Harry Potter One Shots

Crescent Moon

Warning: hints at an eating disorder, nothing graphic or descriptive though.

Lily smiled as the camera's flash lit up her face. She wore so much makeup that her dark under eyes were nearly invisible, and the yellow undertone her face had taken on in the past few weeks was brightened to its natural pink.

"Are we almost done?" she asked through a bright smile, still posing.

Nina, her manager, shook her head and held up five fingers. Trying not to let her shoulders sag, Lily widened her eyes slightly and pouted. The flash went off again, bright white. The brightness hurt her eyes and she felt lightheaded, which hadn't happened since-

"Perfecto," the photographer said with a flourish in his voice. She forced herself to stand up straighter and breathed deeply. "Gorgeous!" he said when she tipped her head back and faked a laugh. "We're done here," he concluded happily, flicking through the photos with an extremely satisfied expression on his dramatically made up face.

"Great. Thank you, Max," Nina said briskly. She turned to Lily. "What time is your father picking you up, Miss Potter?"

Lily glanced at her watch.

"Um, in about ten minutes?"

"Then we have time for coffee and a quick chat."

Nina gathered up her files and briefcase, thanked Max again and showed him to the door, then took Lily by the arm and led her to the back room behind the studio.

Lily set about making two coffees - one vegan friendly decaf for Nina, and a mocha for herself that was more chocolate than coffee. She didn't know anyone who could drink coffee as fast as Nina, but then Nina could do a lot of things faster than most people; it came with the job. Ushering around a seventeen year old model who was just about as efficient as most teenagers (that is to say, as slow and sedentary as a sloth) required her to do a lot of things last minute, sometimes within an hour of a shoot.

"What is it this time, Nina?" Lily asked, placing the coffees on the small table her manager sat at.

Nina shuffled some papers and, avoiding Lily's eye, took a gulp of her coffee. If it burnt her mouth, she didn't show it.

"Honey." Lily winced. Whenever she was at a shoot she was used to Nina calling her Miss Potter, though she didn't like it. Once the cameras were gone and the fancy people with their absurd outfits and obsession with makeup, hair, and image, Nina always called her by her first name. Pet names were not a frequent thing. The only times they had been used before was when Lily's brother, James, was diagnosed with cancer, and then when her dog passed away. So Lily wasn't thrilled to be addressed as a condiment.

"Lily," Nina amended. "I'm worried about you. You're not eating again."

"I'm eating," Lily protested. "I even brought lunch today, look!" She pulled a ziplock bag from her handbag - it was a Debris, one of the most admired designers - and thrust it at Nina who eyed the avocado sandwich distastefully.

"It's uneaten."

Flushing, Lily stuffed the sandwich back into her bag and glared at her manager.

"Some days are harder than others," she mumbled. "I'm fine." She took a defiant sip of coffee.

"Lily," Nina said warningly.

"Nina," she retaliated.

The austere woman stood up and arranged her various folders and papers into a neat pile. She plucked a thin diary from the stack and thumbed through to a clean page. Lily stared at all the tiny red post it notes sticking out of the pages and suddenly felt sick.

"I'll be keeping an eye on you, and if it doesn't get better soon we'll have to bring in your parents. You know the drill."

Lily did know the drill. The last time she'd relapsed (if you could call it that. It had never really been that bad in the first place - just bad enough) a huge kerfuffle had been made. She hadn't had any jobs offered for months. But she wasn't relapsing. Not now, not with the ball so soon.

"I've got it under control, Nina," she said, as firmly as she could manage.

Nina didn't look up from where she was making some notes in the diary.

"We'll see," she said.

a/n

i'm 97% sure i haven't published this already?? anyway figured i was long overdue for an update and i wrote this months ago. thanks everyone who still reads what i write. 

love, 

Cate xx

p.s part 2 will be up right after this so go read it!!