Parvati frowned, only half listening as Lavender animately filled her in on the latest gossip. She forced a smile onto her face, nodding occasionally to show that she was listening. Lavender, luckily for Parvati, didn't notice the distant gleam in her eye, and continued to chat happily. Parvati recognized the tone of her best friend's voice, knowing that she was likely to go on for hours now. She let her mind drift, satistied with the fact that it was unlikely to be noticed. Well, her daydreaming wouldn't have been noticed, except that damn bookworm just had to ruin everything, didn't she?

"You seem quiet today," Hermione commented, briefly looking over her charms book. Parvati silently cursed her observation, before pulling herself back into the real world. Lavender gazed curiously, first at Hermione, who barely ever spoke during the gossip sesions, then to Parvati, who was wringing her hands together nervously, trying to think of a good excuse.

"Um?" Was all she could manage to muster. Brilliant, she scolded herself. "Just listening." That was worse; she could have kicked herself. Since when was Parvati Patil known for just listening? Never. It just wasn't her. There was no way either of the other girls would buy it. She prayed silently, hoping that Hermione would just drop the subject. Without Hermione's quick thinking, it was more likely that she stood a chance of convincing Lavender that she was just PMSing or something like that.

"Whatever, so what do you think? About them dating? Isn't it simply absurd?" Lavender gushed, forgetting anything that had just happened in the last twenty seconds. "I mean honestly -"

"Who?" Hermione interjected. Lavender looked up, surprised that she was showing even the slightest interest. It wasn't often that Hermione indulged in these talks, and she, suprisingly, told the pair quite good gossip when she did.

"Blaise and Padma," Lavender grinned. "Honestly, Parvati, I can't believe you didn't tell me. I really was quite shocked when I found out..."

"No, that can't be right," Hermione grinned. She loved knowing something that someone didn't. Some people would have called her a snob for it, but the two other girls couldn't be bothered telling her that tonight, and urged her to continue. Oh, what gossip does to people. "Padma's with Cormac, isn't she, Parvati?"

Parvati was only slightly irritated that Hermione had turned the spotlight back on her. Still, at least she wasn't asking about her why she was spacing before. Realizing that Lavender was staring at her, expecting answers, she spoke up, "Well, yeah, Padma and Cormac; definitely. She's half crazy over him."

"I think you're both wrong," Lavender growed, irritated. She wasn't book smart, like Hermione, but she always knew what was happening. And gossip or not, everyone had to believe her. She was the social butterfly; she knew all the scandal. This, was definitely scandal. She felt Hermione's gaze upon her, and looked up, seeing Hermione's arched eyebrows, questioning her silently. "I know you're both wrong."

Hermione flushed. If there was anything she didn't like, it was being told she was wrong. She glared at Lavender, her annoyance heightening. For goodness sake, you had to be blind if you didn't think that Padma and Cormac weren't going to have their happily ever after. After all, they were all over each all the time.

"You must be mad," Hermione growled quietly, trying to keep her voice level. "Padma and Cormac are completely nuts over each other. There's no way Padma would go off with someone else, least not Zabini of all people."

"Why not?" Lavender retorted. "He's hot!"

"Not very bright though," she commented. "It wouldn't be like Padma to go off with someone's that not very bright."

"Or her boyfriend," Parvati added, finally finding her voice.

"That's true," Lavender agreed, hesitantly. "It's not like Padma to be such a sl -"

"Don't you dare call my sister a slut," Parvati glared viciously at the girl.

"Sorry!" Lavender raised her hands up, in mock surrender. "So who did I see snogging with Blaise in the library then? I must say, she looked an awful lot like Padma."

"Did she really?" Hermione cast a fleeting gaze in Parvati's direction. "Pratically identical, I assume?"

"Well, yeah, I suppose so. I was just so certain that she was Padma..." Lavender trailed off, realizing what Hermione was getting at. She gasped. Identical. Of course. Parvati. A second gasp escaped from her lips, and she cast a demanding finger at Parvati. "Spill. Now."

"Um, well, um, you see..." Parvati stammered. "That girl? Yeah, that might have been me..." She was drowned at by the excited squeals and Lavender jumping onto her happily, grinning. Hermione rolled her eyes, but stayed put, still sitting cross-legged on the floor, eagerly awaiting the explanation that Lavender was sure to drag out of the poor girl.

"Why Blaise? Isn't he, like, totally undatable? I haven't heard of him liking, let alone snogging, anyone since Pansy, and that was because he was slipped some of the dreadful love potion!"

"I guess he just likes me?" Parvati said weakly.

"How long?"

"Two weeks."

"OH MY GOD!"

The newly learnt piece of news had made Lavender get excited once more; now jumping up and down on the bed. Two weeks was an incredible ammount of time to have kept such a secret. Well, for those two it was a pretty amazing ammount of time. Usually the whole school would have known since breakfast on the first day.

"Have you shagged?"

"NO!"

Lavender kept firing questions, whilst Parvati struggled to keep up. Finally she gave in to herself, yelling loudly above Lavender's newly formed squeals. "I'VE GOT TO GO!"

"Um, why?" Lavender had a shocked look on face, surprised that she had been interrupted.

A deep blush formed across Parvati's face. "I'm... er... meeting Blaise in a few minutes."

Lavender grinned, pulling Parvati off her bed. "Well, come on then, we better get you ready!" She giggled, ready to attack her best friend with make-up, clothes, and other necessity. Hermione simply shrugged before going back to her book. Parvati smiled contently. This was good. Lavender hadn't freaked out, not like she had expected her to. It came as a surprise. Lavender had been somewhat tender after the harsh break-up with Ron, and Parvati had managed to skillfully avoid the subject of Parvati having a boyfriend for quite sometime. But this was good. She grinned, thinking of Blaise, who would probably drop dead when he saw what Lavender had done to her; something that would no doubt make her look fabulous. Yes, she sighed to herself. This was very good.