Shades of Lavender

Chapter five

Lavender and Zacharias wandered in relatively comfortable silence down the path to Hogsmeade. Lavender noticed that Zacharias had a big bag slung across his back. Obviously part of the surprise. She casually draped her arm around his shoulders and tried to get the bag open. He slapped her hand away.

"Ow!"

"Serves you right. That's secret."

She poked her tongue out and he returned the gesture, laughing at the expression on her face.

The village of Hogsmeade was beautiful. Lavender had always felt that it didn't seem quite real. Like it was a theatre set and if you pushed on Honeydukes it would fall over to reveal the Stage Manager having a fag. She loved it and often walked past the houses, trying to push them over. Sometimes people looked at her oddly but she didn't mind.

"Look, Pixie, we need to get some food." They had stopped outside Monsieur Baker, the local bakery.

"Ooh, are we having a picnic?" she asked as they walked in. A little bell jingled merrily.

"Sure," Zacharias said. He looked at the counter. "I'll get a loaf of the cheesy white and half a dozen pastries, thanks."

"Certainly sir," the baker said. "That will be thirteen sickles."

Lavender fished around for her purse. "I'm paying half."

"No you're not," Zacharias said, handing over the money.

"Yes, I am. We'll pay together," she told the baker, who was looking at them bemusedly.

"First date?" he asked.

"Apparently," Zacharias said. "I'll pay. You, Pixie, can pay for drinks if you must."

"Good," Lavender said, putting her purse away. "Thank you."

They walked on. It was at the outskirts of the village when Lavender asked, "Where are you planning on me buying drinks?"

"I already have them."

"Zachie!" Lavender was furious. Deep down inside, she really was a bit of a feminist. "You Asshat."

"I'm sorry," he said, although he didn't sound particularly apologetic. "I thought it was best if we didn't stop in too many places. You can organise our next date."

"At the rate this one's going, there won't be one," Lavender muttered, glaring at Zacharias. He laughed and Lavender couldn't help but join in.

They had walked into the outskirts of town. And were about to walk off a cliff ...

"Zachie!" Lavender grabbed the edge of his jersey and pulled him back.

"I wasn't that close," he grumbled. Then he noticed that she had gone pale and was shivering. "What's wrong Pixie?"

"I don't like heights," Lavender said. Her words came out chopped and abrupt, staccato.

"Okay."

"What are we doing here, Zachie?" Lavender asked. Her heart was speeding up and it certainly wasn't because of him.

"We're going down," he said, pulling a broom out of the bag.

She froze. I can't do this, she thought. "I can't-I can't-"

"Yes, Pixie, you can. Just hang onto me and don't let go. I won't let you fall. Trust me."

Trust you? Lavender almost asked. Instead she nodded and climbed onto the broom behind him.

"Hold on," he said. She gripped her arms around his waist. "Not that tight." Lavender felt her arms loosen a little. And they were gone.

She screamed all the way down. It was breakneck and terrifying and exhilarating and she felt like she had left her stomach at the top of the cliff. After what seemed like hours, but at the same no time at all, the ride ended.

"I'm dying. I'm dead," Lavender murmured, falling off the broom and trying to hug the grass.

Zacharias busied himself laying out the picnic rug and food and trying to hide his smirk.

It wasn't great weather for a picnic. It was cold and windy and the grass was damp with God-knows-what. But the cliff face sheltered them from the worst and Zacharias had brought an extra jersey along, obviously knowing that Lavender would forget hers.

It was a very funny jersey. It was bright purple and covered her knees.

"Do you ever wear this?" she asked curiously. Zacharias grunted and looked embarrassed.

"My mum knitted it."

"So no one told her that purple isn't really your colour?"

"No they didn't, shockingly enough. Most of my friends have more tact. You could tell her when you meet her."

"Meet her?" Lavender asked, surprised and a little worried. "Isn't that a bit fast?"

"No. It's not like it's a big deal or anything. She's met all my friends."

"But, you see, I'm supposed to be more than a friend..."

"She'll love you," he said firmly. "We'll talk about it later. Now we're eating."

