Daffodil Petals, Lavender Tears
Summary: Lavender makes a difficult decision and is almost near regretting her actions when Seamus shows his true colors.
Author's Note: Not my normal pairing, not my normal style. The idea came, fully attached with title and winning lines. It's certainly been fun to write.
Lavender threw herself down in the huge field, letting her honeyed hair splay out behind her head, rippling it's way over the stalks of waving grass. She inhaled deeply and the smell of thousands of daffodils. Not many people came to the wildflower fields behind Hogwarts- Lavender had never before felt compelled to roll in the pollen trap- but they were thriving in full measure.
If she craned her neck in such a way, Lavender could just make out the window of the boy's dorms in Gryffindor Tower. Scarlet curtains were flapping in the light spring breeze, and Lavender sighed like an elderly woman. She had almost done it. She had almost…but then she had remembered her promise to her mother. The shame made her cheeks burn.
Things had gotten out of control, as things often do when teenage hormones rage and young couples sneak off to neck. Seamus and her had never done anything before, and they had an unspoken agreement as to where the playfulness stopped. But this one time…it had been different. They were up in the quiet tower, and he had very sweetly asked her permission before he kissed her. It got more complicated from there.
She had found herself asking questions rapidly in her mind. "Do I maybe love him? I certainly like him a lot…maybe this isn't such a bad idea…" But then her blouse was going over her head and she had heard her mothers pleas to "wait". The sun glinted off of her promise ring on her left hand. She had made the best and worst decision.
Seamus and her were a new couple, and she had thoroughly enjoyed his companionship thus far. But she was sure things were over now. After all, hadn't Patil told her that was what boys were all about, anyway? Then, she had been getting over a bad breakup with her Beaubaxtons boy…but still, Patil knew what she was talking about. Lavender bit her lip angrily to fight back tears. She was going to lose her boyfriend because she wasn't going to do something rash and stupid. How unfair.
Rolling over onto her stomach, Lavender contemplated the daffodils that were perfuming the air around her. She watched the petals waving gently in the wind, and reached out her hand to snap a stem in half. The flower quivered as a gust ruffled Lavender's hair, and she began to pluck the petals viciously.
"He loves me, he loves me not. He loves me, he loves me not. He loves me, he loves me not…" Her voice rang out and the wind played with the words. Finally, there was only one petal left clinging to the head of the plant.
"He loves me not…of course he doesn't…" And, very childishly, she burst into tears. It was all just much too much.
"Wait! Er- don't cry…" The voice made her head snap up, and she jerked around to stare up a Seamus himself. She felt herself blushing and became insatiably interested in the pile of separate petals in her lap. Seamus moved a couple steps closer and sat down next to her, leaving a comfortable space between them.
"You've forgotten one," he said awkwardly, and he lay something atop the heap of daffodil petals in her lap. It was the stem of a plant, much like one Lavender had just discarded, but this one was a little different. A difference of one single petal. She looked up at him with watery, confused eyes.
Seamus sighed and took back the stem. "You see, it works like this." He grasped the petal and pulled. "He loves me…he loves you." Suddenly he was staring at the ground, cheeks noticeably brighter. "At least, he likes you a lot."
Lavender swallowed the lump in her throat with difficulty. "Really?"
Seamus, still staring at the ground, nodded heartily. "Really."
"Even though-"
"Yes…even though no matter what. Really."
Lavender swallowed again, smiled, and stood up, brushing off her robes. Seamus stood up next her, finally looking at her again, and he smiled back.
"So what now?"
Seamus shrugged, looking at her carefully, trying to read her expression.
"Anything."
"Okay," said Lavender, grinning now.
"Yeah, okay."
They walked away, hand in hand.