Does it Look Normal to You? PV George H. Finished

George was quite sick of having his mealtimes interrupted by strange meetings and cryptic notes. The last time he had dared to skip dinner to meet up with a friend, he'd been ambushed with an amateur therapy session. Jamming the last of a slice of toast into his mouth, George proceeded from the great hall, licking butter from his fingers as he made his way toward the lavatory. What was the great rush that meant that George couldn't finish his meal? Did he have a hot date in first period or something? From what George knew, Alec wasn't pressed to impress anybody at the school at all, making it all the stranger and more intriguing.

"What've you done to yourself that you need makeup for?" George asked as he entered the lavatory, not seeing anyone immediately aside from the desperate Gryffindor, who did not seem to be having much of an emergency at all. The Hufflepuff opened up his own enchanted satchel, digging into it with one hand - able to find his makeup without looking, he felt around and took inventory, ready to pull out whatever it was Alec might have been looking for. "Why are you pacing?"

When the other boy would look in the direction of George, he'd see the young Hufflepuff scrunch up his nose in disgust. "Euuugh! What have you done to your lips? Are you wearing lipstick? That color makes you look like a corpse," George said, shaking his head as he approached Alec. That would be unlike Alec, although if he were going to take his first steps into the world of makeup after their summer soiree, George suspected the Gryffindor would only succeed in making himself look hideous. "And why is this life or death?"

Assuming that the makeup was to cover up the most obvious flaw on Alec's face, he pulled a tube of lipstick out from his bag, taking the cap off with a pop. The color he chose was his own shade of choice - so subtle that it was hardly noticeable on him. Hopefully, it could return Alec to appearing at least somewhat natural. "Wipe off whatever you've got on and then put this one on."

There was relief to hear the lavatory entrance swinging open, followed the sound of George's voice. Alec's heart was racing, he was working himself up, his ideas and thoughts continuing to get worse, and Alec himself beginning to become increasingly panic and stressed with each thought. Alec was still rapidly pacing even after George had entered the lavatory. George asked what Alec did to himself that he needed makeup for. The Gryffindor simply shook his head at George's words, continuing to pace, Alec took a deep breath trying to stammer out a reasonable sounding response. It was the least he could do if he was going to interrupt George like this during the middle of breakfast. Yet when Alec opened his mouth, he found it hard to get the words out. “I- uh.. um...” Alec stammered, as he paced, watching out of the corner of his eye as George reached into his own satchel, pulling out the makeup.

Turning his head to look George's way in order to give some other reasonable response, before Alec could get any words out George had seen Alec's lips, Alec watched in horror as George's nose scrunched at the site of Alec's lips. He let out a disgusted noise which made Alec frown and whine, covering his face with his hands. Enough to make Alec freeze and stop pacing, though he felt like he wanted to shrivel up and melt in the floor. George asked what Alec had done to his lips, if he was wearing lipstick, telling Alec that the color of his lips made him look like a corpse. Alec face flushed. His frowned deepened and George's words only elicited more whining noises from the teen.

He would let his hands fall down and off his face. Walking over to lean against the wall Alec proceeded to whine more before mumbling, “does it really look that bad?” Great! He looked like a corpse! CLearly this was a death sentence! He didn't know how or why but George saying that Alec look liked a corpse infinitely said it all. George asked why this was life or deal and Alec huffed folded his arms across his chest. Glaring George's way. As if it wasn't obvious why this was a life or death situation! It was very very very very clear!

Alec thought finally he would be helped when George pulled out the lipstick, however, George would insist for Alec to wipe on whatever he had on. Didn't George get it? Apparently not! His words would again make Alec cover his face, letting out a groan, and sliding down the wall into a sitting position on the floor. Alec's lips formed a pout as he sat on the ground. Alec would sit and pout for a few moments(sobbing internally) until finally he spoke up.

“I-It doesn't come off!” Alec half shouted. He pulled his knees to his chest, burying his face into his knees. “It's not makeup,” he mumbled, words slightly muffled by his knees as he spoke. Alec was silent again for a few seconds. Followed by a sniffle from Alec, “does it really make me look like a corpse, George?” Alec whispered, words once again muffled by his knees.

@George Henry

George raised an eyebrow as he watched poor Alec squirm, searching for an explanation for his accursed lips. It was a condition that George had never seen before, perhaps owing to cooties the other boy had caught at the spin the bottle game that George had never attended. He followed Alec over to the wall where Alec had slid down to the floor into a ball, glancing back at the door to ensure that they had not been followed. Clearly this was a little more life and death than George had anticipated.

