Hello everyone! Thank you all so much for being patient with me. I realize my updating has been subpar recently. Between my surgery and going back to work, it's been a whirlwind! I've missed you all and I'm hoping to be back on a normal updating schedule now!
Nothing new from me, thank you for your continued support! As always, leave a review on your way out!
Read and Enjoy
Lavender hadn't slept very well, replaying the kiss over and over in her mind. Yet, despite her lack of sleep and the obvious dark circles underneath her eyes, she couldn't help but feel awake; her heart clapping frantically against her chest when Seamus took a seat next to her at breakfast, sending her a wink that dropped her stomach to her butt.
It took all of Lavender's remaining energy to not touch her lips every moment of the day. She could still feel his lips on hers, his tongue gently asking for permission to entwine with hers. She couldn't help, but miss them.
It seemed like a silly concept to her, as she had never been one of those girls to obsess over a boy.
"Lavender? Laaaaaavender?"
She shook her head, pulling herself from her thoughts. "Wh-what?"
Parvati gave her a knowing look, then giggled. "Class is over," she replied, tossing her bookbag over her shoulder and backing toward the hatch that lay in the floor of the Divination tower. "Time to spend the next hour and a half with Professor Carrow." She pulled a face, causing Lavender to laugh as she gathered her own belongings, throwing them haphazardly into her bag.
They descended the ladder and had nearly made it halfway down the winding hallway before Parvati spoke again. "Is everything okay? You seem…distracted."
Lavender made a noise of partial committal from the back of her throat, but the truth was that she hadn't told Parvati about the kiss yet. It was so intimate, so dear to her, and something that she had been daydreaming about since her fourth year of Hogwarts that she didn't want to let go of the secret quite yet.
"I'm just…just thinking," she finally responded, turning a small smile over to her best friend as they rounded the corner to stand in front of the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, "nothing in particular, just thinking."
Parvati shot her an odd look, but the professor opened the door just as she started to open her mouth. Lavender took the opportunity and sped over the threshold, pulling her blonde hair into a curly ponytail at the base of her neck. It took her another moment to realize there was something off about the classroom that morning- a group of first years huddled in a terrified group in the corner of the room.
"What are they doing in here?"
"Are they observing a NEWT class?"
"I wish we could have observed a NEWT class in our first year…"
Lavender dropped into her seat, swapping a suspicious look with Neville. It wasn't like Professor Carrow to kind-heartedly open up her class for a group of first years to watch. Neville turned his gaze back to the first years, his eyebrows furrowing with concern.
"Gots a treat for ya," Amycus Carrow started as he snapped the door shut behind Draco Malfoy, who was reluctantly dragging himself into the classroom, "pair up with a first year, today's lesson is practice."
It took seconds for the thought to set in, but Lavender pulled her face into one of disgust. "Practice?" she asked aloud, watching as Crabbe and Goyle leapt out of their seats, grabbing the upper arms of two first years who were trying their hardest to shrink into the crowd. "Practice what? We haven't learned anything."
Neville and Parvati shot her a glance. It was their fleeting looks that clued Lavender into what was happening around her. They had been learning about the cruciatus curse. "They want us to PRACTICE on FIRST YEARS?!"
Ernie MacMillian had, bravely, attempted to approach Amycus with the worry of it being an illegal and unforgivable curse, but he merely laughed the Hufflepuff off. "Don't ye think that the Dark Lord wants ye to know more about how to defend your magic against the mudbloods?" He paused long enough to snag a first year, throwing the trembling girl into the direction of Ernie. "You'll go first."
Ernie opened his mouth again to protest, but the small first year cut him off with a pleading stare. "They're-they're going to hurt my family," she said, her voice shaking as she clasped her small hands onto his forearm, "please, just do it. I can't let them hurt my little brother."
Lavender's heart broke into a million pieces as the first year's tone pierced through her ears. She couldn't believe that Amycus had physically threatened the first years into being guinea pigs for the NEWT students. She looked past Ernie, who was staring open-mouthed at the young girl in front of him, at the band of students who were clutching each other, tears streaming down their small faces.
"This is wrong," a male voice next to Lavender piped up, anger shredding through the air. "This is absolutely wrong. You can't force first years into this-"
"We can," Amycus interrupted, grabbing another first year and tossing him toward Neville, who caught the boy before his knees cracked against the stone floor, "and we will. The Dark Lord has been patient with ye, Neville Longbottom, because of your blood status." He flicked his eyes across the room, grazing his eyes over the determined looks of the older students. "But ye will learn how to produce a proper cruciatus curse before the end of the year."
