Winter Wares for Everyone

[Rose Holland]

Rose had come up with this idea over the holidays, when she looked around her bedroom and noticed that literally every surface in her room was covered by some sort of creations she had made with knitting. Scarves, hats, socks, one or two sweaters, beanies, and a large blanket. Her family members had stopped accepting them as gifts, leaving her with a lot of different garments she had no use for. They looked... weird sometimes, not always the way she had intended, but at least they were warm! Surely there was someone that would want one?

So she had set up a little stall in the courtyard, a sign with 'FREE SCARVES/GLOVES/BEANIES AND MORE' above her as she stalled her products out in front of her. She placed the fuzziest scarves together, as well as the gloves that didn't quite have five fingers each. There could always be someone who needed something like that, right? The one sweater she had left, a dark blue one with occasional green stripes in what couldn't really be called a 'pattern' had a prominent place in the middle, as she was proud of it. Most of her 'wares' had some defect, holes or clashing colors or loose threads, but she did think she was improving with each thing she made. She looked around, hoping for anyone that was interested in some free stuff to come around.

 

[Lenore Harvelle-Ateara]

The sorting was over and Lenore knew her house. It was the house she would call home for seven years. She had picked a bed already, but still had to explore the castle. She found herself walking towards the courtyard, there she heard a voice. It was pretty cold inside and the girl was giving away her knitted wear. Lenore walked up to the stall and could barely make out the contents of the stall. It was just a bit too high of a reach for her and she sighed. With one big jump her eye fell on a red and gold scarf. It looked tiny, but tiny was what fitted her. Her clothes and hats were all children sizes. Shoes were a lot cheaper though, which was a big plus. ''Could I have the small red and gold scarf?'' Lenore tried to point in the direction where she had seen it. While standing on her toes she could barely reach it. Lenore giggled, the girl seemed nice after all.

 

[Mhairi Olaf]

Since the sorting ceremony, Mhairi was finding it more difficult than ever before to interact and communicate with all the people around here. She needed some space, and she needed to breath. Stepping outside into the courtyard, she was pleased to feel the sun on her skin. With a dark green shawl wrapped around her shoulders, Mhairi walked around the grounds, enjoying observing the other students.

It didn't take long before she spotted a small stand that was giving away free knitted items. She wandered over to the stall, careful not to make eye contact with anyone incase they started up a conversation. There were so many beautiful items here, and the Hufflepuff wasn't really sure as to why anyone would want to get rid of them. Mhairi was particularly eyeing up a streaky coloured jumper. It would have gone perfectly with the trousers she'd found at the thrift store before she moved to New Zealand. Reaching out a hand, she lightly touched the material - It was such a soft wool, it's like someone must have knitted it, and just abandoned it without wear.

 

[Rose Holland]

Rose didn't see her very first customer at first, as the girl was very small and didn't seem to be able to look over the booth. Rose leaned forward and smiled at her, wondering if the girl looked more tiny because she herself was a third year now, something she still found hard to believe. The scarf the girl pointed at had been an attempt at making her own version of her House color scarf, but giving up when she ran out of wool. It was too short to be a proper scarf, but for this girl it would probably work. "Sure!" She said with a smile. "Here you go!" She handed it to the girl. "Are you in Gryffindor as well or do you just like the colors?" She asked her curiously. "I hope the first, it's a great house."

She turned to the second girl with a wide smile, though the girl didn't look her way. She was looking at the jumper Rose had made, the one she was proud of, and Rose hoped she would want it. She gently picked up the jumper and held it out to her. "You can have it, if you want." She said with a smile. "I made too many things, and if you like it I'm happy to give it to you." The girl seemed shy and Rose hoped she hadn't scared her, but she was starting to think this had been a great idea. She could get rid of her creations so she had room to make new ones, and make other people happy in the process.

 

[Professor Cyndi Kingsley]

The professor was wandering around, something she didn't did much these days. More often, she moved with a goal in mind, a specific destination to where she'd stop. So, it was nice to have no set destination in mind and to just see where her steps took her. They took her to the courtyard where she recognized a booth. There were a few students around and no one looked too upset, but Professor Kingsley still felt she should be sure. Walking over, the woman eventually saw the sign clearly, an alarming fact she'd consider at a later time. "Ms. Holland. What are you doing?" she asked as she took in all the items.

