Brave
By Ruby Snidget
PG
Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
Summary: For Lavender and Parvati, two of the most stereotyped and misrepresented students at Hogwarts, trying to prove their worthiness and loyalty to their House is a lot of work! The Harry Potter books told through Lavender and Parvati's letters, notes, and diaries.
Chapter Summary: During the first few days of school, Parvati and Lavender meet their new housemates, go to classes, get scared witless by Professor Snape, nearly kill themselves flying, and learn that turning matches into needles is a very complicated and dangerous thing, especially if you are sitting right in front of Neville Longbottom…
Author's Note: This chapter has been loitering around my saved files for months, and I figure I just better send 'er off. After that, er, just acknowledgement of reviews. They are cherished and appreciated, each and every one! Well, start from the top of the list…
Fetch- Um, sorry, there will be absolutely NO SLASH in this fic. Nothing against it or anything, but this fic is sticking right to the books; no straying from the canon is planned. Sorry about this, but I'm going to try to stay as true to the books as I can, and there is no indication that Parvati and Lavender are anything more than friends. The fact is that if I made it slash, it would create a problem with the Yule Ball in the fourth book. I know, I know, that's a long way ahead, but I have to plan ahead to make sure none of my fic contradicts the books. I hope you'll continue to read, and if you're looking for slash, I've heard that Rhysenn and Cat Samwise are rather good slash writers, so you may want to try them. Cheers!
Well, that went a bit long, but shall we continue?
Jelsemium- Thank you for your kind words! I figured that people need to see that you can't just cast someone in a role when you know so little about them. People's personalities are so much more complex than that, and I hope this fic might help make that clearer.
Blue Ice- Yes, it is about time, isn't it? There are so many underdeveloped and stereotyped characters in the Harry Potter books, and I hope that some of them can be elevated to "Blaise Zabini" heights, as seen in the "Draco" series by Cassandra Claire. Thank you so much!
Jordyn- Yes, so very little is known about Lavender, other than she's in Gryffindor, she likes Divination, and she goes to the Yule Ball with Seamus Finnegan. How some people define her as a ditzy moron from that little bit of information annoys me. Hey, did she or did she not get into Gryffindor? The girl's got something going for her! Here's the chapter you asked for, hope you enjoy it!
JazzPizza- Thanks for the compliment! I enjoy writing, and I love it when people take the time to notice the work that went into it. Thank you very much, and I hope this chapter works for you! Oh, and I adore your name! Very original!
September 1st, 1992
Dear Mum and Dad,
Padma and me got here okay. We're at Hogwarts, and nothing bad has happened (yet). I'm sure she's writing a letter too, but in case it's slipped her mind, she's gotten into Ravenclaw, just like you two. Bet you're proud.
I, on the other hand, am in Gryffindor, like Divya. Too bad she left last year. It would have been nice to have an older cousin around to share a house with. But I've made some friends already. Lavender Brown, who's in Gryffindor with me, is nice and fun to hang out with.
Pansy is in Slytherin, and I'm really trying to get along with her, I promise I am, but it is just so hard!
Well, Lavender and I share our dorm with just one other girl. Her name's Hermione Granger, but she's not very sociable. She came in on our train compartment earlier on, and was really a bit rude to us. She's pretty bossy, and she ordered Lavender to go help some boy we didn't know find his lost pet. Lavender is a very non-confrontational person, so she just got up and went. I think you know I wouldn't have done that. I would've gotten all defensive and asked her why, and probably ended up in an argument, because she seems to be every bit as stubborn as I am.
Lavender and me have tried to talk to her, been very friendly and all, but she just doesn't seem interested in making friends with us. She's always rather short with us when she answers our questions, if she even answers them at all. When we were all setting up our belongings and making sure we hadn't forgotten anything, she completely ignored us. I think this is more than a bit rude, but maybe she's just shy. I hate to think that I will be sharing a dorm with her for the next seven years if she is so unpleasant and stuck up.
Well, it's getting rather late, and we have classes tomorrow, so I want to get enough sleep. I'll go to bed now, Mum, so you don't have worry about me not getting enough sleep and doing poorly in my classes. G'Night.
Love,
Parvati
September 1st, 1992
Ah, nothing better than writing in a new diary for the first time! I just finished my old one last week, and I had this one on hand, but I wanted to keep it clean until today, so it would be started on a very important day in my life. First day at Hogwarts! Actually, classes don't start until tomorrow, but we're still here. In fact, I'm sitting on my bed in Gryffindor Tower. I can't believe I got in! Deep down, I think I really wanted to be in this house, and I sort of knew I would be, but I pretended that I was hoping for Ravenclaw, because Mum and Dad were both in that house.
