AN: This is set in the same universe as Lessons, Those of Wit and Learning, If Three's a Crowd and Reversing Causality. It is not necessary to read those before you read this.

The first time, it is the Sorting Hat.

'Ravenclaw!'

'Gryffindor!'

Then it is their friends.

Padma has Michael and Terry and Anthony.

Parvati has Lavender, her best friend forever.

Then it is their subjects.

Padma takes Arithmancy and Ancient Runes.

Parvati takes Divination.

Then it is boys.

Padma says that they are too young, and asks what love even is, and wonders why her sister says he's attractive.

Parvati giggles and flirts and puts on makeup, gushing over Cedric Diggory or Roger Davies or Blaise Zabini.

Then it is the Yule Ball.

Padma isn't even sure if she wants to go.

Parvati crosses her fingers and hopes for a date.

Then it is their dates.

Padma is annoyed and upset with Ron, because he was so terribly impolite.

Parvati is annoyed and upset with Harry, because he was her date.

Then it is trips to Hogsmeade, with company.

Padma goes once, only once, with that boy from Beauxbatons, because she just wants to know what it's like to be told she's beautiful and wonderful, to be appreciated for something other than her mind, because she thinks she might have a nice time.

Parvati goes many times, as many as she can, with that boy from Beauxbatons, because she loves to be told she's beautiful and wonderful, to be appreciated for it, because she will have a nice time, because he's handsome and seventeen and French.

Then it is break-ups.

Padma tells him, when he asks her if she'd like to go with him again next time, that no, she can't. What she doesn't tell him is why, because she's realized that she doesn't like being appreciated for only her looks, and not her mind.

Parvati cries and cries when he breaks it off with her, screaming and sobbing about boys. What she never tells anyone is why, because she was only ever a distraction, a pretty, young girl with stars in her eyes, a fling.

Then it is Dumbledore's Army.

Padma is not sure if she wants to join, it's dangerous and against the rules and such a risk.

Parvati is in as soon as she's told because it's dangerous and against the rules and such a risk.

Then it is returning to Hogwarts.

Padma isn't sure they should, Hogwarts isn't as safe as it used to be, and their parents don't want them to. She cries, because she is afraid, and unsure, and she just doesn't know.

Parvati fights tooth and nail to go back, because Lavender's there, and her friends are there, and she just has to go back. She holds her sister as she cries, reassures her, because she's not scared and she'll protect her.

Then it is rebellion.

Padma opposes their blatant acts of stupidity, as she calls them, opposes putting graffiti on the walls and even the stealing of Gryffindor's sword.

Parvati suggests some of their actions, makes up some creative slogans, offers her assistance unbidden to Neville and Ginny and Luna.

Then it is seeking refuge in the Room.

Padma dwells on it, unable to understand why the others do such acts that will force them into hiding.

Parvati is one of the first to do so, hexing the Carrows to save a bunch of Second Years their wrath.

Then it is falling in love.

Padma discovers that she is learning to love him, somehow, even if she's still not quite sure what that means.

Parvati realizes one morning that she loves him so, so much, that absence really does make the heart grow fonder, and that she can't bear to be without him, even though she must.

Then it is the Battle.

Padma fights from one of the highest towers, firing curses at Death Eaters below.

Parvati fights out in the grounds, in the thick of things.

Then it is that one hour, the eye of the storm.

Padma tends to the wounded, calmer than she should be, forcing herself together.

Parvati cries and screams and clutches at Lavender, hysterical, letting herself go.

Then it is their wounds.

Padma has chopped and singed hair, burns on her back she barely felt, cracked ribs she never noticed, some injuries and shock, they say.

Parvati bears little more than scratches, one of the luckiest they say, but her best friend's covered in rips and tears, and they say they're not sure if she'll ever get over the trauma.

Then it is the recovery.

Padma's wounds are fixed, and though she'll always bear scars, and she still has nightmares and she's sad and mourning because so many died that day (Kevin and Su and Morag and all the others) and so many hurt (Anthony and Lavender and her sister and almost everyone else), the War is over at last and they can pick up the pieces and try to fix the world.

Parvati's wounds may never heal, the scars may never show, her sleeplessness and grief and sadness won't leave her alone, because the dead are haunting her and Lavender is in St Mungo's covered with marks left by a werewolf, Seamus can barely walk and Dean's got monsters in his head that she can't seem to fight, and the War's done and bravery and courage and valour have gone with it, and now all there's left is pain and suffering.

Then it is their plans.

Padma takes the remedial classes and does her N.E. , earning top grades and a place as a trainee Healer. Healing people, helping to heal their world, helps her to move on from the War and lessens her grief, as she knows she's doing good.

Parvati takes up Minister Shacklebolt's offer, and becomes an Auror, helping to hunt down the last of the Death Eaters. Hunting down Death Eaters, making their world safe, helps her to move on from the War and lessens her grief, because she's getting revenge.

Then it is their weddings.

Padma finally marries Terry, seven years after the War, in a simple ceremony with all their family and friends present.

Parvati elopes with Dean, nearly five years after the War, but struggles to tell anyone, because everyone thinks that they're still too broken, but they don't understand that they just needed to.

Then it is their parents' reactions.

Padma's husband and career please their parents, who are immensely proud of their Healer daughter and their son-in-law who is rising rapidly through the ranks of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. It is everything they ever hoped for her, after all.

Parvati's career pleases them, that is, until she announces that she is going to quit her job as an Auror and start her own robe shop instead, and they never understand why she marries Dean, the traumatised artist. But they come to an understanding, after a fashion, that this is what she wants, what she needs now.

Then it is their children.

Padma's son is born a year and a half into her marriage, and a daughter follows three years later.

Parvati's pregnancy is unplanned, but they love their twin boys anyway, and the little sister that follows.

So, really, it is their whole lives that split them.

Padma and Parvati Patil never really did anything the same way.

But no matter what split them, they were still twins and sisters.

Always.