There were flowers everywhere. Of course there were. They'd come to a flower shop. Still, the abundance of colour and smells was almost more than Tonks could handle with everything else in the world. It was a shot of brightness in the dark, but Tonks found herself shying away from it instead of embracing it.
She'd never cared much for flowers one way or the other, but she hadn't known how to tell Fleur that when the other woman invited her to look at flowers for the wedding. Tonks had felt obligated to come. Diagon Alley was no longer a safe place, and being an Auror, Tonks was one of the best people Fleur could bring along, especially since she'd been planning to come alone if Tonks didn't agree.
"I like these," Fleur said, gently rubbing a light pink petal between her fingers. "They would work well as a centerpiece."
Tonks hummed in agreement. She didn't need to know much about flowers to know that those did indeed look like something you'd see at a wedding.
"I wonder if it's easy to get these in the summer," Fleur mused. She glanced around for the florist, but the man had disappeared into the back once he'd made sure he wasn't immediately needed. That had become common in recent months. It was as if the shopkeepers thought they could avoid trouble if they remained largely unseen.
"There must be some kind of spell that would help keep them fresh no matter the weather," Tonks said, trying to think back to her Herbology class at Hogwarts. But she'd dropped the subject as early as she could, so racking her brain didn't prove successful.
Fleur took a step back from the flowers, tilting her head as she looked at them. "Probably. I'm sure it costs extra though."
Tonks' "help" when it came to the wedding hadn't dealt with the financial side of it, but she'd still been surprised at how much money people seemed to pour into such things. She didn't understand the point of it herself. Sure, she knew that weddings were about celebrating your love, but she would never have bothered spending money on flowers if it was her call.
She didn't dare say that to Fleur, cognizant that it could be taken as a criticism even though Tonks only meant it when it came to herself. Others could do whatever they pleased.
"Probably," she agreed instead. "We'll have to look into summer flowers."
Fleur nodded. "Thanks for coming with me," she said abruptly.
"Of course," Tonks said.
"Really. I know you don't care about the flowers, and you're still not feeling your best. So I appreciate you agreeing to come along."
Tonks didn't have to fake the smile she gave her, even if it was muted. "I like being able to help." It was true. Even if she didn't care about the flowers per se, she had come to care about Fleur, and Merlin knew that she needed a distraction from everything else.
Like Tonks had come to expect, Fleur's smile was understanding.