Resubmitted because of slight grammatical errors and a giant plot-hole.
Heads bent against the chill winter wind, Parvati and Padma Patil battled their way back from Hogsmede, going slower than was actually necessary because of the load they carried. Both were laden down by bag after bag of Christmas shopping, for relatives, friends and, of course, each other.
It was two weeks before the holidays began, two weeks that had decided steadfastly to go so slow that they almost seemed to be going backwards (or maybe it was the clocks going backwards? Who knew, Peeves might have gotten to them…) The state of excitement surrounding the castle was at its usual level, and still growing as the term took its sweet-arsed time to draw to an end.
The winter season, and all it embodied, brought with it a general cheer that seemed infectious throughout the whole school, from the conniving Slytherins to the ever-rowdy Gryffindors, and the halls were now continually decorated, from wall to wall, in red, green, gold and silver, little tit-bits of mistletoe once every few doorways. Christmas, it seemed, was the one time that everyone inside the walls of Hogwarts enjoyed (except Professor Snape, perhaps, the snarky Potions Master whose shadow haunted the halls at night when he went on his rounds of the castle, singling out and delivering severe punishments to any students who weren't in his own House. At Christmas, his sneers were especially obvious as he glared at the brightly coloured decorations in what one could only call malicious intent. Snape, it seemed, didn't like any celebration whatsoever, not even his own birthday, which had been announced happily and with great enthusiasm by the Headmaster at breakfast somewhere near the end of October. His joyous announcement was followed by a half-hearted round of "Happy Birthday" by the students who were unfortunate enough to be dining that morning in Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Gryffindor. Slytherin, however, sang as loud as possible, clapping and cheering raucously, some even whistling in their celebration of the occasion.)
"Urgh," came Padma's voice, barely audible over the howling of the wind. Parvati turned to see her twin on her knees in the snow, panting for breath, her face turned away from the vicious onslaught of snow.
"We're almost there!" Parvati shouted over the noise. "C'mon! I want to get out of this cold!" She stuck out her hand to help Padma to her feet and hauled her up. They set off again, walking as close together as their bags would allow.
When they made it to the long sloping driveway, they stopped again to look up towards the castle. Parvati groaned at the thought of having to trudge all the way up the huge slope. "Oh god," she whined, panting slightly. "There must be an easier way to do this. You're a Ravenclaw, isn't there a spell we could use to deflect the snow or something?" she tried to yell over the shrieking wind.
"I dunno," came Padma's reply before being whipped off by the wind.
"Pfft! I thought you were supposed to be smart!"
"And I though you were supposed to be brave! Can't a Gryffindor get through a little snow and wind by themselves?"
"That's not the point!" she griped back.
"Whatever, lets go. My nose feels like it's beginning to freeze off."
They began the long walk up towards the huge front doors, and the welcoming warmth they could just imagine lay behind them. They both endured being whipped hither and tither by the wind with excessive amounts of swearing, and by the time they were halfway they were struggling for any spare breath they could manage to waste on their profanities.
"Padma, stop a second!" Parvati yelled as she stooped over, leaning heavily on her knees and gasping for air as one hand curled around the painful stitch in her side.
"Come on, Par! I want to get warm!" Padma wailed at her.
"Let me catch my – Pad? Is that Harry?" Parvati was squinting off towards the lake where a dark figure with messy black hair and a red and gold scarf wrapped around its face and neck had just appeared from beneath the branches of a snow-covered tree. Against what pale skin was showing of the persons face was a distinct set of black framed glasses.
"He must have been visiting Hagrid," Padma said, dropping back to her sister's side. "They're good friends, aren't they?"
"He can't have been," Parvati replied, and at the questioning look Padma gave her she continued, "He came from under that tree by the lake. Hagrid's place is on the other side of the school."
"Why don't you just ask him later? Now come on, or we'll be turned into snowmen."
