Disclaimer: I am just a mere visitor in the sublime world constructed by the brilliant mind that is J.K Rowling. Anything that rings a bell is hers
Chapter 60
Ky's POV
"We assumed she was with Nott!"
I glared at Bobby, her hair a straw coloured rope down her half exposed back. She pushed the strap of her pale blue night dress back up onto her shoulder for the hundredth time as we neared the First Floor and followed Parvarti to the much too familiar direction to Minnie's office.
"Are you positive she isn't with him? She left to see him last night, didn't she? You were there when she left, why wouldn't she be with him?"
Parvarti didn't turn around as she pummeled me with questions, her shiny strands pin straight and cloaking her against the cold morning, her yellow night dress more modest than Bobby's but useless against the draught that snuck through the opened window that lay at the end of the corridor.
She stopped outside Minnie's door and turned to me, an arched eyebrow above her brown eyes as she waited for my response. I hadn't told them about Teddy yet...
For one thing I barely knew enough, I was still waiting on Vez's response. And secondly I thought it best for Mi to tell them, if she wanted to tell them at all.
They would find out though, everyone will find out that he isn't at school by today. Nothing brings you in the limelight, even if you're a shadow seeker like Teddy, like absence. Absence makes the rumour mill grow fonder...
"Bane?" Minnie's voice made Parvarti jump and turn around in a comical way, if I hadn't been worried that Mi had gone and done something drastic I would have laughed. But my face was as frozen as my legs seemed to be as I searched for the right words for an explanation to our presence already on my lips.
"Mi?" I stopped as my eyes fell on the bushy brown head behind Minnie, a hard feat considering the Transfiguration Mistress' green eyes were desperately seeking my own. I turned to Minnie, realising just what worries my presence at six in the morning would bring to her and I forced out a smile. At least Mi wasn't off doing... what? Of the two of us, I would be the one trying to runaway and see Teddy or kill his father or both. Mi wouldn't do that... she would...
I glanced back at Mi, whose hair while bushier than usual was perfectly pulled back into a neat pony tail that fell neatly on her white collar under her black school cloak. Her face, paler due to the cold, but clear of worry, stress, or any sort of marking that implied she had a dying boyfriend in the hospital.
"Oh Thank Godric!" I was pushed aside as Bobby fell on Minnie in a highly inappropriate hug. "I had the most horrible vision about you Professor... well I suppose we can chalk it off as a nightmare now..." Bobby laughed nonchalantly as Minnie reclined away from her.
"She insisted on seeing you to ensure it was just a nightmare, and like I told her all the way down here," the glare I gave Bobby so easy to enact after its many natural appearances directed at the blonde, "You are fine. But as impossible the idea of Bobby having an ounce of natural talent in Divination... I love you too much to risk it."
That last line was definitely overkill as Minnie's stern stare hardened critically and Parvarti and Bobby resultant laughter was much too forced.
"Can we leave now?" We all turned to Minnie's office door and I cocked a brow at the Fifth Year standing there, her light blonde hair falling across her pointy face. Anna Smith.
Minnie turned to the girl with an upturned nose, "You and Mr Banner will remain in my office until Professor Snape and Professor Sprout retrieves you. I hardly see what the rush is considering you were perfectly fine spending a whole night out of your dorm, a few more minutes need not be cause for concern. Why, if Miss Granger had not seen you two you probably would have still been cavorting in the dungeons. So no Miss Smith, you may not leave."
Minnie ended with a promising smile, promises of a ton of lost points for the Slytherin's who were uncomfortably ahead of us in the House Cup, Hufflepuff being unfortunate collateral damage in this case.
Mi nodded goodbye at Minne and started walking up the corridor with Parvarti eagerly on her tail. Bobby looked like she was about to elaborate on the imaginary dream we cooked up so I followed Mi, winking at Minnie in goodbye and winning a slight smile in return that dimmed as it fell on my much too exposed legs. Minnie's lucky I even pulled on the pair of black shorts, when I got to the dorm, greeted by a frantic Parvarti and a half asleep Bobby I was only using Harry's white t-shirt, thanks to the use of his invisibility cloak.
"Where were you?" Parvarti ran a few steps ahead to get in front of Mi who had been briskly walking towards the staircase to the second floor. The brunette halted and sighed dramatically.
