Chapter 29;
Sirius's POV
Sirius Black hated funerals. He absolutely hated them. He hated the way the place smelt, the way everyone was clinging to each other and sobbing and most of all, he despised the fact that this particular funeral was making him cry. Just watching Rosie hold onto Alison as if the little girl would disappear, brought a tear to his eyes, not to mention the fact that the little girl was shaking violently from tears. He could see Rosie struggling not to turn her vibrant coloured eyes back into a dull grey.
That was another thing he hated about funerals. How everyone wore black. Well, Mrs Potter, when she'd been alive of course, had made it exceptionally clear that she did not want anyone wearing dark colours. She'd wanted a bright, colourful funeral. And that was what everyone had done.
James had on bright red jeans, Rosie had done the necessary charms to get it that way, and a bright blue and orange shirt. Rosie had also wanted to charm his hair, but that was where James had drawn the line. He hadn't even wanted to do the coloured funeral, but when Rosie had reminded him that it had been his mother's wishes, he gave in.
Will was wearing about the same, except with green pants and a bright yellow top. His hair was also streaked with colour,
Anna Lee had on a bright purple dress and white shoes, she hadn't allowed Rosie to touch her hair either.
Lily and Alison had matching polka dotted dresses, with different colours. The base colour was white while Ali had yellow and green dots and Lily had blue and red dots.
While Rosie, well, she'd definitely gone out of her way to try and make this funeral as colourful as possible. Her dress was flashing all different colours of the rainbow, the same with her hair and her eyes. She also had on a sparkly top hat that followed the rainbow trend.
And the thing that Sirius hated most of all was, the speeches. Will had just finished his speech and now it was James's chance. Everyone was looking at him with big, teary eyes. Some were dabbing at their eyes with tissues while others were just staring straight a head of them, seeing but not seeing what was really going on around them. That's currently how Sirius felt, his hands digging into his bright yellow pants while he watched his best friend walk up to the podium.
"W-we're all here to say...to say...f-farewell to...to Delilah Potter...a loving mother and wife and everything." Sirius could see James's shoulders heaving as he tried not to break down, and it sent a jolt of pain shooting through Sirius as he reached for Rosie's hand. James continued his speech. "Ali and I lost mum at a young age...it was terrible on us, but it pulled our family closer together. Mum had a way of doing that. She accepted everyone. She treated Sirius and Rosie like an extension of the family and she always made the best blueberry pancakes," Sirius could see tears glittering on his face because of the reflection of the lights on him.
"Mum always had a way of brightening everyones day. She was a splash of colour on grey and we're gonna miss her. She was like sunshine on a cloudy day and I think every single one of us have been touched by her in some way. I mean, only mum could get every single one of us to dress up like we are and still be miserable. I mean, look at us all. How can we not be smiling? Mum wouldn't have wanted all of us to be here, crying. Mum would have wanted us all to get closer. Rely on each other, because that's what we all are. We're all family, and this death...this death shouldn't divide us." By the end of it, Sirius could see tears trailing down James's face and Rosie tightened her grip on Sirius and Ali both.
There was long colourful strips of fabric hanging everywhere in the reception hall after the burial and Rosie was trying her best not to cry, Sirius could see that, as she danced with Ali. There was loud, happy music playing and an abundance of drinks and food, yet it seemed as if hardly anyone was enjoying themselves. Who would enjoy themselves at a funeral? Sure, Mrs Potter's had been different. Happier. After James's speech, everyone had gone up and talked about a happy, funny memory of Mrs Potter and sure, by the end of it, most of them were in tears, but mostly because they would never see that bubbly, amazing person again.
Sirius went over and nudged Ali towards Anna Lee, smiling fondly at the little red head. Ali had been taking her mother's death pretty hard and everyone had been trying their best to make her feel better, but it seemed as if she was only finding comfort in Rosie. "She wants to see you, sugar plum fairy." Ali laughed, which made Sirius feel happy, before running away, leaving Sirius with his colourful girlfriend. Except, her clothes were colourful, but her emotions looked as if she was feeling positively blue. His arms wrapped around her and he pulled her close to him, trying desperately to make her feel better, to chase her sadness away. "Love...come on, give me a smile." Sirius gently used his thumb to pull up the corner of her mouth, forcing her into a smile. That caused her to laugh and hold onto him, her lips actually moving into a smile. It made Sirius happy to see her smiling, laughing again. Rosie hadn't been the happiest since finding out about Mrs Potter.
She'd been a real help to Rosie and her Dad. Mrs Potter had talked to her father about Rosie's supposed "arranged" marriage and her father had dropped it. Mrs Potter had even welcomed Rosie as her own daughter when her mother and father had divorced. And she'd always been there for him. Sirius had been like a second son to Mrs Potter and she's adored him more than his own mother.
Slowly, Rosie and Sirius started to dance. Sure, they'd miss Mrs Potter, the hell of a lot, but the loss would only make them closer. Little did they know that at that exact moment, a group of Death Eaters had stormed Annastasia Hanning's house and had killed her and her parents at their dinner table. Little did that know, that Mrs Potter's death was only a small scale of horrible things going on in the world at that moment.