They began walking again, Parvati following Harry's movements closely. She was so deep in thought about why the Boy Wonder of the Wizarding world had been under a snow-covered tree, or out in the grounds at all, in such abysmal weather that she forgot to curse when she stumbled and almost didn't duck in time when a large branch flew at her from out of nowhere, apparently ripped from its tree by the violent winds. After she had dodged the limb, belatedly warned by Padma's cry of distress, she looked back to find Harry once more, but the Boy Who Lived had vanished in a flurry of snow.
Sitting low in one of the comfy armchairs in the Gryffindor Common Room, Parvati decided that there could be no place warmer or friendlier in the school than the room she was currently in, listening to the hustle and bustle of the rest of the House as they all warmed themselves by the fire, swapping stories of their shopping trip to Hogsmede or finishing off last-minute assignments.
Parvati sighed contentedly and sunk lower in her chair, casting a quick glance around at the rest of the room. A movement over in one of the further corners caught her eye and she looked back to find a distressed and tired looking Hermione clinging to the neck of an equally worn and worried Ron. Harry, she noticed, was nowhere to be seen.
It had been a while since Parvati had spoken to either Harry or Ron. For a year or more she had made a point of ignoring them both after their disastrous 'date' for the Yule Ball in their fourth year. But that had started to get old after a while, and she had more than forgiven them for their ignorance in how girls like to be treated. It was when they had started the DA group that she had decided that keeping her silly little grudge wasn't as important as the fight against You-Know-Who. It was during the DA meetings that she had finally started to see the boys in a completely new light, one that made her realize what the boys really were, especially Harry. Before he had been a famous boy with an ugly scar on his relatively gorgeous face, but in two years he had grown up more than anyone else in their grade. His childish face was distorted from that of a child in a new world with his first ever friends, into the face of a young man who had seen and done things that most adults, Muggle or Magic, had never seen or done in their lives. His strength came form the people he loved, the people he had come to call his family, and the deaths of all those that the Dark Lord murdered in his endeavour to purge the Wizard world or impure blood. He was the Saviour of the only world she knew, and he carried his burden no matter what happened to him. He never gave up, maybe because he knew he was the only one that could save this strange place he now called home, or maybe because he didn't want to lose it. He was a halfblood; after all, he would be one of the many to lose this fabulous new place. Or maybe it was a sense of duty because so many looked to him for saving. Or maybe it was just pure hatred and revenge for all the families Voldemort had killed.
And Ron, who had before been a sidekick, drawn to Harry's fame like a moth to the light, turned into his best friend, ever faithful and standing beside him through thick and thin, giving him more energy with unwavering and unquestionable support. He never doubted Harry (or at least not any more. Everyone knew about that one spat of theirs in fourth year, pure jealously, perhaps, on Ron's part, but completely forgivable.)
But lately something had changed for the Boy Who Lived. Parvati had noticed it when she had stopped by their carriage on the Hogwarts express to say hello to Hermione. Harry had been sitting apart from his best friends, pushing himself flat against the glass of the window, looking out with distant eyes. Both Ron and Hermione had kept glancing at him wearily from their seats against the door. She had been able to drop a quick hello before Lavender had come up behind her to pull her back down the train to a cabin filled with other girls in their grade.
Since then Parvati had been keeping a close eye on the Trio, studying them in class and during meals. Hermione and Ron were beginning to look ragged, their clothes were almost constantly rumpled and the bags under their eyes suggested that they hadn't had a proper nights sleep in a good long while. Harry though, was considerably worse. Often times she would look over at him during class and his head would be on the desktop in front of him, eyes half closed and lips slightly parted, like he was bordering the thin line between sleep and consciousness. At meals he would eat little, often relying heavily on cups of pumpkin juice to get him through the day, days in which he would barely speak to anyone except to announce that he was going away by himself for a while. The Trio seemed to be breaking apart, and who better to point this out than Draco Malfoy, Hogwarts Resident Asshole?
