I know it might surprise some people that Parvati would get a chapter from her perspective, but I never choose my POVs for nothing. Parvati is going to play an important role in the story very soon, and you might have a hint of how in this chapter.
This chapter begins during the night preceding the match between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw.
PARVATI I
She sat up straight in her bed, startled. It only took her a second to realize that it was only a nightmare. She held her breath, then slowly expired. Then she slowly breathed and expired again, repeating the process several times. She had become accustomed to these times when she woke up abruptly. Looking around, she saw that complete darkness still reigned in the dormitory. She sighed out of irritation. She wished that she could have a serene sleep, at the very least. But no, it was impossible to spend two weeks without waking up agitated from a horrible dream. She pulled the curtains around her bed and stood up. Then she went to look for something inside her nightstand. She wished she could use the Lumos spell, but she always produced a light so bright that she could wake up the other girls. So she blindly searched until she found the small notebook she always kept close to her bed, careful to not wake up Lavender, Hermione, Sophie and Lily.
Then she made her way out of the dormitory. She carefully closed the door behind her and walked down the stairs to the common room. She let herself fall into an armchair and opened the notebook at the page where she noted every nightmare she made, with the date it happened, the hour and every possible detail she could remember about her dream. She then realized that she didn't bring her feather with her. She closed her eyes in despair. Why didn't she think to bring the feather with her?
"Parvati?"
She jumped out of the armchair, and looked ahead where the voice came from. But her heart stopped pumping blood like it was a matter of life or death when she saw who spoke.
"Oh, Harry. You scared me," she said in a low voice. He was sitting in front of the fireplace, just like her, right in front of her. She must not have noticed him because she was too focused on her notebook.
"Sorry," the boy told her.
"What time are we?"
"One in the morning. You have trouble sleeping you too?"
"Yes. I wanted…" She looked at her notebook. "Would you happen to have a feather by chance?"
"No," he said apologetically. He looked around. "Oh, wait." He stood up from his own armchair and went to a corner of the common room. He came back with a feather in his hand. "I think Hermione forgot hers when she went to bed."
"Thank you. You're my savior," she said while taking the feather from his hand.
She went back to her armchair and wrote down everything she could remember about her dream. When she was done, she stood up to go back to her dormitory, but Harry was in the way. First, she thought he was blocking the way intentionally, but then she noticed he was looking into the flames. He didn't seem to realize she was there. Her eyes wandered to the feather she was holding, and she remembered it belonged to Hermione and that Harry lent her.
"I… I'm going to bring this back to Hermione. We… We sleep in the same dormitory, after all," she tentatively said.
"Oh… Of course. No problem."
Parvati smiled to him, but as she resumed her way, she realized he didn't seem to have heard her answer either, nor to have given the slightest attention to her words. It was as if he ignored her. She turned, not a little irritated about him.
"Harry, what's going on?"
"Nothing," he replied, still not looking at her. "I just have some trouble sleeping, that's all."
Well, she could understand that, but still, he could at least look at her when she… She then remembered what was coming tomorrow. When she spoke next, she tried to be kinder.
"It's… the match against Ravenclaw tomorrow?"
He didn't reply. It had to be about that. It couldn't be a coincidence that Harry wasn't sleeping the night before an important Quidditch game.
"I'm sure everything is going to be fine, Harry. It will go well tomorrow," she tried.
"Are you sure? It seems I can't play a game of Quidditch without a catastrophe taking place. Look at what happened two weeks ago. And you remember the Dementors before?"
Of course, she remembered. Parvati may not have lost consciousness like Harry did, but she was traumatized by the presence of so many Dementors at the same place. She even felt guilty because Professor Trelawney foresaw what was going to happen, and Parvati didn't try to prevent Harry about it. Maybe she should have thought too that it wasn't only the prospect of losing the game that prevented Harry from sleeping.
Everyone at Hogwarts loved Quidditch, and Parvati was no exception to the rule. However, she wasn't as passionate about it as other students, especially boys. Sophie and Lily were both huge fans, but although Parvati, Lavender and Hermione wanted to see Gryffindor win and encouraged the team when they played, their heart didn't beat at the sounds of the Quaffle getting through a ring or of Bludgers being hit. That didn't stop her from wanting at all costs that their team wins tomorrow, but still, her life didn't depend on the result of this game, and she found that people who behaved like their lives did depend on it were childish and immature. But maybe she shouldn't have assumed that Harry was solely worried about the result of the game.
The other day, after an agitated Divination class, Parvati had decided to go and watch one of the last Quidditch practices of the Gryffindor team. Like Lavender, Parvati was impressed on that day how Professor Trelawney's predictions proved to be right. She foresaw that Hermione would leave the Divination class around Easter, and it happened, just like she predicted. However, unlike her best friend, who rejoiced and was excited about this, Parvati felt almost crushed by it. Although Parvati believed that Professor Trelawney was a seer, and she didn't have much choice considering the many predictions she made that came true, the doubts voiced by some people, especially Hermione, had sunk into her mind, probably in the part that hoped against all odds that Professor Trelawney's predictions about her horrible death were untrue. She hung on every bit of hope that all her predictions only came true as a result of luck. However, with what happened this week, when Hermione left Divination to never return, Parvati was served with another proof that Professor Trelawney could actually see the future. And that made Parvati more worried than ever.
