It's been a while

Lavender sat at a table in the corner of The Leaky Cauldron, her shoulders tensed and her fingers entwined around a mug of butterbeer. She hadn't been to Diagon Alley in weeks. Though she wasn't so bothered about that, what upset her more was the fact that she hadn't seen Hester in so long. The past few weeks had been hell without the red head. But finally, Lavender was going to see Hester again. She planned to meet her girlfriend in the pub at exactly noon, it was now three minutes too. It still felt weird, calling Hester her girlfriend. Perhaps it was the reason she'd been so distant of late. Lavender couldn't help but be paranoid. What if Hester had met someone else? What if Hester just didn't want to be with her anymore? Keeping away from Hester meant she was less likely to get hurt. But she couldn't stay away any longer, she had to know whether the other girl still wanted her. She had to know whether Hester needed her as much as she needed Hester.

Lavender took a large swig of her drink. Relationships were never her strong point. In the beginning they were, things had been great between the two of them before they left school. Lavender remembered wanting Hester to come stay with her. what happened? Lavender shook her head sadly. Maybe Hester wouldn't even show up.

Hester slipped into the Leakey Cauldron, her heart beating like a butterfly's wings. She wiped her sweaty hands on her jeans. She wanted to look presentable, but she swore she just looked a mess. She had looked a mess this whole summer.

She spotted Lavender at a table in the corner and she slowly made her way over. What if the girl didn't want her any more? How could she explain that she hadn't contacted anyone. No one at all. She hadn't ignored her on purpose. Things were just too much at the moment. But if Lavender hugged her, kissed her maybe, then everything would be better. It would fix everything, at least fleetingly.

She dropped into a seat beside her girlfriend and coughed quietly.

"H-hey," she said, allowing herself to smile.

Lavender looked up to see Hester walking towards her. The whole room seemed to disappear from her view and all that was left was the sight of her girlfriend. Hester still looked as beautiful as she remembered, her bright hair cascading down her shoulders. Lavender couldn't help but smile, even though she was nervous.

"Hi," Lavender watched the other girl slide into the seat beside her. The place she was meant to be. However, she now didn't know what to say.

Hester gripped her hands together tightly. What could she say? If she asked Lavender about her holiday, she might ask about Hester's, and then what would she say? If she mentioned school she would be boring, if she talked about other people- well, that would be silly. This was their time.

Suddenly she knew what to say. Something she had been wanting to say all summer but hadn't.

"I love you," she said, so quietly that she wondered whether Lavender would hear her or not.

Lavender felt her smile fade as she watched Hester play with her hands, something she knew the girl did when nervous and apprehensive. So she waited. There was so much they had to say, but now didn't feel like the time. They needed to be reassured by each other first, that everything was okay, that they were okay. Lavender continued to watch Hester as she thought things over, giving her plenty of time to do so. Hurrying things wouldn't help. Until Hester finally spoke, though very quietly, causing Lavender's jaw to drop slightly.

"I-I..." She was very almost speechless. The only words that came to mind were the most natural and truthful ones she'd ever say. "I love you too,"

Hester grinned, reaching over and pulling Lavender into a hug. In doing so, she knocked into the mug of butterbeer, sending it reeling across the table and pooling its contents on the floor. She didn't care. She kissed Lavender gently on the cheek, feeling happy for the first time this summer. This feeling was something that her family couldn't take away. Not ever.

Lavender allowed herself to be hugged, apprehensive at first before wrapping her arms tightly around her girlfriend. She was about to say something when Hester knocked over the mug of butterbeer. Lavender sniggered as she pulled away from the red head, returning the kiss she'd received.

"Opps," She shrugged, grinning before snaking an arm around Hester's waist and kissing her bare shoulder. It felt so right, it didn't matter that they'd been apart because they were back together again. "I have missed you so much," Lavender whispered into Hester's ear, keeping an eye on the barman now coming over to clear up the drink.

"I've missed you too," Hester whispered. She was the happiest she had been all summer. She considered telling Lavender that, but then decided against it. She wanted to keep the topic away from summer activities.

She pulled away after catching the eye of the barman who gave her a dirty glare. She took Lavender's hand, keeping a hold of it tightly.

"Sorry about that," she said quietly to the barman, motioning at the spilt drink. "Let me get you another one," she said to Lavender.

Lavender eyed the barman suspiciously when she noticed him give Hester a dirty look. No one looked at her girlfriend like that, even if her girlfriend had been a little clumsy. She sniggered to herself before Hester offered to get her another drink.

