OWL: To Lavender Brown Date: May 19th, 1999 Characters: Parvati Patil, Lavender Brown Location: Respective Status: Private Summary: Parvati gets in touch. Completion: Complete
It wasn't, Parvati realised, that she didn't have anything to say in a letter. Life kept moving on, bringing new things to share and discuss. It was that the prospect of writing to Lavender had its own very special brand of dread that settled in the pit of her stomach. After months of sending letters to Lavender via her parents, of never getting a reply and never knowing if they were actually being read, she just didn't like sending them at all. Not unless Lavender made the first contact.
And Lavender hadn't owled since telling her that she had found a place with Sorsha. And that there was a third bedroom. And that Parvati could have it if she wanted it. If there was one thing Parvati didn't like, it was being a second thought. She'd grown up being the 'other twin' to Padma's 'smart twin' status. Sinking into obscurity was not on Parvati's agenda. She wasn't going to move in with them partly because she thought it might very well break her mother's heart to have her other daughter move out - and potentially fall victim to the vices of English girls like drugs and (the horror) pre-marital sex - but mostly because she was determined not to be an afterthought in her friend's life.
It should have hurt more that she hadn't been Lavender's first choice for a flatmate. But instead it wasn't even a sting. Rather, it was more of a dull ache because it wasn't the first time she'd been forgotten. She'd lost Lavender to Ron Weasley for months back at school. She'd definitely played second fiddle whenever Won Won was around. It might have been a couple of years ago, but Parvati wasn't above a little bitterness. Was she a bitch for thinking that this might be typical of Lavender? Losing her to something new (a boyfriend, a flatmate) only to come back when the shine had worn off?
Parvati felt a little sick as she put quill to parchment. Sick with herself and from the letter-writing dread.
Lavender,
I got offered a job on Monday. Looks like I'm going to be staying with Gringotts. I start officially at the beginning of next month. Honestly, I can't wait, even if I'm mostly going to be doing the same thing as I am now for a while. I would love to see you any maybe celebrate a bit. When are you free?
Did you get that flat you wanted in the end? You never did say.