The Boy I Thought I Loved

She thought she knew what love was.

At eleven, Evelyn Blackwood arrives at Hogwarts with no idea where she belongs.

A Muggle-born Slytherin who never quite understood why the colour of her robes mattered so much to everyone else.

Her best friend was a Gryffindor.

He was a Gryffindor.

And for five years, she would make the mistake of believing that loving him meant waiting for him to choose her.

She would survive the teasing, the rumours, the arguments, the stolen glances and the moments that made her believe there might be something between them.

But sometimes the person you spend years wanting isn't the person you're meant to end up with.

Sometimes you have to stop looking at the boy you've always loved

to finally notice the boy who's been looking at you.

This is not a story about first love.

It's a story about realizing that sometimes, first love is simply the love that teaches you what love isn't.