Ginny sat in the forest, on a chilly day. It started to snow, but lightly so it was barly noticed. Moonlight, her favorite wolf came up to her. He lay down, his head in her lap. Ginny smiled and began to pet him around the ears. After a moment, she began to sing,
"Amazing grace! How sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me
I once was lost but now am found
Was blind but now I see
'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear
And grace my fears relieved
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed
Through many dangers, toils and snares
I have already come
'Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far
And grace will lead me home
How sweet the name of Jesus sounds
In a believer's ear
It soothes his sorrows, heals his wounds
And drives away his fear
Must Jesus bear the cross alone
And all the world go free?
No, there's a cross for ev'ryone
And there's a cross for me" Her voice was a soft sound, matching the softness of the snowflakes. All the while she sang, she continued petting Moonlight.
"As usal, beautiful, Ginny."
"Hmm?" Ginny said, not looking up from her pet.
"Oh, yes. Thank you." She said, still quietly. Snow had that effect on her. She felt that she should always whisper in it's presance.
"What are you doing?"
From the depths of the wintry topped forest, a lean, womanly figure emerged, barefoot, clad in only jean shorts and a black tank top. Her arms were crossed tightly, for warmth, it seemed, though the pale beauty felt nothing. Her raven hair was silky and thick as its usual, but damp and tangled behind her. Deep, dark rings circled her no longer glittering eyes, and her plump, smooth lips were red and sprinkled with dried blood, from her chewing upon her lower lip, as she did in hard times.
Behind her, the black cloaked figure of a male followed, a business like male, whom Lavender seemed to be at utmost distressed toward. Hatred was a common bridge between them.
Lavender did not see beyond the two feet or so before her feet, for her eyes were glazed over, with the very rare, and very unnerving, tears..
"Lavender what's wrong?"Lavy said in a quiet voice.
Cold, confused, distressed eyes rose from the earth, and took in awareness of Ginny and Lavy. A sharp intake of breath swept through her lips, and she made toward them. A firm, rough hand grasped her upper arm, restraining her movements. Lavender turned her head in the males direction, slowly, detached, meeting his eyes coldly, jerking her arm from his grasp. She literally ran to her friends, crying soundlessly, her chest heaving with sorrow - grief, of which she could not control.
The male followed swiftly behind, though in a brisk walk, not caring to run, masculine, careless features distorted.
Lavy wraped her arms around Lavender. "Shhh......" she wispered in her ear. "It's ok, we'er here. Everything will be ok."
Ginny snapped out of her own dreamland, suddenly. She touched Lavender's shoulder, confused, then turned to the man.
"What happened to her?" She demanded from him, scowling, angrily. It scared her that Lavender was crying, and since Lavender was a very, very old friend, she worried for her.
Lavender was a complex being. There was never simply bad days, and good days; there were the slightests of both, to the extremes. Though even with her complexity, Lavender could not come to grasp, the utter horror, the truth, of the knowledge of something that had haunted her for ages. She set her head into Lavy's shoulder, and let herself, freely, for once, sob. Her entire being racked with breathless shudders, as she cried herself weary..
The male approached them, annoyed, it seemed, that his plans had been delayed. He showed but only the slightest pity.
"Lavender has found out the truth, merely," he stated, impatient. "Everything is in order. If it means anything, to anybody here, she, is not, Lavender Potter. There was no such true person. Lavender here, was adopted, same as her little adopted brother."
He shifted his briefcase and sighed.
"It is absolutely true, no doubt. I have come to recide this to the headmaster. See if he wants us to take her, or just leave her here. There is no where for her to go, anyway."
The male we ignorant. Lavender had never known, of anywhere to go. But ever since he had come along, he'd been seemingly enjoying, tipping her entire world upside down.
Lavy eyes turned pich black. "You can leave now or I will make you leave."
"Shut up Lavy." Ginny spat, turning to the man.
"The Headmaster is dead. I deal with Student Affairs now. She'll stay. This is her home."
Lavy glanced over to Ginny bau other then that ignored her. "Shhh..." she said turning her attion back to Lavender.
"This is where her friends are." Ginny stated, glaring at the man, daring him to argue with her.
It 'twas a long moment before Lavender's sobs finally ceased to small sniffles, and then to a tired sigh. She hugged Lavy warmly, before turning, facing the male with a renewed, but terribly false sense of being.
The man sighed.
"I know of the late headmaster. And between you and I, missy, I care little for the well being of the lass here."
