This Is Where


9. Friend

Parvati was miserable.

She'd been absolutely ridden with guilt for a couple weeks now. Lavender was ignoring her completely and was doing as great a job at it as Padma was. And to nobody's greater surprise than her own, she had found herself missing Lavender's (constant) company. The first day was glorious. She wasn't bothered at all. But then she'd started to miss the little whispers, even though they had been a bit annoying. And she missed sitting with someone at mealtimes. And she missed being greeted and smiled at.

Lavender was right: being alone was not fun. Parvati had come to the realization that she'd never truly been alone in her entire life since Padma used to always be at her side, and she got the feeling she was only just getting a taste of what being alone was like. And she'd also realized, with a sinking feeling, that Lavender probably knew exactly what it was like to be alone.

She trudged into the common room after spending the evening outside trying to use the Softening Charm to make some pebbles go rubbery but she'd had no luck. The common room was surprisingly empty, except for -

Lavender looked up from her spot by the fire and then looked quickly away. Parvati swallowed and made her resolve, then approached.

"Lavender, I - "

"I'm sorry," Lavender said quickly, biting her lip and meeting Parvati's eyes. "I shouldn't have said that about your sister and I shouldn't have bothered you so much. I'm sorry."

"No, I'm sorry," Parvati said. "You were just being nice and I was a brat. It's just...it's been hard, without..." Parvati sighed.

"I understand," Lavender replied softly, smiling a bit at Parvati.

Parvati breathed a sigh of relief, glad that Lavender wasn't going to spend the rest of the year being mad at her.

"Listen," Lavender said slowly, her eyes on the fireplace as she nervously played with her hair, "I know you said that you don't need friends - "

Parvati opened her mouth to protest but Lavender kept going.

" - because you have a twin, but, um...I don't have a twin. I don't have any brothers or sisters, either. I don't really have anybody, so...so I do need a friend," Lavender said slowly, glancing anxiously up at Parvati. "Fay and Ginger are already friends, and Hermione and I are too different...But I thought, maybe, if you would be okay with - "

Parvati grabbed a cushion off a chair and sat down next to her. "Lavender Brown, I would be honored to be your friend."

Lavender beamed and her eyes sparkled as much as her sequined bow.