Professor Trelawney kept reminding her of the terrible things that awaited her in her future, without knowing when it would happen. After that fateful class of Divination, Lavender couldn't stop talking about it, about how wonderful their teacher was, how everything she said came true. Parvati didn't dare to tell Lavender to stop as her words made her more desperate. Finally, to not upset her best friend, Parvati took refuge at the Quidditch pitch and watch the Gryffindor team practice.
She lingered in the benches for a while afterwards, and it was quite dark by this time, so when she saw Harry leaving the changing rooms, carrying his Firebolt on his shoulder, she asked him if she could tag along. He didn't refuse. It was Parvati who first asked Harry about whether he felt ready or not about his next game. He answered that he was ready, but that he hoped another catastrophe didn't await him for the occasion. Parvati still felt guilty for not telling Harry that Trelawney predicted a tragedy for his first match. She was part of the crowd that watched him fall dozens of feet in horror. She really thought that he was dead when Dumbledore sent him away on a stretcher. So she tried to reassure him by telling him that this time, Trelawney saw no catastrophe coming, but that only got Harry to laugh about it, saying he didn't care about Trelawney's predictions more than about the age at which Snape lost his first teeth.
She didn't know why, but she cracked at this moment, and threw a tantrum. She was fed up in this very moment about how people always dismissed Professor Trelawney's predictions and tried to reassure her by saying they would never happen. All of Trelawney's predictions came true, sometimes months after she announced them, but they came true in the end. Didn't they all have a single idea about how horrible it was to know that you were going to die horribly, perhaps tomorrow? Did they understand what it was to wait for a horrible death that was inevitable?
Harry didn't really tell much first, but when Parvati was out of breath, he told her about everything that happened to him or to people he loved since he arrived at Hogwarts. His life was in danger all the time, and there was a criminal, an assassin, the very man who got his father killed, running free and trying to kill him. What was he going to do? To live in fear and barricade himself somewhere, waiting for someone to find him and kill him? He preferred to live his life as normally as possible, and to not think about all this when possible.
In some way, it helped Parvati. She calmed down after Harry reminded her that she wasn't the only with death threats over her head. It was true that Harry was in constant danger. Only this year, the Dementors almost killed him, and Peter Pettigrew made two attempts against his life. Not to mention that the Dementors also caused him to lose consciousness when they arrived through the Hogwarts Express. And then there had been the events of the first two years, the Chamber of Secrets, and before the events at the third floor. And there had also been that rogue Bludger in the first Quidditch match last year, and before his broomstick that turned mad in the middle of his very first game in life. Yes, indeed, Harry had his life in danger more than she could count. Even Trelawney foresaw some of the dangers that loomed over him.
Parvati had apologized. Harry wasn't really the person she should scream at. He had more than his fair share of problems too. They had resumed their path to the Gryffindor common room. By chance, they were outside the castle when Parvati made her crisis, so no one heard them. She would have felt quite embarrassed if people had stared at her afterwards, thinking she was crazy. Harry had asked her why she was at the Quidditch pitch today, and she revealed that she wanted to run away from Lavender. Harry looked very surprised about this, so Parvati explained him the reasons. And from the moment, he asked Parvati why she thought Lavender would never find her at the stadium, she started telling stories about how Lavender was bad at flying, which led her to other funny stories about her sister Padma. Her moral was much better when they arrived at their destination, and the Cheering Charm that Ron cast on her later that evening helped further.
And here Parvati was, a few days later, in the middle of the night, and Harry seemed quite concerned with the match coming in the morning.
"Harry… You shouldn't worry," she tried. "It's you who told me you couldn't let others stop yourself from living your life. Everything is going to be fine tomorrow. They reinforced the safety measures across all Hogwarts. Even Professor Trelawney didn't make any ill omen," she added, trying to laugh, although she only partially succeeded. She still managed to get a short laugh. He turned to face her, and she noticed the outline of a smile on his lips, even if it didn't stay there for long.
"I'm not really worried about myself," he replied. He remained silent for some time. "It's my mother," he finally said, and another moment of silence followed. Harry used it to sit down in an armchair. "She was there last time. Pettigrew was only a few feet from her. He sent my godfather to Azkaban years ago. He could have killed her as well if he had wanted. I'm lucky she's still alive."
He said no more afterwards. On that, Parvati understood what he felt. She went to sit down in another armchair across the fireplace. The fire did some good to her feet. She forgot to put on socks before going out of the dormitory. Still, she brought her legs against her and covered her feet with her dressing gown.
"Harry… She won't risk anything this time. I mean, even if Pettigrew was to show up…" she laughed nervously. "I mean, parents are not allowed to come to tomorrow's match."
"I know." He seemed irritated by what she said. "But… She's part of the team at the Ministry who are chasing Pettigrew. I just wish they could catch him and be done with it."
"Yes, me too. I understand." She took some time before having something to say. "Look, Harry… I get it. My mother was there too, two weeks ago. She was also nearby when…"
"She was?" Harry had asked it as if it was unbelievable.
"Yes. She came to see the match, and she wasn't far when it all happened."
"What was your mother doing there? Neither you or Padma play Quidditch."
"She's a member of the Board of Governors," Parvati reminded him, a little impatient. "She can attend events at Hogwarts. It's part of the privileges that come with the position."
"Oh."
