Shades of Lavender

Chapter Ten: Every time we're down, you can make it right

Lavender stifled a giggle and Parvati nudged her. "Shut up," she whispered. "Shut up, you dickhead."

"That was uncalled for," Lavender hissed back. "Besides, this is so boring."

"You won't think it's boring when you see her expression."

Lavender pondered that. "Very true." She pulled a face at Parvati, who then spent the next few seconds trying to pull one equally as grotesque. "I don't understand why we have to be quiet now," she added. "She's not even in her office."

"You don't understa-a-and," Parvati wailed, forgetting the need for silence. "We're being stealth."

"You two couldn't be stealth if you were under the imperius curse," a voice said from above their position behind the couch.

"Okay, you're not the dickhead," Parvati said. "He is."

"Thanks for that," Zacharias said wryly, reaching down to fiddle with a lock of Lavender's hair.

"What are you doing here, Zach?" Lavender asked. It'd been a while since they'd hung out and he'd been avoiding her like an ... annoying avoiding thing since Christmas.

"I thought I'd come and say hi." He rolled his eyes. "But I can see you're busy, staked out behind Professor Delacour's couch. I thought you didn't go for blonds, Lavender."

"Depends," she said, poking out her tongue. "The annoying sarcastic ones really turn me on."

"Ooh, now I'm excited."

There was movement from outside the door. Lavender and Parvati each grabbed a sleeve and pulled Zacharias behind the couch. "Girls, please try to control your lust," he said, grinning at Lavender, who had the sudden urge to slap him.

"We've left a message for Professor Delacour," Parvati explained in a whisper. "We want to make sure she gets it."

"And see her reaction," Lavender added.

"You two are evil," Zacharias said. "And I'm going now."

"You can't," Lavender hissed. They could hear the lilting murmurs of Professor Delacour. She appeared to be talking to someone. "You'll be seen."

"Besides," Parvati added, grinning in a way that Lavender, despite her tentative resolve not to get involved in anymore nasty pranks, found hard to resist. "The look on her face will be priceless."

"I'm afraid to ask what's on that desk."

"You'll find out if you shut up."

"Make me, Angel Cakes."

"You want to get kicked out of Hogwarts, do you?"

"You two bicker like an old married couple," Parvati said impatiently.

The door handle turned and they were silent. Lavender stuffed her fist in her mouth to stop the giggling.

"Thank you, Severus," they could hear Professor Delacour trill. Any replies were mumbled.

"Oh, this is too, too perfect," Parvati murmured. Zacharias looked questioning but they said nothing more and Professor Delacour entered the room.

She rustled around some papers. Parvati passed something to Lavender. An Extendable Eye, courtesy of Weasley Wizarding Wheezes.

She watched Professor Delacour jump slightly at the pink parchment edge sticking out of one of her drawers. Parvati had her fist stuffed in her mouth, uncharacteristic for her because it might smear her lip gloss. Zacharias looked over at Lavender and rolled his eyes.

The Professor skimmed the parchment, eyes widening as she scrolled down. She got to the bottom and screeched. Lavender thought that she had never seen a more amusing expression in their beautiful professor's elegant lips and eyes. She actually looked like she was going to cough up a fur ball or something. This, Lavender reminded herself, was probably not going to happen.

Professor Delacour turned on her heel and stormed from the room, muttering under her breath in what Lavender presumed was French.

When they could no longer hear her footsteps echoing down the corridor, they escaped from the room. As they rounded the corner, something in Parvati snapped and she collapsed against a wall in hysterical laughter.

"I don't understand," Zacharias said, looking on bemused, as Lavender joined in Parvati's laughter.

Parvati rifled through her pockets, recovering a scrap of parchment. "Here, read this. It might explain a few things."

Zacharias slid down so that he was sitting, back resting against the wall. Lavender sat next to him and read over his shoulder. It never failed to amuse her.

Your eyes - so bright and full of fire

Yet turned me into ice.

You are my one true desire

Not by chance, nor by a throw of dice.

I sit, cold, on my Potion's throne

Knowing you have the key.

It unlocked my heart from stone,

Showing true emotions within me.

Please oh please say you'll be mine,

I would die upon your touch.

I'd take you out to wine and dine,

I don't ask for very much.

With Love, your Severus

Zacharias snorted. "Who wrote this poem?"

"I did," Parvati said proudly. "Well, Lavender helped. It was difficult getting the angsty feelings to rhyme on page but I think we managed superbly, don't you?"

"Quite."

"Well, I'd like to see you write a better one." Parvati seemed to feel she was being poked fun of.

"Oh no, I could never beat that. Queen of Trite Rhyming Poetry, you are, Parvati."

"What did you want to talk to me about, Zacharias?" Lavender said, interrupting.

"That's a private matter," Zacharias said, looking pointedly at Parvati.

"Why don't you two bugger off somewhere? I like my wall," she replied irritably.

"We'll take a walk, shall we?" Lavender decided.

"I'll see you at the DA, Crayola," Parvati said.

Lavender leaned down and hugged her. They'd always had a very huggy friendship and she was trying to make sure that didn't change. "Bien sur," she replied. "I aime you lots, remember."

"I know you do. I aime you too, darling."

"Ridiculous endearments," Zacharias muttered.

"Right, shall we go?" Lavender said, standing up and moving off down to the entrance. They wandered down to the lake and sat by the edge, under the willow. No one else was around, which was pretty sensible actually since it was freezing outside.

"You guys are friends again?" Zacharias said, looking gloomily out at the water.

"There's no need to be so happy about it," Lavender said tartly. "But yes, we are friends again."

"How absolutely wonderful for you," he said dully. "And I suppose that's why I haven't seen you since Christmas."

"You see me every day."

