Thin Skin

"None of us thought she would become so pretty," Marietta mumbled to Cho.

"I know, it's so unfair," Cho exclaimed, obviously unaware that her own beauty had, at one time or another, caused similar outbursts from most of the girls at Hogwarts, "I mean, she's so smart, she doesn't even care about such things."

"I think she cares about being pretty. She wouldn't have let Madame Pomfrey shrink her teeth if she didn't care a little bit," Marietta observed, "and she orchestrated the whole drama of the Yule Ball last year. If she didn't care, why would she have made such an effort to play Cinderella?" That was what had really irritated Marietta, the Fairy (in the Muggle sense) Tale aspect of Hermione's beauty. Marietta would have been far less angry if she could have predicted the metamorphosis. However, she felt tricked by Hermione, felt the transformation was yet another way in which Hermione had shown her up, another arena in which Marietta was found lacking.

It was not merely the disappointment of not becoming a Prefect which caused Marietta's fifth year to be so stressful. It was also the impending O.W.L. exams and the dawning realization that she would have to think about life after Hogwarts. She didn't know what sort of career she wanted to pursue, but she was worried that any score below "Exceeds Expectations" on any of her exams would mean certain career obscurity. She had heard that wizarding schools in America were set up in a different way, that they didn't have O.W.L. exams, that students could study anything they wanted regardless of how they performed on tests. She tried to tell herself that, if worse came to worse, she would just have to emigrate somewhere else to complete her education. For this reason, she was excited about the Tri-Wizard Tournament, which was taking place at Hogwarts that year, because it meant she could observe the students from the participating foreign schools, Beauxbatons and Durmstrang.

Unfortunately, the Durmstrang students kept to themselves. It seemed their headmaster kept them all on one very short leash, allowing them to eat with the Slytherins, but otherwise requiring them to keep to themselves. The only student who had any sort of freedom to explore Hogwarts, as far as Marietta could determine, was their champion, Victor Krum. Marietta found his constant presence in the library to be annoying because it meant she could not get any work done. It wasn't his fault. He was an international Quidditch star, the Bulgarian Seeker at the most recent Quidditch World Cup, so his celebrity meant that groups of giggling girls were always there as well, providing noisy distractions for all the students attempting to study. She wanted to tell the girls to have some self-respect, to stop stalking him. Instead, she spent more time studying in the Ravenclaw common room and getting to know the other students visiting her school.

She liked the Beauxbatons students. They ate meals at the Ravenclaw table and seemed very quiet and studious. She found the French boys to be far more sophisticated than their British counterparts. Over time, she became friendly with one boy, Jean Claude. He was a couple of years older than Marietta, but she found they had a lot in common (his mother worked for the French Ministry of Magic and he, too, didn't know what he wanted to be when he grew up.) He would flatter Marietta, telling her she was brilliant and beautiful and she wanted to believe him, but didn't know if she could (people had told her she was pretty, but beautiful? And she knew she was a good student, but brilliant?) He told her she would have to come visit him in France that summer and Marietta was giddy with the thought of traveling without her parents.

The Yule Ball was announced and all the students became preoccupied with thoughts of who they would ask, if they would be asked, and who was going with whom. Marietta was ecstatic when Jean Claude asked her to the Yule Ball, especially since he asked on the same day Cho told her she would be going with Cedric Diggory, one of the Hogwarts champions. Cedric was the cutest boy at Hogwarts, but Jean Claude was, in Marietta's opinion, at least equal to Cedric in terms of physical appearance.

Marietta and Cho spent the entire day of the Yule Ball getting ready. Though she knew in her heart that she would never look as beautiful as Cho, Marietta was pleased by her reflection when she looked into the mirror. The two left the common room for the entrance hall, where they would meet their dates, as neither Cedric or Jean Claude were members of Ravenclaw House.

On the way, they ran into Padma Patil.

"Padma, your robes are so wonderful!" Marietta exclaimed.

"Thanks. My mother made them," Padma replied.

"Are you meeting your date in the entrance hall?" Padma nodded. "Who are you going with?"

"Ron Weasley," Padma mumbled, making a face.

"Why?" Cho asked. Everyone in Ravenclaw knew that Padma had been flooded with invitations and had turned them all down.

"When the Yule Ball was announced, Parvati begged me not to say yes to anyone. I agreed, because she seemed really agitated and it didn't seem like such a big deal. I mean, I just want to go and dance, it doesn't really matter if I go with anyone, right? Well, it turns out, Lavender SAW in Divination that Harry Potter would ask Parvati to the Yule Ball and would need a date for his best friend. And of course Lavender is such a selfish git that she suggested I would be so perfect for him," she snorted, "some best friend she is. I should have told them to stuff it. I mean, Divination? I can't believe those two waste time on that class. No wonder they aren't in Ravenclaw."

