Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

With Best Intentions	By : Daye Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female Views: 10967 -:- Recommendations : 2 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the Harry Potter franchise. I make no money from the writing of this

Chapter List
- 1-With Best Intentions
- 1
Title: With Best Intentions

Pairing: Harry/Lavender

Summary: Harry and Lavender are the last two single Gryffindors left standing, and their friends think they would make the cutest couple ever.

Rating: NC-17

Length: ~9,000

Warnings: none

Author's notes: Originally Written for Smutty Claus 2011 fest on Livejournal

~~~

Ron Weasley had to duck down low to get through the doorway to the old fashioned pub, but he straightened up too quickly, so he instead lost several strands of his fiery red hair on one of the low hanging cross-beams that held the ceiling up. He bit back a swear word as his fiancée, Hermione Granger grabbed his arm at the elbow to stop him falling.

“Ow,” he said rubbing at the back of his skull, “Who picked this darn place anyway?”

“Seamus did,” Hermione said. “Apparently he and Parvati have been trying every pub they can find recently.”

Ron made a noncommittal noise and they wandered over to the bar to buy a couple of drinks. He and Hermione were here for another one of the many, many, reunions that they seemed to be invited to, nowadays and if it wasn’t that then it was weddings, everyone Ron had ever known seemed to be either getting hitched or had tied the knot already.

Case in point, he finally caught sight of the pair of former classmates they were there to meet. Seamus Finnigan and Parvati Patil were seated together at one of the pub’s larger tables. They were now, to Ron’s surprise, a couple, and very obviously so. They were squeezed together on the padded bench under the window rather than sitting in individual seats. Seamus’ arm was draped across Parvati’s shoulder and Ron’s eyes quickly shied away in embarrassment from where Parvati’s hand was resting high on Seamus’ leg.

“Hiya, Ron! Hermione!” Parvati called happily, waving them over.

Hermione and Ron, who was being very careful not to spill any of his lager, since it was clear he was going to need its help to get through this, went over their fellow Gryffindors’ table and sat down in separate chairs.

“Right, that’s everyone who’s coming, I think.” Seamus said with a smile.

“What? Seriously?” Ron asked, surprised. “I mean I know Harry said he was on duty all day. But what about everyone else?”

“Well, Dean missed his flight home from Majorca and he can’t get back cos of Eliza,” Seamus explained. Eliza was Dean’s new girlfriend and a Muggle so Dean couldn’t just floo or Apparate back to the country. “Neville, I reckon just forgot again. You know what his memory is like and Hannah’s not any better at reminding him. And Lavender…”

Seamus broke off as Parvati coughed at him decorously.

“Lavender told me she was busy with work as well.” She finished the statement for her boyfriend, putting a slight emphasis on the words ‘told me’.

Ron frowned at this but really didn’t think it was a good idea to get into the details right now and he much preferred to take a gulp of his beer instead.

Hermione however was more inquisitive. “You think she was lying?”

“I don’t think she can possibly be so busy she can’t Apparate here for an hour or two,” Parvati said with a shrug.

“But you’re her best friend!” Hermione exclaimed, “Why would she lie to yo-”

Ron nudged her gently with an elbow, although Hermione was usually very perceptive she sometimes got caught up in the details rather than the big picture.

“Harry, now, I can totally believe being too busy. Man works too hard,” he said loudly, drowning out Hermione’s question. That was a general murmur of agreement around the table and as they remembered the many occasions Harry had failed to turn up to.

“Well, that was why Ginny broke up with him wasn’t it?” Parvati asked curiously. Now it was Ron and Hermione’s turn to feel slightly awkward. That was indeed the story Ginny had put about and while Harry had never come out and denied it they’d always had the impression it had had more to do with her career than Harry’s.

“I think,” Hermione said slowly, “it might be fairer to say the opposite. He works far too much now because he’s single.”

“He should find himself a new sweetheart then shouldn’t he?” Seamus said, grinning.

There was another low murmur of agreement about the table from the two couples; comfortably secure in their superiority over anyone choosing to be single.

“And Lavender as well.” Parvati added.

“Maybe we should get them together,” Seamus said. “It would solve both their problems.”

Ron chuckled at this, quite sure Seamus was joking and most likely he was but that didn’t stop both the women suddenly having very interested, contemplative looks.

“Seamus. You’re brilliant!” Parvati said appreciatively.

“I am?”

“Yeah. We should totally get them together. It’d be perfect. I mean they’re both Gryffindors, right and we all know that’ll work out.”

Ron didn’t point out that Ginny had also been a Gryffindor; he was too confused. He shot a glance at Hermione expecting her to be equally confused or at least not so enthusiastic but she was nodding along with what Parvati was saying.

“I certainly don’t see any reason why we shouldn’t at least try. It would do Harry some good to get out for a change.”

“So let me get this straight,” Ron said slowly, tapping his fingers on his pint glass. “You really think it’s a great idea to try and set Harry up with my ex-girlfriend?”

Seamus chuckled at the question but the two women looked less than amused, which only made Seamus laugh harder.

“Ron, how old were you when you and Lavender went out?” Hermione said in her ‘I know you’re smarter than this really’ voice.

“Sixteen,” Ron said.

“And how old are you now?” asked Parvati.

“Twenty-one.”

“So if five years is not long enough, when exactly does Lavender get to stop being defined as ‘your ex’?”

Ron looked around at the dissolute expression of the witches’ faces, realised Seamus was not going to back him up and then threw his hands in the air.

