Lavender Brown is present throughout the HP canon, though she's mostly in the background. She becomes more prominent in Half Blood Prince, when she becomes infatuated with Ron. I've often wondered about her behavior that year. Is it something that just happened, or could there be more to Lavender than meets the eye? While considering this question, I also thought about Lavender's relationship with Hermione, and this is the resulting story. The characters are not mine; they belong to J.K. Rowling. The songs that are used as chapter titles are not mine either. Thank you for reading!- rj

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Recordings of the songs that serve as chapter headings can be found by searching the codes provided after each title:

Chapter 1:

You've Got a Friend (Carole King, 1971) v=eAR_Ff5A8Rk

And here's another fine version of this song, recorded at almost the same time:

You've Got a Friend (James Taylor, 1971) v=xEkIou3WFnM

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"Harry? Harry? Are you awake?" Hermione spoke quietly, not wishing to rouse him if he was asleep. Harry didn't respond, and Hermione decided to wait a while; perhaps he would wake on his own. She had plenty to think about, and there was really no hurry.

The school year had begun only a few weeks ago. It was sixth year, and Professor Dumbledore was back at Hogwarts again, after that horrible year with Umbridge. Although so many awful events had transpired in that year, culminating in the battle at the Ministry between Voldemort's forces and the Order of the Phoenix, at least the Wizarding world had finally awakened to the fact that Voldemort had returned. But it was anybody's guess what would happen next.

This year, Harry was captain of the Gryffindor quidditch team, and he had already held tryouts and selected a team. And then, during their first practice, Harry had been injured in a three-person collision, and fallen hard onto his left side, breaking his arm and also receiving a concussion. The other two players had been injured only slightly, and Madam Pomfrey had treated them and sent them back to the dormitory, but Harry would be spending a few nights in the hospital wing. The broken bone had been healed quickly enough, but the concussion was something that Madam Pomfrey wanted to monitor.

Harry was receiving visits from friends during the day, and into the evening, but Hermione generally was too busy to visit at those times. Also, as she admitted to herself, she didn't like to visit him when too many others were around, or really, when anyone else was around. When others were present, the talk always seemed to turn to quidditch, or some other trivial matter. Hermione felt that things went best between Harry and herself when the two of them could speak alone. Also, Harry had recently informed Ron and herself of the Prophecy that concerned himself and Voldemort. Professor Dumbledore had specifically suggested that Harry should share this information with the two of them, and both of these matters warranted considerable thought and discussion: the content of the Prophecy that Voldemort had so much wanted to hear, and the fact that Dumbledore wanted Hermione and Ron to know its contents.

So Hermione had borrowed Harry's Invisibility Cloak from his room, and for the past few nights she had visited him very late, after a full evening of study. Some nights he was awake when she arrived; others not. Her late-night perambulations weren't really allowed, but as a sixth-year student, and a Prefect, she had begun to feel that she could ignore certain rules, if she was discreet, and if she had a good reason to break them. And it was strangely liberating to walk alone and invisible through the halls, long after dark.

One of the many things on her mind was Ron's behavior. He was incredibly bothered by the fact that Ginny was dating. This year it was Dean, Ron's own roommate, but she had dated other boys as well. Hermione smiled to herself as she considered Ron's inability to accept the fact that his kid sister had no trouble finding boyfriends, while he had yet to be involved in a romantic relationship. Hermione wasn't as comfortable as Ginny with those sorts of relationships, but she had to admit that her brief fling with Viktor had been nice. They had kissed only a few times, but she had definitely enjoyed it.

Of course, it was obvious that Viktor wasn't her type. And oddly, every time she had that thought, she immediately found herself thinking of Ron. Did she have feelings for him, or was it just something that popped into her head, and didn't really signify anything? This was a personal matter that she couldn't discuss with Ginny, who would never understand that someone could be interested in her brother. Also, she couldn't get within a mile of mentioning it to Harry, so her thoughts about Ron had remained a mystery that she'd had to consider privately.

And there was a particular reason that she wanted to speak to Harry tonight, now that he couldn't jump up and leave. It was that book he was using in Professor Slughorn's Potions Class. Harry and Ron knew that she objected to the book, and they both believed that her objections were ridiculous, but Ron was worse about it than Harry. It was so typical of him to fail to see anything but selfish motives in people's behavior. Ron actually thought she was jealous that Harry was doing better than she was in Potions, and that it bothered her that Professor Slughorn had taken to Harry.

