Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX

CHAPTER FIVE: MEETING THE TWINS (ALL OVER AGAIN)

Harry looked up as the bell attached to the door rang, signaling another customer coming for a movie. Or two or three. Harry looked up. Scratch that-it was no customer- it was only Bud. There were a couple bodies behind him but he couldn't see who they were and he wasn't all that curious to find out either.

"Hey Harry! Told ya 'bout me twin daughters, din' I?" Bud's cheery voice rang out. Harry vaguely remembered him mentioning something about twins for children-but he hadn't really paid attention, since he had just been assigned to his new job and was excited about that. Not wishing to sound impolite, he answered,

"Erm.. yeah, I think you said something about them." Bud beamed and pulled two very pretty girls out in front of him.

"These are my daughters-Parvarti and Padma..." but whatever else he had to say didn't register in Harry's mind. Parvarti. And Padma. They were Bud's daughters? Both of them had grown extremely pretty in the past couple of months. Granted, they were pretty before, but they had matured and were now starting to be flat out beautiful. Both were dressed in Muggle clothes, but not matching. The one Bud had pointed out as Parvarti was wearing a knee length jean skirt, a pink and lavender tie-dyed halter top, and extremely strappy and tall pink sandals to match. Her skin was bronze, undoubtedly from a summer of being in the sun. Her dark brown hair was cut shoulder length. It had blonde streaks throughout it and was very straight and curled under, framing her face nicely. Her deep brown eyes looked him up and down as he took in her appearance.

Apparently she approved of Harry's looks too, and with good reason. His long weeks of swimming, tanning, and running had taken a good toll on his body. His arms were muscular without being obnoxious from all the laps he had swum. He was wearing jean shorts, a white tee and a Hawaiian print shirt, unbuttoned, over the top. His legs were muscular too, and his whole body was very tan, setting off his white t-shirt. His messy black hair had been cut about an inch long and was gelled into spikes. He looked good.

Wrenching his attention from Parvarti, he looked at Padma. She too was striking. She was wearing short jean shorts from which emerged long tan legs, and white shoes that looked even whiter against her dark skin. Her shirt was plain white, but there wasn't much of it there. It was very low cut, and stopped right below her chest, which filled it out nicely. It too was a halter top, and Harry was sure that there was an ample amount of back showing. Her hair was waist length, straight and shiny. Harry wasn't sure who he should look at- both were clearly desirable, and both were looking at him with obvious admiration and had obviously recognized him. Bud was apparently ignorant of the assessing that was going on right in front of him and had gone on with introductions, pointing Harry out to the girls, who weren't listening to him in the least.

"Girls, this is Harry Potter--- do you know each other?" Maybe he wasn't so ignorant after all. Quickly pulling themselves back to earth, they nodded.

"Yeah Dad," Padma said, Parvarti and Harry nodding in agreement. "He goes to our school. Haven't we mentioned him?"

"Who? Harry? I don't think you have..."

"Sure Dad, we have-you know, The Boy Who Lived? The one who defeated You-Know-Who? I went to the Yule Ball with him last year. I know I told you that." Parvarti filled him in quickly, with a bit of exasperation showing in her voice that her father hadn't remembered Harry Potter.

"Yule Ball... Boy Who Lived... Oh, that was Harry? This Harry?" His daughters nodded. "Ah, well-- I'm sorry girls. I never connected the two things together. I guess I never expected him to be living so close to us." Turning to Harry, he apologized, "Well, since you have all met, maybe I'll just take my brood on home again. I just came to grab a movie for the evening. My wife wanted to see one." Quickly he selected one from the front stand, and turned to leave.

"Pat, Tom, c'mon girls. Layt's layv Harry t' hais wuhk." Speaking to Harry, he said, "Y' shouldn't hayv any custuhmers t'night since ait's nearly the fourth, an' a Wednesday naht t' boot. Ya maht get a layttle bored so don't hesitate ta pop in some CD's or a movie or somethin'."

"OK, thanks Bud, but I think I have enough work to keep me busy. I've got lots of new movies to check in and stuff." Bud shrugged.

"OK, whataiver ya fayl lahk. Let's go, girls." Parvarti held back.

