She's a happily married girl with no children
Lavender had tried giving Susan plenty of time to adjust to married life, but she was finding herself missing her friend and decided that a few weeks was good enough. Her friend deserved all the happiness in the world, and if Ron Weasley didn’t give it to her, then Lavender would need to have a chat with the red-haired man.
The scent of summer was waning in Hogsmeade, being replaced with the crispness that always came with fall. Memories of buying Halloween candy from Honeyduke’s were bittersweet for Lavender, and she made a mental note to stop and pick some up for Jack this year. Or, better yet, talk Percy into making it a special trip for the three of them. Percy definitely didn’t get out enough, and Lavender was feeling a bit stir-crazy.
Pushing open the front door to Healing Hands, Lavender grinned at Susan, who was sitting at her desk and glaring at a chart in front of her. “You’ve got to point me in the direction of a good healer,” she said, leaning onto the counter, “I’m find myself coming down with a fever and flushed cheeks whenever I see a pair of finely-shaped calves. Do you have any idea what could be wrong with me?”
The frown on her face had fully been replaced by a grin by the time Susan’s face rose to look at her visitor. It had been too long since she’d seen Lavender and it was only now that she realized how much she’d missed her friend. Settling in to married life had been more time consuming than one might have expected for a couple that had been living together for a couple years.
“That sounds very serious,” Susan replied gravely. “Would these finely-shaped calves be attached to a studious bloke with long ginger hair and a smattering of freckles? I can attest to the strength of Weasley fever.”
Lavender blinked at Susan in confusion before she realized what the Hufflepuff was trying to say. “Oh, definitely,” she said with a sigh. “He comes home covered in dust from the archives and it just flat does it for me.” Her tone, however, did not match her words.
She wasn’t entirely certain why Susan was so determined to believe that something needed to be going on between her and Percy, but she was. If she knew how horrified of sex Percy seemed to be, perhaps she wouldn’t be so persistent. That was information that Lavender didn’t think he’d look kindly on being shared, however, so she held her tongue.
“Weasley fever can be spoken about once there is food, or alcohol, of some kind in front of us. Are you about done here?”
Susan snickered, still convinced there was an underlying affection between her best friend and her brother-in-law that went deeper than the friendship they both professed. Her prodding could wait until they were a few drinks into the evening though. “Just about,” she answered with an impish grin that made it clear Lavender’s sarcasm didn’t deter Susan’s train of thought a bit.
Closing the chart to study at another time, the petite witch sent a quick note to her husband to let him know she’d be late and that there were leftovers in the icebox he could eat for dinner, gathered her things and approached the front where her friend was waiting. “Where should we go? Fabulous food at the Sticks or somewhere less classy?”
Lavender couldn’t help the noise that came from her throat. She loved the Three Broomsticks, she did, but they didn’t really serve the fruity types of drinks she always seemed to consume during the ‘girl nights’ she and Susan had.
“Maybe somewhere that serves umbrellas and ‘sex on the beach’,” she said with a grin as she slipped her arm through Susan’s and started for the door. “This kind of puts the ‘Sticks in the ‘con’ list.”
“Hmm,” Susan hummed thoughtfully as they pushed out into the Hogsmeade street. It had been a long time since she’d had a night on the town. She and Ron were homebodies for the most part, but the idea of colorful drinks with rum and a dance floor where she and Lav could make spectacles of themselves sounded like a lot of fun. “Maybe Avalon? They always have good music.”
A few minutes and an apparation later, and the ladies were sitting at a corner booth at Avalon, waiting for their tropical and colorful drinks to be delivered. The jazzy bar probably wasn’t a good place for the kind of dancing they were looking for, if they decided that dancing would be on the agenda, but for drinks and a long conversation, Avalon would cover the bill.
“So, what’s it like being a wife? A ball and chain? The better half? And I mean that seriously,” Lavender teased with a grin.
“Ron’s a good man,” Susan defended, though her smile never left her face. “I like being married. It makes me feel settled and happy. We’re not very exciting, I guess. Most nights we’re home on the sofa, but that’s who we are.” She shrugged easily. “You’re the singleton. Regale me with tales of your debauchery and drunken excess.”
