Harry Potter: Dragon Whisperer

You Are Invited To ...

Disclaimer – I solemnly swear that JKR owns everything Harry Potter. Whether or not I am up to no good with her characters is for you to decide.

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Harry Potter: Dragon Whisperer

Chapter 33 – You Are Invited To ...

8:50pm

Saturday, 28 August 1995

London, England

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Asking Daphne out on a date had been a no-brainer as far as Harry was concerned. She was his girlfriend and going on dates was what dating people did. That didn't mean that he didn't find the whole thing terrifying – he had no idea what was supposed to happen on a date and his only experience prior to that night had been the Yule Ball, a night that had started out great but had ended in disaster.

Harry had briefly considered asking Sirius for advice, a thought that he had discarded so fast that the thought had barely entered his mind before exiting through the closest ear. Charlie had been a much better option, and one with advice that wouldn't end in him getting slapped at the end of the night, unlike anything that he was sure that Sirius would suggest.

He'd chosen muggle, more for safety's sake than anything else. He had some idea of how to handle muggle things, a vague idea of where to go, whereas if they'd stayed in the magical world, all the people staring at them would have made it unbearable.

They'd started with dinner, an Italian place where he'd ordered a pizza for them to share. As far as Harry was concerned, it was a delicacy that he'd only had once or twice in his life and something simple and new that he hoped Daphne would like. He'd been apprehensive when she took her first bite but the smile that had quickly blossomed had reassured him.

After dinner, he'd taken her to a movie. He still wasn't sure if choosing 'Babe', a movie about a talking pig on a farm, had been the best choice but, considering his life where he could talk to dragons (and seemingly other reptiles) it didn't seem all that ridiculous. Either way, Daphne had enjoyed it and that was all that really mattered to him.

After dinner and the movie, they'd slowly begun walking back towards The Leaky Cauldron, from which Daphne would Floo home. Not that Harry was ready for the night to be over. He wanted to prolong it; he simply had no idea of how to do that.

They were walking slowly, hand in hand, when he noticed Daphne's head cock and she started looking around. Harry quickly followed her lead, trying to determine what had caught her attention. There was nothing out of the ordinary on the street as far as he could tell.

"Daph?" he asked.

"Do you hear that?" she asked, her head now focused on something to their right.

He cocked his head, listening hard. Music. It was faint but there.

"What is that music?" she asked.

"Probably a bar or a night club or something," he replied.

"It's so different," she said and took a step in that direction, pulling Harry along.

"Well, it's muggle music," he replied.

The further that they walked following the sound, the louder it became. It was upbeat with a fast tempo that just cried out to be moved to. Gradually, lyrics were heard and Harry vaguely recognised it from before the magical world became his life.

"It doesn't sound anything like Celestina Warbeck or anything on the WWN," Daphne commented.

"The magical world has nothing like this?" he asked and then answered his own question as he thought back to the Yule Ball.