A Single Moment

Lavender’s hand was on Parvati’s arse again. “Stop it!” Parvati whispered, shoving the hand away. “Someone will see us!”

“Oh, so what?” Lavender said, pouting prettily and pulling Parvati toward the bedroom they shared. “Just my luck that Padma had to be working – I’ll just have to handle you on my own, I suppose.”

Parvati was about to make a very lewd comment when Ron and Hermione’s door opened, and Harry stepped out. “Welcome back, Lavender!” he said, grinning broadly. “So everything went okay then?” he asked Parvati.

“Yes, fine,” Parvati confirmed with a smirk.

“But no more Veritaserum for me, Harry, please,” Lavender pleaded.

“Well, we’ll try not to need it,” Harry agreed. “Come on in here, both of you,” he continued, stepping aside and gesturing to the door.

“What?” Lavender exclaimed, disappointed; she’d been looking forward to another round in bed with Parvati. “But-”

“Sorry, I know you just got back, but we need you two to do something for the D.A.,” Harry said apologetically. “That’s why I asked Parvati to go patch things up with you, Lavender; you said you wanted to be useful to the D.A. – this is it.”

“Oh…all right,” Lavender said, and she and Parvati stepped into the room; Harry shut the door behind them. Lavender smiled hesitantly at Ginny, Ron and Hermione. “Hello,” she said softly. “Hermione, Parvati just told me- I’m so sorry! Are you all right?”

“It’s taking some getting used to,” Hermione said with a welcoming smile. “But I’ll be all right, thanks.”

Harry drew up two more chairs for Parvati and Lavender, and reclaimed his own seat. “Okay,” he said, “are you two still pretty close with Professor Trelawney?”

“What?” Parvati blurted out, startled by the question. “I mean yes, we are…we’ve both been writing her all summer, and she’s been writing back. Poor thing, she’s very depressed since Dumbledore died.”

Lavender nodded her agreement. “Good,” Harry said. “Do you think she’d be willing to get together with you two casually?”

Both girls were even more surprised. “Well- maybe, if we went out to Hogwarts to see her,” Lavender said hesitantly. “She’s very timid, you know, and she’s afraid of V-Voldemort; she doesn’t want to leave Hogwarts grounds while the war is going on.”

“That’s good – at least for her safety,” Ginny pointed out. “But would Parvati and Lavender be allowed into Hogwarts now?”

“I think if it was known they were coming, then most likely,” Hermione said. “They might have to be checked out by the Order to confirm they’re who they say they are…”

“Yeah, I bet Moody would want them to sit for an hour to make sure they weren’t Polyjuiced Death Eaters,” Harry agreed.

“Or he could just use Veritaserum,” Ron said. Lavender grimaced.

“Wait a minute,” Parvati interrupted. “What are you talking about? Why is it so important for us to see Professor Trelawney?”

Ginny, Hermione and Ron all looked to Harry, who paused before speaking; “Trelawney has a memory of something that Voldemort wants very badly.”

“Like Neville?” Parvati asked.”

“Yeah, Like Neville, except much, much more important,” Harry answered. “It could literally mean the difference in the war, if Voldemort found out. The longer the war goes on, the more desperate he’s going to be to see this memory. Trelawney’s relatively safe in Hogwarts, but if Voldemort decides it’s worth the risk he’ll go after her.”

“So you want us to convince Professor Trelawney to go into hiding or something?” Lavender asked, confused.

“No,” Harry said. “I think the only reason Voldemort hasn’t gone after her is because he thinks she doesn’t have the memory - she doesn’t know she has this memory; it’s been, er, buried.. If she suddenly disappeared it would look like she knows she’s got something important in her head, and he might hunt her down.”

“Then what do you want us to do?” Lavender asked.

Harry ran his fingers through his hair, a nervous habit that was becoming more and more constant with him. “I want you to go to Professor Trelawney and take the memory from her, store it in a vial and bring it back here.”

Parvati and Lavender stared at Harry in complete shock. “You want us to steal Professor Trelawney’s memory?” Lavender squeaked indignantly. “That’s horrible!”

“Forget it, I won’t do it,” Parvati stated flatly.