Harry returned his gazed to the fireplace. Parvati looked at it as well. She remembered a time long ago, before she arrived at Hogwarts, when her father, returning from one of his many trips, brought back home a branch of fire that could presumably last forever. She thought he called it a branch of Forever Fire, or something like that. He kept it at the house for two weeks. Parvati had tried everything to extinguish it, and almost caused a minor flooding accident by spilling lots of buckets of water on it, to no avail. The thought of the accident brought a smile to her face. Her father had been furious, even though he only needed two minutes to solve the flooding problem with his wand. Talking about their parents made her want to see them all of a sudden.
"We better get back to bed, and try to get some sleep," Harry said all of a sudden, Parvati almost jumped. "Have a good night, Parvati."
"Good night, Harry," she replied. "And good luck for tomorrow."
She only remained a few seconds after Harry stood up. He hadn't yet reached the stairs to his dormitory when she headed for her own. Harry was right. It would be better for her to get some sleep.
Parvati had trouble sleeping for the rest of the night. This was sadly a problem she had. When she woke up, it was difficult for her to fall asleep again. When the morning arrived, Hermione was the first one to wake up, heading for the library very early in the morning like always. Parvati waited for Lavender to wake up as well, and faked waking up from a deep sleep. She usually shared everything with her best friend, but this time she preferred to keep her bad dreams to herself. Anyway, it wasn't hard to avoid the subject of divination or anything related today, as Quidditch was the main topic of discussion as they went down to the Great Hall with Dean and Seamus. Parvati yawned a few times on their way, but the three others were so invested in their discussion about the coming match that they didn't seem to notice her.
At the Gryffindor table, the Firebolt was placed at the center, hovering over the table, just like two weeks ago. Despite everyone having already had the opportunity to take a look at it, many people still came to see it from close. Even Parvati couldn't stop herself from casting a glance to it when they walked nearby.
"Good luck, everyone," she told the players. A few acknowledged her encouragements with a nod or by waiving their hand in her direction. She sat down with Lavender while Dean and Seamus lingered behind.
"I can't wait to see the match. They shouldn't have delayed it by two weeks," Lavender said.
"I guess they wanted to be sure," Parvati said, although the safety measures looked more than enough. Her mother herself wrote to assure her that she was safe.
"Well, anyway, we'll get the chance to see the boys flying on their brooms today. And the girls too," she added with a wink.
Parvati giggled. She and Lavender always talked about the players before a match began, especially the boys who played. A lot of their discussion before the first game had been centered around Cedric Diggory. And Parvati had a good idea over who the discussion would start.
"Do you think that Roger is going to score today?" Lavender asked. Of course, Lavender would talk about Roger Davies. Captain of Ravenclaw, and quite handsome, Parvati had to admit it.
"Not if Wood has something to say about it," she replied with a wink, which caused Lavender to giggle as her cheeks turned to pale pink. If Lavender was to choose between the two, Parvati wasn't sure which captain she would pick.
"And you, I guess you will be watching Jeremy Stretton closely," Lavender suggested.
"Why do you think that?" Parvati asked her with a false laugh.
"Your eyes were glued on him when Ravenclaw played against Slytherin."
"No, that's not true. My eyes were not glued to him."
"Then perhaps they were glued to his broom in the hope that he wouldn't fall off."
Their discussion evolved around these lines, and they went on discussing the Quidditch players for the upcoming World Cup. Lavender took out a number of Witch Weekly that gave an extensive biography about each player of the Great Britain team, including about their private and family life. There were rumors about the Keeper of the team dating one of the Chasers. Parvati wondered which girl Oliver Wood could date. Without any offense to Lavender, there were more mature girls on the Gryffindor team, and Parvati imagined much better Wood dating one of them.
At one point, the whole team of Gryffindor stood up and headed for the pitch. Parvati shouted a last good luck to Harry and the others as they walked out. The Ravenclaws left not long after.
Parvati ate quite well for breakfast, and she was in a very good mood when she headed for the stadium, despite the intermittent rain that let a water drop fall on her head from time to time. She and Lavender found a place near where the boys of their house settled, Seamus, Neville, Dean and Ronald. His little sister, Ginny, was next to him, along with Percy, who was Head Boy. Even Hermione was present. She somehow managed to free herself from her homework.
"Hi, Hermione," Parvati kindly said. The girl turned sharply to look at her.
"Oh. Hi, Parvati. Hi, Lavender. Does one of you know when the game will begin?"
"It should be soon. We are a quarter to eleven," Lavender said, looking at her watch.
Hermione nodded and returned her attention to the game immediately. Parvati found her weird lately. Well, weirder than usual. Hermione had always been the kind of girl to prefer the company of books rather than humans. Since the girls shared the same dormitory in their first year, Hermione often complained about Parvati's and Lavender's whispery discussions late in the evening, saying it prevented her from sleeping. Parvati never understood why Hermione was complaining. She and Lavender always spoke in hushed voices to not bother the others. Lily and Sophie themselves never complained about it. And Hermione never had any problem sleeping, and it never harmed her studies. She was first of their class, perhaps even of the school.
Lately though, Hermione never complained about their whispering. The main reason was probably that she went to bed much later than Parvati and Lavender did, and they had already stopped talking and fallen asleep when she came to bed. Once or twice, Parvati was even awakened by Hermione when she entered the dormitory very late.
