Chapter Text
Theo was furious as he stormed into the little shop, Enchanted Bouquet. It was a darling little place, with beautiful flowers and strange plants everywhere. If he were of a mind to browse, he wouldn’t dare touch anything since you never knew what the flowers in a magical shop might do, but he wasn’t of that sort of mind at all today.
No, he wasn’t here for beauty.
Slamming a bag of galleons down on the counter, he called, “Is anyone here?”
“Oh, I am,” said a sing-song voice just behind him on the right.
Theo was so startled he actually jumped. “Where?” he demanded, not seeing anyone.
There was a giggle, then a giant plant in that direction wiggled and made a coughing sound before a young woman about his age popped out backwards as though the flower were birthing her. She would have fallen to the floor if Theo hadn’t been there to catch her.
He regretted that instantly. As if the day wasn’t already bad enough, now his dress robes were covered in pollen… or whatever that plant secreted. “Circe’s left tit! I’m never going to get this off!”
“Don’t be silly,” said the girl, her voice still dreamy and a little pleased as she righted herself. “I’ll siphon it right off. Thank you for helping me collect the Vagilly Lily pollen. It’s hard to harvest any other way and it’s quite in demand.”
The girl was so covered that Theo couldn’t even tell what color her hair or muggle clothes should be. She was pink from head to toe, but she began whispering a spell and removed every last speck of the pollen from him before she started on herself.
Theo was so mesmerized that he forgot for a moment what he was even doing there; he just stood there watching in fascination. It turned out the girl had silvery blonde hair framing her heart-shaped face and those wide blue eyes. She looked familiar, but Theo couldn’t place her.
When he managed to shake himself out of it, he asked, “Do you actually sell plants here? Flowers? I thought you did, but this looks more like potions ingredients.”
“Of course. We sell both, but the Vagilly Lily itself is so rare that I won’t sell it. Sometimes a new one grows from the pollen, though,” she explained.
“That’s not really how that works,” Theo tried to argue but the girl had wandered off, humming to herself as she petted one plant and gave butterfly kisses to yet another as it fluttered back.
Shaking his head at the oddity of this place, Theo decided to refocus on his purpose before it was too late.
“Miss,” he started.
She hummed louder.
“Miss… I don’t know your name,” he nearly growled in frustration.
“I’m Luna, Theo. I was a Ravenclaw the year under you. Everyone said you should have been one of us. Very smart.” Her voice made him question if she meant that very sincerely or if it was all made up completely. Was this store even real?
“Okay,” he said, trying to ground himself. “Okay, Luna. I need to buy something. You can have all the galleons in that bag if you put together a bouquet that says ‘I hate you.’”
“In human or the language of flowers?” Luna asked.
Theo blinked. “What?”
“Did you want it to literally say ‘I hate you’ to the person you’re giving it to—”
“That’s possible?” he asked, childishly excited. At the disappointed look she gave him, Theo immediately felt ashamed. “No, of course I don’t want that. I have to give the flowers in front of my father.”
“So the lovely language of flowers,” Luna said with a smile. Then she turned and walked away.
“Where are you—” Theo was cut off by a fern frond of some sort smacking him in the face as he tried to follow her.
He could hear her humming in the back, but couldn’t get near her. Defeated by plants, Theo drummed his fingers on the counter.
Finally, the blonde returned with a giant bouquet in her hands. “I thought you would want to make a large statement, with such a bold message.”
“Wolfsbane?” he asked, noticing that flower straight off.
“Oh yes. Also known as monkshood, it practically means hatred. Especially if you’re a wolf,” Luna said, looking at him curiously.
When it was clear she wasn’t going to go on until he said… something, Theo ventured. “She’s… not. A wolf, I mean. And I’m not either.”
“Obviously,” she drawled, almost sounding like Professor Snape for a moment. “I would hardly give you a bouquet of wolfsbane if you were, even if you were meaning to give it away.”
Theo blinked at her. “Good. Um… what are the others?”
“Orange Lilies, just the standard version. They mean hatred, pride, and disdain. They don’t need any modifications.”
Raising his eyebrows, Theo nodded his encouragement. This was rather fascinating actually.
“Snapping Snapdragons. They represent deception and presumption, but they’ll also snap her nose if she gets too close.”
He couldn’t stop himself from grinning. “That’s brilliant.”
“Yellow Incarnations. They’re like the muggle flower that means rejection and disdain, but I’ve modified them a bit. The receiver will start to see visions of someone snubbing them, a constant feeling of rejection when they look at the flowers. It’s quite a mean flower, really.” The girl frowned. “I shouldn’t have made those. But you seem so determined—”
“They’re perfect. That’s perfect. Believe me, it’s nothing that she doesn’t deserve,” Theo swore.
Daphne was a horror and already making his life hell before the engagement was formalized. He could only imagine how much worse it was about to get if he couldn’t convince her to demand their engagement be cut off.
It was his only hope. The way the contract was written, she could have it dissolved, but he could not. His father knew him too well. And his money was far too tempting for her to give him up easily.
But if he could show her what a miserable lout he was, and how horrible he could be right back…
Theo was distracted from his thoughts as he realized Luna was now dancing with his bouquet. “What… what are you doing?” he asked.
“It’s just so pretty. This is the meanest bouquet I’ve ever made. And it’s lovely, don’t you think?” she said, smiling at him.
Theo felt his stomach flip for just a moment. There was every possibility that he was stuck in an airtight pureblood marriage contract. This was not the time to develop a crush on someone. Especially not someone his father would label a blood traitor. Especially not someone so innocent and… strange. It would be wrong to subject someone like Luna to the life he had to lead since his father had been acquitted of his many crimes.
Imperiused my arse, Theo thought, as he often did. He had been so hopeful that he would escape his father, but of course money kept that from happening. He hated his bloody fortune so much.
Walking over, he held his arms out for the bouquet. It really was huge. He was surprised Luna had been able to carry it around. But the moment it was in his arms, it weighed practically nothing.
“Featherlight charm,” Luna told him. “They’re a standard for the larger bouquets, but you can cancel it with a Finite when you hand it to her if you wish. Nonverbal would probably be best.”
Her sing-song voice sounded odd giving him instructions to be cruel to Daphne and Theo felt his first twinge of guilt. Still, this had to be done. It was for his future.
“Thank you, Luna,” he said with a bow. “I have to get this to… well, I have to go.” He didn’t want to talk about it.
“You’re already late,” she commented, though he hadn’t told her when he was supposed to be there and there were no clocks in this place.
A quick tempus proved her right, however, and Theo said a hasty goodbye. Flowers in his arms, he could only hope they did the job.