But of course Ron was wrong. Her motivations concerning that stupid book had never been about grades, or about praise from professors, or some kind of competition with Harry. Hard work at school had always been about learning, about understanding the world, about solving problems, and even if Ron had never noticed, she was always pleased when others did well. Why did he think that her academic interests were like sports, where if one person won, another had to lose? Stupid, pig-headed Ron! It was so childish to think that she begrudged anybody, especially Harry, whatever personal satisfaction they might derive from learning.

No, it wasn't Harry's success in Potions that bothered her. It was the book itself, with all those comments in the margins, and improvements on the instructions, and spells and jinxes that nobody else had ever heard of. It all hinted of dark magic, deceit, treachery; and Harry, her very best friend, seemed to have become entranced by it. She would love to see him at the top of every class, but not with the aid of this evil book, covered as it was with the writings of some person who fancied himself the Half-Blood Prince.

Now she leaned over and spoke quietly to him again: "Harry? Harry?" and seeing no sign of a response, she settled back to wait a while longer. Perhaps he would stir soon.

She rose from the chair beside Harry's bed, and walked around the room a bit. The Hospital Wing was all too familiar a place, as Hermione and her friends had been injured so many times through the years. She had spent a good deal of time here, either as patient or visitor. As she stood in the central aisle of the room, between the two rows of beds, all of them empty tonight except for Harry's, Madam Pomfrey entered through the doorway to her office, looked around the dimly lit room, and called out, "Is someone here?"

Hermione stood silently in the middle of the room, under the cloak, and a moment later, satisfied that nobody else was present, and deciding that the voice she had heard must have been Harry's, mumbling in his sleep, Madam Pomfrey walked over to his bed and looked down at him. She listened to his breathing, swept her wand gently above him, to check his vital signs, nodded to herself, and returned to her office. It was nearly midnight, her patient was recovering well and sleeping soundly, and she decided that it would be safe for her to take a short nap.

Hermione watched as the light dimmed in Madam Pomfrey's office, then approached Harry's bed, sat beside it again, and listened to his steady breathing. She sat in silence beside the young man who was the source of so much confusion for her. They were friends, nothing more, right? And Harry was clearly attracted to Ginny, though he barely knew it himself. That was another thing that Hermione had to keep to herself, until Harry and Ginny figured it out themselves. Actually, she wasn't sure of Ginny's feelings. Ginny seemed to attract boyfriends like moths to a light, and perhaps her feelings for Harry didn't run in those channels. But Harry's feelings for Ginny were obvious, at least to Hermione. And that must mean that he couldn't possibly think of Hermione as anything more than a friend.

As for herself, Hermione had to admit that she was confused at times. Harry was a treasure, no doubt about it, but there was something about Ron, something that just seemed right for her. Well, once you got beyond his bloody stubbornness, and obliviousness, and his other vexing qualities. And what attracted her to Ron was something that that he hadn't yet seen in himself. As the youngest boy in the family, he was so used to being last at everything, to being scoffed at and teased, to being left out of things or merely allowed to tag along, that he had learned to accept it, to believe that this was his natural place in the world. And damn those twins, they were the worst of the pack! Fred and George were funny, of course, but they were unrelenting, and they had no idea how much damage all of their rotten teasing had done through the years. Maybe, this year, with them away from school and in business in London, Ron would be able to mature a bit.

Hermione knew that there was a powerful goodness inside of Ron, and a store of confidence that just needed to find its way to the surface. And she could help him with that. Yes, she had to admit it, she had feelings for him. But there was also something about Harry, and she always felt good just being around him. It was so comforting to have a friend like Harry, with no complications along those other lines. Yes, it was clearly Ron that she felt different about.

Now she thought back to the day of the quidditch tryouts, just a few weeks ago. She was still surprised, and still feeling a bit guilty, for what she had done that day. Cormac McClaggen, that overconfident git, with his smug sense of superiority, had been trying out for Keeper, the same position as Ron, and she had cast a minor Confundus Charm at him. Just enough to cause him to let one shot go by, and that had allowed Ron to win the position.

