Chapter 4
Harry’s shift had barely started and he already wanted to go home. Draco had kept his promise, and pulled up to Sirius’ house at exactly 5:30, dropping Harry off at the Lawmart in the same daddy’s money mobile that he’d ridden in just hours before. Seamus spent five solid minutes just gawking at Harry when he walked in before he finally gathered his thoughts enough to speak. Harry couldn’t even reply before his shift manager, Tonks, yelled to him to clock in and open a checkout lane as they were surprisingly busy tonight. The green-eyed didn’t get a word in edgewise as he was thrown his work apron (he stopped questioning how Tonks was able to pick the lock on his locker) and dragged to a closed register. By the time Harry got signed into the computer, his line was completely full. Harry sighed, accepting his fate to a long shift. Who needs an entire watermelon on a Wednesday night? If Tonks wasn’t a family friend, Harry probably would have taken his sweet time checking out each item and “have trouble finding things in the system” to get back at her. Unfortunately, he rather liked her.
By the time Harry’s break came around and his Cedric took his place at the cash register, Harry all but bolted to the staff breakroom (after wishing godspeed to Cedric). If there was one thing Harry would warn all people getting into retail about was that customer service never got easier—in fact the longer you worked there and the less cares you had to give, the harder it got. The first thing Harry did when he shut the door behind him was take out his phone so he could complain to Ron about his shift. He noticed a couple messages (he assumed they were from the blonde) but ignored them in favor of typing out a long paragraph of his annoyances to his best friend. The redhead responded with a series of emojis and couple of apologetic messages that Harry greatly appreciated—misery loves company after all. They quickly moved onto other topics and Harry’s brain was quickly jumpstarted when Ron mentioned that Ginny had sent him an odd message. Shit , Harry thought. It’s been over six hours.
After a couple of moments, Harry decided to bite the bullet and check his missed messages, praying that Ginny wasn’t plotting his demise in his absence. If there was one thing he knew the girl hated, it was being ignored. Harry always figured it was a symptom of being the only sister in a family with seven children, but nonetheless it was a fact. He could only hope that she figured he was busy and that she would give him a pass.
JuneBean??
Don’t you work minimum wage?
Harry noticed the time pause between the messages.
Ohh, is your love life paying for this one?
Props to you, you deserve it
Don’t do anything stupid tho
And don’t sign anything!!
I know we said eat the rich but not on the first date, ok?
You better let me know in great detail how good the food was, because I fear none of us peasants will get to. The $6 Starbucks is already bad enough, try not to get addicted to a $13 small with enough sugar to kill a small child.
Have fun!!
By the time he got to the end of the message string, Harry’s face was burning with embarrassment. He both could and couldn’t believe the jumps his friend had made without him supplying any information. The only thing Harry knew for certain is that Ginny and Draco were not meeting anytime soon. Or ever. Harry preferred ever.
Gin, I say this with the most love and respect
What in the everloving fuck
Never text me again, thanks!
The green-eyed man wanted to turn his phone off for the rest of his break, but he noticed that he actually did have a few unread messages from Draco. Who he may never be able to face again after what his dear, dear old friend had texted him during their date. Harry made some sort of noice between a sigh and a groan before opening the messages. However, rather than the truckload of embarrassment that just barreled into him at Mach 5, he found himself flustered this time for a different reason.
The blonde was being really sweet, asking Harry if he wanted anything food or drink-wise when he came to pick him up after his shift. While Harry thought it was a little bit arrogantly presumptuous of the man to assume that he was picking him up—not that he wasn’t immensely grateful as biking in the dark was its own kind of personal hell—his red flag-o-meter wasn’t going off. Maybe it was faulty, but Harry didn’t know that. He thought the advance was kind of quick but he also just chalked that up to the blonde’s frankness. He quickly texted Draco back saying that he didn’t need anything but thanks for asking. Harry also let him know that he’d let it slide this time, but next time he should ask Harry first the next time he planned to be his chauffeur.
Looking at the clock, Harry had another fifteen-ish minutes left on his break before he had to either get back on register or (preferably) Tonks had him on restock. He figured he could waste at least another five before he had to actually go find her to ask. Harry looked down at his phone to see that Ginny had responded—how she was always so quick, Harry would never understand. Upon seeing the message, Harry rolled his eyes and fondly smiled to himself.
Sooo, how was it?
