by
Poppy P
A/N: Standard Disclaimer applies: I do not own
the characters, the setting or anything else you may recognize. All kudos go to J.K Rowling. Lavender's Breast Enhancing Muggle
Incantation is from the book, Are You There God, It's Me, Margaret… by Judy
Blume, an excellent book and author who saw me through adolescence. But I do own Busty Betsy's Breast Enhancement Charm, and that's
something isn't it?….
Padma
Patil walked into the Great Hall with a plan. She scanned over the students seated for breakfast at the Gryffindor
table. He wasn't there, so she
put her plan in action. She stopped
walking so suddenly that Mandy Brocklehurst slammed into her from behind.
"Why'd
you stop?" asked Mandy in a miffed voice.
"I
er…think I might've forgotten my Arithmancy book. I'd better check in my bag." She swung her book bag off her shoulder and kneeled down on one knee. "Why don't you go on Mandy? I'll catch you up," said Padma in an even
voice, making a great show of rummaging around in her bag.
Mandy
shrugged and walked on. Padma continued
to rifle through her bag, occasionally throwing furtive looks up to see who was
entering the Great Hall. She didn't
have to wait long. Padma spotted him
coming down the marble steps with a bouncy stride. As usual, Hermione Granger and Harry Potter flanked Ron Weasley. Padma stood up as they walked by and put a
tentative hand on Ron's arm.
"Good
morning, Ron."
Ron
blinked back in surprise. "Oh! Good morning…um…Parvati."
Padma
had the sensation of hot color staining her cheeks. It hadn't occurred to her that Ron Weasley could not even tell
her apart from her sister. She wished
she could sink into the floor as they stood there in uncomfortable
silence. Ron's eyes flicked down at
Padma's hand, which was still resting on his arm. She dropped it immediately.
Dean
Thomas, who had been walking right behind the trio and heard Ron's mistake,
saved them from the awkward moment. The
tall, black Gryffindor fourth year smiled. "Actually Ron, that's Padma."
Ron
broke into a grin. "What a relief! I thought I was going nutters. You see, I just saw Parvati in the common
room with Lavender before I left. See
you around." With that Ron made his way over to the Gryffindor table where Hermione
had saved him a seat.
Padma
smiled sheepishly at Dean. "Thanks."
"No
problem," said Dean with a shy smile that revealed a long dimple in his right
cheek. "I can always tell you two apart
because you wear a blue ribbon in your hair and Parvati wears a red one."
Surprised,
Padma clutched at the blue ribbon on the end of her plait. She thought it was unusually observant of a
boy to notice such a detail. "Yes,
that's right. Well, I'd better go grab
some breakfast. Good-bye Dean." Padma made her way over to the Ravenclaw
table where she found Mandy seated with Lisa Turpin. Both girls were smirking at her.
"What?"
asked Padma indignantly.
"Arithmancy
book in your bag after all Padma?" Asked Mandy sweetly. "Because I
didn't see you leave the hall."
"You
know," said Lisa darkly, "it's not nice to keep secrets from your
roommates. You never know what the
consequences might be, especially now that we've found that new bra freezing
charm."
Padma
gave them a withering look. "So I said
'good morning' to a boy. Big deal."
"It
is a big deal when that boy is Ron Weasley, who you declared the biggest prat
in the whole school," retorted Lisa.
"Besides,"
said Mandy, lowering her voice, "isn't he going out with Hermione Granger? I thought Parvati mentioned something about
that once."
"Parvati,"
began Padma acidly, "also thinks she can predict the outcome of every World Cup
for the next century, so I wouldn't set much store by what my sister says. Besides, didn't you read that Rita Skeeter
article right after Harry became champion? It clearly states that Hermione and Harry are a couple."
Lisa
frowned. "Dunno about that. She seemed friendly enough with Viktor Krum
at the Yule Ball and after the second task. I'd say Harry's been replaced."