“Fine, fine, she’s not my ex. But really, Harry and Lavender? How’d you figure that’s going to work? I mean, I love the bloke but Harry’s a moody git and Lavender is… Well, not.”

“And you and Hermione have worked out because you’re exactly alike in temperament and brainpower; right, mate?” Seamus said, still fighting a fit of unmanly giggles as Ron shot a betrayed look his way and folded his arms but could make no further objections to this cunning argument.

“You’ll have to get Harry to turn up though, Ron,” Hermione said. “He doesn’t listen to my advice on women anymore. He just says I’m nagging.”

Privately Ron thought Harry was onto something but he liked being in a relationship too much to speak up on the subject.

~

Very cautiously, Lavender Brown stepped in front of her mirror. Fortunately it was a Muggle made device and thus was incapable of offering its own opinion of her outfit, which she’d picked out for the blind date Parvati has somehow talked her into.

She was wearing some of her nicer clothing, a blouse made of a rich purple fabric with a highish collar and some smartish black trousers that were tight enough to draw the eye to the curves of her bum. She still pursed her lips slightly as she viewed herself; she by no means looked bad but she still looked more like she was heading out for a job interview than a possibly romantic date.

But there was nothing for it, Lavender thought, gloomily, it wasn’t like she was going to go out and spend good money on clothes for a date that wasn’t likely to go anywhere, after all.

~

Harry Potter was late; this was not an unusual occurrence for him. It was not that Harry was an untimely person by nature; it was just that as he gained seniority the Auror Office piled more and more work upon him and unaccountably did not also increase the number of hours in the day beyond twenty-four to compensate.

Today, though, Harry had had a special reason not to be late and had still not managed it, which was really quite vexing; especially as he’d done his best to look presentable. His clothes were clean and pressed and fashionably uncomfortable. His face still smarted from the hurried and too close shave he’d given himself before heading out for his blind date. A blind date that Harry still couldn’t believe he’d let Ron talk him into. Heavens knew who Ron thought was an appropriate date for him.

Of course his efforts to make himself look good were made useless by a combination of his hair’s perennial unmanageability and the fact that Harry had never been to the restaurant which had been booked for the date before so he had been unable to Apparate there and had instead had to take the floo.

By the time he fell out of the grate in the restaurant’s foyer, his glasses were askew, his clothes were rumpled and his hair looked as if it had gone prematurely grey, until he shook his head and dislodged a great cascade of ash. Harry coughed and spluttered and thus brought himself to the maître d’s attention.

The man was spectacularly formal, presented in neat black robes over a pressed white shirt and bow tie and although he was half a foot shorter than Harry, still contrived to look down his nose at him.

“Good evening, sir,” the head waiter said in a supercilious tone, “Do you have a reservation?”

“Um... Yeah.” Harry said, still feeling slightly off balance.

“And your name is?”

“Harry Potter,” said Harry and felt amusement rather than his usual annoyance when the man’s eyes zoomed up to his forehead, at least it had got a different reaction from the man and broken through his reserve. “But it was made by my friend Ron Weasley.”

“Ah, yes. Of course. We’ve been expecting you. Your young lady has already arrived. Follow me please.” The maître d swept off into the restaurant. Harry followed glumly.

’Your young lady has already arrived.’ That means she’s probably been here for ages already, Harry thought. This was not going to make a good impression. The waiter led him to a corner booth and indicated the chair facing him. Harry hurried towards it, catching a brief glimpse of the back of the woman’s head and its wavy brown hair. He slipped into his seat, opening his mouth to stammer an apology for his lateness…

And he froze completely; still suspended in midair halfway into his seat because the young lady staring back at him was surprisingly familiar. Lavender Brown’s pretty face gazed at him and she looked just as confused as he felt. He dropped the rest of the way into his seat with a small ‘oof’ sound and ruthlessly suppressed his first reaction, which was to ask the waiter if he was sure this was the right table.

“H-hi, Lavender,” Harry stammered and felt pin pricks of heat stab into his face. He felt ridiculous like he was a bashful teen all over again.

Lavender did not look particularly pleased to see him and a memory suddenly occurred to Harry that Lavender had initially believed the Daily Prophet when they’d claimed he was mentally deranged. But no, he was being stupid; she was probably just disgruntled at being kept waiting.

“Hello, Harry,” Lavender said, attempting a smile that faded quickly. “Did Parvati put you up to this?”

Harry was taken aback. The accusatory tone was not something he usually associated with Lavender Brown.

“No. I didn’t know anything except the time and place. Otherwise it wouldn’t have been a blind date would it?” he replied testily.

“Oh. Time and place right?”

“Yep.”

“Wouldn’t have thought it from how long I was waiting,” Lavender muttered.

Harry was saved the necessity of coming up with some kind of placating comment by a waiter arriving with a pair of handsome leather clad menus and a bottle of wine which he started pouring into a pair of tall wine glasses he’d casually conjured from thin air. Harry didn’t take it much amiss assuming Lavender had ordered it before he had arrived but she herself was casting a questioning look at the waiter.

“Compliments of Ms Patil who reserved the table,” he explained before retreating.

They exchanged a quick glance and them picked up their glasses and took a long swig of wine in near unison. It might have been funny if Harry hadn’t felt so serious. He drank the wine too quickly, feeling its effect rush through him and tried to think of something to say. He’d never been good at small talk, and had tried to think of some things to say on the way there but his lateness and Lavender’s apparent hostility had driven them out of his mind, leaving him with just one question on his mind.

