InsaneJournal

RP: Homecoming
When: April 18th, 2004
Who: Lavender Brown, Richard Summerby
Where: Clink Street
Private/Public: Private
Rating: All Ages
Summary: Lavender makes a trip back to the flat for the first time since the attack.

It was raining. Not exactly bucketing it down, but pretty damn wet. So, naturally, Lavender had donned her wellies and gone for a walk in the gardens. Her father was a herbologist, so there actually were multiple gardens around the property. They all held different memories for her growing up here - the magic of the rose garden, for example. The kitchen garden was bittersweet in her mind, now taken over by Caitlyn and whatever she was growing for her latest cookbook.

Soaked through and shivering a bit, Lavender returned to the cottage. In her room, still decorated the same way it had been when she was thirteen, the summer before her parents had divorced, Lavender changed into dry clothes, replacing the dressings over her wounds. Nearly two weeks on they weren't as raw as they had been, but it would still be a couple of weeks before she could forgo the dressings.

She knew her scars perfectly, could probably draw them even if she were blindfolded. She'd spent enough time just staring at them back when she'd first got them. Except now she could already see there were new ones. New cuts that had been contaminated by the opening of her cursed scars. So much blood; she could almost smell the coppery scent now, swallowing against it.

Lavender tied her damp hair up into a ponytail, moving to lie on the bed. She picked up her mobile phone from where it was lying. Still working, still enough battery. There was even a signal. She bit her lip. It wasn't as though she had anything better to do, she reasoned, opening up a blank message.

I miss you. Where are you? Lavender. xxx

She selected Richard's name, but hesitated before sending the text. Did it make her sound a little pathetic? Only she really did miss him. Damn. Waking up alone just wasn't the same - there was something that just wasn't right about it. A part of her hated that she'd grown so accustomed to his presence so quickly. She wasn't, she insisted to herself, going to use the word dependent.

Lavender sighed, deleting the message and letting the phone drop harmlessly on the bed as she rested her head, closing her eyes. She wanted to talk to him, but phones just weren't the same. Maybe she was a little resistant to it, but she really did prefer having face-to-face contact with a person.

Sitting up, she leant over the side of her bed to find her comfy ugg boots, pulling them on. She went downstairs and told Caitlyn where she was going, deciding her step-mother would be a little less disapproving than her dad. In her defence, most of her belongings were still at the flat, but even that thought didn't stop her from feeling a little apprehensive before she Apparated down to the building in Clink Street.

She let out a long breath, pocketing her grandmother's wand, the third wand she'd used in less than a month. Lavender carefully opened the door of the flat, not sure whether Richard or Susan were even here. Her heart was beating just a little too fast, tension starting to build across her shoulders. "Anyone home?" she called carefully, stepping inside.