Parvati Prevails

Chapter Two: All Eyes On You

I don't know what it is

That makes feel like this

I don't know who you are

But you must be some kind of superstar

Cause you've got all eyes on you no matter where you are

A week had passed already, and Parvati was still breathing, something which she had not been expecting at all. Still, the suspense was wearing down greatly on her nerves. She was not a patient person by nature (unlike Padma), and having to wait for something to happen can be the worst kind of torture. So she had turned to chocolate for comfort.

'They'll give you pimples,' Lavender lectured, as Parvati opened up her sixth packet of chocolate frogs one night.

'Lavender, you dolt,' snapped Parvati, nibbling on a chocolate frog leg. 'I don't get pimples. Or any other type of skin blemish. My complexion is perfect.'

'I suppose,' said Lavender, not quite daring to mention the freckles. 'Look, if you're so worried, why don't you just ask Professor Trelawney for help?'

Parvati was stumped. 'Lavender?' she cried in amazement. 'Who's suddenly putting all these good ideas into your head?'

'I don't know,' replied Lavender, pleased.

'Well, don't get too smart,' warned Parvati. 'I don't think I'll be able to cope if you become like Padma or Hermione Granger.'

'It's alright,' said Lavender. 'If that ever happens, I'll just spend more time with you.'

Parvati frowned. Sometimes, she could almost swear Lavender had at least half a brain.

'Alright,' she said sceptically. 'As long as you know.'

The next day in Divination, Parvati asked Professor Trelawney in a half-trembling voice whether or not she was going to die.

Professor Trelawney was silent for a long time. Lavender and Parvati suspected she was combing the future with her all-seeing Inner-Eye.

'My dears...' she whispered. 'When the right time comes, everyone shall undertake that great journey.'

'Well, yes,' said Parvati. 'But I mean, should I start packing my trunks anytime soon?'

But Professor Trelawney would not say any more. 'When the right time comes,' she repeated firmly.

'But...but...' Parvati wailed, 'by then it'll be too late!'

*

That night, in the midst of another death-dream, Parvati was abruptly woken up by a loud, half-screeching, half-wailing sort of noise which sounded like a cross between a banshee with a bad cold and a pack of howling wolves.

'What is that?' cried Hermione Granger, jumping out of bed.

'It's coming from outside,' said Delphinium Cypress, moving towards the window. All the other girls followed, clapping their hands over their ears.

'I think someone's singing...' said Hermione. 'Good grief, Parvati, they're singing for you!'

All the girls stuck their heads out the window, where they could hear the terrifying noise clearer than ever. Parvati groaned.

'Ernie!' she wailed desperately. 'Go away! Go back to sleep!'

The singing stopped. 'But I have to declare my undying love for you, o fair one,' said Ernie uncertainly.

'Aw, that's so sweet,' said Lavender.

'It's not sweet!' screeched Parvati. 'It's bloody irritating. Go away!'

'Would you prefer me to recite poetry instead? She walks in beauty, like the night ...' began Ernie.

'This is ridiculous!' said Hermione.

'Of cloudless climes and starry skies...'

'Ernie, you don't have a broom,' said Delphinium, amused. 'Whose is that?'

'I borrowed it off Zacharias,' said Ernie. 'He doesn't know yet, though.'

They all heard another window opening beside them, and someone yelled: 'SHUT THE HELL UP! WE'RE TRYING TO SLEEP HERE YOU BLOODY IDIOTS!'

'Ron?' gasped Lavender. She looked as if she might faint.

'It's not us...it's Ernie! We're trying to sleep too, you know!'

'Hermione?' cried Ron. 'What's going on?'

'Ernie, would you shut up, mate?' came Harry's voice irritably.

'Sorry, Harry,' said Ernie apologetically.

'Seriously,' said Dean. 'You sound like shit.'

'What's going on?' asked Seamus Finnegan groggily.

'Hey, this is pretty cool,' Ron remarked suddenly. 'We can talk to each other at night.'

'Ron, we can just go down and talk in the common room,' snapped Hermione.

'Yeah, but it's not the same,' insisted Ron.

'It's exactly the same!'

'No, it's not!'

'It is-'

'It isn't-'

Everyone else started arguing then, not about anything particularly important, but just because they didn't really have anything better to do. Soon, more Gryffindors were poking their heads out from their dorms and hollering to one another. And in the far off-distance, towards the left, the Hufflepuffs were waking up as well, and they could faintly hear someone bellowing: 'WHERE THE HELL IS MY BROOM? ERNIE, YOU BASTARD, I'LL KILL YOU FOR THIS!!!!!!'

Harry sighed. 'Guys, can we please talk in the morning instead?'

Ernie started singing again, hoping it might stop everyone bickering, but all that happened was that everybody started yelling, 'SHUT UP ERNIE!'