“So why do you think Parvati put me up to something?” he asked and wondered if it had been a good idea.

Lavender started and flushed slightly before waving a hand as if to ward off the question.

“Ohh, no reason really. Just being silly. So Harry, It’s been a while. I haven’t seen you, since… since…”

Awkward silence resumed as both Harry and Lavender tried to remember the last time they had met. Harry had the sneaking suspicion that it had been the Battle Of Hogwarts itself but surely that couldn’t be true? There had been reunions, school ones and Gryffindor ones and DA ones. He must have seen at one of those, though he’d not been able to attend all of them. And even if he hadn’t; he’d visited her in St Mungo’s after the battle, right? Or was that just something he’d thought about doing?

“Well let’s just say it’s been far too long. Shall we?” Harry said after a moment.

“Indeed, I mean I don’t even know what you’re up to these days?” she said, a corner of her lip quirking upwards in a smirk; a small motion that was almost hidden by the fall of wavy brunette hair that framed her face and fell past her shoulders.

Harry cocked an eyebrow. That seemed unlikely.

“Not everyone reads Witch Weekly or the Prophet, you know.”

So how do you know I’m in them? Harry thought, but decided to try and play along a bit as best he could.

“Oh well, I’m doing this little job at the ministry, sub-branch of magical law enforcement, you probably wouldn’t have heard of it. What about you?”

“Oh, I’m dabbling with a bit of writing at the moment. Magazines articles, short stories...”

“Horoscopes?” Harry asked, innocently.

“Horoscopes? Why would you think that?” Lavender said, though she was smiling as well.

“I just, you know, I remember you being, um, keen on Divination at Hogwarts and…” He trailed off as Lavender began to giggle at him.

“Oh Harry, if I’d had to guess what you were going to do from how you were at Hogwarts, you’d be zooming around on a broom, dodging bludgers and things right now.”

Harry chuckled as well; it was a fair enough point.

“Or teaching. You certainly did well with us.” Lavender added as an afterthought.

Harry shifted uncomfortably in his seat and mumbled something about just having good students, given what had happened to Lavender he was uncomfortable in accepting praise on his teaching, but his response was no good either, he didn’t want to imply Lavender had been hurt because she hadn’t tried hard enough.

Fortunately he was saved from this line of conversation by the return of the waiter wanting to take their orders and, unasked, he refilled their wine glasses from the bottle while he was there and after a moment’s thought they both ordered starters and main courses. Harry was tempted by the garlic mushrooms but quickly thought better when he realised he was on a date, which had somehow slipped his mind as he had conversed with Lavender.

Still after the initial surprise and some minor jibbing they settled into a casual chat as if they were two old friends catching up, which to a certain extent they were. Harry had never counted Lavender as a close friend, but the Gryffindors of his year had been a small group and had been in each other’s company nearly every day for six years. That counted for something.

When their starters arrived, the waiter emptied the remains of the first bottle into their glasses and their talk become slower as they devoted their attention to their food. When their main course came, the waiter brought out a fresh bottle of dark red wine to accompany it, again it was not something Harry or Lavender had ordered and again the waiter waved away their objections saying it had been bought for them in advance. The expression on Lavender’s face darkened at this news and Harry recalled what she had said about Parvati meddling and setting her up.

“Oh I’m sure that’s Ron’s doing. He thinks I’ll put out more if I’m drunk.” Harry said, leaning in conspiratorially and almost getting food all across his front in the process.

Lavender burst out laughing and Harry felt a warm whooshing sensation low in his chest, a fluttering of emotion in response to her in clearly genuine amusement. He liked the sound of her laughter and immediately began to try and figure out how to hear it again.

“That was supposed to be my line, Harry, you thief,” she said jokingly.

“Oh dear,” Harry said, with a complete lack of contriteness. “Whatever can I do to make it up to you?”

“Well there is always that fine looking dessert menu…” Lavender smiled as Harry passed it over.

They’d edged closer together as the evening progressed and Harry, stretching to hand over the menu had to suppress a jump as he felt a bump against his leg. For a second he thought he’d kicked her by accident but Lavender did not comment on the contact at all and just smiled. The warm feeling of her leg against his stayed there for the rest of the evening, through the dessert and steaming hot drinks had they had afterwards, even though they were already quite full and befuddled by the excellent food.

By this point though, the waiter had stopped bringing out gratuitous amounts of wine and had instead started to develop an inexplicably nasty cough and an interest in the polished case of his pocket watch. So Harry reluctantly started to fish out and stack his galleons on the table, wondering when the wizarding world was going to realise that paper money weighed so much less and was easier to carry.

Harry’s ease and comfort with the situation lasted until they exited the wide double doors of the restaurant and the cold night air slapped him in the face and seemed to bring him back to his senses. What was he doing? How had he got this point what were they going to do now? A dinner had at least been a structured event, he knew what they were going to do. Here he was floating freely without a guide. He coughed slightly, suddenly keenly aware of their surrounds and glanced at Lavender, who was gazing calmly at him.

“Well, Harry, I’ve had a lovely evening,” she said.

“Yes, It’s been nice catching up,” Harry replied, and then feeling like something more need to be said. “Err… do you need me to walk you home or something?”

That sounded like the sort of thing you were supposed to say, Harry decided.

“No. No. Harry. I am still a witch you know. I don’t actually need to walk anywhere you know.” Lavender said.

“Of course. Sorry, I didn’t mean… Right…” Harry trailed off again, still feeling that something needed to be said. “It really was nice seeing you again, Lavender.”

