Word count: 1135
The guard greets Parvati. All she can do is nod along politely as he starts to tell her about how Azkaban has changed since after the war. Truth be told, she doesn't does it matter if they don't have a bunch of Dementors here anymore? It's still a terrible, dreary place, and it's all her fault that Lavender is here.
No, she reminds herself. Lavender made her choice. This is the consequence of going down the wrong path.
No matter how much she tries to justify it with logic, though, she still feels the guilt gnawing at her stomach. Lavender made a terrible choice, yes. But so did Parvati. She could have kept her mouth shut, just a few little white lies.
Still, she knows she was right. Lavender, the Lavender she knows and loves, is gone.
The first murder barely makes it into the Daily Prophet. Parvati sees it, though. Mikail Dimitrov, age thirty, one of Greyback's. He had been a monster, of course, but Parvati still frowns. She and Hermione have been lobbying at the Ministry, working on legislature to end werewolf discrimination in the workplace. This feels like a bad omen, like their fight has only just begun.
"What's bothering you?" Lavender asks.
Parvati swallows. She doesn't want to mention Greyback's name. Her girlfriend still bears the scars across her beautiful face, a reminder of that awful night. "Nothing," she lies, and she hates how easy it is to lie, how naturally it comes. "I'll get breakfast started."
Lavender offers her a bright smile and shakes her head. "Don't worry about it. I've got to leave out early."
Parvati raises her brows. Lavender never goes into work early, and she has another hour and a half before she has to go to work. Maybe something's happened, and she just needs some space. That's something Parvati has gotten used to in the two years following the battle. Sometimes Lavender just needs to get out of her head, and it's not always something Parvati can help her with.
"No problem. Dinner tonight? I'll grab sushi."
Lavender presses a quick kiss to her lips. "You're the best, babe."
…
Parvati decides to surprise Lavender for lunch, but the receptionist shakes her head. "Miss Brown hasn't shown up today."
She frowns. That's not like Lavender at all. Maybe it's nothing. Maybe it's just a really bad day where Lavender can't escape her own thoughts. "Ah! My mistake. I forgot she had an appointment today."
Why does she feel the need to lie? It's such a silly thing, but she can't seem to stop herself. The words come out so easily.
Parvati remembers reading about Azkaban in school. Once, not too long ago, it had been a hellscape, one of cold and misery. It still doesn't feel particularly pleasant, but at least it isn't as bad.
She's led to an empty room, though she suspects it isn't as bare as it seems. If she's right, the walls are a two-way mirror, and her visit probably isn't' going to be too private. It doesn't matter. It's not like Lavender hasn't already confessed. Really, it's probably all for her safety. Still, Parvati knows Lavender won't hurt her.
The second one isn't one of Greyback's. He's young, only a few years older than Parvati, a boy named Matthew Adams. From what she can tell, he had been a regular guy, sort of like Professor Lupin, just a bloke trying to make the best of his lycanthropy.
The Prophet pays this one a little more attention. Maybe it's because he hadn't been related to Greyback; maybe it's because someone at the paper realizes there's a pattern, and werewolves are being targeted. Whatever the case, the article talks about how Adams was tortured physically, about the marks that had been left on his body, and how they matched the ones on another werewolf who had been found dead a week earlier.
The Prophet says it looks like it was someone settling a score, like someone was seeking revenge against werewolves.
But the part that makes Parvati's blood run cold is the reported time of death, and how it matches up to the day Lavender never showed up for work.
"Oh, goodie. You didn't forget about me," Lavender says as she sits across from Parvati, her hands chained to the table so she can't move too close. "I was worried."
Parvati sighs. "I'd rather be your friend than your enemy."
Lavender laughs at that. "You were so much more than my friend, darling. And look at you now. You betrayed me."
Parvati bites the inside of her cheek until she can taste the faint metallic tang of blood. She's told herself the same thing again and again. It's all her fault. No matter how illogical that is, it's still one intrusive thought she can't seem to shake.
"You changed," Parvati says, shaking her head, "and it was for the worse."
"Was it? Do you know what those monsters do to people, Parvati? You saw what Greyback did to me!"
"Not all of them are Greyback!" Parvati counters.
"But they could have been! I did the world a favor. You're fucking welcome!"
Parvati follows Lavender. She doesn't stick around long enough to see what she does, just long enough to know when she doesn't go to work. She does this three times. Each time matches up with another name, another torutre, another death.
"You're killing people," Parvati says when she can't take the weight of the secret any longer.
"I'm not killing people. I'm killing monsters."
Parvati shakes her head. "They aren't always beasts. They're people with lives. Only one was even connected to Greyback!"
"They deserve it! They could kill someone."
"Like you?" Parvati asks quietly. "You've killed someone too. What does that make you?"
"A hero."
Parvati's heart feels so heavy as she climbs to her feet. Between the deception and having to cope with the woman she loves becoming a stranger, she doesn't think she can take much more. "I'm sorry," she says, but she doesn't know what she's apologizing for, really. "I should go."
This isn't Lavender, not her Lavender. The woman sitting in that chair is a monster, someone Parvati doesn't recognize, someone warped by hatred and revenge.
And no matter how much she tries to convince herself otherwise, she can't help but think it's all her fault.
