Glass Houses

by Sean Gaffney

Harry Potter and sundry are (C) 2002 by J.K. Rowling.  She owns them all, and 
may she continue to do cool things with them.


The Gryffindor common room was silent as a tomb.

That was pretty much its natural state these days.  It was March of Harry 
Potter's seventh year at Hogwarts, and Voldemort had stopped any pretence at 
subtlety.  There was an all-out war going on between good and evil, with 
Hogwarts and Harry at its center.

And, of course, people in Harry's class, and in his House in particular, were 
naturally caught in the crossfire.  Not just Ron and Hermione, his friends who 
chose to face the danger.  But everyone in Gryffindor, and Hufflepuff, and 
Ravenclaw, and even Slytherin.  You couldn't choose to hide.  Especially if 
you were Gryffindor.  After all, everyone in Gryffindor was supposed to be 
brave, noble and fearless.  Just like Harry Potter.

Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil were sick to death of the whole thing.

This wasn't what either of them had wanted.  For Parvati, she and her twin 
sister were supposed to go through Hogwarts, just like their parents, and find 
nice sensible positions in the ministry.  As well as husbands.  For Lavender, 
this was supposed to be an amazing dream, a chance to be something most 
children only imagined of.  Friends and family dying hadn't really been part 
of the equation.  But no, they were part of The Harry Potter Years.

Right now they were sitting in the Common Room with most of the other 
students, reading a Divination text that Miss Trelawney had lent them.  
Classes were postponed due to war, but sending the students home had proven to 
be unsafe as well.  So everyone stayed in the dorms, protected by the wards.  
Or as protected as it was possible to be considering seven students had been 
kidnapped in the past three weeks, their bodies later appearing from nowhere, 
unharmed but drained of all life.

The students had vanished from all over the grounds, so professors were at a 
loss as to what to do, other than keep everyone in their quarters as much as 
possible, and continue attempting to find out how they were being taken.

Of course, some students had more freedom than others.  Harry, Ron and 
Hermione were missing again, presumably attempting to do something insane or 
dangerous to save the day.  It would probably work too, that's just how they 
were.  No one in Gryffindor was even surprised at Harry's feats these days.

"Miss Patil?"

Parvati looked up to see Professor McGonagall standing in the doorway.  Snape 
was behind her, trying his best not to glower.  That alone sent a chill down 
her spine.  "Yes," she whispered.

"Could you come with me for a moment, please?"

The chill got worse.  She stood up, trying not to shake.  Lavender stood as 
well.

"Not you, Brown," Snape snapped.

"Please let Lavender come with me," Parvati said, looking at McGonagall rather 
than Snape.

McGonagall sighed.  "Very well."  The four of them walked down the stairs 
quickly, making their way towards the informary.  Parvati was starting to feel 
dizzy.  *My parents?  They can't be important enough for Voldemort to worry 
about.  And where's Padma?  Why isn't she allowed to know about this?*

She relaxed a little as she felt Lavender's hand grasp hers.  Becoming best 
friends with Lavender Brown had been the best thing that had happened to 
Parvati, especially after the shock of being separated from her twin.  Someone 
to talk to who didn't make her feel like an idiot the way Hermione did.  
Someone who understood the excitement Parvati felt about divination, about 
seeing into the future and sorting out possibilities.  And most importantly, 
someone who knew what she was feeling and knew what to do.  She clung onto 
that hand like a lifeline.

As they walked into the infirmary, they saw Harry, Ron and Hermione down by 
the farthest bed, surrounding a body covered with a sheet.  They looked at 
Parvati with sorrow in their faces.  Hermione had been crying.  Parvati 
started to get less frightened and more confused.  What the hell was going on 
here?  And where was Padma?

They came to the foot of the bed, where Madame Pomfrey also stood.  McGonagall 
started to speak.  "We found her by the Quidditch grounds half an hour ago.  
We weren't even aware that she had been missing; apparently she was supposedly 
sleeping in her bed.  Like the others, we have no idea how she was killed."

And then the sheet was pulled back and Parvati found herself staring at her 
sister's face.