“Thank you Harry. Goodbye.” And then with a small popping sound she Disapparated.

~

When Lavender got home that evening, she locked her door carefully. She then headed over to her sofa and collapsed upon it, kicking off her shoes and pulling out her wand. She waved it vaguely in the direction of her kettle in the corner of the flat that served a kitchen and a strong cup of coffee started to make itself. Only after the milk had been added, stirred in and the mug zoomed to her hands did she look at her fireplace and merrily crackling green fire with Parvati’s head in it.

“So how did it go?” Parvati said.

“OK,” Lavender said in a noncommittal tone of voice.

“Well, it can’t have been that good if you’re back this soon.” Parvati was smiling when she said this but Lavender only scowled back at her.

“I don’t know what you think you’re implying, Parvati.”

“Just that if it had gone well you and would be….” She trailed off and grinned ever more widely as she did so. Lavender’s frown deepened.

“I’m not desperate, thank you very much, I don’t just jump on any bloke that offers.”

“Ooh,” Parvati said, in delight. “Harry offered then did he?!”

“Well… no. Not really.” Lavender said and then gave a lengthy sigh, slumped back into her arm and chair and took another drink of coffee. “Fine, come through if you really want to.”

Parvati’s head disappeared from the fire for a second and was replaced by her whole body, which was rotating very quickly until she stepped out of the fire entirely, wearing a smile and dusting the soot off of her designer robes.

“So,” she said, summoning herself a cup of coffee. “Tell me everything.”

Lavender hesitated but, even with all she had done to annoy Lavender recently, Parvati was still her best friend so in the end she started telling her about her evening so far.

“Right,” said Parvati when Lavender was done. “So he spent the evening telling you about his job and you spent the evening telling him about your writing?”

“That’s right.”

“You’re hopeless! Hopless, the both of you. We set you up a nice romantic evening and you two just have a nice old natter and a catch up? Honestly?”

“Oh please. I never asked you to set me up you know. And we’ve not seen each other for years. What exactly were you expecting to happen?”

“Oh I don’t know. Snogging maybe? Or flirting or at the very least just you two having some fun?”

“Harry and I did have fun though.” Lavender objected.

“That’s something, I suppose,” Parvati grumbled. “So when are you going to see him again?”

Lavender blinked a couple of times in surprise and then tried to prevent her face from falling when she realised she didn’t know that either.

~

After Harry left Lavender that night he Apparated straight back to Grimmauld Place, a large, empty, foreboding house that was the closest he came to a home at the moment. Even though he was full of food and wine and felt fuzzy headed he could not in fact drop off to sleep as quickly and easily as he might have expected. Instead a great feeling of unease had filled him up from the bottom of his stomach and he was left feeling twitchy and restless even after pacing up and down his home’s many long hallways and landings. Eventually he flung himself shirtless into his bed, but still sleep eluded him and he had to stare up at his ceiling replaying the night’s event in his head.

Although at the time everything had seemed to go well to Harry; after the initial surprise and confusion and awkwardness had died down, of course. Looking back on it now, however, he was sure it must have been a complete disaster. After all they practically just talked about work all evening and while Harry was pretty sure he’d been admiring of Lavender’s accounts of her writing, he had entirely neglected to compliment Lavender on how beautiful he had looked. Which he sure he was supposed to on a date. It particularly grated because Harry could have said those words in complete honesty after seeing Lavender that evening. To his eyes she had been stunning. The clothes she had picked out seemed smart and clung to her body in a way that had showed her curves to her advantage without seeming cheap or tacky at the same time. Her hair was longer and darker than it she had worn it in school and hung down past her shoulders in luscious waves of shiny brunette locks that he had greatly admired. Yet unaccountably he had not told her these things. He had not even managed to suggest they meet up again in the future, which his friends had often advised was the most important thing to do. The sole purpose of a first date, they had said, was getting a second date.

Morosely, Harry told himself that he had never been good with the whole romantic side of relationships or in fact with feelings in general. That was why he was single in the first place. Still there had to be some way to set this right, he thought, and somehow he had to do it in a properly romantic fashion.

~

Two days after her date with Harry, Lavender woke up to a knock at her front door. She put on a dressing gown over her pyjamas and absent-mindedly running a hand through the left side of her hair so that it hung in front of her shoulder, stomped towards the door and pulled it open.

Flowers littered her doorstep; bunches and bunches of them in nearly every hue imaginable. Some of them seemed to be normal muggle plants, others were decidedly not. A pale white plant caught her eye that had streaks of electric blue, and it was literally electric blue; the colour pulsed and strobed along the petal’s length unnaturally. And standing just a few feet away as if not sure whether he should be there or not was Harry Potter.

“Harry!” she exclaimed.

“Hi!” He waved.

“This is your doing?”

“Do you like them?” Harry asked eagerly.

“That depends which set you’re asking about. Did you really find it absolutely necessary to buy me an entire florist’s shops? ”

“Well I don’t do this a lot so I had to ask the lady in the shop for advice.”

“And you don’t think that she maybe encouraged you to buy as many flowers as she could possibly get away with?”

“The thought had crossed my mind,” Harry admitted. “But on the other hand, maybe she wasn’t. And it wasn’t all that much gold, really.”

Lavender crossed her arms and attempted to frown, but only half heartedly. That could easily have been taken as boasting; a flaunting of Harry’s gold. On top of what had to be a substantial wage as an Auror, Lavender knew Harry had inherited funds from his parents but for some reason Lavender couldn’t see him bragging that way. She decided Harry really had no better purpose to put his money too and no real understanding of what he was doing. It was kind of cute in a stupid way.

