The first time they met, Harry's shift was almost over and he was periodically throwing glances at the clock that hung over the café entrance, counting down the minutes until he had to close up. It was late and his hair was sticking up in a multitude of directions (not that it didn't, normally) from where he kept running his hands through it while he was reading. His eyes were glued to a description of the protagonist flying on a broomstick. Honestly, a broomstick. Harry thought that sounded so cool.

The sound of a bell rung though the shop and Harry sighed. At this rate, he'd end up staying up late to finish the book and he'd end up sleeping through his alarm again. "Welcome to the Leaky Cauldron." Harry mumbled, trying to read the chapter as fast as he could. Maybe he could still finish it before he had to stop reading to tend to the customer? Or maybe they would just go away and leave him be. That would be great. "Our daily special is a white hot chocolate with raspberry flavouring and whipped cream. Please feel free to take as long as you want and let me know when you're ready."

"Can I have an extra-extra-extra-large of whatever has the most caffeine in it?" A voice with an incredibly posh accent said.

Well, that meant he had to hold off on reading his book until later, Harry supposed. Darn. He really wanted to finish the chapter. He stuck a sticky note onto his page. (he'd stopped dog-earing his books after Hermione had ranted at him for half an hour about it) "We don't have anything that big. Would an extra-large be alright?" Then, Harry looked up at the late-night customer for the first time. His eyes widened.

Holy fuck. The newcomer was gorgeous, all chiselled cheekbones and perfect skin with hair so blond that it looked almost white. "Oh. Wow." Harry said, before he could stop himself. He could feel a blush spreading on his cheeks. "Late night? We have an anti-hangover drink if you want that." He quickly backtracked, hoping the other man hadn't noticed. The customer glared at him and wow even his glare was gorgeous. Harry self-consciously tried to stand up a little straighter as he grinned sheepishly at the other man. "Joking, joking. What's your name?"

"Draco." The customer replied and Harry's heart fluttered. It actually fluttered and did a small dance in his chest. For some reason, Harry couldn't see the man in front of him having a common name like "Steve" or "Tom." The name "Draco" fit him like a well-tailored suit. "What for?" Dracoasked.

"I have to write it on your cup. Our rules." Harry replied. There was no such rule, not really. It was more of a thing they only did sometimes when the store was super crowded as a way to make sure each customer got what they ordered. Harry got out an extra-large cup and his favourite sharpie- the one with his name on it and a big "DO NOT TOUCH. THIS MEANS YOU, RON" written on the cap.

Draco raised an eyebrow and made a show of looking around the empty cafe. "I'm the only person in here."

Harry spun his sharpie around his finger. "Rules are rules." He repeated, in lieu of something more interesting to say, hoping that the incredibly pretty customer hadn't seen through his incredibly thinly-veiled excuse to get his name. Harry forced himself to let out the breath he had been holding. "Cool name, by the way." He said with a forced sunny smile. Oh gosh, hopefully this guy wouldn't think he was weird. "One extra-large heartstopper, coming right up for Draco. That'll be £3.25"

Draco blinked and oh gosh he looked so pretty when he was confused as well? How could one person look so fantastic? There had to be, like, rules against that or something, right? Harry's mind briefly recalled reading something a while back about some guy being deported for being too handsome or something like that.

"That's not actually what it's called, right?" Draco said, handing over a fistful of change. That snapped Harry out of wherever his mind had wandered off to. He hurriedly took the coins and started counting them out. Their fingers brushed and Harry, to his horror, felt his cheeks heating. Like some sort of middle schooler with their first crush.

"We never joke about the powers of the heartstopper with sleep-deprived university kids." Harry mumbled, making an educated guess. The caféwas close enough to the university. Plus, normal people didn't really go to coffee shops at hours of the night where everyone sane was asleep.

Harry went through the whole process of making the drink with a blush on his cheeks- he was very thankful it was late at night so that Draco didn't notice. Once he was done, Harry held the cup towards Draco and blushed again as the paler boy's fingers brushed his as he took his drink.

Draco took a sip of his heartstopper and moaned. He let out a moan worthy of a seasoned porn star and Harry was torn between wanting to spontaneously combust and wanting to thank all the deities he could think of for being deemed worthy to hear that sound. Harry shifted, feeling very much uncomfortable. Draco didn't even seem to notice that anything was wrong. The blond took another sip of his heartstopper and hummed happily, seeming to perk up like a flower blooming in response to sunlight.

