Shameless fluff with a slightly more serious undertone.
Written for the Hunger Games Style Competition
Violet was bound for adventure. She had a map and a plastic shovel and nothing could stop her.
"Violet!" her mother called. Well, nothing but her mum. Violet huffed in frustration.
"What?"
"Dinner, darling. Come out of the dirt. Let's get you washed up," her mother replied.
"I'm four years and two months, Mum. I can do my own washing."
"If I threw seeds at you they'd latch on and sprout. You're filthy, come inside."
"I'm looking for treasure."
"No doubt we'll find something behind your ears," smiled her mother. She walked over to Violet and squatted next to the shallow hole her daughter had dug. "Did you dig this yourself?"
"Yeah."
"Impressive. Find anything?"
"I found a wormy. But no treasure yet," said Violet sadly. "My map got broke."
Her mother looked like she was trying not to laugh. "Maps are tricky that way. But sometimes getting lost is more important than find your way. You never know what you'll find," and her fingers reached up to absently stroke the jagged scars on the side of her face.
"I know what I want to find," said Violet stubbornly. "Treasure."
"Violet," said her mother fondly. "You don't find treasure, it finds you."
Violet was suspicious. "Does the treasure have a map too?"
Mum laughed and enfolded her daughter in her arms. "No, but it found me all the same."
"Did you have a map?"
Mum thought. The concentration drew parallel lines with her scars. "Violet, a map is something that gives you directions, right?"
"It gives you wormies too," said her daughter ruefully.
"Right. Earthworms too. This is my map." And she took her daughter's hand and laid it over the scars that laid her face open.
"My map isn't broken like yours. My map broke me, for a while. It kept me from feeling like a whole person, it kept me from living life happily. It gave me two different routes: to give into the pain and fear and hate I felt, or to keep moving forward with a smile." She held Violet's hands in her lap, looking down at them with unseeing eyes, lost in the past. "I chose the first route for a while, and – well – I was digging myself into a much deeper pit than this one here." Gesturing at Violet's hole, Mum laughed sadly.
"Was there treasure in the pit?"
"There were a whole lot of worms for a while, my love," Mum told here. "And then one day, I met a tour guide. Dean."
"Daddy?"
"The very same. And he helped me find the second route –" Lavender Brown-Thomas tickled Violet until she was shrieking with laughter – " – the one with laughter and smiles. And that path was where the treasure was." Violet smiled and snuggled contentedly up to her mother, getting dirt on Lavender's robes.
But Lavender didn't seem to mind as she hugged Violet back tightly, holding her priceless treasure in her arms.
Remember how Greyback attacked Lavender in the Battle of Hogwarts? I always wondered if she survived, and if so, how it changed her. She was painted as a bit of an idiot in the books. But I think an injury like that would have changed her.
Lavender and Violet's (sorry, couldn't resist the name) relationship is based off mine and my mother's. Today is my 18th birthday, and I know it's hard on her seeing me grow up, just as hard as it is for me. I love her so much and I dedicate this to her :) Reviews are appreciated!