“I wish I could,” Lavender said with a sigh as their drinks were placed in front of them. She pulled the small fruit-piercing sword from her glass and bit down on the cherry. “I haven’t been doing much of anything either. I go to work, I get off work, I come home. Wash, rinse and repeat. It’s one of the reasons I needed to get out and do something.” If there was a tiny bit of whine to her voice, she ignored it.
With a shake of her head, Susan snickered. “When did we get old?” she asked before taking a sip of her drink. Using her straw to stir the frozen concoction, she glanced around the nightclub. There were plenty of people their age flirting and looking for a companion for the night. Susan didn’t miss that sort of thing, but it was a little strange to feel so far removed from it. “You should drag Percy out. Get him drunk. There are a bunch of Weasley women available to watch Jack at a moment’s notice and Percy could probably use it as much as you.”
There were other things both Percy and Lavender could use and which they could easily help each other out with, but Susan kept her mouth shut on that matter for the moment.
“We got old because firsties keep getting younger,” Lavender said, unconcerned with her lack of logic. It did concern her to walk around Hogmeade and see the kids running amok in the sleepy Scottish town. Everyone looked so little. She didn’t remember being that little when she was in school.
She answered Susan’s suggestion with a shrug of her shoulders. “Percy doesn’t really get drunk. We’re talking about Percy. Straight-laced. He cleans up people’s messes, he doesn’t make his own. He actually helped me clean up the the mess I made the last time I actually did get up to debauchery and drunken excess.” Frowning, she took another large drink, trying to ignore the way her cheeks heated with embarrassment at the memory.
Well-manicured brows rose at the blush rising on her friend’s face. That was a story she hadn’t heard, which wasn’t terribly surprising given how wound up she’d been in her own life this year, but from Lavender’s expression it wasn’t one of the fun night stand tales. “He looked that bad in the morning? Or she?” She knew Lav wasn’t opposed to a pretty woman keeping her company.
“No. Not bad. Just... he was still there, you know? A very real corporeal person symbolizing my lack of judgment and proper planning. I didn’t really mean to bring anyone home. I mean, what if Jack had seen? Ugh.” Lavender ran a hand over her face, recalling the influx of humiliation as she’d tried to find her knickers in the aftermath.
Shaking it off, she leveled hazel eyes at her friend. “But I want to talk about your actual happiness. I don’t think you and Ron are boring, love. I think you’re adorable. And it only took him a few years to figure it out!” Lavender raised her glass in Susan’s direction with a sincere smile of happiness.
With a wry twist of her lips, Susan gave a soft hmm. “Ron doesn’t do well with making big decisions quickly. It took him three tries for the proposal to get out of his mouth.” She smiled affectionately. “My husband” - the word curled her lips even further - “is a very good strategist, but he’s not fast about it.”
“I remember that part. He used to take up the common room for hours playing chess. It was the most boring thing in the world.” Rolling her eyes with good nature, Lavender leaned back against the booth and rose an eyebrow in Susan’s direction. “Are there other big decisions that you’ve been considering? Maybe something that involves a registry at ‘Nappies’?”
“It’s come up,” Susan admitted, the light in her face dimming a shade. She didn’t begrudge Ron the time he wanted to think about starting a family, but it didn’t mean she was any less ready for a baby. “Like I said, Ron doesn’t make big decisions quickly. It’s a little ironic. I married into a family known for it’s procreation and my husband’s the one who’s not quite ready to be a parent.”
She sighed. “He wants a little time to get used to the idea. It’s not so much to ask, really. I’m just impatient. I want to be pregnant.”
“I was once told that pregnancy is a state that one longs for for the whole of their life, then rages against for the span of nine months,” Lavender said with a small grin at Susan. As long as she’d known the Hufflepuff, it had been clear that Susan was born to be a Mum. She had all the necessary ‘mum’ qualities about her.
She could see how Ron, though, might want a little time to let the idea roll around his head. He came from a large family, and Lavender knew that Molly Weasley was ecstatic to have grandchildren, but that kind of decision needed to be one thought about carefully. That it was causing Susan a bit of sadness, however, made Lavender’s heart hurt.
“It’ll happen, Suse,” she said, reaching out to grasp Susan’s hand. “He loves you. And it won’t take long. Apparently Weasley men have good swimmers, if you understand what I’m attempting to relay.”
