"Padma! Padma! Padma!" screeched Pavarti as she came running toward her twin from the other side of the courtyard.
Padma turned, tearing her eyes away from her book to look at the approaching Gryffindor girl.
"Padma! Guess what? Ah! You'll never guess what just happened!" Pavarti squealed.
"Well," said Padma. "I don't mean to be rude but I'm kind of busy. So, if it has anything to do with hair, nails, or boys I really don't want to know."
"Aw," pouted Pavarti, "come on! I promise no talk of hair or nails. Well, at least not as long as I get to talk about boys."
Padma rolled her eyes but agreed. "Two minutes. You've got two minutes," she told Pavarti knowing that, if she did not put a time limit on it, she would be here all day.
Pavarti squealed with delight. "Great! Now, guess who our dates are for the Yule Ball? Harry Potter and Ron Weasley! I'll be going with Harry, obviously, and you can go with Ron. It'll be so much fun!"
"How come you get to go with Harry?" asked Padma, obviously hurt that her sister had chosen a date for her, and not a very good one at that.
"Because, Harry asked me and he's a Triwizard champion and he…" Pavarti trailed off. "Well, uh, Ron wanted to go with you."
"What if I don't want to go with him?" snapped Padma.
"Well, he asked and I already promised and this is the only way I'll get to go with Harry," explained Pavarti. "Please, just do it? For me?"
Padma opened her mouth to say 'no'. To say that there was no way on earth she was going to the Yule ball with Ron Weasley, who she barely even knew, but she couldn't. Not to Pavarti. But, damn it, sometimes she really hated being a twin.