There was a lot of food. Lavender calculated, through mouthfuls, that Zacharias must have had to take several trips to raid the kitchens for it all. After a couple of Butterbeers, Lavender got a bit giggly. She'd never been able to hold any sort of drink well, getting what could only be called blind drunk after several glasses of Pumpkin juice. That could have been the allergy kicking in. She didn't know. Honestly.

"I'm surprised I haven't been attacked by Sarah yet," she said, grinning for no conceivable reason.

"Sarah likes to attack when you least expect it. The rest of my House have been watching your back when they can."

"God, you Hufflepuffs are so bloody loyal."

"And you Gryffindors are so brave and strong." Lavender detected a hint of bitterness in his voice.

"Can I ask you something? Why are you in Hufflepuff? I mean, no offence, but you're sarcastic and cunning and a bit selfish and you never say anything nice about anyone."

Zacharias smiled. It wasn't often that he smiled - normally he smirked or grimaced - and Lavender was struck by how devastatingly beautiful it made him look. "I'm not nearly evil enough to be in Slytherin," he said.

"Sure you are, Zachie."

"No." Zacharias was serious. "Surely, Pixie, you understand that your Sorting isn't simply about your personality traits."

"It isn't?"

"No, it's about the choices you make, your actions and reactions, your relationships. It's even based on your heritage. Never wonder why all the Weasleys are in Gryffindor?"

"When did you get so smart?" Lavender was serious but trying to pretend that, really, she wasn't.

"A couple of years ago." Zacharias tried - and failed - to look serious. "Look, about this time in third year I was called to see Dumbledore. Professor Sprout was worried about me. I wasn't fitting in with the others in my house that year, I wouldn't co-operate with my teachers. I lost count of how many detentions I got given."

"No, you didn't," Lavender interrupted. "You told me - fifty-seven."

"That's the problem with you. You don't let me get away with trite phrases." Zacharias looked thoughtful. "Anyway, I told Dumbledore that I'd been sorted into the wrong house and should be moved to Slytherin. I was in a dorm with Ernie and Justin. They're so good, so selfless, almost to the point of being pompous."

"Almost?" Lavender muttered, remembering when Ernie had given her a detention for 'inappropriate language in front of younger students'.

"Anyway," Zacharias continued, in a loud voice, "That's when he explained to me about the many criteria for House placement."

Lavender nodded. "I suppose that makes sense. I've often wondered why Hermione wasn't in Ravenclaw, but I guess her choices may have had something to do with it."

Zacharias smirked. "Yes. Anyway, why else would you have been placed in Gryffindor? Honestly, you're a cry-baby, you're scared of everything, you're silly and immature and you're almost shockingly blunt. You'd make a good Hufflepuff."

"Thanks Zachie. You really boosted my ego there," Lavender said dryly. "My mum was in Gryffindor and I was desperate to follow in her footsteps. So I was desperate to go in Gryffindor even though the hat thought I'd have done well in Hufflepuff. It scares me now. To think that had I made a different choice, I would never have met Parvati."

"She's a mixed blessing, Parvati," Zacharias said. "I mean, she's so wonderful and brilliant that you've fallen in love with her but your feelings will always be unrequited."

"Shush you," Lavender said. "I wouldn't have missed her for the world."

"You would have been very popular in Hufflepuff though," Zacharias remarked. "The girls adore you, you would've been considered brave and your OWL scores would have been much better because the hard-working nature would have been brought out."

"Are you serious?"

"Well, of course, there's the other option where you get eaten by flesh-eating slugs as you walk to the Hufflepuff common room ..." Zacharias attempted to hide his grin.

Lavender hit him.

They lay back on the rug and watched the clouds roll by. The dizziness of too much Butterbeer wore off and Lavender felt bloated.

"Zachie?"

"Mmm?" He had his eyes half-closed and his face had slipped into an unconscious expression of peacefulness.

"I think we need to talk about our relationship."

"Mmm?"

