The Price of Being Beautiful [OPEN]

[Gilderoy Lockhart]

”Maybe, baby, you’re too pretty for me.”

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Despite the fact that summer was supposed to end as everyone boarded the train back to school on September first, the sun was still clinging on to every last ounce of its season. It shone brightly over all of Hogwarts, illuminating all that it touched. Everything seemed to look a bit better in the sunlight. The grass looked a little greener, the school looked more welcoming, and even the black lake glinted an almost magical hue of blue. The sun made everything it touched more appealing, and in the mind of a certain blond Hufflepuff that included himself.

Gilderoy Lockhart knew there were only certain lights where one could capture the fullness of his own beauty. It could be a bit overwhelming at times to be as good looking as he thought he was, but it was a price he would pay a hundred times over. Merlin blessed him with the burden of beauty and it was he alone who could carry it. The sun always seemed to pick up the pigment in his pale skin just right. His perfectly straight teeth glinted as a smile crept over his perfectly polished face. His wavy locks bounced slightly with the kick Gilderoy had found in his step that morning as he made his way onto the lawns for a bit of relaxation before the start of classes.

It wasn’t as if Gilderoy needed the extra help in the looks department. Alone and with his mouth shut, he was quite an attractive looking guy. He had no blemishes, no obscure birth marks, his eyes sat evenly on his face, and he definitely had no crooked teeth. The fact of the matter was he knew he was good looking and he knew what benefits could come of having a pretty face. He knew it so well that it became an obsession that made his beauty an understatement to the rest of him.

Well, at least he was good to look at while he was quiet. It was a pain at times being so lovely. Gilderoy found himself getting distracted when looking in the mirror in the morning. He had to remind himself of the things he had to do in the course of the day so he didn’t linger too long.

As he strode through the lawns until he reached a point near the Black Lake. He found a perfect place to perch himself and get some much needed rays on his pale skin. Neatly, he adjusted himself by a tree. Taking a bit too long to make his position look casual, Gilderoy sat at the base of the tree looking more posed and forced as one of those models in a cheap catalogue. With a smile and a nod he leaned his head back against the bark and closed his eyes. He really did need some color. Damn his fair skin! It was so hard to get the perfect shade on his face without it turning rosy.

Within minutes a shadow crept over him, and Gilderoy found himself squinting under his closed lids in discomfort. Who in their right mind would do such a thing as disturb a man in the middle of sun bathing?

“Excuse me,” said Gilderoy, clearing his throat, trying to sound important, “ I believe you’re in the way of a masterpiece in progress. “

He didn’t bother to open his eyes at the person who was standing over him. It seemed to happen a lot. He couldn’t exactly blame them though...of course people would want to get a good look at him. If you weren’t already aware, he knew he was rather good looking. [/blockquote][/size]

[alicelogan]

Alice had spent the last precious few weeks of summer dying for school to begin. Now that it had been only a week and she was already longing for the freedom of summer. As much as she adored seeing Lily, Mary, and the rest of her friends again, she had little time to spend with them as it seemed her sixth year was going to be entirely consumed by homework and studying. She only just had enough time for Quidditch practice on the side, and that meant she had very little time for sleeping. In one week Alice must have pulled three all-nighters. She was going to be a walking vegetable by the end of the year.

The weekend had seemingly taken years to arrive, and when it finally did, Alice was the first one out the door. Broomstick in hand, Alice jogged to the courtyard where she could mount the broom. On the first gust of wind, Alice took off, reaching the greatest height she could in a matter of seconds. Not a thought entered her mind besides the sheer rush of being in the air. Alice let her eyes flutter closed as she flew higher up above the school. There was a sort of indescribable freedom about flying. She was in total control of herself and there was very little Alice valued more than her freedom.

Alice had been flying from the time she was very young as her sisters both played Quidditch when they were in school and her parents both adored the game. She would to chase her sisters around on brooms high above the town and on more than one occasion she used it to hide from her sisters' pranks. Over time, she developed a rare skill for the sport and flying in general. Alice had a tendency to be exceptional at things she enjoyed at absolutely horrible at things she did not. Luckily, she enjoyed flying very much.

Alice felt the breeze pick up suddenly and she looked down to find that she had flown over the Black Lake. When she bent her neck down, her brown, flowery cap was snatched up by the wind and blown off her head. Alice chuckled to herself and raced after it, feeling like a diver catching rings. She would bring out her wand if it landed in the lake, but for the moment, chasing it was more entertaining.

The cap landed softly by a tree on the side of the lake, next to the apparently sleeping body of one Gilderoy Lockheart. Alice couldn't hide a smile when she saw the boy lounging there against the tree as if he thought himself to be a god. She adored the boy as she did anyone that could make her laugh, and Gilderoy did this better than anyone. It had taken her a whole year to discover that he wasn't actually trying it

Alice dove down toward the tree and landed hard on the ground next to her cap. She picked it up and positioned it firmly on her head. She hoped to sneak past Gilderoy quietly without waking him, but jumped when she heard his voice from behind her. "Excuse me, I believe you’re in the way of a masterpiece in progress." Alice let out an extremely unattractive snort of laughter and spun around to face the apparently awake Gilderoy.

