And here we are with Chapter Two of the ficcy. (Question: is "ficcy" a synonym for "fic" or does it mean something completely different? Because I meant "fic." Also, if the words "something completely different" made you giggle, you should go read MST Marauder Style: The Return and The Dead Seeker Sketch. And eat some spam.) As I said before, this is not slash, but it has slashy hints, and probably a bit more than last time.
Summary: Padma acts like a brat.
First stupid note: I stole the idea of someone who had to read books getting someone else to read them and tell her about it from the book A Little Princess, and from a lot of really annoying people who go to the AOL book discussion boards and tell us they need to finish a report, so could we please summarize the book for them?
Second stupid note: Probably didn't use the right word for Laundromat.
Third stupid note: Or fast-food.
Fourth stupid note: Or bill.
Fifth stupid note: I'm giving up the whole British thing. ValleyGirl!Lavendar is just too much fun. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
"But honestly," Mandy said in the library the next morning, "my parents're insane. They think 'cos I don't know Shakespeare I'm going to work in a McDonald's when I grow up."
"What's a McDonald's?" asked Padma. She liked hearing about Mandy's family, but a lot of the things Mandy told her about them made absolutely no sense. Last week she'd had to listen to a long speech about something called a Laundromat and how her mother was upset because it had made her clothes turn gray.
"A fast-food resturant."
"What's fast-food?" Padma was getting a bit annoyed now; she didn't like being made to feel stupid just because she wasn't Muggle-born.
"Food that's- you know, made quickly, so you don't have to wait to get the bill. Honestly, Padma, it's amazing the stuff you don't know."
Padma wanted very much to ask "What's a bill?" and she wanted even more to touch Mandy's hair, which was tied up in a thick silky ponyail, but she was angry at herself for both of those things, so, as she usually did when she was angry at herself, she pretended to be angry at someone else. "Look, Mandy," she spat, "you're the one who doesn't know- a lot of stuff. You're the one who won't read the books your parents send you and make me do it instead. You're the one who is always driving Rag and me crazy asking questions about the magical world. You're the one"- who doesn't know I'm in love with you- "who's a Mudblood."
Mandy's blue eyes filled with tears, and Padma wanted to wipe them away, so she said "And you're a baby, too. You should have been put in Hufflepuff."
"Padma, what's your problem? What do you want?"
To kiss you. "I want you to stop being such a twit. I want you to stop bothering me all the time. I want to- Mandy, I want to be alone, okay?"
"Fine," Mandy said, wiping her eyes as though the salty tears were acid. "Fine. Go away then, why don't you."
Padma immediately felt horrid. "Mandy, I'm-"
"I said, go away. That's what you wanted."
"But-"
"Go away."
Padma got up from the table they had been sitting at, picked up her bag, considered putting Padma's Shakespeare books in it, decided against it, and began to walk randomly through the bookcases, muttering at herself. Had anyone been watching, they would have thought she was either insane or the friend of someone with an Invisibility Cloak.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++Mandy rarely became angry at anyone or anything, and when she did, she was more cold than fierce. A week later she still hadn't spoken a word to Padma, with the exception of "You forgot to put the Salamander tail in our potion," and "Was there any Transfiguration homework?" which, somehow, made it more painful than if she had been entirely silent. Worse, she'd told all of her friends exactly why she and Padma were quarreling (not that she'd done it to be spiteful; they asked), and Mandy's friends and Padma's friends happened to be almost exactly the same group of people. So anyone she could have turned to for solace was also equally displeased with her.
"Look- I've always known you're from a very... good family," Ivan told her one afternoon shortly after the fight. "That you're very rich and pure-blood and all. But Padma- I never thought you cared about that kind of thing. I mean, Parvati's kind of shallow, I wouldn't put it past her- but you. You seemed so nice. I can't believe you'd say something like that to Mandy. And- my dad's half-Muggle, and I don't think I can be friends with someone who feels that way about them."
Like most Ravenclaws, Padma was very adept at burying herself in schoolwork or novels when her life wasn't going the way she wanted. Unfortunately, she couldn't do it forever. The only way to get out of her current friendless situation would be to confront Mandy and apologize. She'd explain why she said it, and-
Wait. That couldn't be the only way.
Maybe she could talk to Parvati. Despite her overall idiocy, Padma's sister had a bit of a sixth sense as far as interpersonal relationships were concerned. Right. She'd lower her pride, and- it made her gag just to think of asking Parvati for help. But it was the only alternative.
"But anyway- he was being an idiot, for crying out loud, like, I deserve some respect, don't I? I'm not just some airhead."
"Go on."
"And that's all really. It was just- honestly."