He squat down in front of Alec, trying to see eye to eye with him as he stared at those pouty, weird-coloured lips. What was it that made the corpse comment so awful? Alec didn't look anything like a corpse when they had hung out over the summer. Something had obviously changed. Maybe one of the other symptoms was turning the sweet Gryffindor into a vain drama queen, a niche that was already quite occupied by someone else in this lavatory.

"Relax, Alec! Relax!" George said, reaching out to take Alec's face in a grip that the Gryffindor would recognize from the time that he had makeup unwillingly applied to him. This time, however, George used both hands, trying to get a good look at the other boy's lips. He peered at them suspiciously, doing his best to keep his mouth in a flat line so that his disgust would not upset the other boy any further.

"Did you get poisoned, or like... start taking ice baths in the morning or something?" George wondered, perplexed. Getting his lipstick to hand again, George moved to start applying it to Alec, if the other boy would let him. In the interest of brutal honesty, George had to reveal his true thoughts to his friend. "It doesn't look normal, Alec... do you feel okay?"

Despite his initial suspicions being cooties, poisoning, or disease, George was still absolutely willing to offer his lipstick to Alec to help him cover it up. He kept glancing back toward the door, waiting for someone to come in. Any witnesses would have to be neutralized, lest the situation surrounding Alec's big smoochers get any more out of hand. "Maybe you should have your morning cry in one of the stalls in case someone comes in. You can just say, um... I don't know, you miss home."

George reached out, taking Alec's face and holding onto it, the other took a moment to seemingly thoroughly examine Alec's lips. At least George seemed invested, though Alec didn't at all like the way in which this situation seemed to be turning out, there was nothing good here in it for anybody. George then went on to ask was poisoned or if he'd started taking ice bath or something. Alec's lips would pout further, eyebrows furrowing in concern. “How would I know if I was poisoned?!” Alec whisper-shouted, now wide-eyed, George had given Alec another possibility to worry about as well! This wasn't getting any better in fact it was only making everything worse. It was a downward spiral from here on out. Alec was admittedly dealing with the situation in a childish manner... George took out the lipstick and started applying it to Alec lips, Alec let him. The other then went on to tell Alec what he thought of his lips. It didn't look normal. Oh how Alec hated the truth. He asked if Alec was okay and slowly the Gryffindor would nod.

George mentioned Alec should have his morning cry in the stalls, Alec huffed, “I'm not going to cry,” he mumbled out, he wouldn't, Alec wouldn't let himself he didn't cry over stupid things. He wasn't a crybaby. Alec wiped at his eyes with the sleeves of his school robes and swallowed, even doing this didn't get rid of the lump in his throat. The boys lips still formed a pout, his eyebrows had furrowed at hearing the excuse from George of missing home as a reason for crying. Nobody would buy it, and Alec would tell George that much, “besides, if I said I missed home, no one would believe me.” He muttered. The mutter was followed by another sniffle, Alec wiped at his eyes again with his school robe. Closing his eyes Alec took a deep breathe in and out to calm himself down, when he finished and his eyes flickered open Alec would stand up.

Immediately he began to brush off his school robes to make sure any bathroom dust or debris didn't stay on them. Alec focused his eyes towards the ground. “George, I have to tell you something, but you can't tell anybody ever about it, okay?” Alec asked, Alec was freaking out, he may as well make George see his point of view and freak out for a moment as well. They could do it for a few minutes until Alec rationalized it was probably nothing, and unrelated to that one thing, and he could of course go about living his day-to-day life.

Alec took another deep breath finally looking up to meet George's eyes. “I kissed a hag. I- It- It was terrible!” The admittance was like a guilty confession as he didn't immediately follow-through with the context for why hag-kissing was relevant in this situation. Alec shuffled for a moment, eyes flickering back down towards the ground. “And- and Dealla Prince said I should be careful in case she tried to put weird hag magic or curses on me or something. The hag has done it before so it's not unheard of...” Alec's voice neared a whisper as he spoke, anxiety whirled in him and it was like Alec had a tangled ball of yarn in his stomach.

@George Henry

"Well, you might know you were poisoned if your lips turned some horrid colour," George suggested helpfully, turning Alec's head to see if there was any change when it caught the light. No - in fact, it looked even worse. The extra light was instead used to aid in the application of that fine, neutral shade lipstick. George gave a half-smile, quite pleased that his work was turning out so well to cover up the dreadful color on Alec's lips... although covering it up didn't make him any less concerned about the root cause. It was remarkably easy to poison someone at a school where all meals were prepared out of sight and potions were taught as early as first year.

Assured that Alec was not going to cry, George shrugged. He was no stranger to fully-grown teenagers crying, including himself, and wasn't about to shame Alec for having a meltdown about this. In fact, if he'd been a bit more awake and less distracted by hunger, George would probably have been having his own mini-meltdown out of concern for his friend. But he wasn't dying or anything... just turning a rotten color.

