Chapter 12: Moth to a Flame

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the related characters. The Harry Potter series is created by J.K. Rowling and owned by Warner Bros. Pictures. All rights of Harry Potter belong to Warner Bros. Pictures. This entire story is a work of fanfiction and is meant for entertainment purposes only. I am not making a profit from this story.

Notes: This chapter is inspired by the song "Moth to a Flame" by Swedish House Mafia & The Weeknd.

Summer to Winter 1998

One date became two dates and two became three. Before I knew it, Terry and I were meeting up every other day. We liked to visit the stores in Diagon Alley together after I finished work. It was nice to go there for something other than textbooks and new robes. My favourite spot was Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour. Each flavour was a creamy, cool delight and by the end of the summer I had tried every single one of them. Terry preferred The Junk Shop and I always smiled fondly at the childlike wonder that spread over his face whenever he saw an interesting secondhand item that he could repurpose for himself.

The day before Terry was supposed to go back to Hogwarts to teach, we had lunch at The Leaky Cauldron. While we were walking around afterwards, we happened to pass by Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes. Terry wanted to take a look at their adorable pygmy puffs, so we went inside. As soon as we entered, Vijay saw us from the front desk and deviously grinned. Merlin's beard.

My relationship with Terry was never a secret. I told my parents about our first date before leaving the house and they wished me luck. I also introduced them to him three weeks later when Terry officially asked me to be his girlfriend. It seemed their strict rules only applied to me when I was a Hogwarts student. It was a bit jarring to see Terry sitting in my house drinking chai and struggling to eat bhel puri without coughing from the heat. He had a low tolerance for spice, but I really appreciated the effort he was making to please my family and I could tell they did too. Parvati was happy that I had found someone special as well, and told me to let her know if he had any cute friends.

I had yet to introduce him to my extended family, but the annual holiday party was a good opportunity to do so. Things had been pretty busy after the war ended, as the wizarding community rebuilt itself. Following Fred's untimely passing, Vijay's responsibilities had drastically increased, and he and George pushed through their grief to meet the customer demand.

"Bloody hell! You must be Padma's boyfriend. About time she started dating! I was beginning to wonder if she'd be married to her job like she was to her Hogwarts textbooks," Vijay joked. I couldn't help but chuckle at my own expense as well.

"This is my cousin, Vijay. He works here with George. Vijay, this is my boyfriend, Terry Boot. He'll be starting his position as the new Hogwarts D.A.D.A. professor in September," I explained. Vijay and Terry said hello to each other and shook hands.

"So, how are things with you, Vijay?" I asked.

"Business is still booming. It has been hard without Fred though. Poor Goerge has it rough. I'm hoping to get some time off for the holidays. I'll see you both at the party, right?" Vijay replied. We nodded and then moved towards the pygmy puff display when we saw another customer come in.

On the way back to the train station, Terry asked if we could briefly stop by Rosa Lee Teabag. He wanted to buy some chai for himself to drink at Hogwarts because it would remind him of me when we were apart. He really was a sweet guy. I should feel lucky to have him.

While browsing the isles, I lingered by a shelf of apple cinnamon tea and inhaled its delicious aroma. Like a pensive, it pulled me back to Sarika's engagement party. I smiled ruefully at the memory of drinking tea with Dev and talking about my fear of flying.

"Would you like me to buy some of that tea for you, Padma?" Terry asked. He was standing beside me holding a large canister of chai.

I hesitated. I was running low on my tea supplies and the flavour was admittedly palatable. This had nothing to do with any residual feelings I had for the person who recommended it to me.

"Sure, thanks," I finally agreed, handing him the box.

*/*/*

Before long, it was the holidays. Time flies when you're not in school anymore. So far, I loved being a page at the Ministry of Magic library. It felt so rewarding when I was able to locate the perfect resources to assist staff with their research, and shelving books at the end of a long day was very relaxing. My parents were also content with the fact that I wasn't doing anything particularly dangerous - for once.

