Author's Note: A million thanks to my dream team for helping me with this, and for being awesome.

Written for…

Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition. Team/Position: Holyhead Harpies, Seeker. Task: SEEKER: Write a pairing you've never written before.

Hogwarts Assignment #9. Lesson: Astronomy, task 1 Prompt: Write about a difference of opinion.

Never Stop Loving You

990 words

"Are you sure this is what you want, dear?" Lavender stared down at the bottles on the counter, her eyes roaming over the various labels, making sure she hadn't missed anything.

"Yes, that's everything. Thank you," she answered quietly, ducking her head when the door of the store opened and a cool draft blew in. She knew it was risky coming through Diagon Alley, but it was the only Apothecary she knew she could trust.

"Lav, is that you?"

She flinched at the voice, recognizing it right away. She turned slowly, lowering the hood of her jacket. "Parvati. Good to see you."

Parvati didn't seem enthusiastic about the meeting either. She kept her distance from Lavender, even as her twin came forward and patted the blonde on the shoulder.

"Hey, Lav," Padma greeted, grinning. She walked off towards the bins of potions ingredients before Lavender could think to say anything in return.

"What are you doing here?" Parvati wondered, eying the counter. The clerk was filling a bag with the vials and Lavender knew Parvati could tell what they were for, even from a distance.

"I just needed to pick up some things for my father," Lavender lied anyway. She didn't need to announce to the whole store why she was there. It was bad enough that she had to live with the proof written on her face. She turned away from Parvati quickly, pulling her hood up again. She couldn't handle any more pitying stares.

"I should be going." She paid the clerk and hurried from the store before Parvati could stop her.

:-:

The Brown house had never been so out of control. Lavender took a lot of the blame for the chaos. For several months, healers had been in and out of the house, checking on her and advising her father on the potions she should be taking. Everything had fallen apart after that.

"Where were you?" Indigo demanded the moment she walked through the door. "Dad's been worried-"

"I had to get some things. There wasn't any food in the cupboard." She wasn't lying, necessarily; she had picked up some groceries after visiting the apothecary.

Her brother narrowed his eyes at her. He'd always acted like the older sibling even though he was two years younger than her. "You know he doesn't like you going out alone."

"I can't stay a prisoner my whole life. I need things to get back to normal if I'm ever meant to get past this." She wasn't willing to admit that it was her own fears holding her back from moving on.

Lavender made dinner for the family without complaint and after, alone in her room with the apothecary bag, she quietly examined the potions she'd purchased.

One for healing scars, another for covering blemishes. Several beautifying potions. She uncapped the healing potion and downed it in one go. The clerk had told her to give it a week before taking the next; that it would need a while to do its job before she could safely consider ingesting any more, but Lavender was impatient. If only she could get rid of the angry red lines on her face, things could go back to how they had been before.

She readied the next vial, inhaling the fruity scent, when Indy knocked on her door.

"Someone's downstairs for you."

Lavender paused, capping the vial again. Hardly anyone came to see her anymore. Her father had sent away most of her visitors when she was sick, and she sent away the ones when she was well enough to see people. Who could stand to see her when she couldn't even bear to look in a mirror?

Parvati was seated in the living room when Lavender went downstairs. She hesitated on the stairs, wondering if she would be able to bribe Indy into telling Parvati to go home. But her brother was usually above bribery.

"What are you doing here?" she demanded, keeping close to the door, telling herself she could run upstairs whenever the conversation became too much.

"I want to talk about the potions."

"There's nothing to talk about."

Parvati rolled her eyes. "You're taking beautifying potions, Lav. I think we have a lot to discuss."

"It's just to get rid of the scars. It's nothing bad."

"You know those potions will do more than that. They'll change what you look like."

Lavender looked away. "Maybe that's a good thing. Maybe that's what I want."

"And what's next? Cosmetic surgery? Lavender, you're beautiful, you always have been and-"

"I'm not. I look hideous now." She wiped away the tears pooling in her eyes as Parvati crossed the room to her. "I don't know how you can stand to look at me anymore."

"Is this why you've been distant? I thought … I thought you didn't love me anymore."

"I could never stop loving you," she said, surprised that Parvati could ever think such a thing. Parvati had always been confident. She didn't have any reason to worry about what others thought of her.

"I love you too, Lav. I love everything about you, even these scars. I'll love you if they heal, and I'll still be here if they don't. But the last thing I want is for you to hide them or change yourself. I like you just the way you are."

Lavender let out a shaky breath, allowing herself to be hugged and pulled to the couch. In Parvati's arms, listening to her girlfriend talk about all the things she'd missed over the summer, she found herself letting go of the fear she'd had.

Perhaps with a little time and patience, and a lot of help from Parvati, she might be willing to leave her self-imposed prison again, to visit some of the friends she'd let go of. But those days were still far away, and she still couldn't look in a mirror. But she knew that day would come.