Shades of Lavender

Chapter Seven: Burn Baby Burn, Disco Inferno

It must be difficult, Lavender observed, to concentrate on a piece of music and look good while doing so.

Zacharias was terrible at it. He was playing the most beautiful mellow tones on his saxophone but every time she looked at him she thought of a constipated chipmunk.

This made her smile and feel quietly superior.

Well, maybe not quietly.

"Zachie, hun," she said, pulling his music off the stand and plonking herself down on one of the age worn Transfiguration tables in the room he was using to practice, "You look like a plonker when you're playing that thing."

He blew a loud squeaking sound at her.

"Gorgeous. I can see why you're good."

The next sound made hairs rise on the back of her neck. It was so beautiful, smooth, melodic. She could see herself having a lengthy relationship with anyone who played the saxophone like he did. Then, she looked at him, thought 'chipmunk' and the moment was gone.

I just thought I'd come and see you - to say hi."

"Hi." A man of many words, both intelligent and thoughtful, Lavender thought wryly.

"Parvati's going through a rough patch," Lavender explained, although she wasn't sure why she needed to. "I've got to be there for her."

"Sure, I totally understand that."

Of course you do you do, Lavender thought. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah. Why wouldn't I be? Just missing my girlfriend," he said pointedly.

It freaked her out because, however jokingly he said it, she worried that he might want it to be true. "We're not together together, remember?"

"Of course I remember. Bloody hell, I suggested this whole plan."

"Anyway." Lavender tried to change the subject. "You know how Christmas break is coming up... My Dad has been wanting to meet you and I thought you might like to come and stay for a few days."

"Sure, why not?" He seemed completely blasé and it almost upset her. "Let me know dates and stuff."

She stood beside him and stroked the soft curls that were sweaty and messed up around his forehead. "You positive that you're okay?"

"Yes, now bugger off and let me practice in peace."

"Oh, that's nice," Lavender huffed and thwapped him lightly around the head. "I'll leave you to 'practice in peace' Chipmunk boy."

Zacharias chuckled as she turned on her heel and left the room. "That's probably the worst insult I've ever had from you. And that's saying something."

It had been a month or so since the Hogsmeade weekend - the kiss, the fight with Parvati, the talk with Susan. She and Zacharias had cooled off a bit. Mainly, she had to admit, due to herself. She was scared that he liked her more than she had thought and she really hated conflict.

She was also worried about Parvati who was disappearing for great lengths of time and snapping whenever Lavender asked why or inquired as to where she had been for five hours on a Sunday afternoon. Then, she would sit down in her usual chair by the Gryffindor fire and glower at Harry and Ginny as they smiled at each other.

Harry shouldn't have been such a big deal to her and Lavender didn't get why Parvati was so confused and upset. Harry was an infatuation and it was irritating that Parvati seemed unable to move on.

Lavender grimaced, realising how hypocritical that sounded (after all, she hadn't 'got over' Parvati), and bumped into Snape.

"Oh God, I'm sorry," she cried, as parchments went flying everywhere.

"Watch where you're going, you clumsy girl," Snape hissed as he surveyed the mess his notes had made all over the floor.

"Look, I said sorry," Lavender said, in no mood to be yelled at, as she picked up papers.

Snape snatched the parchment out of Lavender's hands and strode off, robes billowing behind him. She noticed a scrap of parchment that had slid around the corner and had escaped his keen eyes.

"Uh...Sir," she called after him, but he didn't hear her.

"Ah well." She picked it up and turned it over. "Oh my God!"

Lavender ran into the Gryffindor Common Room, startling several little first years and one particularly tiny sixth year boy who fell off his chair and almost broke his camera. "Where's Parvati?" she demanded of no one in particular.

No one knew.

Lavender would never normally talk to Ron Weasley but desperate times called for desperate measures. "Oi, Weasley."

Ron looked up and glared warily. "What do you want?"

"Seen Parvati?"

"I might have if you ask nicely." Ron smiled slowly and in an infuriating manner.

"This is why I hate you," Lavender muttered. "Have you seen Parvati?"

"Please?" Ron said, the tips of his ears growing pink.

Lavender gritted her teeth. You'll so be paying my dentistry bills when I grind my teeth into dust, she vowed silently. "Please can you tell me if you have seen Parvati? I would really appreciate it."

"Yes, I have."

She waited. He looked back at his magazine, deeply absorbed in the tiny little Quidditch pictures. All of a sudden, Lavender snapped. "Ronald Weasley, if you don't tell me where the hell Parvati is I will rip out your spleen and use it as a hat."

Ron put a protective hand over his stomach and turned slightly green. "She's with Dean, in the library I think."

Lavender turned to go. "Wait, one more question."

He eyed her warily. "What?"

"Are you such a git to everyone else or is it just me?"

"Just you and Parvati," he said simply. "You were cruel to me when I was younger. Now, I'm happy to do anything that will make your life a little more irritating than it already is."

Had she ever been nasty to Ron? She couldn't seem to remember. After all, she'd had a huge crush on him in their second year. "I was cruel to you?"

"Yes, very."

"Oh." Lavender felt slightly shell-shocked. Surely not? "Well, I'm sorry then."

"Thanks." Ron looked surprised. "Y'know, as much as I hate him, Zacharias Smith has softened you around the edges. You're nicer than you were before you started hanging out with him."