Truth be told, even though Hermione could get on her nerves from time to time, lack in sympathy, and even be rude sometimes, Parvati felt somewhat worried for her. Hermione looked exhausted lately. She shouldn't have taken all the elective subjects this year. She had way too much work to do. She heard Harry and Ron discussing about it more than once. Parvati had to admit that she didn't understand why this girl wanted at all costs to follow all available courses at Hogwarts. Who would take Muggle Studies when she grew up in a Muggle family, and when she already had difficult subjects like Arithmancy? Parvati heard everywhere that this class was especially hard. That was why she didn't take that subject.
Parvati and Lavender spent the time before the game gossiping about the people they saw on the benches. They sat in a section next to the Hufflepuffs, so they could see some of them from where they were. Parvati noticed Hannah Abbott with a group of other students. She couldn't remember the names of some, but she recognized Justin Finch-Fletchley.
"Looking at your next boyfriend?" Lavender taunted.
Parvati giggled and gave a nudge to Lavender. Parvati made the mistake of saying Justin was handsome earlier this year, and Lavender reminded her of this from time to time.
"I think he's more likely to end with the girl sitting next to him," she pointed out, indicating the girl with red hair arranged in a plait. In fact, it was when she paired the two of them on her Board of Love (that was how she and Lavender titled it) that Parvati said that Justin was quite handsome.
"We should get another look at the Board. A little rearrangement is in order," Lavender declared.
Parvati agreed. This had been a long time since they played at arranging couples for their year. It had been a while since she tried new coupling. It was true though that she could pair someone else with Justin. She could pair her sister with him instead of Ronald, and she could pair Ron with Susan instead. Unless she paired Ron with Hermione, but then she would need to find someone else for Neville.
"They're here!" Ginny said all of a sudden. Parvati looked at where she was pointing to see several red shapes taking flight. She joined the cheers as the Gryffindor team appeared on the pitch, followed not long after by seven other players wearing blue robes.
"HELLO EVERYONE! Welcome to the real match between Ravenclaw and Gryffindor!"
Parvati screamed with all the others, including Lavender who she could clearly hear next to her. That was it. The time had come.
"Hey, everyone, look at what Harry is doing," Dean said over the cheers.
Parvati looked towards Harry, although it was hard to find him first, for he was flying so quickly that her eyes struggled to follow him. At one point, he made such a sharp turn that Parvati thought he was going to fly away in the air from his Firebolt, but no, he remained tight on it.
"Come on, boys! Win this game!" Lavender yelled.
"The boys and the girls," Ginny pointed out, but Lavender didn't give her any attention as Lee Jordan was announcing the composition of the teams.
Parvati, on her side, kept clapping her hands and screaming for Gryffindor. She might not be an unconditional fan of Quidditch usually, but when her house was playing, she supported it unconditionally.
Soon, the two teams gathered in the center of the pitch after the two captains shook hands. The crowd grew less noisy. That is when Parvati saw two Bludgers rising in the air. Immediately, she and Lavender stopped talking. The game was about to begin. And indeed, an instant later, the Quaffle rose in the air as well.
"LET THE GAME BEGIN!" Lee Jordan shouted.
Parvati shouted in enthusiasm when Katie Bell seized the Quaffle. All her attention went to the game immediately. She held her breath when a Chaser avoided a Bludger, cheered when a pass was successful, and in no time she witnessed Alicia Spinnet in front of Ravenclaw's goalposts. She held her breath when the player shot, and exploded with the rest of the Gryffindors when it went through the ring and the usual cling was heard across the stadium. Their team had the advantage.
Despite this, her attention was brought to Harry when Ravenclaw counter attacked. Lee Jordan, despite McGonagall's protests, kept talking about his Firebolt. As a result, Parvati and most of Gryffindor noticed when Harry rushed forward at high speed. Parvati's heart was beating quickly. Did he spot the Snitch? Already?
She watched in expectation as he flew. Then Parvati noticed a blue shape heading in his direction.
"Harry!"
She didn't think he could hear her from the distance, but he avoided a collision with a player from Ravenclaw, who happened to be Cho Chang, the Seeker of the opposite team. The whole of Gryffindor, including Parvati, roared in disappointment. But she also drew a breath of relief.
"Hey, that's a foul! A foul! It's not fair!" Ronald was shouting louder than everybody else. Other people in their house were complaining as well.
Parvati, however, was also worried. Harry had to turn sharply to avoid Cho Chang, and she was afraid that he might have fallen again, but he remained strongly on his Firebolt. She felt responsible for him falling in the first game, and she didn't want to see him fall again.
Parvati shared her time watching the game between following the action surrounding the Quaffle and following Harry. Cho Chang cut his trajectory repeatedly, and Parvati's heart made a bump each time out of fear.
"Can't she be more careful, come on!" she shouted after a time, thinking about Cho Chang. It was as if she was actually trying to get Harry off his broomstick, and some in the assistance were actually yelling him to drop Chang from her own broomstick.
Parvati was awed like every time they did it when Fred and George Weasley exchanged a Bludger between them, and she jumped out of happiness when Angelina Johnson scored as a result. If only Ronald was as talented as his brothers at Quidditch.
As the game progressed, Parvati cheered whenever one of the Chasers from Gryffindor scored, growled when Ravenclaw scored, and held her breath whenever one of the Seekers seemed to have spotted the Snitch, or whenever Harry and Cho seemed to come into contact. She almost prayed to Vishnu and Shiva to protect him.