He gestured in direction of Lavender, of whom snarled in return.
"But it is in me orders that I speak to some headmaster of sorts, find a place for her. There is much for her to learn, savvy?"
"Hogwarts is my home," she whispered curtly. "I will stay upon my own will, no others orders. Your way is never to surpass my own. Savvy? Fool."
The male rolled his eyes, "Indeed, miss. But whenever you wish to learn more of your heritage, come a' callin'."
Turning, the man simply vanished.
Lavender dropped, then, to her knees, her hands still in her lap, her shoulders slumped spiritlessly. What now?..
Ginny dropped to her own knees, giving Lavender a very tight hug.
"Lavender, what's going on?"
Lavender toyed with a limp strand of dry grass, slightly comforted by Ginny's hug.
"I'm so lost... Ginny, I don't know what to do..."
Ginny sat on her heels.
"Nobody said you had to do anything." She said slowly, though she knew what Lavender ment.
"I can't decide anything for you, I don't know the whole story, and I respect you way to much to tear it from your mind. Even if I did know whats going on, I couldn't garuntee much help. Because I can't decide for you, in fact, the most I could do is suggest you take some rest. Lock yourself in a room or something and sleep, decide what you want to do."
What did she want to do? What did she need to do? What could she do?
Lavender was lost. It was horrible to have your entire roots upturned. It had all been a lie. All that she had thought so deeply about, believed in, trusted in - it was all a lie. Lavender, whom had always bordered delicately on the possibility of never knowing of actual trust, or true feeling.
It had all been a lie..
How was one supposed to react to that? How was one supposed to just go along, with the knowledge, that even though she may have been pretending all her years... that the entire time of her knowledge, she had been related to none she knew of – she had been alone, always. She had cared and held so dearly to something, that was not hers to keep.
She had no parents, she had no family. There was no one, there had never been anyone, for her...
Lavender bowed her head deeply, and bit the inside of her bottom lip until it bled profusely – but she did not allow herself to cry. She restricted it.
Someone had once said, the more you know, the less you know. How true.
How things would change, and how they would stay the same. There was so much for Lavender to learn, yet so much she would reach in vain for..
"Lavender...." Lavy said in a quiet voice.
Lavenders green eyes rose as if upon command, blank, spiritless, hopeless, beaten, but not broken. Not yet. She watched Lavy with motionless eyes, which simply listened, took in, and saw what it was, Lavender could see.
She replied not, merely met eyes with her..
Ginny bit her lip, and clasped her hands. She watched Lavender, closely. Otherwise, she didn't move. She just wanted to make sure Lavender was ok.
Lavenders eyes suddenly shut, as she bowed over, her hands encasing her head, pressure upon her temples, as a moan of utter pain escaped her lips. Her thoughts each rang with an awful jagged, spreading pain, which radiated throughout her being. Lavender mewed softly, and began to jerk violently, falling, to lay limp upon her side, unconscious, her being lifeless and pale and horribly beaten, though not physically so..
"Lavander!" Ginny yelled. In a split second of fear, for Lavender was a good friend, she felt her own heart stop. She then knelt over Lavender's body. Her instincs told her nothing except sever shock had done this, but she still was afraid. She bit her lip again and raised Lavender's body with telekiniesis.
Lavy took a step back as Ginny raised Lavender. "Do you think we can help her?" she asked in a worried voice.
Ginny opeaned her mouth, but couldn't speak. Instead, she shrugged. She closed her eyes for a second, then opened them.
"I'm taking her to my Offices." She said, in a slightly shaky voice. Lavender's collapse had scared her.
Lavy nodded. "Can I come?"
Ginny was tempted to say no, but she shrugged.
"Sure. But if her body lets her powers lose, your out of there. Understand?"
Lavy nodded again. "I promise I wouldn't fight you on this one."
Ginny nodded, taking a deep breath. Then she began to carefully navigate Lavender's body through the trees.
Lavy followed a few feet behind them.
Lavender thrashed and moaned and called out, though she did not awaken as she was moved. Thoughts seemed to overwhelm her, and whence they settled, conquer more questions. Lavender wept as she 'slept', soundless tears running unchecked down her pale, distressed cheeks..
Ginny avoided looking at Lavender's face. Once she reached the Offices she bit her lip again, realizing this wasn't the most comfertable place in the world. She knew of one place to go now, but she wondered if Lavender would fare well in time-travel.
