Those That Love Us

My name is Padma Patil; I'm a seventh-year Ravenclaw student at Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry; I have a twin sister named Parvati.

Right now, the wizarding world is fighting the Second Voldemort War. And, quite possibly this very minute, people are dying.

All the students know it. Especially the seventh-years -- because we're almost done at Hogwarts -- and the first-years, because they've only just got here. And Albus Dumbledore, the Headmaster, doesn't do anything to hide it, nor what he thinks we should be doing. (Preparing to fight.)

Parvati, my sister, and her friend Lavender Brown are having a hard time of it, especially as they're both in Gryffindor. Lavender wants to be a fortuneteller of some sort, I think crystolomancy. And Parvati wants to be a singer -- "There are so many people out there with such awful lives I ought to do something to make them better, so I'll sing," she told me once.

No-one really supports them, except Professor Trelawney, the divinatation professor. Everyone thinks they're superficial and have the wrong priorities, can't they see that we're fighting a war? And they're Gryffindors, why aren't they trying to be Aurors?

They do like being Gryffindors, I know, even if their other house-mates don't really like them.

When Parvati was sorted into Gryffindor, she was absolutely ecstatic -- she told me, a day or two later in the library -- "Can you believe it, Padma, I'm in Gryffindor! I know it's going to be a good place for me!"

And she is one of the bravest people I know, but her courage is in her ability to be herself, to bounce back from problems.

When she graduates from Hogwarts, she will be a singer. She loves music, and she has a beautiful voice. She could bring happiness -- or an escape from reality -- to a lot of people as a singer.

We both adore music, for the same reason at first: our mother did, too. Neither of us remember her, because she died when we were just babies. Our aunt has helped Father raise us ever since, and music has been our way of feeling connected to her.

Aunt died the summer before we started going to Hogwarts. It hurt us both, and we both made up for it in different ways. She stopped looking for beneath the surface everywhere but music, and I poured myself into my studies, worked hard to know everything that I could, because she had always told me that "knowledge is the key to everything".

I think that's why I'm in Ravenclaw. I'm smart, of course, but most people at Hogwarts are. Ravenclaws have a tendency to be book-smart, to know everything because they want to know, not necessarily for grades. We hover just out of sight and learn about people -- no one calls Ravenclaws know-it-alls, because unlike Hermione Granger, we know when to shut up and let other people do the talking.

And now, with this war, everyone is supposed to be doing something to help the war, or planning what to do. The Hufflepuffs are mostly training to be healers, some of them for jobs in Muggle relations or the Ministry. Gryffindors and Slytherins are preparing to be in the heat of the battle, as Aurors, Magical Law Enforcement, or Death Eaters. Ravenclaws are going for Ministry positions, mostly, but some are doing other things that will last longer than the war.

Except for me.

Like Parvati, I want to make a difference, to help people. So I'm going to be an Auror.