Pawsitively Marvelous (Johnny)

Mimi yapped playfully as Dora tugged on her leash, unaware that her owner was attempting to stop her from digging up all the pretty flowers. Just about to move away from her place against the post to go interrupt the little hooligan pup, Mimi’s name was called in a most professional manner. Turning her head toward the door, Dora smiled. Johnny looked good in pretty much anything, and Dora was willing to pay galleons to bet he looked absolutely fantastic in nothing, but the way he managed to make bland blue scrubs look like something out of a PlayWitch magazine was something Dora would never understand. And never, ever complain about. “Mimi, look who it is. It’s your favorite vet.” She spoke to the dog without taking her eyes off the gorgeous wizard standing beside her. Dora bent down gracefully and scooped the tiny dog up in a single arm, cradling her like a rugby ball – not that Dora had ever taken an interest in the game, or any other sports – and approached the handsome vet. “Mr Townsend,” she cooed the greeting, flashing a flirty smile at him as she walked past him into the office and then waited to be shown to their exam room.

The few seconds they were stood in the waiting room before passing into the little exam room made Dora’s stomach churn. One of the other pets sitting there must have had something horribly wrong with it to make such an overpowering smell. She choked down the sense that she would be sick right there in front of everyone, hiding her momentary queasiness from Johnny. With the door to the exam room shut, the stench lightened. She could breath easier in here, at least for now.

Placing the pooch on the little table at the center of the room, Dora gave Mimi a nice pet on the head to make sure she was situated. Her hands moved to the buttons on her cloak as she looked to Johnny who was asking after her presence here but in a way that made Dora want to snog his face off. He spoke to Mimosa, complimenting her love for the dog and making Dora’s seductive smirk widen as she shrugged her cloak off her shoulders and set it with her handbag on the little chair in the corner of the room, bending over a little further than necessary to make sure Johnny got a good look at her backside. “For me?” she asked in a sultry tone as she turned back around to face him. “Plenty, I’m sure, but let’s look at the dog first and see if there’s time after.” She giggled lightly as she stroked Mimi’s fur.

“Her ears have been a bit waxy,” Dora said lovingly as she looked at her pup. “I’m not sure if its normal and there’s surprisingly few books at the shop near my flat about waxy dog ears. I thought it best you have a look and since you don’t do house calls…” Hazel eyes looked up at him from beneath her lashes.

Dora made note of the way his lips curled as he mentioned making house calls. She would be penciling in a celebratory appointment once Johnny received his full certification, giving him much more than her congratulations. “When’s that, then?” Had it not been for the nauseated sensation she’d had all morning, or the fact that they were in a bloody veterinary clinic where sick animals came regularly and some were even put to sleep, Dora might have suggested an early celebration. It would hardly be the first time Mimi had played witness to one of Dora’s gentleman callers. It was difficult to obtain any level of privacy in her tiny little flat, unless she locked the dog in the bathroom or out on the balcony, both of which seemed cruel when Mimosa probably didn’t understand what she was looking at anyway.

Dora watched the handsome wizard work, turning away after several soiled cotton balls began piling up on the table next to Mimi. She was such a good dog, and so sociable, just like her mum, but Mimi’s stomach was made of sturdier stalk these days. After the fourth little cotton ball was set on the table, Dora felt a hot quiver rush over her body. Her back to Johnny, Dora placed a hand on her stomach and one on her chest, forcing deep breaths to sooth her stomach while attempting to remain as quiet and natural as possible. She must have caught something and was coming down with a stomach bug, because there was no other explanation for the persistence in her discomfort. Smells struck her more easily and her stomach turned at the slightest hint of anything unpleasant. Ringing Fin to bring her some soup later as she curled in her bed wasn’t a half bad idea, though she had this appointment and Johnny to worry about now. He had asked her a question, and although she wasn’t facing him she attempted to answer. “Medical problems for dogs,” she answered, feigning that she was reading a poster on the wall opposite him as her face paled. “Not a mention,” she added. “Its as if the fates simply wanted me to bring her to you.”

Queasy or not, Dora was excited for Johnny that he was going to graduate so soon. Less than a year. It would be a big accomplishment and considering he voluntarily took additional schooling after graduating Hogwarts, she was sure he was eager to be done with studying permanently. She meant to answer him aloud. To give a flirty smile, toss her hair over her shoulder and giggle as she looked at him, expressing how flattered and honored she’d be to cheer his name from the crowd. Perhaps even make a saucy comment about shouting his name elsewhere, giving him a little wink and a smirk. Had she been feeling herself, she would have had her hand on his strong bicep, making suggestive eyes at him but instead her eyes were unfocused looking toward the posters on the wall and she swallowed hard to ensure she didn’t get sick in the middle of the vet’s office.

