WHO: Lavender Brown WHEN: After leaving Lawrence until now (kind of explains what happens for the last few days) WHERE: Poole, Dorset WHAT: A few days after leaving Lawrence, Lavender finds out that a house uncannily like the one she grew up in is for sale. STATUS: Complete (narrative) RATING: PG
The last few days had been a blur. Lavender could barely remember them, they felt like something out of a distant dream which belonged to someone who wasn't her. She couldn't even remember why she had gotten so mad at Booth now, all she knew is that she had to get away from him and Lawrence.
And she did. She was far, far, away. She had never been that open about her life before arriving in Lawrence, other than saying repeatedly that she was very much over a certain and extremely annoying ginger. She hoped no one would figure out where she went, she wanted to be alone right now - maybe even forever.
When she apparated there was only one place she was thinking about - home. Or as home as home could be in this world. After leaving the apartment she found herself on an all to familiar road. Luckily for her it was quiet, so it didn't seem like anyone had seen her. But unluckily she had arrived with nothing but her wand, an oversized Pittsburgh Penguins hoodie, sweat pants and bunny slippers. She didn't even have ID on her, or any money. It took her several minutes to catch her bearings and her breath, and when she did she started walking.
Her feet already knew where they were going, to a small pub and hotel. All Lavender could think about right now was sleeping for days and days. Which was exactly what she did. The owner of the place looked at her like she was crazy, but after his wife came and called Lavender a "poor dear heart," he seemed to take pity on her. They gave Lavender a room and meal of soup and bread, and then she slept. She slept for two whole days before she left the room.
"Ah, there yah are," said the owner. "I almost thought yah were dead," then he noticed the slippers. "What are yah wearin'?"
"Oh," Lavender wasn't in the mood to talk. She wanted to go back to bed. Maybe even to sleep forever. "Uh...didn't have much time to pack."
"Why?"
"Don't be so nosy Tom!" a female voice said. "Just look at this poor dear," Tom's wife appeared beside Lavender and handed her a mug of tea. "She's obviously been through something. Did he 'it you dearie."
"What?" Lavender stared.
"Your boy. Got the look of a runaway you do. Good thing you came 'ere to me and Tom. We'll look after yah. Poor dear, you're so pale. Now you go and sit down and I'll get some breakfast heated up for yah. A good breakfast is what yah need. Then I think it's off to the salon with yah. That hair...tch."
Lavender barely registered a word the woman said, other than 'breakfast.' She sat down at a table and stared at the table cloth. She didn't want to be here, or anywhere really. All she wanted to do was sleep and hide, and not have to think about anything anymore. Booth probably hated her, Parker and Bella probably did too. Not that, that really mattered. Did it? It wasn't like she'd see him again.
All she could think about was seven years ago. Seven years ago tomorrow. Getting that letter during lunch and then finding out the truth months later when she was in St. Mungos. The letter said her parents had died in an accident on Valentine's Day. Later she found out there was nothing accidental about it. Both her parents had been murdered. Her mother, a muggle, had been tortured with the Cruciatus curse until her heart gave out. But what made things worse is that the Death Eaters had forced her father to do it. Forced her father to say that unforgivable word, forced him to kill his wife. Punishment for marrying a muggle, the Death Eaters had said. Then they killed him, taunting him the entire time. Lavender blamed herself. If she hadn't gone back to Hogwarts, maybe she could have saved them. Maybe she could have helped them get away. Her mother had begged her not to go back, but she did. And she regretted it.
Things didn't get easier after. When Lavender got out of St. Mungo's is seemed like none of her surviving family wanted anything to do with her. No one wanted the responsibility of dealing with poor broken Lavender. Poor stupid broken Lavender, who even seven years later wasn't over the death of her parents.
And she was. Broken. Even more so now. Thinking about death and weddings and love and that damned stupid holiday called Valentine's Day had been too much for her. There was too much of a hole in her heart and it had finally gave way.
This was why she hadn't bothered with dating since Hogwarts. Why she was cynical towards love, why she wasn't that stupid flighty girl anymore. She got agitated easily and couldn't stay in one place for too long. War simply put was a bitch.
Tom and his wife, Sarah, promised Lavender she could stay with them for free if she helped out in the kitchen. Which she did. Sarah helped Lavender find some new cloths, and then she took Lavender to the salon. Lavender was barely aware of what was going on half the time. She didn't hear it when the hairstylist said she was going to make Lavender a brunette and give her layers, because she was too pale and blonde washed her out. That brunette was the sexy colour right now, and with a new colour she could "start new." She didn't hear Sarah talk about how things were going to be okay, and she was safe now. All she wanted was to be left alone, but she didn't have the energy to argue.
Later she convinced Sarah she needed a walk, alone. Once again Lavender's feet seemed to know where they were going. And soon she found herself out of the main city and on a dirt road. An all too familiar dirt road. Old houses were on either side of the road, and Lavender kept walking. Mentally she wanted to stop, she knew where her feet were headed and that was the last place she wanted to go.
She could hear the ocean from here, and all to many memories. Memories she didn't want to think about because they hurt too much. And then she was standing outside a house. Her house. The house she grew up in. Except it wasn't her house, not exactly. And outside the house was a 'for sale,' sign, and another sign which read there was a showing going on now.
She went inside, and instantly headed up the stairs. The house looked nothing like it did when she had lived in it, in her world at least. The wall colours were all wrong, and there weren't enough flowers. A few seconds Lavender found herself standing in what would have been in her parents room.
"Nice room isn't it?" a man in a suit entered.
"Yes," Lavender whispered.
"Very spacious, perfect lighting," the man smiled, obviously about to go into a sales pitch. "And of course the ensuite bathroom is a plus. Perfect house for a family, do you have one? Great house to start one up in."
Lavender turned and looked at him head on. She almost pulled out her wand she had so carefully been hiding the last few days and cursed him. She wanted to curse him. Curse all these people who were trampling all over her home. Poking and prodding and changing things. She hated this man in the suit standing in front of her.
"Ma'am? Are you alright?"
"I...I..." Lavender couldn't find words. Instead her feet were moving, this time she was in control of them. She was running, running as fast as she could out of the house and down the road outside of the house. She ran past other houses, in the direction of the beach she had loved so much as a child. Sort of loved, she had loved her beach.
Once she hit the beach she collapsed, falling onto her back and staring up at the sky. And then she started to sob.