"It's six thirty, you lot should be getting ready for school! None of you have even showered yet and you have Divination in an hour. Ky, you haven't even touched Flitwick's Reversion Charm essay and he wants it by-"
"Hermione, what's going on!" Even though the question was phrased to Mi, Bobby was staring at me, "Ky runs in at five in the morning half naked and then freaks out-"
"I didn't freak out!" I snapped, glancing at Mi, unsettled that the half naked comment had no effect on her whatsoever, if any word was a trigger word to my best friend it was that... I looked at her perfectly pressed cloak and refreshed face...
The only reason why I pried myself away from Harry at five in the morning was so I can go and comfort my best friend who I thought cried herself to sleep. I felt guilty for even staying the night, if it had been any other day...
I battered the guilt away and concentrated on now. Why did she look so relaxed? I know she wasn't in the dorm so she wouldn't have got a comfortable sleep... and she definitely wouldn't use a glamour charm. Her chocolate eyes were clear and steady and clamped on Parvarti who was talking to her and it dawned on me that Mi was not refreshed. She probably hadn't slept at all, but was so determined to come across as unbroken and stable that she literally fought away every worry line, wrinkle, frown from her features. Mi was the epitome of a brave face.
Her shoulders slumped momentarily as she sighed, manoeuvring around Parvarti, "For the last time, I was doing work and lost track of time. If Lavender doesn't shower now she'll miss Divination and you might as well kiss any hope of beating Hannah in the final exams."
Bobby jumped forward at the reminder that every second she was late was one more second that would benefit Hannah Abbot as Trelawney was notorious for awarding the best marks to the students that fawned over her the most. In Hannah's defence she fawned over everyone, the girl would worship a tree if it gave her the enough attention. On second thoughts, that was hardly a defence.
The blonde however stopped on the lowest step of the staircase, blocking Mi's entrance to the Second Floor, her silky blue night dress leaving nothing to the imagination in the sunlight spilling from the large windows that framed the corridor. "What happened with you and Nott?"
Mi turned around with speed and walked down the corridor instead and turned left to the Hospital Wing and the central staircases.
Bobby turned to me, her eyes shaking with fury and I tilted my head at the dramatic response. Yes, she could never be accused of being sensible and non confrontational, but the anger I saw in her brought complete confusion to me.
"Fine." Bobby spat out as we followed Mi, "Don't tell us! I'm sick of you two and your superiority complex!"
Mi froze just as I turned to the Blonde, completely befuddled. Bobby wasn't done yet as she turned to me, shrugging her right strap back on which was falling off at her sudden movements, her freckled face blotchy with anger. If it had been anybody else, I would have had them flung across the corridor, but I was used to having to increase my tolerance levels around Bobby, but she was close to breaking my endurance.
I took a deep breath and placed my hand on the blonde's right shoulder, "It's too early for your-"
She shrugged my hand off and stepped forward, her brown eyes scowling down at me, "No, no it's much too late for this conversation! You think He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named return is only affecting you! The Chosen One's little confidantes, the one's in the loop, your exclusive little quartet that whisper and exchange glances whilst us mere mortals have to go around guessing what happened to you! Guess why you're upset, or angry, or in a horrid mood because we are not privy to the information that you lot-"
"Lavender!" Parvarti shouted, scampering forward, "What on Earth are you talking about! Ky and Hermione tell us everything that they can. They told us about... him."
Her voice dipped at the end as she paid reference to the fact that Mi told them about Teddy, I glanced at Mi, who was staring at the end of the corridor, as if enthralled by the portrait of Lady Kensington, her back straight and her shoulders higher than I had ever seen them before yet she never turned, neither did she move, her attention very much on Bobby even if her back was to her.
"Don't be stupid Parvarti! That was just them throwing us a bone, their way of-"
"Oh just shut up." I snapped, turning to the girl and stepping forward as I heard footsteps from above and the echoing of voices as the early risers made their way to breakfast, "There is no us and them Lavender! If you spare a second to look around instead of wallow in the self pitying tirade that you just went on about, you'd find that our little quartet," I bit out, stepping closer as I heard footsteps that quickly faded away, "don't throw bones. If we tell you something it means we TRUST you, it isn't some quantifiable quality that you can measure, there's no such thing as trusting one person more than another. You either trust them or you do not trust them and anything we don't say is not an inclination that we distrust you, it is an inclination that we wouldn't burden you with the information. There are something's you don't want to know Lavender-"
"And whose to decide that Ky! Who's to decide what I can, and cannot handle!" She stepped back against the white wall, brushing the loose blonde strands away from her round face, "I'm so sick of asking question after question and getting no response! It's so easy for you and Harry, you're equal! I'm not equal, I'm LESS! I'm SICK of it!" She shouted and I rolled my eyes at the drama of it all. Bobby.
