Beauty Is Pain

(One-Shot)

Disclaimers: I don't own anything apart from some DVD's/books for this series.

AN: This is a short drabble prompt for "The Houses Competition" set in 'Marauders' Era' time. As I am old (ish), my views of them may vary from the young ones, including the fact that I am TeamCharlus/Dorea, have Sirius/James as distant relations through Black blood, as well as TeamTrans (as an ally). I do not accept any new stuff by Rowling.

House: Gryffindor

Class: Prefect

Category: Drabble

Prompt(s): [Emotion] Frustration

Word count: 860 according to AO3 (2 pages)

Summary: In which some girls decide to 'help' Lily.

Excited screams were heard halfway down the beach as Lily showed her Muggle girlfriends the nice ring she was now sporting.

"OH! MY! GOD!" one girl shrieked, fanning herself.

"That guy you keep talking about at that boarding school you go to?" another gasped, clutching Lily's adorned hand. "About time! We have GOT to meet him!"

"You will," Lily said, giggling. "He's coming over next week."

"Next week?" a third girl gasped.

A silence fell over Lily's three friends as they shared glances at each other.

"Uh, honey? That's just a couple days from now."

"You're right," Lily said. "He'll be here on Monday."

"Monday."

The three girls laid their hands on Lily, dragging her close.

"Can you help us?" asked one.

"Yep," said another. "What do you think? The whole thing?"

"Oh, yes," said the third, an almost wicked smile spreading upon her face.

"Oh, what now?" Lily moaned in frustration. They were clearly scheming something.

"You're coming with us!"

The three of them all but carried Lily away. They had gone from enjoying some summer heat at the beach to going inside one of the girls' homes.

It wasn't long before Lily realized what her girlfriends were planning for her: a full-on wax! They were Muggle friends which meant they would literally wax her to death. Lily's eyes went wide as she tried to protest. She could do this easily with magic, but she couldn't exactly tell that to her friends.

"Look, I've already done this," Lily tried.

"Really?" asked one of her friends. "Because, just looking at you, I know you haven't. I'll get to work on your eyebrows right now."

"Come on," Lily groaned, her frustration mounting as she was made to lie down on a flat surface. "No. Wait. I'm fine."

"Lily, quit acting like you've never waxed before," said one of the girls.

Every single thing in the whole wide universe came to a screeching halt. The sun itself was about to fall out of the sky.

"Oh!"

Realization had dawned on all three of them as they stared in surprise at Lily.

"Oh, wow!"

Lily's green eyes flicked over the three of them.

"Oh, now," said the girl who was going to 'do her eyebrows' as she ran a hand through Lily's red hair. "Now, honey. Look, trust me. I do this once a month. Guys go crazy for this. Just let me work. It doesn't really hurt much."

Every single girl in the room knew that the last bit was a complete lie. Even Lily, who had never done this since magical beauty spells did it without a problem. But she had heard her friends complain about waxing in the past. 'Beauty is pain, girls. Beauty is pain!' They would chant that like a mantra. Lily had thought it so silly since all she had to do was wave her wand. No pain. All gain!

Lily silently cursed herself for not doing those simple beauty spells before leaving school. James had proposed to her at the end of sixth year. If only she had thought to do those dumb spells before coming home! The look would have lasted all summer. But she had been rather excited with other things, like the big diamond ring James had given her.

"Now, just you lie still," the 'eyebrow' girl said, placing some wax strips between Lily's eyes. "We'll have you fixed up in no time. Uh, what did you say his name was?"

"Jim. James!"

"Right," said the girl. "He'll be lusting for you like a stag in the rut."

Funny she would mention that. Lily bit her lip for a moment, for by now, she knew all the secrets of those four Marauders. Her mind wandered to the moment James had shown her Prongs. It had been just before he had proposed to her. It was weird to see him switch to a lar—

"OW!" Lily yelped.

The first wax strip was yanked off.

The first of many.

Lily tried not to glare at them. They couldn't possibly know that she could do all of this in a split-pain-free-second with a magic charm. This was even more frustrating that she could not tell them anything. Part of her wanted to scream out that she was a witch all of a sudden, just to get them to stop yanking.

Half an hour later, a rather sore Lily gingerly slipped from the table. They had done everything to her, from her face to under her arms. They had even convinced her to do a bikini wax. Lily secretly didn't want to, but since she still was not allowed to use magic outside of school, she really had no choice.

Also, she regretted it the moment it started. Why do Muggles do this to themselves? But on the other hand, what alternatives did they have? None!

For the next few days, Lily wondered if she was even capable of letting James near her, but by the time he had arrived, the soreness of the waxing was gone.

Now, she had frustrations of a different sort to deal with...but that was another thing for another time.