A/N: This is an entry in the A Letter From My Hogwarts Days challenge by ReillyJade. You're given a character who has to write a letter to themselves to be read in 10 years. My character was Parvati Patil. Enjoy :]
"Alright, everyone, alright, quiet down! I said, quiet!" Professor Minerva McGonagall said sharply, rapping her wand on her desk and sending out some small gold sparks. Everyone sat up straighter in their seats and shut their mouths, including Parvati Patil and her best friend, Lavender Brown, who had been in the middle of bewitching a sheet of paper into a flower that was to bloom slowly throughout class. Parvati tucked the paper into her robes as Professor McGonagall stood up and went to the front of the classroom to address them all.
"Now, first I'd like to welcome you back to what I'm sure will be yet another interesting year at Hogwarts School. I'd also like to remind you that your OWL exams are this year and to impress upon you the importance of them. I expect all of you to work hard and study because these exams can help determine your futures." She looked at them all down her nose and past her spectacles.
"And last, I'd like to introduce your first assignment of the year-and no groaning!" She tried to shout over the groans of her students. "I promise, you will have fun with this one and it's not even difficult. In fact, it involves no magic whatsoever, which may come as helpful to some of you. All of you are now in your fifth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. That means you are more than halfway through your education; in fact, the years you have left are less than the years you have completed. I'm proud to say that I've seen most of you grow and mature quite a bit, and all of you have changed in some way. Your first assignment for this year is to write a letter to yourself-your future self, to be read in 10 years.
In one decade, I will send your letters to you, wherever you may be in life, and you can see how much you've changed. You can include pictures or small mementos if you like, and I suggest writing about important things that have happened to you, whether it is here, at Hogwarts, or at home with your families. I can't tell you what to say, but I also suggest being honest, because you don't have to share this with anyone but you. This will be due next time we meet, in a couple of days."
Later that evening, Parvati was sitting down to start her letter when she realized that everyone was celebrating their first day back to classes by not doing any homework and talking as loud as possible. The only one who had a book open was Hermione Granger, but it appeared that she could study or read through pretty much anything. After all, she hung around with two boys who were not committed to school, at least for the most part.
Parvati gathered all of her stuff up in her arms and said a quick good night to Lavender, then she walked up the steps to her dormitory. Settling down on her bed, she dipped her quill in ink and started writing.
2 September 1995
Dear Parvati,
Today is the first day of classes at the beginning of term and Professor McGonagall gave us this as an assignment-a letter to our future selves. On this day in 10 years, I will be 24. Where will you be at in your life? Will you have a family? Will you live near your parents or Padma, or all of them? The me now is nervous about the future me.
I am in my fifth year right now and it surprises me how much I love it here at Hogwarts, especially because I was fairly certain I would hate it. I had never been apart from Padma for longer than a day before we came here, but when we were Sorted, I was put into Gryffindor and Padma was put into Ravenclaw. I eat meals with her and we have a few classes together, and spend time doing homework and other things together, but it was really difficult not living with her and seeing her all the time at first. In first year I met my best friend (besides Padma) Lavender Brown. She's in Gryffindor and in my dormitory, and I really hope that you're still friends with her.
My favorite subject, which I started last year, is Divination and I want to do something with it the future. Professor Trelawney, my favorite teacher, says that I have a very clear Inner Eye and that I just might be a Seer. I really hope to make a career out of this because it means so much to me. Me and Lavender are both in love with this subject.
Last year, I got the chance a lot of girls would have dreamed of when we were younger. I went to the Yule Ball with Harry Potter. However, we had a terrible time and he was so mopey over that Cho Chang (who Padma says is so dumb, she can't believe she made it into Ravenclaw) that we danced once, and only because he had to. Padma went with his best friend, Ron, who was an even worse date than Harry! He was love-sick over Hermione Granger. I think Harry asked me just because he couldn't find anyone else, which hurt me at first. But in the end, I remembered that Padma and I didn't really want to go in the first place, and I was just happy I got to dance with one of the four champions.
Above all, I hope that you are happy and healthy, and stable in your career and hopefully your family life. I hope you know that everything you learn at Hogwarts here, and not just the academic stuff, is important, like about how important friendships are and that with hard work, good can triumph evil.
What will you, future Parvati, be like? I don't know. But I am nervous and excited to find out.
Love, Parvati
Age 15
Parvati hunted around in her trunk for a moment and came up with a picture she loved-it was her, Padma, and Lavender, smiling with their arms around each other. Padma didn't usually get along with Lavender (she thought she was too flighty) but they'd had a good time that day. She tucked the picture in with the letter into the envelope and sealed it, ready to hand in to Professor McGonagall.
10 YEARS LATER-
"Mummy, mummy, the mail's here!" Parvati's four year old daughter, Evanna, called from the room. She stopped chopping up the lettuce for the evening's salad and flicked her wand at the dishes washing themselves in the sink; they rose and started drying themselves. Then she collected the mail from the owl who had flown into their living room.
"Who sent us mail, Mummy?" Evanna asked. She was beautiful and looked just like Parvati and Padma had at that age. Her hair was long, shiny and black and her eyes were a deep brown and almond shaped.
"Looks like there's a letter from Aunt Marietta...and something for Daddy...and, oh, what's this?" Parvati said, holding up a letter that was addressed to her in a hand she was unfamiliar with. It was in the same envelope that her old Hogwarts letters had arrived in, and she felt a rush of nostalgia. "Evanna, sweetie, why don't you go play with your dolls?" The little girl ran off and left Parvati alone with a mysterious letter.
She slid her finger under the flap and pulled out two pages. The top one said simply,
"Ms. Patil,
You may recall that you were given an assignment at the beginning of your fifth year to write a letter to your future self, and I would mail you that letter in 10 years.
As of today, it has been 10 years since your fifth year at Hogwarts. Enjoy reading from your younger self.
Hoping this finds you well,
Professor Minerva McGonagall"
Parvati smiled, remembering exactly what Professor McGonagall was talking about. She'd been looking forward to this, off and on, for quite a while. She took out the photo that was also in the envelope, and smiled at her much younger self, sister, and best friend. Lavender lived in the next town over with her husband, a man she'd met working at the ministry, and her two young children. Padma was also working hard at the ministry, but she hadn't gotten around to settling down yet, something that their parents disapproved of.
Parvati unfolded the letter and read it to herself, smiling at the memories she had written about at Hogwarts. When she finished, she looked around at the beautiful house her and her husband Daniel shared with their daughter. Daniel was the son of one of her father's very old friends. He was a little older than she was-he had graduated from Hogwarts when she was completing her third year, and he had been in Hufflepuff. Her father introduced them when she was 18, and they got married when she was 20. He worked at the Ministry in the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes. She had Evanna when she was 21. Parvati was happy, and no longer afraid of the future, as she had been so many years ago when she was younger.
A/N: I hope that was okay. I have never written Parvati before and I kind of struggled with it.