This one-shot was written for: Harry Potter Fanfiction Challenges - AStitchedUpHeart's The Eggheads Competition and Rachael With an A's [Varying Degrees of Famous Musicians] Inspiration Competition.
Disclaimer: I don't own the Harry Potter series, all rights go to J.K. Rowling.
I should be so lucky
Padma lay on her bed, watching the ceiling with a smile on her face. She crossed her arms on her chest and after a few seconds she turned to her friend, Lisa Turpin.
"I've talked to him today," Padma said and the other girl sighed. She ran her hand through her dirty blonde hair in frustration.
"You are hopeless," the blonde girl told her friend. She fixed her dark blue eyes on Padma who just sighed.
"I've completely misjudged him. He is so courageous and sweet," the Indian descendent said.
"He is a Gryffindor. All of them are brave," Lisa answered matter-of-factly.
"He told me that he would have taken on the merpeople any time," Padma said in a slightly dreamy tone and Lisa didn't know is she should cry or laugh at her friend's naivety.
"You went to the Ball with him, Pads. He didn't even want to dance with you. You said to me how bad partner he was. You gave him a chance and he sucked." The blonde girl eyed her friend who just frowned.
"I was wrong, Lissy. That's all," she said and turned to her side so she could face her friend more easily.
"Then I'm the best friend you could have asked for," Lisa Turpin said with a mysterious smile on her slightly pale face. Padma looked at her curiously and raised her eyebrows.
"I have no idea what you are talking about," the dark-haired girl told her roommate who just smiled. "You are creepy when you do that," she added when Lisa didn't seem to want to answer her.
"I have arranged you a little meeting you know," the blonde girl said and Padma sat up.
"What do you mean?" she asked very curiously. Lisa just rolled her eyes at her friend's enthusiasm and smirked a bit.
"I know the perfect way to end your sappy and pathetic era," the blond girl stated and Padma stood up and walked to her friend's bed and sat down on the edge next to her.
"I'm not sure I like what you are planning," the Indian girl said a bit hesitantly and distrustfully. Lisa sighed dramatically at her friend's lack of trust towards her.
"My heart is close to breaking, Pads," Lisa said dramatically and Padma rolled her eyes.
"You should make a fifth house, Lissy. Turpin, house of drama and histrionics," the other girl reacted and Lisa chuckled.
"Then, the sixth house should be, Patil, house of pathetic, hopeless lovers," she teased her friend who started laughing with her. After a few minutes of careless laughing, Padma grimaced.
"You still haven't told me your sneaky little plan," she said and turned to her friend who had that annoying mysterious smile on her face once again.
"Tomorrow, a handsome and courageous Gryffindor is going to wait for you in the Three Broomsticks," Lisa said with a grin and her friend looked like she was having a heart attack.
"You mean that you arranged that to me? Really?" Padma asked like a little girl who couldn't believe what she has just heard. "Nope, I don't believe you," she said eventually.
"Who is your best friend?" Lisa asked with a grin.
"You mean?" she asked and her friend nodded." Of course you are," the other girl said seriously and joyfully at the same time and hugged her friend. "You are the best, Lissy!"
"So, now. Would you be kind enough and stop talking about Ron Weasley and his awesomeness and escort me to the library? You know that we planned to learn there all day. We have a lot of homework to do," Lisa said as only a Ravenclaw student (and Hermione Granger) would. Padma was just too happy and probably didn't even understand the question but nodded anyway.
The day passed with learning and in daydreaming for Padma. Ever since the second task she realized how handsome and interesting Ron Weasley was and she developed a small crush on him (which in Lisa's opinion was much more than a 'tiny crush'). However, she wasn't her sister, she wasn't a Gryffindor. She wasn't brave; she wasn't usually in the centre. She was the shy, the silent type.
The next morning she didn't even want to eat during breakfast.
"Are you okay, Padma?" Mandy, one of Padma's roommate and friend asked worriedly the girl.
"Yeah, I'm just not hungry," she said and she was even ready to leave so she could get ready for the day in Hogsmade.
"Just one little pastry, Pads or I will ruin your day," Lisa said mockingly and the other girl rolled her eyes and sat down and grabbed a pastry from Lisa's plate who grimaced.
"Can we go already?" Padma asked impatiently when the breakfast finished. Her blonde friend just ignored her. "I should be so lucky," she said and pointed to the corner where a seventh year girl from Gryffindor was making out with one of the boys from Durmstrang.
"What's up with you, Pads, really? You are behaving so out of character. When did you become a giddy teenager girl who only wants a boy as a shiny toy? You are a Ravenclaw, behave like one," Lisa said with a frown at her friend's weird attitude.
"You are just moody and jealous as Michael Corner seems to like Ron's little sister, Ginny more than you," Padma answered seriously and a bit angrily and Lisa grimaced and as always when she was annoyed she ran her hand through her hair.
"He fell for the Weasley charm too," Lisa said simply like she didn't care. However, Padma knew that it was a touchy subject for her friend. Lisa has been in love with Michael since the first day of school.
"I think I will just go now," Padma said and grinned when she noticed her sister and Lavender Brown.
"Hey, girls! Wait up, Vaty!" the girl shouted to her twin and left Lisa behind. Parvati turned around when she heard the familiar nickname only her twin sister used.
"Hey, Pads. What's up?" she asked with a smile from her sister.
"I have a date at the Three Broomsticks, I'm going there," the Ravenclaw student said and she blushed. Both Parvati and Lavender found it a very interesting topic.