I need all the details immediately
Harry quickly let her know that he’d give her a call after his shift was over and he’d have time for all of the questions he already knew she was going to ask. He also texted Sirius to see if they had any plans for dinner, just so Harry knew if he should pick anything up while he’s here. When Harry realized he didn’t have anyone else to nag, and therefore no excuses to push off talking to Tonks (who he already had a feeling was going to ask him about the car that dropped him off), he sighed and put his phone back in his pocket, leaving the safe confines of the breakroom to find the purple-haired shift manager.
It didn’t take Harry as long as he thought (or wanted) to find her. She very (in)conveniently was doing inventory of the appliances section, which just so happened to be located around the corner from the breakroom. Harry tried to be as stealthy and silent as possible to prolong the inevitable, but alas, when did things ever go the way he wanted them to? Not unlike a bloodhound, the second Harry was within (what Harry assumed must had to have been) her peripheral vision, Tonks turned to face Harry with a smile. To anyone else, the smile would have seemed friendly, familiar, and inviting. For Harry, it made him want to spin on his heels and speedwalk in the other direction.
So, of course, that is what he tried to do.
“Not so fast, Butterball.”
Ok , Harry decided, no running .
He turned around, “Butterball? Seriously? Where did that even come from?”
“No idea. But it worked, didn’t it?” The blasted woman giggled . “Anyways, the rush seems to have died down for a bit, you don’t need to go back to register unless Seamus or Cedric radios. Speaking of, you should probably have yours turned on.”
Harry furrowed his eyebrows and reached down to collect his walkie-talkie from his belt, “Turn it on? It’s been on this whole time hasn’t it?”
“Well, if it is and you’ve been ignoring me this whole time, that’s a whole different problem. I can’t believe you’d snub your favorite aunt!”
“Ok, one—you decided not to have the wedding until after you graduated from uni, so not yet, thank you. Two, I think my walkie died.”
“That happens when you don’t plug it in. But whatever, that just means you get to help me take inventory. And—I know you couldn’t wait for this conversation—we can talk about the nepotism on wheels that brought you on over here. But you’ve still got like seven minutes left on your break, so go mentally prepare yourself—and also text your godfather for me and ask if I’m allowed my fiance for the weekend or if they have plans—my mother wants to know if we would have dinner with her on Sunday. Also, just for that I’m making you come dress shopping with me”
Harry audibly and visibly groaned at, well, everything she just said. He knew the car comment was coming, but he really thought that he’d have more time before Tonks would’ve broached the subject. He also knew the dress shopping wasn’t an idle threat; for such a loud personality, Tonks didn’t actually have as many close friends as one would expect, and she also didn’t have any family outside of her parents, so she was probably looking for any excuse to drag someone along who wasn’t just her mother and her uni friends (Harry was just the lucky victim as Andromeda actually liked Harry as opposed to some of her daughter’s friends). He also knew it was a little bit of a low blow, as Tonks’ reason for wanting to finish school first was because she wanted to be completely independent when she got married, and still be able to rely on herself in case anything happened. This meant that she ended up going to school part–time so that she could have a full-time job and pay for everything herself, with no help from her parents and no help from Remus. It was honestly a really badass move on her end in Harry’s opinion, and although he joked around, he really respected the woman. If anything, he was honestly a bit flattered and embarrassed about the whole situation. So, Harry did what any responsible young adult would do and said “okie dokie” before quickly retreating back to the breakroom.
He plugged his walkie back into the station so it could charge, and texted Sirius to cancel any plans with Remus on Sunday because he has dinner plans with the in-laws that day (he also noticed that Sirius said he was making spaghetti for dinner, so Harry gave that a thumbs up and said he’d pick up some garlic bread). He silently stared at the radio for a few moments, trying to telepathically communicate through the roadiowaves to either one of his coworkers to do him a solid and ask for help at the registers. When the divine intervention wasn’t granted after thirty seconds, Harry resigned himself to his fate and slapped his cheeks for a mental self pep-talk. Harry then went over to the food court to get the largest possible fizzy pop he could order—he needed the caffeine for this conversation. He looked down at his phone while filling up his cup and saw a few messages from the blonde. If you knew the amount of trouble you’re causing me, you wouldn’t be texting me right now. Harry sighed, and put a lid on his cup and poked a straw through the top. He knew it wouldn’t do him any good to throw his misplaced exasperation on Draco—especially when the guy was giving him free rides too and from work. And Harry still doesn’t know how much he owes him for their lunch date. Walking back around the store to find Tonks, he checked the messages.
