Title: Dragon Fruit and Dreams Come True
Character(s): Cho/OC
Summary: While hiding from Death Eaters, Cho meets a kind shopkeeper and, within a few short months, falls unexpectedly in love. Cho/OC.
Challenge(s): Written for the Minor Character Boot Camp (#41 umbrella), the Pairing Diversity Boot Camp (#13 piano), the Favorite Era Boot Camp (#08 window)
Having dated two symbols of resistance, Cho wasn't surprised when the Snatchers showed up at her door. Thankfully, she was ready to run. No wizarding areas were safe, so Cho had no choice but to use her emergency stash of Muggle money to rent out a ratty apartment. Protected by the strongest secruity spells she knew, Cho felt incredibly alone.
Underneath her apartment, there was an Asian food shop. She didn't particularly need anything, but she always looked through the window. And one day, there was dragon fruit on display and Cho felt her heart do somersaults. Dragon fruit was her mum's favorite food. Her mum who had no choice but go back to China because her blood wasn't "clean" enough. Her mum who had no idea if her baby girl was safe. Cho was wiping the tears threatening to escape from her eyes, when a deep voice interrupted her.
"Are you okay, miss?" a tall, stocky Chinese man asked. Cho recognized him immediately as the owner of the store she was crying in front of.
"Oh, I'm fine," Cho said, trying to keep her voice steady. "The dragon fruit just reminded me of my mother and I just miss her a lot." She wasn't sure why she felt like she could trust this stranger, but he just seemed so friendly and kind-hearted. He was one of those men who seemed happy all the time and couldn't bring themselves to kill insects.
"I understand. I miss my mother too. She went back to China ten years ago."
After making sure the man's empathy seemed to be completely genuine, Cho smiled at him.
"Thank you so much for checking in on me. I just moved here and I live alone, so it's just been too long since I've had genuine human interaction."
"I just moved here as well! You never realize how lonely cities are until you move there alone."
"Exactly! I feel the same way. How do you even make friends around here?"
Well, said the man, running a hand through his hair. "I don't want to come on too strong or anything, but do you want to come inside and play mahjong with me?"
Cho, realizing that she had just made her first Muggle friend, smiled widely.
"Mahjong is the perfect cure for homesickness."
Quiet, empty days passed. Cho seemed to return to that little shop daily until the shopkeeper finally relented and gave her a job. There was no more dragon fruit, but there seemed to be plenty of everything else. The shop owner, in particular, interested her. He was a young man, not much older than her.
But unlike her, he was always smiling.
He was the first person in such a long time that she could talk to without seeing pity in his eyes. He was the first boy she'd been with in such a long time that didn't compare himself to Cedric.
He didn't even know about Cedric; he was just a muggle.
But somehow, Cho found herself not caring.
Slowly, with him in them, the days were less quiet, less empty. He was full of laughter, full of pranks. He let her borrow his only umbrella on rainy days so she could visit the community garden and learned to play her favorite songs on the piano. He couldn't afford roses so he brought her dandelions he picked from the side of the road to decorate her run-down flat with. He thought it was a shame that such a bright flower was considered a weed.
And slowly, Cho began to visit him every day. She started to feel butterflies when his large hands accidentally brushed against her. And one day, Cho realized the months hiding from magic ere shaping up to be the happiest months of her life. And that no one had ever made her as happy as the shopkeeper did. Cho just woke up one day, knowing she wanted to stay with him forever. She wanted to wake up every morning next to him and work in his little shop till she was too old to move. But the war was encroaching and she had to leave. She had to struggle for what was right. After all, if he knew about the war he would've boarded up the shop and fought with her, side-by-side. But he didn't. The days before she left, Cho struggled keeping the war from him. If she died in battle, he would think she just disappeared. But if she did tell him, he wouldn't even be able to hope she was safe somewhere.
At the end, she decided to kiss him before she left to fight for what she believed in. So that at she could die without regretting the decision not to.
He tasted like the eggplant he had been cooking. He tasted like food, like life, like normalcy. Like everything she'd been aching for.
Cho promised to come back.
And she did come back, bloody, bruised, scarred for life, and full of love for him.
And he loved her too. He loved her through the mourning and the night terrors and the PTSD. He loved her when she gained hips giving birth to their beautiful, magical children and when her hair turned pure white. She loved him even when he started to forget things and gave away too much money and started to lose all his hair.
It was a simple life, but Cho couldn't have been happier.