Disclaimer: All characters, settings and anything else recognizable from Harry Potter belong to JK Rowling, and we make no claim on her ideas.
A/N: 'I can sing a rainbow' is a traditional children's song. It is not mine.
1. James Potter
A rainbow will always follow the rain. That's what Mum taught me. I would have been about six at the time, I think. She said that one would always be there, after the rain, just floating in the sky below the clouds, even if I couldn't see it. Mum told me, that even if I couldn't see a rainbow, someone else would be able to.
Sometimes it feels like it has been raining for years, but then I suppose that I couldn't have expected anything less from growing up. Not that rain is a bad thing. In fact, I love the rain. I love to stand outside, and turn my face up to the clouds, and watch as a billion little droplets fall down to earth around me. Mind you, that only works when I remember to impervious my glasses. Otherwise, I am inevitably left staring at water droplets.
Like I said, the rain doesn't bother me in the slightest. What worries me is when the clouds are dark and threatening, and the world is cast into shadow. It seems ominous and terrible, and even though those dark, threatening clouds rarely amass to much, there is enough dark in the world, enough growing threat, enough violence without the rain becoming like that, too.
My favourite sort of rain is a sun-shower. That's probably because I can enjoy the rain and admire the rainbow, all at once. It's my personal equivalent of Sirius getting his cake and eating it too. Remus says that rainbows are traditionally a symbol of hope and rebirth, after the cleansing process of the rain.
I think the world needs more rainbows.
Once, Sirius and I made it rain in the Gryffindor common room. Unfortunately, the heaviest downpour seemed to be right over Lily's head. It turned her glorious hair a dark auburn, and she glared at us with those brilliant eyes of hers'. That day, there was no rainbow – not that I could see, anyway. Luckily, she eventually forgave me.
Lily doesn't understand why rainbows fascinate me so much. But they've always been a talking point between us: her, the skeptic, and I, the believer. Once, though, Lily was a believer too. I can remember in third year after she discovered leprechauns were real, Lily had asked Professor Flitwick if they really did keep their gold at the end of rainbows. Flitwick had pulled the strangest face I'd ever seen on him, and he had gently and politely asked her what she was talking about. I think that the leprechaun's gold is a Muggle thing, somehow. Nevertheless, I think that was the day that Lily stopped being a believer, somehow. And every rainbow since has been a little duller for it.
Definitely my favourite memory is of
seventh year – Lily and I had been sitting out in the grounds,
discussing something to go with our Head's duties, when we were
caught in a sudden shower. We took shelter under the Quidditch
stands, and I can remember staring out across the grounds when a
rainbow appeared behind her head, as if she were my pot of gold.
Naturally, I kissed her. I think it gave her quite a shock, and she
was terribly confused when I explained that I'd done it because of
the rainbow.
"James, you do know that
rainbows are only sunlight reflected in tiny little water droplets,
don't you?"
I forgave her for that, because she was
Muggle-born, and Muggles seem to have a compulsive need to produce an
explanation for everything.
"Can you prove it?"
Lily had opened and closed her mouth,
thrown by my response, before she frowned and nodded.
"Well – yes." As if it
were obvious. And then, she had shown me.
Lily Evans made me a rainbow.
That's when I decided I was probably falling for her, in a serious way.
When Harry was very small, I can remember hearing Lily sing to him at night. Her soft voice carried through the house, and I was drawn to them, cuddling in the little room we had set up as Harry's nursery. I leant in the doorway and watched my wife, her glorious red hair trailing down the back of her night gown as she cradled the small bundle of blankets.
"Red and yellow and pink and green, purple and orange and blue! I can sing a rainbow, sing a rainbow, sing a rainbow too…"
"That's pretty."
She had jumped as I spoke, and she turned to me. Although she was frowning, her eyes were shining with laughter.
"You would say that, wouldn't you, James Potter?"
I shrugged, grinning as I advanced into the room. Harry was, by now, sleeping soundly in his mother's arms. I gently lifted him from her, and placed him in his cot.
"I've never heard that song before."
"It's a Muggle children's song. I learned it when I was a little girl. I loved it."
"I love it. I love you, too, even though I can't believe you never taught it to me! You never told me you could sing so well."
By this stage I had wrapped my arms around her, and she laughed into my hair, embarrassed. "I can't."
As I listened to her fall asleep, my arm curved around her body, and her head nestled on my chest, I could have sworn I heard her murmur.
"I can sing a rainbow, sing a rainbow, sing a rainbow too…"
I haven't seen a rainbow in months. Not since we went into hiding, in fact. Just before we did, Lily and I took Harry on a picnic, and he saw his first rainbow. As luck would have it, it had been one of the most vivid I had ever seen, bright colours curving gracefully across the sky. It seemed quite close – as though we could follow it, and find its end a few meadows over. Harry's eyes, so like Lily's that it sometimes scares me, had lit up in his chubby little face, and he clapped his hands with all the delight a one-year-old can muster.
Which is a lot of delight.
Lily had watched him, laughing with him
as he gazed up at the sky in awe.
"He's just like you, James.
Absolutely enchanted."
As she had said it, she had looked up
and met my eyes. The rainbow had been reflected in those laughing
eyes, so bright and vivid that I fell in love with her all over
again.
I've always been fascinated with rainbows. Somehow, inexplicably, they feature in my most treasured memories. And I don't care that Lily teases me, and insults my manhood by calling it adorable; nor do I mind that Sirius accuses me of going soft.
To me, rainbows have always been my favourite kind of magic.
A/N: This is going to be a collaborative piece written by the members of the Reviews Lounge. Every "chapter" is about a different character, and written by a different author. It is quite likely that individually, these stories may also be posted by the authors who have contributed them.
The theme, as you have probably gathered, is "rainbow".
If anyone is interested in joining this project, jump onto the Reviews Lounge forum and choose a character! You can find all the details there. Thanks for reading, reviews are deeply appreciated, and they will be forwarded to the appropriate author!
- Lexie