Chapter 1
Lavender wanted to cry.
She wanted to curl herself up in a bundle of blankets and comforting warmth and never move. She wanted to accept defeat. She wanted to give up on this stupid war and move to Hawaii. Or Miami, or Florida. Or even the fucking Alps. She just wanted to get away.
Away from First Years being tortured for the sake of a demonstration, for the sake of some pureblood, soon-to-be Death Eater learning how to inflict pain on those they deem lesser, or 'unworthy' of magic. Unworthy of life.
Being at Hogwarts reminds her of those who aren't with her. Those deemed lesser. Muggle-Borns. 'Mudbloods', though she'd never call them that. It's a filthy word. A slur. Besides, Lavender knows Muggle-Borns. Dean Thomas suspects that he's Muggle-Born, or he was raised that way, at least. Though by those standards, Harry Potter could be considered a Muggle-Born. And the Granger girl, Lavender never really liked her; despite spending 6 years sharing a dorm room and plenty of mutual friends. She supposes, now that she knows better, that her dislike came from jealously.
Hermione was intelligent, and kind, and Ron liked her. That had been the worst thing. Ron. Lavender knows now that she never really liked Ron. He was cute, sure. And he was a star Quidditch player, which she liked. But besides small talk in the Great Hall and Quidditch discussions with Seamus and Dean, because she would never admit it but Lavender knew just as much about the sport as those boys, she and Ron never really even spoke. Even when they dated all they ever seemed to do was snog.
But it was the idea of it, that Hermione was better than her in every way, and now she was stealing her boyfriend. Lavender resented her for a while, but she was ultimately fine.
Because she had Pavarti. Her best friend was the only person who could control the frustration and anger which Lavender often felt. Her all-consuming rage was little known as a result of Pavarti's success in controlling Lavender. And so only their close friends Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnegan knew of it, they'd nicknamed her 'She-Hulk' in reference to some Muggle thing, sometime around third year when she -very loudly- proclaimed that was was
'very angry with Sirius Black for disturbing my sleep and making Pav so scared! And I don't care how handsome he is!'
But that's diverting from the story.
Lavender had been very upset when Ron dumped her in his fucking sleep -pardon her language- for Hermione Granger. Lavender remembers her conversation with Pavarti quite clearly, because it was the last time she was able to cry freely. Cry without thinking that she has to be brave, or at least look brave, for the younger students. For her friends. For Pav. Because of course she has to be brave for Pav.
And after the cry, Pav had tried to make her feel better.
'Lav you didn't even fancy Weasley that much. He's an ugly, ginger prat and you're way out of his league. I know Shay and Dean liked him but honestly I think you could've done a lot better, cos you're really pretty Lav, gorgeous, even.'
'Do you really think?'
'Course I do, you nargle, why'd I be saying it otherwise?'
'Who do you think I could've got with? Better than Ron, I mean?'
'Do you still fancy Seamus? Cos you could get him, easy!'
'You reckon?'
'For sure! In fact, why don't I get you a date with him? I'm sure he's free, seeing as how Dean's always off with Ginny Weasley,'
It's ironic how wrong Pav had been. It wasn't even another week before Lavender walked in on Seamus kissing someone else. She supposed she should have known, in retrospect Seamus was as gay as Merlin himself.
Dean had been a surprise. Though it explained why he and Ginny were having so many relationship problems.