Disclaimed: I do not own any of the following characters, places – they belong to JK Rowling – obviously

Your True Colours Are Beautiful…Like a Rainbow

"Well," said Lily Evans, in an unusually scornful voice, "This is quite boring, isn't it?" she looked around the Great Hall, now bereft of its tables and chairs, and everything else for that matter.

"Aren't you going to put any decorations up?" the girl asked of sixth year prefect Jenna Silas. Lily wouldn't normally have been so abrupt, but the fact was that she didn't like Jenna Silas one bit, and she was damned if she was going to be nice to her. Life, Lily felt, was already filled enough with smiling at people you didn't like, and she could do without being nice to a girl who had once publicly informed her supposed best friend about the 'mortifying atrocity' that was her hairstyle, her excuse being that she was doing a service to the school in letting the other girl know. The time Jenna Silas didn't spend gossiping about her unfortunate classmates, she spent trying to organise other people's lives. Lily could not imagine what had possessed the headmaster to make her a Gryffindor prefect (or the sorting hat for making her a Gryffindor for that matter).  Lily was also amazed at the amount of dislike Jenna could generate in her usually very accepting self.

"Of course we are going to decorate the Great Hall," said Jenna in her most superior voice, flipping her shoulder length black hair back into a ponytail.

"So I'll just leave you to it then?" That was the good thing about Jenna Silas. She liked to be left to it.

"Oh, yes, I'll see you tonight, head-girl," Miss Silas had a slightly strange habit of calling Lily 'head girl' all the time. A strange mixture of mockery and a grudging respect for her status, Lily thought. It was not a point she bother to argue with, anyhow.

Lily strode out of the Great Hall. She didn't know why it was suddenly necessary for there to be a Christmas Party on the last night of term. Surely everyone could have their own celebrations during the holidays? But the vote at the last prefect's meeting had been almost unanimous. They just had to have a party. It hadn't really mattered much to Lily either way, and she supposed it was potentially a good idea, as it would take there minds off the rising of he-who-must-not-be-named.  Surprisingly, the only other person not whole-heartedly for the proposal had been James Potter, the head boy. Lily would have thought that Potter of all people would jump at the idea – music, dancing, girls – it was right up his alley. But then again, Potter had been acting quite out of character lately, and one could never predict how he was going to behave anymore.

James Potter was something of a tricky question with Lily Evans. It was not that she absolutely detested him, and at times she found herself dangerously close to liking him, but it was safe to say that he was capable of extreme obnoxiousness if he desired it, and Lily was never quite sure if he was joking or serious. That was what currently irritated her about him. He was not so black and white anymore. Back in their fifth year and Hogwarts, when Potter had been at his peak of arrogance, showing off and cursing people in to next week just because he could, having girls flock around him in droves, Lily would have declared him nothing more than an egotistical, despicable bully. And she would have been justified. Now, two years later, while he still had the tendency to be unspeakably annoying, he seemed to have faded into the background so to speak. Where Lily was concerned, anyway. This was quite ironic, considering that he was now head boy. Though still immensely popular, he was no longer the dominator of all that is cool, or the bane of Slytherin house, as far as she could see. He even seemed to be working hard at school. Gone were the days when James Potter would implore Lily Evans to go out with him. Forgotten were the long and drawn out screaming matches that ensured. Lily was free from harassment, and she had hardly realised it until now. She smiled to herself and shook her head. She still did not trust James Potter. His strange behaviour was suspicious in itself. She just hoped he wasn't planning some prank for the party that could be instigated through his friends. Not that it wouldn't teach Jenna Silas. Lily really didn't like Jenna Silas…

~~*@*~~

At four o'clock that afternoon, Lily realised that Jenna Silas had forgotten to put the special fairy dust on the Christmas Trees. Most of the other prefects had already left the hall to take a break and in some vases begin the great two-hour ritual of make-up application and hair styling. When Lily ducked in to check on what Hanna had fondly dubbed 'Operation Dance Floor'. Although Lily was not particularly into the idea of a party, she did like to get things right. She almost sneered as she pointed out the small but crucial error to Miss Silas and produced the jar containing the aforesaid fairy dust. Jenna merely sniffed and muttered something about 'not enough contribution from the head boy and girl', and then proceeded to cover the Christmas Trees with the glittering and infinitely messy substance. Lily nodded regally and reminded the room of how she and Potter had organised for the notorious wizarding band "Shazam24" to play at the party. With that, she checked the hall once last time and strode from the room, treating Jenna Silas and her minions to her best social smile as she went past.

