The Woes of Lavender Brown

*****

5: Jubilation

She was sitting in the common room, copying down ParvatiÂ’s painstaking notes from her missed Divination lesson (she had, of course, gone to apologise to Professor Trelawney, and ended up spilling the entire miserable story on the womanÂ’s sympathetic ears) when someone plopped down on the couch next to her. She didnÂ’t look up, keeping her concentration focussed for as long as she could, and they worked in not-quite-comfortable silence for as long as Lavender could stand it. Eventually, she asked, "Divination?"

"Potions essay," Dean replied gloomily. "Have you done yours yet?"

"Yeah, finished it at lunch. Want to see?"

"Thanks," he said gratefully, accepting the parchment. Again, quiet fell, broken by Lavender's quill scratching on her scroll and Dean turning pages, fidgeting, and occasionally offering up a small, frustrated noise.

"I don't get it," he declared finally. "Could you explain this bit about the agate chips?"

She leaned over to see where he was looking in the textbook, comparing it to her own essay. "Oh, that's just to stop it from congealing more. See, as it boils, the little chips get lifted through the potion, and they break up the clumps."

"Won't the clumps just get stuck around them?"

"That's a good point. Hmm..." She considered it for a while. "Maybe it's something to do with the size of the chips - I think Snape was fussy about that, wasn't he? Maybe if they're a certain size, they are propelled by the gas bubbles with just enough force to break up the clumps, but too fast for it to stick to them? Or maybe it's something in the nature of the rock that stops it from sticking?"

Dean continued to frown. "I'll ask Hermione. She'll know," he muttered.

"Let me know when you find out. I need to rewrite that bit."

Much later, she asked timidly, glancing at the darkening sky through the common room window, "Want to go for a run?"

Dean propelled himself up out of his seat faster than a floating agate chip. "Yes! Come on, let's go!"

"Steady on, I have to change, and so do you." She pointed laughingly at his school shoes.

"Right. Back down here in one." He shot off towards the stairs. Lavender went up at a statelier pace, shaking her head in amusement. Boys.

*****

Dean was very keyed up, challenging her to sprints, mucking around and joking the entire time. Lavender herself was just as nervous. It's just Dean, she kept thinking, why am I so jittery? This is no different to how it has ever been.

On the way back to the castle, she ventured shyly, "Thanks for sticking up for me with Pansy."

"What? Oh, that was nothing." Dean gave her a quick smile, not looking her straight in the eyes - actually, she noticed, looking anywhere but at her.

"It was a nice thing to do. My mind was totally blank - I didn't know what to say to her." Why am I pushing the issue? He obviously doesn't want to talk about it.

"Yes, well, it was nothing. Really." Is he blushing? Just a little? No, it's probably just the sunset. The next minute brought her cause to wonder if it really was just the sinking sun. "Listen, on the Hogsmeade weekend coming up, want to go with me? I mean not like that, but...well, yeah, maybe like that."

"Are you asking me out or not, Dean Thomas?" she posed boldly. He quickly made up his mind.

"Yes, as a matter of fact I am. I'll even go to Madam Puddifoot's with you if you want."

"Oooh, Dean...really?"

"No."

"‘No' to which part?"

"You will never get me in that teashop. Ever."

"That was mean," Lavender pouted. Dean gave her a gentle, one-handed shove. "Hey!"

He laughed, and this time it was her chasing him across the lawn.

*****

Freshly sweat-free, Lavender and Dean went down to dinner, just in time to hear Seamus say, "Pass the pumpkin juice."

Parvati did, and it clipped the edge of a platter in the centre of the table. Seamus and his dinner wore it, ice cubes and all. He stood up, dripping, and casually asked them to excuse him as he left the table. Parvati had a hand to her mouth.

"Oh, no, I didn't mean to! Seamus, I'm sorry!" she yelled after him. "Sorry!" More softly she told Lavender, "I didn't mean to do that, honest." As she wiped Seamus' place with the piles of napkins everyone had passed down to her, she asked, "Do you think he's mad?"

"I don't think he's very impressed, but he'll understand it was an accident." Lavender helped her mop up the giant, sticky mess she had created. "That's what he gets for asking for pumpkin juice too many times."

