A/N: Written for round 1 of the QLFC (Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition): The task was to write a Padma/Lavender story, with an enemy relationship, using the additional prompts of: Mirror; Jealousy – Will Young; and Dialogue: 'Ahh nostalgia. How sweet you are.'
Edit (June 26): Due to a PM, I've been told to remove the song lyrics or risk my account being deleted - my bad, but after reading a few song fics on here I thought it was acceptable...apparently not! lol
~ Jealousy ~
Padma Patil found it was hard to be nice to someone you hated. And she hated Lavender Brown, more and more each day.
Padma stood in her dorm room that she shared with four other girls, looking at her reflection in the old, chipped mirror that hung above the communal sink. If she looked hard enough and blurred out her surroundings, pretending the mirror wasn't there, she could almost believe she was looking at her twin, and not her reflection.
The illusion would only last a moment, but it was the closest she had felt to Parvati since they had started at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. After spending eleven years side-by-side, doing anything and everything together, Padma now felt lost being so thoroughly severed from her other half.
She was lonely in Ravenclaw; her fellow housemates were not unkind, but they were not affectionate either. Padma had noticed quickly that Ravenclaws tended to keep themselves to themselves. Being in Ravenclaw meant your top priority was academic achievement; with such a focus on study and being top of the class, it apparently left little time for forming strong friendship groups. And so, for the first time in her life, Padma was lost and lonely, while new friends surrounded her twin, having fun – and it hurt.
But what hurt the most was watching one girl in particular – Lavender Brown. From the very beginning, from the moment Parvati sat down at the Gryffindor table, their heads bent together in a conspiratorial way, and they had never separated since. Parvati had found a replacement, and it caused a fire to burn in the pit of Padma's stomach, like nothing she had ever felt before. She felt angry, and upset all at the same time.
Jealousy. Yes, that was what she was feeling, and what she felt every time she laid eyes on Parvati and Lavender. The feeling had erupted that very first night, watching her twin bond with this new girl from two tables away, and had intensified ever since. Padma remembered the nights she and Parvati would stay up late at night, hiding under the covers of one of their beds, whispering with excitement about all the things they would be able to do at Hogwarts. Now Parvati would be having her late-night talks with Lavender.
She tried to be nice, really she did, but it was hard to see her sister so close to someone else that wasn't her. Especially when that person ignored Padma whenever they were together.
So many times, Padma had left the Ravenclaw table to join Parvati in walking to class, and every time she had, Lavender would link her arm through Parvati's and say:
"Sorry, Padma. We really need to get going, don't want to be late."
Padma would smile and shrug, as if this didn't affect her, but Parvati could tell.
"Why don't you join us in the Library after dinner? We can do our homework together." Parvati would always say, in an attempt to make Padma feel slightly better.
Padma could do nothing but watch Lavender drag her sister away, walking arm-in-arm, heads bent together, leaving Padma walking ten paces behind until she could move off along a corridor in the opposite direction to take her to her own class.
Willing to do anything to spend what little time she could with her sister, Padma would go to the Library after dinner. But it always ended the same – Padma on one side of the table, Parvati and Lavender on the other. As Padma worked studiously through her homework, Parvati and Lavender would whisper away, collapsing into almost silent giggles every five minutes.
"What's so funny?" Padma would ask with a smile.
"Oh, it's nothing," Lavender would respond, "It happened in Charms – you had to be there to get it."
When Parvati's only response was an apologetic smile, the jealousy and the hatred Padma was feeling towards the blonde Gryffindor multiplied.
Padma thought she might at least get some respite in those rare lessons that the Ravenclaws shared with the Gryffindors, but no. Even then, Lavender would drag Parvati to a bench, leaving Padma to sit with some girl called Hannah. Or was it Helen? Holly, maybe? She didn't know - they had only been at Hogwarts only four weeks and Ravenclaw was all about academic excellence not social skills.