Ernie looked hurt. 'I was only trying to help.'

'You can help by going back to bed,' snapped Parvati.

'Anything you wish, sweet angel of my heart!' said Ernie.

'Ernie, have you been drinking?' asked Seamus. 'Come on, pass it round, mate.'

'I'm drunk on love, my man!' cried Ernie, twanging his ukulele passionately.

'Oh. Okay,' said Seamus, disappointed. 'No thanks, then.'

Parvati slammed the window shut.

'That was kind of fun,' Lavender giggled.

*

The next morning, Parvati remained in an incredibly touchy mood. And there seemed to be nothing to do, either. It was just one of those dull days that seemed to drag on forever with no real purpose. Like History of Magic classes, or family holidays, or really long skirts. There was just no point.

Parvati remained in a foul mood all day. And she was deeply unimpressed when Hermione Granger announced that she was bored, and was leaving the common room to finish off homework in the Library. She was even less amused when Seamus Finnegan brought up the subject of Ernie's late-night serenade, and showed her displeasure by chucking a textbook at his head. He took it rather personally, which Parvati thought was fairly ridiculous.

'I was angry,' she shrugged. 'It could have been anyone.'

'Yes, well, people do get surprisingly edgy when you throw things at them,' said Lavender.

'And unreasonable,' added Parvati. 'People are so stupid.'

Lavender got up. 'I'm going to see what Ron's doing.'

Parvati rolled her eyes. 'He's playing chess, Lavender, how interesting could it be?'

'Oh, I dunno,' shrugged Lavender. 'He looks so cute when he's concentrating. Is my hair okay?'

'It's fine,' Parvati snapped.

As Lavender sidled off, Parvati began to feel rather lonely. It wasn't as if she didn't enjoy her own company (well, who wouldn't?), but it was getting boring sitting there doing nothing. So she left them common room and decided to take a walk without any body guards.

It was not a particularly nice day, the sky was stormy and grey, but the wind had died down to a mere breeze and the grounds were relatively empty. Parvati strolled down a path she and Padma often took, one that curved around the lake. There was a cosy, sheltered place (actually, it was a large rock) between two old trees, a spot she often haunted when she felt like getting away from the crowds and think a bit. It tended to get uncomfortable after a while, sitting on the rock; luckily Parvati never had many long, time-consuming thoughts to dwell on. She made her way over her special place, only to receive the biggest shock of her life.

Draco Malfoy, sitting on her rock.

'What are you doing here?' she asked suspiciously. 'Shouldn't you be away torturing innocent little first years with fellow wannabe Death Eaters or something?'

Draco was not amused. 'Can't you see I'm trying to think?'

Parvati did see, unfortunately. She saw the way his dark, long lashes gleamed against his pale cheeks as he blinked, she noticed how every smooth, silvery-blond strand of his hair seemed to lay perfectly in place, watched his pouty, soft lips curve into a sneer and his elegant arms folded casually against his chest. Parvati wished she were blind.

Draco smirked. Parvati fought hard not to swoon (something which came all too naturally to her, and not naturally enough to stupid Padma). It wasn't fair. While Parvati thought of something clever to say, a hideous possibility suddenly occurred to her and she grew nervous and started fidgeting with a pink ribbon tied around one of her pigtails.

'Um...Malfoy,' she began anxiously. 'You haven't been sent here by Blaise to er...kill me or something?'

Draco gave her an odd look. 'Blaise has enough money to hire her own assassins,' he said coldly. 'I'm not her bitch.'

'Oh,' said Parvati, visibly relieved. 'Erm...so is she your bitch?'

'Everyone is my bitch,' said Draco smugly.

Parvati muttered something under her breath which sounded vaguely like: 'mumble mumble delusional git.'

Draco ignored the comment and fixed his icy grey eyes on her. 'Patil, isn't it? Ravenclaw?'

'No,' she snapped irritably. 'I'm in Gryffindor.'

Draco's face screwed up in dislike, then he shrugged. 'Too bad. I don't date Gryffindors.'

Parvati seemed unable to work up an intelligible response, all that came out was: 'Humrphlf!'

Draco thought for a little bit more, sighed, and said, 'Well, how about it?'

She was utterly lost. 'What?'

'Come out with me to the next Hogsmeade weekend. And don't wear pink, it doesn't match me. '

'What?' cried Parvati.

'I said, don't wear pink. Come on, let's go back up to the castle.'

Draco stood up, brushing himself off, and slipped an arm around her shoulders.

'What are you doing?' she yelped, jumping back and landing rather painfully (not to mention ungracefully) on a twig.

'Taking you back to school. What else?' drawled Draco.

'Wait a minute!' Parvati spluttered. 'I never....I never said....just wait a minute!'

