Parvati Prevails

Chapter Seven: Cookies and Confessions

I've been counting up all my wrongs

One sorry for each star

See I'd apologise my way to you

If the heavens stretched that far

I won't find what I am looking for

If I only see by keeping score

Cause I know now you are so much more than arithmetic

Cause if I add

If I subtract

If I give it all

Try to take some back

I've forgotten the freedom that comes from the fact

That you are sum

So you are the one I want

To say that Lavender was surprised to hear about Ron and Hermione's news would have been a complete falsehood as she received the information without any trace of astonishment.

To say that she was bitterly upset...well, that was probably a lot closer to the truth, but to be honest Parvati was not entirely certain as to how badly the information had affected her. A stranger would not have considered her reaction anything out of the ordinary, but Parvati was worried.

Thankfully Hermione, being the early riser she was, had already left for the Great Hall when everyone else was just getting ready. Parvati immediately seized the opportunity to speak to Lavender.

'Harry told me that Hermione and Ron are an item now,' she mentioned casually, while weaving strands of Lavender's glossy brown hair into a neat plait.

Lavender, her face impassive in the mirror, looked back at Parvati's own reflection with her pretty hazel eyes.

'Oh?'

'Mmhm.' Parvati had conveniently placed a hair pin between her lips as an excuse not to speak. She wasn't good with these tense situations, and it was likely that she would comment on the situation awkwardly and inappropriately. So by eliminating the power of speech, she was also disposing of any chance she might have of saying something stupid and distressing her friend.

By usual standards, Parvati thought, it was extremely considerate of her.

Parvati finished braiding and Lavender stood up. 'Well, Ron and Hermione are sweet together. They make a good couple.'

Lavender disappeared out the door before Parvati could figure out what she meant by it.

*

In Divination that day, Professor Trelawney presented the class with a bag of fortune cookies. It was not yet the end of term, so the students were confused as to why they were being treated but apparently the Professor had 'been informed by the Fates that it was time for a bit of a break'. Parvati was secretly thankful; it was true that Divination was her favourite subject but she loved any excuse not to do work.

The cookies were laid out on a large, milk-white platter and each member of the class were invited to collect them one by one.

'You add 'in bed' to the end of the fortunes; it makes them funnier,' said Dean Thomas, cracking his cookie open and drawing out a thin strip of paper. 'The first and last love is self love...in bed.'

Seamus snickered. 'Yeah, for you maybe. Neville, what does yours say?'

'You have an unusual equipment for success, use it properly in bed....'

'Who would have guessed?' said Parvati to Lavender, raising an eyebrow.

'It's those gardening hands,' replied Lavender, wriggling her fingers.

'Your spirit of adventure will be deadly in bed,' read Harry.

'There's a lot of truth in that one, actually,' said Ron.

'And you would know!' snorted Seamus.

'I meant the first bit, you cretin,' growled Ron, looking daggers at the other boy.

'Sure you do...' Parvati muttered to herself.

'What's yours, Parvati?' asked Harry from the next table, while all the boys jerked their heads around interestedly to hear.

She pulled the cookie apart and smoothed out the fortune. 'The greatest danger could be your stupidity.'

'-in bed,' added Lavender.

'How fitting,' laughed Seamus, and was forced to duck as the flying leftover halves of Parvati's fortune cookie aimed themselves at his head. 'Kidding! Come on, Parvati, you know I was only joking!'

Harry leaned over and picked up Seamus's fortune. 'A man wrapped up in himself makes a very small package in bed.' Dean, Ron and Lavender started sniggering.

Parvati leaned over and patted Seamus on the arm in a mock comforting fashion. 'Sorry about that, mate.'

Seamus wouldn't speak to any of them for the rest of the lesson.

*

Although Lavender had been acting perfectly normal all day, Parvati was concerned when she disappeared after dinner and neglected to show up for their DA meeting that night. In fact several people were absent, and as a matter of fact Parvati was puzzled as to why she wasn't one of them.

Harry grouped the present members in fours to practise Fireball hexes; Parvati was lucky enough to be placed with Ginny, Zacharias and Aimee from Hufflepuff who seemed fairly impressed and excited about the whole thing.

