Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters, they belong to JK Rowling.
House: Hufflepuff
Prompt: One of the characters must be in your house (Hannah Abbott and Ernie Macmillan)
A/N: 'Mezcolanza' is a colloquial word we use in Argentina that means basically "a messy mix". As many colloquial words in my country, it's a derivation from Italian.
This story will be a recollection of one-shots for the HPFC on this website. It'll be updated every week fullfilling a different challenge. I'm going to try make each chapter a missing moment from the books but that depends on how the challenges are (since I was warned by the mods that it'll be harder and harder to conect the one-shots). Thanks for reading and don't forget to review! :)

Title: The Meltdown
Pairing: Hannah Abbott and Ernie Macmillan
Rating: G
Prompt: One of the two characters must be a Hufflepuff
Word Count: 725
Beta: aigooism (at livejournal)
Warnings: None.
Summary: Missing moment from OotP; Hannah freaks out about the O.W.L.s
A/N: Originally written for the second challenge on the forum "Harry Potter Fanfiction Challenges".

The Meltdown

Hannah broke into a huge sob, mumbling the properties of Bubotuber Pus under her breath. Ernie looked from her to the Puffapods in front of them.

"Erm...Hannah, Professor Sprout asked how to harvest Puffapods, not Bubotuber Pus," he said to his friend, noticing everyone's eyes on them.

"I don't know!" she screamed at him. Her sobs making her choke due to lack of breath. "I don't know...how- how to harvest...Puffapods! I'm too stupid! I can't- I'm going to fail!"

"Fail what?" he asked in confusion.

"The O.W.L.s, you idiot!" she yelled, making Ernie take a step backwards.

"Oh dear..." Professor Sprout sighed, running to their side of the table. "Calm down, Miss Abbott. Breathe," she instructed when Hannah's face turned deep red. "I'm afraid she's the first one to have the O.W.L.s meltdowns. Mister Macmillan, would you take Miss Abbott to the Infirmary, please?"

"Me? She almost sets me on fire for asking her a question!" Ernie looked frantically at the Herbology teacher with fear in his eyes.

"Mister Macmillan, it wasn't really a suggestion. Take Miss Abbott to Madam Pomfrey," Sprout said sternly, leaving no room for discussion as she walked back to her desk and continuing her class.

"Let's go, Hannah," he mumbled, taking her by the elbow.

"I can't! I need to be in class! I can't cope with missing a class now. I- I need to study!" she kept screaming through her sobs.

"Miss Abbott, go with Macmillan," Professor Sprout said distractedly as she showed the rest of the class how to clean the Puffapods' leaves correctly.

With that, Ernie pulled the distraught girl out of the greenhouse, leaving their belongings behind. Hannah was still crying and muttering her insecurities as they reached the second floor.

"Hannah, seriously. You need to calm down. You will not fail," he reassured, looking intently at the floor.

"How- How do you know that? I'm so stupid I can't even remember the-"

Ernie slipped his arm around her shoulders as they walked down the hall to the Infirmary. "I will help you study. We'll study together; if you fail, I'll fail with you," he said with a wide smile. A smile that sobered up when Hannah cried even louder. "What? What did I do now?"

"We...cannot...fail! We are p-prefects! Prefects need...to...to be good st-students!" she sobbed into her hands, muffling her wails.

"Okay, you're right. Sorry." He lifted his hands in surrender. "I give up. Cry all you want," he said grumpily as he quickened his pace, leaving Hannah with no choice but to jog behind him.

"Wait! Ernie!" she said, but he suddenly stopped, opening the door to the Infirmary to her.

Madam Pomfrey was by their side the minute they crossed the doorway. "What seems to be the matter here?"

"O.W.L.s meltdown," Ernie said shortly pointing at Hannah. His expression showed boredom.

"Ha! The first one of the year! I was wondering why nobody has visited me yet. I suspect kids these days are not taking their exams as seriously as we did in my time," she said, dragging Hannah to the nearest bed and making her lie down on it. "Here. Calming Draught. You will feel better -and sleepy- in a second."

Hannah took the vial and rested her head on the pillow.

"Stay here for two hours. You, mister, can go back to class now," she said pointing at Ernie.

"Can he stay for a minute?" Hannah asked drowsily.

"Hm. Two minutes. I'm counting," Madam Pomfrey said in her strict voice, returning to her office and leaving them alone.

"Sorry I screamed at you, Ernie," Hannah mumbled with her eyes already closed.

Ernie sighed. "It's okay. I will probably scream at you in two weeks when I get my own meltdown," he teased, making her laugh softly.

"Thank you, Ernie," she said with a sigh.

He noticed she had fallen asleep right then and there. Her steady breathing making her chest rise and fall in a slow motion.

"Anytime, Hannah," he whispered, brushing his hand against hers before starting to leave the room. He stood a few feet away from her bed and turned to look at her sleeping form. "Oh, and by the way, you're not stupid, Hannah. Sweet dreams," he said softly with a small smile playing on the corner of his lips, before returning to his Herbology class.