Written for QLFC Season 5, Semi Finals

Team: Wigtown Wanderers

Position: Seeker

Position Prompt: A fluffy story using the prompt '"Sadness is also a kind of defence" – Ivo Andric' (quote) OR an angsty story using the prompt '"Being happy never goes out of style" – Lilly Pulitzer' (quote)

Word Count: ~1100

Beta(s): CUtopia, DinoDina, silently-at-night, RawMateriel

Chapter 17: Being Happy

The door smacked fiercely against the wall of the dormitory, but Lavender barely heard it. She could hardly see the room at all, could barely hear her footsteps through the pounding of her heartbeat in her ears as she stumbled towards her bed. The tears had started falling long before she'd made it to privacy, but with her collapse onto quilt and puffy pillows they flooded forth in earnest.

It hurt. It hurt. Why was it so unfair? Why didn't she get to be the best sometimes? Why did she always have to come second? And to her, of all people.

"It's not –" Lavender hiccuped, voice catching. "Fair. It's not – not fair."

Burying her face into her pillows, she curled her legs beneath her and sobbed into the downy softness that in that moment seemed laughably comforting. She couldn't be comforted. Nothing could soothe a broken heart that hurt so fiercely. Lavender would be left, broken and aching, always second best because she wasn't the one who –

"Lav?"

Sob catching, Lavender jerked upright. Her head swum for a moment, her eyes blurry with tears and her breath gasping. Twisting atop her bed, she glanced over her shoulder towards the doorway into the dormitory. The moment she did, the very moment that her vision cleared and she could actually see, a thick upwelling of emotion clogged her throat.

"Parvati," Lavender all but moaned, and like a puppet with its strings cut, she slumped in upon herself.

Parvati was there in an instant. Across the room so fast that she could have Apparated, she was at Lavender's side and catching her shoulders as they sagged, wrapping her arms around her and shoving her face into her shoulder. It was uncomfortable, and Lavender's nose, dripping with tears, crushed almost painfully, but she didn't care. Her legs, folded askew beneath her, were twisted to the point of discomfort, but she didn't care about that either. Raising her arms, Lavender hooked her fingers into Parvati's robes and clung onto her best friend so tightly that her hands almost stopped shaking.

"What happened, Lav?" Parvati murmured into the side of her head.

Lavender inhaled in a ragged gasp. The smell of her friend's soap, floral and always clinging to her, flooded her nostrils, and it was somehow comforting. Almost relieving of the tight ache that clamped around Lavender's chest. She clung to Parvati all the tighter.

"We broke up," she whispered.

Parvati's own breath hitched. "What?"

"Me and Ron. We broke up."

"But you –"

"You guessed right." Lavender sniffled, but it did little to rid the dampness streaming from her nose. Even less for that dribbling from her eyes. "It was on its way out even at Christmas, I'd reckon."

Parvati didn't say anything for a long moment. As Lavender clutched her like a tree in a hurricane, she held her in an enveloping embrace in return. Her head turned slightly, and Lavender felt her chin rest atop her crown. The gentle weight of it was oddly comforting too.

"Did he…?" Parvati began slowly, then paused. "Did he say why?"

Lavender pressed her face more firmly into Parvati's shoulder. She hated that her friend didn't have to ask who had broken up with whom, even as she was relieved that she wouldn't have to admit it. An accidental sob shook through her once more, though it was muffled by Parvati's robes.

"Not really," she muttered, her voice muffled. "But I can guess."

"You think Hermione…?"

"I don't know." Lavender sniffed again. "And I don't – I don't even care."

They both knew it was a lie. Of course it was. But Lavender didn't need to ask Parvati to pretend just this once. She never had to ask, because Parvati knew. That was what best friends were for: to share secrets with, to ogle good-looking Divination teachers, even if they were Centaurs, and to look the other way when it was needed.

And to offer hugs. Parvati was the best at those.

She released Lavender from that hug a moment later, however, dropping onto the bed at Lavender's side with a slight bounce. As Lavender scrubbed her face, wiping furiously at her eyes and failing in her attempt to clean up the mess of her nose, Parvati plucked her fringe from her forehead. With gentle fingers, she tucked it behind Lavender's ear. The smile she wore, just a little sad, was just as gentle.

"He's a prat," Parvati said, the words so abrupt that Lavender would have laughed had she not been on the verge of crying again. "You can do so much better than him."

"I know I can," Lavender sniffed. She wished she believed it as much as Parvati sounded like she did.

"Too right," Parvati said with a sharp nod. "And some boy will show up and sweep you off your feet."

"Of course he will."

"And he'll think that you're wonderful –"

"Yeah."

"– and beautiful –"

"Hopefully."

"And that the sun shines out of your butt, because to him it surely will."

This time, Lavender couldn't help but laugh. It still sounded a little like a sob, maybe was a bit of a sob, but she laughed. Parvati's smile widened further as she stroked the side of Lavender's head. "I promise," she said. "You've just got to look on the bright side, Lav. Don't worry and be your usual happy, bubbly self."

"Be happy." Lavender huffed another laugh that felt just a little more genuine this time. "Yeah, I'll try. Although apparently it didn't work so well with Ron, so maybe I should reassess my style?" She scrubbed at her nose once more, cringing as she felt a smear of snot. "Maybe I could pretend to be all sad and mopey like some of those Slytherin girls."

Parvati clicked her tongue, raising her eyebrows admonishingly. "Being happy never goes out of style, Lav," she said. Then she leant towards Lavender and rested their foreheads together, just as they'd done since first year. Lavender could smell her soap, could feel the warmth of her smile, and it almost washed away the hurt. "Don't ever change. Not for anyone."

Lavender closed her eyes and nodded against her friend's forehead. Don't worry, she told herself. Be happy. With Parvati's help, she thought she might just manage.