Neville puffed out his chest and took a few steps forward, sinking his finger into the chest of Amycus Carrow. "I just want to know how much muggle blood YOU have running through your veins," he hissed out, a sly grin spreading over his lips. "Even your Dark Lord is half-blooded."
Amycus let out a shout of anger, tearing his wand out of his pocket and slinging it toward Neville. A blue jet of light shot out of the end of it and, before anyone could even react, Neville dropped to the floor, clutching his face in his hands.
The group of first years screamed in fear, cowering in their corner of the classroom. In the chaos, Seamus had managed to wrestle the two first years from Crabbe and Goyle. Ernie MacMillian and Susan Bones were ushering the crying students out of the classroom, trying to get them to safety.
"Don't you DARE talk about our Dark Lord in such a way," Amycus shouted, standing over Neville with his wand pointed directly at Neville's back, "he's been more patient than you've deserved and you DARE-"
"WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS."
A rush of relief spread over Lavender as Professor McGonagall stood in the threshold of the classroom, her presence casting an immediate shadow over the role Amycus was attempting to play. She swept over to Neville and placed a tight hand under his arm, hauling him to his feet in an impressive fashion.
"Longbottom, get yourself to the hospital wing-"
"He'll go when I say he goes," Amycus interjected, removing his wand from Neville's direction and pocketing it into his robes.
Lavender was certain she had never seen Professor McGonagall's lips become so tight as she drew her own wand from her robes. The seventh years remaining gasped, taking a step back. Even when Professor Umbridge was with them in Lavender's seventh year, she had never seen McGonagall pull her wand on another teacher. The room went silent as Amycus surveyed the wand pointed at him.
"Brown, Patil," McGonagall barked, not taking her eyes off of Professor Carrow, "take hold of Longbottom and bring him to the hospital wing." Lavender lurched forward, gently snaking an arm around Neville's waist. Though his hands were still clamped on his face, Lavender could tell there was a deep gash in his upper cheek. Blood leaked out from between his fingers.
"Come on, darling," Parvati muttered, taking Neville's elbow and leading him out of the classroom. Lavender looked back at the classroom, taking in the final glance of Professor McGonagall and Professor Carrow eyeing each other with contempt.
…..
Dumbledore's Army had started up again and, with the semester beginning to wind down, Lavender had made the decision to finally spend some time in the library working on various assignments for her upcoming classes.
At least, that was her original intent.
Positioning herself next to the window in order to watch the leaves fly from the trees in the chilly, fall wind when she got bored, it wasn't long before Lavender realized that she had also positioned herself directly across from the books containing all of the news articles from years past.
She tried to ignore it at first, shaking her head and delving into the Transfiguration text that lay open in front of her. She jotted down notes, flipped through the pages, and read the same sentence at least fifty times before she slammed the book shut, sighing in defeat as she leaned back in her chair with her arms crossed over her chest.
It had been quite some time, weeks even, since she had done any research at all about Sirius Black and Haley Brams. It had been pulling at her, but other things had taken precedence in both her and Ginny's lives.
Lavender pushed her seat back, the legs scraping against the stone floor, making her way over to the news articles. Sliding her index finger across the bindings of the books, she selected one from mid-1980 and began to casually flick through it.
It was reminiscent of how things were snowballing in the current war…disappearances, kidnappings, murders. The articles not only made Lavender nauseous, but also made her remember why she tried not to pay attention to the news in the first place.
Sighing once again, she placed the first book back and pulled a second off the shelf, again delving into the pages, scouring over the text with a fine-tooth comb. She didn't hear the person approach her from behind, jumping when they tapped her roughly on the shoulder.
"Oh, gosh! Parvati!" she said as she whipped around, clutching her hand to her chest as her heart beat rapidly against her rib cage, "what are you doing in here?"
"I could ask you the same thing, you completely missed dinner," Parvati replied, an odd look on her face as she attempted to peek over Lavender's shoulder. "What are you looking at?"
Lavender shut the book containing the news articles, shaking her head softly. "Erm- just a bunch of old articles from The Daily Prophet. Erm- it's just for Ancient Runes, it doesn't matter." Her stomach grumbled, she hadn't realized how hungry she was until Parvati mentioned dinner. "Shall we go to the kitchen to get food? I must have just lost track of time."
Parvati rocked on her feet nervously, clasping her hands in front of her. "Actually…we have a problem that I think takes priority."
Lavender cocked an eyebrow, placing the second book back on the shelf.
"It's Neville, Luna, and Ginny. They attempted to break into Snape's office to steal something. They were caught, I'm fairly certain they're in heaps of trouble."