Swoosh! The owl swooped down over Parvati's head as she sat at breakfast in the Great Hall. To her surprise, she noticed that the letter it was carrying bore the crossed bone-and-wand crest of St. Mungo's. That could possibly mean only two things… With shaking hands, she tore open the envelope and drew out the piece of parchment enclosed within. It read: Dear Miss Parvati Patil, it is with great regret that we inform you that your sister, Miss Padma Patil passed away late last night. She sat stock-still, staring sightlessly at the letter, unable to take in anything beyond the first sentence. Padma, dead… no, it couldn't be!
Her mind flashed back to a scene at the Final Battle in Hogwarts. A Death Eater had thrown a curse in Parvati's direction, and, weary from hours of fighting as well as nursing an injured leg, she was simply unable to duck in time. Parvati had thought she was doomed, when at the last minute, someone leapt forward in a blur of robes, and the jet of light hit her right in the chest. She could only stand frozen in shock as she watched her twin sister fall to the ground as though in slow-motion, mouth wide open in a silent scream. For one heart-stopping moment, she thought Padma had been lost to her forever. But, seconds later, she felt a pulse while struggling to lift her sister's body, and it was almost as though the light had suddenly flooded back into her world again. Tears of relief and joy streamed down her face. There was still a chance that her sister would be all right! Buoyed by this new discovery, she found the strength to carry her twin back to Madam Pomfrey, who took Padma to St. Mungo's once the battle had ended, for she had no idea what Padma had been hit with. Even the expert Mediwizards at the hospital were completely bewildered by Padma's condition. "We are as yet unsure of what spell was used on her, but it is evident that it was an extremely powerful Dark Curse," the Head Healer had said. "However, rest assured that we will do everything within our power to make her well again."
"She's dead," Parvati whispered to herself. "She's dead and it's all my fault. If I hadn't been so slow, she wouldn't have needed to save me, and she would never have been cursed…" All of a sudden, before Parvati even knew what she was doing, she had risen from her seat and was dashing out of the Great Hall as if her life depended on it. Through the haze of grief the enveloped her, she could hear the other students' cries of alarm and concern, but she paid no mind to them, just ran blindly, not caring where her legs were taking her. About a minute later, she found herself at the top of the Astronomy Tower. There were still some people chasing after her, but they were far behind, she was naturally a fast runner, and a year of athletic training in the DA made it impossible for most to keep pace with her. Standing precariously at the very edge of the tower, Parvati looked down at the letter once again. Her parents had always said their twin girls were inseparable, and oh, how right they were. Because nothing, not even death, could come between the two sisters. Parvati Patil hurled herself off the Astronomy Tower and fell to her death.
