Lavender Forever

The Program

Lavender peered at The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection through her glasses, tapping her heels together as she laid on her bed, eating a Sugar Quill. She tried to concentrate earlier, but she felt guilty and the radio was still singing away. Parvati had to put it in her trunk and put a Silencing Charm on it.

Being a night owl, she concentrated best between odd hours, except for on every other Saturday. Those days, she worked best shortly after dinner. Being Thursday night, it was late and all her roommates were already asleep. Well, most of them.

Hearing shuffling, she lifted her head and pulled open a curtain. She coughed loudly.

Hermione, in a pink bathrobe by the door, blushed and looked over at Lavender, who was staring at her. "What are you doing up so late?"

Lavender lifted her eyebrows, gesturing. "Now, that's a kind of question that someone who looks like she's sneaking off in the middle of the night for a secret rendezvous shouldn't ask."

Hermione looked at her guiltily, as if she expected a lecture. Almost as if she wanted to be told to stop or demanded an explanation.

Fine. "Are you alright? You've been acting weird." Lavender and Parvati had watched her wander up and down the stairs of the Gryffindor tower for a while before interrupting her to get into their dormitory.

"I'm fine."

Works for me. "Well, don't get into too much trouble," Lavender said merrily, closing the curtain once more.

"That's it?"

"Well, I'm not going to bloody stop you. I'm studying. Go out there and snog that boy to tears!" Lavender heard sputtering, then the door opening and closing loudly.

With a shrug, Lavender turned back to her book.

**

"What is with you?" Parvati asked the next morning, refilling goblets with pumpkin juice for those around her.

Hermione looked up briefly from her book. "Nothing."

"Do you want Parvati to beat him up for you?" Lavender asked helpfully as she made sure every square of her waffle was filled to the rim with syrup or butter. With a lack of an attention span, she turned to Parvati. "Oh, did I tell you what I got on my Potions homework?"

Parvati lifted her eyebrows. "I saw."

"Oh." Lavender sniffed delicately. "He should not be allowed to fail me just because I dot my i's with stars."

"You're still here?" Draco Malfoy's voice demanded loudly. "After last night?"

Parvati exchanged curious looks with Lavender, then looked at Hermione to make her move towards Harry and Ron. Theories went through Lavender's head when Hermione actually stayed seated, drinking from her goblet and staring at a book.

"Maybe she's playing hard-to-get," Lavender whispered as she cut a single, tidy square from her waffle and placed it in her mouth. She chewed thoughtfully, savouring the richness of the syrup. "That trick never works. I mean, I've tried it many times with Adrian."

Parvati scoffed and shook her head, glancing up at Hermione to see if she noticed. She seemed quite determined to be absorbed in A History of Magic. "No, the trick you try is called blushing furiously and running away."

"I don't run away."

"Very true. You run after him. It's very unhealthy." Then, with an excited squeal, Parvati gripped Lavender's arm. "Know what we should do? We'll throw all your Adrian things, like the photos, the Christmas gifts, the Sugar Quills, that sort of stuff, into the fireplace and start the whole year anew."

"But I like Sugar Quills. Him liking Sugar Quills has no effect on my liking Sugar Quills."

"You'll be a new Lavender."

"But I like me."

"You know his schedule?" Parvati asked, heaping butter onto her own waffles.

Lavender tried to shrug casually as she ate some hash browns. "Ancient Runes, Divination, that kind of stuff... Plus Herbology when we have Potions, and-"

Parvati held up a hand for Lavender to stop. "I asked if you knew it and you obviously do. Now, the first step is to avoid using the same corridors as him, and step two, from now on, you don't sit on the side of the table facing the Slytherin table."

"What if someone throws food at me? I won't be able to see them, and I won't have time to duck under the table."

"They won't throw food at you."

"They're mean like that. They will. They hate me now. Didn't say a word to me on the train."

"Ask Seamus and Dean to trade seats with us."

"You ask them."

"Fine," Parvati stood up and hurried out of the hall.