It wasn't a pretty sight.  The fact wasn't bloodied or disfigured in any way, 
but the mouth was contorted in a terrified scream, and the eyes were bugged 
out.  She'd looked like she'd died of simple fear.  Her hands were scarred, as 
if she'd been digging for something.

The grip on her hand tightened, and Lavender began to sob quietly.  Parvati 
simply stood looking at the body, her face blank.  They were all waiting for 
her to react.  But... what was there to react to?

Parvati walked over to the body, stroking its forehead.  "Can I be by myself 
for a moment?"

McGonagall nodded.  "Of course, my dear.  We'll give you all the time you 
need."  She took Lavender and steered her quietly towards the door, the others 
following.

After she was left in silence, Parvati examined the body closer.  Everything 
was in place.  Birthmarks, mole, all present and correct.

Shame it wasn't Padma.

***

Lavender was in one of the common room chairs, nearly in hysterics.  This was 
too much.  Too much death, too much suffering.  Now Padma was dead.  And god 
only knows what Parvati was feeling right now.

Hermione was across from her, not saying anything.  Harry and Ron had already 
gone off somewhere.  Presumably to discuss what to do next, how to add Padma's 
death to their list so they could figure out patterns.  End up saving the day 
again.  Too late for Padma, of course.  Too late for Parvati.

She looked up, and saw the Divination book sitting on the table.  Her eyes 
narrowed.  She had such faith in the craft, she and Parvati both.  Where had 
it gotten them?  Why hadn't they seen something like this?  What was the point 
of trying to divine the future if Padma was just allowed to DIE without being 
able to even stop it...

Lavender's train of thought was interrupted by the sight of Parvati coming 
through the portal.  Lavender got up and ran over to her, pulling her into a 
hug.  "Oh god, Parvati..."

Parvati still seemed oddly disafected by all this.  Maybe it was shock.  
They'd seen that before, when Colin Creevey had died... his brother Dennis had 
somly shut down all his emotions for the rest of the year.  He'd never even 
shed one tear.  Lavender wilted a bit inside to think that Parvati could end 
up like that.

"It's all right.  Come on, we have to talk to Hermione."  Parvati went over 
towards the fire, where Hermione was standing trying to look helpful but 
distant.

Parvati sat in a chair, her hands clenching and unclenching.  She finally 
looked up at the other two.  "Do you remember last year, when Fred Weasley was 
kidnapped?  And they used Cruciatus on him?"

Lavender nodded.  It had been terrible, as George Weasley had felt the curse 
as well, and fell to the ground wracked with agony.  They'd managed to find 
Fred after another day, but the two were never quite the same after that.

Hermione's eyes widened.  "Do you mean you and Padma were connected the way 
Fred and George are?  Why haven't you said anything?  I mean, think of the 
things that you could have--"

Parvati waved a hand.  "You think of them.  We didn't want to make a deal out 
of it.  Padma and I weren't sorted into the same house, so it was easy to keep 
secret.  And why would we want to make a big deal about it?  I don't want to 
be a Very Special Person just because I happen to be a twin."

Lavender was listening to this, trying to put two and two together.  Then she 
realized.  "Wait a minute, Padma was killed about an hour ago, right?  You 
didn't react?"

"Not at all.  And what's more, I can still tell that Padma's alive, in the 
back of my head.  That wasn't her in the infirmary."

Lavender looked away a bit.  She and Parvati were the best of friends, and to 
Lavender Parvati was almost her lifeline at Hogwarts.  She'd arrived at the 
school knowing only the stories her older sister had told her a few years 
earlier.  There were only five girls in her class, and Hermione had 
immediately bonded with Harry and Ron.  Parvati didn't seem to care about 
Lavender's parents, though, and had also been looking for a friend now that 
her sister was in Ravenclaw.

Lavender still sometimes envied Padma.  Envied the fact that though she and 
Parvati were best friends, Padma would always be closer to her twin.  It 
didn't make any sense, she had no right to be jealous, but there it was.  And 
now it turned out that the connection was even deeper, almost psychic.

