Prologue

"…He said that he would stay forever

forever wasn't very long…"

Seventh year was finally here. It had seemed to take forever, but had come so quickly, all at the same time. The end of an era, or so it seemed. I was excited, proud to have gotten this far, but, at the same time, I would miss the wondrous old castle, and the childish adventures with my two best friends.

            Except that the last year had hit me hard. Sixth year had been unbearable, and had almost destroyed me. If I had only listened to my plan, the one that had never failed me, until then, I might have been ok. But I didn't; I took the path of romance, and it let me down. And what's more, I experience my first taste of the bitterness, with a dear friend. That, apparently, was a big mistake.

When Ron started having an interest in me, that was obviously something other than platonic, I was shocked to say the least. I didn't think it was a great idea, but he persisted, and I thought it would be ok.
            At first, it was ok. We spent Christmas cuddled next to the common room fire, talking in hushed tones, with the occasional soft, unsure kiss. I got an ecstatic letter from Mrs. Weasly, congratulating me on dating her "finest son" and Ginny loved he idea of me being her sister. Things went this same, wondrous, experimenting way for a few more months, until everything I had grown to seek comfort in, fell apart in my face.

He left me. To everyone else, it was as simple as that. To me, however, nothing made sense anymore. I didn't understand why his Fifth year Ravenclaw replacement was better than me. Was she prettier? More fun? Possibly, smarter than me? I spent the last month of Sixth year agonising over these questions, until I couldn't focus on anything else anymore, even life.

And, as if matters could possibly get any worse, Ron was my best friend, so him breaking my heart made our friendship horribly uncomfortable, and almost impossible. And Harry had the worst time being the peacemaker, always stuck in the middle. I felt bad for him most of he time, but I was so heartbroken, that I couldn't pay attention most of the time.

I was broken out of my nostalgic faze upon hearing a train whistle blow as my parents' car approached Kings Cross Station, and my ride to my last year as a Hogwarts student. Things couldn't get any worse this year, could they?