Ginny is only nice to the firstie at first because she doesn’t know he’s a Slytherin (it’s too dark to see the badge or tie) and then after she finds out, she’s already comforting him, so she feels a bit stuck and uncomfortable.  Actually it’s very Weasley.  They speak and act before they think and then they have to deal with the consequences.  From the books we know she’s popular, so she must be very good at dealing with the consequences smoothly.

As for Severus, I understand exactly where you’re coming from.  I was an ugly duckling through my middle school years and first year of high school, and then all of a sudden grew out of it into a pretty person.  To make matters worse, I had spent my childhood very sick, having frequent seizures of the run around and not fall down twitching sort that had caused most of my fellows to think I was strange and a worthy target for abuse.  When I suddenly had effective treatment, they became all the crueler because suddenly I wasn’t terrifying and unpredictable anymore.  Even the nice people who decided to pity me thought I was obviously subnormal because I had so recently run around screaming and hiding in the bathrooms.  As I grew into good looks, suddenly the boys who had spent the last several years shoving me into trash cans started asking me out.  I had never been more insulted.  Did they think I was so pathetic that I would fall at their feet?
I was lucky to have spent what little time I was able to spend in high school, sick as I was (I have a whole set of immune disorders) with a set of other people that the school had grouped together because they had severe health problems.  Many of my friends needed wheel chairs, or had crippling learning disabilities but were still intelligent, or like me, were sick all the time.  Because of our illnesses, we all thought about the world differently and were used to living without society’s approval.  This is probably the only thing that has kept me from being any more of a misanthrope than I already am.

I see Lily in a softer light, and James too, for that matter.  I’m not necessarily fond of James, we haven’t seen much more of him than the stripping Snape incident, but I went though a period when I discovered I wasn’t a social outcast when I realized my dream of being popular and I was quite cruel, because for the first time I wasn’t on the receiving end.  It’s a natural juvenile pecking order behavior.  Besides, knowing Snape, he gave as good as he got, feeding into the feud.  Lily did not think the prank was funny.  She only turned on Snape when he insulted her for helping him.  She was indignant.  I might have done the same had my best friend called me a kike.

James isn’t just handsome and rich, he is socially able, and furthermore, he is charismatic.  I have never been and never will be charismatic, but it does mean that he was more than just a good looking fellow.  He sparkled, and this was what Snape envied (not that Snape didn’t despise him because of their mutual cruelty).  Snape isn’t just ugly and poor, he is socially inept and often outright nasty.  He was the butt of jokes in many parts, because of this.

Unfortunately for the ladies around Snape, they don’t know that his new face hides the same Snape personality.  Looks can make someone approach another person, but they cannot make them stay around if the personality behind them is not for them.  And Snape is churlish.  He’s just understandably so.

*snicker* Snape really is very set in his ways, isn’t he?  Thanks, I’m glad you like it.  Ginny doesn’t so much figure as actually overhear…