Parvati forced herself many times to remember that it would be unfair to hate the girl just because she was dating Zacharias. Although one really had to wonder.... seriously...why?

'This is so cool,' gushed Aimee. 'I've never even heard of Fireball hexes before.'

'Probably has something to do with the fact that you're muggleborn,' said Zacharias coolly.

Parvati would have slapped him for cheek (it was pretty damn hypocritical of her to think so, considering the many nasty things Draco always said, but Parvati was highly adept in the art of Selective Memory. She was also incredibly skilful with Selective Hearing and Selective Thinking-and by the latter we mean 'Selective' as in, 'chooses not to'), but Aimee only laughed.

Parvati turned away and shook her head in despair, but Ginny just shrugged. They rolled their eyes in sympathy.

'Oops! Omigod I'm soooo sorry, did that Fireball get you, Hun? Does it hurt? A lot?' cried Aimee in a horrified, cringing voice.

Parvati and Ginny turned around to see what was the matter and found Zacharias flailing about a smoking sleeve of robes. The girls stared in wonder at Aimee; but she flashed them a sparkling grin before following after Zacharias, who had presumably high-tailed it out the door for the nearest bathroom.

'That was no accidental Fireball hex,' Ginny stated, sounding quite shocked.

'I'd say,' agreed Parvati, smirking. 'I guess she knows how to take care of him.'

'Poor Zacharias,' said Ginny in a not-so-convincing voice, then added quickly afterwards, 'Oh well.'

'I wonder where Lavender is,' wondered Parvati suddenly.

'You've asked me that six times already tonight; why don't you just go find her?'

'I think she'd rather be alone,' she replied thoughtfully.

'That bad, huh?'

'Like you'd care,' Parvati retorted. 'Aren't you glad about Ron and Hermione?'

'Don't be a bitch,' said Ginny evenly.

'Sorry.' She sighed, and smiled in a slightly apologetic fashion. 'Too much time with Draco, I think.'

'Any time with Malfoy is too much,' commented the other girl icily.

'You really hate him, don't you?'

'Everybody does,' she replied honestly.

'You know, it's funny,' Parvati told her, 'but I never thought you'd be one to just think the same as everyone else, Ginny Weasley.'

Ginny's face drained of colour, her large gold-brown eyes wide and clear. Then she looked as if she might say something, but instead she turned and left the room.

*

Amongst the DA members missing from the meeting that day was Ron. He, Harry and Ginny had gotten changed after Quidditch practise when Ron realised he'd left his wand up in Gryffindor tower. While he'd returned to retrieve it, Ginny and Harry had gone ahead to the meeting.

When he entered the common room, Ron came across Lavender sitting alone near the fireplace. She was crouched over one of the low tables, and as he neared he saw that it was a chessboard. Of all unlikely things.

'Hey.'

She looked up, startled.

'Aren't you supposed to be at the DA meeting?'

'Aren't you?'

'I'm just heading there now; I forgot my wand.'

'Oh, okay.'

Ron sat down on a chair across from where Lavender was seated on the ground, leant forward and rested an elbow on one knee, running the other hand through his damp, vividly red hair.

'So what are you doing?' he asked curiously.

'I didn't want to go the meeting,' she said, idly twirling a white knight between her fingers.

'Fair enough,' said Ron. 'Feel like a game?'

*

Parvati came into the common room and found them still playing, with Ginny sitting watching nearby and Crookshanks curled on her lap. They were all strangely silent as Lavender made her move. Parvati was about to open her mouth to say hi when the portrait hole swung open and Harry, Hermione, Neville, Seamus and Dean burst in.

'She beat me,' said Ron hollowly.

'Ron, what have you been doing?' said Hermione breathlessly. 'You know we had a DA meeting.'

'She beat me,' he echoed, staring at the chessboard. 'Lavender beat me.'

'What?'

Hermione looked at them, bewildered. 'But...' she said, confused, 'but Ron...you never lose...'

Everyone was rendered speechless for a bit. Parvati looked questioningly at her best friend, but Lavender only shrugged back.