 

[Autumn Branning]

Autumn was bored sitting alone in the common room. It was at those times she wished Austin was in the same house as her, even though he'd be sat beside her saying nothing, he'd still be there. Even her friend Rose wasn't around, she had mentioned something about a stall in the courtyard so Autumn decided she would venture down and see what she had been talking about. Autumn arrived in the courtyard and saw Rose giving out hats, scarves and gloves to anyone who came by. The sight brought a smile to her lips, Autumn could still remember the scarf Rose had given her the first day in their dorm, she still had it and wore it whenever the temperature dropped. A smirk appeared on her lips as a thought popped into her head and Autumn made her way over to the back of the booth. "Boo," Autumn whispered as she wrapped her arms around Rose's waist and hugged her. The sudden appearance of Professor Kingsley drained the colour from her face and she stepped back. "Oh Professor, hi,"

 

[Rose Holland]

Rose was happy to have helped two first years and started to rearrange her wares when she felt someone hug her from behind and say boo. She laughed as she noticed it was Autumn, but before she could say anything to her friend, her expression changed dramatically. Rose followed her gaze and looked up to see her head of house at her booth. "Oh, hi professor." She said brightly, smiling at her. Why did Autumn react so badly? Surely Professor Kingsley wouldn't be angry about this. Rose had found her quite nice, even when she had caught her in the forbidden forest. She considered the professor's question before launching into an explanation. "So, I like knitting and I have too much stuff, you see, it's basically covering my entire room at home at this point." It was a slight exaggeration, but not as much as she would have liked. "I mostly made a lot of scarves, see?" She gestured to the pile. "They're easiest, you just start going and stop when it's long enough, basically. With gloves you have to keep track of fingers and all that and attach bits to each other." She realized she hadn't actually answered the professor's question and shook her head quickly. "Anyway, I'm giving away all the stuff I have that my family didn't want to take anymore and I don't either. I figured someone else could use it even if it's not always the prettiest." She touched a scarf in a quite ugly shade of brown she wasn't really fond of, not even sure anymore where she had gotten wool in that color. "Do you perhaps need a scarf, professor?" She asked, digging through the pile and bringing out a long and fuzzy one in an electric blue color, with some yellow lines here and there. "Maybe this one would suit you?" She wasn't sure, but Professor Kingsley looked like the kind of lady that could handle a bright color. "Or anything else, if you want." She added. "By the way, you don't happen to know anyone with a left hand with six fingers, do you?" It was worth a shot, professor's knew more people than students did, and Rose had a pair of gloves she'd never get rid of otherwise.

 

[Sofia Rosenberg]

Sofia was still not feeling very good on school. She didn't had much friends only some boys she was hanging out with sometimes. And Rory and Rose were her dormmates and they tried to talk to her sometimes. But the blonde just couldn't motivate herself, she wanted it deepdown but she was just not good in making friends. She was too afraid of making friends and than lose someone she loved. It all happend after her mother had died, she got Thantophobia. But the blonde still tried to get past it, the motivated words from her brother and father did something to her. They noticed too that she wasn't happy, and even boys couldn't cheer her up at the moment. She decided to go outside for a moment and think a bit of her future and how she was gonna like it here again. She couldn't help it but hated most of the girls around the school, they were so loud and mean sometimes and so girly!

When she arrived at the Courtyard she noticed a small group and she recognized Rose. From most of the girls she felt like she liked her the most. She was friendly and even when she was loud she didn't always irritated the blonde. As she came closer to look at all there was going on she noticed some scarves and it seemed like Rose was giving them away. '' What's this? Are you opening your own shop?'' the Swedish blonde said confused. She noticed Kingsley that was definitly questioning too what this was all about. She heard Rose saying she made this herself. It was getting colder indeed, and Sofia didn't got a scare only the one from Gryffindor with her. She sighted for a moment, she was gonna try to make conversation but not for long. If Rose started to search for Sofia everytime it was over. But the blonde thought at what her father said and smiled for a moment at the fellow Gryffindor.

