Lavender Brown flopped down onto the stone steps of the Entrance Hall with her normally smooth and sleek hair messed and frazzled. Tears streamed down her oval face and dribbled off her pointy chin. The sleeves of her robes were damp from wiping her tears. She looked like a mess and she knew it, but she didn’t care. There was nobody left to look pretty for anyways. There was no longer anymore purpose in slathering on Frizzless & Frazzless hair potion. No more meaning in painting her lips red. No more use in applying shimmering powder to her cheeks. It didn’t matter now that she shone brighter than everybody else in the room, she didn’t have anybody to notice her anymore. Come to think of it, did she actually ever have anybody to notice her like that? She took a deep breath and closed her eyes before covering her lips with her hands to suppress another sob. Dwelling on this wouldn’t do her any good, dwelling on Ronald Weasley definitely wouldn’t do her any good as well. In all her previous relationships, she had always called game over, this time it was different. She didn’t even have the chance to get bored of him. She, Lavender Brown, was dumped. Dumped, not for a prettier girl, but for Hermione Granger. Sure, she knew, Hogwarts knew, that Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and Ronald Weasley were best friends. But after all these years, she figured that Hermione was ‘one of the guys,’ never would she have guessed that she would lose to a concoction of frizzy hair and a vocal version of all Hogwarts textbooks. What did Hermione Granger have that made boys mad for her? The International Quidditch star, The Boy Who Lived (she wasn’t sure, but it was all over the tabloids), and now Ron Weasley, her Ron Weasley. She was definitely bitter. In fact, bitter was an understatement, she felt as sweet as a pound of arsenic.

She hadn’t really noticed him before until this year. He was always the boy that sat beside the famous Harry Potter. The star Seeker’s best friend. The less intelligent friend of that Hermione Granger. Thinking about him always brought her a warm fuzzy feeling that burrowed deep into her heart. He was cute in his own way. He was tall with bright red hair that always stood out from the crowd, he had long lanky arms that could wrap around any body. Protection, he was her protection, her man. At least he used to be. As for what attracted him to her in the first place, it was hard for her to put her manicured fingernail on. She was pretty, at least to the male population of Hogwarts. Every girl had a beautiful feature, it was up to whether or not she knew how to enhance it. Lavender knew, she made sure every part of her looked perfect, angelic. She was never short of boyfriends. There was Zacharias Smith from Hufflepuff, who bought her a rose whenever they went on Hogsmeade dates. Cormac McLaggen, who took her on broomstick rides. Seamus Finnigan, who taught her Irish swear words… the list went on and on, finally the Ronald Weasley that didn’t stand out particularly among her list of ex-boyfriends. He wasn’t creative or romantic. It was probably his innocence that attracted her the most. He stared at her face, not her chest. When his eyes accidentally lingered elsewhere, he would actually blush with embarrassment, unlike some of her other exes who shamelessly concentrated on that area on entire dates. Some girls would find this a turn-off, but Lavender liked this. She liked that he found it natural to stare at her face. She liked that he was awkward and shy. She got sick of reckless and exciting, she desired quiet and shy. He was so different from all the smooth acting guys she had dated before. She still remembered the first kiss. His first kiss, she was the one that took it.

The Gryffindor Common Room was loud and noisy. The celebration of the first Gryffindor Quidditch victory of the season was in full swing, giggles and laughter flooded the room. Butterbeer flowed like a river among the partying students. Lavender walked in from her dormitory, confident that she looked the best and knew she would get kissed before the clock would strike twelve. She had just broken up with her Ravenclaw boyfriend and was eager to move on. Her eyes had finally rested on Ron, who was sitting alone staring at the flames in the fireplace licking the logs, thoroughly ignoring all the drama that was popping up all around him. She picked up two bottles of Butterbeer from a nearby table and headed over to him.

“Hey,” she said and handed him a Butterbeer.

“Hey,” he replied and uncorked the bottle and took a swig.

“Having fun?” she asked while taking a sip from her own bottle.

“Not really, you?” he responded half heartedly and continued drinking his own drink.

“Maybe I can make you feel better,” she leaned over and her face almost touched his. He didn’t notice and his eyes were still on the flames in the fireplace.

“Great,” he said in a sarcasm filled tone which she ignored.

“You know what?” Lavender asked in an obviously flirtatious voice that she had used on many other boys in the past.

“What?” he asked not really concentrating on her question. She leaned over and purred into his ear. Her warm breath tickling his face.

“I’m so into you,” she said in her most seductive voice, as she leaned over and kissed him on the lips. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him again, this time harder. He startled and let out a little yelp, but she drowned out his voice with her gentle little kisses on his lower lip. He obviously didn’t know how to respond or what to expect. She pried his lips open with her tongue, and at that point, he lost his awkwardness. He wanted to respond, and he did.