Harry's cock tried its utmost to express its enthusiastic support of Draco making those sounds.

Harry's brain was mortified.

"What's in this thing?" Draco groaned, taking another sip.

"Can't tell ya. Trade secret and all." Harry mumbled. He adjusted his glasses and cleared his throat sheepishly. Wow. Harry's shirt collar suddenly felt a little tight for comfort.

"It's really good." Draco commented, taking another sip.

"Thanks! If you come here a lot, you'll get a discount for being a regular." Harry responded, trying to not make eye contact. "The place is pretty popular with the uni students, just for that drink." He added.

Draco took another sip. His eyes closed and he hummed happily. When his eyes opened (and they just had to be grey, didn't they? A lovely light grey. How unfair), Draco looked energised and awake. "Thanks so much!" He grinned.

"I'm Harry." Harry blurted out, suddenly remembering that he hadn't introduced himself until then. "Hope we'll see you soon!" Then, he glanced down at his nametag, remembering that it was there, and blushed. Oh gosh. Super Hot Customer™ probably saw that already. How awkward.

Draco left, sipping his drink and giving Harry a little wave and a smile when their eyes met through the large glass windows at the front of the café.

It was a full ten minutes before Harry was able to go back to his book.

Harry recounted the whole story to Hermione in the half an hour she usually spent with him before each of their stores opened for the day. Hermione owned the bookstore next to the café and their proximity to one another as well as their respective statuses as best friends meant that Harry got free books whenever he saw one he liked and Hermione got free lunches and drinks. It was an arrangement that worked out well for them.

"He was so pretty!" Harry groaned into his coffee. "He was also a uni student, which means we probably go to the same school because, y'know, there aren't any schools other than Hogwarts nearby. We've shared the same campus for at least half a year and I haven't even bumped into him yet?! If there's a deity out there that cares about us, I'd really like to know what I did to piss them off because that was so unfair." Harry pouted. "An entire half a year." He repeated huffily.

"Yes, Harry. You've said that already. Three times this conversation." Hermione murmured placating. "I'm sure he'll come back. Your drinks are too good for him not to. Plus, you know how those uni students love the heartstopper. You'll probably see him back next time he has to write a paper, just you wait."

"He makes these moans when he drinks things." Harry mumbled again. "He sounds like a pornstar, 'Mione. It's bloody unfair; that's what it is- that I, a red-blooded bisexual…" Harry took an angry sip of his coffee and burnt his tongue. He let out an undignified yelp.

Hermione hid a grin behind her hand as she patted his head.

The next time Harry saw Draco, it was on Halloween. Ron and Hermione had helped him decorate the café with a plethora of different types of decorations. There were massive fuzzy spiders stuck to the walls with double-sided tape and snakes in the bathrooms that dropped glitter everywhere (Harry was sure they'd keep finding glitter in increasingly improbable places until the end of time. That stuff was persistent like that.) They'd set up a cauldron near the cash register that they filled with packages of different Halloween-themed tea blends and Hermione had even lent the Leaky Cauldron a few scruffy-looking books to scatter over the counter. Harry's favourite Halloween decoration, though, were the numerous battery-powered candles hanging from the ceiling with fishing line. If you didn't pay attention, they almost looked like they were floating.

Harry loved the soft light they gave off at night.

He'd taken to wearing costumes during his shifts, loving the delighted looks he got from kids when they saw him. He'd dressed up as a bunch of cliché Halloween characters already and had spent an eventful shift the day before wearing a banana costume he'd borrowed from Ron. That day, he was wearing a wizard's costume, complete with a massive black hat and a white owl plush toy that he'd secured to his shoulder with an excessive amount of safety pins. He rather liked it. It was certainly more comfortable than the banana costume.

Harry had spotted Draco as soon as he'd entered the café and his heart had leapt- because surely their first meeting hadn't gone that bad, if Draco was still willing to come back?

"Hey, Draco!" Harry smiled. "Welcome to the Leaky Cauldron! Today's special is pumpkin spice latte. We've also got seasonal biscuits!" He said, gesturing to the display of colourful baked goods in the display in front of the counter.

He'd greeted Draco by name. Did that sound creepy, remembering his name even though they'd only met once? Harry cringed internally. He really hoped he hadn't made another social blunder.