Lavender became still. A look of spiritless emptiness settled like dead weight upon her being, and the weight of her magic suddenly weighed more than Ginny's magic could hold, snapping violently the bonds between them, and lowering her body, though mysteriously gently, to the ground, her pale body frail, weak looking. Remaining crystalline tears tipped away from the soft tilts of her enchanting eyes, fanning across her cheeks, into the pool of black silk of her raven hair beneath her.
Lavender had fought with herself for many years on many matters that hurt her deeply. And she, being the rootless being that she was, could not help but merely watch the wounds cut her deeper, scar her longer, and grow more taunting from the inside out. She had sort of known that she would collapse, some time or another. She had known this since she had been torn from her {now known adopted} parents. She had known this since she had been viciously murdered, at a frighteningly young age, and brought back, by a more haunting being more the less. She had known it had to come. And come it had.
Lavender remained frighteningly still. Though her thoughts and frights scared her, her being was frozen.
Lavender watched, as if within she could see a film unraveling. A purplish light approached her from outside, and, to her surprise, physically hit her. The magic of a source she could not trace, reached out to her, and literally lashed at her body, sending her spiraling into the air, to solid stone.
This she awoke from, as she dropped to the ground, landing hard upon her shoulder, though she saved her particularly sore skull.
"What the hell?!"
She rose and set her arms straight before her, a massive, solid barrier circling the three, a swarm of mass energy, a strength of which Lavender, had not before possessed. The barrier was utterly impenetrable, framed and secure. Sure of this, she dropped to her knees, screaming, her hands clenching her head as she bowed foreword in pain, her forehead touching the icy ground. Icy, in again literal, a blanket of the brisk, solid stuff layering the floor...
Ginny screamed, from pure shock. She covered her hand with her mouth, her face paleing and her eyes growing wide. The last time she had been like this, she fainted, and the only reason she didn't now was because she hadn't done so in so long.
"Lav! On no, Lav!" She said, not moving, her legs locked in the standing position.
Lavy took a step back. She know that if Ginny was scare then it must be bad.
Lavender heard her name. Through her screaming, through the blinding pain, she heard her name. She tried, but her screaming did not stop. It merely became weaker, more feint. She rolled and writhed and jerked and moaned loudly, finally becoming breathless. A sharp stab, then wedged itself firmly into her heart, and she gave a final, blood-curdling sob, as the barrier she had created, shattered, in a wash of enormous size, flattening all in the room to the floor.
Lavender wanted to die, then. Death would have been most heavenly compared to the sheer terror that the planted pain wrenched upon her being then. She wanted to die, she begged for it. But when it did not come, she could only continue to scream, until she fell foreword into a heap, her screams falling to breathless sobs, her sobs fading to short breaths.
In all actuality, she was killing herself. See, she had always been one whom could convince even the inconvincible, of something, that perhaps in other occasions would be unbelievable. She was convincing herself to die... It was nothing close to suicide, in fact there was a hand, it seemed, pushing her, forcing her in such direction. Lavender, was dying..
Ginny shook her head, her petrification dissappearing as she sensed Lavenders life draining.
"No..." She whispered, kneeling. She hesitently placed a hand on Lavenders back.
"Lav, not yet. Don't you remember? Don't you remember what I told you about the future? (I have to use this, lolz) What about that little boy, Tavis? Remember? I told you about your son. Don't do this, don't. Please." Ginny said, taking her hand of Lavenders back and beginning to cry.
Lavy ran over from where she sttod and sat down on the other side of Lavender. She contiue what Ginny had started. "He's a beautiful boy, Lavender." she sid taking her other hand.
"Oh Lavender, please! You know you'r one of the few I can call a sister and a friend! Don't make me lose you! Don't make Tavis lose you. He'll still be born, and then he'll never be adopted by you. Don't die. We still need you here." Ginny said, still crying.
A long time ago, when she had first started at Hogwarts, she had met Lavender. Lavender was one of the few Ginny trusted. Not wholly, for those were rare, but she trusted Lavender more then all other humans.
Lavender heard them. It had been all pain and fading shades of blacks, but then, she heard them. Her friends. Her sisters. The only people, she had ever known - the only people she had... Lavender tucked her head, very slowly, very softly, into her arms, and wept. She wept as she had never wept before, sobbing breathlessly, heartening, but lost, so very lost, crying for all the many times she had forgotten to, crying for all the times that added to themselves, and hurt her so.
"I- I know...." she murmured between sobs, her entire frame trembling. "I know......"
Ginny cried as well, putting her amrs around Lavender and crying still.