“Yes, I think I can make out your subtle innuendo.” Susan’s words were sarcastic, but a small smile remained on her face. She knew Lavender was right, and she knew giving Ron time to think was the right thing to do. Neither of those things eased the ache she felt, though. “I know it’s not as if the possibility is going to pass us by tomorrow. I’m just ready now. I’ve been ready for ages.”
“I could throw Jack your way,” Lavender offered as she sat back in the booth and took a sip of her drink. “Granted, he’s not a baby, but he is fun. There’s Devon and Corey, though they’re a bit older now too. Or Nickolas. Plenty of Weasley babies to busy yourself with until you have one of your own. I’m sure their parents would enjoy a little reprieve as well.”
Susan’s expression softened at the mention of the nephews she’d gained through her marriage to Ron. She loved her parents, but there were many times she’d wished for a brother or sister - someone to play with growing up and their children to dote on when she grew up. “We’ve watched the twins a few times. They’re quite a handful. Jackson is a precocious little man, too.” If her tone was a bit wistful, that was to be expected.
“Precocious is one descriptive word that can be used on the little man, yes.” Lavender snorted lightly as she swirled the drink with her straw. “Some of the things he comes up with. And the pirates. The pirates,” she moaned, leaning forward to pin Susan with a concerned look. “I’ve never known a boy who was so enamored with pirates. I’ve basically bought every book on the subject. I’m running out of gift ideas. Short of buying him a boat that he can sail the seas on. Or a parrot.”
She couldn’t help the bubbling giggle that escaped her lips at the idea of getting Jack a parrot. One that spoke and repeated phrases back. Percy would wear his glass lenses thin for all the rubbing and cleaning he’d subject them to.
“You could buy him a book about building boats,” Susan suggested with a laugh. “That’ll give him a project that should keep him busy for quite some time. He could build it in the garden at the Burrow. Arthur would probably have a great time helping with something like that.”
She could imagine the Weasley patriarch and Percy’s son out in the sunshine, sanding boards and debating the correct process of nailing them together. One day it would be her child out there spending time with his grandfather. Or maybe her grandfather. Girls weren’t common in the Weasley family, but it was possible.
Lavender considered Susan’s suggestion while downing the rest of the frozen drink in her glass. Ignoring the slight headache that came with the quick consumption, she nodded. “That’s definitely the idea. I’m sure his grandfather would love that.”
She lifted her hand and signaled to the bartender that they needed two more drinks. Susan wasn’t done with hers yet, but it was only a matter of time. “Are there any new healers at the clinic? Maybe a nice looking bloke who is conveniently unattached and doesn’t mind taking a girl out dancing?”
Snickering softly as she stirred the remnants of her drink with the straw, Susan shook her head. “No one new, unfortunately. Theo is nice looking and unattached, but I think I’d die if I ran into him out dancing.”
Susan’s eyes lit up as she recalled some gossip she’d heard months ago now. “I’m sure I heard something about you being out with that dishy blond bloke who pulled a Theo. Returned from the dead or some such? Actually, Percy did that same thing. You spend an awful lot of time with blokes who were thought to be passed. Maybe I should set you up with Theo, if you’re not still running about with the blond.”
Lavender’s nose crinkled. She remembered the time she’d interviewed Theodore Nott. The man wasn’t very open about anything and had a rather dry sense of humor. She couldn’t see him out eating in public, let alone taking someone dancing.
Nathaniel, though... He would be rather charming on the dance floor and they’d already shared a meal together. And as far as she could remember - a bit of it was fuzzy from the delicious red wine he’d chosen - the conversation had been lively and interesting. He was, however, Nathaniel Rosier. She highly doubted their paths would cross again. They didn’t exactly travel in the same circles.
“Aside from my apparent fetish for the recently returned from the dead, I’d appreciate someone warm. Someone I’d get dressed up to go out with. Someone who’d share a dessert at dinner with me and wouldn’t remark on how ‘well I can eat for a girl’. That’d be nice.”
“I think that leaves Theo out, then,” the Hufflepuff said thoughtfully. “I can hear him making that kind of comment. He wouldn’t be meaning to be rude, but he’s Theo. He just is.” She remembered Lavender saying that Percy went out dancing with her - although ‘dancing’ was apparently a very broad description for her brother-in-law’s moves - maybe the next time she saw him in the Archives, she’d have to suggest they go again. “In the meantime, you’ll have to settle for me, I guess,” she said with a bright smile, extending a hand to her friend.