Her clenched fists trembled at my eye roll and for a good second she looked to be toying with the idea of striking me and for a good second my body was inviting her to try.
"You're right." Mi's voice was soft yet audible as she turned slowly around and I immediately ran to her when I saw that her face was drowning in tears, she stepped back when I reached her, right until she hit the wall and sank down to her knees, her tears frighteningly silent but flowing uninterrupted as I joined her on the floor.
I didn't know what was worse, her pretending that everything was okay, or her falling to pieces before me and I pulled her into my arms feeling utterly useless. I stared ahead at the doors of the Hospital Wing which loomed large before us from our place on the floor; I felt the strands of her hair tickle me as she shook against my neck, my hands uselessly patting her back. My fingers met tiny ones and I knew without looking that Parvarti had joined Mi on the other side.
"What happened?" Bobby's fighting spirit was completely frightened away as her voice trickled down to us like a weak little stream, the destructive waterfall it was moments ago tamed by Mi's tears.
The pressure from my shoulder was relinquished and I watched as Mi pressed her hands into her eyes, mechanically ridding the tears from her face as she took a deep breath and leaned forward. I could see Parvarti's smaller dark hand adjacent to my own atop Mi's black school cloak. I turned to the sensitive girl knowing I would find her in tears as she stared at Mi's trembling back in despair.
I covered her hand with my own and her brown eyes fluttered to me, once I would have thought Parvarti weak for her tears, she didn't even know what happened but here she sat crying.
But now I know the fact that she didn't know what happened yet she sat here in tears was not weakness. There was strength in letting in other's feelings, carrying other's burdens... I glanced up at Bobby who looked down at Mi, her mouth hanging open in shock and her eyes glazed with fear. I didn't blame her, Mi was brave and anything that caused her to breakdown was sure to be frightful.
The trembling beneath my fingertips ceased suddenly and Mi's back straightened as she released her face from the prison that were her fingers, I didn't need to see her face to know that her tears had stopped; her voice dry yet soft could clearly be heard in the deserted corridor, "He's father found out."
Parvarti's hand pulsed beneath mine as she bit her bottom lip as Bobby sunk down next to her, both glancing at me for the question they didn't dare ask aloud. I shook my head in the negative and ignored the little voice that whispered that I was wrong. I was lying. I didn't know if he was alive...
No...
He had to be alive. Vez would save him.
Parvarti closed her eyes in gratitude. Friendship was a strange thing. Here sat two girls that probably spoke three words to Teddy in their whole time here, yet his survival was so imperative to them just because it directly affected Mi's life.
"He's in Mungo's." She muttered as Parvarti resumed her patting whilst I busied myself with the hem of Harry's shirt.
Teddy had to be alive. There was no alternative... none that we could bear... I watched a drop sink into the shirt and I quickly blinked, I was supposed to be her crutch, today was no day for tears.
"Mungo's Healers are superb. Alex's hand is almost completely fixed. Nobody thought it possible but there you go." Parvarti added optimistically.
"He seems the lobster type." I glanced at Bobby whose eyes were on Mi's profile, "I'll ask Kinky, she'll do anything if Ky's involved. Room of requirement?" She looked to her best friend who nodded enthusiastically.
"Dean taught me how to make a standard banner, just let us know when he'll be back. He'll be okay with Alex being there? I mean I can't be the seventh wheel now can I?"
I returned Parvarti's smile, getting their implication. A welcome home party. That's their way of saying we know he'll be fine.
I felt Mi's head at my shoulder as she leaned back and I curled my arm about her for comfort. I couldn't begin to understand... Godric if it were Harry... I brought my knees up, suddenly cold...
Our eyes met and I sighed, there was pain in those chocolate orbs but there was something else in there that was well hidden behind the facade this morning. Something that shone after a good, refreshing cry. Hope.
