My name is Samantha Hanson. I’m 20 years old and I used to go to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I have brown hair and hazel eyes and I am a very outgoing person. My house in Hogwarts of course was Gryffindor. I was a real troublemaker back in school and had my fair share of detentions. My best friends were Fred Weasley, George Weasley and Lee Jordan. I don’t see much of Lee anymore. I often see George; he comes by to visit me every now and again. George is a very successful man. He runs a joke shop and makes a fair amount of money. Fred Weasley was more than a friend to me. I had loved Fred since the day I met him and I still do love him and I have a feeling I always will. I have never been the same since the day that I lost the love of my life forever. It all happened about a year ago and this is my story.
“Sam,” said Fred Weasley as he was walking with me into the Hog’s Head, “I don’t want you to fight. I care about you too much to lose you.”
“Fred, I feel the same way about you!” I cried as I hugged him, “I don’t want to lose you either.”
“Sam, I’ve got to do this,” he said looking at me with his gorgeous hazel eyes, “I love you.”
I began to cry as I held Fred close to me. When I hugged him, I felt as if nothing could go wrong, the world was a peaceful place when I held the man I loved.
“I love you too!” I yelled still crying as I gave him a long passionate kiss. A kiss that told him no matter what happened, I would always love him. “Fred,” I said breaking from the kiss, “I want to be with you forever and if something happens to you tonight, my dreams will turn into nightmares…”
“Nothing will happen to me tonight,” he said looking deep into my eyes.
“How can you promise that?” I asked now crying harder than ever.
“I can’t,” he said, “but know this Samantha Hanson, I love you with all my heart, my soul and my life. If I had a choice, I would leave with you tonight and not help fight Voldemort. I would stay with you forever.”
“Fred,” I yelled, “I’m of age! I can fight too! I want to fight! This is the man that killed my parents! I want to kill him or do anything I can to help kill him!”
“Please, Sam,” he said, “I’m doing this because I love you. Now I have to go.”
I didn’t let go of him. I wanted to keep him close to me. I looked up at him and kissed him passionately.
“I’ve got to go,” he said and without another word, he vanished through Hogsmeade and up to the castle. I walked into the Hog’s Head and sat down at a table by myself. The man that I had loved had walked away from me. As far as I knew, he could be gone forever, but I knew that wouldn’t happen. In a little while, someone will come and inform me that the war is over and Lord Voldemort had been destroyed and that everyone was alright. Then, Fred and I would move away and start our life together.
“Fred get down or he will see you!” I whispered harshly as Fred, George, Lee and I were crouching behind a statue in Hogwarts School. The four of us had just left the back-to-school feast and had just enough time to pull a prank on Snape before we had to be up in our common room.
I suddenly heard footsteps coming down the stairs and I saw Professor Snape just the way I had imagined it. His hair was bright purple with orange polka dots on it. I remember that look on Snape’s face. It was the look he gave when he wanted someone expelled.
It was hard for the four of us to conceal our laughter and it was especially hard for me. I had the tendency to randomly burst out laughing.
“Sam, be quiet,” whispered Fred, “You’re going to get us caught.”
I couldn’t contain my laughter any longer and I began to laugh so loud that I wouldn’t have been surprised if Dumbledore had heard it up in his office.
“Just who I thought it was,” said Snape as he looked at the four of us sitting by the statue. We all stood up trying to hide our smiles.
“50 points from Gryffindor and one week of detention for all four of you,” said Snape.
“Yes Professor Grape – I mean Snape!” I quickly corrected myself and Fred, George and Lee began laughing their heads off.
“And an extra week of detentions for you Ms. Hanson,” said Snape as he walked off. Fred, George, Lee and I all made our way to the Gryffindor common room and we all sat by the fire laughing.
“Professor Grape!” yelled Lee laughing, “That’s brilliant! I would have never thought of that!”
“What can I say?” I said in a very cocky voice, “I am brilliant.”
“Yeah,” said George, “You wish.”
“Well,” said Lee as he stood up, “It’s been quite a day, I’m off to bed.”
“Yep,” said George also standing up, “Me too. Fred, you coming?”
“Yeah in a minute,” said Fred. Lee and George went up to their dorm.
“So,” I said, “We got in trouble on the first day of school. That’s a record isn’t it?”
“I’m pretty sure,” said Fred moving closer to me. I rested my head on his chest and I could hear his slow, steady, heartbeat. I looked up at him and noticed his beautiful hazel eyes. The eyes that I fell in love with the day I met him. Before I knew what I was doing, I brought my lips closer to his and he did the same. Our lips were about an inch away when George came back into the common room and Fred and I both looked over at him and he stopped dead in his tracks.
