Shades of Lavender

Chapter eight: I'll Be Home for Christmas

The first flurries of snow farewelled the Hogwarts students. Lavender was happy, for the first time, to be leaving the castle. It was always awkward going home since her father didn't understand magic. However, the comfortable awkwardness of home was easily beaten by the mind-numbingly terrible feeling in the Gryffindor girls' dormitory. Lavender still hadn't spoken to Parvati. Although, to be fair, Parvati hadn't exactly attempted to strike up a conversation.

Lavender had spent ages trying to work out what had made their friendship work. But nothing. She tried to remember why she had loved Parvati but her beauty had become shallow and baseless, her charm was deceptive, her spark of life was bitchy and catty. Yet, amazingly, despite it all, Lavender's heart still beat painfully when she caught sight of Parvati. Tossing back her head and laughing at a joke Dean had made, so that the light caught the coppery strands in her dark hair and the curve of her neck was utterly kissable.

And then there was Zacharias who Lavender couldn't understand. She had started off indifferent to him. They had gone on to be friends, she had thought. But now?

Since the 'death' of Parvati. As Lavender privately thought of it, they had retained an element of their comfortable friendship, which had revolved around him making fun of her and her retaliating. However, too many people had confused Lavender. He couldn't possibly like her, she thought. He didn't like anyone. Besides, he knew her feelings.

She hoped that Christmas with Zacharias and her father would clarify, well, everything.

"Pixie?" Zacharias said, linking an arm through hers in an uncharacteristically effeminate gesture. "Ready to go?"

"How long had I been standing at the platform, staring into space?" Lavender asked, as they found a compartment with Justin and Susan.

"A fair few minutes," he said, sprawling across several seats and leaving her with no place to sit.

"Move your feet," she said as Susan and Justin looked on with vague interest.

Zacharias stared back.

"Insolent git," Lavender muttered. He knew exactly how to irritate her. This was why she would never be in love with him.

"Calling me names is not going to move me, Angel Cakes," Zacharias replied.

"Calling me that repulsive nickname may make me have to castrate you," Lavender replied, voice coated in artificial sweetener.

"You don't know the charm," he replied. Cocky bastard.

"I do," Susan put in helpfully. "Castrinatum..."

"That'll do Susan. I don't need more ammunition against me," he replied with a smirk.

He was asking for it. "If you don't move your feet," Lavender said, loud enough for the compartments nearby to hear, "I'll withhold sex for the Christmas season."

His cheeks tinged rose and he moved his feet. "I know how to handle my boy," she said, grinning at an amused Susan and curious Justin.

"You two aren't actually - y'know?" Justin asked. Susan hit him.

"Justin!"

"What? I was just asking." He rubbed his shoulder.

"What do you think, Justin?" Zacharias said dryly.

"I don't know," Justin replied frankly. "I don't get anything about you two."

"Neither do I, Finchy. Neither do I," Zacharias said, shaking his head sadly.

"That makes three of us," Lavender added.

"Well, I understand you but you're going to have to work it out for yourself," Susan said.

Zacharias scowled. "What are you? Glinda the bloody Good Witch?"

Lavender was delighted. Finally they shared something aside from sarcasm and a shared love of girls! "You like Wizard of Oz?"

"Yeah, what of it? The scarecrow reminds me of Malfoy. If I only had a brain."

Lavender grinned. "Cruel, yet so true."

"Ooh, I know!" Susan said, sitting up in her seat. "Shag, Marry, Push off a Cliff - the scarecrow, the tin man and the lion."

"You girls are obsessed with that game," Justin grumbled.

"Shag the scarecrow. He wouldn't mind if I didn't call him back. Marry the tin man. He's searching for a heart, which I think is sweet. Cliff the lion because he's a wimp," Lavender said thoughtfully.

"I'd probably do the same thing," Susan said, nodding approvingly.

Justin grimaced. "You'd shag Malfoy?"

Zacharias had an evil little grin on his face and Lavender knew that she would not like what he was going to say. "Well, let's look at it this way. Potter's the lion, Malfoy's the scarecrow and Parvati's the tin man, heartless fiend that she is."

Lavender felt her face freeze. Well, not literally, because that would be stupid. But she went cold, which was odd on the far-too-warm train. "Changed my mind," she said abruptly. "I'll cliff the tin man instead."

