A/N: Melinda Bobbin is a character mentioned in HBP as belonging the the Slug Club because her family owns a chain of apothecaries. She's not an OC.
Content notice: phobia of crowds, panic attack
Melinda Bobbin wanted nothing more than for her mother to be proud of her. So much of her life had been dictated by what her mother would find pleasing. She knew less about what she liked than what her mother did.
When Professor Slughorn had first invited her to join the Slug Club on the Hogwarts Express, she had remembered her mother's fond reminiscing of being in the same club as a Hogwarts student and how beneficial the connections had been when she'd opened her first apothecary in Hogsmeade.
Melinda wasn't good at brewing potions herself, much to her mother's ongoing disappointment, but she could sell anything to anyone. She'd honed that skill well growing up in her family's apothecaries, and she tried to channel those skills to mask the way her stomach sloshed uneasily as she approached the room where Slughorn was holding his Christmas party.
The previous get togethers had felt small compared to the party, and she didn't like it at all. Melinda could do one-on-one conversations; she could even talk easily with smaller groups of people. She couldn't handle crowds.
They'd made her feel claustrophobic since she'd been locked in the storeroom of one of their apothecaries as a child. She suffered through the welcome feast every year only to avoid each feast that followed. Only her closest friends noticed her absences. It certainly wasn't something she'd shared with her family before.
But the Slug Club was important to her mother. She'd be livid if she knew Melinda had turned down the invitation, so Melinda put one foot in front of the other, driving herself towards the party even as it became harder for her to move.
The room was louder than she had expected it to be, which was saying something as she always expected the worst from parties. She resisted her instinct to cringe, keeping her posture straight and ignoring the urge to find a corner where she could curl into a ball and hide.
She made it halfway into the room until it was too much. She was suffocating and needed space before something terrible happened.
Turning on her heel, she fled from the room, breathing heavily. She never saw her mother heading towards her.
Melinda didn't make it far before she collapsed against a window sill, her hands shaking as she took deep breaths to calm herself. She could only hope that no one would walk by and see her in such a disheveled state.
Footsteps could be heard around the corner, and her body tensed, preparing to flee if it was anyone particularly unpleasant. When the person came into view, it was her mother, and Melinda shot to her feet, taking a step backwards in her panic. Her mother couldn't see her right after such an attack. Melinda had put so much effort into appearing calm and collected whenever they were in Diagon Alley or anywhere similar. Her mother was never meant to know how it sometimes felt like the sky itself was closing in around her.
"Melinda, sweetie, are you alright?" her mum asked, walking forward hesitantly until she was standing directly in front of her daughter.
She reached out to place a hand on Melinda's arm, causing Melinda to flinch. She pretended like she didn't notice her mother snatch her hand back at the reaction.
"I'm fine," Melinda replied, her shaky voice betraying her.
"You certainly don't seem fine," the woman said, her voice growing stronger as she looked Melinda up and down in her usual analytical way.
Melinda looked towards the opposite wall while she let her mother work things out for herself.
"What's the matter?" the woman asked. "You looked like you'd seen an army of Dementors back there."
Melinda took another deep breath and turned her face upward to look at her mother directly.
"Crowds terrify me," she admitted, voice barely above a whisper. "They have since that time I got locked in the storeroom. Sometimes, I can power through it, but tonight, I was tired and it was too much. I'm sorry."
Her mother's brow creased, and she reached out to grip Melinda's shoulders tightly.
"What are you sorry for? This sounds serious, Melinda. Why have you never told me about this? We need to set up an appointment with the Healers immediately."
Melinda cringed and pulled away from her mother's grip.
"I don't need any Healers. I'm fine when I'm not in a crowd. It's not a big deal."
"Melinda," her mother began, voice stern, "I'm not exaggerating when I say that you looked pale as a ghost back there. You're going to see a Healer, if for my sake and not your own."
"Fine," Melinda mumbled, staring at the stone floor.
A second later, her mother had taken a step forward, gathering her in her arms. Melinda sunk into the embrace without saying a word.
Prompt:
Hogwarts Challenges and Assignments
Seasonal Challenge - Autumn Flowers: Chrysanthemums - (relationship) mother/daughter
Word count: 812