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Lavender was truly amazing.
if Parvati had been walking with anyone else, the constant humming of the latest Wizarding Wireless hits would make her gnash her teeth into nothing. But, well, her best friend just had that little spark to make it a bearable experience.
The two of them were just arriving at Hogsmeade on the path leading down from the school. The village was already teeming with people between the ages of thirteen and seventeen. Parvati saw couples roaming around everywhere, trying to squeeze every last second out of the free day.
The whole school had recently caught Valentine's fever. Although it was technically not until tomorrow, that was a school day and thus, the student population had decided to get all their loving done today while they had time.
Initially, Parvati had planned on pulling a Hermione and spending today stuffed in the library, studying for the Charms test tomorrow (She really needed to start doing better in that class. Flitwick could be a right condescending prick when he was disappointed in your results), but, well, Lavender could be very persuasive.
("Coooooommmmmeeeee on, 'Vati. Let's go to Hogsmeade with everybody!" she said, drumming her perfectly manicured fingers on the table.
"But we don't have dates," said Parvati dryly, her eyes glazing over the textbook without absorbing a single piece of information.
"Dates are for calendars," said Lavender "Come on, it'll be fun!" She leaned in and said conspiratorially "We can find out who's dating who. I tell ya, some of those Ravenclaws are harder to crack than year-old walnuts."
Parvati's ears perked up at the idea of juicy gossip. She was only human after all. And the shine in Lavender's eyes was hard to say no to.
"Perhaps..."
"I'll pay for Honeydukes."
"Deal.")
Lavender had insisted they go wearing the winter outfits they had picked out together at Madam Malkin's during their annual clothes shopping spree. Lavender's was, of course, varying shades of pink. Parvati herself was wearing white. It went nicely with her complexion after all.
Already, their excursion was getting results. Lavender clicked her tongue when she saw the first new couple walking across the road, hand-in-hand.
"Figures, you never see them apart anyway," she said, as Crabbe and Goyle lumbered past, giving each other soppy looks.
"Jeez. And here I was thinking that Slytherins just stared at the mirror in their spare time," quipped Parvati, beaming when Lavender giggled loudly. Lavender had such a nice laugh...
It was lightly snowing and flakes were gathering in her friend's blonde braids. Parvati couldn't understand it. They had the exact same hair and make-up routine in the mornings, but Lavender always managed to look radiant no matter what the circumstances. There were days that Parvati would look in the mirror and strongly consider whether or not she should take up a career in the Knockturn Alley freakshow.
"Hmmm, Honeydukes looks really crowded, 'Vati, maybe only one of us will be able to get in," said Lavender, pursing her lips as she peered across the road into the windows of the sweet shop. Parvati saw a legion of Hogwarts students and a very frazzled-looking Mr. Flume.
"It's ok, you know exactly the stuff I like anyway," shrugged Parvati. Of course, there was one thing she liked that she hoped Lavender knew nothing about.
The exact time that Parvati had begun to have odd feelings regarding Lavender was hard to pin down. All she knew was that lately, her best friend had suddenly become very, very, very, very pretty. And truth be told, Parvati didn't like that one bit.
At this age, she was supposed to have crushes on celebrities like Gwenog Jones and Celestina Warbeck. Not on someone so close to her. Not on someone who might end their friendship if they didn't feel the same way.
Not on Lavender.
"Alright 'Vati, I'm going in," said Lavender, doing a piss-take of psyching herself up like an Auror about to raid a Death Eater stronghold "I might have to elbow Vicky Frobisher in the face if she keeps blocking the counter like that, but I think I'll be good."
"Give 'em hell," said Parvati with a grin, watching as Lavender entered the shop and disappeared into the mass of teenagers.
At that moment, Parvati heard the sound of her name being called, and turned to see Padma rushing towards her. Or rather, Michael Corner was rushing towards her while giving Padma a piggyback ride.
"There you are!" said Padma as her boyfriend came to a stop in front of Parvati, panting slightly.
"Hi, Padma," said Parvati. Her twin looked her up and down, seeming a bit bemused.
"Where's your date?" she said bluntly. Parvati flushed a little bit.
"I don't have one," she muttered. Michael snorted.
"Pull the other one, it's got bells on," he said cryptically. Parvati blinked in confusion.
"Parvati, basically everyone saw you and Lav coming down from the castle together. The jig is kinda up," said Padma, climbing down from Michael, who sighed in relief at no longer being weighted down.
Parvati felt warmth spread across her entire face. Was that really what people were thinking?
