Take a Chance on Me
"Padma! Oi, Padma!"
Padma turned and found herself almost face-to-face with an out of breath Seamus Finnegan.
"There you are," he panted. "Been looking everywhere for you."
Padma nodded to Sue Li. "You can go ahead. This should only take a minute."
Her friend looked bewildered, but continued towards the Transfiguration classroom alone.
Padma faced Seamus once more. "Are you looking for Parvati?" She couldn't think of any reason why the Gryffindor would seek her out, unless he thought she knew where her twin was.
"No," he said, looking at her strangely. "I wanted to ask you something."
"Oh." She hugged her books closer to her chest and tried not to let her confusion show. "All right, then."
"Erm, I was wondering if you'd want to go to Hogsmeade with me this Saturday?" he asked, shifting his weight from one foot to the other.
Of all the things Padma had imagined he might ask, that had not been one of them. She blushed and tried to compose a polite reply. "I—I wasn't really planning on going. Thanks for asking me, though," she added quickly. She hardly ever went to Hogsmeade if she could help it, preferring to spend time in the library or Ravenclaw tower.
To her surprise, Seamus seemed rather disappointed. "That's too bad," he said. "I had some fun stuff planned out for us to do."
She could hardly believe her ears. He made it sound like he was asking her out on a serious date, which was silly because she barely knew him and she didn't think he knew much about her, unless—
"Have you been talking to Parvati about me?" she asked, hoping against hope that his answer would be "no."
"I—yeah, a little," he admitted, running a hand through his sandy-colored hair.
Padma shook her head. Parvati never could resist interfering with her love life, such as it was.
"Well, I hope she didn't give you the impression that I would say yes," she said stiffly, making a mental note to have a word with her sister later. "I hardly know you, Finnegan."
"Right, but isn't that what dates are for? Getting to know each other?" Seamus persisted.
She sighed and looked him over. His shirt was untucked and his hair was a bit long and unkempt. And he was a Gryffindor. Padma didn't have anything against Gryffindors, but they weren't exactly her type.
"I suppose so," she answered carefully, "but I have rather a lot of work to do this weekend. I'm sorry."
"Oh. Maybe next time, then?" He sounded so hopeful.
"Maybe." Padma knew that she was just delaying the inevitable, however, and tried to summon some of that famed Gryffindor courage. "Erm, actually... probably not. I'm not sure we'd be compatible."
"Right." Seamus looked positively crestfallen now, and Padma couldn't help but feel a little sorry for him.
"I'm sorry," she repeated. "Look, I'm not like Parvati. I'm not fun and outgoing and I am especially not as flirty. I suggest you ask her out instead."
"Padma," he said earnestly, "just hear me out. I think we could be good together. Parvati says you're shy — maybe I could help you be a little more social or something. And maybe you could help me be a better student. Your sister is great and all, but we're so similar that I can't see it working out for long."
Padma thought for a moment. Perhaps he was right — she did need someone a little more daring to pull her out of her comfort zone sometimes, and she couldn't always rely on Parvati for that. "All right, Finnegan," she conceded. "We can start as friends and see where it goes."
"Wicked!" he said, grinning widely. "You can start by calling me Seamus."
The corners of Padma's mouth twisted up ever so slightly. "All right, Seamus."
Word count: 641