Gryffindor maintained a lead, but after a certain time, and despite the fact Parvati was now checking on Harry more than she was following the Chasers, she saw the team of Ravenclaw playing better with time, and the lead started shrinking as the Keeper of Ravenclaw began to stop almost as many shots as Oliver. Lavender complained that it wasn't fair, that Oliver was much better than the Keeper of Ravenclaw, whose name Parvati forgot.
Harry's flying, in the meantime, turned more extreme. Ron and the other boys cheered him as he showed the performance of his Firebolt, and Parvati, although he sometimes scared her, had to admit it was impressive. Harry had always been very good at flying, no matter the conditions, but he was reaching heights right now. And Cho Chang could barely keep up with him.
"That's it, Harry. Show her what you can do," Ron yelled.
"Firebolt and Harry equals certain victory!" Dean cheered.
The score was now 70-50 for Gryffindor when Lavender grabbed her arms.
"Hey, look! There!" her best friend.
Parvati had been focused on Harry, hoping he would get the Snitch soon, but the panicked tone in Lavender's voice forced her to look at where she was pointing. First, Parvati didn't notice anything, but then her heart stopped to beat. She saw the three high, long, dark figures who had appeared on the pitch. Parvati remembered the cold sensation, the feeling that all happiness left the world that she felt when they checked their compartment on the train or when they went to Hogsmeade. The Dementors were back.
Parvati's eyes remained glued to them for an instant, but then she instinctively looked to Harry, expecting to see him falling. Instead, she saw him in a position she never expected from him while playing Quidditch. He had his wand in hand.
A big silvery shape came out of it all of a sudden and rushed towards the Dementors at full speed. Parvati was stunned as she looked at the strange shining creature that galloped down straight at the dark figures. And along with hundreds of students, Parvati saw Dementors do something she would never have expected to see. They ran away, and fell to the ground at the moment the silvery creature reached them. It reminded Parvati of the silver spell that Dumbledore threw at the Dementors in November, though it was quite less impressive.
The whistle of Madam Hooch brought her back to life. She had the impression that she just left a trance.
"Hey, look! Isn't it… Crabbe? Or is it Goyle?" Ron was asking.
Parvati looked more attentively to the Dementors, and she realized that they were no Dementors at all. The three figures, or rather the four now that she looked at them more closely, were not far from the position she occupied on the benches. She noticed some had removed their hoods, and one had distinctive blond hair that she recognized immediately.
"Oh my god!" Dean yelled. "It's Malfoy!"
Slowly, the entirety of the crowd began to burst into laughs, and Parvati herself couldn't hold back when she realized what just happened. Madam Hooch, and then Professor McGonagall came to shout at the four Slytherins. They were finally escorted out of the pitch under the mockeries, the laughter and the insults of the entire crowd.
The game resumed not long after. Parvati and Lavender, but also many in the audience, even the boys, were still laughing about what happened to Malfoy and his friends, and their good mood only improved when Alicia Spinnet scored. The positive mood soured a little when Ravenclaw scored in return, and then a lot of time went on without any goal as both Keepers blocked every shot taken at them. Lavender whined when Oliver was the first to flinch, leaving a mere advance of ten points to their team. Parvati kept looking hopefully to Harry. He had to catch the Golden Snitch. He had to, after he scared the hell out of Malfoy.
As if her wish had come true, she saw Harry diving to the ground, followed not far behind by Cho Chang.
"Yeah, Harry, catch it!" she yelled.
But he didn't. Instead, he flew up again before he reached the ground. Parvati groaned in disappointment.
"It's there! It's there!" Someone in the crowd shouted.
All senses in alert, Parvati looked around. Did they see the Snitch? From the yelling, it was clear that the Snitch was spotted. And then she noticed that both Harry and Cho were heading towards the same place. And she finally saw something shine. Everyone was now standing on the tip of their toes. And an instant later, they were all roaring in elation, covering any sound from the whistle, as Harry held his right hand high, something shining clearly within his palm.
They won. THEY WON!
In no time, the whole House of Gryffindor was leaving the benches and invading the pitch. Parvati and Lavender hugged each other before they followed the others as quickly as they could. Their seven players were hugging each other in the air as their broomsticks slowly brought them down to the ground.
Parvati tried to push aside someone on her left to have a place in the small crowd that awaited their champions, only to realize too late that she had tried to push Hagrid aside. As a result, she was instead thrown back against Lavender on the other side and both girls ended on the ground.
"Be careful, Parvati!" her friend complained, standing back up immediately and rushing towards the players. Parvati took a little more time to straighten up, and she unfortunately ended up in the outside of the crowd, barely in time to see Ron pulling Harry off his Firebolt.
There were about two hundred students in Gryffindor or so Parvati thought. But she had the impression that the crowd surrounding the seven players was far larger, and she indeed saw a few people with Hufflepuff robes in the small gathering. Parvati wanted to congratulate each and every player, but it was almost impossible. The crowd was too compact. The players were almost carried out of the stadium by their fellow Gryffindors, and Parvati followed them. She somehow managed to help carrying Katie Bell for a while, before being replaced by someone else, but the real celebrations only started once they arrived in the common room.
Music started as soon as they entered. Someone somehow managed to open the Wizarding Wireless Network and pushed the sound to its maximum. It didn't take long before the common turned into a place of merry chaos. Fireworks even exploded at the ceiling very quickly under everyone's acclamations. Parvati tried to congratulate Harry. After all, he was the player she was the closest to, but he was surrounded by so many people that it was hard to get close enough to him. She finally caught him when he managed to escape a group of students who were listening to him telling how he caught the Snitch.