“Sorry,” said sincerely as he and Mimosa came over to check on her. Johnny put his hand on her shoulder and had she felt better that could have led to all manner of things. “It’s good to know I’m not the only weak stomached visitor you’ve had,” giving a half laugh through her response. Perhaps he was right. She wasn’t ill, there was no stomach bug. She was just grossed out by the admittedly gross balls of cotton that had been coated in that thick, waxy – Dora’s hands rushed to cover her mouth as she felt the contents of her stomach begin to rise. She tried to choke the sensation down but her body lurched forward uncontrollably as the bile tried yet again to expel itself from her body. Her eyes darted madly around the room until they had found the bin Johnny had thrown the dirty cotton balls into and she lunged for it, her knees hitting the floor as she doubled over and unloaded her stomach into the bin.

As Dora expelled the meager contents of her stomach into the bin, her only thoughts were of how mortifying this all was. Could she have managed it, she would have hollered for Johnny to leave but there was no talking, at least not until she was done. On her knees in front of what was essentially a bucket of puke, Dora felt the nauseated sensation subside, shortly after she was able to breath again. That meant, of course, that she was able to now focus wholly on the embarrassment she was feeling. Whether it was a stomach bug or just a weak stomach didn’t matter after blowing chunks in front of a cute wizard you liked to flirt shamelessly with. Dora buried her face in her hands as she relaxed back into a kneeling position on the floor, her eyes tugging to keep at bay the stinging tears that were threatening to embarrass her further. “Johnny, I’m so-” What? Disgusting? Ashamed? Pathetic? “So sorry.”

Face still in her heads, she gave her head a sad shake, mentally chastising herself as if she could have stopped this all from happening somehow. The smell hit her nose and she couldn’t stop herself, tears fell as she scrambled to pull up her skirt, flashing her knickers as she panicked trying to get her wand out of the garter on her right thigh. She banished the bin bag and all of its contents to the dumpster in the alley then clambered to her feet, actively avoiding Johnny’s eyes. “I’m so sorry,” she said again, her voice cracking with emotion. Her entire body, not just her face, was flushed with embarrassment and a warmth that was not at all comforting. She reached for her dog, still avoiding looking anywhere near Johnny’s handsome, and probably disgusted, face. With Mimi under one arm she made for the door but become confused and even more flustered when she realized she didn’t have her handbag or her cloak. Whirling around, Dora tried to remember where she’d set them down but she’d come face to face with Johnny and she just wanted to die.

Johnny’s hand on her arm made her feel as though she was going to be sick again, though not in the same way as before. Dora had worked hard her entire life to cultivate a certain persona, something cool and easy going yet sexy. Someone the men wanted to be with and the women wanted to be. She’d had some setbacks over the years, the more recent ones being a little harder than most, but having the illusion completely shattered in front of someone Dora had openly crushed on was cringe-worthy. There was no coming back from this moment. There would be no more flirty greetings or half-assed reasons to have Johnny look over her pup, and there certainly wasn’t any chance of her and Johnny snogging again, let alone shagging in a broom cupboard somewhere. If she ever saw him again in public, Dora knew she would just die of residual embarrassment. She didn’t even want to look up into his perfect eyes as he spoke to her, sighed, and offered to take her home. She cried silently but nodded her consent as Johnny put his arm around her waist.

Cradling Mimi in one arm and clutching her handbag in the other, Dora felt her body bumping into Johnny’s as they apparated to the alley near her little apartment building in Wales. It wasn’t a pleasant journey for Dora. Though it lasted a short moment, it took all her concentration not to be sick again and she was grateful for Johnny’s arm around her waist, tethering her to him and guiding her where she was unable to go herself. She felt pavement under her heels and steadied herself on her legs before taking a sidestep away from Johnny. “Thank you,” she whispered gently, green eyes refusing to meet his baby blues. Instead, she knelt down in the alley and set Mimi on the ground, then fumbled with the latch on her handbag. Pulling her wand again from her garter she realized she had put it away so hastily before that she’d nearly lost it on the trip home but thankfully the lacy material had clung to the wood just enough that she did not need to make a trip to Ollivander's in the near future. Pointing her wand at her handbag, Dora enlarged it so that it was the size of a small dog carrier despite still looking like an ordinary bag. “Come on, Mimi,” she said to the dog, helping the tiny pup into her bag and closing the flap to conceal the little beast. “Pets aren’t allowed in the building,” she explained to Johnny even though he hadn’t asked. She picked up the handbag which was considerably heavier now that it contained an animal, but she’d had practice in sneaking Mimi in and out of the apartment building, so this wasn’t anything unusual for Dora. Standing to her full height, Dora finally looked up at the sexy brunette who had escorted her home. Her face still wet with tears, Dora wanted to apologize again but her face flushed. “Thanks again,” she said meekly.