CHAPTER 1
"So, Amy, do you plan on telling Harry that you love him this year?" my best friend, Isabella, had asked me this before every school year since the year I had come home and told her that I was in love with Harry Potter, the boy who lived.
"He doesn't even know who I am," I gave her the same answer I gave her every time she asked that.
I was so suprised when I got my letter to be admitted to Hogwarts. I didn't even believe it was real.
"You have a letter sweetheart," my mother told me that morning.
"Who's it from mum?" I asked her.
"I don't know darling, there's no return address. You'll have to open it," she replied and handed me the letter.
I opened it and pulled out the thick parchment,
"It's heavy," I commented to my mother, "more than one piece of parchment."
I pulled out the first piece of paper and read:
Hogwarts School
of Witchcraft and Wizardry
Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore
(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock,
Supreme Mugwump, International Confed.of Wizards)
Dear Miss Bradshaw,
We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted
at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find
enclosed list of all necessary books and equipment.
Term begins on September 1. We await yor owl by no later
than July 31.
Yours sincerly,
(there was a signature)
Minerva McGonall,
Deputy Headmistress
"What did it say?" my mother asked me.
I handed her the letter and moved to the other piece of parchment.
It read:
Hogwarts School
of Witchcraft and Wizardry
UNIFORM
First-year students will rquire:
1. Three sets of plain work robes (black)
2. One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear
3. One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)
4. One winter cloak (black, silver fastenings)
Please note that all pupils' clothes should carry name tags
COURSE BOOKS
All students should have a copy of each of the following:
The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1)
by Miranda Goshawk
A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot
Magical Theory by Adalbert Waffling
A Beginners' Guide to Transfiguration by Emeric Switch
One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi
by Phyllida Spore
Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger
Fantastic Beats and Where to Find Them
by Newt Scamander
The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection
by Quentin Trimble
OTHER EQUIPMENT
1 wand
1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)
1 set glass or crystal phials
1 telescope
1 set brass scales
Students may also bring an owl OR a cat OR a toad
PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS
ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICKS
I smiled up at my mother after I read the list. I had read about it, but knew Hogwarts didn't exist.
"Mom, that's nice of you to do all this. Thank you," her eyes had gone wide, like it was a shock, but I knew it wasn't. "You don't have to pretend, it was sweet of you to pretend it existed, but I know, no matter how much I wish, it will never be so."
"No, dear I didn't do this," she really sounded like she didn't.
"Well, I'm going up to my room to find out who did," I grabbed the letter from her and ran upstairs to my room.
I almost screamed when I saw the owl in my room. Then I realized it must be a part of the letter. It flew over to me with a quill and a roll of parchment and started pecking my hand. I kept shooing it, but it wouldn't go away.
After it bit me so hard I started bleeding I thought back to the letter and realized what it must want.
I took the quill and the parchment and wrote a note to "Dumbledore, the headmaster of Hogwarts".
This is what it said:
Dear Professer Dumbldore,
I will be on the Hogwarts train on September 1st. The acceptance to your school is much appriciated.
Your sincerly,
Amy Bradshaw
I tied the parchment to the owls legs and it flew away.
The phone ringing as I watched the owl fly away startled me.
"Hello," I answered.
"Hey Amy," I heard Isabella on the other end.
"So, are you the one behind it?" I asked her.
"Behind what? Amy what are you talking about?" I knew it wasn't her. She would have admitted to it immediately.
"So, did you get a Hogwarts letter, too?" I asked her instead.
"Umm, no, Amy are you feeling alright? What is Hogwarts?" I hadn't told her about the book about the magical school that my grandmother had given me for my tenth birthday. Or about all the rescearch that I had done, following up on that book.
"Oh, nothing," I lied. I would tell her after I decided if this was real, if I decided it was real. "What are you doing?"
"Oh, just calling to see what you were doing," she still sounded skeptical.
I decided later that night that I had told nobody about the books I hid under the loose floorboards under my bed. There was no one who could have done it, so it had to be real. The next day I had told my mother and Isabella and Jake, another best friend, about the books and the research and that I was going to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry on September first.
Jake is my neighbor who has had a crush on me forever, he still does, I believe, but he's still my best friend and I still tell him everything.
The rest of the summer had gone quickly and I was excited when the first of September rolled around. I would be leaving all my friends for most of the year, but I would be back for the Christmas and Easter holidays. I knew how to get on platform 9 and 3/4 even there wasn't one, according to Muggles (nonmagical people) anyway, at Kings Cross, the train station from which the Hogwars Express leaves.
I saw him the first time getting on that train and I knew that I was in love. He had eyes as green as a lily pad and hair the color of charcoal, he also had glasses and a scar and that was how I could tell who he was. He always hung out with Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger since that day on the train, but I didn't care much about them as the years went by.
As the years passed by my love for him grew. He never knew I existed even though I was in Gryffindor also, but I didn't care. I knew all about him. Every year when he got hurt and stuck in the hospital wing, and it happened at least once every year, I snuck in at night just to be near him. Madame Pomfrey almost caught me one night, but she never did, and he never knew.
The first year I came home during Christmas Isabella knew something about me was different and she forced me to tell her about my love for "The Chosen One" as they now sometimes call him. She always begged me to tell him, but I haven't and I doubt I will.
"This is the last year, the last chance you'll ever get. At least talk to him. Introduce yourself. It doesn't matter if you never tell him you love him. You need to talk to him. Promise me you'll do it," Isabella kept at it.
"No," I was thinking about it though.
"You know, you really should," Jake added.
"You people need to stop bugging me about this. It's never going to happen," I knew I was being stubborn, but I didn't care. They weren't going to make me do this.
"Are you packed?" Jake could see I wasn't going to budge on this and changed the subject.
"Yup, I leave in the morning and I'm just counting the hours until I see him," I smiled, thinking about those green eyes that I could just get lost in.
They left not long after and I went to bed early because it takes a long process to get to the station in the morning and I didn't want to be tired, in case Harry noticed me, though I doubted he would.