Disclaimers: I do not own Harry Potter or Shadow of War
A/N: Okay so this is a Lavender-centric chapter. I realize that she has been getting a lot of attention but know that Ron will become the central character once again in time. Though I will admit that sometimes I wonder if I should do a Harry Potter story where Lavender is a werewolf and she trying her hardest to adjust with Parvati and Seamus by her side.
Anyway, back to Draconic Neutral.
Brown Is Our Queen.
The last class period of the day finally arrived and Lavender could not wait for the school day to finally end. Word spread fast across Hogwarts about what she did in the Great Hall and she already had to talk to Professor McGonagall about her behavior though surprisingly she was given nothing more than a stern warning.
"I realize that you have suffer a lot, Miss Brown, but that does not give you the right to take it out on your fellow students. You are a seventh year, I expect you to act like it", Lavender recalls from the meeting.
Regardless, the girl was one hundred percent sure that the reason that she got off easy was because the Headmaster was pitying her and that gesture sicken her to the depths of her stomach.
The last thing she needed was the Headmaster feeling sorry for her as well; she was already getting enough pity from the rest of the staff and it was giving her the same feeling of revulsion that she had whenever she thought back to her "lovely-dovely" past self.
She chose to fight in the battle so if anything, everything that happen to her was her fault and her fault alone.
"Maybe I should wear my scars as a symbol of pride", Lavender thought, "To show everyone that I was smack in the middle in the biggest battle of the war and came out alive. To show everyone that I'm better than them."
Out of nowhere a strange sense of pride started to swell up in the girl, one that was not there before. If she could put it into a word it would be...dominant.
She is Lavender Brown, a founding member of Dumbledore's Army.
She is Lavender Brown, a girl who was dead center in the Battle of Hogwarts.
She is Lavender Brown, the girl who tangle with Fenrir Greyback and lived.
Once again, the mere thought of that name enrage her though and she had to take a deep breath in order to calm down.
Said breath was done through her nose and instantly her face took on a discomfort as she turns her head to the entrance to the classroom.
"Someone out there really stinks", she thought before realizing something.
She was in the front row of the classroom.
How the bloody hell was she able to smell let alone pinpoint someone's stench in the hallway outside of it?
The rest of Lavender's thoughts about how this was possible were the only things running through her mind.
At least until a certain someone sitting next to her nudge her arm to get her attention.
"Hey Lav, what you get for question four?"
Merlin, she wish Seamus would not call her that.
Lav.
Not because she hated it or anything but actually quite the opposite.
Whenever Seamus call her by her nickname the girl could feel her heartrate speed up and a small blush start to appear on her cheeks.
Ron used to call her that but it never incited a reaction like this, not even close.
"No! Bad thoughts, Lavender! Bad thoughts! Stop it!". she told herself as she looks over at the wizard who was now looking intently at their parchment. But then she notices something else past Seamus across the classroom.
Someone else was looking at Seamus as well.
Two girls, one Ravenclaw and one Hufflepuff, were staring at the Irish wizard with affectionate expressions on their faces and quietly giggling to one another.
Lavender has seen them in passing for years but never really bother to learn their names.
Though she could care less about that last part for in her mind they were about to put her in a foul mood if they did not stop looking at Seamus.
A intense glare from the Gryffindor was sent their way and a Stupefyspell would have had less effect on the girls as both of them took one good look at Lavender and immediately with back to their studies; their previous looks of love now replace with that of immense fear.
"Oi, Lav?", she then hears and this drew her attention back to Seamus who was now looking at her.
"Y-Yeah?", she says, hoping that he did not see what just transpire.
"What you get for question four?", he repeats and the girl let out a mental sigh of relief.
A few days had passed since the Great Hall incident and it seem the school had mostly forgotten about it to Lavender's relief.
On another note, Hogwarts finally got the Quidditch Pitch rebuilt and to commemorate it, classes were cancel for the day and it their places was a day of irregular Quidditch matches. This was big news for everyone as they were now finally getting to see some semblance of the game since it was all but ban during the earlier part of the school year.
They were irregular though because instead of the standard teams of the houses, it basically was a pick-your-own-team type of deal from anyone who wanted to play which made sense since most of the standard players were either still too injure to play or simply had other things on their mind than Quidditch.
Or they simply were not around to play anymore.
The rules were simple.
Regardless of whether the players were on the official House team or not, brooms would be provided by the school and the winner was decide by whatever team was the first to fifty, whoever caught the Golden Snitch first, or whoever was winning after twenty minutes and the losing team had to vacate the field while another team took their place but the winner could only stay on for three games straight before they were force to leave the field so they could rest for two games and they would play the winner of the second match and so on.
