General
Padma tried to get to the platform as early as she could so that she could gather herself and put on her public face before she was forced to just DEAL with it all.
Despite this, anyone who's close with her could easily tell that she wasn't herself.
Padma went to the most of the Prefects in her year (Definitely Hannah, Parvati, and Anthony), and reinforced the idea about how important it was to make the younger years (third year and below, but especially first years), feel assured and comfortable. She would have wanted to go around and introduce herself to most, if not all of them, and spent a LOT of her time chatting most of them up. She didn't stay in any one compartment for too long.