"Actually... you wouldn't be... I mean, I'll be there and Ron will be there but we won't be... together. We broke up." Mi actually turned to Bobby as I rolled my eyes.
"Teddy should be back in a day or two, I think that's enough time for you two to make up, break up and make up all over again." Parvarti's lips pricked up at my joke but Bobby looked at the floor, unsmiling.
"I'm so sick of asking question after question and getting no response! It's so easy for you and Harry, you're equal! I'm not equal, I'm LESS! I'm SICK of it!"
"You mustn't blame him." Mi sighed and I could tell, even in her distraught state, she recalled Bobby's earlier statement just like I had been. "Ky was right, sometimes we don't share information because it's dangerous. It doesn't have anything to do with trust."
"It's not about that." Her blonde locks smashed against the cold white wall as she rested her head against it, attention on the ceiling, "We just got to talking."
"And?" Parvarti questioned, concern on her face.
"Ron and I just don't work." She sighed and pushed herself to her feet but I didn't let her run off. It would be highly hypocritical if she didn't stand here and answer all our questions and she groaned when she saw that I was going to stop her. "Hermione is right, if I don't start getting ready now I'll be late for Divination."
"Look, I didn't endure months of feeling like an extra on a porn movie so the two leading actors can call it quits over some melodrama I am positive that can be fixed. What didn't Ron want to tell you? If it was about Harry and Draco's duel, you know as much as he does. There really isn't more to it than-"
"It's not about the stupid duel." She snapped and I raised a brow. Stupid? That stupid duel was near fatal and had Harry's captaincy suspended and in detention for Godric knows how long, not to mention the guilt he felt at the whole thing.
"Was it about Theodore?" My eyes flickered to the ends of the corridor to ascertain they were empty as Mi spoke, "Because Ron didn't even know about it last night. I went straight down to the dungeons," She glanced at me and I knew what that meant. She went to Little London, christened by Teddy. The room that housed the Muggle Entertainment centre. "I spent the night there. So if he wasn't telling you-"
"It's not about that. I knew he didn't know about that, he was searching for the two of you for almost the whole night." Bobby's lower lip trembled and I sighed. Seriously. Jealousy? Is it always going to come back to that?
Mi pushed herself to her feet and I could tell she was trying to be both patient and sympathetic, two things she shouldn't have to be. She should be allowed to bitch and moan, Merlin her boyfriend, the love of her life was lying on his deathbed, she shouldn't have to be empathetic. Not today.
"Look Bobby-" Mi touched my shoulder to shut me up and turned to Bobby.
"Lavender, I knew we would have to talk about this at some stage. I know it must be hard to understand that Ron and I can love each other, but in a purely-"
"I'm not jealous of you, Hermione." Bobby straightened to her normal height defensively, "If Ron was going to cheat it wouldn't be with you, your moral compass is so far North it's practically stuck up your butt."
Mi raised her brows and I shook my head, "Then it's me? You have a problem with him going and looking for me last night? Me, his best friend's girlfriend. Me, who taught him how to do an armpit fart? Yeah, I can see how you can think there would be chemistry with that kind of foreplay-"
"I don't have a problem with Ron's friendship with you. Or Hermione. Now, I need to go and get ready, I've already cut into my make up time, any longer and I wouldn't be able to curl my hair-"
She pushed past me and I turned, my eyes crinkled as the most bizarre thought crossed my mind, born from the inclination in her tone just a moment ago... "You have a problem with Harry?"
The blonde stilled and I scoffed, "You have a problem with Harry!"
"No, she doesn't have a problem with Harry!" Parvarti laughed getting to her feet, "She practically nursed a sixth month crush on him in second year."
I raised my brows, not knowing how to react to that and biting down the sudden defensive urge that came over me.
"Do you have a problem with Harry?" I stepped forward, my bare feet meeting the cold tiles as Mi's hand met my right shoulder again.
"Calm down, she doesn't have a problem with Harry. She has a problem with Ron's friendship with Harry?" Mi's eyes were soft as they zoomed into Bobby's back and I worked on my temper. It was ridiculous.
"That's absurd. It's like disliking... peanutbutter and jelly. It's unnatural." Parvarti laughed as I took a deep calming breath. Now wasn't the time to get angry.