"Oh my goodness, Gilderoy!" Alice exclaimed with an over the top apologetic tone. "I didn't mean to hinder your tanning! Will it be all right? Oh no..." Alice was being entirely sarcastic, of course, but she couldn't help hoping he'd take it seriously. She could use a good laugh.

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ATTIRE

[/color] a brown cap with a flowerCREDIT SAM !? of Confronting the Faceless. Don't remove the credit or I will find you. LYRICS brick by boring brick - paramore NOTES notes here WORD COUNT 608 [/center][/size][/blockquote][/blockquote]

[Gilderoy Lockhart]

”Maybe, baby, you’re too pretty for me.”

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It had always been said that beauty came in all shapes and sizes. It wasn’t as much what you looked like on the outside as it was to what one was like on the inside...or something to that nature. Gilderoy always thought the person who came up with that was ugly. The person had to have been unfortunate otherwise he would have said something more prolific and true. Yes, it was most definitely an ugly person trying to give themselves a confidence boost. If one really thought about it the saying made absolutely no sense at all. What one was like on the inside? Hmmm, last time Gilderoy checked the insides of a person were not that appealing. Then again, he was rather squirmish when it came to blood. Once he had fainted after seeing Ludo Bagman’s bloody nose after a hard fought quidditch match, though he didn’t faint, he just lost his footing and was naturally tired after a long match. Still the sight of blood was unpleasant. Not everyone could be beautiful, after all, and Gilderoy knew he was one of the lucky few.

He continued to squint underneath his clothed eyes as the figured engulfed the sun around him. The darkness that replaced it was cool, distant, and rather ugly. As the voice fluttered over his perfectly shaped ears he had to listen fairly closely to figure out who it was. Whoever she was she did seem rather concerned about his tanning. What a nice girl! Gilderoy almost felt bad for being so snappy before.

Opening his eyes, he found a dark haired girl he recognized almost instantly from the Quidditch pitch. He knew her from his good friend James Potter’s team, Gryffindor, though her actual name escaped him. Mary was it? Or could it have been Alice? He wished he could discreetly ask his good friend James Potter...it would have save her the embarrassment.

He looked down at his arms and examined them. They were a light shade of gold from long days lounging during the summer, perfectly even, and perfectly cared for. Still he looked in an over obsessed way along the lines of his thin muscles, making sure nothing was ruined by the girl’s sudden blunder.

“No, we are quite lucky,” he said in that same pompous tone. Then as if remembering he was in the presence of a girl he raised an eyebrow just like he had seen James and Sirius do on a number of occasions when talking to pretty girls, except for some reason his came off a bit forced and fairly cheap, “ And I am definitely lucky that you fell from the skies...Mary.” he added a wink for a little something extra. What could he say? He was always a sucker for a pretty girl—granted she wasn’t as pretty as he was but he would give her a decent 7.5 out of 10 any day.

He shifted his sitting position so that one leg pushed up and he tried to rest his arm on his knee. He had seen some of the Marauders do it a number of times and it always looked so...cool. Of course he could pull it off better; he was Gilderoy Lockhart after all. A bit sweaty from the hot sun his arm couldn’t seem to find its right spot on his knee and kept slipping off its perch. Frustrated, but always not willing to show anything but a game face, he continued on.

“ So did you fly all the way out of your dorms just to come and talk to me?” he said referring to the broom in her hands, “I’m flattered, really.”

Really he wasn’t...he expected it. If people didn’t already know, he was going to be famous. It was his ultimate goal. He wasn’t sure what he was going to be famous for yet, but it was just a minor detail. [/blockquote]

[alicelogan]

Alice breathed a great sigh of relief to hide her oncoming fit of giggles. She hadn't disturbed his tanning. Wonderful. She lifted her hand to her heart in a altogether too-cheesy-to-be-believed attempt at looking relieved. Then, tilting her head back as if to get a better look at his half-naked figure, swooned a tad. He thought she was serious! She could have squealed with excitement. This was going to be the most fun she had had since she'd arrived at Hogwarts.

She realized that for many people, the way she treated Gilderoy might come off as a bit cruel, as she was, in a way, taking advantage of the poor bloke's naivety. But it really was all in good fun. Alice did her best to not purposefully hurt the feelings of innocents, but considering that Gilderoy wasn't entirely innocent and he clearly didn't take her sarcasm offensively, she was able to walk away without any guilt. She didn't go about spreading rumors about the boy as some might, and rarely spoke of her often hilarious encounters with any friends.

“And I am definitely lucky that you fell from the skies...Mary.”

Although Mary would have to hear about this one. She raised her hands to her mouth to hide the series of snorts and chuckles that were practically falling out of her mouth. She just nodded, and hoped that he took her hysterical laughter for being flattered. He was flirting with her! It was too good!

