Not a Bad Thing to Fall in Love

[Indianna Lee]

Thick streams of midday sunlight spilt into the terrace's kitchen as Indianna Lee busied about at the sink. This was a rare treat for the aged cat of the household, who basked in the pools of warmth and light as if she were the queen of them. The Londoner smiled to herself and reached down to scratch Atticus behind the ears once she had finished with the dishes. The young woman had certainly picked a fine day to take off and, with one glance down at her watch, she decided that she was not going to waste another minute inside. "Zahra! Let's go for a walk!" The announcement was seemingly made to an empty house, however within seconds, the beautiful young Weimaraner had woken from her slumber and had come in bounds up the hallway. Bending down to greet her pooch, Indianna giggled as she was met with an abundance of grateful, slobbery kisses. It was certainly the extent of the "action" she had gotten recently and the brunette did not mind one iota. It was a testimony to her busy lifestyle when she said that she had not been in a serious, long-term relationship since her time with Sam Prince had ended messily. Work had kept her on her toes, but Indianna would also admit that the more she saw of men, the better she liked dogs. Whoever said that there were plenty of fish in the sea were lying straight through their teeth.

Since she had opened up her own clinic, Indianna had quickly gotten swamped with every crook cat and ailing owl in London. She had even had the pleasure of tending to a hippogriff with a broken wing on the outskirts of the city. The twenty-six year old was a diligent worker, she worked hard to earn money to open this clinic and she had spent hours slaving for it to keep it in operation. It had been two weeks since her last day off and although it was worth the trouble, both she and Zahra were overwhelmingly relieved at the chance for some downtime. The eager pup was right on her owner's heels as Indianna made her way to the front of the petite terrace. She lifted her pea coat from the rack at the end of the hall and slipped quickly into it. As divine as the weather appeared, Indianna did not dare to trust it, else she'd freeze to death. From the same coat rack, she retrieved Zahra's lead and clipped it onto the collar of the excited pooch, who was now whining quietly in anticipation. "I think we're all set, baby girl." Indianna smiled down at her stunning four-legged friend as she slid her sunglasses over her head and, with that, bade Atticus and Hermes goodbye as the pair made their way out onto the streets of London.

Before long, Indianna and her furry counterpart had made their way into the Kensington Gardens, a favourite bypass of the pair that they would often take before extending into Hyde Park. One of Zahra's most beloved pastimes was watching the water jet from the fountains. However, today Indianna noted that the Weimaraner did not seem transfixed on the fountains as she usually would be but had entered into hyperacute awareness of her other surroundings. Indi thought guiltily that perhaps it was because she hadn't had the chance to take her beloved girl for a proper walk in a week. But before she had the chance to guilt trip herself further, Zahra had darted towards a fellow dog with such force that Indianna was taken with her. "Zahra, heal!" She commanded in vain because without a moment's notice, Zahra had reached her new friend and the pair of pooches were running circles around Indianna and the stranger, who she could only assume was the owner of the other dog. Their leads wound tight around their owners legs, binding them together until Indianna could feel the man's body press against her own. "Zahra, no! Oh my goodness, I don't know what's come over her, I'm so sor-" The veterinarian began to apologise but as her hazel eyes washed over the face of the stranger before locking strongly with his, she was suddenly at loss for words. He was one of the most beautiful men she had ever seen. "Sorry." She finally managed to breathe out, their gazes still as deeply entwined as their legs, until a deep crimson rouged her cheeks and Indianna forced herself to lower her gaze, hoping he wouldn't see her blush profusely.

 

[Beck Shields]

There were not many that could get beck to do something he didn't want to, no matter how persuasive they were. He was a stubborn, lazy man but only due to how much he did work most of the day. The only thing that could convince him otherwise were a set of sable coloured eyes looking into his and a perfectly timed whine - asking for the play and exercise the growing dog needed. After fighting the losing battle for as long as he could, which admittedly was not very long, he stood up and said, "Fine, you win." The young Great Dane was too smart for his own good so he perked up and started to beat his own tail loudly on the wooden floor of the flat while beck stood up and ruffled his shaggy curls inquisitively. Where had he left Agrippa's leash? The man looked around his home and it didn't occur to him to summon it with his wand because he wasn't a particularly messy person, just focused on bigger and more important things than remembering where he had left the blue training leash which hung on the coat rack, taunting him for a few minutes until he had noticed. It was irksome, yes, so he rolled his pale blue eyes and shouted to the pup, "Come on, Agrppa!" On command the dog, who was still on clumsy paws too large for his growing body, ran to the front door where Beck stood and sat promptly. This routine was already set into his new puppy and for that the man was thankful, that and maybe a few other things.

Although the man groaned about having to get up there was not much he appreciated more than his four-legged-friend, not just for the companionship of which he had little constantly but because these frequent walks stimulated Beck Shields' mind, a most important tool for his job as pompous as that sounded. After stopping at every car meter and garbage can that his pal could they had made it to their normal park, Kensington Gardens. Normally it was a pretty easy stroll until they found themselves further where it felt safe to let the overactive pup run around chasing tennis balls that he could charm to disillusion the animal to get more energy out. With this in mind, Beck wasn't paying too much attention until it was too late and he was in the most precarious of positions with a stranger. Shocked and somewhat confused as it felt like it had taken only seconds for this to happen and his dog would normally not have done such a think he looked up from his pup who was happily sniffing another, who Beck could only assume was this woman's. It'd been some time since he had felt this embarrassed but it only got worse from there as he caught the hazel gaze of the stranger and he noticed that she was attractive. Not a hard thing to admit, certainly, but it felt wrong to think that as he was tied up like this so he let out a nervous chortle as he reached behind and rubbed the nape of his neck. "No. I'm sorry. I swear Agrippa's normally behaved so much better," he said, offering a smile with boyish charm that he had never quite grown out of even at twenty-seven years old and for all intents and purposes Beck was an adult.

