A/N at one point i considered writing a Harmony plus story and had decided on Padma, not just because i think she is a massively underutilized character, but she has enough in common for it to seem right. I never went terribly far with it, and if i ever revisit it will likely be on a different path, but this was the first draft of the first chapter in that idea. Enjoy.
Chapter 1
"I need to speak to you please."
Hermione looked up from her desk in the library. Not seeing the owner of the voice, she shifted a stack of books she was referencing from in front of her to the side and saw Padma Patil sitting in front of her. The pretty Ravenclaw sat calmly, unassuming and serene under Hermione gaze. Padma was nice enough, Hermione mused, though usually withdrawn and rarely spoke out. Actually, she was kind of great like that, always there but never a bother, at least until now. Now though, she was interrupting important research.
"Right now?" Hermione asked, wishing for nothing more than to retreat back into her fortress of books and continue her research. She was close, but something always came up. Things like classes and food were really getting annoying. She knew she'd eventually find a solution to the power surges, if she stopped getting interrupted.
"Not necessarily right this instant," Padma glanced at the stacks of books on the desk, "but the sooner the better."
"In that case…" she looked at the stacks and sighed. It was always something. "I guess this is as good a stopping point as any."
Heaving herself up out of the chair, Hermione took out her wand and started to wave it. Silently, the books started to lift and arrange themselves, before moving off. Oddly, it wasn't to the front where books to be returned normally went for Madam Pince to reshelve, but back towards the little used section just before the restricted section. Well, most went to the back, three of the books headed up to the front to get reshelved. Padma watched in confusion as the book drifted away, and her curiosity must have been evident as Hermione explained.
"Madam Pince allows me to use an empty shelf to hold the books I need for my projects." She led the Indian witch towards the doors of the library. "Any book that spends three days in use by me automatically gets reshelved."
"Must be nice."
"Oh it is, but I try not to abuse it." Hermione smiled kindly as she passed through the heavy doors. "So what do you want to talk about?"
"I think it's better that we talk in private, maybe your room?" Hermione detected a bit of a blush on the dark skinned woman at her suggestion.
"You want a private talk yet think talking in the same dorm as the gossip queens of the school is a good idea?" Her laugh took any bite out of her comment.
"Not your dorm, your other rooms," Padma glanced around, ensuring they were alone and lowering her voice. "The ones you share with your husband."
Hermione paused mid stride, momentarily frozen. Millions of thoughts racing through her head. 'How?' being the most prominent. Only five people in the world knew that secret, well, five humans, a house elf, and, maybe, a goblin. Hell, only a few more knew there were any feelings whatsoever between them. There was absolutely no reason for Padma Patil, even as bright as she was, to have any clue about that particular secret.
Resuming her stride, smoothly enough most wouldn't have noticed more than a momentary hitch in her gait, she kept moving. Silently, she let the witch beside her stew until they were passing an empty classroom. She glanced once more to ensure they were alone in the corridor, then she acted.
To Padma's credit, she didn't scream as she was hurled magically through the door to the abandoned classroom, she even rolled as she hit the floor. She would later credit Harry's training in the DA last year for her coming up with her wand drawn. All in all however, it was as useless as a lumos charm in broad daylight. As she lifted her head to find her attacker, she found Hermione's glowing wand point pressing right between her eyes and froze.
"You have some explaining to do," Hermione told the scared witch as she gently took her wand. "Starting with just how you know that little fact."
"I promise I will explain," Padma held her hands up and away from her body, showing she was unarmed and non threatening. "There is one other who knows, and she is how I know."
"Who?!" the wand point pressed a little harder, and Padma could swear she saw a vein pulsing on the girls forehead.
"Luna Lovegood, she seems like she's odd but that's because she can see auras. Her made up creatures are some code for what she sees. It makes her seem mad when she's just… Well, she saw your auras and I knew what it meant. I'm the only one she's told, I made her promise not to tell anyone else."
"She-" Hermione paused and cocked her head, then eased off her wand a hair. "That actually makes some sense. Explains a lot really, but not everything. What about knowing about the special accommodations?"
"Once I knew, and looked for it, it wasn't hard to spot." Padma said evenly, the released pressure letting relief flood through her. "It took a while, and more conversations with my sister than I care to admit, but I teased out that you weren't spending most nights in your dorm."
Hermione snorted, shaking her head. "They don't have a clue."
"No, but they have realized you're not around as much and can get away with more though." Padma pointed out, "It was a lot of me asking how you let them get away with that and them saying you had been out studying or something, therefore not around to stop them. Plus they don't think you'd ever do anything gossip worthy. Sure you had a bit going after you let Viktor Krum take you to the yule ball, but that died out pretty quick when nothing more happened."
"Uh huh," Hermione lowered her wand, she didn't put it away Padma noted, but it was no longer pointed straight at her. "So how about a little idea what you want to talk about."
"I… I need your help, and I also might be able to help you as well."
"Help? With what?"
"Well, I've got a bit of a family situation, one I think your Harry can help me with." Padma blushed a little, "I'm not trying to steal him from you or anything like that, but i'm getting desperate. If I don't find a solution soon my life will basically be over. If this doesn't work, if you two can't help me, my alternatives are rather unpleasant."
"I see," Hermione had her doubts, but also knew Padma to be an honest girl. It was also obvious the Indian witch was very upset, and more than a little embarrassed. She also knew this wasn't something she could decide on her own. "Come on then, let's get back so we can figure out what to do about all this."
"Harry! We have company!" Hermione called loudly as she followed Padma into the quarters she shared with Harry. It was small, but it was theirs, and thanks to Professor McGonagall, no one else knew about it. Well, Madam Pomfrey knew too but only because of her condition and both were sworn to secrecy.
Similar in design to the Gryffindor common room, accented in rich woods and crimson furniture, it was just perfect for them. A small fireplace was already blazing and as Padma looked around in wonder, Hermione sank into the giant overstuffed armchair that was her favorite. To her left was the fireplace and to her right was a small couch. There was a small common bathroom, a kitchenette and nook, and two other doors leading to bedrooms.
"Company?" Harry queried as he stepped out of the master bedroom. "What does Professor… oh, hello Padma. Welcome, I suppose, to… uh..."
"She knows Harry, far more than she should thanks to that little... " she cut herself off, took a deep breath and sighed, "Sorry. Apparently Luna can see Auras, and can see ours. She has supposedly only told Padma, but we'll need to have a little talk to her soon."
"That... that actually explains a lot."
"I know, that's what she said," Padma hitched a thumb at Hermione. "Luna means well, just that with her abilities, she has trouble relating. She makes up creatures to explain things."
"And I'm guessing she saw something about us that clued you in to our situation?" Harry asked as he moved towards Hermione.
"Basically," Padma confirmed, watching as Harry spoke to Hermione wordlessly. "It wasn't hard to spot if you knew to look for it, if you didn't you'd brush it off as they'd done similar for years. She is also innocent enough not to realize what the other thing she saw means."
"Other thing?" Hermione started to sit up, but apparently gave up as Harry moved behind her and started rubbing her shoulders. She moaned and shifted to allow him better access. "Oh, right there."
"The Fluffiness in your middle she called it," Padma said evenly, watching both tense up and look at her, "So, exactly how pregnant are you?"
