Gone
Padma had never thought this would happen.
They'd grown together. Ate together. Played together. Lived together.
During the course of their life, they'd been sheerly inseparable. Sure, they'd had occaisional spats, but in the end they were of two bodies but of one heart and proud of it. Many complained about being a twin- neither of the Patils did. They always had each other. Because of this solid, unbreakable fact, life was perfect.
When they were to start their first year at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, life somehow managed to get even better.
But then the perfection fell apart.
"Patil, Padma."
"RAVENCLAW!"
Intelligence, wit, creativity. She got exactly what she wanted.
"Patil, Parvati."
"GRYFFINDOR!"
. . . That one, not so much.
She'd actually been relatively fine with it, at first. Parvati and her managed to share a class or two and they did homework together in the library, catching each other up and telling one another how their days went. But little by little, the Gryffindor seemed to. . . Drift away. She increasingly ditched their meetings to hang out with some new friends- that Lavender Brown girl in particular. At the same time, Padma was a Ravenclaw. She knew her House could very well be ashamed of her if she didn't take her studies seriously. Hence, homework and practicing spells was her biggest priority.
Soon, an entire week managed to pass without them speaking.
Icy water dripped down her stomach in large chunks. Her blood turned into lead. The bond between them, the one that they had once been so proud of. . . Could it be gone?
No, she reasoned. Not gone.
Considerably weakened?
Maybe so.
Then Padma saw the light at the end of the dark tunnel.
But maybe. . . Maybe that wasn't a bad thing.
When they were small, they had been referred to as ParvatiandPadma or PadmaandParvati. But now she was called simply, "Padma."
Now that the girls had been separated, she had had to rely on herself. She had been allowed to grow into her own person and become very much individualistic- something she probably never would have been able to truly do by always being by her sister's side.
Padma allowed herself to smile. No longer would she try to delay the change. She would embrace it.
And the next time they met, they would not be PadmaandParvati. They would be Padma Patil and Parvati Patil. Not one person, but two sisters.