"Who do you meet there?" Lavender asked with big eyes.
"It's a secret," Padma said embarrassedly and didn't meet her sister's and the other girl's eyes.
"Wait! Do we know him?" Parvati asked her sister who didn't dare to look at them.
"Of course we know him. Hogwarts isn't that big," Lavender answered in a 'no-duh' tone.
"Well... Hogwarts students aren't the only here now," Parvati pointed out and Padma was already a tomato. She actually regretted leaving Lisa behind; after all, her blonde friend wasn't that nosy as her sister and Lavender. She felt uncomfortable all the way to Hogsmade as they seemed to love the idea of guessing Padma's mysterious date. By the time they reached the town she was together with the whole male population of Hogwarts (even with the temporary guests).
"Sorry, girls, but someone is waiting for me," she said quietly when they arrived to Hogsmade. The two girls seemed disappointed with the idea of being ditched.
"I would love to drink a butterbeer now, you know," Lavender said and Padma uncomfortably shifted her weight at the very obvious hint of the dirty blond-haired witch. She felt actually stupid, she should have known, she should have much more common sense than to tell Lavender and her sister about her date with Ron.
"I know what you mean; I would die for one too." Parvati nodded seriously and smiled at her twin who didn't want audience for her first true date (she didn't count the Ball as one as it was disastrous and she was only invited because of constraint).
So the three of them walked into the cosy, pleasant inn and Padma didn't even look up. She was trying not to hear what Lavender was telling to her sister. They were guessing who was her date and some of the things her twin's best friend said didn't appeal to her.
When she first looked up she noticed Ginny Weasley and Michael Corner on the right. They were having a quite heated conversation, the type which always ended in making out. She was trying to find that one boy in the crowd she was looking for but it wasn't that easy. She couldn't find his fiery red hair anywhere. Once she was sure that she saw him, but it turned out that his little sister, Ginny was going to the toilette only.
"Where is your date, Padma?" Lavender asked a bit mockingly the girl from Ravenclaw after about ten minutes. She never knew what to think about Lavender, she didn't really like her sometimes. She didn't know what her sister saw in her.
"I'm... I'm not sure," she muttered and didn't look at the other girl.
"Maybe he is a bit late only," Parvati suggested kindly to her sister who nodded awkwardly.
"Or he has set her up," Lavender suggested and Padma was close to die in embarrassment.
"Is Seamus Finnigan your secret boyfriend?" her twin asked the embarrassed girl who shook her head without words as she didn't trust her voice.
"No, why?" she asked eventually.
"Because he is waving to you, like a madman," Lavender pointed to the boy in the corner who grinned at Padma's sight. "Maybe he doesn't know that you aren't his date," Parvati's friend suggested and she laughed.
"Maybe he is waving to you or to Vaty. You are his housmates after all, not me," Padma suggested slowly and quietly.
"It's easy to find out," Lavender smiled challengingly and in a second she left. Padma didn't even have time to find out what Lavender was doing because she was already back.
"I'm sorry Parvati, but I must tell you that your little sister is a big fat liar," the dirty-blonde haired girl stated to her best friend and Parvati looked at her sister questioningly.
"Me and Seamus Finnigan?" Padma asked in an unbelieving tone. "I don't even know him. I have a few lessons with him, but I have never even really talked to him," she suggested. Parvati sighted and turned to her friend who was ready to tell everything to her.
"Seamus is waiting for your dear sister. He can't wait to spend a date with her," Lavender said with a big smile and Padma froze in shock. Realization hit her; Lisa has never mentioned the name of the boy she was having a date with. She only said that she was meeting a handsome and brave Gryffindor. Seamus was in Gryffindor just like Ron, Parvati and Lavender.
Ron didn't want to date her. He wasn't there. He wasn't waiting for her in a cosy corner in the shadow with a pint of butterbeer.
"You okay, Pads? You seem pale," her sister said to her, but Padma didn't care. She did the only thing which came in to her mind: she started running. It was quite difficult task to do in an inn which was full of people, but actually she managed to storm out and she reached the end of the street in no time.
She was close to break down and die in embarrassment right away. She leaned against the wall of a house. She closed her eyes and she sobbed soundlessly. She only opened her eyes when she heard someone speaking to her.
"Are you okay?" a young girl asked. She recognized her right away from her flaming hair and the boy who was standing next to her. Ginny Weasley wanted to know if she was okay.
"Yeah, I...I just had a bit of misunderstanding," she said quietly and not very convincingly.
"Lisa is at Toms and Scrolls if you need her. We have just seen her enter the shop," Michael said kindly and Padma nodded weakly.
"Oh, I heard that Ron was looking for you," Ginny said suddenly probably trying to make Padma forget whatever was making her sad. The girl from Ravenclaw looked up her eyes filled with hope.
"What does he want?" she asked curiously, for a moment she even forgot about her (second) first disastrous date.
"I'm not sure." Ginny simply shrugged.
"I hope you will feel better, Padma. You and Lisa promised me yesterday a study session," Michael reminded her with a smile.
"We must be going now... we have... things to do," Ginny tried to find the right words to say that they had some making out to do. Padma nodded wordlessly and smiled a bit at the pair. After a quick goodbye she started to walk to the bookstore where Lisa was. However, she was stopped by a voice.
"Padma, wait!" She didn't even need to turn around to recognize the voice.
Ron Weasley.
Maybe there was still hope for her.
Maybe she will be lucky.