She ran into the ever-black alleyway, her eyes blind in the dark. She called out his name behind her. There was no answer. A distant firecracker went off and for a split second she could see the busy streets beyond. Then the dark consumed her.
She pulled out her wand and said, “Lumos.”
She gasped. Her back hit the side of the building that loomed overhead and she almost dropped her wand.
There they were, the people she was running from, the people who would rather her dead, standing in front of her, holding Adeem between them, a Silence Charm cast on him. His mouth opened and closed trying to scream the words no one would ever hear.
“Find us the Portkey.”
Padma walked downstairs, ready to do nothing but sit outside and maybe play a lovely game of chess with her kaka, or uncle as she’d say back home. It was the third day of their visit and she was thoroughly exhausted from all the adventures her younger cousin, Leena, was taking her and Parvati on. On the first day, she had barely let them unpack and get settled before rushing out to the beaches for swimming and scuba diving (made easy through the use of the Bubble-head Charm). Yesterday she had taken them for a hike up the dongar, the mountain, and although the view from the top was gorgeous, she would have rather Apparated to the top. But today was a day to relax “ well, relax until they had to help make dinner, of course.
She passed by the shrine of Shiva and stopped at the very intricate tapestry with an image of a dancing Ganesha that hung beside it. She studied the picture, remembering her father teaching her the story of the deity. It was a little unclear to her now, but she could never forget that the boy with an elephant head was the son of Shiva’s wife, Parvati. He had four arms and like most other deities he held a symbolic object in each one. In this particular image, he was holding an axe and a noose, and Padma tried hard to remember what they meant. She was disappointed with herself that she knew so little about the deities of her father’s religion, but even her dad had started loosing touch with his beliefs once Parvati and she left for Hogwarts. She guessed his promotion with the International Magical Cooperation had something to do with it, and the fact that the rest of his immediate family didn’t practice the religion.
It wasn’t that she didn’t want to practice the ways of her father, but the stories were so… illogical. She didn’t believe in giving worship to something that could not exist. The way of life was easier to participate in than the actual believing. Dharma, the universal principle of law, was something she actually thought she could live by; as a way of life. Like a moral code, she used Dharma to base her life actions, but the meaning of word had never meant anything more than that. Karma was something else she could understand, at least in the modern English context: what goes around comes around. But to think of it as something that judged your next life… how could she even believe in a next life? Reincarnation of the atman, of her soul, what did that mean to her when she saw and talked to ghosts everyday of her school life?
She had never admitted out loud that she didn’t believe in the religion, but in her thoughts she knew that Brahman, Shiva, Vishnu and all of their avatars and other deities were made up gods. Just something to give society hope. She sighed. Although she thought she wouldn’t ever believe, she also knew that she didn’t know enough to make such a decision. Knowledge would give her the final say. And so she vowed to herself to learn more about the religion and its history before she judged it any further.
“Padma, Aatya Jyoti asked for more kothimbir spice for dinner. Leena said she’d take us to the market if you wanna join?” Parvati asked from behind her. Padma opened her mouth, but her sister cut her off to say, “It wasn’t really a question, you’re coming.” She grabbed Padma’s wrist and pulled her away.
She led her outside where Leena was waiting for them and they started their walk to the market. It was only a ten minute walk, set in the heart of the wizard village, but it took them over twenty minutes because Leena had a conversation with every person they saw along the way. The people of Parda Makaan weren’t that different from Padma’s relatives, though they didn’t speak Marathi and Padma could only pick out a few words from the Bengali dialect.
“Since when can you speak Bengali?” Parvati asked Leena after she had finished a particularly long conversation with an elderly woman. Padma laughed and Parvati cast her one of those it-wasn’t-a-stupid-question-to-me look that she usually gave to her Ravenclaw sister.
“I kind of had to learn when we moved here from Maharashtra. Everyone speaks Bengali on the islands. It was sort of hard to adjust to, not for me of course, I was still just a child when we moved… it was only a year after you moved to England so I guess I was…”
“We were eight,” Padma said to help her cousin out. “So a year later you would have been five.”
“Right, so at five years old it’s not too hard to learn something new. Your brain is growing fast when you’re young, that’s what mum says. But mum and dad had a hard time adjusting. They say it’s worth it though to be around others like us. We rarely use Marathi except if mum is really angry or when you come to visit.” She smiled and skipped ahead of the two girls.
“I bet you didn’t know that one,” Parvati said.
“Of course I did,” Padma said with relish, though she didn’t say that it was her father who educated her on the boat ride over.
It didn’t take long for Leena to buy the kothimbir once they had finally reached the market which left lots of time for Padma and Parvati to explore the different shops and stalls. There were some things that they would have seen even in Diagon Alley, like cauldrons and potions ingredients, but then there were the stalls that sold jewellery and fabrics and of course all of the food stalls that sold an abundant of spices and fruits. Leena bought some cinnamon also because “if Aai had no more kothimbir, then she’s out of cinnamon and hasn’t realised it yet”. Parvati, of course, was hunched over the gold bangles and earrings, picking them all up to look at them closer. Padma stood beside her and picked up a beautiful thick red bracelet with a gold clasp. It had black flowers outlined with gold all around it, with a rhinestone in the middle of each flower.
“Ooh, that’s pretty, you should buy it,” Parvati encouraged her sister. Padma put it on her wrist and admired it.
