[fic] after ; hp, parvati/lavender

[delacourtings]

after. harry potter. parvati(/lavender), padma. pg. 200. ao3.
for @drabble_zone's challenge #164: in the aftermath.
parvati, in the immediate aftermath of the war.

Padma’s arms are around her.

Padma is here.

Padma is safe.

Which means... Her mind isn’t working properly. She can’t think in full sentences. Only fragments. She needs to...

 

“Lavender,” she says, gripping Padma tight. “I need to find Lavender.”
 

 

She doesn’t sound like herself. She sounds...crazed. She feels crazed.

“I need to find Lavender!” Her voice takes on a desperate edge.

 

“Okay,” Padma says, shushing her, rubbing her arm, trying to calm her down.

She won’t be calm, not until she finds Lavender, not until she knows Lavender is okay.

“It’s okay. We’ll find her.”

---

They find her.
 

 

It is not okay.
 

 

It is the furthest thing from okay.
 

 

She sees her, Lavender, lying on the crumbling Hogwarts floor, paler than she’s ever been.
 

 

Parvati’s knees give out.

Everything goes silent.

She can feel her mouth moving but she can’t hear the sound that comes from it. It must be a horrible, horrendous thing because Padma has to cover her ears.
 

 

“No!”

 

It’s a horrific sound. It takes her a minute to realize that the horrible sound is her.
 

 

“No!” She screams until her voice gives out.
 

 

It is not okay.
 

 

Never again will anything be okay.