Another Nobody
Parvati went after Lavender almost immediately after her shouting match with Ron Weasley in the common room, and found her curled up into a ball on her bed, sobbing her heart out. It seemed that Ron had finally decided to end his relationship with Lavender, breaking her heart in the process. Parvati sighed and resisted the urge to say 'I told you so'. Lavender would not appreciate it right now. Instead, she sat on the bed beside Lavender, and wrapped her arms around her friend when she uncurled, holding her as she cried.
For the first time, Parvati felt no sense of accomplishment or satisfaction when things happened exactly the way she had predicted. She had never been so certain of the future, and she had never so fervently to be proven wrong. How could she be glad when it had hurt her best friend so?
Besides, it hadn't taken much Divination skills to predict this particular future. Anyone with eyes could see that it was Hermione Granger that Ron was interested in. They had been dancing around each other for years now. Lavender had been nothing but a substitute, a way to make Hermione jealous.
Lavender hadn't believed her when she pointed that out, though. After harboring a crush on Ron for six months, she was delighted to have Ron finally notice her. It was like a dream come true, and she wouldn't hear a single word against her 'Won-won'. Parvati had tried, because she knew that getting Lavender's hopes up would only mean hurting her even more in the end, but it seemed that that phrase ' none so blind as those who refuse to see' was true after all.
As she held her crying friend and did her best to comfort her, Parvati couldn't help but feel a surge of anger towards Ron Weasley, so intense that she surprised herself. Could Ron really not see how much he was hurting Lavender? Did he not know that Lavender was really in love with him? How could he be so cruel, to play with Lavender's feelings like that?
As soon as the surge of anger had come, though, her rational mind took over and she felt her anger recede. It was still there, of course. Parvati could never forgive anyone who hurt her best friend, willingly or not. And yet, as much as she tried not to, she felt that she could understand Ron Weasley's actions. He had not treated Lavender like that because he was cruel or malicious. He just didn't notice her. Not truly, not even after months of kissing. His perspective had simply been altered by so many brushes with death that he cannot easily perceive of a world outside of those who have gone through the life-and-death experiences with him.
It was the same mindset and behavior that she had seen in her two uncles and grandfather, all three of whom were war veterans. It was the same with the other two-thirds of the Golden Trio. In Hogwarts, their world consisted of only one another, and perhaps occasionally Ginny Weasley, Neville Longbottom and Luna Lovegood. Everything else, to them, seemed part of another world, another lifetime – there, but not there. Everyone else is just another student, nobody of great importance. It was not intentional, naturally. She didn't even think they realized that they were doing it. It was simply inevitable.
And so as much as Parvati wanted to hate Ron for hurting Lavender with his inconsideration, she found that she couldn't do so. After all, it was a war that Ron, Harry and Hermione were fighting for them, whatever the Ministry might claim. In fact, if the rumors were true, they had been fighting this war ever since they had been eleven. It was not something she envied them for, as glamorous as their life may seem at times. She had seen up close and personal what war can do to a person, how it can age them and change them. She wouldn't want to experience it for all the money in the world.
She was still angry with Ron, of course, (and perhaps with the rest of the world as well, for letting three children fight their battles), and she hated the fact that Lavender was hurt. She accepted, however, that in the end, Lavender was just another nobody.