Daisy {has a lot of feelings} Rosier (thornflower) wrote in reduxpitch, @ 2016-08-15 17:39:00 |
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Daisy was still trying to process the idea that she and Neville were giving it a go at this whole relationship thing. Not that she thought all that much had changed between them, except now that there were kisses involved and she didn’t feel like a total pervert when she thought about him naked. Of course, not a whole lot of kissing had taken place over the last week as they’d only seen one another at Ginny’s birthday-slash-engagement party.
Well, there was only one way to fix that. Still feeling like she needed a reason to visit his flat, Daisy poured over her recipe books and selected one that she was pretty sure Neville would like. Once it was cooked and cooled, Daisy apparated over to the house he shared with Hermione and knocked.
When the door opened, Daisy held out the pan. "Hi. I brought Triple Berry Tiramisu."
--
Work that day, like every day, had been boring. Paperwork, papercuts and more of the same on a repeat had pretty much been Hermione’s day. She hadn’t been home for very long when the knock at the door came. With a half drank mug of tea, Hermione walked over to the door, opening it to be faced with a Potter. In the grand scheme of things, it was probably one of the preferred Potters. Hermione did suppose that now that Neville and Daisy were an item, she was probably going to see the girl around more. She had been about to tell Daisy that unfortunately Neville was not home. But then Hermione saw the tiramisu and moved away from the door.
“Come in,” she told Daisy, eyes mostly on the dessert. “That looks nice,” Hermione commented. ‘Nice’ wasn’t quite doing justice to the dish, though. It looked amazing. “Did you make that?” She asked curiously. Hermione wasn’t particularly great at sweet things. She did some great pancakes, but that was about it. And she could make some biscuits. Sometimes. Depending on how friendly the recipe was.
Leading Daisy through to the kitchen, avoiding plant pots as they went, Hermione bit her lip. “Can I offer you tea? Coffee?” She asked once they were there. “Neville’s not home,” she finally admitted. “But you should stay anyway,” both because Hermione wanted to talk to Daisy and because maybe she could have some of that pudding.
--
"Tea, thank you." It was too late for coffee and if she was about to interface with Hermione for any length of time she didn't need the stomach aggravating coffee anyhow. It wasn't that she had anything against Hermione, exactly, but sometimes when two headstrong people got together someone was going to come out bruised. Daisy wasn't particularly fond of being bruised. "And yes, I did make it."
Maybe Hermione wasn't aware of Daisy's skills in the kitchen, but Daisy thought that was rather unlikely. She was Harry's best friend (one of them at least) and Daisy had lived with her brother for long enough to have a reputation for feeding people. So maybe Hermione was just being willfully ignorant, which was unlikely. Or maybe she was asking stupid questions to make small talk, Daisy also that that might be unlikely, but still possible.
"Do you know when Neville is expected to be home?" Daisy trailed Hermione into the kitchen, smiling when she saw all the plants in the room. Hopefully there were fresh herbs. She wasn't sure how much cooking either Hermione or Neville did, but she couldn't imagine a kitchen without fresh herbs. "I was hoping to see him, you see." Obviously. She didn't come here to talk with his housemate.
--
“It looks very good,” Hermione repeated as she looked at the dessert. Only with a little vain hope that if she complimented it enough Daisy would let her have some. Realistically, Hermione presumed it was for Neville. Perhaps he would leave some. Hopefully. When Daisy said she’d prefer tea, Hermione proceeded to make some. Kettle boiling and her own half drunk mug abandoned in favour for a making a new one, she glanced at Daisy.
Yes, Hermione had figured that Daisy hadn’t come here for her. But that seemed rather unnecessary to point out. “Soon-ish?” Hermione offered quite honestly. Neville usually got home around the same time as Hermione did. If anything, she was a bit surprised he wasn’t home yet. “But whilst we wait,” Hermione started. The hot water was poured into the mugs and she passed one of them over to Daisy. Milk and sugar also followed.
Once the tea was made to everyone’s preferences and the silence between Hermione’s words had reached almost an awkward level, she continued. “I’m glad you and Neville are dating,” she told Daisy. It had never really been a secret that Neville liked Daisy. At least not to Hermione. But she hadn’t quite expected it to go anywhere. “Are you going to break his heart, Daisy?” Hermione asked blankly.
--
"I… thank you?" Daisy raised an eyebrow as she sipped her tea. She'd added a bit too much milk, she noted, but she wasn't about go go fix herself a new one because of the oversight. Besides, she didn't want to risk making a current awkward situation worse. "I'm quite glad we are dating as well."
Maybe she and Neville had been the only ones blind to the other's affections. Daisy wasn't particularly surprised. She was wary of taking any unnecessary risks, emotionally at least. Cursebreaking practically guaranteed that she'd be taking an unnecessary risk or two when it came to their person. Neville on the other hand probably didn't want to risk putting her in the awkward position of her turning him down. Merlin, she did not deserve him.
Daisy blinked at Hermione's question, caught off card. "That's not my intention, no. But that's not really your business now is it?" She'd warned off her own brothers from making such overtures, though she hadn't needed it with Evan. "That's between Neville and me." Daisy almost apologized, but she hadn't done anything for Hermione to do that. Unless telling the truth was suddenly an offense.
--
“I did not suspect it would be your intention, no,” Hermione said with a shake of her head. “You’re not cruel, I know that,” she added confidently. Having been friends with Harry since they first started Hogwarts meant that Hermione had watched his siblings grow up. There were many things that Daisy Potter was, but cruel, Hermione did not believe, was one of them. Lack of intent never stopped anyone, though. Certainly not if Daisy had anything in common with her older brother.
