Title: Lip-gloss Pink

Rating: K for mention of violence, and for a kiss

Fandom: Harry Potter

Pairing: Ginny+Harry, Ginny+Lavender (only a crush)

Summary: The peculiar friendship between Ginny and Lavender. Lipgloss, girlmags, fashion tips and bravery.

It was just a girl-crush she tried to tell herself, because really what else could it be? It wasn't like Lavender was an especially close friend or anything, or even anything that Ginny especially wanted to be. Yet her heart beat faster, and her palms became unpleasantly damp when they were huddled on the same bed flicking through muggle fashion magazines with silly titles like Bliss and Sugar, which as they grew older became the slightly more sophisticated Cosmopolitan and Vogue. The magazines were always a few months out of date, because Lavender was a muggle-born and her parents hadn't quite liked the idea of owl-post, so she saved them up during the holidays and shared them during term-time.

Lavender smelt sweet with Lacoste and her lips were sticky with the lip-gloss samples, her eyes darkened with eyeliner, and skin perfectly toned and moisturised. And she was kind to Ginny, who was not friends with the girls of her own age in Gryffindor, and who never seemed to make headway in friendship with Hermione, because Hermione was far too busy with her books, or worrying about Harry and Ron, to want to have a little bit of fun with makeup or clothes. Of course she was pretty as well, pretty in ways that Parvati was pretty- perfectly groomed, and pretty in her own ways as well- laughing cat eyes, and perfectly plump lips. But Parvati didn't make a shiver run down Ginny's spine when she stretched languidly, or discarded her t-shirt in searching for a blouse. Parvati didn't make Ginny feel guilty when she accidentally brushed soft skin. Lavender did.

She'd grown up with six brothers, and it had made her in some ways decidedly unfeminine, and her figure did nothing to help- perfect for Quidditch of course, all slender figure, and small bones essential for whipping through the air fast, but it left her lacking in some areas- she had boyish hips and no chest to speak of. When she was thirteen and had her first period and panicked over it, because her mother had used euphemisms, had spoken of becoming a woman, and a little bit of blood, and instead she woke up with her sheets stained red, and feeling like a frightened little girl, so it was Lavender who took her to Madame Pomfrey, who gave her a pain relieving potion, and pads. It was Lavender who showed her how to stuff her bra a bit, to give the illusion of curves, and the skill of pushing a boy away just as he got a bit too close to those curves for comfort. Lavender did her makeup for the first time, with Parvati hovering in the back offering advice, and casting charms.

And it was Lavender of course who noticed Ginny's all-consuming crush on Harry, and took it upon herself to instruct her in the art of being noticeable without being easy, of being a flirt and not a slut. It was oh so pretty Lavender, who everyone wondered just a little bit how she got into Gryffindor who tackled Fenrir Greyback, and whose perfectly painted fingernails scrabbled desperately as he mauled her.

She only kissed Lavender once, and the terrible irony was that it wasn't for some childish dare, or even from sheer bravery. Because Lavender was ugly now, and no makeover, no Bliss tips on getting that sultry makeup just right, or framing your face with curls just so was going to make any difference. But she didn't want to leave Hogwarts for the final time without having known what friendship and her friend tasted like.

It tasted of cold salty tears, and strawberry lip-gloss

Reviews very welcome