Disclaimer: Not mine.
Summery: Lavender wants revenge. So what does Ron have to do with it and why is Hermione so jealous?
Please read and review!
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Chapter One
The Great Revenge
By
Stacey L Kendall
~*~
" …. and he's always telling me how pretty he thinks I am and it certainly helps that he's so attractive too. Of course I always knew he was really into me and you do remember that he invited me to the Yule Ball last year, don't you? We must have looked so great together."
Lavender Brown took a break from talking about her latest boyfriend to apply another coat of deep red lipstick, which complemented her red robes perfectly. She smiled brightly at the reflected view of Hermione and Ginny. They both smiled back weakly, clearly sick of hearing about Lavender's relationship status with one of their own friends. However, Lavender didn't seem to notice their boredom as she continued to apply yet more lipstick.
Lavender had been dating Seamus Finnigan for nearly four weeks, which was a record for both of them. Their activities included snogging each other up some random corner of the common room for what seemed like hours at a time or else they would be arguing over something totally bizarre until they made up minutes later and then they would basically go back to being joined at the mouth.
After a moment of silence, Hermione walked over to the mirror. She examined her own bushy hair briefly before picking up Lavender's brush and combing it all back into a messy ponytail. She then turned to Lavender, placing the brush next to her before she spoke.
"You know, I don't know why your so excited about Seamus. Have you forgotten what he's like?" She said. "Before you two started going out he liked nothing better than to flirt with half the girls in Gryffindor -"
"Not just Gryffindor," Ginny spoke for the first time. "I would say that he liked to flirt with all the girls in Hogwarts. Well, expect for me -"
"Seamus wouldn't dare hit on you Ginny, since you have six older brothers, three of which are still at Hogwarts and anyway, he wouldn't want to endanger his good looks, would he? He'd be lucky to get away with two black eyes once Ron got hold of him," Hermione said, smiling at her friend. "He's got a terrible temper."
Ginny noticed that Hermione seemed to be smiling just a little too much as she mentioned her brothers name, but she didn't say anything. Ginny didn't want to embarrass Hermione in front of their other friend.
"You can strike any Slytherin off that list too," Ginny said, with a smile. "Even Seamus wouldn't sink that low."
Hermione and Ginny giggled as Lavender gave them a nasty look. Even though Seamus liked to throw himself at any willing female candidate who walked his way everybody knew Lavender was exactly the same and so, in some ways they were meant for each other.
Running her hand through her long main of hair, Lavender addressed her friends without looking at them.
"He's with me now," She said, still looking in the mirror. "Why would he want anyone else?"
Ginny smirked, taking time to look at her own reflection in the mirror. She tucked a stray strand of red hair behind her ear and then proceeded to watch Lavender apply mascara to her long lashes. Ginny would like nothing better than to block out Lavender's voice entirely and by the look on Hermione's face, she was thinking the exact same thing.
A moment later Hermione began to walk over to her. Glad that the conversation seemed to be over, Ginny began to walk towards the bathroom door herself.
"She'll never change," Hermione said when they were out of the bathroom.
"Thank Merlin we left." Ginny said, pushing her way through the crowd in the common room. "I was starting to get seriously bored in there."
Hermione glanced around the common room. It was unusually packed that night because they were having a party to celebrate Fred and George's 18th birthday. It was the twins last year at Hogwarts and Hermione was just one of the people who would sorely miss them when they were gone.
After a few seconds Hermione stopped her best friends, Ron Weasley and Harry Potter laughing in a corner of the common room, but before she and Ginny could join them her path was blocked my Parvati Patil. She looked worried and her face was dark, which was quite a difference to her normally happy-giggly manner.
"Hermione, where's Lavender? I need to see her."
"What's the matter?" Hermione asked.
Parvati sighed. "I don't know what to do. It's Seamus - he's over there kissing someone else,"
Without saying anything Hermione and Ginny turned their attention towards the direction, which Parvati was now pointing out to them. They could see Seamus on the sofa kissing some girl but they couldn't make out who it was as her back was turned towards them. Lavender might be up herself but she didn't deserve this kind of humiliation.
"She'll go mad! I've got to find her before she sees."
"She's still in the bathroom." Hermione said. But before she could even make a move towards the bathroom herself, Parvati had pushed her out of the way and had gone to find her best friend, however, Parvati was too late. Moments later Lavender left the girls bathroom smiling brightly with her face heavily made over. Upon meeting her Parvati tried to block her path, but she only seemed interested in getting back to her boyfriend.
Hermione glanced over towards Seamus hoping that the danger might be over but it wasn't.
"….. Parvati," Lavender said "I need to get back to Seamus. He'll be wondering where I….."
As her words dried up the room fell strangely silent. Lavender had stopped dead in her tracks, her smile looked forced now and her eyes seemed to be popping out of her head. Her smile faded as she watched Seamus who was still snogging some girls face off.
It was only then that Hermione realised who it was. It was Padma Patil, Parvati's twin sister.
"Get away from him," Lavender said, moving towards Seamus and Padma. "HE'S MINE."
Everyone seemed to have stopped what they were doing to get a good look at the drama unfolding before their eyes. Padma seemed completely shocked, but Parvati didn't move towards her sister. Instead she tried to tug her best friend out of the common room.
"Come on, Lavender. He's not worth it." Parvati said as she tried in vain to reason with her friend.
"Let go of me Parvati," Lavender cried.
As she struggled to free herself from Parvati's grip Lavender turned back to Seamus, tears rolling down her cheeks. "How could you do this … you bastard." She then grabbed for a bottle of butterbeer beside Seamus and threw it all over him before anyone could stop her.
"Woah, Lav! What did you do that for?" Seamus said, standing up and trying to mop up some of the butterbeer.