He waited. Parvati tried to think and glare at the same time. It was no easy feat.

'If I can't wear pink...' she said finally, 'then you can't slick your hair back. I hate it when you do that.'

Draco blinked. 'I'll leave it like this then, shall I?'

'Yes. And also...Blaise Zabini doesn't get to kill me.'

'Deal,' said Draco.

Parvati smiled. And feeling strangely dizzy, she linked her arm with Malfoy's, and together they set off. Neither of them noticed a bush quivering indignantly to the right, watching them as they left through angry, narrowed eyes.

*

Ernie was heartbroken. He had spent all morning looking up poems for Parvati in the Library with Hannah Abbott, and she had helped him write out the most beautiful love letter. He was on his way to Gryffindor tower, to see if Neville or Seamus might deliver the pink, glittery envelope for him and he couldn't believe his luck when Parvati herself stepped out of the portrait hole. She didn't see Ernie though, because he chickened out at the last minute and leaped behind a suit of armour, waiting for her to pass. Then he followed.

She seemed to be heading out towards the grounds, which was great. Ernie thought he could perhaps pretend to be taking a lovely stroll and accidentally bump into her or something. He was just about to overtake her, when Parvati stopped dead in her tracks. Ernie wondered what was wrong.

He had heard the whole thing. Malfoy, that Slytherin scum, and his beautiful, beautiful Parvati. Ernie fumed. He didn't deserve her, she was an ethereal goddess, and he was just a good head of hair on legs. The bastard. Hot, furious tears dripped onto the pink shimmering envelope as Ernie tore it up.

He didn't notice the bush, sitting innocently off the footpath, observing silently while he tossed the bright glittery scraps into the lake.

*

Parvati loved attention. She was just one of those people who love to be watched. If you asked her, no publicity was bad publicity. It was one of the very few things she and Draco had in common. Parvati was rather looking forward to being seen with the deliciously wicked Prince of Slytherin. The very first person they encountered just happened to be a Gryffindor.

Ginny was heading out towards the grounds, perhaps to meet one of her Ravenclaw friends, and when she caught sight of the two of them, Parvati thought the look on her face was absolutely priceless.

'Parvati?' she gasped, horrified. 'Malfoy? What are you-? Where are you-'

'Parvati!' cried Draco delightedly. 'That's it! Parvati. You know, that was bothering me for the longest time.'

'You don't even know my name?' asked Parvati, but she was rather amused. Suddenly everything seemed incredibly funny. She had a date with Draco Malfoy....Draco Malfoy! And Padma....well, Padma didn't have a date with Draco Malfoy!

'I do know it,' Draco retorted. 'I just couldn't remember it. Parvati...that's kind of pretty, actually. Do you have a middle name?'

'Thank you. And no, I don't. Just Parvati.'

Ginny was looking gob smacked. Actually, she looked as if she had just been petrified, poor girl.

'Hey Ginny,' Parvati greeted.

'I don't understand...' Ginny trailed off weakly.

'My guess is you rarely ever do, Weasley,' Draco smirked. Parvati felt her knees weakening. The smirk, however, didn't seem to have the same effect on her fellow Housemate, who had suddenly gone white with rage.

'What exactly are you planning to do to her, you evil bastard?' she cried angrily, pulling Parvati behind her protectively. 'I'm not letting you hurt her!'

Parvati thought this was all a bit overdramatic. She also loved it.

'Well, I was thinking of visiting the Astronomy tower for a bit,' said Draco, flashing her a wicked grin. 'It won't hurt, baby. I promise I'll be gentle.'

Ginny pulled out her wand, and Parvati eyed it warily. She had heard about Ginny's famous Bat Bogey hexes...

'I wouldn't do that if I were you, Weasley,' snarled Draco in a dangerously low voice. 'Leave her alone.'

Wow, thought Parvati admiringly. He's so HOT when he's angry.

'Ginny, it's okay,' she said quickly. 'I'm fine. Don't worry about it.'

'You're making a mistake, Parvati,' said Ginny furiously. 'You can't do this.'

'Let's go,' said Draco, throwing Ginny a withering look as they passed. 'Crazy bint.'

'Jumped-up wanker,' spat Ginny.

As they left, Parvati said irritably. 'Couldn't you be a little bit nicer to my friends? Ginny's really sweet, you know.'

Draco shrugged. 'Why? You don't have to be nice to my friends.'

Parvati thought about Crabbe and Goyle, and Blaise Zabini. 'Alright. Fair enough.'

*

The news spread, as it often does, like wildfire, and it seemed that no one could stop talking about Parvati Patil and Draco Malfoy. Harry Potter seemed pretty angry, but not in any kind of jealous way, which was a shame.

'It's Malfoy, you know,' he told her at their DA meeting that night.

