Rain and pumpkins

The town of Hogsmeade has suffered from a drought for five years; meaning that they can't grow their famous pumpkins. It hasn't stopped them from trying of course - it's the town's biggest export. The drought mean that the pumpkins that they do grow are far too small to be worth much money, which is why most have moved away from the town and abandoned their pumpkin growing ways in favor of so-called real jobs. The Potter family is one of the few families that have stayed behind; but then they don't actually grow pumpkins. The Potter family has made a fortune in hair products and live in Hogsmeade simply because it's a very nice place to raise a child. Coincidentally their child is five years old; born when the drought started.

Hadrian Potter has hair like the dirt, eyes like the pumpkin stems, and splatters of orange freckles on his skin. His mother affectionately refers to him as Pumpkin; but many of the other mothers in the town refer to their children in the same way. He is usually seen walking around in rubber boots that are just a size too big, jumping in imaginary puddles and pretending that there's rain. His father jokes with him that he won't grow bigger than the pumpkins; which are all rather small during the drought. Hadrian often responds by pointing out that he is already bigger than the pumpkins; he is a very clever boy in that way. His parents' response is to tell him about the time before the drought when the pumpkins grew as big as barrels at the very least. As Hadrian is not yet as tall as a barrel, it sounds truly gigantic to him. Then again, the barrels used in Hogsmeade were truly gigantic in comparison to the standard-sized barrel. After all; size is relative.

His size has never stopped him from doing what he wants, within the limitations that his parents has set for him. Hadrian walks around with his umbrella; talking to the clouds in the sky about how much he would love if it rained. He has heard stories about rain and he has seen movies but he has never experienced it himself; not even when they traveled all the way to Godric's Hollow to visit his grandparents. For five year old Hadrian, seeing real rain is his biggest wish in the world.

He is eleven and outside playing when it happens. A drop of water lands on his freckled nose. At first he assumes that he has worked up a sweat in the warm August weather, or that someone is playing a joke on him; like the Weasley twins - but then he feels another drop and another and yet one more. When Hadrian looks up, he is very surprised to see a small rain cloud hovering above his head. He looks around curiously, but the rain cloud is only above him. When he looks around a second time, Hadrian notices a stranger leaning against the wall. The stranger is taller than him but looks younger than his parents, which doesn't really say that much about the stranger's age. The stranger is dressed completely in dark colours although their skin is pale; much paler than Hadrian's tan skin. The stranger has hair as black as the night, and dark eyes like rain clouds. Hadrian can't help but think that they're beautiful. Then the stranger winks at him and Hadrian is alone again; the rain cloud above his head the only sign that the stranger was ever there.

By the time that Hadrian comes home, the rain cloud is small enough to keep in a jar. He gently helps it into one and put the jar on his shelf. The thought to show his parents doesn't cross his mind until the next morning when he knows for sure that it wasn't a dream. Hadrian shows his mother, who after a discussion with his father decides that it's for the best that they keep Hadrian's rain cloud a secret.

The next time that Hadrian sees the stranger, he's fifteen years old and kissing Ginevra Weasley for the first time, behind her family's barn. The kiss is not what he had imagined; he can only think of how warm and wet it is. It feels nice in the way that a wet shirt feels nice when the sun is beating down on you; only for a short moment before it feels clammy and sticks to your skin. He is not interested in having Ginevra stick to his skin, and politely breaks the kiss off. While he might have some feelings for Gin, they're apparently not of the kissing sort. It is as Hadrian looks up from her red hair - that as always reminds him of his mother - that he meets the stranger's eyes. For some inexplicable reason, Hadrian flushed as if he was caught doing something that he shouldn't be doing. The stranger is frowning at them as if they can't quite figure something out. Hadrian feels awfully disappointed when they disappear the moment later without leaving any rain behind.