Parkinson Manor gets a visitor

Lavender held Hester's hand tightly as they climbed the front steps of Parkinson Manor.

"Well, this is it," She removed her key from her pocket and unlocked the door. It swung open and she pulled Hester inside. As soon as the door closed Lavender turned to her girlfriend and kissed her. She'd missed this so much. She'd missed Hester. It wasn't a short kiss, quite the opposite. Lavender needed more than a peck. She carefully pushed Hester backwards into the door, using her body to trap the beautiful red head. Hester tasted just as she remembered, sweet like strawberries.

After the kiss, which was amazing, Hester glanced around at their surroundings. The feeling of Lavender's lips lingered and Hester never wanted it to go away.

"Wow," she said softly. "This place is big..." And grand as well. Nothing like Hester's home, even though hers wasn't exactly the smallest home in her area.

She clutched at Lavender's hand tightly.

"What now?" she asked, her eyes glittering with excitement. Her bag was heavy on her shoulder and the whole way here the present had been clunking around in it. She hoped that it wasn't broken.

Lavender smiled as their lips parted and Hester looked around in awe. The house was big, bigger then she knew a lot of her fellow students homes were. Not that it mattered to her, the only reason she was glad the manor was so big was so she could stay away from her parents. Her hand clutched Hester's firmly, almost possessively.

"Erm, what do you want to do? You can come up and see my room if you want? Put your things there?" Lavender glanced at the bag on her girlfriends shoulder, it looked heavy and seemed to be digging into her shoulder. "It's this way," She slowly began to pull Hester towards the grand staircase, which was just down the corridor.

"Yeah," said Hester smiling, happy to follow Lavender anywhere.

She wondered, as she followed Lavender towards the staircase, whether she would ever be able to bring Lavender home to her house. Over her first few years at Hogwarts her parents had been begging her to bring friends home to meet them. There had been no mention of it this year.

She sighed almost inaudibly and held Lavender's hand a fraction tighter. She was a Gryffindor and she could deal with this.

The corridor was longer than Lavender remembered, though she didn't mind because it meant more time with Hester. There were paintings hanging on the walls, most of which she recognised other than a few new ones. She felt Hester tighten her grip and glanced at her with a small smile.

"You okay?" Lavender lifted her girlfriends hand and kissed it gently, her eyes never leaving Hester's. They arrived at the foot of the staircase and began to climb.

Hester followed Lavender up the staircase, wondering what her room would be like. She also wondered if she would meet any of Lavender's family.

Everything in this place was so big. Hester had known that Lavender was pure blood, but she hadn't known just how... Well, it was all so big.

She smiled at her girlfriend. She was glad that they were spending time together outside of school.

Lavender counted the stairs as they ascended them, like she had when she was younger. 43. When they reached the top she steered them down another long corridor to the right, several doors on either side. Lavender didn't even know what were in many of them and expected some were possibly just cupboards. When she was younger she'd explored with her brother, though they hadn't gotten far because their dad had found them. He hadn't been mad as such, he never was, that was their mothers job. Xavier was indifferent, going along with his wife most of the time.

"It's just up here," Lavender shook her thoughts away and pointed ahead of them. Her bedroom was the only room her parents never went into, she assumed it was a way of them forgetting they even had a daughter. Unlike their brothers room, her mother used to sneak into his room before she started Hogwarts whenever Excalibur was at school. They reached her door and pushed it open slowly, it was heavier than she remembered.

Hester followed Lavender down yet another long corridor. They stopped at a door which Lavender opened. It looked heavy.

Hester smiled at her.

"I love you," she whispered. She wasn't sure if Lavender had heard her, but she didn't mind. She just liked saying those three words.

And then they entered Lavender's bedroom.

Lavender was about to open her mouth when she heard Hester mutter something. At first she wasn't sure if she'd heard correctly but then she looked at her girlfriend and just knew.

"I love you too," She nodded slightly before dragging the red head into her room. In the middle of the room was her fourposter bed with bedside tables each side. To the left was her vanity table and the double doors to her small balcony and to the right was the door to her ensuite.

Hester quickly took in her surroundings. The room was bigger than her one at home, but it looked as if it had less stuff in it. That was probably because of Hester's large bookcases. They filled most of the space.

She smiled at lavender.

"What now?" she asked, turning to face her girlfriend. She was so pretty, so beautiful. It was unbelievable that she wanted her. Unbelievable and yet true.

Lavender watched her girlfriend as she gazed round the room. When Hester spoke Lavender shrugged slightly.

"Not sure," She tried to think of what to do. "Do you want to put your stuff on my bed, then we can go down to the kitchen and get a drink?" Lavender made her way to the bed and gestured towards it. There was a sudden thump downstairs and she knew that meant her brother was home. "That'll be Excalibur. Come on," She grabbed Hester's hand with a grin.

Hester grinned back at Lavender, although inside she felt a little apprehensive. But hey, where was that Gryffindor inside her? The sorting hat thought that she was fearless, so she would be fearless.

She dropped her bag onto Lavender's bed. The present rattled, but it still sounded intact. Then she followed Lavender out of the bedroom and down the stairs, holding onto the girl's hand at all times.

