She was doomed from the start.
Lavender Brown never really knew what she wanted in her life. She had lots of friends, several boys tripping over each other wanting to be her beau, and parents that loved her and would send her gifts every month or so. However, one thing bothered and eluded her as she watched Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley after the incident in the hospital wing.
What was it that she wanted?
She had loved Ron, and she also assumed he loved her just the same. But that wasn't the case. It had hit her hard reflecting back and realizing Ron never felt the same way about her that she did him. When she would duck into a bathroom to cry, it would be out of self-pity that she never realized that the entire time Ron was with her, he was thinking about Hermione. Maybe she did realize it, but she just never wanted to admit it to herself.
Pavarti would try to console her friend, but it only seemed to make things worse. After awhile, she stopped trying to help Lavender move on. The two were still friends, but a small rift was forming as Lavender isolated herself from everyone around her. Time was spent throwing herself into her books and homework. Her grades began rising, but they weren't as significant as Hermione's. Whenever Lavender and Ron met in the corridors, she would duck around him, avoiding meeting his gaze completely.
It was a month or two after the breakup that Lavender Brown found herself sitting alone at a table in a more secluded part of the library. Rather than be surrounded by the pitying stares of her friends, she chose to read different books on divination. She always did find the subject fascinating, after all. However, she didn't realize someone else had a habit of occupying that corner.
Dark eyes watched Lavender closely. He watched her eyes as she read line after line and her mouth as she silently formed the words she was reading. She was like an innocent rabbit that was being stalked by its predator.
Blaise Zabini was that very predator stalking his "rabbit." Sometimes when he was there, he saw her simply reading, and other times she would be crying, using her scarf to muffle the sounds. It didn't really matter to him why she was upset, but he couldn't say he wasn't intrigued by her in general. One day in particular, she was crying for a much longer period of time than when he normally observed. He stood and moved over to her, holding out a handkerchief to her.
Lavender jumped and looked up at the stranger through blurry eyes. She couldn't tell who it was, nor could she recognize which house the person was in. She just hesitated before taking it and wiping her eyes.
"Th-thank you…," she whispered quietly, her voice scratchy.
Once all the tears were gone, the blonde looked up and gasped, her eyes widening as she realized who it was standing in front of her. Blaise Zabini had caught her crying. How long had he been standing there? Had he seen her crying here before? Was he going to tell the whole school? Many questions rapidly ran through her mind, though there was one that mainly stuck out: why did he give her his handkerchief?
"So are you here to mock me for crying?" she snapped.
He was unfazed by her small outburst. Instead, he leaned down in front of her and tilted her chin up. The next words out of his mouth were not what she was expecting to hear.
"Girls are rather unsightly when they cry. Almost ugly, really."
A hand flew through the air before meeting skin. Lavender had slapped him. She quickly gathered her things before running off, leaving Blaise sitting on the floor staring after her. Maybe she would be someone different…..