Work Text:
Lavender squinted at the teacup. The black tea leaves swirled into unfamiliar shapes. It had only been a few days since Professor Trelawney had introduced the class to reading tea leaves and Lavender was still getting the hang of it. Her textbook was smeared with tea stains and the pages were crinkled from all the times she had tried to get a closer look at a specific shape.
She and Parvati were reading each other’s tea leaves, each trading predictions back and forth. An exciting holiday, winning the House Cup, passing their exams. Nearby, Professor Trelawney explained to Harry how his tea leaves predicted his death, but Lavender and Parvati’s leaves were all positive.
Parvati giggled and passed the teacup back to Lavender. Lavender looked carefully. The shapes became clearer and she double-checked the textbook before announcing, “You’re going to marry a very rich man!”
She glanced up, expecting to see Parvati’s delighted face just as she had after all the other predictions. But instead Parvati looked hurt. Her hands were clasped tightly around her own teacup, and she wouldn’t meet Lavender’s eyes.
“Parvati? Is something wrong?”
But Parvati simply looked up with a tight smile and moved on to the next prediction.
Parvati remained oddly quiet throughout the evening, and Lavender was determined to figure out what was wrong. That night, after checking to make sure Hermione was asleep, Lavender crept over to Parvati’s bed. She gently shook Parvati awake and gestured for her to scoot over before climbing into bed beside Parvati. She pulled the covers over their heads and whispered that Parvati could tell her anything.
“Did I do something wrong? I don’t understand what’s going on,” Lavender said.
Parvati seemed to be debating with herself before she whispered back, “I hope your prediction is wrong. I don’t want that future.”
“I thought you’d be happy? It seemed like a good thing? Did I offend you by saying you’d marry rich?”
“I… That’s not the problem.” Her voice got even quieter as she continued, “I don’t want to marry a man.”
“Oh.” Lavender had failed to even consider this possibility. She’d always imagined them both growing up, meeting wonderful boyfriends, and getting married. Of course she and Parvati would be best friends through it all, she needed Parvati in her life. But she needed to readjust her idea of the future.
The silence between them grew as Lavender worked out how to respond. Parvati pulled away from Lavender. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have made this such a big deal.”
Lavender cut off her apologies. “No no, I’m sorry. I’m not good at reading tea leaves yet, it’s only our first week learning. Of course I read it wrong.” She reached for Parvati’s hands, hoping to reassure her. “Did you want me to say a rich woman?”
Parvati smiled. “She doesn’t need to be rich, but yeah.” She was gazing intently at Lavender.
“Then I’m sure that’s what the leaves actually said, I just didn’t know how to read them correctly.”
Lavender reached over to hug Parvati before returning to her own bed. She lay awake for a long time, unable to stop her racing thoughts. And for the first time, her own dreams for the future didn’t default to a husband for herself. Maybe a husband, but maybe a wife, or maybe a best friend.