20 Random Facts about Padma Patil
by Technomad
1.
She wasn't surprised at all that she and her twin Sorted into different houses. Despite being identical and sharing many things, she and Parvati had very different personalities and tastes---Padma was the quiet, studious one, as opposed to her more outgoing, fun-loving sister.
2.
She was a whiz at languages. Growing up bilingual in English and Marathi, she just found herself easily able to absorb more languages. By the time she hit Hogwarts, she was fluent in French, could read and write Sanskrit, and could carry on conversations in Italian, Spanish and Portuguese. She could speak and understand Urdu, but its Arabic-derived alphabet utterly defeated her. At school, she soaked up Latin quickly, mainly for the chance to forage through the really old books in the library.
3.
She was very fond of Indian dance, and was quite good at it. She would practice for an hour or two every day, and her roommates quite liked watching her.
4.
She was utterly disgusted at most of the attempts at "Indian spirituality" she ran across in the UK---the Rajneeshees, the Hare Krishnas, Guru Maharaji Ji and almost all the rest. "Any fool who can tie a turban or put on a dhoti instantly sets up as a repository of the wisdom of my homeland!" she would rant. When scandals erupted in these organizations, she would follow the news with malicious glee, and chuckle about karma sometimes coming home in one's own lifetime.
5.
One thing she really missed at Hogwarts was Indian food. She had her parents owl her a supply of the proper spices, and ingredients the Hogwarts kitchens didn't contain, and would sometimes coach the house-elves through cooking a real Indian meal for herself, her housemates and Parvati. She was quite pleased at having "converted" some of them away from "the rubbish they sell here in the cheap take-outs."
6.
After she found the Hogwarts library's translations of some of the great Indian magical classics, she threw such a fit over their poor quality that Flitwick agreed to let her do translations herself, and arranged for her to get extra credit for them. By her seventh year, there were already publishers bidding for the rights to her translations, and she had received encouraging letters from some eminent Indian wizards about her work.
7.
While she regarded her twin's close friendship with Lavender Brown with tolerant amusement, she was actually quite interested in Lavender's plans to open a robe shop after leaving Hogwarts. She thought quite highly of Lavender's dress sense, and had discussed helping her import Indian fabrics of the sort used in saris and the like, the sort of thing not usually available in Wizarding Britain, to make her creations more unique.
8.
She and her twin almost never fought, despite being very different people. When they did, though, it was vicious---they both knew each other's weaknesses all too well. Since they kept their quarrels in Marathi, at least outsiders couldn't understand them. And when the quarrels were over, they would fall into each others' arms and sob and beg forgiveness.
9.
One thing she found difficult to adjust to about Hogwarts was bathing alone. She and her twin had always bathed together, from earliest infancy, and she found that it was difficult dealing with waist-length hair without a handy twin to help out. Bathing alone was also lonesome.
10.
She was the more pious of the Patil sisters, although at Hogwarts, that mainly just meant avoiding beef, or most meat, at mealtimes. Even so, she took Hinduism in general much more seriously than Parvati did, and sometimes felt sorry for Voldemort---the bad karma he had brought on himself would mean many, many very unpleasant reincarnations were ahead for him.
11.
She meditated an hour every day, come what may. She felt that it kept her centered and her mind at ease. By her seventh year, she had convinced many of the older Ravenclaws to give meditation a try.
12.
After Hogwarts, she wanted to go to India and spend several years there, learning from the great wizards of the subcontinent. While she was aware that Western magic was very powerful, she felt that a knowledgable Western-trained witch could still learn a great deal from Indian wizards and witches---and possibly synthesize what she learned into something new and wonderful.
13.
She and Parvati had very different ideas of how to spend the school holidays. While Parvati was off snooping through clothing stores, or giggling with Lavender Brown, Padma was busily exploring the nearest historical and cultural sites, or taking in a concert.
14.
While she was quite attracted to boys in general, Padma never found one at Hogwarts she really wanted to get serious about. Her date with Ron Weasley, of course, was an utter disaster, but she had read up on social development, and explained to her very hurt twin that boys of Ron's and Harry's age just weren't quite as advanced as girls were---they honestly hadn't been ready to go to a dance with a girl. Padma dated various other boys, mostly other Ravenclaws, but it never seemed to go anywhere other than platonic friendship. She was resigned to having to wait to find true love after Hogwarts.
15.
Sometimes, Padma would pretend out loud to regret that she was not an evil witch. "After all," she would tell her giggling roommates, who loved this act, "if I were only evil, my life would open up considerably. A harem of hot Bollywood stars for my very own, mansions, all the gold that I could eat---it would be easy." Then she'd sigh. "But it would be wrong."
16.
She loved the DA, partly for the chance to learn all the new interesting spells that Hogwarts didn't teach. Showing the others what Indian magic could do was a lot of fun, as well.
17.
She hated the Carrows above all others, far above Snape or even Voldemort. While they were very different people, and she was glad that she was now not just part of "Parvati-and-Padma," but a separate person, nobody hurt her sister without incurring Padma's hatred. She had plans for the Carrows that would have terrified Bellatrix Lestrange---torture is a very, very old art in India, after all.
18.
She did not expect to survive the Battle of Hogwarts. She did the numbers, and came to the same conclusion that Neville had---that it would be a suicide stand. Instead of repining, she wrote out instructions about what to do with her and her sister's bodies after the fighting was over, and addressed them to "The Commander of the D.A., or, in his absence, the Chief Auror." Neville received them a couple of days after the battle was over.
19.
Neville carried out her instructions to the letter. He contacted the Indian religious community, and arranged to have Padma and what was left of Parvati cremated according to Hindu custom. Then he, along with some of the surviving D.A. (notably Hermione Granger, who would have come if she'd had to drag herself all the way) travelled to India, to immerse the ashes in the sacred river Ganges.
20.
Standing by the Ganges, watching as the twins' ashes were poured into the water, Neville saw two beautiful white birds, of no sort he had ever seen, flying side-by-side over the water. He suddenly believed that Padma had been right---that she and her sister were to be reborn, and he hoped that they would be reborn as beautiful twin sisters, to complete the lives they had lost far too young. In that hope, Neville joined in the prayer in a clear, firm voice:
Lead me from the unreal to the real
Lead me from darkness into light
Lead me from death to immortality!
The End