"See, that's the problem with boys these days. They're just naff. They just don't appreciate girls who are beautiful, and nice, and smart, like you, Lav."
Padma suppressed a snort.
"So you just go and tell old Seam to stick it up his- what're you doing here, Pad?"
Padma hated her sister's habit of referring to everyone by the first syllable of their name, but she was going to have to resist the urge to whack Parvati on the head with one of her many hair ornaments if she wanted to get any advice. "I wanted to ask you something," she said as nicely as possible.
Parvati seemed thrilled. "Ooh, really, Pad? What is it? Guy trouble? You heard what I was telling Lav-"
"No, it's not."
Parvati visibly drooped.
"It's- I said something mean to Mandy, and now she won't talk to me."
Parvati perked up again. "All right, Pad, we'll have you too fixed up in no time."
"So? What do I do?"
"I've got to think on that. See you two." Parvati rushed off.
"Why'd she have to leave?" Padma asked.
Lavendar beamed at her. "I dunno, but she's, like, so going to help you, Pad. Parv's great at that kind of thing. Once she told me my tan wasn't dark enough- but she was so sweet about it I just had to forgive her. Don't you just love her, Pad?"
"My-name-is-not-Pad," muttered Padma through gritted teeth. "It's-Padma."
Lavendar patted Padma's hunched shoulder. "Nicknames are fun, Pad! You Ravenclaws are just so... so... serious! Like Herm!"
Padma shuddered and moved away.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ "Guess what?" Parvati screeched to her the next day at breakfast.
"What?" Padma said wearily.
"I fixed up the problem with you and Mand!"
"Oh, that's wonderful, Parvati. Thank you. How'd you do it?"
"I went to talk to her!"
"And she listened to you?" Mandy didn't even know Parvati very well. Unless- no, that was too horrible to even consider. "Parvati, you didn't-"
"I pretended to be you. I told her I was so, so sorry, that I'd been an idiot, and I was never going to say anything like that again, that she had absolutely fantastic hair-"
"Her hair? You thought she was upset because I insulted her hair?"
Parvati appeared confused. "Well, what else would she have been upset about?"
"Parvati," Padma hissed, "I called her a Mudblood."
Her sister gasped. "Pad, that's horrible. I can't believe you did that. They're not any different from us, Muggle-borns. Except they're really sexy- like Dean Thomas. You ever seen Dean Thomas?"
"Yes, Parvati, I am aware that Muggle-borns are sexy. In fact, if I wasn't, I wouldn't be having this problem right now," Padma spat, then stood up and left.
"Gee, Lav," Parvati said, "I don't know what she means. Do you?"
"No," Lavendar replied solemnly. "Maybe, like, she and Mand fought over some hot Muggle-born boy, or something. You think?"
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ After the Parvati incident, Padma found that some of her friends were much nicer to her, but her happiness diminished when she realized that they were worried about her sanity. It was sweet that they cared, of course, but she was getting a bit tired of Morag asking her if she could remember the way to the common room or Terry attempting to do her History of Magic homework for her ("We don't want to push her over the brink, Rag," she heard him say seriously one night, "and Binns's essays could do that, no question"). She found herself beginning to avoid them, instead of the other way around.
About two weeks after the trouble started, Padma found herself sitting in Hagrid's hut, receiving a lecture on just how bad her Care of Magical Creatures grades were. "Patil," he said, "It's not that yeh don't try. I'm sure yeh do. Some people just aren't good with animals, and there's really not much yeh can do about that except try not teh have teh spend too much time with 'em. If yeh want I can get yeh permission from the headmaster to take a different class..."
Arithmancy, Padma thought, always sounded fascinating. She should have taken it instead. In fact... no. Her Ravenclaw pride would not allow her to drop a class just because she was horrid at it. She'd try harder, that was it. "I can't... I mean, I don't want to change classes. I'm sure if I really apply myself I-"
"Patil, I had a student like yeh last year, and he wanted to stay in my class, so I let him. Yeh know what happened?"
Padma swallowed. "What?"
"He tried to pick up a Blast-Ended Screwt and ended up losin' a finger."
"Oh."
"So yer best bet is really teh leave. If yeh really don't want teh we could set up some
tutoring."
"Tutoring?"
"Tutoring. Yeh could get Hermione Granger teh do it, in Gryffindor- or Lisa Terpin, since she's in yer house... they're top in yer year..."
"Right, okay," Padma muttered. "I'll do that."
"Yeh sure? It's not gonna be easy, trust me..."
"No, no, I'll do it. Thanks." Padma might be having a bad month, but she was certainly not going to leave a class. Padma did not leave classes. Besides, the work would be quite consuming, she was sure of that, and she needed some distraction.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++Okay, that was bad, and lame, and short, and took forever, but... hey, maybe I'll get flamed!
