It was the beginning of September, and students were getting off the Hogwarts Express and greeting each other enthusiastically. It was a beautiful day; the sky was clear and the sun shone down on the grounds of the castle in a way that even the Forbidden Forest didn’t look so forbidden. Parvati and Padma Patil were waiting patiently in the queue for a carriage to carry them to Hogwarts castle. The two twins spoke freely, chatting about their friends’ new hairstyles and their summer.
“Did you see Ron walk past on the Hogwarts Express? He must have grown at least three inches over the summer!” exclaimed Parvati while her sister looked at her confusedly. Parvati sighed and said in an exasperated voice, “The boy who took you to the Yule Ball? Who left you sitting by yourself? Who ignored you so completely and-”
“Yes, I know, I know!” her sister snapped. Padma had never quite forgiven Ron for leaving her alone at the Yule Ball, and still said it was the worst night of her life. Parvati brushed off her sister’s retort, used to the mood swings her sister often had. They walked in silence to their carriage, which, to their surprise, already held Hermione, Harry, and, to Padma’s distaste, Ron.
As soon as the Patil sisters had stepped into the carriage, Padma shot a disgusted look at Ron, who is return gulped audibly, obviously slightly uncomfortable around her.
“How was your summer, Parvati? Padma?” said Harry, trying to break the tension that was now filling the carriage.
“It was wonderful! We both went to the Netherlands and saw a gifted Seer. She said I possessed the Inner Eye and I would soon have control of it when I become of age!” Parvati said excitedly. Parvati had always been very interested in Divination and planned on studying it for her N.E.W.T.s this year. She and Lavender had a deep respect for their Divination teacher, Professor Trelawney, who Harry, Hermione, and Ron thought was an old fraud. Padma, who had stopped glaring at Ron, immediately snorted with derision at what her sister said and blurted out, “Parvati, that Seer was worse than Trelawney! She thought I was your spirit guide when we first entered the room and refused to believe I was real until I poked her! Or did you forget that little fact?”
Parvati scowled at Padma and did not speak to her for the rest of the carriage journey. Hermione tried sheepishly to start up a conversation with Harry and Ron, but Harry shook his head warningly when Hermione said anything and Ron was too busy trying to ignore Padma, who was now glaring at him once again. After three attempts of conversation, Hermione gave up and they all sat in silence until the carriage came to a slow stop. Ron jumped out of the carriage before it had even stopped, glad to get out of the range of Padma’s cruel glare, while Harry and Hermione weren’t far behind.
The two twins walked their separate ways once out of the carriage, still angry with each other. Parvati ran up to her best friend Lavender, who immediately began chatting to her as if she had never been away from her all summer, and both girls walked quickly over to the Gryffindor table to find a space close to Dean and Seamus . Padma walked into the Great Hall alone, but soon found who she was looking for. A tall, handsome seventh year named Andrew McAlister was walking over to her, a broad smile on his face. He had a mop of curly brown hair that fell into his green eyes, and his smile could melt butter. He swooped down on Padma and kissed her softly on the lips. The pair was a match made in heaven. Padma and Andrew had been going out now for three months, and Padma felt like the luckiest girl in the world. She was extremely surprised and happy when Andrew first came up to her in June of last year and meekly asked if she would go to Hogsmeade with him that weekend. Unfortunately, the couple’s endeavours had been cut short by the summer holiday, and they rarely got to see each other. They were both glad to get back to school so their time together would not be so limited.
Padma took Andrew’s warm hand and walked with him over to the Ravenclaw table, where she sat down beside her friend Amy Sexton. Everyone in the hall watched as a long line of nervous first years walked up to where Dumbledore was standing, each trying to push other first years to the front of the line. Dumbledore looked kindly down at them all while Professor McGonagall brought out the Sorting Hat. After each first year had been sorted into his or her house, Dumbledore stood up and silence fell upon the Great Hall.
“Welcome, old and new students! I hope your summer has left you well and ready to start a new year, but for now, eat up!” At once, the empty plates in front of everyone filled up with the most delicious food, and there was a loud cheer as everyone reached as many plates as they could. After both the feast and Dumbledore’s start of the year speech, the students got up and walked to their dormitories. Padma was one of the first to get up, as she was a prefect and had to lead the first years to their new living quarters. Andrew got up with her as he too was a prefect, and the both of them rounded up the first years and lead them up towards their common room. After kissing Andrew goodnight, Padma went up to her dormitory sleepily, got changed into her pyjamas, and got into her warm bed. She smiled happily at the thought of finally being reunited with her boyfriend, and at once fell into a dreamless sleep.
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Parvati, on the other hand, was not as happy as Padma. Neither Dean nor Seamus had noticed her constant flirting all through the feast, and they had even started talking about her twin sister as if she was the new “it” girl. Fuming, Parvati half dragged Lavender up to their dormitory, nearly knocking down a small second year girl who was walking down the stairs.
“I can’t BELIEVE the nerve of those two! I mean, my sister is in a relationship, so now she is the perfect girl for them!” Parvati screamed into her pillow while Lavender sympathetically patted her arm. After Parvati had calmed down a bit, Lavender suggested they both get a good night’s sleep and try again in the morning with Dean and Seamus. Parvati agreed unwillingly, but was soon in her bed listening to the other students in the room falling asleep while she herself was completely awake.
I don’t see why Dean doesn’t like me, Parvati thought.It’s not like I’m ugly or anything! I know for a fact that he fancied me in fourth year; he wasn’t very good at hiding it, so why does he decide now that he’s not interested? Boys are so hard to understand! I know why Seamus isn’t interested; he’s practically head over heels in love with Lavender, but Dean? How can he like Padma but not me?
Parvati sat up in bed, wildly excited.
Of course! she thought. Why didn’t I think of this before? Immediately Parvati took a sheet of crumpled parchment out of her bag and wrote a letter to her sister hurriedly, as if afraid she would forget her idea if she didn’t write it down.
Folding the parchment up carefully and putting it in her pocket, Parvati hurried quietly down to the common room and pulled on her shoes, which she had tossed off in her anger earlier that evening. Quietly, Parvati opened the portrait hole, trying her best not to waken the Fat Lady, who was known to give severe telling off’s to anyone she caught sneaking out after dark.
After managing to get out of the portrait hole successfully, Parvati stole quickly away to the Owlery, hoping against hope that she wouldn’t be caught. Apart from a near run in with Mrs. Norris, Parvati managed to get to the Owlery unscathed, and after catching her breath quickly, Parvati chose a screech owl to carry her note to her sister.
Once she had sent the owl on its way, Parvati sat down on one of the few clean patches on the floor of the Owlery while owls swooped in and out of the window above her head.
“Please be up, Padma,” she whispered nervously to herself. “Please be up…”
Switching the Witch by nickynackyneevy38
Chapter Notes: This is my first go at writing a fanfic so don't judge too harshly please! I promise it will get funnier in later chapters, I'm just introducing the story in this one. R&R please!