Modern No-Magic AU Drarry

Chapter Twenty-three

"Cormac has asked me to help him with his notetaking skills," she explained. "We're at the same university and bumped into each other while I was on my way into a classroom and he was on his way out."

Cormac winked at Harry with an ironic smile which Harry just returned blankly, not understanding whatever secret message was just conveyed.

"Well, okay, have fun," he said shortly. "Let me- us-" he quickly stepped to the side so that Ginny (who, on the other hand, did understand the secret message conveyed and was now glaring steadily) was in view. "-know if you want to order anything. Good luck with your studying," he said, though he knew Hermione didn't need it.

Now that that was out of the way, Harry frowned and glared around the back room, daring the notebook to reveal itself. If Draco was standing across the counter and Harry had thrown it backwards, that means it should have landed next to the broken coffee machine. Maybe Draco saw where it went, but after what happened today...

"I don't like him," Ginny said very simply, crossing her arms as she stood next to the confused Harry.

"What? No, me. Um, neither, I mean. Er." Harry spluttered. With Ginny's bemused side glance, Harry promptly turned red. "Who don't you like?"

Ginny sighed, resting all her weight on one leg. "McLaggen. I don't trust him."

The only reason anyone realised the cafe door opened and then promptly closed was the blow of cold air into the warm room, making Harry shiver once.

In the doorway, Kingsley raised his hand in a greeting to Harry and then to the others as he slowly released the bells from his halting grip. This was not an unusual occurrence anymore: every shift Harry had there was one person from that strange meeting at the Burrow there to keep an eye on him. Sometimes they would wait outside, an ominous figure in the distance, but due to the weather, most of them came inside and ordered a coffee, pulling out a paper or a computer. Then, once Harry signed off for his shift, they would pack up and leave a few minutes after. The well-planned subtlety and secrecy made Harry fiddle with the seam on his shirt.

Sighing, Ginny tightened her ponytail and went over to the iPad to set up the Uber app.

Harry had gotten the firm impression that she did not take very kindly to his omnipresent babysitters. That woman valued her privacy, something that didn't come very often growing up in a household with six brothers. So, not wanting to aggravate her, he quietly slipped into the back room and started lifting up empty containers and boxes for that goddamn notebook.

After a few fruitless minutes, footsteps stopped right behind Harry and Ginny said his name quietly but with enough force for Harry to stand up immediately, banging his head on a table.

"Fuck, that hurt. Um, yeah?" he rubbed the back of his head.

Ginny hurriedly waved her hand for Harry to follow her.

From around the corner of the back room, they both were very quiet as Harry tried to figure out what was going on.

Hermione had taken off her coat, gloves and beanie, leaving just a hand-knitted, red jumper. Her notebooks and pens were left stationary on the table as she looked up with wide eyes at Cormac.

"So?" He grinned. "I've got the perfect place we can go. Though this is technically a date already, I'm going to take you somewhere special tomorrow at eleven." He stopped talking, but Hermione just sat there looking mildly confused.

Harry tried not to cringe from second-hand embarrassment, wishing he could let her know that Cormac is waiting for her to say 'yes' or 'no.'

The muscled boy massaged his own shoulders, looking around, though he couldn't see Harry or Ginny. "You've probably never been on a date before, but I will take you on your first one. I'll make it special," he took this moment to wink at Hermione who didn't look any more convinced.

Oh, Harry thought. Looks like he wasn't waiting for her to say 'yes' or 'no,' he was going to do whatever he wanted.

"That entitled, privileged, white, cis, straight piece of-" Ginny began, stepping forward but Harry caught her arm.

"Hermione hates people fighting her battles for her," Harry whispered hurriedly. "Trust me, you haven't faced her rage before. She truly can fend for herself. Cormac will be walking away from this with no pride left, just you wait."

Ginny huffed but remained put.

Slowly, Hermione closed her notebook, the realisation that Cormac never wanted to acquire note-taking skills settling.

"Send me your address, I'll pick you up tomorrow," he said as he wrapped his scarf around his neck. "See you then, okay?"

Here we go, Harry said to himself, looking forward to seeing the cocky smile fade from Cormac's stupid face.

Pursing her lips, Hermione's dark eyes glanced from the table to Cormac a few times before she very unenthusiastically said, "Okay."

Wait. What? Harry furrowed his eyebrows. What was she doing?

"Sweet." Cormac turned around, a haughty smile on his face that made Harry grind his teeth. Without a goodbye, he left the shop.

With Harry no longer holding her back, Ginny stormed through the door and stood in front of Hermione. "What the hell was that?" she demanded despite Hermione's ashamed look. "You clearly did not want to go out with him, why in the everloving hell did you say 'yes?'"

Feeling as though he should be present for this, Harry followed Ginny and stood on Hermione's other side, awkwardly putting his hands on his hips.

From the corner of the small shop, Kingsley glanced up from his paper to quickly assess whether or not he needed to intervene. Upon realising it was just teenage drama, he continued reading.

"I-I don't know," Hermione said, her voice going high-pitched as it does whenever she is stressed. "He seems... fine. And it's just one date."

"But you don't like him," Ginny repeated, leaning forwards

Clearing her throat, Hermione began putting all her pens into her pencil case. "I'm an adult woman, Ginevra. I'm allowed to go on- on dates with people and figure out whether I like them or not for myself."

Exasperated, Ginny turned to Harry. "Harry, a little help?!"

Both girls glared at him.

Holding up his hands, Harry shook his head slightly. This is not something he wanted to be involved in.

"No backbone," Ginny said simply, but Harry felt the blow anyway.

Quickly shuffling on her coat, Hermione slung her bag over her shoulder and made her way towards the door, "Thank you for caring, Ginny, but I can deal with my own life." Not slowing down, she aggressively slid on her gloves. "Have a good shift." The bell tinkled behind her.

Ginny held a finger at Harry. "Stay here. I'm talking to her." And she determinedly chased after Hermione.

Aimlessly standing in the middle of the shop, Harry sniffed, looking around. "I thought your job was to help me," he said accusingly to Kingsley who just shrugged.

"You seemed to be doing fine." Kingsley hid a smile behind his large paper. 

Sighing, Harry went through the door and then leant against the counter, blowing air through his mouth.

The silence made him itch.

"Can we at least agree that McLaggen is annoying?" Harry said.

Lowering his paper, Kingsley raised an eyebrow and Harry was almost afraid that he'd be scolded. But then the older man nodded solemnly. "A huge douche, most certainly."