Well, it's nice to be here, since Lavender is in here, too. She's over there on her bed, right next to mine. Mine's in the middle of the three, so Hermione's bed's next to mine, too. She's not here though. I've no clue where she's gone. Probably still downstairs.
Lavender is such a wonderful person, and I think we're going to be really good friends. She's very chatty, but like I said in the letter to Mum and Dad, very laid-back. She doesn't seem the type who enjoys getting into fights with people. Which is a good thing, because I hate fights.
She has a diary, as well. I think she's writing in it now, in fact.
Well, perhaps I might add some information about our other (male) housemates. First of all, Harry Potter shares the house with us. I haven't spoken to him yet, but he seems nice, not stuck up and full of himself as one might expect from a child star, although he did grow up with muggles. Then there's another boy who he sat with at the Feast. Very tall, with vivid red hair. Ron, Weasley, I believe it is. He's nice, if a bit short-tempered. I had a few words with him on the train platform at King's Cross, and then again right outside the compartment we were in.
There are three other boys in the house, as well. Dean Thomas, he's muggle-born, and likes football (Some Muggle sport, apparently. I've heard of it somewhere, but I don't quite understand what it means or what they do, but I suppose I will eventually. Dean seems determined to educate people with magical parentage about his one true love, a black-and-white checked ball.). I sat across from him at supper. Then there's Seamus Finnegan. He's half-and-half, like Mandy (who I haven't spoken about yet, sorry.) He's a bit loud, but nice all the same. The last boy is Neville Longbottom, the boy who lost his toad on the train earlier. He did find it, by the way. Somehow it made its way into the boat he was in. Not quite sure how it managed that; maybe it's one of those hard-to-lose toads they sell in all the pet shops for forgetful people. They have relocation charms cast on them, or something like that, so that if you lose them, they'll (eventually) come back.
Anyway, Neville just doesn't seem very Gryffindor-ish. He's very timid and shy, and seems like he'd be more at home in Hufflepuff. He's nice enough, though. He always seems afraid that he's going to upset someone and get himself beaten up. Well, that's the impression I got, anyway.
Oh, I said something earlier about Mandy Brocklehurst. She's in Ravenclaw with Padma. We met her on the train earlier. She was in the car with Lavender, and we all got along very well. Mandy's really stylish; her mum is some senior president executive of something-or-other at Gladrags Wizardwear, so she always knows "the style" and can get the clothes for free. Mandy's already offered to help us with makeup and things if we should need it. She and Padma get along very well, which is convenient, as they're housemates.
Well, things are going well so far, I'm happy with my house and housemates (if I could only make friends with Hermione! She seems like she could be a good friend if we got past all that façade) and am actually looking forward to my classes tomorrow!
That's pretty odd, as usually I dread the thought of summer's end. Well, I guess this is new, it's not the village school with a bunch of little kids; this is Hogwarts, and I'm going to get a proper magical education!
Well, perhaps I ought to be going now. It's getting a bit late. Hermione's just crawled into bed, and Lavender's shut off her light. One last thing. Tomorrow, I'm going to write a note to Hermione. A friendly note, to be precise. Hopefully she'll get the hint that Lavender and me are more than willing to be friends with her, if she'll just give us the opportunity. Just writing it down, so I don't forget, because, knowing me, I'll have forgotten about it before I fall asleep.
Parvati
September 2nd, 1992
I wrote the note! I actually remembered. Actually, I thought about it all last night, and composed it in my head before I fell asleep. I'm going to copy it in here before I give it to her. Oh, I'm writing this at breakfast. Lavender and I got up way too early, so we have loads of time to kill. We actually wrote it together, and I think it's very good. Here it is!
Dear Hermione,
Hey! You'll probably find this during History of Magic, or maybe Transfiguration. If you are in Transfiguration or Potions, then STOP: DO NOT READ ANY FURTHER! PUT AWAY QUICKLY!
This is Parvati and Lavender. We're sorry about that. We've heard from the older students that Professors Snape and McGonagall don't take kindly to note reading or general fooling around. Okay, so now we're in either History of Magic with Professor Binns (who, we've been told, is completely oblivious to everything, so it's safe to read) or a free period of some sort.
Well, what I'm writing about is about you and us. Since we are the only three female Gryffindors, we thought we ought to stick together. Do you want to sit with us during supper? And afterwards, we're going to meet Parvati's sister Padma and her friend Mandy (Brocklehurst). We're hoping you sit with us, because we'd really like to get to know you better, so us three Gryffindor girls can be a trio of best friends! Sounds cool, huh? Well, see you later! Bye!
Love,
Lavender and Parvati
Lavender is going to stick it in her book sack while she's eating breakfast. Oh, I hope she accepts the invitation!