If he wasn't so sure that the woman was a muggle, he would have suggested using his wand to get them out of this situation but surely if Beck said anything of the sort the police would be called immediately and so the wizard just furrowed his brow uncertain of what else to say as he watched the beautiful stranger with the excitable dog look away and blush which only made him more uncomfortable because he knew he was thinking that it was because of meeting him but he would be sorely mistaken. Beck did not just get girls blushing at him. He was a little too skinny, a little too nerdy and if he was a girl he would see that he had too many flaws as he could only appreciate one thing about himself, never emphasizing anything but his intelligence which would eventually fail him if his own parents were any sort of clue into the aging process. Without much to say he offered his hand, despite their close quaters, and said, "Ahm I'm Beck. Fancy way to meet, hmm?" He smiled the same childlike grin to difuse the situation more, perhaps calm owners meant calm dogs like they said and it would make it so much easier to give one another personal space. This wasn't the tube after all.​

 

[Indianna Lee]

The veterinarian's heart continued to race incredulously inside her chest as she became increasingly and blisteringly aware of her proximity to the gorgeous man. The velvet timbre of his voice swirled enticingly into her ears and the Indianna instantly picked up on the ingenuity that laced his charming accent. It was a known fact that Indianna Lee was a fool for men that could challenge her intellectually and already this one had her tripping over her own words. Not one person had had such a profound effect on the Hispanic beauty since she was fifteen, since she had serendipitously met Sam Prince on the cobbled streets of Brightstone Village. Whether she had since denied herself these opportunities because of how Sam Prince had shattered her heart beyond repair or whether the majority of the males were simply inadequate at stirring these potent feelings within her, Indianna did not know. Though what she did know, as she allowed herself to peer cautiously into her company's eyes, was that there was certainly chemistry between them. The mere touch of his skin upon hers all but electrified her, her flushed cheeks continued to burn and although it frightened her, the woman could not seem to help herself in the slightest.

Indianna's hazel gaze dove downwards as he mentioned his dog and her thudding heart all but melted at the sight of the overgrown pup. Being that she was an animal lover, she had always had a soft spot for men with dogs, or any sort of animal for that matter. From her experience, it seemed to speak a lot about their character and she was sure that the curly-haired male before her was no exception. Her innate instincts were screaming out at her, warning her to run because falling this hard and fast for someone she did not even know the name surely spelt danger. The woman didn't think her heart could bear to be shattered again and if it had happened with Sam, it could happen with this man as well but already, she was so intrigued by the stranger that it had overridden her usual flight response towards the opposite sex. A soft giggle tumbled from her lips as he held out a square hand for her to shake despite that the gentility of the gesture was somewhat lost with their bodies bound so close together. Nonetheless, Indianna slipped her petite hand into the warmth of his and shook it amicably as he introduced himself. Beck, she smiled to herself, making note of the interesting name. "You can say that again," she laughed with a twinkle in her eyes as they dove into the clear blue waters of his. Again, she noted how incredibly attractive Beck was and not overtly so, as Sam Prince had been and evidently still was, with how the Daily Prophet seemed to label him as Quidditch's favourite pin up boy. There seemed no place for conceit there in his handsome face and that only seemed to entice Indianna further.

"I'm Indianna but most people just call me Indi," she began, his grin seemingly contagious as it now began to spread brightly across her lips. "It's really nice to meet you Beck." Somehow she managed to tear her eyes away from him to glance down at their furry counterparts. Both Zahra and Agrippa sat side-by-side on their haunches, their tongues hanging happily from their mouths as they looked up at their owners expectantly."These two certainly seem pleased with themselves." She added with a laugh but immediately decided that Zahra would be getting extra helpings at dinner from here on in. Of all the people she could have chosen to wind Indianna up to, she had chosen Beck and surely she deserved to be rewarded from her impeccable match making skills. Although she admittedly quite enjoyed being on such close quarters with this perfect stranger, Indianna decided that she would like her legs back and reached down to untangle Zahra's lead from around their legs. Though as she straightened her petite frame once more, brushing down her floral skirt, her heart sunk at the thought of parting with Beck and his gorgeous Great Dane. Bidding their goodbyes and continuing on their separate ways would have been the social norm and Indianna was seemingly aware of this as her dark features drew into a soft frown. It was exceptionally rare that Indi ever chose to step outside of her comfort zone but with a deep breath, she threw caution to the wind. "I know this sounds crazy, but did you want to join us?" Her green flecked eyes searched his with burning curiosity before adding in quickly, "I mean, how can we split up these lovebirds?" She gestured with a laugh towards their pooches who had yet to leave each others side but much the same could be said about their owners. Indianna turned back to Beck, brows arched expectantly and an adorable grin dancing across her rosy lips.