Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter
Written for Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry (Challenges & Assignments): Divination (Assignment 3)
Prompt: Write about someone making plans for their future.
Word Count:635 (ish)
When I was little I couldn't wait to grow up. From the moment I learnt to read I began to discover all these wonderful possibilities and there was no end to my dreams and ambitions.
One day I would want to be an astronaut. I would beg my father for a large cardboard box and dutifully decorate it with tin foil. I would sit in it and imagine myself soaring through space, taking in all of the universe through my port hole.
The next day I might decide to be a knight, looking for some poor lost soul to rescue from the clutches of a band of highwaymen. I would ride my rocking horse through imaginary fields and mountains, fighting invisible foes.
Sometimes I was a pirate, using a cardboard roll to check the seas for rogue sailors. Other times I was a princess, dressing in long flowing clothes stolen from my mother's wardrobe. I wanted to be a famous artist, a musician and an actress. I wanted to turn into a mad scientist and invent something explosive.
When I outgrew these fantasies I decided I wanted to be an author when I grew up. I spent weeks carefully noting down everything that happened to me, to practice my observations. I was fixated on this dream until I turned eleven.
As soon as I received my letter from Hogwarts my life changed. I could do anything in this new and magical world.
Everything about the wizarding world fascinated me. I studied hard, the whole time planning what I would do when I left school. I still couldn't quite decide what I wanted to do though.
I dreamed of myself as a famous auror and as a teacher at Hogwarts. Sometimes I thought I should take a stand politically, to try and mend the many flaws the wizardring world had.
The war changed everything again. In a year I went from being top of my year to a fugitive. I dropped out of school and went on the run with Harry.
During this time, if I thought about my future at all it was mostly to hope that I would still be alive again the next day.
Occasionally though, I'd let myself dream. I let myself imagine a world long after the war had faded into history. It would be a happy time, a peaceful time. Ron and I could have a future together, we could have our own happily-ever-after.
After the Battle of Hogwarts, I was alone. My family was dead, Ron was gone and I didn't care any more. I gave up planning for the future, gave up caring whether I even had a future.
For months I lived like that. Somedays I could hardly get out of bed. I never considered looking for a job, I had given up on all of my hopes and dreams.
When Kingsley offered me a job with the Ministry I refused him. Harry came round and looked at me so sympathetically that I couldn't stand it any more. I wrote back to Kingsley that I would take the job, and defiantly set about proving to people that it wouldn't make a difference.
Fortunately I was wrong. The job dragged me out of my depression and made me care about life again. The war left the ministry in a state of disarray, and it was only just beginning to recover. The stress of the job meant I had to focus and that I didn't have time for wallowing in self pity.
Now, I still have to look forward into the future, but it is not a self-centred future. I am helping to shape the future of the wizarding world and my visions will someday become a reality.