A/N: Written for February's Meet Cute Marathon.

Word Count: 656

unravel

Harry ran a hand through his hair, staring down at his phone. He was standing at the entrance to The Three Broomsticks, a Halloween themed pub in a village he hadn't even known existed outside of town.

Aunt Petunia was letting him stay with her and Dudley, which he appreciated. It was a tough time for her with the divorce and her trying to get back on her feet, so he and Dudley had been helping all they could. Apparently, they'd been helping too much because earlier in the week Petunia had snapped at them both that they needed to stop looking after her and go get some hobbies.

Dudley had started going back to the gym and doing boxing. That wasn't Harry's style so he'd turned to the internet and now found himself poised to meet 'the Drunken Knitwits'. Telling himself he could always leave if it really was weird, Harry opened the door and walked inside.

He spotted them instantly, partly because they were loud and mainly because it was a big group of people, all with yarn on top of the large round table they were sat around.

"Hey, is this the knitting group?"

"We are indeed! Harry, right? My name's Newt, I help coordinate and run the group."

"Basically he's the cheeriest, loveliest person you'll ever meet, a nice bit of sunshine to balance out our general bitchiness. Hi, I'm Ginny Weasley."

Harry grinned as Newt rolled his eyes, still smiling.

"It's lovely to have you, Harry. Now, when we spoke you said you wanted to learn to knit? C'mon, sit down, get comfy. Just mind Niff at your feet there."

There was a small black dog under the table that looked up curiously at Harry who knelt down to fondle its ears.

"I've got a big dog called Padfoot, he's a wolfhound. That's probably what you can smell," Harry said fondly as Niff scrambled excitedly and then rolled on his back, clearly asking for belly scratches.

"That or Niffler just likes attention," Newt laughed. "Right, sit down with me and I'll do my best to show you the basics."

"Ron's on his way too, he's my brother. He'll be the best person to teach you, he's picked it up really well."

"You'd never say that if he was here. Hey Harry, I'm Hannah. Nice to meet you."

Harry got introduced to the other people around the table, noticing in some embarrassment that only he and Newt were the only men since the mysterious Ron hadn't shown up yet. When he did, Harry felt his heart skip a beat. The man was gorgeous, with an easy smile and blue eyes he spotted across the room. He waved over to the table and came over, messing Ginny's hair up before his eyes widened at the sight of Harry.

"Hey, nice to meet you."

"Hey, I'm Harry, Likewise," Harry said, stumbling over his words. Then, like an idiot, he held the few rows of garter stitch he'd knitted. "Newt's taught me to do this."

"Newt's a sweetheart, well done."

"I told him you'd be happy to help," Newt said and Harry was sure there was a knowing look in his eye as he then turned to talk to Hannah.

"I would be more than happy to help," Ron said and Harry swallowed, his mouth dry as Ron sat next to him, so close their knees were touching. Then he pulled out his latest project, a complicated cabled sweater and as he spent the next hour talking to Harry and showing him the basics, Harry found himself head over heels for a ginger adonis that could speed knit and crack dirty jokes at the same time.

He hadn't been on dates, hadn't been looking for anything like that for a long time but when he agreed to come to the next weekend's meet up, staring deep into those blue eyes, Harry felt his resolve unravel.