Word Count: 445
"You don't have to stay," Lavender whispers.
What she doesn't say is that she would completely understand if Parvati didn't want to stay. Though Lavender is out of St. Mungo's and recovering well, she knows that there will still be bad days. Sometimes her mind refuses to let go of everything that has happened to her. There had been countless nights where she had relived Greyback's attack and woken up screaming; the Healers had sedated her with a potion, but Lavender still remembers the pain and distress and fear all too clearly.
She doesn't want Parvati to have to see her like this. Lavender is recovering, both physically and mentally, but she isn't whole yet. She isn't the smiling girl she had been before that fateful battle. Really, Parvati deserves someone who isn't breaking.
"Uh huh." Parvati folds her arms over her chest, lips pursing. Her dark eyes move over Lavender's body. "If you want to get rid of me, you have to do better than that."
Is Lavender trying to get rid of her? She wants to think not. At least, not because of anything Parvati has done. It's her own mind that tells her that she needs to push people away. In the beginning, she had tried. Parvati had stayed by her side, promising her again and again that she wasn't going anywhere. It's been a month and a half, and Parvati has kept that promise each and every day.
"Your mum said I could use the guest room if things get bad."
If. Parvati is kind to not say when.
"I don't think I'll take her up on that." Parvati sits on the bed with her. She takes Lavender's hand, brushing her thumb over her knuckles. "I'm here. Good, bad, whatever. I promise."
Lavender doesn't know now she got so lucky. By some miracle, she has the most amazing, most considerate girlfriend ever.
"You're staring," Parvati notes.
"That's because I really want to kiss you."
Her girlfriend grins and leans in, gently pressing her lips to Lavender's.
Lavender is still healing. There are days where she feels so incredibly hopeless, days where she wishes she had bled to death on that cold stone floor. And then there are beautiful, tender moments like these, when it is her and Parvati, and she knows that she isn't alone, that there is hope for a beautiful future.
It isn't perfect. She will never be able to go back to those days before. But it's okay. With Parvati by her side, she knows she can carry on, and that there are more good and perfect days to come.
And it's all because of a promise kept.