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You were late. So late. You had an interview with prospective clients which you were supposed to be at 5 minutes ago. The couple was getting married and they wanted to see what flowers you had arranged for their centerpieces. So there you were, running down the busy streets of London, carrying vase upon vase of flowers.
Because you were in such a rush, you didn’t see the tall man step into your view, crashing straight into him and dropping a vase. Your jaw dropped at the sight of your arrangement all over the pavement before your eyes snapped up towards the clearly embarrassed man.
“I’m so sorry,” he mumbled.
“I told them I would bring four options. Not three, four!”
You tugged the bag of flowers closer to your chest, making sure they were all okay. The man in front of you cleared his throat to gain your attention. When you looked up, he pushed a strange but beautiful plant into your arms.
“What’s this?” you asked.
“Your fourth option. If possible, could you return the vase to me?” The man patted down his tweed coat, finally pulling a card out and handing it to you. “There you go, that’s my number and address.”
“Neville?” you read. He nodded. “I can do that. Thank you so much, Neville.”
You began to dart off towards your destination when he called after you, “I didn’t catch your name!”
“(Y/N) (Y/L/N)! Pleasure!”
You arrived at the doorstep of a small cottage a few minutes later, panting from your run. You knocked on the door once but no one came. You tried it again and it happened once more. Then you became suspicious. You circled the house, seeing that all the lights were off. You pulled your phone out to check your calendar and, lo and behold, you screwed up the dates. The consultation was tomorrow.
Perfect.
You arrived on time to the consultation the next day and that time with all of your own arrangements. It went surprisingly well. The brides-to-be agreed to come to your shop in a month to collect the arrangements as their wedding was fast approaching.
You sat in the back room after you had closed and the sun began to set, ordering the materials you needed for the centerpieces when you came across Neville’s business card. Your eyes drifted up towards the odd plant he had left and you decided it would be best to give it back to him, seeing as how he wanted the vase regardless.
So that’s exactly why you stood outside of Neville’s apartment, knocking at the door with a little plant in hand.
“Just a minute!” Neville’s voice was muffled from inside the apartment but you could hear his footsteps fast approaching. For some reason, your heart began to beat a little faster in your chest.
Neville opened the door, faltering at the sight of you. You didn’t notice this in your hurry yesterday, but Neville was actually quite handsome. He had a strong jaw and lean body which was accentuated by his professional workwear. He wore a white button down and rolled up his sleeves, doing wonders to his toned arms.
“(Y/N)?” he questioned as if it weren’t painfully obvious.
“Yeah. Reckon this a bad time…”
“No, no! Not at all! Please, er, come in.” Neville stepped away from the door to let you by. Your stomach erupted into butterflies at his musky scent while you passed by.
“Your place is lovely.”
And it was. It was on the smaller side, but it was certainly well used. Everything had a place, that was evident. He had gorgeous plants decorating the room― the likes of which you had never seen before.
“Glad you think so. What brings you here?”
“Oh, right. I wanted to return your plant. I didn’t need it after all.” You chuckled nervously as you handed it over to Neville, hoping that he didn’t notice the way your eyes lingered on his body.
“I appreciate the efficiency,” he teased, evoking a smirk from you. “Would you like a drink? I was just about to settle down, actually.”
“I’m so sorry, did I interrupt you?”
“I’m alone,” he blurted out. You furrowed your brow at his implication. “I mean, um, there was nothing really to interrupt.”
“Ah, I see.”
You weighed your options: have a drink with an incredibly handsome man or sit in your shop waiting to get a call back from some asshole named Steve who was your new distributor? That wasn’t too hard of a choice.
You and Neville spent the night chatting, telling each other about your lives. He told you all about his job as a professor at a boarding school in Scotland. He explained how he went there as a kid and dreamt of becoming a teacher there.
“So, professor,” you began, “what do you teach?”
Neville’s smooth facade dropped for a moment before he said, “Environmental science.”
“Impressive.”
“And you? I’m assuming you’re a florist?”
“Right you are, professor. When you ran into me yesterday I was actually going to a consultation for a wedding.”
Neville moved a little closer to you, his arm wrapping around the back of the couch. Your breath caught in your throat at the way he stared down at you.
“Is that so?”
“That is so.”
“You must be quite busy with weddings as it is the season for it, Mrs. (Y/L/N).”
Neville was incredibly close now. His arm had moved from the couch to your back, pulling you towards him and you didn’t mind at all. His eyes flickered down to your lips, drawing an inaudible squeak from you.
“It’s Miss, actually.”
“Perfect.”
Neville leaned in, placing gentle yet sloppy kisses against you. You wrapped your arms around the back of his neck as he pulled you onto his lap. As he peppered kisses down your neck, you knew where you would end up that night.