“You want to come in a cup of tea or something? After you bring these in for me of course.” She offered.

“Ahh...” Harry hesitated and for a second Lavender swore he was blushing. “I can’t. I mean I’d like to but I’m due at work in like five minutes.” –He checked his watch – “or maybe five minutes ago. But maybe we could meet up this evening?”

“Can’t do this evening.” She was due for a checkup at St Mungo’s, that night. “How about Thursday?”

“Sure, sure.” Harry agreed easily, “I’ll buy you tea then or something.”

And then with barely a pop, he Disapparrated.

~

Two weeks after their initial date, Harry and Lavender had scheduled three more dates, two of which Harry had managed to turn up to, a record he was actually quite proud of since it was better than he had managed in years as far as social events were concerned. They’d continued to be chatty, talking, drinking hot drinks together. Harry had had the idea of seeing a concert with her but that been the date that been postpone owing to a spate of dark magic sightings in north Rutland. The investigation of which had been so patently absurd and Harry had been a bad mood ever since.

Of course, this was when Ron decided was the ideal moment to ambush Harry with questions and relationship advice, while he was making his monthly visit to Ron and George’s shop. Harry tried to visit the shop of a regular basis, a habit he had got into just after the end of the war. For much the same reason as Ron had signed on to help with the joke shop; to keep an eye on George.

“So how’s Lavender?” Ron asked as they leant on the countertop and watched the last of the customer’s file from the shop and Ron animated an army of broomsticks with his wand.

“Fine,” Harry said shortly.

“Are you and her getting along?” Ron said with a bit of twinkle in his blue eyes.

“Fine.”

“She certainly is. I expect you’ve noticed.”

“I – huh?” Harry’s eyebrows met in an expression of confusion.

“Oh come on, Harry! I seem to recall Lavender being pretty… affectionate.”

“Yeah and?”

“And… Have you got into her knickers yet?”

“What?!” Harry exclaimed. Standing bolt upright and felt his face go immediately brick red. Ron had never spoken to him in such terms before and he was amazed his friend could so… blasé about this kind of thing but perhaps it wasn’t so surprising after all; Ron’s girlfriend was his best friend after all and Harry’s only real big romance before his current dates with Lavender had been with Ron’s sister, not someone whose skills in bed Ron was likely to want to hear about.

“Just a question, mate,” Ron said defensively.

“We’ve been out like three times, you know.”

Ron did not look like he considered this an adequate excuse for not having shagged Lavender yet.

“Well at least she’s a good kisser,” he said at last, with a wistful expression on his face.

“I wouldn’t know,” Harry said grumpily.

“Oh come off, you can’t have not…. I mean we did it straight off when I…”

“And look how well that turned out for you!” Harry snapped. “If I want to follow your example, all I have to do for a successful relationship is to bicker and fight with her seven years before there’s enough tension for us to finally give in to it.

And leaving Ron gaping and scrabbling for an appropriate response, Harry strode out the shop and into the hustle and bustle of Diagon Alley. He did not know quite why he had reacted quite so harshly to Ron’s remarks and as he walked he began to feel guilty as if he had been acting like a sullen teenager again. The same kind of teenager that had been totally unable to take Cho Chang’s hand in a tea shop or make a move towards her; instead having to wait for her to make the first move in kissing him. He wasn’t that teenager anymore he thought angrily and yet he knew he hadn’t been hurrying to make his relationship with Lavender more physical. And now he couldn’t help if Ron was right to think that was strange.

~

It was two months after trying to set her and Harry up that Parvati managed to extricate herself from Seamus long enough to pay Lavender a proper visit and the two friend were once more ensconced in armchairs by the fire in Lavender’s living room, drinking tea and chatting about boys.

“So. How are you and Harry?” Parvati said at once.

“Really, that’s what you going for? Straight off?” Lavender said with a slightly forced laugh.

“Well the way I see it if I don’t then we either have to talk about Ron and Hermione.”

“They’re boring, though.”

“Just so. Or we have to talk about me and Seamus.”

“So Harry then.” Lavender said give a slightly forced laugh.

“Going out lots, are you?”

“Not as much as we’d like, Harry’s great… apart from his job. He’s in and out at all hours and never a regular schedule either.”

“But he has... you know...” Parvati at least tried for some subtlety, “stayed over right?”

“Well… not really. No,” Lavender admitted. She tried for a casual tone as if this was something she didn’t care about in the slightest but it was hard hiding things from your best friend.

“But you must have snogged him, surely.”

“Nope.”

“So you’re telling me you’ve got no juicy details at all?” Parvati complained.

“Look it’s not my fault, he’s not made a move, okay?”

“I never said it was,” Parvati said snippily.

“You have a funny way of showing it.” Lavender snapped back.

“I’m just saying. Does Harry know you’re interested?”

“H-he must do.” Lavender stumbled. He had to surely, she thought. They’d been going out for ages now and she’d not ditched him. That was a clue right?

Parvati seemed to read her mind. “Let’s just pretend Harry’s totally clueless here. You know, like a typical bloke? Have you made it, well, obvious?”

Lavender said nothing. She just glared at Parvati in sullen silence. Parvati sighed deeply and continued,

“See? See. This is exactly your problem. You never make a move. It’s why you never got anywhere with Sea-”

Crack! Lavender had set her teacup down with saucer chipping force, cutting Parvati off mid-sentence. The Indian witch blushed noticeably even with her dark skin and quickly changed the subject. But even as Lavender fumed inside her head as she tried to make polite responses to Parvati’s small talk, she knew she was only this angry because her friend was completely right about her.