"Well, why didn't Ron just ask Hermione Granger? I mean, they've been dating forever, haven't they?" Cho asked. Marietta wondered why Cho would think this. Hermione Granger spent as much time with Harry Potter as she did with Ron Weasley.

"I don't know," Padma shrugged, "Maybe she just wants the library all to herself tonight."

Marietta had been a bit envious of Padma, because she had always wanted a sister and thought it would have been even better to have a twin. She had never considered the downsides of having a sibling one's own age (she had a much younger brother who would not be coming to Hogwarts until long after she graduated.) She looked at Padma's expression and worried the younger girl would have a terrible evening. As they entered the entrance hall, she whispered in Padma's ear, "Don't worry. If you get bored with your date, just ditch him. I'm positive Jean Claude has some friends who would love to be your date."

"Hi Cho, Hi Marietta," Parvati called as she came over. She was wearing bright pink dress robes. She looked at her sister, "What are you looking so grumpy for? The boys are waiting. Come on."

As the twins walked away, Jean Claude came up behind Marietta and Cho. "Cho, you look very pretty today. Marietta, my cabbage, you look more beautiful today than ever before. I cannot wait to twirl you around the dance floor," he said as he took Marietta's hand. Marietta couldn't remember how long they waited for the doors to the Great Hall to open. She just remembered feeling overwhelmed by the constant stream of compliments Jean Claude was paying her. To her, it felt as if no time passed at all.

Then the doors opened, and the school saw the Tri-Wizard Tournament champions and their dates. Marietta smiled at Cho, who stood with Cedric, and thought they made a lovely couple. Fleur Delacour was standing with a besotted Roger Davies, Harry stood with Parvati, and Victor Krum stood with HERMIONE GRANGER!

As Marietta looked around the room at the faces of other students, she could tell they were as stunned as she by Hermione's appearance. The buckteeth and frizzy hair, which everyone had come to associate with the Muggle girl, were gone, as was her book bag filled to overflowing with schoolwork. Hermione stood before them in periwinkle robes and looked radiant. Unlike many of the girls at Hogwarts, Marietta had not been concerned with Victor Krum's celebrity, so unlike a lot of the girls, she was not jealous of Hermione for being his date. Moreover, she was happy to see that Hermione had swiped the Durmstrang champion from under the noses of all the giggling girls who had invaded the library. She smiled as she watched the champions walk past and giggled at the angry face of Millicent Bulstrode (a Slytherin fourth year who had told everyone she would be Krum's date for the ball.) Marietta looked forward to the dance, thinking nothing could possibly ruin her evening.

"Who is that girl with Victor Krum?" Jean Claude asked Marietta.

"Hermione Granger."

"She is a student here? At Hogwarts?"

"Yes. She is a year behind me," she replied, wondering why that was important to him.

"She isn't in Ravenclaw then? Is this why I have not met her?"

Marietta felt her stomach clench as she saw the way Jean Claude looked at Hermione. She told herself not to jump to any conclusions, told herself that he was just curious, told herself that he was French and was congenitally required to notice pretty girls. She tried to be as pleasant as possible during the meal and answer his many questions about Hermione.

When the dinner was finished, the Champions began to dance. After an acceptable amount of time, other couples began to join them on the dance floor. Marietta looked expectantly at Jean Claude and saw that he was staring at Hermione.

"Um, er, should we dance?" Marietta asked awkwardly.

Jean Claude jumped, startled, and then looked at Marietta. She saw the way his eyes, flashed disappointment and then how quickly he recovered and smiled. "Yes, let us dance," he said, as he led her to a spot on the floor as close as possible to Victor and Hermione.

After that dance, Jean Claude suggested they dance with other people. He led her to a table of Beauxbatons boys, all of whom came to the ball alone, and Marietta was besieged with requests to dance from them. For the rest of the evening, Jean Claude would smile when she caught his eye, but he did not dance with her again. From what she could determine, he spent his time staring at Hermione, trying to work up his courage to ask her to dance.

At one point, Marietta saw him approach Hermione while she was having what looked like a fight with Ron. Hermione stood up and walked away just as Jean Claude approached. Then Padma said something to Ron and stood up and walked toward Parvati and a Beauxbatons boy, who then pulled Jean Claude over and made him dance with Padma.

