~Life always offers you a second chance. It's called tomorrow.~
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Daphne stared hard at her reflection and winced. She was ugly. No two ways about it. Make up smeared down her cheeks, distorting her features and giving her a particularly haggard appearance. Could you blame her really? She'd been called a slut six times in one day. Even by her own circle of 'friends'. They didn't say anything, of course – she was still a Greengrass, slut or not - but she could see it in their eyes when they thought she wasn't looking, hear it on their lips when she walked away and they assumed she was out of earshot. Another tear tumbled down her cheek. Was she really so detestable? So hated? Was it all her fault? It couldn't be! It wasn't like she was the only girl at Hogwarts who dropped her panties a little to low.
She scowled and spun away from the mirror. This is stupid. The girls' dormitory was quiet. Everyone was probably still listening to the professors drone on and on…it was still mid afternoon after all. But after being sneered at by so many students Daphne hadn't felt much like attending class. She wondered if this was it for her. If screwing around with that flabby lipped Ravenclaw, who was intent on describing the finer details of their night together to anyone willing to listen, really was the last straw.
"Daphne?" a gruff voice startled her out of her misery.
She spun around, completely forgetting about her present state, and snapped. "What?"
Milicent Bulstrode stood in the doorway. She didn't show any sign of intimidation - regardless of the relentless bullying Daphne had laid on her over the years. The broad shouldered girl merely shrugged. "Nothing. I guess."
Daphne stood proud in the middle of the room, tears streaming down her high cheekbones, as Milicent shuffled to her trunk and dug around for her text books. The two girls didn't say a word.
But the next day it was Milicent who invited Daphne Greengrass to sit with her at breakfast.
And she accepted.
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