Lavender Brown

Lavender Brown is a witch who attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry from 1991 to 1998, in the same year as Harry Potter. She was sorted into Gryffindor house, and was good friends with roommate Parvati Patil. In her third year, Lavender began studying Divination, which she was fascinated by, and became friendly with its professor, Sybill Trelawney. Lavender joined Dumbledore's Army in her fifth year, despite initially doubting Harry's claims that Lord Voldemort had returned. During her sixth year, she dated 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.

Hogwarts
Lavender began attending Hogwarts in 1991, the same year as famous wizard Harry Potter, at the age of eleven and was sorted into Gryffindor house. She shared a dorm with Hermione Granger and Parvati Patil, and soon became best friends with the latter.

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.

Third Year
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 in the dregs of tea in the bottom of Harry's tea cup, Lavender is amongst of the very few students in the class, who like Harry and muggle-born Dean Thomas, did not initially know what grims were. This may call into question the speculation that she is a pure blood witch. 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 had been eaten 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. After Harry Potter fell off his broomstick, due to the arrival of Dementors during the Gryffindor-Hufflepuff Quidditch match, Lavender was one of the Gryffindor students that were gathered around Harry's bed in the school Hospital Wing.

Fourth Year
During her fourth year, Lavender attended the Yule Ball with fellow Gryffindor student Seamus Finnigan. 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. Barty Crouch Jr. in disguise as Alastor Moody used the Imperius Curse on her in class, forcing her to humiliate herself publicly by imitating a squirrel.

Fifth Year
In her fifth year, when Harry Potter announced the return of Lord Voldemort, Lavender, like many others, initially believed Ministry of Magic propaganda that Harry was lying, much to her roommate 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. Lavender later was one of the first students to arrive at the Hog's Head for the first meeting of what would become Dumbledore's Army. When the D.A. practiced casting the Patronus Charm, Lavender was only able to achieve casting puffs of silver vapor, and was becoming increasingly frustrated that she could not do it.

Lavender was saddened when Professor Trelawney was temporarily sacked, 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.

Sixth Year


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 Ron had previously agreed to attend Professor Slughorn's Christmas party with her and she had expected a more than platonic relationship to develop. It is unclear if Lavender was aware of her roommate's feelings for Ron, though it seems likely that she would not have gotten involved with Ron if she realized that he was dating her largely to make Hermione jealous. The two dated for a few months, and were often seen kissing in public. For Christmas, Lavender sent Ron a necklace which he disliked 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, avoided her, and became visibly annoyed with her affections. He 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.

Seventh Year
"Two bodies fell from the balcony overhead as they reached the ground a gray blur that Harry took for an animal sped four-legged across the hall to sink its teeth into one of the fallen. “NO!” shrieked Hermione, and with a deafening blast from her wand, Fenrir Greyback was thrown backward from the feebly struggling body of Lavender Brown. He hit the marble banisters and struggled to return to his feet. Then, with a bright white flash and a crack, a crystal ball fell on top of his head, and he crumpled to the ground and did not move."

- Battle of Hogwarts description

During her final year at Hogwarts, Lavender joined the second Dumbledore's Army to oppose Death Eater control of the school. Like others, she eventually took to hiding in the Room of Requirement, and may have been responsible for it forming a bathroom with washing facilities. Lavender fought in the Battle of Hogwarts, during which she fell from a balcony and was attacked by the werewolf Fenrir Greyback. She was saved by Hermione, who blasted Greyback away from her with a powerful spell, and Professor Trelawney, who dropped a Crystal Ball on his head. After the attack, she was seen feebly stirring, though her fate is unknown. It is presumed that she survived, because she was not one of the people in the line of the dead.

Personality and Traits
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 center of attention, but tended to react in an extreme way to everyday situations, either laughing or crying hysterically. She stood quite in contrast with the more pragmatic Hermione Granger.

Ron Weasley
In 1996, during her sixth year, Lavender developed a crush on fellow Gryffindor Ron Weasley. She took to complimenting him and flirting with him, which Ron seemed surprised and flattered by, though he was interested in Hermione Granger at the time. However, after Ron became angry with Hermione, he entered into a romantic relationship with Lavender. The romance consisted mostly of snogging, often in public, much to the disgust of Hermione, who was jealous and hurt, and Ron's younger sister Ginny, who considered him a "filthy hypocrite" because he insulted her for being caught kissing her boyfriend earlier in the year.

