Disclaimer: Harry Potter, not mine. Plot, mine. Touch my plot, DIE!

Understanding How Wide

I never really understood why girls never looked my way. There was nothing particularly wrong with me. I had more brains than half of Slytherin combined and enough money to last at least six more unemployed generations through my family… I wasn't as repulsive in my looks as those scrawny Gryffindors, but I guess I wasn't as handsome as someone like… say Draco.

A small boy ran gleefully up to a young and petite girl. "Pansy! Pansy, guess what? Father's teaching me how to ride today!" He stopped beside her and shuffled his feet nervously. "Do you want to ride too, Pansy?"

Pansy backed away from him and lifted her head up haughtily. "No, who would want to go riding with you? And anyway, I already know how to ride. I guess some people are a lot better then others, don't you think so too?" She glared at him, smiling cruelly at the tears in his eyes. "Go away, you're disgusting. I don't think you have any pretty horses do you? All brown, ugly and plain. Draco has horses, and they are so beautiful! All white, or all black. So no, I will not go riding with you." She turned away from him.

"Wait! I do have pretty horses, Pansy! Belle is a black horse, she's really pretty!" The boy caught her wrist to stop her from walking away.

"Oh, let go of me you freak! Don't touch me! Do you really think I would want to be around you even if you had pretty horses? No! So back off!" She pulled her wrist away from him and pushed him hard. He stumbled and fell onto the ground, the mud clinging to his clothes. Laughter rang throughout the grounds.

"Good one Pansy. I can't believe you could be so weak, that even a girl can push you over." A cute little blonde boy walked up towards them. "Draco! How are you?" Pansy launched herself into Draco's arms. "Blaise here was bothering me, so I taught him a lesson. Don't I make a good teacher, Draco?"

"Yes." Draco looked down at the fallen boy and kicked him in the leg, laughing as Blaise cried in pain. "Don't bother Pansy again you crybaby. Come on Pansy. Father bought some more horses, so let's go riding." Pansy squealed. "Of course, Draco! I bet that all your new horses are really pretty." They both walked off, and Pansy turned to poke her tongue out at Blaise.

The young boy heaved himself off the ground and swiped angrily at the tears on his face. "Why don't you like me Pansy? I haven't done anything wrong…" Blaise whispered brokenly to himself as he stared after the beautiful girl.

Nothing changed over the next few years of my existence. The girls would go after the good-looking guys and I would be alone, with no one to go to Hogsmeade with, no one to hold onto to, and no one who was just there for me. I wasn't ugly, I knew that, so why didn't they like me?

I asked them, the girls who avoided me, why they did what they did. In the end, all I received was a response which I myself thought was stupid and morally wrong.

"You're significantly wider this way." Would be their bland reply, and they would position their hands next to their bodies and move them both out sideways. Implying that I was on the big side, those little twits were.

I for one knew that I wasn't even half the size of Crabbe, or a third of Goyle. Big my ass. They had girls fawning over them 24/2, while Draco had them 24/7. I should have at least some girls between those times if all that mattered were your looks.

Christmas was just around the corner. Workers, businessmen and women, and children alike were anticipating the merry season which would bring vacation to them in a few days. The sun shone dimly at the buildings, doing little to light up and warm the day, but doing much to remind all that Christmas was indeed, coming soon.

Blaise strode into "Le Gacroche", wrapped in a thick coat with a scarf wound around his neck. His usually pale face had turned a slight red from being bitten by the cold wind, but his dark azure eyes still stood out despite the temporary flaw. His black hair was wind blown, messy, and did nothing more than enhance his already desirable appearance.

One would agree that this 22 year old was indeed, a lean youngster wrapped in layers and layers of material suitable for Christmas weather, but one would be surprised when he took of his coat not to reveal more layers of coats or jumpers, but fashionable black dress pants, dark blue button up shirt and a black silk tie. No, this man, at second glance, was quite a good looking lad but a bit on the large side. Now, wasn't this man cold? One layer of thick warming material and then your thin everyday business suit?

Blaise handed his coat to the waiter and was led to a seat by the window. He sat down on the comfortable dining chair and accepted a menu. Flipping through it, he growled quietly, agitated that his 'date' had not yet arrived. He stared at the words on the page, but did nothing to understand them. Where was she?