~

The next Monday another date was drawing to a close. Harry and Lavender had spent their evening watching a muggle magic show and joking to each other about how unrealistic it was under their breaths. Still giggling to each other, to the very great confusion of the muggles around them they streamed out of the club where the show had taken place and onto a cool night time street. Suddenly feeling daring, Lavender use the cold as an excuse to loop one of her arms around Harry’s and pulled herself close to his side.

“Hey, Harry,” she said softly, “no tricks allowed around these folks, you know? You better walk me home.”

“It would be my pleasure,” Harry replied courteously, with a twinkle in his emerald green eyes.

Lavender felt a strange swooping sensation in her stomach and clung to Harry all the way back to her flat. She had a good feeling about this evening. This evening was going to be the one where they took it to the next level. With this pleasant thought in her head, she managed to ask Harry if he would like to come in to her flat for a cup of tea, though she was sure she entirely failed to put any particular intonation on the words that would suggest she was offering him more than a heated beverage.

She ushered Harry into her small lounge and encouraged him to take a seat on the sofa, painfully aware that Harry had not seen the inside of her flat before and noting the state it was in. Her belongings were scattered haphazardly about the place, strewn among the many plant pots and vases Harry himself had forced her to acquire. She bustled about making tea and then hurried into her lounge again to hand Harry his cup, dropping herself down on the sofa next to him, close enough so her hip brushed against his side.

“Here you go, Harry.” she said softly, looking him in the eye.

“Thanks,” he responded looking right at her.

His eyes really were most remarkable she thought. She shifted her head slightly closer, her lips were slightly parted. This was it, she thought when Harry’s lips opened.

“Your tea’s getting cold,” he muttered instead of kissing her like he was supposed to.

“Oh for goodness sake, Harry!” Lavender suddenly exclaimed, shuffling back and placing her cup down hard on a battered side table.

Harry was totally taken aback by Lavender’s sudden outburst. His face was a mask of injured innocence.

“What?” he asked.

“What are you playing at?” Lavender demanded.

Harry was still confused.

“Why.. why are you here, Harry?”

“Err… you invited me?” Harry said, thoroughly nonplussed.

“No. Why are you dating me? When you obviously aren’t interested in me? Is it just pity? Guilt? What?” The words were suddenly spilling from Lavender without restraint. All the things she’d avoided thinking about until Parvati had prompted her into action.

Harry shifted uncomfortably, confusion was giving away to what looked like guilt to Lavender’s now suspicious eyes.

“Why on Earth would you think I’m not interested in you?” Harry asked but he looked as if he half expected what she was going to say next.

“Two months, Harry. Two months, you’ve not tried to shag me, or kiss me, or even touch me. A girl does pick up on subtle clues like that.”

Harry’s face had sunk to a glum, guilty mess and he looked away from her. Lavender braced herself for the worst.

“You’re right. I haven’t,” he admitted and Lavender felt her stomach disappear and her heart drop into the hole it had left. “But it’s not for the reason that you think. It’s not that I don’t like you that way, Lavender. It just… It’s just.. Well, do you remember how my relationship with Ginny worked?”

“I remember you declared your interest by shoving your tongue down her neck.” Lavender retorted sharply. What he hoped to gain by bringing that up, she didn’t have the slightest clue.

“Exactly. It was all physical straight from the start with her. And I… I called that love. Look how it turned out though. I got… well to quote Witch Weekly ‘epically dumped’. And I don’t want that to happen with you. I don’t want to rush in and maybe ruin it all for us.”

After a couple of seconds, Harry realised Lavender was still staring at him. Breathing heavily, he felt confused but a lot better for the sudden spill of words that escaped him. He had not known that was what he was going to say, had not admitted them to anyone before, least of all himself. Still the anger she had exhibited a second before seemed to have gone and the hardness in eye blue eyes softened. She settled back down on the sofa close to him.

“Harry…” she said at long last. “That’s either the sweetest or the most stupid thing I have ever heard you say.”

Harry gulped. If they were voting he was hoping it would end up on ‘sweetest’ but he didn’t say anything. Lavender’s rapidly changing mood was not something he wanted to risk unbalancing with an ill thought out joke.

“I get it.” Lavender continued. “I get being worried you’ll mess things up that you won’t be able to measure up. But I’ve got to tell you. Right now, I’m wearing an absolutely ridiculous get up. And if it doesn’t get me laid, we might end up calling this whole thing off much sooner than either of us hoped.”

Harry was still trying to comprehend what she was saying when he realised her hands were busy with the buttons of her top. Fascinated, Harry watched as she gingerly stripped it away from her body. Stunned as he was Harry did not miss the careful way she avoided disturbing the fall of her hair though.

Underneath the top she was wearing a tight corset made of black fabric, panelled with red silk; it shaped her already generous figure into a perfect hour glass and was the top was rimmed with black lace drawing his eyes to the eye popping amount of cleavage it created. Harry felt as if had been pole axed, his head was light from all the blood that had abandoned to move lower down his body, powered by the mad thumping of his heart. His mouth had gone completely dry as he tried to talk.

“What do you think?” Lavender blushed slightly, colour rising in her cheeks and… elsewhere as well.