'I think,' she said weakly, after the period of stunned silence, 'that this is a dream and we're all going to wake up anytime no-OW!'

'What? You said pinch me,' shrugged Seamus.

'No I didn't, Seamus!'

'Oh...really? I could have sworn you-'

'No, I really didn't ask you to pinch me,' interrupted Parvati angrily, 'and even if I had, I wouldn't have meant my ass!'

'Sorry,' said Seamus.

'I think,' announced Harry firmly, 'that it's late and we should all go to bed now.'

Everyone murmured in assent, said their goodnights and departed for their respective stairways. As Parvati followed a silent Lavender up the steps, she wondered why people always listened to Harry's suggestions and agreed with him.

Must be some Hero thing.

Or, maybe he came up with sensible ideas, suggested an unfamiliar voice of reason in Parvati's head.

Nah, she decided as she climbed into her warm bed. If Harry really was that sensible, he'd buy some hair gel.

*

'Parvati!'

Parvati moaned and rolled over in her bed.

'Parvati...wake up...'

'Go 'way,' she whimpered, diving under her pillow in order to muffle out the sounds, but the voice was persistent.

'Come on!'

Parvati flung an arm out angrily and wildly behind her to shoo the person away, when her knuckles suddenly connected with a nose.

'Ow!'

Parvati leapt up and nearly fell of the bed in surprise. 'Harry?' she hissed. 'Are you insane? What the hell do you think you're doing?'

The Boy Who Lived glared at her reproachfully. 'Nhyou hib mby nosbe!'

'What?'

Harry brought his hands down from his face. 'You hit my nose!' he stated in a disbelieving tone.

'Yeah...well serves you right,' snapped Parvati. 'This is a girls' dorm, and it's the middle of the night. There are girls! Sleeping! In case you hadn't noticed!'

'Okay, I know! I'm sorry I scared you,' said Harry, his voice low and quiet. 'I just want to show you something.'

'In a situation like this, that wasn't supposed to be reassuring, was it?' asked Parvati dryly.

'Just shut up and come on.'

'This is so dodgy, Potter,' she smirked. 'This kind of behaviour could get you in serious trouble.'

'Are you planning on telling?' She could hear the grin in his words.

'Depends. Are you planning on making it worth my while?'

Harry unexpectedly coughed. Whether it was intentional or not, Parvati suddenly realised with something like mortification that it was the dead of the night, and she was sitting in her bed flirting shamelessly with Harry Potter.

Could it be that her reputation was finally catching up with her? Shut up, shut up stupid, slutty brain!

'Er...how did you get up here anyway?'

Harry motioned for her to follow; Parvati snatched a dressing gown from the end of her bed and tip-toed out onto the torch-lit landing. She rubbed her eyes in an attempt to adjust to the light.

'Harry...are you crying?'

Harry scowled and wiped a wet cheek with his sleeve. 'No! My eyes are watering from that bloody slap in the face, thank you very much.'

Parvati rolled her eyes. 'Alright, I'm sorry.'

'Well...apology accepted.'

'So are you going to tell me how you managed to infiltrate the girls' dormitories, you stalker?'

'Firebolt,' answered Harry simply, pointing at the broomstick balanced perfectly in mid-air at the top of the winding stairs leading down to the common room.

'Oh...'

Parvati marvelled at the simple genius of it. She was also really, really glad that Ernie didn't have access to Gryffindor Tower.

Harry mounted the broom, and seemed to be waiting for her to get on.

'You know the stairs don't mind if I use them, right?'

'Of course I know. But the broom will be quicker and because it's after curfew you'll need to use this, too.' He was holding a bundle of sleek silver material. 'Invisibility cloak.'

'Wow,' gasped Parvati. 'Where did you get one of those?'

'It was my Dad's.'

'Really? He left it to you?'

'Sort of,' said Harry. 'Hurry up, would you?'

Parvati seated herself as comfortably as she could on the broom (which wasn't very comfortable at all) and covered herself with half of the Invisibility cloak. It was the strangest thing, feeling yourself hovering above the ground and looking down and seeing nothing. Harry reached into his pockets and pulled out his wand and a piece of parchment.