'Yes, that is his name,' said Parvati dryly. 'Well done, Harry.'

'But it's Malfoy...he's....Evil,' Harry glowered. 'How could you date a Slytherin, Parvati?'

Parvati rolled her eyes. 'It's pretty simple you know, Harry. And we're not officially dating, he just asked me out to Hogsmeade, and I said yes.'

'You shouldn't have,' said Ginny, shaking her pretty red head. Parvati, who had heard all about Ginny Weasley's business with various Slytherins from a Reliable Source (Lavender), thought that this was a pretty unfair comment.

'Evil's sexy,' she shrugged.

Harry Potter looked stunned, as if this piece of information was news to him.

'Anyway, I don't see how my love life is any of your business,' added Parvati. Much to her surprise, Hermione agreed.

'Parvati can date whoever she wants to, Harry,' she said.

Parvati had had her doubts about this before, but now she rather agreed that it was true.

'What?' cried Harry.

'What?' yelped Ron.

'Well,' said Hermione defensively. 'I just think that it's rather good for Inter-House Relations, you know...we should all learn to get along better.'

Parvati buffed her nails modestly. 'Thank you, Hermione.'

'You honestly think dating Malfoy is a good idea?' asked Ron disbelievingly.

'Well,' said Hermione. 'As long as I'm not the one dating him, it's fine by me.'

'You're so lucky, Parvati,' Lavender gushed, once the others had walked away. 'Draco Malfoy is so dreamy. And he's got such lovely grey eyes, they're almost silver, you know...'

'I know,' said Parvati.

'And that hair...it always looks so soft...'

'I know.'

'And that body...'

'Lavender?'

'Yeah?'

'I KNOW.'

Lavender pouted. 'Alright, alright. No need to get all worked up about it. Besides, he's not as great as Ron.'

Here we go, thought Parvati, tuning out.

'...he's just got such a sweet nose...'

'Lavender, I think we need to have a chat,' she said finally.

'It's okay Parvati, my mum's already had that talk with me. I get it now; see I always thought that-'

'Lavender!' hissed Parvati. 'Ew! Shut up! No, I wanted to talk to you about Ron.'

'Oh,' said Lavender, perking up. Ron was her favourite topic of conversation. 'What is it?'

'It's just that you've liked him for what, like five years? It's getting a little old.'

Lavender looked hurt. 'I've only liked him since last year,' she pointed out. 'Otherwise, don't you think I would have gone to the Yule ball with him in fourth year?'

Parvati thought back. Far, far back. 'Well...bugger me...'

'You don't pay much attention, do you?' asked Lavender in a hurt voice.

'I'm sorry,' said Parvati earnestly. 'But Lavender...still. You know Ron likes...'

'Yes?' asked Lavender, all wide-eyed and eager.

Parvati didn't have the heart. '...chess,' she finished weakly.

'I know, and he's so good at it, too,' sighed Lavender dreamily. 'And I don't even know how to play. Maybe I should ask Padma to teach me, she's good at chess, right?'

Parvati sulked. 'Yeah, well, Padma's good at everything, isn't she? I could teach you how to play.'

Lavender looked bravely doubtful. 'Really? I don't know...I wouldn't want to waste your time or anything. And don't you have to work on your Patronus charm?'

'Oh yeah, crap,' said Parvati, moving away. Lavender waited patiently until she had returned.

'Harry said he can help me,' she reported happily.

'Have you guys seen Ernie?' asked Justin Finch-Fletchley, suddenly appearing beside the girls. 'He's supposed to be here.'

Lavender giggled. 'No. We haven't seen him since last night.'

'I think he's in the loos crying,' said Hannah Abbott, giving Parvati a nasty look. Hufflepuffs were always looking out for each other, which was probably why Parvati hadn't been sorted into their house.

'He'll be fine,' she said airily. 'He just needs a few days.'

'Or a good kick up the ass,' said Zacharias Smith. Parvati wondered why he was in Hufflepuff.

Three short, sharp blasts from a whistle filled the room. Everyone stopped what they were doing and turned to listen.

'Okay everyone, you did great today,' said Harry. 'See you all next time. Ginny' s going to be showing us how to use the Bat-Bogey hex.'

'I already know how to do Bat-Bogey hexes,' said Zacharias contemptuously.

'Good,' snapped Ginny. 'Don't come then; it'd make us all much happier.'

'He's always seems so much less happier these days,' said Lavender as they left.

'Who? Zacharias? He's always a pain in the ass,' replied Parvati.

'No, I meant Harry,' explained Lavender. 'Do you think he's alright?'

Parvati shrugged indifferently. 'He's probably just upset that Cho's not in the DA anymore.'

'You don't Cho very much, do you?'

'No,' said Parvati. 'No, I don't.'