A/N: I don't own Harry Potter or any related characters

This is for the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Word count: 404

Innocent

a small smile, hidden behind the tears

a small gesture, lost in the crowded station

one still innocent to the ways of the world

one hurt beyond repair searching for his place in this new world

a year betwixt them

a year for him to start to find his way

a year for her to wonder, to dream

of what would happen when she met him.

A chance meeting

early morning

car gone, beds empty

she's glad she's not in trouble

she's irked they didn't invite her

to save the object of her affection

a small crush

makes talking impossible as she

darts from the table with only a

squeak.

Crowded streets

crowded shops

she knows money is tight

and books expensive

she knows the man standing before the crowd

is one everyone looks to

but she doesn't have eyes for him

isn't interested in his deeds in saving the world

no the object of her affection

has dark hair

a small scar

and eyes the color of a pickled toad

she wonders if he realizes how she feels

if only she could find the words

those words come back to bite her

why did she think sending him a

Valentine was so brilliant

why is everything falling apart around her?

The book whispers, calling to her at night

keeping her from sleeping, only she does

sleep, with horrid nightmares and blood on her hands

when she awakens.

Who killed the chickens?

Why are there feathers in her hair?

She longs to confess, knows he could save her

he saved the world after all.

But no, she stays silent

tries to rid herself of the book

she knows it's the book, there's something

dark about it, something wrong about it

Now he has it! No, no, no!

She can't let him become like her

he is still innocent in the ways of

witchcraft and wizardry

no, she tries, fails, succeeds

to get the book back, now it's

her again waking up screaming

It's her again going down the dark

shoot into oblivion.

She wakes in his arms,

a large red bird screaming, singing

overhead.

"I've got you," he's whispering as he carries

her from the wreckage of her first year

a year she'll never forget

a year that changed things forever

cementing the way her heart feels

for the boy who lived,

the boy who saved her

the boy she'll always love.