Delicate | James Potter

2.14

~

The room was empty, apart from her. The others left early for their first lesson, but Alice was so completely exhausted she told them she'd find them for their second, or maybe even third. It meant she was alone again, and the silence was loud.

For the past ten minutes, she'd been stood in front of the mirror. She wouldn't usually do such a thing, often preferring to avoid it so she wouldn't have to see how frizzy her hair had turned that day, but now her eyes weren't on her hair, they were on her stomach. Across it were a series of jagged lines. Currently they were a deep purple, though Pomfrey said it was likely they'd eventually fade and be much lighter. Either way, they were there and they were large and they were obvious and they were ugly.

Alice chewed on her lip as she stared. They continued all up her body, the highest reaching the bottom of her neck. There were a great many positioned as a reminded her she'd never be able to wear vest tops again, or if she did, people would stare. They looked horrific. Was it vain to cry?

Her back was even worse. The biggest was a large slash that ran diagonally from her hip to her shoulder. It was so straight and precise you could tell immediately it had been done on purpose. She wondered whether it was like that because it was where the curse hit her. Running along side it were smaller, but no less ugly, scars to match.

Alice cast quick glances to her arms before deciding she couldn't take any more of it and buttoned up her shirt, pulling her jumper over her head. Her hair squished to her face in a way she'd normally brush aside, but she felt so disgusted with herself that she swept it all up and put it in the tightest bun she could possibly get it. It would do.

She gathered the books she needed and shoved them deep into her bag. It took a few minutes to find a pen (she'd given most of them to Sirius over the past few weeks), but finally she discovered one shoved deep underneath her bed. Alice was almost out the door when her reflection jumped out again.

You couldn't see any of the scars when she was wearing her school shirt, the collar covered them, but Alice hadn't realised quite how pale she'd gone until now. Her skin looked almost ghostly. It explained why people had been so shocked when they came to see her.

No, that was enough. Alice shut the dormitory door, wincing when it slammed because of her accidental forcefulness, and made her way to Defence Against the Dark Arts.

"Ah, Miss Winters." Professor Landon called out as she reached the door after a long and silent walk through the castle. It hurt to walk, though only a little. "Nice of you to join us!"

She at first could not tell if he was being sarcastic or not, whether he was mocking her for her late arrival and calling her out as a form of humiliation. Alice smiled shyly and hurried to her seat at the back of the room, muttering a small apology under her breath as she passed him. He beamed at her when she sat, apparently genuine.