In the event of a draw though, both teams had to leave the field and two new ones took their places.
Breaks were schedule throughout the day for food and such and people could come and go as they please.
Basically it was the British wizards and witches version of what the American muggles call a "pick-up" game.
Surprisingly, a lot of people sign up to play and a lot more stay around all day to watch.
It was three in the afternoon and it was already the nineteenth match of the day and a Slytherin squad compose of all seventh years, including Blaise Zabini as their top Chaser, has been dominating the matches and were currently undefeated. This did not surprise a lot of people seeing how a lot of the other Houses senior players were not playing though this also included the seclusive Draco Malfoy who was rarely seen nowadays.
But what was surprising was that Harry Potter himself chose to watch instead of playing along with Ginny Weasley.
They decided to hang out with the other Gryffindor students in their own section of the stand, watching everyone else play with the only non-house student in the group being Luna who was sitting alongside Neville.
Word around school was that they were currently the cutest couple at Hogwarts and even Lavender could not disagree about that. The way Neville started shaking whenever Luna put her head on his shoulder was adorable. The boy had the balls to stand up to Voldemort but had a stuttering fit whenever Luna took his hand in hers.
Anyway, Lavender could not help but notice that no one had try to approach the "Golden Duo" for a autograph or whatnot and she could not help but realize that she herself was probably the reason why seeing how she was sitting one row directly above them watching Fred and George once again take up their former roles as Beaters, though they had to tone it down a bit. The twins, despite no longer being students, opt to come around the school more often and use their talent for making people laugh to help a number of the students cope with the horrors they witness during the battle and while they would leave at the end of the day they would return the following morning to continue their services. Rumor has it when they brought the idea up to Headmaster McGonagall, instead of giving them a flat no she simply embrace the two in the hug, thanking them from the bottom of her heart.
Neither the twins nor the Headmaster have confirm or deny this rumor.
But anyway, while they might have fool everyone else, they were not fooling Lavender.
No doubt the real reason they were sticking around was because they too were hoping that their little brother would turn up here or at least news of him would.
Speaking of which.
"Any word on Ron?", Lavender asks and despite not looking directly at them for her eyes were on the match, particularly a certain player of Irish descent who was currently trying to catch a certain golden object.
But it did not matter for the people she was addressing the question toward knew that she was talking to them.
"Nothing yet", Harry answers with a sullen tone, "It seems like no one in the entire Isles has seen him."
"I'm sure he'll turn up eventually", Lavender remarks.
"You sure seem to be worry about him a lot despite you guys being exes", Hermione points out.
"Exes or not, I still knew him for almost seven years. Just because we broke up doesn't mean I want him dead or anything", Lavender comments before standing up and cupping her hands around her mouth, "Hey, Seamus!"
The lad who was trying his best at the Seeker position, a position that he secretly always wanted to try, was looking left and right for the Golden Snitch after just finally losing Fred and George and their menacing Bludger techniques, but for the life of him he just could not find it.
"How does Harry make this look so easy?", he thought to himself before the sound of someone calling his name drew his attention to the stands where he spotted Lavender standing up.
He then sees her point to the far left corner of the field and when he follow her finger, he saw something shine for a second in the sunlight.
It was the Golden Snitch.
And with a mock salute to Lavender he takes off after it.
The girl then sat back down to keep watching the game.
"Hey Lavender?", she heard after a few moments of silence, and she looks down to see the Chosen One looking directly at her.
"Yeah, Harry?"
"How did you do that?"
"Do what?"
"Spot the Golden Snitch."
"Odd question coming from you of all people", Lavender points out, "You catch the snitch all the time."
"Yeah, when I'm on the field. You spotted it from the stands", Harry retorts.
"It that suppose to be a hard thing to do?", Lavender asks.
"Well, yeah in a way", Harry says recalling the Quidditch World Cup match he went to before the start of his fourth year.
"I've been spotting the snitch all day. Every game so far I have watch it buzz around and yet no one goes for it", Lavender says.
Something inside of Harry told him that Lavender was neither lying nor bragging.
"Been spotting the snitch all day but she only picks the game that Seamus is the Seeker to say something", Parvati jests to Dean.
"I heard that", Lavender says.
"Anyway", Harry says as he stands up, "Can you come with me for a second?"
"Why?", Lavender asks.
"I want to see how you do as a Seeker", Harry says causing Lavender to look at him funny along with everyone else in the stands.
"Are you sure about this, Harry?", Ginny asks.
"She doesn't have to do it if she doesn't want to", Harry says.
Lavender mulls the thought in her head for a moment before answering before simply shrugging
"Well its not like I'm doing anything else at the moment but don't expect much from me", she says as she stood up, "Besides, who am I to say no to the great Harry Potter?"