"You know," said Dean thoughtfully as he moved plates around for them, "that sounds like a naughty code."

Parvati slipped, and a soggy serviette hit the floor. Lavender looked at her in surprise. "You've got to be kidding me."

"Well, it's not a code, it's just sort of a...private joke."

"Seamus?" she hissed disbelievingly. "‘Went to the Yule Ball with me'-Seamus?"

"If you're a little bit more quiet, Lavender, the Slytherins might hear you all the way across the room," Parvati mumbled in distress. Dean choked back a laugh.

"Since when?" he demanded.

"Since he started asking for pumpkin juice."

Lavender thought back quickly. "So, since...last Hogsmeade's?!"

"Hmm, a bit after it. Don't tell him I told, though. We wanted it to be secret, in case it didn't work out and things got awkward." Parvati was suddenly very interested in cleaning up the last little traces of orange liquid. "That doesn't sound familiar, hmm? Like two other people I might know?"

Dean and Lavender shared a glance before rapidly and embarrassedly looking away.

"But it worked out," Lavender said to cover her lapse, "and you still didn't tell us."

Patti shrugged. "Seamus kept saying he would, he just...he never did."

"Feel flattered," Dean told her. "Seamus didn't want anyone to make fun of the two of you, I reckon. Usually if he doesn't care much about a girl, or if he's only semi-interested" - Dean nodded at Lavender, referring to the Yule Ball - "then he doesn't care who knows. That's how he works. He's a private person, in a...twisted sort of way."

"Dean, you should write a book to decipher the male mind," Lavender declared, and Parvati seconded the notion. Across the table and down a bit, Hermione put in that Ron had once asked her to do the same for girls.

Dean shook his head. "Never going to happen."

"Exactly," said Hermione, continuing to listen with interest, along with Neville, Harry, and Ron.

"Besides, that was just Seamus' mind," Dean clarified.

"Yeah, but you did Ron's the other day," Hermione let slip. Parvati shushed her, but it was already too late.

"What?" exclaimed Ron. "You did what, Dean?"

"Oh, hush up, Ron, you enjoyed the aftermath," Hermione said, effectively putting a stop to that argument.

"So, when are you two going to date?" Patti asked Harry and Neville casually. They stared at her. "Well, everyone else is paired up..." She grinned cheekily.

"We're not dating," said Lavender and Dean quickly, over the top of one another.

"I asked her, but she hasn't said ‘yes' or ‘no' yet," Dean announced. Lavender felt like going to see if Seamus had managed to unstain his trousers. Either that, or crawl under the table. Deciding she would rather not view copious amounts of chewed gum and dirty shoes or a boys' toilets, she stayed where she was, melting with embarrassment. Could he be more tactless?

"What's taking you so long?" Parvati asked.

"The answer's obvious," added Hermione.

"Let her do it," Neville told them. Lavender reached for the potatoes, Gryffindor-red in the face. Harry took pity and handed them over with a wry smile.

Seamus returned, pumpkin juice-free, and the conversation abruptly lurched to who would win the Quidditch League that season. "It doesn't compare to football," declared Dean loyally.

"Mental," said Ron, giving him a sorrowful shake of the head.

"Says he who supports the Chudley Cannons," muttered Seamus, sticking safely to the water.

*****

Lavender thought about it. And thought about it. Did she want to go to Hogsmeade with Dean? Eventually, a pillow flew across the dormitory, smacking into her curtains in the dark - a warning from Parvati to stop tossing and turning. Lavender stilled herself; she would only get one warning pillow. Next time, it would be a hex - Parvati had wonderful ways of making sure Lavender had a bad hair day.

She felt fickle, and she did not want to start a relationship like that. One minute, she had a bit of a crush on Malfoy; the next, she found out Dean was attracted to her, and it looked as though everyone expected them to date. She did not need to do what everyone expected. But in this case, did she want to?

Lavender, with excruciating care, rolled over onto her back.

