Title: Finding Roses
Rating: T
Challenge: Coloured Roses and "I Never" Challenge
Characters/Pairings: Parvati Patil, Blaise Zabini, Lavender Brown. Parvati/Blaise.
Authors Note: I've never written this pairing before so I'm not sure how it turned out. Hopefully good and not too fast-paced. :D
Every once and a while when Parvati Patil would retire to her dormitories, she'd find a single coloured rose laid across her pillow. There was never a note, nor was there any indication of who may have done this act.
The first rose she receives is a lavender one and it's right after the Yule Ball.
She's feeling disgusting, the soles of her feet are positively aching and all she wants to do is curl up in bed and sleep for a thousand years. She's had the worse night of her entire life, despite being the date of Harry Potter (who makes Professor Binns look interesting).
Parvati's just finished getting ready for bed and is about to climb beneath the covers when she notices it. It's simply laying there, purple conflicting against the cream silk of her pillow. She picks it up delicately with a small smile and looks for a note, but is unsucessful with her search.
Instead of disposing of the rose, she pulls out an empty box beneath her bed and lays it in there. It stays hidden beneath her bed until the next one comes.
The next one comes at the start of her fifth year, just after the assembly where Umbridge interrupts.
Parvati's went upstairs to drop her belongings in their girls dormitories when she sees it from the corner of her eye. She gives an excited little spin before she collapses back on her bed and grabs it by the very bottom of the stem.
She aches to know who it is who sneaks in her room and leaves her roses after a long day. The thought is oh-so romantic that she's able to ignore her lingering thoughts that the rose was meant to be on Lavender's pillow instead.
One day he leaves a book along with an pink rose, telling her which each rose means.
This is the third time he's struck - the first one was a lavender (love at first sight), the second one was a white rose (meaning heavenly, and the last one is a pink rose (for appreciation and gentleness).
Parvati puts the book beneath her bed, hidden from sight of her roommates. She reaches to retrieve her box, lifts the lid and puts the new addition to her collection inside.
It's her sixth year at Hogwarts, and Parvati is tired of feeling ignored.
Parvati's sick and tired of having to hang out with Lavender-and-Ron when all she really wants is to have a heart-to-heart with Lavender herself. Parvati knows that Harry feels the same way, but he's got Hermione to go to. She supposes she could always go to Dean or Seamus, but they'll just tease her about being jealous that it's not her that Lav's snogging, which so isn't true.
This time it's a orange rose for desire and Parvati feels herself tingle with excitement that someone wants her. She wishes she knew who it was because then maybe she'd have someone to go to.
She finds out that Lavender knows one day because she's admiring the beauty of a rose that's been left on her bed while playing with the stem nimbly, sitting on the edge of her bed with a fallen expression upon her features.
"I can't remember the last time I got a rose," Lavender murmurs, one hand raising to trace over the freshly healed scars over her face.
It's been less than a month after the war ended. The both of them are back at Hogwarts, repeating their seventh year and trying to replace old memories with new ones. Their year is short by half a dozen people, casualties of the battle (Susan, Seamus, Terry, Michael, Daphne, Millicent).
Parvati sits beside Lavender and entwines her fingers with her best friends. "You can have that one if you want. My rose to you."
"Thanks, but it's yours... Seems like you've got a secret admirer, hey?" Lavender's tone brightens and she gives a small giggle. "Any clues to who it must be?"
Parvati swats at Lavender's arm but shakes her head, a blush tinging her cheeks - barely noticeable, thankfully. "Nope. They never leave notes or anything of the like. The only think they've left besides roses is a book."
"A book? Like a library book?" Lavender raises an eyebrow with a smile playing on her lips. "From Hogwarts?"
Parvati hesitates before she stood up and reached under her bed, flipping the book cover over and scanning her eyes over the clear print. "Yep."
Lavender gives a small squeal before she tugs on Parvati's long plait. "You silly girl!"
"Ow!"
"You can find out who it is! They have a log at the library in that book Madam Pince keeps - I mean, kept - on her desk. It's how they -"
"- I didn't know you read, Lav," Parvati teases hers.
"Hush, you. No, but they do so you can find out who last borrowed it! They've probably had to either replace the book or have a stack of overdue notes," Lavender insists.
Parvati's eyes light up. "Oh my God, they do to! Let's go." She stands up, pulling Lavender along to the library with her.
Blaise Zabini.
The name floats through Parvati's mind but she can't quite place the face. She wonders which house he's in and has a sneaking suspicion it may be Ravenclaw. He's definitely not a Gryffindor or a Slytherin - a Slytherin wouldn't be so sweet and thoughtful, after all. Wait, is he even in her year?
A yellow rose with red tips is on her bed the next day. It means falling in love. Lavender shrieks in excitement at the prospect of her best friend having someone in love with her while Hermione reasons that he may be kind of a stalker. Parvati prefers the former reaction.
Parvati finally meets Blaise when they're paired together in order to do a Transfiguration assignment.
He's quiet but kinder than Malfoy with his ebony skin and violet eyes which could easily make a thousand girls faint if he dared to look at them. When he opens up a bit, he shows the true reasons why he was sorted into Slytherin - he's sly and sarcastic when she says something not so bright.
As they continue to work on their assignment, Parvati finds herself blushing at everything he says and getting butterflies in her stomach. She isn't in love with him (yet) but she definitely fancies him - the only people she tells is Lavender and Seamus (when she goes to visit his grave one morning).
It's their graduation ball (the first one for their second seventh year) and Lavender threads roses through Parvati's braid. The roses they've braided are the ones she has been left by him. Lavender, white, pink, orange, yellow with orange tips. The only one missing is red.
Parvati's sitting at a table with her friends, laughing at one of Dean's jokes. There's a certain emptiness without Seamus' roaring laughter, but she pushes the feeling aside as she sits because she wants to enjoy the night.
She turns when she feels Blaise tap her on the table, then nods as he asks her to dance. She stands up with a smile at her table and excuses herself, allowing him to lead her out onto the dance floor.
Her arms are tangled around his neck while his are resting on her slim waist. They're swaying to a melodious and slow song when he surprises her by withdrawing a rose from his pocket. It's red with a smooth stem and he reaches up with one hand to push it behind her ear before kissing her gently on the mouth.
I love you.