"I wonder if it hurts to live."
.:.
There is a girl in the crowd with a pretty smile and a pretty face.
She is distant, and stands a little farther away from everyone else, but she is there. Tall. Proud. Strong.
It's early in the day and the sun is new, just peeking over the little shops and houses. Everything is fresh and the breeze is a little colder; it will warm up in time, but now it causes the girl to toss a cloak over her shoulders. There's a scarf fastened almost unusually high around her neck, but there's nothing to think of it. A new Muggle fashion, probably. It's touching her chin, and it causes her blonde hair to flare out around her.
She's there the whole day, in and out of shops, but never does she stop to talk to anyone. The scarf stays fastened around her neck, even when the sun peeks out from above the grey clouds and the heat settles in. It's the dead of summer, and despite the beads of sweat forming on her brow, she doesn't seem to care.
It's only when the sun is saying goodbye to the sky and the glow it is emitting fades she takes it off, tossing it into her bag like she's glad to be rid of it. Her head turns from side to side to see if anyone has noticed - they haven't, thank Merlin, and she wraps her cloak tight around her body.
Her fingers run up her neck, and they linger there for only the briefest of seconds, but it's still noticeable. The scars are, too - they're angry and red, deep gashes into her pale skin, running down her neck in irregular motions, only barely touching the underside of her chin. There is a question, too, for all the people who didn't see the blood or the death or feel the grief digging into their skin as harsh and as painful as the scars she wears underneath everything else - who could hate someone else so much to cause this?
The girl walks away from the Alley, with the red of the scarf peeking out from her bag and her hair let down so it covers her shoulders, but never does she lower her head or slouch her shoulders. For all of the covering up she does, she does not seem ashamed or embarrassed.
a/n - A take on Lavender's scars from the war, caused by Fenrir Greyback. For Amber's Poetry Quotes and Numbers Challenge - the lovely quote up on top comes from Emily Dickinson. WC: 403.