Staring at herself in the mirror, Padma let out a long sigh. It had always been just she and her sister, for so many years. Why was she being so easily replaced? She looked down at the book she had borrowed from an older student; it was propped on the sink, standing up behind the taps, opened at the pages detailing basic glamour charms.
Some days, Padma wondered what it would be like to be Lavender Brown. But then Padma realised she already knew: she used to be Parvati's best friend and other half – and now Lavender Brown was Parvati's best friend and other half.
Padma looked back at her reflection and concentrated hard. Speaking the correct spell she attempted to change her hair. It took her five attempts but in the end she managed it, though she was less than happy with the results. She didn't want hair like Lavender Brown's! But apparently her magic disagreed.
She tried to change it to something else – to absolutely anything else! - But she couldn't get the spell to work again, instead she had to wait for the effects to wear off naturally.
She sighed again, thinking back to the days when there was no Lavender Brown in her sister's life, and wishing she could get those days back.
"Hey," a voice came from the open dormitory door, "Can I get my book back? I need it for homework."
Padma nodded, silently closing the book and handing it back, trying to remember this girl's name. She was tall and blonde, a few years older - possibly a fourth year - but still, her name evaded Padma in that moment.
"Nice to see you're living up to the Ravenclaw standards, and trying spells above your grade," the girl said, looking at Padma's hair. "Are you okay?" she asked then, obviously recognising Padma's distraction.
Padma nodded, "Just thinking," she said.
"About?" the girl asked.
Padma gave a half-hearted shrug, "The past," she said, truthfully.
The older Ravenclaw smiled, "Ahh nostalgia. How sweet you are—" she said, "—But don't dwell on it too much. It's the present you need to be focused on; you can't concentrate on being top of the class when you're lost in the past." She shrugged before leaving Padma to herself.
Padma looked back into the mirror again and was disconcerted to see that the effects of her glamour had yet to wear off. She hated Lavender Brown, and now she was stuck with her hair.
Padma found it was hard to be nice to someone you hated. And she hated Lavender Brown, more and more each day. But what she didn't know was that the feeling was mutual.
###
Lavender Brown found it hard to be nice to someone she hated. And she hated Padma Patil, more and more each day.
Lavender sat on her bed, in her shared dormitory, waiting for Parvati to hop out of the shower. With a mirror propped strategically at the end of her four-poster, she pulled a brush through her blonde curls, making them sleek and glossy, while thinking back over her first month at Hogwarts.
She had been so excited to be sorted into Gryffindor: As a child, Lavender had never really had that many friends – none with whom she was particularly close, at any rate. But once she started Hogwarts, and was in a school that understood her, she felt certain she would finally make some true, life-long, friends.
When Parvati Patil had been sorted into the same house, and had taken a seat next to her, Lavender felt that there was an instant connection. They bent their heads together and whispered throughout the rest of the sorting ceremony – pausing only when the famous Harry Potter was sat on the sorting stool, and giggling shamelessly when he was sorted into their very own house.
That night, they had stayed up late and sat in Lavender's bed, whispering about how fate had sorted Harry Potter into the same house as them, and how one day one of them could very well marry the boy-who-lived.
Lavender was certain that Parvati Patil was her very best friend – no one could compare; she was her perfect other half. The only problem was, Parvati already had her perfect other half – her identical twin, Padma Patil. And every time Parvati started talking about all of the great things they had done together, how they shared practically everything, Lavender couldn't help the burning that began to simmer in her stomach.
Lavender was jealous – jealous of that bond Padma shared with Parvati, a bond that she could share no part of. She knew that Parvati missed her twin now that she was sorted into Ravenclaw, but Lavender was determined to show her that all was not lost – that Gryffindor was far better than Ravenclaw and that she could fill the void in Parvati's life where Padma once constantly was. Not that Lavender wanted to replace Padma – of course not! But the twins now lived apart, and Lavender only wanted to step in and be Parvati's confidant in those times when Padma was necessarily absent.
