“may i offer you a refill?” the waiter towered over her herne uttered a small noise of surprise
she shook her head and duked bak behind the book
“would you like to order some food? an etizer perhaps?”
“no, i’m fine, thank you,” she hissed she tried her hardest to give the man a look that said leave me alone or i’ll hex you intoweek it must have worked beause after she pulled her beanie down farther, he’d left to hek on another table she settled bak in and returned her gaze towards malfoy
he and pansy sat faing eah other, their shoulders almost touhing as their faes leaned forward in a give and take of whispers they had a familiarity only showased between the best of friends or lovers, and herne kiked herself as her usity peaked, w what exatly they were to eah other she let out a disgruntled sigh of frustran, suddenly willed with the non that she should be doing something else this is ridiulous, she thought she didn’t have to do it
no, another vern of her voie ehoed she didn’t have to do it her preus line of thinking fshed aross her mind and despite all her usual logial nons, herne let herself indulge in the fantasy that she ould ontrol what was hening to her maybe if she brewed the pon for dreamless sleep with better prein, or added some sort of ounterpart to stop sleepwalking and maybe if she found a quiet, seluded pe, far from anyone, she might be able to stop the drive to math lovers together from rising up and taking over her every thought
it had started with the two men assigned to her when she woke on the fourth floor of st mungo’s after a routine n of pandora’s box went horribly wrong herne had opened her eyes, and it was as if a new world had blossomed when she looked between the two of them, healer redmane and cursebreaker humblebud, all herne saw was aged potential, the invisible hands of eros bekoning the unity of lovers
“you two love eah other,” she said, and then threw a hand over her mouth in horror she managed to keep her newfound romanti zeal at bay long enough for them to disharge her it didn’t stop her from notiing the way redmane made humblebud ugh, or the lingering look of longing on the tter’s fae she’d smiled and thanked them for their help, w what on earth had really hened to her in the a room
it didn’t end there after being released into ron’s are, she spent a few days held up in their ottage for the first time in her life, herne ouldn’t find soe or omfort within the pages of a book not even hogwarts: a history instead, her gaze was drawn to the ommons outside, the neighbors going about their days those ns whih some might find trivial, or ordinary, even herne herself before the pandora i, she suddenly studied with an insatiable rapture
“ron,” she began at breakfast theday “did you know mrs brambleboot orders take away from the deli down the ne?”
ron brought over a up of tea for her and shook his head “doesn’t surprise me we order from them almost twie a week, they’re bloody brilliant”
herne grinned, “yes, but not one has old man rogers delivered ours”
“so?”
“isn’t it obus?”
ron srunhed his fae “that the oldest bloke i’ve seen in reent memory doesn’t often do their deliveries?”
“they’re meant to fall in love,” herne onluded
“have you gone mad?” ron shoved a bisuit in his mouth herne handed him a napkin while he hewed “katherine brambleboot’s a widow her husband died of dragon pox years and years ago”
“yes,” herne stared at him “so marrying one means you an never fall in love again?” it was strange that she didn’t see a shred of eros’ potential in ron but then again, she didn’t see any when she looked at herself in a mirror either there were a few others, she’d noted, who didn’t register in her mind as potential mathes but the widow and the old deli owner, now they were a perfet math if she’d ever seen one ron shook his head and gave her his usual you’re absolutely right fae and ontinued shoving bisuits in his mouth and washing them down with tea
herne remembered that m so vividly, almost as if she’d wathed it hen from outside herself a part of her held suh an avern to meddling or even ommenting on the romanti affairs of others but some sared, small sliver of her psyhe had awakened with the urse herne knew it was eros ausing her sudden ability to see love all around
she barely reognized her voie when she walked into the deli and told old man rogers that mrs brambleboot’s favorite flowers were hydrangeas she ould hardly believe she waited by the window for hours to see him hobble down the widow’s walkway and knok on her door, an overflowing bouquet of blue and white flowers in his arms
and herne ouldn’t holy believe she felt suh pure, unabashed joy at the small, innouous smile that lingered on mrs brambleboot’s lips, and the brightness that filled her eyes when she saw rogers blush
she managed to tame her giddiness by the time ron returned home from work, only to be swept up in something else entirely she suddenly notied the little gestures he did for her, subtle touhes of tenderness and are the way his finger ed around one of her urls when he bent over to hand her a up of tea the towel left folded over the tub for her when she went upstairs to take her bath and when she went to bed, she leaned over, and waited as ron put down the m’s prophet to grasp her fae the moment their lips met she burned with the spark of something a thousand times greater than what she’d felt that afternoon wathing her mathes fall in love
eventually, she was able to quiet her drive to math people together but over the ourse of themonth, it would fl