Draco made a "hmm" sound, scanning his eyes over the display. His nose was a little red from the cold and his hair stuck up from where he had pulled off his knitted hat. He looked just as pretty as Harry remembered. "Can I please have a cauldron cake and a drink that isn't too too sweet. Surprise me?"

Harry smiled. "Small, medium, large, or extra-large?"

"Medium, please." Draco said.

"Name?" Harry said on autopilot, typing everything into the ancient computer monitor in front of him.

Draco raised an eyebrow. "You called me by name when I came in."

Harry flushed. Whoops. "Rules are rules." He mumbled, sharpie poised to write on the cup. Maybe Draco would think he did it on purpose?

"Draco." The blond sighed with a small fond (?) smile. It looked fond to Harry. Then again, he could be wrong, but he really really hoped he wasn't.

Draco paid and waited around until his name was called. Harry smiled at him whenever he caught Draco staring off into his general direction. A few minutes later, Draco's name was called and he came up to the counter to claim his drink as well as a seasonal treat the café stocked- a piece of cake shaped like a cauldron. Harry packaged the cake in a little seasonal paper container shaped like a pumpkin and smiled at Draco again as he took it. Draco took a sip of his drink and let out a low mmmmmmmmm of pleasure as Harry turned away to make the next customer's expresso.

"Harry!" Draco called, moving Harry's attention away from his task at hand. "What is this?"

Harry turned around from where he was fiddling with the coffee machine. "It's a secret Leaky Cauldron recipe. It's called butterbeer." 'It reminds me of you and how pretty you are' Harry did not add.

Draco nodded and took a bite of his cauldron cake. "Mmm." He groaned, pleasantly surprised at the richness. "This is pretty fantastic." Harry stared at him for a moment, remembering that they had sold out of Chocoballs that morning and that Draco would have really loved them if he liked heartstoppers and butterbeer and cauldron cakes. He seemed the type to, at any rate. Harry hoped he hadn't gotten it wrong.

Well, you don't know until you've tried, right? Harry breathed a deep breath in and untied his apron. He poked his head into the kitchen behind the counter. "Ron!" Harry shouted. "I'm taking an early lunch! Cover for me!" Ron was a bro. He'd understand.

Harry dumped the apron onto the counter and chucked his pointed hat on top of it. Then, he vaulted over the counter, ducked under a spider web decoration, and weaved through the tables until he came to a stop next to Draco. Parkour? At least his hobby could come in handy for when he didn't feel like opening the door separating the counter from the rest of the café. Plus, it looked cool.

Well, back to the task at hand. "Come with me." Harry said. He checked to make sure Draco had heard before weaving his way through the tables that were scattered throughout the café to the door that linked his and 'Mione's shops together. There was a sign above the door proclaiming "this way to the bookstore– Flourish and Blotts" and another sign, fastened to the door itself that declared "no food or drinks allowed inside." Harry ducked under a tree branch decoration fastened above the doorframe and Draco followed after him.

"So, my mate Hermione owns this place," Harry explained, with a wave of his hand to indicate the bookshelves around them. "She's got everything from brand new, just released stuff to second hand things to antique books that actual collectors come in to look for. It's a lot bigger than it looks from the outside."

"What're we doing here?" Draco wondered. "Also, aren't drinks not allowed within the store?"

Harry glanced at the cup in Draco's hand. Well shite. He hadn't thought of that. Maybe she'd go easy on him just this once.

"Nah. You'll be alright." Harry fibbed. "She'll bite your head off normally, but I think you'll be ok since you're with me." Well, to be more accurate, Harry hoped she'd go easy on him because he was with Draco- in the name of soppy middle-schooler crushes and everything. "Anyway, c'mon."

Harry led Draco around the bookshelves and customers until they reached the till at the front, where Hermione was. She was reading a very thick book but looked up when they approached. Her eyes narrowed when she noticed Draco holding his butterbeer. She glared icily at them.

"Just this once, Mione?" Harry pleaded, trying to non-verbally communicate to her the purpose of the visit. Harry gulped when her glare switched over to him.

"What are you here for?" Hermione acquiesced with a raised, non hostile, eyebrow. Harry breathed a sigh of relief. "Your lunch doesn't start for quite some time."

"Remember the chocoballs I gave you this morning?" Harry asked. "We sold out at the shop but I'd really like to introduce Draco to them. Can I have one of them back?"

"Yeah, sure thing. I'll get them." Hermione replied, placing a bookmark into her book before she turned and strode into a room behind her. Harry grinned.

