Like Magic : Harry Potter x Reader / OC One-Shots ▼

6. Bouquet [Neville]

[ for (quotev user) ;; @ StopstealingmyURLideas ]

Gray mist swirled and turned about, clinging to the few small windows like a thick paint, blocking any view of the outside world with only opaque, muddled colors, constantly moving into and out of one another. Rain relentlessly pounded against the lush grass. There hadn't been a break in in the precipitation for many days now, but today seemed to harbor the bulk of its pique. Dancing shadows cast their shade as blankets over everything within reach.

It felt rather appropriate.

The past few months had been the state of the weather personified. With every raindrop came another repressed image, a scarred face, blood, a body, flashes of green, screaming, shouting, crying - everything that had been so desperately quelled from that fateful evening only returned once more, not bothering to knock on the mind's door for entrance but rather kicking it down and holding all things happy hostage. The cracks of lightning were curses and the thunder was the raw, naked rumbling of the heart of terror, the same that all had worn on their sleeves like tokens taken for granted while the battle boomed on. It had rained that day, too.

But now there was no battle. The man behind the marble counter had to keep reminding himself of his surroundings. Where concrete and claret fluid had once blended together were now fluffy fibers of soft, silky carpeting. Where the spiraling towers had once risen were now stands and display cases rising floor-to-ceiling. Where people had once clustered together and ran for their lives now sat an assortment of plants.

Where there had once been a schedule now stood sheer oscillation.

The man knew he'd never been destined to be an auror or ministry member like a multitudinous measure of his acquaintances had become. Acquaintances. The word left and acerbic taste in his mouth, stinging like nettles. Once he would've said friends, wholly and fully, without second thought. But ever since the Battle of Hogwarts, his contact with them had, for whatever reason, drastically dwindled, seemingly now drawn to a halt. He'd promised them that he'd stay around, and they'd promised him, too, but...well, promises were only as strong as they were perceived.

As strange as it may have been, the first thing he had done was acquire a job. Something about the change of pace and atmosphere had been as necessary to him as breathing, as needed as nutrition. Anything to take his mind off of that event was welcomed. However, he'd never been a particularly talented person. And apparently this fact had been ascertained by his boss.

Thus, he was promptly sacked.

Okay, that had been fair. It was his first job, and he wasn't exactly wonderful at it - surely the second time around would be the charm.

Then once more.

Third, yes? That had to have been it...

Only it wasn't.

So there, behind the stone surface, he had settled for his fourth employer. He'd managed to keep a hold on his responsibilities - and likewise his mishaps - so far, but whenever this sudden streak of luck would be broken, he knew, without a doubt, what awaited him afterwards.

Nevertheless it was a job. One he enjoyed, too.

Yet as much as he hated to admit it, as many times as he'd sworn to himself that he wouldn't let his feelings eat away at his heart and soul, as many times as he'd vowed to never allow emotions to overwhelm his life again, he found himself lonely.

The clock hand was just a few minutes from closing time, and as such, he began to reorganize the few scattered papers of orders that had yet to be completed, successfully shoving them, crammed, into a cupboard in the back room along with the sparse others. The rain had stalled most of his customers' desired imports - not because the suppliers couldn't arrive, of course, but because some of the more exotic species simply couldn't stand the drastic overflow of precipitation. He'd have to figure out some way to secure them before too long. Angry customers were the last thing he wanted to deal with.