A/N: I don't own the Potterverse; that belongs to J.K. Rowling. It's been a while since I've played tennis, so if I messed anything up related to that, you'll know why.

Why the Patils had a tennis court in their backyard made no sense to Lavender Brown. Then again, Lavender had little to no interest in most actual sports, but rather in the athletes themselves, who were totally crush-worthy in Lavender's opinion. So when Parvati took Lavender to see the massive outdoor sports complex the Patils owned (including the tennis courts, a regulation cricket pitch, and a pitch and putt green for her father), Lavender saw a lot of wide open space, and not a whole lot she was really interested in.

So when Padma came out dressed to play tennis and asked Lavender if she would like to get in a game, Lavender declined, saying she could learn much more from watching Padma and Parvati play, as they already knew most of what was going on. She had always been a visual learner, she claimed. Padma shrugged, and looked at her sister, who summoned her own racket from the house.

Lavender conjured a nice chair for herself to sit in, and called one of the Patil's house elves to bring a pitcher of lemonade while she watched the sisters play a friendly match of tennis. Of course, a "friendly" match between the sisters rivaled a more competitive match as one might see at Wimbledon, since the twins had been in training to become professionals from a young age, and even interrupting their training to attend Hogwarts hadn't kept the girls from finding some time to keep up their skills (especially once they discovered the Room of Requirement and could begin year-round training). Even in Hogwarts, Lavender had been an occasional spectator when Parvati wanted someone to keep an eye on her during training. For the first few years, Lavender had gone along mostly out of friendship, and partly because being separated from her friend made life very dull in Gryffindor.

But for the last couple of years, Lavender had been far more willing to go… "observe" Parvati's training regimen. While the standby excuse of "Why wouldn't I support my best friend?" had held steady throughout that time, Lavender also had developed another reason why she enjoyed seeing Parvati dance around on the tennis court, whirling and twirling to return the little yellow ball. Put very simply, Lavender was crushing on her best friend, and watching her practice tennis was very, very exciting for Lavender.

Back in the present day, Lavender had settled herself in with a magazine in hand, a glass of lemonade within reach, and a pair of gorgeous, tennis-playing sisters ready to battle for her amusement. For Lavender, this was about as good as life could get.

The first set went very quickly to Padma. She was utterly focused on the match, whereas Parvati seemed to be somewhat distracted. Lavender noticed her friend had glanced her way more than a few times, and had lost a couple of points by doing so. Lavender casually sipped her lemonade, but her heart was pounding in her chest. Maybe Parvati's glances meant something more?

The second set was much longer, and in the end Parvati put the set away with a wicked forehand perfectly placed in the back corner. She had been much more focused this set, and had hardly glanced Lavender's way. On the other hand, Padma had snuck a few peeks when she thought Lavender wasn't looking, which was intriguing enough that Lavender set her magazine aside and actually gave her full attention to the match.

The final set came down to a rather long tiebreaker. First Parvati would jump out to a lead, then Padma would come back and take the lead herself. Neither sister could put the other away, and the score climbed higher and higher: 15-14, then 17-16, and soon the sisters were tied again at 21-all. Everyone's focus was completely on the game now: Padma, Parvati, Lavender, even the house elf who had come to refresh the lemonade had been enthralled for a moment.

Finally, leading 28-27, Parvati got the opening she needed: a high lob from her diving sister left the entire court available. With both hands, Parvati connected on a backhand strike her sister had no chance of catching up to, and won the match. She dropped her racket and threw her hands in the air in celebration. Her eyes found Lavender rushing towards her, a huge grin on her face.

Despite not knowing much about the game of tennis, even Lavender could feel the moment right before Parvati won the match was coming. And in her mind, she decided that if she was ever going to tell Parvati about her crush, the time to do it was fast approaching. As the ball bounded away from Padma, Lavender rushed on the court towards Parvati, with only one thought on her mind: It's time.

Padma was cursing herself for having to dive, and as she waved futilely at Parvati's return, she was sad that she had lost, but happy that she and her sister had played a damn fine match, and she consoled herself with that thought as she watched Lavender rush up to Parvati and plant a very wet kiss on her lips.

Parvati's mind went utterly blank when Lavender kissed her. She had no idea how to respond, and as parts of her brain started to re-engage, she feared that she was about to lose her best friend as her hands came up to lightly push Lavender away. "Lav, I'm so sorry, but I don't like you that way. I…I have to go. We'll talk later, OK?" Parvati ran inside as she saw Lavender go from crestfallen to heartbroken in an instant. Fighting to hold in her own tears, Parvati ran into her room and buried her face in a pillow, trying to muffle her sobs.

Lavender put as much feeling into the kiss as she could, making sure Parvati got the message as loud and clear as she could. When she felt Parvati's hands coming up to her, Lavender thought "YES!" And then Parvati's hands gently pushed on her shoulders, she broke the kiss, and then broke Lavender's heart. As the Indian girl ran inside, Lavender dropped to her knees, utterly crushed.

