Rainbow
By
Sannikex
A/N: Well, here's another little fluffy chapter…Just so you know the timeline is that the war lasted 1997 to 1999. At the moment Ron and Hermione are living at the Burrow seeking an apartment and Draco and Ginny has just moved to Malfoy Manor. David is three months old. If you don't understand what I'm talking about go read Broom(b)ride. Thanks to everyone who reviewed, I love it!
Disclaimer: I don't own anything from the Potterverse. The lyrics belong to LeAnn Rimes.
October 2000
The street was almost deserted as he guided his girlfriend with one hand lightly at the small of her back. They were walking along the high street of the little village Beddgelert in Wales. It was a muggle village and both Luna and he himself were dressed muggle style. The air was crisp in the shining autumn sun and a rough breeze blew, harassing Luna's long hair.
A man so old that Harry expected him to fall dead down any minute came out through a door leading to the grocery store.
"Good morning!" He greeted them cheerily and the couple replied politely. The old man's surprisingly clear eyes squinted at them. "I don't recognize you? Have we met?"
"No, we're here to look at a house." Luna said, smiling, as usual, open and honest towards strangers. And she can afford to be, he reminded himself. The long years of war were over.
"Oh, Gem Cottage, I assume. Hmm, hmm. Very good." He started to chuckle and mumble. "Here in the village it's said that everyone get a happy life from living in Gem Cottage." He cackled happily. "It makes your wishes come true," he nodded as to point out something very important. "But only if the couple that steps over the threshold loves each other deep and true, yes..." The strange piercing eyes looked straight into his own and then wandered to Luna. "I don't think there will be a problem, no, hmm, hmm..." He lifted his hat and left them with a pleasant "Good morning!" walking down the street cackling contently to himself.
"What a charming man," Luna said, staring after the old man.
"Yeah, odd though." She smiled.
"Exactly."
After several minutes of walking along a bumpy path the trees parted and revealed a clearing with old fruit-trees, gray of age and with sturdy branches. Behind the orchard you could glimpse a white house with leaded windows and grass-covered roof.
"Harry, it's wonderful!" He wrapped his arms around her waist leaning his chin at the top of her head.
"I'm glad you like it, I really hoped you would. This house seems happy. Like the Burrow." She sank into his embrace with a content sigh.
"Yes, I see what you mean. I can already see us on that large stone by the lakeshore watching the sunset, our children running around. A swing in one of the apple trees. The smell of apple pie in the autumn, the sound of laughs in the winter, during snowball fights and snowman making. The sight of your children running on the fresh grass in the spring and the touch of sunshine playing on your back as you walk down to the lake in the summer..."
Children...Harry had never gotten that far in his dreaming about a life with Luna. Well, it was too early to think about, they were only twenty, and the war was just over. Or, a tiny voice in his head said, is it that you are afraid, Harry Potter? The war is over and you can love Luna in the open, is the excitement over now? Was it really that you were protecting her when you didn't want anyone to know about your girlfriend or was it that you were too afraid to surrender completely to someone else?
No! I love Luna! I just...children? What do I know of being a father? I've never had one. And with my job? I don't want a child of mine to become an orphan. Never.
"Harry, can we go in?" He woke up from his reverie.
"Sure." Suddenly the forest seemed looming and shadows lurked just out of sight. Unconsciously he gripped his wand, but of course his observant companion noticed.
"What is it?"
"I just got a feeling…" She looked up at him expectantly, Luna never accepted half told stories. "It got so dark. So unwelcoming…" How stupid didn't that sound? He was like a child with nightmares. He shuddered. That was his darkest secret. His nightmares. The dreams that haunted him at his most vulnerable, in his sleep. He couldn't protect himself from the traces the years of war had imprinted on him in more ways than scars on his skin.
But Luna didn't laugh or briskly tell him that the war was over. She just stepped closer, looking into his eyes. She reached up and caressed his cheek, letting a small reassuring smile lift the corners of her mouth.
