Written for - The Fluff vs. Angst Competition on the HPFC

Prompts Used - FlowerShop!AU

Notes - This is probably my favorite thing I've written so far? It's not particularly my best, but I love this one a lot more than I thought I would.

Word Count - 2,443

The flower shop on Evans Street was too small. Not for customers, it was plenty big enough for shoppers. In fact, there was plenty of room for a small angry mob. No, it wasn't too small for customers, it was too small for all the flowers. There were pots of dahlias on the floor, roses on the cash register, and orchids in the sink.

The owner, Pomona Sprout, said it gave the place charm. Cedric thought it was sad.

"Alright, I'm packing up," Hannah Abbott said, glancing up at the clock. Susan Bones had looped a daisy chain around it during her shift, continuing the tradition from when Nymphadora Tonks had worked at the shop.

She backed into the backroom, then spun around to grab her stuff for classes at the local university.

"Fine by me," said Cedric from his place behind the register. He ran his hand through his curls.

"Remember that you're closing up tonight," said Hannah, swinging her scarf around her neck. "Justin can't make his shift again," she explained.

"Again?" asked Cedric, not expecting an answer. "That poor kid. I heard his anxiety has been getting worse than usual after that weird customer. Remember? With the snake?" Hannah nodded.

"Oh, I remember, Ced," she said. "He was blabbering on the phone to me for the entire rest of his shift." She checked the time again. "Shit, I'm gonna be late." She rushed towards the door and spun towards Cedric on her heel as the bell chimed. She exclaimed, "Creative Writing waits for no man!" turned around, and ran straight into two new customers.

"Hello, Hannah," said Harry Potter with a large grin, after identifying who had just ran into his arm.

"Oh, hey Harry," she said. She nodded towards the other. "Hey Cho. My apologies, but I must be off," she said, and then, with a look towards Cedric, was gone. Cedric shook his head fondly, then leaned forwards on the counter.

"Cho, Harry, you both look marvelous today," he said. Harry was openly gazing around the shop in wonder, Cho, restraining herself, only glanced around sharply as the two made their way to the counter. "Though, I must ask why you're here."

"We wanted to see where you work," said Cho. "We realized we'd never actually been about thirty minutes ago and decided we wanted to take a look-see." She shrugged. "So we're here now."

"Thanks for the run-down," said Cedric. He tapped his pencil on his desk a couple times. "So, what d'you think?"

"I like it," said Harry. "Although, I think all the colors are giving me a headache. And the smell."

"Yeah," said Cedric. He smiled. "You get used to that eventually."

"This place is incredibly cute," said Cho. She slammed her hands onto the counter in front of Cedric. "Where you work is cute, and you are, also, very cute."

Cedric raised an eyebrow. "Thanks, love. How much beer have you and Harry had, exactly?"

"None, actually," said Harry. He sat at the stool beside the counter. "Don't worry, Cedric. We don't regularly drive ourselves to the brink of death when you're gone. We just make bad decisions sometimes."

"That end in microwaved marshmallows?" asked Cedric. Harry nodded gravely.

"To be fair," said Cho, "we were trying to figure out why the marshmallow explodes."

"Four times?" asked Cedric.

"Any good scientist checks her work," recited Cho. Cedric shrugged.

"Fair. But Harry isn't exactly the best scientist I've ever seen. Why was he helping?"

"I wanted to see marshmallows explode," said Harry. He swiveled around in his chair. "And Ron wanted a video, too." Cho groaned. She walked away, getting distracted by the orange flowers in the corner.

Cedric raised an eyebrow. "You aren't helping your case." Harry shrugged.

"Well, I did say it was a bad decision," said Harry. He took a rose from the pot on top of the cash register, twirling it in his fingers. "I'm going to buy this rose," he said.

"Sure," said Cedric. "That'll be two pounds then."

"Damn," muttered Cho.

"Sounds about right," said Harry. He handed off the change as a stout, curly haired woman with about a centimeter thick glasses walked in the shop with a bell chime.

"That seems our cue to leave," said Harry. He smiled up at Cedric. "See you, Ced." He leaned up and pressed a kiss to the corner of his lips. Cho kissed his cheek.

"Later, C," said Cho.

"Get out of here," said Cedric with a fond grin. The two left, snickering. They stopped right outside the door with Harry giving the rose to Cho.

"Who were they?" asked the woman. She crinkled up her nose. Cedric fondly watched them leave.