I gripped Terry's hand and slowly walked into the living room of my uncle's house behind Parvati and my parents. I felt really nervous about bringing a boy to a family event for the first time. On the other hand, Terry appeared to be quite relaxed. Perhaps he had met Lisa's relatives when they briefly dated at Hogwarts, so he knew what to expect. His tranquillity gave me some comfort.

"Ooh who is this boy?"

"He's so tall and handsome!"

"Are you getting married?"

Here we go…

I alternated between introducing Terry to each family member and family friend, and answering their subsequent questions after each introduction. Once we had finished our rounds, I pulled Terry into the kitchen and poured us each a mug of hot chocolate. He laughed as we sat down to enjoy our beverages while I sighed in exhaustion.

"I like your family! They're a lively bunch," he commented and I smiled at him. We wrote to each other a lot when he was away teaching at Hogwarts. I looked forward to seeing his owl, Greyson, come with weekly letters detailing how he was doing and would send my owl, Athena, to him the following day with sweets and a response. It was nice to finally be together in-person again.

"Hey Padma! Oh, you must be Terry, it's a pleasure to meet you. How are you both doing? I just wanted to introduce you to my girlfriend, Betty Braithwaite. She's a full-time journalist at The Daily Prophet," Kirin beamed, walking up to us.

I turned to face a pretty blonde-haired woman with sparkling blue eyes and a friendly smile. Terry and I attempted to shake her hand, but she laughed goodheartedly and pulled us both into a big bear hug instead. She seemed really nice.

Sarika happened to walk by us while carrying her baby, but stopped short to scrutinise Terry. I decided to take the opportunity to introduce them.

"Hi Sarika, this is my boyfriend, Terry. He was a fellow Ravenclaw in my year. Terry, this is my older cousin Sarika and her son, Raj," I explained.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Sarika. Your son is absolutely lovely and might I say you look amazing after recently giving birth," Terry exclaimed.

Sarika's face broke into a haughty grin. She thanked him and nodded in approval at us. I suppose flattery easily wins her over. Terry is very charming. I guess I didn't have to worry about anything after all.

When Kirin tried to introduce her to Betty, Sarika paused briefly to roll her eyes in derision.

"Yes, I know who you are. You wrote that glowing article about Rita Skeeter's book, "The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore", correct?" my cousin said sourly. Kirin looked angry, but to her credit Betty only faltered slightly at Sarika's hostility before quickly regaining her composure.

"Yes, that's right. I was on contract at the time and my boss assigned me to work on that article. Rita isn't a very diplomatic person, so I didn't want to get on her bad side. I remained professional during the interview and completed my assignment with no issues," she confidently explained.

Sarika snorted and walked away. Betty looked downright hurt by her reaction and Kirin swiftly escorted her to the living room to introduce her to the rest of the guests. Merlin's beard…

I took a deep gulp from my mug and glanced up when I heard a creak by the entrance to the kitchen. I choked when I saw Dev standing there.

He didn't look surprised to see Terry at all. Vijay must have told him that I had a boyfriend. However, Dev didn't really look happy to see Terry either. He frowned as he assessed Terry's profile, then walked over to where we were standing.

"Hi Padma," Dev said calmly, addressing me first but making eye contact with Terry instead.

"Hey Dev. This is my boyfriend, Terry Boot," I explained, gesturing to my smiling beau.

"Hi Terry, I'm Dev. It's nice to meet you. Welcome to the family," Dev said brightly. I stood in shock beside him. Well, that was an unexpectedly friendly greeting given his initial reaction a few seconds ago…

"It's a pleasure to meet you too Dev! So, how do you and Padma know each other?" Terry curiously asked.

"He's my cousin!" I hastily exclaimed and froze in horror when I realised my mistake. I had meant to say cousin's friend, but slipped up because I was nervous. Maybe this was for the best? I had known him for almost my entire life. Furthermore, if Terry thought we were related he wouldn't question whatever was going on between us - not that anything was.

A look of hurt flashed across Dev's eyes when he heard my blunder, but he quickly passed it off and firmly shook Terry's hand before walking away.

He kept his distance from me for the rest of the evening festivities.

Notes: Raj's name was inspired by Raj Koothrapali, one of my favourite characters from The Big Bang Theory :D