I always wanted to get flamed, you see. Goodbye.
Summary: Padma acts like a brat.
First stupid note: I stole the idea of someone who had to read books getting someone else to read them and tell her about it from the book A Little Princess, and from a lot of really annoying people who go to the AOL book discussion boards and tell us they need to finish a report, so could we please summarize the book for them?
Second stupid note: Probably didn't use the right word for Laundromat.
Third stupid note: Or fast-food.
Fourth stupid note: Or bill.
Fifth stupid note: I'm giving up the whole British thing. ValleyGirl!Lavendar is just too much fun. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
"But honestly," Mandy said in the library the next morning, "my parents're insane. They think 'cos I don't know Shakespeare I'm going to work in a McDonald's when I grow up."
"What's a McDonald's?" asked Padma. She liked hearing about Mandy's family, but a lot of the things Mandy told her about them made absolutely no sense. Last week she'd had to listen to a long speech about something called a Laundromat and how her mother was upset because it had made her clothes turn gray.
"A fast-food resturant."
"What's fast-food?" Padma was getting a bit annoyed now; she didn't like being made to feel stupid just because she wasn't Muggle-born.
"Food that's- you know, made quickly, so you don't have to wait to get the bill. Honestly, Padma, it's amazing the stuff you don't know."
Padma wanted very much to ask "What's a bill?" and she wanted even more to touch Mandy's hair, which was tied up in a thick silky ponyail, but she was angry at herself for both of those things, so, as she usually did when she was angry at herself, she pretended to be angry at someone else. "Look, Mandy," she spat, "you're the one who doesn't know- a lot of stuff. You're the one who won't read the books your parents send you and make me do it instead. You're the one who is always driving Rag and me crazy asking questions about the magical world. You're the one"- who doesn't know I'm in love with you- "who's a Mudblood."
Mandy's blue eyes filled with tears, and Padma wanted to wipe them away, so she said "And you're a baby, too. You should have been put in Hufflepuff."
"Padma, what's your problem? What do you want?"
To kiss you. "I want you to stop being such a twit. I want you to stop bothering me all the time. I want to- Mandy, I want to be alone, okay?"
"Fine," Mandy said, wiping her eyes as though the salty tears were acid. "Fine. Go away then, why don't you."
Padma immediately felt horrid. "Mandy, I'm-"
"I said, go away. That's what you wanted."
"But-"
"Go away."
Padma got up from the table they had been sitting at, picked up her bag, considered putting Padma's Shakespeare books in it, decided against it, and began to walk randomly through the bookcases, muttering at herself. Had anyone been watching, they would have thought she was either insane or the friend of someone with an Invisibility Cloak.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++Mandy rarely became angry at anyone or anything, and when she did, she was more cold than fierce. A week later she still hadn't spoken a word to Padma, with the exception of "You forgot to put the Salamander tail in our potion," and "Was there any Transfiguration homework?" which, somehow, made it more painful than if she had been entirely silent. Worse, she'd told all of her friends exactly why she and Padma were quarreling (not that she'd done it to be spiteful; they asked), and Mandy's friends and Padma's friends happened to be almost exactly the same group of people. So anyone she could have turned to for solace was also equally displeased with her.
"Look- I've always known you're from a very... good family," Ivan told her one afternoon shortly after the fight. "That you're very rich and pure-blood and all. But Padma- I never thought you cared about that kind of thing. I mean, Parvati's kind of shallow, I wouldn't put it past her- but you. You seemed so nice. I can't believe you'd say something like that to Mandy. And- my dad's half-Muggle, and I don't think I can be friends with someone who feels that way about them."
Like most Ravenclaws, Padma was very adept at burying herself in schoolwork or novels when her life wasn't going the way she wanted. Unfortunately, she couldn't do it forever. The only way to get out of her current friendless situation would be to confront Mandy and apologize. She'd explain why she said it, and-
Wait. That couldn't be the only way.
Maybe she could talk to Parvati. Despite her overall idiocy, Padma's sister had a bit of a sixth sense as far as interpersonal relationships were concerned. Right. She'd lower her pride, and- it made her gag just to think of asking Parvati for help. But it was the only alternative.
"But anyway- he was being an idiot, for crying out loud, like, I deserve some respect, don't I? I'm not just some airhead."
"Go on."
"And that's all really. It was just- honestly."
"See, that's the problem with boys these days. They're just naff. They just don't appreciate girls who are beautiful, and nice, and smart, like you, Lav."
Padma suppressed a snort.
