Extra : "I'd RATher die"

The warm days of summer were soon coming to an end, a lonely leaf floated in front of the pale girl, alone in the courtyard as she prepared herself for today's lesson.
She was expected, and the worried look in professor Fig the previous day haunted her mind, the kind old man begged her to attend her classes, doing everything he could to try and reassure her, which worked, for a time, but he wasn't here right now.
She was alone, in front of a massive door; pushing it open wouldn't be half as hard as walking through it.
The loud sound of the castle's bells echoed through the courtyard, she couldn't waste anymore time, slowly and trembling, she stepped forward.

A quick blur cut her off, a fast walking girl had opened the door, traversed the corridor and entered class, not passing a glance at the shaking Hufflepuff girl.
The path blasted open, she walked, resigned, but as she looked up from the ground she realized the Gryffindor was holding the door for her but not looking at her; it was the girl she's often made to sit next to, she radiated kindness and confidence, something she wished she had.
The kind gesture felt like her heart was being stabbed, she wanted to run away, the two girls stood there for a second, both paralyzed, waiting for the other to do something before the professor sternly called them inside.
Overwhelmed, she rushed to her seat, blushing slightly.

The lesson was thankfully uneventful, no group work of any kind, no dreadful "come to the blackboard" questions, the girl relaxed slightly, sighing.
Being next to her white haired companion somehow calmed her greatly, she felt like a guardian angel, even if they had never talked or looked at each other, of course the mere thought filled her with guilt, throwing such responsibility on a complete stranger.
Unaware that she had just trapped herself in a spiral of negativity, the brunette started daydreaming, or rather daynightmaring, completely unaware of what was happening around her.

Soft tapping on the desk brought her back to reality, another kind gesture from her neighbour, who was now standing up as she whispered "Group practice." as she was paired with Sebastian, a very bold Slytherin boy, whose intensity was difficult to deal with.
Slightly lost, the Hufflepuff looked around, in a panic "What's happening?!" she thought.
"Good morning." a soft voice surprised her, making her close her eyes shut.
She turned around, towards a blond Slytherin student, his gaze was intense but gentle, he looked as if he didn't blink and his wand was out, glowing slightly.
She tried speaking, her voice didn't come out, she tried again, her voice cracked as she spoke "goodmhellovening!"
"That's it! I'm packing my things and moving to Antarctica." she thought, as the gentle boy chuckled a little "Shall we practice?" he held out his hand, she wouldn't dare grab it, but her hand slowly creeped closer, instinctively.
"Y-your book, hand me your book." he blurted, sensing the confused girl's behaviour.
In her mind, she was in a crater of stupidity, on her knees, clothes in scraps as she screamed at the top of her lungs "JUST KILL MEEEEE!!"
"We have to transfigure our book into a bird, see?" he waved his wand, the book opened in the middle as pages started tearing out and turning into a beautiful snow owl.

The boy's mesmerizing gaze was fixated on her, as if he was looking at her soul, having missed many classes before she struggled with the subject, but with such a strange boy stirring unknown feelings inside her it was almost impossible to get more than a few torn pages.
Assigned in pairs, each of them had to make sure the other would be able to cast the spell, should both succeed they'd be freed for the day, her guardian angel had already left the class a while ago, so did Sebastian and many other students.
Panicking at the prospect of making a poor impression she kept trying harder and harder, fumbling in ways she couldn't even understand under his stare.
"One more time, you can do it." he said, maybe a bit too sternly than he intended; tears started welled up in her eyes, she felt like a failure, only they and the teacher were left in class, that and the many scraps of paper on the ground surrounding the both of them.
Sensing her tears, he approached carefully, raising her chin with his hand "Relax, breathe."
His touch sent a thunderbolt through her spine as she jumped and yelped.
"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to surprise you!" he quickly said, distressed.
"And now I've made him worry... Make it stop!" she thought.
Ominis sat down, letting her calm herself down, not wanting to cause her any more panic.
She steeled herself, thinking back on the beautiful snow owl, his pale eyes looking gently over her.
With nothing left but the cover, the swish of her wand finally turned the book into a chirping robin, her vision still blurred by tears, he congratulated her with a warm smile.