“I forgot my wand,” he said stupidly. I looked over at the floor and saw his wand there. “Well…bye.” He said heading back to his dorm.
“Where were we?” asked Fred smiling at me.
“Right about here,” I said smiling back at him and I gave him a kiss on the lips. It was the first time that I had ever kissed him and it was the first time that I felt like I had done something right.
I shook my head a little bit trying to get that memory out of my head. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to though. It was the first time that I had kissed Fred, my best friend. Today was the day that I realized that was the best move that I had ever made. We were 15 at that time and our school days seemed to have ended too soon. Now we were fighting Lord Voldemort in a war. That flashback made me realize that I wasn’t going to lose Fred. I had to help fight. I wasn’t just going to sit here in this stupid pub while my true love was out there fighting for me.
I jumped up from the table and ran out of the pub. I ran through the streets of Hogsmeade and I had to attack a few death eaters along the way. I finally made my way to the Hogwarts ground where I looked over at the Black Lake. The lake that used to be so peaceful and now looked dark and resembled death.
“Sam,” yelled Fred, “I know you want to see the Giant Squid so come on!”
“No,” I replied, “I’m more of a stay-on-land person.”
It was true. I had always had a fear of water. I never liked even being near it. It was just the thing that I would rather look at then get into. I was terrified on my first year at Hogwarts when Hagrid took us on the boats that took you up to the castle.
“It’s okay,” said Fred taking my hand, “I will be with you the whole time.”
“Fred I’d rather not,” I said looking nervously at the water.
“Come one,” he said, “What’s the worst that could happen?”
“Oh I dunno,” I said, “I could drown, we could be killed by the Giant Squid or some grindylows could –
But I never got to finish my sentence. Fred had planted a big kiss on lips and I kissed him back.
“I would never let any of that happen to you,” he said looking into my eyes, “and that is a promise.”
A tear fell from my face as I remembered the good old days. Then I remembered that I had to go and help Fred. I looked up at Hogwarts School. It used to be a welcoming, comforting place, but ever since Dumbledore died, it hasn’t been very comforting.
I ran into the Great Hall where the battle was going on. Spells were flying everywhere and then I saw two read-headed boys fighting side by side. One of which was Fred and the other one which was Percy. Both of them were fighting back to back and they seemed to be talking to each other. The next thing I knew, they both began to laugh. Then out of nowhere, the air exploded near Fred and Percy and my stomach seemed to do a back flip. I looked over and I saw Fred lying on the ground and Percy was leaning down by his head crying. My heart stopped and I couldn’t breathe and I began to black out, my world had ended right before my eyes as I fell to the floor. Everything that I held dear to me was now gone. My future was gone, my life was gone and Fred was gone.
I woke up several hours later extremely surprised. I thought that I had died.
“Oh thank god you’re alright,” said the voice of George who was hugging me. My eyes had adjusted and I was lying on a table in the Great Hall where there were plenty of other bodies surrounding me. I sat up and looked around and I only muttered one word.
“Fred,” I said looking up at George. He didn’t say anything, he just pointed at another body that was lying close beside me. Mrs. Weasley was crying over the body and I stopped breathing as soon as I saw who it was.
“Fred, please wake up,” I said leaning over his body with tears streaming down my face, “Fred wake up! I know you are only joking wake up!”
But the lifeless body did not move. I touched his stone cold face and I rested my head on his chest. There was no heart beat. My world had suddenly crashed down upon me and I was sobbing just as Mrs. Weasley was.
George came over to me and he wrapped me up into a big hug. It was hard to see through all of the tears in my eyes but from what I could see, George was crying as well.
I did not cry at the funeral. I tried not to cry, the only thing that I did was remember the good times that we shared together and dreamed of what could have been if he were still alive. I was of course happy that Lord Voldemort had been destroyed but why did he have to take my love with him? That night was the night that I realized, anything can happen right before your eyes. You can lose the one you love with the snap of a finger. It made me realize that you should appreciate life and treat everyday as a gift because you never know what could happen. From the day that Fred died, my prankster days were over. I did not want to continue something that used to make me happy. Nothing would be the same without Fred, the one and only love I ever had and the only love I ever will have. People tried to tell me to forget, but I didn’t want to forget. I wanted to remember every moment that we spent together from every prank to every kiss. I cherished those days that we spent together and every night I dreamed about them. There are still times where I wake up in the morning and think that his death was just a bad dream, but I know one day I will be with him again. I will be reunited with my parents and the man that I loved, but until then, I will live my life to the fullest and think everyday of my one true love, Fred Weasley.
