For QLFC S5 R5
They'd just finished the orientation for the incoming Gryffindor students when Parvati turns on Lavender, excitement shining in her eyes.
"I have something I need to show you," she says, as she bounds up the stairs to their shared dorm room.
Lavender, curious, follows after her. When she pushes open the door, Parvati is crouched by her bed, arm deep in her trunk as she ruffles through her belongings.
"It's this muggle thing," she explains. "In newspapers, sometimes they have a section where people can send in little blurbs about someone they only saw once but they want to see again. It's how my mum and dad met, you know. I brought it with me."
"Where is it…" she mutters under her breath. Then: "Aha!" she cries, pulling the sheet out triumphantly. Parvati sits down on the bed beside Lavender and hands it over. The paper is old and fading, and Lavender willfully ignores the unmoving pictures on the muggle newspaper, because their dead eyes have always creeped her out. She looks down at the text box instead.
You were buying groceries at the market by the cornerstore. You were there with your sister (or friend?) and so I was too shy to approach you, but I was completely struck by your aura. We made eye contact for a couple of seconds. I would love to take you out for coffee sometime.
If you see this, please contact me at xxx-xxx-xxxx.
Lavender lets out a little gasp. "That's so adorable!"
"Right?" Parvati agrees. "I knew you'd like it!"
Lavender continues cooing over the gesture even as Parvati puts the newspaper carefully away. Then suddenly, she's struck with an idea.
"This is what Hogwarts is missing!" she yells out. "Parvati, we should make a missing connections for Hogwarts too. Except, maybe not a newspaper… what about a board?"
Parvati grins over at her. "Sure! I'm down if you're down."
Lavender beams. "Let's do it."
.
Lavender waits until her roommates fall asleep, their breaths evening out and filling the room with ambient noise. Then, Lavender sits up and pushes the curtain around her bed aside. She creeps over to Parvati's bed and gently taps the bedpost to indicate that it's time.
Parvati is sleep ruffled and bleary eyed when she finally stumbles out of bed. She had clearly dozed off while waiting. Lavender stifles a giggle at how adorable she looks. She brushes a long strand of dark hair away from Parvati's face and tucks it behind her ear. Parvati yawns and nods her thanks, before reaching over to lace their fingers together.
The two of them creep of their room, out the common room, and down three flights of stairs. Lavender drags out the board from where she'd hidden it behind a large tapestry. It had taken them two weeks to even find the materials through cajoling, buying, and spell work, but they had done it.
"Should we do a permanent sticking charm?" Parvati asks, examining the blank stretch of wall across the doors to the Great Hall. "I'm not sure how else to do it."
"A permanent sticking charm is fine, but do you know how to cast it?" Lavender asks, eyeing Parvati. "That's a higher level charm you know."
The girl simply smirks. "Who do you think I am? Of course I know how to cast it!"
Lavender cheers quietly and hugs her.
Their task finished for the night, the two of them creep back up the stairs and into their warm beds.
When Lavender rounds the corner the next morning, a small crowd has amassed in front of the board. Lavender struts over and places her hands on her hips as she surveys the scene.
Neville notices her hovering at the edges, and he casts her a curious glance. "Lavender, have you seen this yet?"
"Seen it?" she scoffs. "Of course I've seen it! I was the one who put it up."
Neville smiles confusedly at her. "Oh," he says. "But what is it for?"
Lavender points at the title. "Missed connections! It's a muggle thing, apparently. If you see someone and you forgot to talk to them, or you want to get to know them better, you can post about it here!"
Neville doesn't quite seem to understand, but that's okay. Lavender is confident that once word gets around, it'll be a popular phenomenon.
By the time their third period ends, there's something new on the missed connections board.
"Parvati!" Lavender cries excitedly, dragging her friend over by her wrist. "Look!"
There, smack dab in the middle, is a single sheet of parchment. The writing is short and concise, but it's something.
Saw you in the hallway. You were wearing a huge brown scarf that just about swallowed you. You were also yelling curses at a Ravenclaw and had to be dragged off by your Hufflepuff friend. I'd love to grab your name and maybe a chat?
Parvati grins over at her, nudging her with her elbow. "Hey, you little matchmaker, you. It worked!"
Lavender beams back. "Thank you!"
"Let's go tell Padma about your success," Parvati says.
The two girls loop arms and head off to the Great Hall for lunch.
.
After that first post, the missed connections board gets very popular, very quickly. At any point in the day the board is filled with overlapping sheets of parchment, each one spelling out scenarios from the most bizarre to the most mundane.
The professors don't seem to know what to think of it. They tolerate it with veiled confusion. They attempted to remove it once, but the permanent sticking charm held fast, and the staff had faced the cold shoulder by the entire student population in the largest show of student solidarity that Lavender's ever seen.
At the very least, Dumbledore seems to find amusement in it, and Lavender swears to Merlin that she saw him post something on the board himself once.
And then, word gets out that it was Lavender's idea, and she becomes a small celebrity in her own right. Lavender is faced with a small gaggle of starry eyed first years that follow her around.