"Mister Gaunt, may I have a word?" Said the professor.
Forced to tear her eyes from the mysterious boy, the girl packed her things and left the room, utterly exhausted and ready to collapse.
Her mind was still racing wildly, assaulting her in every directions with impure thoughts and self loathing, she wanted to get better so she wouldn't be a burden anymore, she wanted to run, to be left alone, but she yearned for warmth, she jumped as her mind materialised Ominis' face when she thought of warmth.
Blushing heavily, she started running towards her refuge, the Room of Requirement, where nobody would bother her, with her plants and dear creatures.

"Took you long enough!" Sebastian was standing in front of the stairs she was about to take, hands in his pockets.
He walked confidently towards her, grabbing her hand and pulling her away from her salvation, the overwhelmed girl could do nothing but let herself be taken away, utterly lost in a sea of conflicting emotions, from the overwhelming feeling of holding hands much larger and stronger than hers, the feeling of betraying her attraction for Ominis and the absolute distress she felt as she was manhandled away from her refuge.

"I was supposed to teach you spells in the Undercroft today, did you forget?" he said, pulling her behind him as he walked briskly.
She couldn't answer, too focused on not trying to trip.
She was almost thrown against the wall, his hand quickly taking place above her, she was trapped between him and the strange armoire, his body towering above her as he waved his wand to open the passage.
He looked down at her panicked face, grinning slightly, both aware and unaware of what he was doing to the fraidy-cat in front of him.
If she was an ice cream... She'd be a milkshake, her grabbed her hand again and entered the Undercroft.

Letting go of her hand, he half jogged to the center of the room, extending his arms "Here we are! The Undercroft!" he was beaming, proud of his little secret.
The girl was still panicking, in the shadows, fantasizing or rather dreading what could happen in a remote place like this, all alone, with an assertive boy who didn't mind grabbing a maiden's hand without asking.
"Come on! Don't be shy!" Boy was he oblivious, he was nothing like Ominis, he was more like a forceful brute.
Scanning the room with her blue eyes, the Hufflepuff walked shakily towards the cocky, grinning boy.
"This place is our secret! Ominis showed it to me and made me promise not to show it to anyone..." said Sebastian, blushing a little and scratching the back of his head.
"Grab your wand, I'll teach you a fun spell, and you can go wild in here, just make sure not to go too wild..." he beckoned her closer.
She nodded, taking a shaky stance with her wand; he approached "Not like this!" he rearranged her limbs and fixed her back, eliciting an embarrassingly loud yelp from the girl as she let go of her wand, the impact echoing through the Undercroft.
"What are you doing? Grab your wand!" She couldn't tell if he was irritated or amused, she could tell, however that she wanted to be very far from this place.

"Sebastian?!" exclaimed a familiar voice, making the two students jump: It was Ominis, with a frown on his face.
"I told you this place was a secret!" said the angry boy, Sebastian tried to talk but young Gaunt interrupted him "Please leave, we'll talk about this later."
The grumbling boy left, stomping on his way out, his sleeves over his elbows and his robes under his arm. "Fine, be that way."
She couldn't understand why he was angry at Sebastian but not a her, which wasn't that surprising considering she wasn't aware she was almost crouching in tears.
"Oh I'm sorry, I didn't mean to..." he walked towards her, his intense gaze making a comeback, mesmerizing the girl once again.
Unlike Sebastian, he didn't forcefully grab her, he offered his hand, just as large but slender and pale.
Taking a deep breath, the brunette grabbed it, positively giddy, pulling herself up, before dusting herself off a little.
"What's that?" he said, cocking his head slightly, she felt a sudden rush through her entire body, he pulled out a beautiful handkerchief and started clearing her cheeks from the proof of her feelings.
"There, you seem to have had a rough day." his eye lacked expression but he clearly emanated something that made her feel warm, and cut her deeply as feeling of self-loathing crashed into her like a tidal wave.
"My name is Ominis, Ominis Gaunt, pleased to meet you." he reached out towards her.

His wand allowed him to see but it wasn't flawless, he was shocked when her realized he was staring at empty clothes on the ground, not even realizing a small brown rat had scurried away between his legs.
The compassionate boy stashed the clothes next to the entrance to the Hufflepuff Common Room, a gesture that stirred another fireworks of feeling in the overwhelmed girl who was now bawling in the Room of Requirement, feeling utterly lost, left alone with her mind.
It felt as good as it felt bad, the sensation rushed through her entire body, her heart, her stomach, part of her wanted the torture to stop but she kept pulling her strings, letting her mind go wild, imagining beautiful things, horrible things, hidden beneath her sheets until finally, slumber took her.