A/N: Written for Gab on the Hogwarts Gift Tag using Padma/Lavender, (creature) Will-'o-the-Wisp, and (plot point) morning routine.
Also written for Hogwarts Assignment 6 Voodoo Magic: task 3 - Write about reversing the effects of a curse.
Warning: There's one mild suggestive scene, but this is still a teen story.
Word count: 2,519
Once upon a time, twin sisters lived in a house that looked dreadfully normal on the outside, yet when one stepped inside, it was possible to find true wonders: from dishes that washed themselves to a radio that played with no cord to plug into the wall.
The twins themselves would have been just as fascinating to us non-magical sorts. For they were witches.
For them, however, nothing was out of the ordinary. They'd been surrounded by magic their entire lives and often took it for granted. Its true power wasn't something they usually considered, which was what was destined to get them into trouble.
No one meant to cast a curse, but it's easy to do things you don't mean to if you're careless. And one of the twins, Parvati, was particularly careless that night. She had trouble thinking straight when Padma brought up how hopeless her love life was. It was her biggest weakness.
Her wand slashed through the air before her mind caught up, and the next thing she knew, Padma was confined to their house, unable to leave until the curse was broken by true love's first kiss.
Padma cried herself to sleep for months afterward, aware that it was impossible (supposedly) for one to find true love when unable to leave your childhood home.
Parvati apologized profusely, horrified by her actions. She hadn't known she'd remembered that particular curse until it was too late, and the constant reminder of how cruel she was capable of being left her in almost as much despair as her sister for weeks.
So great was Parvati's remorse that she devoted herself to her sister completely after finishing school. She took no work, and she only left the house when necessary. That was what she deserved.
Parvati's childhood friend Lavender followed her in her mission, partially out of fascination with the curse and partially out of a stated desire to help Padma find love. Lavender had always been a romantic, and she couldn't pass up the chance to play a role in what appeared, to her, to be something from a storybook.
Padma locked herself in her room most days, increasing her isolation. She had no desire to listen to Lavender's dreamy tales of she imagined Padma's predicament would end or Parvati's continued apologies spoken through frequent bouts of tears.
She had asked for nothing she had received, but that didn't change her reality.
There was nothing she could do to change the past. Even Time Turners were said to be useless against curses.
Late at night while the others were asleep, Padma took to walking the perimeter of the Patil family estate. She wasn't sure why she chose the perimeter instead of walking through the carefully maintained garden, but if it were about the view, Padma wouldn't have taken her walks in the middle of the night.
Every cell in her body vibrated with energy as she stared out at the places she couldn't go. As a child, the trees that lined their property had made her uneasy. Anything could hide among them, attacking before you knew they were there, and as an adult, Padma knew that several magical creatures called the forest home.
A low wall lined the entire property. It had only been constructed after Padma's curse, and it sat several steps back from the actual property line, allowing Padma a little leeway if she were to lean a bit too far over it.
Every night, she fought the urge to do just that. The knowledge that it would kill her was enough to stop her, but it was difficult. She longed to take just one step off the property.
Perhaps she could have kept resisting if the Will-'o-the-Wisp hadn't hovered over the wall that night. Despite it just being a ball of light, Padma knew it was watching her. Logically, she also knew that all it wanted was to lead her to her death. It was doubtful that it knew of Padma's curse, but it didn't have good intentions as it floated towards the forest, its magic calling to Padma with an intensity unlike anything else.
She crept forward until her toes hit the wall and stopped. Though she knew she couldn't go farther, her heart yearned for the Will-'o-the-Wisp. There was something magical in the forest. Perhaps it was powerful enough to cure her if she could just get to it. The Will-'o-the-Wisp knew the way.
Raising a foot, she prepared to step over the wall for the first time in more than a year.
Her foot was still in the air when a hand grasped her shoulder, fingernails biting into her skin, and yanked her backwards.
"What the hell are you doing!?" Lavender yelled at her.
Even in the darkness, the fire in Lavender's eyes shone brightly. Padma turned from her, partially in shame and partially to search for the Will-'o-the-Wisp that had disappeared into the forest. WIth it gone, Padma knew how foolish she had been, yet she mourned its loss all the same. Part of her still wondered what she'd have found had she made it into the forest.
