Not a professional, and definitely not the owner of Harry Potter.

Written by third Chaser of the team Tutshill Tornados.

Round 3: Truth or Dare

Prompt: The Patils

Other Prompts:

(dialogue) "Could you be happy here with me?"

(object) fiddle

(song) Not For You - Natalie Bassingthwaite

Note - An explanation to BLD and ALD — they stand for Before Lavender Died and After Lavender Died. Lavender's death is like the null point in this fic, and the timeline will be measured from this. For example, 12 years ALD will mean twelve years after Lavender died.

Note 2 - If this story doesn't make sense to you — it didn't make much sense to me, either.

versus

fifteen hours BLD

"The coin's heating up," Padma said, looking, wide-eyed, at her twin. "It's starting, Parvati."

Parvati stood up and clasped a hand around Padma's. "Sis, no matter whatever happens, we make out of it, together. We come back to each other."

— o —

fifteen hours ALD

"Have you seen Parvati," she asked a boy who was sitting against the frame of a broken window.

"Your twin? Haven't." The boy replied, opening his eyes.

Padma sighed. She had been searching for Parvati for hours. She decided to return to the Great Hall.

Once inside, her eyes caught the sight of a familiar girl lying on the ground amongst the dead; it freezed up Padma's heart.

She made her way over to the Lavender's body, looking around for Parvati. She didn't have to look around much. Her twin was leaning against a pillar, staring blankly at Lavender's broken form. Padma went forward to shake her twin out of her reverie but got no response.

"You've gone away with Lavender, haven't you, Pav, leaving behind an empty shell of what you were behind?"

— o —

a year BLD

"Parvati, I'm scared."

Parvati turned to her sister, and Padma's face said the news about Katie had reached her. "I am, too, but we're not leaving Hogwarts, Padma, okay? We're not leaving Hogwarts."

"I'm staying here if you are."

— o —

a year ALD

"This is getting tiring, Parvati, you need to let Lavender go." Padma was starting a job at the Ministry tomorrow, and truth to be told, she didn't want Parvati being a dead-weight and holding her down.

Parvati didn't reply, but the next day, the girl was all packed. "I'm going to live with Ma and Papa."

Padma pressed her lips together. Later, if she laughed about how Parvati was being a baby when she retold her friends the day's incident, well, Parvati wasn't there to know.

— o —

seven years BLD

"I know you're going to be a Ravenclaw, Padma, and I'm not," Parvati said as the two sat in their compartment.

"I know that I don't want to be separated from you." Padma could feel the tears welling in her eyes as she voiced her thoughts.

Parvati took Padma's hands in her own. "There is nothing in the world that can separate us from each other."

— o —

seven years ALD

Padma had come straight from the Ministry to meet Parvati—who she hadn't met since the day the other girl had gone back to living with their parents—at the Leaky Cauldron. She took over off her Auror robes and searched for her sister among the patrons.

Parvati spotted Padma as the latter shrugged off her red robes and made her way towards the table Padma took a seat on.

"Hey, sis."

Padma took in her sister, hair adorned with twigs and dressed in a tattered Hogwarts robe. "What happened to you?"

Parvati looked down at her attire. "Nothing—I just came back from Muggle London." She placed the fiddle she had been holding on the table.

Padma stared at her sister, horrified. "You—you mean to tell me you're a peddler musician now?"

Parvati nodded, wondering what Padma intended to say. "Is that a problem?"

Padma shook her head, not able to wrap her mind around the fact that her sister—her talented, beautiful sister—had stooped down to such a lowly job that was frowned upon in their religion. "I can't be seen associating with someone as pathetic as you."

"What the hell, Padma? Why is nothing I do enough for you?"

A month later, Padma was fired from her Ministry job because of a mistake she hadn't committed. She roamed around in a lookout for another job but was unsuccessful—apparently her decision to not help Parvati recover and not return to Hogwarts for the repeat of seventh year had been a wrong one, and it only increased her ire for Parvati.

— o —

twelve years BLD

The door to Parvati's bedroom creaked open, disturbing the girl out of her sleepy haze. "Padma, is that you?" The sound was muffled by a pillow, but Padma could hear it just right. She walked over to Parvati's bed, her sock-clad feet making soft sounds in the silence that hung on the house.

"Had a nightmare last night, don't wanna sleep 'lone."

Parvati rolled over until her back touched the wall to make space for Padma. "C'mon then."

Later that night, when their mother saw the girls sleeping peacefully, Parvati holding a hand of Padma's in her own, the woman smiled and closed the still-open door.

— o —

twelve years ALD

Padma found herself standing in front of her childhood home after five long years of no contact with her family. Five years of battling life had humbled her enough to make her come asking for forgiveness (from Parvati).

It was her mother who answered the knock. She didn't say anything once she saw Padma, just wrapped her arms around the now-sobbing girl and took her inside.

The whole day, Padma couldn't say anything but "I'm sorry," over and over, as her mother took care of her.

Parvati stood by the door, watching it all, not saying anything.

Parvati had just changed into her bedclothes when she heard a knock on her bedroom door. "Come in."

It was her twin. Padma shivered, walking inside until her bare-feet stood on the rugged carpet that covered Parvati's bedroom floor. "I—I get nightmares. Could you—could you apply a silencing charm in my room? My wand—"

Parvati took in the bags that covered Padma's eyes, then moved to stand in front of her sister. "C'mon, Padma, the bed's too big for me as it is. And I'll chase the nightmares away."

Padma looked at her sister, tears in her eyes. "How could you be happy with me here, still?"

Parvati hugged her twin. "Because you're still my sister."

In the morning, when their mother came to wake Parvati up, she found the sisters sleeping peacefully, Padma's hand in Parvati's over the top of the covers, and she left the room with a smile.

Perhaps they could all be okay again.

— o —