Things just kept on getting weirder.

'What's that for?'

'Map of Hogwarts,' explained Harry, tapping the parchment with the wand. 'Shows you where everybody is in the school.'

'You're kidding?'

'No. I think we're clear to go. Ready?'

'I'm going to fall off!' cried Parvati as they zoomed down the circling staircase with breath-taking speed and stopping so suddenly at the bottom that she was jerked forwards with the force.

'Show off,' she accused.

Harry turned back and grinned, green eyes twinkling. Parvati decided that it was probably better to ignore it, and in the future refrain from saying anything that might make him smile like that.

It was surreal flying through the school hallways; they passed silently through the strips of black and white, shafts of liquid moonlight pouring through the windows to break the dark monotony of shadow.

'Where are we?' whispered Parvati when they finally stopped.

'You're asking an awful lot of questions,' Harry murmured, folding away the Invisibility Cloak.

'Can you blame me?'

'I guess not,' he conceded.

Harry walked up to a painting of what seemed to be an unnecessarily large fruit bowl. Parvati watched curiously as he reached out and tickled an oversized green pear. The pear giggled-the noise echoed eerily down the corridor-and transformed into a door handle. Harry pulled the door open and they stepped inside.

Parvati's mouth fell open.

'Merlin's balls, we're in the kitchens? In the kitchens!' she cried. 'But why didn't we just come in the daytime?'

Harry shrugged as a line of eager house elves came forward to greet them. 'I felt like a midnight snack.'

'Midnight feast, more like.'

'Harry Potter, sir!' squealed one of the house elves delightedly, beaming up at them.

'Hey Dobby. Sorry we're dropping by so late. This is my friend Parvati.'

'Pleased to meet you, miss. Dobby is always liking to know friends of Harry Potter! Would miss like something to eat?'

'Only if it's no trouble-' began Parvati, but already elves were bringing forth trays of tea and cakes and pastries and pies. 'Oh...thank you very much...'

Half an hour later Parvati was full of cream and cake and feeling very sleepy, sitting opposite Harry with Dobby keeping them company. Most of the other house elves had disappeared, presumably off to sleep.

'This is the best secret ever,' Parvati told Harry, yawning.

'Mm,' he replied sleepily. 'We should do this again.'

'Definitely,' she agreed. 'But not soon, because I don't think I'll be eating again for a week.'

'It won't last,' said Harry confidently, and Parvati believed him.

As she crawled into bed for the second time that night Parvati decided sleepily that Harry's hair wasn't really so bad; the messiness kind of suited him.

*

In the Great Hall at Breakfast, Parvati sat feeling overly full as she watched her housemates eating.

'Aren't you hungry?' asked Lavender curiously.

'No!' groaned Parvati, clutching her stomach.

'But you're usually starving at this time in the morning,' protested Lavender.

Parvati shook her head, wearing a pained expression. She caught Harry's eye and bit her lip to keep from laughing; he wasn't eating either.

'You sure you don't want some toast? Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, you know,' Hermione was telling him sternly.

'Leave him alone, Hermione, I don't think he wants to eat,' said Ron. He glanced pointedly over at Parvati, who looked away unconcernedly. A letter fell into her lap, but across the hall at the Slytherin table, Draco was getting up and walking towards the doors alone.

'Draco!'

He stopped halfway towards the Entrance and looked back.

'You're not avoiding me, are you?' she asked as she neared him.

Draco raised an eyebrow. 'Why would I do that?'

'Because you're a git.'

'Huh,' Draco paused, considering this. 'Good point.'

'I haven't talked to you in a while, I was wondering what was happening tonight.'

'I did ask you to meet me so we could talk about it.'

'When?'

'Just before. Didn't you get your mail?'

Parvati looked down at the letter in her hand, tore it open and read, 'Meet me outside by our spot so we can talk about tonight. Draco.'

'I tried to put it as simply as I could, because I understand that you have difficulty understanding. But I see all my hard work was a waste of time; you didn't even open the envelope,' he drawled.

