Beauty in the Eye

Disclaimer: I don't own this stuff, I just love writing…you know the drill.

Author's note: This is my first story on Portkey. I did one before but took it off because of computer problems. I have about three stories and I went through a lot of personal torture deciding which one would be best for me (sort of) debut as an author on Portkey. I have written many fictions on other sites, but Portkey is kind of a big deal to me. I love all comments you can make, and any advice as welcome. This story has been sitting in my journal for quite awhile now and I finally worked up my Gryffindor courage to post it. I hope you all enjoy, please leave comments!

Summary: Hermione is insecure about how she looks and turns to Ginny. How will Harry respond?

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Hermione cringed as Ginny poured yet another painful hair-straightening potion on her head, dissolving almost instantly. “Ginny, is this really necessary? It stings!”

Ginny let out an exasperated sigh. “Yes! And for the millionth time, you have to go through a little pain to be beautiful. Do you or do you not want Harry to like you?”

Hermione frowned. “He does like me, just not in the way I want him to,” she pointed out.

Ginny smiled. “Which is what I am here for. Now, these are your new robes,” she handed the clothes to Hermione, “Go put them on.” Hermione took them and went behind her bed. She came out a minute later, giving Ginny a very annoyed look.

“Ginevra Weasley, these uniforms are two sizes smaller than I usually wear, and,” she fidgeted, trying to pull her skirt down as far as possible, “why on earth is this skirt so short?”

Ginny rolled her eyes. “Those uniforms are your actual size,” Hermione let out a snort, “Okay, perhaps they are a bit small, but it's no big deal. And that is a perfectly acceptable length of skirt to wear.”

“Yea, if I want to flash the entire great hall.” Hermione muttered so her friend couldn't hear her.

“Now,” Ginny continued, biting her lip, “There need to be just a few changes made…” She walked over to Hermione and unbuttoned the top two buttons on her blouse. She cut and hemmed the ends of the blouse, a skill she learned from her mother, Hermione assumed, so that it hung just down to her hips. She pulled the tie loose so it hung below her now quite viewable cleavage. The robe hung open and Ginny pulled the skirt up a little higher, showing a bit more thigh. Ginny looked up and smiled at Hermione. “Done!”

Hermione looked down at herself and then back at Ginny. “Are you crazy? Harry wont go for this!”

“He's straight, isn't he?”

Hermione laughed. “I should hope so.”

“Then he'll love it!” She smiled at Hermione, who, hesitantly, smiled back as they exited the girl's dormitories and headed to breakfast.

Meanwhile, Harry watched as Ron stuffed rolls in his mouth by the twos as he talked about Quidditch. Harry wasn't listening, however, for he was thinking of a certain brown-haired member of their trio that was currently absent from the table. What had she said? Something about meeting with Ginny? Truth be told, he hadn't been listening, but instead watching her talk. Boy, how he loved watching her talk, or really, boy, how he loved her. He loved everything about her. From the books she always carried, to the bushy brown hair that went down her back. She had class, unlike some girls, and he really respected that, as well as her intelligence. Hermione was the most beautiful person he had ever known.

He had decided that today would be the day. He had it all planned out. After dinner he would take her up to the astronomy tower, he had heard that was quite the romantic spot, and tell her he loves her. It was perfect.

An incessant tapping on his shoulder, coming from Ron, interrupted Harry's thoughts. “What?” Harry asked, irritated.

“Look! That girl! Do you suspect that she's new?”

Harry, confused, looked up at the girl's face, and, noticing it was Hermione, went back to his food, blushing slightly, and tried to say casually, “It's just Hermione, Ron. I think you're the one who needs glasses.”

Ron looked back at the girl. “Hermione? What happened to her?”

Harry looked up again to see what on earth the big deal was and noticed, this time, that Hermione did in fact look quite different. Her robes appeared to be smaller, her shirt was unbuttoned at the top, and her tie hung loosely. Her arms had no books in them, and her long bushy hair was absent. Instead of it was a high ponytail on top of her head that went straight down to the middle of her back, tied up with red and gold ribbons. She also appeared to have glitter on her eyes, and cheeks, and lips, and…well, her whole face. What was going on? This wasn't the Hermione he had fallen in love with. Why had she done this to herself?