It was so contrary to Hermione's character for her to have done that, but setting that aside for a moment, why had she done it? Was it to help Ron find some confidence? If so, she knew that it could easily backfire, if he ended up doing poorly at the position. After the way the Slytherins had ridiculed him last year, with that stupid song, a bad year at Keeper might only lead to more misery for Ron. But maybe, as she considered her motives, she had cast that charm just to keep Cormac off the team. He had said those rotten things about Ron and Ginny, and even if Ron hadn't made the team, Ginny had already qualified to play Chaser. You couldn't have that kind of divisiveness on a team, could you? So her decision to cast that Confundus Charm couldn't possibly have been caused by feelings she had for Ron, could it? She laughed quietly to herself, as she realized that she wasn't really sure of her own motives.

As her mind wandered, Hermione reflected that one's thoughts were as invisible to others as her corporeal existence was now, at least if one was careful about hiding them. And she had always been the careful type. That, of course, was one of the reasons that she generally come out ahead when the Gryffindor ladies held a poker night. You can't bluff very well if your face, your emotions, are an open book.

And this reminded her of Lavender, who was just the opposite of herself in so many ways. Poor Lavender, who could never keep a secret. She was such a nice person, really, but she couldn't hide anything that was on her mind, and on poker nights she was always among the first to lose. Everyone always knew when she was bluffing. And when she did hold a strong hand, everyone knew that as well, and they would all fold. And pretty soon she was out of the game.

It was fortunate for Lavender that nothing of great value was ever wagered in those games. Little trinkets or candies that had been brought back from Hogsmeade, maybe a scarf or a quill or a piece of inexpensive jewelry when the stakes got really high, but nothing that would really be missed if one lost the hand. The older girls, who organized the games, made sure that the stakes were always small. And generally, if the betting did go a bit higher than usual, the winner would return any items of value to their original owner a day or two later, and probably share her stash of candy with her roommates as well. The fun was in the game, not in the winnings.

Of course, Hermione had realized early on, before most of the other younger girls had caught on, that the real point of these poker nights was not to play cards, and certainly not to win small items from each other. It was about building friendships and trust, a chance to relax and laugh freely with the others, to bond with the group. The first-year students, living far from home for the first time, needed to form strong friendships, and to learn to trust the older girls. Having realized that this was what the games were about, Hermione had come to appreciate what a fine thing those older girls were doing. And Angelina had been the best of all. She'd always made sure that everyone felt welcome. She would distribute little bags of sweets for the youngest girls to wager, and she always found ways of inventing hilarious new twists in the rules of poker to keep the older girls involved. Yes, Angelina really understood the importance of camaraderie.

And now Hermione had an unexpected thought: Perhaps that's why Angelina had been such a good captain of the quidditch team. Hermione was surprised to find herself thinking of quidditch again, and wondering if she was too dismissive of its value. Perhaps there was more to it than racing around and bashing each other. And now, with Harry, Ron, and Hermione in their sixth year, Angelina had graduated, and begun training as an Auror. And perhaps it wasn't so strange that Katie, another quidditch player, was the current organizer of poker nights, and that Ginny, also on the team, was Katie's chief assistant, responsible for teaching the younger girls how to bet, how to bluff, and how to win gracefully. Or lose gracefully. Yes, maybe there really was something to this idea of team spirit, something that transcended all of the bludging and dodging and blocking.

And just as she has been among the first to understand the real reason for ladies' poker nights, Hermione had also realized that being a regular winner in those games wasn't really a great badge of accomplishment. It could actually be a sign that she was missing something, that she was, perhaps, more private than she should be. Maybe successful bluffing came easier to those who didn't open up very much the rest of the time. Yes, she admitted it, she often held back. There were things that she didn't talk about with others. But there was something about being completely open about everything that wasn't in her character, and though she felt a bit conflicted about it, she also felt a bit defiant. The others were who they were, and she was who she was.

Actually, she did let loose once in a while with Lavender and Parvati, and at those times she enjoyed being with them, but after a while, when the talk turned to who had a crush on whom, she just lost interest. But it was not because she didn't care about love and romance. Hermione was deeply interested in the boys and girls at school, and in the feelings that they had for each other. News of someone's triumph or heartbreak actually intrigued her, but the aspect that she found appealing was not the short-term excitement, the thrill of the chase. She would hear the names of two people who were dating, and find herself considering the long-term compatibility of the pair, but nobody else seemed to think about it that way, so she had learned to keep these thoughts to herself.