"Hey, Harry." He turned to face her. "Congratulations! You played very well."
"Thank you, Parvati." His expression changed all of a sudden. He frowned. "Lavender is not with you?"
Parvati was surprised by the question. And she was even more surprised when she realized that Harry was right. She had assumed that Lavender was with her. They always spent their time together. She didn't need much time to find her though. She was listening to Oliver Wood who, with a little model of a pitch, was describing the best moments of the game while reproducing it with small wooden figurines that moved and flew all around this small replica. Lavender didn't miss a single word of what he said.
"I guess she was too busy with someone else," she finally answered.
"Oh… I see." Harry didn't seem bothered at all by that.
"And by the way," she added quickly, "good job with Malfoy."
That brought a huge smile to Harry, and he laughed. She laughed as well. "Yeah. I didn't learn to conjure a Patronus for that, but it was worth it."
Before Parvati could ask what a Patronus was, Ron burst into their conversation. "Hey, Harry. You should come quickly. Colin Creevey is trying to ride your Firebolt!"
It was as if Parvati ceased to exist, and Harry rushed behind Ron. Disappointed, she nonetheless ended up laughing when she saw the little Creevey fall on the cushioned floor after he only rose a few feet in the air.
Parvati drank, ate, danced, laughed, cried, shouted during the whole evening and even deep into the night. Fred and George Weasley were absent for some time, but when they came back, they were dragging a huge stock of Butterbeer and sweets from Honeydukes, not to mention more fireworks they used immediately, making the ambiance in the common room even better. Parvati just saw a card of Exploding Snap explode right into Seamus' face when she noticed Hermione in her corner, reading a large book. Harry was talking to her, but he left her alone not long afterwards. Parvati found it odd. When she thought about it, she didn't remember seeing Hermione at the match, except at the very beginning, and she didn't see her partake in any of the festivities afterwards, not even when they all rushed to the pitch to all hug their players. Parvati knew that Hermione was more serious than any other girl in Gryffindor and perhaps even Hogwarts, but still… Reading a huge and boring book when they just won a Quidditch match and that a party was going on? Parvati shook her head. She looked at Lavender who just jumped on Neville's shoulders. The poor boy struggled to carry her, until his legs finally gave up, to everyone's hilarity, including Parvati. No, no one could miss that party, not even Hermione. She walked straight to her, determined to make her participate.
"Hey, Hermione."
She only made an incomprehensible sound with her throat.
"What are you reading?" she tried asking, since it may bring Hermione to answer her in a more intelligible way. Parvati had already read the title on the cover page though, Home Life and Social Habits of British Muggles, which looked as boring as the book itself.
"Something I must read by Monday," she replied in a high-pitched voice. Hermione was really behaving strangely lately.
"Er… Hermione, you know, there's a party going on. Are you sure that you don't want to celebrate?"
"I can't. I'm happy we won, but I have too much work to do."
"Hermione, you'll still have time to work tomorrow. And you abandoned Divination. Surely that must leave you some time…"
"No, I don't have time," she snapped. "I've got very important things to do." She closed the book. "I'm going to the dormitory. It's quieter."
Parvati looked at Hermione as she headed at the speed of lightning to their dormitory, not giving a glance to Parvati, her cat on her tail. Parvati finally shrugged and went to join the party again.
She watched Fred and George juggling with Butterbeers, looked at Oliver and Angelina playing to beer pong, which resulted in both of them having a distinctive butter breath later. According to some students who had Muggles among their relatives, this game resulted in much severe side effects among the Muggles. Parvati herself even had a duel with Sophie as for who could eat as much Fizzing Whizzbees in as little time as possible. She won, but she felt so heavy in the end that, after a few minutes spent hovering over the ground, she went straight to an armchair and let herself fall into it.
"I've never seen you eat so many before," Lavender declared, all giggling, her cheeks pink as a result of all the Butterbeer she drank.
"I never tried before," Parvati replied, trying to laugh, but her stomach felt so heavy. And then she made something she dreaded doing. She belched, very long and very loudly. Lavender went into another series of uncontrollable giggles.
"Be careful, Parvati. I think they heard you even in the dungeons of Slytherin."
To her shame, it was Harry's voice who just made this remark. She covered her face with both her hands in shame as she kept hearing the laughs of Lavender. Between her fingers, she saw that Harry himself found the situation quite funny.
"Lavender, that's your fault! You encouraged me to take this challenge," she accused her best friend.
"You had the idea first," her best friend reminded, still giggling a little. "I only gave you a small nudge to push in the right direction."
"Well, you shouldn't have." Harry seemed to find the situation very funny. "And you stop, laughing! You could support me!"
"I did," Harry answered. "While you were eating around fifty Whizzbees. I was part of the people who encouraged you."
"It was sixty-seven that she ate, not fifty," Lavender pointed. "I counted myself."
"Sixty-seven? Are you sure?"
"Yes. I counted from the very beginning."
Parvati couldn't retain another belch, and this time she got a very bad feeling. Something was trying to get outside her mouth. She ran as quickly as she could, climbed the stairs leading to the dormitory, found the toilets adjacent to it and threw up in the basin right as she fell on her knees. The basin water was quickly filled with content that made her further sick. Her mouth was dry, with a horrible taste within, and her stomach kept growling. She really didn't feel fine.
"Are you fine?" Harry's voice came from behind after a time.
