I met her on the train ride to Hogwarts. We both got sorted into Hufflepuff, we take all the same classes, and we're best friends. But I've started to feel a little more for Hannah Abbott. It's wrong, I know. My parents keep trying to introduce me to nice young men ever since they found out I was a lesbian. It's never worked. I can't like boys as much as Hannah. She's my best friend, my soul mate, and my secret love. She's the reason I've been able to be happy all these years at Hogwarts. She's an angel without wings, sent down from Heaven to make me realize how boring my life was, and to help me find myself. I don't know how I survived before I met her.

Oh yes, I remember. I didn't. I was bored, dead, and unhappy until I met her. My parents are bland and boring, and I don't have any brothers or sisters. Then I met Hannah and I came alive.

She taught me to laugh. She taught me to love. She taught me to see colors and she taught me to smile.

One day when we were working outside, a butterfly flew by and Hannah caught it.

"Look!" she said, her eyes lighting up. "Look at this, Susan!" She showed me the yellow butterfly in her hands, and seeing that butterfly and how Hannah's eyes were wide with fascination made me realize how much I had missed in my years of blandness. She smiled at me and asked, "Do you want to hold it?"

Sitting there with Hannah, holding that butterfly, was the day I started living.

She has no idea I feel this way. I think she has a crush on Ernie Macmillan, who is nice and all, but he's, well, Ernie. He's a bit of a prat. Hannah probably thinks I'm going to be a nun or something. Justin Finch-Fletchley asked me out two months ago and I turned him down. Hannah tried to convince me to go out with him, saying he was perfect for me, but I couldn't. I know Hannah doesn't feel the same way, but I can't stop thinking "what if?" Just what if she did feel the same way? I've never had a girlfriend before. I've never even had a boyfriend.

I stay up late at night sometimes, just thinking about her. Sometimes I can't sleep, knowing she's just two beds away. Sitting next to her in class is intoxicating, especially if she's forgotten a book and has to share mine. The way her hair falls across her face makes my heart speed up and my hands start to sweat. I get nervous she'll see me looking at her, so I try not to, but I always end up staring at her anyway. I feel naked around her, like everybody can see all my secrets, and all I can do is frantically try to cover them. I'm in love with my best friend, and she has no idea. She goes on reading like she doesn't notice I'm there. She smiles at me and doesn't know that my heart is beating as though I've just run a mile. She flirts with Ernie and doesn't know that it breaks my heart. She hugs me goodbye and doesn't know that I never want to let go. She doesn't hear my heart beating loudly against my chest as if it wants to jump out, and so she doesn't know. But I hear it, and I know. I can tell my life will never be the same.

I wish I could tell her I feel this way, but I know it's no use. I'm just Susan Bones, Hannah Abbott's best friend. Nothing more.

But what if she did feel the same way?

Everything would be different. We'd walk down the corridors, hand in hand. People would stare, but we wouldn't notice. We'd be in our own little cocoon, a cocoon of love.

"Susan?" I look up quickly. Hannah's standing in front of me, smiling in a way that tells me she'd tried to get my attention several times.

"Yeah?" I whisper. I clear my throat and try again. "Yeah, Hannah?"

"I found this on my bed," she tells me, handing me a small silver chain with a small, sparkling light blue charm shaped like a moon on it. "You must have dropped it last time you borrowed my red top." She smiles and says, "It matches your eyes. Have I told you that before?" I nod and take the necklace.

"Thanks," I say, "I don't know how I dropped it... it's my favourite."

"I know," Hannah smiles. "I knew it would be the minute I saw it in the shop window."

I recall the day she gave it to me - Christmas Day, two years ago - and I feel my cheeks start to heat up. I hastily look away, but not before she sees my face.

"Susan, what's wrong?" she asks, concerned. "You're blushing."

"I always blush," I mumble. "It's nothing." I can't tell her, I can't, I -

"Well, if there ever is something, you know I'll listen," she smiles and turns to leave.

"Hannah - " I blurt out. I blush even harder. "Never mind." I can't believe I almost told her.

"Okay," she says, but not as if she believes me. "I'll see you later, then."

"'Bye," I say, and avoid her eyes till she turns and leaves. Maybe someday I'll have the courage to tell her how I feel. I look down at the necklace in my hand. I run my finger over the smooth jewel. I remember the day she gave it to me - the one day I thought she might feel the same way I do.

"Susan!" Hannah called up the stairs to the girls' dormitory. I heard it distantly in my foggy brain. I pulled myself out of the deep sleep I had been in just in time. Hannah came stomping into the room and good-naturedly hit me in the face with a pillow. I laughed and sat up.

"Happy Christmas!" I fought off the pillow's blows and climbed out of bed. I pulled my long hair back into a ponytail and followed Hannah down the stairs.

"Open this one last," she patted a small square package. I shrugged and opened the one next to it. It was from my mother - a journal. The next one was from my father. It was three quills and an embroidered handkerchief that I'm sure was meant to be wrapped in the package from my mother. Then, since Hannah had opened all hers and there were none left for me besides the last one, I opened Hannah's gift. It was a necklace. I gasped and ran my fingers over the blue moon charm.

"I knew you'd love it the minute I saw it," Hannah smiled. "Look at the card." Attached to the box was a card that read, 'What we've got is something that comes once in a blue moon! -Hannah' I smiled and put it on.

"Thank you so much, Hannah!" I cried. "It's gorgeous."

"It matches your eyes," Hannah said, touching the charm. Her fingers grazed my chest and I felt my cheeks heat up. That's when I knew... I was in love with Hannah Abbott.

I snap out of my reverie and look down at the necklace in my hand. I stand up and face the mirror, hooking the necklace on. As I sweep my long hair out from under the chain, I smile.

Hannah's right; the charm matches my eyes.