For ChoChang4eva, simply because I requested a pair as I'm bored!

I don't own anything

Dean/Lavender

They both have been hurt by the people they thought they loved this year. They thought that sixth year would be the year that they finally got things to work out for them, that the people they had had a crush on for god knows how long (and actually got with, in Dean's case) would actually be with them.

Things worked out for a while: Lavender and Ron were happy together whilst Dean was with Ginny… but then things went wrong. Things broke off between Lavender and Ron, especially when she could completely tell that Ron and Hermione had a thing for one another. Dean had always known of Ginny's crush on Harry but he had thought it was just that – a crush, and in the past now.

Yet they split up and both Lavender and Dean have been left heartbroken. They thought they had the perfect relationship with their partners but now… now, everything is in piece. They don't have the one they thought would help them through this difficult time of warfare with Voldemort, nobody to support them when they find out that their family have been attacked and killed – nothing.

Gradually, however, they seem to get closer and closer towards each other. Primarily, it's just a way to get through the pain: to share the heartache that they were both dumped by the people they suspected they had a chance of a longer term relationship with. After all, they're both seventeen now; they're capable of finding a love that they can be with forever.

"Hey, Lav," Dean says as he sits with her in the library, not long before the end of term. Harry and Ginny are together now, whilst Ron and Hermione quite blatantly fancy one another but don't want to admit it. She never normally goes in the library, but Lavender prefers it to being outside and being the laughing stock ex-girlfriend of Ron Weasley; she prefers it to having people look at her or even for her to just see the people who are happy in love.

"Hey," she responds with a small smile, him being the only male with such a privilege in her mind now. It seems so strange that she could be falling for him, but she doesn't want to do anything this term. No, if there is something between them, it can form over the summer and can start in their seventh year, when the horrors of the year before are entirely gone. "How are you?" she asks him and he grins back, throwing his bag down next to hers.

"I'm good," he replies, knowing that he wants to be with her now, but deciding that he has to do it after the holidays, once sixth year has been eradicated from his mind. Yet part of him niggles away, thinking that there is a chance that he may not make it through the summer, what with him being a Muggle born and Voldemort heading after them. But he can do magic out of school now, so he should be fine… in theory.

…

Dumbledore dies and they both attend his funeral, both of them suspecting that they may not be together in the new year. They won't be able to write incase the letters are intercepted and there could be a chance that Hogwarts falls into enemy hands.

So, as they sit at the funeral together, both of them crying silently for the loss of their great Headmaster, their hands slowly close around each other's, no words being spoken. It's a movement that sends a sort of relief through the pair of them, both of them knowing that they have the other to help them through everything.

"See you next year," Dean says to Lavender as they get onto the train, Lavender heading with her friends and Dean with Seamus.

She nods, though she has a niggling suspect that he won't be there next year, and smiles to him tentatively before walking off.

…

She stands in the Entrance Hall, looking around at her fellow Seventh Years as she arrives at Hogwarts for the new year. Everything is different – the Carrows are here now, known Death Eaters, and Snape is in charge. Everything is bleak for Muggle borns now and she knows that there is a strong chance that he has been killed, if he hasn't already gone into hiding. Or even if he is in hiding, he could still be dead.

She cranes her neck to look behind Malfoy and his fellow Slytherin cronies, finally the rulers of the roost so to speak. She wants to double check, to confirm that he isn't here, that some miracle has meant that he has been allowed back into Hogwarts.

Yet the doors shut and she has seen everyone arrive – he isn't here. Seamus is on his own and Dean isn't anywhere. So, with the knowledge that he isn't here finally hitting home, she feels her heart break once again… but it isn't like with Ron. No, this time, it seems more permanent, as if she has lost someone she needs. He got her through the heartache of Ron and that no longer hurts… no, what hurts is the fact that Dean isn't here.

But she is ushered into the Great Hall, under the instruction of the Carrows, whilst Dean is on the run somewhere. But, in her heart, she knows he is still alive and not dead or captured – she would feel it.

She's sure of it.

Thoughts?

Review please

Oh and read ChoChang4eva's stuff!

Vicky xx