~~*@*~~

At half past five, Lily deemed it time to get ready. Half her dormitory were already made up, and head been for several hours. They were standing around looking bore and regretting their eagerness to don clothing that would be creased something unsightly should they sit down. Lily quickly put on the green dress robes that Celia Jordan said matched her eyes and brushed her long red hair.

She made her way down to the Great Hall at a quarter to six, supposing it was her duty as head girl to be at least fifteen minutes early. Potter and the other prefects were there already.

"So you've finally decided to grace us with your presence, head girl?" came Jenna Silas' snide voice. Everyone ignored her and Lily looked around the room. It did look truly spectacular. Without a doubt, the prefects had excelled themselves. The room was awash with twinkling lights and at times actual fairies. The walls were heavily adorned with tinsel and flowers, and the stage Potter had erected the day before rotating lights far more impressive than the muggle attempts you had at the average school disco. Around the sides of the hall, the house tables were laden with festive food and drinks, as well as miniature models of Santa Claus and his reindeer which travelled at different speeds up and the tables, tinkling their bells and randomly shouting 'ho ho ho'. James Potter modestly claimed this piece of transfiguration and charm work as his own when Lily pointed it out.

The rest of the school began to arrive at six. Sirius Black, Potter's wild and wily best friend, was the first to arrive. Easily the most good looking boy in the school, Black had longish, dark hair and, according to most of Lily's female friends, seductive black eyes. Surprisingly, his girlfriend Elizabeth Darlen was not with him. Probably they had broken up again, Lily thought absently. Black and Potter stood together, talking quietly, and Lily hoped this was not a sign that there was a conspiracy afoot.

As Hogwart's students and teachers dribbled in, some of them gushing over the decorations, some of them talking loudly about the lameness of school dance parties, Lily decided to and tell Shazam24 to get ready. Unfortunately, Shazam24 were not the most organised of singing groups.

"What?" asked the lead singer, Devastation X. (his real name was Fred Andrews, but he felt 'Devastation X' had more oomph)

"Are you read to go?" repeated Lily patiently,

"Oh, yes," said Platypus, the drummer. Platypus had blue hair and red contact lenses. "We've just got to tune Michael's guitar," he pointed to a big, beefy, thuggish looking man with spiky black hair. His fingers were so think that Lily doubted that they would be able to pluck three strings at once, let alone one.

"So where are we playing?" asked Devastation X, who prided himself in always being off in a world of his own. Lily sighed.

"We've set up a stage for you. You don't have sing all night; we have other songs we've magically recorded. Just be ready in fifteen minutes, ok?" They nodded. Lily smiled and turned to go.

"Hey," said the violinist, a girl called Sarah-Rose, "Do we get refreshments?" Lily almost rolled her eyes,

"Yes, there is a table right over there especially reserved for you," they all nodded again, and Sarah-Rose's huge black witch's hat fell over her stark white, heavily mascarad face.  Lily returned to the festivities, bumping into the Headmaster as she went. her beamed at her,

"This is splendid," he said appreciatively, "Really well done, Lily!" Lily smile back,

Thankyou, sir," Dumbledore looked around,

"So where will this band, this-"

"Shazam24,"

"Yes. When will they be coming out?"

"Oh, pretty soon, sir. They've out who and where they are already. That Platypus looks like he's got them organised," said Lily,

"Ah," said Dumbledore, his eyes twinkling, "Excellent."