Lavender took that as a sign to continue. "The thing is, by Hogwarts standards this relationship is going at the pace of a snail that died several years ago. Par-the girls in my dormitory, they're always asking if you've kissed me yet or what sort of romantic things we've done. Eventually they're going to wonder why we're simply acting like friends."

"We had a romantic picnic, didn't we?"

"That's not enough. Pansy Parkinson has hinted more than once that I'm frigid and even Parvati's starting to think there's something wrong with me." She was sitting up now and looking down at him.

Zacharias opened one eye. "We could make something up, couldn't we? This fantasy relationship is working pretty well so far."

"But it can only hold up so far. If no one sees anything, the relationship's going to fail. Ever wonder why Jared and Daphne broke up for a while last year?"

"No, I hadn't given it much thought actually."

"Well, you're just a stupid boy!" Lavender glared at Zacharias as he burst out laughing.

"What have I told you about ridiculous conversations?"

"That I should never involve myself in one with you because you always win," Lavender chanted. "Look, this is not ridiculous. The conversation about the ants was ridiculous but this is an important part of any healthy relationship."

"Surely you can make something up from your past experiences."

"Is that your roundabout way of calling me a slut?" Lavender asked, more amused than annoyed. "I've have one experience, Seamus, which was horrible and humiliating. I don't think we want to base our relationship on that. Nor," she added with a smirk, "on your snogging Sarah."

"So, we what? Create our own humiliating experience?"

"Exactly. You're catching on."

"Great, just thought I should check I had it right."

"And this is going to have to be a public thing," Lavender added. She grinned at the horrified look on his face. "We want the gossips to find out."

"That is, Parvati," Zacharias muttered. "Bloody girls and their bloody gossip. Why can't you just believe things?"

"Where's the fun in that?"

"You don't have to spend hours analysing the facial expressions of various people to see how truthful they were being, leaving you with many hours of free time."

"Free time? What's that?" Lavender asked, looking puzzled.

Zacharias glanced at his watch. "Yeah, we should get going."

They flew back up, which was much easier than going down - although Lavender still screamed and carried on like she was about to be castrated. Then, they dawdled back through the village, talking.

"I know!" Lavender said. "Let's play a game!"

Zacharias gave an effeminate little cheer. "A game! How thrilling!"

"Shag, Marry, Push off a cliff." Noting his blank expression, she continued. "You're told three people and you have to decide whether you'd shag them, marry them, or push them off a cliff. Like, me, Parvati, Daphne."

"Shag Daphne, marry you, push Parvati off a cliff," he said almost immediately. Lavender didn't know whether to feel flattered or slightly freaked out.

"Why does everyone shag Daphne?" Lavender asked.

"Oh come on, you would," Zacharias argued.

Lavender had to admit that he was right.

"Now, I have one for you: Daphne, Hermione, Susan."

"You couldn't just let me pretend that I'm straight, could you?" Lavender grumbled. "Fine, I'd shag Daphne, marry Susan and push Hermione off a cliff."

"I rest my case. Everyone wants to shag Daphne. That's exactly the answer I would have chosen."

"We share similar tastes in girls."

"No, see there's this little thing about you fancying a catty airhead."

"Would you be talking about yourself there? Because I assure you, I don't fancy you at all."

They were nearing the Hogwarts grounds. Half the school, it seemed, was filing their way back into Great Hall for the Halloween Feast. Lavender groaned. "I don't think I can eat another bite."

"Shocking," Zacharias commented, although she noticed that he looked disgusted at the idea of more food too.

"Crayola!" Parvati was waving her over. Dean was standing beside her, a comforting arm around her shoulder. She looked upset.

"I should go over to her," Lavender said, scuffing the toe of her sequined shoes into the grass. "She looks pretty upset. Thanks for the lovely day though." She leaned forward to give him a hug.

It all happened very quickly. One moment he was letting her hug him, the next his mouth had found hers. It wasn't embarrassing, but sweet and nervous, like an awkward first date. She could taste the Butterbeer on his lips and, for a moment, she forgot about Parvati.

When it ended, she remembered. "Thanks," she whispered in his ear, before running off.

She didn't look back, nor did she hear his next words. "It was my pleasure, Pixie."