She was an exchange student from a far away land, who had a hard time with anything, really. She has often been bullied so much so that she started skipping classes and used her animagus form most of the time to walk around the castle unnoticed. She spent most of her time alone, trying to avoid any and all social interaction she could.
One afternoon, she realized that she hasn't brought the books she rented from the library yet, and she started to panic. the deadline was yesterday. She couldn't return them just yet, not now at least. There are too many people walking about, she has to wait for the night. When the night came, she hastily rushed through the dark halls and corridors in hope that the librarian will forgive her and let her off easily since this was her first such offense. She was in such a hurry that she didn't notice the other person turning in the corner, and bumped into him in full speed. her books scattered in the hallway as she got knocked back. She looked up with tears swelling in her eyes, her mind racing in a complete panic mode as her brain registered what happened.
'Are you all right?' he asked calmly as he offered his hand to help her up.
She froze. the poor witch tried to form words but no sounds came from her throat. The panicking girl forced herself to speak but only gibberish and babbling could be heard. Her face was red in embarrassment as a tear rolled down her face. She reached the point where her flight or fight instinct triggered. Her body started to shift and shrink as she turned into her animagus form and ran as fast as she could, forgetting all about the books she dropped.
'What a weird girl.' the boy thought, as he started to collect the scattered books. After a short examination, he concluded that they are the library's property, and decided to return them. Two weeks have passed, and she had completely forgotten him and the encounter they had, that is until tonight. She was wandering on the beach of the black lake, taking in the scenery, enjoying the peace, and drawing things into the sand, until she noticed that something was wrong, that is. She saw someone laying on the beach, face down in the sand, the waves splashing against him, going all the way up to his waist. Her worries quickly took over her usual inhibitions and awkward nature and she rushed to the person's aid. When she got close, she saw that it was the same Slytherin she bumped into two weeks ago. When he noticed that someone is approaching, he rolled over to his back, to look up them. It was the same girl from before.
'It's you.' the wizard said with a painful groan. There was a huge wound on his chest, and his arm seemed to be broken.
'What happened to you?' The young Hufflepuff asked in a state of total panic.
'I was collecting herbs underwater for a project of mine. The merfolk disagreed.'
'Don't move!' she said, internally screaming afterwards, realizing that he is in no state really "move". 'I will help you! I- I don't know how but I will!' she said almost yelling as she looked around not sure what to do exactly.
'My bag. It has Wiggenweld, and Bone-mending gel. I left it somewhere on the beach.' the Slytherin groaned.
She knew what to do. Without a word she started running around the beach like a madwoman shifting back and forth between her animagus form and her human form looking for the bag everywhere until she finally found it. She took the gel and the potions, and ran back to him as fast as she could. With face as red as a cherry, she opened up his shirt to apply the potion onto the wound. She looked at her gloves, dirty with sand. She turned him with a shameful look on her face, as she removed her dirty gloves.
'I will apply the potion and the gel now, I know this is going to be uncomfortable, but please, bear with me.'
'This isn't the first time I use Wiggenweld on a wound, I will be fine.'
'That's not what I'm talking about, okay?! she asked almost shouting. 'You will have to bear me touching you.' she added, the words barely a whisper.
She began applying the solutions, as the boy watched.
'You have beautiful hands.'
'Oh no! He has brain damage, oh no!' she thought, not noticing that the words slipped out of her mouth.
Then they waited. They waited for the healing to take pace, the bones to mend and the wounds to close. The awkward silence was occasionally broken by awkward conversation attempts, that didn't really go anywhere, yet somehow, he still enjoyed it.
'Oh, would you look at that, the wounds are all closed up which means I can go now, bye! said the awkward witch, the speed of her speech ever increasing.
'Wait!' the boy quickly interrupted her, as she was about to run away. 'Can we meet again later? I'd like to thank you for helping me.'
'Oh that is not necessary in fact I should be thanking you for allowing me to-'
'Please. I insist. It would make me really sad living with the thought that I never properly thanked you what you did for me.'
The girl quietly nodded, her face red like blood.
'Wonderful! What about this weekend? I'll make it worth for you, I promise.'

End of Part 1

The weekend fast approached, much to the young Hufflepuff's distress. She knew herself, she has no social skills and she can't even form a coherent sentence around men. She is not even attending classes, she just hides in the hallways in her animagus form occasionally running away from kneazles and cats. Luckily for her, the boy picked a place nice and quiet; The Library. Most first second, and third years were too immature to appreciate books, and most fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh years preferred other quiet places. Places where they can give in their suppressed hungry urges and where they can let their hormones guide them. At first she planned on hiding in a corner behind a bookshelf until the mysterious Slytherin gets bored and leaves, but things didn't go as planned. She barely even got close to the bookshelf she was eyeing with when she heard the voice that made her freeze.
'It's you, glad you could make it.'
It was the blonde wizard from before, although he wasn't as rugged as the day they met. The awkward witch tried her best to form a coherent answer, with questionable results;
'I- I am! Mice to neet you!' And then she realized what she said. 'Dice to beet you!' Now she started to panic. The words froze in her throat, she tried to speak but she felt like she can't breathe.
'Nice to meet you too.' he said warmly.
Whether the fact that he didn't judge her rambling, or the warm smile, something made her relax —enough to finally breathe again that is.

Author's note: This was a quick update to show that I didn't abandon this story. Soon there is more to come.