It wasn't fair that he could become ruddy apoplectic and still look like a gorgeous pirate from the Caribbean (Jack Sparrow came to mind). He would raise a perfectly sculpted eyebrow and say something remarkably witty and sarcastic, and she would be enraged. She would struggle and deliver a comeback later, not sounding half as good, her face blotchy red and her eyes over-bright, looking like a bloody Christmas light.
He was bloody perfect, with his amazing Quidditch skills (which made him even more unfairly attractive), his brilliant mind, and top grades (why did Transfiguration have to matter so much anyways?).
Why couldn't she at least be as smart as him? He didn't give a bloody fucking damn about his classes, and still got straight O's, while she slaved over essays and wand motions and spent dark and gloomy nights stressing over grammar and the proper way to phrase that one sentence for that one damnably important Transfiguration essay (admittedly, she always got straight O's as well, but he didn't even have to bloody work for it!).
His vision was awful, and he wore glasses, but all the girls were always going on about "Potter's sexy scholarly look"; if she revealed how much she stressed over any one project to one of her Hogsmeade dates, they would give her a weird look, laugh it off, and then never speak to her again once the date was over.
She was a nerd and laughed at for it; he looked like a nerd and was praised for it. 'Course, no one would ever think he was a nerd next to Sirius Black. And he was always next to Sirius Black. He looked more like a nerd than Remus Lupin did, really (and Remus Lupin was the studier of the group). Remus didn't wear glasses. Then again, Remus didn't have olive-toned skin, muscled forearms, an aristocratic nose, or a reputation for insanely brilliant kissing skills (speaking of which, she really need to test Potter on that some time. Or get someone to test it for her. He still fancied her, right? So he probably wouldn't mind if she just upped and snogged him during one of their fights?)
Well, he definitely looked sexier if he wasn't stark raving angry, but the problem was that his facial features didn't change when he yelled at her. She didn't like looking like a Christmas light. And he probably wouldn't have minded if he did, arrogant, conceited bastard that he was; he would have just laughed it off and made a witty joke and all of the girls would have swooned and charmed themselves to look like a Christmas light as well.
When someone was talking about Lily Evans, and their listener didn't recognize her name, the talker would say "Redhead? Really bright green eyes? Always gets into spats with James Potter?" and the listener would be like "Oh yeah, I've seen her before", because that's what she's known as. Nobody ever mentions her pale porcelain skin or full lips or her slim figure (which by the way she worked really hard on that one summer with Marlene!) It's always her bloody eyes and hair that gets people's attention!
'Course she'd rather be a redhead than a brunette, or even worse, a blonde. That would just be so average. And the talker would say, "Blonde? Really bright green eyes?" and the listener would dryly reply "Because there's only one person in this school with blonde hair and green eyes. . ." and the talker would sheepishly agree. But she's got bright auburn hair and emerald eyes, and she looks like a bloody damn Christmas light and she's the only one who gets into such bold spats with James Potter and people remember her – which may turn out to be one of the most important things.