The Walls Have Eyes

I've been in this school for... sixty years, give or take a few. I've watched countless students grow up; emerge from their shells like so many butterflies, and then they have their own children whom I get to watch grow up too.

This current lot of students is by far the most interesting. The year James Potter reigned was the most fun, but not the most interesting. After all, James never fought giant snakes, or outsmarted dragons, or defeated evil overlords. He was defeated by one. But that's beside the point.

James and his friends were the most notorious pranksters of Hogwarts history. The Weasley twins come a close second, but the twins never had a whole cupboard in Filch's office dedicated to them. I only knew James, really. The wolf Remus was a Ravenclaw and Sirius Black and that other one were Slytherin. Oh, Sirius Black... the awful things he did, especially that time he came back in 1993... I'll never forget it. The wolf - sorry, Remus - came and taught Defence Against the Dark Arts that same year. I wonder if he had anything to do with Black's return.

James married Lily, didn't he? Yes, if my sources are correct, he did. And they had little Harry. Lily was a beauty, but not many people knew that. She was far too much like Harry's friend Hermione, forever hidden behind a book or a quill. In fact, Hermione is practically the reincarnation of Lily - the only difference between them is the hair colour, eye colour and the teeth. But now even that last difference is no difference - Hermione had them straightened some time in her fourth year.

They had a ball in Lily's time, too. The transformation was amazing; everyone took notice, especially James, who had asked her to the ball. Hermione was the same. She had floated that day, or maybe it was just the lack of five dozen books slung over her shoulder. Whatever it was, she [both Lily and Hermione] was stunning. And the look on the Viktor Krum's face was priceless.

Now Hermione's found love in Ronald Weasley, that tall redhead. He's grown into his long limbs and nose, and is now quite handsome, really. Nowhere as good-looking as William or Percy, but still enough. Percy... pity he was so pompous. Still is, actually, if my sources are correct. If he had been more outgoing and had not acted so superior, I daresay he'd be one of Hogwarts' Top 10 Sexiest Blokes.

That's an ongoing tradition, really. The current number one spot is tied between Harry and Draco Malfoy. You know, the pale blonde from Slytherin. The second place belongs to that Irish lad, Seamus and third is and always has been Cedric Diggory. He had been placed in third in his fourth year, and now, even though it's three years after his death, he's still there. Place of honour, I guess. It's a way of remembering him.

Cedric Diggory... I'm not sure what really happened then, but poor Harry never really recovered from the incident. He never got to go out with Cho Chang, who graduated last year. She never got over Cedric. After the rejection, he's found love. In about twenty different girls. Oh, not all at the same time, of course. He dated each one for about a month or so before going on to the next. He does have a queue of suitors from here to... say, China. Maybe it's the stress that makes him act like that. Having the whole wizarding world expect you to banish the storm clouds, to bring the sun back again... heavy stuff for a seventeen-year-old.

Then again, I don't think it's only been girls. I've seen him hand-in-hand with a boy or two, most notably, most recently and most frequently, Draco Malfoy. Hard to believe, I know, I myself took two weeks to get over the first time I saw them kissing in the shadows.

I remember Draco's mother. Narcissa Carlton. She was a Gryffindor, a tall, willowy blonde with eyes the colour of a winter sky. Strangely, she switched to Slytherin in her third year. The first and only person to do that in the history of Hogwarts. Slytherin isn't that bad, as houses go, but nobody's ever disliked their house enough to switch - yes, boy?

"Is Harry in there?"

I need the password.

"I don't have it. I'm not going in, just tell me if Harry's inside."

Without the password, I'm not supposed to say - well, there you go.

Harry steps out and smiles coyly at Draco. "Hi."

"Hello, you."

They walk off and I can't help but wonder - is it simply just teenage hormones?