"Dad, I think I'll stay with Harry and maybe help him out. He's got lots of movies there to check in. I know how to do it, and I don't want to watch that movie anyway. OK?"

"Sure, if ya want to. Hayv fun kids!" Bud and Padma waved goodbye and left, setting off the bell again. Parvarti and Harry set to work on the new movies.

"So," Harry said, somewhat awkwardly. "Where in the world did you get a nickname like Tom?" He grinned, thinking of two beautiful girls like Parvarti and Padma being called Pat and Tom. Parvarti grinned back, showing perfect white teeth.

"Well, it's just one of Dad's eccentricities, I guess. Padma sounds sort of like Pat, and Tom goes pretty well with Pat, you know- really cliché names? Anyway, he just started calling us that and it stuck." Harry laughed.

"Must be fun to have a dad like that." Parvarti nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, he's always been fun to be around. He picked a pretty good job for a parent, too, I might add. We were never short of entertainment as kids."

"I 'spose. Well, he's a neat guy, your dad. It was great of him to give me a job for the summer when he didn't even know me and all."

"Dad loves kids- and he can never turn one away. I know you're not exactly a kid-"she said as Harry opened his mouth to argue the point, "but Dad thinks of everyone under eighteen a kid, so don't knock it." Closing his mouth, Harry nodded and handed her the next video to be labeled.

"Looks like we're almost done here. I can't go home for awhile 'cause my aunt would flip about having to see me anymore than she absolutely has to- so..." His voice trailed off. He wasn't sure where he was headed with his comment. Parvarti didn't seem bothered.

"Well, tell you what- I would love to see this movie again," she held up 10 Things I Hate About You, "and I'm guessing you've never watched it. I'll run over and get Padma because she loves the movie- and then we can all watch it, if you want." Harry nodded. It sounded good to him.

"I'll spring for some popcorn out of my paycheck," he added to the proposition, "and we can make it a movie night. We still have about 4, 5 hours left. Lots of time 'til the store closes. Um," he said somewhat hesitantly, "will your dad be, you know- worried that you and Padma are here alone with a guy?" Parvarti hesitated.

"Well, he's pretty protective, but he knows you, and it's not like you'd do anything anyway. Since Padma'll be here too there's really no cause for him to worry. I'll tell him we're just going to watch a movie. He knows he can check on us whenever he wants." She left, the bell clanging as she went. Harry went to turn on the TV and pop the popcorn.

An hour and a half later, the movie was finished. Harry and enjoyed the whole thing, and judging from the giggles that erupted at their favorite parts, Parvarti and Padma did too.

"Well," Harry said as he pushed the rewind button, "We still have lots of time left- would you like to watch something a little scarier?"

"Oh yes, we love scary movies." Parvarti said enthusiastically. "Did you have anything in mind?"

"I was thinking Sixth Sense... I haven't seen it yet, have you?"

"No, we've only seen the preview. Throw it in. We'd love to watch it."

It was a good movie, Harry thought reflectively awhile later. It wasn't horrifically scary, but it was relatively frightening, with gory ghosts, and some popping out from under beds unexpectedly. The girls didn't seem too affected by it. They did get frightened but they didn't scream or hide their face in Harry's shoulder. Which was a good thing, he thought, as he had no idea how he'd react to that.

The ending of the movie surprised all of them, and they sat straight up in shock as it dawned on them how everything fit into the plot and added up to that particular ending. As Harry rewound the video, the girls threw away popcorn and soda containers.

"Well, I uh..." Harry started out hesitantly, then took heart when Parvarti and Padma turned to face him, smiling, "I had a really good time tonight."

"Oh, we did too!" They said in unison.

"It was a blast!" Padma said.

"Yeah, thanks so much for thinking of it," Parvarti added. Without warning, both girls threw their arms around his neck and squeezed him in tight hugs. Harry was caught off guard, but managed to come to his senses, hug them back, and say goodbye without making a prat of himself.

Half an hour later Harry was climbing into bed, exhausted, but his mind was still going a mile a minute. Both girls were extremely pretty- but who should he choose? And did either one of them even think of him that way? He had no idea how to go about finding out what the girls were like separately... He fell asleep.