Harry Before Hogwarts -- Chapter 1

Harry Before Hogwarts - Chapter 1

By Araw

A Harry Potter Fanfic

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Author's Note

The format for this piece is a bit hard to understand... Every paragraph the characters switch off (Harry; Ellen; Harry; Ellen, etc.), and Harry speaks in first-person and Ellen speaks in third-person. This is supposed to be set in the UK, but I'm American so I have pretty much no concept of British English, so bear with me, please. Suggestions to improve in all areas are welcome! I publish the same stories on fanfiction.net as Araw.
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I was walking to school one day when I heard a voice. This was not uncommon, as I was forced to walk to school with my boisterous cousin Dudley and his gang of friends on a daily basis. But the voice wasn't of one of them. It seemed that Dudley and his friends had decided to ditch me, something they did about once a week. But usually, when they ditched me, no-one came. Nobody followed me. To even say hello to me could earn the fury of Dudley and his gang, who made up for their lack of intellect in their enormous size. I turned around to see whoever in their right minds would be talking to me, and I just about fell over from shock. A girl - a girl was talking to me. But not just any girl. Ellen Marie Schafer. My one and only crush.

Ellen had one thing on her mind: 'Why isn't he saying anything?' 'What should I name my new kitten?' and 'I wonder if Mum will let Kath come over after school…'. In other words, Ellen always always always had more than one thing on her mind. She was the kind of person whom you'd expect to be multitasking all of the time. Ellen knew only a few things about Larry Motter - or whatever his name was - before she said hi to him. She knew that he was Dudley's cousin, she knew that he was routinely bullied by Dudley and his posse and that his parents had died, so he lived with Dudley's family. Most importantly, she knew that usually, if she as much as looked at Larry (or whatever his name was) then she would get beat up. In other words, nobody ever talked to Harry. N-O-B-O-D-Y. In fact, as far as she knew, this was the first time anyone had talked directly to him and not be insulting him.

Ellen didn't have to talk to me. She didn't have to say hi to me. But she did. She looked beautiful, as always - rocking the gray-blouse-plaid-skirt-knee-socks uniform with effortless grace. She had cut her hair to donate to charity last year; yet now it was at the same length as it had been previously. Harry remembered when Ellen has dyed her hair pink - pink! - for a week, until the administrators had managed to schedule a meeting with her parents. Her naturally brown hair was now in an elegant ponytail, each hair perfectly placed. But enough with that - he needed to say something in response! "Hi, Ellen."

Ellen winced. She had hoped that he wouldn't know her name. After all, she didn't know his. She tugged on her now shoulder-length hair - it had taken a year to grow back, but it had been worth it. "I, um, like your shirt?" Stupid. Stupid-stupid-stupid-stupid. Ellen mentally banged her head against the wall. Why did she have to say that? He was wearing the uniform shirt - just. Like. Every. Other. Boy. Factor in the 'um' and the question-sounding end, and she was toast. Ellen hoped he wouldn't notice. But that was all she could do. Hope.

She likes my shirt? She likes my shirt? This is the best day of my life! But what do I say now? Do I have to say something complimentary? But then what do I say? Do I say she's beautiful and I like how she smells? No, but that's the truth! Do I tell her that I like her shoes? Hair? Face? Smile? What do I say? Would it be better just not to say anything at all? But she'll think I'm a freak if I do that! More than she probably already does! What do I say what do I say what do I sa- "Ilikeditwhenyouhadpinkhair"

He said the words so fast, it was almost impossible for Ellen to hear. But when she understood, she smiled. Up until that point, she had thought about that week several years ago when she had dyed her brown, boring-as-heck hair pink. Now, that had been fun. All of the teachers were panicking, everyone was laughing with her, and the headmaster was furious. It had been worth it for sure. Oh, whoops - she had to say something back to him, didn't she? She couldn't just stand there, with a dumb expression on her face. "So, I don't think we've met yet. I'm Ellen."

Why did I say that of all things? I liked it when you had pink hair? Oh, well. What's past is past. But, why did she say 'I don't think we've met yet'? I'm in her French class, Maths class, and Art class. We've been going to school together since we were seven. What? Well, no matter. I guess I should formally introduce myself and pretend that I didn't hear the first bit. After all, that's polite. "Hi, Ellen. My name is Harry Potter."