"Thank youuuu Mione!" He called after her.

Hermione returned with a pumpkin box, a bigger version of what Draco's cauldron cake came in. Harry opened it and took out a foil-wrapped ball.

"Here." Harry said. He placed the chocoball onto Draco's palm. "Try this; I think you'll like it."

Draco nodded and unwrapped the ball. Tentatively, he leaned forward and took a bite. Draco let out a low groan of bliss. He closed his eyes and let out a throaty mumble. Harry turned bright red and stuffed his hands deep into his pockets.

"I think I've found god." Draco mumbled. He popped the other half of the chocoball into his mouth. "Thish ish soo gooooooooooood." He groaned around the dessert. Harry bit on the inside of his lip.

Here was a long pause which was broken by Hermione. "Woah. Harry. You weren't kidding, were you?" She said, raising an eyebrow. Harry feltmortified. He could feel a halo of warmth bloom around his very red cheeks.

"Harry? Are you ok?" Draco asked, his voice concerned. Harry internally screamed. Surely a university kid couldn't possibly be that dense, right?

"Oh, I'm sure he's fine. He might just be feeling a little... blue." Hermione giggled. Harry turned, if possible, even more red.

"Mione stoooooooooooooooop." He cringed, his cheeks as red as his scarf.

"I can see you're a tad... frustrated." Hermione laughed, eyes bright with mirth.

"I hate you so much." Harry mumbled into his scarf, avoiding eye contact with everyone in the room. Maybe a hole would suddenly open up underneath his feet? That would be nice.

Hermione giggled loudly.

"Just for that, I'm not giving you any more free food this week." Harry grumbled.

"You love me, really." Hermione teased. "Draco, would you like the rest of my chocoballs? I get food all the time because of best friend privileges, so I wouldn't mind at all." She pressed the pumpkin container towards him and Draco took it.

Oh no.

Harry didn't think he could handle another display like that.

Draco unwrapped another chocoball and stuffed the whole thing all into his mouth at once. He moaned.

Harry closed his eyes and wished for the sweet release of death.

Hermione's peals of laughter rang through the store.

Draco kept coming back to the café and Harry was always delighted to see him. They started having lunch there together, not as customer and barista but rather as two friends.

They talked a lot about anything and everything. Harry confirmed that Draco was studying at Hogwarts- they'd just never met because the law enforcement buildings and the med school were practically on the opposite sides of campus.

Harry told Draco about how his parents had been killed in a burglary gone wrong, which was what led to him wanting to be a police officer. In turn, Draco talked about trying to distance himself from his overly controlling family by studying medicine at a university far away from his home. It was surprisingly easy to share the significant parts of their lives with one another.

They started a comfortable little arrangement where Harry proofread Draco's essays while he had a slow hour or two in the café and, in turn, Draco sometimes dropped over at Harry's student residence building the night before a test to help him study.

Their routines slotted together easily and effortlessly.

Around Christmastime, Harry hired Draco as a temporary employee to help with the holiday rush. Some chocoballs did go missing during Draco's shifts, but Harry thought it was well worth it to be able to ogle the way the Leaky Cauldron apron emphasised the dip of Draco's waist.

Well.

When Harry fell for someone, he fell hard. He was his father's son, after all.

It was another late night and, like the first time they'd met, the coffee shop was completely empty. Harry was in the middle of hanging up a red, pink, and white string of paper cupids when he heard the bell signalling the arrival of yet another customer. He turned around in time to see Draco push open the door with his hips and then staggering over to the table nearest to the door before collapsing into it. He almost sat on a pile of glittery plastic hearts in the process. Harry put the decorations down and walked over to his friend with a look of concern.

"Are you alright?" Harry asked. Draco looked awfully pale.

The blond groaned loudly and let his head fall onto his stack of books with a thunk. "I have a test in five days and I'm nowhere near as prepared as I need to be. The professor is notorious for setting impossible questions."

"Five days!" Harry repeated optimistically. "I believe in you! You can do it!"

Draco let out a pained whine. "I'm so tiiiiiirrrrrrreeeeeeeeedddddddddddddddd." Harrry smiled. Draco acted like such a child when he was stressed. He really was adorable.

"Not getting enough sleep?" Harry asked. He always thought it was better to rest before tests than study until physical and mental exhaustion, but maybe there were different protocols for med school students.

