Settling in

[alt_luna]

Things I like about my new room at the Browns:

The little rag rug that Mrs Weasley gave me fits perfectly beside my bed. Mrs Brown said it's all right for me to have it, because no one will see it.

It's on the uppermost floor--not an attic, really. I think Mrs Brown said it used to be a governess' room. Since it's so high, I can see out my window for miles and miles. There is a little seat by the window, which makes it perfect for curling up there. Perhaps I can make some pillows for the window seat.

Mr Brown said it would be all right if I borrowed books from his library and kept them in my room until I'm finished reading them. He said they wouldn't be missed because no one reads them anyway (I think the library originally came from Mr Brown's father).

Nobody can hear me up here.

Comments

[alt_hydra]

That sounds very lovely.
Especially the part about the view, and the seat by the window.

From,
Hydra

[alt_luna]

It is very lovely. And I'm very glad that after all that's happened, I can still have my own room.

It's very simple. But sometimes simple things really can be the best.

[alt_hydra]

How do you know how to make pillows?
Isn't it easier to buy them?

From,
Hydra

[alt_luna]

Well, it's fun to make them, because then you can detail them exactly the way you like, rather than taking something that's not quite right and then transforming it. And I find it satisfying to make things. Then they feel as though they are really mine, you see.

[alt_hydra]

But what do you make them with, do you use a charm?
Or do you really use needles and threads and things?

From,
Hydra

[alt_luna]

Oh, I do both. Sometimes I make them from scratch, with a needle and thread, because I find sewing relaxing. But sometimes I take the fabric and cut it with a charm, and have ribbons and spangles arranged themselves by charm--that's good when you want to have fun and go slightly mad and do crazy experiments, to try twenty different looks in an hour. It all depends on the sort of mood I'm in.

The woman who taught me how to knit, Mrs Weasley, sometimes knits by charm (so that the needles can be clacking away in the air while she's busy doing other things, like making dinner) but sometimes she prefers to knit by hand. It can be quite soothing, you know. And doing things by hand can actually be easier when you're doing something fiddly, like an intricate pattern with a lot of colour switches, but charms work well when you're doing the same thing row after row after row, like long bits of ribbing. That can get rather boring.

[alt_hydra]

My friend Sally Anne makes bracelets and also folds animals out of parchment, and Draco can draw, and I don't think Harry makes anything and neither do I.
It sounds fun to try to make something but it would be disappointing to try and realise I wasn't much good at.

From,
Hydra

[alt_luna]

Well, part of the pleasure of it is learning that if you practise, you eventually do get better. Everyone starts out as a beginner, after all. It's only the ones who stick with things who improve. The trick is to find something that you really like to do, even if you're not terribly good at it at first.

Is there anything that you would like to try?

[alt_hydra]

I don't know.
Only, do you remember the little animals that would run around the collar of your robes, and a lot of girls had them at the beginning of school?
They were called robe pets, and they were nice but the spells would wear off eventually?
Maybe I would like to make something like that, only bigger and it wouldn't live on your robes, but follow you around, and the spell wouldn't ever wear off, or at least not for a long time.

From,
Hydra

[alt_luna]

That's quite a good idea, and I think a lot of the girls would be interested in something like that.