Lavender Brown

## Lavender Fiona Brown

**Lavender Fiona Brown** (born 12 May, 1980) was a pure-blood English witch, the oldest daughter of Nigel and Dorothea Brown (née O'Flaherty), and sister of Ophelia Brown. Sorted into Gryffindor, Lavender started her education at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry on 1 September, 1991, the same year as the famous Harry Potter.

While at Hogwarts Lavender began studying Divination, which she was fascinated by. In her fifth year she joined Dumbledore's Army. This was an organisation taught and led by Harry Potter, despite initially doubting Harry's claims that Lord Voldemort had returned. The following year she started an exhibitionist relationship with Ron Weasley, though they soon broke up.

In her final year of schooling Lavender joined the reconstituted D.A. to oppose Death Eater control of Hogwarts and fought in the Battle of Hogwarts, which she survived.

## Biography

### Early life (1980-1991)

Lavender Brown was born on 12 May, 1980, in Central London, England. Her father was Nigel Brown, at that time an employee of the Ministry of Magic's Department of Magical Transportation. Her father, Nigel, was an English pure-blood wizard. Her mother was Dorothea Brown (née O'Flaherty), an Irish witch. When Lavender was one year old, her mother gave birth to her little sister, Ophelia.

Her paternal grandparents were Octavius Brown and Fiona Brown (née Whitlock), for who she was named for. Fiona Whitlock was the daughter of Malcolm Whitlock Sr., a muggle-born Scottish wizard, and Magdalene Whitlock (née Marchbanks), of the notable Marchbanks family. Through Magdalene, Lavender and her sister are descendants of the House of Gamp, an extinct wizarding family (in the male line, at least) famous for producing many descendants.

Her father had a little brother, Arthur, who was killed at the age of eighteen in the First Wizarding War. As a result, her father was very overprotective of Lavender and her sister, and rarely allowed them to go out alone, even in muggle London. Despite this, her father spoke of Arthur a lot to her while she was growing up, and while Lavender herself was told many stories about Arthur's bravery and sacrifice, her younger sister Ophelia apparently had never heard the story of his death, other than the fact he'd died young, until she was looking into a possible career as an Auror. This later led to Lavender fiercely defending the young Auror recruits (it's of the opinion of many that the Ministry had mislead many of them into joining the programme) in Defence class at school.

Lavender and her sister, Ophelia, were great nieces of Augusta Longbottom (née Brown). She sent them presents as children. Lavender did not get to know her second cousin, Neville, particularly well until after she began school.

#### Hogwarts years (1991-1998)

She received her acceptance letter from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry at age eleven in the summer of 1991. She purchased her equipment from Diagon Alley before the start of her first year, including her wand, which was made out of rowan and unicorn hair, from Ollivander's.

She boarded the Hogwarts Express on 1 September, 1991, at King's Cross Station, London.

"*But 'Brown, Lavender' became the first new Gryffindor and the table on the far left exploded with cheers.*"
—Description of Lavender's sorting
She shared a dormitory with Hermione Granger, Parvati Patil, and other two girls and soon became best friends with Parvati. However, she did not get along as well with Hermione as she did with the other three girls. Hermione was believed by most to be a loner and made friends with boys rather than girls. There were also personality clashes between Hermione and the other Gryffindor girls; Hermione, being rather studious, may have been better suited with Ravenclaw girls.

#### Second year

In her second year, Lavender was one of the students present in Professor Binns' History of Magic class when Hermione asked about the Chamber of Secrets; like the rest of the class, Lavender paid much more attention at this point, even rising her head off her arms.

Lavender attended Professor Lockhart's Duelling Club, and when Lockhart was disarmed by Professor Snape, she handed him back his wand. It is likely that Lavender, given her common nature had a crush on Professor Lockhart, as did many of the other female students even including Hermione Granger, and would be shocked to discover he was a fraud at the end of the year.

#### Third year

"*Incidentally, that thing you are dreading — it will happen on Friday the sixteenth of October.*"
—Professor Trelawney's "prediction"
In her third year, Lavender started Divination and Care of Magical Creatures classes. When Divination Professor Sybill Trelawney saw a Grim (a death omen in the form of a spectral dog) while seeking divinatory insight in the dregs of tea in the bottom of Harry's tea cup, Lavender was amongst the very few students in the class who, like Harry and Dean Thomas (both students who grew up with Muggles and unaware of magic until their letters arrived), did not initially know what Grims were. This was, in part, due to her slight ditzy-ness, as commented on by Hermione Granger later on, agreeing with both Ginny Weasley and Aquila Black about her sister, Ophelia. Lavender, much like her sister, had the tendency to become quite naive.