Lavender stuck another square into her mouth before taking off after Parvati. "I know it's months away," she said idly a few minutes later, "but I'm dreading going home."

"You said you missed Cotton."

"Well, yeah, I miss Cotton, but I really don't want to go to that ball."

Parvati shrugged, looking at the portraits. "Then don't go."

Lavender paused and looked at Parvati in horror. "I can't do that! Then you'll be left alone with all those snobs. And Padma will be too. And then there's breakfast on Boxing Day."

Parvati was about to answer when she abruptly pulled Lavender through a doorway. They found themselves in a girl's bathroom. Simply being with a large mirror that reflected the room as if it were covered in spots made Lavender's skin tingle. She clutched her book bag closer to her in disgust and fear, should it accidentally touch one of the peeling wooden doors of the stall.

"Parvati, why are we in here?" she asked, looking at the candles that were burning low.

With an annoyed "you should be grateful, you little..." sigh, Parvati said, "Because I saw him."

"That wasn't him! He was still in the Great Hall when we left."

"Lavender!"

"Am I supposed to be ducking into disgusting bathrooms every time I see a glimpse of dark hair now?" Lavender asked, gesturing at a door that was barely hanging on.

"What's wrong with this bathroom?" a female voice demanded.

Scowling, Parvati and Lavender turned to look. Lavender had to bite back a "they have charms and potions for something like that now" when she saw the acne and dull, flat hair of the ghost coming out from the farthest stall.

"What? What?" the ghost asked Parvati, who had the same expression as Lavender, in accusing tones, looking at her through thick glasses.

"Nothing," Lavender gasped, edging towards the door alongside Parvati.

The ghost glared at them, tears rimming in her eyes. "Oh, let's look at Myrtle like she's a freak. I know what's going through your mind," she hissed at Parvati. "Myrtle's got a pimple. Myrtle's-"

"I was just thinking that you had nice hair," Parvati said lamely, backing up.

"Oh, I think I hear the bell! We've got to get to class now," Lavender piped up apologetically.

"Oh, since Myrtle's dead, we can interrupt Myrtle," the ghost called after them, sobbing, as they ran out of the bathroom. "Myrtle's opinion doesn't matter but we can make fun of Fat Myrtle whenever-!"

**

Parvati and Lavender spent the next few weeks miraculously getting by in schoolwork, thanks to Hermione who was spending more time in the dorm than before. In turn, they invited on what they advertised as "crazy, zany misadventures!" That always ended up with her looking at them in horror and Parvati and Lavender running out before they got another lecture.

In the end, they decided that seeing Adrian Pucey beat dodging into Moaning Myrtle's bathroom and by late October, Lavender ducked into bathrooms on her own. All the reminiscences of Adrian had been burned in the fire and Parvati swore on her parents, whom she didn't particularly like, that there was a lot of hissing and spirits of trolls rising from the photos of the boy trying to run from the frame.

When she woke up to the scent of pumpkin on Halloween, Lavender thought that Merlin had blessed her with her efforts to abolish that pesky crush on the Slytherin-fourth-year-whose-name-cannot-be-mentioned-pending-a-price-of-five-knuts for the jar that was sitting on Parvati's trunk. She had a meatless breakfast, so that she could stock up on sweets during the feast. In addition, an owl arrived, carrying a package of sweets from her brother Theo, who she hadn't seen since mid-summer.

During Charms class, Hermione desperately tried breaking Lavender and Parvati up when they automatically moved together to be partners for the flying spell. Neither of them wanted a lecture while struggling to make a feather fly.

"We like you, Hermione. We really do. It's just that Parvati's been off studying in the library with her sister so often..." Lavender said in diplomatic tones as Parvati bobbed her head wildly.

Nonetheless, Lavender felt guilty as she watched Hermione stomp off when Professor Flitwick paired Hermione with Ron, though that was quenched when Hermione kept sending her and Parvati death glares.