"I see you're on time, Blaise." The seat across from him was soon filled with a feminine body clad in the latest fashion accessories.

"I see you're not." Blaise reached for her pale and delicate hand and kissed it gently, admiring the smooth skin that brushed against his lips.

"Now Blaise, don't go overboard. We haven't gone anywhere with our relationship yet, if you care to call it one." The woman slipped her hand away from his and flipped her long blonde hair over her shoulder, her emerald green eyes dull with boredom. "And my apologies for being late, I was caught up with something…" She looked at her fingernails, scanning them for any chips on the nail polish. She looked very sorry, Blaise noted dryly.

"Rather, you were caught up with someone?" He shifted in his chair.

"You could put it that way." She sighed. "Now what did you want Blaise? I'm sure we have much more… interesting things to discuss other than my life in the previous half hour?" Her eyebrows rose, and her pink, glossy lips tightened impatiently.

"Andrea, you know what I want. I want you. Go out with me Andrea, I'll give you anything you want." He eyed her hopefully, his fingers fidgeting anxiously, smoothing out the wrinkles on the white silk table cloth.

"Go out with you? Why Blaise? Why would I want to go out with you when I can have someone like Draco? Ever since I became his partner 3 months ago, he has never yet failed to bring me what I want and more. I doubt your family fortune could pay for the excessive amount of gifts he has showered me with. He's income in a year would most likely be worth a quarter of what you could earn in your own miserable lifetime. Apart from giving me trinkets that the majority of the wizarding world can only ever dream of, he has given me the pleasure that I have craved since I took my first breath of air twenty two years ago. Whatever you can give me; Draco can give me plus more. What makes you think that I would choose someone like you…" Here, Andrea glared at him spitefully. "Over someone like Draco?"

"And why not? Is money everything to you?" Blaise had a blank expression plastered onto his face.

"Don't be stupid. Money is all there is in the world. Without it, YOU-ARE-NOTHING. Your appearances are of course, extremely important in a society such as ours. People do judge you by your looks, and if I were to ever go out with you… Then my reputation would be ruined, would it not? Someone like me should never be seen with the likes of you." She leaned back in her chair, looking at him like he was nothing more than the boring history book that she had to read for school.

"And what is the problem in me that you find so despicable?" Swallowing the thick bile collecting in his mouth, Blaise fought to keep his face emotionless as he endured the pummeling of her words.

"Why Blaise," Andrea began lightly, her tone a mocking one. "You're too thin for your own good."

He stared at her, speechless at her audacity to mock him about something so trivial.

"To put it simply, you're wide. Horizontally wide."

There goes that word again. Wide. Would everyone he meets think the exact same thing?

"Lose that excess weight and we'll see about going out with you. I can't guarantee that I will though, because Draco will always be at the top of my list. You however, are dangerously close to the bottom, I'm afraid. If you are as desperate as you make yourself out to be, than see to it that you get rid of that flab. Keep in mind that you'll need to fix up a lot of problems with yourself before your name can surpass the 173 which are on my list. Weight isn't your only problem. Oh, and a word of advice? I prefer you use the muggle way of loosing weight. It will show me that you're man enough to handle a workout." She picked up her small, furry handbag and stood up from her seat. "If that is all?" She turned around and sauntered out of the restaurant.

Blaise stared at the empty chair before him, his eyes darkened by the insults she had thrown at him. Must she be so cruel? Is it not possible to accept him for who he was? Blaise shook his head, his eyes betraying his cool exterior with the despair that had built up over the years.

Blaise sighed heavily and stood up. His appetite was long gone even if he hadn't eaten anything. Leaving some money on the table, he grabbed his coat from the waiter and walked out of "Le Gacroche".

It had been the same through the last 15 years of his lonely existence. All the girls were the same. The ones he liked, and the ones he didn't. They all avoided him like he was some microscopic parasite that they could, surprisingly, see, and all because he was wide. It seemed that all that mattered was, indeed, your appearance.

Blaise stared up at the cloudy sky. "If all that matters is your appearance, then I'll do whatever I can to meet up to Andrea's standards." He whispered into the air and nodded his head resolutely. Yes, he would do that. He would get a girl in the end, preferably Andrea.

Yours truly, Fountain of Youth.