This Is Where
38. Thestrals
Suddenly the meat from the carcass started being ripped off, disappearing into nothing. Parvati's insides froze. Oh, what had Hagrid gotten them into this time?
"What's doing it?" she asked. "What's eating it?"
"Thestrals," Hagrid replied with a smile.
Parvati straightened with realization. She turned to Lavender but saw that her friend's eyes were fixed firmly on the ground.
"Lav - " she started, but Lavender shook her head minutely.
"I don't want them to know," Lavender whispered, and Parvati understood.
"But they're really, really unlucky!" Parvati said shrilly, trying to get attention off of Lavender. "They're supposed to bring all sorts of horrible misfortune on people who see them." She felt awful for saying this with Lavender right beside her. "Professor Trelawney told me once - " she lied.
"No, no, no," said Hagrid, and he began to explain but Parvati wasn't listening.
She felt Lavender shrink back behind her and Parvati felt something pass by. She backed up with Lavender up to a tree.
"I think I felt something, I think it's near me!" Parvati exclaimed.
Hagrid seemed almost amused. "Don' worry, it won' hurt yeh. Righ', now, who can tell me why some o' you can see them an' some can't?"
Naturally it was Hermione who answered: "The only people who can see thestrals are people who have seen death."
Parvati felt Lavender shiver.
The rest of the lesson passed without Parvati having to make any more exclamations thanks to Umbridge's appearance. Parvati spent the time trying to make sure that Lavender was okay, but Lavender had gone sort of zombie-like. Her eyes weren't focused and she just stood there not reacting to anything that happened.
"Lavender, what - " she tried when they were finally walking back to the castle.
Lavender whirled around, hair flying with the force of her tone.
"I don't want them to know!" she exclaimed with a kind of fury in her voice. "You saw how Umbridge asked Neville who he'd seen die! You saw how the Slytherins looked at Theodore Nott when he raised his hand. You see how people treat Harry, knowing that he saw Cedric die."
Parvati's insides wrenched painfully. She'd never thought of it like that.
"What if Umbridge had asked me? What if someone else did later?" Lavender's eyes were sparkling with tears. "They'd never let me forget it, never let me move on. They'd force me to dwell on it, and I can't do that!"
"I'm sorry, I know you can't, I'm sorry," Parvati said softly, going forward and putting her arms around her. "It's your secret. You have the right to keep it."
"Thanks for covering for me," Lavender mumbled after a moment.
"Of course," Parvati said.
"Oy, don' get too far behind!" Hagrid called.
"Coming!" Parvati called. She pulled away from Lavender. "Let's go back, yeah?"
Lavender smiled. "Yeah."