𝓢𝓸𝓾𝓵𝓶𝓪𝓽𝓮 // 𝓱. 𝓰𝓻𝓪𝓷𝓰𝓮𝓻

002 - 𝓑𝓵𝓸𝓸𝓭𝔂 𝓟𝓪𝓷𝓲𝓬

Alara ended up sitting between Fred and Ginny, who proved to be an extremely chatty duo. She'd found out that Ginny was, in fact, a year younger than Alara, and that the twins were the same age as Alejandro, who was now joking away with Fred, chatting with Mr. Weasley. The second Alara saw the man she immediately found him the most precious human ever. He was a tall red-headed man, whose hair was slowly graying and disappearing at the same time. He was very much a muggle enthusiast, bombarding Hermione, whose parents were muggles, with questions about their day-to-day. Alara found this absolutely comical and couldn't help but giggle at some interactions.

When dinner was finally served, Alara felt inspired, putting some soup into her bowl. She immediately became aware that she was not as ready for a meal as she thought he was. She looked up, noticing that Alejandro was already looking at her, with an intrigued face.

She shrugged, and Alejandro nodded encouragingly, turning to converse with Fred for a second and then focusing back on Alara. She was still debating. Alara let out a defeated sigh, filling her spoon with soup and scooping up some potato. She slowly put the spoon in her mouth and retracted it, leaving the food inside. It didn't taste bad at all, in fact, it was very savory. Her stomach remained settled. She swallowed after chewing and she received a thumbs-up from her brother, who'd carefully watched the whole thing. He then pointed at the chicken between them, mouthing; 'protein'.alara made a pinching motion with her fingers, letting her brother know that she needed a moment before eating more. He gave her an approving nod, joining back in the conversation with a smile.

Alara sipped on her water, focusing on looking for a familiar unsettled feeling in her stomach that never came. She set her glass down and looked up, making eye contact with eyes that were already on her. It was Hermione. Her eyes were filled with worry, her eyebrows furrowed as if concentrated on solving a complicated math problem.

Alara felt embarrassment creep into her. She'd just witnessed that whole thing. Everything. She looked away from Hermione, biting her inner cheek as a method to refocus her brain. It didn't work. She became aware of the smells of food around her, making her feel disgusted. The unsettled feeling in her stomach grew and she gagged.

She brought her sleeve up in an attempt to block the smell of food but when she inhaled her breath caught in her throat and her chest tightened.

'Great timing anxiety,' she grumbled angrily at herself. 'Just great.'

She needed to leave before all these people witnessed her have a panic attack before her beautifully crafted first impression was ruined, and before she got a chance to introduce herself to some people.

She abruptly stood up, as quietly and quickly as possible. Everyone stayed in their conversations, except Alejandro, who looked at her plate, the chicken, then her.

"The found was out of this world Mrs. Weasley, thank you so much," Alara called from the door, receiving a couple of confused looks from some members of the order. She made eye contact with no one. She was struggling to take a breath and tears were threatening to spill. "I am horribly tired though, so if you could please excuse me."

"No worries dear," Mrs. Weasley smiled, with her eyebrows furrowed slightly. As soon as those words left Mrs. Weasley's mouth alara was off. She was biting her lip very hard, attempting to stop herself from having a meltdown mid-staircase. She tasted blood in her mouth as she hurried up the stairs, almost running, skipping two steps at a time.

By the time she made it to her room, she couldn't breathe, a combined struggle from speeding up the stairs and the panic attack. Tears streamed down her face as she hurried to open all the windows to their fullest extent, a cold breeze filling the room. She then stumbled over to the bathroom, bent over the toilet, and threw up.