In which the battle has come to an end
Lavender heard Parvati before she saw her.
As it happened, she couldn't see anything.
Her eyes were closed, she could feel it- so she wasn't blind. The problem was that Lavender couldn't seem to open her eyes, they felt heavy. Her whole body felt heavy, she ached and she could feel that she had broken her leg, it was suspended in the air. So she was in a hospital? She must be, if she is being treated.
For a moment she forgets why she is hurt, but the memories come flooding back quickly as Parvati yells for her.
"Let me in! Please, I need to see her. You don't understand- I need to!" Parvati's voice sounds afraid and determined and broken.
Lavender can heard someone pulling Parvati away, telling her, "She needs to rest,"
A few more protests, a defeated sigh and a door closing signals Parvati's departure and Lavender can feel her heart drop in her chest.
She tries to move, to show that she's awake, and that she wants her friend.
She'd been so afraid that one of them wouldn't survive the battle.. but they have, and now she's not allowed to see Parvati?
She's completely furious- how is that the nurses decision to make? Or some dumb healer?
But in the state that she's in, Lavender's not in the position to argue, so she tries to relax, tries to sleep until she can see her best friend again.\
When she does get to sleep, Lavenders dreams are plagued with images of a beast of a man. He's terrifying- hairy, and laughing and snarling. He circles her, wandless and smirking. She must attempt to strike him, because his eyes turn furious and he lunges at her. He catches her waist and pulls her to the ground in one motion, his teeth sink into her shoulder as she thrashes, attempts to throw him off of her.
But his teeth are sharp and they tear her skin as she pulls herself away from him. Her eyes sting with tears but she blinks them back, unwilling to show her pain or fear in front of this monstrous man. She points her wand at him and opens her lips to cast a spell. Any spell.
But before she gets a word out, the man pounces again. He grips her by the throat. She can't breathe, and she claws at the air, helpless.
She tries to cry out for help, but she cant get a word past her lips. As she struggles, she feels the man biting her again, this time its the space between her neck and jaw.
He's going to rip my throat out, Lavender realises at she feels him release his grip on her throat and replace his hand with his mouth.
I'm going to die.
Lavender braces herself, praying to see her grandmother in Heaven. Praying Heaven exists. Maybe she'll see Merlin! Or Marilyn Monroe! She'd love that.
Suddenly, though, she is pulled from her thoughts. Literally.
Arms are pulling her from the mans reach, wrapped around her waist, almost gently.
Her first thought is to get the hell away from the man (who is either a savage cannibal or a werewolf, and she is leaning towards the latter).
The second is to thank her saviour.
She turns, still in their arms and her heart skips a beat.
"Pavarti?"
"Aha! I told you, didn't I!" an excited, female voice exclaims,"I knew she'd want to see me! Didn't I tell you!"
A man's voice hushes she girl and Lavender opens her eyes, thankful that she's able to this time.
There she is, grinning from ear to ear when she see's Lavender waking, though she scared eyes are a little concerning, Lavender couldn't be happier to see her best friend.
Lavender tries to sit up, but feels a sharp pain in her shoulder and leg,"Fuck," she sighs, gritting her teeth,"Ow,"
Pavarti quickly rushes to her side, away from the healer with whom she had been arguing.
"You're okay,"
Lavender nods, smiling,"So are you,"
Pavarti's eyes soften, lighten up. And she's beaming at Lavender as if the sun shines out of her, like she's never been happier. She brings a slender hand to Lavenders cheek and brushes her jaw, where a faint bite mark lies.
"Does it hurt much?"
Lavender shakes her head gently, the pain is distant. Like she is still dreaming.
Pavarti smiles, retracting her hand,"Good. That's good,"
Lavender almost tells her to leave her hand where it was, but thinks better of it.
"So.. did we win?" Lavender laughs, hiding her concern behind her sarcastic tone.
Pavarti nods, grinning yet again, and she seems awfully happy recently for someone in a hospital.