Summary: Lavender picks Susan up for a girls’ night out.
The scent of summer was waning in Hogsmeade, being replaced with the crispness that always came with fall. Memories of buying Halloween candy from Honeyduke’s were bittersweet for Lavender, and she made a mental note to stop and pick some up for Jack this year. Or, better yet, talk Percy into making it a special trip for the three of them. Percy definitely didn’t get out enough, and Lavender was feeling a bit stir-crazy.
Pushing open the front door to Healing Hands, Lavender grinned at Susan, who was sitting at her desk and glaring at a chart in front of her. “You’ve got to point me in the direction of a good healer,” she said, leaning onto the counter, “I’m find myself coming down with a fever and flushed cheeks whenever I see a pair of finely-shaped calves. Do you have any idea what could be wrong with me?”
The frown on her face had fully been replaced by a grin by the time Susan’s face rose to look at her visitor. It had been too long since she’d seen Lavender and it was only now that she realized how much she’d missed her friend. Settling in to married life had been more time consuming than one might have expected for a couple that had been living together for a couple years.
“That sounds very serious,” Susan replied gravely. “Would these finely-shaped calves be attached to a studious bloke with long ginger hair and a smattering of freckles? I can attest to the strength of Weasley fever.”
Lavender blinked at Susan in confusion before she realized what the Hufflepuff was trying to say. “Oh, definitely,” she said with a sigh. “He comes home covered in dust from the archives and it just flat does it for me.” Her tone, however, did not match her words.
She wasn’t entirely certain why Susan was so determined to believe that something needed to be going on between her and Percy, but she was. If she knew how horrified of sex Percy seemed to be, perhaps she wouldn’t be so persistent. That was information that Lavender didn’t think he’d look kindly on being shared, however, so she held her tongue.
“Weasley fever can be spoken about once there is food, or alcohol, of some kind in front of us. Are you about done here?”
Susan snickered, still convinced there was an underlying affection between her best friend and her brother-in-law that went deeper than the friendship they both professed. Her prodding could wait until they were a few drinks into the evening though. “Just about,” she answered with an impish grin that made it clear Lavender’s sarcasm didn’t deter Susan’s train of thought a bit.
Closing the chart to study at another time, the petite witch sent a quick note to her husband to let him know she’d be late and that there were leftovers in the icebox he could eat for dinner, gathered her things and approached the front where her friend was waiting. “Where should we go? Fabulous food at the Sticks or somewhere less classy?”
Lavender couldn’t help the noise that came from her throat. She loved the Three Broomsticks, she did, but they didn’t really serve the fruity types of drinks she always seemed to consume during the ‘girl nights’ she and Susan had.
“Maybe somewhere that serves umbrellas and ‘sex on the beach’,” she said with a grin as she slipped her arm through Susan’s and started for the door. “This kind of puts the ‘Sticks in the ‘con’ list.”
“Hmm,” Susan hummed thoughtfully as they pushed out into the Hogsmeade street. It had been a long time since she’d had a night on the town. She and Ron were homebodies for the most part, but the idea of colorful drinks with rum and a dance floor where she and Lav could make spectacles of themselves sounded like a lot of fun. “Maybe Avalon? They always have good music.”
A few minutes and an apparation later, and the ladies were sitting at a corner booth at Avalon, waiting for their tropical and colorful drinks to be delivered. The jazzy bar probably wasn’t a good place for the kind of dancing they were looking for, if they decided that dancing would be on the agenda, but for drinks and a long conversation, Avalon would cover the bill.
“So, what’s it like being a wife? A ball and chain? The better half? And I mean that seriously,” Lavender teased with a grin.
“Ron’s a good man,” Susan defended, though her smile never left her face. “I like being married. It makes me feel settled and happy. We’re not very exciting, I guess. Most nights we’re home on the sofa, but that’s who we are.” She shrugged easily. “You’re the singleton. Regale me with tales of your debauchery and drunken excess.”
“I wish I could,” Lavender said with a sigh as their drinks were placed in front of them. She pulled the small fruit-piercing sword from her glass and bit down on the cherry. “I haven’t been doing much of anything either. I go to work, I get off work, I come home. Wash, rinse and repeat. It’s one of the reasons I needed to get out and do something.” If there was a tiny bit of whine to her voice, she ignored it.