Hermione walked over and sat across from Harry and Ron, ignoring the lustful looks of nearly the entire male population. “Hi Harry!” She said, in an unusually chipper voice. This bothered Harry as well. Hermione rarely said hello or good morning at breakfast. Instead she usually grabbed their notebooks immediately to check if they did do their homework like she had told them to. Harry, trying not to look at her, simply lifted his hand and waved slightly.

Hermione sighed, slightly disappointed, and decided that it was time to put Ginny's plans into action. She stretched her arms as high up in the air as possible and arched her back slightly, pulling her shirt tight on her, and yawned, “I'm so tired this morning for some reason.”

Harry ignored her. He couldn't believe she was pulling these cheap tricks. It was something he would expect of Parvati or Lavender, but certainly not her; not his Hermione. He heard Hermione ask him if he did his homework, and thinking for a split second that she was back, looked up, only to see her reaching across the table for his book bag, clearly trying to emphasize two particular body parts. Angry and disturbed now, he quickly grabbed his bag from her grasp and excused himself, saying he left something in the dormitories and that he would see them in class. Ron, nodded, confused by the situation as a whole.

Hermione sat back down, extremely embarrassed, and tried to pull her cloak around her, but it was far to small, and didn't cover anything. Frustrated, she jumped up from the table, fighting tears, and walked as fast as she could to the common room.

Up in the Gryffindor boys' dormitories, Harry looked for something that he could have forgotten, while thinking heavily, trying to figure out who Hermione would be trying to impress. Ron? Seamus? Neville? Malfoy? Harry shuddered. He grabbed a quill and was halfway down to the common room when he stopped.

Hermione was walking in circles around the room, mumbling through tears as she struggled to get out of her tight cloak. It was very difficult, though, and every time she failed, she cried a little harder, until she finally gave up and collapsed on the couch.

Out of sympathy, for he was still rather angry with her, Harry walked over and sat next to her. “Need some help?” He asked. She smiled gratefully and nodded. He gently pulled each sleeve off her slender arms, then folded it up and set it on the couch. She picked up her old robe from the table and wrapped it protectively around herself, wiping her tears.

Harry was confused again. She seemed genuinely embarrassed and ashamed of how she acted before, which she should, he thought to himself, but another thought still plagued his mind. Why had she acted like that in the first place? “Hermione?” She looked up at him expectantly. “Why did you do all of this? Who was it for?”

Hermione stared at him for a moment, deciding whether or not to answer. She looked down as her hands fiddled with a small pillow. “Well, um… you.”

Harry grabbed her chin, forcing her to look him in the eye. “Why?”

Hermione felt the tears coming back to her eyes, “Well, it's just that… You see, Ginny said…”

“Ginny? Why would you listen to her?”

“She knows how to make ugly girls pretty.”

Harry could almost feel his heart break. How on earth could she think she was ugly? He looked up at her blankly so she couldn't see the hurt in his eyes. “Come on. We should get to class.”

Hermione followed him out of the common room and they headed off to Transfiguration.

The rest of the day went slowly as the two avoided each other. Harry wasn't mad anymore. He loved Hermione, there was no doubt about it, but he needed her to realize just how beautiful she was, before she could ever believe him when he said it. After lunch he spent the afternoon coming up with a plan, and as he left his last class, he headed to the astronomy tower to prepare for it.

While he was doing that, Hermione sat in the Great Hall, appearance back to normal, with Ron, picking at her dinner as she looked around anxiously for Harry. Was he that mad that he would miss dinner just to avoid her? She was about to leave to go find him when a school owl came flying into the hall and landed gracefully in front of her.

Hermione untied the letter attached to the owl's leg and recognized Harry's handwriting immediately. She opened it up and read the short note enclosed.

Hermione,

We need to talk. Tell Ron this is a letter from your mom, and then wait a minute before excusing yourself to go to the bathroom. Meet me in the astronomy tower.

Harry

Hermione did as the letter instructed and felt butterflies in her stomach as she walked across the castle to get to her destination. After finally getting there, she walked through the door to see a very unordinary sight.

She gasped slightly and held a hand up to her mouth. Surrounding her, completely filling up the room, were literally dozens of mirrors, a full-sized one standing prominent in the middle. She looked away, trying to avoid seeing her reflection, but suddenly she felt to strong hands on her shoulders.

