As I walk into Barry's pub, he smiles to me "Doctor! It's been over a month!"
I smile at him, before declaring "I've gone off the drink, my friend."
He gives a disappointed look, before asking "Here for a bite?"
I take in a deep breath, before telling him "Here to meet a friend." He nods and I look around the room for someone sitting alone.
In the corner, I see a man with dark brown hair. His skin tone is pale, and fits him, wonderfully. He anxiously sips, what appears to be, a glass of brandy.
With a soft smile, I step up to him and ask "Thomas?"
He gives a flustered "Yea-yes!" As he stands and offers me an awkward, side hug slash handshake "Draco?"
I nod as I pull away and take off my jacket "There's no need to be nervous, Thom."
He's much larger than me. At least, half a foot taller, and fairly muscular. He takes a sip of his drink, before asking "You don't mind?"
I shake my head, before asking "Brandy?" He nods and I shrug, before telling him "I'm a bourbon man, myself. Think I get it from my father."
I know that I visibly scrunch my nose in disgust, knowing I've opened a door. He doesn't walk through, but asks "Why did you stop drinking?"
I moisten my lips and declare "I've recently started taking a couple of medications. One drink gets me absolutely trolleyed."
He furrows his brow as he places his drink down "May I ask what the medications are for?"
I take in a deep breath, before telling him "One of them, are antiretrovirals." He cocks an eyebrow to me and I shrug "Got exposed to HIV positive blood at work."
He gives a worried look and I wave it off "My final appointment is tomorrow. So far, I'm negative."
He nods, before asking "And the other of the two?"
I press my lips into a fine line, before changing the subject "So, what's it like working with primary students?"
He quickly decides not to push, before answering "It's great. My kids are absolutely amazing."
I nod, before asking "Do you want kids, or?"
He blushes down at his brandy, before asking "If I did, would that be a stopper?"
I give a warm smile, before declaring "I want kids." He nods and I explain "I want a child who never had a childhood."
He gives a confused look, before asking "Why is that?"
I take in a deep breath and explain "I came from an insane family. Acted out in school."
He furrows his brow and asks "How long you act out?"
I moisten my lips and explain "I was the kid that everyone hated, but all the bad kids wanted to roll with."
He nods, before declaring "I have a couple of those kids. They usually come from money."
I give a knowing smile, before nodding "I came from money... but my father was an arse with an explosive temper, my mother was puking up her tea cakes, and my aunt was off her 'ead."
He nods, before looking down. We're silent for a moment, before he hangs the subject "Do you know what you're getting?"
I give a weak smile, before declaring "Usually, I get this cheesey, bacon, oniony, saucy, burger... but, perhaps I'll go for something a little more neat."
He opens the menu and declares "The Texas BBQ Burger?" I hum and he declares "I was looking at it, too." He shrugs "Or the Mushroom Swiss."
I furrow my brow and declare "I've never tried that one."
He nods, before asking "Would it be completely ludicrous if pigged out like animals?"
I furrow my brow at the menu and remark "So much for keeping composed until the third date." When I look up, I smile at him.
He smiles at me and asks "Is that a personal rule, or an unspoken rule that everyone else knows?"
I scratch my forehead and shrug "I don't know. Haven't had much experience on the dating front."
He gives a weak smile and nods "I've only had three or four relationships. The last was over a year ago."
I furrow my brow and declare "Officially, just one." He nods and I moisten my lips "I'm nowhere as innocent as you might think."
He smiles at me and remarks "I don't doubt that." He pushes his black rimmed glasses up his nose and declares "Blonds have more fun."
I furrow my brow and look down at my menu "I'm all work and no play, most of the time."
He smirks at me "Draco, you can't be a dull boy." I chuckle at that and he asks "What do you like to do, outside of work?"
I chuckle, before declaring "Currently, I have some distant cousins living in my house, so there's never a dull moment."
He gives an interested look and asks "How many cousins?"
I raise my hands and count off "On weekdays, we have... Molly, Arthur, Hermione, Ron, Rose, Ginny, Charlie, at times, George, Freddy, Roxanne, Angelina, and Teddy."
I count off again "On weekends, we've got Bill, Fluer, Victoire, Dominique, Louis, Percy, Audrey, Molly II, and Lucy."
He gives an amazed look and I shrug "Anywhere from twelve to twenty-one people, excluding myself."
I continue on and explain "Hermione works in London, three days a week. George and Ron work in a trick and candy store, also in London, but Angelina has been covering some of their hours so they can stay with Harry. And Charlie is mainly in Romania."
He takes a second, before asking "Who's Harry?"
I blush, before declaring "I'm rambling. My apologizes."
He smiles, before reassuring "It's okay." He looks me over, again "Who's Harry?"
I moisten my lips and explain "He's one of my patients. A guy I knew in school, and kinda their adopted brother slash son slash uncle. He's also Teddy's adopted father."
He nods, before asking "What happened to him?"
I furrow my brow and explain "He was in a motorbike accident. After a craniectomy, a pneumothorax, or a completely collapsed lung, a pacemaker, and a splenectomy, he was in a coma for three months. Now, he's regaining his strength, and learning how to speak again, which he's nearly done."
He gives an amazed look and asks "How long has he been awake?"
"A month." I nod, before motioning towards my heart "His heart can't handle walking, yet. We might be looking at the transplant list."
He nods, before asking "You're a doctor?"
I nod, before telling him "Four years, now. My coworkers recently found out my..." I give a knowing look "They were pretty great about it."
He nods, before declaring "I'm out." I nod, before he motions towards my tattoos "You've got a lot of tattoos."
I nod and look down at the dark mark "Yeah... I kinda had too. Most of them are nonsense."
He glances over the table and asks "Had too?"
I take in a deep breath, before asking "You know how I said my father was an arse and my aunt was off her 'ead?"
He nods and I pop my arm up to show him the dark mark "They forced me to join a fascist party when I was sixteen. It was lead by the sinister man. My mother and I lead in fear." I furrow my brow and cross my arms "I got out when I was seventeen. Told my father to shove it up his arse..." I furrow my brow and nod "Then I scrempt, scrounged, scammed, stole, and slept my way through uni."
He stays silent and I look down at my menu "My apologizes. Not a subject to discuss at the dinner table."
He reaches across the table and grabs my hand. I look up to him and he shrugs "I used to sleep with one of my student's father, knowing full and well that he was married to a woman."
I smile at him, before laying my fingers in his. I look down to my menu and ask "So, if one of us orders the Mushroom Swiss, and the other orders the Texas BBQ, do you want to split them?"
He nods and declares "That sounds good."