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Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry:
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Warning for depressive thoughts and a slight bit out of character. Word count is 947 words. I hope you all enjoy Dim Dum Proposal.
Lavender looked at her reflection in the back of the spoon that she held in her hand. Once upon a time she had been a very pretty girl. She'd had a clear face with skin as soft as rose petals. Her clear blue eyes once shone like the stars above. Her sandy blonde hair had once been the envy of every girl or at least that was what she and Parvati used to think.
Now all she sees are the jagged lines of scar tissue that had been left behind from the Battle of Hogwarts. Bright and pink and ever-present. She wishes that she have them magically removed as though they were never there, to begin with.
"You're thinking about them again," Parvati's voice breaks her thoughts. "You can't dwell on something that you can't change, you know, Lav?"
"I do," Lavender said, placing the spoon into her ice tea and stirring it lazily. "It's just that I can't help but want to change it."
Parvati sighed as the waitress came over to take their order. Lavender could see that Parvati was smitten with the beautiful waitress standing in front of them. Why would she want someone so scarred and damaged as Lavender when she could have someone whole and perfect like this girl?
"Are you ladies ready to order?" the girl asked, looking between Lavender and Parvati. Her eyes seemed to linger on Lavender.
"We still need a few minutes," Parvati said, smiling up at the girl.
"Take your time," she said, walking back towards the register where she started whispering with another girl.
"What was that about?" Lavender asked, giving Parvati an incredulous look. "We know perfectly well what we're going to have. We're going to have the same thing that we always have when we come here for lunch. General Tso's Chicken with a side of pork fried rice and a vegetable spring roll."
"Or maybe we could try something different this?" Parvati said, watching as Lavender went back to looking at her reflection in the back of the spoon. "Are you listening to me, Lav?"
"You want to change our order, yes," Lavender said, tracing the jagged line that Greyback's nails had made down her face.
"Stop focusing on what you can't change," Parvati said, slamming her hands on the table. "No one else is focusing on your scars. That waitress that was flirting with you a few minutes ago definitely wasn't focusing on your scars."
"What?" Lavender asked, forgetting how self-conscious she felt at the moment. She looked at Parvati who was looking back at her.
"That girl was flirting with you and you didn't even notice," Parvati said, pointing towards where the conversation was gaining the attention of the waitress and her friend. "At one point that would have made you happy. To be flirted with by anyone."
"But...I didn't think that anyone would be able to see me and not my scars," Lavender told her friend, wiping her eyes from the tears she didn't know she'd been crying until now. "I thought that all people saw about me was a girl with horrific scars and nothing else."
"I don't see that," Parvati said, taking Lavender's hand in her own and squeezing it. "I see my best friend in the entire world. I see someone who I would walk through fire for."
Lavender went to speak but stopped when Parvati held up her hand. She'd never seen Parvati this fired up about something. Not since the war. Not since everyone went into hiding from the Carrows and Snape. Not since Dumbledore's Army made the decision to fight back and defend the students of Hogwarts. This was Parvati that had been missing for some time and it was nice to see her back in action.
"I see my everything," Parvati finished, taking Lavender's hand again. "We've been together for a very long time, haven't we?"
"Since we Ron left me in our fifth year," Lavender said, wondering where Parvati was going with this. "Why do you ask?"
"Because I am about to ask you to take the biggest leap of faith you've ever taken with me," Parvati said as the waitress walked over and place a plate of dim sum in front of them. Parvati then turned the plate towards Lavender.
Lavender's eyes widened as she spotted the little golden band with the exquisite diamond setting nestled into the dim sum on the plate. She looked from the plate to Parvat and back to the plate before letting loose a squeal of delight.
"Lavender Brown," Parvati said, picking the ring up and moving to kneel in front of her longtime girlfriend, "we've been through so much together. The ups and downs. The war against Voldemort. The damage that had been done because of your scars. Through it all, I've been by your side and that is where I want to remain. So would you do me the greatest honor of both of our lives and become my wife?"
Lavender stared open-mouthed at the ring and at Parvati. She put a hand up to her face. The feeling of the jagged scar tissue under hands didn't diminish the smile on her face like it usually did. Parvati loved her no matter what she looked like and that was more than clear to her now. Nodding enthusiastically she held out her hand.
"Yes," Lavender said, smiling. "I will marry you."
Lavender stared down at the ring on her finger as she popped one of the dim sum dumplings into her mouth. She couldn't believe how lucky she was. She had the best fiancee in the world and she could ask for nothing more.
I hope you all enjoyed Dim Sum Proposal as much as I enjoyed writing.