Disclaimers: See the first chapter.

Snippets From the Potterverse

Chapter 38 - Parvati's Wardrobe Disaster

Parvati Patil had the distinction of being the most fashion-conscious person in all of Hogwarts. She could keep track of all the latest fashions and styles even better than devoted Quidditch fans could keep track of their favourite players. Professor McGonagall often commented that if Parvati paid as much attention to her lessons as she did to clothes, she would have power to rival even Dumbledore's.

To which Parvati often responded: I'd have even better dress sense, too! Not that she thought Dumbledore dressed very badly. In fact, she thought he had the most amazing robes out of all the rest of her teachers (Professor Lupin, though he was very kind and had a wonderful personality, was low on her list of favourites simply because he dressed like a transient).

As you can see, clothes were the biggest part of Parvati's life. Planning her outfits consumed most of her waking moments. It was sad.

So you can see why Parvati woke up one morning in October in tears. For a month and a half, she had had no choice but to wear the same stupid outfit every day - white blouse, grey jumper, grey skirt, grey socks, black loafers, black robes, and a scarlet-and-gold-striped tie.

Every day. For the past five years, it was what she wore day after day. And she would continue to wear it for another year, nine months, and seventeen days. The summer holidays, with their wealth of tank tops and tiny skirts and cute sandals, seemed impossibly far off. Parvati burst into tears.

The other girls in the dorm were startled. They rushed over to comfort her. But they were all wearing the horrible uniforms, and Parvati shrieked and covered her eyes. It wasn't until Hermione forced her to drink some Calming Draught that Parvati could finally speak.

I'm so tired of those stupid uniforms! she cried, waving her hand in the general direction of Hermione and Lavender. They're so - so - UGLY! I hate them too, Lavender said soothingly. But it's not that bad. You can spice them up with a new hair ribbon or some funky jewelry.But I hate grey, Parvati sniffled. And last time I tried that, McGonagall told me to take that ridiculous thing' out of my hair. She looked sorrowfully at the large, sparkly, turquoise plastic butterfly which now spent its life clipped to the headboard of her bed. Poor butterfly.

No one yells at Looney Lovegood to stop wearing those radish earrings, Lavender said. You could try wearing funky earrings to class.

Parvati brightened. She dived under her bed and pulled out a huge piece of Styrofoam with earrings poked into it. Hermione backed away. It looked like Parvati had cleaned out every earring display in Britain.

That day was quite an adventure. The boys kept shooting things through the giant hoops Parvati had decided on. Finally she took them off, just to stop Ron wondering loudly if he could fit a melon through them.

But she still hated her uniform. It was just so... boring. The next day she wore a Hawaiian shirt over her uniform, instead of her robes. But Ron, who was sitting behind her in Transfiguration, complained so loudly about being blinded by the shirt that Professor McGonagall made Parvati take the shirt off and put it in her bag.

The day after that, she tried platform sandals, but then Ron started making scathing remarks about lifts and stilts.

The day after that, she wore leopard-print tights, which prompted Ron to ask in a loud voice how many animals died so that Parvati could look like a 70's glam-rock reject off one of Sirius' Flaming Creatures albums.

But Parvati finally realised how she could fix her wardrobe disaster.

She taped Ron's mouth shut with Spellotape.