As of 3/25/08:

Hello, readers, and welcome to "Diary Writing," lol. Now, since it's been a while since I've even looked at this story, I find it necessary to warn you – this was my first long story for HP fan fiction, and it shows. There are a million and five mistakes I've made here, the plot is ridiculous as I look back at my planning, and I am ashamed of this story. Truly, I am. It's naïve, it's irritating, it's melodramatic, and it's painful to think I wrote it.

But, as will be clear, some people did like it – some people liked it a lot. Maybe you'll be one of them, but probably, you won't.

So, if you choose to venture out into the path of this tale, remember those things, and adhere to them; I've written infinitely better stories, which can be accessed on my profile, and this one is simply here as a monument to my atrocious starting-out writing style. We all need at least one bad story on our list, don't we?

So, thank you for swallowing that rant, and if you're going to read on, I wish you luck.

Zay

Lily

September 25th

Dear Diary,

My name is Lily Evans.

From what I've heard, that's the first thing someone has to write in their new diary - their name. So I wrote mine – Lily Evans. That's not a very unique name, one of the many shortcomings of having very clichéd parents; my mum is a keen gardener, thus my name is Lily. My sister's name is Petunia - there's some thrilling originality right there.

But let's see here…what is there really worth writing about in this diary? I'm fifteen years old, I'm not very pretty, and I am known to babble, and I happen to be a witch. No, no…I'm not a witch in the Muggle (non-magic person) way, where I'm referring to myself as a terrible person. No; I'm a witch, meaning I can do magic with a wand and fly around on a broomstick. Well, actually, I'm terrified of broomsticks - and heights - but I can do magic. My school is Hogwarts, and I'm a fifth year and a prefect there. The new school year only just started a few of weeks ago on the first of September, and my dad gave me this diary as a gift. He said to write some thoughts in here and mail the book home now and then so that he could "talk to me in a more personal way." I agreed to write in it, but it would go to no other hands, least of all my father's. I'm prone to being honest to the point of betraying myself when using journals and related books as "escapes." There is no way on God's green earth I'm letting anyone see what goes on in my head - that would be the single most embarrassing thing that could ever happen to me.

But yes, I am Lily Evans. I am, by no stretch of the imagination, a very interesting person. For instance, I've never actually had a boyfriend. Never. I am guilty of several crushes throughout my years, but none of them were ever acted upon. Meaning I've never been kissed, nor have I gone on a date. Guys in the Muggle world have taken me out for a milkshake before, but that's not really a date; that's a boy feeling bad for me, taking me out, discovering I'm as boring as a block of cheese, and politely refusing to speak to me again. In the Wizard world, I have been offered a chance to go out several times (apparently, wizards like dreary, hideous girls), but I hated all of them, and I turned them down. So if, in the really off-chance anyone reads this journal, I can see where they'd just throw it on the ground and never try reading it again. Maybe it's a good thing I keep it private.

I just don't relate to people very well; that's a very simple truth that I don't mind starting off my "wonderful" new diary with. I have two best friends, Kyleigh Brookes and Leila Patterson, and I don't know how they manage to put up with me. I love them - they're amazing people - but I'm just so…unexciting. Kyleigh is beautiful and boys line up at her feet frequently, and she's always partying with people much better than me. She's in love with this idiot named Sirius Black right now, and he is one of the most arrogant, conceited people in the world. Leila doesn't really have a boyfriend either, which is some comfort t to me, but several guys like her. Despite this, she's only got one person she's interested in. That person happens be the most loathsome moron in existence, and his name is James Potter. I can't stand the creep, but she has this profound interest in him - don't ask me to explain why; I couldn't - not even if my life depended on it. It appears that James is "cute," and "funny," and "a really great guy who's fun to be around." That's using Leila's words, not mine; God forbid they ever be mine.

As you may have already begun to notice, I don't like most guys. That's one thing I need to document from the very beginning, because it's one of the fundamental things that make me who I am, when I actually have a personality. I just hate the way guys I know move among each other and show off, how they objectify women, and just generally how they act. They seem to be under the delusion that being a dork and using corny pick-up lines are the way to a woman's heart; for the record, they aren't. If anything, they deepen a woman's disgust in them, until they are nothing but a speck of irritating dust in their lives.

I guess that's all I can really say about me for right now. Like I said, I'm absolutely boring, and the people around me make me who I am. I suppose I do feel sort of weird, talking to a book like this, but I guess that's just something I'm going to do, whether I feel weird or not. I don't relate well to people, as I have already established, so I might as well treat this diary as my friend. So, back to business - the term hasn't had anything happen that's worth writing about, 'friend,' therefore I don't have anything else to say for the time being. Leila and I were thinking of going to Hogsmeade day after tomorrow, since Kyleigh has a date (already!) with this guy named Chris Daniels, and that's really the biggest thing on my social calendar right now. Sad, I know. But pathetic and sad are pretty much the heart of who I, Lily Evans, really am.