My Personal Rainbow
Disclaimer: I don't own anything that you recognize, so don't sue me. Cool? Cool.
A/N: Okay, so this story was originally part of the story "Rainbow Magic", which was a compilation of a bunch of authors writing oneshots involving the word rainbow. It's currently posted under the Reviews Lounge Profile, and the whole thing was dreamed up and brought to life at the Reviews Lounge Forum… stop in and say hello some time! This is my story from the second round… we were each allowed to write two. So, without further ado, I bring you… Andromeda Tonks!
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For so long, my life had been colorless. Black was more than just my surname—it was my constant mood. It surrounded me at all times, closing in on me from all sides. I was nothing special to my family—not as breathtakingly beautiful as blonde Narcissa, nor as perfect as Bellatrix, the first born. Instead, I was just Andy—the middle child with a nickname meant for a boy.
I was taught at home when I was little, and never before Hogwarts had I been to a school. Because of that, much of my childhood was spent indoors, listening to my mother praise my sisters and drop some not-so-subtle hints about how I could be a better daughter. However, no matter how much I tried, I was never good enough. And so, color and happiness both became harder and harder to come by.
For so long, my life was a simple black and white. I did as I was told, I never talked back, and I swallowed every bit of criticism from my mother. I knew that in the end it was easiest. But then, everything changed. Everything changed the summer before my seventh year.
It was in Diagon Alley that it happened. I remember everything about that day, as it was the day that my life made its colossal turn-around. I was walking past the menagerie when I ran head-on into someone. That someone was Ted Tonks, my own personal savior.
He began apologizing profusely as he gave me a helping hand to pick me up from the ground, and he insisted that he make it up to me by buying me some ice cream from Florean Fortescue's. I wasn't sure if it was something I should have been doing, but those thoughts didn't even cross my mind. Muggle-born or not, I was mesmerized by him—he was so cheerful, even though there didn't seem to be anything to be cheerful about. I envied that about him.
We began talking, and I learned that he was a 7th year Hufflepuff. As I myself was a Ravenclaw, I had never noticed him before, though I began wondering how I could have missed someone like Ted. He was so full of energy and happiness and… and color. And I'm not just talking about his electric blue eyes and golden hair, both of which were so directly in contrast with my own drab appearance.
We chatted for ages, and the hours slipped away. But I didn't care, nor did I even notice. I was just so caught up in Ted, and to my pleasure he seemed to be pretty interested in me, too. We made plans to meet again, on the first day of Hogwarts.
My final year at school went by in a blur. I knew only a few months into the year that I was in love with Ted. He made my life worth living, and even Narcissa's jeers about my "muggle friend" couldn't bring me down. Because I was in love, and that's what love does to people.
We got married shortly after we got out of school; not even a year had gone by before I was walking down the aisle. His parents thought we were being foolish and that we had jumped into it, but those judgments were nothing compared to what I was receiving from my parents. I was disowned, burned from the tapestry and discarded by them just as easily as I had discarded their name if favor the name Tonks. On the day of our wedding, I was finally freed of Black, both the name and the color, for good.
Nymphadora was born shortly after. I knew from the start that she was a special child. She was born with brown hair, which then promptly changed to blonde, then ginger, then purple. She was more colorful than anything I had ever seen, and I knew then and there that she was fantastic. No, she was more than fantastic…she was perfect.
Because she had become part of my personal rainbow, part of my family. She was part of my newly discovered color, along with Ted, bringing me out of my world of darkness. And I loved them both for that more than they will ever know.
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I hope you guys liked this! Any reviews would be much appreciated! Thanks!