A/N: As usual, I consistently continue to pick up the characters I love the most and infuse them with darkness in the most canon compliant way possible. 😕 More of such dark/angsty stories of mine are connected under the series name, 'decayverse'.
Written for the Weekly Character Appreciation Challenge by hillstar on HPFC.
Week 4 (29/05/16-05/06/16): Lavender Brown
Warnings: Language
. ... ..
Nowhere
(Or, A Few Observations And Actions Of Lavender Brown)
She is going nowhere.
Oh, she is on her way to the Astronomy Tower, but her life, perhaps is heading for a bleak nothingness. Ron had abandoned her for that bloody bookworm a few months ago and she is unable to expel that fact out of her head.
Usually she is not one of those girls who quietly cry in a small corner when their boyfriend openly rejects them. Usually she is one of those girls who screams murder and proceeds to scratch the jerk's face.
But Lavender has not been her usual self lately, has she?
Because if she would have been how she normally is, she would not have been making her way to the Tower at this time of the night.
Rumours spread fast at Hogwarts, flitting casually from one conversation to the next, running in a vicious cycle. Last Saturday, she had heard it from Parvati that some fourth year girl was selling illegal potions at very cheap rates in the school premises. Her best friend had heard it from her twin, Padma, who in turn had heard it from some Hufflepuff in her Arithmancy class.
She clearly remembers the moment when Parvati had told her all of this. The two of them had been sitting in The Three Broomsticks, sipping their butterbeers in silence when her friend had abruptly announced it, and Lavender had been about to spit her drink out. The rumour had been too atrocious by even her standards, but she had successfully curbed herself from making a scene.
Now she is here, isn't she, checking it for herself? If it is true she might as well as use it.
The corridors are dark as she walks through them and the cool June wind makes an eery whizzing noise as it rushes in and out of the old school building. She shivers out of fear of encountering Filch and Mrs. Norris. Her shoe clad feet make a tapping noise as she climbs the long, winding staircase and her hands fumble against the rough hewn wall for support.
She wants to light up the path but she does not want to get caught and Lavender sighs as she precariously searches for the steps in the darkness. Her troubles end some ten minutes later when she spots the faint and softly glowing moonlight streaming in from the end. Lavender hurries, deftly moving out the dark blonde strands falling in her eyes with her hands as she does so.
There are people out on the top but it is not much of a crowd. A figure stands in the middle, wearing a black cloak which hides its face and it is talking in hushed tones with a girl. Her eyes widen when she realises that the girl is no one other than Cho Chang. She barely muffles a gasp before the pretty girl brushes past her and disappears into the blackness of the staircase. Two boys follow her shortly afterwards and Lavender finds herself alone with the mysterious seller under the purple, cloudy sky.
"And how can I help you today, Lavender Brown?" a silky voice questions her. The cloaked figure moves towards her with silent and dexterous steps until it is right in front of her. A hand comes to rest lightly on her shoulder and somehow she manages to not flinch backwards. Parvati had told her that this touch on the shoulder is a standard procedure and she tells herself that there is really no reason to dread it. There is some sort of protective enchantment that this contact invokes, or so her friend had informed her.
The figure raises its head to look right into her eyes and Lavender is surprised to be greeted by the smirking face of Romilda Vane.
So a measly (and very, very troublesome) fourth year is really running an illegal potions business in Hogwarts.
Vane starts speaking before she can even utter a single syllable.
"You have been placed under the Spy Networking Spell and you cannot tell anyone with any sort of administrative and disciplinary power about this meeting or any possible future ones, or the consequences would be terrible. Understood?"
The way Vane states all this serious stuff with a slight smirk startles Lavender and she cannot help but nod dumbly in response.
"Good. Now what do you want?"
"Huh?"
"I said what potion do you want? Birdsong, Witansy, Amour or the Felix?"
She has not thought about that at all. What is she supposed to tell her?
And then, quite suddenly, a very good idea strikes her. Ron Weasley is going to come back to her and go crying away. She is desperate, and she can do anything to teach him a lesson. A plans unrolls itself ferociously in her mind.
