Happiness is having a large, loving, caring, close-knit family...
Characters: Padma, Parvati Summary: Padma wears her heart necklace often. Eventually, someone's bound to notice...
"I should have known you wanted me to do something to your house," Padma said wryly, but she followed Parvati down the hall to the dining room.
"I figured that since you dropped by, you can help. You're so good at creating and manipulating Wizarding Space," Parvati said over her shoulder, as she moved with an awkward, impending-mother type of grace. It was only a month until she was due, and her husband was fussing about trying to keep her from doing anything too strenuous. Though with the strange magical fluctuations that had been happening lately, Padma wasn't so sure his worries weren't founded.
"So, more Wizarding Space in the dining room," Padma said. She moved past Parvati to examine the layout of the room. "Longer? Wider? A bit of both?"
"Longer, but wide enough that the room doesn't go out of proportion," Parvati said, sitting down in a convenient chair. She looked lovely - figure rounded and her skin positively glowing against the bright colours of her sari.
Padma glanced down a moment at her own choice of jeans, boots and button-up shirt and grimaced. Well, she wasn't here to impress anyone. She flicked her wand a few times, getting a feel for the magic of the room. After setting a few charms to trigger at the right moment, Padma raised her wand and cast the intricate spell. She had just spoken the final syllable when a blast of power shot through her, pouring down her arm and releasing out her wand in a brilliant light. When the afterimages faded, Padma couldn't see the other end of the room.
"Padma?" Parvati said, sounding worried. "Are you okay?"
"Fine," Padma said. She rubbed the fingers of her wand hand together; they felt almost burned, as though near a great heat. "You?"
"A bit blinded, but okay. You dropped your wand." Parvati leaned forward to get it, but Padma stopped her.
"This is new," Parvati said, hooking a finger in the chain as Padma went to straighten. "A heart on a chain? Who gave it to you?"
Padma gently tugged the chain free and stood up. She ran her thumb over the brightly coloured surface of the heart before slid it back into her shirt. Parvati was staring at her suspiciously, though a smile tugged at the corner of her lips.
"Well?"
Trust Parvati to be more interested in the necklace than the fact that her dining room was now the length of London. "I got it for Valentine's Day."
"Valentine's Day!" Parvati exclaimed, eyes wide. "Is it serious then? Do I know him? Is it Harry?"
"Slow down," Padma said, laughing. "No, it's not Harry. No, you don't know him. And... we've only been seeing each other for a while, so it's not that serious."
"Yet," Parvati said, eyes shining. "How did you meet him? When did you start going out? Details! I need details!"
Padma sighed, pulled over a chair, and proceeded to tell a very attentive Parvati about how she and Faelan had met and begun seeing each other.
"An artist," Parvati sighed, hand over her heart.
"He's a really good artist," Padma felt compelled to say. "He doesn't just faff around like some of these romantic idiots."
"Still." Parvati eyed her bare walls. "Do you think he'd..."
"If you want to pay him, I'll tell him about the job offer," Padma said, and Parvati pouted.
"But if he's seeing you..."
"We've only been dating two months, and even if we'd been dating for ages, I would still want you to pay him." Padma began casting spells, trying to determine where the end of the room was so she could bring it back to something normal.
"I don't pay you," Parvati pointed out.
"That's because we're family. Your wonderful husband helped me start my bookshop because we're family, and I help you expand your house because we're family."
"So when you marry him..."
"Oh, don't you start too," Padma said, giving Parvati an aggravated look. "I get enough of that with Mum. 'Why do you do this to your poor mother? You are breaking my heart. Why can't you be a good girl like Parvati and let us find you a nice Indian man?'"
"Sorry," Parvati said, reaching out to take Padma's hand. "Is she still after you?"
"Your marriage was only a distraction for a little while. Then she started in again."
Parvati made a face. "You think after all these years, she'd recognize that we're not alike. The Sorting should have showed her that, if nothing else."
"She knows we're not alike," Padma said, squeezing her sister's hand. "But she still wants me married. She told me last time that she'd welcome any good man, not just an Indian man. Don't tell her about Faelan... please? The last thing I need is for him to start getting owls asking about his intentions toward me. He'd run for the hills."
"I won't," Parvati promised. "You know I've always kept your secrets."
"I know." Padma let go of Parvati's hand and stood, then efficiently spelled the room back to its original size. There was no surge of power this time, though she felt a bit more tired than she usually did after creating Wizarding Space. "Let's leave it like this. I don't trust the spell not to go crazy again."
"I agree," Parvati said, struggling to her feet with Padma's help. "I don't want you to get hurt if something really goes wrong next time. It's strange. This isn't the only thing going wrong lately. I'd hoped that it was just my magic being affected by the baby."
"No," Padma said. She tucked her arm through Parvati's as they left the dining room. "I think it's happening all over. Harry set himself on fire a few weeks ago, and other things have been going wrong..."