12. An Old Married Couple
Parvati Patil & Cho Chang


Cho stared at the mirror in disbelief. When had she become so old? She stood naked in front of her full length mirror, carefully examining every inch of her body. She was sixty-one years old, not yet considered elderly among the wizarding community, but she still felt so young. Her heart was thirty at the very oldest (at least, that's what she likes to think). She pulled at the loose, wrinkly skin around her hips, stared at the skin on her waist that resembled a dog's neck, traced over the criss-crossing stretch marks that just appeared on her skin one day.

"Parvati, look how old and hideous we've become,"

The Indian woman looked up from the book she was reading and stared at her wife's nude back critically.

"Well, your ass isn't half bad for your age. So at least you got that going for you."

"True. Honestly, I'm probably just surprised because I've never seen pictures of a naked woman older than thirty-five. We age without knowing what to expect."

"But who would want to see women like us naked? Our naked forms would be tossed in the garbage immediately."

"Really?" said Cho, still staring at herself. "I think if I paint a naked self-portrait it could be really powerful."

"Maybe," Parvati assented. "But I think your usual lakes and quails and rivers will be more commercially successful."

"True. Beautiful art tends to sell better."

"How could a lake ever be as beautiful as you?" Parvati said with a smile, pulling back the covers to invite Cho back into bed.

The best thing about being old and wrinkly is that they got old and wrinkly together. And love just seems to get stronger with age.