"Argh!" Harry cried out in frustration. After having put almost half of a bottle of gel into his hair, Harry had managed to get his hair to lie flat; a first in his life. At least, he had managed to get most of it to lie flat. His bangs were another story.
"No use . . . don't see why I need 'em . . . cut 'em off . . . horrid scar . . . just, lie flat will you?" Harry said to himself. After pondering at his reflection in the mirror for a bit, Harry washed out the gel and decided to make the rest of his hair go forward, so that when his bangs stuck up it would look natural.
"Harry? You still in there?" Ron called from outside the bathroom. "Hurry up, will you? I'm planning on leaving for Hogsmeade sometime today."
"Give me five minutes. I'll be done by then."
"You said that a half hour ago! Five more minutes and that's it! I'm leaving! I want to get to Zonko's while they still have some of those new exploding quills." Harry heard Ron walk to the dorm door and shut it behind him.
Why did girls have to care so much about guy's looks? Can't they look at a guy's personality? His charm? Sense of humor? Ability to win in fights with the Dark Lord, four times? But then, it's not like Harry paid much attention to girls personalities. At least, not one's he barely knew.
Harry gave a sharp tug to his hair as he tried to loosen the hand stuck in it.
He had seen Cho looking at that seventh year boy, Troy Something-Or-Other. Not just looking, but checking out. And there were other times too. After literally losing sleep over it, Harry realized the only thing Troy had that he didn't was flat hair. He bought a bottle of gel as soon as possible.
Finishing off the bottle, Harry gave his reflection on last look. He gave a bitter look to what he saw, and tried to ignore the fact that he hated the detail that his mirror image looked nothing like him.
Sighing Harry ran down to the common room, where Hermione was waiting.
"Where's Ron?"
"He left a bit ago. Wanted to get to Zonko's, I think."
"Ah." Harry got the distinct impression that Hermione was holding back laughter. He looked up to see her struggling not to smile. "What? What's so funny?"
Hermione let go, and burst into giggles. "You - you look ridiculous! What did you do to yourself?"
Harry self-consciously patted his hair and said "I made it lay flat."
"It looks awful! You look so . . . so unlike you!"
"I thought most girls liked it when guys have flat hair." Harry replied, trying his best not to bolt to a mirror to see what looked so wrong.
Hermione shrugged. "I suppose so. But I just don't see the point in changing yourself, look-wise or other, in order to please the opposite sex. It only proves how shallow our world has become. I mean, if you want someone to like you, shouldn't you be you? Not some fake person they think you are. I don't understand our generation's need to please others." Hermione paused. "Especially when the change makes you look as ludicrous as that." She burst into giggles again.
"Oh." was the only reply Harry could think of. That was Hermione for you. One minute insulting you, the next, burying you in her opinions and ideas. Then right back to insulting you. The whole lot made Harry's head spin. "So you - you don't like it like this?"
"No. I actually liked how it usually is. I mean, the old Harry's pretty good, why change?"
Harry blinked at this. "Well," he said, changing the subject, "Let's get going."
"Bring your cloak. It's chilly."
Harry rolled his eyes, then sprinted back up to the dorm. Reaching for his cloak, he caught sight of himself in a mirror over Seamus' bed.
Hermione was right. He did look ridiculous.
Harry gave a glance to his hand, then back to the mirror. In one swift move he messed up his hair, tousling it until the gel was gone and it looked like normal.
If Cho didn't like it like this, well, she had Troy.
And besides, Harry had someone who appreciated himself for, well, himself.
Harry threw the cloak on and ran back down to where Hermione was waiting.
