POV of Parvati Patil
As I followed the other girls into the dormitory in the evening after many games of chess against Ron and James, I remembered the unread letter from earlier. At that moment, I suddenly recalled the two other unopened letters as well. I had carelessly left them on my nightstand to read later. While the others were already changing for the night, I sat on my bed and opened the oldest letter, which I had received from my parents during my first week at Hogwarts. As I had suspected back then, it contained congratulations on the house sorting and a request to report on how Padma and I were doing at Hogwarts. They probably should have sent that to Padma; she would likely have responded sooner than I would. The second letter was sent for my birthday, along with a package containing cookies from Wanda, our house-elf, and some other insignificant gifts. Therefore, it didn't surprise me much that they congratulated me on my birthday in the letter and asked me to report on how Padma and I were doing at Hogwarts. In the letter, they claimed that while they understood that I probably hadn't gotten around to answering them yet due to all the new impressions, they were still worried about us, especially because we hadn't ended up in the same house. I really couldn't remember when they had last worried about us, or rather, shown us that they did! After all, they hadn't been there for us for the past few years, as they were almost always on business trips or working until late in the evening. The last letter, which had only arrived today, wasn't from my parents. I immediately recognized my godmother Liz's handwriting.:
Dear Parvati, I can't tell you how thrilled I was to hear that you were accepted into the Quidditch team! I know this means you must have incredible talent; otherwise, Professor McGonagall wouldn't have been so incredibly enthusiastic about you. Her letter reached me yesterday. She earnestly asked me to talk to your parents about getting you a broom. Apparently, she hasn't received a response from them yet. Of course, I did that, but you know how stubborn your parents can be. They think you're still too young for your own broom and that you have plenty of time to play in the Quidditch team when you're older. They didn't want to discuss the topic further. However, I'm convinced that your talent needs to be nurtured, so I will talk to your grandparents. Don't worry about a broom; I promise we'll get you one by the first game! Until then, don't get too discouraged; I know how old the school brooms are there. I hope you've settled in well at Hogwarts and made some friends! Be sure to write back, okay?
Best wishes, Liz
Liz was simply the best! I had no doubt that she would do everything she could to get me a broom as soon as possible. I really hoped my grandparents would support her, as such a broom was, of course, a very expensive gift. With a smile on my lips, I placed the letter on my nightstand and resolved to reply to her first thing in the morning. I would have liked to do it immediately, but Jenna was in the Owlery, and the nightly curfew had already begun. So I changed for the night and wished the others a good night. However, I couldn't really fall asleep. I had been wide awake since reading the letter. That's why, after a while, I got up again and sat on the windowsill between Ariana's bed and mine, looking out into the darkness. I found it a bit of a shame that we had a curfew in the evening. At home, I liked being outside at night. I especially enjoyed walking in the forest near our house at such times. Mostly alone, which my parents would never have allowed had they known about it. But the forest near us was... mostly safe. At least, there were hardly any magical creatures living in it, and most of those that did were too harmless or too shy to attack humans. Padma had only come along once, after which she declared me completely insane for daring to go into the forest at night. That night, we actually encountered a creature that attempted to attack us... Although I was scared at the time, I didn't understand her attitude since we had escaped unscathed.
Since then, Padma and I had grown a bit distant from each other. Before, we had been so incredibly similar, which was the main reason we had gotten along so well. But afterwards, I began to notice how different we actually were. That's why I wasn't particularly surprised by the Sorting Hat's decision. She was simply more thoughtful and cautious than I was, while I, since the incident in the forest, longed for adventures even more. She always got along well with our parents, while I began to question their attitudes more and more and didn't let things slide as easily.
It's been three years since the incident in the forest. I think there had only been one day in my life that had similarly influenced it, and that was my first day at Hogwarts. I usually didn't like being in large groups with others, but since I had been at Hogwarts, it hadn't been such a big problem for me. Sure, there were always moments when I preferred to be alone, for example, when I was upset about Snape or my parents, but my friends had managed to calm me down even then.
After what felt like an eternity, I finally emerged from my thoughts and noticed that Ariana was also awake, sitting on her bed and looking thoughtfully in my direction.