"The most amazing people I know. Now, what can I do for you, ma'am?"

The rose was in their only vase when Cedric got home. Cho had seemed to think it appropriate to move everything that had been on their coffee table into the pantry between the cereal boxes and under the pasta.

There was a new bag of marshmallows on the microwave.

Justin Finch-Fletchley grinned at Cedric when he entered from his spot behind the counter. His curly hair was limp, suggesting he was late for his shift again and came to work with damp hair. He jerked his head towards Cho and Harry, who sat next to the counter in some of the stools from the back.

"Your dates are here," he said.

"I can see that," said Cedric. "Hey Cho, Harry." Cho waved, then went back to sticking red pentas in Harry's hair. Harry grinned at him for a moment, then looked back to Cho. Cedric snorted. "Good talk." Cedric turned back to Justin. "How long have they been here?"

"Not long," said Justin. "I don't actually know why they're here, though."

"I didn't have work today," said Harry.

"I switched shifts with Penelope," said Cho. "By the way, I've got work on Wednesday, now.

"Well," said Justin. He grinned lopsidedly. "There you go." Cedric grabbed his apron, shrugged it on, and tied it.

"Thanks, Justin. Sorry they figured out that they could actually come to my work," said Cedric.

"You know you love us," said Cho. She didn't look up at him.

"Don't worry about it," said Justin to Cedric. "I think they're fun."

"See Cedric," said Harry. "We're fun."

"I'm not doubting that, love. Believe it or not, I didn't start dating you because I liked your hair," said Cedric. Harry stuck out his tongue.

"Anyway," said Justin. "I've got to arrangements to get to." He rolled his eyes. "Wish me luck."

"Will do," said Cedric. Justin turned away. Cedric turned back to Cho and Harry.

"Hey, Ced," said Harry. "We missed you."

Cedric raised an eyebrow. "We live together," said Cedric.

"So?" asked Cho. "We didn't feel like microwaving any marshmallows and the shop is cool, and we love you loads."

"Thanks for not ruining our microwave again," said Cedric.

"You are so welcome, C," said Cho. She puts another flower in Harry's hair. "So how has your day been?"

"Same as always," he said. "Nothing particularly interesting." He took the roses off of the cash register, rearranging them. Justin refused to touch the roses, swearing they gave him infections every time he did.

"We're plenty interesting," said Harry. He adjusted his glasses.

"Voila!" Cho said, with a flourish. She had finished decorating Harry's hair with flowers. "You look fabulous, darling," she said. Harry rolled his eyes.

"I feel like I shouldn't be the only one with flowers," said Harry. Cho nodded gravely.

"Right as always, Mr. Potter," she stood up from her stool and quickly found a group of lantanas. She slammed four pounds on the counter in front of Cedric, then immediately started picking the flowers from their stems. She gestured for Cedric to lean down so she could reach his hair. He did as directed.

"You want to hear some bullshit?" asked Harry after a moment of watching Cho decide where to place the flowers.

"Alway, H. I always want to hear some bullshit," said Cho.

"Draco Malfoy came to the shop yesterday," he said. Cho groaned.

"What'd he want?" asked Cedric. His voice held no ill-will.

"Yeah, that's what I wanted to know, too," said Harry. "He didn't even get anything. He just stood there and glared at us all for a full minute, then left. It was bizarre."

"Malfoy's weird," said Cho.

"Yeah," said Harry. "I think he's up to something."

"You're overreacting again," Cedric stepped in. "What have we said about making faceless accusations about people we don't like?"

"I have never overreacted a single day in my life, ever," said Harry, overreacting.

"Ok, love," said Cedric.

Cho put another flower in Cedric's hair, then, retracted her hand.

"And, there we go!" she said. Cedric rested his newly-freed head on his hand. Cho grinned at him.

"Goddamn it," said Harry. "I don't think there's a single thing on planet Earth that couldn't make you look incredible."

Cedric laughed. "You're sweet," he said.

"He's right," said Cho.

"Alright love," said Cedric. He smiled softly at the two of them, mirth sparkling in his eyes. "Now get out of here, you've terrorized the shop enough today, I think."

"Gross," said Harry.

"What'll we do without you, C?" asked Cho.

"I think you'll manage," he said. Cho sighed. Harry leaned over and kissed him on the cheek, then stood from his stool.

"See you, Ced," said Harry. Cho kissed his other cheek.

