Parvati choked down her last sobs, rinsed her hands, and combed out her long shiny hair. Then she heard the talk of excited voiced behind the door.

"Oh...Parvati," said the girl with the flaming red hair. "So tell me, I want to hear it from you. What really happened?" Ginny, who was nice and friendly to Parvati had turned into one of them. Her older brother, Ron, and taken to listening to Padma's horrible rumors that not only did he avoid her, he also speculated along with the other students. Parvati felt that the whole school was alienating her, which was an obvious of course.

"Yeah, tell us. You know we're your friends, right? Ginny's stating the obvious. We want to hear. The stuff Padma told us, they're true right? I mean, she wouldn't make things up," pressed Lavender.

Parvati looked at the two girls in disbelief. Her fellow Gryffindors? She had thought that they would be the first to stand by her, to defend her, telling the whole school that those "firsthand accounts" were lies.

"Don't bother me." Parvati ran out the bathroom. Her pounding feet didn't stop her from hearing the words uttered by her once good friends.

"Must be true, Lavender. She's not telling us anything. Blimey, the common room tonight is going to be a riot!"

can't you see that you're smothering me
holding too tightly
afraid to lose control
cause everything that you thought i would be
has fallen apart right in front of you

caught in the undertow / just caught in the undertow
every step that i take is another mistake to you
caught in the undertow / just caught in the undertow
and every second i waste is more than i can take

Nobody knew what really happened. She had tried to tell Padma the week after, but her own twin didn't believe her. Her own twin, her likeness had made up ideas about her sister's six hour disappearances, filling up the huge gaps with stories of her own. Padma liked the publicity. You love it, don't you? Parvati bitterly thought. The only people relatively nice enough to her were only Hermione and Harry. But even Hermione seemed distant at times; even Hermione listened with wide eyes and an opened mouth. Parvati felt her eyes blur with tears again. She could taste her tears. Everything was blurry now; she couldn't see where she was going. A sudden jolt knocked the reality back into her.

"Hey Parvati."

"Harry...and...and Ron," she stammered.

"What are you doing here?" asked Ron unkindly.

"Oh be nice Ron. I'll meet up with you later."

"Um...yeah, so you can have a private chat with...with her." Ron raised his eyebrows. "You actually believe her? Blimey, you're thick!"

"Look Ron, I don't believe a word Parvati's been telling everyone." Parvati's heart sank. SO Harry didn't believe anything she told him at all.

"I'll see you Harry. Reminds me, I've got to do that essay for Snape."

Harry and Parvati walked five minutes in silence.

"I believe you, Parvati. I really do. You're not mad at me, are you? I only said that to get Ron out of our way. I understand what Voldemort is capable of. I dueled with him in fourth year, remember?" Parvati flinched.

"So those things everybody's saying about me, you don't believe a single word. You don't believe it? Except...except that I did terrible on the OWL exams." Parvati knew that her life was ruined. Those low scores on OWLs, and now...now this. Parvati had tried to convince herself that the only reason why her stomach had been swelling was only because she ate too much. Her parents had taken her to St. Mungo's to confirm the truth. At home, they read the results. It was everything she had feared. That little slip of paper confirmed everything, that...thing in her stomach was alive. And it was his child. Her parents had nearly disowned her. Her sister had turned against her. Her friends had become distant. 'How could she do such a thing?' The Slytherins jeered and ridiculed her. Her. Parvati Patil. The mother of his child? Their shocked faces gave way to laughter. A weakling like her.

"Why don't we go to the common room? It's usually empty now, since we're on lunch break."

Parvati nodded. At least she had one friend she could talk to. However, they were impeded by a gang of Slytherins led by a tall menacing figure with white blond hair.