"Yes, glimpses of the back of your head in the corridor and the occasional eye contact in class."

"I've been busy." Why was she defending her actions to him? "Anyway, you were a complete dick at Christmas."

"As I recall, you were the one who kissed me."

"And you were the one who dobbed me into Parvati."

He looked flushed. "That wasn't on purpose, you idiot."

"It was pretty convenient timing though."

"God, you're so irrational!" he exclaimed.

"I'm irrational? I didn't instigate this conversation."

"You just can't bear discussing things."

"Since when did you turn into an emotional little girl who wants to 'talk about our relationship'?"

"So because I'm a guy, I can't talk about anything other than Quidditch?"

"I can't believe I even agreed to talk to you. Clearly, anytime we talk now is just going to deteriorate into a ridiculous argument." She stood up to leave, got about two steps away and tripped over a tree root. "Fuck!"

"It kind of ruined the getaway, didn't it?" She couldn't see him, but if she could have, she knew she would have seen a huge smirk on his face.

"Did you enchant that tree root to trip me up?"

"Yes, Pixie. Because you really needed help. You're naturally so elegant."

"Don't call me that," she said furiously, struggling into seating position and brushing dirt and bark from her robes.

"Why?"

"Because it leaves the pretence that we're friendly and right now I hate you so much," Lavender replied.

"Good to know," Zacharias said, not at all deterred. "But can we talk? I promise that I'll never behave like a teenage girl after this."

"Fine." Lavender said, turning to him. She was startled by how serious the expression on his face was. "Shoot."

"Blam," Zacharias said softly. "Okay, I was stupid to have said a lot of that stuff at Christmas. I was angry and upset. I apologise."

Not what she had been expecting. She'd never had Zacharias apologise to her before. "Apology accepted, Zachie."

"If I can't call you Pixie, you can't call me that repulsive nickname."

Lavender rolled her eyes. "Whatever."

"I miss this," Zacharias said simply. "I miss the bickering and the illogical conversations and the way you roll your eyes at everything I say."

Lavender rolled her eyes again. "It's a disease."

"Quite." She'd never noticed how extraordinarily long his eyelashes were before. "So, can we be friends again?"

"Of course." Lavender grinned. "Dick."

"Off to a brilliant start with our friendship there."

She giggled and moved so that she was sitting next to him, their sides barely touching. Shifting to rest her head on his arm, she asked, "You know, the day you left, and you kind of walked in on me in the shower..."

"I thought we would never talk about that," Zacharias said, glaring.

"No, it's just you said something that I didn't quite catch..."

"I can't remember," Zacharias said, looking straight ahead, eyes distant and cold.

"No, you said something. I half heard it."

"Drop it, Pixie."

"Well, for whatever it was you didn't say ... Thank you. And ... ditto." It was hard to say whether she felt excruciatingly embarrassed or just numb.

"But, Parvati..." Zacharias turned to look at her. Lavender had this bubbling sensation in her stomach, which felt a lot like laughter.

"No, I'm Lavender. Remember?" She giggled.

"I even like the way you giggle now," Zacharias muttered. "I must be going mad."

"It's a side effect."

"With you, it's the disease."

"Why must I always be compared to diseases and suffering?"

"Oh, shut up," Zacharias said, and put an arm around her shoulder, almost possessively.

They sat like that for a while until a bitter wind whipping around them reminded them of where they were. And that they had a DA meeting in a few minutes.

"Harry's going to kill us for being late," Lavender said conversationally, as they rounded the corner into the corridor of the Room of Requirement.

"I'll just tell him that we were shagging and lost all sense of time," Zacharias said, smirking.

"You really want to keep up that rumour about your prowess in bed, don't you?" Lavender said, amused.

"Of course," he replied. "It's my one claim to fame."

They opened the door. Everyone was busy casting some hex or another. Parvati grinned and waggled her eyebrows knowingly as she cast hexes over a stunned-looking (in more ways than one) Ginny Weasley.

"You're late," Harry stated. Lavender fought the urge to grin. "We're partnered with people who have the same weaknesses in hexing. You two should work on Patronuses."

"Sure," Lavender said. "Come on Zachie. Let's go work over there."

They headed over to one corner of the room where there were plenty of cushions, Lavender avoiding eye contact with Hermione, who was giving her curious looks.

"So, Patronuses..." Zacharias said. He seemed almost shy around her, which was strange and somehow intimidating.

"What do you think yours will be?" Lavender asked him curiously.

"Dunno," he replied. "I guess there's only one way to find out." He aimed his wand at centre of the room and yelled, "EXPECTO PATRONUM!"

A trickle of silver emerged from his wand. Lavender snickered and he looked over at her, obviously furious. "You try."

"Gladly," Lavender said. She steadied herself (not easy when she was wearing flimsy ballet shoes) and brandished her wand. Harry chose that moment to come and watch them practice.

"Expecto Patronum!" Lavender cried.

There was something about the Patronus charm that always made her fall over backwards. She could hear Zacharias' laughter and it made her so happy. "I didn't make one, did I?"

"No," Harry said ruefully. "You're just not concentrating, Lavender."

Lavender didn't know but she thought it was hard to concentrate on a spell that would defeat evil and depression when there was such a golden, happy time ahead of her. Looking over at Zacharias, who was smirking at her in a way that made her feel weak and floppy, and then to Parvati, who was flirting with Terry Boot, Lavender couldn't see how anything could be better than this.

It would have helped if Zacharias had actually helped her up for a change, but nothing was perfect. She grinned at him and grabbed his ankle, pulling him down to sit by her on the cushions.

"You're a bastard, Zachie," she said fondly.

"And you're my dearest little angel," he replied, pinching her nose.

Yeah, life didn't get much better than this, she thought again as Zacharias' lips found hers.