The First Time
I was small then. 10. Did you know that scientists say that at ten-years-old the senses are at their height? So that when I was ten and I saw Harry Potter, I saw him, say, maybe better than anyone?
Even if it was just for a few moments.
When I was younger, my brother, Bill, had a girlfriend he took home one summer. She was very pretty and kind to me. She showed me how to do my hair in crimps, and she showed me shiny magazine pictures of celebrities. She told me that Harry Potter had never been photographed after he defeated You-Know-Who and hadn't been seen ever since he became famous. I remember telling her that he must be in the magazine somewhere, maybe behind Celestina Warbeck, or Gilderoy Lockhart, who was waving up at me. Any celebrity, to really be a celebrity, must have his picture in this magazine.
My parents had already told me about Harry Potter, but his accidental fame was intriguing. They said he didn't even know! I remember lying in my bed hugging the sheets to myself, wishing that I were Harry Potter. Because then, I wouldn't have to feed chickens and help my mum make casseroles. I would know that I was Harry Potter; I wouldn't be so silly to be ignorant. I didn't know Harry then, and, I was young.
And when I did see him, I still didn't know him. He was so exciting! – But just for a few moments. He looked, well, not at all what I expected him to look like. He was so normal looking. He looked nearly my age! It was wrong – he was Harry Potter. The elusive Harry Potter – it was weird to even be looking at him. And it made him all more real to me.
The side-along apparition home was quick. Before we left, I figured maybe it wouldn't be so great to be Harry after all. Here I was, holding my mum's hand. And there he was, desperately trying to grab it too, because then he would have someone to help him. I always had someone for me. All he had was his fame.
When we got home I scoured my parents library for hours. I found a musty old book with gold letters that told me the volume was called The Dark Arts Conquered. In The Dark Arts Conquered, after thumbing through all the pictures of fallen wizards who had helped defeat all sorts of different Dark wizards, I found a small picture of baby Harry in his mum's arms with his father next to both of them.
I put it one my wall. When I looked at it, it reminded me of what I had, and what I didn't have yet.