“Perfect. With just one small…” Harry reached out slowly, almost reverently towards her face, the tips of his right fingers skimming just above her cheek to tangle up in her hair. She made a small noise half between a groan and whimper as Harry brushed the fall over hair from her front so that fell behind her, revealing the scars that Lavender had been hiding for so long. Advances in medicine had healed them to narrow, irregular stripes of pearly white flesh, one was almost vertical down her neck, the barest fraction of an inch from her jugular vein, three more marked her shoulder and continue irregularly down across chest above her right breast. Harry took them all in, injuries taken fighting for his cause. He felt responsible for them, guilty for them but he also knew they were not the reason he was here. His gaze met hers.

“Perfect.” He repeated.

The kiss seemed inevitable at this point, he leant forward and lent his head slightly and then their lips met, gently pressing against each other. His eyes half closed as he enjoyed the softness of her lips, the sweet taste of her breath. They broke for a half a second before Lavender kissed him again, tugging on his lower lip. He couldn’t tell it if was a series of quick kisses, or just one long extended kiss they took breaks from. Somehow Lavender’s arms were now around his neck and quite without realising it he was supporting her as she leant forward to kiss him more deeply. The first touch of the tip of her tongue, cause Harry to groan, unconsciously allowing it access, it brushed against his own tongue and suddenly they were darting about and playing with each other.

Lavender’s breathing was quickening as the embraced though and even with the soft sensations of her lips on his and the appealing nature of eyes at a range of less than a couple of inches, Harry could not be entirely distracted from the way her chest was heaving under the corset, the great swell of her cleavage. His lips left hers and dropped to her chest, brushing against her throat and places kisses against her breasts. Not caring if his mouth pressed against smooth flesh or scar tissue, it was all her, after all.

Left abandoned, Lavender’s mouth fell open as Harry caressed her breasts, and she moaned softly, letting him know she was enjoying it.

“Harry! Oh, Harry!” She groaned, “Off, Harry, Take it off. Please.”

Harry recognised the breathless quality of her voice and realised it wasn’t only his skills that were leaving her breathless but the tight constricting nature of the corset. His fingers scrabbled at her back, trying to find the attachments that were keeping it on; concentrating hard enough to abandon his oral assault on Lavender’s body.

“Need some help there?” Lavender whispered, smiling.

“Nah. I got it.” Harry muttered back and then snapped his fingers. The lace holding the back of the corset together vanished entirely and Harry and Lavender eagerly slid the garment away from her body. Revealing her tits in all their natural glory: topped with broad pink nipples that Harry immediately sucked, his free hand cupping the warm weight of the other breast. Lavender squirmed against him, rubbing against his leg in an obvious desire for sensation lower in her body. Harry’s free hand dropped to her hip.

“Harry, shall we take this to my bedroom?” Lavender suggested gently. “Then we can get those damn clothes off you.”

Harry eagerly assented to the idea and was led by the topless Lavender into her bedroom. Like her lounge it was quite small, but this lent it an air of coziness and the double bed that dominated the room was covered in very voluminous but soft looking pillows and a duvet in deep purple. They sat on the edge of it. Their hands moving rapidly over each other’s bodies divesting each other of clothing with nearly effortless, combined work, exchanging more kisses along the way.

“So how do you want to do this?” Lavender asked.

It was the first snag in what had thus far been a seamlessly coordinated encounter for Harry. He realised he’d never before really discussed an act before he’d done it.

“Well, how do you like it?” he said, hedgingly.

Lavender flopped down on her bed on all fours, pointing a magnificent round bum at him and glancing over her right shoulder at him.

“I’ve always liked doggy style.” She admitted freely.

Harry felt a slight lurch, how to approach this diplomatically?

“Er.. I was hoping for something a little less.. adventurous our first time out,” he admitted. His awkwardness suddenly seemed to be transmitted to Lavender and she seemed slightly put out as well.

“i-I don’t like having guys on top of me, Harry.”

“I just want to be able to see you.” Harry said in complete honesty. Then an idea struck him. “Why don’t you be on top then?”

Lavender was slightly taken aback when Harry refused her initial offer of doggy style but his follow up suggestion both left her nervous and intrigued at the same time. It was not something that had been suggested to her before. She nodded slightly and then smiled.

“Just an excuse to be lazy, right, Harry?”

He grinned in response and laid back in the bed and Lavender finally got a second to admire him in his naked glory after having undressed him. His body was slender, but lean and strong nevertheless and dusted with a light scattering of dark hair. It shocked Lavender to realise he had more scars than just the famous one across the forehead. Inevitably though, Lavender’s gaze was drawn between his legs, despite the lull in their play, he was still mostly hard, his cock standing out from trimmed jet black hair. Swallowing to wet her throat again, Lavender moved awkwardly to straddle his waist, one hand on the bed by his hip to keep her balance, the other reaching between her legs to grab his shaft. It pulsed softly to the touch as she tried to aim it to her entrance. Harry’s hand move down to his member as well to help her.

“Easy now, ” he murmured.

“Sorry,” Lavender muttered in response, “I’ve not done this before. Guy’s don’t usually turn down doggy style.”

“Then they’re idiots.” Harry smiled up at her.

With his hand holding him at the right angle, Lavender could lower herself onto him. His broad head pressed against her entrance and then spread it as she sank onto it, rubbing against the innumerable nerve endings there. Lavender felt her breath catch in her throat at the sensation and then lowered herself more. Harry groaned and shifted his weight ever so slightly and she lost control; falling the rest of the distance down so their hips collided and she let out a short high squeak. Her hand catching herself placed on Harry’s chest. He growled slightly but he assured her.

