11 REASONS MY UPDATE IS LATE:
1. English essays that the teachers forget to take in.
2. Writer's block.
3. Robin Hood
4. Strictly Come Dancing (admit it, you did a dance of your own when you found out Matt was still in!)
5. Doctor Who
6. Anything that happens to be on in between numbers 3, 4 and 5.
7. Love. In general.
8. Boys. In general.
9. Christmas cake
10. Christmas cards.
11. CSPE presentation which I didn't do.
So...yeah...but here it is... on time... sort of...and important to the story...sort of.
That night Lavender returned to the Burrow for dinner instead of staying out with Seamus. Turkey with roast potatoes and parsnips awaited her. She laughed with Harry, in a good mood following a letter from Ginny, and Ron, and talked to Mr. Weasley about his work, to Mrs. Weasley about the rest of the family.
But Hermione was strangely uncommunicative and barefoot.
After a slice of chocolate fudge cake, Lavender followed her friend upstairs. She opened the door just as Hermione read the note attached to Peggy. She spun round.
"Lavender. Hi," she said.
Lavender looked her up and down. "What shoes were you wearing with that skirt?"
"Oh, sorry, I borrowed of yours, I didn't think you'd mind." She sounded sincere.
"Okay, sure," said Lavender, sitting on her bed and unzipping Fleur's.
"Lavender," said Hermione sitting down and facing her. "I'm sorry. I was in a bad mood this morning, for a whole load of reasons. I'm sorry, I guess I blamed it all on you and Ron."
"Don't worry, we worked it out. Have you made up with him?"
"Not exactly. Maybe I'll go downstairs now."
"Maybe you should. No, no maybe, go. Now."
"Right," said Hermione, shot her a grateful smile and left.
Ah, the healing power of Peggy.
--
The next day when Lavender woke up the smiling rag doll was at the foot of her bed. She smiled as she looked at it and decided what she was going to wear.
She put on her violet top and looked in the mirror. She scrambled into her black trousers with She pulled it off again. She must be getting so vain, a few weeks ago she loved that jumper. But today it seemed too plain, too normal. Instead she put on a plain white collared shirt and dug through her drawers. There it was. The beautiful silk backed waistcoat that she had bought in September. Simply stunning.
She put it on and did her make up. She looked regretfully at Fleur's boots before putting on a pair of black peep toe heels. With a last volumising flick of her wand towards her hair she disappeared, Apparating straight to work and not stopping for breakfast.
Seamus was sitting there, at the desk, in a corduroy blazer and blue shirt, picking aimlessly at the cuff.
"You're looking charming," said Lavender going over to him.
He looked up and frowned. "Is any of that designer?"
"How would I know?" she said. "And why aren't I getting a proper greeting?"
He sighed. "Do you promise you won't go berserk?"
"Yes," she said slowly. "What's happened Finny?"
"Well, the Prophet was having a slow news day and..." he lifted up the paper.
The front page read
GOVERNMENT MONEY GOING TO PARISIAN SHOES
New evidence shows that the Ministry of Magic may be putting unnecessary money into certain projects.
Yesterday, Mr. Henry McAdams, journalist for the Daily Prophet paid a visit to the Werewolf Rehabilitation Facility with his fiancée Miss Bethany Walker. Miss Lavender Brown, 19, head of the facility greeted them in a pair of shoes that later that day Adam learnt to be made by a very expensive Muggle brand called Chanel.
When they saw Miss Brown wearing the boots in question suspicions arose. Miss Walker had explained how lately Miss Brown had moved in with the well-known Weasley family because she could not afford to pay her rent, despite the allowance the Ministry give her each month to cover this.
Miss Brown has been working for the Ministry for a number of months but recently has been mixing with the rich and famous, including Hermione Granger, Harry Potter and Ron Weasley, commonly known as the "Golden Trio." She has also been reported as being "in a close relationship" with one Seamus Finnegan, another classmate of Potter and survivor of the Battle of Hogwarts.
When asked to comment officially, Miss Walker said "Lavender is a wonderful friend and I would not think she would lie about having money or not."The question of when the shoes were bought is irrelevant, as they are of a design that only appeared last month.
Miss Brown was unavailable for comment.
Lavender smiled as she read this and turned to Seamus. "Send Henry a thank-you would you?"
Seamus frowned at her. "Are you sure you read it right?"
"Oh I'm sure," said Lavender walking casually to the window. "And he kept his promise. He did say he wouldn't tell lies. Ah," she said, surprised, looking down. "On that note, send him two thank-yous."
"What? Why?" He jumped up and looked out the window as well. "Brownie there's a mob outside!"
"I wouldn't call it a mob." she said shrugging. "Mobs don't spend that much on cameras."
He looked more confused than ever.
"Look!" she said pointing. "They're setting up. They're not a mob. They're the paparazzi."
He frowned. "And that is a good thing why?"
"It means," said Lavender sitting in her chair. "That we are finally on par with our classmates."
"You've lost me." he said bluntly.
"Finny," she said taking his face in her hands. "Those people are out there because Henry just made me a fashion icon. We're celebrities."
Seamus looked utterly confused.
"Look," she said. "Henry probably agreed to come so he could get a story out of it, right? But he looked like a nice guy, and Beth is a good judge of character, she wouldn't be engaged to him if he wasn't."
"I'm even more lost." he said bluntly.
"He never meant any harm by this article. He knew what response would come from it. He's made me someone to be admired for having good fashion sense."
