Utterly Parvati

Chapter Three: In which there is a midnight meeting

'Well, I think we should definitely have another ball,' announced Parvati.

It was the first official meeting of the Inter-House Social Committee and they were throwing around a few ideas for fun events that would bring the all the students together. Make love, not war and all that. Or rather, there's nothing much we can do about the war so let's just dance, reflected Parvati.

'You would,' scoffed Zacharias.

'I think that's a great idea,' said Cho.

'I'm sorry, could you just repeat that last thing?' requested Ernie, who was furiously scribbling down the minutes.

Cho sighed. 'Ernie, taking the minutes doesn't mean you have to record absolutely every word that's being said. Just the important things.'

'I'm sorry, what was that?' asked Ernie, pausing to look up at her.

Draco snatched the quill out of Ernie's hand. 'She said: Stop. Writing.'

'That was incredibly rude, Malfoy, give it back!' insisted Ginny.

The blond gazed at her in disbelief. 'I don't need etiquette lessons from a Weasley, thanks,' he sneered.

Parvati watched Cho rub her temples in distress and almost felt sorry for her, until she remembered that Cho was the reason they all had to sit through these meetings.

Zacharias fanned himself idly with a magazine. 'The sexual tension in this room is really starting to get to me. And why do you keep staring at me, Patil?'

'I'm not even going to bother telling you to shut up, Zacharias,' Parvati snapped, 'because Merlin forbid you'd actually do something which would be of use to anyone.'

'We're getting off-topic here,' interrupted Cho.

'It should be a Hallowe'en dress-up ball,' said Ginny.

'Oh my God!' squealed Parvati.

'Oh my God!' echoed Zacharias. 'That's the least original idea ever! Good one, Gin.'

'No, it'll be great,' said Parvati. 'Zacharias, you should go as an anchor and we could throw you in the lake.'

Ginny grinned. 'Who thinks that's a good idea?'

As one, the Inter-House committee raised their hands. Zacharias rolled his eyes at them.

'All in favour of a dress-up Hallowe'en ball say aye.'

'Aye,' came the chorus.

Cho clapped her hands together. 'Right then, let's get to work organising that.'

Parvati ended up being in charge of decorations which sounded like fun but she had to share the job with Cho which sounded like anything but fun.

'I think you made a mistake,' Parvati commented as they headed towards the staff room; Cho had suggested they ask Professor Flitwick for his help in making the Great Hall look wonderful for the ball.

'You mean organising the committee was a mistake?' asked Cho curiously.

'Not exactly. But I think making Ginny organise the refreshments with Draco definitely was.'

He'll probably spike the drinks, for one thing, she added silently.

Cho grinned. 'Oh I don't know. Ginny needs someone to fight with, and Malfoy needs to be slapped around a little bit.'

Parvati shrugged coldly in answer.

'I'll let you in on a little secret about this committee of ours. We're not really going to get all the Gryffindors and Slytherins to hold hands and sing songs with each other. But there's a reason I chose you guys for this; I figured if some of us could co-operate, or interact on a relatively civil level at least, then there's hope for the rest of the school yet.'

Parvati frowned. 'So we're like, the guinea pigs?'

'That's it.'

Parvati decided that maybe Cho wasn't a stuck-up bitch after all; perhaps more appropriate words to describe her would be Truly Evil. The only thing stopping the pretty Ravenclaw from being in Slytherin were her "good" intentions.

*

'A dress-up ball?' Lavender speculated with interest. 'Will juniors be there?'

'Ew no,' replied Parvati, displaying the makings of a great student leader. 'Hallowe'en is on a weekend, so we're having a separate celebration for the first to third years on the Friday.'

'All right. So who are you going to take?'

'Lavender, please,' she scoffed. 'Let's focus on a far more pressing issue; what am I going to wear?'

'All right. So what are you going to wear?' amended her friend.

'I don't know,' wailed Parvati, on the very verge of despair. 'We need to go shopping.'

'Hogsmeade weekend is coming up.'

'Ooh, good point.'

Parvati finished securing her plait with a hair tie and bounced onto Lavender's bed. 'What are you reading?'

'It's an article about soul mates.'

'Huh?'

'Soul mates. As in Destiny, your one true love, etcetera...'

'Yeah, Lavender, I KNOW what soul mates are. It just sounds stupid.'

'You sound stupid.'

'Oh ha-di-haha. So what does it say about soul mates? How to find one? Because that would be handy.'

'It just discusses whether or not there's such a thing.'

'Do you believe in it?'