Taking a sip of her tea, Hermione gave a small shrug. “Neville’s my best friend and my housemate,” Hermione noted. “Is your relationship my business? Probably not. But I’m sure you can see why I might feel a bit protective,” she added. Hermione hardly thought Daisy (or Neville for that matter) needed to be told anything. It didn’t mean Hermione couldn’t express concern. She wasn’t very good at not expressing things.
“You’re a nice girl, Daisy,” Hermione told her like there was more than a year age difference between them. “Despite what you may think or attempt to be seen as,” she added before any objections could be offered. “But let's face it, if this goes badly, it’s hardly going to be because of Neville, now is it?” Hermione would put money on it.
--
"Well." Daisy put down her mug of tea with a sharp click against the table. "I can already tell you that you're wrong in at least one way. I'm not particularly nice, I would even go so far to say that I'm mean, but funnily enough Neville already knew that." They'd known each other their whole lives. She knew Neville could be forgetful and clumsy, shy and sometimes unable to stick up for what he wanted.
Leaning forward on her forearms, Daisy studied Hermione's face, a hard look on her face. "I understand why you're asking these questions, I would have done the same in your position," she still worried about Evan and Andrew, but kept those thoughts to herself, "but that doesn't change the fact that if Neville knew you were asking me this he wouldn't appreciate it." Pausing, she looked down at her nails, her manicure was chipping she noted unhappily. "So would you like me to tell him? Or would you like to pretend like the last few minutes haven't happened?"
--
Hermione was never wrong. Well. For as long as you asked Hermione. She had no doubt that Daisy could be plenty mean. That didn’t necessarily mean she wasn’t also a nice person. A good person? Perhaps Hermione should have gone with that. “Neville likes you very much,” Hermione confirmed with a nod. Whether it was because Daisy was nice or because Daisy was mean or for any other reason, Hermione was hardly going to question that.
At the suggestion (threat?) that Daisy would tell Neville of Hermione’s questions, Hermione gave an honest laugh. “You’re welcome to tell him,” Hermione said with a shrug, an amused smile still on her lips. “I would hardly expect you to keep things from him,” she added. Hermione really wasn’t bothered of whether Neville found out. In fact, she intended to tell him she had spoken to Daisy. Perhaps not exactly about what, but that was mostly because she didn’t want to tell Neville she suspected that the risk of Daisy breaking his heart was great.
“All I’m saying is, please be careful,” Hermione explained, giving a small sigh. “He likes you a lot and I would really like for you to--” Well, ‘not fuck it up’ was probably a bit too harsh. “Make him happy,” Hermione settled on. “And for him to make you happy,” she added because that was just as important.
--
Daisy could tell Neville, but she really intend to do so. Mostly because she didn't want to admit she did feel as if there was some truth to Hermione's words. It was an ugly truth that she did not want to face just yet. Or ever. Never sounded quite good too. "And I like Neville very much. I'm glad we can agree on that at least."
As much as Daisy wished she could wait for Neville, perhaps she should have owled first to make sure he home before attempting to surprise him. Well, she would know better for next time. Or she would just cut the middleman and invite Neville over.
She stood, leaving her half-finished mug of tea on the table. "I think I made a mistake to not owl first. Tell Neville I stopped by? There's plenty of tiramisu for the both of you."
--
Oh. This wasn’t going well. Hermione really shouldn’t have been surprised either. If anything, she was surprised by having expected the conversation to go well when she introduced it by telling Daisy not to break Neville’s heart. Evidently, more consideration to her words would have helped. “I’m sorry,” Hermione offered. “If I upset you,” she clarified, since Hermione had meant what she had said. She just hadn’t wanted it to be taken badly. Which, in retrospect, was also pretty stupid.
“You should stay,” she told Daisy. “Neville will be glad to see you, I’m sure,” she was, too. That and he probably wouldn’t be very impressed with Hermione scaring Daisy off. “You can wait in the living room? I won’t bother you,” she offered.
Also standing up, Hermione reached for her tea. “You’re welcome to come over whenever, Daisy,” Hermione told her honestly. She wanted Daisy and Neville to make each other happy, truly. That didn’t mean Hermione wouldn’t worry. “Though, you want to be careful with all the sweets, you’ll make him fat,” Hermione added thoughtfully. Obesity and diabetes were always a concern.
--
While Daisy had no doubt that Hermione had her heart in the right place and honestly wanted her to stay, she was in no mood to do so. Really, she should have owled. "Thank you, but I'm going to go."
Taking her mug to sink to dump out it's contents and rinse it out, don't let it be said she couldn't be a good guest, Daisy shook her head at Hermione's comment about bringing things over. "Again, that's something I think Neville can decide for himself." She baked for those she cared for and just because Hermione Granger decided to voice her opinions about such things didn't mean she was going to stop. But if obesity was such a concern she would make sure to only send enough for one.
The thought might have been a bit petty, but it made Daisy feel a bit better in the moment. She'd feel regret later. "It was nice seeing Hermione. Give Neville my love will you?" Daisy made her way back to the front door before the other woman could give her pause with any other helpful comments.
--
Seeing the sort of nice looking sweets Daisy made, Hermione strongly doubted Neville could decide for himself. If the tiramisu was any illustration of the sort of things Daisy made, then Neville was almost definitely on his way to a coronary. But she didn’t have much of a chance to point that out before Daisy was heading out. This really hadn’t gone fantastically.
“Bye,” Hermione called after the younger woman despite being sure that Daisy was too far to hear it. “Well,” she said to herself, giving a sigh. “That could’ve gone worse,” probably. Still, Hermione hardly regretted it. If anything, she would have felt better if Daisy would have assured her that she wasn’t going to break Neville’s heart. Or that she at least intended to be careful with it. As it was, Hermione supposed she’d just have to wait and see. And hope. And worry. And maybe stock the freeze with ice cream and the cupboards with booze just in case.