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It was the night of the Halloween feast, something Harry had been looking forward to all week. After a busy few weeks of Quidditch practice, and mountains of home work the professors had finally given them a light night of work in light of the Halloween Feast. He'd be able to spend a nice night celebrating with his friends and girlfriend, something that hadn't happened in quite a while. Both him and Ginny had been busy with homework and Quidditch and hadn't been able to spend much time together, when they did it was mostly just cuddling on the couch by the fire, or a few snogging sessions.
Harry wanted to spend a nice night with Ginny especially since things had been a bit tense between them. Ginny had worked on keeping her temper down and Harry tried not to let her study sessions with Michael bother him too much. Some days were better than others, but he trusted Ginny.
The four of them, Ron, Ginny, Harry and Hermione were seated comfortably in the Great Hall waiting for the large golden platters to fill themselves with food, the goblets with drink. He chatted with Ginny and Ron about Quidditch and the hopes of beating Hufflepuff in the next match.
The feast finally got under way with bouts of cheering as hungry students saw their dinner materialize in front of them. Harry felt that the house elves had surely outdone themselves this year, there were quite a few dishes he had never seen before and chuckled when Ron began filling his plate with whatever it could hold, regardless of whether or not he knew what he was eating.
"Ronald you know you just put sheep intestines on your plate." Hermione told her a look of both concern and disgust on her face. She wondered if he even cared that hew as eating something so strange. But Ron just shrugged and piled a few more things on his plate before grabbing a fork and digging in. When he took a bit of the sheep intestines he grinned, they didn't taste as bad as they sounded. "Hermione…" he said through a mouth of food, "You should try some! They're delicious." He grinned widely at the disgusted look on her face.
It was then that the large doors of the Great Hall opened, much to the surprise of everyone in the room. Harry had thought that everyone was already at the Halloween feast, but he had thought wrong. He didn't recognize the Gryffindor that had entered the Great Hall at first. But once he did, he couldn't help but gasp at who it was.
The young woman looked like a shell of her former self, much skinnier than she had been in their sixth year, her face held a look of someone who had seen a lot in life. She looked quite tired, and a bit lost, as if she didn't know if she belonged there. She carried herself as if there were a weight on her shoulders. It took Ron a moment longer to recognize the girl and when he did he didn't know what to say. "Blimey...that's Lavender!" He said trying to keep his voice down.
Harry couldn't believe he hadn't seen Lavender before tonight. She was a Gryffindor for goodness sakes! He should have noticed that she was at school. Yet raking through his memories, he couldn't recall seeing her either in classes, halls or even the dormitories. She had made herself invisible, and not by use of magic but by reducing her presence around everyone. She was no longer the bubbly friendly person she once was, the war and subsequent werewolf attack she had endured had changed her. She was not so quiet and kept to herself that not many had noticed her presence. Harry doubted he would have noticed her at all had she come late to the feast.
It was an uncomfortable few minutes as most of the Gryffindors stared at the young woman, the girl gazing around, trying to figure out where to sit at the Gryffindor table. It looked quite full as everyone was enjoying the feast. Ron decided to take matters into his own hands, seeing the poor girl struggle, and offered her a seat with them. "Oi! Lavender, there's room over here." He shouted, trying to break the tension that was in the room. Clearly most students hadn't recognized nor seen Lavender much at school for when Ron called her name there were many gasps throughout the hall.
Lavender quickly made her way over the table as Ron and Harry shuffled down to make room for her. "Thanks.." She said quietly, sitting down and getting a few things to eat. The feast resumed, almost as if nothing had happened. Yet Harry and Ron knew something big had happened. They had failed to notice one of their own house mates was back at school. Harry felt horrible about it, he found it hard to wrap his head around how he had failed to see that Lavender Brown was back at Hogwarts.
Harry couldn't help but wonder why Lavender Brown was late to the feast. He had heard about her getting attacked by Greyback and the uncertainty of her survival, but when she hadn't turned up among the dead he assumed she had survived. He wondered if she had gotten bitten by Greyback, thus having the unfortunate ailment of becoming a werewolf in the light of the full moon. It would make sense why she was late to the feast, for she would need to take the Wolfsbane potion to ease the sickness that afflicted her, and all those that would transform into werewolves in the coming week.
