Up or Down?

I sat on the steps that led to my dormitory, simply wondering...up or down?

It is quite a serious concept, yet most people seem to take no notice of it. Up or down can make a big impact in your life...in my opinion, anyway.

For example...heading up can seem to some people like you are closing yourself off to the world, like nothing is more important to you then your privacy and yourself.

Then again, taking the down road may lead people to think that you are very forward, as if you want attention, that you are bringing attention onto yourself...

So no matter where you go, it will always seem like you are the most important person in your life. So which way to go? It is such a hard decision!

Yet I cannot possibly stay here! Though it may be the easy way out, daddy always says never take the easy way out, it cannot possibly benefit you in any way, and, I agree with him, though it may not be true, I have never been in a certain situation where I must choose between the easy way, or the hard way. After all, daddies cannot always be right, no matter what they tell you, right?

However, if I just stay here, taking the easy way out, it will also seem like I am craving attention, blocking everyone like that! So no matter where I go, it will seem like I want attention! Oh dear!

Not that anyone pays attention to me. To them all, I will always be Loony Lovegood. The funny thing is, some people seem to think I am affected greatly by this. Of course, it did hurt in the beginning, but eventually it grew on me, and I have actually come to be flattered whenever I am called this! It really isn't a bad thing to be loony...not in my opinion anyway.

So, that makes my decision a lot more easier, in a way. If I go down, I may be called loony, but eventually they will get bored, and I will be left alone, free to let my mind wander...of course, I will have to make sure it is back by dinner. If I go upstairs, I will be alone, lying on a very comfortable bed, close to all my belongings, and no one will even miss me. If I stay here...I will have a stair digging into my back, and that is quite uncomfortable.

This applies to everyday life to. Take Harry Potter for example. I know enough about him to know that if he takes the high road in his life, he will go to face you-know-who, with his head held high, his wand raised, and an army of DA members and adults backing him up. If he takes the low road, he could go into hiding, or run away, never facing the thing he has been destined to do for a long time. If he stays where he is, he will have quite a burden on him, not unlike the stair that is digging into my back right now.

It also seems that Harry doesn't know what to do either. He knows what people want him do, which is take the high road, but Harry is also considering taking the low road, and really, with all that is going on in his life, who could blame him? Yet it seems safer to stay where he is, at Hogwarts, where he safe, yet the burden of what he must eventually decide is sticking out in his mind, just like the step is telling me to make a decision, or I will have a bad pain in my back for the Hogsmeade trip tomorrow.

And as I sit on the steps on this gloomy Saturday evening of 1996, I have come to a rather surprising, yet disappointing decision...I have learned quite a lot about Harry Potter's life, yet I still have not decided if I should go up or down!