Ginny, for example, had first arrived at school as a shy, awe-struck child, tagging along with the big kids, afraid to even look at Harry. And now she was a smart, confident member of the group, a leader, even, and in the meantime she had had a number of personal relationships with boys. Dean was very nice, though perhaps a bit too cavalier, too much of a showboat. But maybe neither of them was thinking much further ahead than the next weekend. And Hermione had observed that Harry was more bothered by this relationship than Ron was, but while Ron raged about it, Harry seemed to keep it bottled up inside. Kind of like Hermione.

And there were the girls who chased after Harry, people like Romilda. They barely knew him, and simply were attracted to him as a celebrity. They wanted to be around him, but they didn't know the first thing about him. Well, as Hermione knew, he had some really sensitive points; you had to be gentle with him. He could be tough and prickly at times, almost as insensitive as Ron, but he'd been through so much pain, and his adoptive family had been awful to him, so you had to go slowly, give him some space. Really, it might take years for him to finally come out of his shell, and any girl who wanted to have a future with Harry would need to provide the kind of companionship that only a patient and sensitive person could provide.

At that thought, Hermione smiled as she asked herself what she was really thinking. Was she having thoughts about a future that she might have with Harry, or was she just considering what was best for him. Best to know thyself, right? Or at least to try.

On reflection, she really couldn't see herself with Harry. Not the way she could see herself with Ron. Though she couldn't quite understand why; there wasn't a logical explanation for it at all.

Hermione looked down again at Harry, and decided not to speak again. Let him rest. It was time for her to return to the dormitory.

The Fat Lady had been confused the first time that Hermione had returned from one of these late-night visits with Harry, and spoken the password while still under the invisibility cloak. But Hermione had explained the situation to her, and there had been no further trouble. Hermione could have removed the cloak before speaking the password, but if she did, she might be seen by someone lurking about, perhaps Filch, or a professor, so it seemed best to enter first, and then remove the cloak. She and the Fat Lady had agreed upon an additional special line, added to the standard password, just for Hermione's use when invisible, and the Fat Lady seemed to enjoy the novelty. Hermione always thanked her the next day for her kindness, and it seemed that Hermione's fame as one of the better students, and as a great friend of the famous Harry Potter, was well known among the figures in the paintings. So this cordial relationship with Hermione had somehow enhanced the status of the Fat Lady among her friends in the other paintings.

After speaking the password, Hermione entered the common room, and was about to remove the invisibility cloak when she heard Parvati's voice from the stairs that led to the girls' dormitory. In a moment, Lavender and Parvati emerged from the stairway into the common room, which appeared to them to be empty, and Parvati continued to speak:

"Maybe the time has come to tell her."

"I don't know," replied Lavender. "How much could we tell her? And once she knew some of the story, I'm not sure how we could manage things."

"Well, it just seems to me that if all three of us were working together, it would be easier to find a way through it all."

"You might be right, Parvi, but there would be no going back. So we need to be certain before we open up."

"The problem, Lav, is that we're not certain now. I'm starting to feel like we're going to have to be manipulative to move things along."

"I agree with that. But let's not hurry things; slow and steady, OK? And please don't encourage her to chase him, Parvati; she's pretty strong-willed, and she might just decide to do the opposite. And Ron is kind of the skittish type. If she went after him now, she might scare him off."

By now, Hermione had heard enough. As much as she was intrigued by this discussion, which seemed to concern her and Ron, she didn't feel right to be spying on her roommates. She walked quietly over to the sofa that faced towards the fireplace, set down her book bag in front of it, laid down on the sofa, and removed the invisibility cloak. A moment later she yawned loudly and sat up, so as to come into her roommates' view. She noticed that they looked at each other curiously, seeming to be wondering if she had heard anything they had just said, and then Parvati spoke: "Hermione, we thought you were out late again, and we were checking to see if you'd returned."

"No, I just closed my eyes for a bit, and I guess I feel asleep. I must have been dozing for a while here. I'm really tired, and I need to go to bed." At that, she trudged over to the stairway, rubbing her eyes, and walked up the stairs, leaving Lavender and Parvati to consider what she might have heard, and why she had lied to them about her previous whereabouts; they had checked downstairs three or four times during the past hour, to see if she had returned, and each time they had looked carefully around the room. They knew that she hadn't been on that sofa earlier. Clearly, she had been out, and had returned only recently, but there was little they could say now.