Disclaimer:

JK: sweatdrops If you like it so much, you can have it!

Me: Really!?

JK: Just stop doing that!

Me: Doing what?

JK: That!

Me: Snuggles chibi HP characters obsessively, growling at anyone that comes near, rocking backwards and forwards Muttering can be heard: Mine, mine, all mine. giggles insanely Mine, my own... my precious...

The author is slammed from her daydream in a most abrupt manner when she finds herself posting fiction on a fanfiction site, from which can be deduced, most conclusively, that Harry Potter is, to the author's abject disappointment, not hers.

A/N: Inspired by dress-without-sleeves' Nice To Dream, except there's probably going to be more chapters coming up from the perspectives of several different characters. I'll update when I feel like it, so don't expect regular updates. Well, without further ado...

Thanks for Everything

Arc I – Lavender & Parvati

'Hey Lav.'

'Hey.'

'What are you doing out here? It's freezing.'

'Nothing, really. And, yes, I know it's freezing.'

'And you're out here on a cold dreary day with no coat? Tsk, tsk Lavender.'

'I like the cold.'

'Since when?'

'Since now.'

'Really?'

'…'

'No chirpy replies or chipper hugs?'

'No.'

'Lav…'

'What?'

'Don't tell me you sit here every day and skip stones when there's plenty of other more interesting things to do.'

'…'

'You're getting your designer skirt wet.'

'…'

'Lav? Lav! Gosh, I thought I'll never get you to look at me!'

'What are you doing out here? I mean, it's cold isn't it?'

'Hey! Don't be nasty. And what's with the "What are you doing out here?" You're here aren't you? Best friends have a right to sit next to each other, don't they?'

'I guess… But don't you have "other more interesting things to do"?'

'Lav, you know what I meant. What's wrong with you today? I mean, it's not every day you see fashion guru Lavender Brown deliberately dirtying her clothes. So spill – what's wrong?'

'Nothing's wrong. The sky's blue, the trees are green and nothing at all is wrong.'

'Who are you and what have you done with Lavender Brown.'

'What do you mean?'

'…'

'Stop looking at me like that. I'm still Lavender. Remember her? Or am I so forgettable?'

'Stop being so sarcastic – it's unnatural.'

'Unnatural?'

'For you anyways. And stop it with the eyebrow thing – it makes you look like Malfoy.'

'Erch! Malfoy? I can't be compared to bad-hair-day-every-day-Malfoy! Ever!'

'Why not? The vanity, the complete attitude revamp… You could totally be a female version of Malfoy.'

'I am not like Malfoy.'

'You've even got the vehement denial down pat. Malfoy's definitely gay – I've tried to tell him plenty of times before but that boy, that stubborn boy…'

'…'

'What are you giggling for? It's true! Why else would he spend so much time on his hair and be so picky about the brand of his robes?'

'You've talked with Malfoy about his choice in clothing?'

'Well, no, per se, but didn't you just tell me a week ago that you noticed he always wore the same few pricy brands of robes? You've always been perceptive about those kinds of things.'

'I did? Well, that doesn't mean that he's gay.'

'It's a sure sign to me that he's on his way to being gay then. And what is it with you? You agreed with me just yesterday that Draco Malfoy wasn't completely on the straight and narrow.'

'…'

'Now you're all gloomy again. Stop pulling out the grass, and look at me. Just tell me what's wrong. You can't avoid it forever, you know.'

'I don't want to talk about it okay? I don't want to talk to anyone.'

'…'

'You don't have to sit here with me.'

'I know.'

'So? Just go then. Go have fun with everyone else, it's not as if I want you here.'

'I'm your best friend. I would have thought you understood that by now. I'm not just going to leave you here. I have a duty to carry out. Besides, then we'll be alone together… er, if that makes sense. It'll be like all the other times.'

'…But how can you know?'

'What? I'm not going to abandon you, if that's what you mean.'

'It's not the same anymore – nothing's the same. I-It's like everything's just been, been scooped up and jumbled around and… I don't know what to do anymore.'

'I would say "follow your heart and trust in yourself" but that would be excessively corny.'

'Parvati… I just want to be as sure as you. How can you know that you won't change like everything else? That you'll wake up one day a-and poof! You decide that you don't want to know me anymore.'

'Poof like magic? Okay, okay! Just lightening the mood – it's getting a bit suffocating around here… And Lav, that has got to be the most ridiculous theory you've ever come up with.'

'Theory?'

'The Pav-wakes-up-and-poof-decides-Lav-is-a-moron Theory. I know you're a moron already anyway and you're still my friend.'

'Parvati…'

'Yeesh… you've got a creepy growl – alright! Alright!'

'The War's changing everything that we've ever known. How do you know it won't change this? I know it's changing me, so why won't it change you?'

'Lav…'

'Don't try to tell me I'm still the same Lavender "at heart" or something. I know I'm not. I know that I still like the same things and act the same way I used to, but something's changed. Like, like, there's something that's shifted out of place and kept everything the same as before, but made everything different at the same time while everything's changing.'

'Lav, you're not making sense. Are you trying to be philosophical?'

'No. Yes. I-I don't know. It's hard to explain.'

'Of course it's hard to ex- '

'Stop interrupting me – I'm ranting! … I just want to ask someone, you know, God or Merlin, someone who'll know what I mean: why is this all happening? I-I don't understand why the war has to happen now. Why we're the ones who have to fight. I feel so helpless sometimes – and that scares me even more a-and I'm terrified, because I've never, ever felt like this before! I'm just not ready… not now, not ever.'