"I'll just, um, be going now," Lavender said, trying to avoid the pink that was creeping up her neck from invading her cheeks. "By the way, you should ask Hermione out."

She left Ron staring confusedly at her as she walked out the door.

*

Lavender hated the library. All the books just scared her. Plus, it smelt really strange and the dust played havoc with her nose. She could only cope with it when Parvati was there with her. Only Parvati had a regular supply of nose-clearing gum.

Padma was in the library, studying with a bunch of Ravenclaws. On a weekend. How incredibly boring, Lavender thought.

"Padma, darling," she cried. Padma made her nervous because she used words that Lavender didn't understand so she became more exuberant than was strictly necessary around her. "Have you seen Parvati?"

"Yes." Padma gestured to the mostly unused private rooms of the library. "I think Dean is sketching and Parvati is moping about and eating, away from the beady eye of Madame Pince."

Ravenclaws, so poetic. But at that point, Lavender could have hugged her. "Thanks love. Have fun studying," she said, gesturing to the Ravenclaws who were looking at her, irritated that she had interrupted them.

Lavender bounded over to the private reading room and knocked sharply. She could hear scuffling. "It's okay. It's only me."

The noises stopped. "Come in," Dean called out.

Parvati was quite pink. The colour she was when she got angry. Dean had probably been listening to her rant on about Harry and Ginny and how foul they were together. Lucky him, Lavender thought sarcastically, although she didn't mean it. She would have given anything to be listening to Parvati because it would indicate that everything was back to normal. "How are you?" she asked.

"Fine," Parvati said airily. "Just splendid. Yourself?"

"I just found the most scandalous thing." She shoved the piece of paper in front of Parvati and Dean's confused faces.

"Professor Delacour?" Dean had a furrowed line between his eyes. "I mean, I know she's attractive Lav, but really..."

"No," Lavender said impatiently. "It's where I found it."

Parvati gazed at her, disinterested. Lavender suddenly felt lost, deflated. "Well, if you're not interested..."

Parvati just stared at her. Lavender couldn't think what she was being punished for. Dean sighed. "Of course we're interested, Lav."

"Yeah," Parvati echoed. "Really interested." She sounded sincere but Parvati always sounded sincere, especially when she was being particularly bitchy and sarcastic.

"No, I'm sorry," Lavender said, coldly. "I wouldn't want to interrupt your little rendez-vous. Carry on doing ... whatever it was you were doing." When she thought about it, Parvati also went pink when she'd been having passionate moments. She also noticed that Dean didn't have his usual smudge of charcoal on his nose.

She turned to go. Then, "You know, I can't believe you'd do this after the last fight we had," Lavender said.

Parvati raised an eyebrow. "Do what?"

Lavender was not going to be put off by Parvati's manner. Not this time. "Snog Dean and pretend that you're still infatuated with Harry," she said, spitting the words out so that they were sharp slaps that made Parvati turn redder with every word.

Dean looked confused. "I thought you'd told Lavender, Parv," he said, his dark eyes hurt.

"Oh no, she didn't," Lavender said breezily. "She thinks that I will be at her beck and call whenever she loses her boy or doesn't like the company that I keep. This doesn't require her to actually tell me things."

Parvati's face wiped itself of colour.

"You didn't like Zacharias, did you Parvati? You didn't like the fact that he took me away from being around you all the time, doing your dirty work, did you?"

"That's not true," Parvati said hotly but she was betrayed by the guilty look in her eyes.

"No, it is true," Lavender said. She could hear her voice lowering and the dangerous edge to it could have cut metal. "I talked to Ron Weasley today. Apparently I was horrible to him in my younger years. I can't remember this. But I must have been because Ron doesn't lie."

Parvati shifted in her seat. "We weren't horrible..."

"We?" Lavender laughed. It sounded false and horrible. "There's no 'we' about any of this. It has always been you, you, you." Her voice was becoming strangely high.

Dean looked uncomfortable. "I'll just be going now," he said, sliding towards the door.

"Oh but you might want to be here to comfort Parvati when I go. I'm sure she'll be really upset." Everything she had wanted to say, ever, was pouring out. "Remember the time when we wrote Harry that singing valentine and let him think that Ginny Weasley had sent it?"

Dean snickered at the memory. He had stayed. For Parvati.

"That wasn't funny. It was cruel. You just convinced me that what we were doing was amusing, that it wasn't going to hurt anyone. I was easily led. I didn't know that what I was doing was nasty and spiteful. You did. You knew Pansy and Draco and their cruel ways of manipulating."

Parvati stared, dark brown eyes glistening with tears and what could have been a sick sort of amusement. Looking at Lavender. She wasn't taking her seriously enough.

"Remind me why we've ever been friends, Parvati."

Parvati didn't say anything. She simply looked at Lavender and she felt like crying because the pain in Parvati's eyes was terrible. But she didn't cry. She focused on a spot on the wall and creased her mouth into a fake smile. "I came here thinking that my best friend would be interested that Snape carries a picture of Professor Delacour around. But never mind. I'll be going now. Please don't speak to me ever again."

She waved cheerfully and left. She felt powerful. She felt in control. She felt ... nothing for Parvati sodding Patil.

She felt free.