 

[Professor Cyndi Kingsley]

Before Rose could give a response, Professor Kingsley watched with some amusement as one of her friends snuck up behind her. Unfortunately, it seemed the girl was the one who received a shock as she looked quite pale as she greeted her. She held a hand up in greeting to both girls, a pleasant smile on her face as she waited for an explanation of what was going on. The smile remained on her face and in what might have been a surprise to the others and certainly to the woman herself, her eyes became moist. Her grandmother had been an avid knitter, teaching Cyndi the basics when she was a teenager, though she'd never taken to the hobby. She sniffed loudly, reaching for the bright blue scarf and rubbing the wool in her hands. "Thank you, Rose. This is a lovely scarf" she said, dropping the formalities that she usually kept with the students as she was swept up in memories. "My grandmother used to knit with me" she said, growing quiet for a moment. Chuckling as she was brought back to the present by the question, the woman shook her head. "I don't but I'll be sure to be on the lookout for you" she said with another laugh. The woman wrapped the scarf around her shoulders, it being too warm to wrap her neck today though she knew this would be handy in this drafty castle. "This really is lovely of you. Take some points for Gryffindor" she said with a brighter smile, a wink as she began to back away and leave the Gryffindor to it.

 

[Aurora Night]

Seeing a large group of people all gathered around in the courtyard was always going to be too much for Rory's curiousity, so as soon as she saw the huddle she immediately craned her neck upwards to try and figure out what they were all interested in, and whether she might be interested in it too. The answer was obvious - there was Rose at the centre of it all. Bounding over, Rory arrived in time only to hear Professor Kingsley's parting words as the woman left, and she screwed her face up a little in teasing confusion. "Did you just earn points, Rose? That's like, the complete opposite of what we do!" She laughed shortly before glancing over all the items on the table. Ah. Knitting. She still had the hat Rose had made her last year, it was getting quite well worn. It was quite easy to tell that her friend was busy dealing with a multitude of people at the stall, though, so Rory decided to make herself useful and help out. Going to stand a little way away from the main hoard, she cupped her hands around her mouth and began shouting, "Do you want a free scarf, hat, mittens, other kind of stuff! Come on, it's cold out today, we have you covered!"

 

[Andi Forstrom]

Andi had been making her way outside, to the castle grounds for what she hoped would be an exciting day in the sun when commotion in the courtyard and the sight of her head of house walking away with a brightly coloured scarf captured her attention. She suddenly wanted in on the action and quickly turned to approach the Gryffindor crowd, eventually seeing the sign advertising winter clothes. For a moment she silently looked everything over though did not wait much longer to open her mouth and comment. "This is a cool idea, everyone needs winter clothes." A neon beanie then caught her eye. Andi picked it up and looked it over before looking to Rose and asking "Can I have this one? I love how crazy yellow it is!" If Rose allowed her to take the beanie she would wear it with pride both around the school and at home on the farm to keep her head warm. The beanie itself was unconventional as was most of the other pieces but that was evidently part of the charm. Everything Andi could see was clearly hand made with care and love and that was what she liked most about it.
​

 

[Rose Holland]

As Rose talked to Professor Kingsley and showed her some of the things she made, she watched Sofia approach. She smiled at the girl but focused her attention on her head of house first. It was odd, it looked for a moment like this was making Professor Kingsley sad. Why would that happen? But it only looked like it for a moment and soon the professor was holding the scarf she had suggested, saying it was lovely. Rose beamed. "Thanks!" She said, happy that someone as important as the head of house was wearing something she made. "You're welcome Professor," she added when the professor thanked her in return. It was Rose's mother who had taught her to knit, and they sometimes knit together still. She wondered if that was why Professor Kingsley had looked a bit sad earlier, and she hoped she hadn't ruined her day. But then the professor laughed and Rose felt more at ease, smiling at her. She blinked in surprise when she was awarded points for Gryffindor, not having expecting that. "Oh uh, thanks! Have a nice day!" She said, waving as the professor left.

She turned to Sofia. "It's not really a shop, it's free! But sort of, just trying to give things away that I have too many of," she wanted to say more but then Rory came bounding up to talk about the points Rose just earned. Rose laughed and shrugged, "well, at least its for something good." She said, unconcerned. The bet she made with Rory about who could earn the least amount of points in their first year seemed sort of silly to her now, though she also still didn't care too much about the house cup. Her laughter returned when Rory started shouting and she covered her mouth with a hand. "Oh, Rory, you don't have to-" But her words were hard to hear over Rory's loud voice, and Rose just started giggling again.

