A/N: For the Pocket Morty Competition (Double Morty: Write about twins)
Padma isn't sure that can handle seeing Parvati. For the first time, she wishes that she could be a Gryffindor. Merlin, she could use the bravery of her twin right now!
"Padma?" Madam Pomfrey says, approaching her with a kind, understanding smile. "Your sister has been asking for you."
"H- How bad is it?" Padma asks, her voice trembling as she steels herself for the answer.
"I won't lie. It's bad, but it could have been so much worse. A statue fell on her as she attempted to move Lavender to safety. The bones in her left leg are shattered, but they will mend, though it will be a long process," the Healer answers. "If it's too much for you, you can wait until tomorrow, when she might be a little better."
It is too much for her. It is so beyond too much. Ravenclaws pride themselves on their minds, but hers cannot comprehend this. Her sister, her twin, is laying in there, helpless. Her sister could have died.
The thought leaves her shaken. Padma has always been with Parvati. They are two halves of a whole. Even if they are in different Houses, they always have each other within reach.
"I'll be okay," Padma says, though her voice betrays her doubt.
Madam Pomfrey nods and leads her into the hospital wing. Padma tries not to look at the beds, all of them full of people she knows, people she has fought beside. She cannot stand to see them suffering.
"I'll draw the curtains so that you can have some privacy," Madam Pomfrey says, and she does, leaving the twins somewhat alone, though the sound of crying and the screams drift through the sheets.
"Don't you ever scare me like this again!" Padma says, and the tears finally come, warm and wet, streaking her cheeks.
Parvati gives her a pained smile. "I promise I'll try not to have any more near death experiences," she says dryly.
Padma sobs, clinging to her sister, burying her face in Parvati's chest.
Parvati is alive. She could have died. But she's here, she's okay, she's going to make it. Padma has to tell herself this over and over again in her head.
"When Hannah found you," Padma sniffs, pulling away and furiously wiping her eyes with her sleeves, "I thought… I thought you were gone."
"Me too," Parvati admits. "I just knew I was on my way to reincarnation."
Padma flinches at the thought. "You can't, you know. You can't leave me. You're part of me," she says, and she knows how pathetic she sounds, but she doesn't care.
She is not a Gryffindor. She is not brave and strong like her twin. She is a Ravenclaw, and logic says that she cannot really go on without her sister. Logic says that she is too weak, and she will go mad if she is left alone.
Parvati reaches out, resting a hand on Padma's arm. "It's okay," she whispers. "I'm here, Padma. I'm not leaving you."
And logic says that one day one of them will have to live without the other. But for now, Parvati is there, and they are together, and Padma can ignore what logic says.