"What do you think?" she sarcastically replied. Then she realized something and turned to looked at him as he stood in the doorframe. "Hey, what are you doing here? These are the girls' washrooms."
"Well, no. These are the boys'. You are in our dormitory."
Parvati was stunned. Did she really… Was she… she stood up quickly to run away, but felt her mouth filling once again. Quickly, Harry grabbed her by the arm and brought her back to the basin barely in time for her vomit to not end up on the floor.
"Oh. I think I'm not going to eat Fizzing Whizzbees before a long time," he uselessly said, looking down at the content of the basin. "It's better if you stay here for now… until everything is out," he added, still uselessly.
"How many people saw me running to the boys' dormitory?" Parvati asked between ragged breaths.
"Not many, I think. Lavender and I did, but Fred and George fired some more fireworks at the same moment. I think most people were too focused on them to notice you."
"Ahhh…" Finally, some good news. "Thank you, Harry." Something new came up, and she gave it to the toilet again. "I'm going to kill Lavender. And Sophie as well. Where are they by the way?"
"No idea. But if you really want to kill them, do it outside your dormitory. Hermione might kill you as well if you disturb her studying again."
She burst into laughs, then vomited again.
"Don't make me laugh, Harry. It makes things worse."
"Okay. Sorry."
"Don't be… I mean… I really liked the game you played today…" She giggled again. "And seeing Malfoy, and Crabbe, and Goyle, and Flint in those stupid costumes…" She laughed again.
"For someone who doesn't want to laugh, Parvati, you seem to want it."
"Well… Perhaps…"
But before she could finish her thoughts, she spewed again. She felt Harry patting her on the back.
She remained over the basin for quite some time, but after she spent about two minutes looking at the muddy water without anything else coming out, she let herself slip on the floor and sit next to the toilet.
"Feeling better?" Harry asked. "All out?"
"Maybe. But I'll wait a little. I don't want to throw up in front of everybody."
Harry nodded. Parvati removed some hair that covered her face. She was sweating from the forehead. She had to look like a mess, if Harry's behaviour was any indication. He was looking away, and he finally flushed the toilet then remained standing in front of it.
"Harry, come on. Sit down," she told him.
He first sat down on the toilet basin, but quickly stood up again and went to sit next to Parvati on the floor.
"Thanks," she told him. "You better not be in my way if I throw up again."
"I wouldn't want to be," he replied. Parvati didn't blame him this time. If there was one thing she didn't want to do to Harry, it was to cover him with her vomit. "You should go back to the party."
"You want me to leave you alone in the boys' dormitory?" he asked, sounding quite uncertain.
"No!" she replied immediately.
She then felt something else coming to her mouth. She went back to the toilet, but nothing came out finally.
"I guess I'm feeling a little better," she said. "Just stay a few minutes to be sure. If… someone knocks at the door, tell them you're in the washroom."
"Okay."
She never thought she would feel so glad to have a boy with her in the washroom while she vomited. Usually, when she and Lavender discussed about boys and washrooms, they imagined it in a very different context. That made something come to Parvati's mind.
"You remember two years ago, Harry? On Halloween? The troll?"
"Oh, yes. I recall it perfectly," he said, half a smile on his lips. "You should have seen the mace falling on its head."
She smiled and giggled a little. Indeed, she would have liked to see that without the danger of troll crushing her. "When you went to search for Hermione, did you walk into the girls' toilets?"
All of a sudden, colors left Harry's face, but giggling further, Parvati placed a finger on her lips. "That's okay. I won't tell anybody. Just tell no one about my vomit spree and that I went into the boys' washrooms."
"Okay," Harry replied after a while, smiling again. "But I think Ron, Dean and Seamus would mostly have found it funny, that's all."
"Oh, please. Don't tell Dean. Please, not him."
"Okay," Harry replied, a strange expression on his face and awkward tone in his voice. Parvati realized she might have made a mistake.
"No, that's not what you think. I'm not… I'm not into Dean," she replied quickly.
She was afraid that she just made another mistake. Harry's expression showed complete incredulity. Parvati might have been looking at her Board of Love too much recently, and as a result she was afraid that people might start to think that she was really into Dean because their names were still together on it. Not that Dean wasn't handsome or cute. He was, indeed. But she wasn't into him, and she didn't want rumors to start spreading. If Harry was to tell anybody about this…
"I didn't think you were into Dean," he slowly said, now looking at her as if she came from another planet. Her heartbeat slowed down all of a sudden. "You're not?"
"No, of course not!" she snapped. "Dean is only a… friend. He's only a friend… okay."
"Okay," he said, still looking strange.
"No, Harry… This is not what you think," she said. "Look… Lavender and I… We have created some sort of… We have a plan where we… No, a board where we matched every student of our year with someone else."
Harry looked quite surprised. "You what?"
"It's just for fun. This is nothing serious. Only… We… I… I was matched with Dean on the board. I just… don't want people to think that because my name is next to Dean's that I'm into him."
"Oh. Okay," Harry replied after a moment. He didn't seem convinced. Parvati hid her face into her hands, ashamed and feeling stupid. "You know… Dean is someone good," he said after a while.
"Yes, of course. I know. I'm just… not in love with him. I'm really not. He's cute, and handsome, really, but… I'm not into him. That's all." It was to divert to another subject. "And you, Harry, any girl in sight?"