One date was not a commitment. But it might lead to a commitment. She did not want to get Dean's hopes up and then shatter him - they were such good friends. Saying ‘no' now would save later complications. She twisted to scratch awkwardly between her shoulder blades. But what if she wanted to say ‘yes' at a later time? If she said ‘no' now, then that would not be okay. That would definitely not be okay.

Or she could just leave it alone for the minute, and tell Dean she wanted to let things develop naturally rather than force it with a date...but he seemed to think she would say ‘yes'...and he might not understand...

But what did she want to say?

Her curtains ripped open and Parvati climbed onto her bed. "Look, I can't sleep with you creating such a racket - what's wrong?" she whispered, trying not to wake Hermione.

Too late. "What's going on?" the prefect called sleepily.

"Girl-talk. Come join," Lavender offered. A few moments later, the three girls were settled together on the four-poster bed. "It's the whole Dean thing. I don't know what to do. I'm worried I'm going to hurt him if I say 'yes', and I'm definitely going to hurt him if I say 'no'."

"Well, the answer's obvious, isn't it?" Hermione announced in a no-nonsense manner for the second time that day.

"How do you mean?"

"Well, you wouldn't be even considering saying 'yes' unless you at least wanted it a bit. The answer's not 'no'."

"That's sort of cold," said Parvati, but she was not reprimanding Hermione - she sounded contemplative.

"So I should say 'yes'," Lavender decided slowly. "But what sort of 'yes'? 'Yes, I'll go to Hogsmeade with you'? 'Yes, I'll give it a shot'? 'Yes, let's get married and buy a Crup'?"

"That's really up to you." Hermione yawned, pulling a throw pillow towards herself to lean on. "What do you want to do?"

"I dunno. Dean's a good friend... If it doesn't work out, I might not have that."

"Look, I faced the same problem with Seamus, and it left me sneaking around behind my friends," Parvati said, giving Lavender a sideways hug. "But I think the risk is worth it. And who says it won't work out?"

"Have you ever been in a relationship that hasn't broken up?"

Parvati huffed. "No. That is not the point. This one could work. You don't know unless you take the chance."

"So...I should just go for it."

"I think so." Hermione said in agreement, nodding - Lavender could just discern the movement in the darkness. "Besides, wasn't that Dean's own advice?"

"I'll think about it." The girls took that as good enough and ventured back to their own beds, leaving Lavender in a whirl of confusion that was only a little less vicious than it had been.

*****

"All right."

"Huh?"

"I said, 'all right'. I'll go with you to Hogsmeade. But," said Lavender, and Dean broke in, grinning.

"I knew there would be a condition. Let me guess - we're just going as friends?"

"A little more than just friends, but yes, basically. I don't want to...do the whole official couple thing. At least, not yet. I want to see if we can get along like that first."

Dean rolled his eyes. "We've been getting along for more than five years, Lav."

"This is different," she protested stubbornly. Being a Gryffindor was really quite handy sometimes. One could be remarkably straightforward and no one batted an eye. "It's like getting along alone or...or...or something. You know."

"I suppose," he told her gloomily, then perked up. "But that's better than nothing."

She laughed. "I think you're meant to be pleased after I leave."

With another grin, he announced, "I'm off to tell Harry directly. He's been waiting for the results."

"He's a worse gossip than me and Patti lately!"

*****

The 'date' went well, in Lavender's opinion. Dean would not even go down the end of the High Street near Madam Puddifoot's, which was okay, and he kept his end of the bargain and bought Lavender a bucket of chips at the Broomsticks. They poked around in Dervish and Banges, browsed in Zonko's, and Lavender treated them to Tongue-Twister Liquorice at Honeydukes. All in all, it was a very - normal - day.

Except for right at the end, when they were starting to walk back to Hogwarts, and Dean led her off the path and snogged her against a tree. That was not normal, but it was nice. Now they weren't just friends; they were friends-who-kissed.

Which is not a bad thing at all, Lavender reflected.

That evening, she kept exchanging glances with Dean, only to look away hurriedly, smiling and flushed. She beamed when Parvati asked her how her day had been. And she laughed along with all the sixth year Gryffindors when, as Seamus opened his mouth, Dean jumped in first, and asked Lavender to pass him the pumpkin juice.

*****