"Three vials of Amour and one of the Felix."
"Great!" Vane mutters as she hands her the things. "That would be seven Galleons and fifteen Sickles."
The girl gives her a saccharine smile as she takes (more like snatches) the money from her open palm.
"Now, if you don't mind, I have to go see my employer." And just like that, Romilda Vane is out of her sight.
Lavender cannot help but think who her employer is. The sharp, jarring noise of a door closing somewhere breaks her out of her reverie and she runs back to her dormitory.
•••••
The next morning, she downs the Felix.
Ron Weasley better be prepared for what is heading his way.
•••••
During breakfast, Lavender 'accidentally trips' as she tries sitting in the space between Parvati and Ron, scattering all of her essays and books in the process. The boy silently bends down to retrieve her things and for a small, small moment she does not want to carry her plan. But then, her heart skips a beat and she remembers all the pain and humiliation that she had to suffer because of this redhead brat.
Hermione Granger sends a long, withering glare her way before sniffing her nose purposelessly and turning the other way to talk to Potter.
Good, look away, you whiny prude, she thinks.
Lavender bends ever so slightly and tips the three vials of Amour into Ron's goblet of pumpkin juice. She has drunk the Felix and she knows that no one is going to reprimand her. She finds herself grinning.
When Ron finally comes up, she acknowledges his help with a single 'thank you' and sits down. Parvati begins saying something along the lines of how the boy is not all bad, but she is only listening half-heartedly.
Colin Creevey is looking right at her from across the table and smirking like a freak, the dark, purple circles under his eyes highly evident. He discretely flashes her a thumbs up. The smirk rushes away from his face as soon as it had come.
She is perplexed.
Why is he, the Harry Potter worshipper, wishing her good luck for troubling Ron Weasley?
Unless Vane told him.
"Now, if you don't mind, I have to go see my employer."
Unless...
She cannot even continue that train of thought.
•••••
Ron corners her in one of the Greenhouses that evening and kisses her full on the mouth before she can do anything. She is glad that they are in a relatively secluded spot. Lavender melts in his arms like butter on a hot knife and her mind goes all heady.
Her heart throbs as he slips a hand underneath her shirt, the contact of his cool fingers with her warm stomach, making her moan softly in his mouth as their tongues battle for dominance.
Can she do it?
Yes, she can!
She had taken the damn Felix.
Lavender pushes him away with all the power that she can muster and kicks him in the shins.
"It's over!"
"But Lav - "
"Oh, don't you 'Lav' me, you good for nothing pig! How dare you come over here for a quick, use and throw shag? How dare you?" she seethes.
He looks genuinely horrified, but she knows that that is just one of the potion's effects.
Anyway, she needs to get this out of her system.
"You left me for that prude, so how dare you come back? Isn't she good enough of a snog for you? Or perhaps she doesn't want to deflower herself by you?"
His face twists a little, betraying his anger and lust at the same time. Of course, the potion must be weakening by now; it is evening, after all.
"Don't speak about Hermione like that or - "
"Or what? You'll hex me? Kill me? Have your bloody way with me, Won-Won?" She spats her cognomen for him as if it leaves an acrid taste on her tongue. Her eyes spark wildly. "Not if I do one of those things first!" Lavender whips out her wand. "Stupefy!"
He instantaneously falls at her feet.
"That's where you deserve to be."
She knows that he would never report her, for that would mean admitting to the fact that a pathetic girl had hexed him.
Subconsciously, her feet take her out and amber sunlight dances on her skin as she stuffs her wand in one of her robe pockets. A cool summer breeze ruffles her hair and she begins her slow walk back to the school.
She is going nowhere, and maybe her life is an aimless maze without a set pattern or goals.
She is going nowhere, but that nowhere is sure as hell without the tormenting memories of her time with Ron Weasley.
. ... ..
So, what do you think?
If you want to know more about the whole illegal potions business, you should read Somewhere All My Darkest Dreams Are Gathering which is another one-shot of mine.