Disclaimer - I own nothing you recognise, and all that stuff that means I can't be sued :P
Written for Syd primarily, for the stretch your boundaries competition using the prompts - Decision /Death /Falling. I really hope you like this love, it was hard t write :)
Also written for
The Disney Character Competition - Mushu
The Hunger Games Competition - District 6
Birthday Competition - July - Latin - A Female Character
The Wand Wood Competition - Rowan
One Week Challenge - Prompt - Challenge
The Fault In Our Stars Competition - Because I don't want to live in a world without (you) in it.
Word Count without A/N - 1463
Together
Lavender sat in the Leaky Cauldron, nursing the same drink she had bought over an hour previous when she arrived. When Parvati had told her what was happening with him, how bad his drinking had gotten, she hadn't believed it. She had thought her friend was exaggerating, something that was most definitely a talent of the flighty woman.
Lavender watched as he sunk whiskey after whiskey, getting louder with each passing mouthful. He was a shadow of his former self, the lively, bubbly Irish boy she remembered from school didn't even seem to exist in this... whatever he had turned into.
He was belligerent and rude to the other patrons of the bar. He was crude, whistling and making inappropriate comments as women walked passed him. Most gave him a wide berth, apparently used to him now. He spent a lot of time here, by all accounts. He only left when Tom refused to serve him any more alcohol, and then he did so with little decorum.
He was almost too drunk too stand when Tom told him to leave, and Lavender watched sadly as he unsteadily made his way through the bar. She stood from the booth she had been sitting in all night and followed him, unsurprised to find him in a crumpled heap just outside the door.
"Seamus," she said softly, crouching down beside the mess that had been, many years ago, her boyfriend.
He looked up at her, confusion colouring his already shaky vision as he stared at her.
"Lav?" he slurred, a sloppy smile on his face.
"Yeah. What happened, Shay?" She replied gently.
"Dunno whatchu mean, Lav, Life's peachy," he replied. She rolled her eyes at him.
"Come on, you great lush, I'm taking you home," she told him, pulling him to his feet. He swayed where he stood, and she shook her head.
"Ohh, gonna show me a good time, are ya?" he said, a roguish grin and an almost wink took her back to the days when she thought she would marry him.
"You couldn't raise a smile at the moment, Shay, never mind anything else. Come on, you need to sleep it off."
She wrapped her arms firmly around his waist, and with a quick prayer to Merlin, she apparated them both to her flat. Apparating a drunk person wasn't a safe practise by any strain of the imagination, but she didn't want him to get lost in the floo, and there was certainly no chance of him walking when he could barely stand.
Pushing him away from her gently, she steered him to the sofa, sitting him in the middle and swinging his legs around. He was asleep before his head hit the pillow she quickly conjured. Placing a blanket over him, she took up vigil in the armchair, watching for any signs of vomiting. The last thing she wanted was to go to bed and find him dead in the morning from choking on his own sick.
xxxx
Seamus woke with a groan. His head was splitting in half, he had a rat in his throat if the taste in his mouth was anything to go by, and as he cracked his eyes open, the world seemed to tilt as the room spun around him.
A light chuckle forced him to open his eyes a little more, and he looked around to see where it had come from.
Lavender sat in a chair watching him with fond eyes, though he could see worry creasing the edges. Where the bloody hell had she come from? And for that matter, where the bloody hell was he?
"Lav?"
"Yeah?"
"Where am I?"
"You're at my flat."
"Of course I am. Why?"
"Because I don't know where you live now, and there was no way was I letting you sleep in the street."
"Fantastic," he muttered. For anyone to find him in that state was mortifying, but for it to be her.
"Here," she said, handing over a pale blue potion.
"Wassit?" He asked, his eyes drooping as he planned to go back to sleep until he could actually see straight.
"Hangover Potion."
He took the potion eagerly, drinking it down in one and then fighting with himself to stop himself gagging it back up again. He felt the glorious instant relief of the potion as it hit his stomach and sighed in relief.
"Thank you," he said, truly grateful. "And thank you for fetching me home last night. I hope I wasn't too much of a pain."
xxxx
She noticed he wouldn't look her in the eye as he stood up, straightening out and folding the blanket and pillow and putting them on the edge of the sofa.
"It's not a problem. Do you want some breakfast?"
"I don't want to be a bother," He muttered. "I'll be fine now, thanks."
"You need to eat before you go for your liquid lunch, Seamus, otherwise you'll be in a worse state than you were last night. Go sit at the table, it won't take long."
She watched him sit at the table wearily. He knew what was coming. They both did.
True to her word, she set a full English breakfast in front of him not long later, and took a seat facing him. Her own breakfast was smaller, but he still finished eating before she did. Pushing her plate away, she watched him play with the corner of the tablecloth.
"You need help, Shay," she said quietly.
"I don't need anything," he replied, just as quietly though there was an edge to his voice.
"Yes, you do. You can't keep doing this to yourself," she told him, and she saw him wince.
"Why do you care? You left me," he said, cutting her to the core with his words. He knew why she left him. He knew his words would hurt her. He was trying to hurt her to make her back away. She knew. She had done the same thing.
"I care, because I don't want to see a world without you in it, Seamus, and the way you're going, that's what's going to happen. Let me help you," she implored him. She couldn't stand to sit and watch him kill himself.
"I can't," he whispered, and she wasn't surprised to see the tears in his eyes.
"You can. I know you can. You're going to drink yourself to death, Shay," she replied, moving around the table to grasp his hand in hers.
"Why did you leave me?" he asked, and this time there was no nastiness in the words, just curiosity. "I was falling for you, you know."
"Falling?" she asked, laughing bitterly. "I'd fallen hook line and sinker for you, and I was scared. The wounds from Greyback hadn't healed yet, and well, you remember how much of a hard time I had with that. It was too much. So I ran away. You remember what a mess I was back then."
"You loved me?"
"I still love you, Shay. But we can't be together, not right now."
"Why not?"
"Shay, you need help. Going into a relationship right now wouldn't be fair to either of us. But I won't abandon you again. I promise. I'll help you with anything you need, and I'll be beside you ever step of the way."
"What if I can't do it? What if it's too hard."
"It'll be a challenge, but do you not remember what you used to say to me?"
He tilted his head in question.
"There's nothing we can't do, if we do it together. I'll help you Shay, as much as you'll let me, but I can't force you to do this. It's your decision."
He stared at her for a moment, before hesitantly nodding his head.
She smiled.
xxxx
Tears.
Tantrums.
Arguments.
Shouting.
Apologising.
Relapsing.
Smiling.
Holding hands.
Kissing.
xxxx
Lavender sighed as Seamus rubbed sun cream over her back. They were laying lazily on the beach, the second half of their honeymoon. The first had been spent having adventures in jungles, going on safari's and basically not having a moment to relax. They had both loved it, but a week relaxing on a beach was heaven following such an action-filled week.
Seamus had been drink free for almost three years. While he would always be an alcoholic, he was a recovering one, and as long as he had Lavender by his side, that was how he would remain. After all, together, they could overcome anything.