"I was only asking as a friend", Harry points out.
"I'm sure you were but once again let me remind you that I am not a Quidditch player", Lavender tells him as she walk down the stands.
"Noted", Harry says before looking to Dean and Ginny, "You mind joining?"
"Sure why not", Ginny says while Dean merely shrugs as well before getting up.
"Hey Neville", Harry then says, hoping to use him as a reserve but stops before he could finish his sentence. While Neville was paying full attention to him, The Chosen One's eyes were on Luna who had a playful smile on her face, but it had very little warmth behind it and it was direct at him.
A smile that Harry read as her nonverbally telling him that Neville was just fine where he was at.
"Nevermind, mate", Harry then says before quickly making his way down the stairs, leaving a baffle Neville in his wake.
"I honestly have no idea what is going through his mind right now", Hermione confesses to the remaining students.
"Yeah, Lavender is more talent watching people play Quidditch then getting in on the action herself", Parvati voices.
"Even with Harry as the captain, I doubt they will win a single game", Hermione states.
That one sentence turn out to be the biggest understatement of the century.
The layout of Harry's team was as followed:
Harry, Dean, and Ginny were the Chasers.
Fred and George, after quitting their current team to join in, were the Beaters.
Seamus, joining up after his team lost, was the Keeper.
And Lavender was the Seeker.
All in all, it look like the perfect example of a team thrown together at the last minute with only four of the members actually being well-verse in the sport itself. The team they were facing were in the same boat as well, also made up of all Gryffindor students as well.
Nevertheless though...
Their first game ended with multiple school records being broken...if it was a official match.
The match ended fifteen seconds after it started.
That how long it took between the match officially beginning and for Lavender to spot and capture the snitch. The entire Quidditch Pitch could have been empty with how quiet everyone got. The looks on the faces of everyone who was not Lavender or Seamus were ones of stun surprise. Even Professor Hooch, who was merely spectating, could not believe her eyes.
Lavender's face was one of bashful embarrassment though not because everyone was looking at her.
It was because Seamus would not stop complimenting her.
"That was amazing, Lavender!", the Irish wizard said, "You would even make Viktor Krum look like a amateur!"
"It-It was nothing", was all the girl could reply as she look away before Seamus could see her furiously blushing.
The layout of Harry's team for the second match was simply moving Lavender to Keeper, Seamus to Chaser, and himself to Seeker.
This time they were going up against a Ravenclaw team.
This game lasted way longer but still ended in their victory of fifty-to-zero as Lavender did not let the Quaffle get pass her once for her reaction time was way too fast and all the shots taken by the opposing team were actual caught by her instead of merely being intercepted and punting away by her broom.
More words of amazement from Seamus. More blushing from Lavender. More stun faces from everyone else.
The third match had Lavender moved to a Beater position with Fred moving to Keeper. A Hufflepuff team step up to the plate this time around.
It once again ended in a win for them seeing how the Hufflepuff's players could not even get close to the goal because of Lavender's aggressive play style with the Bludger. But on another note, the girl broke a Beater's club while hitting one Bludger so hard in the process that it nearly burst at the seams. The opposing team's Chaser who was almost hit by said Bludger quit on the spot after he barely dodge it and swore up and down that he saw the Grim Reaper behind it for it came within a hair width of his face.
Lavender heard him murmuring later on about how he did not survive a entire war just to be kill while playing Quidditch.
Finally a break came but no one left the pitch as everyone was eager to see what Lavender would do next. Word had made its way back to the school and soon the entire student body was filling the Quidditch Pitch including the teachers and the rest of the staff. What started out as a day of leisure and relaxation had now evolve into a speculate of sorts.
Harry decided to go all in at this point and had Fred moved back to Beater, Dean moved to Keeper while Lavender, Seamus, and Ginny took over the Chasers' positions while he retain his Seeker role. The group found themselves squaring off against the undefeated Slytherin squad and to make up for Fred and George playing the twins were each given slower brooms.
It was then decided by the staff that because of the crowd that had gather, the rules were modify a bit and a full match would be play, standard rules and everything; even Professor Hooch would be officiated it.
The crowd was going crazy by this point. It has been almost a full year since the last full Quidditch game was play and while this wasn't a official match, the entire school was treating it like it was the Inter-House Champions. It also made sense since this was to be the first and last official match of the school year.
While Harry, Ginny, Fred, and George were used to being the center of such excitement, for Dean, Seamus, and Lavender it was a whole new world for them. Unfortunately for the dirty blonde hair girl, it also started to make her feel a little self-conscious floating around in the middle of the pitch while the whole school was out there. She felt like that everyone was just staring at her scars. The fact that she could hear a good chuck of the conversations going on was not helping.
