Lavender Brown (lavenderblue) wrote in plagued_logs, @ 2016-02-01 21:34:00 |
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Entry tags: | 1999 january, bill weasley, lavender brown |
WHO: Lavender & Bill
WHAT: Pack lessons
WHEN: Sunday Night (full moon)
WHERE: Hogwarts Grounds
RATING: G
STATUS: closed / narrative
I'm on a concrete way
The wind is blowing to the north-northwest
It smells like sands of the southern island
When a black cat crosses my path
A woman in the moon is singing to the earth
The call of the moon. Lavender had been determined, determined, that she wasn't going to listen this time. She'd told her Housemates to watch her, shut herself up in the dormitory, shut the curtains on the night and pulled a pillow over her head. She felt the moon come out without seeing it, felt the pull of it, but shut her eyes tight and recited stars and planets under her breath. Then she heard the scream. She sat up, the pillow falling off the edge of the bed, eyes wide and staring in the dark. She didn't know how she knew, but that was Parvati screaming. "Oh no," she whispered to herself, and slammed her hands over her ears as the scream came again. She sat there shivering for a while, trying to close her ears. The next thing she knew she was walking across the grounds. She didn't know how she had gotten out of the castle. She was still in her night things, again, except that at some point she'd had the foresight to tie the Auror's black cord around her wrist. She tried to stop, or thought she tried to stop, but she kept walking, towards the forest, or towards the town, she wasn't sure. She could still hear the screaming. Suddenly someone had her by the arms, holding her in a grip like iron. She screamed and kicked, trying to escape, but then her captor moved in front of her and bent down to look her in the eyes and the scream died in her throat. "That's it," he said, low, soothing. "Look at me. Don't think about it, just look at me." She stared at him, her chest heaving with adrenaline. "You're Ron's brother," she said, her voice sounding like it was coming from far away. He smiled, blue eyes crinkling up at the corners, the way Ron's did when he smiled. "Yeah," he said, nodding. He shrugged off his dragonhide jacket and put it around her shoulders. "I'm not cold," she said, flatly. "Yes you are," he told her, all gentleness, although there was a firmness to the way he settled the jacket around her. "You just don't feel it." He brushed her hair out from the collar of the jacket, like a father might do for a young child. "Why are you out here, Lavender?" he asked, casually. "I.. I don't know," she admitted, hanging her head. "I was... looking for..." "I know," he said. He took a small step back but kept one hand on her arm. "I feel it too." She blinked and stared at him. "You do? But you -" "It's worse when he's so close, I know. I haven't felt it like this for a long time. But you can fight it." Her face fell and she shook her head. "I can't," she gasped. She could feel it still, the endless urge, the need to run, to follow the moon to wherever she wanted him. "He's... pack..." "No he's not," Bill said firmly, grasping both her wrists and kneeling in front of her, not breaking their eye contact for a second. "Listen to me. He's not pack. Pack is about more than just control. The girl who got bit - Parvati? She's your pack. Your friends are your pack. You don't owe him loyalty, you don't owe him anything." "But I... I can't help it," she protested, tears of frustration coming to her eyes. "He calls me and I... I can't..." "Yes you can," he said, still in that calm voice but with ultimate conviction. "Don't focus on him. Focus on Parvati. Focus on anything but him." Lavender shut her eyes, so that she could feel only the winter chill on her face, the ice of the snow under her bare feet, and his big, calloused grip around her wrists. She tried to think about all her friends back in Gryffindor tower, worrying about her. She wondered if they'd noticed she was missing, or if she'd hurt anyone trying to get out. She thought about Parvati, locked up and alone, going through all that pain alone, because Greyback had wanted her to hurt. "I hate him," she said, a low growl coming into her voice. "Good," Bill said to her surprise. "Use it. Channel it against him. You don't need him. You don't need to listen to him." She nodded, eyes still shut tight, and let the call pass over her like the icy water of the lake. Occasionally she felt a tug, as though she might be sick if she didn't turn a certain way or take a step in the other direction, but she thought of Parvati and it went away. "How're you doing?" His soft voice came out of the darkness of her mind, after what seemed like an eternity. She let out a breath and opened her eyes. "I... I think I'm okay." She blinked tearfully up at him. "Thank you. H-how did you..." "Know you'd be out here?" he shrugged, and the moonlight caught on the scars marring his face, so similar to her own. "It's a pack thing, probably." He stood up and put an arm around her. "Come on. Let's get you out of this snow before you freeze. You can stay with us tonight. I'll make sure you're safe. And you'll be closer to your friend, when she wakes up." Lavender let herself be led, leaning her drooping head against him. She was exhausted from the effort, and she just wanted to sleep, if only so she wouldn't have that horrible itching feeling inside her skin, like it wanted to be something else. "Vati," she said guiltily, in a sleepy voice, when they were almost inside the village. It felt like the world was swaying. "Not now," he said, and caught her, lifting her easily in his arms. "You'll see her in the morning." |