AN: As always, I make no claim to the Potterverse, owned by J.K. Rowling. I just enjoy the opportunity to play around in her sandbox. We're diving into some mild AU territory here, so if that bothers you terribly, you've been warned.
"GRYFFINDOR!"
And with that proclamation, Padma Patil's heart sank. After eleven years of constantly being together, she and her twin sister Parvati had finally been broken apart. Oh, the logical part of Padma knew that they weren't going to be that far apart (after all, they would still be going to the same school), but this would be the first the twins had ever been farther apart than being in different rooms of their house.
She was only able to meet Parvati's eyes for a brief moment before her sister turned and walked towards the scarlet and gold Gryffindor table. Padma drooped noticeably, receiving a somewhat reassuring pat on the shoulder from the bushy haired girl sitting next to her. "Separation anxiety?" the girl whispered to Padma. Unable to form coherent words at the moment, Padma nodded her head slowly. The girl looked like she wanted to say quite a bit more about the topic, but noticed how uncomfortable Padma looked, and decided it could wait.
Padma was so distraught at having Parvati torn away from her that she didn't even notice that the next person being sorted took minutes under the Hat, and only looked up to see where the boy had gone when he stood across from her (apparently, he'd been made a Ravenclaw). Something about his bright green eyes drew her dark brown ones to them, and though she couldn't explain why, they were very reassuring for her. "Do you mind if I sit here?" he asked quietly. Again, Padma found herself unable to speak, but a small smile began forming on her face as she nodded to him. A grateful look crossed his face as he sat down.
With the arrival of the new boy, Padma finally came out of her depressed stupor to notice that both the bushy haired girl and the new boy looked about as awkward and alone as she had felt earlier. While Parvati had always been the more gregarious of the twins, Padma was also capable of being quite talkative, and thought the best way to start getting over losing one close friend was to try and make a few more among her housemates.
"Hello," she said. "My name is Padma Patil. I was a little distracted, so I didn't quite catch your name earlier, Miss…"
The bushy haired girl picked up the hint. "Granger. Hermione Granger. I'm glad you're feeling a bit better, Padma; I take it you and your sister haven't been apart often before now?"
Padma shook her head. "No, this is about as far apart as we've ever been in our lives. I'm sure I'll get used to it eventually, but it's still so new right now."
"You'll still see her quite a bit, you know," the green-eyed boy said quietly. "All of our meals are served together, and we'll probably have some classes with the Gryffindors, so you'll never be too far away." He gave her a small smile before looking back at the last of the Sortings being completed. A moment later, he turned back. "I'm sorry, that was rude of me. My name is Harry Potter. It is very good to meet you, Padma."
Padma gave Harry a much warmer smile. "Thank you, Harry. You've made my outlook quite a bit brighter. I presume from the fact that Hermione here isn't shocked by your identity that you two have met already?" she asked.
Harry gave a slightly crooked half-smile. "Yes, she came barging into my compartment asking if I'd seen another boy's toad." He gave a sly glance at Hermione, who blushed furiously and hid her face. "After assuring her that I not only had not seen the toad, but couldn't really describe a toad to save my life, we got to talking. I corrected a few of her misconceptions, and she corrected a few of mine. It probably has a lot to do with how we ended up here. But enough about me, I'm not really that special, regardless of what people believe and what the books say. Tell me about you, Padma."
As Padma described growing up as a twin to Harry and Hermione, she began to think that maybe, just maybe, getting separated from Parvati wasn't the worst thing that had ever happened to her. Making new friends, she decided, was a lot like creating a new family, only the makeup of this one was completely up to you. And for the first time, but definitely not the last, she felt very happy to be with her new family.