"BECAUSE YOU'RE A TWO TIMING BASTARD, THAT'S WHY!" Lavender screamed.
She tried to slap Seamus but he dodged out of the way just in time leaving a very pissed off Lavender to lose her balance and go crashing onto the sofa. Just as she was about to go after him again the portrait hole opened with a bang.
"What is going on here?"
It was none other than Professor McGonagall, head of Gryffindor house. Everybody watched as she climbed through the portrait hole and into the common room wearing her tartan dressing-gown and hair-net. Her lips were pressed tightly together and he face was white with anger.
"In all my life I've never heard such a noise," McGonagall said as she made her way towards Seamus, Padma and Lavender.
"What are you doing in here Miss Patil?" She said addressing Padma when she had finally reached them. "This is not your common room. Please wait outside and I will escort you back to your rightful house."
Padma almost ran to the portrait hole, nearly tripping over her own blue robes in the process.
When Padma had left, McGonagall stared down at Lavender, obviously waiting for an explanation, but Lavender didn't say anything. Instead she looked around the room and saw everyone's eyes upon her. She saw Hermione and Ginny looking at her with pity in their eyes. She saw Ron, Harry and Dean staring at her as if she'd lost her marbles and she saw Parvati at her side. She then returned her gaze back to the Professor who was still waiting for an answer.
"Well!" She said.
"It wasn't me Professor," Lavender said, not wanting to get the blame. "It was him."
Lavender broke into tears and Parvati knelt down beside her best friend to try and comfort her.
~*~
"What was all that about?" asked Ron, walking over to Hermione and Ginny when McGonagall had finally left. Lavender and Parvati had gone up to their room.
"Well, you should be asking boy wonder over there," Hermione said with a scowl. "I'm going to see if Lavender's okay. "
"Must be bad," Ron said not taking his eyes off Hermione. "She's in a right foul mood, isn't she?"
"Yeah," Harry said. "and for once it has nothing to do with you."
When both Hermione and Ginny had left Ron, Harry and Dean went over to Seamus to try and get the full report.
"Seamus?" Dean said with a chuckle. "What did you do this time?"
Seamus was still soaking from the bottle of butterbeer that had been thrown over him. Dean, Ron and Harry who hadn't seen Seamus kissing Padma were totally in the dark about what had just happened.
"Well, I sort of kissed Padma …." Seamus explained.
"You what?" Dean said not quite believing what he was hearing. "You kissed Padma -"
"Parvati's twin sister?" Ron asked.
"Yes you idiot. How many Padma's do you know?!"
Ron's ears went slightly pink. "You shouldn't be having a go at me." He said. "You snogged some girl when you have a perfectly good girlfriend already."
"You bloody go out with her then! See how you like spending time with Lavender -"
"Nah," Harry spoke up. "He's saving himself for herm - Ouch! What was that for?"
Ignoring the fact that Ron had just elbowed Harry in the stomach, Dean turned back to his best friend.
"We all know what Lavender's like, but even so - bad idea mate." Dean said. "Never ever cheat on your girlfriend. Girls - they gang up and they get mad. Seamus old buddy, I wouldn't like to be in your shoes."
Harry and Ron both shook their head in agreement.
"Girls know how to get revenge," Ron stated. "trust me I know."
~*~
Lavender, Parvati and Hermione were among the few Gryffindors that made it to breakfast the next morning. Everybody was still in bed recovering from the night before including Seamus.
"Hi Gin." Hermione said, greeting her friend as she walked into the Great Hall.
Ginny smiled back in return as she sat down opposite Hermione. As she helped herself to some bacon she glanced over to where Lavender was sitting beside Parvati and wondered whether she was feeling any better. By the looks on her stormy face, Ginny would say that her mood wouldn't be changing any time soon.
"Feeling any better today Lav?" Hermione asked, looking up from her plate after a minute of silence.
"No." She answered shortly not even looking up. She began to move her food around her plate without saying a word.
Hermione hadn't expected Lavender to say that she was fine. She thought about how she would be feeling if it had happened to her. For one, she wouldn't be at breakfast. Hermione pictured herself locked in her room, too embarrassed to see anyone, not letting any of her friends in for days. Not even Ron or Harry! Especially not Ron. He didn't seem like the comforting type anyway. Hermione remembered back in the third year when she had tried to hug Ron after she had been upset, but all she had got was a tap on the head.
"…..Hey, Hermione! Earth to Hermione. Is anybody home….."
Hermione jumped when she heard the voice behind her. She turned around to see who it was.
"Sorry Hermione," Ron said with a snigger. "Didn't disturb you, did I? What were you thinking about anyway? Worrying about how many months we've got left till we have to take our O.W.L's I expect."
"No I …" But she stopped herself. For some reason telling Ron that she was thinking about him seemed weird.
"Stop being childish, Ron." She said simply, not wanting to get into an argument.
Without another word Ron sat down next to her and Harry sat on the opposite side next to Ginny. She watched them shovel food onto their plates while listening to Parvati dishing out some of her own wisdom to make Lavender feel better. However, Hermione began to lose interest in the conversation when she felt Ron lean close to her and whisper something into her ear.
"Hey, feel like digging an escape tunnel - right here in the Great Hall." Ron said, a smug look on his freckled face. "They only broke up last night and I'm sick of hearing about it all ready."
"Ron! really." she said in surprise. Ron had pulled back from her now. Hermione wished he hadn't. For some reason it was nice being so close to Ron …
"She's still upset and all you can do is crack jokes. Don't you even care?"
"Not really."
"I'd be surprised if you cared about anybody but yourself." Hermione shot back moodily, but the moment she had said it she wished she hadn't. Hermione knew Ron was a good person. Well, when he wanted to be in any case.