Lavender swore she could have concentrated better if she had her glasses. Parvati scoffed and told Lavender it was pointless anyway and there was no hope. Added to the glares, Seamus set fire to his and Harry's feather two tables away and Lavender nearly got knocked over as Ron swung his arms around. There was a boom and crash that they ignored from Neville's direction.

Parvati gritted her teeth and tried to "swish and flick" as Hermione snapped at Ron. Next thing Lavender knew, Professor Flitwick was clapping and gesturing at Hermione's levitating feather. "Just dandy," Parvati muttered under her breath.

"At least your feather managed to float," Lavender said cheerily to Hermione at the end of class, plucking white bits out of her blonde hair as they packed up their things. "Ours kinda went," she gestured, "poof!"

Parvati nodded sagely, pulling a feather bit from her robe. "That was very good, Hermione."

They got another death glare as Hermione stormed off ahead of them. Lavender shrugged, turning to Parvati. Her voice dropped as they walked towards their next class. "Did you see him put out that fire?"

"That was so smart," Parvati whispered back. "I probably would have ran around screaming."

"You did."

Parvati waved it off. "Details, details. And," she added hotly, "I wasn't scared. I just didn't want to ruin my robes."

Lavender nodded, a slight smirk on her face. "Of course," she said as they entered the History of Magic classroom. When they settled down, she pulled out one of the Witch Weeklys they didn't burn and opened to an article on Celestina Warbeck.

'She's going to the ball?' Lavender wrote neatly in the margin beside a moving picture of the witch singing.

'Yeah. She's performing,' Parvati wrote back, glancing up in confusion when she heard the professor call out Hermione's name several times upon getting no answer.

Lavender looked up as well, grabbing the magazine from Parvati and scribbling, 'Where is she?'

'Don't know. But I want that purse on page 75.'

'Oh, that's really cute. I like the one on the page next to it. Actually, my mum promised to buy my something like that.'

They didn't see Hermione for any of the other classes, which Lavender found frustrating as she tried to do her Charms homework with no help whatsoever; Parvati went off to visit Padma. After spending some time taping a pink quill against her nose, she stood up and walked to the common room, where she found Dean and Neville waiting around for the other boys.

Lavender sat down on a comfy chair near them. "Can I come with you guys?"

Dean looked up in surprise. "Oh, yeah. Sure."

A few moments later, Lavender and some other first-year Gryffindors were on their way to the Great Hall. She heard the pattering of footsteps and Dean going, "Oomph" as he got shoved away for Parvati's triumphant "I found her!"

"Ooh! Who?" Lavender looked at Parvati, who was now walking beside her. "Oh! Hermione?"

Parvati bobbed her head.

Lavender looked excited. "Is she alright? Think she can help me with my Transfiguration homework after?"

"I don't think she can do that."

"Why?"

"Because Hermione's crying in the bathroom and she wants to be left alone."

"Oh."

Lavender lifted her eyebrows as she nearly got trampled by Ron looking awkward, fighting to get to the Great Hall. When she entered the hall, she ducked, hands flying to her head to protect it from the bats. The decorations were pretty, and the meal was nice and delicious and all, but Lavender found dinner disturbing, mainly because she was worried about bat droppings.

Part way through the meal, Lavender was thoughtfully chewing on a potato from her salad. "You know, I saw him today."

"Yeah?"

She began neatly cutting a square from her steak. "I had to run into a bathroom."

Parvati shook her head, swallowing. "Why is it that you always end up ducking in bathrooms?"

"I don't know," Lavender mused, chewing slowly. "I think it's like a thing, you know? Like the potatoes."

"Maybe..."

"And it's funny this time, because I almost couldn't run get in. Had to bang my wand against it and kick-" Lavender paused while cutting a new square and reared back. "Merlin, what's that horrid smell?"

Professor Quirrell ran by, turban askew, and down the centre of the hall towards Professor Dumbledore. Lavender stared, wrinkling her nose in distaste. At the word "troll", she dropped her fork. When he was finished talking, Lavender screamed, "We're all gonna die!"