"I worried that she wouldn't have a good time, and I told her Jean Claude would provide her with a boy to dance and yes, he has done just that," Marietta thought to herself, "I never expected to get ditched myself."

Marietta went up to Jean Claude after that dance ended and told him she wasn't feeling well. He offered to walk her back to her dormitory, but she could tell he wanted to stay, so she told him, no, she would see him at breakfast. He was too preoccupied to hear the sadness in her voice.

"Why did I think I could ever compete with her?" Cho mumbled to herself, miserably.

"Are you serious?" Marietta asked, "I think you're just saying this to make me say 'but Cho, you're so beautiful, she'll never be as lovely as you.'"

"No, I'm not."

"Well, then what are you saying? You are still beautiful and everyone loves you. Hermione hasn't taken anything away from you. How do you think I feel?"

Cho flushed red and sputtered, "I know...I mean...I didn't mean...I mean...I'm sure"

Marietta cut her off, "It's alright. I didn't mean it that way. It's just that I think you are wonderful. If I were a boy, I would choose you over her any day."

Marietta's would stare at Hermione in the library, doing nothing to disguise her loathing. "Why did she have to come here? Why couldn't she have stayed in her Muggle world? Why does she have to take everything away from me?" Marietta would think. Deep down, she knew it wasn't Hermione's fault, knew that her feelings of anger were irrational, but it seemed the harder she tried to get over her pain, the more resentful she became of Hermione. It didn't help matters that Jean Claude suddenly began appearing in the library and scowling when he saw Hermione with Harry. Marietta overheard him asking a friend of his how he could possibly expect to compete with the likes of Victor Krum and Harry Potter.

There were other things for Marietta to worry about that winter, things which she knew were far more important than any stupid boy who broke her heart. She found she needed to be supportive of Cho who, in spite of her physical beauty, was very unsure of herself and needed Marietta's friendship and advice. Cho was falling in love with Cedric, who was a seventh year and would be leaving Hogwarts soon, and she worried that when he graduated, he would forget about her. Also, Cho wondered what would happen if he won the Tri-Wizard Cup; he was already popular at Hogwarts, but what would happen to her if he became a celebrity? Despite Marietta's own pain in matters of the heart, she was so happy that her best friend had found such a wonderful boyfriend and did her best to reassure Cho that Cedric cared for her. "If he says he will never leave you, he won't," she would tell Cho, "every time he looks at you, everyone can see how much he loves you."

Marietta worried that between her own troubles and Cho's fears, she wasn't studying enough. She told herself to stop indulging in childishness, that there was her future to consider, that the O.W.L. examiners would not take her getting dumped into consideration when they evaluated her exams, nor would she win any extra points for being a good friend. Luckily for Marietta's academic plans, events occurred which took her mind off of the distractions and allowed her to focus on her studies. The second task of the Tri-Wizard Tournament required the champions to rescue the person they would miss most in the world from the Merpeople. For Cedric, that person was Cho, who became more secure in the weeks after the task. Then, as if someone had answered Marietta's prayers, a nasty article about Hermione appeared in Witch Weekly (reporting that she was toying with the affections of both Harry Potter and Victor Krum.) It didn't really matter to Marietta if it was untrue (the reporter's source was an ugly girl from Slytherin who was unpopular because she lied constantly,) it meant that other people hated Hermione as much as she did.

"I don't understand what sort of game she is playing. What more does she want? She has Victor Krum and Ron Weasley wrapped around her finger, why couldn't she leave some boys for the rest of us?" Cho wailed.

"And you had Roger Davies and Harry Potter wrapped around yours, why did you pursue Michael Corner?" Marietta asked her best friend.

"I didn't," Cho protested, but the blush on her cheeks gave away the truth.

"You wanted to make Harry jealous and you didn't care that Michael was dating Ginny Weasley. It was awfully convenient that he became so pissy with her that she dumped him."

"It doesn't matter. Ginny is so beautiful, she can have any guy she wants," Cho muttered, but she couldn't meet Marietta's eyes as she spoke.

"Cho, I love you. You know that I don't care who you date, but please be honest with me. The only reason you went after Michael is because he was dating Ginny and you were angry because she beat you in Quidditch."

Cho looked down. Marietta felt terrible, but she had to speak, "Cho, face it, you have been looking for a boy to take Cedric's place all year," Marietta almost lost her nerve as she saw Cho's face crumple, but she soldiered on, "I have watched you struggling all year, throwing yourself at boys who are so unworthy of you. Cho, Cedric is gone and no one will ever take his place. You know that."