P R O M I S E S
Lavender Brown 1st September 1995
I hid the letters quickly under my pillow as Parvati came over.
"Lavender!" she said throwing her arms around me. "You left the feast quickly."
I shrugged and broke free. And leant back on my elbows. She had already seen them though, dived for my pillow. "What love notes are you hiding from me?"
"I'm not," I said, but I felt my cheeks redden and once again wished I shared Parvati's complexion rather than her taste in clothes.
"Who are they from?" she said ducking again. I threw myself back on the pillow.
"I'm not telling you." I stuck out my tongue. There were footsteps at the door. I lifted my head. "Hermione!" I squealed. "Come and give me a hug." She came over as well.
"Hey," she said hugging both of us. "How're you both?"
"Good good," I answered. "You?"
"'Sall good." she said.
"Lavender has love letters under her pillow!" said Parvati diving for them again. I threw myself down.
"They're not love letters!" I said.
"Then why are they under your pillow?" Hermione looked amused. "Who're they from? Seamus?"
"No!" I said.
"Dean?" ventured Parvati.
"He's going out with Ginny."
"So they ARE love letters."
"No, they're not. They're just from a friend."
"Then you won't mind us reading them." said Parvati.
"Parvati leave her alone. She can show them to us some other time," said Hermione, ever the nice one. She kicked off her shoes and curled up at the end of my bed. My bed was always the one where we gathered for some reason. It just was. Perhaps because Hermione's was always covered in books and Parvati's was always too perfectly made to ruin. Mine, mine was just right I guess.
Parvati lay across my stomach and let her long black hair trailing on the ground.
"It's good to be back," she sighed. "Even if it's wet and cold and my tan will disappear in about a week."
Hermione laughed. "It's good to be back. And be able to use magic."
"I don't think anyone can be as glad as I am," I said. "Parvati, you had Padma with you, and Hermione you-you were with Ron and Harry, me, I was all by my lonesome with the folks."
"Fair enough." said Padma. "But you had your love letters to keep you going."
I pushed her off and sat up, crossing my legs and arms and looking away.
"Let's not get into a fight over this," said Hermione sitting up as well. "Although I would like to know who they're from." she said.
"Am I ever going to get a moment's peace?" I groaned.
"No." said Parvati happily. "Never."
"Alright." I took the letters out and waved them. "See? No Xs, no Os, not kisses, no love. They're from Ron, alright?"
Hermione paled almost imperceptibly and I suddenly wished I hadn't said it.
"They're only letters," I said defensively. "Nothing more."
"He didn't seem to be writing many letters," said Hermione quietly.
"Well, I don't know, there's not many of them," I reassured her.
"Why are you hiding them under your pillow?" Parvati smirked.
"He just gave me some advice," I lied. I couldn't let on to Hermione that I was over my crush on Harry, only to move on to someone worse, in her opinion.
"You asked Ron for advice?" she said disbelievingly. I nodded.
"Yeah." I say. "Just silly stuff. Holiday romance, I wanted to sound like I knew about guy stuff, asked Ron about it."
"You didn't tell me that," said Parvati. I could have strangled her, she was being so annoying. I gave her a One-More-Word-And-You're-Dead look. Dagger eyes have always been a bit of a speciality of mine. She sobered up immediately.
I lay back down. Parvati followed my lead and lowered herself again. Cautiously Hermione stretched out at the end and hung one arm over the side of my bed, running her fingers through Parvati's silky hair.
"How were your OWL results?" she asked.
"I got 'Os' in Divination, Care for Magical Creatures and Charms," I said. "I bet you got eleven."
"Ten," she said. "An 'E' in Defence."
"Well done," said Parvati sincerely. "I only got one 'O', in Divination. But I'm happy."
Hermione sighed and rolled over. "Do you reckon this year will be a tough one?" she asked.
None of us could answer. Hermione was an only child, there was only the twins in the Patil family and my sister Rosa was only nine.
We lay there, each deep in our own thoughts. I picked up Peggy, my rag doll and our confidante, comforter and very good friend. I tossed her to Parvati and said, in our old tradition:
"Any vows for this term?" Parvati smiled, remembering how she made the first vow in first year, that by Christmas she'd be able to use her wand to create the perfect French plait.
"I vow that I won't forget your birthday Hermione," she said.
Hermione laughed, took the red doll and was quiet for a moment. "I vow that I'll take control of my life."
"I vow that I won't let a boy get the better of me," said Parvati, squeezing Peggy's little cloth hand.
"I vow as well," Hermione said softly.
They both looked up at me. "Come on Lavender." said Parvati,throwing my doll back. "You have to say something."
I chewed the inside of my cheek a little and looked up at the canopy of my bed, twisting Peggy's pigtail.
"I vow... I vow that I won't fall out with you two."
But sometimes, promises are hard to keep.