A/N: I put this up once before but then took it down because no one read it. I have since then learned that it doesn't matter if this gets read or not. The whole point of writing a story is because the story demands to be written.

Anyways, while I hope you like this I want you to know that if you see a part of it that needs improvement please do not hesitate to let me know. But no flaming please. Constructive criticism is welcome.


Disclaimer: I do not own the wonderful world of Harry Potter, even if I wish I did. Nope it belongs to J.K. What does belong to me though is Jessica and if you steal her I will hunt you down and bug you until you give her back. Anyways, on to the story.


______________________________________________________________________


Chapter One: Meeting Harry Potter


How Harry found himself in a Muggle bookstore is a somewhat long story. Apparently Dudley had been failing in his English class because one of his teachers had written the Durselys informing them that unless Dudley starting doing better in his classes he would be forced to flunk him. His mother, decided to drag him out to a bookstore to pick a few books for him to read. It had been the teacher's suggestion. Uncle Vernon was not about to stay in the house with Harry, nor leave him alone there so Harry had been dragged along.

He walked aimlessly through the aisles of books and found himself in the fantasy section. Fantasies had been Harry's favorite before he had discovered that he was a wizard and all the things spoken about in the novels he loved were real. Still, he stopped to see if anything by his favorite author was there. As he scanned the shelves a girl stepped into the aisle and stood next to him, scanning the shelves herself. Harry spotted a new book by the author and he reached for it just as the girl next to him did. Their hands touched the book at the same time and surprised they both looked at each other.

"Sorry," the girl said, pulling away her hand. She smiled uncertainly. "Go ahead and take it."

"No," Harry said. He pulled it out and made to hand it to her. "It's all right; you can have it."

"I just wanted to read the back really quick," the girl said. Hesitantly she took it from him. She read over the back a moment and then she handed it back to him. "Sounds good," she said wistfully.

"You can buy it if you want," Harry said. "I'm just browsing right now." In truth he didn't have enough Muggle money on him to buy it.

"I would if I could," she said. "I'm a pound short."

Harry found himself reaching into his pocket and pulling out a pound. "Here," he said. "I'm not going to buy anything anyway."

"Are you serious?" The girl eyed the money and Harry could tell she wanted to take it but her hands stayed at her sides.

"Absolutely," Harry said. The girl reached up slowly and took the money.

"I don't even know your name," she said and there was a hint of embarrassment in her voice.

"I'm Harry Potter," he said, holding out his hand.

"Nice to meet you, Harry," the girl said. "My name's Jessica Banks." She shook his hand, and then she said, "So you're a fan of Ben Smith too, huh?"

"Yeah," Harry said with a small smile. "My favorite book of his is The Magic of the Wild Ones."

"I love that one!" Jessica said. "Isn't the hunter the coolest?"

"Yeah," Harry said.

He and Jessica kept up the conversation until they reached the front counter and they had bought the book. They walked towards the entrance still chatting. Then Harry looked up and saw Uncle Vernon tapping his watch angrily.

"There's my uncle," Harry said. "I have to go."

"We should get together some time," Jessica said. "Look, why don't we exchange numbers really quick?" She was already scribbling her number down on the back of the receipt. She tore it in half and handed the half with her name and number on it to Harry. "Quick, what's your number?" Harry told her. She flashed him a smile and then she said, "Great! See you later, okay?" She walked out of the bookstore.


~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~


Jessica smiled to herself on the bus "home". That boy she had met in the bookstore, Harry Potter, was absolutely gorgeous. And he liked fantasy of all things! Not many boys that Jessica knew read fantasy books; in fact, several of them went so far as to insult her and the name of the book she was currently reading. It was extremely annoying; sometimes she just wanted to strangle them. Half of the time she wished she knew magic so she could cast some horrible spell on them but she knew that was wishful thinking. That was the kind of thing that would get her into trouble at "home".

Jessica climbed off of the bus. She lived with her grandma. Her grandma was strange, sometimes Jessica suspected she was crazy. But every time the inspector came around her grandma would suddenly become sane.

Jessica didn't really hate living at her grandma's house but she often wished she lived elsewhere. Her grandma was very strict and when you add that to a little bit crazy bad things often happen. She knew it was unfair to think so unkindly of her grandma but she just couldn't help it. Her grandma had all these rules that were just weird. No going on trips in the wilderness of the northern part of the country, no going to King's Cross Station alone, no going on the underground alone. The last one Jessica could understand because just recently a girl about her own age had been found dead down there. The strangest rule of all was this: She must never talk or think about magic. Fantasy books were okay, as long as she understood that they were fiction. But otherwise, no magic.

Jessica returned to thinking about Harry as she entered the house. This was amazing. She'd gone out only to buy Ben Smith's new book and she had come back in love. She grinned wondering what sort of excuse she would need to call him. She shouldn't call him tonight, she knew that but it was such a tempting idea. Her sky blue eyes danced as she thought of telling her best friend what had happened to her today. Then her smile faded as she remembered. She and Nancy were no longer friends.

About four weeks before school ended, Nancy had stared dating the most popular guy in the school. Suddenly her friend was too good for her. There was no more late night talk of guys and books. Just two days before they were let out for the summer, Jessica had finally confronted her friend. Nancy's boyfriend insulted her and when Jessica retorted, Nancy defended him. She then added her own insults and said that Jessica was too much of a geek. She and Nancy had called each other geeks before but when they had used it, it had always been a term of respect. Hearing her own friend use the word as an insult to her, Jessica had run off crying. Ever since then, life had sucked.

Slowly Jessica's smile came back. Well, she had met a potential new friend today. Harry Potter was bound to be loads better than Nancy. One, he was a guy and that made him dateable and two, Jessica got the feeling that he was the kind of person who didn't like having the attention focused on him and that meant he would never go preppy on her.

"What are you smiling about today, Jessica?" came her grandma's voice. Jessica looked up. Her grandma Eliza was standing at the foot of the stairs, a kind smile on her own face.

"Well Eliza, I thought I wouldn't have enough money to buy this book," Jessica said. Even though Eliza got a little kooky sometimes, Jessica told her everything. "Suddenly a miracle happened. Harry, this boy who was taking a look at it, gave me an extra pound so I could afford to buy it! He's one of Ben Smith's greatest fans too, can you believe it?! And the best part is..." Jessica grinned. "...he is absolutely gorgeous, and he gave me his number!"

"That's wonderful Jessica." Eliza smiled. "You should invite him over for dinner sometime."

"Eliza, I just met the guy," Jessica said, halfway between exasperation and amazement. How had Eliza known that she had been considering doing just that? "If I call him too soon he'll think I'm a freak ok? I'll call him after I've finished reading the book."

"All right," Eliza said. Suddenly she embraced her granddaughter. "I'm happy for you dear. God knows you've been miserable these last few weeks." She released Jessica and turned to go, saying, "Supper will be ready in about half an hour."

Jessica ran to her room and stared reading the book. The sooner she was done with it the sooner she could call Harry. She read all night and fell asleep at two A.M. after reading the final page.