Title: Shadows After War
Disclaimer: J. K. Rowling and associates own these characters. I am writing this story for fun and not profit.
Pairing: Established Harry/Theodore Nott, Padma Patil/Susan Bones,
Content Notes: AU, angst, violence, present tense
Rating: R
Wordcount: This part 1000 words
Summary: Short epilogues and one-shot sequels to Shadow Magic. Harry, Theodore, and Harry's marked followers explore their new post-war world.
Author's Notes: This story will make zero sense without you having read Shadow Magic, so do that first. These are being posted as part of my "From Samhain to the Solstice" fic series. There will be three of them.

Shadows After War

Sisters

"I just want to know what made you choose it. I swear, Padma. That's all I want to know."

Padma sighs a little. The problem is, while she's sure that's all Parvati wants to know, that's not all she's going to ask. Padma could give her a simple answer, and then she would come back and demand a difficult one. And truly, Padma isn't sure how much she can convince a sister who still hasn't taken Harry's mark.

"Okay," she says aloud. "Sit down."

Parvati takes a seat on the sofa in front of her, almost vibrating. A few people stare, but not many. Honestly, members of the different Houses mingle in each other's common rooms now far more than they did before the war ended. Padma isn't the only Ravenclaw who's had guests lately.

"You remember this?" Padma asks, and turns her hand so that Parvati can see the scars from Umbridge's quill.

Her sister flinches and looks up at Padma with eyes that beg for reassurance. The trouble is, Padma has no more reassurance to give. The end of the war brought them a lot of gifts, but not that one.

"You joined him because you were angry at Umbridge?" Parvati whispers. Padma rolls her eyes at her twin. They're still close enough for that, or at least Padma thinks so, although Parvati looks a little angry.

"You can call Harry by his name. He doesn't care. In fact, he keeps trying to get people not to call him 'my lord' all the time." Padma smiles. She does it because it annoys Harry. But she knows him very well, and she can see when the shadows are stirring and it's not a good idea to press him. She always pulls away in time.

And she never calls him "my lord" in the soft, caressing tone that Theodore uses. She is wise enough never to do that.

Parvati swallows. "Fine. You joined Harry because you were angry at Umbridge? That just seems like such a—petty motivation."

Padma raises one eyebrow. It's a talent that her twin has never managed to copy and always gets annoyed by. "I joined him for revenge. And because the quill scarring proved to me that the professors here weren't going to protect us. I wanted someone who would. Harry would go to the ends of the earth for his people. So I made a good choice."

"What happens when he turns on you?"

"Why would he turn on me?"

Her sincerely baffled tone seems to make an impression on Parvati, who pauses before she continues. "Because all Dark Lords get unstable in the end. We know that from studying history, Padma. Don't tell me that you forgot it."

"Dark Lords do, but I don't think the wizarding world has ever had a Shadow Lord before," Padma says, her thoughts diverted for a second. She ought to try and find out if they have had one or not. But given how hard Harry looked for evidence of his own talent in books, he probably would have found something by now if it existed. "That's what he is, far more than a Dark Lord."

"I've heard about what he did to Voldemort."

"Defeated him," Padma tells her. She has her suspicions about what happened there, but it's not like she would share them with someone who isn't marked, even someone as dear to her as her twin sister. "And he did the same with the Dementors. You can't tell me that you feel bad about the demise of those awful things. You're not Granger, to feel compassion for every shred of magic in the world."

Parvati smiles reluctantly. "But it was so dark and horrid, what he did."

"Yes." Padma turns her hand over again. "So was this. And he was the only one who promised to do something about it. He made me strong enough that I never had to worry about being scarred again."

"The war's over now, though."

"You think it's going to stay over if the people who made sacrifices to stop it just let it come creeping back?"

Parvati's face is a complicated study in things that Padma doesn't think she means for anyone to see. "No. Of course not. But—I thought we could leave that up to the Aurors and the Minister and the professors and the rest of it."

"Voldemort is gone, Dumbledore's disappeared. That's going to leave a power vacuum." Padma shrugs and picks up the advanced Defense book that she was reading before Parvati came in. "I'm going to do my best to survive in it."

"But you don't sound scared."

Padma touches the back of her shoulder, where the shadow wolf that Harry marks his followers with lies. "Because I have the tools and the allies to find myself a good place."

Parvati sighs softly at her and stands up. "I hoped to understand you, and I think I do. But you're harder and colder than I thought my sister was."

"Truth is better than ignorance."

From Parvati's troubled look, she doesn't agree. She turns and drifts out of the common room without saying anything.

Padma shakes her head. She hopes her sister will come to terms with the truth someday, which isn't the same thing as merely knowing it.

But there's nothing she can do about it. One thing Harry and the others have taught her is the uselessness of struggling to enlighten someone who doesn't want to be enlightened.

Padma goes back to her book.