~~*@*~~

Later on, when the party had really got going, Lily surveyed the room from a secluded corner, a look of deep satisfaction on her face. Everyone was dancing happily, there not been one Potter or Black induced catastrophe, and Shazam24 had sung their first few songs without a hitch. In fact, Lily was astounded at the dexterity of Michael's fingers as they zipped along the guitar strings at extreme speeds. Well, this party had been a good idea after all. Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves, namely Sirius Black, who was proving to be a very creative dancer. The teachers were waiting for slow numbers that Lily had promised, which would require actual ballroom dancing, instead of what Professor Galaxia the Astronomy Teacher called 'mindless boogieing'.

~~*@*~~

"Dance with me?" Lily started out of her daydream,

"Pardon?" she said, polite to the last,

"I said, will you dance with me?" Lily stared, aghast. It was James Potter. Obviously the leopard still had its spots.

Lily had always known that something lay between Potter and herself, but his continuing immaturity had allowed her to pretend that it, whatever it was, did not exist. Now she was faced with a decision. It was certainly true that Potter had become decidedly less self-inflated over the past months, even to the point that she forgot about him completely. But it was also true that in accepting the invitation to engage in traditional dance with him would be giving into him a way. And more importantly showing the school that she had given into him. While in reality it was only a dance between acquaintances, to the rest of seventh year it would seem that James Potter had finally achieved his campaign of years, and won over Lily Evans.

As all these facts ran through her head, Potter stood patiently by, staring into her face in an utterly disturbing manner. She almost giggled. After a while he said,

"Have you reached a decision, Miss Evans?" he smile crookedly,

"I know I don't have much hope, but it is only a dance." And there was something so sincere in his spectacled face that Lily didn't have the heart to say no. Or perhaps, she thought with a grimace, she didn't want to say no.

"Alright," she said gruffly, "I'll dance with you once, Potter, but only because we are mature seventeen year olds, and you haven't been so excruciating lately." The boy's face broke into such a huge grin that Lily was afraid that the top of his had might fall off. Now I've done it, she thought, I've gone and pleased James Potter. There was no telling what he might do now.

"Well, thankyou, Miss Evans," he said graciously, and offered his hand.

They moved out onto the dance floor, and Lily tried to ignore the grins on the faces of her classmates and the triumphant smirk Sirius Black was sending her way.

"Don't you dare look at Black," she told Potter between gritted teeth. Instead of some witty reply, Potter merely smiled and put his arm around her waist. Lily stiffened momentarily and placed her own hand gingerly on his shoulder.

"I can't believe I'm doing this," she muttered. Potter gave her a sharp look,

"I realise how it must look to our friends, but does it really matter? They'll get over it. Anyway, you could have refused me." Just then, the music started. As Shazam24 could not have performed a slow waltz if their lives depended on it, Lily had been forced to borrow something from Dumbledore's own collection. Fortunately, everyone was in a decidedly Christmassy mood, and no one kicked up a stink about it. She and Potter began to slowly rotate. He wasn't to bad a dancer, for a quidditch player, anyway. To distract herself from the fact that James Potter's hand was placed firmly on her waist, she looked around. She spotted Dumbledore and the transfiguration teacher Professor McGonagall dancing away together, and was also pleased to note that Samuel Spinnet was refusing to continue dancing with Jenna Silas due to one too many smart comments about his diminutive height. Suddenly Potter cleared his throat. She turned to look at him. He had nice eyes, she discovered. Hazel eyes. Shaking her head in disgust, she said,

"Yes?"

"I was just saying that it was a good idea to invite Shazam24 tonight," he said calmly.

"Oh. Yes, it was," she said lamely. She noticed that it was getting pretty hot in the great hall. Her palm was getting sweaty where it rested on James' shoulder…

"- guitarist, really quite good," Potter was saying. Oops. She had lost track again. she felt a pang of guilt as for the first time she saw a hurt expression flit across Potter's face.

"You really don't like me, do you?" he asked. Lily blushed. Why did she blush? He knew the facts as well as she did.

"I've changed, you know," he continued, "I don't think I'm a bullying toerag anymore…"

"Potter," Lily suddenly felt angry. Unreasonably angry. He thought he'd changed, did he? Did that make it all better, did it?

