A little bit of background info:
The character Aislinn was completely based on me, with just a different name. It was my name previously, but I decided to change it for security purposes. Aislinn (pronounced Ay-lin) means "A dream", which illustrates the focus of the story...Aislinn holding out hope and living her dream.
My story is probably not accurate in all aspects, (e.g. the setting was totally based on my imagination, as was the process of filming Harry Potter) but please don't hold it against me. It's a total fantasy.
Reviews are appreciated.
Flame me if you want, I'm fine with that...I like my marshmellows toasted. ^_^
Without further ado, on with the story!

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*Chapter 1~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Damn it!"

The alarm clock couldn't have gone off at a worse time. Aislinn rolled over and switched off the alarm, and then sunk back under her covers, willing herself to fall back into slumber, but it was futile. She tried to recall the last scenes of her dream. She was at Young Life camp with her friends (she had gone to it in Minnesota a few weeks before), but in this dream, a certain someone had showed up, much to her pleasant surprise. She dreamt that Tom Felton had gone to that camp, because he was visiting cousins that lived in the U.S., and the last part of the dream she recalled was her and Tom laying in one of the hammocks by the beach. It's was a masterpiece of a dream; she felt that she was really there. It was kind of chilly outside, but she was warm in her sweatshirt and snuggled up against Tom. They were gazing at the stars together, which were so much brighter due to the absence of light pollution. Aislinn recalled feeling so secure and so content, lying in his arms...

She groaned and pushed herself into a sitting position. She jumped, noting that her hand rested on something wet. It was her tears, from the night before. They hadn't dried. Her memory flashed back to the night before, when she had looked into the deep, bluish-grayish eyes of Tom and pulled him close to her. But she couldn't feel his soft skin against hers, like she wished she could. Only the cold, hard glass of the picture frame. Representing the cold, hard reality: Tom Felton was famous and didn't even know she graced the planet. How can someone that she's never met have such a beautiful impact on her life, but cause her so much pain at the same time? She weakly smiled to herself, thinking about how the poor boy had no idea.

She folded back her comfy Harry Potter covers, and slid out of bed, preparing herself for a brand-new day.

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Aislinn sat in Algebra class, twiddling her pen between her fingers, in a complete daze. Her thoughts had been drifting back to the tape she sent in the mail two weeks ago.

"Oh send one in, Aislinn!"

"I dunno....I'll never get a reply...I'm American!"

"You never know! You're pretty, a good actress...you can fake a killer English accent..."
She pulled a face that her friend Erin couldn't see over the phone. Imitating her best Cockney accent, she said dramatically, "Are you suggesting coconuts migrate?!" and sent Erin into peals of laughter.

Aislinn and Erin were talking on the phone exactly two weeks before. They had recently discovered the casting address for the next Harry Potter movie and she and Erin were having fun fantasizing about being in the movie. Aislinn even asked her dad about it, but it was really in a joking sort of way.

"Daddy, if I ever got in the Harry Potter movie, would you let me go to England??"

"Of course, sweetheart."

"Seriously?!"

"Yes. I know how much that would mean to you.

And then she remembered what Erin had said after that...

"And you could finally meet your obsession..." she had teased. Her hyper little voice rang in her head. Aislinn would kill to be in that movie because she loved the books and the movies and acting so much...but the fact that Tom would be on the set, the fact that she would actually be within a 100 mile radius of him, thoroughly intrigued her. It crossed her mind that it was somewhat selfish of her to want to be in a movie because of one of the actors. However, even if Tom wasn't in it, she'd still want to be in the movie. But she'd never be driven to actually send a video in. After much thought, her mind was then set. She sent one in that night.

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Exhausted, yet happy to be home, Aislinn lugged her heavy backpack up to the door and pulled out her key to unlock the door. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw there was mail peeking out of the mailbox. "More bills, of course." She pulled them out and entered her house.
"Bill....bill...ooh, overdue library book....Mom's birthday card..." Her breath caught in her chest. "Leavesden Studios..." she breathed. Fingers trembling, she opened the envelope and unfolded the crisp, white paper.

***"Congratulations, Aislinn, we at Leavesden Studios have received your audition tape and would like you to report to Watford, England to start your filming as an extra..."***

She didn't catch much after that. She wouldn't be surprised if she alarmed the whole neighborhood with her earsplitting screams and ambulances would be rolling up to her house wondering who was the one being brutally murdered.

"You're going to England, you're going to England, you're going to England, you're going to England, you're going to England, and you're going to BE IN THE HARRY POTTER MOVIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AAAAAAAAH!!!!" She and Erin just sat there screaming. She couldn't believe it. She called her straight away after she got the letter and told her the news. She was completely breathless with excitement. It was a dream come true.

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Aislinn sat alone on her plane, gazing out the window of her airplane and watching the puffs of cloud zoom by below her. She had left Kansas City about a half hour ago and was on her way to New York, which was her connecting flight before she set off for England.

The scene before she boarded the plane laid before her. She was standing in the airport, with her parents, her best friend, Clare, and her parents. Her dad had two of her suitcases and she had her guitar. Her dad tried to convince her not to take it, she'd have to pay extra to bring it, but she couldn't leave home without it.

"I'm so proud of you, love," her mom said for the fifth time.

"Thanks Mom. I promise to call as soon as I get to my hotel." Aislinn replied, clutching her 5000 minute phone card.

"Your going to get an autographed picture of Sean Biggerstaff for me, right???", Clare squealed, bouncing up and down and smiling from ear to ear.

"Yes, yes, of course." Aislinn couldn't stop smiling either; it was plastered on there and wouldn't go away. The fleshy part of her arm was red. She had been constantly pinching it. But she was really here, she was really going to England, she was really going to be in the Harry Potter movie!

And now she sat here and a new thought entered her mind....there was a good chance that she might be able to meet Tom. After all these months survived through dreams, the dreams might be able to become reality.

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Good? Bad? Well here's where it gets good. Next chapter: meets Tom...