Susan bit her lip. "I think I'd still marry the tin man."

Justin snickered. "I wouldn't have picked you as a Patil-fan."

"I appreciate physical beauty on anyone," Susan informed him loftily. "Besides," she added in a moment of bitchiness. "Wouldn't have pegged you for a Potter-lover."

"Why was I not in Hufflepuff?" Lavender asked, grinning. "I love you guys so much."

The journey continued this way, with them bickering and laughing and eating too many Pumpkin Pasties. They were interrupted only once by Lisa Terpin who wanted to know what Zacharias Smith was like in bed.

"A tiger," Lavender purred, lowering her eyelashes and letting the tip of her tongue slip between her teeth.

He played up to it. "Want to have a blow of my saxophone?" he asked, growling.

Lisa left very quickly and Lavender burst into peals of laughter. "That," she said, between gasps, "is the worst pick-up line I've ever heard."

The train pulled into King's Cross Station and Lavender was still laughing.

"Pixie," Zacharias said, handing over her trunk. "You need to calm down. Your Dad'll think I've put a cheering charm on you or something."

"No he won't," she giggled. "He's a Muggle."

"Ri-i-i-i-ght."

They leaned against the wall and fell into the Muggle world.

Lavender saw her dad instantly. "Dad!" she cried, dropping her trunk on Zacharias' foot and running to be enveloped in a warm hug.

"Hello Lavvie Love," he whispered, his beard tickling her ear. "Long time, no see."

"Hi, I'm Zacharias Smith," Zacharias said, spotting a gap in the conversation. He dropped Lavender's trunk and held out a hand. "Great to meet you at last, Mister Brown."

"Call me Rick," her dad said. Lavender looked on proudly. They were being so nice, so polite. An evil little voice murmured in the back of her head that it wasn't going to last but she ignored it.

"Shall we get going?" her dad continued. "You're probably hungry so I've ordered some pizza."

Lavender grabbed her trunk. It really was too heavy. All those textbooks and shoes. She'd have to cut back. Perhaps she didn't need her Divination textbooks next term.

The car ride was uneventful. Her dad played The Who all the way home.

"Who are you? Who-o? Who-o?" Lavender yelled with the music, daring Zacharias to smirk at her.

He did, which made her laugh.

The pizza arrived just as they did. "Wow, just like magic," Lavender muttered. Zacharias snickered.

They sat around the table, eating pizza as the heavenly smells wafted around them and the bitter winter weather didn't seem quite so bad.

"How's Parvati?" Her dad was first to break the silence.

Damnit, she thought. "Alright, I guess," Lavender muttered.

"What's she doing for Christmas?"

"Dunno."

"I suppose she's with her family."

"Yeah, she is," Zacharias cut in, surprising Lavender. "She said she'd pop by if she got the chance. So, Rick, have you read most of these books?"

Lavender felt strangely grateful towards Zacharias.

After dinner, her father gave them 'the talk'. "Now, I know Lavender's a sensible girl-" Zacharias sniggered and Lavender poked him. "-But I also know that you're hormonal teenagers. I expect no funny business. This is your room and I expect that you will not be sharing it with Lavender. Is that clear to both of you?"

"Perfectly," Zacharias said, poker-faced.

Lavender grimaced. "Dad, you're being embarrassing."

"I know." He ruffled her hair. "Oh, that reminds me. Sandy called. She's invited you to a party on Boxing Day. I'm happy for you to go."

"Old school friend," Lavender clarified. "Doesn't know about the magic thing but throws great parties. You want to go?"

Zacharias raised an eyebrow. "Sure. Why not?"

*

They played a long and complex game of Monopoly that lasted all day on Christmas Eve.

Lavender ended up winning. She danced around the lounge, singing her own praises until Zacharias threw the dice at her.

As a Chaser he was awfully accurate and she was sure that there would be a bruise on her forehead tomorrow.

No funny business.

*

Christmas was a montage of shots.

Lavender squealing as she unwrapped a beautiful silky scarf and matching gloves from her dad. The grey contrasted with her eyes.

Zacharias smiling lazily, wearing the thick woollen jersey Lavender had tied around his head before he woke up. "I didn't have wrapping paper," she explained as he struggled to escape its clutches.