Lavender was very affectionate with, and possessive of, Ron, adopting the name of "Won-Won" for him and sending him a necklace for Christmas, which he greatly disliked and was shocked that she would think was to his taste. The romance began to cool on Ron's end after the Christmas holidays, which Lavender noticed and was very upset by. She repeatedly pressed Harry Potter for details of Ron's feelings for her, and alarmed even her best friend Parvati with how obsessively she threw herself into the relationship. Lavender was infuriated when no one thought to inform her after Ron was poisoned, especially since Ron took to feigning sleep whenever she came to visit him in the infirmary, and reconciled with Hermione. After being released, Ron took to avoiding his girlfriend.

Ron was spared the difficult task of breaking up with Lavender when she ended things with him, convinced that there was something going on between him and Hermione. Afterwards, Ron was clearly content, but Lavender was upset for some time. For example, when Ron brushed fake snow off Hermione's shoulders soon after the break-up, Lavender burst into tears.



Parvati Patil
Parvati Patil was Lavender's best friend and roommate, and was often seen in her company. The two seemed to share many interests and character traits, including a keen interest in Divination, as well as a fondness for more appealing types of magical creatures, like unicorns. The two were often seen giggling and gossiping together during their school days, and shared a friendship with Professor Trelawney. Parvati became uncomfortable with how seriously Lavender took her relationship with Ron Weasley in their sixth year, though the two remained close.

Hermione Granger
Lavender and Parvati were not nearly as close to their other roommate, Hermione Granger, as they were to one another. Though the girls did not appear to dislike each other, they had very different interests and sometimes clashed as a result. For example, Hermione scorned Divination, Lavender and Parvati's favourite subject. She also became irked with Lavender for doubting Harry Potter's assertion that Lord Voldemort had returned in 1995.

Hermione was jealous and upset by Lavender's romance with Ron during their sixth year, though most of her anger seems to have been directed at Ron himself, perhaps indicating that Lavender was unaware of Hermione's feelings for him initially. Eventually, however, Lavender started to become jealous and suspicious of the time Ron and Hermione spent together while her boyfriend increasingly pulled away from her.

Although Hermione was glad when they broke up, she tried to spare Lavender's feelings by not being openly affectionate with Ron. She also came to Lavender's rescue during the Battle of Hogwarts, blasting Fenrir Greyback away from her.



Sybill Trelawney
Lavender seems to have a reasonably close relationship with Divination professor Sybill Trelawney; she has an unwavering faith in the reliability of Trelawney's predictions and is often seen comforting or supporting her when she is experiencing difficult times. She and Parvati became offended on the professor's behalf when Hermione made her disdain for Trelawney and the subject she taught clear in 1993.

When she was temporarily sacked by Dolores Umbridge, Lavender and Parvati brought Trelawney some nice daffodils. During the Battle of Hogwarts, Trelawney helped save Lavender by dropping a crystal ball on the head of her attacker, Fenrir Greyback, and thus stopped her from being bitten and suffering the same fate as Bill Weasley.

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 symbolize 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 symbolize decadence and the enjoyment of sensuality.

Behind the scenes

 * Lavender Brown was played in a non-speaking role by Jennifer Smith in the film version of Prisoner of Azkaban. Jennifer Smith may not have had any lines, but appeared in several scenes. The character was recast with Jessie Cave for the sixth film, Half-Blood Prince, which will be released in theaters in July 2009.
 * There is also a character named Lavender Brown in the novel Matilda by Roald Dahl.
 * Lavender's physical appearance and ethnicity are not described in the books. In the third film, Lavender is played by a Black British actress, while in the upcoming sixth film, she is played by a Caucasian actress.
 * On J.K. Rowling's draft class list, Lavender was listed as a pure-blood . However, the fact that she had never heard of the Grim may contradict this. The list also has other contradictions, and thus cannot be considered definitive canon.
 * In the Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince novel, Lavender either did not qualify for or did not select N.E.W.T.-level Potions as one of her classes. However, in the film adaptation, she appears to be attending a Potions class.

Appearances

 * Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
 * Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
 * Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
 * Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (film)
 * Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
 * Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
 * Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
 * Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (film)
 * Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Notes and references
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