Warning for implied violence and injuries.


The days in the hospital wing are long, the nights are even longer. Parvati almost can't bear it, but she does.

Because it's Lavender. Because it's always been Lavender. Through the fights, through the heartbreaks and sorrows and everything in between.

Faint moonlight streams in through the window, and Parvati thinks it's ironic that it illuminates her and Lavender's clasped hands. Lavender's hand is limp, yet Parvati holds tight to it, trying somehow, somehow, to pour energy back into her unconscious…

Her eyes dart down to their hands. What are they? They aren't quite friends, they're more than that. They're nights of whispered longing, of secret, passionate trysts unknown to their peers and loved ones, their hands roaming and mouths wandering. They're nights of being curled around each other by the hearth in the common room, simply enjoying each other's company. It's being each other's shoulders, each other's anchors, and…

What are they?

"I'm scared," she whispers. "I'm worried about what this means for you and me. Merlin, you're still beautiful, so perfect, but…not many people are going to think the same way. They may not want us to be together. Or even be around each other." She squeezes Lavender's hand. "I'd give up everything for you, though."

Emotion swells in her chest and she has to suppress the tears, but they still leak from her eyes. One single tear drips down her cheek, and she has to look away. It all hits her at once. The coldness of her hand. The grisly wounds stretched across her pretty face. The tears come faster. Merlin, oh Merlin, her family. Padma had known for years, but the extent that their parents know is that they're just friends - and that had been a reluctant acceptance.

What would happen now?

She can't think about it. She can't. She'll break if she does. Even more than she already has.

"How is it that you look even more beautiful like this?" Parvati murmurs, reaching with her free hand to touch Lavender's bandaged face, then stopping just short and drawing her hand back. "Every day I grow more and more envious of how you carry on without a care. You're sensitive, funny, gentle, and…" The next words slip out of her mouth without thinking, but she doesn't want to take them back. "I love you."

Lavender remains still but Parvati, for what feels like the first time in a while, lets a smile bloom on her face. She loves Lavender. Lavender may not feel the same way, but Parvati can't bring herself to care, just for that moment.

Lavender has to wake up, she has to be okay, because Parvati doesn't know what she'll do if she has to keep this secret for the rest of her life.

"I love you," she repeats, tasting the words and liking how they sound. "I love you," she says to the darkness and the moonlight. "Please come back to me."


490 words

Written for the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry forum:

1000 - 487. (pairing) LavenderParvati

365 - 20. Grisly

Characters - 162. Parvati Patil

Musical - 122. Take Me Home, Country Roads - Teardrop in my eye

Heroes, Villains, and Anti-villains - Black Widow (restriction) only female characters in your story

Puzzle Club - Puzzle 5 - (setting) hospital wing

Neonfae's Nibbles - Biscoff Cookies - (dialogue) "I'm scared." / (character) Lavender Brown / (relationship type) Friends with Benefits

Lyric Alley - I just wanna be by your side

Trope of the Month - 18. Word: Passionate

Ari's AU Armory - (dialogue) "I'd give up everything for you."

Snail Mail - 10. (Word) Secret