"In the end, it's not going to matter how many breaths you took, but how many moments took your breath away"

Shing Xiong

And after that cheesy quote... a little information:

So, basically, this is going to be a series of 50 unrelated oneshots, all Lavender-centric, for Black Rose Blue's 'Favourite Character Bootcamp Challenge'. I chose Lavender because, out of all the HP characters, she's the one that I find easiest to relate to and the easiest to write about without worrying about whether I've got her in-character or not. I think that a lot of people don't seem to give her enough credit, most of us tend to just assume that she's a bit of an airhead, or too girly or whatnot. I used to assume that as well, but, if you think about it, she was put in Gryffindor and she did join Dumbledore's Army. And, although this doesn't necessarily say too much about her because a lot of people in Hogwarts seemed to fight in the Battle, Lavender also fought in that.

In short, I've actually come to really love her - as much as you can love a fictional character.

So, this is my dedication to Lavender Brown because, even if she seemed to spend most of her page-time in the books as a giggling girl or an annoying girlfriend, I believe there's more to her than that.

Title: Jewellery, Model's Own

Author: Hesta's Journal

Word Count: 2183

Type of Story: Oneshot

Prompt: Apple

Rating: T

Summary: Lavender dreams about what she'll do when she's 'older', but finds that things don't always go the way we plan.

Author's Note: Probably the hardest I've worked on a fic in a long time, and the most fun I've had. I don't know how good the result is, though... it's also probably the first fic I've done with so little description and so much dialogue, because I think a lot of the time I spend too long dwelling on trying to describe the setting. So, it's kind of an experiment. Feel free to tell me what you think of it!

Love, Hesta

Disclaimer: Didn't own yesterday, don't own today, won't own tomorrow. Or ever.

"I'm going to be a dressmaker when I'm older," Lavender stood in front of her reflection, fingering her frothy white dress with awe.

Parvati flipped open a pocket mirror and added apple red lipstick to her lips carefully. "Like Madam Malkin?"

Lavender nodded. "I'd make wedding dresses and party dresses. All kinds of dress-robes. Imagine being able to create something as beautiful as this -" she gestured to her dress - "... it would be amazing, wouldn't it?"

"I don't know... I'd rather be a model, one of those witches you see on magazine covers. Maybe I could model your clothes."

"You'd make a beautiful model, 'Vati! I can just see our names together on a shiny magazine page - 'Parvati Patil modelling clothes by fashion designer Lavender... I'm just going to use my first name because 'Brown' sounds so boring," she sighed dreamily, turning so that she could get a 360 degree view of her dress. The material swirled around her ankles as she did so, creating what she fancied an almost movie-star look.

Parvati laughed. "Alright, dreamer. You ready to go down and meet our dates?"

"Just let me put some mascara on - can I borrow yours? -" she snooped around in Parvati's make-up bag - "I still can't believe you bagged Harry as a date... I mean, I'm happy with Seamus... but if Harry asked me, I wouldn't say no..."

xXxXx

Lavender wrapped the cloth around Terry's arm. Blood had already started seeping through the grey material, but she figured that as long as it got the job done, she couldn't worry about how it looked.

"You're as bad as Neville and Seamus, I swear," she said half-heartedly, tying a knot in the makeshift bandage.

He raised his eyebrows. "The only people who don't look as bad as me are the Slytherins."

It was an exaggeration, but unfortunately only a small one. She whacked him around the head lightly. "Get lost, Boot."

He flashed her a smile before turning to take his leave. There were other people waiting in line. "Thanks, Lav."

Colin stepped up next, and she bit her lip. The wound that she had to treat this time was only small - a gash running across his chest - but there were scars and half-healed cuts scattered all over his small body. He pointed at the wound on his chest, directing her gaze away from a particularly nasty-looking scar on his left arm. "Hi Lavender."

The cheerfulness in his voice sounded strange in the muted atmosphere of the Room of Requirement. "Hi Colin."

And she set to work. After almost two terms of fixing other people up, Healing or bandaging the wounded when the necessary spell-work was too advanced, Lavender discovered she had become surprisingly adept at it. Maybe she had wanted to be a dressmaker once, long ago, but now she realised there was a more important job for her to do in this world. Sewing together clothes, patching up torn shirts, creating beautiful dresses - it was a lovely idea, but nothing more. Sewing skin shut, magicking wounds away, creating a smile on peoples' faces and a spring in their step, this was more important than dressmaking.

xXxXx

"What's happening with you and Seamus, eh?"