"You okay there, Lav?", she hears and turns to her right to see Seamus stare at her, "You looking kinda down."
"Just wish everyone would stop staring at me, you know? Its making me feel real uncomfortable", Lavender answers as she looks around at the crowd.
"Oh", Seamus said and was silent for a moment before speaking again, "Do I make you uncomfortable when I look at you?"
Lavender's turn her head back at Seamus so fast that the lad was sure he heard something snap.
"Say that again?", Lavender says.
"Do I make you uncomfortable when I look at you?", Seamus repeated, "If I do, say the word and I'll stop. I don't want to make you feel bad or anything."
"How often do you look at me?", Lavender questions, her face glowing red.
"Honestly, I have stop counting how many times I find myself watching you throughout the day", Seamus admitted, though Lavender swore she saw a blush starting to appear on his cheeks.
"Don't you find my scars ugly?", Lavender says in a quiet voice, afraid of the answer she might get.
Seamus' response was a look of surprise confusion.
"Did you not hear me the other day? Could have swore you did", Seamus says, "I said you were still the same pretty girl I took to the Yule Ball. If anything, the scars give you a exotic tough-girl type of look. I quite like it if we're being honest here."
Forget butterflies, Lavender felt like she had a whole bunch of owls flying around in her stomach after that comment.
Unfortunately, as if they notice the moment and sought out to ruin it, someone with a knack for musical talent in house Slytherin decided to start taunting Lavender and pretty soon that entire section of the stands made a variation of the song that they use to taunt Ron back in fifth year call "Brown is our Queen", though none of the lyrics had anything to do with Quidditch and were far more personal.
Brown is our Queen,
She became a werewolf's chew thing,
That is why the Slytherins all sing:
Brown is our Queen
Brown is our Queen,
Brown is our Queen,
She shouldn't let her face be seen,
Brown is our Queen
Upon hearing such lyrics, a dark and primal anger started to rise inside of Lavender, almost as bad whenever she thought of Fenrir.
How dare they mock her?
How dare they insult her?
Worst of all, how dare they ruin the moment she was having with Seamus?
She had half a mind to go down to the stands and teach the whole of House Slytherin some respect, but knew that it would not go over well.
"Ignore them, Lav", Seamus says, snapping her out of her thoughts, "They were all cowering down in the dungeon during the battle anyway because they couldn't be trusted."
"Oh no, its fine. At first I wasn't trying, but now I'm about to make it personal", Lavender says as she narrow her eyes and bare her teeth in a way that reminded Seamus of a dog showing its hackles.
Though the Queen thing is kind of nice", Lavender thought as she flicks her hair back with confidence, showing off her scars to the crowd before flying off to her position, leaving a awe struck Seamus in her wake.
"Whoa", he says breathlessly while Dean just shakes his head once again at his friend.
"It's like I'm watching a sitcom with these two, a really bad one at that like "Friends" or something", he mutters moving heading to the rings just as the match begun.
Long story short, it was a one-sided slaughter in favor of House Gryffindor.
Lavender went on to score a hundred points on her own while Seamus and Ginny each score twenty points respectively. The entire Slytherin crowd went quiet before the halfway point of the game, especially since their team could not seem to score a single point as they could never hold on to the Quaffle long enough to even get to the other end of the field where Dean just absently waited.
At one point during the match though one of the Bludger manages to hit Seamus so hard that he lost his balance on his broom and was sent plummeting to the ground. Unfortunately for him no one could pull their wands out fast enough to help him.
But fortunately for him though Lavender was the closet to him and she manage to dive down in time to catch him before he hit the ground.
Now what cause everyone in the pitch, including the teachers, to be in shock once more, was not the fact that Lavender got to Seamus in time to save him, but how she manages to do it.
She did not use a wand.
She did not use her broom.
Lavender grab the back of Seamus' shirt and halt his fall with just a single hand with no signs of strain whatsoever. She even manages to lift him up to nearly eye level with her.
In fact, the only thing having a hard time with the whole ordeal was the broom that Lavender was using as it start to descend to the ground due to the combine weight of both the teenagers it was supporting.
"Seamus!", Lavender shouts once she is able to get her feet on the ground, "Are you alright?"
The wizard's eyes never leave hers all while a daze look dances across his face.
"Yeah", he says after collecting his thoughts, "I'm great, Lav."
"Thank goodness", Lavender says as she lets out a breath.
"Were you always this strong?", Seamus asks after a moment, "Because if you were then you are even more amazing than I originally thought you were!"
...
...
The match finally resume after Seamus was declare okay and Lavender's red glowing face return to its original color.
