Written for QLFC Round 5
Team: Wigtown Wanderers
Position: Beater 2
Prompt: Cho/Cedric
Additional Prompts: 6. (word) piano, 7. (image) http .blogspot. , 10. (quote) "They say marriages are made in heaven. but so is thunder and lightning" ~ Clint Eastwood
Words: 909
Cho blushed and looked down. Cedric, who had just taken her hand, gave her a sideways glance, smiling when she made eye contact. Cho returned a small, closed-lip smile back as he swung their interlocked hands.
"Weather looks nice," Cedric said a few minutes after they left the grounds.
"Yeah," Cho agreed. "Very . . . weathery."
"It is," he nodded. "I think it's the most weathery it's ever been."
"Yeah."
Cho looked down again. She wasn't wearing school shoes and they matched her dress. They also matched the grass on the path, but that was what she got for liking green. At least Cedric was right and the weather was nice. She didn't fancy walking back to the school in the rain, not in the canvas slippers.
"D'you like flowers?" Cedric suddenly asked.
"I—yes, yes I do," Cho fought the urge to laugh when he bent down and plucked a daisy off the ground. "Thank you."
Daisies were her favorite flowers, but Cedric already knew that. She'd mentioned it once in passing, when they were sitting under the giant oak tree near the lake. She'd been making a flower crown to celebrate the beginning of spring, but had only had enough daisies for a bracelet; Cedric had put it onto her wrist.
"I'm afraid there's not enough for a flower crown," he stopped walking and lifted the flower to show her. "But I can do this." And then he was parting her hair, brushing it aside to free her ear and placing the flower behind it. "Looks nice."
"Thank you," Cho ran a hand along the stem, which hung down with her hair.
"You're welcome," Cedric frowned. "I'm not supposed to say that, am I?"
"Why not?"
"It's like when someone sneezes," he explained, "you say 'bless you', they say 'thank you', but you never say 'you're welcome' because the conversation's already over."
"I didn't sneeze, though," Cho pointed out. "And I hope our conversation isn't over yet, because that would make for a very boring date."
"So are you clever or pedantic?" he wondered.
"I'm a Ravenclaw."
"You're hilarious."
By the time they reached Hogsmeade, Cedric was playfully teasing her about Ravenclaw's animal being an eagle and heavy clouds were gathering to block the sunlight. When they let loose a shower, Cedric pulled her into the nearest café.
The first thing Cho noticed was a gentle melody. Coming from an old piano in the corner of the room, it was almost too quiet to notice. But she did notice it, and when she had, she also noticed everything else.
The man playing the piano was wearing purple dress robes with white lace on the hem, cuffs, and collar. He was middle-aged, with a receding bald spot and an open face. The looks he gave to a short woman at one of the tables indicated their familial relationship. She, just like him, was wearing purple, and was bustling around from table to table.
"Should we get a seat?" Cedric asked, bending down to speak directly into her ear. "Rain's not going to let up."
"Yes, let's," she agreed.
The woman seated them, introducing herself as Madam Puddifoot and giving them a menu. It was purple, too, with gold trim and black calligraphy lettering. They were in an alcove, seated on one side of the table and facing the middle of the room. It was very intimate, Cho noted, since no one else in the café could see them, sitting so close together they might have been in one chair instead of two.
"Sorry about the weather."
"You're apologizing for the weather?" Cho asked, bemused. "You didn't charm it to be this way, did you? Anyway, it's not like it's a thunderstorm or anything."
"You're right," he laughed. "Although now might be the time to knock on wood."
To mark his words, a clap of thunder reverberated through the room, causing some to cry out. Cho jumped, startled, but laughed it off. Several minutes later, a flash of lightning lit up the café, followed by another thunderclap and more surprised exclamations.
Cho didn't jump this time because she knew that a storm didn't stop at one lightning bolt. Sure, she didn't like thunderstorms, but she wasn't scared of them. The storm didn't faze Madam Puddifoot, either, who pattered between tables like her life depended on it. The pianist, too, didn't skip a note.
"You're superstitious?" Cho asked.
"I just like Muggle expressions," he explained. "Superstition would be me actually knocking."
"'Scuse me, dears," Madam Puddifoot interrupted, coming to their table so quietly Cho didn't notice her until she spoke. "You got your orders yet?"
"No, not yet, thank you," Cedric, who hadn't even looked at the menu yet, replied.
"Alright, that's fine, just call me over when you're ready," she smiled. "Neither of you is allergic to raspberries, by chance?"
"No."
"Well," she waved her wand in a nonverbal Accio, "have some pastries. Free of charge, and all."
"'Free of charge'?" Cedric echoed.
"It's your first time here, after all. And it's a storm," she giggled. "It's almost an omen!"
"And omen of what, exactly?" Cho wondered.
"They say marriages are made in heaven," Madam Puddifoot explained. "But so is thunder and lightning. And, well . . . the storm's a blessing to the both of you: crying and clapping for your future together."
"Oh," Cho smiled at Cedric as their hostess patted away. "That's sweet."
"Superstitious?"
"Optimistic."