"They
sure seem friendly for a couple that's parted, don't they?" asked Mandy
observing the Gryffindor table where Harry, Ron, and Hermione were huddled in
conversation, presumably about the owl Harry had just received.
As
Ron made his way out of the Great Hall with Hermione and Harry, Padma called
out, "Have a nice day Ron!"
Ron
whirled around, scrunched up his face, then, spotting Padma called out,
"Er…okay." He waved cheerfully before
Hermione tugged on his arm roughly.
"We'll
be late for class, Ron." Hermione said in an irritated tone.
Padma
ignored Lisa and Mandy's smug looks, pretending to concentrate on her
cereal. Just then, her sister Parvati
came over and plunked herself down beside Padma.
"Good
morning," she said brightly and turned to Padma. "So, any progress on that Ron Weasley thing?"
If
looks could kill, Parvati would have disintegrated on the spot from the
disdainful look that Padma shot her. Mandy and Lisa decided it was best to leave the two sisters alone and
scuttled away, telling Padma they'd see her in class.
"Can't
you keep your voice down Parvati?" hissed Padma through gritted teeth.
Parvati
looked slightly abashed but recovered quickly. "I just wanted to tell you about the great big tale Ron was giving us in
the common room last night."
"What
tale?" asked Padma with sudden interest.
"Oh
something about being captured by Merpeople for the second task. How they beat him and tied him up. The way he was going on, you'd think he
rescued Harry and not the other way around. Besides, Hermione told us the truth. She said there really wasn't much to it. They were just put into an enchanted sleep is all. He really is immature, that Ron Weasley."
Padma
shook her head slowly, admiring the way Parvati could talk for such long
stretches of time without taking a breath. However, her sister had just given her a wonderful idea. If Ron wanted to talk to someone about his
harrowing under water adventures, why not her?
Parvati
brought her out of her revelry by suddenly taking a somber tone. "Padma, what were you talking to Dean Thomas
about? I saw you chatting him up as I
came into the hall."
Padma
looked at her sister in surprise. "Nothing, just the way we wear different colored ribbons in our
hair. Why?" Padma thought she saw a look of relief flash briefly across her
sister's face.
"Oh
nothing." Parvati suddenly
brightened. "Listen, did I tell you
about the advertisement Lavender found in the latest issue of Witch Weekly? Look." Parvati shoved a magazine at her. The magazine was open to a page showing a buxom blond witch wearing
scandalously low cut robes that emphasized her cleavage. The witch was smiling widely, preening about
and poking her large chest out every few seconds. The ad read:
Busty Betsy's Breast
Enhancement Charm.
Guaranteed to make you go up
two whole cup sizes!
Owl us for your free
catalogue today.
We carry a full line of body enhancement charms for gentlemen
including our special Lockhart Line
In
miniscule writing at the bottom of the ad, Padma could just make out:
Warning
and reminds consumers that
all body enhancement charms are temporary.
Padma
thrust the magazine back at Parvati whose eyes were shining excitedly. "Lavender's going to send away for one. What do you think Padma? Should we send away for one as well?"
Padma
resisted the urge to say that Lavender Brown would probably benefit more from a
brain enhancing charm than anything else. Instead she said, "Parvati, this is probably no more effective than that
Muggle incantation Lavender taught you in first
year. How did it go again? Oh yes, 'we must, we must, we must increase
out bust!' Didn't work very well, did it now? Besides, you really should save your money for the Hogsmeade
weekend coming up."
"I
suppose," said Parvati with resignation. "Listen, since you're not interested in Mathieu from Beauxbatons, can I
have him? Perhaps we can go to
Hogsmeade together. Do you want me to
ask him to bring a friend along, just in case? How about that little Pierre bloke?
"No. I'm with Ron Weasley," said Padma with
determination. "And you're going to
help me. Meet me in front of Snape's
before your Potions lesson." With that,
Padma took up her bag and walked out of the hall before Parvati could say
anything else.
She
was halfway to class when she remembered; she really had forgotten her
Arithmancy book.
To be continued…..