Everything made sense to him now and he wondered if Ron had caught on. He figured Hermione had figured out what had happened to Lavender and there was no doubt that they would be talking about it that night.
The next day they had Charms and both Harry and Ron made sure to notice Lavender that day. They decided to sit in the back with her, Ron giving the young woman a warm, encouraging smile. "Morning Lavender." Ron said as they settled into their seats. "Ready for another exciting day of Charms?" He asked, giving a slight chuckle. Sometimes Charms could be really boring, the spells they had to learn either too simple or too ridiculous to be taken serious. Lavender gave a small smile in response, nodding slightly. She rarely spoke, her dirty blonde hair frequently hiding her most of her face as she sat in the back of the classroom.
Hermione had given them a quizzical look, watching them go to the back of the classroom. They had talked about Lavender Brown for quite a while the night before, Ron commenting how different she looked since they had last spent any time with her, which had been in their sixth year. She had been a bit plump back then, with curves that Ron had really enjoyed. Now she had lost quite a bit of weight, and looked quite skinny. Gone were the curves Ron had enjoyed and in their place was a girl with a slight frame and pale skin. She hadn't expected the boys to be so forward about trying to bring Lavender back into a more public setting. She figured they would leave her alone for the most part, or at least keep their interactions limited to the Gryffindor Tower. Hermione wasn't annoyed or upset that Ron was giving his ex-girlfriend attention, she found it quite admirable that he was willing to help her become accustomed to people and even coping with her new life as a werewolf.
"Good morning everyone!" Flitwick said excitedly, stepping up to his podium where he taught the students how to perform charms. "Today we will be practicing the Flame Freezing charm." There were exclamations of excitement throughout the class. Harry had read about the Flame Freezing charm, and it seemed really cool. Instead of the flame radiating heat, it was more like a cool summer breeze, the flame tickling the caster of the charm.
Flitwick demonstrated how to perform the charm, Hermione up front was able to successfully perform the charm within minutes of the class trying it out for themselves. Some things would never change as Harry was having trouble getting the wand movement just right. He looked over at Ron and saw had successfully performed the charm and couldn't help but feel a little miffed. He was about to ask his best friend for help when Ron spoke first, but not to Harry, rather Ron had asked if Lavender needed any help. She had looked like she was struggling with the charm, her voice not projecting enough, and wand work was a bit weak.
Ron scooted a bit closer to her, showing her the charm first before helping her with the wand swishing, and finally telling her to firmly say the incantation. It took a couple tries before Lavender had the charm down so that it worked perfectly. When she had the frozen flame in her hand, and felt the gentle breeze it created she broke into a large grin her face lighting up. Ron! This is amazing!" She exclaimed, and Harry couldn't help but smile at how genuinely happy she looked. There was a brief glimmer of her former self, the girl who was confident in herself and her skills.
Hermione heard the exclamation behind her and turned to watch the joy on Lavenders face. She also couldn't help but smile, happy Ron had been able to help the young girl have a truly wonderful moment when her life seemed to be so bleak. Gone were any jealous feelings Hermione may have felt in the past. She knew how much Ron loved her, and that Lavender would be nothing more than an ex-girlfriend. Hermione was glad that both Ron and Lavender had matured enough in the past few years that they could get along well together. Maybe even become friends and that was something Hermione was okay with. Lavender had been through a lot, and although Hermione had noticed her in a few of her classes, she hadn't bothered to talk much with the Gryffindor. Lavender had created an air about her that told others she didn't want to be bothered, that she wanted to be left alone, when she was noticed at all.
For once the day had ended on a high note. Lavender had spent much of the day with them, eating lunch and doing homework together before she had to excuse herself to go visit Professor Slughorn. SHe made the excuse she had to ask him a question about their homework assignment, but the Trio knew the real reason. They didn't let Lavender know that they knew her secret, better for her to tell them when she was ready to do such a thing. For now they would take baby steps with their new friend, in hopes of forming another life long friend in the process.