He put the cap onto the tube of lipstick again, offering it to Alec. "In case you need to reapply. It's first week of school so I don't really care about looking good yet..." he admitted. He hadn't yet determined if there was going to be anyone in his classes worth going as far as lipstick over. It made your lips a bit glossy, even if it was a subtle color, so it was hard to hide, and then his friends would ask him questions about who exactly he was wearing it for. "It's a good color for you, actually..."

George furrowed his brow at the strange reason his crying lie wouldn't work. "...Is home not nice for you?" he murmured softly, reaching out to hold Alec's shoulder and give him a reassuring squeeze. He seemed to be on the edge of crying, but he was doing a good job of holding it in. "Careful, you'll get the lipstick on your sleeve..."

He let go and stood with Alec, his anxious grooming finally focused on someone other than himself as he picked at Alec's hair to put it back into place and then joined him in swiping the dust off his robes. Uh oh... he was about to be burdened with a secret. Hopefully not one he'd feel obliged to share with his friends. "...Okay, I won't. What... what is it?"

Then, Alec confessed that he'd kissed a hag. Considering the content of one of their first hang-outs and makeup sessions, he was quite sure where Alec had done the hag kissing. In fact, in a turn that would most likely surprise Alec, he named the exact hag who had done the deed. "Marion?" George whispered, his eyes wide as he looked at Alec's lips.

"Um- oh- oh my god, Alec, you've gotta tell somebody. Like - somebody who can actually do something about it? Maybe you should go to St. Mungo's," he suggested, with a helpless shrug as he looked Alec over head to toe, searching for any other signs of curses or manipulation. It was just a quick peck, right? How much damage could she have done? Whatever horrible form of cooties she'd given, it surely wasn't a death sentence, right? George was spiraling now, too, shaking his head quickly as he looked back up into Alec's eyes. "It's okay. You're fine. You don't... feel... different, do you? It's just your lips. You're acting pretty much like usual."

At the very least Alec's lips were being covered up by the lipstick, no one had to see the color anymore, Alec could probably forget about it, everything would be fine and go back to normal. He just had to cover this up... forever and ever and ever. Forever is a very long time... Oh no... George offered Alec the lipstick and he took it, nodding feverishly. It seemed Alec was going to need to have his own lifetime supply of lipstick to cover this up forever. Alec didn't know how he was going to be able to do it, he'd make it somehow, he had to. George complimented Alec, telling Alec the color was a good color for him. Alec would have thanked him, except he was currently caught up in keeping up with his whole saying he was not going to cry thing. The moment between the two of them suddenly became more intimate when a one-off comment Alec let slip from his lips was brought back to attention when George asked if home wasn't nice for Alec.

It was a very private moment as Alec sniffled, and felt George's hand squeeze his shoulder making it all that much harder to hold himself together. Alec wiped at his eyes his the sleeves of his school robe and George warned Alec to make sure he wouldn't get lipstick on it. George was too good, he was too nice. Alec thought it was insane he had managed to secure a friend like George and now he was going to be left wondering in his free time how exactly he had managed to secure a friend like George. Alec hadn't expected to get as close to crying as he did, but he managed to pull himself together. George helped put Alec's hair back into place and then began helping Alec dust off his robe

Alec confessed to kissing a hag, he was the one left for a moment of stun and shock as George spoke the hag's name. Alec's mouth was gaping wide open, he stared at George for a moment until he could make out the words to say, until he unfroze. “George, how did you know her name?” Alec asked, as if that were the top priority right now. He was confused. He needed to know. This may have as well been more important than the hag kissing information itself.

“I don't know anybody who can do something about it,” Alec replied hopelessly, his face displaying more anguish at the suggestion of St. Mungo's. Alec couldn't go to St. Mungo's till break, it wouldn't be any help. Besides if he went to St. Mungo's or anywhere else for that matter, “nobody would believe me.” Alec whispered out, very few were involved in the hag conspiracies of Hogwarts. The realization donning on him may have been the most horrifying one of all. What if this did become a problem? What happened if he tried to seek help? Where they going to call him crazy?

George tried to talk Alec down. Telling him it was okay and he was fine. Asking him if he felt any different and Alec shook his head no. It was just his lips. “Right... Nothing out of the ordinary other than my lips.” Alec spoke with a nod. He seemed uncertain. It had to be a bad sign. Even if it was a bad sign... Alec couldn't get it looked at. What was the point in worrying? It was useless and only going to stress him out. “It's- It's probably nothing,” Alec spoke, he anxiously ran a hand through his hair and walked over to the mirror. “You can't even tell it looked any different now.”

