Ever since her attach, about two months ago now, Lavender had been going into St. Mungo's for routine blood work and check ups. It had been an absolute miracle that she had escaped the Burning Man but there was the possibility, even after they had managed to calm her down, that she wouldn't survive the night. The poison she had ingested had been ( Read more... )

The year was coming to a close but Lavender refused to make any new resolutions. The way she saw it, she had already started over two months ago when she returned to England after six years of traveling for work. Now that she was back she was working to find a balance between the person she had been and the person she had become. She didn't want to ( Read more... )

After nearly three weeks of closing herself in George's flat, Lavender's life had been set into overdrive. She let herself get completely swept up in getting her life back on track and her anxiety had almost completely slipped away which, of course, was easy when she was constantly surrounded by the people she trusted ( Read more... )

This was the first Christmas Day Lavender had been home for in the last six years. In the past, like most family events and weekends, she had made lame and dodgy excuses only the hole herself up in some remote hotel watching Christmas reruns and drowning herself in take out. There were some years that she made it for dinner, popping in the chaos of ( Read more... )

Lavender knew she had stayed at George's far too long. She knew it the moment he came barreling into the apartment with Cecilia Jacobs suction cupped to his face while she sat stuffing her face with peanut butter swirl ice cream. That should have been her cue to exist - except she was still too afraid to walk down the street with alone ( Read more... )

Returning to work was the first normal thing Lavender had done in weeks. That morning she had felt anxious as she got herself ready but forced herself out the door. But once she arrived at the practice field, camera out ready, she felt newly empowered. The team had greeted her like one of their own ( Read more... )

This was going to be awkward.

No. It was going to be really awkward ( Read more... )

The last seven days crawled by. Once Lavender had gotten back on her feet, Cecilia had told her they hoped to release her on Saturday. She would have to return routinely for more long term testing and check-ups. The poison had done considerable damage to her body and, despite the week's earlier news, they were still hoping to see a change ( Read more... )

The cycle had finally broken. Lavender had filtered through rounds of fevers, potion, cold, sleep over and over since the night before. Her sleep was attacked by images of shadows and fire, keeping her restless. The hallucinations would drown her, trying to pull her under by the weight of her guilt and confusion ( Read more... )

It was a rough first day for Lavender. She didn't like hospitals. She didn't like being sick. Lavender felt trapped in her hospital bed, unable to leave or get fresh air. That was, of course, when she was conscious and fully aware of what was going on, which wasn't often ( Read more... )