It ended when Lavender threw the Quaffle with such force that the Slytherin Keeper who attempt to intercept it was instead vault off his broom and through the middle hoop and it took Headmaster McGonagall, who wand was now at the ready, quickly casting a levitation spell on him to keep him from hitting the ground. But still the point counted though and a few moment later Harry found the snitch and ended the match.
Finally score, two hundred and ninety to zero.
A roar went up from the Gryffindor section along with a new song that everyone later discover to have been made by Luna and Neville who apparently had a hidden talents for such things.
Brown is our Queen,
At the battle, she fought on the right wing
With a flick of her wrist, powerful spells she did fling
This is why Brown is our Queen.
Attack by a werewolf and she just scoff
Most people would be dead but she just shrugged it off
That's why all Gryffindors sing,
That Brown is our Queen
Slytherin trying taunting her, they thought they were cute
Then she score a hundred points and they all went mute
To everyone here, let it all be seen
That Brown is our Queen
Despite the stares and cheers she was now getting, she did discover one sure fact.
Seamus definitely had a thing for strong women as he found that whole display, including the part where Lavender lifted him up like he was a mere doll, to be...
"The most beautiful thing I has ever seen!", he tells her as the two of them came up into the Gryffindor Common Room, follow by the rest of the gang excluding Luna, "You were bloody brilliant and wonderful out there!"
"It was nothing. Really, it wasn't", Lavender try saying, using her hair to hide her blush from him.
"No, Seamus is right", Harry interjects, "You were amazing today, Lavender. If any of those matches were official, you would have broken several school's records, including the ones set by my father and I."
This catches Lavender's attention, "Really?"
"Oh yes", Ginny chimes in, "Its too late now but you should really look into joining one of the small professional leagues around the Isles. You would easily shoot through the ranks in no time and become a star."
"It does not make sense though", Hermione comments, "How did you become so talented all of a sudden?"
Lavender could only shrug, "Beat me, maybe the battle awoken something in me."
"That is a possibly", Hermione agree.
Out the corner of her eye, Lavender spots Hagrid making his way across the school ground from the window she was standing next too.
"I'll be right back", she says as she makes her way through the group, "I need to go see Madam Pomfrey about something."
"Do you want me to go with you?", Seamus asks out of nowhere and Lavender had to catch herself on the wall to keep from falling over after such a statement while also drowning out how hard her own heart was beating from said statement as well.
"No, no, I'll be back in no time", she says before disappearing down the stairs.
"Huh, she's acting real strange today", Seamus comments before a stupid grin appear on his face, "Not counting the absolute dominance she showed at Quidditch today."
"Sweet Merlin", Dean says while shaking his head.
"Was I this dense with you?", Harry whispers over at Ginny.
"Oh yeah", the redhead replies, "In fact, you were even worse somehow. Even Neville picked up on Luna's hints quicker than either one of y'all and this is Luna we're talking about."
When Hagrid open up the door to his hut, the first thing he notice was Fang and the state the dog was in.
Whimpering loudly with his tail between his legs, the poor dog look down right scared to death of something.
"Blimey, Fang! What got you acting all like this", Hagrid wonder.
"What do you know about werewolves?", a voice then says behind him
He spun around so quickly that he nearly slip but caught himself at the last moment. His eyes then laid about the girl that standing at the door entrance to his home.
"Blimy, Lavender! Where do you come from?", he asks, "You appear out of thin air! I didn't even hear you coming!"
Lavender ignores this statement for a moment and take a good look at Fang who was now backing up into a corner away from her, his whimpering getting louder by the second.
"What do you know about werewolves?", she then repeats as she turns her focus back to Hagrid.
"Just a bit more than what everyone else does. They are definitely someone you don't want to see in a dark alley", Hagrid answers, "I mean you know firsthand what that is like."
Lavender's eyes widen in shock at the half-giant's choice of words. Then it only took a moment for the half-giant himself to realize what he had just said.
"I shouldn't have said that. I should not have said that. I shouldn't have said that", he tell himself before redirecting his attention back to Lavender, "I'm really sorry about that."
The girl hold up a hand to cut him off, "It's fine. Probably the least mean thing anyone has said to me in regards to my scars and I know you didn't mean to."
"That's funny because I have been hearing that Seamus lad seems to like your scars", Hagrid says with a chuckle.
The blush that went away after she left the Common Room now return in full strength as the girl was sure her face was glowing now.
"He-We're-just friends", she stammers out.
"Of course you are, Lavender", Hagrid laughs, "Just like Madam Maxine and I are just friends now."
"Okay, I did not need that mental image", Lavender groans.
"Sorry about that, but why the sudden interest in werewolves?", the ground-keeper asks, realizing that most students would not what to know what he and the Headmistress of Beauxbatons Academy were getting up into nowadays.