'I'm so sorry,' she replied sarcastically. 'Please. Let me make it up to you.'

'Only because you insist,' said Draco.

'How decent of you.'

'There's no need to make nasty personal comments,' he replied coldly.

'Let it go, Draco. I never meant to seriously accuse you of being a decent human being.'

'Good,' he smirked. 'In that case, we're leaving for the Manor at seven sharp.'

'I'm not so good at getting places on time.'

'I noticed.'

'Shut up.'

'Alright, make it quarter to seven then.'

'Better early than late.'

'With my father it's more like: be on time, or better not come at all.'

'Ah,' gulped Parvati.

They spent a morning in the library, of all places, because Draco needed to find a certain book for his Potions essay-Parvati didn't mind so much because it was warm there. It was strange, Parvati reflected, how much she enjoyed Draco's company when every second sentence he spoke to her was often unpleasant and delivered with a sneer. He made her laugh a lot, too.

Draco never seemed to give anything away, rarely ever could she pick what he was thinking or feeling. It didn't bother Parvati so much; perhaps with her bubbly persona and his unwavering self-assurance they had something in common.

After all, people have different ways of hiding behind themselves.

*

At six thirty, the door to the dormitory opened and Parvati saw in the mirror reflection Lavender walking in, followed by Padma.

'Nearly ready?' asked her sister, who always knew the password to Gryffindor tower and no one ever seemed to mind her coming in whenever it suited the twins.

'I can't find my lip gloss!' wailed Parvati, near hysterics. 'It's my favourite, too!'

Lavender walked over to Parvati's bedside and bent down low. A moment later she re-emerged with the tube of pink gloss in her hand.

'What would I do without you, Lav?' sighed Parvati in relief.

'Buy new lip gloss?' suggested Padma.

'And shoes,' added Lavender.

Parvati made a face and tucked the lip gloss in her handbag.

'How do I look?' she asked, twirling for the two girls watching her.

'Like a Goddess,' said Padma.

Parvati smiled. Honestly, sometimes she really loved her sister. Enough even to maybe stop telling people that they weren't in fact identical twins, but former best friends and Padma had actually become so envious and obsessed with her that she permanently changed her appearance and last name, the pathetic copycat.

Although, it was such a convincing and scandalous tale that it would be a shame to stop now. And besides, admitting the truth could lead to a lot of awkward explaining to those adoring Hufflepuff first year girls.

'Hey, don't you have a Patronus lesson with Harry Potter tonight?' asked Padma, frowning.

'Shit!' exclaimed Parvati, startled from her thoughts. 'He's probably waiting at the room of requirement right now! I'd better go tell him I won't be able to make it.'

'I can do it for you,' offered Padma.

'No, I've still got time, thanks. Bye guys!' Parvati waved, smiling, and disappeared down the stairs in her ridiculous, pointy-toed, strappy heels.

Padma and Lavender stared at each other, bewildered.

Parvati burst into the room and Harry looked up from behind a wooden desk.

'Hey,' he looked up, surprised.

'Hi,' Parvati answered breathlessly, noticing a shallow stone basin sitting on the table between them. 'What's this?'

'A pensieve,' said Harry. 'It records thoughts and memories, I thought it might help you.'

'Oh...how?'

'Well, you've been having trouble thinking of a happy memory...'

'I'm trying,' she protested quickly.

'I know, but it's not working,' said Harry. 'So I figured maybe you could use one of mine instead.'

It was momentarily quiet in the room as Parvati stood still and stared at him, speechless.

'You...you'd do that? Let me share one of your happiest memories?'

'It's been weeks. You still haven't gotten the charm right; I'm thinking it's worth a shot,' Harry shrugged, smiling slightly.

'I...um, thanks,' she answered weakly.

'S'okay.' Harry suddenly gave her a strange look. 'Er, you know you didn't have to get dressed up for this, right?'

'Oh!' Parvati glanced down at herself; she was wearing a light green, knee-length dress which flared a little at the skirt. Her hair, she remembered, was swept up and adorned with perfect white star flowers and Draco's necklace sparkled at the base of her throat, reminding Parvati of where she was currently supposed to be.