Ooh, yummy! This food is really good! Toast with strawberry jam's my favourite breakfast food! I'm going to put this diary away, so I can eat without worrying about dirtying up the pages with sticky jam, toast crumbs, and pumpkin juice stains.
Parvati
September 2nd, 1992- Lunch
Well, really! I just got finished reading what Hermione wrote back to me and Lavender in a note. It's so mean, and it didn't need to be. I'm going to copy it in.
Lavender and Parvati
No, thank you. I have more than enough homework and reading I need to catch up on (We've only been to THREE classes, how much can she possibly have?) and as you two only seem interested in talking about clothes, boys, and other frivolous nonsense of that sort, you won't be entertained enough in the library. I'm sure it's in the interest of everyone's valuable time if I passed on your invitation.
Cordially,
Hermione Granger
Isn't that unnecessarily mean? She didn't have to comment on our interests like they weren't important! And we don't just talk about clothes and boys; we're perfectly intelligent and capable! What is her probl-- Oopsies. I just ripped a hole in the parchment; I was pressing so hard with my quill. Well, I'm angry. She was just downright mean! We were trying to be nice and friendly, and she goes off and insults us. She acts like we're two dumb kids who are unworthy to talk to her. Oh, well! If she wants to stay friendless, that's fine by me!
Well, I'm going to get off the subject now, and as far as I'm concerned, Hermione and her friends, or lack thereof, is not my problem anymore. She can be as lonely and miserable as she wants! I don't care!
Well, I've been to Herbology, History of Magic, and Defence Against the Dark Arts. Herbology's pretty fun, at least now, when we're far away from all the scary, dangerous plants in the other greenhouses. Basically what we learned were the rules and how we were expected to behave. History of Magic is one--no, two words. Boring and BORING. Professor Binns is a ghost, but I've heard he was just as lame even before he was dead. All he does is talk, droning on in an endless monotone until I'm ready to stab myself with my quill to escape the boring-ness. It sounds really melodramatic to "stab myself with a quill," like it's a line out of one of the trashy romance novels Mum leaves around, but it's the truth. By the end of the lesson, Lavender was sporting a new hairstyle, compliments of yours truly, as was I, and I also had covered my parchment, hands, and forearms with doodles in a colourful array of…well, colours. I tried scrubbing them off after class, but the inks are, apparently, long-lasting, so I have to keep my hands in my sleeves for the rest of the day, or at least until I find some easy spell to remove it. Next time I'm bringing a sketchpad.
Defence Against the Dark Arts was…well, a bit odd. Professor Quirrell stammers and stutters so much that you can barely make him out sometimes, and it almost seems like he's afraid of us, he's so skittish and weird when we ask a question or speak to him. And he wears that awful purple turban, plus he and his classroom smell very strongly of garlic. It's all just really creepy. But, really, the class itself is astonishingly average. We go out of the book, so it's pretty predictable and not really all that bad. Although my hair still smells like garlic, and that was my first class of the day…
Well, we have Transfiguration, Charms, and Potions after lunch. Transfiguration sounds exciting; I can't wait to go to that class. Charms sounds interesting as well, but Potions…well, I guess the class itself would be fascinating, but Professor Snape, Potions' Master, is very intimidating. He's also Head of Slytherin House, and he doesn't like Gryffindors much. I've heard all sorts of awful things about him from the older students, and I am not looking forward to that class.
I suppose I'd better get eating; Transfiguration begins in less than twenty minutes. It sounds very exciting. Can't wait.
Parvati
September 8th, 1992
Oh, I'm sorry I haven't written in forever. It has been a very long week. Just been so busy, with homework and classes and such, didn't really have time to write at all. But now that I've got the hang of the layout of the castle and grounds, I've found classes faster and had more free time, so I should be able to write more often. But…
Oh. My. God. Today has been BAD! Capitalised, italicised, underlined, and bold. Very bad. Well, everything was fine before lunch. But when our first Flying Lessons began, everything began to take a nosedive. Okay, that was a bad pun. Forgive me, please. Charms was okay, and Transfiguration was just a bit less okay than Charms, but Flying and Potions were both scary!
On the first day of Potions class, Harry Potter, well, he got a bit uppity with Professor Snape, to say the least. I've heard that Snape doesn't like anybody in a house other than Slytherin, but he especially hates Gryffindors. Lovely. And he's already showed that side of his persona. We've lost a fair few House points in that class, as he's always finding something wrong with the Gryffindors' work, myself included. We just don't seem to be able to do anything right.
Speaking of that stupid class, I have to finish off an essay that I've been effectively procr procrist procrat well, been putting off all evening. I really should finish it, and it's hanging around in a very nagful sort of way in the back of my mind, so I suppose I ought to get on it.
Parvati