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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»»» "YOU promised you wouldn't freak out," said Fred when the silence became unbearable. "And I really need you to follow through. I'm on some sort of streak here, and I don't want it to break now because I misjudged this situation. I'm Fred by the way. We've met but obviously you wouldn't know that yet," he continued, holding out his hand.
Both Mary and Lavender glanced down at his hand and then looked at him, their expressions mirroring one another. The latter, was rendered speechless at his audacity to somehow shift the focus to him, it was both selfish and annoyingly attractive.
Fred wriggled his fingers, his eyes widening when neither of the Brown women gave any indications of responding. "Alright then," he said slowly, lifting his hand and rubbing the back of his neck. "I guess we're going to need a minute here. No one's openly freaking out though, so I'd say it's still a point to Freddie," he said, only to be met with another wall of silence. "Can you quit that? Usually you can't keep a single thought off your face and right now I can't tell if you're annoyed with me or falling further for my charming self," he said, shooting Lavender a look.
"She is an open book, isn't she," Mary said, a smile creeping onto her face. Lavender turned around so quickly she caused a neck cramp, mouth parted at the sound of her mother's voice. Unlike the previous times, it didn't sound like she was lost in another realm, or gibbering and repeating the same phrase that sent stabs into Lavender's heart. Her voice was controlled and she even sported a glint in her eyes as she looked between her daughter and her companion.
"It took me a few tries, but I'd say I'm pretty good at translating all this," Fred added gesturing to her face. When she frowned and shook her head questioningly at him, one side of his lips quipped up and he shot her a wink. "But in all seriousness, we do need your help Mary. We need your advice."
Mary regarded them both, her gaze settling on her daughter, who had yet to utter a single word. Like Fred, she was also well versed in translating her non-verbal language. The part which broke her heart was seeing fear running through her, as she refused to meet her eyes.
"Come with me," she said finally, gesturing to her stall and for them to follow.
Of all the things to occur since they had died, this was by far the strangest according to Lavender. Whilst she was relieved that they weren't automatically outcasted, she didn't expect it to be this easy. She regarded Fred as he delivered the punchline to one of his jokes to Mary, his eyes lighting up when he heard her laugh. The sound only caused a ringing in her own ears.
How could this be happening?
The longer she observed, the more evidence she remembered about how it was always Fred who pushed for a breakthrough with Mary, the last time highlighting his naivety of the situation. Then again, she recalled, he was the one who encouraged her to renter her home after Mary had banished her. And now here he sat, actually conversing with Mary without triggering any premonitions, or freak outs or anything of the sort.
