Modern No-Magic AU Drarry

Chapter Twelve

"Save the turtles, Potter," Ginny said solemnly as she walked into the kitchen and both teens fondly recollected Neville's environmental awareness rants. Scanning the room, Ginny squinted her eyes at McGonagall's surprising presence. "Uh... Harry?" she asked.

He shrugged. "She just got here," he whispered.

"Why?" Ginny whispered back.

"She most likely has her reasons." Hermione's whisper joined the conversation, making the other two jump.

"Jesus, Hermione-" Harry put a hand over his chest. "When did you get here?"

"My shift starts at the same time as Ginny's."

"Yeah bu- nevermind," Harry adjusted his glasses. "Forget it."

"Let's get this order on the way, shall we?" Ginny clapped her hands together.

Hermione nodded, tying her apron behind her. "Let's."

"Hey," Harry began slowly, putting the order through the till. "Have either of you seen Malfoy recently?"

"Can't say I have." Ginny shrugged, fiddling absent-mindedly with a laminated sheet of dietary requirements.

"No, he hasn't been on the roster," Hermione said, before adding sharply, "Why?"

Huffing, Harry crossed his arms. "He hasn't turned up to a single shift for the past three weeks. Am I the only one concerned about what this git could have gotten up to?"

"Maybe you have a point," Hermione pondered, tucking her frizzy hair that had come out of her ponytail behind her ear.

"Or maybe we could just let him die?" Ginny suggested.

Harry made a face, concentrated. "I mean, we all know where he lives, right? We could alw- like, we could at least check on him only to make sure he hasn't fucked off leaving us with his chores, right?"

Ginny rolled her eyes, disgusted. "Who wants to drive all the way to their rich, egotistical mansion?"

"The Dursleys' car broke down, so I can't unless I get a lift. How's the Ford Anglia going?"

"Guys," Hermione sighed, rubbing her nose. "Social media. We can find him and track him there." She made a face when faced with realisation dawning on Harry and Ginny's faces. "It's a modern day and age, why wasn't that your first thought?"

"Right, right," Harry muttered, pulling out his phone after quickly glancing to check if McGonagall was watching. "What platforms would he be on? Does he seem like a Facebook kinda guy?"

"Who uses Facebook anymore?" Ginny asked before sniggering. "What about MySpace?" Encouraged by Harry's cackles, Ginny continued, hardly containing her laughter. "Grindr?"

"I'm not signing up to Grindr just to find him," Harry's face turned red.

"Coward." Ginny scoffed. "What are you afraid of, that you'll find out dick is pretty good once you get used to it?"

Ignoring Harry's furiously flustered mess and outraged sounds of regret, Hermione tapped an app on Harry's phone. "Try Instagram, first."

"What... are you guys doing?"

Everybody looked up to see Neville taking off his company cap, looking tired and awkward.

"Stalking Malfoy," Ginny said, not looking up from the phone.

Immediately, Neville's eyes widened and his face turned pink as he tried not to look at Harry who immediately noticed the shift in mood.

"What? What is it? Do you know something?" Harry demanded.

"Um, a-ah..." Neville scratched the back of his neck, blushing furiously, still unable to meet Harry's eye. "Let's just say, um, M-Malfoy rants when he's drunk and I... drove him home."

All at once, everybody stopped what they were doing to look at the flustered boy. "WHAT DID HE SAY?" Ginny demanded eagerly, grinning.

Clearing his throat, Neville stared at the ceiling. "I, um, w-well, I'm not sure if it's- if that's my place to say, um..."

"What was it about?" Harry leaned forwards against the bench, intrigued.

Clearing his throat, Neville glanced at Harry before very quickly averting his gaze, unable to stop himself from awkwardly flicking his eyes back.

Shaking his head, Harry sighed. "Neville, if you're worried about offending me because he just talked shit about me the whole time, don't be. It's not like that's unusual to what he does to my face. So, what, did he talked about how much he hates me?"

Blinking, Neville scratched his head, turning a little more pink. "Well, a-ah, not- not exactly, um..."

Everybody held their breath as they waited for Neville to speak, eager to find out any dirt they could on Malfoy.

Finally, he spoke. "...I dunno if it's my place to say."

"Oh come on," Ginny muttered, turning away to grab the drink.

"I swear to god, Neville, I will torture it out of you-" Harry began threateningly before shaking his head, knowing he could never actually hurt Neville, even if he wanted to.

Gratefully accepting the coffee, Neville cleared his throat. "But it, uh, sounded important. So maybe you- maybe you should ask him."

Harry looked out the large windows. "I would if he actually showed up." He pursed his lips, trying not to listen to the tiny portion of his mind that was worried about his longest-standing enemy.