A/N: For the 19,000 Prompts Challenge (journey) and the Globetrotter Competition (Banff, Alberta: write about something beautiful)

Lavender knows that they watch her with pity in their eyes, whispering behind their hands as she passes by.

"Such a shame."

"She used to be such a pretty girl."

At first, she had hated their sentiments because they'd been right. She had been pretty. She had been happy and whole. But the scars that warp her flesh have taken that away from her.

"She used to be so pretty."

But now she hates their words for another reason.

They only speak of the old Lavender. They only whisper about the Lavender who had only had her looks and her idle gossip, the immature child that she had once been.

They never speak of the new Lavender. They never talk of the journey she had taken to become what she is today- the transformation of a silly little girl to a young woman empowered by her tragedy, the girl who no longer talks of hair and who's snogging whom becoming the woman who had fought bravely and selflessly.

"Poor dear."

But she only smiles as she passes them by. They only see tragedy upon her skin. But she sees a woman who is stronger, a woman who has risen above.

She is not pitiful. She is powerful.

She is not pretty in spite of her scars. She is beautiful because of her strength.