"Nothing," Padma said, still looking at the trees instead of Lavender.
She never used her voice anymore, and it cracked, making the one word answer almost unintelligible.
"I wouldn't have gone far," she continued, her voice growing stronger.
She wasn't sure how true it was, but she wanted it to be. There was no way she, a Ravenclaw, could have been foolish enough to fall for a Will-'o-the-Wisp's manipulation. It was only the curse. It had made her desperate, something which the creature had preyed upon.
Lavender shook both of her shoulders, forcing Padma to look at her again. The fierceness of her gaze made Padma's stomach twist.
"You're a caring person, Padma," Lavender said. "I know you are, but you can be so self-centered and selfish."
Padma stiffened.
Did Lavender think that's what had prompted her to almost step over the wall? She couldn't understand how draining it was to be stuck inside the same house day after day with no hope of ever leaving.
"Selfish?" she snapped. "No one asked you to stay here? You decided that yourself. Don't blame me for it. You can leave whenever you want. Me? I'm stuck here for the rest of my life because of my own sister's impulsiveness. And you're accusing me of being selfish?"
Lavender froze, her hands falling from Padma's shoulders.
"That isn't what I meant," she said quietly. "I didn't mean to imply that Parvati hadn't done wrong. And I definitely didn't mean that I don't want to be here. I—"
She wrung her hands together, eyes glancing everywhere but at Padma.
"You just scared me. I saw you about to step over that wall, and I panicked. I don't know what I was saying after that."
Padma snorted. It didn't matter to her how remorseful Lavender was. Nothing mattered if the other woman couldn't undo her curse. Her life would continue on in the same way.
"I'm going to bed," Padma muttered as she stalked off, keeping her head high and refusing to look back at Lavender as she went.
Padma could have completed her morning routine while asleep if needed. She'd spent too much time in the house not to have every nook and cranny committed to memory. She didn't need to think about where her feet took her as she went from her bedroom to the toilet to the kitchen...
Lavender sitting at the kitchen table the morning after her unfortunate incident was one stumbling block she hadn't anticipated.
Padma always woke up late in the morning, a side effect of her frequent late night walks. While she would have done so regardless, the fact that she could eat breakfast in peace, without her sister or Lavender bothering her, was a nice bonus.
She ignored Lavender as she went straight for the kettle to make herself a cup of tea. She had plenty of practice ignoring her housemates; she could employ it over breakfast if needed.
Lavender didn't interrupt her at first even though Padma felt her watching as she travelled across the kitchen, fixing tea and finding food.
The only time she faltered from her routine was once her tea and food were ready. Typically, she would sit at the kitchen table to eat like most people. Instead, she hovered over the counter, keeping her back to the chair Lavender occupied.
"Doesn't doing the exact same thing every day get boring?"
Padma stiffened and shot a glare at Lavender over her shoulder.
"I'm stuck in this house," she shot back. "How do you expect me to spice things up?"
Despite her sharp look, Lavender smiled as she stood from the table and approached her at the counter.
"You don't have to leave the house to do something different."
Padma stared at the sugar quill Lavender held out to her before looking up at Lavender with a frown. One piece of life advice her parents had successfully drilled into her head was not to eat anything that was pure sugar before lunch. Just the thought of it made her stomach roil.
"That will not make me feel any better," she said, wrinkling her nose at the sweet.
Lavender rolled her eyes and waved the sugar quill in Padma's face.
"Come on," she said in a sing-song voice. "It's just one day. What harm will it do?"
Padma didn't answer as she stared back with a blank expression. If Lavender was going to make it into a competition, then she was even more determined not to give in.
Lavender sighed as she realized she'd been defeated. She kept her gaze on the other girl as she unwrapped the sugar quill and stuck it in her mouth like she'd just done something daring. She hummed around the quill as if to prove that Padma had made a massive mistake.
Padma's cheeks warmed and her stomach twisted into knots as she stared at Lavender sucking on the sugar quill in horror. She backed away as her earlier resolve to stand strong faded only to be replaced with panic.