That was, until, your phone began to ring. Groaning, you pulled your cell out of your back pocket, Neville chuckling against you.
“Yes?...Steve, yes, hello...I can’t get it next weekend, Steve!...What form?...For Christ’s sake, Steve, email me the damn form! I can do it tonight!”
You angrily hung up on Steve the distributor and rolled off of Neville, suddenly feeling very embarrassed. A smirk tugged at his lips as you stood up, clearly finding the situation terribly humorous.
“Shit, I’m sorry, Neville. I have to fill out this paperwork and whatnot to get my flowers in time― my damn distributor doesn’t know how to do his job.”
Neville shook his head with laughter while walking you to the door. “Don’t worry about it. Maybe we can finish this up another night, quite possibly over dinner?”
“That sounds lovely.” You popped up on your toes to press a kiss to Neville’s cheek. “Goodnight!”
“Night, love.”
Somewhere along the way, you and Neville became a couple. After a few dates, he had admitted that he needed a wedding date next month and that’s when you decided to make it official.
It was hard to find you two apart because both of you had fallen for each other― hard. Neville would write you letters when he was away and ship strange floral arrangements which you would put in your store because it reminded you of him.
You were tending to one of the plants Neville had sent when your two brides came in to pick up their flowers.
“Hello Lavender! Oh, and Parvati is here too! I’ll go get the flowers in just a moment.” You finished spritzing water onto the tall white flower and made your way to the back room.
“Brilliant,” Lavender said.
“Say, (Y/N)?” Parvati walked over to the plant you were just tending to as you stepped out from the back room, a sample vase in hand. “Where did you get this?”
“That?” You walked up to the plant, tilting your head. “My boyfriend gave it to me. He’s really sweet, adores plants quite a bit. Sometimes I think he might like them more than I do!”
“Lavender, come take a look at this. This is Moly, isn’t it?”
“Pardon?” you asked, joining the two women.
Lavender turned to face you, a wide grin on her face as she said, “You never told us you were a witch!”
“I’m sorry?” Your eyes were wide with horror.
“Oh, no need to pretend. We’re witches too! Although, I don’t quite remember seeing you at Hogwarts. Did you go to a different school? Beauxbatons, perhaps?”
You clenched your eyes shut and rubbed your temples; those girls had truly lost it. Parvati seemed to sense your confusion and placed a gentle hand on your shoulder.
“Your boyfriend,” she started, “what’s his name?”
“Neville. Neville Longbottom. Why does that matter?”
The brides shared a knowing glance that had your stomach sinking. Lavender nodded at Parvati and then both drew their wands. It took hours of explanation just to wrap your head around the fact that magic was real and that your boyfriend was one of them, delivering you magical plants from his Herbology greenhouse every now and then.
Once you had finally comprehended the situation, it was dark. Lavender and Parvati were long gone, having left you to your own devices to process. At some point you had carried yourself to Neville’s apartment, knocking on the door.
“Darling, what are you doing here?” he questioned as he opened the door.
“You’re a wizard,” you deadpanned.
“I…”
You pushed past him to enter his place, taking a seat on his couch. “I don’t mind, I just wish you would’ve told me.”
Neville blinked in shock. “You don’t mind?”
“No.”
“And it all makes sense?”
“Enough.”
“I couldn’t...I’m not allowed…” Neville floundered as he paced in front of you, finally kneeling to look you in the eyes. “How did you find out?”
“My clients, the ones I’m arranging the centerpieces for their weddings, they...recognized the plants you sent me. Moly, I believe it was?”
“Yeah, Moly. How did they recognize it? Were they magic?”
“Yes. They claimed to know you, too.” You shifted in your seat. “Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil.”
Neville froze. Then he dipped his head with laughter. Your brows knit together as Neville joined you on the couch.
“What’s so funny?” Irritation seeped through your tone as much as you tried to hide it.
“We’re going to their wedding next week. Well, they just spared me from a terribly awkward conversation about the party guests’ peculiar habits.”
You huffed, crossing your arms at his explanation. Neville tugged you closer so that you snuggled into his side but you pulled away.
“What’s wrong?” The concern was evident in his voice.
“Nothing,” you lied.
“Darling, please, tell me what’s wrong.”
You rolled your eyes and sighed. “Why couldn’t you just tell me the truth about studying Herbology?”
“That’s seriously what you’re upset about?” he chuckled, pulling you close. Neville placed a gentle kiss on the top of your head and the tension fled from your body. “Fine, you know what? I’ll tell you all about my teachings― even show you a few of my findings― if you promise to stay the night.”
Was that even a question?