Author's Note: Written for QLFC. Gryffindor/Gryffindor Friendship- Parvati and Padma.
Prompts: 2)force, 3)mirror and 9) The Opening sentence.
Hope you like it. Leave me a review.
xxx
It had been a long day for a certain Lavender Brown. A frustrated sigh escaped her lips as she tried to open the door without dropping the things in her hands, well, that didn't work out and she groaned out loud as the tomes of parchment dropped to the floor.
She was not the happiest person to be around nowadays, she had tried really hard not to let the scars on her face bother her, but that didn't work out quite well, either.
She had always considered her beauty her most important asset, she knew she was not the brightest wand in the wand store and she was not the most compassionate person either, to be honest, she was quite bitchy when things came to be. She had always thrived in gossip and hardly stopped to wonder whether her gossip hurt people or not (that attitude had given her employment).
So basically, she knew that her greatest asset would be her looks, she was curvaceous, with shiny blonde waves and azure blue eyes, and she knew the fact that she was beautiful. She was not and despised the girls who made it seem like they were not beautiful, albeit, they were pretty, for example, Granger.
She was eternally grateful to Granger for saving her life, but sometimes, when Lavender was in one of her moods like that day, Lavender would look into the mirror.
Just sit there and look into the mirror, she didn't cry, she didn't wail, she didn't complain.
She just sat there, her eyes trailed her scars repeatedly, until her eyes were tired and began to water.
No one knew of this. No one was even aware of her frustration, she trusted no one with her fears. Lavender knew that her best friend, rather, her only friend Parvati knew something was wrong with her, but Lavender chose to wear an indifferent mask almost always, which made Parvati frustrated and most of the time left out of her life.
It was a wonder that Parvati still tried, but Lavender was sure that she would give up soon and a part of her wanted Parvati to give up. Many people told her that she was being entirely ungrateful of the fact that she was actually alive, and that physical appearances are of little importance.
Lavender of course had a hard time believing that, all she saw was judgment and sympathy in the eyes of people when they saw her, but in reality there was none. People around her saw beyond her scars, something she did not know. The aversion people from Lavender had nothing to do with her scars but it was because of her pessimistic attitude.
Parvati was well aware of the fact and she had chosen that day to change her friend's view towards life and her scars.
So, she found her with her hand on her hips, her blonde hair tumbling down in waves reaching her waist, as she stood and grumbled over the fallen tomes, as though she could force them up in her hands by just glaring at them. As far as Parvati was aware, her friend had not mastered wandless magic, yet.
"You know," Parvati said, making Lavender look up from the tomes, "Glaring at them won't actually arrange them back."
"Smart Parvati," Lavender drawled sarcastically, "I thought otherwise, thanks for clearing that out."
With that she bent to retrieve the fallen parchments, grumbling away.
"What happened to you?" Sighed Parvati, helping her to open the door, "You were not that pessimistic in life, you have to move on Lav, it's been six years, everyone is healing, why aren't you making efforts?"
"I am making efforts," Lavender proclaimed, unceremoniously dumping the tomes on the table beside the sofa, "And I am perfectly fine, nothing happened to me."
"Yes," Parvati nodded, "You claim you're fine, but I highly doubt it."
"Why would you say so?" Lavender asked non-chalantly, wondering when exactly would Parvati give up, like everyone else in her life, her father, her mother, her boyfriend.
"Because, something is wrong," She insisted, "You're being indifferent and uncaring about everything and that is not you, you have never been like this. You were a bit bitchy, yes, but this is a whole new level."
"I don't know what you're talking about," Lavender answered, uncaringly, busying herself with a pot of tea.
"I know," Parvati said unfazed by her hostility, "You're trying to push away people, but this is not right, I am not going anywhere."
Lavender groaned, pushing the pot off the stow, so it landed with a clanking sound on the floor.
"Why won't you?" She asked in a frustrated tone, "Aren't you tired of me and my scars already? Mum and dad don't talk to me. Seamus left me... Romilda looks at me disgusted."
Parvati looked at her friend, as tears trickled down her eyes and she covered her scarred face. She was shocked herself, she had not believed that it would be her scars that bothered Lavender so much.
"Oh Lav," She cooed and went to hug her crying best friend.
"What?" Lavender snapped, trying to regain some composure, as she tried to push her away.
"You're very silly," Parvati proclaimed with a roll of her eye, "Really very silly. Your scars don't define you. Everyone who was in the war has them. Even I do, why do you let them bother you so much?"
Lavender blinked owlishly at her friend.
"Beauty was my only asset, Parv," She said, using the nickname first time in years. "Now, it's gone!"
"It's not gone silly!" Parvati shook her head, and dragged her to the nearest mirror and made her stand in front of it.
"What?" Lavender asked in a frustrated tone, "I know I am-,"
"Look!" Parvati exclaimed, "You're still pretty, even with the scars, it's still you. Don't let the scars change you."
"What do you mean?" Lavender asked, staring at her reflection.
"You are not ugly, dear," She said, "You are letting your scars affect your personality. You're making your personality ugly because you think your scars are ugly. Your mum and dad are worried about you, but they don't know how to handle you. Seamus still loves you, gets drunk over you every weekend, but doesn't know what to do to show you that he loves you. Romilda is upset because you wrote about her crush on Harry in the Witch Weekly... It's not the scars," She added calmly, "It's who you've become."
"Oh dear," Lavender slumped as realization hit her, "What do I do?"
"You can always change, Lav," Parvati answered calmly, "I'll help you."