For Emma, who is one of the most brilliant people I have the honour of knowing, and just so happens to be my beautiful wifey.
It's nothing compared to the Seamus/Lavender you write, but I hope you enjoy it anyhow, love :)
This was entered in the If You Dare Challenge (281. Misty Gaze); the Weasley-Potter-Prewitt Challenge (Fred Weasley II); the Greenhouse Competition (Crocus); the Fantastic Beasts Challenge (Peruvian Vipertooth); the Legendary Gods and Goddesses Competition (Hera); the Popular Song Competition (Sound of Madness) and the Andrea Gibson Appreciation Competition
WARNINGS: Mentions of infertility
If You don't believe in miracles, tell me, how would you explain the miracle of life to me? -Andrea Gibson
They keep her away from mirrors when she wakes. She doesn't know why until the first time she sees herself, a covert glance in the bathroom mirror.
She raises he hand, not quite touching her face. The girl in the mirror is a lot of things, but she isn't her.
Madam Pomfrey finds her standing like that, ten minutes later.
She knows the words before they're said. "I didn't want you to see yourself before you had been prepared, Miss Brown. I'm afraid that there's nothing we can do for the scars – it's a miracle that you aren't dead, and the scars are a small price to pay."
If Madam Pomfrey had been able to do anything, she wouldn't have waited until Lavender saw her face. She always looked to reduce her patients' pain as much as she could, mental or physical. And yet she doesn't understand – Lavender without her face is not the Lavender she knows.
The scars mean she has to find out who she is all over again.
Later, she looks back at that moment with bitter amusement. After all, it was just like her to worry about the visible scars – she never thought to wonder about the invisible ones, and those are the ones that mattered.
Seamus tells her her scars don't matter, and for some reason she believes him. He's always been there for her, and the fact that he isn't fazed by her disfigurement doesn't come as a surprise.
The fact that he still loves her, even after everything that's happened – the fact that he's still determined and happy to keep every promise he made her during the days when the Carrows were in power and they were hiding out in the Room of Requirement – that's something that does surprise her.
But she gets over it easily enough. Seamus loves her despite her scars, and she loves Seamus in return – she's not about to spend the rest of her life second guessing something as brilliant as that.
She's always wanted children. It would be a surprise to the people she went to Hogwarts with, but she's always adored little children, and one of her biggest aims in life has always been to be a mother.
So when she marries Seamus, who wants children just as much as she does, she doesn't see the point of waiting for a few years before trying for a child. The two of them are secure in their marriage, their jobs and their love for each other. There's nothing they can do to offer a more stable home to a child.
After nearly a year of trying, the constant "not pregnants" are starting to get to her. It's bringing her down, and that's when Seamus suggests visiting a fertility specialist at St. Mungo's.
There's a part of her that wishes she had never agreed. The constant hope, even though it was always dashed, would have been better than the feeling of hopelessness she experiences when the Healer tells her.
Greyback didn't only go for her face when he attacked her; he also went for her torso in a bid to do as much damage as possible.
And even though it's not what he intended to do, she thinks he succeeded.
Because the damage done to her insides means that she may never have children.
She moves on with her life.
She's never been one to dwell on things she cannot change, and once upon a time she promised herself that she would never be weak again. So she accepts it, and moves on.
But there's always a little piece of her that seems to be missing.
She doesn't hope anymore. So when she can't keep down her food, suffers from constant nausea, and starts to gain weight, she refuses to believe that it could be the miracle she so desperately wants.
But Seamus drags her to Mungo's, his worry about her overcoming any protests.
She has difficulty believing what the Healer tells her.
Pregnant.
When she was a little girl, she learned French. It comes in handy now, as she and Seamus stare down at their beautiful Mireille.
Their little miracle girl.
Lavender stopped hoping for a miracle the moment the Healer told her that she would never have children.
It's this little girl that restores her faith in them.