Into the Looking Glass (( Lavender))

[Parvati Patil]

" Lavender! I think I see something!" The dim classroom only helped accentuate the lights coming from the crystal ball. It was a beautiful thing. Clouds of mist rolled upon themselves creating images of love, crisis, and even death. Now, it was only for the seer to figure out what those symbols meant. Parvati leaned over the orb, letting her finger stray across what looked like a leaf. " Hmmm..." Parvati mused while she flipped through the pages of Unfogging the Future. " Leaves normally represent some sort of object, but why is it moving like that?" The leaf soon vanished into the fog that continued to lap over itself. " Lavender, I love Divination, but sometimes I think this book is rubbish. Trelawney is a wonderful seer, but ever since we started having classes with that centaur, I think my inner eye has become clouded."

It felt like a relief to actually be smiling again. Parvati had been in a terrible mood as of late, and it seemed like she would never come out of it. Actually working with the crystal ball helped clear her head, and put her at ease. It was always soothing to watch the workings of the ball, and to try to interpret its many meanings. " I just wish I was as talented at this as Trelawney is. I mean, she always just so on the mark with her readings." Parvati sat back in her chair, feeling a bit defeated. " Do you think that we will ever be as good as her?"

[Lavender Brown]

Lavender looked up with interest as Parvati shouted to her. She was eager to see what was in their future. The crystal ball was the one thing she could fully rely on, thanks to Professor Trelawney's teaching skills. The fog swirled around inside the ball and Lavender watched with happiness. She couldn't think of anything that was more fun that sitting with her best friend and studying a crystal ball. Lavender quieted her thoughts as the fog began to take shape. She squinted her eyes trying to make out the object. "A leaf..." Lavender looked uninterested. She wondered what that could possibly mean. She looked up as she heard Parvati flipping through the pages of Unfogging the Future. "No idea why it's moving like that...what kind of object? Good or bad?" Lavender asked. She had no idea what object would be on their minds.

Lavender's thoughts were interrupted as Parvati began to speak again. Lavender listened sadly as Parvati talked about her inner eye. "I know what you mean. I don't know so much about the rubbish part, but sometimes I feel like I'm not picking up anything at all. Professor Trelawney doesn't like that about his classes. He's always so pessimistic about us being able to see anything. Trelawney has faith in us and that's a nice change," Lavender said. She was beginning to give up on figuring out the meaning of the leaf, but her mind was still searching for the answer, long after she thought she had given up.

"I totally understand! Trelawney is so awesome! I wish I could be just like her, she's like my mentor! She's always right," Lavender sighed as she watched her friend lean back in her chair, "I feel like I'll never understand this stuff sometimes. I don't know if we'll ever be as good as she is. I think I'll always fall short of the margin, but I'm willing to try. You want to try again?" Lavender looked at the crystal ball with interest. The fog was swirling inside, it almost looked like it was trying to escape the ball, but was unable to. Lavender looked up at Parvati and eyed her friend with interest. "How are you doing Parvati? Are things going all right?" Lavender asked. She knew that Parvati hadn't been having a great year, but Lavender wondered if she was doing any better.

[Parvati Patil]

Parvati couldn't take her eyes of the image in the ball. Of course, only one thing had been on her mind lately, her family. " I guess I'm okay..." Parvati said this rather hesitantly, knowing her friend would know she was lying. Things weren't okay, and Lavender knew it. " Oh god, Lavender, " Parvati's chair screached against the stone floor as she pushed back suddenly. Standing up, she began to pace back and forth, leaving shoe prints in the dust covered floor. " Mom and Dad are being so restrictive lately, and I'm afraid Padma is starting to hate me. A few years ago, we were inseparable. We dressed the same, thought the same, and even finished each other's sentences. Now, we hardly talk."

Frowning, she stared down at the floor. " I just don't know what to do anymore. She has changed so much since the days of the D.A." Sighing, she turned back to her friend. " She just seems to follow whatever my mother and father says blindly. She seems to have no mind of her own." After feeling like she walked a hole in the floor, she sat down heavily in her chair. She looked at the swirling fog once again to see flashes of lightning. " Well, that obviously means some sort of strife." Parvati crossed her arms over each other on the table, and then rested her head on them.

[Lavender Brown]

((Sorry it took so long to reply, haven't really been inspired by Lavender lately. But maybe since I'm on break things will pick up with her.))

Lavender watched her friend with pleading eyes. She couldn't imagine what Parvati was going through. Her best friend was hurting and there wasn't anything Lavender could do to help her. Lavender listened to her friend as she tried to brush it off, but within seconds Lavender heard the squealing of the chair on the floor. Parvati was standing and pacing. Lavender held back the cry that had almost escaped her lips at the sudden movement and sound. She sat like stone in the chair, her only movement her eyes as they followed Parvati around the room. She couldn't help the tears that came to her eyes. She hated seeing her friend upset and she let the a tear slide down her cheek. She didn't bother moving to wipe it away. She just wanted to listen and she did.

Lavender listened to Parvati talk about her sister. Lavender knew things weren't going well there. She couldn't remember the last time the three of them had hung out together. It had been ages ago. It hadn't gone too well then either. Lavender listened to her friend with earnest as Parvati turned to face Lavender. She quickly wiped away the tears that had fallen. She didn't want Parvati to know that she was crying. Lavender forced a smile as Parvati dropped back into her chair and stared at the crystal ball. "I..." Lavender started but stopped. She didn't know what to say. She didn't even know how to help her best friend. Within seconds, Parvati had changed the subject. "Lightning, huh? Yeah, strife I believe," Lavender said as she watched her friend lay her head on the table.

"I don't know what to say Parvati. You're my best friend and yet I still don't know what to tell you. You've tried talking things out with Padme and she won't listen. You're parents are out of the question. I don't know, maybe I could talk to her. I just don't know Parvati. I want to help you so much, but I feel so helpless. It's like fate is working against me so that you are on your own during this strife, but I don't want you to be alone. I want to help. I want nothing more than to see you happy again. That smiling face that was so prominent in our earlier years here at Hogwarts. They're all gone. There is nothing left, but the sorrow and defeat that has been taking control the last three years, since You-Know-Who's return. What I would give to get rid of him. Only then will happiness and content come back into the wizarding world. I don't know," Lavender finished. She was crying now. It was all her bent up frustration at being so helpless. What she wouldn't give to be back in the D.A. when they were learning to fight the Dark Arts. It had given her a sense of hope. She felt that she was actually doing something good to try to defeat Voldemort, but she didn't feel that way now. She felt like she was being run down by the exact people she wanted to defeat. Lavender wiped her eyes quickly, trying to keep the tears away, she hated it when she did that. Lavender followed Parvati's lead. She crossed her arms on the table and sat her head down on her arms. Looking up she saw a snake inside the crystal ball. It looked to be devouring something. Lavender didn't care what it meant, she just stopped thinking and listened to see what her friend would say.