Chapter 13

Parvati Patil was the worst person who ever lived, she was sure of it. Because who else would stand idly by as one of the kindest people you've ever met got her heart trampled on by your best friend?

"Ron's just so sweet," Lavender gushed, glancing over at the curtains drawn around Hermione's bed. "He's the best boyfriend ever. I'm so lucky he only has eyes for me."

Parvati wanted to scream at Lavender, cry, and apologize to Hermione profusely all at the same time. She knew Lavender was just saying these things to hurt Hermione on purpose; Lavender could be cruel when she wanted to be. Lavender had been dropping hints and saying things like this since the day she and Ron got together and it was clear that it hurt Hermione deeply. Hermione had yet to retaliate at all, even though it had been a little over two weeks, and Parvati admired her for it.

But Parvati was crippled. Yes, what Lavender was doing was wrong, but they had been best friends from the second they met each other on their first day of Hogwarts. She couldn't tell Lavender off but she couldn't stand watching her act this way either.

"Did you see how he saved a seat for me in Charms?" Lavender sighed dreamily as she brushed her hair. "He's so thoughtful."

Parvati nearly snorted. Ron hadn't been saving her a seat at all; he sat down and Lavender swooped down next to him, fawning over him. He had actually looked rather annoyed.

Parvati faked an exaggerated yawn, eager to get out of the situation. "I'm exhausted," she lied, stretching her arms above her head. "I think I'm going to go to bed."

Lavender pouted. "Fine. Goodnight, Parv."

Parvati gave her a weak smile before drawing the curtains around her bed. She got under the covers and stared up at the ceiling, sighing sadly.

Hermione didn't deserve to be treated like this. She was kind and both Lavender and Ron were treating her like garbage. Parvati wasn't an idiot; she knew Ron was in love with Hermione and had been since their fourth year. At first, she thought maybe he was over Hermione, but it didn't take long to realize that he obviously still had feelings for her. Ron barely ever spoke to Lavender and only snogged her when he knew Hermione was around. Parvati wasn't sure if Lavender noticed, but it was blatantly obvious to her that Ron was only with Lavender to make Hermione jealous. It was infuriating; what kind of idiot would think this was a good idea?

Poor Hermione. Not only was the guy she fancied snogging a girl who hated her, but she had been left with nearly no friends. The only people who were hanging out with her lately were Harry and Neville. Ginny did her best to cheer Hermione up, but she and Dean had been joined at the hip lately. And obviously Ron hadn't spoken to Hermione in ages either.

Parvati sighed again, feeling thoroughly depressed. Guilt was eating away at her gut and Parvati willed herself to go to sleep, hoping it would make the guilt go away.

The next day, Parvati felt absolutely horrid. Worse than the previous day, if that was even possible.

In Transfiguration that day, Parvati had been sitting with Ron and Lavender, right behind Harry and Hermione. Lavender kept making snide remarks about Hermione, while Ron stared steadily at the back of Hermione's head. At one point, Ron accidentally gave himself a huge mustache and everybody laughed, including Hermione; Ron retaliated by making fun of Hermione raising her hand.

Parvati sat at the Great Hall, feeling incredibly guilty. She shouldn't have laughed at Hermione. It was just so accurate that she couldn't help but giggle slightly. Now, after seeing Hermione flee the classroom in tears, she was feeling terrible and now she was being forced to witness Ron and Lavender snog over lunch, which only made her feel worse. Harry was sitting next to Parvati, staring at the couple in disgust. At least he hated watching them as well.

"Hi, Harry," she said, trying to diffuse the awkward tension at the table.

"Hi," he replied, looking grateful for a reason to look away from Ron and Lavender. "How're you? You're staying at Hogwarts, then? I heard your parents wanted you to leave."

Parvati felt a surge of annoyance. Her parents were overly cautious when it came to her and Padma's safety, so at the first news of Katie Bell being cursed they had insisted the girls leave Hogwarts immediately. Parvati, of course, had fought them on it.

"I managed to talk them out of it for the time being," she replied. "That Katie thing really freaked them out, but as there hasn't been anything since…"

Parvati's voice trailed off. She spotted Hermione walking towards them purposefully and the guilt came back. How could she make sure Hermione wasn't cross with her? Parvati decided the best way to go about it was to be as nice as possible; maybe Hermione would forget about it.

"Oh, hi, Hermione!" she said as happily as possible.

To her surprise and relief, Hermione smiled back. "Hi, Parvati! Are you going to Slughorn's party tonight?"

"No invite," Parvati replied. "I'd love to go, though, it sounds like it's going to be really good…you're going, aren't you?"

"Yes," Hermione answered, smiling sweetly. "I'm meeting Cormac at eight and we're going up to the party together."

Parvati noticed Ron and Lavender had suddenly stopped snogging but didn't make a remark; she was too shocked. Cormac McLaggen? The bloke was really good-looking but a bit of a tosser and not Hermione's type at all.

"Cormac?" Parvati asked. "Cormac McLaggen, you mean?"

"That's right," Hermione said, smiling radiantly. "The one who almost became Gryffindor Keeper."

Parvati raised her eyebrows but silently impressed by Hermione. "Are you going out with him, then?" she asked, hungry to hear more.

"Oh, yes, didn't you know?" Hermione replied with a giggle.

"No!" Parvati answered. Parvati had always loved a good piece of gossip and this was golden. "Wow, you like your Quidditch player's don't you? First Krum, then McLaggen…"

"I like really good Quidditch players," Hermione interrupted. "Well, see you…got to go and get ready for the party."

With that, Hermione flounced away. Parvati watched her walk away in shock. Even though Hermione was absolutely brilliant, Parvati and Lavender had always assumed that she was clueless in the relationship department. But apparently they had been wrong because Hermione's scheme to make Ron jealous was absolutely brilliant.

"Cormac McLaggen?" Lavender hissed, leaning over to Parvati. "She's going out with Cormac McLaggen?"

"Apparently," Parvati replied, looking down the table at the bloke in question. "Good on her. He's quite fit."

Lavender scowled as she also appraised McLaggen. "I didn't even know that they had been talking. And wasn't he going with Melinda from Hufflepuff?"

"No, they broke up ages ago. And didn't she go to the last Hogsmeade trip with Eddie Charmichael?"

"Um, we have to go," Ron said from beside Lavender, already jumping out of his seat. "See you later!"

Parvati said goodbye weakly as Harry and Ron bolted out of the Great Hall. It felt nice to talk to Lavender again without being cross at her. Maybe as long as they continued to harmlessly gossip, things could go back to normal. But deep down, Parvati knew things would never feel right until Lavender and Ron were broken up.

AN: Sorry it's been so long guys! I had so much trouble with this chapter. At first, I tried to write it from Lavender's point of view but I couldn't do it without making her seem like a complete evil bitch because I can't stand her at all. Then, I tried it from Ginny's, Seamus', and even Cormac's POVs and all of them were just not right. I hope you guys like it! I will definitely try to update more often! Please review!