With a shake of her head, Susan snickered. “When did we get old?” she asked before taking a sip of her drink. Using her straw to stir the frozen concoction, she glanced around the nightclub. There were plenty of people their age flirting and looking for a companion for the night. Susan didn’t miss that sort of thing, but it was a little strange to feel so far removed from it. “You should drag Percy out. Get him drunk. There are a bunch of Weasley women available to watch Jack at a moment’s notice and Percy could probably use it as much as you.”
There were other things both Percy and Lavender could use and which they could easily help each other out with, but Susan kept her mouth shut on that matter for the moment.
“We got old because firsties keep getting younger,” Lavender said, unconcerned with her lack of logic. It did concern her to walk around Hogmeade and see the kids running amok in the sleepy Scottish town. Everyone looked so little. She didn’t remember being that little when she was in school.
She answered Susan’s suggestion with a shrug of her shoulders. “Percy doesn’t really get drunk. We’re talking about Percy. Straight-laced. He cleans up people’s messes, he doesn’t make his own. He actually helped me clean up the the mess I made the last time I actually did get up to debauchery and drunken excess.” Frowning, she took another large drink, trying to ignore the way her cheeks heated with embarrassment at the memory.
Well-manicured brows rose at the blush rising on her friend’s face. That was a story she hadn’t heard, which wasn’t terribly surprising given how wound up she’d been in her own life this year, but from Lavender’s expression it wasn’t one of the fun night stand tales. “He looked that bad in the morning? Or she?” She knew Lav wasn’t opposed to a pretty woman keeping her company.
“No. Not bad. Just... he was still there, you know? A very real corporeal person symbolizing my lack of judgment and proper planning. I didn’t really mean to bring anyone home. I mean, what if Jack had seen? Ugh.” Lavender ran a hand over her face, recalling the influx of humiliation as she’d tried to find her knickers in the aftermath.
Shaking it off, she leveled hazel eyes at her friend. “But I want to talk about your actual happiness. I don’t think you and Ron are boring, love. I think you’re adorable. And it only took him a few years to figure it out!” Lavender raised her glass in Susan’s direction with a sincere smile of happiness.
With a wry twist of her lips, Susan gave a soft hmm. “Ron doesn’t do well with making big decisions quickly. It took him three tries for the proposal to get out of his mouth.” She smiled affectionately. “My husband” - the word curled her lips even further - “is a very good strategist, but he’s not fast about it.”
“I remember that part. He used to take up the common room for hours playing chess. It was the most boring thing in the world.” Rolling her eyes with good nature, Lavender leaned back against the booth and rose an eyebrow in Susan’s direction. “Are there other big decisions that you’ve been considering? Maybe something that involves a registry at ‘Nappies’?”
“It’s come up,” Susan admitted, the light in her face dimming a shade. She didn’t begrudge Ron the time he wanted to think about starting a family, but it didn’t mean she was any less ready for a baby. “Like I said, Ron doesn’t make big decisions quickly. It’s a little ironic. I married into a family known for it’s procreation and my husband’s the one who’s not quite ready to be a parent.”
She sighed. “He wants a little time to get used to the idea. It’s not so much to ask, really. I’m just impatient. I want to be pregnant.”
“I was once told that pregnancy is a state that one longs for for the whole of their life, then rages against for the span of nine months,” Lavender said with a small grin at Susan. As long as she’d known the Hufflepuff, it had been clear that Susan was born to be a Mum. She had all the necessary ‘mum’ qualities about her.
She could see how Ron, though, might want a little time to let the idea roll around his head. He came from a large family, and Lavender knew that Molly Weasley was ecstatic to have grandchildren, but that kind of decision needed to be one thought about carefully. That it was causing Susan a bit of sadness, however, made Lavender’s heart hurt.
“It’ll happen, Suse,” she said, reaching out to grasp Susan’s hand. “He loves you. And it won’t take long. Apparently Weasley men have good swimmers, if you understand what I’m attempting to relay.”
“Yes, I think I can make out your subtle innuendo.” Susan’s words were sarcastic, but a small smile remained on her face. She knew Lavender was right, and she knew giving Ron time to think was the right thing to do. Neither of those things eased the ache she felt, though. “I know it’s not as if the possibility is going to pass us by tomorrow. I’m just ready now. I’ve been ready for ages.”
