Challenges:
Twister Challenge - Prompt: Bad hair day.
Amortentia Club - Hermione/Lavender. Prompts - Peppermint, the Ocean, Cotton.
Weakness Challenge - Femslash: Write about a female character having unrequited feelings for another female character.
Hermione rubbed the towel through her hair, looking at herself in the mirror. She sighed in exasperation, looking at the bottle of sleekeazy she used to calm her curls - not that it make really that much of a difference, though, she liked the smell of Peppermint that the product left.
She threw the empty bottle into the bin, before trying to run a comb through her unruly locks.
"What's wrong?" Lavender asked, coming into the room and seeing the Head-girl glare at herself in the mirror.
"Bad hair day," Hermione mumbled.
"Isn't it a bad hair day everyday?" Lavender asked. "Sorry, I didn't mean to be rude," she added seeing the annoyed look cross Hermione's face. "Personally I think you have beautiful hair - the only problem is that it's so wild. Here, let me deal with it."
Hermione looked at her suspiciously, but nodded her head.
Lavender pulled her down onto the bed, tipping out a bag of hair products. Before Hermione even realised what was happening, her hair was damp and Lavender was smearing thick cream onto it. Hermione made to pull away, but Lavender held her firmly on the bed.
"Just trust me, alright?" She asked. "It should work."
"It smells nice," Hermione offered. The product in her hair smelt like she remembered the ocean to smell.
"It's made with sea-salts," Lavender offered.
Not another word was said for a few minutes, and Lavender used her wand to syphon off the cream, before running a comb through Hermione's hair. This time there were no tangles.
Hermione didn't complain as Lavender poured some clear liquid onto her hands, running it through Hermione's hair.
"Why are you helping me?" she said, as Lavender started to comb her hair again.
"Is it that hard to believe that I want to be friends?" Lavender offered.
"I thought after... Ron, you'd never want to be friends."
"You really don't get it, do you?" Lavender muttered. "Hermione, I'm not mad that Ron liked you better. I don't blame him for liking you."
"Really?" Hermione was doubtful.
"Really, I have no interest in Ron," she said, hoping Hermione understood what she was trying to say.
"I'm glad," Hermione said, her voice slightly softer. "Maybe we can start over, be friends?"
Lavender nodded eagerly. "I'd like that. So, why is it you wanted your hair sorted?"
"I'm off to Hogsmeade with Neville," Hermione admitted, blushing. "I was too hung up on Ron before to notice anyone else, but after we dated for a couple of months... well, I realised that I didn't feel for Ron like I thought I did and I opened my eyes and realised that Neville had always been there for me."
"He has?" Lavender kept the bitterness out of her voice.
"The first day on the train, he was the very first person I met," Hermione said. "No matter what Rita Skeeter wrote, Neville believed in me. He asked me to the Yule ball too. He's loyal, he's sweet and -"
"Neville is amazing," Lavender said, hoping that her interruption words would stop Hermione listing his attributes.
"He is," Hermione agreed, getting off the bed, and smoothing down the cotton dress she was wearing. "Thank you so much," she said, giving Lavender a quick hug and seconds later she was out of the door.
Lavender stared after her for a minute.
Friendship was the first step she could take with Hermione. There would be no point getting jealous now. She'd find a way to get Hermione's interest.