Hermione looked up to see Harry revealing himself from under his invisibility cloak. He held out a single white rose, which she took into her hands.

“Harry, what are you doing? What is all this? I thought we needed to talk.”

Harry smiled. “We do need to talk, or actually, I need to talk, and when I'm done, you can say whatever you want, okay?” Hermione nodded. Harry turned her towards the mirror, to which she instinctively looked down at her feet. Harry lifted up her chin and forced her to look into the mirror.

“Harry, why are you doing this?”

Harry contemplated how to answer that for a moment. “Hermione, there's something I need to tell you. I intended on inviting you up here for a very different reason tonight.”

“Wh-wh-what was it?” Hermione stuttered, looking into his eyes through the reflection.

Harry took a deep breath. It was now or never. “I was going to tell you that I loved you. You, Hermione, not her.” Harry muttered an incantation and pointed at the mirror, which now displayed Hermione, as she had been this morning. Hermione realized now just how different that person was.

Hermione didn't know what to say. “Harry, I-” but he interrupted her.

“So you could imagine how I felt when you told me you did all of this,” he motioned to the image again, “for me.” His words didn't come out as lecturing or demeaning, but rather warm and soothing, and slightly hurt. Hermione watched as the picture faded and she went back to looking at her feet. “Please look in the mirror, Hermione.” His voice was demanding and pleading at the same time.

She did as he requested, and used all of her self-control to keep from looking away.

Harry crouched down so his head was at her knees. He bent his head down and kissed her shoe. “You know what I love? This, how you wear little pumps on your shoes so Ron and I don't tower over you so much and you can punch us properly when we don't do our work.

“This,” he kissed the bottom hem of her long skirt, “How you don't wear short skirts and flaunt your body like most girls because you know real beauty is on the inside of a person.

“This.” He kissed her shirt just above her belly button. “How when you get nervous while waiting for me and Ron to get back from yet another escapade you sort of rub your index finger right here.” Hermione could feel a smile pulling at her lips as the heat rose to her cheeks.

Harry, standing up now, took a lock of her hair in his hands. “This,” he kissed it and chuckled slightly, “How you seem to really hate your hair when I think it is absolutely beautiful the way it falls in cute little ringlets down your back.

“This,” he kissed her forehead. “How amazingly smart you are, and how many times your intellect has saved my neck.

“These,” Hermione smiled as he kissed her on each cheek. “Your dimples that remind me of when we first met with their childish quality.

“These,” Hermione tell he was almost done as he gently closed her eyes and kissed each one. She opened them and looked into his own as he spoke, slightly hesitant, his voice husky. “Because every time I look into them, just for a second, I feel like I'm lost and drowning, but at the same time I feel safer than I ever have in my entire life.

“And finally this,” He slowly picked up her right hand, kissed her fingers, and placed her hand over her heart. “Your heart. How you found a place in it for me. Not Harry Potter or The Boy Who Lived, just me. I love you for all of those reasons, Hermione, and whether or not you love me too, I just need you to know that.”

He kissed the back of her hand and turned towards the door. Hermione, without thinking, called out to him, “Harry!”

He turned around and Hermione walked to his side. She stood on her toes and gave him a kiss on the lips. Harry looked at her, smiling. “What was that for?”

Hermione laughed slightly and kissed him on the cheek, “Because I love you, too.”

Harry put his arm around her waist and they turned to exit. Just before they left, Hermione looked at herself in the mirror, for the first time happy with what she saw.

The End.

*~*~*

Author's note: Okay, I admit it. It sucks. It's probably not very good, but I had a few friends nagging me to put it on, so I did. As I write more, I try to improve myself as writer, and any tips you can give me are more than welcome. If you want to see what's going on with me (or any upcoming stories, I take input and ideas from people, even if they just want their name mentioned, when I can't come up with a good name, and I do give credit) you can check out my webjournal at http://vickles.bravejournal.com. You can also check out my (small) h/h shipper site: www.mintchocolate.bravehost.com. I really hope you enjoyed the story, even if it wasn't that great, and, as always, (gentle) criticism is welcomed.

Until next time,
Vicki

EDIT: I would just like to say thank you to all of those who have reviewed this thus far. You have no idea how much it means to me that my story was so well received. It does need some improvement, so I will be editing much harder for my next story.

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