Disclaimer: I don't own them.
*** Thank you to Vanilla Baby who is awesome because she was the first to review! Thanks for your enthusiastic review—I always feel so good after I read your review! You're awesome! Hermione Weasley yeah for being the 500th review! That's awesome! I feel so loved! Thank you! HpFaNaTiCa thank you for your awesome review! It's great that you think the last chapter was the "bestest"! Thank you! Lily Michelle to answer your question: I have no idea where that quote came from! I just thought it was cute and I love it. I think I got it off a random site…hmm…anyhow, thanks for the review! And I'm glad you liked the last chapter so much! This chapter is for you especially alright dearie? I hope you enjoy! Pinkchicklet thank you for the review! It means so much to me that you reviewed! I'm glad you're enjoying both stories! That's so cool! Americanangel thanks for your review even though you were busy! I understand business! LOL! Thank you! Keep writing! Celeste it is an amazing compliment to know I got you to think! Thank you for the awesome compliment! Lycr thanks for the great review! Its so nice to know I've touched a nerve with you! Soupcann314 you're another awesome reviewer! Thank you so much for the nice compliments! I love that you thought the last chapter was excellent! Thank you! Ednyadove thanks so much for the reviews (on both stories) it truly is awesome to see so many familiar names! Thank you! Sugar Blossom thanks for saying my writing is continually improving! That's definitely my goal and it's nice to know that I'm achieving it! Thank you! You're welcome for the fast update! Fiona Goldfeet thanks for liking the last chapter! It's great to have a faithful reviewer like you around—and you are faithful! Thank you! Shaunna thanks for your absolutely enthusiastic review! That's so sweet! Thank you for thinking I'm brilliant and intelligent and creative! It really does mean a lot to me! Kai new person! Yeah! Thanks for the quick review! It's awesome to see a new person's perspective! Hermiones-Twin if you wanted action…here's some action for you! Enjoy the chapter! Danidancer thank you for your nice little review! It means a lot to me that you've stuck with me this long! Andie well…enjoy this chapter! That's all I'm going to say—enjoy this chapter! Leah Weasley thanks for your sincere compliment on my writing ability and style. It's awesome that you enjoy my story! And I'm glad you liked the chapter "Beautiful". I had a lot of fun writing that! Thank you! Mina I'm glad that you feel appreciated with the personal thanks I give each of my reviewers. I review stories too and sometimes it would just be nice to be recognized as a reviewer so I know how you feel and that's why I do this! Thank you for thinking I'm a talented writer, that really means a lot to me! And yes, the songs would go along great with them, wouldn't they? LOL! Eve a first time reviewer! Yeah! You know, you aren't the first person to bring "Lady in Red" to my attention and I guess this means I'll have to use it, eh? LOL! Thank you for your review! Thank you to everyone who's read and reviewed! It all REALLY, TRULY means SO MUCH to me! Alas, the next chapter will be up tomorrow (probably about 12:30 AM like this one—I'm going to the Lizzie McGuire movie with a friend…I just want to see her and Guardo (sp?) get together—at least I hope they do…OK, I'm rambling…time for bed…) Enjoy this chapter! Thank you!
Chapter 43: Written in the Stars
"Natalie, could you come here?" Carmen's soft voice woke Natalie from her morning nap. It was eight o'clock in the morning but Natalie had returned to the Infirmary faithfully at the crack of dawn. Really, at the earliest Madame Pomfrey would allow her in to see her friend(s).
Natalie wearily made her way over to her friend's side. "What is it?" she asked quietly. She brushed away long strands of her friend's dark hair.
Despite dry, cracked lips Carmen smiled. It was a brittle smile but it was a smile all the same. Natalie wondered in the back of her mind how many more smiles she would be getting from Carmen when her friend found out about Lee.
Lee. Just the thought of his name squeezed her heart in worry.
Natalie leaned over and kissed her friend's forehead. "Carmen there has been some things that I've had to do in the past months and I just want you to know I still love you."
Carmen looked confused over this but kept smiling anyway. She squeezed her friend's hand. "I know."
No, you don't know. Natalie smiled brightly anyway. "I'm so glad you're back Carmen," she told her truthfully.
Carmen's eyes crinkled in a suppressed smile. "Good."
Natalie looked around the Infirmary. Madame Pomfrey was checking Lavender's temperature and then Padma's. Next it would be Carmen's turn. Lee would come after that. "I'm going to go to breakfast now, alright Carmen?"
Carmen smiled. "Go eat something good for me," she requested.
Natalie exited the Infirmary just as Mitch Reed entered it. His eyes scanned the rows of bed until he found the one he knew was Katie's. Her hair lay limply upon her pillow and some strands fell down the side of the bed.
He wasn't imagining Padma's dark eyes on him.
She seemed to follow his every move.
Mitch made his way quickly to Katie's bed, closing the thin curtain around him when he reached it. He didn't care what Madame Pomfrey said to him or how much trouble he might get in. He wanted his privacy and that's all there was to it.
He traced the lines of her cheekbone and jaw with his index finger. Like when he touched the pages of her diary, little sparks shot through his body. Only this time it was real. It was much more real.
How was he going to say what he wanted to say? What was he going to say? It would be so easy to just let the words— "I love you Katie," slipped from his tongue. "Did I just say that?" he asked in a shocked whisper.
Katie's eyelids didn't move. Her chest stayed still.
"I love you Katie," he said again, this time more firmly. His confidence was building and it was definitely easier to tell her how he felt the more he said it. "I love you so much," he whispered. "I don't know how long I've waited to say that to you," he spilled. "But I'm glad I said it now."
Nothing happened.