“Look, we aren’t any happier about it than you,” Harry insisted. “But it’s for Trelawney’s safety as well as our own.”

“It sound like she’s safer if she just stays put not knowing,” Parvati pointed out.

“Safer? Maybe, but maybe not. The memory is buried, like I said, and even a really skilled Legilimens would have trouble finding it,” Harry said. “Voldemort probably could though, so what if he managed to get into her mind long enough to determine if the memory is there? If he finds it, he’ll try to kidnap Trelawney so he can torture her for information; but if it’s not there he’d have no reason to.”

“Could he get into her mind like that?” Lavender asked tremulously.

“I have no idea; we just can’t know what the extent of Voldemort’s powers are. But remember the memory I showed you of Voldemort fighting Dumbledore? If he can do that, I don’t see why he couldn’t do practically anything.”

“But still, removing someone’s memories…I mean, you haven’t even done that to Neville, have you?” Lavender demanded.

“Neville is right here, he’s staying in Diagon Alley and we can have people watching him day and night,” Harry pointed out. “The only reason I’m worried about Neville at all is because thanks to the Memory Charm, he doesn’t know about the knowledge he’s got – just like Trelawney doesn’t know. Neville is close and defensible; but Trelawney isn’t, and no one near her knows about this memory; in fact, other than the six of us in this room, there’s only two other people who know the event happened – Voldemort and Snape.”

“Snape? Why does he know?” Parvati asked.

“He was the one who told Voldemort about it,” Harry said grimly.

“Wait a minute,” Lavender said. “You said that other than us, only V-Voldemort and Snape know about this? And that Professor Trelawney doesn’t know she has this memory? How is that possible?”

Harry glanced over at Hermione, Ron and Ginny; Ron shrugged, but Hermione and Ginny both shook their heads. Harry sighed. “I can’t tell you,” he told them regretfully. “It’s one of the secret things we’re working on; you’ll just have to trust me that she doesn’t know. But look…Parvati, Lavender, I’m not kidding about how important this is. If Voldemort gets to see this memory, it might mean he wins the war. It’s too big to just let go; if you two say you won’t do this, I’m going to do it myself. But it’ll be more obvious if someone besides you two goes, since you were pretty close to her, and that might put Trelawney in greater danger. You two are the best bet for keeping Trelawney safe.”

“Do you mean you’ll put Professor Trelawney in greater danger by going to see her yourself, just to keep this memory secret?” Parvati asked indignantly.

“Yes,” Harry said simply. “I told you the day you arrived that we would put winning the war above an individual’s safety.”

Lavender swallowed. “Is- is it really necessary?” she asked nervously, casting her gaze over all of them.

“It is,” Hermione replied quietly. “You know we’d never suggest something like this if it wasn’t absolutely essential. We’ve decided this was the best, safest way to try to protect everyone – including Professor Trelawney.”

“What would happen to the memory?” Parvati asked.

“You’d bring it back, and we’d store it here in the house,” Harry said. “We’d put it in the magical chest we have in the conference room; Dumbledore put the protections on it himself.”

“And at the end of the war, we could give it back?”

“Yeah, I guess so. It won’t matter once Voldemort is gone.”

“Harry…neither of us is any good at Legilimency,” Parvati said. “We- even if we agreed to do it, I don’t think we could anyway.”

“Lavender, you were showing some aptitude for Legilimency,” Hermione said. “You just haven’t had enough instruction or practice. We’ll spend one, maybe two weeks giving you some intensive training, and we think you’ll be able to do it.”

Lavender looked surprised. “Really? I thought I was a disaster at it!”

“No, you were getting it,” Harry said. “But you’ve only tried three or four times, and it takes practice.”

Lavender and Parvati exchanged a long look. “Okay,” Parvati agreed for both of them. “But only if you guarantee you’re going to do everything to make sure it goes smoothly.”

“And that I won’t harm Professor Trelawney by poking around in her head,” Lavender added faintly.

*****

Parvati collapsed face-first on the bed and groaned as Lavender shut the door. “What a day,” she mumbled into the sheets.

“Yeah,” Lavender said. She walked over to the edge of the bed and leaned against one of the posts, looking down at Parvati and admiring her arse, despite it being covered by her robes. “I didn’t realize that Harry wanted me back here because he actually had something in mind for us to do.”