“I could throw Jack your way,” Lavender offered as she sat back in the booth and took a sip of her drink. “Granted, he’s not a baby, but he is fun. There’s Devon and Corey, though they’re a bit older now too. Or Nickolas. Plenty of Weasley babies to busy yourself with until you have one of your own. I’m sure their parents would enjoy a little reprieve as well.”
Susan’s expression softened at the mention of the nephews she’d gained through her marriage to Ron. She loved her parents, but there were many times she’d wished for a brother or sister - someone to play with growing up and their children to dote on when she grew up. “We’ve watched the twins a few times. They’re quite a handful. Jackson is a precocious little man, too.” If her tone was a bit wistful, that was to be expected.
“Precocious is one descriptive word that can be used on the little man, yes.” Lavender snorted lightly as she swirled the drink with her straw. “Some of the things he comes up with. And the pirates. The pirates,” she moaned, leaning forward to pin Susan with a concerned look. “I’ve never known a boy who was so enamored with pirates. I’ve basically bought every book on the subject. I’m running out of gift ideas. Short of buying him a boat that he can sail the seas on. Or a parrot.”
She couldn’t help the bubbling giggle that escaped her lips at the idea of getting Jack a parrot. One that spoke and repeated phrases back. Percy would wear his glass lenses thin for all the rubbing and cleaning he’d subject them to.
“You could buy him a book about building boats,” Susan suggested with a laugh. “That’ll give him a project that should keep him busy for quite some time. He could build it in the garden at the Burrow. Arthur would probably have a great time helping with something like that.”
She could imagine the Weasley patriarch and Percy’s son out in the sunshine, sanding boards and debating the correct process of nailing them together. One day it would be her child out there spending time with his grandfather. Or maybe her grandfather. Girls weren’t common in the Weasley family, but it was possible.
Lavender considered Susan’s suggestion while downing the rest of the frozen drink in her glass. Ignoring the slight headache that came with the quick consumption, she nodded. “That’s definitely the idea. I’m sure his grandfather would love that.”
She lifted her hand and signaled to the bartender that they needed two more drinks. Susan wasn’t done with hers yet, but it was only a matter of time. “Are there any new healers at the clinic? Maybe a nice looking bloke who is conveniently unattached and doesn’t mind taking a girl out dancing?”
Snickering softly as she stirred the remnants of her drink with the straw, Susan shook her head. “No one new, unfortunately. Theo is nice looking and unattached, but I think I’d die if I ran into him out dancing.”
Susan’s eyes lit up as she recalled some gossip she’d heard months ago now. “I’m sure I heard something about you being out with that dishy blond bloke who pulled a Theo. Returned from the dead or some such? Actually, Percy did that same thing. You spend an awful lot of time with blokes who were thought to be passed. Maybe I should set you up with Theo, if you’re not still running about with the blond.”
Lavender’s nose crinkled. She remembered the time she’d interviewed Theodore Nott. The man wasn’t very open about anything and had a rather dry sense of humor. She couldn’t see him out eating in public, let alone taking someone dancing.
Nathaniel, though... He would be rather charming on the dance floor and they’d already shared a meal together. And as far as she could remember - a bit of it was fuzzy from the delicious red wine he’d chosen - the conversation had been lively and interesting. He was, however, Nathaniel Rosier. She highly doubted their paths would cross again. They didn’t exactly travel in the same circles.
“Aside from my apparent fetish for the recently returned from the dead, I’d appreciate someone warm. Someone I’d get dressed up to go out with. Someone who’d share a dessert at dinner with me and wouldn’t remark on how ‘well I can eat for a girl’. That’d be nice.”
“I think that leaves Theo out, then,” the Hufflepuff said thoughtfully. “I can hear him making that kind of comment. He wouldn’t be meaning to be rude, but he’s Theo. He just is.” She remembered Lavender saying that Percy went out dancing with her - although ‘dancing’ was apparently a very broad description for her brother-in-law’s moves - maybe the next time she saw him in the Archives, she’d have to suggest they go again. “In the meantime, you’ll have to settle for me, I guess,” she said with a bright smile, extending a hand to her friend.
Summary: Lavender picks Susan up for a girls’ night out.