Mitch tried not to feel disappointed. He had heard this was what happened; nothing that is but it was hard not to wish that Katie would open her eyes, smile and tell him she felt the same way.
He leaned over and kissed her lips softly.
***
The four friends all ate breakfast together and then they parted ways; Hermione had Arithmancy now and Ron and Harry had a last minute Quidditch practice. Seamus would have had practice too if he hadn't been benched from a month of Quidditch for missing a practice to admit his feelings to Lavender Brown.
"Getting benched for a month was worth it," Seamus proclaimed happily.
Ron stared at him in disbelief and Harry was pretty sure his best mate thought missing Quidditch was worse than not having Hermione. Well, maybe not exactly but pretty darn close, he figured.
Still, Ron didn't give Seamus too big of a deal over it.
Parvati kissed Harry's lips quietly and then told him she had to do some research. That was totally unlike the Parvati he had known before but when she showed him Hermione's letter of explanation he understood perfectly.
"She's passed the torch to you, eh?" Harry asked teasingly.
Parvati's brow crinkled in confusion.
Harry chuckled and kissed her cheek. "Never mind Parvati; I just meant that she's giving you the responsibility of the Treuth potion now."
Her dark eyes lit with humor. She smiled broadly. "Yes! That's exactly what she's doing! She's making me do it all now!" She brushed away an irritating strand of dark hair that Harry loved because it seemed to have a mind of its own. "Anyway, I'm supposed to go look stuff up now. I suppose she thinks that just because Lav is in the Infirmary I don't give a damn about Divination and the sort but that's not true," she teased in a pouty voice.
Harry grinned.
Then she slugged him playfully in the arm. "Go on now! Git off to practice!" she told him in a hick type voice.
Harry left Parvati there with a quick smile.
Parvati walked alone the way to the library only to run quite literally into Mitch Reed who seemed more preoccupied then he had been in a long time.
He even stooped to be the gentleman and pick up her books, which had spilled down on the floor. "Sorry about that Parvati," he told her while he was picking up her books.
She knelt down on the floor so she could be eye level with him. "It's alright. I wasn't paying much attention to where I was going either," she said honestly.
Mitch smiled all the way to his eyes.
"You seem happy," she commented curiously.
He winked and gave her a knowing look.
Parvati laughed nervously. "You better now just have hit on me Mitch. Remember, I'm dating Harry? Such as in Harry the Gryffindor Seeker?" she reminded him.
Mitch laughed so loud it startled a few nearby students into giggles. Others gave the two people suspicious stares. "You're really worried about that, aren't you?" he asked, subtlely reminding her of their early encounter on the stairs in front of the Ravenclaw tower.
He continued chuckling until she sighed impatiently.
"I'm so glad you found that funny," she retorted dryly. There was, however, a hint of humor in her eyes.
They continued watching each other for a second until Parvati realized what exactly he was grinning about. Then her eyes widened in happy shock. She threw her arms around him laughing. "Good for you!" she squealed happily.
Mitch hugged her back but not for long because he didn't want fellow students getting the wrong idea and thinking she was going behind Harry's back. He pulled away and looked her directly in the eye.
He was still obviously happy but something else was wrong… "What?" she asked curiously.
Mitch shifted uncomfortably and she couldn't tell if it was because they were still lying on the floor or because he truly felt uncomfortable with what he had to say. He looked away from her, at some point far behind her head. "I really am sorry about the whole thing with Padma, Parvati," he mumbled.
She smiled a sad smile. "It's OK Mitch. You don't have to feel bad about it."
"Your sister is angry with me," he commented.
"Can you blame her?"
He chuckled and shook his head. "No, I suppose you're right. I'd be mad at myself if I did that to me." His face once again became serious though. "I really do feel bad, Parvati. It'll be terrible when your sister can come back to Ravenclaw. She'll be shooting me bad looks every time I see her."
Parvati laughed despite the seriousness of what he was telling her. She nodded. "You're right you know: she will shoot you bad looks until you graduate, but she's a big girl. She understands that some things are just not meant to be. She'll get over it," she reassured him.
"You were mad at me," he said knowledgeably.
"You're right; I was mad. But you're wrong too; I wasn't mad at you. I was just irritated with the situation in general," she replied as he stood up, only to hold out his hand for her. She declined the offer with a polite shake of her head.
"The point being Mitch is that Padma will get over it. You don't find your soul mate when you're fifteen, sixteen years old. Not unless you happen to be Ron or Hermione that is," she said as if she was teasing even though she meant it.
Mitch laughed appreciatively. "What about you and Harry?"
Parvati nodded and stuck her nose in the air. "That I am not going to answer. I would love to say we'll be together until one of us dies but like I said, you've got to be Ron or Hermione to find your soul mate at this age." There was a brief pause. "Hold it. Not your soul mate. You can find your soul mate at this age. What I meant was unless you're Ron or Hermione you aren't going to find the love of your life at this age," she restated.
Mitch laughed some more. "You think that much about those two, don't you?"
She shrugged and gave him a knowing look. "Some things are just written in the stars."
How was that? I really like this chapter too! Now that I know what is going on with "my" characters I'm having fun! Thank you for reading! I hope you are enjoying this story! Please let me know by leaving me a review! (Note: to all those wondering about the quote from two chapters ago, I have NO IDEA where it came from! LOL! I just thought it was really cute!
The fighting part of the war is basically over, so now I ask that you all pray/light a candle/meditate/whatever-it-is-you-do for those who lost loved ones, no matter what side they were on. And I ask you give support to our government and I pray personally that you pray our government(s) make the right decisions in the coming days. I apologize if this request has offended you.
We always believe our first love is our last, and our last love our first.