Lavender hesitate for a moment, unsure how to word the statement that was about to come out of her mouth.
Finally after a moment though.
"Have you ever heard of someone turning into a werewolf even if they were bitten by one on a non full moon night?", she finally asks.
"Merlin's staff, no!", Hagrid says, "Why if that was the case we would have a lot more werewolves running around!"
"Then how do you explain the Quidditch games today?", Lavender says.
"What about them, lass? From what I saw and heard you played brilliantly today", Hagrid says.
"Well for one, I never even played Quidditch before until today! Two, everything was moving way too slow out there today from the Quaffle to the other players and even the snitch. It was like watching one of those Muggle movie thingy in slow-motion! Three, I wasn't even trying to hit the Bludger that hard and I nearly broke it when I did! Finally, I knock the Keeper off of his broom by simply throwing the Quaffle and I wasn't even trying to do that! I merely toss the damn thing! Sure, I was a little piss off about the song and all but I wasn't actually trying to hurt anyone!" Lavender ranted, all the pent-up confusion she had kept inside all day pouring out like a dam finally breaking under the pressure as hot tears started to stream down her face as all the confidence she had earlier simply disappear, "I can hear people from across the room even when they're whispering and it doesn't even matter if the common room or the Great Hall! I can even smell whether someone hasn't taken a bath despite me not being able to see them! And to top it all off, Fang looks like he is about to have a heart attack just being in the same room with me! I have no idea what is going on with me, I'm constantly having nightmares about something with red glowing eyes stalking me through a forest, and I'm utterly terrified about all of this!"
Hagrid found himself taken aback by this outburst and it was as clear as day that the girl was overwhelming distraught.
"Hey, hey", he tells her as he gently places a hand on her shoulder, "It's going to be okay! Everything is going to be alright!"
It takes a moment for Lavender to finally calm down but when she eventually does, Hagrid propose an idea.
"How about we go talk to the Headmaster about this? About everything that is happening to you?"
"No!", Lavender says, "She can't know! I haven't even told Parvati about any of this."
"Well why not?", Hagrid wonders.
"Because McGonagall put the school first before anything! She'll have me sent away so I won't become a danger to anyone!", Lavender explains.
"Well do you feel like you're going to become a danger to anyone?"
Images of the Great Hall and the boy who she struck with the cup comes to mind.
"Well...um", she finds herself saying.
"If you stop and think about it, a full moon had already passed since the battle", Hagrid remembers, "It was last Monday actually."
Lavender's eyes widen as she realize that the half-giant was right. On May 11th, nine days after the battle, there was a full moon.
Yet she did not change.
If anything, she remembers actually feeling great that night for some reason.
Was she overthinking things? Was she simply overreacting to everything?
"You know who would be a good person to talk to about this since you don't want to talk to McGonagall? Bill Weasley", Hagrid mentions.
Lavender snaps her head up to him, "Ron and Ginny's brother?"
"That's the one. He was attack by Fenrir to in his non-werewolf form too and he has develop a few quirks as well that he didn't have to begin with like wanting to eat a lot of red meat and stuff", Hagrid remembers, "I believe he is coming to the school here soon along with a couple of folks from the Gringotts Bank to do some financial stuff for the school and whatnot, at least that what Ginny said. You should talk to him if you get a chance."
"Yeah", Lavender said after a moment, "I might just do that. Thank you, Hagrid."
And with that, the girl turn around and walk back to the castle but all the while Hagrid kept his eyes train on Fang who would not relax from his frighten state until the girl was well gone.
Back in the school, Lavender walks briskly down the halls.
"Please let Ginny still be awake! Please let her still be awake!", she said to herself as she turn the corner and almost ran into a group of girls.
"Watch where you're going, you idiot!", one of the girls says in response and Lavender could feel a headache coming on as she realize just who exactly she was.
"Of all the hags to run into", she thought as she came face to face with a sneering Pansy Parkinson.
"Well look what we have here, little Miss Chewtoy herself!", the Slytherin laughs causing the two girls with her to laugh as well, "You know all this fresh air can't be good for your wounds so you should probably stay lock up in your dorm room...for like ever."
Lavender could feel her blood pressure start to rise.
"You know, I have to perfect thing to help hide those scars so people can actually have a conversation with you", Pansy says, "Its call putting a paper bag over your head."
More laughter from her cronies. How she still had them after her cowardly display during the battle was a mystery to Lavender.
Normally Lavender would just roll her eyes and walk away while ignoring the insults but she figure that if Pansy was going to be a bitch to her then she might as well be a bitch back.
And not just any bitch but the Alpha Bitch.