Harry looked more confused than he ever was since their conversation began. Parvati laughed as it seemed he was hit by a Bludger.
"Come on. You surely have one. And after you won today, I'm sure there are quite a few that…"
"There's no one."
He replied way too quickly. Parvati knew right away that there was someone. She grinned. "Oh. You're in love with someone. Admit it."
"No, I'm not. No more than you are."
Parvati wasn't going to let go. If she could find out who Harry might be in love with, that would be quite a good topic of discussion with Lavender. "Who is it? Hermione?"
"What?" On this, Harry looked very surprised. "Of course not. She's my best friend."
That would be something she could use if Hannah Abbott ever mentioned again in Parvati's presence that Harry and Hermione were dating. "Then who?" she asked, with just the right edge in her voice to put pressure on Harry. He looked away, but Parvati could see the red on his face, and she was sure that it wasn't from the Butterbeer he drank this evening, nor from the wind that hit his face during the match.
"Alright!" Parvati made a point of letting her head fall on Harry's shoulder. "I'm not moving until you tell me," she sang.
Harry shook his head. "Alright. You don't seem to be sick anymore. Time to leave the boys' space."
On that, he stood up. Parvati straightened up before she fell on the side. Then she stood up as well, proud that she managed to make Harry uncomfortable. She stopped him though at the moment he seized the handle of the door.
"Wait! The party is still going? What if everyone sees me getting out of the boys' rooms."
"Most of the people are focused on the party, not the dormitory, Parvati."
She wasn't so sure about that. Over the evening, Parvati noticed at least on two occasions a boy and a girl heading together into a dormitory. If she saw them, people would necessarily see her as well.
"No. No." She tried to think about a solution. "Perhaps I should stay here until the party has died down, then I'll leave."
"I think the party is going to last quite late, Parvati. And anyway, when Ron, Neville, Seamus and Dean will come up, they'll want to use the washrooms, and they will find you there."
Damn. She was stuck. Why did she have to climb the stairs to the boys' dormitory too? That was so stupid.
"I… I don't want everyone to see me coming out of the boys' rooms."
"Parvati, come on," Harry said, clearly exasperated. "It's not as if the whole school will be looking at you. And Hermione already came up here in the past. So I don't see…"
"What?!" All of a sudden, she was quite interested in what Harry just told her. "Hermione came here before?"
All of a sudden, Harry threw his hands in the air. "Okay. Wait here a minute."
"Oh. Wait…"
Too late. Harry had opened the door and left the toilets. After a moment of hesitation, Parvati went to the door as well. Harry was kneeling over his trunk.
"What are you doing?" she asked him.
He stood up all of a sudden, with a large piece of cloth of a grey color, but shining. "You don't want to be seen leaving? Come here then."
"What is this?" she asked.
Harry exhaled loudly, and he put the cloak over his head. The next instant he had disappeared. Parvati remained there, unmoving, stunned.
"Wow!" she muttered after a moment.
Then Harry's head reappeared. "What are you waiting for? Come under it!"
Instinctively, Parvati did as he told her. The instant after, they were both under the cloak. The tissue felt like water.
"It's an Invisibility Cloak?" she asked.
"Yes. And now, shut up."
Harry really didn't look like he wanted to discuss. He grabbed her by the arm, holding the cape under both their heads, and they left the dormitory. They then went down the stairs, and travelled through the common room, avoiding more than one group of students who were celebrating until they reached the portrait of the Fat Lady. It then opened, and they stepped outside the common room. In silence, they walked a little down the corridor, until finally Harry stopped and removed the cloak from over their heads.
"There! No one will see you coming out of the boys' bedrooms. Are you happy?"
He kept speaking on an exasperated tone. "Well, yes. Thank you," she said.
"Now, all you have to do is go back to the common room, and everyone will only think that you went out for a moment."
He seemed a little more calm now. "Where did you get this, Harry?" she asked, speaking about the cloak he was hiding in his pockets now.
"My mother gave it to me at the beginning of the year. It belonged to my father. She thought it might be useful with Pettigrew free. Though so far, it didn't prove very useful."
Parvati nodded. "Well, it was useful for me this evening. Thank you, Harry."
"You're welcome. Well, we should get back to the party. And don't eat other Fizzing Whizzbees."
He didn't need to tell her that. They went back together to the common room, and Parvati went back to Lavender who was watching more fireworks prepared by the Weasley twins. Lavender questioned her on the boys' toilets for some time, as she noticed her best friend going to their dormitory, to which Parvati replied as succinctly as she could. It wasn't without satisfaction that later she saw Lavender almost strangle herself after eating Bertie Bott's Beans with a flavour of vomit.
"Apparently," Ron told Parvati, laughing along with a small group of people who looked at Lavender trying to spit the bean out of her throat, "Dumbledore hates eating beans because he happened to eat one with this taste a long time ago."
Dean tried to draw various scenes of the match and to animate them. Seamus tried to help him with the spells to animate them, which resulted in one of the large posters taking fire. There was also a competition where students tried to build the tallest card castles, and the explosions when cards went off joined those of the fireworks. Parvati declined participating, but watched with amusement as people's hair were burned and messed up. For some people though, including Harry for example, the explosions didn't make their hair more ruffled as it was already messy past the point of solution.
Professor McGonagall finally showed up at one in the morning to stop the party, and Parvati reluctantly went to her dormitory with Lavender, Sophie and Lily. That night, she made no nightmare.
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Next chapter: Lily