Written For:

- Day 44 of 366 Days of Writing Challenge: Apple

- The Emotion Challenge: Jealous

- Potions Club/Ingredients: Lacewing Flies - Write about beauty being devoured or snuffed out.

Pairings/Characters: Alexis Walkin, Phoebe

Word Count: 497


Beauty Is In The Eye...

And through it all how could you cry for me? Cause I don't feel bad about it.

Phoebe Black had always been the apple of her mother and father's eye. She was beautiful, with pin-straight ebony hair and glittering, sapphire-blue eyes, and she was smart, too. Licorus was the only other child of their family who went to Hogwarts besides Phoebe—and Phoebe, being a girl, wouldn't have gone, if it wasn't for her intellect.

Mr. Black just didn't believe in girls getting an education. He believed that all they needed to know was enough magic to cook dinner and keep the house tidy. Hesper, Licorus's twin sister, had no qualms about this. She was raised by Mrs. Black as the perfect housewife-to-be.

But Phoebe had other ideas. She wasn't about to sit back and become a trophy wife; she wanted to learn and have a career. Mr. Black relented and allowed her to go to Hogwarts, and everyone was happy. Well, everyone except one person.

Alexis Walkin had always been jealous of her elder sister, ever since she was a small child. While Phoebe's hair was long and thick and black, Alexis's was thin and wispy brown. Phoebe's big blue eyes made everyone smile, but Alexis's were dull and steel-grey. Phoebe was slender and well-figured, but Alexis, who was still only a child, was podgy and resented her thick waistline.

Her life revolved around Phoebe's exquisite external beauty. Her mind was throttled by images of shiny blue eyes and Phoebe's pretty, tittering laughs. Mr. Black paid no attention to Alexis, as he was busy teaching Licorus to take over as head of House of Black, and Mrs. Black spent her days training Hesper to be a good future wife. Alexis wasn't taught anything and she had no future at Hogwarts to look forward to. All she had was her obsession with Phoebe.

Accidents started to happen. First, it was her hair. Phoebe came down the stairs for breakfast, and was shocked when she looked in the mirror, seeing that she was suddenly completely bald. Alexis had laughed and snorted into her lumpy porridge.

Mrs. Black had magically fixed Phoebe's hair with a charm, but it was a waste of time. After that, Alexis would sneak into Phoebe's bedroom during the night with a sharp knife, ready to hack at her regrown locks.

When cutting off Phoebe's hair didn't satisfy her jealousy anymore, Alexis's cruelty grew harsher. Those big blue eyes still haunted her dreams and glared at her daily. Something had to be done about them.

The kitchen was home to an ornate melon-baller, which Mrs. Black only used when they were hosting parties. It was the perfect tool.

Alexis sneaked it upstairs in the dead of the night, and hovered over her older sisters form. Carefully, she dug the melon-baller into the socket of Phoebe's left eye—and scooped out the eyeball as easy as ice-cream.

Phoebe's screams echoed into the night.