She'd had similar thoughts over the years, of course, but none of them had hit her with as much force as these. They usually came in private where she could deal with them far more easily.
Averting her gaze from Lavender, she hurried from the kitchen, leaving her food and tea to go cold.
If Lavender thought the reaction had been strange, she didn't chase after Padma to demand an explanation.
Parvati found Padma several hours later where she was still holed up in her room, laying on the bed and staring at the ceiling. She'd been doing her best to think of anything except Lavender, so she would have been grateful for her sister's presence if she hadn't immediately brought up the other girl.
"Please don't tell me it's a pouting day," Parvati said with a roll of her eyes as she threw herself on Padma's bed, crushing her sister's legs beneath her.
Padma scowled and kicked out until Parvati rolled off her. They settled side-by-side, Parvati crossing her ankles, just like they'd often laid together as children.
"Lavender's in the same state," Parvati said.
She smirked when Padma froze at the other girl's name.
"Do you know anything about that?" Parvati asked.
Padma shook her head.
"Where were you?" she asked Parvati. "Did you sneak out to see that boy again?"
It was Parvati's turn to blush. Padma knew there was a boy, but she knew little else. Parvati wouldn't even admit he existed, too ashamed of what she'd done to her sister to admit that she'd found happiness outside their estate.
"It's fine," Padma said before Parvati could protest.
She reached out to pat Parvati's hand briefly.
"You deserve to do something fun once and awhile. Next time you should take Lavender with you. She's always hanging around here. It can't be any better for her than it is for me."
Parvati giggled, but when Padma raised an eyebrow, she shook her head as if Padma were the foolish one.
"Lavender's not interested in finding someone in the village, you idiot. She's far too busy trying to seduce you."
Padma shot up, nearly squashing Parvati's hand as she struggled to regain her balance. Luckily, her sister had quick reflexes and rolled out of the way before either of them were injured.
"What?" Padma snapped, not acknowledging the near miss even as Parvati narrowed her eyes.
"You're hopeless," Parvati muttered with a shake of her head. "Do you really think Lavender decided to move in with us and never leave the house just because I'm friends with her?"
That was exactly what she had believed, and it had made sense. Their house was big enough to easily house someone else. Lavender didn't pay them rent, and even if she spent a lot of time inside, Parvati did too. Padma hadn't seen any reason to believe Lavender had different motives despite some rather, well, tense moments between them.
She climbed ungracefully over Parvati to get off the bed, ignoring her sister's laughter and playful shoves as she went.
"Have fun!" Parvati called after her. "But don't do anything I can hear!"
Padma flipped her off over her shoulder but didn't offer her a second glance as she went straight to Lavender's room and rapped against the door.
"What is it?"
There was a rush on the other side of the door as Lavender scrambled to open it. Padma didn't answer her question because she was too busy wringing her hands and trying not to back down from her courage.
Her sister had been sorted into Gryffindor, not her.
When the door opened, Padma gasped. Lavender looked the same as always, but for once, Padma didn't try to push away the effect the girl had on her.
"What is it?" Lavender repeated, her bottom lip sticking out as she stared at Padma self-consciously.
Padma had never knocked on her door before.
"Parvati says you like me," Padma said bluntly. "Is it true?"
Lavender hesitated for only a moment.
"Yes."
Padma wasted no time capturing Lavender's lips with her own.
Both girls laughed as they pulled away, neither of them having expected their day to go the way it had.
More kisses but little talking quickly followed until Lavender broke the silence.
"I still think you should mix up your morning routine. How about going to the cafe in town with me tomorrow?"
"But I can't—"
Padma froze as she realized what Lavender was implying: that she'd found true love, that the curse was broken.
"Oh," she said, stunned.
A second later, she laughed, feeling overwhelmed by everything happening around her.
She pressed a hard, overzealous kiss to Lavender's lips before muttering, "Okay," against them.
Lavender wasted no time deepening the kiss.
The next morning, Padma would have the greatest breakfast of her life so far, but it was only the first of many to come as they built their happily ever after.