I don’t know if you’ve noticed but I’m not one to “ ask for permission”
That phrase tends not to grace my vernacular
But I suppose I’ll let you know in advance from now on
Do try to keep your schedule open this Thursday night
I may feel inclined to steal you away again
Ok , Harry thought , definitely presumptuous . Even while thinking that, however, Harry’s cheeks were dusted pink. He wasn’t used to having someones attention so solely on him in this way. He didn’t particularly count Sirius’s doting tendencies—that was just remnants of the cool uncle relationship he thought he’d have when one of his best friends had a baby. While he couldn’t understand why the blonde seemed to be so infatuated with him—Harry wasn’t stupid, he knew this was a little bit more than “oh that cashier was cute” behavior—it felt really good to clearly be wanted by someone who, quite honestly in Harry’s opinion, should be way out of his league. While Harry knew his godfather came from a well off family, they weren’t particularly on speaking terms (even the house Harry and Sirius lived in was given as a “we give this to you so no one can say we didn’t take care of you and now we wash our hands of you” gift, at least according to the little his godfather spoke of his family), they most certainly didn’t associate with Harry, and Sirius had never raised Harry like that either. In fact, his godfather pretty much refused to touch the trust fund he had just to “spite the old hag” as he liked to say; Sirius made good money on his own, and was able to provide a pretty stable life for himself and Harry anyways. He planned to use the trust fund for Harry’s education, and left the rest of it for Harry in his will should anything happen. While Harry objected to both of those things, as he knew he had a pretty sizable amount already waiting for him when he turned 18 from his late parents, Sirius insisted, and eventually Harry caved. He wasn’t too good at the whole “saying no” to people he cared about thing, and it wasn’t like this would hurt him in any way.
Smiling a little bit dumbly, Harry quickly thought of how to respond to Draco. He made sure he was taking the long way back around the store to Tonks, just to prolong his peace for just a little bit longer. He knew he was only delaying the inevitable by a couple of seconds, but hey, he’d do almost anything to not talk about it for a little bit longer—especially considering their “meet-cute” was literal illegal activity in this very store.
I guess ur lucky I don’t have work this Thursday evening.
Can I ask why you might be “ inclined to steal me away?”
Harry was met with a “I’ll tell you in an hour and a half,” and the conversation was left at that. Honestly, do I even want to know what his plans are? Harry shook his head in soft disbelief, not quite sure what he was getting himself into. I guess it can’t hurt to see this thing through, I mean, what’s the worst that could happen? Harry pocketed his phone and took a long sip of his undercarbonated Sprite as he neared the appliances. He quickly met up with Tonks, who had just finished up in the aisle where he left her.
“There you are.” She handed him a clipboard, “Now, if I ask you to start with the coffee machines, are you going to tell me about the elephant in the parking lot or are we going to have to play a little song and dance?”
Harry rolled his eyes as he walked across the aisle and got to working on the inventory checklist for the kitchen electronics, “Honestly, why is everyone so obsessed with my love life?”
Almost instantly, the air around Harry got thicker as he realized what he said aloud. He quickly whipped around to make sure he couldn’t even see his shift manager in the very corner of his eyes as he could already picture the shit-eating grin on her face. You’re a bloody idiot, Potter. There wasn’t enough beating up of himself that he could mentally do that would reach the level of how much Harry wanted someone to slap him in the face in that moment.
“I see.” God, you can just hear the smile in her voice , “so the I-have-money-mobile was being driven by your love life. Now how in God’s name was Remus able to keep this one from me? There’s no way Sirius wouldn’t be airing out all of his grievances about you dating someone that kind of rich. Bloody hell, Hare, does Sirius know ?”
“Get a grip on yourself, Dora, your mind will fall to its death if it keeps jumping to conclusions. We aren’t dating . That implies multiple dates. And I only met the bloke yesterday. I only found out about the wealth on wheels a couple of hours ago—the black card alone almost sent me into cardiac arrest.”
Harry knew he should’ve stopped talking long before he did, but he just found it too easy not to spill all of the details to Tonks. While he made the fuss about her not technically being his aunt, she was like an older sister to him. Plus, it felt like a weight was being lifted off of his shoulders to finally talk to someone about how absolutely insane this whole experience has been.