'Lav! Listen to me. Just calm down a bi- '

'I CAN'T be calm! I don't know what's going on, I suck at duelling. I want to be a fashion designer for Merlin's sake! I don't fight, or-or kill and battle hordes of D-Death Eaters! That's for Harry, and Ron, a-and H-Hermione! Then I feel guilty because aren't I a Gryffindor too? I-I was sorted there just the same as they were. J-Just look at me. We're here at Hogwarts, where absolutely nothing's happened yet, a-and I'm still scared to death! What am I going to do when something actually happens!'

'I don't know, Lav, but I do know tha- '

'I'm not brave enough.'

'But you are. Don't you see it Lav? You're here aren't you? You're scared out of your wits but you're still here, aren't you? You don't want to fight or kill or wait out here until something happens but you – are – still – here.'

'I-I just think I should be less… afraid or something.'

'And meet the danger head-on, with shoulders thrown back? Don't be an idiot Lavender – I know you're not one. That'll only invite an avada to the chest. Nobody is completely fearless; you would be an anomaly if you were. It's not a bad thing either. It puts everything into perspective for us, Lav – it helps us appreciate what we have, and what we are fighting for.'

'This isn't really helping, you know. You're just making me feel stupid – like Hermione makes me feel ashamed of myself. Not that she's deliberately doing that. She's perfectly nice… it's just that she's done so much and I, well, haven't really done anything.'

'Oh Lav… You don't have to compare yourself to anyone, least of all to me. As for Hermione, Harry and Ron – even if they've done things we wouldn't have dreamed of doing, so what? So what, Lavender, so what? You're not Hermione. I'm sure as not Harry or Ron! We're all allowed to be selfish sometimes.'

'You're saying we're allowed to be selfish but here you are trying to make me feel better. Sitting with a mopey person isn't exactly the greatest thing you can be doing right now… and you're still making me feel insignificant and petty.'

'You're being petulant Lav. You know I'm right.'

'No you're not. You're just trying to make me feel better.'

'I think we've gathered that already.'

'Meanie.'

'Brat.'

'… I don't believe you.'

'Of course you do. You're just too embarrassed to admit it.'

'I hate you.'

'Oh how this conversation has degenerated. Resorting to false insults now?'

'Shut up, you.'

'Passionate arguments aside, I'm just telling you what I think. And even though it's completely clichéd; if nobody else believes in you, I do. Because it's what you do in the end that counts. You could be running away now, before the battle even begins, but you're not. You are not running away, and that counts for something.'

'…'

'I know you're brave enough Lav, even if you don't.'

'Since when have you been so inspirational?'

'Since now? Don't be so hard on yourself, Lav.'

'It's just so hard sometimes, pretending that nothing's different and everything's fine when you don't know what's going to happen… Don't you wish we could really "unfog the future" now?'

'We absolutely worshipped Professor Trelawney, didn't we?'

'Yeah… Remember that time I thought she had really predicted that Binky would die.'

'Or when she told me to "beware a red-haired man".'

'And Ron was absolutely clueless! You were ever so suspicious of him… What about when she said poor Harry had the Grim – that was hilarious. We avoided him for ages after that.'

'Those were the good times, weren't they?'

'I didn't think I would ever say this, but, I miss going to class.'

'I know. So do I.'

'I'm scared Parvati.'

'So am I Lav.'

'I don't want to grow up, or go to war.'

'Me neither, but everyone else is, and it would be very bad to be left behind. That would be the most horrible thing out of them all, I think, being the ones left behind when everyone else is gone.'

'Do you think, do you think we'll make it?'

'Yes.'

'How can you know that?'

'Well you asked me, and I had to give an answer, didn't I?'

'Stop joking around Parvati. This isn't something to joke about. This is serious!'

'What do you want me to say? That I know that we're going to survive this thing because what? I saw it in my inner eye? You want to know if I think we'll really make it out? I honestly don't know. But I think there's a big chance we won't. That we're going to be blown to bits or bleed to death while the Death Eaters that kill us forget our faces and congratulate themselves on another job well done.'

'Parvati!'

'And when the everything's all over and done with, they'll pile up the bodies into a huge grave and all that will be left of us will be four words, two words each, carved onto a stone along with thousands of other names. Then when the next generation of witches and wizards are studying History of Magic with Professor Binns, we'll just be two more tedious names to fall asleep over… And that's only if we win.'

'How can you say that! That's so cruel, a-and heartless!'

'That's the truth Lavender – and the truth hurts. It could happen, you know. Don't say I'm heartless or cruel. You're not the only one who's frightened about what could possibly be the end of our lives! Don't you think I have dreams too? That I have things I've always wanted to do, places I've wanted to go, people I want to meet? Don't you think that I don't feel what you're feeling – what everyone else is feeling – because I do!'

'…'

'… And it was you who wanted me to be all serious about it.'

'I'm sorry.'

'… No, don't worry. I'm sorry. I was just tense. I needed to get it all out… and who better to talk to than my best friend. But still, I shouldn't have said that.'

'It's okay. You were right anyways.'

'… I don't know everything there is to know Lav. I don't know how everything's going to turn out. I don't know if we'll win this thing. Or if we'll make it out of this alive. But I know that we'll be together through it all, like we've always been. All the others – they don't understand us. They think that we're empty-headed floozies with nothing better to do than talk about clothes and shopping. So we have to stick together Lav – we girls stick together.'

'…'

'…'

'Thanks.'

'For what?'

'Everything.'

Depressing yet hopeful... I just love writing stuff like this! Review! You know you love it!