A/N: For the Growing Up challenge (HPFFC). I'm not sure how well I wrote Hermione (yes, this is her), so please let me know how I did.
Part One – Daydreams
When I was seven, I wanted to be a princess so badly. I'd daydream about it for hours on end. I had everything planned – I'd have a castle in France (which I'd never been to), dozens of servants, and as many pets as I wanted.
But the main thing I daydreamed about was my prince, who I knew was somewhere out there. In my overactive imagination, he'd find me when I was 19 (when you're seven, 19 is dreadfully old) and instantly fall in love with me. We'd have a huge wedding and eventually have three children named Abby, Max, and Hugo. Abby and Max were reasonable names, but people always questioned why I liked Hugo.
I heard the name once on television, I told them. It was the first name of some athlete – a golfer, I think – and I thought it was dead cool. Maybe not in those exact words, but it was.
The pet thing was another favorite fantasy of mine. When your parents are both dentists and you live with them above their office, pets are usually not more than a fantasy unless you count fish as pets. We had loads of fish, but the problem for me was that fish didn't DO anything. You can't train a fish to do a back flip, though that didn't stop me from trying. All they do is swim around a small tank, which is really boring to watch.
And yeah, I really wanted to go to France. We had the money (my parents were successful and I was an only child), but the problem was time. My parents were always so busy, and they couldn't stand the idea of taking a week off. The biggest holiday they ever took was three days to visit Dad's parents at Christmas.
When you're seven years old and bored out of your skull, daydreaming is a great way to kill time.