Chapter 1

My story begins when I was eleven years old. I had a life before that, and a beautiful one, living with my parents in our little house on the suburbs of London. Yet I was always different, I knew something about me didn't quite fit the bill. Then in July of 1991, a woman showed up on the steps of our house holding a letter. She introduced herself as Minerva McGonagall, and she gave my parents a letter that would change my life forever. It was a letter from the Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry. She told my parents that I was a witch. They were immediately outraged, but I felt a bubble of hope balloon inside me. I knew she was right, she had to be, that's why I was different. It took a bit more convincing on my parent's part, but they had also noticed my differences, and with some explaining McGonagall was able to convince them. She gave them a list of my school things and explained to them how to get to Diagon Alley, she told them the train left at eleven o'clock on the first of September, and with that she left. I watched her go through the window, and I was startled and thrilled to see her walk a few feet from the house, make sure no one was watching on the street, and then turn into a tabby cat! That's when I knew, that it wasn't a dream, magic existed and I was magical. That night when I went downstairs, for a glass of water I overheard my father and mother talking. I heard my mother tell my father there was no way I could have some kind of special abilities, that I was just a normal girl. Her words stabbed through my heart like a hot knife, I ran back to my room and cried myself to sleep, but not before promising myself that I would prove her wrong by being the best witch there ever was.

The first time I went to Diagon Alley is one of the best memories I have in my life. The minute we stepped through the wall behind the Leaky Cauldron I felt a feeling I had never felt before. I had found a place where I fit. I looked around at the stores full of cauldrons and potions and wonderful things and I knew it was where I belonged. I got every book my parents could carry that day, all of my school books plus at least ten other books about the history and customs of the wizarding world. We bought my school robes, which I thought made me look sophisticated, and then we went to Olivander's. I will never forget the moment that I held my wand in my hand for the first time, it was eight inches long, made of willow with a unicorn hair, and it was mine. The minute I held it in my hand it felt like an extension of myself. I spent the entire month of August studying as hard as could; I was going to prove my mother wrong no matter what. By the time September first rolled around I had mastered at least four of the charms in the Standard book of spells, I had no clue how this stacked up with wizarding children, but I was very determined.

When we arrived at Kings Cross I was a jumble of nerves. Being a witch was wonderful in theory but the thought of meeting a whole slew of children my age, most of which had known about magic since they were born, scared me to death. We stood between platforms nine and ten looking around in confusion. I was starting to panic that we wouldn't find the train. Just then a somewhat intimidating old woman and a round faced little boy came up to us. The woman smiled kindly and asked if I was a Muggle born, I thought I was so I said yes. She explained that she could take me to the platform, but my parents wouldn't be able to get through, because they weren't magical. I gave my parents very long hugs, I didn't want to let them go, but I knew I had to be brave. The round faced boy smiled and told me his name was Neville Longbottom. I smiled back politely and the woman, who was apparently his grandma, directed us towards the brick divider between platforms nine and ten, we walked towards it purposefully and I turned to get one last glimpse of my parents before I disappear into my new world.

My first ride on the Hogwarts express was rather eventful. I found a compartment with Neville and instantly began to grill him on life in the wizarding world; I asked him hundreds of questions, which he answered to the best of his knowledge. I felt like I might be intimidating him a bit. One thing being a witch had not seemed to change was that I was horrible at making friends, I was much more comfortable with a book then trying to carry on a conversation, and that's the way it had always been. After awhile the boy called Neville told me that his toad was missing, I offered to help him find it. We split up to search the train and met back at our compartment with no luck. We then went off to double check all the compartments, and make sure we didn't overlook one. We got about half way down the train when I opened the compartment on two boys who looked like they were probably in the same year as us. The dark haired one was watching with fascination as the bright red haired one waved his wand over a rat. I asked them if they'd seen Neville's toad and the red haired boy rudely muttered something about already telling him they hadn't, but I stayed to see him do magic because I was fascinated. His spell turned out to be a dud, and I was not extremely kind about telling him. Then I began to prattle on about being a Muggle born and how I'd memorized all the books already, I always tend to show off when I'm nervous. I introduced myself to them, and the red headed boy muttered that his name was Ron Weasley, but I was much more interested in the second boy, who said his name was Harry Potter. I had read all about him of course, and I told him so. I then began to babble on about everything I knew about Hogwarts, when I realized that I was overstaying my welcome I got up to leave with Neville. As I was leaving I heard the read headed boy say to Harry Potter that whatever house he was in he hoped I wasn't. I felt anger shoot through me and I swore to never speak to that stupid boy again. If someone were to have told me that I had just met my soul mate, I think I might have fallen over dead from shock.