'When I find him or her,' said Lavender, 'I'll be sure to tell you.'

Parvati grinned. 'Him or her?'

'Well, I don't want to limit my options, do I?'

'Fair point. Okay then, if you had to pick a girl to go out with, who would it be?'

'Why Miss Patil, are you trying to hit on me?'

'I'll hit you with this pillow,' countered Parvati, then added with a purr, 'Besides, you'd know it if I was. Anyway, go on, spill.'

'Hermione, maybe?'

'Oh yeah, I bet she's wicked in bed. Too smart for you, though.'

'Definitely too smart. She doesn't dress well enough anyway.'

'I'd choose Pansy,' said Parvati.

'She'd shag you and leave you like that.' Lavender clicked her fingers in demonstration. 'I know...Ginny!'

'Oh yeah, Ginny is hot. And really smart, and really funny and really good at Quidditch.'

'She's kind of perfect,' mused Lavender.

'I hate her.'

'Yeah. She's got all those brothers, though, I bet that would be tough to put up with. All those gorgeous brothers...'

'Uh huh.' Parvati sniffed, unconvinced.

'What about Lisa?' suggested Lavender slyly. 'I think she's really pretty.'

'Do you?' Parvati was shocked. 'She's so fake, though!'

'You're so cute sometimes,' laughed the brunette.

'You put the 'it' in 'idiot', Lavender,' said Parvati stiffly. 'I'm going to sleep now.'

There was something though about the conversation with Lavender that kept her wondering long after she was in her own bed, and Parvati couldn't get to sleep. That was the problem with thinking too much, it stopped you from doing important things that needed to be done. It was a hot night too, which didn't help and eventually she gave up trying to get comfortable. As quietly as possible, Parvati crept downstairs into the common room. She'd expected it to be empty, but instead found someone else occupying the space in her favourite chair.

'Finnegan.'

Seamus turned and gave her a small grin. Not his usual cheeky smirk, but maybe it was too late in the night for that.

'You couldn't sleep either?'

'No.' Parvati curled up on the couch next to him and tried to remember when she'd last spent any time with Seamus. It had been ages, she reflected guiltily. 'Guy problems again?'

'You know me so well.'

'Only one thing ever gets you down, darling,' she replied fondly.

'You're actually right for once.'

'Being right isn't always fun, though.'

'You getting all philosophical on me?'

'I've just been thinking...do you believe in soul mates, Seamus?'

He played with the edges of his frayed pyjama sleeves. 'I don't know. I guess that some people are meant for one another, and some people aren't.'

Parvati suddenly threw her arms around Seamus and hugged him tightly.

'Hey,' he grinned, 'you better not be feeling sorry for me.'

'Huh,' she scoffed, slapping his arm lightly, 'why would I feel sorry for such a gorgeous, lovable guy with the sexiest accent in the world?'

'You do feel sorry for me,' grumbled Seamus.

'I don't,' giggled Parvati.

'He's never going to figure it out, is he?'

'Well, duh. Not if you don't tell him.'

'You think I should, Miss Hypocrite?'

'Excuse me?'

'What's up with you and Harry then?'

'Nothing is up, for Merlin's sake. We're fine, okay. He's fine. It's all fine.' She made a face which plainly showed how stupid Seamus was being. Unfortunately, he didn't buy it.

'So you've talked, and decided to stay friends?'

She shifted uneasily, reddening a bit. 'Not exactly...'

He waited for her to carry on explaining. Parvati sighed.

'We're friends. We've never discussed...anything more, because there's nothing to discuss.'

'Maybe you should shag him. Then you'd have something to talk about.'

'Seamus-!'

'I just don't understand, you've jumped into heaps of relationships before. Sometimes for no good reason. I mean, come on, Malfoy? Harry's actually a decent bloke.'

Parvati was silent for a while, tracing the patterns on a cushion with her fingers. 'I know. I like him too much. It wouldn't work out, you know...'

'Do you love him?' asked Seamus quietly.

'How do you tell if you're in love?'

'I think that's the problem, sometimes you can't.'

'Who's the philosophical one now?' she smirked. 'Why are we having such a serious talk? It's scaring me.'

'Me too. Let's do something fun, then.'

'Fun? Right now?'

'A midnight feast!'

'You can't stop thinking about food for long, can you?' said Parvati dryly. 'But I am quite hungry.'

'A midnight swim, too.'

'In the lake? Are you mad?' she cried out.

'Don't be stupid. Run up and grab your togs and towel; I'll visit the kitchens for food and we'll meet outside the Prefects' bathroom in ten minutes, okay? We can go swimming first and then eat. Password is Evergreen.'

