A/N: Originally chosen as a challenge for Professor Flitwick's Prompt of the day: 7/16: "ignored and used"…
Who else but Lavender Brown?
For all her life, Lavender had been either ignored or used by everyone she loved; including her parents. Her father, who had been a very important wizard at the Ministry of Magic, ignored her while she desperately tried to gain his attention and favor. Then there were her elder brothers, Periwinkle and Ochre, whose sole mission in life, apparently, was to abuse her abominably. Even her own mother constantly referred to her as, "Umm, you there!"
She made friends at Hogwarts, of course, because she fit right in; she had to be one of the silliest girls in all of wizardom and most every other girl there was just as silly. Her best friend was Parvati Patril and they shared the most intimate of secrets.
It wasn't until her fourth year at Hogwarts that she discovered the love of her life: Ronald Weasley. When she found out that Parvari's twin sister, Padma was to be Ron's date for the Yule Ball, she cried for a week. Why couldn't he have asked her? The infatuation grew and grew until her sixth year when he finally spoke to her. She was on cloud nine and soaring. She'd written their names together: Mrs. Ronald Weasley, Mrs. Lavender Weasley, Mrs. Ronald Brown-Weasley, all over her notebooks and parchments. She even created a spell that had their names up in lights and had flying cupids circling "Ronald loves Lavender".
Then, miraculously in her sixth year, he finally noticed her. They spent the next six weeks blissfully locked in each other's arms. They couldn't keep their hands off the other and it seemed to all who noticed—and there were a lot who DID notice, always to be snogging. And just as suddenly, he was gone. He moved on to apparently the love of his life, Hermione Granger, leaving her once again feeling abandoned and used.
Lavender thought she was destined to be the kind of girl that boys liked to play with but not to keep. She figured that since she'd already lost her one true love, she may as well spent the rest of her days telling fortunes surrounded by a house full of cats. So, bitterly resigned, she made plans to move to Diagon Alley once she finished at Hogwarts and set up some kind of shop.
The war, of course, changed her plans. She was attacked by Fenrir Greyback, and left scarred, leaving her with the remnants of a curse that thankfully never fully developed. The werewolf's claws had slashed across her chest and she refused to undress with the lights on, preferring not to see her once lovely body permanently disfigured.
The war also wiped out most of her family. Her parents and brothers were killed by death eaters and the only living relative she had was her uncle Ephraim Goldenstein. Ephraim managed property in Diagon Alley and he talked Lavender into working for him. She had no other prospects so she agreed. The job came with a furnished apartment, but her uncle wouldn't let her have but one cat and that was for magical purposes, not for companionship. She named her cat Hermes, but called him Wonwon.
Once the war was over and Voldemort dead, the magical community started to revitalize. Many of the shops in Diagon Alley that had been closed due to death eater intervention reopened and there were new businesses opening every day. Ephraim was very happy because he owned most of the property in Diagon Alley so he was able to make a comfortable living managing the various properties. Lavender stayed busy and kept her mind off negative things. She rarely had time to look up much less worry about her love life.
Most evenings were spent with Uncle Ephraim. He was searching for any trace of living relatives, but he wasn't having much luck. There were plenty of distance cousin "Browns" but the Goldenstein's were another story. Every so often Ephraim would tell Lavender that he'd found someone in a far off land and he would take off looking for them. He'd leave her in charge of the business while he was for sometime months at a time. He always came home disappointed. Lavender would make him a cup of tea and tell him he'd find someone very soon.
One morning as Lavender prepared to open her shop for the day, she received an owl from her uncle telling her that he was going to Romania to look for a distant cousin. His last words were, "If this pans out, I shouldn't be gone very long. Please don't tell anyone where I've gone."
Lavender looked at the note and shook her head. Uncle was beginning to become a bit dotty. Oh well, she thought. She liked the office quiet and actually got more done when he was away.
She settled into to a year's worth of filing when the bell attached to the front door started to ring. Looking up, she was surprised to see none other than Ron Weasley and another man Lavender didn't recognize walk in. Lavender stood up nervously and began to fidget. She had no idea what Ron was doing there. For a fleeting moment, she thought maybe he'd left Hermione once he'd come to his senses that it was she he wanted.
"Ron," she said breathlessly. "What are you…?"
Ron looked just as surprised and uncomfortable as she did. "Lavender," he said.
He quickly recovered and dug into his robes and pulled out a Ministry of Magic badge. He flipped it open for her to see. Across the top of the badge were the words, 'Auror Division' and at the bottom, his badge number.
"I didn't know you were an Auror," she said, clutching the back of her chair.
He nodded uncomfortably. The man next to him cleared his throat discreetly. He smiled at her.
"I'm Bishop Graham," he said, still smiling as he pulled out his own badge. "Sorry, I'm Graham Bishop. Old joke," he laughed. "Apparently not funny unless you're a muggle."
"You're a muggle?" she asked, obviously confused.
"Muggle born," he explained.
She nodded dumbly. She tried desperately to keep her eyes off Ron, but she kept looking at him covertly through her lashes. Ron's face was turning redder and he began to turn his badge over and over in his large sweaty hands.
No one spoke for the longest time. Finally Graham flipped his badge back into his robes and said, "Is Ephraim Goldenstein here?"
Lavender looked at Ron and then back to Graham. "Uh, no."
"Do you know when he'll be back?" Ron asked.
Lavender swallowed hard and shook her head. "No."
"Do you know where he went?" Ron's voice was flat and business-like.
Again Lavender shook her head.
"Is he in the habit of taking off and leaving pretty girls in charge?" Graham flirted.
Ron looked at his partner and glared. Lavender blushed and couldn't help the small smile that was threatening to spread across her face.
Graham's smile got bigger and he winked at Lavender. He was trying to put her at ease and it seemed to be working. "Is he your boyfriend?" he asked, nonchalantly.
Lavender laughed. "Goodness, no. He's my uncle. He sent me an owl this morning and said he was going out of town for a while."
"Vacation?" Graham asked playfully.
Lavender shook her head. "He's looking for family members. Most of our family was wiped out during the war and he's looking for some cousins that may have survived. Why do you need to talk my uncle?"
Ron spoke up. "We need to ask him some questions," he said, more gruffly than Lavender was sure he meant to.
"About?" she asked looking at Graham again. It was much easier to look at Graham than having to face Ron.
"This and that," Graham said vaguely. He reached in his robes again and brought out a business card. "Do tell him we came by and we need to talk to him." He hesitated as he handed her the card. "Well, Miss Goldenstein…"
"Brown," Ron and Lavender said at the same time.
He bowed slightly. "Miss Brown," Graham said. "Have a nice day. I'm looking forward to talking to again soon."
She was still nodding as Ron pushed Graham out the door. The bell gave a final ring and they were gone. It was a full five minutes later before Lavender could breath normally again.