"You know, it's funny", she says pretends to look around.
"What is?", Pansy asks.
"I don't see Draco around anywhere with your leash in hand, why is that?", Lavender answers.
"What was that?", Pansy says while taking a step toward the Gryffindor.
"Did you two break up because he saw first-hand just how much of a coward you were during the battle? Because if he did, that would be hilariously seeing how he switch sides in the middle of said battle", Lavender kept going on, unfazed by Pansy's gesture.
"You watch your mouth!", Pansy threatens.
"Speaking of which, how are you even still at school?", Lavender wonders aloud before snapping her fingers, "Oh that's right! Mommy and Daddy probably had to pay a pretty penny toward the school's repairs in order to keep you here, didn't they?"
"Why you little mongrel!", Pansy says as she grabs her wand and points it at Lavender, "Stu-gack!"
The Stunning Spell she was trying to cast never came to fruition on part of Lavender's right hand now clasp tightly around her throat. The Slytherin drops her wand and with all her might tries to break the grip but to no avail as the hand was like iron.
Pansy's two cronies make a move and go for their wands but using her still free left hand, Lavender backhands the one on her left, sending her tumbling back across the hallway and then following it up with a hard bitchslap to the one on her right all in the time it took for someone to blink. When all was said and done, both of the girls were cupping the parts on their faces where they got slap, pain-stricken tears pouring out their eyes.
But Lavender ignores all of this and solely focuses on Pansy, who face was now starting to change colors from lack of oxygen. The girl knew that she had to let the Slytherin go or else she would suffocate but another part of her was saying a whole other thing.
Rip. Shred. Tear. Maul. Dominant. ALPHA.
Deep inside of her, a voice was telling her to make an example out of Pansy. To send a warning to everyone else that Lavender Brown of House Gryffindor was not to be trifle with and that everyone should mind their manners around her, lest they end up like Draco Malfoy's former girlfriend.
And for some reason, Lavender found herself agreeing with the voice to a degree. Sure she could not kill Pansy but that did not mean she had to let her off easy.
"Now listen here", Lavender says in a low voice, while leaning in so Pansy could hear every word, "I'm going to let you go and by the time I count to five, you're going to be out of my sight or else. Do you understand?"
Pansy, still grasping for air could only struggle to nod her head.
"I suggest you change your way of life Pansy or one day I'm going to make you as ugly on the outside as you are on the inside", Lavender threatens right before releasing Pansy. The girl falls to the ground, taking huge gulps of air while cradling her hand around her neck, the handprints from Lavender's grip still fully visible.
"One", Lavender says.
Pansy was already running and struggling to run down the hall, leaving her wand and "friends" behind without a second thought. Once she turn the corner Lavender directs her attention to the cronies who were left behind.
"The countdown apply to you as well", she says, "Two"
Two more students of the least liked house in Hogwarts are up and sprinting down the hall, leaving Lavender alone with her thoughts.
"You can come out from around the corner, Hermione, I already know your there", Lavender says after a moment.
Sure enough, the Brightest Witch of the age peeks her head from around the corner where Pansy and the other girls just ran by.
"How did you know I was here? I did not say a word", she asks.
"I smell worn leather, old paper, and cobwebs; like a library. Seeing how that room is on the other side of school though, I figure you were nearby", Lavender answers.
If Hermione was a little peeve by the comparison she did not show it.
"How much did you see?", Lavender asks.
"I got here just as you slap the other two girls and was about to intervene when you let Pansy go. I must say though that while Pansy no doubt deserve whatever she gets you went a little overboard just now. You could end up getting in deep trouble", she then says as she slowly starts to walk toward her fellow Gryffindor, "Maybe even expel."
"Ha!", Lavender barks, "That was overboard?"
"Yes, it was", Hermione answers.
"Oh, then maybe next time I'll...Oh, I don't know...", she pretend to think before once more snapping her fingers, "Maybe I'll summon a swarm of canaries to attack them. That is a perfectly reasonable spell to use on someone", she says before giving Hermione a meaningful look.
Hermione bristles under the stare but Lavender did not care. Her blood was running hot after that confrontation with Pansy and she has been meaning to get this off her chest for quite some time now in regards to her roommate and there was no time like the present.
"I do not know what you are imply-", she starts to say before Lavender holds up a hand to stop her.
"You honestly believe that Ron wasn't going to tell me about that?", the girl then says, "Even if he didn't, I would have put two and two together eventually. Cause I would have question how the hell he suddenly got a lot of scratches on him despite me being in the same room with him just a moment ago. Believe or not, I'm not as much as a ditz as everyone thinks I am."