Parvati looked confused, trying to decide which exit to use. The firecrackers Dumbledore was setting didn't help Lavender any more, though it seemed effective for the others. Finally, the Hall settled down. "Prefects, lead your Houses back to the dormitories immediately!"

Parvati and Lavender flocked to Percy before he was halfway through his little speech. He led them through the corridors and up the stairs to the tower. The first-years arrived ahead of everyone else and Lavender heaped her plate up with food. When they were finished, Parvati and Lavender merrily scooped up a bunch of pumpkin tarts and Cauldron Cakes and headed up for their dorm.

Lavender licked her fingers, turning the page of The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1), lying on Hermione's bed next to Parvati, who was scratching her head with a quill, trying to do her Potions homework.

**

"Going to the Quidditch game?" Draco asked nonchalantly one day as they strolled towards the Great Hall.

Lavender blinked hard, trying to get the sleep out of her eyes. "What? Who's playing? When?"

"We're not going," Parvati said, looking at him through lowered lashes.

Draco shrugged, attempting to pull off a blasé attitude, though a sneer was coming through. "Not even going to watch Potter play as Seeker against Slytherin?"

Parvati and Lavender came to a dead halt, staring after him. He, Gregory and Vincent made thir way to the threshold before Parvati and Lavender hurried after them.

"Wait," Parvati gasped. "What do you mean?"

Several people turned.

He broke out into a smirk as Vincent and Gregory guffawed. "Harry Potter," he announced in a low voice, but loud enough for a few at the neighbouring Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw tables to hear, "is playing as the Gryffindor Seeker."

"But he's a first year," Lavender said, confused.

"He's Seeker." He looked at them mildly. "You mean he hasn't told his own yearmates in his House?"

Parvati nearly hit him with her book bag and Lavender dragged her away.

When they arrived, Parvati and Lavender shot accusing looks at Seamus and Dean, who looked back at them in confusion. "Why," Parvati hissed, stabbing a sausage from a plate of them and dropping it off on her own, "didn't you tell us that Harry was playing on the Quidditch team? And as Seeker?"

"Where'd you hear that?" Seamus asked, leaning forward.

"It doesn't matter. Why didn't you tell us?" Lavender demanded, putting butter on her pancakes.

"We didn't know!" Dean shot back.

They bristled when Harry, Ron and Hermione arrived at breakfast. Seamus nudged Harry. "Why didn't you tell us you were playing Seeker on Saturday?"

"Where'd you hear that?" Ron asked suspiciously.

"Don't worry, Harry, me and Seamus will run around holding a mattress under you just in case you fall," Dean said in reassuring tones.

Parvati scoffed and Lavender snapped, "Be serious. Harry," she said, turning to him and beaming, "you'll be brilliant."

"He will," Dean said pointedly. "There'll just be some precautions taken."

Lavender scowled, putting her butter knife down and standing up, glaring down at Dean. "They don't need precautions because he'll be brilliant."

"He could use precautions!" Seamus snapped, standing up as well as Dean.

"He'll be brilliant!"

"Precautions!"

"Brilliant!"

"Precautions!"

"Brilliant!"

This continued for a while.

**

Lavender spent the Quidditch match moping about in the library. Stupidly, she insisted Parvati and Padma go to the match without her and now she was bored out of her mind. Then again, she had been in there for barely any time when the crowd already started coming back from the Quidditch game. She made Parvati tell her everything, which she did, though leaving out any Adrian Pucey details, except, "Oh, he cheated. The only thing more obvious would have been if he wrote 'I'm A Big Fat Cheater' on his Quidditch robes."

Outside the Great Hall before dinner, Lavender leaned over and asked Harry, "You managed to stay on your broom?"

"Please," Draco sneered, overhearing, "a wide-mouthed tree frog could replace Potter as seeker."

Parvati and Lavender ignored him. "How'd you stay on your broom, Harry?"

Harry murmured a response, looking away and blushing.

Parvati and Lavender sighed dreamily, barely glancing at a fuming Draco. "He's so modest."