Regulation and Control

Who: Vi Marlowe, various flatmates and Lavender Brown
What: Margarita cookies.
Where: Vi's flat
When: 7th August, evening
Rating: PG (I think)
Status: Closed; complete

( Damn, I was hoping you'd not notice I wasn't actually doing anything. )

Who: Lavender Brown & Oliver Wood.
Where: a fleamarket in London.
What: Shopping for disguises and making many, many stupid remarks.
When: Saturday Afternoon. August 2nd.
Rating: S (for Sillyness. G)
Status: Closed. Complete.

( Tugging down one of them, a hideous purple velvet jacket with ruffled sleeves and large red buttons, she glanced at the price tag and practically beamed )

Who: Lavender Brown and Red Lewysham
What: Red's first job as Network hired muscle. Intimidating Lavender. Of course, this is hard to do when you have a two year-old with you.
When: After the Leaky Cauldron's closed for the night, early May 2008
Where: Leaky Cauldron, then Lavender's home in Dartmoor.
Rating: G.
Status: Closed; Complete.

( I'm not going to be bloody done for another hour or two but if you want to wait and stand over me threateningly I can deal with that. )

( Warded owl sent to Lavender Brown at her Ministry-registered address )

Who: Vi Marlowe and Lavender Brown
What: Early morning caffeine and a chat
Where: Logan's, a cafe in Camden
When: 22nd July, around eight a.m.
Rating: PG-13 for language
Status: Closed; complete

( Vi stared at Lavender confusedly, blinking several times, trying to figure out whether they'd already been carrying on a conversation for several minutes and she'd somehow missed the first bits. )

Who: Nymphadora Tonks and Lavender Brown
What: Tonks and Lav bump into one another at an apothecary and get into a rapping battle. Okay, not seriously. They just talk.
Where: Corazon Alley, Shatwell's Apothecary
When: 21st July, late afternoon
Rating: PG-13 for language
Status: Closed; complete

( I swear I'm not on the run from the law. Cross my heart. )

( Owl to Lavender Brown )

Who: Fleur Delacour-Weasley and Lavender Brown
What: Randomosity
When: Tuesday afternoon, early, before Fleur's visit to the Burrow
Where: A McDonald's in London
Warnings: Offensive to vegetarians (sorry, Ben!)
Status: Closed, incomplete.

Following her exchange with Bill on the journals, Fleur had decided that on top of the meal she was actually purchasing for Bill to eat, she had to buy something at a McDonald's so she could get a sack to put the real sandwich in. It would serve him right, to think he was going to eat some nasty, overcooked, oversalted, fried meat patty for long enough to open the bag.

Fleur scanned the menu that hung over the heads of the counter staff, trying to figure out what she could buy that wouldn't make her ill but would also provide a sack of the appropriate size. She was aware that she was being watched; she was Veela and that was her life, men and women alike eyeing her out of the corner of their eyes, hesitant, hopeful, attracted, hateful. A Muggle brushed against her and she turned, ready to say something, but it was only another woman slipping by--the shop was crowded at lunchtime--and not someone trying to touch her.

Aware she looked a bit fierce, Fleur said, "I'm sorry, you startled me."

Who: Vi Marlowe and Lavender Brown
What: Lavender and Vi meet for shopping purposes. There is Santa hats in July, a vomit shirt and Inner Marlowe Monologue about ugly shirts being used as a fancy dress costume.
Where: Bloomsbury, London
When: Evening, 9th July. Backdated.
Rating: PG-13 for language.
Status: Closed; complete

( I'm a West End and Camden girl, Father Christmas. )

Who: William Burke & Lavender Brown
What: A date at a wizarding carnival
Where: Cliffs on Inishmaan
When: 4pm, Friday, 11 July
Rating: PG?
Status: Closed;Complete

From a distance it likely looked like any other carnival, assuming you were a muggle and able to see it all. There was a giant Ferris wheel, a couple rollercoasters, one of those ships that swung through the air and the standard assortment. It was only as one drew closer that the differences were seen. They were subtle at first. The ship that swung through the air wasn't attached to anything. The rollercoaster had fake flying carpets instead of a chain of cars that followed a track and had no visible restraint. The Ferris wheel had seats suspended between the large metal wheels without any discernible fixtures attaching them to it. To someone who wasn't used to all the things magic could be used for it could have been rather disconcerting. William Burke had been raised in this world, though. He'd seen a muggle amusement park once. It looked so strange to him, unreliable and creaky. This was so much more secure. Magic. And the rides made no noise as they worked. There was nothing but the swoosh of the air around you and the screaming of people as they plunged toward on a carpet. The danger was both more real and less on those rides.

They'd agreed to meet at the gates of the carnival. It was easier that way, really. Will was acutely aware of his financial status and the ways in which that could cause problems. There was an intimidation factor with people. There was that feeling like they didn't fit. He didn't want Lavender to find out about the money yet. He didn't want her to feel that. He wanted her comfortable with him. Will wanted her to trust him. A carnival, he'd thought, kept them on even footing until he earned that from her.

His eyes were fixed on on the light he could see reflecting off the exposed, shifting mirrors of a fun house inside the carnival as he waited for her to show up. Will held in his hand a single purple morning glory for her.