Hermione says nothing and could only look at the floor. Usually this would be the time that the old Lavender might have back off and just walks away having said her piece, like she should have done with Pansy. This is especially true since the Golden Duo were still dealing with all the attention that people were giving them and were generally having a hard time.
But right now the new Lavender decide that if she is going to be a bitch right now she might as well be a equal opportunity bitch.
Everyone was fair game in her mind right now.
"Tell me something", Lavender starts, "In all your arguments with Ron through the years, did he ever lay a hand or cast a spell at you?"
"I fail to see what that has to do with this conversation", Hermione says.
"Just answer the question. Or don't, because I'm pretty sure I know the answer already", Lavender says.
"He did not", Hermione reluctantly answers.
"So you mean to tell me that dumb, dense as a doorknob, emotional range of a teaspoon Ronald Weasley was the mature one of your friendship and kept his anger in check?", Lavender asks.
"We are done here", Hermione says as she turn around but stops as Lavender kept going.
"You mean to tell me that while you were dating Viktor Krum he never once summon something like a swarm of bees to attack you?", Lavender says.
Hermione's hands curl into fists but her dormmate kept going.
"You mean to tell me that the great Hermione Granger, the Brightest Witch of the age as the newspapers are calling you, is so emotionally immature that she will attack one of her best friends, in fact one of her first and only friends, simply because he was dating someone that wasn't her?"
Hermione turns on her heels and marches at Lavender, face red with anger.
"And why do you care? You two broke up! In fact, he dumped you! So I fail to see why our relationship matters so much to you!", she shouts as she stops in directly front of Lavender and points a finger at her.
Lavender actually found herself impress by Hermione's courage seeing how the girl admitted that she fully witness her manhandle three other students like they were nothing yet she still had no problem getting within arm reach of her while shouting at her as well, all while also being alone with her in a hallway with her wand not even at the ready.
"She was place into Gryffindor for a reason after all", Lavender thought before responding, ""Yeah, so? I got over it. That's what mature people do."
"You could have fool me", Hermione says, "Though now it seems your sights are set on Seamus."
"You weren't here", Lavender points out, "You didn't see what he had put up with for me. What he protected me from in regards to Snape and his cronies."
"And you did not see what the Harry, Ron, and I had to put up with while on the run", Hermione retorts.
"That's true, I'll give you that", Lavender concedes, "But from where I'm standing it seems that Ron was a better friend to you than you ever were to him."
"I saved his life multiple times", Hermione points out.
"From what I've heard, he saved yours first back in year one against the cave troll", Lavender counters.
"I told him what spell to use and how to use it properly", came the retort.
"Yeah but the fact remains that he was the one that took out the troll, not Harry and definitely not you. Plus I didn't know saving someone's life gave you the right to attack them because they decided to date someone else beside you. Must have been a new law the Ministry pass when I wasn't paying attention", Lavender laughs.
Silence reigns in the hallway as the two girls merely stare at one another. Hermione's heated glare going up against Lavender's smirk.
Then without making a sound, Hermione turns around and leaves but not before Lavender got the one last word in.
"And just for the record, Ron asks me, practically beg me not to tell Dumbledore about the canaries! It just makes me wonder if there is a deeper reason why no one can find him! Maybe he doesn't want to be found!", she says just as Hermione turns the corner, leaving Lavender alone and somehow in a fouler mood than her fellow Gryffindor.
"Great, another meeting with Professor McGonagall here soon no doubt", she growls, "Fucking perfect."
She sits down on a nearby bench and looks up at the ceiling.
"What the hell is going on with me?", she asks herself.
A/N: Slytherins crowd: sings a taunting song despite everyone knowing that their house will never arise again to its former glory.
Lavender: And I took that personally.
Anyway, one might interprets this as Lavender's high point before her fall. She started to get some respect and fame, relationship with Seamus is going great, and she to lay both the physical and verbal smackdown and Pansy and Hermione respectively.
Now b efore anyone gets mad, it clearly says on the tags "Lavender calls Hermione out on her shit" and "Lavender remembers the canaries incident from sixth-year", so you shouldn't be surprise. If anyone has the right besides Harry and Ron to call Hermione out on her wrongdoings, it is probably the girl that has been her roommate for six going on seven years.
You don't have to like Ron x Hermione, but using the whole "Ron made Hermione cry so that justifies her attacking him" argument show a level of immaturely that is ruining this fandom.
Plus, I made Seamus a sucker for physically strong confident women which you will see more of in later chapters though I will try not to make him a simp. Now was he falling in love with Lavender herself or the werewolf aspects manifesting within her?
Anyway, next chapter will be the final chapter for the Battle of Hogsmeade and Hermione finding out Ron's identify and that chapter would end the Opening arc and move on to the next arc.