Lavender half skipped down the stairs with Hester's hand in her own, until they reached the point where the front door came into view. Excalibur was standing by the door looking up at them, he looked confused until he saw his younger sister with a girl. The two were holding hands, causing him to grin widely.

"Well, what do we have here?" He chuckled to himself as Lavender pulled Hester down the remaining stairs.

"Ex!" Lavender embraced him with her free arm, not wanting to let go of Hesters right now. Not while she must have been a little scared.

"Woah, hold your horses," Once free of his sister, Excalibur turned to the red head holding her hand. "You must be, Hester, right?" His smile was as welcoming as it could be, causing Lavender to grin happily.

The guy seemed friendly and Hester couldn't help but reply to his smile with a grin of her own.

"Yeah, that's me," she said, her confidence coming back. Here was the Gryffindor lion, brave and outgoing.

She was still glad that Lavender was holding onto her hand, though. It was nice to have that comfort to fall back onto even though she didn't feel as nervous anymore.

Lavender pulled Hester closer to her with a proud grin. This beautiful girl was all hers, it was too good to be true.

"Hester, meet Excalibur," She gestured with a slight laugh. Happiness coursed through her, more so than it ever had while she'd been under this roof. Excalibur put his hand out to Hester.

"It's nice to finally meet you, Hester. Lavender never stops talking about you," He grinned, sending his sister a side smirk. Lavender shoved him in the shoulder sharply, mumbling something that sounded like shut up.

Hester smiled and shook the proffered hand.
"Nice to meet you too," she said.
But she was blushing. Lavender never stopped talking about her? She meant that much to her? She felt amazed.

She looked down at her feet, feeling a little embarrassed. She hadn't told any of her family about Lavender yet. She didn't know if she ever would. Not with their current situation.

But she was here, away from it all. Everything was good right now. She shouldn't be worrying, she scolded herself silently.

Excalibur smiled as Hester evidently blushed. It was true, Lavender spoke about the fiery red head quite often, more so than she had about anyone else in her life. He hadn't even spotted the tell tale signs of her... sexuality. It was still a bit weird to him, but not enough to make him think any less of her.

"Ok, I'm just popping back from work to grab some papers," Excalibur made his way towards the staircase. "We'll have to go out sometime, the three of us. I buy a meal or something?" Lavender grinned.

"I'll hold you to that!" She called after him. "Come one," She pulled Hester in the direction of the kitchen.

Hester smiled at Excalibur and then followed Lavender towards... well, somewhere. She wasn't sure where they were going.

"What now?" she asked, her heart pounding. Just the touch of Lavender's hand in hers could do that to her.

And there was something thrilling about the thought of her parents not knowing where she was. They had no way of contacting her, and they wouldn't even realise that something was up until at least ten o' clock tonight.

Lavender pushed open the kitchen door to reveal the expanse of white. White walls, white counters, white everything. If the curtains of the large windows hadn't been drawn they would have been blinded by the brightness.

"Do you want a drink? Something to eat?" She asked, turning to Hester with a smile. It felt weird to have the beautiful girl in her house. All Lavender wanted to do was grab the red head and ravish her senseless. Maybe she would once they'd finished in the kitchen, she was excited.

Hester breathed out, taking in all of the white... clean... whiteness. Her kitchen was a friendly orange colour with cluttered surfaces whereas this looked unlived in.

"I wouldn't mind something to eat," she said, just as her stomach let out a loud growl. She giggled.

She glanced behind them, double checking that the door was shut, before leaning over and giving Lavender a quick kiss on her cheek. Then she blushed.

Lavender nodded, circling the room, her eyes still on her girlfriend. She stopped in front of her, only to be kissed on the cheek. Hester looked embarrassed.

"We'll have to sort that out somehow," She ran a finger across the girls red cheeks, before sticking her tongue out playfully. "What would you like to eat? We have basically everything," Lavender began to play with a strand of her girlfriend's bright red hair. Something she loved about her girlfriend.

So much choice.

"Are you having anything?" she asked. She felt a bit awkward just asking for something. She slipped her hand into Lavender's. "How about something sweet?" she asked. "I could do with something with a bit of sugar in it."

She smiled at her girlfriend. Her girlfriend. It still felt odd, but she loved it.

Lavender contemplated the red head's question, unsure of whether she was hungry.

"I think we have some cake," Hester took her hand and so she squeezed it reassuringly. "How does that sound?" Lavender ran a hand down the red head's back teasingly. They were all alone now, no one to disturb them. This made Lavender grin happily.

"Cake sounds nice," said Hester, smiling. She was still a little nervous, but she was Gryffindor. The big house wasn't that scary. She was more nervous about going home at the end of the night. She hoped that her parents wouldn't be too angry. Perhaps she could just stay overnight in the Leakey Cauldron, until she had to go to Hogwarts.

"What type of cake do you have?" she asked Lavender. She really was quite hungry.

Lavender grinned, winking at her girlfriend before making her way to the fridge. There were three cakes inside, a chocolate, a lemon and a coffee cake. It was a difficult choice so she looked over at Hester and beckoned her over.

"We've got three, which do you like the look of? Chocolate, lemon and coffee," Lavender pointed to each in turn.