"This is my favourite new coffee shop," Hermione said, the bell over the door chiming as they stepped into the bright, high-ceilinged shop. "Go sit down," Hermione pointed to an empty table near the counter, "I'll order for you. I promise you'll love it."
Harry made his way over to the table and slid into a seat. It was the only empty table in the busy cafe, through everyone seated already had a drink. Of the two baristas only one was working, a young woman with her black hair cut into a blunt bob.
The other employee was leaning over a newspaper, folded in half at the crossword puzzle. He was tall, with impossible white-blond hair that would fall over his eyes whenever he bent over to fill in an answer. He rolled a blue pen in his long fingers, his brow creasing faintly in thought. Harry watched spellbound as the gorgeous young man tapped the pen on his mouth and bit the end absentmindedly, his eye teeth sinking into the plastic.
"Harry?"
Harry started and flushed, "Y-yeah?"
Hermione followed where Harry had been looking and grinned, "He's cute."
Harry groaned, "Please, no, 'Mione."
She rolled her eyes, "You're no fun." She dug around in her large shoulder bag and pulled out a book, settling back in her chair and flipping it open, "Don't mind me." she shooed at him with one hand, her eyes already glued to her book, "Go back to your staring."
Harry felt himself flush, but despite his embarrassment found his eyes pinned on the blond again. He had paused from chewing on the pen to press his lips together into a thin line and slowly relax them, tracing the shape of his bottom lip with the end of the pen.
The blond looked over at the black haired girl, "Hey, Pansy, what's a ten letter word for 'smitten'?"
Pansy had her back to him, finishing their drinks, and shrugged dismissively.
"You're absolutely no help whatsoever," he retorted with airy dismay.
"Says the one doing the crossword instead of working," Pansy muttered just loud enough to carry.
Harry bit his bottom lip and impulsively blurted out, "Captivated."
Harry didn't think the blond could be any more attractive until he looked over at Harry with the most amazing pale grey-blue eyes, framed by pale lashes only a little darker than his hair.
Harry swallowed hard, "A ten letter word for smitten, captivated."
"Hmm..." the blond looked down at the paper and shook his head, "No. The 'ed' at the end is right through," he leaned over on the counter, "any other ideas?"
"Fascinated?" Harry said, his mind already winging ahead for other words that might fit, his hand under the table counting out letters of words.
The blond glanced down and then back up, a smirking smile on his mouth, "Nope."
"How about..." Harry's brow furrowed, and he chewed his bottom lip, "...Infatuated?"
He glanced down and smiled triumphantly, "That's it!" the pen scratched across the newspaper filling in the missing word.
Pansy bumped the blond with her hip and pushed two cups into his hands, "Be useful Draco," she nodded at their table.
"Your name is Draco?" Harry asked he walked around the counter carrying the two cups.
Draco nodded with a grimace, "Constellation names are somewhat of a tradition in my family."
"Um, I'm Harry," Harry said hurriedly as Draco slid the cups onto the table.
"Nice to meet you, Harry," Draco smiled.
Hermione pulled out her phone, which absolutely hadn't gone off, and said, "Well, would you look at that, it's Ron. Sorry, Harry, I have to get going. Wouldn't want to keep my boyfriend waiting." She pulled her bag over her shoulder and put her book away in one smooth movement. She was out the door before Harry could say a word.
He finally managed a groan and glanced over at Draco, his face feeling hot.
Draco was looking faintly flushed himself, "Well. That wasn't subtle at all."
"No, it wasn't," Harry agreed.
Draco went back to the counter leaning over and grabbing his crossword and pen. "I'm going on break, Pansy."
"You're an arsehole, Draco," Pansy retorted without looking up.
Draco came back to Harry's table, "Is this seat taken?" he asked.
"No, not at all," Harry said.
Draco sat down across from him, sitting the crossword down in front of himself and helping himself to Hermione's abandoned latte, "A ten letter word for hopeful starting with P." He tapped his mouth with the pen and then carefully wrote in, "P-e-r-s-u-a-s-i-v-e."
"You do a lot of crosswords?" Harry asked.
"There's a lot of downtime working here," Draco said, one side of his mouth quirking up in a smile. He barely glanced down at the paper and said, "I need a four letter word for dinner and a movie."
"A date?" Harry said after a half a seconds thought.
"I'd love to," Draco said.
Harry let out a startled laugh.
"Too cheesy?" Draco asked.
Harry shook his head with a grin, "How about tomorrow?"
Draco smiled, "I get off at seven."