I Have Seen Them Change

I have seen them grow, change, and bond from a distance. They have never ceased to amaze me. What they have accomplished throughout the years is incredible, and I envy them. But with accomplishment also comes pain. How do they live when pain is preying on them? How do they go on when death is calling their names? They have suffered greatly, and that I do not envy...

"Hi Susan," Harry says to me in the corridors. His face is smiling, but his eyes are cold.

I smile and wave at him.

I remember when I first saw Harry in our first year, five years ago. He looked scared at the sorting. I remember all the students' whispers.

"-the Harry Potter?"

"Is it really him?"

I watched as he put the tattered old hat over his head. I could see him gripping the seat out of nervousness. He was whispering something, but he was whispering so softly, that I could not hear him. After about five minutes, the hat shouted, "GRYFFINDOR!" and the Great Hall erupted with cheers, all coming from the Gyrffindor table. I could particularly make out the cat calling of the Weasley twins. Harry went and sat next to them, smiling, and looking relieved.

He looked so innocent.

I remember how he changed in our second year. His heart hardened in that time. All the hardships he suffered in that year were something that I could not bear. Ginny, almost dying, the basilisk after him, and the whole school against him...I felt for him. I saw him, as he walked off the train, chatting happily with Ron and Hermione. I also saw him in June, walking onto the train. He was chatting with Ron and Hermione, but with a little less spring in his step, and with a hardened face, as if he could not smile too widely.

Our third year passed. He came to school almost the same as the year before. I could see in his face fear and determination, as if he already knew what was to happen to him that year. But he was content for the moment. Or at least as content as one can be in his state. Sirius Black was after him, and there was nothing he could do.

I saw him conquer his greatest fear. I was watching through the dormitory window at the end of the year. I saw him running, trying to catch up with something that had scurried across the ground moments before. Then the
Dementors came. He conquered them, like he conquered everything else in his years within our world, his world. Then I saw him fall, but with triumph.

As we left the castle, he looked saddened, as if some great treasure had been snatched from him.

Our fourth year came and went. He suffered greatly and I felt his pain. Once again, the majority of the school was against him. He had lost trust from everyone, even his best friend. I was angry on his behalf also, but I still knew the truth.

Through this experience, I saw him becoming more of what he was in his three years at Hogwarts.

Then the Third Task. I remember the playful anticipation and how it turned to horror. The noise was incredible in the stands as everybody cheered their champion on. Then Fleur's scream and everyone went silent for a time. Then came Cedric's. Anticipation turned into horror.

Moody was revealed.

Voldemort was revitalized.

Harry was hardened once more.

Cedric...dead.

Our fifth year came and went as well. I cannot begin to describe the awfulness of that time. I can only bring myself to say that Harry was changed like I have never seen before. He came broken, he left...shattered...

"Hi Susan," Hermione says to me. She walks with dignity and speaks with her heart.

Bushy hair and an attitude. I smile to myself. That was my first impression of Hermione Granger. She was smart, she was sure, and she was friendless. Made fun of by her peers, Hermione tried to survive, and failed. Harry and Ron befriended her, by accident perhaps, but they did all the same. I am grateful for that, for without the act of bravery that they showed, Hermione would not be what she is today. She would be friendless and cold. But whatever happened, Hermione would not show her weakness to others. She would be strong. Others may crumble to the ground, but why should Hermione? She keeps her dignity, and she holds it close.

In the beginning, she was bossy and a know-it-all. She knew everything that there was to know. She knew where everything belonged and that, when she took charge, everything would be in its place. As long as she knew, the world was at ease.

Hermione has changed.

Now, she is content and logical. She knows that even if she does not identify, a solution is possible. She is content with the darkness that sometime shrouds knowledge. She may be lost, but she recognizes that the world will go on.

She has changed so much.

She went from brains to wisdom, and back again, getting lost in the chaos of this world that we live in. But she has found her place, and is at peace at the moment. For when she has wisdom, all will be right. For when she has her friends, all will be safe...

"Hi Susan," Ron says to me. His actions are careless, but his intentions are greater.

I laugh to myself when I think of the change that has come over Ron in the last few years. On that first train ride, I remember seeing him looking into the compartment where Harry Potter sat. He looked so feeble and shy. Attempting to make conversation, and trying to be equal to the person that he was sitting just two feet away from. He wanted to be important. He wanted to be known.

Through the years, his brothers have shadowed him. I do not know how he went on trying. He had to live up to their standards, their accomplishments and their pride. He was so vulnerable. Vulnerable to anything that came his way. Vulnerable to anyone who tried to take away from himself or his friends. Vulnerable to everything.

Like Harry, he too has hardened over the years, but in a different way. Instead of becoming colder, he has become more confident. He can overcome the challenges that he has been faced with for his whole life. He can defeat the shadows of his brothers that will try to overpower him. He can conquer the weight of being poor. He can surmount the danger that will inevitably come to him. Any challenge that he is faced with, he will overcome. He may stumble, but he will survive.

Instead of walking in the dark, he can walk with pride.

Through these five years, Harry, Ron and Hermione have become like family to each other. Through these five years, they have become each other. Through these five years, they have loved each other. I have watched them from a distance grow and bond. I have seen them change.