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The bell chimes to let Luna Lovegood know that someone is visiting the Eagle’s Greenhouse, a flower shop she started after her travels all over the world learning about plants and animals. It had become quite popular once she was able to expand her inventory, and now it is her full-time job. She loves the work that she does in the gardens each day.
There are regulars that visit, and Luna looks forward to those people the most. They always want a specific type of plant food or soil, prearranged bouquets, and other gifts of love for their significant others. Most of the regulars are like family to Luna, and she learns everything she can about them. Well, except one regular…
Who happens to be right on time.
Rolf Scamander comes every Thursday just before lunch, the slowest time of the week, and hangs out in the garden tending a rose bush that he harvests a bouquet from each month. Luna has been helping him for months, but they don’t usually talk about his life or hers. In fact, they couldn’t be more like strangers if they tried. The only real thing she knows besides Rolf’s name and preferred payment method is that he’s a walking encyclopedia of animal knowledge. It would be a surprise to Luna if he turns out to be anything other than a zoologist.
“Afternoon, Miss Lovegood!” Rolf shouts as he starts making his way to the greenhouse.
“Please call me Luna!” she shouts back, meeting him along the way. Together they walk to the rose bush and make idle chit chat. Rolf says that the greenhouse is a nice reprieve from the blistering heat of the summer and Luna explains that the farthest rooms back are quite nearly as bad as walking through a rainforest, and then their conversation falls off and is replaced by the sounds of clipping leaves and stems. It’s a bouquet week.
As the moments twist into minutes and tick away in nearly an hour later, Luna offers Rolf to join her in the kitchen for some tea. “I’ve been thinking about making my own tea brand using some of the plants I grow. Maybe I am biased, but I think it’s quite delicious.”
“I really need to get going, actually,” Rolf says passively.
Luna smacks her forehead lightly, smiling all the same. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t even consider that your partner is probably waiting on you to get home. I wasn’t thinking.”
Rolf’s eyes go wide and he sort of snorts. It’s kind of cute, in Luna’s opinion, but she isn’t sure what the reaction is supposed to mean. They stand there awkwardly for a minute.
“Sorry,” he realizes a bit late that the atmosphere was a bit weird. “I don’t have a partner.”
Luna raises her brow. “Who do you have the rose bush for?”
“Nobody. I just like coming in to talk to you,” Rolf exclaims far more excitedly than he should have, but Luna doesn’t mind. “I work at the aquarium and at the zoo. Thursday is the only day my schedule overlaps, and I stopped in to see what you had available between shifts. I was so impressed that I figured that I should keep coming back.”
The information is overwhelming in a nice kind of way. It makes Luna’s heart flutter and her cheeks turn ever so slightly pink. He’s been coming in just to see her and hang out. “You didn’t have to buy roses to have a conversation. What do you do with the bouquets when you leave?”
Rolf shrugs. “Usually I take them to my Grandpa and Grandma Scamander, or my Auntie Q.”
“You’re very sweet, Rolf,” Luna says, arms crossing her chest. Since he can’t stay for tea, then she figures that maybe she should try her luck with a different offer. “If you ever have time, maybe we could go grab a proper tea from a coffee shop or something. Hang out somewhere other than the rose bush?”
Rolf grins. “That sounds amazing, actually.”
“Good,” Luna smiles, taking him by the arm and escorting him to the door. “Then it’s a date!”