Crackers. Lavender clipping a tacky pink barrette into Zacharias' hair as he slipped a plastic ring onto her pinkie.

Curled up in front of the television, watching BBC's Pride and Prejudice. "You're like Mister Darcy," Lavender told Zacharias, resting her head on his shoulder. "Except that you're not as pretty and you'd look stupid in a trench coat."

"And I can't see anything that distinguishes you from Lydia," he replied as Mister Bennet proclaimed that Kitty and Lydia were the silliest girls in Britain.

A sad smile on Rick's face as he watched Zacharias kiss Lavender on the cheek and give her his present.

A butterfly sensation in Lavender's chest as she found a bracelet engraved Angel Cakes inside a beautiful wooden box. "Dickhead," she said affectionately.

A dying ember, glowing faintly in the darkened room.

*

They decided to walk to Sandy's, just around the corner, and could hear faint music from a few houses down. Lavender felt inexplicably nervous. "This is the house." Yesterday's Christmas lights were on and she could hear laughter, talking and a pulsing beat.

Zacharias put his hand in hers, and squeezed it. "We'll have fun."

"Yeah, course," she replied, pulling her hand away.

"Lav!" Sandy screamed. "It's so fucking good to see you! Come in! Have a drink."

"Sandy, this is Zacharias," Lavender said, grinning at her friend's crude and drunken exuberance.

"Zach! You don't mind if I call you that, do you? Too fucking late in the night for four syllables."

Zacharias gave an amused glance at Lavender and allowed himself to be dragged onto the dance floor. Lavender grabbed a drink and followed. Three rum and coke's later Lavender wasn't feeling nervous at all. She'd danced until the room had spun out of focus. She'd sang several items on the karaoke machine with various old school friends. She'd talked to Sandy about how attractive Derek, her new bloke, was.

"Yours is lovely too," Sandy said. "Those curls. I could just eat them."

Lavender downed her fourth rum and coke. "He's great, yeah. Does gin really make girls cry?"

"Dunno," Sandy said. She pondered this for a moment. Then, "Oi, Derek. Pass us the gin, will you?" She swigged at it. "I'm not crying."

"Urban myth forty seven crossed off then."

"Fuckin'-A."

"Pixie," Zacharias said. "You're really out of it."

"I'm not. I'm just tipsy."

"I think we should leave soon."

"That's so sweet," Sandy said, slurring slightly. "He's taking care of you."

Lavender ignored her. "Just sing karaoke and I'll go home."

"You promise?"

"Pinkie promise."

"Any special requests?"

"Surprise me."

He went up to the mike and, after a whispered discussion with the guy organising the music, chose a song.

"You're just too good to be true

Can't take my eyes off of you

You'd be like heaven to touch

Wanna hold you so much..."

His voice was so beautiful and, in her alcohol-induced state, Lavender thought that she might cry. "Well," she said as the song ended and Zacharias came up to her, "you certainly surprised me."

"I'm going to get you home now," he said firmly. "You're practically crying. Say good bye to Sandy."

"Ciao darling," Lavender said to Sandy, who was sprawled out on a couch.

"Au Revoir sweetie. Miss you."

It was cold outside. Cold and slushy and anything but a Winter Wonderland.

"Yuck," Lavender murmured. "Yuck, yuck, yuck." She giggled.

Zacharias rolled his eyes. "I suppose it's your one saving grace that you don't slur."

"No, I get very articulate under the influence of alcohol. Like the oyster's my world. Or something."

"You certainly mix metaphors," he said wryly.

"I love how close I live to Sandy. Don't you love it? It's really great. So lovely."

"Quite."

She caught sight of him in the moonlight. His curls were, as Sandy had said, delicious and there was something so regal in the way he stood. "Y'know I was wrong about you."

"How so?" He looked amused.

"You're prettier than Mister Darcy. Although you'd still look bloody stupid in a trench coat."

"I presume that's a compliment."

"No, it's a fact."

"Well, I was wrong about you too. Parvati's the silliest girl in Britain for giving up the chance to have someone as amazing as you for a friend."

"She is silly, isn't she?"

"Very." They had reached her door. "Can you get your key out?" She handed it to him and they snuck inside.

Lavender was lucky that she had a big house and she was at opposite ends from her dad because she fell over a lot on the way up the stairs.

