CHRYSALIS - FRED WEASLEY

CHAPTER 3

Lillie is an OC, but I purposely am leaving her description ambiguous! Feel free to imagine whomever you like (including yourself). However, I picture her as a young Ashley Graham or Diana Silvers (and sometimes as myself)!

Lillie Wenlock is one of those people who is not necessarily popular, but well known, and well liked. It's been said, by boys and girls alike, that "dreamy" is simply the only way to describe her. Her hair hangs in perfect sheets around her and curtain bangs frame a round, supple face. Her skin is smooth, but not nearly as smooth as her voice, which somehow simultaneously rings with high clarity and echoes with smooth warmth. She's got these long hands that somehow make everything she does, even giving someone the middle finger, graceful. Beauty marks and moles dot her entire body, and many a hufflepuff boy have longed to discover every one. But, her most striking feature is her eyes. Large and inquisitive, their glittering depths seem to read into your very soul when she looks at you. When they fall on you, a warmth so absolute sweeps your body and ensnares your senses.

That's what Fred thinks, anyways.

Lillie is so captivating that she's been labeled unattainable. Her beauty coupled with her unwavering kindness and guarded nature are intimidating to some; so she keeps a tight circle, only letting her guard down with her closest friends. Sometimes, she's lonely.

But, now, as Lillie stands in front of her mirror, alone in her dormitory, she fails to see what so many of her classmates already know. When she looks at herself, she sees the spots that litter her jawline, reddening her complexion and marring her appearance. She sees the way her limbs look disproportionately long next to her fuller torso, the way her hips dip inward and back out again. Her crooked nose and wayward tooth stare at her, seemingly in mocking, daring her to love herself.

She sees these as reasons for her loneliness. Why else would the boys in her class clam up when she sat near them? Why else would the girls in her year throw her side eyes when they thought she wasn't looking?

...

Potions is one of Lillie's best classes. Some part of her revels in the trial and error, the possible danger, and the dangerous possibilities of it all. That's why being in the same class as Slytherin Charlie Bell is so frustrating for her; it routinely disrupts her performance.

Lillie feels a small thwap against the back of her head as she leans over her cauldron, stirring an iridescent green potion that supposedly makes flowers grow from the drinker's hands. She takes a deep breath and turns around, already knowing the culprit.

Charlie is smiling at her in a puppy-dog sort of way, with his eyebrows at his hairline and his eyes crinkled. Lillie glances at Professor Snape, who is bent over the cauldron of Sarah Silvers, inspecting it.

"What?" She whispers, trying not to be heard over the din of the classroom.

"Come here," he mouths.

"No," she snaps, "I have to finish this before bell, or I'll have take home work for the rest of the week."

Charlie makes a praying motion with his hands, to which Lillie rolls her eyes and turns back to her cauldron. She hears shuffling behind her, and soon he's looking over her shoulder.

"Lillie," he says, his voice still lowered, "I cannot believe you would put undue strain on a handicapable person such as myself."

Charlie lost most of his feeling and motion capabilities in his left leg after the Triwizard Cup last year. A spell of Harry's ricocheted and hit him where he was hiding behind a hedge, the force of which knocked him back and gave him permanent neurological damage. He now walks with a slight limp with the support of a cane, which is fashioned into the shape of a bird's head.