( Owl to Vi Marlowe )

Who: Trent Smith and Lavender Brown
What: Badgering. But without badgers. Woe.
Where: Diagon Alley
When: 8th July, afternoon
Rating: TBR
Status: Open; incomplete

Diagon Alley was never as busy straight after lunch as it was during the rest of the afternoon and for that Lavender was extremely grateful as she walked down the street, her steps quicker than just about everybody elses on the street. It really wasn't her fault that everybody seemed to move at a snail's pace, though that was a slight exaggeration. But only a slight one, she decided, as she stepped around a small group in suits with collars so tight it looked they were trying to strangle themselves with them.

Ducking into the doorway of the nearest apothecary, Lavender avoided tripping over what looked like a box of body parts, though she was sure that only because she'd spent the night watching far too many horror movies for one person's own good, and walked up the counter, smiling widely in greeting. "Okay, so what's the best potion to use to make vegetable gardens grow that's not going to make me gag everytime I open it?" she asked. "That's a rather large problem, you know. I don't know if anybody's ever told you lot but most of the potions in this joint smell a bit funky."

Who: Lavender and Lanette Brown
What: Lane develops a fear of heights and Lavender takes proud in her, ahem, strength.
Where: Alex Jacksons orchard, Cotswolds
When: Summer of '69. Or, you know, '94.
Rating: PG for language
Status: Closed; complete

( Come on, Lanette, what’s flailing around like a bloody windmill gonna do you for? )

Who: Katie Jones and Lavender Brown
What: A rival gang of the Network try and take Katie and Lavender down. In the posh part of town, for added wtf.
Where: St. John's Wood, London
When: Sunday 6th July, 'round noon
Rating: Ummm...R?
Status: Open; incomplete

Lavender crossed her arms over her chest, fingers pulling her coat closed. It was cold and it was raining, albeit barely but it was still there. The skies were grey and she glared mildly up at them, stamping her feet slightly on the pavement. Her boots, broken and old as they were, made a noise like a ball was trapped in them and she wrinkled her nose down at them, promising herself she'd buy new boots the next time she had money to use as she pleased.

This part of town was odd to her. Whenever she was in London, Lavender didn't tend to haunt this kind of place, the kind of place doctors and lawyers lived, the kind where parents sent their children to private schools, Eton, and other assorted boarding schools. The houses were clean, with no windows put through, and no blinds were drawn, the windows left thrown open so anybody walking by could pause and gaze in jealously at the furnishings inside which spoke of affluence. She was used to the dirtier, seedier parts of town, where people thought nothing of crass language and every other house was boarded up. No one flaunted what riches they might have, because they were guaranteed to be stolen. The contrast was stark and she wasn't entirely sure she liked this part of London. It made her feel a little less.

Hearing a familiar step behind her, Lavender lifted her voice slightly, speaking softly as she said, "You know something? I'm not really sure I'd give my bloody right arm to live here. Maybe a toe or something, but nothing major, you know? It's so fucking odd here, like stepping through the looking glass."

Who: William Burke and Lavender Brown, with a cameo by Graham Pritchard
What: Lavender goes to visit Deputy Capt. Hook
Where: St. Mungos
When: Saturday 5th July, afternoon
Rating: R for language and mentions of cannibalism.
Status: Closed; complete

Sometimes Lavender was slightly annoyed at the fact that she didn't have a proper nine to five job like nearly everybody else seemed to. There wasn't something to keep her occupied during the day, every day. There wasn't anything that needed seeing to instantly, paperwork to be filled in. Sure, she got work but it wasn't steady work and sometimes it didn't really pay all that well. The weekend was slow and that was unusual. It had her slightly antsy, yearning to actually go out and do something but there wasn't much she could do after cleaning the house and the grounds.

After having sat about for what felt like a good half of the day, she eventually just got up and walked out of the house. She didn't have any real place to go in mind; she just walked. And Apparated. Dartmoor had some interesting towns, and shops, but she'd been to them all before. She hated being cooped up for too long in the house and already trawled quite a few of the towns, been in every shop--there was only so many times she could look at a bunch of shoes without wanting to scream, grab one of the stilettos and drive it through the bitchy sales assistant's eyes. It was a fantasy she'd never indulge, no matter how many pointed remarks the woman made at her. So, she avoided the shop, ducking into a newsagents across the road instead. She had no intention to buy anything, but she still did, hovering near the card rack and grinning slightly to herself as she picked one out and paid for it, as well as a bunch of other things from the shelves.

It was only when she exited the shop that Lavender realised what she had done. Staring down at the bag, she shrugged. "Oh, well. Fate is telling me something." It was said with a wry smile and she ducked behind the shop, then, Apparating to London with a sharp crack!

Entering Mungo's, Lavender spent a while trying to first locate somebody to tell her where the bloody room was and then another what seemed like half an hour trying to find it. When she finally got to the right floor, she turned the knob and stepped through saying, mostly to herself, "Please, God, tell me this is the right room. I've already walked into a million wrong ones."

( Owl to Lavender )

( Anonymous Owl to Lavender Brown, London )