“Neither did I,” Parvati said. She rolled over and looked up at Lavender. “I really don’t want to do it.”

“Yes, I know,” Lavender agreed. “It feels too much like betraying Professor Trelawney’s trust.”

“But I think that Harry and the others really did think about this a lot. They believe it’s the safest thing for all of us.”

“Do you trust their judgment?” Lavender asked seriously. “I mean, do you really trust our lives to them?”

Parvati stared blankly in space for a minute, thinking. “Do you remember what I told you Neville said?” she asked finally. “After I found out Pansy had Polyjuiced into Snape? He said that we’re all here fighting to protect the people we care about – even if who we do care about is different than everyone else. I thought it was bunk when he said it, but I think I was just angry at Pansy. Neville was right. But the thing about Harry is, he cares about all of us, it’s just the way he is; he sees each of us as a part of the life he found when he came to the Wizarding world, and it’s precious to him. I’m sure he doesn’t like all of us, but he does care, and so he’s here for all of us, not just Ginny and Ron and Hermione.”

Lavender considered Parvati’s interpretation. “So what you’re saying,” she concluded, “is that Harry will protect each of us the same as he’d protect himself, or Ginny.” Parvati nodded. “Yeah,” Lavender agreed eventually. “I think you’re right. Harry’s…he’s just a very good person.”

“Sometimes I wish I’d been nicer to him at the Yule Ball,” Parvati said with a cheeky grin. “If I’d played my cards right I might have gotten him to be my boyfriend!”

Lavender growled territorially and whipped out her wand; a few quick waves and Parvati’s arms were gripped by ropes. Lavender then floated the weakly protesting Parvati to the edge of the bed, stripped her of clothing, and lashed her arms high up on the bedposts so she was facing the bed. Parvati’s ankles were similarly lashed to the feet of the bed, her legs spread wide. “Lav, I’m all for making amends, but you’re scaring me a little,” Parvati said nervously.

Lavender walked up behind Parvati; she pressed herself against the other girl’s back, and Parvati’s eyes widened at the contact of Lavender’s bare breasts, and the tickle of Lavender’s pubic hair on her bum. Lavender’s hands slipped around Parvati, one gently squeezing her breast, the other slipping down and finding her own slightly damp curls. “Do you want me to stop, then?” Lavender whispered in Lavender’s ear before nibbling on it.

“N-no, I’ve changed my mind,” Parvati said, arching her head back so Lavender’s teeth could graze on the skin of her neck.

“Well, this is certainly a welcome sight.” The two girls turned to see Parvati’s twin Padma shutting the door behind her, a large, satisfied smile on her face. “It’s good to see you two playing nicely together again.”

Lavender walked over to Padma and hugged her. “Your sister was really very mean to me before,” she said, pulling back and tugging at Padma’s robes.

Padma’s eyebrows raised slightly, and she lifted her arms to allow Lavender to pull her robes over her head. “I know she was, I remember,” she said calmly, her hand gliding over Lavender’s hip as Lavender unhooked her bra. “So this is punishment, then, for her having been so mean?”

“That’s right,” Lavender confirmed with a nod, crouching and sliding Padma’s knickers off. “I told her that when we got back here you and I would tie her to the bed and do some more of what I did to her back at my parents’ house.” She smiled playfully when she caught the distinct scent of Padma’s arousal. “Are you interested in helping?”

“I might be convincible,” Padma said nonchalantly.

“Oh, good.” Lavender stood and led Padma to just behind Parvati, who craned her neck around and looked at the two of them imploringly. “Then you take care of her while she takes care of me,” Lavender continued. “But don’t let her come.”

“What?” Parvati exclaimed, and jerked when Lavender’s hand connected with her bare arse. “Ow!”

“Hey, you were the one who was so anxious to get back here for this,” Lavender reminded her. She smiled when Padma’s arms went around her twin in a perfect imitation of where her own hands had been moments before; Padma leaned her head forward enough so she could press her mouth to Parvati’s, their tongues playing with each other as Parvati’s body arched into the hand caressing between her legs.