"That's not true." He bit back "I care about you…."
Hermione held her breath. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Harry and Ginny share a knowing look. As if he had realised what he had said, Ron's ears went pink and he began to explain himself further.
"….. and I care about Harry because you know, he's my best friend. Like you Hermione, you're my best friend too. That's …. That's why I said I care about you … and I care about Ginny."
Ron glanced at Harry and Ginny briefly. Ginny looked as though she was torn between amusement and surprise and Harry looked as though he was fighting the urge not to laugh.
"Okay Ron. I think you've made your point." Harry said with a snigger.
"…….isn't it true Hermione?" Parvati piped up.
"What's true?" Hermione asked, tearing her gaze away from Ron who's ears couldn't get much pinker but Hermione still didn't answer. She had spotted a very disturbing site walking past the Gryffindor table. Seamus was actually walking past them, hand in hand with Padma. Looking puzzled the others turned around to see what she was looking at.
"I can't believe him! The git." Lavender said, jumping to her feet, her bottom lip trembling. Parvati pulled Lavender back to her seat before her friend could run after them.
"Stay here," Parvati said. "I'll go have a word with my sister." With that she walked over to them.
Hermione couldn't believe what she had seen. Seamus was being completely cruel and she didn't want to know what Padma was playing at.
"Forget about him." Harry said, breaking the silence.
"Yeah," Ron joined in. "You don't need him."
Lavender smiled slightly, grateful that her friends were making an effort to cheer her up but she was still planning revenge. Seamus would pay for what he had done to her and nobody better try and stop her.
~*~
"I see Lavender's got over Seamus pretty quickly." Ron said as he watched Lavender flirt with a sixth year Hufflepuff in the library two days after they had seen Seamus holding hands with Padma. As Hermione pulled her heavy bag over her shoulder, which was full of library books she looked up to see what Ron was talking about.
"That's strange," Hermione frowned. "I thought Lavender was planning some really horrible revenge like cursing Seamus so he'd die a brutal death or something mad like that."
"Nah, she's obviously over him already." Ron said.
Just then Parvati walked over to them, her arms loaded down with books. When she reached Hermione and Ron she dropped the books onto the table next to them.
"I can't believe Snape's given us so much homework." She said with a sigh. "Is it me or does he get worse every year?!"
"It's not just you. Greasy haired git. Ruined my week, that has." Ron mumbled darkly, picking up his own bag, which was considerably lighter than Hermione's.
"Ruined your week?" Hermione said. "What? is it interfering with your very busy schedule of doing nothing because …"
"Don't nag!" Ron said rolling his eyes. "I don't want to spend the rest of my life in the library listening to you ramble on thanks."
"All you do is sit on your .. backside Ron Weasley. The O.W.L's …
"My god Hermione!" Ron grinned. "I wondered how long you would last without -"
"Excuse me!" Parvati cut in. "Do you two ever stop fighting?"
"Oh, Parvati!" Hermione said as if seeing her for the first time. "You never told us what you said to your sister."
"Ah well, Seamus told her some lie I think." She answered gloomily. "Apparently, Seamus was going to break up with Lavender anyway."
"And what? You actually believe that?" Hermione asked.
"I don't know. Even if it is true it doesn't excuse what he did to Lavender, does it?"
As she talked, Parvati noticed her friend laughing happily with a good looking sixth year she'd never met. Parvati was more than a little surprised with her friends behaviour. After all, she knew how much Lavender had loved Seamus. Something just didn't add up. Parvati felt like she was stuck in the middle because Lavender was her best friend but then again Padma was her sister, her twin sister!
"I'm sure she'll get over it." Ron said impatiently. "Come on, let's go Hermione!"
"Ron your so …." Hermione started.
"Obnoxious? Despicable? Abhorrent? Or maybe I'm all of the above." Ron said with a grin. "Now are we going?"
Without waiting for an answer, Ron turned on his heel and began to leave the library.
"He missed out repugnant." Hermione whispered. She then turned to Parvati. "I'll see you later."
~*~
Meanwhile, Seamus and Dean sat in their dorm room talking about the weeks past events. Seamus was grateful that at least his best friend seemed to be talking to him as the rest of his friends had completely ignored him, which Seamus couldn't blame them for of course.
"I told Padma I was going to finish with Lav anyway - which I was." Seamus said. "I know that kiss was bad timing but -"
"Bad timing, mate that's a bit of an understatement, isn't it?!"
"Don't you start -" Seamus began but Dean cut him off.
"So, were you actually going to dump Lavender or was that one of your famous lies, designed to get you off the hook."
"No, no I really meant to finish with Lavender," Seamus stated. He looked at the floor, pushing his sandy coloured hair from his worried face. "I just didn't go about it the right way, that's all."
"You can say that again mate." And with that Dean gave Seamus a friendly slap on the back and headed for the common room leaving his friend to think.
Just as Dean came into the common room from the boys staircase, Hermione and Ron were entering through the portrait hole. He smiled and went over to them.
"Hey guys, what's been going on?!"
"Nothing much," Ron answered, throwing his bag aside. "Hermione dragged me to the library to finish off Snape's homework. It hasn't got to be in till next week either."
"Stop moaning Ron. You didn't have to go with me."
Hermione, who was now sitting next to the fire, had started to lay her books out on the table in front of her. Dean chuckled and changed the subject, trying to stop the two arguing with each other.
"Anything interesting happen on your travels?" Dean asked, as they make their way over to Hermione.
"Apart from Hermione being a know -"
"We saw Parvati." She cut in.
