Author's Note: There have been many people who have asked me to expand upon Lavender's plot line in Summer Rituals. So many that I couldn't not think of doing it. So, I have decide to expand upon the plot line, giving you more scenes and more of the story behind Lavender's travels with Captain Charlie Brown, 008.
There may also be an expansion on the Seamus / Parvati story line, at some point.
Chapter One Live and Let Die
Lavender Brown was sure that no one at Hogwarts would believe the stories about the times she'd spent with her Uncle Charlie, up to and including the trip to Slovenia a couple weeks before she started Hogwarts. No one would ever believe that a pureblood second son worked where he did. No one had really paid much attention to her Uncle Charlie at Hogwarts, save a muggleborn boy who had introduced him to the world of navy service. Uncle Charlie had avoided You-Know-Who's rise by virtue of securing a place at Dartmoth at the suggestion of the aforementioned muggleborn's father who had headed that place.
It was due to spending time abroad with her Uncle Charlie that caused Lavender to enter Hogwarts with an interesting set of spells that she was proficient in as well as a wand with about two years of use. It wasn't any of the spells that her uncle had drilled her on that was on the tip of her tongue when the black cloud emerged from the black fire that Harry had disappeared behind. No, stunning spells and silencing spells were not what she thought was necessary. It was not the first time that Lavender had encountered a malevolent disembodied spirit. It had been a particular hazard in Budapest last spring.
She wasn't powerful enough yet to stop what Uncle Charlie called a malevolence, but with a quick cry of "proicio umbra" and a twisting jab, tracking the spirit, she was powerful enough to slow it down. She'd chosen priocio over detrudo, as priocio gave her a pattern that she would be able to recognize. Having been drawn into the work of double oh agents, she knew the importance of being able to identify the source of problems. If something was escaping, Lavender knew that someone would need to know what had escaped. If no one else, M.
Lavender did not expect to wake up just before dawn in the hospital wing to discover M sitting beside her bed, though on reflection it was pretty much a given to happen. She had dispatched a report near midnight the night after Harry's encounter with the spirit of Voldemort, after all. Plus, she'd been made aware that her Head of House was actually M's aunt by her uncle before school started. That had been a precaution to hopefully prevent her from reacting to the similarities between the two stern Dame Commanders of the British Empire. Not that Lavender had really noticed a similarity, before spotting the pictures.
"Miss Brown, your letter to MI6 has given great concern to the Government of Her Majesty," M said. "So much so I felt it wise to personally interview and collect the memories of you and those that encountered the so called Dark Lord Voldemort."
Lavender could see the particular vials that she knew that MI6 used to store copies of magical memories in next to the bed. "Any questions you have before I pull the memory, Ma'am?" she asked.
"Most of them should be answered by rigorous study of your memory in the week left before your school year ends," M said. "That being said, I do have to ask, how did you determine my actual name to send your owl. It is supposed to be top secret, and my aunt states that she did not let you know."
"Uncle Charlie taught me to find patterns," Lavender said, picking up her wand so she was ready to give the memory, as she had been taught. "There are four children of her brother Malcolm, who I figured had to be your father, not Robert, whose one daughter is currently serving as a seventh-year prefect in Ravenclaw, and named after her aunt. I know of three of their names, Mars, Vulcan, and Juventas. I also know that Malcolm McGonagall is married to a woman named Juno, hence the choice of names all being children of Juno. That leaves you being Bellona, after the Roman Goddess of War. You're a career woman, so if you had gotten married, I wager that you, like Professor McGonagall wouldn't change your name. Hence an owl to 'Bellona McGonagall, MI6' was going to reach you."
"How in the world did you end up sorted in Gryffindor?" M asked.
"I spent last Summer with double oh agents," Lavender said blandly.
"Point," M said, picking up a vial. "We'll need the final encounter, and a classroom encounter with Quirrell would be good as well. He's dead, by the way. Then if you'll introduce me to Mister Potter?"
"A clean heart o'vrflow'd with goodness,
Fairer than the lily white;
A clean heart forever singing
Singing though the day and night."
As the last words of Calon Ian, echoed in the compartment, Seamus turned to Lavender, and asked. "I'm not really going anywhere this Summer, but I heard you had some plans, plans that had very little packing, Lavender."
"Just because my family tends to visit certain beaches, does not mean I'm going to spend a summer of debauchery," Lavender replied, her eyes locked on the Irish.
"I've never accused you of debauchery," Seamus replied. "That is what you've accused me of."
"I only said that your attempts at changing water into wine, were a clear sign that you were planning a bacchanalia," Lavender said.
"And you didn't deny it," Sally-Anne interrupted.
"Okay, I was curious about how rum tasted, but the water to wine changing was just a joke on biblical miracles," Seamus said. "Anyway, you did say you were going across the Channel for the Summer, and I was just really wondering where you were going?"
"Mum wants to surprise me," Lavender said. "All I know is we're leaving right from King's Cross. Aside from Mum and Dad, I don't know if we're going with anyone, though I wouldn't be surprised if my Gran-gran joins us at some point. Uncle Charlie probably will show up. I don't even know how we're leaving the British Isles, this time."