Lavender walked around and climbed up on the bed, and for a few minutes she simply watched Parvati grow aroused under her sister’s ministrations. Then she stood up on the mattress; she walked forward, nudged Padma’s head away, and pulled Parvati forward until her nose and lips brushed Lavender’s quim. “Go on, then,” she said with a smirk.

Parvati responded immediately, her tongue working itself all around Lavender’s sex, toying skillfully with her labia, her clit, and delving up inside her. Lavender grasped the frame of the bed above her with one hand, using the other to hold Parvati’s head in place. She tilted her head back and closed her eyes, moaning out “Yess…”

After a minute Parvati groaned and her head, her whole body thrashed, making her lose focus. Lavender looked down and smiled; Padma had repositioned herself so she was seated between Parvati’s legs; her mouth was enthusiastically lapping at Parvati’s quim, but Padma was working her now-vibrating wand between Parvati’s arse-cheeks, sliding the smooth wood over her anus. Parvati was clearly growing close to an orgasm; “Padma, back off a bit,” Lavender said amusedly. “Remember, don’t let her come!”

Parvati’s head leaned back and she looked up with a very evil grin at Lavender.” You’re quite mean, you know,” she said conversationally.

“Don’t stop, what are you doing?” Parvati wailed.

“Hey, you have work to do,” Lavender admonished, drawing Parvati’s mouth back to Lavender’s sex. “Your sister’s helping me punish you; you should be grateful that it’s so enjoyable.”

Parvati responded by growling and nipping at Lavender’s labia; it wasn’t very painful but it was startling. “Ow!” Lavender exclaimed, and scowled. “Ooh, that’s it,” she muttered, although she was grinning. She caught Padma’s eyes, made a circle with one hand, and plunged her other index finger into the opening.

Parvati saw, and pulled at the ropes binding her; “what’s that mean?” she asked desperately, and then shrieked slightly as Padma gleefully inserted her wand into Parvati’s anus. “OH!” She shouted, her body arching forward as if to escape the intrusion, and her face pressed up against Lavender. The sensation was amazing, much more pleasurable than she’d expected, and she was desperate with the need to come, certain that just one touch of Padma’s lips on her clit would do it. “Please,” she begged, almost sobbing with need.

“No,” Lavender replied. “You don’t get to come until I have. Padma’s not going to do anything else to help you until I come, right Padma?”

“That’s right,” Padma said, twisting the wand slowly inside Parvati.

“What?” Parvati screamed in frustration. “I can’t, I can’t stand it…”

“I think you can,” Lavender said seriously. “I have faith that you can.”

Parvati wanted nothing more than to bite Lavender hard, but she forced herself to resume licking at the quim in front of her, sucking, delving; all the while her arms were straining at the ropes which prevented her from seeking her own release. After what seemed like an eternity, Lavender’s fingers tightened in Parvati’s hair; her harsh breathing quickened rapidly, and when Parvati gave her clit a firm suckling Lavender came with a scream that Parvati was certain was heard through the entire house before collapsing backward onto the bed. As if Lavender’s scream had been a signal, Padma attacked Parvati’s own clit, and in five seconds Parvati was screaming herself hoarse as well; her pulling at the ropes actually lifted her feet off the floor as her toes curled down and she thrashed as though she was having a seizure.

A full minute later Lavender was barely conscious, but she managed to shakily raise her wand and remove the ropes; Parvati was incapable of holding herself up and fell forward onto Lavender, who let out a tired “Whough!” as Parvati’s weight settled on her, Parvati’s head nestled against her breasts.

“You are such an evil bitch,” Parvati whispered. “Maybe I should storm out and leave so you can come begging me to forgive you.”

“I wouldn’t bother,” Lavender retorted, and twitched when Parvati’s teeth nipped at her breast very close to the nipple. “Well, maybe a little,” she amended, and Parvati snuggled closer with a happy sigh.

“Hey!” Both girls lifted their tired heads to see Padma standing at the foot of the bed, looking quite fetching with her fists on her hips and a half-amused, half-exasperated look on her face. “What about me?” she demanded imperiously, the corner of her mouth twitching.

Parvati and Lavender exchanged an exhausted smile. Then they each reached out a weary hand to Padma, who grinned and climbed over them to receive her own thanks.