At first, she's delighted by it. Despite only being a few years older than them, they cling to her every word. She tells them about Divination, tips and tricks about Hogwarts, and for the first time in her life she feels like she's actually contributing to something in her school career.
But then Parvati starts becoming distant. Whenever someone comes up to talk to Lavender about this or that, Parvati slips away and finds a different group of friends to talk to. Lavender, smitten by her newfound fame, realizes that she can't remember the last time she really talked to Parvati. She can't remember that last time they walked to class together, arms twined around each other as they chat about the recent gossip circling around the school.
She sees her at the Ravenclaw table more often that not now, pressed close to her twin and her friends. Her heart twinges painfully when she sees how Parvati leans her head on Padma's shoulder and how Padma rubs soothing circles into her back.
She decides to confront her about it. She watches the Ravenclaw table closely, and the moment the two twins get up, Lavender drops her breakfast and rushes just outside the doors of the Great Hall.
Once the two of them step out, Lavender cuts in front of them. The two of them stop in their tracks, and Parvati stares at her with an unreadable expression on her face. She's always been able to read Parvati like a book - the two of them had been best friends right from the start - so to be faced with this throws Lavender off her game.
But she takes a deep breath. "Parvati, can I speak to you in private?"
The twins glance at each other. Padma tilts her head in question.
"Please?" Lavender tacks on, her voice wobbling dangerously on the word.
Parvati winces at that. She gives her sister a short nod, and Padma turns and walks down the hallway, giving Lavender a warning look all the while.
"Let's walk," Parvati says. She stays a good distance away, and Lavender itches to hold her hand again, to do something familiar again. "What do you want?"
"Have I done something wrong?" Lavender blurts out as they start down the hallway to Transfiguration class. "You haven't been talking to me at all lately."
"I haven't been talking to you?" Parvati asks, incredulous. "Shouldn't it be the other way around? You've only being talking to that group of stupid first year girls who have a bad case of hero worship."
Lavender's temper flares at that, despite herself. "Don't call them stupid," she snaps. "And I'll bet you're just jealous that I've been getting all the attention, aren't you?"
Parvati stops walking at that, and Lavender places a hand at her mouth, horrified, wishing she could take back those words.
Parvati's eyes fill with tears. "How could you believe I'm so shallow like that? I don't give a damn about attention - you already know that."
Lavender pushes forward. "Then what then? What is it? Why are you mad at me?"
There's a beat of silence.
"You're right," Parvati says, hushed. "You're right, I'm jealous. I hate that those girls have replaced me, and I hate that they're taking the person I love away from me."
She stares at Lavender then, expectant, strong. Lavender, for once in her life, is at a complete loss for words at the abrupt confession. Complete silence envelops the two of them once more.
"I guess that's my answer," Parvati says. "Forget it."
She walks off, and all Lavender can do is stare blankly as her back fades from view.
.
If Lavender thought she was being brushed off before, it's nothing that compares to now. Parvati has completely stopped talking to her, which is a feat considering they're in the same house and share the same dorm room.
Lavender finds herself craving the other girl's company dearly. She missed her snarky comebacks, her mischievous attitude, her comforting presence that makes History of Magic not at all boring.
And, to her surprise, she realizes that she missed Parvati's beautiful almond eyes, the touch of her skin that's as smooth as butter, her comforting hugs. She misses her so dearly that she wonders… perhaps… had she been in love with her best friend this entire time? But she's gone and ruined everything already. Parvati isn't talking to her. Padma gives her cold looks.
There's only one solution.
Lavender's hands shake as she faces the missing connections board across the Great Hall. She carefully pins the sheet of parchment at the only space in the bottom left corner. Then, she flits away quickly to where she had anonymously asked Parvati to meet her.
Lavender brings two balls of yarn and her knitting needles to the empty classroom in the West Corridor to wait, just in case she ended up waiting for a while. She tended to knit when she was nervous - it gave her something to do with her hands, at the very least.
Three hours later, the door lets out a whine and a small, dark head of hair peers in through the door. Lavender's head jolts up, and she places her work down on the table she had been sitting at.
Lavender can almost see the shutter fall down in Parvati's eyes the moment they make eye contact.
"Wait!" Lavender yells, as Parvati makes to slam the door shut again. "I'll be quick, I promise. Just - wait."
Slowly, the door opens again. Parvati leans against the doorframe and crosses her arms.
Lavender bites her lip, allowing herself to hope. "I'm sorry," she says. "I've been a complete arsehole to you. But, I've been doing a lot of thinking over the past couple weeks and I think I'm in love with you too. Will you please give me another chance?"
Lavender lifts her gaze up and meets Parvati's eyes again as she waits for her response.
"One," she says finally. "You're only getting one chance."
The weight on her chest is abruptly releasedu. Lavender squeals in happiness, tackle hugging Parvati in relief. As the girl's arms move to wrap around her waist, Lavender thinks that no missed connection could ever be as important as the one she almost lost.