Then Andi approached the stall as well, maybe brought by Rory's shouts? It was funny, like a third year Gryffindor girl reunion right here with Autumn, Sofia, Rory and now Andi. "Thanks! Of course you can have it," she said as she handed it over. "Just don't wear it if you plan to sneak into the forest at night because I think you'll be a little too visible." She joked, before glancing around to make sure Professor Kingsley wasn't still lingering near.

 

[Lucia Orbon]

Lucia was heading out to the castle grounds to see if she could find some flowers to collect to put in a vase for her dorm when she heard someone shouting in the courtyard. She could see a large crowd gathering somewhere so she paused to listen to what the person was announcing and her curiosity was piqued. Lucia pivoted and decided to walk over to the table, looking at all the different wobbly creations. She picked up a mitten with one too many fingers as the girl was surrounded by so many others and gently put it back down. She thought the scarves were pretty good since they were probably the simplest to master and looked up to the girl in charge. "Do you by any chance have a Slytherin colored scarf?" she wondered, though looking through her collection she didn't really think she did since there seemed to be lots of different brightly colored items with no real color schemes or patterns. ​

 

[Rose Holland]

Rose was distracted from her dorm-mates when a younger girl approached her stall. She was unfamiliar, but Rose judged her to be in Phoebe's year. She watched her look through her wares, smiling excitedly at the idea that she may like something and take it. At the girl's question, though, Rose's face fell. "Oh, I'm sorry." She told her with a small apologetic shrug. "I didn't really make the house colors, maybe I should have. I just sort of threw colors together that I felt like or had hanging around." She told the girl honestly. "But I can see if anything is close to those colors!" She started digging around the pile, eventually pulling out a scarf that was green and yellow. It was more a Slytherin and Hufflepuff combination scarf than anything that looked like the Slytherincolors, especially because she hadn't alternated the colors too evenly so the strokes of yellow and green were different sizes and inconsistent. Still, maybe the girl would appreciate it. "I think this is the closest I have, if you want it," she offered with a small smile.

 

[Lucia Orbon]

Lucia had already gotten her answer as she looked down at the items but the girl had began rummaging through them anyway. "Oh, that's okay, you don't have to -" Lucia began before the girl brandished a green and yellow scarf. She was just going to browse through her items herself but the girl had done it for her. Lucia chuckled but accepted the scarf with a smile. "Thanks, this'll do," she shrugged. It was so soft and looked really warm which was her favorite part of the scarf so she could work with the colors and find something to pair it with. Lucia looked through the other items as she bit her lip. There was a question on her mind but she was too nervous to ask it. She picked up the six-fingered glove once more before she plucked up the courage to ask. "Do you...take requests?" she wondered. "I can pay you!" she added quickly. She was thinking of getting a scarf for Eduardo but she wanted it to be just right and wondered if the girl could even try some star patterns to knit into a scarf for the Astronomy professor. If not she'd just accept globs of white on a navy blue scarf to look like a starry night. ​

 

[Rose Holland]

Rose was very pleased when the girl accepted the scarf, as she had kind of expected her not to take it. Next year, if she did this again, she would definitely add more house colored things. Though privately she did think it was a little boring to just wear your house colors. She liked red and gold, but she liked blue and yellow and purple and lots of other colors too! Keeping to just your house colors was very restrictive, but she figured some people preferred their clothes to match or show their house. The girl's interest in her six-fingered glove made Rose hopeful for a moment that maybe she knew someone that could use it, but her next words caught her off guard. She blinked and looked at her in surprise. Requests? Someone wanted her to make something specific? She was both flattered and nervous, as she wasn't sure how good she would be at following specific instructions. Rose tended to do whatever she felt like when knitting, which explained the messy pile on the table. She blushed when the girl offered payment. "Oh, no." She said immediately."I don't need money, I mean, I could definitely try something for you! As long as it's not too hard." She said with a small shrug. "I mean, you could pay me with some chocolate frogs or something?" She felt more comfortable taking sweets than money, though she wasn't sure why.