Lavender still smiled sweetly at the memory of his awkwardness. After that, they were officially a couple. Most of Gryffindor had witnessed their heated snogging sessions by the fireplace and on the plump armchairs. The one smudge on her sparkling window was Hermione Granger. Lavender knew that she liked Ron. It was obvious. Why else would she huff and puff every time she walked in on the two of them making out? But Lavender didn’t mind. In fact it made her feel exhilarated with a little bit of what could only be described, in Muggle terms, a ‘high.’ She had something that little-miss-perfect could never get. Something that she couldn’t achieve by memorizing a textbook.

She loved Ron, not liked, she loved. At first, she thought he would be like her other boyfriends. In the beginning, it would be exciting, new, and fresh. After a little while, they got boring or clingy, she would desire somebody new. But this never happened with Ron. Every time she saw him, she could always find something cute about him that she didn’t discover before. The way his ears turned red when he was embarrassed, or how he ruffled his hair when he got off his broom… she could spend a whole day listing them. Lavender was a spotlight girl. She loved attention, she couldn’t get enough of it. Ron wasn’t romantic, but he gave her attention, she loved him for it. Before she could stop and remind herself that it was all just a game, she fell hard for him. She even sent him a Christmas present. Something that she had never done for any boy in her life. Ron always made her feel good, until his birthday arrived when everything changed and went downhill.


She remembered receiving news from Neville Longbottom that Ron had been poisoned on his birthday. She had spent the entire day looking for him so the two of them could celebrate his birthday together. But that was the news she received instead, she felt the breath leave her lungs. Before feeling anger that as his girlfriend, she hadn’t been informed, she felt scared. What if Ron died? What would she do? They hadn’t even said ‘I love you’ to each other yet! What if Ron never knew that she loved him? She left at once to the Hospital Wing, but he was already asleep. Over the next few days, he seemed to be asleep whenever she visited. She had figured that he was just drained from the poisoning incident, but looking back now, she should have seen all the signs. Hermione smirking when she discussed Ron’s condition with Harry, Ron being asleep at the Hospital Wing. It was so obvious, how could she not see? After he recovered, he hinted many times that he wanted to break up, near the end, it wasn’t hinting, it was almost blunt request.

“So, uh Lavender. I…I have you know Quidditch, and umm homework, I…I don’t think I have time for you know…us, uh…”

Lavender’s heart stopped. This couldn’t be happening, he wasn’t going to break up with her. They were destined to be together, destined.

“I could practice Quidditch with you! We can study together!” she said in a falsely cheerful tone. Was he getting tired of her? Was he going to leave her? She couldn’t let him do that. She loved him so much. She tried so hard to please him, to make him happy. She was easily one of the most prettiest girls in her year. But why, why did he want to break up with her?

She finally got her answer today when she stepped into the common room and saw Ron and Hermione descend from the Boys’ dormitories staircase together.

“Ron! How could you! I’m your girlfriend! How can you…just run up and do her in the middle of the afternoon?” she shrieked in uncontrollable anger. Just when she thought she had found the one, her prince. He turned out to be a stupid bloody frog.

“I…we…weren’t doing anything. It’s not…not, like how you think…” he stuttered while Hermione just stood there, and smirked. The little whore. She just stood there like it was the best comedy show ever and smiled.

“I do all this for you. I loved you, I cared about you, and in return you go shag this frizzy hairball!” Lavender roared with her face red with anger. She couldn’t lose a boy to Hermione Granger. This couldn’t be happening.

“We…weren’t, sh-sh-shagging,” Ron stammered nervously. He turned his head around with his face flushed red with embarrassment.

“Oh, like you were having a pleasant friend to friend chat? It’s over! I hope you two burn in hell for all eternity!” she screamed and ran out the common room, her sight blurred with tears.

Now it was all over. She brushed her tears away angrily with the sleeve of her robes. Why was she crying anyways? He wasn’t worth it, they all weren’t worth it! They could all go to hell for all she cared.

But all the denial in the world couldn’t stop the sensation that her heart was being torn into bits and pieces and then thrown into a burning hot furnace. She took out her tissue and dabbed her face to remove her tear and make up streaks. She was going to return to the common room and stalk in proudly. Before she headed back however, she noticed that nearby Terry Boot from Ravenclaw was staring intently at her. His eyes darted over her body, his mind already undressing her, he liked what he saw. She looked up and sent a flirtatious wink at him. Ron wasn’t her prince, Cormac wasn’t her prince, Seamus wasn’t her prince. Maybe she’ll never find him. But it didn’t matter, maybe she didn’t want to find her prince after all. Maybe all she wanted was just admiration, attention, and a decent snogging session.
“You’re looking pretty,” he said as soon as she walked up to him.

“Thanks,” she replied back.

Love, kisses, boyfriends, in the end, it doesn’t even matter.

A/N Did this story make you hate Lavender or feel sorry for her? Tell me, I want to know!