Disclaimer: The song "Be Like That" belongs to 3 Doors Down. Percy and other characters belong to Rowling. This story is based on one of my true -life experiences.

"He spends his nights in California, watching

The stars on the big screen.

Then he lies awake and he wonders,

"Why can't that be me?"

Yes, I, Percivale Alexander Weasley, am graduating from Hogwarts in two days. The whole seventh year class has been in this glorious uproar over that fact. I am too, however, I keep such thoughts to myself. Yesterday we had the "Senior countdown" before the last bell of our last school day. All of the seventh years gathered in the centre yard, counting down the very last seconds. There they were, all together, laughing, hugging, holding each other and making a racket. Excitement was in the air.

"Ok...this is so stupid." I muttered to my girlfriend (and only friend), Penelope Clearwater. But on the inside I felt as if my soul was locked in a cage. Something inside of me just wanted to bound out and join the crowd. However, I knew that if I were to do so, no one would care...no one would speak to me. Then I'd just stand there like an idiot while everyone kept on celebrating around me. It was just safer to stay in my lonely little corner and pretend like I didn't give a shit.

" Cause in his life he's filled with all these good intentions

He's left a lot of things he'd rather not

Mention right now.

But just before he says goodnight, he looks

Up with a little smile at me and he says:

If I could be like that

I'd give anything

Just to live one day in those shoes.

If I could be like that,

What would I do,

What would I do?"

Today I made the mistake of leaving the house to go get myself a cup of coffee. There should be a law that if you are The Senior Outcast that you cannot leave your home on days when there are big graduation blow- outs. I noticed that Oliver Wood's house seemed rather filled with brooms and such...of course that meant that he was having a party that I had not even heard of. Loud laughs and kids drinking beer filled the streets of Ottery St. Catchpole. I lingered just outside the scene on my broom, waiting for them to scatter so I could return home. True, I could have just gone through...but then I would risk being stopped, thus, people would think that someone had invited me. I did not want to go to the party just to sit there and be ignored. Sometimes I feel like I'm invisible...sometimes I think it would be better if I were.

"He spends his days up in the North Park

Watching people as they pass

And all he wants is just a little piece of this dream

Is that too much to ask?

With a safe home and a warm bed,

On a quiet little street

All he wants is just something to hold onto

That's all that he needs"

After lingering, hidden, on my broom for five minutes, my peers finally scattered out of sight. I know that Dad would ask me when I got home why I wasn't at the party; to which I'd reply "It's just not my crowd." The truth is, however, that it should be my crowd - - it's the entire Senior class, after all. But I can't let anyone know the truth, that the only reason as to why I'm not there is because I'm a loser. I wish, just for once, that I was part of that crowd. Teenagers take their mates for granted, thinking that everyone has the normal adolescent life. I wish I did...I want nothing more then to be part of that crowd; to know what it's like to laugh and feel free. I wish that I could be like that.

"If I could be like that

I'd give anything

Just to live one day in those shoes.

If I could be like that

What would I do,

What would I do?"

~Finis