent. I still got into trouble, but just less then before.

Lily was the turning point, my great love and crave for her made me see though my pretentious veil, it made me see that I had to change.

Lily Potter.

My quill would touch the parchment and I could fill it entirely with that one statement. If someone had told me that 'Lily Potter' would materialise, I would of come up with some sarcastic comment and heartily agreed, but inside I would of doubted it. Believe it or not, I did know that Lily had disliked me; I just didn't know how to handle it.

'I love you, James.'

Her eyes had pierced into me as she said those words, glistening, captivating my vision, not a hint of dishonestly visible. The words had etched across my heart, as if something was physically poking me, catching and stealing my breath from my throat. A heavy sensation had intensely enthralled me and my weight fell to the ground. My vapour arms solidified and I could then hold the weight of anything imaginable. She had said it.

Complete rapture.

But ecstasy has its flaws and something pulled me down- my sole haven had progressively turned into torment.

Voldemort, the Dark Lord, was in power. Lily and I had betrayed him, and he was desperately trailing us- stopping at nothing to make us pay the price. I wasn't scared, well, at least I tried not to be. I convinced myself that being scared was for cowards, but that didn't tame the small feeling of fear within me. I strived to protect my friends, my wife and my baby son- Harry.

But someone had betrayed me, how else would of Lily, Harry and my whereabouts have been revealed? I had chosen a secret keeper and within him only held that precious information that had led to our deaths. Not only had I been deceived, but also that scum had deceived everyone that had ever meant anything, everything- to me.

It was not someone who I had entirely trusted, but I had been influenced by Sirius to change from him to Peter as secret keeper at the last moment. And who wouldn't trust their best friend?

No warning, no alert, it was over.

Now I finally know that the Marauders were not exactly the best of friends

It's hard to find the true definition of life, but if mine was to live, love, risk and die, then I've fulfilled it.

The End.

Okay, that's my first one-shot, honest opinions and reviews will all be appreciated. Thanks for reading!