A/N: This was written for the Hogwarts Challenges and Assignments forum where I'm in Slytherin. This is for Assignment 11 Occlumency task 1: write about someone getting lost in a puzzle (literally or figuratively) and the Chocolate Frog Cards Club for (Bronze) Sullivan Fawley: write about a minor Hufflepuff character.
Perfect Timing
Hannah wandered over to her table while she was stabbing at her cottage pie with her fork. It was about time she pay her some attention. Susan had been impatiently waiting for her best friend to make an appearance since she'd arrived at the pub.
"What's up?"
To avoid answering, Susan finally took a bite of her meal, taking her time chewing.
"Seriously, Susan, don't leave me hanging here. Something's up, and as your best friend, I have a right to know."
Susan raised one eyebrow, earning herself a shrug in response.
"You know it's true," Hannah said. "We tell each other everything. Not doing so would be a violation of the trust we've built over our more than a decade of friendship."
"We don't tell each other everything. There are plenty of things about your life I never want to know. Especially things that pertain to Neville or any of the guys you dated before him."
Hannah glanced around the pub to make sure her customers were engaged in their own conversations. Her cheeks had changed to a light shade of pink.
"Right, well, I meant that we tell each other things we're concerned about, which is an entirely separate issue. I'm definitely not concerned about mine and Neville's love life for the record."
"Who said I'm concerned about anything?"
Hannah gave her a pointed look that made Susan look down at her mutilated cottage pie.
"Fine."
Hannah was going to cajole the answer out of her one way or the other.
"I'd wanted to wait until we were in private, but if you don't care about all of wizarding Britain knowing my secrets—"
"Oh, please. Remember how Umbridge found out about our secret DA meeting because we met at the Hog's Head? That lesson's only been cemented for me since I took over this place. The dull roar of a pub drowns everything out."
"Says the woman who freaked out when I referenced her sex life with her husband a few seconds ago."
Hannah's eyes flickered around anxiously before she controlled her expression and directed her gaze pointedly to Susan, her posture stiffer than usual.
"And no one around us cares," she said in a higher pitched voice than usual.
Susan rolled her eyes but had already lost interest in the teasing.
"I want to ask Daphne to marry me. Happy?"
Judging by the loud squeal, she was.
"Keep it down," Susan shushed her. "The dull roar of pubs? Yeah, it may drown out talking, but it certainly doesn't drown out screaming."
"Sorry, sorry," Hannah replied, smiling much too widely to actually be sorry. "It's just that I've been waiting for this for years. I was starting to think neither of you would get around to doing it."
"Honestly? So was I. That's why I've decided to go for it."
"How are you going to do it?"
Susan picked up her fork to give her cottage pie another half hearted poke.
"That would be the problem. I don't know. Nothing feels right, and I figure it should, right? I shouldn't do it if it's not right."
Hannah gave a short nod.
"Don't worry," she said. "Give us a week, and we'll have Operation Propose to Daphne in motion."
XXX
For the next week, Hannah gave Susan proposal ideas every day, both in person and by owl, but none of them felt right. It culminated in a Friday night spent in front of the fire in Hannah's apartment in the Leaky Cauldron as Hannah spout off idea after idea, each one getting progressively more ridiculous, and Susan shot each of them down.
"How is it so hard to figure something like this out?" Susan asked, throwing up her hands in despair. "I know Daphne better than anyone. We've been together for years. Figuring out the perfect proposal shouldn't be this big of a puzzle!"
"I'm telling you, your expectations are too high. You're not going to be able to meet them."
Susan glared at Hannah, who was sitting with a cup of tea in her hands and her feet propped up on an ottoman. She was the picture of ease, whereas Susan's stress had been growing throughout the evening.
"Too high? All I want is something that sounds like Daphne and isn't ridiculous. How is that too high?"
Hannah shrugged, taking a sip of her tea before answering.
"There are only so many ways you can propose. Sometimes you just need to say the words. That's the important part, isn't it? Not the big, showy stuff people do sometimes. Sure, Neville proposed to me on the Hogwarts grounds because it's where we first spoke to each other, but he could have done it in the bathroom while I was scrubbing away morning breath, and I wouldn't have had any complaints."
Susan raised an eyebrow.
"Fine," Hannah relented. "I would have had one tiny complaint and then I'd have gotten over it."
Susan rubbed at her eyes with a sigh.
"I guess you're right. Maybe this is all just me procrastinating again. The longer it takes to come up with a game plan, the longer it takes to actually do it. I should get the ring and go for it."
"Honestly, the ring seems like a bigger deal to me. She's going to wear it for a long time. You better do a good job."
"I've already talked to Astoria. She's going shopping with me tomorrow."
"Speaking of Astoria, have you asked her for any ideas? She might have a good one that we couldn't come up with. She knows her sister better than I do. Talk to her tomorrow. If she doesn't have an idea that strikes you as brilliant, then cook Daphne dinner and blurt it out after you eat. She'll say yes, and all your worrying will have been for nothing."
Susan hoped she was right.
"But don't put the ring in her food," Hannah added. "An emergency trip to St Mungo's is never romantic."
XXX
It took three hours for Susan to decide on a ring, and it would have taken longer if Astoria hadn't put her foot down and insisted that Susan knew exactly what ring she wanted but was merely stalling.
"How do you think I should do it?" Susan asked as they walked away from the jewelry shop.