"Oh no! There's trouble in paradise! What's wrong Scarface, Weasel and the Mudblood not including you in their hay tussles?"
Parvati sighed. Thinking about Harry's current state made the common room cold. She looked at Hermione and Ron again and got up from her wonderfully warm chair, determined to find out what was making the couple worry so much.
She was halfway there when she was accosted by Lavender, her gossipy best friend, who decided that greetings weren't needed and launched straight into a rant about the glorious presents she had gotten for her family.
Truth be told, Parvati had changed a lot since she had first met Lavender. She had been just as gossipy and excitable as her best friend was now, and it was something she admitted to with a little embarrassment, but she had grown up over the years. You had to when Voldemort was on the loose with his supporters, wreaking havoc on the only world you knew, threatening your life and the lives of the ones you love. Gone were the times when Parvati could sit down and worry about what colour she was going to paint her nails next. But this, quite obviously, was not something Lavender had picked up on. And it was with a great deal of sadness and regret that she realised that the two of them were growing apart, really far apart. Lavender was too materialistic and foolish to relate to anymore. She worried about her hair and her nails in the mornings, and all Parvati could worry about was whether anyone she knew had been killed during the night. And apart from that, she wasn't sure she could trust her any more. Her reputation as a "big mouth" had been set in stone the year before when Parvati had gone down to breakfast one morning to find that almost the entire school had found out about a rather embarrassing incident she had had the night before concerning the certifiably insane Potions master, an episode that she had confided in Lavender alone. Perhaps it was that occurrence that had been the beginning of the end of their friendship.
"Uh, sorry, Lav, I've go to go talk to someone about something," she interrupted Lavender mid-rant about the beautiful new brooch she had gotten her mother.
"Well, you can talk to me!" she exclaimed happily. "We barely talk anymore, love!" she was smiling innocently, the way she smiled when she thought Parvati was going to just come out and tell her something, like a secret or a new infatuation with a boy.
"I'm sorry, Lav, but this is really important."
"Then talk to me about it! C'mon! You know you can trust me with anything!" Parvati was inclined, very strongly, to laugh out loud at the girl in front of her. "C'mon, Par! Tell me!"
"Lav, it's schoolwork," she warned, and smiled warmly when her friend grimaced.
"Ew, have at it then," Lavender leaned over and gave her a brief hug before bouncing off to a group of students huddled on the floor next to the fire.
Parvati turned and continued on her way towards Ron and Hermione, who were now sitting silently together on the ground, Hermione stretched across Ron's lap, her eyes closed and her head resting on the redheads shoulder. Ron was absently running one hand over the flagged floor while his other held his fiancé close against him.
"Hey guys," she said quietly as she neared them. They both looked up and Hermione greeted her with a weak smile. "Do you mind if I sit down with you a while?" They both nodded their consent and she gingerly lowered herself to the cold floor. "How have you two been?"
They glanced at each other before Hermione answered quietly "Fine." She paused and looked at Parvati searchingly. "Why?"
She smiled gently at them, "Because you've both been looking like shit since the start of the year, and I know it might not be mutual, but I kind of consider you guys my friends," she glanced off to the side, staring hard at the edge of one of the tattered carpets that covered the Gryffindor common room floor. "I mean, I know we're not close or anything, but still…" she trailed off, reaching out to play with the battered corner of the carpet.
"Oh… Thank you, Parvati," Hermione said with true shine of gratefulness in her voice, and a small smile.
Ron didn't seem as convinced though. When she glanced up to return Hermione's smile it was to find him staring at her with a furrowed brow, a frown that went unnoticed by the girl under his chin. Parvati averted her eyes and removed her hands from the carpet to lay them in her lap, staring hard at them and trying to ignore the eyes boring a hole into the top of her head. She began fidgeting, playing with the hems of her pants, until it became almost unbearable.
