Padma pushed through the crowds of Chennai, looking over her shoulder every five seconds to make sure he was still following her. The distant firecrackers burst in the night sky, forcing the earth to be as bright as day, leaving spots in her eyes. The crowd cheered and laughed, pointing to the bright display of colours amongst the stars, but Diwali wasn’t something Padma was interested in celebrating at the moment. The one thing she wanted right then was for the Festival of Lights to be over so all these damn people would just go home.
She looked back and saw him shove a rather large man out of his way and couldn’t help but smile to herself. Just a little further, she thought, and we’ll be together…
“Parvati!” Padma stuck her head out of her room and called down the hall. There was a muffled answer from the room next to hers.
“Did you take my grey jumper?” she asked with an irritated voice. Her sister walked out holding the sweater in question and threw it at Padma’s face.
“What do you need a jumper for? It’s going to be over a hundred degrees in India.”
“That’s a little over exaggerated. Don’t take my stuff without asking.” Her sister rolled her eyes and walked back into her room. Padma knew she wouldn’t ask the next time. She never asked. But maybe if she drilled it into Parvati’s large Gryffindor head enough, one day she’d actually listen and ask to borrow her clothing.
She threw her jumper onto her bed with the rest of the clothes she was to bring to her aatya, aunt’s house, located in an all-wizard community within the Andaman Island’s of India. It wasn’t a trip the two girls usually took, as their parents only went for two weeks during the festival of Diwali; it was a tradition for their aatya to invite her brother but, sadly, the twins were always away at Hogwarts during that time of year. But now that they had finished, they were both ecstatic about travelling to the distant wizarding community of Maya Nagar. Padma could hardly remember what her aatya’s house looked like “ it had been almost nine years since she was last there “ but vaguely put together a picture of a white house surrounded by palm trees and tropical flowers. She also remembered the beach, blanketed with hot, white sand that glistened like exotic jewels under the sultry sun. The memory filled her with anticipation and she could no longer wait another minute to leave the grey, rainy cold of England.
“Pack,” Padma instructed the large pile of clothes on her bed. They all neatly folded themselves and flew into the large, black suitcase open on the floor. She then repeated the spell and all of her other necessities flew from around her room and out of the bathroom to pack themselves neatly in another, smaller travelling case. With a swish of her wand, she levitated her things and carefully followed them downstairs sighing when she peeked into Parvati’s room and saw that she had barely begun to pack.
She placed her suitcase with her parent’s bags by the front door as her father pulled his head out of the fireplace in the adjacent living room.
“Oh good, you’re ready,” he said as he spotted Padma. “Just got out of the fire with the Ministry, Hubert needs us out in an hour or he’ll disable our Portkey.”
“Better tell Parvati that,” she said and explained how her sister was lazily writing a letter instead of packing.
Her father sighed angrily and pushed passed Padma to the end of the staircase.
“Parvati, I am leaving this house in half an hour, and if you are not packed, I will have no regrets with leaving you in England!” he shouted up the stairs. Padma cringed at his booming voice. Her father had a very deep and scornful tone which was of course only intensified when he yelled. In their younger years, the two sisters were scared into being good so as not to have to hear the fearful shouts of their dad. Years later, the tone still made Padma a tiny bit scared, but at least she wouldn’t cry anymore.
“Make sure she’s started. I need to help mum with the rest of our things.” He made for the kitchen and Padma went back upstairs. She heard ruffling wings from her sister’s room and knew she had yet to start packing. Hopefully she was sending a letter and not receiving one.
Padma leaned on the door frame to Parvati’s room, crossed her arms and said, “Do you seriously want to stay here?”
Her twin sister merely looked at her. People would always ask them if that was weird, if looking at one another was like looking in a mirror, but Padma had always known her sister was completely different from herself (being placed into different houses proved that) and their diverse personalities translated physically, even if others couldn’t see that.