"Will you turn around? Just tell us... what's going on?" Her shoulders softened as my tone lost it's hostility and her demeanour changed, it wasn't completely comfortable but I could tell she wasn't on the offensive as she complied to my request.
"I don't have a problem with Harry, Ky." She licked her lips and I bit mine, growing impatient. "It's just... after that stupid duel-"
"OK enough with the stupid duel!" I snapped, "It was not a stupid duel. It was serious! Harry still feels crap abo-"
"I know OK!" She snapped, angered by my tone. "I know it wasn't stupid. I was there when Harry ran in, covered with blood and begging Ron for his potions book. I was there when Ron half fainted from the sight of him and was practically going crazy trying to figure out what happened! I was there when he did find out and sat in silence for an hour while I asked him again and again what was wrong and again and again he just remained silent! When he did speak, all he said was that I WOULDN'T understand. That I didn't have a best friend that was hunted by a Dark Lord and attacked by Death Eaters."
She took a deep breath whilst I fought off the feelings that encompassed me whenever I thought about the Prophecy. About Voldemort. About Harry. And the fire that rose within me when those three thoughts met. I pushed it to the back of my mind.
"Then we just started talking... about the future." Her eyes fell to the floor as her shoulders dipped, "And we don't want the same things. He wants to fight. He wants to be a part of this War. He wants to stand by Harry."
"And you don't want that?" I asked, the accusatory tone evident in my voice. I was proud that Harry was brave, that he wanted to fight and protect people; she should be just as proud of Ron.
"I want to live Ky!" Her watery brown eyes found mine and echoed with pain, "I want to grow up! Get a job, get married, have children! I don't want this War!"
"Nobody wants this War!" Parvarti's voice was uncharacteristically cold as she glared at her best friend, "You think Alex wanted to lose half his limb in a death eater attack! You're being naive and SELFISH!"
"Parvarti!" Mi's eyes snapped to the wooden doors of the Hospital Wing but they remained still, undisturbed by the tanned girls shouts.
I turned back to Bobby whose face was scarlet with anger... I stared into her almond eyes, a thick film of tears that coated it and reflected the sunlight to add to the glossy texture... no. Bobby wasn't angry, she was embarrassed...
"I know it sounds selfish." Her voice was hoarse as she hugged her midriff, "It's just... I... we're seventeen!" She held her hands out in imploration, "We're kids! We shouldn't have to fight. We shouldn't have to think about these kinds of things! I mean, Ron was speaking like that's all he wanted in life. He didn't even want to say what he imagined for his future, he kept saying that the only thing he saw himself doing was fighting You Know Who. Like he can't see past that."
I recalled Ron being very pensive when I bumped into him last night. I thought it was because of Mi and Harry but really it was because of this, he and Bobby really broke up?
Bobby looked to Mi, "Tell me you don't think about it. Especially now. To just leave. Go somewhere safe, wait there until-"
"Other people fix the problem!" Parvarti stepped forward, her dark brown eyes wide with fury, "Runaway like some coward and leave it to others to fight and DIE! Whilst you enjoy a carefree life in France! Or Italy! OR wherever you run off to!"
"Parvarti!" I snapped as Bobby's face crumpled, "Calm the fuck down."
Parvarti turned on me, her long hair fluttering about like a black silk cape, "No! No! I won't calm down Ky! I can't believe you're putting up with this! You will fight, Hermione and Ron and Harry! All of you will fight and sacrifice and at the end she'll just swoop in and enjoy everything! After she's lived a safe and sheltered life! How can you even live with yourself! You're supposed to be a Gryffindor! You're such a fucking coward!"
I stepped in front of Parvarti as Bobby's dam broke, "And you're so bloody brave! So brave to stand there and break down your friend after she honours you with honesty Parvarti!"
Parvarti was breathing hard and fast and I watched as her eyes flickered to Bobby who was currently being comforted by Mi, I watched as she repossessed her senses and I stepped aside as she flung herself forward and caught Bobby around the waist.
"I'm so sorry!" She moaned, "I'm so sorry for saying all of that!" Oh Godric more fucking tears. Mi stepped aside and shook her head at the look on my face as Parvarti released her best friend. "It's just that I ran away from home."
"What?" I gasped as Mi's eyes grew wide. Parvarti released Bobby who was staring down at her friend in shock.