"Why are you looking at me like that, Ron?" she asked quietly and Hermione looked up at his scowling face and adopted one of her own.
"Well," he began, looking down at the girl in his lap nervously. "No offence, but we've never really been friends, Parvati. We don't talk much and…" he looked away for a moment before continuing quietly. "…and I don't really think your concern is… er… genuine…"
"Ron!" Hermione exclaimed quietly.
Parvati, on the other hand, only replied with a very small "Oh,"
"I'm sorry, Parvati," Ron muttered after Hermione had prodded him several times in the ribs and demanded an apology. "It's just, you know, after the Yule Ball in fourth year and everything. I don't know, I guess I've kind of that you would still hate Harry and me for that whole fiasco."
Parvati smiled. Oh, she muttered in her head. "So that's it?" she chuckled quietly for a second as Ron looked on nervously. "I don't hold grudges, Ron. We were fourteen, and I was an airhead. I completely forgive you and Harry for that."
Ron smiled and they sat together happily, the tension that had been building up while they all riled themselves for a fight slowly ebbed away to be replaced by a companionable silence, but the question that Parvati really wanted to ask was bouncing around the inside of her head and she sighed inwardly as she decided it was now or never.
"Um… guys? Just out of curiosity, where's Harry?" The comfort that their little group had sat in dropped away as soon as she asked the question, and she almost visibly winced at how cold they both seemed suddenly. Hermione closed her eyes, her smiles fading as quickly as the calm they had sat in before, and Ron cleared his throat, his eyes hard in what little light there was in their corner.
The discomfort after her question was almost tangible, both of the other Gryffindor's staying stock still, like they were carved out of marble. Parvati waited a while for them to speak, but neither was forthcoming with a reply to her question. She sighed and asked again. "Where's Harry, you two?"
Ron cleared his throat, but Hermione was the one to reply. "He's up in the boys' dorm, but he might be asleep."
"Oh, okay," she paused and watched them. Hermione didn't move, but Ron went back to running his hand along the cold stones of the floor. "Does he take visitors?"
"Not really," Ron answered her, not taking his eyes off his hand as he passed his palm over the same two stones again, "You could go up, but -" he paused nervously, like he was afraid he was going to say too much.
"But…" she prompted gently.
Ron bit his lip and looked up at her, "But he probably won't answer you, or talk at all. He… he doesn't speak much anymore… not to anyone…" A small sob escaped Hermione, and they both looked down as she buried her face in Ron's shirt. The boy tightened his arm around her and began rubbing slow circles on her shoulder with his other.
She nodded, and perched on her knees above them, "Thank you," she said quietly, hugging them shortly before getting to her feet. She walked the short distance to the boy's staircase and took the steps in two's until she came to the tightly closed seventh year's door. She stopped in front of it and caught her breath, strategising her attack on the Antisocial Boy Wonder. Steeling her strength, she put her hand on the knob and pushed the door open slowly, trying not to make her presence known.
The room inside was shrouded in ruddy shadows, the filmy red curtains pulled full way over the windows, shutting out what weak light was coming for the grey sky outside. The drapes around every bed were thrown wide open, and every bed was empty, Harry's sheets rumpled and shoved down the end of his mattress. His clothes were lying in unceremonious heaps around his bed, and there was a thin sliver of light further down the wall, where the slightly-ajar bathroom door let the scant light out. Beyond the wooden frame, Parvati could hear water from a shower hitting stone, and something else considerably softer.
Biting her lip, she worried about whether she should just leave him alone to have his shower in peace and speak to him some other time. But maybe if she shocked him with her presence he would accidentally let something slip out before he realized he had said anything at all.
Before she had time to make up her mind though the shower had stopped running and she could hear someone moving about inside the tiled room. Panicking, she backed up against the door, obscured from view by the shadows in the room. Moments later, the bathroom door had opened and out came striding a very wet, very naked Harry.
To Be Continued