Wow.

Wow.

Hi, everyone.

If you're new to me, nice to meet you.

If not, and you were wondering if maybe I died, then, well...

Hi. I'm so sorry. But hi.

13 years ago, I was a very silly, creative, and lovelorn 14 year old. One day, I created a profile on Fanfiction.net so I could read and write nerdy Harry Potter fanfic, specifically about Ron and Hermione. I was obsessed - I would stay up late through the night, listening to angsty love songs and pouring my heart into my story, Tangled. I had no idea what the Harry Potter series still had in store, of course; the 5th book hadn't been released yet and words like "horcrux" and "deathly hallows" didn't exist in my lexicon.

But I didn't care. Harry Potter was like a light in an otherwise dreary teenage existence and I loved every second of it.

Oh, how much, and how little, has changed.

Years went by and my profile, and my story, gathered dust. The rest of the Harry Potter books were released, as were the movies. I graduated from high school and went to college. I fell in love, had my heart completely and utterly shattered, and slowly but surely picked up the pieces and moved on. I went through injuries and operations, illnesses, breakups, heartbreaks, and unbelievable moments of pure bliss. My life moved forward, sometimes, almost stubbornly, in spite of myself. I never forgot about my little foray into fanfic writing, and I certainly never forgot about my love for Harry Potter, but in almost every sense of the word, I abandoned the website and my story. Hell, I even forgot the login to my profile.

But the thing is... it was always there. Lurking. Weirdly haunting me. I couldn't seem to shake it, no matter how much time passed (and oh, was there was SO MUCH TIME) or how much older and supposedly more mature I was.

Then finally, one day, I just thought, "What the hell?"

I cracked the mystery of my login. I got back into my terrifyingly old account, and I finally had access to the story that I had started as a child. It was weird. So weird. Reading what I had written over a decade ago was bizarre. Some things still held up. Others definitely didn't. But it was mine and it was unfinished and I made a decision. Although there might not be anyone there to read the story I had started so many years ago, I wanted to finish it. I wanted to tweak it and fix it and make it better - and canon - and finally finish the story that I had loved for years.

So, to those of you still with me, thank you for giving my story and my profile a shot. Here's hoping I can muster up the will, determination, patience, and courage to stick with it. I think this could be a lot of fun.

~Burgundy Dahlia aka Bella Mia

Love and pain are like pb&j; you can't have one without the other.