"Oh, yeah and what did she have to say for herself then?" Dean asked in a dull voice. He had a feeling this had something to do with 'the kiss'. He hoped it didn't because Dean was sick of hearing about it and by the look on his friends face, Ron felt the same way.
"Oh, she was just saying how Seamus fed her sister some lie about breaking up with Lavender." She started. "I mean to say, even if that was true he shouldn't have kissed Padma! Parvati seems really worried about her -"
"She seems fine to me." Ron said. "Back to her old ways and everything. You should have seen her flirting with some guy Dean -"
"Ron really, how do you know?! She's really hurting at the moment."
Upon hearing this Ron and Dean looked at each other and both burst out laughing. At the same moment Hermione noticed Lavender standing by the portrait hole. Hermione didn't know how long she had been there but her face looked slightly pink from anger. The laugher suddenly stopped as both the boys looked over their shoulders to find Lavender standing by the door not looking too impressed. They watched as she walked across the common room and up to her own dorm without saying a word.
"See what you did!" Hermione whispered angrily snapping her Potions book shut. "And I expected more of you Dean." She continued. "Acting as childish as Ron - "
"Hey!!" Ron said, offended, but before Ron could say anything else Hermione picked up her bag and headed towards the girls staircase.
"Oh dear," said Harry. He had entered the common room just in time to hear the tale end of the argument. "What did you do to upset her this time Ron?"
"What!" Ron yelled hotly. "I like it how I always get the bloody blame. It was Dean as well -"
"She seems to have it in for you mate." Dean said, laughing. "Come on, let's go down to dinner."
~*~
The next morning Lavender woke up with a smile on her face. Sure, the last week had been terrible but she could start carrying out her revenge now that everything was sorted out in her head.
And the plan was to make sure Seamus had no friends left, not even Dean. She would start the process when they went to Hogsmeade this Saturday. As far as she knew the whole gang were going, including Seamus. Hermione, Ginny and Parvati had said that they would stay at Hogwarts with her but she had refused, saying that she didn't want to break up the gang.
"Oh no," She said to herself. "I don't want to be the reason for our cosy little gang breaking up, do I?" And anyway, Hogsmeade was the prefect place to show him that he hadn't got to her.
Of course, all her girlfriends had been impressed with the way she seemed to be handling things and so they had agreed that they should go to Hogsmeade after all.
Lavender sat up in bed yawning. She looked over to where Hermione and Parvati were still sleeping, their curtains closed around their four poster beds. It had been so easy to get them on her side, turning them against Seamus in the process. Parvati was her best friend after all and Hermione was disgusted with what Seamus had done. As for Ginny, well whatever Hermione thought she seemed to go along with it anyway.
As for the boys - Harry seemed to have more important things on his mind after last year. Her real problem was Dean and Ron. They didn't seem to care about what Seamus had done and yesterday she had even caught them laughing about it. Even though Dean was Seamus' best friend she had decided that Ron was the worst threat to her plans with his 'don't care' attitude problem. And so the idea had come to her yesterday afternoon when she had been listening to Hermione rambling on about how heartless boys seemed to be. She was going to get Ron to be her boyfriend. It was perfect. Then he would have to care about what Seamus did to her.
Her first idea had been to get Dean fancying her but he had more brains than Ron and wouldn't fall for it as easily. Plus, she had to admit, Ron was cuter. And anyway, Dean would see the error of his best friends ways and come over to her side once everyone else was. It was perfect.
~*~
Seamus jumped up from his seat in the common room when he saw Hermione and Parvati coming down from their dorm. After a week of misery Seamus was glad that things seemed to be getting back to normal. After all, they had invited him to Hogsmeade with them although he feared that it was more of the boys idea than the girls.
"Hey Hermione, Parvati." Seamus said "Are you ready? The others are waiting in the Great Hall."
Seamus was trying to make an effort with them. Judging by the look on their faces, they weren't as forgiving as Seamus would have thought. As they made their way towards the portrait hole, heading for the others, Seamus tried to think of something else to say. Parvati didn't seem to want to know him and Hermione was obviously deep in thought.
"So, er … Parvati you look pretty ….."
Seamus stopped himself. That defiantly wasn't the way to go. He had to remember that things weren't back to normal with the girls and so he had to watch what he said.
~*~
Hermione didn't say a word as she make her way down to the Great Hall to find the others because she was too busy thinking. The last week had been interesting to say the least. For one she couldn't make out if Lavender was actually over Seamus already or if she was just hiding her true feelings. There was no telling with her.
She didn't know why but Hermione was starting to feel sorry for Seamus. Sure he was a total smoothie and he could be cocky as well but Hermione still liked him. He could be even worse than Ron at times she thought with a smile. And anyway, hadn't Seamus been through enough this week? All said and done, she still felt sorry for Lavender at the same time.
"….. Ron, that was really quite rude." Lavender shouted, laughing at the same time.
Hermione had quite a shock when she entered the Great Hall minutes later. She saw Lavender draped over Ron, her face heavily make over as if she was going to a party instead of just Hogsmeade. Ron was laughing too, but he didn't seem comfortable giving the fact that Lavender was standing so close to him.
Hermione glanced over towards Ginny who seemed to be as confused as her. She shrugged to indicate that she didn't know what was going on either.
"Hermione? Are you going to have some breakfast before we go?" She turned around and saw Harry standing beside her.
"No thanks Harry," She answered faking a smile. "I'm not hungry anymore."
" …. So are we going then?" Ron asked, but before anyone could answer Lavender pulled him away, which Ron didn't look too happy about.
"Walk up front with me, Ron." She said, looping her arm through his "I have something amazing to tell you ….."
"What's going on?" Harry said as they followed. "I feel as though I've missed something."
"I wish I knew what it was." Hermione said more to herself than Harry.
To be continued .....