“Ok, but since you’ll probably take it for yourself, you have to buy those for me,” she said, pointing to the large, colourful earrings in her sister’s hand. Parvati rolled her eyes but agreed and took out her bag of rupees. After a bit of haggling, they purchased the items and turned around to find Leena running towards them with a heap of fabric in her arms.
“Here!” she said, shoving the cloth into each of their arms. “It’s a gift! Kaka told me all about Hogwarts and how you two were in different house things. So I bought you a red and gold kurta Parvati, because you’re in Gryffindor, and for Padma, a blue and silver one for Ravenclaw! Chaan aahe, na?”
“Wow,” Padma said, unfolding her blue sari and holding it out. “It’s very beautiful. Thank you so much, Leena!” She hugged her cousin before folding the kurta carefully back up. Parvati hugged Leena and Padma looked around to see where it was that her cousin bought their presents. That’s when she noticed someone was staring at them. Padma blushed and turned away when the boy smiled at her. He was probably no older than she was and walking with a girl in a green dress and hijab that covered her face. She looked back over, to see if he was still watching them, and he was. Her breath caught in her throat. Not because she was scared, but because he was so handsome, he was literally breath taking.
Their eyes locked and something happened that she swore was impossible. She knew if they spoke, she would surely fall in love.
She looked away, flustered. His hypnotising eyes away from her, she realised how crazy those last five seconds of thought were. Her parents always reminisced how they shared “love at first sight”, but every one knew no such thing existed. In fact, her roommate once had an hour long discussion about how ridiculous the thought of love at first sight was.
But if it wasn’t real, then why was she aching to look at the boy she had never spoken to?
“Padma!” Parvati snapped her fingers in her face. “We’re leaving now.”
“Uh, right,” she said a little dreamily and followed her sister and cousin out of the market.
“That’s what Ravenclaw’s are like, Leena,” Parvati said. “Clearly, Gyrffindor’s are better, don’t you think?”
Leena laughed, but the sound was distant in Padma’s ears as she looked over her shoulder to glance at the boy once more.
Her head was clouded all afternoon. Her aatya even kicked her out of the kitchen when she kept knocking things over while trying to help make dinner. So she left to sit beside her dad and kaka and stared at their chess game, pretending to be interested but really thinking about what had happened earlier that day.
After an hour of thinking and trying to come up with a decent explanation for what she felt, she realised that wasting her thoughts on a stranger was absurd. More than absurd! She shook her head and promised herself she would never think of him again.
She excused herself from her father and kaka, and went outside in the backyard, hoping the fresh air would help clear her mind. She sat on one of the chairs they had placed in a circle and looked up to the sky. It was so blue and clear with hardly a cloud in sight. She wondered at how it was the same sky she saw back home, yet it seemed so different here. Being in a different place had changed her perspective on everything, as if the whole word changed just because she moved from one country to another. She thought about why that was when someone walked behind the overgrown trees that separated the backyard from the sidewalk beyond. She straightened herself and looked out to see who was there. All she could see were someone’s legs, walking past the house, so she leaned her head back again, closing her eyes to think better.
“Hello?”
She snapped her head up at the unknown voice. And instantly wished she hadn’t.
It was him.
“Who are you?” she said without thinking.
He chuckled and replied, “Sorry if I scared you. I’m Adeem, my family moved here just a couple of weeks ago. I know Leena, but I’ve never seen you before.”
Logic told her she should probably check up on his facts; she should go and get Leena to introduce him to her. But she felt safe and oddly liked being alone with the stranger… with Adeem. She stood up and walked closer to him.
“I’m Padma,” she replied, extending her hand for him. He smiled and shook her hand. She gestured for him to sit down and took the chair beside him.
“I’m Leena’s cousin, by the way. My family lives in England.”
“I could tell by your accent,” he said. She nodded, feeling a little stupid. He just smiled and said, “I’m from Tamil Nadu. Until recently, that is.”
“Is there a wizard community there, too?” she asked.
“No, this is why my parents wanted to come here. They don’t really like it though. They’re already talking about moving back.” He seemed sad at what he was saying.
“Why don’t they like it?” Padma asked.
“Well, it’s just not the same. No one here speaks Tamil. And I don’t know if you noticed, but we’re pretty much the only Muslims in the village,” he said.
“And that’s a problem?”
“A huge one to my parents,” he said. Adeem went on to explain that it wasn’t right for Muslims to associate with Hindu’s. They could talk and be friends… sometimes. No one would disagree to a friendship, but it was hard for people of two different religions to really hold a relationship. Though religion wasn’t the only, or the most prominent problem between the two; it was their political stand point, their sociology that just kept them away from each other. Muslims stuck with Muslims, and Hindus stuck with Hindus. You could never trust a Muslim-Hindu relationship (or so his parents said). Plus, if his parents wanted him or his sister to ever marry, and they did, they couldn’t find them partners here. It’s forbidden for a Muslim to marry someone who doesn’t study the Koran.
Padma’s heart sunk lower with each word he said. She would never know if what she felt was true. It was forbidden for to them to be any more than friends.
Shaadi-Nikaah by TheCursedQuill
Chapter Notes: Thanks again to Alex and Pooja for being totally awesome!
Chapter Endnotes: "Chaan aahe, na?” means "Aren't they pretty?" (roughly) in Marathi. Pooja was the translator so mucho thanks to her :)
And thanks to YOU for reading! I hope you're enjoying the story!