Twins

"Padma."

"Parvati"

"Fancy seeing you here."

"Strange isn't it."

"I'm sorry they tied you up, I told them not to."

"Don't worry about it, I'm sure they're nice people really."

"Oh no, not them."

"Well you'd know."

"Yes."

"How are your 'friends'?"

"I don't know, I'm sure you have more recent news than I have, I've been tied up recently."

"That's a pity, we were hoping you'd tell us where they were."

"Now Pad, you know me better than that."

"Do I? If I'm here, on this side of the glass shouldn't you be too?"

"I could say the same."

"Sis, you know it's the only way."

"The only way to what? Certain death? Insanity?"

"The only way for our world to be clean again."

"It's funny I never believed books could change a person so much."

"I haven't changed. I'm still you."

"No. You were never me. Just my mirror image."

"Nice. Light and Dark, Good and Evil."

"Something like that."

"I can't stop them from hurting you if you keep this silence up."

"That's nice."

"Trust me, you know I'm always one step ahead, just like mum said."

"Not this time Padma. I may have been trying to catch up since birth but not anymore."

"What's changed?"

"We grew up. We grew apart. I don't want to be you anymore."

"That's almost hurtful."

"A year ago it would have been."

"Seamus is dead."

"Yes."

"Well isn't there anything else you'd like to say?"

"No."

"Your boyfriend is dead, I know you loved him."

"Yes."

"Parvati stop being so stubborn, you'll come round eventually, you always do."

"No."

"Parvati this is your last chance. Tell me where their hideout is or I'll have to let Draco have you."

"Do you remember that game we used to play?"

"Parvati..."

"We used to be mirrors, opposites."

"Except it never worked like that did it."

"No."

"We were too alike to be opposites. We still are."

"Maybe."

"Do you think I like seeing you like this?"

"Like what? Tied up? Bleeding? In pain?"

"Don't!"

"Sure, it's not as if you can't see me."

"Parvati, help me here, they'll kill you."

"I know. I know what you know, remember."

"Then you know I mean it, they'll KILL you."

"Yes."

"Why didn't you try and kill me when we caught you?"

"You're my sister."

"Nice try, I didn't see Ron being so compassionate towards Percy."

"I'm not Ron."

"I would have killed you."

"I'm not you either."

"You could have been free, you could have got away."

"I've never killed anyone. I never plan to either."

"Not even for your precious Order."

"Don't be bitter Pad, you know I always hated the thought of death."

"That won't wash either. If I can kill, so can you."

"Maybe."

"If we're so alike, why aren't you with me?"

"You're the one who said we're alike."

"We're twins, of course we're alike."

"You never listen, do you? When we played mirrors, it wasn't because we were too alike that it failed, it was because we were too different."

"No."

"Just because you don't like it that doesn't mean it isn't true."

"It isn't true."

"Don't be a hero. You don't need to die for them, are they dying for you?"

"Seamus did."

"No, he died for a cause."

"Our cause."

"It isn't the same thing."

"Yes it is."

"Dying for anyone is stupid, why are their lives worth more than yours?"

"No, they're worth as much though."

"Really Vati, heroics don't suit you."

"Yes they do, I'm a Gryffindor."

"Only because of a stupid hat, you were my sister long before that."

"I'm a Gryffindor, you're a Ravenclaw. Remember that."

"Back to tell me I've one last chance?"

"Yes."

"Always one last chance."

"Not always, they'll run out eventually."

"Parvati, you're going to die."

"This isn't news."

"Look at yourself, even if our Lord's patience doesn't run out you'll die of your wounds."

"I know that."

"Soon you'll be beyond medical help. This isn't a game."

"Do you think I don't know that?"

"You're my twin. You'll give in eventually. I just don't want it to be too late."

"I won't."

"I know you, we're too alike..."

"I AM NOT YOU."

"Of course not, just like me."

"No, not even that. I'm not like you. I'll never be like you."

"What are you saying?"

"What I've always been saying."

"This is it."

"Yes."

"No more chances."

"I know."

"I never meant for it to come to this."

"I know. If only you listened earlier, you would have known it was coming."

"How could I? You've acted so differently to how I expected."

"Yes. We're not mirrors, not copies. We're Different, not alike."

"I really am going to kill you."

"I know. Make it fast, please."

"I will."

"AVADA KEDAVRA"

They aren't alike now. She can't even pretend. In death she has found her most convincing argument. They are not the same, they are different, always different. One lies on the floor broken and utterly destroyed. The other lies peacefully, her eyes closed, her spirit soaring above.