My first sight of Hogwarts was like a dream, I didn't think places like it really existed. As we crossed the lake in the little boats I thought that my life had become a fairy tale. When Professor McGonagall came out and announced there would be some sort of test to see what house we were in I was positively frantic. Everyone around me stood there quietly, but I couldn't help but whisper to Neville about what kinds of spells he thought I might need to pass the test. When I saw that the Sorting Hat did the work for us I was instantly relieved. I ran up and pulled the hat onto my head. I heard it's voice in my head, it said I had a keen mind, and that Ravenclaw would fit me nicely. I remember thinking with all my heart, I don't care where you put me I'm going to be the best witch there's ever been and no one can stop me. Suddenly it shouted that I was in Gryffindor, as I was taking my seat I saw the red haired boy give a pronounced groan and I glared at him, I was beginning to loathe the very sight of him. I watched the rest of Sorting and was happy when both Neville Longbottom and Harry Potter joined my house. To my disappointment so did the annoying red haired boy, I noticed several other older red haired boys at the table cheering him and I guessed they were his brothers, not that I cared.

School seemed to pass quickly that first year. I of course was overcompensating in every class and being a know-it-all, which seemed to annoy everyone around me but no one so much as the red headed boy. He always knew exactly how to push my buttons and make me angry but I quickly learned how to do the same with him, so it got to the point where we couldn't be in the same room together without fighting. I also noticed a growing rivalry between Harry Potter and a boy named Draco Malfoy. One afternoon I went I heard them talking about having a duel that night and I was horrified, I knew that a duel could mean someone got seriously hurt. I confronted Harry on it as soon as possible not surprisingly both he and the red headed boy blew me off rather rudely, but I was not deterred. I waited until the time I heard him tell Draco they would meet and then I snuck down and insisted that they not go, when they refused to listen I followed them and kept trying to convince them to turn back. We got caught by Mrs. Norris, who was the caretaker Filches cat, in order to keep from getting into trouble we ran onto a room that had been locked and quickly figured out why when we were almost eaten by a three headed dog. A bit later when we had gotten safely back to the dormitory I unloaded on the two of them for being so irresponsible, and then stormed off to bed, but the thing I never told them was that that night was the first night I ever went to bed a Hogwarts smiling.

As Halloween neared the situation with the red haired boy reached a dangerous level. On Halloween day in Charms class I finally snapped. He had been ridiculously waving his arms around and not seeing why the spell wasn't working, when I tried to show him how to do it he was rude to me, so I simply did it perfectly and then sat there and let him be humiliated. I knew i shouldn't have done it, but at the time it felt good. Later that day I walked by him and a group of the boys from our grade, and I heard him telling them all how horrible I was and that no one liked me, and they all laughed along, even Harry Potter who I was hoping would be my friend. I was completely crushed. I ran to the girl's bathroom, and cried until I didn't have any tears left. I stayed there for hours and I barely even moved. I didn't want to be a witch anymore, what was the point? Everyone hated me… the sun set and the bathroom became darker lit only by the torches. I was just thinking that maybe I should go find something to eat, when I heard the bathroom door open. Right away I knew something was wrong, the footsteps were loud and thumping and I heard a low growl. I began to tremble all over thinking of what horrible monster could be outside the door. I peeked out of the stall and couldn't contain my horrified scream at the huge hulking troll that was standing in the bathroom. It turned towards me and began to come at me swinging it's club menacingly, I back up as far as I could go and pressed myself against the wall in terror. Just then the door flew open and in ran the two people I thought least likely to be my saviors, Harry Potter and his red haired friend. They assessed the situation quickly and began to try and distract the troll, the red haired boy threw a pipe at it's head and screamed at it, and it turned its attention on him. Harry Potter ran to me and tried to pull me towards the door, but I was too terrified to move. Yet I remember in the back of my mind I wondered why in the world that horrible red headed boy was risking his life for me, he hated me. All the shouting angered the troll, and it charged at the boy, Harry jumped on its head and shoved his wand up it's nose. It roared in pain and dropped it's club. Quick as a flash the red head pulled out his wand and did the levitation spell that we had just learned, he clonked the troll in the head and it passed out. I remember that even though I still despised him in that moment, I was also immensely proud of him. Just then the teachers came running in and asked what was going on. I knew I had to think fast to keep us form all getting in trouble. I told them I had tried to stop the troll myself and the boys had saved me, I wasn't quite sure what made me do this, but I felt like I couldn't tell them the real reason I was in the bathroom. The red head had just saved my life so I couldn't turn him in. I remember that he looked at me that night, in a way that he never had before, and as we went back to the dormitory I knew that I had finally made two friends. That night as I fell asleep I finally put a name with the red headed boy, Ron Weasley, my friend.

From that point on Harry, Ron, and I were inseparable. Ron and I still got on each others nerves all the time but the more I spent time with him the more I realized that his rudeness was more of an act then anything, he was tough because he was the youngest of six boys and he felt he had something to prove, and while he was sometimes unbelievably dense, he was also very kind and had an extremely quick and inventive mind. I grew very fond of him and Harry that first year. One of our biggest topics of discussion was what the dog we'd had a run in with was guarding; we had managed to get a name out of the gamekeeper Hagrid about it. The name was Nicholas Flamel, but no matter how much research I did I couldn't find his name anywhere. The time came for Christmas holidays and I went home with hundreds of stories for my Mum and Dad, but the whole time I was home I was thinking of Ron and Harry.