Lavender looked mildly irritated. "Nothing, we're just friends."

Mandy leaned forwards curiously, eyes bright. She waggled her finger at Lavender. "I can't tell you how many times I've heard that, and the people who say it are always wrong. What's holding you back?"

"Nothing's holding me back! I've told you - we're just friends."

"Right... just like Harry and Ginny were just friends. Like Anthony and Lisa are just friends... like Boot still thinks he's just friends with me - he'll learn soon enough... so... why don't you do something?"

"Listen, I'm going out with Stephen, okay? And I'm in love with him. Stephen's perfect for me - he's dark complexioned -" Mandy rolled her eyes - "and serious, knows where he's going in life, doesn't put himself in danger unnecessarily because he's clever... he's thoughtful and he loves me for me. And I love him for him. End of story, Mandy."

"... he's in love with you, honey."

"Who? Stephen?" Lavender played dumb, not looking at her friend.

"Seamus, stupid. And you're in love with him, too, but you're just blinded by the fact that Cornfoot manages to meet all your ideas of a perfect boyfriend."

"So what if he does? Isn't that a good thing?"

"Yes, but, in case it hasn't escaped your notice, sometimes what you think you need isn't what you actually need. Just a thought," Mandy shrugged, eyeing her fingernails reflectively. "Like, for example, Terry is convinced that his ideal girlfriend is serious and clever and hardworking, a typical Ravenclaw. He's convinced his girlfriend's got to be a Ravenclaw, actually. But he just can't see that I'm a far better fit for him than any Cho Chang types."

Lavender rolled her eyes.

xXxXx

"He's so handsome!" Lavender sighed, lying on the grass and staring up at the sky, not really seeing it. Her head rested comfortably on a cushion that she had had the forethought to bring along.

Mandy laughed, plucking at the grass absentmindedly. "I recall you saying last term that you and Seamus were just friends."

"We are," Lavender sighed. "Just because I say he's good-looking doesn't mean that I like him that way..."

"... do I detect an air of longing? A breath of wishfulness? A tear of disappointment?" Mandy teased, sucking on a blade of grass. "And can I say 'I told you so'?"

"Shut it, Brocklehurst."

"Is that embarrassed realisation? A pitiful attempt at concealing true feelings?"

"I'm warning you..."

"Anger at being discovered? Hatred of knowing that everybody else can see you fancy him? Bewilderment at why you - oof! Oi!"

The cushion that had been resting so pleasantly beneath Lavender's head now discovered itself being thrown at Mandy's face. Lavender smiled smugly at her friend. "I told you to be careful."

"Trying to steer the subject away from your true love?" Mandy continued unperturbedly, causing a groan from the Gryffindor girl. "Worried that he might hear that he's now the object of your affections... -"

"Sweet Merlin! Are you never quiet?"

"- that a little bird might tell him he's the person you dream is holding you at night..."

xXxXx

Lavender sat cross-legged on the common room sofa, poring over the wedding magazine she had bought in Muggle London in the Christmas holidays. By her side sat another magazine, this one about wizarding wedding dresses.

Everything on the pages looked so crisp, clean and beautiful. Delicate lace or silky satin. Long, ball-gown wedding dresses fit for a princess, or short, flirty ones that looked like they were designed with a party rather than a wedding in mind. Flowing, elegant lines or sharp, futuristic angles. All were worthy of her admiration, and she pictured herself in each and every one of them.

Lavender had her wedding all planned out. She would walk down the aisle of a beautiful old stone church, her father beside her. The exact location of the church and the details of her wedding dress varied depending on her mood, but she did know that she would have lilies, roses and hawthorn flowers in her bouquet. Maybe she would have some flowers looped into her hair, too...

Footsteps sounded behind her and then a head rested on her shoulder. The person took in the photographs on the magazine page silently for a few seconds. Then: "Aren't you a bit young to be getting married?"

Lavender smiled faintly, although her gaze remained fixed on the page. "McGonagall is always going on about how we have to plan for our future, so I thought I might do that. Professor Trelawney says I'm going to get married in spring, too, so I need to make sure I choose the right dress. Which one do you think'd suit me, Seamus?"

