Did Lavender die?

[birdsofshore]

This has been puzzling me lately.

In Deathly Hallows it says:

"Two bodies fell from the balcony overhead as they reached the ground a grey 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 stirring 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."

So, "feebly stirring" to me, meant that she was injured, perhaps seriously injured, but not dead. When I read it, I expected her to get medical treatment after the Battle was over, and that she would survive.

Then, when I saw the film version of Deathly Hallows, I noticed that it looks as if Lavender is killed by Greyback during the attack. You could argue she is unconscious, or paralysed, but she does look dead. However I just passed it off as either a) making her look more seriously injured to be dramatic, or b) one of those things where the films differ from the books. I don't count film canon as superceding book canon, in any case.

However, when I went to Harry Potter Wiki to check something, (yes, yes, I know it's not exactly the most pre-eminent source, but where else do I look?) they are quite certain that Lav is dead:

"Immediately after the attack, she was seen feebly stirring, but later died from her injuries."

They cite Harry Potter Page to Screen: The Complete Filmmaking Journey as the source for this. I do actually own this book, and it's lovely, but it's freaking massive and I am not trawling through it at the moment to see on whose say-so Lavender allegedly died.

Now, I've seen Lavender alive and kicking in several fanfics lately. I don't want her to be dead. For one thing, I really quite like her, and also, I want to put her in my fic. I know it doesn't matter what Harry Potter Wiki says. If Snape can be resurrected in fic, I am sure Lavender can. But it's annoying me. Hands up who thinks Lavender is still alive at the end of Deathly Hallows? I mean, if you think that's what JKR intended, not just your own personal head canon.

Also, if she's alive, then she's a werewolf, I presume? Or did I get that wrong? Where are all the Were!Lav fics? Probably in those dark and scary comms I never go to. Or is being a werewolf now just one of those annoying little things that we don't mention in polite company, like having a verruca or something?

Come and tell me all the things about Lavender, I beg you!

Comments

[tryslora]

When I first read DH, I was planning to play Lavender in a post-DH roleplaying game, so I did a very close read with respect to what happened to her (and Dean, but that's beside the point). My personal canon is that she survived, with a great amount of scarring, and that she is something similar to Bill Weasley. It wasn't the fullmoon, and there is no mention (if I recall) of Greyback being transformed. We know from HBP that this resulted in Bill having a temper and a craving for red meat around the full moon, but nothing more than that, so I assumed Lavender (in canon) suffers the same.

This doesn't stop me from doing other things to her, including having written her out through death, made her into a werewolf, and scarred her emotionally. I love Lavender, and I've written her a bit (as well as RPing her a good bit).

But yeah, in my mind, she lived, but it wasn't a pretty survival.

[tryslora]

To add: When I read the book, I saw that scene as a significant character advancement moment. Hermione, who HATED Lavender because Lav stole Ron, had grown enough as a person to save Lavender's life. She very specifically saved the girl who had tormented her (however unwittingly) just a year before. And I found this significant, and that's part of the reason I assumed Lavender lived, because it missed the point of the scene if she died.

[fantasyfiend09.livejournal.com]

because it missed the point of the scene if she died. This!

I always saw this as the scene in which Hermione saves Lavender. When I read DH, I took it to mean she was bitten, bleeding, injured, but alive. Yes it's a battle, but I imagine medical help was available. I imagine Poppy was rushing casting healing spells instead of Curses. Someone had the time to line up the dead, so surely they were dealing with the wounded.

To me, the films are just a fan work. Fun, enjoyable, but NOT canon. Unless JKR publishes a revised DH in which Lavender explicitly dies, then we have as much right to saw that she survived as any other character not explicitly killed.

[birdsofshore]

Yes to all the above. "To me, the films are just a fan work". This expresses it very well!

"I imagine Poppy was rushing casting healing spells instead of Curses. Someone had the time to line up the dead, so surely they were dealing with the wounded."

yes, yes, of course!

[nathalieweasley.livejournal.com]

This moment has the same significance for me. However (hypothetically, of course :P), wouldn't it be interesting to explore Hermione's grief if she wasn't able to save Lavender? O_o

[birdsofshore]

auuugh. Oh no.

[nathalieweasley.livejournal.com]

I know :(

[tryslora]

Oh yes, that'd be a lovely fic and totally something I'd love to explore. I was just looking at it from the POV of if I were the writer and putting together the original scene (with no plans for something after), because I thought it tied up the threads between Hermione and Lavender neatly.

[nathalieweasley.livejournal.com]

Gotcha, that makes sense. (And I'd love to read that fic :))

[melusinahp.livejournal.com]

Oooh... ♥ I'd never thought of that before. What a beautiful point.

[tryslora]

Sometimes I read with my writer hat on and actually notice things. :) I don't think I even would've noticed, honestly, if I hadn't been doing such a close reading from Lavender's POV.

[birdsofshore]

YES! Wonderfully expressed!

[birdsofshore]

I'm glad you brought the full moon into it. I don't think Greyback had transformed, but again canon reads slightly ambiguously.

[tryslora]

Yes, it does. I had a LOT of discussion with RP folks after DH came out because we were all ripping apart things in the final battle as we prepared to run/play games that took place after it.

My favorite head canon is that the other body with Lavender is Seamus. In one game I played, they had matching scars that stretched from her body in a line across his body where a curse had caught them, pushing them over the railing together. Since he appears later in the battle, he was obviously in better shape afterwards. But that is totally head canon. :)