She looked back at Parvati, and was stunned to see tears falling down her 
cheeks.  Hadn't she just said that Padma wasn't dead?

Parvati's cries got louder now.  "She's alive... she's alive and he's got her.  
He's got her and he's going to torture her like they did Fred and I can't do 
anything to stop it except just sit here and wait till I feel it.  What use is 
this connection with her if I can't even tell where she is?  And no one's 
going to bother to do anything about it because they provided a convenient 
corpse!"  Her voice got louder as the speech went on, until finally she was 
near hysterics.

Lavender reached out, but Parvati waved her hand away and slumped back in the 
chair.  Hermione had stood up, though.

"Parvati, we are going to do something about it.  Now we know that the bodies 
coming back are fakes somehow.  There has to be a reason.  And Padma was 
Ravenclaw which means there have been eight kidnappings, and none of them were 
from Gryffindor.  We can use this to help--"

"Hermione?"  Lavender was watching Parvati tense and decided to break in.

"What is it, Lavender?"

"Could you stop telling us what you're going to do to find Padma and actually 
do it?"  Hermione wasn't really as annoying as she'd been their first year, 
but she still tended to talk people to death.

She realized this too and winced.  "Sorry.  I'll go get Harry.  Don't worry, 
Parvati, everything will be fine."  And then she ran up the stairs towards the 
boys' dorm.

Lavender sat on an arm on the chair, putting a hand on Parvati's shoulder.  
She wasn't shaking anymore and seemed less tense.  "Thank you," she said.

Lavender squeezed her shoulder and looked up the stairs.  "Remember when there 
were rules about separating the sexes?"

She was relieved to hear a slight chuckle from Parvati, and she stood up.  
"Somehow I doubt Hermione's going up to have a quickie with Ron.  At least 
she'd better not be."

"Let's go upstairs.  There's nothing for us to do now anyway except wait 
around," Lavender said.  She hadn't realized how tired she'd felt until just 
then.  All of the stress of the past hour was catching up with her.

"All right," Parvati said.  She leaned on Lavender a bit as they headed up.  
"Do you still have that Red Bull and vodka you snuck in?"

"Of course."

They reached the room and Lavender got out the alcohol from under her bed, 
using her wand to deactivate the protective spell.  Hermione was up in the 
other dorm, and the other two girls were over at Hufflepuff tonight, so there 
wasn't much chance they'd be caught.  Besides, Parvati was grieving.  If you 
can't drink when your twin sister is kidnapped, when can you?

After mixing the drinks (why wasn't she ever this good in potions?), the two 
of them sat on their beds and stared at the floor.  Lavender didn't have any 
idea what to say.

Parvati wasn't even drinking.  Eventually she put it down over on a desk and 
walked back.  She lay on the bed and stared at Lavender, who shifted 
nervously.

"He's got her, Lavender.  He's got my sister.  Oh god, what am I going to do, 
what is he going to do to her, why is this happening to us?"

Lavender dropped her drink and ran over to Parvati, pulling her into a hug.  
"It's alright.  He hasn't done anything yet.  Everything will be fine."

Parvati shoved her away a little.  "Those are just words.  You don't even know 
what it's like for me.  You've no idea what being a twin is like."

Lavender felt hurt, despite knowing that Parvati wasn't thinking straight.  
"No, I don't.  My older sister was nothing like me.  I've never really had any 
close relatives."  

Parvati relaxed, and returned the hug a bit.  "It's not even like we're two 
people.  Everyone at home talks about us in the same word.  Padmaparvati.  
We'd gotten so used to it.  That was why it was so horrible when we were 
sorted differently.  Didn't the hat know we were exactly the same?"

"But you're not," said Lavender.  "Padma's shyer than you, and not as good at 
divination.  You're different."

"Not to my parents.  I wonder if they even noticed we were sorted differently.  
I'm amazed we weren't kidnapped together.  Maybe if Padma dies they'll just 
forget about me too."

"Parvati!" Lavender screamed, shocked.

And then suddenly there was a sharp *thump*, and they were in darkness.  The 
girls screamed, and then felt sharp knocks on the back of their heads.  The 
darkness grew total.

***