“So you’ve already been on a date with a guy you met yesterday? And, by happenstance, he’s loaded. This is the kind of whirlwind romance young girls dream about. Honestly, if I didn’t see it with my own eyes, I might not have believed you.”
“I barely believe it myself.”
“Well,” the woman paused, as if taking her time to seriously think about what next to say, “do you think he’ll make you happy?”
“Honestly, Dora, I have no idea. All I can say is that right now, at least, I’m having fun.”
The rest of the night went on pretty monotonously for a Sunday evening. Harry was immensely grateful that Tonks didn’t ask him where exactly he met the guy, as well as being more supportive than he was expecting. She was giddy to know that she knew something before Sirius did, and told him “live while you’re young, Hare, you’ll blink and it’ll all pass you by.” Harry then told her that she was speaking as if she was ancient and not in her 20s. That got him an aggressive ruffle of the hair and a shove to get back to work, but Harry knew she wasn’t actually angry. He could tell she was happy for him, if a little bit (very subtly) concerned about just who this guy and his family were, but those were only concerns if things actually got serious. And, with Harry going off to university soon, they both figured it wouldn’t get to that point.
The rest of Harry’s shift went smoothly. He helped Tonks restock for another 30-45-ish minutes before he switched with Seamus at the alcohol register for his break. Thankfully, it never got busy enough the rest of Harry’s shift that they had to open all the second register. Harry did have quite a few people ask if they could make their entire purchase at his register and not just their alcohol, but he didn’t have any problems with that as there were never any stuffed carts. He was also immensely grateful that no one else tried to come in and purchase alcohol with a fake ID. He couldn’t really put a finger on why, but he wanted this weekend to stay special, with the blonde’s being the only fake he encountered; thankfully, fate smiled upon him for once. By the end of the night, he balanced his till, and Tonks told him he was free to go while he closed up.
When he was putting up his apron in the breakroom, Cedric asked Harry if he needed a ride because he didn’t have his bike today (Harry mentally thanked the man for not bringing up why he didn’t have his bike; in Harry’s eyes, this elevated the guy to sainthood). Harry tried to play it off cool and told Cedric not to worry because he already had a ride, but this just caused Seamus to finally ask his burning questions. No matter how much Harry tried to put on his blinders and ignore his classmate, he just kept nagging Harry to answer all the way on the walk to the door. Harry tried to busy himself by checking his phone for notifications from Draco, all he had were the replies from the texts from before. Cedric said he’d wait with them until their rides got there (and once again, Harry’s heart was blown away by the brunet’s kindness), so thankfully, Harry wasn’t stuck all alone with Seamus and his nosy questions all alone.
“Come on, Harry, you gotta give me something,” Seamus protested. “For goodness sake I’d kill to ride in a car like that!”
Harry rolled his eyes and Cedric piped in, “Leave the guy alone. Harry doesn’t have to share all of his business if he doesn’t want to.”
“This isn’t all of his business, this is a matter of pride! Come on, mate, seriously, I just want to know how I can get in a sweet ride like that.”
Almost as if on cue, Draco pulled up in the car of the hour. Upon seeing the car, Cedric looked at it in awe, meanwhile Seamus had a look on his face as if it was Christmas morning. Harry slipped his phone back into his pocket as he walked up to the passenger’s door as Draco came to a stop (Harry appreciated that the blonde turned the car around in the parking lot so that the passenger’s side was towards the sidewalk). Harry turned to the guys as he was grabbing the handle.
“Honestly Seamus, if I told you how I’d got here, you’d never believe me.”
And with that, Harry got into the car. He was met with a quizzical look from the blonde as he slid into his seat. Harry gave him a brushing-off motion with his hand as he buckled himself in, mumbling about how Draco’s choice of vehicle was causing him problems in his workplace. The kicked puppy look on Draco’s face made Harry quickly rush to explain himself a little bit better.
“Oh stop that, I figure by nineteen you’d know that when your car screams money, people get curious. By the way, if you get bored of my company, my friend Seamus back there would be more than happy to be kidnapped by you any day so long as it was in this vehicle.”
The blonde didn’t hesitate before he responded, “I doubt I’ll get bored of you anytime soon, Harry Potter.”
