Parvati halted outside the door to the sixth year girls' dorm. She could faintly hear the sound of someone sobbing, and she'd just seen Hermione in the common room. This was not good.

She pushed the door open to find Lavender lying on her side, sprawled across her bed with a pile of tissues spilling from her mattress to the stone floor. Her eyes were so puffy that Parvati couldn't make out any of the blue that lay beneath.

Rushing over to comfort her friend, Parvati plopped down on the bed. "Lav, what's wrong? Is everything alright with your family?" In these dark times, it was the first thing on the everyone's minds.

"It's Roooooon!" the blonde wailed. "He- he- he said he didn't know if we shou- hiccup- should even be together anymooooore!"

Parvati was a bit shocked. It was no secret in Gryffindor Tower- all of Hogwarts, really- that Ron Weasley really enjoyed having a girlfriend. "Shhh, there there, Lav. He'll come to his senses. He was probably just hungry, it will be alright."

Lavender sat up sharply. "sniff- No it won't. He- hiccup- won't budge, and neither will I."

Now the other Gryffindor was bewildered. Lavender could always get her way with Ron. All she had to do was bat her eyelashes a bit and drag him off to a broom cupboard for a while. Her feminine wiles were becoming legendary at the school.

Seeing her friend's confusion, Lavender continued, "He wants to get more… intimate. And I'm not ready for that. We're not ready for that. And I've told him that again and again, but he just won't stop pushing me to sleep with him or be more physical with him in other ways, if you know what I mean."

Parvati seethed with silent rage. Her cousins in Mumbai had told her about "all the things that men want from women" and the lengths to which some will go to get them. "Has he ever tried to physically push you into it?" she asked, her teeth clenched.

Lavender never noticed her best friend's ire. "No, thank goodness. I mean, his hands have attempted to go places I don't want them, but he at least lets me push them away."

Parvati relaxed, a bit embarrassed by her quick temper. She had a general "romantic distrust of men", as Lavender called it, but Parvati felt it was justified. She'd experienced something similar to Lavender when she briefly dated Anthony Goldstein last year. He had always wanted to kiss her, but she really wasn't interested. Honestly it had happened with pretty much every boy she'd been to Hogsmeade with or flirted with at a party in the common room. It was just hard for her to feel that kind of attraction to someone she didn't know that well, someone she didn't have a connection with. She supposed she had more of a "romantic distrust of people in general".

"I'm glad he has some conscience, but that doesn't make it okay," Parvati sympathized, wrenching herself from her thoughts.

"But I love him!" Lavender cried. "I should want to do this. Yeah, I'm sure I will someday, but right now, all I can think is that I don't want to do anything to jeopardize my future- our futures. But I want him to know that I love him now. Why does proving that to him, and letting Ron prove it to me, have to be so uncomfortable? And complicated! Ugh!"

"It shouldn't be," Parvati said quietly. "If he loves you as much as you love him, he should respect you and therefore your limits. You show Ron respect in the way you interact with other people and with him. He should do the same. And if Ron doesn't value your love enough to respect you, then he doesn't really love you."

Lavender stared at her friend, brow furrowed and mouth agape. "When did you get so smart, Parv?"

"My parents taught me a lot about respect through their marriage, so I figured this wasn't too different. You can't really love someone if you don't respect them," she stated simply.

Parvati braced herself as Lavender pulled her into a crushing, slightly damp hug. With a final squeeze, the blonde pulled back and propped her forehead against the other girl's. For a brief moment, Parvati felt the desire to kiss her best friend. Shaking off the feeling, she pulled away, convinced it was a just a fleeting moment fueled by stress and the need to comfort her best friend of nearly six years.

"Thanks for always listening, Parv. I don't know what I'd do without you."

"Don't worry, Lav. You're never going to have to find out."