The Problem with Pretty

By LittleMissRedShoes

(A/N: This is the first thing I have posted in a while. I'm hoping to start publishing some of the ideas I've been working on in my absence. I have about a million of them floating around in this jumbled up head of mine just waiting to get out. This hasn't been beta'd so please excuse any spelling mistakes.)

Disclaimer: Anything you recognise isn't mine. (If it was, I'd be a whole lot richer :p)

"Pretty." Lily Evans whispered as she looked in the mirror. She stroked her reflection lightly. She hated that word with a passion. She was a pretty girl. She wasn't being big-headed in her acknowledgement of this fact. The truth was, it was hard to miss when it was pointed out to you on at least a daily basis.

She was five when she first noticed. It was at a birthday for her cousin, Mark. It was a big family gathering full of family and friends. While her immediate family was only her parents, her sister, and herself, she had nine cousins, all of whom were boys. She didn't like these big family things because the boys would never let her and Petunia play.

She noticed that her uncles would speak to her cousins about school and sports and books, but all they had to say to her was how pretty she looked in her new party dress. She simply couldn't comprehend why they didn't want to talk to her about her school. Moving up from her nursery class to big school was very important. She go to wear a uniform and was learning to spell words and do sums and everything! Surely that was more interesting than stupid Mark and his stupid football club!

There was a time in her youth when she had naively thought that as she grew older, people might grow less interested in her looking 'pretty' and be more interested in what went on inside her head. She had been sorely mistaken.

Once, she had spoken to Petunia about her worries of never being more than just a pretty face, but Petunia would never understand her anxiety.

"Don't be stupid! At least they take notice of you. Just be the pretty little airhead we all know you are and enjoy the attention."

Lily really didn't like her sister sometimes.

Then, her Hogwarts letter came. Lily was so excited to be going to school and learn all about magic. Surely in a place like this, a witch's ability must count for more than what she looked like. She couldn't wait to get so school. She wrote it neatly on the mother's calendar in the kitchen and circled it several times in red marker. Every morning, she would take great joy in going to the calendar and drawing a large black cross across the previous day. She just knew that her life was about to change and everything was going to be wonderful.

School was everything that she dreamed it would be. She went to class and did her homework in the evenings, she sat in the common room and chatted with the other first year Gryffindor girls, and not once did she hear the word 'pretty'. She was in paradise. For about a month and a half…

Lily was sat at one of the large round tables in Gryffindor common room with her dorm mates, minding her own business while they all worked on their Charms essays that were due in next week. The common room was busy with Gryffindors of all ages, most of whom were excitedly chatting about the upcoming Quidditch match that weekend. It was Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw. One group in particular was being more rowdy than the rest. The first year boys were in the opposite corner of the common room, huddled together, laughing and shouting, although none of what they were saying was intelligible over the rest of the conversations taking place. Lily was struggling to concentrate with all of the noise. She was just about to excuse herself to go continue working in her dorm when it happened. Possibly the worst moment of Lily's life to date.

James Potter, a fellow first year with messy black hair that always seemed to be in his eyes, climbed up on the table while the other first year boys clapped and cheered. As he loudly cleared his throat, the entire common room fell silent, wondering what this bold little first year could possibly have to say to the whole of Gryffindor house.

And that was when James Potter declared to the whole common room that Lily Evans was the prettiest witch in the whole of Hogwarts.

Lily sank down into her chair, her face flushing pink, as every single one of the room's occupants turned to her. Some of the older students cheered and wolf whistled. One of the older boys even shouted "Go on love! Give 'im a kiss!" If Lily knew a spell that would cause the ground to open up and swallow her whole, she would have gladly used it right then.

She grabbed her thing and practically sprinted up to her dorm. Even up here, she could hear the commotion that was going on in the common room. There was a lot of shouting and laughter. She couldn't cast an effective silencing charm yet, so she had to do with drawing her curtains and crying silently into her pillow. She heard the door to the dormitory open every now and then as another one of her roommates would come to check on her, but Lily pretended to be asleep.

By breakfast the following morning, Lily's embarrassment at the whole situation had developed into full blown indignant rage. How dare James Potter embarrass her like that in front of the whole house! Why couldn't he just keep his stupid opinions to himself?

She stormed all of the way down to the Great Hall where breakfast was being held. She was going to give that James Potter a piece of her mind. James spotted her as she entered the room. Unperturbed by her stormy expression he stood on the bench he had previously been sat on and shouted to her.

"Evans! Hey, Evans! Come sit with us."

Suddenly she felt the eyes of the entire student body were upon her. Whispers began reverberating around the room and she realised, to her horror, that it wasn't just the Gryffindor students who knew about last night's incident. It was the entire school!

"Aww, first year love!" She heard one Hufflepuff witch exclaim to her friend.

A Slytherin boy behind her commented, "So that's Evans. Give her a couple of years and I would." This caused that end of the Slytherin table to erupt into loud guffaws.

But worst of all was the word that she heard in almost every whisper. It was now, more than ever, Lily's least favourite word in the entire world. "Pretty."

As Lily made a hasty escape from the Hall, one fact was crystal clear in her mind. She would never forgive James Potter for this.