"Yeah, see you," said Cho. "I'm not sure I'm going to make it, though."

"You're smart, you'll manage," said Cedric. "Now I'll see you two at home, yeah?"

The two were already headed out the door, Cho trying to ruffle Harry's hair and Harry leaning further and further away. He chuckled.

"You're smitten," shouted a voice from the back.

"Yes, Justin, I'm well aware of that."

Cedric hung his coat by the door next to one of Cho's many scarves when he got home. He took off his boots, and put them beside Harry's shitty trainers. He headed straight for the kitchen, then, searching the fridge for something to eat.

He settled for an apple.

He turned around and leaned against the counter. He took a bite.

"C? Is that you?" asked Cho from the living room. She squinted at him in the dark, the only thing illuminating the flat being the TV playing reruns of Doctor Who. Cedric hadn't seen the episode they were playing. Harry's head popped up to look at him, too.

"Yes, love," said Cedric. He smiled and walked into the living room himself. He leaned against forward against the couch. Cho and Harry looked up at him.

"You've still got the flowers in your hair," Cho noted. She looked a little shocked at the prospect. Cedric picked a flower from his hair himself, looking at the wilted thing.

"Yes," he said. "I do."

David Tennant shouted on the television at a police officer about a Rose Tyler.

"Why?" asked Cho. Cedric shrugged.

"I don't know, I liked them," he said. Cho smiled lopsidedly.

"C'mere, you big nerd," she said, patting the spot next to her. He rolled his eyes, but obliged, and was immediately laid on by the both of them.

David Tennant seemed really concerned about this Rose Tyler. Cedric hoped she would be ok.

It didn't take long to fall asleep.

Susan leaned against the counter as Cedric sat with his back to it, keeping his eyes squeezed shut.

"What even happened?" asked Susan. She inspected her nails with disdain. Her hair was slowly falling out of her messy bun. She looked fabulous as always.

"It's a long story," he said. He thought back to the customer from earlier and shuddered. "He was crazy though, I'll tell you that."

"That sucks," she said. She glanced down at Cedric. "You wanna start me a daisy chain?" She glanced back up at the door. She looked indifferent. "Might keep your mind off of that creep," she said. She realized what she said had been almost meaningful too late, then added, "Or, whatever. Maybe I'm just lazy."

"You're buying them still," said Cedric, stretching out a hand to Susan. She smirked a bit, then handed him the jar of daisies that she always put on the counter during her shift. She felt safer when she was close to daisies. Cedric didn't question it. She shoved a handful of bills into the register once he took the pot, then went back to looking at her nails.

Cedric started knotting the first two stems together when Susan gasped. "Cho's here," she said. "Damn, she looks panicked. What's up with that?"

Cedric opened up his phone and handed it to her. It was in their group chat, showing the string of texts Cedric sent.

"Jesus Christ," said Susan, she scrolled upwards, just seeing more panicked blue. One was just a series of 'AAAAA's "No wonder she's coming." She handed him back his phone. He shrugged.

The bell above the door chimed once, then again, implying that the door had been slammed open.

"Where's Cedric?" asked Cho. Susan pointed down at Cedric.

Cho's head poked around the counter. When she saw Cedric she smiled. Her eyes still looked worried. She sat next to him silently.

"I overreacted," Cedric told her honestly. "I just," he paused. "I don't know. He freaked me out."

Cho shrugged. "That's understandable," she said.

"Sorry," he said. She smiled softly.

"No," she said. She leaned her head against his shoulder. "It's perfectly understandable to be afraid sometimes, C. We're here so you don't have to be."

He smiled, too. He leaned his head on hers.

Susan didn't mention it.

Cho went home with Cedric.

Harry was in the living room, picking at a half-full plate of take-out, the television playing some shitty action movie he wasn't paying attention to. He looked up when the door opened, then grinned widely.

"Oh good," he said. "I thought you were dead."

Cedric chuckled. He hung up his jacket next to Harry's. Put his boots next to Cho's. The two made their way into the living room. "No, seriously, why are both of you so much later than usual."

"Got caught up," said Cedric. Harry rolled his eyes. He put his food on the table beside him. He made grabby motions toward the two of them, laying on Cedric's lap when he complied. Cho sat next to Cedric. She leaned on Cedric's shoulder.

"Sorry I couldn't go with Cho today," said Harry softly once she fell asleep, which didn't take long. "I was punching Draco Malfoy in an alleyway."