Title: A Few Days in the Life of Zacharias Smith

Challenge: The Emotion Challenge given out by Deadly Poppy. The next chapters will be centred around the following emotions: Crabbiness, Fear, Happiness, Conceit, Betrayal, Love.

Characters: Zacharias-centric, though it does have other Hufflepuffs featured throughout the fic. :) Will end up having a pairing which should be pretty clear now about.

Authors Note: I tried to portray the emotion 'shyness' with Zacharias' blushing but I don't think it turned out too well. Anywho, enjoy! :)

When he first met Eloise Midgen, he judged her by her looks.

She was in his house for the first four years of his life and he didn't notice her until she returned one day with acne. He had snickered along with most the blokes in his dorms, making up nicknames they'd never say to her face.

In the middle of sixth years, Susan Bones finally snapped and went off her head in a long-winded bitch to him about how cruel he was being to her. It ended up with her leaving a stinging red mark in the shape of her palm across his cheek, and her hexing him so bad that he winded up in the hospital for the next three days which was absolute hell.

He had no visitors, no little flimsy cards, no sympathy.

Day after day, Zacharias just laid in his very uncomfortable hospital and stared up at the ceiling - either that or he flipped through magazines which he had read a hundred times over. He was now up to three-hundred and forty-three cracks in the ceiling.

"Madam Pomfrey," called out a soft voice.

Zacharias was startled and looked at the new presence in the room, then swore. Now he'd have to start all bloody over again. Dammit. Stupid Eloise Midgen.

"Excuse me?"

Those were the first words she'd ever spoken to him. And, shit, had he said that out loud? "Er, what?"

The acne-ridden girl looked at him with an expression that he could only read as careless. "You just said my name. You just called me stupid, Zacharias."

"Yeah, well, you are. You're stupid enough to. . ."

Eloise waited a moment and checked in Madam Pomfrey's office to see if the nurse was there. She then turned and went to sit on the bed next to Zacharias'.

"What are you doing?"

"Visiting," replied Eloise quietly, shrugging her shoulders. "Oh, and I'm waiting for Madam Pomfrey. Know where she is?"

"Why are you visiting me?" Zacharias drawled, raising an eyebrow at her.

Even the ugly people couldn't resist his good looks. He knew it.

Eloise raised an eyebrow back at Zacharias before she replied, "Seems no-one else has bothered to. And, after all, you're in here because of ugly old me."

"Yeah. Whatever," Zacharias said dismissively. "I don't want you here."

"Bullshit," Eloise said immediately. "You're bored. You're counting cracks on the ceiling. You want a visitor. Even stupid Eloise Midgen will do."

"You know, for someone who's so honest, you like to insult yourself," Zacharias told her with a snort. "I don't understand that. A lot of people do it already, so why do you have to do it to yourself as well?"

She didn't even look hurt before she answered, "I make fun of myself because that way people can laugh with me, and not at me. It doesn't work, of course."

"Obviously. People talk shit about you behind your back all the time," scoffed Zacharias.

"As they do yours."

"I don't care."

"Yes, you do," snorted Eloise.

He was starting to think she wasn't all that nice. Not like most Hufflepuffs. She was kind of like him, come to think of it.

"No, I don't. I don't care at all. People can bitch about me all they want, whether it be behind my back or not."

Eloise gave an almost harsh laugh. "You attacked Seamus Finnigan just the other week for talking shit about you."

"He wasn't talking shit about me. He was talking shit about Ab-"

"-bott?" Eloise finished for him, a small smirk twisting her lips. "You like her."

Zacharias rolled his eyes, but felt a sort of warmth flow to his cheeks. "No, I don't. I have a bunch of girls lining up for me, I don't need some pig-tailed bint to satisfy me."

"You're blushing," pointed out Eloise.

Zacharias thought on his feet. "Yeah, well, it's hot in here."

"It's winter," Eloise replied dully. "And you've got your covers drawn up to chin. Admit it, Zacharias, you're blushing."

Knowing he wasn't going to win, Zacharias sent her his most withering glare and settled for looking up at the roof. "Fine. I'm blushing. Big deal. It's not like I like her."

"She fancies you."

This caught his attention. "Oh, really? She, uh, said so, has she?" He tried to make his voice as confident as possible.

"Not as much, but she's always biting her lip when she's around you, and blushing," Eloise reasoned, crossing her legs. "I overheard her ranting about you the other day to Ernie. And trust me when I say that no-one can sound that frustrated without the word 'sexually' before it."

"Abbott doesn't have sex," Zacharias said. "She's the biggest prude I know."

"I won't deny that. She's one of those girls who make a big deal out of things like sex," Eloise shrugged. She paused before she said, "You know, we're not that different."

"Who? You and Abbott?"

"No. Me and you," Eloise explained. "No-one likes either of us."

Zacharias smirked, the blush in his cheeks now faded. "Abbott does apparently."

"She fancies you. That doesn't mean she likes you."

"You're a bloody weirdo," Zacharias snorted. "Why do girls have to be so complicated?"

"Us? Complicated?"

"Yep."

There was a silence as the two of them went into their own thoughts.

"Want to hear a stupid story?" Eloise asked Zacharias, looking down at the bed covers. Before he replied, she spoke, "I got tired of people teasing me, so I tried cursing off my pimples. And you know what happened? They got worse, and now my nose is permanently off-centre. It's smashing, isn't it?"

Not quite sure what to say, Zacharias said the first thing that came to mind, "Sure is." His voice dripped with sarcasm.

Eloise looked at him for a moment and he seriously thought she was going to cry before she surprised him with a choke of laughter. "I think you're the first one to ever, ever admit it."

"Should I be honoured?"

Eloise opened her mouth to reply when --

"Eloise Midgen! Dear, I've just gotten that potion I was talking about in for you," Madam Pomfrey called, bustling into the hospital wing.

Eloise slid off the bed with a small nod at Zacharias. "Until next time."

The next time she tried talking to him, he ignored her.