'Actually, I came to tell you that I can't stay for the lesson. Could we re-schedule?'

'I guess,' said Harry, looking mildly baffled. 'Are you going out somewhere? I didn't know we were allowed.'

'I have special permission from Dumbledore to leave; it's Draco's parent's Anniversary dinner tonight.'

'You're going to Malfoy Manor?' His voice echoed expressionlessly around the empty room.

'Yes.'

'Alone?'

'With Draco.'

'And you think that's going to be safe?'

'Again, yes,' replied Parvati, slightly irritated. 'I'm visiting my boyfriend's family, how dangerous could that possibly be?'

'Well, granted that you're dating the son of Death Eaters, very.' Harry's bright green gaze burned into her own.

Parvati frowned. 'What's your problem, Potter?'

'My problem is that you don't know what you're getting yourself into.'

'It's none of your business!' exclaimed Parvati, exasperated and angry.

'I'm making it my business, then!' Harry replied heatedly.

'You've got no right!' she cried, furious, 'Just because you're jealous-!'

The words that slipped unexpectedly from Parvati's lips surprised her as much as they startled Harry. There was a different sort of shell-shocked silence as they sunk in; Harry was gazing at her in disbelief which was fair enough because she'd just accused him of the most unlikely thing and God how stuck-up it had sounded and why wasn't he saying anything?! Parvati felt like digging herself a hole six-feet deep, to crawl right in, and preferably stay there forever.

'I am?' Harry finally asked in a voice that sounded vaguely-and painfully-incredulous.

Parvati cringed. 'I didn't-no, I meant-I didn't-just...never mind,' she stuttered, horrified with herself. This was the second time in a single night that she found herself lost for words. Where was the real Parvati Patil?

'Parvati-'

'Just, I thought...well, I won't make it tonight then-I have to go. I'll...talk to you later!'

Her plan was to make a hasty and dignified rush for the door, then sprint as soon as she was out of sight but Harry effectively put an end to this clever scheme by beating her to the exit. Curse those damn reflexes; she'd forgotten how fast Seekers needed to be.

'Wait,' said Harry. 'Please?'

Parvati stopped. Well, she didn't really have any other choice now, did she?

'Yes?'

'I don't know...' Harry's voice trailed off into an unexpected pause.

'You...don't know what?'

'I'm not sure...I think you're right.'

Parvati blinked at him vacantly like an idiot. Or perhaps it would have been better to say she blinked at him vacantly because she was an idiot.

'About what?'

'Me,' Harry said. 'I think you're right; I think I am jealous.'

Parvati's eyes widened, she acted before thinking, side-stepping Harry and feverishly yanking the door open to leave.

Perhaps she would look back on this time later and laugh, but Parvati harboured serious doubts about it. By some extremely bitter stroke of bad luck, the door smacked painfully into her left knee.

'OW!' she wailed, tears instantly springing to her eyes. Curse that fortune cookie! Who said biscuits weren't dangerous?

'Are you alright? Does it hurt?' asked Harry, taken aback.

'Of course it hurts!' Parvati spat. 'My knee hit the door, didn't you hear?'

'Yes, it sounded bad,' said Harry, probably wondering if she'd also banged her head or something and lost her mind in the process.

'Damn doors,' mumbled Parvati, hopping. 'First they want to be prettier than me...'

'Didn't anyone ever tell you not to pick fights with doors?' said Harry, now looking just a tad amused.

'Not fights, only beauty contests,' Parvati muttered. She would have slapped him for secretly laughing at her too, only she was so much closer to dying of humiliation. At least Ernie would be happy.

'I'm sorry,' said Harry.

Parvati stopped hobbling about and stood up straight, taking a deep breath. 'If you had told me that a year ago, perhaps it would have been different. Goodnight, Harry.'

Parvati turned and walked away then, just like she'd done years ago at the Yule Ball. She'd walked away that time, calm and serene, pretending it didn't hurt and smiling at the Beauxbatons boy like she wasn't falling apart inside with pain.