Frank Longbottom is a sixth-year Hufflepuff, a burgeoning young man - and he is terrified of a sixteen-year-old Ravenclaw girl. A skinny one with dark hair and big, dark eyes. The most beautiful girl he's ever met, he's pretty sure.
He tells himself that it's alright, because James Potter is a little afraid of Lily Evans, after all. James is in the house of bravery, of nobility and courage, of chivalry, and even he is terrified of a girl. That doesn't really help, seeing as she hates James's guts and anyone with a brain can tell that's never going to work out, and Frank really wants things to work out with him and Alice.
Then sometimes he tells himself that it's only proper to be afraid of her. After all, his mother is one of the most terrifying women he's ever met - if not the most terrifying woman he's ever met - and he loves her. His dad loved her 'til the day he passed, bless him! Being afraid of a woman just meant she was strong.
One day he decides that he'll work past his abject fear of interacting with her. When they pass in the corridor while he's leaving Transfiguration and she's headed into the classroom, he'll nod and say hello.
His wand slipped out of his hand and clattered to the floor, his palms were so heavy. Thank Merlin she didn't even notice. She had her nose buried in Practical Methodology in Defensive Casting. What a swot. A scary swot. A beautiful, scary swot.
It's another week before he tries to talk to her. He just happens across her, without even planning it all out in his head like usual. He's headed from his common room to the library, and there she is, curled up with a book in one of the first-floor windows. He would have expected her to enjoy the views from higher up in the castle, maybe a tower window, and he says so.
"I like the view from here just fine," she says, a small smile playing with the corner of her mouth.
He stutters out a reply and makes his way to the library, where he can calm down enough to study. It takes until halfway through the second chapter of his Charms notes to realize she'd been flirting with him.
He wasn't sure if that made him less frightened of her, or more.