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Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry:
Floristry: Floral Design: Extra Credit Task 5 - Florist!AU
Herbology: (relationships) soulmates
August Auction: Day 15, Auction 2 Imperfect Soulmate Scenarios You've found your soulmate but you're 90% sure they're in love with someone else.
Warning for Florist/Muggle!AU, and a slight bit out of character. Also, will end up being a Drastoria story with hints of Vernon/Draco thrown in. Word count is 1,283 words. I hope you all enjoy Red Camellias.
Draco had long ago given up trying to find his soulmate. He'd searched high and low without anything to show for his efforts. That was when he'd started his life's passion. His reason for being and the only thing he could potentially love in the world.
"Time to start the day," Draco said to himself as he tied his apron around his middle and pulled on a pair of gloves.
He looked around at all the plants that needed pruning and watering and thankful that this was his own little paradise. Just him and his plants. No one to judge him for his love of herbology and growing things.
The bell above the gave a tinkling jingle signaling that someone had entered the store. Draco wracked his mind to figure out whether he'd flipped the sign to open or not. He was pretty sure that he hadn't. But then again most people who frequented his shop usually didn't bother to look at the sign.
The sound of an angry huff came from the front of the store. Then the angry sound of the bell that was on the front desk to signal for help with the flowers.
"I'm coming!" Draco called out, pulling off the pair of gloves that he'd just put on. He tossed them aside as he pulled off his apron and walked towards the front of the store. We're not even open yet and they have the audacity to sound angry, Draco thought as he walked through the store. He stopped every once in a while to straighten something here or there. Whoever was waiting for him was obviously very rude and could afford to wait.
When he got close enough to see the person who so rudely entered his florist shop before it was open, he received the shock of his life. The man standing in front of the counter was big, in a beefy sort of way. He was wearing an expensive-looking suit that gave Draco the impression that this man was a businessman much like himself. His dark hair was combed in a fashionable way. But it was the eyes that drew Draco in. The eyes that were a matching grey to his own. This impatient, rude man was his soulmate. He'd finally found his soulmate.
"It's about time," snapped the man, folding his arms over his chest in a way that gave Draco a good look at his muscles.
"I'm sorry about the wait, Mr…."
"Dursley," the man snapped, not sounding like he was going to budge from his rude ways any time soon.
"Mr. Dursley," Draco said, relishing the way that the last name rolled off his tongue and wanting to know if the first would feel the same way, "what can we at Malfoy's Flower Emporium help you with today?"
"I need flowers," Mr. Dursley said, looking around him.
"Well, you are in the right place for that." Draco tried to contain the chuckle that was building but couldn't. "We've got any kind of flower you could possibly want. Is there a particular occasion that you need them for?"
The man looked around himself and then seemed to think better of it. Something about the way that he looked around himself made Draco think that he was hiding something. Could this man possibly know that they were soulmates?
"They're for my wife, Petunia," Mr. Dursley said, looking around once more as though making sure they hadn't been overheard or something of the sort. "Why should it matter why I need flowers?"
"Because getting the wrong flowers for a lady love could send the wrong message to her," Draco said, folding his arms over his own chest. "Don't you know the language of flowers, Mr. Dursley?"
"Vernon," said the man with a sigh. "No. I don't know your so-called language of flowers."
"Each flower sends a message," Draco said, motioning for his soulmate to follow him. He'd teach the man a few things even though they wouldn't be used on Draco. "Take roses for example."
"What about them?" snapped Vernon, making Draco cringe. Plants usually didn't do well in hostile environments and Draco could tell that wherever Vernon went was going to be a hostile environment.
"These red ones here," Draco said, gently touching the soft petal of the rose, "they mean enduring passion." He walked a little further down the row of products he was in stopping beside some Dahlias. "These ones mean a lasting bond or commitment to something or someone." He pointed to a bouquet of dark red carnations. "Those stand for deep love and affection." He then walked over to his pride and joy. The one thing that he'd grown every year. "Red Camellias stand for love, passion, and a deep desire for someone."
"But what should I get my wife?" Vernon asked, looking like he was on the verge of storming from the store. "I need something straight away."
"Forgot your anniversary?" Draco asked, noting the actions of the man in front of him. This wasn't the first time that someone had stormed into the shop after forgetting an anniversary present.
"Is it that?" Vernon asked, slumping in on himself.
Draco nodded.
"You know so much about flowers," Vernon said, looking at Draco imploringly, "what would you choose if it were someone that you loved?"
Draco wracked his mind for what he'd get the person he loved. The person that should be this man standing in front of him. But they hadn't found each other in time. Draco pondered the question for some time and then turned back to Red Camellias.
"I would go with the Red Camellias," Draco said, gently touching the petals of the flowers he'd worked so hard to grow. "Like I mentioned not too long ago, they do stand for love, passion, and a deep desire for someone. What better way to show the person you love that you love them then by giving them a bouquet of Red Camellias?"
"I'll take the Red Camellias then," said Vernon, looking more relieved than he had when the conversation first started.
"Right this way," Draco said, picking up one of the already made bouquets of the Red Camellias and walking towards the register. "I'm sure that your wife will love these."
"I hope you are right," Vernon said, paying for his flowers and walking right back out of Draco's life again.
Draco finished with his preparations to open the store, a sadness had fallen over him. One that only someone that had lost their soulmate or found them too late would know about. He walked to the front of the store and flipped the sign from closed to open. Maybe today would be a good sales day at least.
He was halfway through dusting off the counter and register when the little bell over the door tinkled again, signaling that someone had just entered the store. He could hear the gentle clack of heels against the tile floor and then she entered his life.
The dark-haired woman seemed as beaten down and broken as he felt after his encounter with the man that should be his soulmate. Perhaps she had had such an encounter with her own soulmate.
"Hello," Draco said, moving out from behind the counter and holding out his hand to shake the woman's hand. "Welcome Malfoy Flower Emporium. How can I help you today?"
As Astoria, the name the woman introduced herself by, told him of how her soulmate had just passed on, Draco couldn't help but wonder if one could move on. If perhaps these two broken halves of a whole could file down their broken pieces and come together to form a whole.
I hope you all enjoyed the first chapter of Red Camellias as much as I enjoyed writing it.