*SLK*
Summery: Lavender wants revenge. So what does Ron have to do with it and why is Hermione so jealous?
Please read and review!
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Chapter One
The Great Revenge
By
Stacey L Kendall
~*~
" …. and he's always telling me how pretty he thinks I am and it certainly helps that he's so attractive too. Of course I always knew he was really into me and you do remember that he invited me to the Yule Ball last year, don't you? We must have looked so great together."
Lavender Brown took a break from talking about her latest boyfriend to apply another coat of deep red lipstick, which complemented her red robes perfectly. She smiled brightly at the reflected view of Hermione and Ginny. They both smiled back weakly, clearly sick of hearing about Lavender's relationship status with one of their own friends. However, Lavender didn't seem to notice their boredom as she continued to apply yet more lipstick.
Lavender had been dating Seamus Finnigan for nearly four weeks, which was a record for both of them. Their activities included snogging each other up some random corner of the common room for what seemed like hours at a time or else they would be arguing over something totally bizarre until they made up minutes later and then they would basically go back to being joined at the mouth.
After a moment of silence, Hermione walked over to the mirror. She examined her own bushy hair briefly before picking up Lavender's brush and combing it all back into a messy ponytail. She then turned to Lavender, placing the brush next to her before she spoke.
"You know, I don't know why your so excited about Seamus. Have you forgotten what he's like?" She said. "Before you two started going out he liked nothing better than to flirt with half the girls in Gryffindor -"
"Not just Gryffindor," Ginny spoke for the first time. "I would say that he liked to flirt with all the girls in Hogwarts. Well, expect for me -"
"Seamus wouldn't dare hit on you Ginny, since you have six older brothers, three of which are still at Hogwarts and anyway, he wouldn't want to endanger his good looks, would he? He'd be lucky to get away with two black eyes once Ron got hold of him," Hermione said, smiling at her friend. "He's got a terrible temper."
Ginny noticed that Hermione seemed to be smiling just a little too much as she mentioned her brothers name, but she didn't say anything. Ginny didn't want to embarrass Hermione in front of their other friend.
"You can strike any Slytherin off that list too," Ginny said, with a smile. "Even Seamus wouldn't sink that low."
Hermione and Ginny giggled as Lavender gave them a nasty look. Even though Seamus liked to throw himself at any willing female candidate who walked his way everybody knew Lavender was exactly the same and so, in some ways they were meant for each other.
Running her hand through her long main of hair, Lavender addressed her friends without looking at them.
"He's with me now," She said, still looking in the mirror. "Why would he want anyone else?"
Ginny smirked, taking time to look at her own reflection in the mirror. She tucked a stray strand of red hair behind her ear and then proceeded to watch Lavender apply mascara to her long lashes. Ginny would like nothing better than to block out Lavender's voice entirely and by the look on Hermione's face, she was thinking the exact same thing.
A moment later Hermione began to walk over to her. Glad that the conversation seemed to be over, Ginny began to walk towards the bathroom door herself.
"She'll never change," Hermione said when they were out of the bathroom.
"Thank Merlin we left." Ginny said, pushing her way through the crowd in the common room. "I was starting to get seriously bored in there."
Hermione glanced around the common room. It was unusually packed that night because they were having a party to celebrate Fred and George's 18th birthday. It was the twins last year at Hogwarts and Hermione was just one of the people who would sorely miss them when they were gone.
After a few seconds Hermione stopped her best friends, Ron Weasley and Harry Potter laughing in a corner of the common room, but before she and Ginny could join them her path was blocked my Parvati Patil. She looked worried and her face was dark, which was quite a difference to her normally happy-giggly manner.
"Hermione, where's Lavender? I need to see her."
"What's the matter?" Hermione asked.
Parvati sighed. "I don't know what to do. It's Seamus - he's over there kissing someone else,"
Without saying anything Hermione and Ginny turned their attention towards the direction, which Parvati was now pointing out to them. They could see Seamus on the sofa kissing some girl but they couldn't make out who it was as her back was turned towards them. Lavender might be up herself but she didn't deserve this kind of humiliation.
"She'll go mad! I've got to find her before she sees."
"She's still in the bathroom." Hermione said. But before she could even make a move towards the bathroom herself, Parvati had pushed her out of the way and had gone to find her best friend, however, Parvati was too late. Moments later Lavender left the girls bathroom smiling brightly with her face heavily made over. Upon meeting her Parvati tried to block her path, but she only seemed interested in getting back to her boyfriend.
Hermione glanced over towards Seamus hoping that the danger might be over but it wasn't.
"….. Parvati," Lavender said "I need to get back to Seamus. He'll be wondering where I….."
As her words dried up the room fell strangely silent. Lavender had stopped dead in her tracks, her smile looked forced now and her eyes seemed to be popping out of her head. Her smile faded as she watched Seamus who was still snogging some girls face off.
It was only then that Hermione realised who it was. It was Padma Patil, Parvati's twin sister.
"Get away from him," Lavender said, moving towards Seamus and Padma. "HE'S MINE."
Everyone seemed to have stopped what they were doing to get a good look at the drama unfolding before their eyes. Padma seemed completely shocked, but Parvati didn't move towards her sister. Instead she tried to tug her best friend out of the common room.
"Come on, Lavender. He's not worth it." Parvati said as she tried in vain to reason with her friend.
"Let go of me Parvati," Lavender cried.
As she struggled to free herself from Parvati's grip Lavender turned back to Seamus, tears rolling down her cheeks. "How could you do this … you bastard." She then grabbed for a bottle of butterbeer beside Seamus and threw it all over him before anyone could stop her.
"Woah, Lav! What did you do that for?" Seamus said, standing up and trying to mop up some of the butterbeer.
