She’d been around since Harry’s first year, but for a while we didn’t hear much from good ol’ Lavender. Once we did we discovered a wise, profound character who had a way of making us think a little deeper about life. Okay, not really. But nonetheless, Lavender Brown was a witch with quite the turn of phrase.
Funny, gullible, and often smitten: here are some of our favourite Lavenderisms…
Her inner eye
In their first Divination class, Professor Trelawney famously discovered the Grim in Harry’s cup. From that moment on, Lavender and Parvati spent the majority of the year speaking to Harry in hushed tones as if he were about to die. Nice.
There was an intake of breath from behind him and both Lavender and Parvati whispered, ‘Oooh, no, Harry, remember your tea leaves!’
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Believing the unbelievable
Professor Trelawney predicted that the ‘moment she was dreading’ would come on 16 October. Using true Lavender-logic, she was immediately convinced that the untimely demise of her pet rabbit on this very date (well, technically the day before, but she found out on the sixteenth) was definitely something ‘she had been dreading’ and not a total coincidence.
‘The sixteenth of October! “That thing you’re dreading, it will happen on the sixteenth of October!” Remember? She was right, she was right!’
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Stepping right in it
Who could forget this classic moment when Lavender and Ron enjoyed a bit of planet-spotting?
Seamus and Dean, who were working nearby, sniggered loudly, though not loudly enough to mask the excited squeals from Lavender Brown – ‘Oh, Professor, look! I think I’ve got an unaspected planet! Oooh, which one’s that, Professor?’
‘It is Uranus, my dear,’ said Professor Trelawney, peering down at the chart.
‘Can I have a look at Uranus, too, Lavender?’ said Ron.
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
The squeal and giggle combo
Alongside her words of wisdom, Lavender also came with her own sound effects, most commonly the squeal and the giggle.
She squealed at the Blast-Ended Skrewts, the Hippogriffs and the predictions of Professor Trelawney (to name but a few). The rest of the time, Lavender-life was a laugh riot. She giggled at many inappropriate moments, such as when Harry asked her to go to the ball with Ron, or when Umbridge told the students they would all be friends (this was actually fantastic comic timing).
One of the best was when Professor McGonagall tried to be the life of the party. A Lavender giggle could perfectly articulate any Hogwarts moment.
‘The Yule Ball is of course a chance for us all to – er – let our hair down,’ she said, in a disapproving voice.
Lavender giggled harder than ever, with her hand pressed hard against her mouth to stifle the sound. Harry could see what was funny this time: Professor McGonagall, with her hair in a tight bun, looked as though she had never let her hair down in any sense.
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Terms of endearment
The big one. The one that might have had adult Lavender put her head in her hands and wish it had never happened. A nickname for the ages, more iconic than ‘The Boy Who Lived’...
But at that moment there was a loud squeal of ‘Won-Won!’ and Lavender Brown came hurtling out of nowhere and flung herself into Ron’s arms.
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
The chronicles of Won-Won
Ah, the great love story that never quite was: Ron and Lavender.
Who could forget some of their classic moments together, like that time when Ron got poisoned and Lavender was totally sensitive about it? We can’t believe these guys never worked it out.
‘Friends, don’t make me laugh,’ said Lavender scornfully. ‘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 …’
‘Would you call getting poisoned being interesting?’ asked Harry.
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Lav-Lav, never change.