Parvati sighed and got up from her desk, moving to her dresser to find clothes to take. She paused while pulling out a pink tank top, turning to face her sister.
“I don’t have a good feeling about going. Something bad is going to happen while we’re there,” she said quietly. Padma’s brow furrowed and she walked into the room taking a seat on the bed.
“Why do you say that?”
“I had this weird dream last night so when I woke up I checked my tea leaves. They didn’t look good.” She sat down beside Padma, her face etched with worry. “It wasn’t about me though… it was about a sibling… it was about you.”
Padma wasn’t very shocked by hearing this sudden news. Her sister was very talented at Divination, a lot more so than herself, but she couldn’t help but notice her predictions were very similar to their past Professor. Professor Trelawney never saw anything good in the future, which was the reason Padma had stopped taking the course, and now her sister was following in her foot steps. She had to give her some credit though as her tea leaves were right about a recent storm passing through which would “cause her to undergo an insufferable event”. Parvati had lost her hair potion and her hair had been so frizzy from the rain it wouldn’t even stay braided. A most unbearable day, indeed.
“I’m sure everything will be fine,” Padma said, placing a hand on Parvati’s shoulder. “We’re not there for very long, and the future can change. Maybe you can check in a couple of days and see if something will still happen. But you can’t warn me unless you’re there with me.” She smiled. Parvati reluctantly muttered an “okay”, and hugged her sister.
“Now help me pack. I can do the clothes, but not everything else. I always manage to forget something,” she said, jumping to her feet.
“That’s because you’re head is always filled with something else. You need to concentrate on everything you want to pack away, and not about sending owls to Seamus Finnigan.”
“It’s work-related!”
Padma smirked and raised her wand to perform the spell.
Once Parvati had finally decided that she wanted her brown full length skirt, and not her black one, she packed up her trunk and levitated it downstairs.
Their mum and dad were standing by the front door, shrinking the luggage and placing them into a backpack.
“Oh, good, not a second too late. We’ll just put your things with the rest and then we’ll be off,” their dad addressed Parvati.
Padma put her shoes on and waited patiently for her father to finish. When the backpack was securely fastened to him, he reached into his pocket and took out a used, bent-up soda can.
“Every one come over, then. Anyone forget anything?” They all shook their heads. “Good. On the count of three we’ll all touch it. One…” Padma inched towards the can, her stomach turning over with excitement.
“Two…” She could almost smell the fresh ocean breeze already.
“Three!” She reached out with her sister and mother and instantly felt her stomach twist again, but this time with sickness. Her body was being ripped from her home, and suddenly she stood in a dark alleyway between two very old looking buildings.
“Dad… where are we?” Padma asked, confused.
“In Chennai, of course! Your mother and I like to take the three day ferry over to the island. It’s really a beautiful trip over the water,” he said, looking affectionately at his wife. He took her hand and walked towards the busy street, stopping beside a dumpster to place the Portkey soda can safely beside it.
“Hurry up, Padma!” Pavarti called out to her sister. “We won’t even be in India for two minutes before my predictions come true.”
Padma ran to catch up with her family and linked arms with her sister.
“What was dad thinking, bringing us into a dark deserted alley? We could have been mugged. I knew I should have stayed home.”
Padma rolled her eyes and joyfully walked out into the bright, hot sunlight of India.
Shaadi-Nikaah by TheCursedQuill
Story Notes:
This story would not have been possible without the beautiful inspiration and help from Ginny Weasley Potter. Thank you so much for creating a wonderful banner that fit my muse perfectly!
Another huge thank you to welshdevondragon, who is always there for me even when trying to work on her own stories. Thank you.
It must be said that I am not JK Rowling, and these characters are not my own Adeem is mine though... you may give me credit for Adeem.
Chapter Notes: Thanks to Pooja, the wizarding community has a great name! Maya Nagar was something she helped me with and if you're wondering it means "the Land of Magic."