"BECAUSE YOU'RE A TWO TIMING BASTARD, THAT'S WHY!" Lavender screamed.
She tried to slap Seamus but he dodged out of the way just in time leaving a very pissed off Lavender to lose her balance and go crashing onto the sofa. Just as she was about to go after him again the portrait hole opened with a bang.
"What is going on here?"
It was none other than Professor McGonagall, head of Gryffindor house. Everybody watched as she climbed through the portrait hole and into the common room wearing her tartan dressing-gown and hair-net. Her lips were pressed tightly together and he face was white with anger.
"In all my life I've never heard such a noise," McGonagall said as she made her way towards Seamus, Padma and Lavender.
"What are you doing in here Miss Patil?" She said addressing Padma when she had finally reached them. "This is not your common room. Please wait outside and I will escort you back to your rightful house."
Padma almost ran to the portrait hole, nearly tripping over her own blue robes in the process.
When Padma had left, McGonagall stared down at Lavender, obviously waiting for an explanation, but Lavender didn't say anything. Instead she looked around the room and saw everyone's eyes upon her. She saw Hermione and Ginny looking at her with pity in their eyes. She saw Ron, Harry and Dean staring at her as if she'd lost her marbles and she saw Parvati at her side. She then returned her gaze back to the Professor who was still waiting for an answer.
"Well!" She said.
"It wasn't me Professor," Lavender said, not wanting to get the blame. "It was him."
Lavender broke into tears and Parvati knelt down beside her best friend to try and comfort her.
~*~
"What was all that about?" asked Ron, walking over to Hermione and Ginny when McGonagall had finally left. Lavender and Parvati had gone up to their room.
"Well, you should be asking boy wonder over there," Hermione said with a scowl. "I'm going to see if Lavender's okay. "
"Must be bad," Ron said not taking his eyes off Hermione. "She's in a right foul mood, isn't she?"
"Yeah," Harry said. "and for once it has nothing to do with you."
When both Hermione and Ginny had left Ron, Harry and Dean went over to Seamus to try and get the full report.
"Seamus?" Dean said with a chuckle. "What did you do this time?"
Seamus was still soaking from the bottle of butterbeer that had been thrown over him. Dean, Ron and Harry who hadn't seen Seamus kissing Padma were totally in the dark about what had just happened.
"Well, I sort of kissed Padma …." Seamus explained.
"You what?" Dean said not quite believing what he was hearing. "You kissed Padma -"
"Parvati's twin sister?" Ron asked.
"Yes you idiot. How many Padma's do you know?!"
Ron's ears went slightly pink. "You shouldn't be having a go at me." He said. "You snogged some girl when you have a perfectly good girlfriend already."
"You bloody go out with her then! See how you like spending time with Lavender -"
"Nah," Harry spoke up. "He's saving himself for herm - Ouch! What was that for?"
Ignoring the fact that Ron had just elbowed Harry in the stomach, Dean turned back to his best friend.
"We all know what Lavender's like, but even so - bad idea mate." Dean said. "Never ever cheat on your girlfriend. Girls - they gang up and they get mad. Seamus old buddy, I wouldn't like to be in your shoes."
Harry and Ron both shook their head in agreement.
"Girls know how to get revenge," Ron stated. "trust me I know."
~*~
Lavender, Parvati and Hermione were among the few Gryffindors that made it to breakfast the next morning. Everybody was still in bed recovering from the night before including Seamus.
"Hi Gin." Hermione said, greeting her friend as she walked into the Great Hall.
Ginny smiled back in return as she sat down opposite Hermione. As she helped herself to some bacon she glanced over to where Lavender was sitting beside Parvati and wondered whether she was feeling any better. By the looks on her stormy face, Ginny would say that her mood wouldn't be changing any time soon.
"Feeling any better today Lav?" Hermione asked, looking up from her plate after a minute of silence.
"No." She answered shortly not even looking up. She began to move her food around her plate without saying a word.
Hermione hadn't expected Lavender to say that she was fine. She thought about how she would be feeling if it had happened to her. For one, she wouldn't be at breakfast. Hermione pictured herself locked in her room, too embarrassed to see anyone, not letting any of her friends in for days. Not even Ron or Harry! Especially not Ron. He didn't seem like the comforting type anyway. Hermione remembered back in the third year when she had tried to hug Ron after she had been upset, but all she had got was a tap on the head.
"…..Hey, Hermione! Earth to Hermione. Is anybody home….."
Hermione jumped when she heard the voice behind her. She turned around to see who it was.
"Sorry Hermione," Ron said with a snigger. "Didn't disturb you, did I? What were you thinking about anyway? Worrying about how many months we've got left till we have to take our O.W.L's I expect."
"No I …" But she stopped herself. For some reason telling Ron that she was thinking about him seemed weird.
"Stop being childish, Ron." She said simply, not wanting to get into an argument.
Without another word Ron sat down next to her and Harry sat on the opposite side next to Ginny. She watched them shovel food onto their plates while listening to Parvati dishing out some of her own wisdom to make Lavender feel better. However, Hermione began to lose interest in the conversation when she felt Ron lean close to her and whisper something into her ear.
"Hey, feel like digging an escape tunnel - right here in the Great Hall." Ron said, a smug look on his freckled face. "They only broke up last night and I'm sick of hearing about it all ready."
"Ron! really." she said in surprise. Ron had pulled back from her now. Hermione wished he hadn't. For some reason it was nice being so close to Ron …
"She's still upset and all you can do is crack jokes. Don't you even care?"
"Not really."
"I'd be surprised if you cared about anybody but yourself." Hermione shot back moodily, but the moment she had said it she wished she hadn't. Hermione knew Ron was a good person. Well, when he wanted to be in any case.
