As Lavender Brown's body lay amongst the ruins of what was once her home, she watched a family grieve the loss of one of their own, wondering why fate had so cruelly dealt them such cards. From a young age, all she wanted was to love and be loved in...
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»»» "DO you get them a lot?" Fred asked, breaking the silence that had settled between them.He shoved his hands in his pockets, choosing to stare at the ground instead of gage her reaction.
Lavender didn't reply automatically, but he had no reason to fill the space with another question or change the topic. He genuinely wanted to know and didn't see another opportunity arising soon.
"I used to get them all the time," Lavender admitted in a quiet voice. "There was a time where I was getting them every day. Pavarti was the only one who knew and I begged her not to tell anyone. The stuff you've seen is nothing. At times they'd be so bad I'd freeze up. Others, I'd end up puking," she continued. Fred looked at her surprised, not expecting a straight answer, let alone one that was so raw and honest.
"How long did you keep it a secret for?"
"It took me a long time to trust Pav with it and then even longer for her to convince me to tell Madame Pompfrey. We were in our sixth year then and she gave me a potion that helped a little," Lavender replied.
Fred exhaled gustily. "You dealt with it alone for so long," he said, an unfamiliar look crossing his eyes.
"I was scared." Lavender shrugged. The surprising element in all of this was how easy it was to admit to it all. "You have to understand that it's mainly because of our unique situation that I feel comfortable talking about it with you. For our safety, I guess it's important you know. It's not like you're going to tell anyone."
He grabbed her wrist, momentarily stopping her. Yet the issue now was finding somewhere to fix his gaze. It was a lot easier to have the conversation when he didn't have to look into her eyes. There was something about them that made him wonder why he ignored her for so long over the years. The more she opened up, the harder it became to see the Lavender his brother had such a strong distaste for. In his mind, she was just misjudged as they were all victim to.
Like always, she held his gaze steadily.
"Even if we weren't in this situation, if things were different, I wouldn't tell anyone. Not even George," said Fred, his tone serious. He searched her eyes to figure out whether she understood how much he meant it. Whilst most people saw him as a practical joker, Lavender had the pleasure of seeing him blubber and he didn't take that lightly.
She nodded, heat rising to her cheeks. "I know," she said simply and every part of her truly believed it.
"So the potion helps? What if we find some more?" Fred asked as they started walking again. It was one of the many things he liked about their relationship. There was no awkwardness that lingered between them. Whether it was because they had to move on regardless of how weird they might feel, or they couldn't remain annoyed with one another for too long, somehow they just got on.
Lavender shook her head and sighed. "I tried. It was that potion I was trying to open when we met," she started, trailing off as she smiled at the memory. Somehow that felt like it happened ages ago, but it was only this morning. She scoffed at how strange it must have looked to him, but at the time, they were experimenting with their new found realness.