"I'm so clumsy," she said, giggling as she got her heel caught on the stairs. "And I wear stupid shoes."

"I've got to agree with that."

They reached her room. Lavender grabbed Zacharias' hand. "Come on. I'll show you pictures of me and Sandy when we were little."

"I couldn't give a shit about pictures of you and Sandy," Zacharias said, but he allowed himself to be dragged into her room.

"Look, this is me when I was eight," Lavender said, throwing a picture of a chubby-cheeked child with plaits and a missing front tooth at him. "I was such a retard."

"Yes, yes you were."

"And this is our school photo when I was ten." She stood up against him, the warmth from his body making her feel safe. "That's me and that's Sandy and that's..."

"Enough from you now," Zacharias said, putting the photos on her desk. "You should get to bed. You'll have such a huge hangover tomorrow and I intend on making you suffer."

"You already make me suffer," she murmured, turning to face him.

"Stop flirting with me, Pixie," Zacharias said.

She giggled and reached up to brush a curl from his eye. And kissed him. His lips were smooth and she could taste peppermint in his breath. She pressed up against him, feeling the warmth from his body transfer to her own.

We share more than a movie now, she thought gleefully.

His hands shook slightly as they brushed against her chest and she loved him for his hesitance.

His curls were soft under her hands and she ran her fingers through them, breathing in their scent. She wondered why she had never done this before. Because kissing him, feeling the sinful kisses that burned her neck and the feel of his face under her hands, felt so right. So beautifully, wonderfully right. And she would have gone so far with him right then that there could have been no turning back.

He stopped and moved away from her. She shivered in the sudden cold.

"I can't," he said frankly.

"Can't what?"

"Do this. You're drunk. You're still in love with Parvati. You'll regret it in the morning."

"But it's not the morning."

"Yes, Pixie, it is."

*

Lavender woke up the next morning; feeling like her head was going to break open and with little memory of what had gone on the previous night. Just flashes - the rum, the karaoke, the kissing.

"Oh God," she moaned and buried herself under the blankets.

A few minutes later there was a knock on her door. "Bugger off."

"Lavvie, that's not nice." Her dad poked his head around the door. "I'm going to the supermarket. You should get up and keep Zacharias company."

Zacharias. Bugger. "Yeah, tell him that I'll be down in a second," she croaked.

She spent a few minutes delaying her doom, before tumbling out of bed and pulling on a dressing gown.

"Hey," he said, much too cheerfully. He was reading some Muggle paper and eating toast.

"Yo."

"Head hurt?"

"You're taking an obscene amount of pleasure from this."

"But of course."

"How bad is my hair?" Lavender stood at the sink, gulping water down.

"Pretty ghastly."

She rubbed a hand through it but decided she didn't care. It was only Zacharias, after all.

He closed and folded the paper, took his plate to the dishwasher and moved into the lounge. Lavender followed. He was perched on the arm of a chair, his perfectly-at-ease look making it clear that he was anything but. "What do you remember about last night?"

"Rum and coke, dancing. Oh God, you didn't sing, did you?" She slapped her forehead.

"We kissed, Lavender. It wasn't to put on a show, prove our sham of a relationship. We just kissed."

"Yeah."

"And what Pixie? That's it? There's nothing to say about it?" Zacharias stood up. His fists were balled. "Was it because you were drunk?"

"Yes. No. Oh, I don' know!" Lavender felt her cheeks flame pink. "Why do boys have to be so stupid?"

"Don't avoid the conversation, Pixie. Why did that happen?"

"Look." She felt her temper rise. "There are two people in this relationship..."

"Sometimes I feel like there are three," he muttered. "You, me and Parvati."

Lavender heard a popping sound but she didn't look about. "See, this is why I've been in love with Parvati for the past five years. You're just so dense."

"Look, I don't think this scheme is working out. Patil has screwed you up. As per our accord, you can break up with me." His voice was ice.

There was a cough from the direction of the fireplace. Concentrating solely on the conversation at hand, both had failed to notice Parvati standing in the lounge.

"What was that?"

Lavender felt all comfort flow out of her and she stood frozen, seeing the confusion in Parvati's eyes.

The door banged open. "Hi! I'm home," her dad said. "Oh, hello Parvati! Zacharias and Lavender said you'd be popping around."