"I've pulled like 3 all-nighters this week and I'm running on instant noodles and instant coffee." Draco complained, letting out a long and drawn out whine. "I don't remember the last time I saw sunlight."

Okay. Wow. "Alriiight." Harry nodded slowly, as if speaking to a child. "You've pulled three all-nighters this week. It's Thursday. Now, I'm not a med student but even I know that's not healthy." He paused. "So, I baked a batch of mini quiches at around dinnertime. I'm gonna get them for you, you're gonna eat at least four and you're going to take the rest home so that you won't die of some sort of nutrient deficiency before the end of the month, okay?" He left out the fact that the quiches were going to be his breakfast. He'd make do. There were plenty of other foods in the café. Maybe he'd drop by one of Draco's classes at lunchtime and bring him some more food.

Draco looked at him with stars in his eyes. "I think I love you." He stage whispered.

Harry blushed. Worth it.

The barista headed for the kitchen and returned with a box. He took a golden quiche out of said box and held it out to Draco. Instead of taking the quiche, which Harry expected, Draco leaned forward and took a bite. His teeth lightly scraped the tips of Harry's fingers as he did so. Harry felt a small shiver run down his spine. Draco drew back and made a low and drawn out moan as he chewed.

"Yew ar my faaaaavvvvvvvvvouuuuriiiitee pers'n in the worl' ri' noooowwwwwww." The blond mumbled around his mouthful of food.

Harry looked away, his cheeks red. He coughed.

"I luuuub you soooo much. Mmm."

Harry suddenly realised that this was the perfect moment to do what he'd been planning to do for… pretty much as long as he'd known Draco. He took in a deep breath.

"Um... Hey Draco?" Harry said in a rush. "Do you want to go see a movie sometime, after you've finished your test? Or, you could come over to my place and I'll show you how to bake stuff? Or, maybe we could just hang out sometime? Maybe? I mean, if you're not into guys, that's totally cool too. I can go now... if you want or... something... " He trailed off, having run out of things to say. Oh gosh. What if Draco really wasn't into guys and he ended up ruining this friendship?

Oh no.

How awkward.

Harry watched Draco swallow and he cringed as grey eyes (beautiful, expressive grey eyes) met his own. "You're asking me out? On a date?"

Harry didn't really trust himself to any anything. He stiffly nodded in response.

Draco didn't make eye contact. Oh.

Oh no.

Oh no.

Oh no.

Oh no.

Well, that was a refusal if Harry ever saw one. Draco was probably trying to think of ways to let him down easy.

He was probably straight or something.

Harry shouldn't have let himself hope.

The barista got up and started walking away. Well, he could go sulk in the kitchen. Eat all the apple pie or something. Eat the rest of the peanut butter with a spoon. Watch sad movies on Netflix.

"Wait!" Draco called abruptly. Harry froze.

There was a pause for what seemed like an unreasonable amount of time.

"Um. What about a study date? Before my test? Would that work?" Draco asked, voice soft. Harry bit his lip.

"Really?"

Draco nodded

Harry felt liquid happiness sweep through him. "Of course it would work!"

Then, he had an Idea. An idea that he'd always thought was adorable and sappy and heck yeah he'd always wanted to try it.

He ran over to the counter and vaulted over it. "Hold on! One second!"

Draco probably had that adorable perplexed look on his face but this was totally worth it. There was a familiar hiss of the coffee maker as Harry made another cup of coffee. Harry grabbed his sharpie and scribbled something on the cup before pouring the coffee into it as fast as he could manage. Barely a minute later, Harry slid over the counter again and ran back to Draco's table. He had the cup in his hand.

"Here." Harry said, thrusting out the cup towards Draco. He grinned.

Draco took it, a little confused. Then, he noticed a string of numbers written on the cup. He grinned. "You are an absolute dork. Surely there are easier ways of giving me your phone number."

Harry blushed but couldn't stop grinning. "I've always wanted to do that, okay?" He was a sappy romantic at heart, after all.

Draco rolled his eyes but his grin grew wider. He set the cup down on the table after taking a small sip from it and humming appreciatively.

Harry grinned again and, before he quite registered what had happened, Draco had grabbed the front of Harry's shirt with one hand and had tugged Harry down to his level. Draco lightly kissed Harry on the corner of his mouth.

The blond tasted like mocha and happiness.

Harry felt a little dazed when Draco released him.

"You, Harry Potter, are a massive dork." Draco murmured, drawing back and licking his lips. "My massive dork."