When I got back in January, Harry and Ron eagerly met me to tell me all about the unique present that Harry got for Christmas, a cloak of Invisibility. He told me how he'd used it to sneak out of the dormitory three nights in a row. While I was appalled that he would tae such a risk, I was also bursting to know if he'd found out anything on Nicholas Flamel in the restricted section of the library, when he told me no I was terribly disappointed. We spent weeks more of research until finally Harry happened upon him in the most unlikely of places. On Dumbledore's chocolate frog card, it said Dumbledore had worked in alchemy with him. Suddenly a light bulb popped on in my head, and I went to grab a library book that I had borrowed for fun, I found the page where it said that Nicholas Flamel was the only known owner of a Sorcerer's stone. I was overjoyed that the mystery was solved. Harry on the other hand was convinced that our Potions master Snape was after it. I thought that might have more to do with the fact that Harry hated him than anything else.

It was the end of the school year before anything else happened with the stone. The second half of my first year was exponentially better than the first. I had two real friends, they were the first people in my life that I thought might truly understand me. After an incident when we were in detention with Hagrid in the Forbidden Forest, we had realized that it was not Snape who was trying to steal the stone, but Voldemort, the Dark wizard who had tried to kill Harry so many years ago. Harry was still convinced that Snape was involved, but as long as Dumbledore remained at the castle everything was safe. Then one night it all went wrong, Dumbledore was called away to an emergency meeting at the ministry and Harry thought it was suspicious, and then suddenly he made a horrible realization. We ran to Hagrid's and confirmed that Hagrid had unwittingly given key information to a stranger in the bar that no doubt was the one trying to steal the stone. We knew the stranger was going to steal the stone that night and we had to act quickly. I was terrified but excited.

We got past the three headed dog easily enough, Hagrid had given us a tip to play it music but when we got there the thief had already put it to sleep with a harp. It was a close call, the music stopped just as we jumped in the hole. We landed in Devil's Snare, and I told the boys to be still and it would let us go, Harry listened, but Ron of course panicked. When Harry and I were through I had to send a light charm at the plant to make it let Ron go. The next room had a bunch of flying keys and Harry had to use his expertise on a broom to catch the right one. Then we came to the chess set, I still remember that experience, because it was the first time I truly saw Ron Weasley the way that I see him now. Ron took charge of the situation, he was a good chess player and he confidently told us where to stand and how to move, he held our lives in his hands, but he was strong and sure of himself. I remember that as I watched him I felt drawn to him, in a way that I was still to young to even understand. Then he said he was going to sacrifice himself so we could go on, I remember thinking I had never met anyone quite so brave. It took all the strength I had to go on with Harry after he fell, I wanted so badly to stay with him and make sure he was going be alright. We got to the room with potions; I was thoroughly relieved to find that it was a riddle, not magic. It took me only a few minutes to find the two vials we needed, one led you forward, and one led you back. Harry took the one that lead you forward, and I took the one that lead me back. I didn't want to leave him but I had no choice. As soon as I got through the fire I ran to where Ron was lying, I picked his head up in my arm and tried to wake him, he looked up at me groggily and he smiled. He said my name and then asked if Harry had gotten through, I said that yes he had. We sat there in silence for what seemed like eternity, I didn't know what to do. Ron was two heavy for me to carry back out, and there was still that three headed dog to deal with. Just when I was beginning to panic I heard footsteps. I looked around and saw Professors McGonagall, Snape, and Dumbledore coming towards me. McGonagall immediately began to deal with Ron and Dumbledore asked me if Harry went on. I told him yes and he rushed forward. Snape asked me if I was alright and I told him yes. McGonagall had put Ron on a stretcher and was getting ready to take him out. He called my name and asked if I was coming too, I walked along next to the stretcher as they took him to the hospital wing. When we arrived Madame Pomfrey gave him some draught that put him to sleep. I sat by his bed and a short while later they brought in Harry unconscious and laid him next to Ron. Dumbledore told me that Harry had been successful in stopping the thief and I breathed a sigh of relief. As I looked at the two sleeping boys I realized that I had come to care about them more deeply than I had cared about anyone except for my parents.

The next day I went to the Great Hall for the end of the year feast. I saw Ron and sat down beside him, we shared smiles with each other, but we didn't speak about what had happened the night before. A few moments later Harry joined us. Dumbledore made his speech and announced the points he was giving us for our deeds the night before. I felt my heart swell with pride as I realized that I had directly contributed to our house winning the House Cup, as I looked into the faces of my two new best friends I felt nothing but happiness and hope. I was going to do it, I was going to be the best witch there had ever been, and I was going to do it while having great friends.