Femslash February: A Collection

Red, Always Red (Parvender)

Fandom: Harry Potter

Prompt: Red

Pairing: Parvender (Parvati/Lavender)

Summary: Even years after graduating from Hogwarts, the color red features prominently in Parvati and Lavender's lives.

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Parvati doesn't notice the pattern at first.

Her focus is understandably elsewhere: on the mangled face of her best friend, Lavender, her once vibrant body now supine and ashen in a hospital bed; on mourning and burying the dead; on rebuilding Hogwarts piece by piece until it's as if the war never happened, if only she can ignore the scorch marks on the stone walls and the blood stains that never come out of the cracks in the dungeon floor (she can't). No, Parvati is far too busy nursing Lavender to health and attending endless Ministry rebuilding meetings with other former members of the DA and addressing her strained relationship with her parents to notice or worry about something as insignificant as what color may or may not be prominent in her life.

It's not until much later — after the castle is rebuilt, after she takes or waives the final exams she needs, after she moves out of her parents' house and into her new home with Lavender — that Parvati sees it.

Really, it's not even her who sees it: it's Padma.

Padma, whose eyes linger on the siding and roof of Parvati and Lavender's quaint country house, on the flower garden in the front and vegetable garden in the back, on their backyard shed, on the cloth draped over their dining room table, on the vase of flowers in the kitchen, on the sofa and chairs in the living room, on their towels in the bathroom, and finally says, "You really went all out with the Gryffindor theme, huh?"

And Parvati laughs, because she didn't even notice, and of course it's Padma who sees it first. It's fitting. Padma has always been the more observant and shrewd of the two. It's only fair that she notices this first, too. Or something.

When Lavender comes home and Padma is long gone, Parvati tells her what her sister said about all the red. The smile that spreads across Lavender's face is beautiful, even now that one side of her mouth can no longer move because of how scarred she is.

"I guess now is the perfect time to tell you I bought you these?" Lavender says, and pulls a bouquet of a dozen roses from her behind her back, all a deep, perfect red.

Parvati laughs and takes her to bed and fucks her into the mattress, and after, they lay tangled together and talk about how they will incorporate red into their lives (intentionally this time, because why stop now?) until they've exhausted all their ideas and have nothing more to do than kiss again.

They keep their word: Lavender wears red lipstick and red lingerie, while Parvati wears red nail polish and red earrings. They buy red ceramic dishware and pots and pans. They bake red desserts and brew red tea. They plant red flowers and paint the property fences red and decorate the back porch with sparkly red windchimes. Parvati's wedding dress is red, as are their bouquets. And when Lavender insists on learning how to drive, they buy an old red Volkswagen and laugh hysterically as Lavender drives down the country road (and sometimes through the grass or into the fence). No one is surprised when the Brown-Patils open up a divination shop in Diagon Alley and decorate everything in gold and red.

But no matter what people say, at some point, red stops being a symbol of blind House loyalty for Parvati and Lavender and more a reminder of who they are: strong, brave, courageous women who won a war and lived to tell the tale together. There are no fairytales here. Just life-giving blood pumping through their veins (red, always red) and the conviction that any life worth living is a life worth fighting for.