(This is a fic about Lavender starting in her fourth year at Hogwarts. We don't know much about Lavender's life before she is involved with Ron and Dumbledore's Army, so this is what I think her life might have been like. It is not perfect, and I do not own Lavender or anyone from the Potterverse so obviously this isn't what really happened in her life. Well, it might be similar.. who knows..)

I just want to be perfect..

Chapter 1

On The Train To Hogwarts

I was sitting on the train, in a carriage by myself. It wasn't any old train, it was the Hogwarts Express. I had waved to my parents moments before, and when the clock struck 11 am, I felt the familiar jolt of the train starting, and I sat, with my head against the window, looking out at the train station which soon turned into fields and scenery.
Suddenly, the carriage door opened, and I turned my head to see who was coming in. I recognized the familar happy face, with a big grin. It was my best friend, Parvati, and closely behind her was her sister, Padma.

"Hello, Lavender!" Parvati said, happily, putting down her luggage and sitting next to me. "Did you have a good summer?"

"It was alright," I replied. I wasn't my usual cheery self today - in fact, I hadn't been very cheery for a while now. Parvati seemed to notice.

"What's wrong?" she asked, sternly. Padma was sitting on the seat opposite us, gazing out of the window, she hadn't seemed to notice what Parvati had.

"Oh, well.." I began. I didn't know whether to tell Parvati the truth. "It was the, um, attacks, at the Quidditch World Cup." It wasn't exactly a lie, the attacks had worried me a little. Innocent Muggles being used for wizards entertainment? What sort of wizards would do such a thing..? However, there was something else bothering me. I didn't want to tell Parvati about that, though.. yet.

"Oh, I was at the World Cup. That was scary. It's a shame they had to spoil it for everyone else there. I was quite enjoying being in the same place as Viktor Krum. He's so cute in real life, you know," Parvati said, and she giggled. I gave a little smile. Me and Parvati were always like this together, gossiping about things, talking about boys..

Suddenly, the carriage door opened again. I looked up, and to my horror, I saw Harry Potter and Ron Weasley standing there. I looked towards the window quickly, to see if I could see my reflection. I looked a mess! I hadn't even changed into my Hogwarts robes, I was wearing an old pink jumper and jeans, to try and not bring any unwanted Muggle attention upon myself.
I closed my eyes and willed them to go away.. in vain.

"Hey Parvati, Padma.. Lavender," I heard Harry say. I couldn't ignore him, could I?

I turned my head round slowly, and looked at Harry.

"Hi, Harry.." I said. Ron looked at me, quite cheerfully.

"Hey Lavender!" he said. I met his eyes, and I blushed fiercely. He was standing there, in all his gingery goodness. His hair had grown a couple of inches over summer, and he himself had also grown.

I didn't know what to say, but I eventually gave out a shy "Hi..".

Ron looked at me like I was crazy. I was crazy. I didn't want him to think I was crazy.

"I like your.. hair," I said, quickly, trying to act normal. I like your hair. Now he really must of thought I was crazy.

"Thanks.." Ron said, awkwardly, and after Harry had said goodbye, they left the carriage. As soon as they were gone, Parvati turned to me.

"Oh, my God.." she said. She giggled slightly. "What was all that about, Lav?"

"Nothing!" I said, looking out of the window again, trying to hide my embarrassment.

"You.. you like him, don't you!" Parvati said, sounding almost triumphant that she had figured out what was wrong with me so quickly.

"Of course I like him," I said, "I have nearly every class with him. I can't exactly dislike him, can I?"

"You know what I mean!" Parvati said. I turned to face her. She was grinning. "But, come on, Lavender. How can you fancy Ron Weasley when there's boys like Cormac McLaggen in our house? And other, numerous cute boys. Harry Potter, Lavender! Harry Potter!"

I looked away from Parvati again. I didn't really want to talk about it. I knew what she meant. Harry Potter was The Boy Who Lived, for Merlin's sake. He was famous. He was brave. Ron certainly wasn't famous, and I'd never seen him act brave. He had screamed back in second year when an abnormally large spider had found it's way into the common room. So what exactly did I like about him?
Just as I was thinking about all the things I liked about Ron, Padma spoke.

"I can't wait to have our first Divination class. I've missed professor Trelawney," she said. It was a welcome distraction, and we spent the rest of the journey talking about gift ideas to give to our favourite teacher at Hogwarts.