I had met Harry when we were on the train heading to Hogwarts for our first year of schooling to become fully qualified witches and wizards. I was nervous to be meeting new people, and very excited to be starting a new school. I had never had any friends before because everyone always made fun of me. I was very smart, and everyone called me a teacher's pet and bookworm. It was not my fault that I had a photographic memory and also had the brain to use it. I enjoy school and learning new things.
When I found out I was a witch, I had my mom and dad take me that very day to Diagon Alley to buy my school supplies. I started reading my books and studying that night. I wasn't only studying school books though, I also bought plenty of books about the wizarding culture trying to get an idea of the new world that I was entering into. From the very beginning I read about a famous boy that was my age by the name of Harry Potter. He had defeated the evil wizard Voldemort as only a young infant and would be starting Hogwarts this year also. I was very eager to meet him, but was afraid that he would not look me as so many other kids our age. I was worried that he would have many other friends already and would be too popular to want me to be his friend.
So, my first time meeting Harry I was trying to help a boy, named Neville find his lost toad. I ran into him in a carriage with a boy named Ron, and did not look as well cared for as I was expecting. His clothes looked like they were five sizes too big and were full of holes. His glasses were taped together and once I got a good look at him I realized that he was all skin and bones. However, I looked over all this thinking that he liked to dress that way and was in a growth spurt. I then tried to impress him with my knowledge of the wizarding world and then fixed his glasses with a spell that I had read about in our school books. He did not look impressed at all, but actually annoyed. I was afraid that I had lost my chance of friendship.
I kept trying during the first two weeks of school to become his friend, but did not realize I was his friend from almost the beginning. He was always very nice to me, and did not seem to mind too much when I would try to help him out. Ron was always wanting to argue with me, and did not like me, but I was used to that. I wanted Harry to be my friend, so that I could say I was friends with someone famous. However, by the end of our first year my mindset was changed. I wanted to be friends with Harry not because of him being famous but because of how loyal he was to me and Ron as his friends.
My first crush was on Harry at the end of first year, and it continued all the way through fourth year. However, I do not think Harry ever realized I had a crush on him. I had by this point found out how horribly his relatives treated him, and how little he thought of himself as a result. We went to save the philosopher's stone at the end of first year, and I gave him a kiss on the cheek and told him to be careful before I had to leave him to fetch Dumbledore. I was shocked when he pulled away from me slightly and acted surprised that I would act like that. It just further cemented my crush on him, and made me make a goal to help him realize that he was a good person that somebody could love easily. I was so scared for him when he came back from the chamber almost dead, and Madam Pomphrey had to chase me out of the hospital wing that night because I did not want to leave his side.
Each year after that, Harry would get into one adventure or another, and every year I would be scared out of my mind. Second year, it was the run in with the basilisk. Third year, it was his reaction to the dementors and the worry about Sirius Black coming after him. Fourth year was the worst with his forced participation in the Triwizard Tournament. Fifth year, this most recent year was just horrible though with the way Professor Umbridge treated Harry. However, through everything I got to see more of how he was as a person and began to fall in love with him, although I did not realize it at the time.
During our second year, when I got turned into a partial cat from the polyjuice potion accident, Harry was so nice to me and stayed my friend the entire time. He did not laugh at me, unlike Ron. He took me to the hospital wing, and then visited me every day until I was released. He was actually my only visitor during this time. Some days he could only stay a few minutes, but he always made sure to bring me my homework assignments and spend a few minutes talking to me. I appreciated him so much during this time. Then, not but a few months after getting released from the hospital wing after that incident I get put back in the hospital wing from being petrified. Nobody realized it at the time, but I could hear and feel everything that was going on around me although I could not respond. It was like being a piece of stone that was not alive and could do nothing, although I was fully aware of everything around me. I knew each time Harry came to see me in the hospital wing, even if he had to sneak in and visit me during the middle of the night. I heard him tell me that he missed me and was worried about me. I felt him grab hold of my hand each time, like he was trying to reassure himself I was fine. At the end of my petrification, the first person I went to see was Harry, and the look on his face was of nothing but relief.
Third year, I went to see Harry every time he was in the hospital wing and tried to show him what he meant to me. However, he still did not think of me as anything more than a friend, and some days I felt like I was more of a sister to him than a friend. The summer between third and fourth year, my mom sat me down and had "The Talk" with me. This honestly wasn't too bad since we were very close anyways. We used to be able to talk about anything and everything. It was during this talk that she pulled out all the letters I had ever sent home from Hogwarts. She pointed out to me that in every letter I mention Harry at least once, if I don't spend at least half the letter talking about him. My mom helped me to see that I was falling in love with Harry and gave me some tips on how to get him to notice me.
So, fourth year started and I had all sorts of ideas of how to get Harry's attention. None of the ideas worked. I thought maybe the Yule Ball would be the trick to get Harry to see me as more than just his friend and maybe kick off a relationship. Harry never once asked me to be his date for the ball. Instead, I was pursued by the famous quidditch player, Victor Krum, so I decided to take my attention off Harry and try to find another boy. I went to the ball with Victor, but both of us knew by the end of the night that it was useless to try be more than friends. Victor was the perfect gentleman all night, but knew almost from the beginning that my heart was already spoken for. The look on Harry's face when he first saw me dressed up gave me some hope, but it never went beyond that. He watched me all night long, but he never said more than two words to me all night long. He later would tell me that he thought I was with Victor, so therefore did not have a chance.
I worked with Harry all during fourth year helping him to prepare for each task. I was so worried about him when it came time for that final one though. I had a feeling something would happen, so was not surprised when at the end of the maze he disappeared along with Cedric after touching the cup. However, this did not mean that I was scared out of my mind until I was able to get to his side a few hours later when he was in the hospital wing and could reassure myself that he came out of another adventure alive yet again.
Fifth year was one nightmare after another. Every time I turned around Harry was in detention for one thing or another. I would wait up for him every night until he came in. I did my best to just be his best friend during this time but my heart ached for him. I wished I could help him in some way. However nothing I did seemed to help. To make things worse, he decided to have his first crush on no one other than Cho Chang, the Chinese beauty. I felt like my heart would break every time he would lose his brain staring at that girl. I felt like crying the night after the DA meeting when he stayed after with her for almost thirty minutes, and he came back with a star struck look on his face. However, I could not hardly keep from laughing when I found out that he did not like the kiss. I knew then that there was some hope for me, especially when he left a date with her to come see me. However, I did not realize how much hope there was until the night the Sirius died at the end of our OWLS. This is when our story really begins.