"I'll come with you," Lavender pushed Hester lightly off the bench before leading her towards the bar, hands on the red head's waist. "Sorry," She shrugged at the barman as they passed, trying to hide the smirk on her face. Lavender couldn't help but love Hester's clumsy side too, it was cute.

Hester grimaced. She hated being clumsy. But right now none of it mattered. She'd spilled Lavender's glass, it wasn't like it was one of her parent's. Lavender wasn't shouting, she was smiling.

"Butterbeer again?" she asked as they made their way over to the bar. "Or something else? My treat."

She checked her pocket. Yup, she had change from buying her sisters' present, enough for a couple of drinks.

"I might have a butterbeer myself. I haven't had anything non-muggle for the whole holidays and it's been getting boring."

Lavender nodded. "Yeah butterbeer," She was still grinning from ear to eat but she couldn't help it, being with Hester made her happy. As they arrived at the bar Lavender lent an elbow on it while her other hand rested on Hester's lower back. She couldn't decide whether to ask about Hester's summer. If she asked then it was likely she'd get the same question in return, and she wasn't sure how she'd answer it. While they waited Lavender leaned closer to her girlfriend, resting her chin on Hester's shoulder. The red head's skin was so soft Lavender couldn't help but kiss it lightly, resisting the urge to nibble at it too. She'd save that for later.

"Two butterbeers," Hester said to the bar maid. She was glad that there was more than one person serving today (probably because of the influx of Hogwarts students buying their equipment) because she didn't really want to see the bar man again.

She shivered when Lavender kissed her. She wasn't used to all of this attention, but it was nice.

"Thanks," she said to the bar maid, taking the drinks and passing the money across. "You wanna go back and sit down?" she asked Lavender, handing her one of the drinks.

Lavender watched as the barmaid took Hester's order. There were so many people bustling around, and yet she didn't recognize a single face. She liked that. When the barmaid returned Lavender kept an eye on her as she handed Hester their drinks. The woman looked at her for a second before her eyes darted to Hester's shoulder where she'd just kissed. Just as quickly as it happened the woman turned away and went about her job again. Lavender furrowed her brow momentarily until Hester spoke.

"Sure, lead the way," She gestured for Hester to go first with a wave of her arm before taking her drink. Lavender sipped it, glancing at the barmaid once more. She was looking at them again.

Hester led Lavender back over to their now clean table, clutching her glass in one hand and Lavender's hand in the other. She watched the floor carefully.

Please don't trip, please don't trip, she thought furiously to herself.

They sat down and Hester checked under the table to make sure her bag was ok. The present was still there, along with everything else. But the present was the main thing. She needed to make it up to Jeanie, Hannah and Hope for the terrible summer, and the terrible year when she was away. If her parents hadn't sorted themselves out by the time Hester graduated, she vowed to herself, she would take them away and find somewhere for all four of them to live.

Lavender allowed herself to be pulled back to their table, she waited for Hester to check her belongings were there before sitting back down. When she sat she put her arm round her girlfriends shoulders, this was where she wanted to be. With Hester. All her insecurities were slowly drifting away. Thank goodness. Lavender watched as Hester seemed to whir things over in her head. She debated whether to ask or not. Deciding against it, she downed her drink and placed the mug on the table.

"Hester, darling, would you like to come to my house?" Lavender grinned at how random the question was. Although she couldn't help but wonder whether her girlfriend would say yes.

The invitation came out of the blue and Hester was silent for a moment. She had promised her mum that she would get the train straight home, but four hours was a long time to be sat on her own and then at the end she would just end up back where the trouble was.

"Yes," she said to Lavender, smiling. "I'd love to."

Her chest had fluttered a little when Lavender had called her darling, and she hoped that it wouldn't be the last time.

She slipped her hand into the bag and her fingers stroked the present. She could always owl it to them, after all. And she would rather be out of the house.

Lavender grinned at Hester's response, kissing the girls cheek gleefully.

"Great! Shall we?" Lavender waited for Hester to drain her mug before taking her hands and pulling her to her feet. Once Hester had picked up all her things the two of them grasped hands and left the pub. Unaware to the woman watching them as they went.

"Yeah," said Hester, grinning and following Lavender out of the pub.

It was exciting, doing something she knew that she wasn't supposed to. But she didn't care what her parents thought. They had practically driven her out anyway.

She was going with Lavender and the thought of that made her chest flutter. She felt so happy right now. She didn't care about anything else.