"Two weeks ago, at the beginning of the break. My parents want to move to France this Summer. They want to pull Padma and me out of school, they want to run away!" She hung her head, "I can't go with them. I can't just leave. Not after what happened to Alex. I want to fight. I don't want anything like that to happen again, I want to help. I don't want to be remembered as the coward that ran off once War broke out. Alex wants the same, and when his parents refused to accept my decision, he came with me. That's why we stayed with his cousin in London. When she married that muggle she was kicked out of the family so she was the only one willing to help us."
"And that's why you had like two trunk full of clothes. You didn't go shopping, you just left home..." Bobby turned to Parvarti, "You should have come to me!"
"I wanted to but Alex left home when his parents refused to let me stay, I couldn't abandon him..." She looked at Mi and I, "I know it sounds naive... like I'm in over my head-"
"No." Mi said, stepping forward, "You don't have to defend yourself. This isn't just Harry's fight, or Ky's, or mine, or Ron's. It's all our fight. Voldemort is an abomination to Wizardkind itself, and you never have to feel self conscious at whatever part you wish to play in his downfall."
"And you never have to feel like you HAVE to fight." Bobby looked up in shock at my words. I suppose it was weird, coming from my mouth. I usually was the one prodding the fight along. I cocked my head at her, "You think Ron is in this fight because of Harry. Ron would fight Voldemort, even if he and Harry never became best friends because Ron... Ron knows what's worth fighting for. And it's all the things you want Bobby. You want to get married and have kids, Ron wants to be happily married and have happy kids. He understands what's the difference between the two. And he knows the only way to do that is to defeat that bastard. And if he gets to help his best friend in the process, then all the better."
She rubbed at her nose, "I'm sorry. I wish I could be like that too. I'm just so scared..."
"I'm scared too." I shrugged, "It's scary. I feel like somewhere, out there, there's a ticking time bomb. Like one day I'll wake up and it would be here and everyone I love..." I glanced to the floor, taking a deep breath, "But what's scarier is life if we do nothing. The truth is, nobody would know if you don't join the struggle. If it gets worse, and-" I bit my lips to stem the tears, "it would. Nobody will know if Lavender Brown stood and fought because everybody will be too busy trying to stay alive to even to care about such things. But you'll know Lavender. You'll know, and you'll carry that truth with you forever."
"I want to fight! I want to be strong for Ron." She sniffed, rubbing at her face.
"There's no use in you trying to be strong for Ron, Bobby. At the end of the day, you come home to you." I shrugged, "As much as I love Harry, if he wasn't the Chosen One, if he wasn't Harry Potter, if he wasn't Voldemort's enemy, I would want to fight just as much as I want to now. Because at the end of all of this, and they will be an end, I need to be able to come home. That home can't be full of regrets."
"And you have a whole year to think about this." Parvarti pulled her friend to her side, "A whole year of blissful ignorance under this roof, you don't have to make any decisions now."
"And whatever decision you make at the end of it, I wouldn't think less of you." That was the truth. Harry's parents died by Voldemort's hand. My brothers and Nonno, Sev and Minnie... all my family was out there fighting him. Mi was the very being he was trying to eradicate. Ron was a born and bred blood traitor. How could I blame Bobby for wanting to run and hide? She had no proper reason to stay and fight.
Bobby smiled at me and smirked, "It's because I think so less of you as is, I doubt it's possible to think any lesser."
"Hey!" She swatted at my arm and I dodged it, running forward as I could hear her pursue me. I turned, still jogging backwards and laughed at the site of Bobby trying to both keep her straps up and run, Mi and Parvarti slowly walking behind her.
"Oh come on Bobby. I took you for a runner." She pouted at my chide and sped up, the joke easy to take now that the serious conversation was behind us. I laughed as she took off her shoe and threw it at me, dodging the blue slipper with ease.
"Oh by the way," I smirked, high on our sudden good spirits after the morning we had, "Harry and I sealed the deal last-"
My back met something hard and just as Bobby froze I felt a shiver down my spine.
I slowly turned, looking up as I did and I bit my lip as my eyes met black ones.
"Morning Sensei."
Fuck.
A/N: Haha, Ky and her big mouth.
Any and all feedback, as always, will be appreciated.
Kalina