Damn, full legal name? Harry thought to himself. Wait, did I ever tell him my fully name? I must have, right? I guess it has been a long day . Harry decided that he had bigger fish to fry than forgetting something that simple. Plus, it wasn’t as if he wouldn’t have told Draco his full name if he asked, so it was probably just something he did without thinking.
“So, I know you know where I work, but what exactly do you do?”
“Currently I attend uni, though, it’s really just a formality so that I have the qualifications on paper for when I take over my family’s business. My mother and father have already taught me everything I need to know, but it wouldn’t look proper for me to take an official rule without having a full resume.”
“Well that’s ominous, but I guess I get it. Going for business management then?”
There was a twinkle in Draco’s eyes that made Harry think he was missing an inside joke or something. However, it also could’ve been the headlights from the person driving way too closely behind them. The moment quickly changed as Draco cursed the other driver under his breath and slowed down a smidge just to piss the other driver off. Harry thought it was a little bit juvenile, or at least he did until the other driver switched lanes and cursed them out with the windows down. The blonde didn’t even turn to look at the guy who was making a fool of himself as neither of the two could actually hear him. Harry, who was on the side where the driver was making a fuss, rolled his window to yell “eyes on the road, asshole!” When Harry rolled his window back up, he saw Draco smirking (eyes still ahead, ofc course).
“Sorry about that. I hate knobhead drivers,” Harry shook his head.
“Nothing to apologize for, love, I found it charming. To answer your question earlier, yes, as well as a double study with international politics.”
“Oh, so you’re smart smart then, noted.”
If Harry didn’t know better (and he didn’t) he’d say the blond preened , “Well, I—”
The conversation was brutally interrupted by the chorus of “Bitch” by Meredith Brooks ringing out from Harry’s pocket. Harry apologized to Draco, not confused for a moment once he recognized the ringtone. Shit , he thought, I should’ve known Ginny wouldn’t wait until I got home. Harry didn’t look at Draco’s face in mild embarrassment as he took his phone out of his pocket.
“I am so so so sorry, I have to pick up or else she’ll show up at my house,” Harry quickly apologized before hitting answer and putting the phone to his ear. “Hey, Gin.”
“ Answer quicker next time, or I’ll wring your neck. Anyways, details? You promised. ”
“So that was before I knew I was getting a ride home. Do you mind waiting?”
“ A ride ho—HARRY YOU’RE JOKING. ”
Before Harry could answer, the line went dead. A text message from the redhead in question came through that said, “Give me your location,” followed by a “pretty please.” Harry then sighed, giving the girl what she wanted before sliding his phone back into its usual resting place. He finally took a second to look at Draco’s face but was unable to find any discernable emotion besides a stormier look to his pale gray eyes.
“So,” the blonde started, “a friend of yours, I presume?”
Harry laughed a bit awkwardly, “Yeah, I grew up with her. She’s my best mate’s younger sister, so she ended up being kinda like mine.”
Harry noticed that Draco’s demeanor looked a little bit more relaxed than he did a few moments ago. Oh, maybe he thought Ginny was my mum or something . Harry softened a bit at that thought, realizing Draco probably felt just as awkward as he did.
“At least she’s not your girlfriend.”
At that, the raven-haired let out a real, genuine laugh, “Well, that would’ve been an awkward conversation, now wouldn’t it?” Harry saw Draco smile from his peripheral vision, “But not as awkward as when she did try to ask me out—I guess about a year ago now—that whole mess was bollocks. Much better now, though, as I guess you can see.”
Any looseness left in the blonde’s muscles immediately tensed again. The vice grip Draco had on the steering wheel was so tight that his fingernails were pressed into the leather. Harry, however, remained none the wiser. He had a nostalgic look on his face—somewhere between a grin and a grimace as he not un fondly remembered the past.
Harry brushed his forearm against the blonde’s upper arm, “Nothing for you to worry about, though, all in the past.”
After a few moments, Harry recognized the familiar turn onto his home road, even in the dark. Draco pulled into the driveway as far as he could to make Harry’s walk as short as possible. When the car stopped, Harry checked his person to make sure he had all of his belongings (which wasn’t actually much besides his phone, the garlic bread, and a chapstick in his jean pocket) before unbuckling. He got out of the car and carefully shut the door, waving to Draco before walking inside. After the blonde made sure that Harry was safely in his house, he pulled out of the driveway.
“Better be.”