"..."

"What? Are you telling me boys don't do this, too?" she said slyly.

"... are you telling me you're not the only girl who does this?"

xXxXx

Snowflakes swirled down from the grey sky and rested on her hair, glistening. A cold wind blew roughly across the snow-covered lawn, and Lavender felt intensely grateful that she had opted to wear leggings under her jeans as well as a jumper. She would have probably died of cold if she had gone for something more traditional-looking.

"You sure you want to go through with this, Lav?" he asked her quietly, sandy hair flecked with snow. "I know that you wanted a church wedding and all..."

"You having doubts, Seamus?" she teased, reaching out to brush some snow from his shoulders.

"Course not. Wasn't I the one who asked you to marry me, and not the other way 'round?"

She snorted, ignoring the minister who was shifting from foot to foot impatiently. "As far as I can remember, you chickened out at the last minute and I had to worm the question out of you."

"Still counts as me asking," he muttered, but his eyes danced. He leaned over to plant a chaste kiss on her cheek. "So I'm taking that as a 'yes', you do still want to marry me?"

"Seamus Finnigan, you are quite possibly the only man I'd ever get married to on our back lawn in the snow wearing jeans, a jumper and wellies."

"I was kind of hoping you'd say that."

xXxXx

"He's gorgeous," Lavender cooed, rocking the baby back and forth in her arms. She was sitting under the apple tree with Mandy in the other woman's backyard. Glossy apples were littered across the grass all around them, a few with bite marks from various small animals.

Mandy smiled, flipping the pages of the magazine she was reading. "I don't need you to tell me that. He looks more like Terry than me, though, doesn't he?"

Lavender scrutinised the boy's face. "I'm not sure... he's definitely got your hair colour."

"Terry's eyes, though. Damn it all. Brown eyes are so boring - I was hoping he'd get Terry's mum's grey eyes. Or something else... he's definitely got a very Boot name. 'Ethan' is the kind of name that has been running in Terry's family for ages."

"I'd like to call my daughter Fiona, if I have one. Or, if it's a boy, I'd call him Derek. But Seamus wants to call our future daughter Lauren and, if it's a boy, Jackson," Lavender said, thinking aloud as she leaned back against the apple tree.

"Trust me, Terry and me had all kinds of names picked out for this kid, but when he was born none of them seemed to fit. And Terry was just like 'Oh, bugger it all - let's call him 'Ethan' and get this naming business over and done with'."

There was a comfortable pause before Lavender asked randomly. "Would your teenage self have believed it if you told her that, one day, she would be married to Terry Boot of Ravenclaw and have a baby boy called Ethan?"

"Of course she would. I always did tell you that I'd end up with Terry, didn't I? But, would your teenage self believe you if you told her that you'd end up being a Healer at St Mungo's instead of a fashion designer, that you would get married in the snow on your back lawn instead of in a church, and be married to Seamus instead of Stephen or another serious, dark-complexioned man?" Mandy's eyes sparkled mischievously at her friend.

"Guess dreams don't always turn into reality, do they?"

"Well, not strictly true...," Mandy held the magazine page up so that Lavender could see the dark-skinned woman posing on the shiny page, wearing a floaty pale pink dress that contrasted elegantly with her skin. The words beneath the picture read 'Parvati Patil, wearing dress by Phoenix, shoes by McLaggen. Jewellery, model's own'.

xXxXx

Lavender traced her finger tenderly along the baby girl's apple red cheek, along the small ears and nose. She couldn't believe that she had helped to make this wonder. The girl's mouth opened in a yawn, and Lavender felt her chest tightening as she took in her baby's face once more - she felt as though she would never become tired of staring at her girl.

"D'you still want to call her 'Fiona'?" Seamus asked as he sat down by her side on the bed. He placed the cup of tea he had been making in the kitchen on their bedside table.

Not looking up from her child, Lavender shook her head. "No... I'd like her middle name to be 'Lauren', though."

Seamus's face looked slightly apprehensive at this announcement - he wondered what kind of name Lavender was willing to give up 'Fiona' for. "Dare I ask what you want to call her now?"

Finally lifting her head, Lavender shot him an endearing look. "I think 'Apple Lauren Finnigan' has quite a nice ring to it, don't you?"

The look on Seamus's face more than made up for his lack of words.