the one | h. potter

25. firsts?

We land in an empty alley, but I can hear people in the nearby streets. Harry's taken us to a busy part of London. He pulls me out of the alley and leads me down a street packed with people to a posh looking restaurant. A lit sign above the double doors proclaims it 'O ver.

"After you, m'lady," Harry says, opening the door for me.

"Why thank you, sir."

Harry grins and follows me inside. A waiter shows us to our table, a more private one situated in the corner of the busy restaurant. I cast a spell that blocks out some sound, letting us hear each other through the noise, and another to keep our conversation quiet in case any muggles try to listen.

I take a look at the wine list. It's expensive and extensive, and I'd bet a lot of money Harry has no clue what each one is.

"You like wine?"

"I prefer whiskey. The wizarding stuff is better. But I like wine too, you can go ahead and order."

Knew it. After some deliberation, I settle on a delicious looking Merlot.

The food menu is long, and it takes me a while to choose a seafood risotto with an appetizer of burrata. Harry decides on a fancy looking pasta and breadsticks.

After the waiter takes our order and leaves Harry meets my eyes.

"This place is a lot fancier than I'd thought it would be."

I stifle a laugh. "You should've seen the look on your face when you looked at the menu."

"What did I look like?"

"Confused. But don't worry, in a cute way."

Harry blushes. "You think I'm cute?"

"Of course I do. I love your outfit too, by the way. I've never seen you in anything but standard muggle clothes and your work robes."

"Thank you! Ron suggested I get a new outfit for tonight."

"You told Ron?!"

Harry smiles sheepishly. "I know, I know. I shouldn't have. He's gonna tell Katie if he hasn't already."

"That'll be a nightmare."

"Yeah. She's a gossip, that one."

"We'll need to corner her Monday morning. Make her swear to keep quiet, or she won't."

"She'd tell on us?"

"Better safe than sorry."

Harry sighs. "I hate the press. Before the war, they'd just write stupid articles to piss me off, but now- It's like they want to ruin my life. They watch my every move, write about everything I do. Last week I went to go run some errands with my friend Luna in Diagon Ally, did you see the papers afterward?"

I had seen the papers. They were long, detailed, and said that Harry was cheating on Ginny with Luna. Thankfully, the papers didn't know they'd broken up, so there was no personal backlash.

"It sucks. I've had to deal with it a bit over the years, especially now with my dad, but it's overwhelming. To deal with the amount of press you have to deal with... Unbelievable."

Harry nods in agreement. "It's Skeeter."

My mouth drops open. "I hate Skeeter."

Harry's mouth curls into a secretive smile. "Did you know, she's an Animagus?"

"What?!"

"Yeah! Hermione figured it out at the end of our fourth year. She was a beetle. That's how she got all sorts of inside information."