But despite being in separate houses, Padma always seemed to be there. Leaving the Great Hall she would suddenly appear and follow them to class, even though they very rarely had classes together. And in those rare times that Gryffindors did have classes with Ravenclaws, it seemed Padma was just itching to have Parvati all to herself. Lavender was aware that Ravenclaws weren't particularly social, but that didn't mean that Padma had to inflict her antisocial tendencies onto Parvati – they were in separate houses for a reason! And yet, it was as if Padma just couldn't let go: as if she was openly trying to wedge her way into the friendship that Lavender and Parvati had so quickly developed – and Lavender hated that. But most of all, she hated the prior claim on Parvati which Padma held.
She tried to be nice, really she did, but it was hard when the truest friend she ever had was closer to someone else instead of her. But that someone else was her twin, and so Lavender tried to be nice. She spoke to Padma in the hallway whenever Parvati stopped to say something to her, and she seconded the invitations to join them in the Library – but Padma was so dull!
As soon as she sat down in the library, Padma's head was buried in her book, and her homework was always completed in half the time it took Lavender and Parvati. Then she would always want to know what Lavender was talking about, but it was always something that had happened in their lessons, which would have taken a half hour to try and explain. So Lavender would smile, and say as nicely as possible:
"Oh it's nothing—" trying to make out that it was trivial, "—It happened in Charms. You had to be there to get it." She would explain, before attempting to change the subject to one all three could be involved in, despite how much she wanted Padma to just give them some space.
Of course, despite being best friends, Lavender and Parvati did not spend every waking hour together: at weekends, Parvati would often spend some 'twin-bonding' time with Padma – though, after spending eleven years practically joined at the hip, Lavender wasn't sure just how much more bonding could be achieved.
Lavender would remain in Gryffindor Tower, working on homework and chatting with Dean and Seamus and some other first years. However, she would sometimes glance out of the window, looking down onto the grounds, and watch Parvati and Padma as they came into view. They walked so closely, as if they were quite literally joined at the hip – arms linked together, while they talked and they laughed. Or they just walked in silence – that comfortable silence, that came from years of knowing someone – catching each other's eye every now and then and smiling, as if they didn't need words to communicate. Those were the moments that hurt the most, when Lavender realised that no matter how close Lavender felt to Parvati, Parvati would never be as close to her as she was to Padma.
Lavender sighed and put down her brush, turning her head from side to side to admire her now glossy tresses in the mirror. Her musings were interrupted as the door to the shared dormitory opened and the bushy haired know-it-all, Hermione Granger entered. Merlin, that girl's hair was just atrocious!
"Forgotten something?" Lavender asked.
Hermione smiled and shook her head. "No, I just came to get to my book. I've finished my homework, so I thought I'd indulge in some light reading," she announced, retrieving the heavy tomb from her nightstand. Lavender quirked her eyebrow at the blatant contradiction of her words – 'light' was something that book most certainly was not.
But Lavender refrained from commenting; instead she looked back at her reflection.
"What are you doing?" Hermione asked.
"Nothing," Lavender sighed, "Just waiting for Parvati, and thinking about our first few weeks here." she said, truthfully.
"Ahh nostalgia," Hermione said as she left the room, "How sweet you are."
Lavender rolled her eyes; that girl really was an oddity, seemingly more fitted for Ravenclaw than Gryffindor. Lavender sighed again, her musings flitting from Hermione Granger to Ravenclaw and back to Padma in a matter of seconds.
Parvati chose that moment to emerge from the bathroom, fully dressed and ready for the day.
"I said I'd hang out with Padma today," she declared, and that green-eyed monster that nested inside Lavender woke from its slumber to breath its fire through Lavender's veins.
"You should come with me," Parvati suggested, "I'd love for you two to be friends."
Lavender smiled and nodded, knowing it would make her best friend happy. She hated Padma Patil, and now she would be spending an entire day with her.
Lavender Brown found it hard to be nice to someone she hated. And she hated Padma Patil more and more each day.
A/N: Thanks for reading, I'd love to hear your thoughts. This is something completely different to everything else I've written, but its been so much fun trying something new, and I can't wait until the next task.
xBx