She had the ring clutched in her right hand as if it could slip from her grasp at any moment and be lost forever. As they navigated their way down Diagon Alley, she kept a wide berth from others, scared they might knock against her and send the ring's box flying.
"I've been trying to come up with something for more than a week," she continued. "I even asked Hannah for help, but I still don't know how I should do it. Hannah told me to cook her dinner and just blurt it out basically."
Astoria laughed.
"You should listen to Hannah. Daphne's never been a romantic. She won't care how you do it. I know she wants to marry you, but you know she doesn't want a big wedding. She'd be happy getting a certificate from the Ministry and being done with it. I'm sure she thinks of the proposal the same way. I don't think you could screw it up."
There was something about the confidence of Astoria's assertion that comforted Daphne in a way Hannah had been unable to. Astoria both knew Daphne well and could think about the proposal without feeling the same nausea it created in Susan.
"You're right. No grand gestures. Just tell her how I feel. I can handle that."
Astoria gave her an amused grin.
"You've got this, Susan. Don't let your nerves convince you that you don't."
A second later, she disappeared with a pop.
XXX
Susan went home. She cooked dinner. Enchiladas to be specific, because she knew they were Daphne's favourite. There was nothing about the evening that would have hinted it was different for any other if you weren't inside Susan's head. She went about her usual routine as if she didn't have a lead weight in her stomach.
The enchiladas had fifteen minutes left in the oven when Daphne tumbled out of the fireplace.
"Hello," Daphne said, kissing Susan before she'd brushed the ash off her robes.
Susan returned the gesture, smiling against Daphne's lips. Her anxiety was almost forgotten in the moment, but when Daphne pulled away, it promptly returned.
She hadn't intended to propose that night, but since she'd started trying to decide when she would do it, every inch of her felt on edge. If she didn't do it soon, she thought she might explode. Her friends could insist all they wanted that she knew all the answers, but it was impossible to believe them when she was full of so much fear.
Turning away from Daphne, she tried to focus on setting the table and not her thoughts.
It took her longer than it should have to realize Daphne was being quieter than normal. Usually, she'd be babbling about her day at the Ministry. She always came home with ample stories to tell.
"The food will be done soon," she said to fill the silence. "I'm making enchiladas."
When that didn't get a response, she looked at Daphne, who she saw was watching her with an analytical eye that made her shift uneasily.
"What?" she asked.
She could feel herself blushing, and her thoughts had immediately gone to worst case scenarios of being found out before she'd even managed to do the asking.
"Something's up," Daphne said with narrowed eyes.
Susan sighed, not attempting to hide that Daphne was right. That was a hopeless cause once Daphne latched onto something.
"Can't you at least pretend it's not?" she asked instead.
Daphne gave a short laugh.
"Of course not. I'm an incredibly curious individual and need to know right now. If it's a secret, that only makes me want to know more. Now I'm not going to be able to rest until I know what's up."
Susan glanced at the oven. Ten minutes left. Sure, Astoria and Hannah had both expressed support for proposing to Daphne after dinner, but it didn't seem right to do it with dinner still in the oven.
"Susan, seriously, what's up?"
The unease beginning to creep into Daphne's voice was enough to crack Susan's resolve to wait.
"You can't hate me if this isn't good timing," she said, giving Daphne a sharp look. "You wanted to know now."
"I did," Daphne agreed, eyes narrowing in suspicion.
Susan motioned for her to wait and hurried to retrieve the ring from where she'd hidden it in the guest bedroom that Daphne set foot in twice a year. She carried it behind her back as she returned to the kitchen, and Daphne's gaze quickly found her half hidden arm.
Part of her agonizing before Daphne's return home had been about what she would say when it was time. She hadn't come up with anything satisfactory before her girlfriend had arrived, and looking Daphne in the eye only made it harder to come up with the right words.
She debated getting down on one knee for a second but decided against it. It felt more natural to stand, putting her and Daphne on equal footing. She reached for Daphne's hand and took comfort from feeling Daphne grip hers back.
Nothing was going to get solved if she didn't go for it.
"Daphne Greengrass, will you marry me?"
She pulled the box out from behind her back, flipping it open, and was met with laughter a second later.
"Sorry, I'm sorry," Daphne was saying before Susan could glare. "I just can't believe you were so nervous before when all you were going to say is that."
"Shut up." Susan's cheeks flamed. "You ruined everything. I was going to come up with this epic speech about our love, but you wanted to know what was going on and I had nothing. I said you couldn't complain."
"I'm not complaining. It's just hilarious."
"That's it." Susan took a step away, closing the box. "I take everything back. I don't want to marry you."
She turned to walk away, but Daphne quickly wrapped her arms around her middle.
"I said I'm sorry! Please, Susan, I'd really like the ring."
"You haven't said yes. You only get the ring if you say yes."
She was facing away from Daphne but could feel her against her back. Though she couldn't see it, she knew Daphne had rolled her eyes, and the thought made her grin.
"Yes, obviously I want to marry you. I'm pretty sure we've discussed it before."
"That's not the same as saying yes to the actual question."
She twisted around in Daphne's arms to place a kiss on her lips. She meant to pull away immediately to give Daphne the ring, but Daphne had other ideas, continually pulling her back in when she pulled away.
"Look, are you going to take the ring or not?" Susan finally giggled against her lips.
"Later."
Daphne took the box and tossed it onto the table, not looking to make sure it landed safely. Susan didn't argue as she was pulled back in.