She soon developed a good relationship with Professor Trelawney, who accurately predicted- or guessed- the death of Lavender's pet rabbit named Binky. The professor said that what Lavender was dreading would occur on the sixteenth of October, and on that day, Lavender received news that her rabbit, who had been a baby at the time, had been mauled to death by a fox. Hermione pointed out that Lavender could not possibly have dreaded something unexpected and that the death must have happened days before the news arrived, but Lavender had faith in Trelawney's abilities and was upset by Hermione's rather tactless attempt at comforting her.

#### Fourth year

**Harry Potter** : "*Lavender — will you go with Ron?*"
**Parvati Patil** : "*She's going with Seamus.*"
— Harry asks Lavender to the Yule Ball on Ron's behalf
During her fourth year, Hogwarts hosted the Triwizard Tournament, a series of challenges for wizards to enter if they believed themselves capable. Harry Potter, who was in Lavender's year, was selected as a champion. As one of the traditions, the tournament held a ball and Lavender attended the Yule Ball with fellow Gryffindor student Seamus Finnigan, likely just as friends. Her best friend Parvati ended up going as Harry's date.

That same year, when Care of Magical Creatures professor Rubeus Hagrid attempted to see if Blast-Ended Skrewts hibernate (which they do not), she stayed to help collect the runaways instead of fleeing into the hut like the Slytherins, and singed her robes in the process. Later that year, Barty Crouch Jr, in disguise as Defence Against the Dark Arts professor Alastor Moody, used the Imperius Curse on her in class, thus forcing her to humiliate herself publicly by imitating a squirrel. Hermione Granger was not impressed that Barty Crouch Jr had the nerve to teach the three Unforgivable Curses in school and was appalled when he demonstrated them on students. She didn't come to the aid of Lavender when she was being humiliated, but she did stick up for Neville Longbottom, her second cousin, when he was horrified by the demonstration of the Cruciatus Curse on a spider.

At the end of the year, Lavender would attend the leaving feast, which was held as a memorial service to the late Cedric Diggory who was murdered during the Triwizard Tournament. During this service, Albus Dumbledore took the liberty upon himself to inform the students of Hogwarts that Lord Voldemort was at large once again.

#### Fifth year

**Ron Weasley**: "*Seamus reckons Harry's lying about You-Know-Who.*"
**Hermione Granger**: "*Yes, Lavender thinks so too.*"
— Lavender doubts Harry's claim that Voldemort has returned
In her fifth year, when Harry Potter announced the return of Lord Voldemort, Lavender, like many others, initially believed the Ministry of Magic propaganda that Harry was lying, much to her room-mate Hermione's irritation. On the second day of the school year, Ernie Macmillan's public of support of Harry and his claims seemed to force her to begin to question her own beliefs. It is possible that Seamus Finnigan, a fellow Gryffindor may have been putting doubts into her head also as he strongly supported the Ministry and Lavender was close with Seamus. The same year, Dolores Umbridge was appointed the new DADA professor as a way for the Ministry at large to keep tabs on Hogwarts.

However, despite the claims that Harry had been lying, Lavender was one of the first students to arrive at the Hog's Head for the first meeting of what would become Dumbledore's Army. She learned many different defensive and offensive charms from Harry. When the D.A. practised casting the highly advanced Patronus Charm, Lavender was only able to achieve puffs of silver vapour, and was becoming increasingly frustrated that she could not do it.

Later on in the year, High Inquisitor Dolores Umbridge began inspecting the teachers of Hogwarts and Lavender was saddened when Professor Trelawney was temporarily sacked by Umbridge after her inspection, and even brought her some nice daffodils, though she continued to take the class under the centaur Firenze, upon whom both she and Parvati had a crush, despite him being half-man and half-horse. This year Lavender took her O.W.L. exams and practised basic Locomotion Charms with Parvati the week leading up to the exams.

#### Sixth year

**Lavender**: "*Friends, don't make me laugh. She didn't talk to him for weeks after he started going out with me! But I suppose she wants to make up with him now he's all* interesting*....*"
**Harry Potter**: "*Would you call getting poisoned being interesting?*"
— Discussion of Hermione's and Ron's friendship
Lavender achieved a high grade on her O.W.L. exams for: Divination, Charms, and Transfiguration, as she attended N.E.W.T.-level classes. However, she did not achieve a high enough O.W.L. score to continue on with Potions. Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger were the only Gryffindors able to attend N.E.W.T.-level class for that subject. It is unknown if she achieved an O.W.L. in Defence Against the Dark Arts, but it is possible.

