Hermione gagged once more, the contents of her stomach splashing into the toilet water as she heaved. Moaning Myrtle was whining in the background.
A quiet moment passed, the whole room in a hush, and then Hermione let out a strangled sob that echoed. She wiped at her eyes with the heels of her hands.
She adjusted the way she was sitting, her legs splayed apart as she stared at nothing, her eyes red.
"I wonder if I'll ever be pretty," Hermione whispered, and the audience sighed at the heartbreaking words.
"Hey, wasn't this supposed to be a comedy?"
"Yes, it is," Snape said, answering the pianist and sweeping into the room with a swirl of his black cloak. He tilted up his chin and stared imposingly down at Hermione. "What are you doing here, Granger?"
Horrified at being caught, Hermione wiped at the mess of vomit smeared across her chin. "Sir, what are you doing here? This is the girl's bathroom."
Snape's eyes swept across the room before landing on her again. "So it is. My question stands."
Hermione grew silent. How could she explain? Perhaps...a song would be the best way? She stood, bracing herself against the wall. She stared off into the distance, drawing the breath into her chest before beginning.
"Once upon a time, I thought I was pretty," her voice took a moment to warm up, but once it did Snape found himself enraptured by the music.
"And then I looked in the mirror." Her fingers brushed the handheld mirror seemingly floating mid-air. "And I saw and I knew. It was like a fever dream, so crazy it felt real."
"I'm not beautiful. I'm not pretty. I'm nothing. Have you seen Cho? She's a perfect example of what I ought to be...but then I remember. She's not me."
Hermione began running a hand over her messy hair. "Every day I wake up, and I pretend to love myself, to care about tomorrow. I have no choice to be strong because my parents are anything but-"
She spun around, to stare straight at a disoriented Snape.
"I may be fat-" she clutched her stomach, glanced at the toilet, thought of all those cold meals. "I may want to disappear, but I can't help but hope that one day someone will see me, someone will care and tell me I'm something! But then I remember."
Her voice broke. "I'm nothing."
There was a hush, then-
"Granger, did you say something?" Snape asked, hiding his expression behind a curtain of hair. "I am afraid I didn't hear."
Tears came to Hermione's eyes and she went to pull away, hurt that yet another person had deemed her unimportant. His hand clamped down on her arm.
"I would like to go to the Three Broomsticks with you," Snape announced, sighing dramatically. "Where we will no doubt be seen by numerous students and Professors, thus giving us the perfect segue into some kind of dramatic moment."
A smile broke out Hermione's face and Snape left through a curtain, vanishing into the shadows as the lights dimmed.
"Sounds great!" Hermione chirped.