How could he for one second imagine that he didn't love this woman? He brought her even closer and let his own lips cover the reassuring smile. Shadows and recollections of war disappeared and were replaced by memories of other times he had kissed Luna. The first time in the Astronomy Tower, a sweet one in the rain by the Hogwarts lake after they had gotten themselves soaking wet in a search for 'Muddles', tiny goblins who lived in mud puddles, a long drugging one in each other's embrace in front of a roaring fire in Luna's apartment, the sweaty desperate one after the final battle, both clinging to one another to stay sane after the dark reminiscent of war.
Her intoxicating taste would never stop appealing to him, her scent never cease driving him desperate for her presence, her touch would never be unwelcome. They broke apart to breathe, both panting and smiling.
"I love you, Luna"
"I love you too, Harry" After all the times she'd told him it still made him light-hearted.
"It's ours!" Luna burst out as they sighted the house. "Come on, Harry, hurry up!" He laughed and set off after her as she danced through the orchard. He joined her at the front steps as her flushed face shone.
"Ready?" She asked and fished the key up from her large handbag. He nodded and had to smile at her childish delight. Almost devoutly she turned the key in the lock.
"Hey, wait," he said as he just had gotten an idea. "It's muggle tradition to carry the woman over the threshold to their new home…" A bit embarrassed by the rather stupid whim he ran a hand through his hair.
"How romantic! All right, let's do it and wish for luck!" Easily he lifted her up, she wasn't heavy at all and his work demanded physical strength. With her arms around his neck he kicked the door open and stepped in with his eyes shut. I wish that this house will make our dreams come true…
She awoke with a start. A small sound had woken her and she turned towards her boyfriend. He was fast asleep but his face was scrunched up and he was moving restlessly. He was once again haunted by nightmares. He thought she didn't know about his personal hell, he was afraid she would find out how bad it was.
"Oh, Harry…" She reached out and caressed his sweaty forehead. She had known already when they became and item that it wouldn't be easy to live with him. He felt too much, and too deeply. He loved endlessly and put others before himself, he endangered his so easily crushed heart every time.
"Harry, I'm here, it's just a dream," she raised her voice to wake him up.
They were hunting him, faceless shadows is endless darkness. They had caught everyone he knew and loved and he was alone. He couldn't help; all he could do was run. Faster and faster, but they got closer with every painfully hard heartbeat. But someone was speaking to him, a soothing cool hand caressed his face. It was Luna's voice…But it couldn't be, they had her! Then a light broke through the darkness and he saw her, she was dancing, her long hair streaming around her. She was calling for him.
"Wake up, Harry, it's just a dream!"
He awoke suddenly and looked straight into Luna's blue eyes that worriedly looked into his.
"You're possessed by a Mare." He blinked.
"A what?"
"A Mare, Harry. They give you bad dreams." After three years with Luna he knew that she blamed most things at weird creatures. Weather phenomenon, sickness and luck, it was some animal's entire fault.
"And how do you get rid of it?" he asked and she moved a bit so that he was lying with his head on her lap, looking up at her face. A face he knew better than his own.
"You love," she said simply and Harry smiled.
"I already do that," he said drowsily and she watched him go back to sleep, this time peacefully.
Luna didn't fall asleep for a long time. She was just sitting with Harry's head on her lap, playing with his hair. When the first light of dawn seeped through the curtains she curled up close to him.
"Yes, you do, Harry, but you're still afraid of it."
How do I get through one night without you?
If I had to live without you
What kind of life would that be
I need you in my arms
You're my world, my heart, my soul
If you ever leave
You would take away everything good in my life
Tell me now
How do I live without you?
I want to know
How do I breathe without you?
If you ever go
How do I ever, ever survive?
How do I
How do I live without you?
Without you, there'd be no sun in my sky
There would be no love in my life
There'd be no world left for me
And I, oh Baby, I don't know what I would do
I'd be lost if I lost you
If you ever leave
Baby you would take away everything real in my life
A/N: So how was chapter two? Better? Worse? Horrid? Good? Tell me!
