Written for Cheeky Slytherin Lass's Write a Romance Competition.
Hope you enjoy.
Pairing: Hugo Weasley and Su Li
Prompt: Umbrella (ella, ella, eh, eh, eh)
It was Sunday. A miserable Sunday. The skies were dark and grey. The streets were empty and flooded beneath the downpour. A little boy had picked that Sunday to go on an adventure and was regretting it. He was drenched from head to toe and completely lost. The curtain of rain preventing him from seeing anything.
Then, above his head, the rain stopped as if by some divine intervention.
"Oh, You're soaked," a woman exclaimed.
Six year old Hugo looked up into the elfin features of a porcelain angel. She was crouched next to him. Her umbrella sheltering him from the elements. He was struck mute at the beautiful sight.
"What you doing out in the rain? Where are your parents?" She asked sweetly. Her concern genuine.
Hugo was wet, cold and afraid. His robes were little more than dead weight and his ginger hair was pasted to his forehead. He didn't have the fortitude to deny the beautiful angel. She started to shrug off her mostly dry jacket.
"I'm running away. Just like uncle George. I'm going to be famous and make a shop!" He told her, excitement managing to pick up. Her brown eyes widened.
"You're a Weasley?" He nodded enthusiastically, hair spraying. "Fred and George and were a lot older than you when they ran away," she said. Everyone at Hogwarts remembered that day.
"I know and I'm going to be more famous!" he flung his arms up. A quick flick of her wand and she cast a few drying and warming charms. She draped her coat over him, it was a little big. He peered at her with big blue eyes. "Are you an angel Mrs Li? Mum says angels are really pretty and nice." She nearly squealed, little Hugo was so cute.
"It's Miss Li," she said, "and maybe I am angel." Hugo nearly leapt for joy he gazed at her almost reverently. She giggled. "Do you want to go home Hugo?" He nodded enthusiastically again. Su smiled and stood, holding her hand out. "Hold on then." Her took it. Her skin was smooth and grip tender, just like a angel's should be.
Still holding the umbrella above their heads Su turned on the spot. The pair vanished with a crack. The small piece of salvation her she had provided, gone. The grey curtain of rain just continued to pour.
It was a Saturday and Su Li had no idea why she was just standing in the rain. Truthfully she did know. Twenty-some years ago she had met a wonderful little boy on this very spot. What she didn't understand was why she held out an absurd hope she could meet him again. It wasn't quite logical.
That Sunday, that brief encounter, had ignited her desire for a family. A sweet and endearing little boy of her own. Yet over the years none of the men she had meet provided that spark she was searching for. So maybe she was standing there and waiting for an angel of her own.
She sighed sadly. She was nearing her fifties and though she had aged well, even by wizard standards, the list of suitors was only growing shorter. The lonely woman in her vied against the logical Ravenclaw.
"You mind if I hide here?" A youthful male voice startled her. He chuckled, despite standing being cloaked in the pouring rain.
"Not at all," she replied, shifting her umbrella so he could slip under. He had to duck his head, he was tall and she was short. She stared at the blue eyes beneath soaked flattened ginger hair. His drenched clothing was most certainly not intended to be worn in the rain.
"Hugo?" She asked in surpise. His blue eyes sparkled and he gave her crooked, mischievous smile. That grin was unmistakable.
"Hey miss Li" he said, almost channeling his six year old enthusiasm. "I still call you miss Li, right?"
"Sure," she stammered, "but you can call me Su if you want, you're not a little boy anymore."
He had certainly grown, towering above her. His child fat was gone, freckles sprinkled his cheeks. His smile and eyes were still filled with energy. He was, in a word, charming.
"Alright, Su." She felt a little thrill at that. Who would blame her, he was certainly more handsome than his father had been. "You know I do still feel like a little boy sometimes." He chuckled, "for example, I'm running away again."
Su giggled, his smile was infectious.
"Trying to outdo your uncles again?" She teased. It came so naturally around him. As if he provided the spark that jolted her out of her bland life.
"No, I work for uncle George now, so I'm still following in their footsteps in a different way," he said with a grin. "I'm trying to escape grandma and mum. I hooked my sister up with Scorpius Malfoy and they figured they were could do the same for me."
Su felt a strange flutter of hope in her chest. Was this what she had been waiting for? On the street corner, in the rain. He was handsome, single, young and made her feel alive like no one else just by being there.
"So why here?" She asked looking up into those blue eyes. "I'm sure there were plenty of places you could go to hide." She wondered if this was how he felt so long ago. Had his heartbeat picked up like hers had?
"Because I remember meeting an angel at this very spot." He said. His smile never faltering. "I was hoping she would rescue me again." Su's heart leapt in her chest as she gazed into his eyes.
"Do you think she will?" She asked, breathless.
"I think you can tell me that." He said playfully, hand gently cupping her cheek. She leant up. He leant down.
Her eyes fluttered closed. The press of his lips against hers thrilled her like never before. The scent of his water logged clothing and damp hair filled her nose. She didn't care. Above them her umbrella provided shelter from the rain, as if divine intervention.
They broke apart. Su Li looked up through her eyelashes. Hugo wore a goofy grin and she loved it.
"Yes," she whispered. "Yes, I think she will."