Disclaimer: Pretty sure that if I owned Harry Potter, I would have better things to do with my life.

Author's Note: Written for ReillyJade, courtesy of the Gift-Giving Extravaganza 2014. I really hope you enjoy it!

Backup Plan

Anthony&Padma

December 1994

Anthony was the first one up on Christmas morning.

It was the first time that had happened, but this year, it made sense. The Yule Ball had been held on Christmas Eve, starting at eight and lasting until midnight or so. Anthony wasn't totally sure. He had attended the ball with Mandy, but they hadn't bothered staying the whole time. Mandy didn't like to dance - which he completely understood - but the thing was, she didn't like to talk much, either, and so for a couple hours they were sitting there silently. Finally, they had given up and returned to the common room long before everyone else.

He sighed, swinging his feet onto the floor and trying not to look at the pile of gifts sitting at the foot of each bed - except for his. Kevin, Stephen, Terry, and Michael all had big piles of presents from their parents and relatives. Anthony's family didn't celebrate Christmas at all, and usually he didn't care - he was home with them for the winter break every year anyway. This was the first year he had stayed, and Merlin, looking at those gift piles and not having anything at the foot of his bed for him was just a little bit depressing.

He got dressed, being as quiet as possible so he didn't wake the others. They didn't even stir as he headed down to the common room. He didn't expect too many people to be there - the younger students who were still there, while probably awake, would still be in their rooms opening gifts, and he could assume all the older students were still asleep.

His assumption was correct - there weren't a lot of people there. A couple of seventh years were in the corner, wrapping gifts with magic. A fifth year whose name Anthony didn't know, but who always seemed to be up earlier than everyone else, was writing an essay. Loony Lovegood was on one of the big armchairs, curled up with a new-looking book.

Padma was sitting in one of the huge armchairs. It was big enough for two people - or even three, if they crowded together. A couple of years previously, some of the older students had been fed up with the lack of sofas and large, two-person chairs, and they had discovered that Engorgio worked quite well on the blue armchairs already there.

She patted the cushion beside her when she saw Anthony. "You're up too, huh?"

"I went to bed before eleven." Anthony sat down beside her, mindful not to sit on her hand or her robes by accident. "Guess I'm no longer capable of sleeping for longer than ten hours. Not used to that at Hogwarts, you know?"

Padma chuckled. Hogwarts didn't lend itself well to getting more than seven hours of sleep a night, if that, and everyone knew that. "Definitely not," she said.

"What time did you get back?" Anthony asked. She had still been there when he left, dancing with some Beauxbatons boy who was shorter than she was.

"A little after midnight," Padma said. "Same as the others. They stayed up talking in the common room for a while, though. I didn't."

Anthony could picture it clearly. The seven of them - Kevin, Terry, Michael, Stephen, Su, Lisa, and Morag - would be crowded into a corner, still in their dress robes, laughing and talking about the night. Stephen would try to remain dignified and fail entirely, since he was less polished after midnight. Michael and Kevin would be talking about the hottest girls there, and Terry and Lisa would be cringing and blushing whenever the other two started getting too foul-mouthed. Su and Morag would be chatting about something, Su's raucousness complementing Morag's sarcasm. Usually Padma was there to keep them all in check. "Why didn't you stay?"

Padma twisted a lock of her hair. She almost always wore it pulled back in a braid or ponytail, but this morning it hung down, dark and straight, almost to her waist. Anthony couldn't help but think she looked younger, more vulnerable, with her hair down, dressed in a big, loose shirt and pajama bottoms. "I didn't have the best night yesterday," she said, after nearly a minute and a half had passed.

"What happened?" Anthony stared at her, concerned.

She hesitated before answering again. Anthony wondered if this was the first time she had truly confided in somebody about a problem. Padma was a very independent person who absolutely hated asking for help or letting somebody see that she wasn't as cold and composed as she seemed. "I was supposed to go to the Yule Ball with Ron Weasley," she said.

Anthony nodded. Padma going with Ron had been a relatively last-minute decision, made because Parvati was going with Harry Potter and she had offered her dateless sister up to Harry's best friend. Anthony knew that - all of the Ravenclaws in their year did, since the ten of them were that close. "I thought you did," he said. "I saw you with him at the beginning."

"It was like I wasn't his date at all," Padma said. "He and Harry completely ignored Parvati and I in order to spend more time with each other. Honestly," she huffed, "that says a lot. Ron didn't even ask me to dance. I was with Parvati and a couple of the Beauxbatons boys, but it was obvious that they fancied her more than they did me. She's just the sort of girl who boys adore. And...I look like her, but I don't act like her. I stayed until the ball ended, but it just wasn't...it wasn't what I expected. Or wanted."

Immediately after she said all of that, she looked like she regretted it. Anthony took a deep breath. Comforting a girl over a problem like this definitely wasn't his area of expertise. He wished Michael were there - Michael always knew what to do around members of the opposite sex. "I'm sorry," Anthony finally said. "I wish you had had a better night."

Now he regretted speaking, because he sounded like an idiot. Padma smiled at him, though - just a small smile, the corner of her lip twisting upward slightly in a way that was almost rueful. "Thank you," she said. "Merlin. I just...I wish I had gone home for the holidays. I mean, the Yule Ball wasn't worth staying for, and now I can't leave at all."

Anthony understood completely. His night - while not as bad as Padma's - certainly hadn't been as fun as so many people had claimed it would be, and it wasn't worth staying over. "I understand," he said. "I wish I had gone home, too." At her questioning look, he explained the whole situation with Mandy, and how they had ended up coming back early.

"Let's make a promise," Padma said after a couple of minutes had passed, a determined look in her eyes. "If there's something like this again - another event, or dance, or whatever. We won't be stupid about it - we won't go for the sake of going. We'll be logical and we'll see if we actually want to go, and we'll go with people that we know we'll enjoy going with."

"And if we can't find somebody to go with," Anthony finished, "but the event itself sounds too good to pass up, then we'll go together. You and me. No strings attached, no expectations - just a backup plan."

Padma slipped her hand into his, and they shook on it. And if Anthony kept Padma's hand in his for just a little while longer than necessary, neither one of them commented on it.

This is the first thing I've written in over a month. I'm sorry that it's so short! This was actually my original idea, but I couldn't get it to work first time around, so I tried writing pretty much every other pairing you requested, Reilly...and then I came right back to AnthonyPadma and the plot bunny that I had last month. Fml. This was really fun to write, though - and I hope it was fun to read.