"Oh, no, no, no, no, no!" she said, wildly waving her hands for emphasis "We just came as friends!" she said, quite a bit louder than she had intended.
"Dean and Seamus came "as friends" and now they're snogging under the bridge," said Padma smugly, like that was a smoking gun. Not for the first time, Parvati wished she had torn up her sister's letter to Hogwarts.
"Well, Lavender and I aren't!" she yelled in immense irritation.
"Aren't doing what?" came a familiar voice from behind her. Parvati turned to see a confused-looking Lavender walking towards them, a bag of Sugar Quills in her hand.
"Uhhhh," said Parvati, wishing she could plunge herself into the frozen lake.
"Aren't gonna miss out on those two-for-one offers down at the Three Broomsticks," said Michael, flashing his most charming grin. It always worked. Except on Padma, it was what made them such a good fit.
"Whaddya say, Lav. You two wanna come sit down with us?" said Padma, continuing on seamlessly from what Michael had said. Her eyes had a mischievous glint to them.
Parvati crossed her toes, hoping that Lavender would politely decline and this whole experience would turn out to be nothing more than a mortifying memory that would occasionally wake her up at three in the morning.
"Sound great. I love the Three Broomsticks," cooed Lavender.
Parvati groaned. Fuck her life.
-----------------------
Thankfully, Lavender was too busy keeping track of all the couples in the Three Broomsticks to realise that Padma had essentially organised what was in Parvati's humble opinion, a grotesque parody of a double-date. Puddifoot's had been packed to the brim, so the pub was filled with canoodlers seeking refuge from the chill of the outside.
"Oh, Justin and Ernie are over there! And there's Mandy snogging Sally-Anne. And, oh my, is that Professor Vector with Madam Hooch?" Lavender's eyes were shining as she gazed upon all the romance happening around them.
They had arrived in while the place was near-packed. As such, their table was just a little too close to the toilets for Parvati's liking. Not that was stopping Padma and Michael from giving each other the kind of eyes that usually preceded kissing. The randy gits.
"Are you two having a nice time?" said Padma, bearing the kind of grin that showed all her teeth at Parvati's discomfort. Not for the first time, Parvati was struck with the burning desire to use the Jelly-Face Hex on her sister next time her back was turned.
"Lovely," said Parvati through gritted teeth. Madam Rosemearta had decided to entertain her customers by playing a love song on a ukulele. It wasn't half-bad, to be honest.
"I hope so, would be a shame if anything unexpected happened," she said, with a pointed glance over at Michael, who was distractedly watching the Quidditch match being magically projected on the wall.
Rolling her eyes, Padma nudged her boyfriend, who jumped slightly. He then made a production out of bending over in his chair and squinting at the door to the pub.
"Wait, is that Miranda Ashbridge, inventor of 'Teen Witch Hair Solution'?" he said in a stilted and robotic voice. Padma face-palmed as Parvati rolled her eyes. They stood no chance of fooling...
"Oh my Merlin! Where!" cried Lavender as she jumped out of her seat, knocking into Parvati and sending them both crashing onto the floor. Parvati heard the sound of Padma and Michael high-fiving.
Parvati's face burned like a bonfire. Lavender's equally red face was now mere inches away from her own. The winter coats they had were making getting back on their feet a challenge.
The idea of braining herself with Rosemearta's ukleule was becoming very appealing to Parvati. She didn't think she'd be able to carry on living after this. Lavender swallowed, her dainty chin set.
"Er, Happy almost Valentine's Day, 'Vati," she said. And then, in almost perfect synchronisation, the two of them leaned in towards each other.
And then they kissed each other.
Lavender's lips were soft and had the taste of the cherry lipgloss she had been ordering out of Witch Weekly for the past fortnight. It quite honestly, no joke, the best sensation Parvati had ever experienced.
As the two of them pulled apart and stood up, Parvati realised four very important things:
1) She had just kissed a girl, her best friend no less, And had loved it very much.
2) Padma had no idea of the thunderstorm of retaliation coming her way.
3) Perhaps the universe wasn't a nasty bitch after all. Maybe it just worked in mysterious ways as Professor Trelawney said.
4) OH MERLIN, SHE JUST KISSED LAVENDER AND IT WAS INCREDIBLE AND NOW SHE'S PRETTY SURE SHE HAS A GIRLFRIEND AND LIFE IS AMAZING AND COOL AND SHE LOVES BEING A LESBIAN AND KISSING LAVENDER AND STUFF!
All in all, a fairly alright morning.