"It was.." Pavarti considers something for a second, biting her full lips, then giggles. It's so her. So Pavarti, so familiar. And it's comforting. It doesn't matter what happened. As long as she has Pavarti, and yet she does want to know.
"It was?" she prompts.
Pavarti shakes her head,"Sorry, yeah, it was pretty scary at first. After I got you away from the werewolf I heard screaming and Padma found me, pulled me into the court. You-Know-W.. I mean, Voldemort, was there. Surrounding by Death Eaters. And Hagrid-"
Lavender gasps,"Hagrid? No!"
Again Pavarti shakes her head,"No, just listen," she scold playfully,"Hagrid was holding someone, a dead someone. It wasn't hard to work out that it was Harry.."
Lavender's eyes widen. No. Harry couldn't be dead..
Pavarti seems to have read her mind, because she reaches over and takes Lavenders hand,"That's what I thought. But he wasn't moving and You.. Voldemort was shouting about how 'Harry Potter is dead', and that bitch Lestrange was running all over the place laughing. Everyone was furious, naturally.
So Voldemort asks people to join him, and Neville steps forward,"
Once again, Lavender is in shock. This year Neville has been so good, and brave, and Gryffindor! He wouldn't, he simply wouldn't.
"He didn't. He told Voldemort where to stick it. It was amazing,"
Lavender smiles, feeling oddly proud of Neville. They'd gotten to be quite good friends this past year- not that she would've said so out loud, not before today at least.
"Then what?"
"Well here's the best bit," Pavarti grins,"The Malfoys start to make a fuss, telling Malfoy -school Malfoy- to 'come here'. And he doesn't go! Well, not at first anyway.
He goes to Voldemort after a bit of loud whispering from his parents, and Voldemort hugs him!"
Lavender almost chokes, how did she miss something so ridiculous. Pavarti is wearing a grin and squeezes Lavenders hand.
"It gets better.
So Malfoys about three steps from his 'Dark Lord', when Voldemort raises his wand at everyone, and suddenly Malfoy yells,'Potter', and he's not walking to his parents anymore. Now, he's fucking sprinting. Right to where Hagrid was holding Harry. Except Harry's jumped from Hagrid's arms and Malfoy is throwing Harry his wand. Malfoys own wand! It was mad!"
Pavarti is slightly out of breath from not pausing to tell the rest of the story, and Lavender is just as speechless. For a moment.
"Wow," she breathes a shocked sigh.
"When you think about it, though, it does kinda make sense," Pavarti ponders.
Lavender must be staring like Pavarti has four heads, because the girl rushes to explain herself.
"Well they've practically been flirting all our school lives- we just never noticed, because it's the way boys do it. With teasing and getting each other attention with insults and showing off,"
Lavender is incredulous, Pavarti is suggesting that not only does Malfoy like Harry, she's saying he LIKES Harry. It's crazy. Completely mad. Malfoy hates Harry, he is always talking about how much he hates him, how stupid his hair is or his face or... Oh. But she gets it.
How did she not see it? Almost all of her relationships began with teasing and showing off.
The realisation must be clear on her face, because Pavarti is laughing, leaning into her, and Lavender laughs too. It feels good to laugh.
"So, if boys show love through being arseholes," Lavender considers,"How do girls show it?"
Pavarti laughs,"By telling those boys to shove off," she jokes.
"I think they do it through showing their love properly. Girls are much smarter than boys, we show love through being nice,"
Pavarti giggles,"Good luck to you then, you're never nice," she teases.
Lavender rolls her eyes, shoving her friend gently,"Shut up, i'm a delight!"
"Yeah,"
"Wait, really?"
Pavarti smiles gently, and leans forward, brushing her fingers across Lavenders wrist, where their hands are joined, and lays her head on Lavenders shoulder.
"Nah you suck," Pavarti whispers, sticking her tongue out.
Lavender laughs gently and kisses Pavarti's forehead,"Love you too, jerk,"
"Love you more,"