Harry sneaked through the overgrown garden near the greenhouses trying to find any simply, pretty flower he could find. After all, flowers always seem to make girls happy so maybe that would be a good start to the date. Unfortunately, he was not allowed to go to Hogsmeade to buy any and the ones barely managing to survive around here. Miraculously he found a pretty orchid amongst some orange tulips and though together their colours seemed a bit gaudy, separately they were quite pretty. He found a nice set of anemones and gathered them into the bouquet he'd collected.
"Now please tell me you don't intend to give that to your date." Harry jumped and turned, wand raised in Draco Malfoy's direction. Malfoy looked amused and raised his hands as a sign of surrender.
"Sorry, habit." Harry said and glared at him before putting his wand down and looked at his flowers. "What's wrong with them?" He said defensively.
"There's nothing wrong with them, but I'm not too sure you know what they say." Malfoy said amused, walking past him, going into a deeper part of the garden. Harry looked at his retreating back with mistrust before following him.
"These aren't magical, they don't talk." Harry said, though he looked at the flowers with doubt in his mind.
Malfoy's reply to that was laughter, and not the mocking sort of laughter that made Harry want to punch him. "Of course flowers don't talk, Potter," he said as he swept his fingers over his eyes wiping the tears of mirth that had started to form.
"Then what's wrong with them?" Harry asked walking faster to catch up to him. Malfoy stopped parting the greenery of an overgrown path and turned to him. He pointed at the orchid. "An orchid can mean 'luxury' or 'lust'. Since you only have one, it means 'lust'." He pointed to the tulip. "Tulips are symbols of 'love' or 'passion'. Since the orchid is already saying 'lust', anyone can assume the tulips mean 'passion'." Finally the anemones. "These say 'anticipation', and all together basically say you can't wait to get into Chang's robes."
Harry felt his face heat up and he dropped the flowers as if they'd burned him. Malfoy only laughed and continued parting the greenery, passing through into a darker part of the gardens. Harry followed him. "How do you even know this much about flowers Malfoy?"
"How do you know so little? I cannot believe you were about to give that to Chang." He chuckled some more.
Harry looked up to see that the overgrown path actually led to a dome of entwined branches, covered in climbing plants that allowed enough light to pass through to give the secret garden a green glow. In here many flowers grew and several butterflies fluttered from one flower to another.
"Now, how about I help you to not make a fool of yourself." Malfoy said and advanced to a bush overgrown with round pink flowers. Malfoy didn't wait for him to accept his help and started cutting a couple of those pink flowers. "These are dahlias. They say 'elegance' and 'dignity', so you can't go wrong and these," he said as he went to another bush, this time of round bright yellow flowers. "Are ranunculi, or Persian buttercups. They mean 'charm'." He cut a couple and gathered them prettily into a nice bouquet, the pink dahlias on the outside and the yellow buttercups in the centre. It was a simple, yet elegant bouquet.
Harry huffed and took out a piece of string he had to tie the flowers together.
"By Merlin's ancestors. You are hopeless, Potter." Malfoy said and transfigured the string into a peach coloured ribbon that he tied expertly into a nice bow. Harry was embarrassed, but Malfoy's florist skills overwhelmed his embarrassment with shock.
"Are you going to tell me how you know all this stuff?" Harry asked as he looked at the bouquet.
"I am a pure-blooded wizard, from the age of seven I've been trained in all manner of wooing techniques. That way when my father finds me an ideal match I don't let her get away." He said proudly.
"Wow, how romantic." Harry said blandly and Malfoy sneered waving his hand dismissively.
"I wouldn't expect someone like you to understand, but I am expected to marry well. Now why don't go to your date before you're late." Malfoy said shooing him in the direction of the main garden.
"Do you expect a thank you?" Harry asked as they made their way back out.
"For stopping you from embarrassing yourself? Perhaps. Perhaps I simply wanted to thank you in return." He said, bringing out the galleon with the next meeting's date and time on.
"Hmm… I said I would help you. And thank you too." He said and turned to leave. He looked at the flowers and for a second wondered if Malfoy was tricking him but glancing back he saw Malfoy putting the flowers he'd already cut back in their respective stems.
On his way to meet up with Cho Harry wondered on engaged marriages. In the muggle world they're thought of as horrible things, well his uncle always criticised it loudly when he saw a programme on other cultures. He wondered if Malfoy was aware that they don't always turn out right. Then again he was in no position to give his opinion. After all, last thing he wanted to do was regurgitate anything his uncle had ever said. What did he know anyway? The blonde had saved him from making an embarrassing blunder. For that he was thankful.
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Harry felt his face heat up once more as he saw Cho approaching with a picnic basket. "Hello Harry," she said with a smile. Harry nervously took out the flowers from behind his back.
"Here, these are for you." She looked at them in surprise and smiled, taking them, handing Harry the basket.
"They're lovely Harry. Thank you…" Dread filled the pit of his stomach as the silence stretched. She fidgeted with the flowers and Harry looked down at the basket.
"Um… where should we sit?" He asked. She looked around. "Oh, over there is nice and flat." She said pointing to a sunny patch ahead. He went ahead with her, trying to just enjoy the sound of the song birds in the distance and trying to ignore the awkwardness.
Was she awkward because she was shy? Or was he supposed to do something? Was he supposed to kiss her? Supposed to say anything in particular? Was she waiting for him?
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Severus approached the small arched window through which Draco was overlooking the lake. "Draco? What are you doing here?" He asked icily. The Malfoy heir said nothing at first.
"I'm just looking at the pathetic romance skills of the saviour of the wizarding world." The blonde said. He came to look through the arched window as well and saw the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw sitting on a picnic blanket, seemingly eating quietly. The potions master felt himself cringing. How could it be possible to feel awkwardness from this far away?
"Shouldn't you be focusing on your mission?" Severus said turning away.
"I am. Potter is too easy to convince. All you have to do is be genuinely nice a couple of times and he starts falling for anything." Severus glanced at the boy's steely grey eyes, which remained focused on the Gryffindor.
"The Dark Lord will want to see progress." Severus said, wanting to know how close the blonde was getting to the child he had sworn to protect.
The child he had not sworn to protect, his godson, looked at his own hands, a frown forming on his face. "He will see some…"