“It’s OK, it’s OK. That’s great”

For a second Lavender sat still on him, feeling the fullness of having him entirely within her. Then she slowly lifted her hips, easily coming free from him before descending again, his cock pushing against the sensitive place inside her irresistibly. She fell into a rhythm, hips rising and falling accompanied by the glorious surges of pleasure and emotion. Pleasure boiled up inside her and she bounced freely on Harry’s cock.

“Lavender,” Harry pleaded.

And she realised she had closed her eyes, concentrating on her own pleasure. She opened them and Harry’s naked form had gone, it was hidden by a dark veil that Lavender realised was her hair. Lifting one hand, she tossed her head and combed it with fingers to hang behind her once again. So Harry could see her as he’d asked, she was transfixed by the green gaze and thought she could see the whole gamut of emotions running through, him ecstatic pleasure and wonderment, and pride in her, all rolled into one.

Tension was brewing in her now, a knotting low in her stomach, an indescribable itch, twisting her, promising a release. The sensation of Harry inside her heightened; the pleasure becoming almost painfully sharp. Her pace of riding Harry slowed as she could not bring herself to move, she’d almost reached a halt when hands closed around her hips, firm and strong but not forceful, just a gentle tug urging her down, just once more. Harry’s efforts got her hips to rise and fall, once, twice, three times before stars seems to erupt behind her eyes and a great shuddering wave of pleasure burst across her body.

When Lavender was next coherent, she was resting prone, entirely on top of Harry, with his arms cradling her and his voice whispering in her ear.

“Lavender? Lavender, please, are you alright?”

“Brilliant.” She managed to say on her second attempt, “Brilliant. Just don’t ask me to move at all.”

And she honestly didn’t think she could manage it. Every muscle in her body felt completely relaxed and disconnect from every other muscle. She attempted to move but could only shift her weight slightly. It was that point she realised that Harry was both still inside her and still hard.

“Harry, didn’t you?”

“It’s fine, it’s fine.” Harry murmured and Lavender could not detect any deception in his voice but that just made her more determined.

“You should have rolled us over. Then you could.. um.” She suggested.

“You said before….”

“I know what I said. It’s OK.” She’d said she didn’t like guys on top of her. But Harry wasn’t guys, he was Harry and that made sense to Lavender’s pleasure muddled brain.

His arms tightened around her. “OK, here we go then…”

He shifted their weight, rolling her so she was on her back, he felt her legs fall apart, spreading themselves for him as he settled between them. His beautiful emerald eyes appeared above her, gleaming in the semi-darkness of her bedroom, alight with concern. Lavender mustered enough strength in her arms to wrap them around the small of his back, tugging him closer. Lying under Harry his arms propped under shoulder did not make her feel nervous or vulnerable, instead she felt safe in his embrace.

“That’s it, that’s great.” She gasped reassuringly and Harry rolled his hips, pushing himself into her, Lavender knew that her body offered no resistance as he slid deep into her. He set a slow but regular pace, insistently slipping in and out of her. Her hands felt the tense muscles of her back and she stroked against it.

His face nuzzled the side of her head buried in her brunette locks, unable to coherent vocalise words. Lavender on the other hand had no trouble and an endless stream of pleasure moans, curses and words spilled from her lips.

“Oh, Harry, sweetie, Harry. Oh goodness, Harry, sweetie. Oh sweet, Harry. Dear, Harry. ”

Had Lavender been able to hear her words any other time she might have been embarrassed at the silliness of the terms of endearment she was using but at that second she didn’t have care one bit, she could only feel the pleasure of Harry’s smooth thrusts into her. She didn’t think she was going to come again herself but that didn’t stop his movements feeling ridiculously good until with an audible gasp of her name, she felt him pulse and spill himself inside her.

Afterwards, they lay on their sides, head on the same pillow, facing each other.

“Well that was nice,” Lavender said giggling.

“Nice?” Harry raised a sweaty eyebrow.

“More than nice. Very good for our first time.”

“First time?” There was definitely hopeful but worried lilt to that question.

“First of many, I would hope.” Lavender confirmed.

“So would I.” Harry agreed.

And relaxed and secure in their position with each other. The pair slipped easily into sleep.

~

By the next morning, the suspense was killing Parvati Patil. She had made Lavender promise her that she would tell her the result of her next date, just as soon as it was ended. Parvati had always been sceptical that Lavender would keep her word on this. Seeing how strained their relationship had been recently, a certain amount of ‘forgetfulness’ was to be expected. Still she wasn’t just about to let her get away with it. And resort to once again sticking her head through the floo to Lavender’s living room.

“Oi! Lavender! Did you and Harry – oh!”

Harry had wandered into the living room from the bedroom in response to the noise, he was wearing nothing except a silken dressing gown that was obviously not his. Parvati expected an explosion of anger at her inadvertent spying from the oft moody young man. Instead Harry just smirked at her.

“Yes. Lavender and me ‘oh’ed,” he said.

“Harry, who are you talking to?” Now Lavender, suppressing a yawn, sauntered into the room after him, wearing a man’s shirt that was only had the lowest couple of buttons done up and was barely decent. Harry just nodded at the fire. Parvati felt her face get even hotter, which considering it was engulfed in fire already was no mean feat

“Oh. This will answer her questions I think.” Lavender continued and pulled Harry into a lengthy kiss. Harry’s hand was halfway to Lavender’s chest when Parvati withdrew her head back to her own kitchen, her face still burning with embarrassment.

Honestly, she thought. These displays of affection; some people just have no concept of appropriate behaviour.

~~

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With Best Intentions