Written for QLFC Round 13

Team: Falmouth Falcons

Position: Keeper

Prompt: [book] The Surface Breaks — Louise O'Neill

Word Count: 1000 (according to MS Word and Scrivener)

Summary: Lavender only knows how to be pretty and flirty, it's all she's ever told she can be, but what if she wants more from life...

A/N: Used the theme of women only being good for being wives and pretty ornaments from the novel.

Lavender Brown the Pretty Ornament

All her life, Lavender Brown had always been told how pretty she was – how beautiful. Her skin was porcelain pale, flawless… perfect. Her hair was thick with smooth curls, unlike Hermione Granger's, which had a permanent aura of being back-brushed. Her eyes were a piercingly light shade of blue, her dark lashes made them look even more striking, and they were almond-shaped, alluring.

Lavender never had a blemish, her teeth were perfect without any help, and her figure always remained athletic without having ever done a minute of anything sport in her life.

What Lavender had never been told was that she could be anything she wanted to be. She was never told she could dream big and be a powerful woman when she grew up. She never got any attention when she did well in her homework or tests, only when she wore a pretty dress that complimented her beauty.

Lavender Brown's life plan, laid out by her mother and grandmother, was to be pretty and alluring so that she would attract a husband. A rich husband. That was it. That was all she was good for because she hadn't been born a boy. Her father didn't even look at her, only at what family she could potentially marry into – maybe the Malfoy's. They never had girls, so Lavender surely couldn't be a disappointment when she gives them an heir.

But what if Lavender wanted more? She felt like she could be more.

When she arrived at Hogwarts, she immediately found a kindred spirit in Parvati Patil. Someone who had been told the same things; look pretty, flirt with boys who might be potentially good husbands, and don't read too much. They had thought they were alone in the way they were raised, with no friends to talk to before Hogwarts.

Hermione Granger, on the other hand, didn't make sense to them. Her nose was always in a book, she didn't care that she couldn't run a brush through her hair, nor did she care when people made fun of her for knowing so much. Lavender and Parvati joined in on the laughter, the teasing. She needed to be told that boys didn't like it when girls could do something better than them. That's not what good girls did.

Over the years, they tried to make Hermione think differently, to understand that they weren't bullies, they were trying to help her. Otherwise she'd be alone for the rest of her life. No husband would want her.

Lavender even proved that knowing everything wasn't attractive when Ron picked her over Hermione. She hadn't intended on making anything happen with Ron, especially as he was so poor, but she could still have a bit of fun. She knew she'd made her point to Hermione when she saw how upset Hermione was at seeing them together. Ron had picked pretty and flirty over books and knowledge. It was the way of the world and Hermione should realise that, like she'd had to from the moment she was born.

Then Lavender's world was turned upside down. Her Ron had been poisoned and he didn't ask for her. He didn't say her name in his sleep. He'd called out for her. Hermione. It didn't make sense. Why would he want her?

Lavender was everything she'd been told to me when a boy was interested; attentive, available… attractive.

Over the summer, Lavender thought about Ron choosing Hermione. Maybe she had it wrong. Maybe she should've tried to be more like Hermione, like Parvati's sister. Even Padma had told them both to do better in their schoolwork, that it was better to be happy with themselves rather than be happy because a boy liked how they looked. What if that didn't get them a good husband, they'd asked of Padma. She'd laughed and told them boys were not needed to be happy. Boys were not needed to lead a good life.

Parvati didn't speak to her sister for the last month of Hogwarts after that conversation, but between Ron breaking up with her and Padma's words, Lavender wasn't so sure about her future anymore.

She'd never told anyone before, had never even thought it; Lavender loved to read. She loved fictional worlds that would carry her off, to lead a different life everytime she opened a cover. Growing up, The Little Mermaid had been her favourite story. To attract a boy with one look at your beauty and nothing else; it was everything Lavender was told should happen for her. But now…

Lavender wanted to be a warrior, a learner… she wanted what Padma had said could be an option. To be happy with who she is, without the approval of a boy, or even her parents. What did they care anyway? They were sending her back to Hogwarts after Dumbledore had been killed. They weren't You-Know-Who supporters, but they didn't go against them either, even if it meant putting their daughter's life at risk.

When she arrived back for her final year, realising on the train that Harry Potter had not gotten on the train, neither had Ron and Hermione, Lavender would have to learn how to be who she was without Hermione's help. She didn't need boys to tell her who she was anymore, Lavender would figure it out.

And she started with reforming Dumbledore's Army with Neville Longbottom.

She had laughed at the idea of Harry teaching others how to look after themselves in their fifth-year. Why did she need to learn that when her future husband would do it for her? Now Lavender laughed at her past-self. How naïve she had been.

Lavender Brown became the warrior she wanted to be. Had never known she could be.

When a Colin Creevey and his brother, Dennis, had crept back to the school in the middle of the battle, Lavender put herself between them and Fenrir Greyback. She didn't need anyone's help. She was powerful and strong and valiantly.

Lavender Brown died a hero.