"And shunned because you're wasting Ministry money."
"But if that's what people think, I can make them change their minds! Finny don't you see?"
"I really don't."
She sighed and looked at him adoringly. "You really don't understand do you?"
"No."
"Look, it's all good. Beth and Henry will be back tomorrow for their appointment. Just, let things run their course?"
"Wait..." he frowned. "How are you so sure that he doesn't mean harm?"
"Please, I spent seven years best friends with Parvati. I picked up some things about how the Prophet operates."
"And the mob outside the door? What do we do with them?"
She turned her whole body towards him. "How about we go out for lunch? Meet up with Ron and Hermione?"
--
So that was exactly what they did. Seamus looked amazed as the people outside reacted just the way Lavender had said. They did not question them, only snapped pictures of them, click flash click flash.
"Brownie, you're a genius," he said.
"No. Henry is." she said with a smile.
They met Ron and Hermione looking slightly confused on the street corner.
"Er, Lavvy-girl, what's going on?" asked Hermione, indicating the crowd of photographers.
"It's funny," said Lavender.
"What's funny?" asked Ron.
"We're famous," she said. "Does no one else find that hilarious?"
"Brownie, I hate to tell you, we've been famous for a while now." said Seamus, completely changing his tune.
"Yes but I only just realised," she said. "We're famous."
She looked at the others. "You seriously all knew that already?"
Hermione and Seamus looked at each other and shrugged slightly. Ron cocked his head to one side and surveyed her.
"D'you know, I never really looked at it like that." said Ron.
"Oh for God's sake Ron." began Hermione.
"No, Lavender's right. We're the young and famous."
Hermione ruffled his hair. "You are so silly sometimes?"
"Come on, let's celebrate!" he said taking her hand and running a little way down the street. They stopped and turned to look at the others.
"Are you coming or not?" he asked with a smile.
Lavender looked at Seamus who grinned. "He's right. You both are. Everyone wants to be us. Warts n' all."
She smiled. "Fangs and all?" she inquired.
Hermione and Ron were walking back. Hermione put a hand on her shoulder. "Fangs, and claws, and fur. Hairy is in this season, didn't you know?"
"Fangs and all Brownie." said Seamus.
"And if you can dye your hair red all the better," said Hermione.
Ron looked at her. "You know what I just realised?"
Hermione rolled her eyes. "What, Ronald?" It was funny how she used his full name as his pet name.
"Well, my whole family! We're, well, celebrities."
"You're the Osbornes of our world, yes Ron." said Hermione.
"The who?"
She looked round. "Where are Dean and Harry when you need them?" she said exasperated.
"Oh, right," said Lavender as they began to walk. "She's having one of those "I'm a Muggle-Born, woo hoo" sort of days isn't she?"
Ron rolled his eyes. "I only just managed to talk her out of setting up a society called "Mudblood and proud of it". I told her SPEW was enough."
"Ah yes." said Seamus. "The good old days of "spew."
"It's-" Hermione stopped as she blushed. "You know I still plan on going ahead with that."
"Of course sweetie." said Ron patting her head.
"So where are we eating?" asked Seamus.
"Let"s go somewhere famous!" said Lavender twirling on the spot. "Who's up for the Ritz?"
--
They are in very posh, very famous surroundings and happily went back to their respective workplaces, Lavender watching closely as a hiding entourage followed her and Seamus at a distance.
"This is nice," said Lavender. "I've never felt so loved."
"Because obviously, spending seven years surrounded by people who would die for you and having a caring family doesn't even compare to a load of old photographers."
"Myeh, family and friends are overrated. Now, loved by the masses, this I could get used to!" She turned round and gave one of the photographers a coy little wave.
Seamus rolled those glorious eyes. "I can't believe you and Ron didn't work this out 'til today. Fools seldom differ, that's what Mam used to say."
"Great minds think alike. Birds of a feather flock together." she retorted.
"Well, if that's what you think, I'll guess I'll leave you to it," teased Seamus.
"No." she said grabbing his arm. "But honestly, I've never seen photographers before."
"Well, I guess now you're a fashion icon, you'll be getting a lot more press."
"That means you will be too, whenever you're with me." she said. She stopped suddenly. "You realise what this means?"
"What does this mean?"
"This means that as soon as we've finished our appointments, we have some urgent shopping to do."
--
It was Seamus' idea to take the Twilfit and Tatting's, Madame Malkin's, Topshop and Morgan bags (mostly courtesy of Seamus,) back on the Tube to the outskirts of the city so it was not so far to Apparate with so much baggage.
Seamus was quiet on the journey out. Lavender read the adverts above them three times through thoroughly and looked in all her bags (at the lavender silk robes, the black sequinned dress, the teal cloak and the snazzy red shoes) before asking.
"What are you thinking?" she inquired.
"I've been thinking about what you said earlier."
"What did I say earlier?"
"About being loved by the masses."
"And?" she asked.
"And," he looked at her. "I've been talking to Ron and he's been saying what a wreck you were when you first met him. It's been what, a month, a month and a half?"
"Ugh, don't remind me, full moon is in two days, usually I'd be dragging by now. On that note, I need potion."
"No, it's nothing to do with that. It's just...you've changed so much since then. I don't know how, but it's amazing, we've all seen it."
"Finny, what are you getting at?"
"What I'm getting at is, I want to meet your parents."
Yes, that was the point of the whole chapter! Sorry :)