Memories
Author: A Random Bowser
Beta: Onesmartcookie78
Word Count: 1161
For: The Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition- Wigtown Wanderers
Prompts: Padma/Lavender, Friendship
Optional prompts:
Jealousy – Will Young
"Sometimes your life boils down to one insane move." – Avatar
Dialogue: "Ahhh, nostalgia. How sweet you are."
Disclaimer: I own nothing
"Parvati you slut! He was supposed to be mine! We had talked about this and you said that you would back out of the way, you little bitch!" Lavender's screech was so loud that even the portrait of the Fat Lady did little to keep the noise within the walls of the Gryffindor common room. Inside the walls, the other lions were slowly backing towards the stairs; they may be brave and bold, but even they weren't stupid enough to get in the middle of a cat fight between these two girls. Although the two of them weren't particularly well known for their fierceness (as they were more of the good-natured gossipy type) those within the den knew better.
In the five years the two girls had been friends, the fights between the two of them were nearly as well known as the Golden Trio. Towards the end of first year, an upperclassman had tried to get between the two of them. It had only been their second major fight of the year, so no one could have known better. Still, the poor girl had ended up in the hospital wing under the care of Madam Pomfery before it was all said and done. By the time the two of them had finished ganging up on the "stupid interfering hussy" the two had reconciled, becoming thick as thieves once more, and reverting to their giggling, overly excitable selves.
So it went, year after year, fight after fight. All of their disputes were loud, brash, and violent, yet they always ending with the two girls making up and coming back with a stronger relationship than before. Except, for some reason, this fight felt different then all the others; it was almost as if the air around the two girls was tinged with the anger, the hurt, and the very real pain they felt towards each other.
"Do you think I asked for this Lav? That this is what I wanted? For my father to arrange my future for me? Do you truly believe that I think so little of the plans we had made?" Parvati's answering reply was just as real, and just a shrill as her dear friend's.
"How am I supposed to know what is true anymore? I mean, I thought I knew you well enough to know that you would tell me something this important! Not that I would be finding out through your stuck recluse of a twin." Crack! and strangely enough the fight was over with little more than words exchanged as Parvati slammed the portrait open and stomped into the hall.
"Not now, Padma. Seriously, just…not now," Parvati said with a shake of her head as her quieter sister reached out to touch her shoulder. Padma had been coming to visit with her sister when she heard the yelling just outside the door way. It wasn't surprising really; Parvati had been set against the arrangement from the start, but -in the end- all it boiled down to was the fact that they were children, and they really had very little say in what happened in their lives outside of school. Still though, her heart hurt for her twin, and even more so for the brunette who had wandered out after her with a flushed face. She'd also been sporting a rather well defined hand print.
"That is going to bruise I think," Padma said softly as they both gazed down the hall in the direction her twin had gone, Padma with sorrow in her dark chocolate eyes and Lavender's gazed filled with longing. "Come along then," Padma sighed softly, reaching out and taking Lavender's hand in her own, "I think I have some cream in my trunk in the tower that will help, and we both know my sister won't want to see either of us for a few hours yet." Padma said, leading the other girl off in the opposite direction, letting the hurtful words that had been uttered about her go. She knew that they were not meant to be so mean, after all she understood jealousy, and Lavender Brown allowed this. So lost was she in the moment, unable to breathe, unable think, and unwilling to face anyone else with her desperate emotions.
Sometimes your life boils down to one insane move, either found in a moment of crazed fearlessness that is driven by the desperation or one that has been carefully planned so that all the parties involved reap the benefits of the move. Of course plans never go as planned, and Gryffindor's always do best when flying by the seat of their pants. Padma was currently wishing she had remembered the latter part of the statement, when she had come up with the plan to get both of them what they wanted. Not that she had truly believed in the plan's success in the first place. However, her argument that the two of them should just accept their love for the respective members of the newly betrothed couple had gone unheeded by the pig headed Gryffindors, and so a plan was rather reluctantly crafted.
Strangely enough, the two girls had formed a bond of sorts during the few weeks that had passed between The Argument (as Lavender insisted they call the fight between her and Parvati) and The Event (as the fruition of their plan was being called). Padma huffed in fond relocation of the memory of the conversation that had led to her giving into the sometimes flighty brunette on the matter. It seemed as though shared expressions of jealously and unrequited love were enough of a starting foundation for the strange friendship.
But all of that had happened years ago, back when both of them where still girls. Back before her sister had married her betrothed and her own loveless marriage to a man that held a vague resemblance to her true love. Before her dear friend had died. Before the Carrows and before the realization that there really was a such thing as a fate worse than death.
Padma took a final sip of her tea, leaving the dregs sitting in the cup as she looked out over the Divination classroom from her spot at the teacher's table. Although the tower had been destroyed during the Battle of Hogwarts, it had been recreated in almost exact replica during the rebuilding. In truth, the only noticeable difference was that of the new teacher who now ran the class.
"Ahhh, nostalgia. How sweet you are." Padma murmured to the ghosts, as her eyes landed on the place her sister, Lavender, and she had often sat when they were teens. Gray was now touching the temples of her head, and laugh lines crinkled around her eyes when she smiled, showing her age. Despite this, her movements were still easy and graceful as she stood and lighted the incense for the class of Gryffindors and Ravenclaws she would soon be welcoming.