Padma watched as her sister broke away from her best friend and ran inside. Padma had a pretty good idea of where Parvati was headed, and figured it was probably better to let her sister work this one out on her own for a bit. She gingerly walked over to Lavender, and kneeled down next to the distraught girl. "Come on, Lav," she whispered, "let's go talk. You and me, ok?" She helped the girl to her feet, and helped her walk inside. Since Padma had gotten a room on the other side of the house from her sister just before they had gone to Hogwarts, she led Lavender there, taking care to keep the girl upright and to not let her bump into anything. Once in her room, Padma sat Lavender on her bed, and hugged her tightly whispering words of comfort as her tears started flowing.

When Parvati was able to calm herself down, she walked into her bathroom and splashed some cold water on her face. Looking in the mirror, she saw that she looked like a mess, but at least she could look at herself and feel like she had done the right thing for her. While she did enjoy having Lavender as a friend, Parvati had never seriously entertained any romantic thoughts about any woman she knew, much less her best friend. She couldn't imagine what Lav might be feeling now, but she hoped they could still be friends after this. She would hate to lose Lavender's company, and once she figured out the best way to help and support her friend, she would do it. That's what friends did. Wasn't it?

Lavender barely noticed that Padma was guiding her into her room. She was still in utter shock from having been rejected by her best friend. It wasn't until Padma pulled her in close that she finally let all the grief through. It wasn't supposed to be this way! Parvati wasn't supposed to have reacted like that! Although… Parvati had never really expressed a preference to Lavender, had she? But those looks at her… maybe they were just looks? Slowly, painfully, Lavender began to pull herself back together mentally. She was glad that Padma was still comforting her. She felt really nice…

Padma kept Lavender seated as she cried, not wanting to let the girl start stumbling all over the place in case she decided to make a break for it. Eventually, the tears stopped falling, the sobs came less frequently and quieted down to almost nothing, and a quick look determined that Lavender had fallen asleep on her shoulder. Padma smiled, and eased the girl off her shoulder onto a pillow so she could sleep for a while, before lightly kissing her forehead. Though she was sure Lavender wouldn't mind terribly given the situation, Padma was quite sure that she would much rather have a talk with Lavender while not smelling like she had just played a grueling tennis match. She carefully slipped into the ensuite bathroom, trying not to make noise and wake Lavender, and took her shower.

As Lavender slept, she dreamt about all of the times she and Parvati had hung out together as friends, and began to realize that just about every sign she thought she had gotten from Parvati indicating interest in her also doubled as things that a good friend with no interest would have done or said in the same position. Kissing Parvati was a very regrettable mistake, and if she hadn't been so devoted to her crush, Lavender was sure it could have been avoided. While her crush on Parvati was understandable, it looked like it was completely one-sided. It was a hard realization for Lavender, but one she realized she desperately needed.

On the other hand, a quick examination of how Padma had behaved around her provided some very different observations. While not having a photographic memory, Lavender prided herself on having very good recall, and now that she put all of her brainpower into it, some of the things Padma had said to her and the actions she took around her had been highly suspect, but Lavender had never noticed as she had been too focused on Parvati. Could that mean…?

As Padma dried off and redressed, she thought about how she was going to deal with Lavender. Now that her crush on Parvati had been shattered, Padma knew that Lavender was going to think back on a few moments that Padma was amazed she had missed originally. What would have looked to the outside observer as a simple touch here, a veiled innuendo there, meant much more than that to Padma. While Parvati had never entertained the idea of a female sexual partner, Padma had not only entertained the idea, but become very well acquainted with the concept during her school years. Padma was not exclusively a "witches' witch" (as one Harry Potter could certainly attest to), but she preferred female companionship, and for as long as she had known Lavender Brown, there had been a small part of Padma that had longed to be much, much closer to the girl.

Now, it seemed that Padma might actually get the chance she had been hoping for. So she was going to make damn sure that she didn't mess this up. She pulled her long hair up into a loose ponytail (the style she knew Lavender preferred when Parvati wore it), applied a thin coating of deep red lipstick (given to her as a birthday gift by Lavender), and made final adjustments to her barely there purple gown (Lavender's favorite color). Taking one last deep breath, Padma opened the door back into her bedroom, and hoped that this would work.

Lavender stirred, stretched, and opened her eyes to find the most beautiful woman she had ever seen standing at the foot of the bed, smiling at her. Still a bit hazy from being asleep, Lavender had to blink a few times before she recognized Padma. Once she did, her mouth hung open in amazement. Padma blushed slightly, but maintained eye contact with Lavender.

A few long moments passed before Lavender finally found words to say. "Hello beautiful."

Padma slowly walked around the bed, and sat gracefully next to Lavender. "I was wondering if you would ever notice. I wish it hadn't been forced upon you, but I'm not sorry that it was."

Lavender nodded. "And I'm sorry I didn't notice sooner. Pad, if I had known…"

Padma put a finger on Lavender's lips. "Don't beat yourself up. You were distracted, and for very good reason. But now I'm here, and I'm here for you."

Lavender's eyes got very wide at that, and as Padma slowly closed the distance between them, she thanked every deity she could think of (and Merlin at least twice) for this opportunity, and swore she would do anything to make the most of it that she could.

Then, they kissed, and everything else in the world became unimportant.

Fin