"That's not true." He bit back "I care about you…."
Hermione held her breath. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Harry and Ginny share a knowing look. As if he had realised what he had said, Ron's ears went pink and he began to explain himself further.
"….. and I care about Harry because you know, he's my best friend. Like you Hermione, you're my best friend too. That's …. That's why I said I care about you … and I care about Ginny."
Ron glanced at Harry and Ginny briefly. Ginny looked as though she was torn between amusement and surprise and Harry looked as though he was fighting the urge not to laugh.
"Okay Ron. I think you've made your point." Harry said with a snigger.
"…….isn't it true Hermione?" Parvati piped up.
"What's true?" Hermione asked, tearing her gaze away from Ron who's ears couldn't get much pinker but Hermione still didn't answer. She had spotted a very disturbing site walking past the Gryffindor table. Seamus was actually walking past them, hand in hand with Padma. Looking puzzled the others turned around to see what she was looking at.
"I can't believe him! The git." Lavender said, jumping to her feet, her bottom lip trembling. Parvati pulled Lavender back to her seat before her friend could run after them.
"Stay here," Parvati said. "I'll go have a word with my sister." With that she walked over to them.
Hermione couldn't believe what she had seen. Seamus was being completely cruel and she didn't want to know what Padma was playing at.
"Forget about him." Harry said, breaking the silence.
"Yeah," Ron joined in. "You don't need him."
Lavender smiled slightly, grateful that her friends were making an effort to cheer her up but she was still planning revenge. Seamus would pay for what he had done to her and nobody better try and stop her.
~*~
"I see Lavender's got over Seamus pretty quickly." Ron said as he watched Lavender flirt with a sixth year Hufflepuff in the library two days after they had seen Seamus holding hands with Padma. As Hermione pulled her heavy bag over her shoulder, which was full of library books she looked up to see what Ron was talking about.
"That's strange," Hermione frowned. "I thought Lavender was planning some really horrible revenge like cursing Seamus so he'd die a brutal death or something mad like that."
"Nah, she's obviously over him already." Ron said.
Just then Parvati walked over to them, her arms loaded down with books. When she reached Hermione and Ron she dropped the books onto the table next to them.
"I can't believe Snape's given us so much homework." She said with a sigh. "Is it me or does he get worse every year?!"
"It's not just you. Greasy haired git. Ruined my week, that has." Ron mumbled darkly, picking up his own bag, which was considerably lighter than Hermione's.
"Ruined your week?" Hermione said. "What? is it interfering with your very busy schedule of doing nothing because …"
"Don't nag!" Ron said rolling his eyes. "I don't want to spend the rest of my life in the library listening to you ramble on thanks."
"All you do is sit on your .. backside Ron Weasley. The O.W.L's …
"My god Hermione!" Ron grinned. "I wondered how long you would last without -"
"Excuse me!" Parvati cut in. "Do you two ever stop fighting?"
"Oh, Parvati!" Hermione said as if seeing her for the first time. "You never told us what you said to your sister."
"Ah well, Seamus told her some lie I think." She answered gloomily. "Apparently, Seamus was going to break up with Lavender anyway."
"And what? You actually believe that?" Hermione asked.
"I don't know. Even if it is true it doesn't excuse what he did to Lavender, does it?"
As she talked, Parvati noticed her friend laughing happily with a good looking sixth year she'd never met. Parvati was more than a little surprised with her friends behaviour. After all, she knew how much Lavender had loved Seamus. Something just didn't add up. Parvati felt like she was stuck in the middle because Lavender was her best friend but then again Padma was her sister, her twin sister!
"I'm sure she'll get over it." Ron said impatiently. "Come on, let's go Hermione!"
"Ron your so …." Hermione started.
"Obnoxious? Despicable? Abhorrent? Or maybe I'm all of the above." Ron said with a grin. "Now are we going?"
Without waiting for an answer, Ron turned on his heel and began to leave the library.
"He missed out repugnant." Hermione whispered. She then turned to Parvati. "I'll see you later."
~*~
Meanwhile, Seamus and Dean sat in their dorm room talking about the weeks past events. Seamus was grateful that at least his best friend seemed to be talking to him as the rest of his friends had completely ignored him, which Seamus couldn't blame them for of course.
"I told Padma I was going to finish with Lav anyway - which I was." Seamus said. "I know that kiss was bad timing but -"
"Bad timing, mate that's a bit of an understatement, isn't it?!"
"Don't you start -" Seamus began but Dean cut him off.
"So, were you actually going to dump Lavender or was that one of your famous lies, designed to get you off the hook."
"No, no I really meant to finish with Lavender," Seamus stated. He looked at the floor, pushing his sandy coloured hair from his worried face. "I just didn't go about it the right way, that's all."
"You can say that again mate." And with that Dean gave Seamus a friendly slap on the back and headed for the common room leaving his friend to think.
Just as Dean came into the common room from the boys staircase, Hermione and Ron were entering through the portrait hole. He smiled and went over to them.
"Hey guys, what's been going on?!"
"Nothing much," Ron answered, throwing his bag aside. "Hermione dragged me to the library to finish off Snape's homework. It hasn't got to be in till next week either."
"Stop moaning Ron. You didn't have to go with me."
Hermione, who was now sitting next to the fire, had started to lay her books out on the table in front of her. Dean chuckled and changed the subject, trying to stop the two arguing with each other.
"Anything interesting happen on your travels?" Dean asked, as they make their way over to Hermione.
"Apart from Hermione being a know -"
"We saw Parvati." She cut in.
"Oh, yeah and what did she have to say for herself then?" Dean asked in a dull voice. He had a feeling this had something to do with 'the kiss'. He hoped it didn't because Dean was sick of hearing about it and by the look on his friends face, Ron felt the same way.
