"Beauty comes from the inside."
My mother had a habit of saying that every time I whined about my looks, and when I was a child, I would ask, "Then why do they tease me?" They were, of course, the students at Hogwarts. Before my first year, I had not been exposed to kids my age often because most of my family consisted of adults and older teenagers. Sure, they teased me about the way I looked, but it was in a more loving way that made her feel special and noticed in a good light.
Hogwarts was a completely different story. Instead of greeting me with a "Hello", I received "Hey Eloise. What's popping?" And the laughter followed. I felt like the ugly fat kid who no one wanted to sit with at the lunch table, except I was the girl with the blotchy pimples that could infect you in the contact of ten feet. For as long as I could remember, I had tried everything to get rid of the devils but nothing worked. I had even tried to curse them off in my third year but all I had ended up with was a broken nose that had cost me twenty Hufflepuff house points.
Beauty comes from the inside. Oh, how I would give anything to hear that from someone else's lips, especially a guy.
"Hellooo." A voice interrupted my thoughts, "Somebody in there?"
Susan Bones eyed me as if I'd just danced like a clown in front of the Herbology class. Immediately, I tuned in to listen to what Professor Sprout was saying. The last thing I needed was receive a zero on the first day of classes.
After a few minutes, we found out that our assignment for that day was to plant a special plant called the Asofel Plant that was often used to treat short-term memory loss. Right as I was about to ask Susan to be my partner, Professor Sprout called out, "No, no. I will assign the parings."
A series of moans fleeted across the room. They had never had a class with Ravenclaws and it was obvious that no one was up for introductions.
Professor Sprout ran through the list, reading from her parchment, "Eloise Midgen and Ray Foolask…"
Foolask? What kind of surname was that? Obviously, I had been paired up with a Ravenclaw and wasn't ready to have another idiot make fun of my acne.
After the last pair of names was called, the crowd dispersed and went to find their partners in the mess. Her partner had been on the other side of the room, and when she approached him, he grinned.
"Ready to get your hands in some dirt?" His soothing and relaxed voice washed over my body. There was something about it that affected me in a unique way. It sounded like the younger version of Santa Claus (I had watched it in a Christmas special at my aunt's house). I eyed him as if he was my prey. Gray eyes and a long prominent nose were the features that stood out the most. He had silky blond hair that went past his ears, adjusting to the shape of his face. I noticed him to be quite tall as I accompanied him in opening the seed packets, which was quite a challenge since they moved around inside it.
After they were out, Ray and I planted them one by one, making sure they would be far apart.
"So, how was your summer?" he asked me, as he plowed through the dirt. I felt like a fool by just standing there doing nothing but since he seemed to have taken control, I didn't object. Why offer to help if he didn't want it?
"It was alright. How was yours?"
"Better than other summers. I actually went traveling."
"Where?"
"Oh, we went to a lot of places. Let's see…" He paused in the middle of his hand-digging and looked up in consternation, "We went to France, Germany, Russia, Switzerland, Belgium, and…oh yes, Italy. It was so much fun, and now I'm upset that it's over."
"We're stuck here for another year."
"What an optimistic attitude." He said sarcastically, and smiled.
"Sorry."
"Ms.Midgen!" I turned when I heard Professor Sprout call my name, "Yes?"
"Do not stand there. Help Mr. Foolask, please."
"Sorry." I repeated, and I was about to say the same thing to Ray again but stopped before I made a fool of myself. I dug my hands into the dirt, hoping there wouldn't be any bugs or worms. Ray noticed this as I reluctantly touched it and folded it back and forth to check for any other signs of life.
"I think it's clean." he said.
I gave him a false smile. He began to stare at me. I could sense it, and I had to admit it made me uncomfortable. Was he judging me by the marks on my face?
The class went by very slowly and constantly, I felt insecure around him and felt as if he was going to tease me or comment on my acne. It was my feature that stood out the most and would affect the way people think about me. I could never do anything to change that.
…
Months passed before her eyes as Halloween came around. If someone asked her how her fourth year had been so far, her mind would have gone blank. The days went by and she didn't do anything but schoolwork, eat, and sleep. Miranda, who was a fifth year that was next to her room, one day asked her, "Would you like to join us at Hogsmeade?"
I didn't know whether she was asking me on her free will or if she felt sorry for me, but of course I wasn't going to ask that. Instead, I said, "Who is 'us'?"
