Just Being You

Ernie put his quill down on the table and rubbed his eyes. He reread his first paragraph again before deciding that it was rubbish and crumpled the piece of parchment. Giving his name out in the first sentence would be what every other student would do with the assignment. And frankly, he though, it lacks mystery. The last thing he wanted to do was to appear dull and boring. What he needed was a great introduction—something that would hook the reader from the beginning, grab their attention, and hopefully land him with an acceptable grade.

He glanced around the room looking for a source of inspiration, which shouldn’t have been hard because he sat that evening in the library with his fellow Hufflepuffs. Hannah Abbott sat across from him writing an essay for Transfiguration. She paused momentarily to play with a strand of her blonde hair before starting a new paragraph. There was something different about her, something that had changed over the summer holiday, but Ernie couldn’t quite put his finger on it. He sighed in frustration knowing that it would probably come to him when he’d least expect it.

“Do you want to handle it, or should I?”

“Huh?”

Hannah had spoken so suddenly that Ernie had almost jumped in surprise and earned a reproachful look from Madam Pince on the other side of the library.

“The two fourth years in the next isle,” Hannah clarified. “They seem to be becoming friendlier than is good for the books. Do you want to tell them to stop, or should I? If Madam Pince has to ask them to leave, she’ll take points from Hufflepuff. And that wouldn’t be a good way to start off the year, fifty points behind the other houses for disorderly conduct.”

“Right,” he said standing. “I’ll handle it.” He left the table straightening his prefect badge and walked over to the next isle to where the disturbance was coming from. The two forth year Hufflepuffs were, as Ernie’s older sister had once said, ‘swapping spit’ and were oblivious of his arrival. He cleared his throat and tried not to smile as the two guiltily tried to straighten themselves up. “Unless you’d like me to use my prefect powers, I’m sure that you two have something else that you need to be doing at the moment, right? They nodded, picked up their school bags, and quickly left the library.

Prefect powers? He thought. It’s no wonder why I’m having problems writing if that’s the best that I can come up with. What he needed was an exceptional example that he could modify to begin his essay, and then he could take it from there. He cracked open the first book he saw, read the first few paragraphs, decided that it was perfect, and returned from the Muggle fiction section to his seat.


It was perfect, although a little difficult to comprehend. The opening paragraph was sure to bring the mystery and sophistication that he wanted. “Good job,” he whispered to himself. Hannah looked up from her essay confused. “I found what I was looking for in this book.”

“Looks like a good book,” she replied and went back to writing.

Ernie looked at the title and found that in his hands he held a copy of the adventures of one of his favorite heroes—Sherlock Holmes. He considered himself to be a little bit like Holmes. After all, he was always trying to figure out some of the mysteries at Hogwarts. Like how Filch was always able to tell when trouble was afoot, and how the Weasley twins had been able to bring deserts and snacks from the kitchens to the D.A. meetings the previous year without getting caught, and who really was the Heir of Slytherin. Of course, he hadn’t actually solved any of these cases, but he’d had two great prime suspects for the last one—until it turned out to be someone whom no one had suspected at all. And just as Holmes had Dr. Watson, Ernie had Hannah Abbott. She wasn’t a doctor, but she was kind, and trusting, and…somehow different from last year. What was it that had changed about her? And then it came to him.

“Hannah, your pigtails! They’re missing!” In fact, it looked as if she’d cut off several inches of her hair. For as long as he’d known her, she’d worn her blonde hair in two pigtails.

“Do you like it? I decided that I needed to look a little more grown up. I mean, well, you know, with the war and everything. We can’t remain children forever.”

“It’s…er…nice,” he stammered. She smiled at the compliment. And although he couldn’t think of a better way of expressing himself, he truly meant it. And she had said something that rung true within him, ‘we can’t remain children forever.” And as considered his own feelings on the current world situations, words poured into his mind and he put his quill to the parchment and began to write.


“Can I read it?” Hannah asked.

“Well, it’s not done yet. And it’s kind of personal, but all right,” Ernie replied as he slide his parchment across the table. He watched as she read, noticing the way the candlelight reflected on her hair, and how pretty it was now that it was not in pigtails, and how pretty she was.

“It’s good,” she said when she’d finished. “For the most part, it sounds like you.”

“But?”

“Well, the first paragraph—it doesn’t match. It sounds like you’re trying to impress someone with the long and complicated sentences. I would just be yourself.” She pushed the parchment back over the table.

“I’ll try that. Thanks.” He smiled hoping she would return one of her own. He wasn’t disappointed. With a new found determination, he changed the beginning again.