Eloise stared miserably into the mirror at her reflection. She had been humiliated yet again, this time by Peeves coming up to her and pretending to think her face was a slice of pizza. She, for once, was on Filch's side. Why couldn't Peeves just be expelled??!? Really, though, Peeves wasn't the problem. It was everyone else.... especially Ron Weasley! She had had a crush on him since the first day she saw him, but he didn't seem to notice she existed, except when he was making fun of her nose. So what if it was off-centre? She bet he would have tried to do something if he had as many zits as she did. She wished she had never tried to do anything with her acne in the first place, though, because despite her misplaced nose, she still had pimples all over her face.
Every day, Eloise woke up to more teasing, snotty remarks about her "issue", as her best and only friend, Marietta Millen, called her horrible acne. Marietta always told her just to ignore the comments, but that was easy for her to say. Marietta was pretty, slim, funny, and basically the only reason Eloise came back to Hogwarts every year. Sure, Eloise was smart, but nobody paid any attention to that- except Marietta. Eloise was surprised that she had Marietta for a friend, since they were so opposite in everything. After all, that day on the Hogwarts Express, Marietta had been surrounded by friends before she even noticed Eloise, so why should she reach out to the one girl no one wanted to be around? Anyway, Eloise guessed one friend was better than none, and Marietta was the best friend she could possibly have.
"You still in there? I hope you're not trying to fix your face again, because this time you might end up with tentacles instead of zits. Actually, though, that might make an improvement," Alice, one of Eloise's fellow Hufflepuffs, snickered from outside the bathroom. Alice, Marietta, Eloise, Renny, Lucy, Susan, and Hannah, All shared the same dormitory, unfortunately for Eloise. She would have rather had a room to herself than share with the three meanest girls in Hufflepuff: Alice, Lucy, and Renny. Sure, they were popular, they got all the boys, and were always invited to everything. Therefore, they were Eloise's natural enemy. Susan and Hannah were fairly nice, at least, they never made fun of Eloise. On the other hand, they never stuck up for her, either.
"I'm almost done," Eloise responded wearily. She took one last morose glance in the mirror and walked back into the dorm room.
"Hey, Loie, are you ready to go down for breakfast? I want to ask Patrick something," Marietta glanced away nervously, something she did very rarely.
"Yeah, sure. Why such eagerness to talk to Patrick?" Eloise grinned at Marietta. "You wouldn't happen to have a crush on him, now would you?"
"Shut it," Marietta blushed deeply.
"Ah.... I thought so," Eloise teased.
An all-too-familiar voice interrupted one of Eloise's few moments when she was not being teased. "What would you know about stuff like that, Nosy? You've never had a boyfriend... I mean, who would go out with you? Ummm.. let's see," Lucy contorted her face in mock concentration. "Oh yeah... No one!"
Eloise's smile vanished and she stalked out of the room, her eyes brimming with tears. Marietta shot a disgusted look at the three girls and followed her out of the room.
"Come on, Loie. You know how they are... heartless gits. I can't believe she said that to you," Marietta sympathized as she and Eloise walked down to breakfast. Eloise shot her a look. "Actually, I can, but still... You shouldn't pay any attention to them. I'm positive you'll find someone for you eventually. Everyone does."
Eloise raised her eyebrows, and Marietta realized that no matter what she told her friend, Eloise wasn't going to believe her until she found out for herself. Marietta could still remember the day she had met Eloise. It had been so long ago...
"Come on, Marietta, there's room in our compartment," Jenny beckoned to her from the compartment door, as she brushed a midnight-black curl away from her eyes. "Come sit with us!" Marietta was overwhelmed. When she ran through the barrier to Platform Nine-and-Three-Quarters, Marietta never imagined being as popular as she was now, only fifteen minutes later. Standing on the platform by herself, three girls immediately came up to her and announced that they were her friends. Marietta now had, in the space of fifteen minutes, plenty of new friends, although she'd barely met some of them. As she was about to go with Jenny, Marietta glanced over her shoulder and saw a short girl standing by herself with a huge trunk that she couldn't seem to lift. The girl had pimples all over her face and looked very lonely.
"Hold on, I'll be there in a minute," Marietta called to Jenny.
"Well hurry up, you wouldn't want your seat taken!" Jenny disappeared back into the compartment, but Marietta had already walked over to the girl standing by herself.
"What's your name?" Marietta asked her. The girl glanced up, looking surprised to be spoken to.
"Eloise Midgen," Eloise spoke in barely a whisper.
"I'm Marietta. Need some help with that?" Marietta pointed to Eloise's trunk.
"Sure, thanks," Eloise smiled shyly, as though she wasn't used it. Eloise and Marietta picked up the trunk, and with their combined efforts, got it onto the train.
"Well where do you want to sit? I was going to sit in there, so if you want to come with me," Marietta gestured toward Jenny's compartment. Eloise nodded silently and followed Marietta into the compartment, dragging her trunk behind her.
"There you are, Marietta! I was just telling Hannah about you. She's in first year too," Jenny said, gesturing to a slightly chubby blond-haired girl, who smiled and waved. "But... who's that behind you?" Jenny said, sounding slightly disgusted.
"This is Eloise. I told her she could sit with us," Marietta replied defensively.
Jenny raised her eyebrows. "Suit yourself." Turning to Eloise, she said, "You can sit over there," in a tone that clearly indicated that she would rather have Eloise leave. Eloise hung her head and started to leave.
"No, come back," Marietta called. "It's okay, you can sit here." Marietta patted the seat beside her. Eloise smiled gratefully and sat down.
"Three years ago... it seems like forever," Marietta thought. She glanced at Eloise. "You okay there?"
Eloise nodded. "I wish they would just leave me alone."
A/N: Please review and thanks for reading!
Eloise Midgen and the Acute Acne by eowyngirl
Chapter Notes: Disclaimer: Everything that's Jo's is Jo's, everything that's mine is mine. If you don't know how to tell the difference then why are you on this site?
A/N: Thanks to JKR, without whom so many good things would not have happened, and to my wonderful beta reader, Molly Weasley. Also, this is the edited version of this chapter- when I first submitted it, I forgot to include Susan Bones and Hannah Abbott. Oh well, a kind reveiwer over on harrypotterfanfiction.com pointed it out to me and I fixed it, so no harm done.