"Parvati and I don't see many outside of the Wizarding world over the summer," Padma confessed, smile slightly sheepish. "It's always so hard to imagine for me. I was raised around magic, but it must be jarring when you suddenly get your letters. It's amazing how quickly people adjust, really. I didn't start to notice it until I was a Prefect, and then I saw how frightened the first year muggleborns were, sometimes, but how quickly they got used to it." It was interesting, really. Padma wondered if there might be a better way to do things - a way to make the transition less jarring. She'd thought about it last year, after she caught a first year Ravenclaw girl crying in the corridor. She hadn't come up with anything that would help, though, and really Hogwarts had worked the same way for so long, she doubted anyone would change their minds and do things differently, anyway.
Padma wasn't really aware of the protectiveness of the motion, but she did notice the shift closer, and flushed a little, glancing toward the door for a moment. Parvati would probably be out any moment. And accuse Padma of flirting ineptly, which she claimed Padma did all the time. (Padma insisted she didn't.)
"I'll go see if Parvati's coming, or if she wants to stay with Lavender," she offered after a moment. Padma might, at times, resent her sister's easy ability to chatter and be outgoing, just a bit. But she tended to use Parvati as an automatic crutch whenever she got a bit nervous, too, if her sister was nearby. She gave Justin a quick smile and then stood, hurrying inside. She wasn't surprised when Parvati sent her on while she and Lavender and another Gryffindor or two, Padma thought, chatted - though Parvati made sure Padma wasn't going to be alone.
Padma emerged after a moment and shrugged, toying with the necklace she wore again for a second. "She says hello, and she'll see us later, but we should go on," she told him.