'Why do you know the password?'

'Ron. We go for swims when it's hot all the time.'

'What, all you boys together?' smiled Parvati.

'Shut up, Patil. I'll see you in ten.'

And then he was gone, the portrait swinging shut behind him. Parvati shook her head in a combination of disbelief and amusement. As she snuck back into her dormitory, she realised just how much she'd missed Seamus's crazy company and felt guilty for having neglected him so much that year. They used to do almost everything together, Dean as well but now Dean had Ginny and Parvati had...well, she'd been busy with other things. She made a resolution to organise something special for them to do together. Since Seamus didn't like shopping much she didn't think he'd want to tag along with her and Lavender on their Hogsmeade shopping trip.

Parvati spent so much time locating her togs in the mess that was her wardrobe that she decided to just strip down to bra and knickers and wrap a towel around herself. It was a good thing that at this hour Filch had stopped patrolling the corridors; she didn't have to worry about getting caught after curfew wearing pretty much nothing but a towel.

Unfortunately when Parvati later looked back on that night, she would have preferred the Filch scenario to what actually happened next.

She'd never been in the Prefect's bathroom before and it was larger and far more luxurious than she'd imagined. How selfish of Padma to keep this wonderful place to herself when she knew all too well that Parvati would have loved it. The huge bath was brimming with bubbles and scented foam and looked so inviting that she immediately ventured down the steps descending into the water, swirling it with her toes.

She was just about to turn back and get changed when a disturbance in the centre of the bath made her stop; Parvati caught sight of a large shape looming towards the surface and panicked. She ran out shrieking, 'SHARK!!! AHHH!!!'

Harry stared at her in shock. 'Parvati?'

'Harry?' squeaked Parvati, wide-eyed and shivering against a wall on the other side of the room.

He coughed, having swallowed too much bubbly water before. 'Did you have to yell out "shark"?'

'DON'T EVER DO THAT TO ME AGAIN!' she cried furiously, stomping back towards him.

'I didn't know you were here!'

'Why were you hiding underneath the water?' she demanded. 'That's just plain creepy!'

'I wasn't hiding,' Harry explained in a very bewildered voice. 'I dropped my watch and had to look for it. What are YOU doing here?'

'I-I...Seamus...' Parvati stammered. 'We were going to go swimming.'

Harry cocked his head to the side and brushed the water from his hair. The droplets caught the light as they fell, a sparkling shower raining down on his bare shoulders and chest-

'-that's weird,' Harry was saying.

Parvati bit her lip, 'Um, sorry, what's weird?'

He looked at her very strangely before replying. 'I asked Seamus if he felt like a swim before and he said no. Apparently he was too tired.'

'You mean, Seamus knew that you would be here?'

Harry shrugged. 'Maybe he forgot.'

'Or maybe he's the biggest git in the universe!' spluttered Parvati. 'I'm going to kill that bastard!'

'Uh before you do that, could you please pass my towel and glasses?'

Parvati handed Harry's things over to him. 'Do you always take baths in your shorts?' she asked in an amused voice as he dried himself off.

'Why, disappointed?' he grinned back at her unexpectedly.

'Why don't you take them off, and I'll get back to you on that one,' Parvati shot back, although she was a little taken aback that he'd managed to embarrass her first.

Harry blushed, which she was annoyed to find ridiculously endearing. 'Once I felt like taking a bath at night and it turned out that both Hermione and Ron did too. Let's just say that now I know to be prepared.'

'Ah.' Parvati bit her lip uncertainly. 'I'm sorry about...interrupting like this.'

He shrugged. 'It wasn't your fault. The screaming was a little unnecessary though.'

'Shit, I probably woke the whole castle up,' she said worriedly.

'Oh no, the walls are sound proof in here.'

'How do you know?'

'Um, that's another story involving Ron and Hermione that I really don't want to talk about.' Harry grimaced and paused then, as if a thought had just occurred to him. 'Why do I still come to this place...?'

'I don't know,' said Parvati, feeling rather sympathetic. She imagined the incident with his best friends must have been pretty scarring.

Then her mind began to inappropriately make up puns about Harry and scarring experiences which were not at all funny...Quick! Think of something else!

'Well since you're here anyway, do you want to stay a bit longer with me? I doubt Seamus will turn up.'

If Parvati's mind had been in any kind of sensible state (maybe if Harry put his shirt back on she could think like a normal person again...but then did she ever think like a normal person?) she might have realised how that invitation had sounded.

