For Schermionie's 10.9.8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1 Challenge at the HP Fanfiction Challenges Forum. 10 words, then 20, up to 100

As Love Grows

I –

That first time, at Hogwarts, she likes what she sees.

II –

He barely notices her. He is here for Harry, to watch him. But he will applaud her to be polite.

III –

He comes back to England because it is the right thing to do. (But he misses the tombs.) She comes to England to get a job to improve her English.

IV –

They meet at Gringotts on a rainy day when she is missing her home. He listens to her and gives her chocolate. It seems that he understands. He thinks her very beautiful. She wishes he had not seen her crying.

V –

They go to a pub on a beautiful sunny evening three days later. They laugh and talk and it seems like they have known each other forever. He laughs at some of her English, but she retorts (quite truthfully) that his French is worse. He could fall for this girl.

VI –

They start to date. He cannot deny that she is beautiful (the most beautiful girl he has ever met), but there is far more to her than that. She is smart and funny, and when you get to know her, you find that she is caring and kind too. Sure, she's vain, but who wouldn't be with looks like that?

VII –

She thinks of all the reasons she shouldn't be with him. He is seven years older than she is. He is English. There is something going on in his life that he will not talk about. But she likes him, and she is sure that very soon it will be more than liking. He is kind and funny and handsome and caring. She stops thinking about the reasons why not.

VIII –

She loves that he sees her as more than a beautiful woman. She knows that he values her for more than the way she looks. When they are together, he listens to her, he really listens. She is used to men - to boys really - who are so busy looking at her, they never hear a word she says. He makes her feel special, valued, important, human. When she is with him, she does not need to be vain.

IX –

He has had girls in the past, but this one is different. None of the others made him feel as this girl does. He wants to tell the world, but at the same time he wants to keep it secret, private, special. He had thought he was in love once or twice before, but it was different. Never before did he want it to last forever. He cannot even imagine how bad he would feel if this was to end. He supposes that this is what real love feels like.

X –

It does not take long before they are the world and more to each other. Every look, every touch, every kiss, every word spoken is special. Neither can imagine life without the other, and they even begin to wonder now how they ever survived before, before this magic happened to them. Other people are noticing now, intruding on their private world, but they do not mind the gossip or the giggles. They do not affect them or change what they feel for each other. They both know that this is forever, and they would not have it any other way.