"Potter. You're talking as if the reason I never would go out with you is somehow my fault now. I'm dancing with you at the moment, aren't I?" she glared at him full in the face, though they were still dancing quite calmly. To her surprise, he blushed,

"Yeah, I know," he said, somewhat intensely.

"Well, good," she hissed, "I don't even know why I am dancing with you. You're still as arrogant as ever!" Lily didn't know why she was getting so angry. There was just something about Potter that got under her skin. Usually, she was a calm person…

"Arrogant? I can't help what I am, but I have changed slightly since fifth year, believe it or not-"

"Well, then, why do still chase after me like the pathetic stalker you are?" Lily knew then that she might have gone a bit too far. Potter's eyes, which had hitherto been filled with emotion turned to ice. His mouth became a cold hard line and he leant down and whispered in her ear,

"At least I admit to the truth. I'm not stupid, Miss Evans, I've seen you pretending to despise me. You're living like you're in control of your life. You're not. No one is. You think you're so open minded and sweet. Think on it, Evans. Did it ever occur to you that I might be in love with you?" only with these last hissing words did his voice tremble fractionally. He straightened as the music stopped, and with one last furious glare he strode away into the mingling crowd. Lily stood frozen in her spot, the oblivious dancers talking and laughing around her. Thoughts whirled around in her head, and she had the feeling that if she didn't go somewhere quiet to think at once, she might somehow miss out on a tremendous truth. As she departed from the party in the most inconspicuous way possible, Shazam24 began to play the instrumental entitled "You Make Me Sick."

~~*@*~~

Lily sat with her back to a large tree by the lake and watched the moonlight on the water, unaware of the cold. She wasn't sure how long she'd been sitting there thinking. It seemed that she'd actually been able to hurt James Potter, and he'd actually got through to her. Was he right? Was going through life putting everyone in their own little box?  Assuming she could know everything worth knowing about them? Potter and Black – arrogant and immature, Jenna Silas – bossy and nasty, the Gryffindor girls in her dormitory – superficial and fussy. Did she expect them to change? Would she notice if they did? She didn't know. Had James Potter changed? Or was his shocking confession of love simply another technique to get her to go out with him? Love. He had said he was in love with her. Lily Evans did not know what love was. Lily Evans had never even kissed a boy, let alone loved one. Lily Evans had spent her teenage existence safe in the knowledge that boyfriends were not a necessary part of childhood and that those who had them were ruining their chances in life. There was plenty of time later on to fall in love. But now she was not so sure. Did James Potter know the meaning of love? It didn't seem all that likely. But his words had shaken her. She knew that much. But did that mean she like him? She would have brushed off his words as an immature joke if she had not seen his eyes, his face. Lily sighed. There was no answer. It was as they say, You never never know if you never never go. But that just brought back the question: did she want to go? Was it possible to know love at the age of seventeen? Sighing again she leaned forward, wrapping her arms around her legs and resting her head on her knees. Here she was, sitting in an open field in winter in only her thing green dress robes. Well, there was the answer, she thought wryly, she was going to die of pneumonia and all her problems would be solved. Hugging herself, Lily stood and made her way back to the castle, reaching the great stone steps just as the first flake of winter floated slowly to the ground. On entering the castle she was unnerved by the silence. Obviously she had been outside far longer than she intended. Pneumonia was looking more and more likely by the second. She thought it typical that no one had noticed her absence at the end of the party and come to look for her. It seemed even those whose dormitory she shared had not noticed her empty bed. As she tip toed quietly past the entrance to the Great Hall she glanced in. Everything was back to normal, not a single thing was left to show there had even been a party. Lily had the disturbing sensation that none of it had ever happened and that she had simply fallen asleep by the lake and not been woken by the devious designs of those she chose to call friends. She quickly shook off this feeling and continued up into the dark, cold castle. It came as a shock when someone stepped out right in front of her, seemingly from nowhere.


~Elbereth-Gilthoniel~