'All right,' agreed Harry, albeit a bit hesitantly.

'Great. But you can turn around now while I get changed.'

'Oh, er, sorry.'

Harry politely stared at the opposite wall as she manoeuvred into her bikini....which suddenly seemed inappropriately small. Why was it that Harry could make her feel so self-conscious? How could a boy who knew absolutely shit all about fashion cause her, Parvati Patil-easily the most stylish witch to ever attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry-to question any item of clothing she chose to wear? It was pure and utter madness and lots of other things that weren't cool...

'Are you alright?' Harry called out.

'I feel a little light-headed...' muttered Parvati.

'Do you want to sit down for a bit?'

'No, I'll be fine. It's really warm in here.'

'Are you decent?'

Well,

thought Parvati, depends how you define 'decent'...

'I'm done.'

As soon as Harry saw her he blushed all over again.

Oh yeah, definitely not decent..

He helped her down the steps into the pool, which was sweet but it seemed an act that was out of place, like slow dancing in the centre of a room to no music.

'Still feeling dizzy?'

She nodded mutely.

'Okay, stay close. I'll make sure you don't drown or anything.'

She laughed, hoping it would disguise the sparks of panic that were starting to ignite in the pit of her stomach. 'I don't need a lifeguard. I need...'

'You need?'

Parvati withdrew her hand from his. 'I need to know...what all these shiny golden taps do.'

'Oh, they're mostly scented bubble mixture.'

'All of them? There are hundreds!'

'Well, no.' Harry gestured towards a tap on her left. 'That one over there is chocolate sauce.'

Parvati gaped at him. 'What? That's so not true, I'm not that gullible.'

'I swear! Try some if you don't believe me.'

Parvati shuddered, 'it's really soap isn't it.'

Harry rolled his eyes then moved over to the tap, turning it on so that syrupy liquid flowed onto his fingers.

'Doesn't it smell like chocolate?'

Parvati sniffed gingerly at his fingers. 'Just because it smells like good doesn't mean it's edible. I have chocolate-scented body cream, but you can't eat it,' she retorted.

'Just try it.'

'No...you eat it, if you're so sure.'

Harry looked at her with his fingers in his mouth and raised an eyebrow as if to say, 'See? Edible'. Parvati almost choked; she'd never noticed before how...well, how very green his eyes were. (Yeah, so she'd seen them a million times before, but that wasn't the point.)

'Aren't you going to test it?' he asked.

'I believe you,' she answered quietly.

'Parvati...do you think-?'

At that moment the gap between them had closed; cool water lapped at Parvati's shoulders in contrast to Harry's skin and his tongue hot against hers. She locked an arm behind his neck, pulling him in closer while his hand traced the arch of her back.

They moved to get out of the pool but didn't quite make it that far, ending up on the steps with Parvati sitting down and Harry half-straddling her as she kissed the dipping hollows of his collarbone, licked a trail up his throat, forgot to breathe when his touch ghosted the curve of her breast.

When the kiss ended, Parvati found herself still pressed up to Harry's naked chest, acutely aware of the fact that there wasn't a lot of space or material separating them.

'Sorry,' murmured Harry, 'stupid question.'

It took her a while to remember what he'd last said. 'Git.'

'That's somehow not as hurtful when you've got your hand on my ass.'

'Harry, who is it that's teaching you how to be funny?'

'Oh, that's nice.'

Parvati leant in and let her tongue slide along his bottom lip. '...How can I make it up to you?' she whispered, and he groaned into her mouth.

She pulled back, however, before he could kiss her again. 'Why are we always wet when we do this?'

'You don't want to swim anymore?' he asked.

'We didn't get an awful lot of swimming done.'

'Come to Hogsmeade with me next weekend?'

'I...Harry?'

'Yeah?'

'Do you think this is a good idea?'

'Uh, if you're looking for a negative answer to that question, I'm probably not the best person to ask.'

'I don't know if we...I don't know.' Parvati bit her lip.

They disentangled themselves in mutual silence. Harry walked out of the bath and picked up his towel and glasses again.

Parvati was still sitting in the water.

'You don't have to explain, I get it,' he told her. 'You don't need a lifeguard and you don't need me either.'

She said nothing as he stepped outside, the sound of the door clicking shut echoed through the bathroom.

It was stupid. So, so stupid. A tear slid and fell onto Parvati's lap.

So stupid, to cry over a boy and so stupid, not knowing the right answer to a simple question. But what could she have said to him?

It's not you, it's me?

Merlin, how Parvati loathed clichés.