Author: Lyta Padfoot
Category: General
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Harry Potter is the property of J.K. Rowling. Characters and situations are used without permission, no infringement is intended.
Summary: Padma shops for a scarf, Lisa knits, and an understanding is reached.
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Gladrags Wizardwear enjoyed considerable traffic on Hogsmeade weekends. It was a cheery stored stocked with the latest in wizard fashion, but while Hogwarts students might daydream of wearing the latest robes imported from Milan or Paris, they seldom purchased such extravagances. For the students, the store had shelves of striped scarves, knit hats, and jumpers in the colors of the four school houses.
Padma Patil elbowed Michael Corners - eyeing a new variation on the traditional Gryffindor scarf as a possible gift for his girlfriend Ginny Weasley – out of the way to snatch up a sensible striped Ravenclaw scarf. It was in every respect identical to the scarf ruined by her cousin Neelam's puffskein, Mr. Wimples. Prize firmly in hand, Padma joined the queue at the till to pay. She was not someone fussy about her clothes, indeed her mother often sighed that Padma would be content to only purchase new identical robes only when her old ones wore out. Fit, cleanliness, and comfort mattered more to her than whether the cut followed the latest trend. Parvati was the family fashionista and her twin was more than happy to leave sighing over makeup and clothes to her.
After a butterbeer at the Three Broomsticks with some of the D.A. members, Padma decided to return early to her dormitory to spend the rest of the afternoon reading. Being a Hogsmeade weekend, she expected to have the place to herself and was therefore surprised to find her friend Lisa Turpin seated on her bed knitting. From the appearance of the creating emerging from between her needles, it seemed to be a scarf very similar to the one she herself had just bought.
"Gladrags has scarves for eight knuts," Padma informed her friend conversationally as she put her new scarf away in the trunk stationed at the foot of her bed.
Lisa wrinkled her nose in distaste. "Nasty wool scarves that make my neck itch. No, thank you, I prefer to make my own from this yarn." The yarn Lisa fingered was chenille instead of wool and very soft to the touch.
"There are charms to enchant knitting needles." Her friend was Muggle-born and while Padma was hardly one to think that made Lisa inferior, there were still things she thought of as perfectly ordinary that surprised the Lisa. She herself was quite familiar with knitting charms and had many fond memories of her mother setting enchanted needles to knit while she prepared dinner. She'd often amused herself on lazy afternoons watching socks grow ever larger. Sometimes the socks grew to ridiculous lengths when Mrs. Patil became distracted and forgot to stop the needles.
"I like knitting," Lisa said, looking at Padma over her knitting. She seemed surprised anyone would think it a chore.
"Why?" It seemed a rather practical, if dull, pastime. Her mother knitted to stretch the family budget further, not for pleasure.
Lisa was some time in arranging her thoughts. "The whole world narrows to just a stitch. It calms me and helps me relax."
"It sounds like meditation," Padma said slowly. It was a surprising observation; while the benefits of meditation were well known to her, she had never considered knitting a part of this.
Lisa flashed a pleased smile. "I have a spare set of needles if you want to learn," Lisa offered, setting her knitting down in her lap and gesturing to the empty space beside her.
Padma sat down next to her friend. "Thank you. I think I'd like that very much."