who ? Padma Patil and Raleigh Pucey. when ? Friday 13th October, afternoon. where ? Hogsmeade. what ? Bad luck. warnings/rating ? SFW. status ? Open.
Padma exited Greenhouse Flowers carrying a beautiful tall bouquet of gladioli in shades of pink. She was pleased with it, already anticipating how excellent it would look against the wall of her bedroom. She paused in the street as a black cat wound around her ankles, rubbing its head against her calf. "Hello, sweetie," she cooed, peering past the flowers to get a better look. She briefly thought the cat might be Jim, but when it opened its mouth to meow at her, it only had normal teeth. Taking a careful step across the road, she realised she should probably have visited The Magic Neep first, and the florist afterwards, but she'd been so much more interested in picking up flowers that groceries that she hadn't thought of it. Fortunately, being in Hogsmeade she could simply levitate the flowers along after her and no one would even think anything of it. Careful not to get her jeans muddle, she crouched down, setting the flowers on the pavement and scratching the cat behind its ears.
She heard a shout and looked up, spotting two girls who looked to be just out of Hogwarts approaching having quite an impassioned row. "You're being ridiculous!" shouted one, stomping through a puddle the splashed muddy water up her cream boots. The other drew her wand, and Padma was just getting to her feet to intervene when the spell she cast at her friend's retreating back missed and caught Padma square in the chest. A shimmering pink wall went up right before her face. Padma reached out a hand to push it away, but found it surprisingly solid and slightly curved. Looking up, she could see that it continued over her head, and behind her. In fact, it surrounded her, her own personal bubble. The cat, trapped with her, purred at her feet, which hardly seemed an appropriate reaction.
"Shit," muttered the spell-caster. Padma could hear her through the wall, though the sound was distorted somewhat. Her handbag was just outside the bubble, her wand sticking jaunitly (if uselessly) from the top. "End the spell, idiot," said the girl in the boots, which made her friend turn away from staring at Padma, thrusting her wand once again. Padma tried, and failed, to get their attention as they continued to fight, until their parries took them round the corner. "Well," Padma said, to the cat. "I suppose someone will come out of a shop and see me eventually."