By the beginning of her sixth year, Lavender had developed a crush on Ron Weasley. She complimented him, flirted with him, and wished him luck in his Quidditch games. After a particularly good performance in one of those games, Ron and Lavender ended up kissing. This greatly upset Hermione Granger, as she had hoped Ron would attend Professor Slughorn's Christmas party with her and she had expected a more than platonic relationship to develop between them. It is unclear if Lavender was aware of her room-mate's feelings for Ron, though it seems likely that she would not have gotten involved with Ron if she realised that he was dating her largely to make Hermione jealous. Their relationship grossed out Ginny Weasley and Lavender's little sister, Ophelia Brown, who were best friends.

The two dated for a few months, and were often seen kissing enthusiastically in public. For Christmas, Lavender sent Ron a gaudy necklace which read 'My Sweetheart' dangling from a chain. He disliked it immensely and after the holidays, their relationship began to go downhill. Lavender was very upset when Ron was poisoned, and when he increasingly pulled away from her. He feigned sleep when she came to visit him in the Hospital Wing, avoided her, and became visibly annoyed with her affections.

Worried that her relationship with Ron was fading, she sought out the advice of his best friend, Harry Potter. She would talk to Harry about Ron's feelings, making him feel uncomfortable. Ron also reconciled with Hermione and spent increasing amounts of time with her, making Lavender suspicious. After she saw Ron and Hermione leave the Gryffindor dormitory seemingly alone (since Harry was under his Invisibility Cloak) she ended their relationship, much to Ron's relief. She attended Dumbledore's funeral at the end of the year.

## Personality and Traits

"*But at the moment there was a loud squeal of "*Won-Won!*" and Lavender Brown came hurtling out of nowhere and flung herself into Ron's arms.*"
—Lavender greeting Ron
Lavender was a somewhat silly and sentimental girl, though she was also brave, as she was sorted into Gryffindor house and fought in the Battle of Hogwarts. She was lively and loved to be the centre of attention, but tended to react in an extreme way to everyday situations, either laughing or crying hysterically and could be easily offended or emotional. She was also known to squeal and giggle at certain things and did so frequently. She could also be insensitive and childish, acting very possessive and over-protective of Ron when she was his girlfriend, even going so far as to say he looked "interesting" when he was poisoned. She frequently expressed her feelings for him in odd ways, such as calling him "Won-Won", sending him a necklace that made him cringe, writing his name in smog on the Hogwarts Express, and snogging him on a continuous basis, not infrequently in public view. Inevitably, her heart was always in the right place, but she had a tendency to offend or annoy other people, if not always deliberately.

She had a great interest in Divination despite the subject being "woolly" and had reverence for Professor Trelawney, even though she was something of a fraud. This implied that she was gullible, often taking Trelawney's words to heart. Additionally, she initially believed the Ministry's propaganda against Harry Potter, but she eventually began to doubt the Ministry's claims, hugely because of her friends' influence.

Much of her personality heavily implies that her social skills may have been poor; this is supported by the fact that she only had one known friend at school, Parvati Patil, and they often had awkward interactions at the expense of others. However, even Parvati was uncomfortable by the fact that her relationship with Ron was becoming increasingly unhealthy. She stood quite in contrast with the more pragmatic and socially stable Hermione Granger.

## Magical Abilities and Skills

* **Divination**: Lavender shared a close relationship with Professor Trelawney. It was implied that she was good at Divination and most likely took the subject to N.E.W.T.-level.
* **Transfiguration**: Lavender advanced to N.E.W.T.-level Transfiguration, showing aptitude in the subject. She must have achieved either an 'Exceeds Expectations' or an 'Outstanding' on her O.W.L. exam.
* **Charms**: Lavender attended N.E.W.T. Charms, meaning she achieved a high grade on her O.W.L. exam. She was also able to produce a non-corporeal Patronus, an incredibly advanced and powerful piece of magic and was able to cast the Locomotion Charm, showing her impressive proficiency in charm-work.
* **Defence Against the Dark Arts**: Lavender was a committed and loyal member of Dumbledore's Army which she joined in her fifth year, and therefore learned how to cast numerous defensive and offensive spells under Harry Potter's masterful teaching.

## Etymology

*Lavender* is a type of flower, as well as a name for the pale shade of purple of the blossoms. In flower symbolism, the lavender can symbolise affection, cleansing, or concealment. The Ancient Romans used lavender to scent baths, and its name is derived from the Latin verb *lavāre*, "to wash". In Western culture, the colour lavender can sometimes be used to symbolise decadence and the enjoyment of sensuality. Interestingly, "Lavender" is a colour and her last name is "Brown", which is also a colour.