Modern No-Magic AU Drarry

Chapter Twenty-two

His backpack still on his shoulder, Harry flipped the sign on the front of the door to 'Open.' He took in a deep breath of the store which never stopped smelling like coffee beans, enjoying the rare feeling of being alone. The Dursleys had gotten home within a few hours last night and Harry had to sprint and leap over furniture to get to his room before they realised he had ever been out.

After dumping his bag in the back room, Harry began setting a couple of things up but was done within a couple of minutes. There were no disasters he had to clean up, and he realised that this was because Hermione had the closing shift last night.

Finding himself with nothing to do, the blank notebook next to a pen holder teeming with all sorts of stationery caught Harry's attention and he made his way to it. Harry never considered himself an artist. He never did anything worth showcasing, but there were a few cartoons of the Dursleys he drew throughout his childhood that he still liked to have a chuckle about. Not really thinking about what he was doing, Harry found a blue pen and scribbled a little bit. He fished through the pen holder to find something purple, and then something pink. After a couple of seconds, he put down the pens to admire his handiwork. Not bad, he nodded. Something about this flag he was researching for Ginny really struck his fancy. Red was his favourite colour, but pink was close to red, right? And then purple was kind of close to pink, those crayons were always put next to each other. And then blue just fits so well with purple, that just makes sense. Really, it was the colours that he found so appeali-

"Have you always slacked on the job since I left, Potter?"

Gasping, Harry slapped a hand over the notebook and jumped up from where he was leaning on the bench. "Malfoy, what are you-"

With his pale nose tinged pink from the cold, Draco crossed his arms, creasing the fabric of his black coat. His pale hair fell over his forehead, stiff from the product he combed through it every morning. "Relax, I'm not here for you." He raised an eyebrow with a sniff. "This is the only coffee place open and there's no way I'm going into work uncaffeinated."

Not moving his hand, Harry probably would have sent a snarky comment if he weren't trying so hard to not look suspicious, one of the most suspicious things a person can do.

Catching on immediately, Draco squinted and looked down. "What's that?" he asked with a lack of interest, glancing at the notebook before adjusting his stance and looking around the shop.

Panicking, Harry put another hand on top of it. "Um, no, it's nothing."

His interest peaked at Harry's reaction, Draco raised an eyebrow. "Well, now I'm curious, Potter. Show me."

"No."

"Why, were you writing about your feewings?" Draco mockingly pushed out his lower lip before reaching out his hand to try and yank away the notebook.

Cheeks burning, Harry batted Draco's arm away. "No!" he said hotly.

Draco snaked his other hand underneath Harry's elbow and got a grip of the notebook. "Writing a secret letter to Santa?"

Slamming down his elbow to bar his hand, Harry grabbed Draco's wrist with another furious "No!" only for Draco to move his other arm again.

"Oh, so you were drawing some risque portraits?"

Grabbing both of the other boy's wrists, Harry pinned them to the bench and sent him a fierce glare. "Shut up." his glasses that had been knocked during the scuffle slid down his nose.

Draco was sneering but his smile froze when he realised that he was bent over on the bench, Harry holding his arms down from the other side.

Eyes wide, they stared at each other, Harry's chest heaving as his annoyance subsided into an emotion he couldn't describe. Suddenly very aware of how close he and Draco were, Harry's grip loosened on his wrists.

Before Harry could stop him, Draco seized the notebook and held it up triumphantly, quickly searching it before Harry could jump over the bench. Draco blinked. His smile fading slightly, Draco looked back at Harry, mouth slightly ajar.

Snatching back the notebook, Harry practically threw it behind him before moving to the coffee machine, muttering, "Long Black?"

His tone completely changed, Draco quietly responded with a "thanks" before they both fell into a strange silence.

The coffee machine whirred and soon enough Harry was pressing a plastic lid against the cup and pushing it over the counter as Draco flashed his credit card against the machine.

Now with his coffee, Draco walked towards the exit, a hand on the handle when he stopped. He turned around and opened his mouth as if to say something before thinking against it and walking away.

The door tinkled behind him, and Harry was once again alone.

But only for a couple of seconds.

Looking alarmed as hell, Ginny looked over her shoulder as she came into the shop. "Was that Draco fucking Malfoy?"