Hermione stared at her reflection, as if for the first time but was actually what she did every morning and evening, and saw something different from what others saw. She hated getting up in the morning and having to labor just to get herself looking presentable. She would get up an hour early to tame her wild curls, no, mass of hair and try to use some sort of stuff Ginny had given her to disguise the dark circles under her eyes and the dreadful blemishes on her face. Then she had to actually try to tie up her hair, which she normally gave up on in a sulk, and just had a rest… just trying to trick her mind into making her face seem a tiny bit pretty, or just a little coy, or just not as atrocious looking. In reality, she had the face of an angel. Even in the morning, as other girls had noticed, green with jealousy and envy and a hint of victory as they watched her despair over her appearance. Not once did they tell her that she was extremely pretty, too scared that she might realize how gorgeous she really was.

Her hair was silky soft and thick, velvety to look at, in long beautiful waves and curls, halfway down to her waist. There were subtle highlights amongst the hazel strands, so when she stood under the sun she seemed to glow. Her skin was flawless, not a blemish or spot to be seen. Occasionally there were slight circles under her eyes but that made her face seem more mature and wise. Her face was perfect, with classic beauty but amazing originality, and she had the figure of a model. She had an aura of majesty and pride around her, backed by her kindness, wit and intelligence and she was so perfect that nobody felt good enough for her… except for two boys.

One had thick dark locks that were permanently fluffed up and tangled. His eyes were an intense green, and made most girls giddy. Sometimes those eyes were dark emerald green, which was most of the time when he was brooding or thinking, and sometimes they were jade green. He was a typical boy, taller and broader than average, with an uncanny knack of knowing what you were thinking. He was amazing on a broomstick, a genius in the DA classroom and a good friend and listener in the Gryffindor common room.

The other was as cold and unapproachable as the first was hot-headed and impulsive. His white-blonde head was a shrine of perfection with pale, delicate features. His eyes were ice-blue grey and he never had a single hair out of place. His lean, muscular body and stunning features singled him out from everyone around him. He almost looked like an angel, except his mouth turned up into a superior smirk and his eyes were cold. No-one could deny his being handsome though. If anyone had bothered to get close to him, they would have found his personality to be very, very different to what they had expected. He always got what he wanted, and who, but even with every girl fawning over him, there was one, extremely beautiful girl who managed to resist his charms and bowel him over with hers… a certain brown-haired intelligence…

'Mione?' A sleepy red-head poked her head out from under the pillows to see a dark figure moving around her dorm room. 'What the he…?' She was cut off as the figure frantically motioned for her to shut-up.

'I'm really sorry, Ginny… I was looking for that book I lent you, I need it for Charms.' Hermione leaned towards Ginny, her quiet voice barely able to be heard. Ginny looked at her watch, and groaned.

'You don't need it now you idiot. It's only 6 fucking AM! What's wrong with you! I need my beauty sleep… give it to you later…' Ginny dozed back off to sleep after her little outrage and was roughly woken again with a small shake. 'WHAT!'

'Ummm… book?'

'Oh yeah... 3rd drawer down, on the top. Now can you please piss off? Before you wake everyone else up.'

'Of course… of course… jeez…' Hermione winced as the 3rd drawer down creaked loudly and more mutterings and rustling were heard. She crept out of Ginny's dorm room and into her own, sighing as she placed it neatly into her own bag.

Unknown to Hermione, she was being watched by one Parvati Patil, who was glaring enviously at her. Parvati's thoughts rushed through her head; if I looked like her would it get Draco to notice me? God, I wished I had her hair, and her eyes, and her face, her skin… lucky bitch. She sighed and settled down into bed, her head full of images of Draco Malfoy… she yawned sleepily and fell into a light slumber.

Meanwhile, Hermione was having the same thoughts… envious thoughts about how she wished that she looked like Parvati, or Lavender so that Ron Weasley would notice her. She day-dreamed about how his thick, red hair would feel so soft, about how his strong, dry hands would hold hers, about how his wholesome, handsome face would rain praise and words of love down upon her, about how….

'Hermione!' Hermione spun round quickly, embarrassed, seeing a slightly happier Ginny Weasley staring at her as if she were mad. She blushed, just having been day-dreaming about her best-friend's brother. 'If I know how long it takes you to get ready, we can hurry and get to breakfast on time.'

Smoothing her hair down once more, Hermione entered the Great Hall, Ginny at her side. She threw her bag down next to Harry, who beamed, and sat herself down beside it. Spreading her butter on her toast carefully, she looked at Ron discreetly out of the corners of her eyes. He was absentmindedly chewing his cereal, his eyes fixed on the pretty face of… Lavender, Lavender Brown. Lavender Brown was laughing with Parvati, both of whom were still being annoying pretty. A frown crumpled Hermione's brow.

'Mione, what's wrong?' Harry who had been staring at Hermione so intently, hadn't noticed that Lavender was secretly staring at him, or that a blonde-haired sex-god had been staring at Hermione, or that his best-friend was staring at the one staring at him, or that Parvati had been staring at the blonde-haired sex-god who was staring at Hermione asked, his own brow creasing slightly.

'Oh! Harry, nothing, really. Just thinking…