@George Henry

"I figured your standards were high enough that you didn't kiss Auntie Bootface in the Forbidden Forest or anything..." George said, trying to diffuse a bit of the detention with humor. He gave a shrug to Alec, too, before revealing his source. She'd told him too, right? So it wasn't like it was a secret that she knew about it. He hushed his voice, anyway - though it was unlikely a hag would find its way into the boy's bathroom, he was sure they had ears everywhere around the school. "Dee told me too."

This was getting a bit out of hand... Alec surely wouldn't be the only one afflicted if he'd picked this up at that stupid game of spin the bottle. George didn't know anyone who could do anything about it. The nurse that had been hired over the summer was an unknown factor - he could be awful, or he could be the best healer in the world... or he could be in on the whole hag conspiracy.

"I believe you," George assured him, reaching out to squeeze both shoulders, now. He wanted to pull Alec into a hug, but didn't want to push him over the edge if he was going to cry for real. Something had to work. Kissing a hag had to be... something that someone had done before in history, right? Had there ever been a pretty hag like Marion in history? He struggled to imagine anyone voluntarily kissing one of the one's he'd seen pictures of in his books... "Okay, okay. Relax. We're going to sort this out, okay? And in the meantime, you can just use my lipstick. I'll go get more this weekend and just get you that kind again."

Somewhere, deep in his teenage brain, George knew that it was incredibly stupid to not get any adults involved in what could very well be a life-threatening magical pathogen now living inside of his friend's lips. But the greater part of him knew that he was much more clever than other people his age. As long as he stayed calm, the two of them could find a way out of this predicament.

George followed Alec to the mirror, peering at him in the reflection as he ran his hand through his hair. "Don't flatten out your curls," George said solemnly. His brain issued style advice as reflex. Still, looking at Alec from this perspective, one would be none the wiser about his little lip issue. 'Probably nothing' was an optimistic outlook, but one that was still greater than Alec having a meltdown on the bathroom floor.

"Okay - um, yeah. Probably... Alec, would you mind keeping an eye on it? I just want you to notice if it gets any worse or anything. Just check before you put on the lipstick," George pleaded quietly, reaching out to restlessly swipe some more of the dust off the back of Alec's robes. There was no makeup in his satchel that could make them feel any better, but still, he reached in, searching for something. All he could feel was textbooks and candy wrappers - reminding him of the time. "Alec, did you eat anything at breakfast? You're going to be starving if you don't. Do you want me to walk back with you?"

What a compliment, Alec's standards were higher than whatever George was talking about. From context he could assume it was your average run of the mill hag George was referring too. George would continue on to be a good friend trying to reassure Alec saying that he believed him. Alec knew George believed him, that wasn't enough. Alec was unsure how to tell George this, or to put it in words, kind words at that which stayed unfilled from the frustration, anger, and sense of fear he was currently experiencing. None of it was George's fault. He was there to help, and it did mean a lot, to have him show up like this. George was squeezing both of Alec's shoulders now, an effort to comfort. See, too nice, how did this happen?! Alec sniffled. George either caught the sniffle or had perfect timing as there was another assurance to relax, saying they were going to sort this out. That in the meantime George would get Alec lipstick. The Gryffindor breathed and nodded, though his thoughts had wandered in trying to assure himself he was fine.

Alec walked towards the mirror the get a better look of himself in such a state. Instinctively running a hand through his hair. He was surprised to see the immediate reaction it garnered from George who spoke up, telling Alec to not flatten his curls. The statement added some cheeriness to the boy's otherwise somber demeanor. In the mirror Alec flashed a questioning look George's way. Not understanding why it mattered whether or not he flattened his curls, he found it amusing nonetheless. Alec spoke assuring himself and George the situation was fine and George spoke up in turn... sort of... not really... agreeing. He asked Alec to keep an eye on it, the Gryffindor nodded.

There was a small ghost of a smile which loosely clung to Alec's lips. The ghost of a smile brought by the finicky and incessant way George continued to swipe at Alec's robes. Any dust and dirt that continued on Alec's robes, even after George's vigorous swiping deserved an award for staying there. “I think it's fine George, you were able to get a fair amount off,” Alec spoke, as he bean inspecting his robes in the mirror. Alec would swipe at his robes for a few seconds himself. George suggested going back to the great hall to eat, walking Alec back with him. Alec paused, nervously eyeing his lips in the mirror. Hesitantly Alec nodded, “yeah, food sounds good.” Alec turned away from the mirror.

“Oh and George,” Alec spoke, glancing towards the other. “I appreciate you showing up. Thank you,” Alec was silent for a moment after, his eyes focused on George like he seemed to be debating something in his head. Another moment pass, then two, then- Alec quickly pulled George in for a hug. It was a tight hug that lasted no more than two seconds before Alec pulled away, once he did he walked toward the edit holding the door for George so they could leave.

@George Henry
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