A'N: This is for Lexi's Baking Challenge over at Harry Potter Fanfiction Challenges: Go check it out if you like prompt/character challenges, it's pretty fun :) Hope you enjoy it.
My character: Aberforth Dumbledore
My Prompt: "As he read, I fell in love the way you fall asleep: slowly, and then all at once."
It wasn't obvious to everyone, when they began to fall in love. The whole town and school were talking about the romance as if the school and Hogsmede had never had a bit of gossip this good in a century. Madame Rosmerta and Aberforth Dumbledore. Their romance it was said did not start in the usual way, it was more of a surprise than anything; to hear Rosmerta tell it she had harboured a crush on Aberforth for several years but to hear him tell it the barmaiden had grown on him during their happy rivalry.
The Hogshead and The Three Broomsticks had always been in merry competition with one another, Madame Rosmerta taking care of the school crowd while Aberforth looked after the more discerning drinker in his fine establishment. It had been after the war, the great one, once Albus had died and everything had been left to Aberforth that he really took notice of Rosmerta. Of course they knew one another but the annual Hogsmede Festival threw the two of them together in close conditions. The two pubs had been drawn to present a play from none other than William Shakespeare, one of the greatest wizards to have ever graced the British Isles. Their chosen production, The Taming of the Shrew with Madame Rosmerta in the lead role.
Aberforth was not pleased with the selection of the two pubs working together but in an effort to be more representative and open since the war ended, he agreed to the crazy theatrics and pushed aside his hatred of all things book related. They began by practicing each night at the Hogshead as it had a quiet room upstairs where they could run through their lines undisturbed. The first few readings had gone well, they decided they would not do the entire play, rather just key scenes to keep it light and fun. It in the fourth week of rehearsals that it happened, they were closing up the pub for the night when Rosmerta turned to leave. Aberforth leaned over to catch the door for her and they bumped into one another, when Rosmerta was knocked off balance Aberforth caught her and they stared into one another's eyes; there was silence save for several crickets that decided it was a great time to chirp in the alley. A soft tentative kiss to the lips was all it took for the two odd people to blush in one another presence and to send one another owls throughout the day.
Aberforth it was reported was actually seen smiling for more than two days in a row and when the day came for the play to be presented the entire town and guests from far and wide were waiting with baited breath. It was a tremendous success and the whole crowd screamed and cheered when at the end Aberforth stepped onto the stage with a dozen red roses and a quick kiss on the lips for the leading lady. Madame Rosmerta turned as red as her roses and made Aberforth take a bow with her on the stage. They were suited the two of them, both alone, quiet and lost in worlds of memories of another time. When the week of the festival ended the relationship continued. Each evening Aberforth would go to The Three Broomsticks, a thick tome under his arm and Madame Rosemerta would close down the pub and set her feet up in a chair to listen to him read a selection from Shakespeare.
Years later, when Aberforth had passed away she was asked to give a statement on their relationship for the Daily Prophet. "As he read, I fell in love the way you fall asleep: slowly, and then all at once.""