Alice wasn't entirely used to being flirted with. That's not to say she was repulsive in anyway, but she certainly wasn't the most attractive of her friends. She knew that if it weren't for her outgoing personality and friendship with James and Sirius, she'd likely be the most unpopular girl in school. Alice was clumsy, dorky, awkward, and snorted when she laughed. She accepted that and didn't really have a problem with it, because she knew that she'd find a way to make herself happy anyway. Still, romantic relations was not something she was very familiar with. Alice had seen how other girls reacted to being flirted with, though, and she thought she could handle it.

Allowing a series of girlish giggles to escape, Alice fiddled with her thumbs and looked at her feet. She looked up slightly and did her best to flutter her eyelashes but ended up just blinking very quickly.

"Well..." She said coyly, in response to his asking if she'd come looking for him. "I just thought I might see what you were up to. I was just look at my poster of you... Oops."

Alice could just hear Lily's voice of reason in her head telling her to stop while she was ahead, but she ignored it as she always did when she was having too much fun. She couldn't help but wonder if he would believe her, but from all the information she had gathered about what he believed, she assumed he would. Alice bit her lip for a moment, thinking that she may have gone too far. She wasn't sure she wanted the entire school talking about her having a poster of Gilderoy Lockhart in her room. However, it would make for a good laugh on her part.

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ATTIRE

[/color] a brown cap with a flowerCREDIT SAM !? of Confronting the Faceless. Don't remove the credit or I will find you. LYRICS brick by boring brick - paramore NOTES notes here WORD COUNT 556 [/center][/size][/blockquote][/blockquote]

[Gilderoy Lockhart]

”Maybe, baby, you’re too pretty for me.”

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The sun continued to hang over them in the sky, brightening up the features of the lake. It seemed to have a magical quality underneath the glittering water. It would have been extremely distracting if it wasn’t for the ‘ever so humble’ Gilderoy Lockhart who seemed to think the most beautiful thing around was him. It was true that the sun seemed to illuminate each tight muscle on Gilderoy’s lightly tanned torso. If it wasn’t for his mouth he would have definitely had a case for the previous comment, unfortunately he did and he used it more often than not. Natural lighting was always the best for him and he thought he could see a bit of drool come out the side of the brunette’s mouth. He wasn’t entirely sure if her name was actually Mary but she hadn’t really said anything so he tentively took it as he had gotten it right. He looked down at his chest and inspected his tan again. His eyes lingered a bit too long, however, as he got consumed within himself. It was a battle every day to be this beautiful and no one really seemed to understand that.

Mary...or was it Alice? Dorcas maybe? He could never keep the names straight. Like Sirius Black he had a black book the length of Hogwarts: A History, and at times it was a struggle to remember them all. To say that he had already hooked up with this particular girl would have been a lie. It wasn’t as if she didn’t want to for as anyone who had eyes could see that he was probably the best catch in the school. Gilderoy also thought he was a bit of a master when it came to picking up on people’s energy and by all accounts this girl practically spelled out that she wanted to be the next notch on his bedpost. He couldn’t blame her of course...as he had mentioned briefly before, he was rather good looking.

So the question was why hadn’t they ‘hooked up?’ Well, along with many of his other admirable qualities, Gilderoy liked to think of himself as a gentleman. Chivalry was definitely not dead with Gilderoy...or so he would like to believe. He flashed the Gryffindor girl another one of his cheesy, perfect smiles as she spoke.

"Well...I just thought I might see what you were up to. I was just look at my poster of you... Oops."

Thought she tried to hide it, Gilderoy caught every word of her mistake and he couldn’t have been more elated. A poster of him in her room? While some would find this a bit creepy and stalker like Gilderoy found this positively brilliant and a bit expected. It was just a stepping stone towards his ultimate goal of becoming famous and he would have to get used to adoring fans and groupies. He hadn’t decided which category Mary/Alice/Dorcas fit under just yet but he didn’t much care. He had remembered when he had printed off some enlarged pictures of himself from the standard Quidditch team pictures last September. It had taken him a particularly long while to cut out all the rest of his team mates and make so his face did not distort with the enlargement. She must have taken one from his pile, how cute.

“Poster of me?” he asked curiously, not able to contain himself. He chuckled pompously, “ Ah I hope it’s of my good side. Don’t you hate it when a boarish picture of you ends up in the yearbook and you simply can’t do anything about it.”

Gilderoy smiled again. He was doing what he always did, fish for compliments, and he wasn’t particularly discreet about it. He touched his hand to his blond curls as if he were ashamed of some figment of a bad picture they both knew did not exist. It was as if Alice was watching some kind of bad production, but of course to Gilderoy there was nothing out of the order.

“ Don’t worry dear girl, I won’t tell a soul you have a poster of me in your dormitory,” he said, still smiling sickeningly, “It will be our little secret.” He added with a flirtatious wink.

This was yet another lie…of course he was going to let this slip. For him, this was the best thing to happen to him all day and that was staying a lot coming from a person who thought every insignificant little thing he did was prolific. [/blockquote][/size]