"So you just go and tell old Seam to stick it up his- what're you doing here, Pad?"
Padma hated her sister's habit of referring to everyone by the first syllable of their name, but she was going to have to resist the urge to whack Parvati on the head with one of her many hair ornaments if she wanted to get any advice. "I wanted to ask you something," she said as nicely as possible.
Parvati seemed thrilled. "Ooh, really, Pad? What is it? Guy trouble? You heard what I was telling Lav-"
"No, it's not."
Parvati visibly drooped.
"It's- I said something mean to Mandy, and now she won't talk to me."
Parvati perked up again. "All right, Pad, we'll have you too fixed up in no time."
"So? What do I do?"
"I've got to think on that. See you two." Parvati rushed off.
"Why'd she have to leave?" Padma asked.
Lavendar beamed at her. "I dunno, but she's, like, so going to help you, Pad. Parv's great at that kind of thing. Once she told me my tan wasn't dark enough- but she was so sweet about it I just had to forgive her. Don't you just love her, Pad?"
"My-name-is-not-Pad," muttered Padma through gritted teeth. "It's-Padma."
Lavendar patted Padma's hunched shoulder. "Nicknames are fun, Pad! You Ravenclaws are just so... so... serious! Like Herm!"
Padma shuddered and moved away.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ "Guess what?" Parvati screeched to her the next day at breakfast.
"What?" Padma said wearily.
"I fixed up the problem with you and Mand!"
"Oh, that's wonderful, Parvati. Thank you. How'd you do it?"
"I went to talk to her!"
"And she listened to you?" Mandy didn't even know Parvati very well. Unless- no, that was too horrible to even consider. "Parvati, you didn't-"
"I pretended to be you. I told her I was so, so sorry, that I'd been an idiot, and I was never going to say anything like that again, that she had absolutely fantastic hair-"
"Her hair? You thought she was upset because I insulted her hair?"
Parvati appeared confused. "Well, what else would she have been upset about?"
"Parvati," Padma hissed, "I called her a Mudblood."
Her sister gasped. "Pad, that's horrible. I can't believe you did that. They're not any different from us, Muggle-borns. Except they're really sexy- like Dean Thomas. You ever seen Dean Thomas?"
"Yes, Parvati, I am aware that Muggle-borns are sexy. In fact, if I wasn't, I wouldn't be having this problem right now," Padma spat, then stood up and left.
"Gee, Lav," Parvati said, "I don't know what she means. Do you?"
"No," Lavendar replied solemnly. "Maybe, like, she and Mand fought over some hot Muggle-born boy, or something. You think?"
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ After the Parvati incident, Padma found that some of her friends were much nicer to her, but her happiness diminished when she realized that they were worried about her sanity. It was sweet that they cared, of course, but she was getting a bit tired of Morag asking her if she could remember the way to the common room or Terry attempting to do her History of Magic homework for her ("We don't want to push her over the brink, Rag," she heard him say seriously one night, "and Binns's essays could do that, no question"). She found herself beginning to avoid them, instead of the other way around.
About two weeks after the trouble started, Padma found herself sitting in Hagrid's hut, receiving a lecture on just how bad her Care of Magical Creatures grades were. "Patil," he said, "It's not that yeh don't try. I'm sure yeh do. Some people just aren't good with animals, and there's really not much yeh can do about that except try not teh have teh spend too much time with 'em. If yeh want I can get yeh permission from the headmaster to take a different class..."
Arithmancy, Padma thought, always sounded fascinating. She should have taken it instead. In fact... no. Her Ravenclaw pride would not allow her to drop a class just because she was horrid at it. She'd try harder, that was it. "I can't... I mean, I don't want to change classes. I'm sure if I really apply myself I-"
"Patil, I had a student like yeh last year, and he wanted to stay in my class, so I let him. Yeh know what happened?"
Padma swallowed. "What?"
"He tried to pick up a Blast-Ended Screwt and ended up losin' a finger."
"Oh."
"So yer best bet is really teh leave. If yeh really don't want teh we could set up some
tutoring."
"Tutoring?"
"Tutoring. Yeh could get Hermione Granger teh do it, in Gryffindor- or Lisa Terpin, since she's in yer house... they're top in yer year..."
"Right, okay," Padma muttered. "I'll do that."
"Yeh sure? It's not gonna be easy, trust me..."
"No, no, I'll do it. Thanks." Padma might be having a bad month, but she was certainly not going to leave a class. Padma did not leave classes. Besides, the work would be quite consuming, she was sure of that, and she needed some distraction.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++Okay, that was bad, and lame, and short, and took forever, but... hey, maybe I'll get flamed!
I always wanted to get flamed, you see. Goodbye.