The answer to that question was a list of names of girls that I had never heard of. Immediately, I decided I didn't want to go. The last thing I needed was too meet a herd of girls who would goggle at my face to no end. Even when Miranda was talking to me, I felt like she was staring at my acne. I wish I couldn't feel so uncomfortable when I faced another person but I could not do anything about it. I could not until the acne went away, because people never saw what was on the inside. Only the outside. I didn't actually know if I had anything to show in the inside when I really thought about it.
As Miranda walked away to her own seat next to two girls, something clicked. Maybe I could do something.
…
"Would you stay still?" Susan complained as I moved my shoulder to the right. The makeup was oily, stingy, smelly, and messy, and I didn't like it. It was beyond me why Muggles used this glob to cover their faces every day.
Since using magic to cure my face hadn't worked, I resorted to a Muggle solution. I was anxious to see how I would look when Susan was done, praying that the red craters wouldn't show.
"Are you done?"
"No, not yet. Be patient. I'm not just putting foundation. Eyeshadow, eyeliner, mascara, blush, lip liner-"
"Say what?" All of those items sounded like garbage to me.
"Muggle makeup."
"Does it work? I mean, really really work?"
"For temporary purposes, yes."
"Temporary? I thought this was permanent!"
"No Eloise. You have to put it on every day, but I don't understand why you want to now."
I remained silent.
"Wait. Is it a guy?"
"No!"
"It has to be."
"Well, maybe. I don't know." I said, thinking back to Ray in Herbology class, "I'm just sick of people-"
"Teasing you because of your acne? I haven't seen anyone do that in months, years. They all grew up and so did we."
"No, you don't understand. They might not say anything but they think it. I can tell even if I'm not an expert at Legilimency. Just the way they stare at me tells me they don't like me because of my acne."
I saw Susan roll her eyes but she didn't say anything.
"They don't care about your looks. Most of them don't anyway. It's what's inside that counts."
"So I've heard." I said, and sighed.
…
After an hour, I was ready to make my appearance. Susan had dressed me in a denim skirt topped with a fluffy pink tunic with small rhinestones across the border. As for the makeup, it made me look like a completely different person. True, it did hide most of my acne, but I felt as if I was wearing a foot layer of makeup. My skin felt disgusting to tell the truth, and I didn't know what was worse, having to live with a face that felt like oily French fries or walk around in high heels that definitely had the possibility to kill me.
Susan promised she would walk around with me in Hogsmeade until I felt comfortable with myself. So we were off. First, we walked around for a few minutes and then went into Honeydukes because I was craving some chocolate. If I went a day without it, I would lose my mind. Susan pointed out that that was why I couldn't lose my acne, and that was when I retrieved my hand from the Chocolate Frogs that were jumping in front of me.
That was when a voice behind me said, "Can you pass me those if you don't want them please?"
I realized that I had been blocking the shelf, so I moved, only to find Ray grabbing a handful of Chocolate Frogs. He turned to me, and for a moment, stared at me as if he had never seen me. Then, it dawned on him, as he said, "Eloise? Is that you?"
"Yeah," I said, my hand instantly going to my skirt as I pulled it down, "How are you?"
"I'm fine." He replied, still looking amazed, "But more importantly, how are you?"
"I'm okay. So, how do I look?" I tried to break the tension.
"You look..." He eyed me up and down, "Horrible."
I stood there as still as ever, trying to register what he'd just said to me, "Excuse me?"
"You look horrendous. What is all that on your face? And what's with the clothes?"
"You…don't like it?" I said, at a loss for words.
Ray shook his head, "No. It's just not you. Why don't you just be yourself? Everyone, including me, likes you as you are."
"Really?"
"Yeah. Trust me. No one cares about your pimples, even if you're so insecure about it."
Considering that he had hurt my feelings by saying that I looked horrible, there was truth to his words. Why did I need to look like a model when I wasn't comfortable with it? For the first time in my life, my mom's words made sense to me. If I was confident about myself then others would be too, and if they teased me anyways, who cared? I had friends that could tell me their honest opinion and as long as I had them, I didn't need to be hurt by anyone else.
"Thanks." I told him, and grinned. "I'm going to go take this off."
As I turned, he stopped me with a tap on my shoulder. I faced him, and he said, "Chocolate Frog?"
Willingly, I took it. Chocolate Frogs and Ray at the same time. What a combination.