"Oh, she was just saying how Seamus fed her sister some lie about breaking up with Lavender." She started. "I mean to say, even if that was true he shouldn't have kissed Padma! Parvati seems really worried about her -"
"She seems fine to me." Ron said. "Back to her old ways and everything. You should have seen her flirting with some guy Dean -"
"Ron really, how do you know?! She's really hurting at the moment."
Upon hearing this Ron and Dean looked at each other and both burst out laughing. At the same moment Hermione noticed Lavender standing by the portrait hole. Hermione didn't know how long she had been there but her face looked slightly pink from anger. The laugher suddenly stopped as both the boys looked over their shoulders to find Lavender standing by the door not looking too impressed. They watched as she walked across the common room and up to her own dorm without saying a word.
"See what you did!" Hermione whispered angrily snapping her Potions book shut. "And I expected more of you Dean." She continued. "Acting as childish as Ron - "
"Hey!!" Ron said, offended, but before Ron could say anything else Hermione picked up her bag and headed towards the girls staircase.
"Oh dear," said Harry. He had entered the common room just in time to hear the tale end of the argument. "What did you do to upset her this time Ron?"
"What!" Ron yelled hotly. "I like it how I always get the bloody blame. It was Dean as well -"
"She seems to have it in for you mate." Dean said, laughing. "Come on, let's go down to dinner."
~*~
The next morning Lavender woke up with a smile on her face. Sure, the last week had been terrible but she could start carrying out her revenge now that everything was sorted out in her head.
And the plan was to make sure Seamus had no friends left, not even Dean. She would start the process when they went to Hogsmeade this Saturday. As far as she knew the whole gang were going, including Seamus. Hermione, Ginny and Parvati had said that they would stay at Hogwarts with her but she had refused, saying that she didn't want to break up the gang.
"Oh no," She said to herself. "I don't want to be the reason for our cosy little gang breaking up, do I?" And anyway, Hogsmeade was the prefect place to show him that he hadn't got to her.
Of course, all her girlfriends had been impressed with the way she seemed to be handling things and so they had agreed that they should go to Hogsmeade after all.
Lavender sat up in bed yawning. She looked over to where Hermione and Parvati were still sleeping, their curtains closed around their four poster beds. It had been so easy to get them on her side, turning them against Seamus in the process. Parvati was her best friend after all and Hermione was disgusted with what Seamus had done. As for Ginny, well whatever Hermione thought she seemed to go along with it anyway.
As for the boys - Harry seemed to have more important things on his mind after last year. Her real problem was Dean and Ron. They didn't seem to care about what Seamus had done and yesterday she had even caught them laughing about it. Even though Dean was Seamus' best friend she had decided that Ron was the worst threat to her plans with his 'don't care' attitude problem. And so the idea had come to her yesterday afternoon when she had been listening to Hermione rambling on about how heartless boys seemed to be. She was going to get Ron to be her boyfriend. It was perfect. Then he would have to care about what Seamus did to her.
Her first idea had been to get Dean fancying her but he had more brains than Ron and wouldn't fall for it as easily. Plus, she had to admit, Ron was cuter. And anyway, Dean would see the error of his best friends ways and come over to her side once everyone else was. It was perfect.
~*~
Seamus jumped up from his seat in the common room when he saw Hermione and Parvati coming down from their dorm. After a week of misery Seamus was glad that things seemed to be getting back to normal. After all, they had invited him to Hogsmeade with them although he feared that it was more of the boys idea than the girls.
"Hey Hermione, Parvati." Seamus said "Are you ready? The others are waiting in the Great Hall."
Seamus was trying to make an effort with them. Judging by the look on their faces, they weren't as forgiving as Seamus would have thought. As they made their way towards the portrait hole, heading for the others, Seamus tried to think of something else to say. Parvati didn't seem to want to know him and Hermione was obviously deep in thought.
"So, er … Parvati you look pretty ….."
Seamus stopped himself. That defiantly wasn't the way to go. He had to remember that things weren't back to normal with the girls and so he had to watch what he said.
~*~
Hermione didn't say a word as she make her way down to the Great Hall to find the others because she was too busy thinking. The last week had been interesting to say the least. For one she couldn't make out if Lavender was actually over Seamus already or if she was just hiding her true feelings. There was no telling with her.
She didn't know why but Hermione was starting to feel sorry for Seamus. Sure he was a total smoothie and he could be cocky as well but Hermione still liked him. He could be even worse than Ron at times she thought with a smile. And anyway, hadn't Seamus been through enough this week? All said and done, she still felt sorry for Lavender at the same time.
"….. Ron, that was really quite rude." Lavender shouted, laughing at the same time.
Hermione had quite a shock when she entered the Great Hall minutes later. She saw Lavender draped over Ron, her face heavily make over as if she was going to a party instead of just Hogsmeade. Ron was laughing too, but he didn't seem comfortable giving the fact that Lavender was standing so close to him.
Hermione glanced over towards Ginny who seemed to be as confused as her. She shrugged to indicate that she didn't know what was going on either.
"Hermione? Are you going to have some breakfast before we go?" She turned around and saw Harry standing beside her.
"No thanks Harry," She answered faking a smile. "I'm not hungry anymore."
" …. So are we going then?" Ron asked, but before anyone could answer Lavender pulled him away, which Ron didn't look too happy about.
"Walk up front with me, Ron." She said, looping her arm through his "I have something amazing to tell you ….."
"What's going on?" Harry said as they followed. "I feel as though I've missed something."
"I wish I knew what it was." Hermione said more to herself than Harry.
To be continued .....
*SLK*