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No one mentioned the empty beds. There was a lot no one talked about, but the empty bed especially haunted Parvati. Maybe it was worse for the boys, they had lost multiple, but there was something particularly sinister about the lone bed, always perfectly made. Almost as if there had only ever been two occupants of the girls’ dormitory. And if it had happened once, why couldn't it happen again? Maybe it was foolish, neither she nor Lavender were Muggleborn. And yet, she noticed other faces, people who had started the year at Hogwarts, disappearing, leaving behind their own empty beds.
Almost nightly she jerked awake, certain she was going to turn and find a second empty bed, Lavender taken away from her forever. She began checking behind the curtains each night to ensure Lavender was still there. And if that evolved into gently brushing Lavender's arm to ensure she was real, Parvati could hardly blame herself, not with everything going on. Until one night, Lavender pulled her down beside her and murmured that she too needed reassurance. Soon she spent every night clinging to Lavender, her arms, and eventually her lips, providing a comfort that some happiness still existed.