They're going nowhere. Nowhere fast, anyway. It's all pointless, anyway. She talks with Dean when she knows Seamus is watching, leans closer, puts her hand on Dean's shoulder, and watches out of the corner of her eye. A thrill inside if Seamus looks away; she's completed her mission. And she smilesprivatly when she pretends to be upset about the way Seamus talks about Parvati; it's only to make her jealous, she knows. So she knows and he knows and everyone knows, but they're still got miles to go, many more games to play, hours to fill, until they can be together. It's what keeps them alive and sane, despite living in this world, in this war, filled with blood and death and gore and hate. Giggling with Parvati about what to wear and saying, no way Parvati, he was not looking at me, and if he was, he probably just thought I was you...

It's seventh year and they're still alive. They've got that to be grateful for, at least. So Padma looks away if she sees Seamus talking to another girl, when he thinks she's not looking- it's not to make her jealous, this time. And she pulls away when he tries to kiss her, because sometimes she feels like it's going too fast, they're spinning out of control. And sometimes she tells him to meet her somewhere, empty classroom or outside, and she presses him up against a wall and kisses him urgently as if her life depended on it. And maybe she does. She needs to be assured that there's something to live for, that someone cares, someone wants her. And she needs to know that she's alive, her body can react this way to another living thing- pure heat, want, lust, love. And then the glances down when she sees him at breakfest the next day, embaressent about all that happened. They're moving rapidly, she thinks sometimes, or people their age. Sometimes they're practiclly married. But really, they're going nowhere. Nowhere fast, anyway.