Call Me Maybe
"We… are… dead… and… this… is… Hell!" Dennis said, feverishly stirring the potion brewing in front of him. Normally Harry thought of Dennis as energetic and overdramatic, but for once he was inclined to agree with him.
'The Witches Brew' was doing a publicity stunt and was serving coffee spiked with polyjuice potion over the next three days. Of course, none of the barista's had been told this fact until the very last minute, leaving Harry, Dennis and Susan rushed off their feet.
"I don't get it, polyjuice tastes disgusting and on top of that, they don't even know the people they're turning into," Susan said, her hair falling around her face as she tried to fix her bun.
"It's a load of B - List celebrities that donated stuff. I read about it in the Prophet, and the queue's out the door so it's gotten the wanted result at least," Harry shrugged, not really paying attention. Like clockwork, Ron had just come through the door.
Harry had memorised a lot of the regular's names as he had to write their names on their coffee cups, or shout them across the cafe. He had learnt Ron's for a less innocent reason - Harry was smitten. That wasn't how Susan put it, she'd changed his name in her phone to 'Randy Bastard'. Then Dennis had dared him to stop pining from behind the counter and write a pick up line on the sleeve of his cup. Now as Ron squeezed through the crowd, Harry twirled his marker in his hand.
"Got a cup at the ready?" Susan teased. "Stop gazing besotted at the ginger and help me add strands of hair to these orders."
Harry glared at her and then sighed when Ron sat down at a table, followed by a girl with hair just a brilliant red as his, and a tall guy who was holding the girl's hand. Given how many people there were, he'd be lucky if Ron even stayed to get a drink, never mind be able to talk to him.
"You can't be serious!" Ron repeated for the seventh time.
Ginny kissed Dean in response and Ron kicked her chair.
"Gin, Mum's going to kill you. You can't just get married!"
"It was actually surprisingly simple," Dean said with the same ear to ear grin he'd been wearing for hours. He had the quirk of being an optimist and Ron often loathed him for it. "All we had to do was one spell and sign some things."
"It felt really weird writing Ginevra Thomas," Ginny admitted, her eyes shining. "And I don't care about Mum. She'll want some big wedding which is an expense we can't afford and actually not something we want."
"So you just decided to elope?" Ron was more worried that his parents would someone accuse him of not paying attention or looking after Ginny, although she had been dating Dean for five years and he was a good person, the kind of guy that everybody liked. If Dean did anything, Ron contented himself with the knowledge that between him and the five other brothers, Dean would likely not survive.
"Are you two going to just keep fighting or are we actually going to get some coffee?" Dean asked after another five minutes passed of them bickering.
"Oh Ron's not here for coffee, although he would like some sugar," Ginny laughed, "He fancies the barista over there, the one with the messy hair and glasses."
"Actually, the barista fancies me. His name is Harry," Ron began and his sister cut him off.
"He keeps writing pick up lines on his cups, it's really cute actually. Sweet and innocent."
"I'm surprised you even know what sweet and innocent looked like," Ron muttered.
"My reputation is terrible, which comforts me a lot."
She kissed Dean after that declaration and Ron got to his feet with a sigh. The queues had died down after a few of the special polyjuice spiked drinks had proved inconclusive, someone else turning into some sort of human - cat hybrid.
"Even bad press is good press, I suppose."
Ron jumped and looked around, surprised to see Harry cleaning the table to his left. They both watched as someone took the shrieking girl by the arm and apparated away, the cafe growing rapidly empty in the moments after.
"Would you like a drink, Ron?"
Fate, it seemed, wanted to mess with them and the door dinged as Sybill Trelawney, the manager they never saw and all hated walked through the door.
She shook her head as Susan came through the door, looking particularly frazzled.
"Sheesh, where'd you dig this bozo up?" Trelawney laughed, ruffling Susan's hair. "We do have a dress code you need to adhere too and appearances to maintain."
With that, she headed into the back, humming to herself.
"Who the fuck says 'bozo'?" Susan hissed as she came over to them, glancing around to check none of the customer's heard her.
Harry volunteered to go and collect the carnage of mugs and glasses and Dennis elbowed him.
"Just keep chanting in your head 'pure seduction'," he said and Harry rolled his eyes, fighting a blush. As he went to head to the tables, all chaos broke out as someone who'd seemed to get some cat hair in their polyjuice potion, reacted badly. Susan went to try and sort out the problem as quite a few people made noises of disgust and left. Dennis was laughing so hard he started hiccuping.
As ridiculous and entertaining as it was, Harry's attention was focussed on Ron who was standing right by him, captivated by the mayhem.
"Even bad press is good press, I think."
Ron spun around, his gorgeous blue eyes wide and Harry gave a wry smile.
"Would you like a drink, Ron?"
The cafe was emptying out at an astonishing rate and as Ron nodded.
"Yeah, I'd love that. My sister just got married so she's getting me to buy her cake as well as a coffee apparently, full of sugar and milk. You must never drink all this stuff, it must get really boring."
"I do tend to prefer tea or fruit juice, but I can take it or leave it," Harry then grinned and congratulated Ron who pulled a face, telling him all about how his sister was impulsive and how their parents were going to kill them.
"I can hear Mum now. She'll pull out the wedding book she and Ginny had been doing, screaming 'I spent weeks working on that!' and how they've thrown it all away."
Harry grinned as Ron impersonated his family with impressive acting skills. He fixed the drinks, put cake on the tray and then both he and Ron shared a look as Harry tried to fight a smile.
"That tray looks very full. Perhaps come back for your cup?"
"Yeah, I can do that." Ron's voice had deepened and Harry let out a shaky breath, his fingertips brushing against Ron's hand as he reached for the tray. He rushed back as soon as he'd dropped the newlyweds items at their table and by then, Harry had had time to write on the to - go cup he'd poured for the beautiful man he had before him.
Ron took it all too eagerly and brazenly read it in front of Harry, his face and neck going a bright red. Harry watched, butterflies in his stomach. It was a less complicated message than before, when he'd had to resort to ridiculous pickup lines. This time, it was just his number and several hearts.
"Call me, maybe?"
"I'd love too," Ron said breathlessly. "Harry… go on a date with me? Maybe?"
"I'd love too."
A/N: Prompts and Challenges:
Meet Cute Marathon: I write a bad pick up line on your cup every time I'm your barista
Scavenger Hunt - Write a fic featuring Polyjuice Potion
The 365 Prompts Challenge - Cafe!AU
The Insane House Challenge: Call Me Maybe by Carly Rae Jepson (song)
Character Appreciation: Write about a fight
Disney Challenge: Iago - Use the dialogue; "Sheesh, where'd you dig this bozo up?"
Book Club: Nadine Cross: (word) pure, (word) seduction, (dialogue) "We… are… dead… and… this… is… Hell!"
Showtime: Quirk (word)
Days of the Month: World Marriage Day - Write about a married couple
Lyric Alley: Some can take it or leave it
Liza's Loves: Blushing Bride - Write about a woman on her wedding day
Jenny's Jovial Quotations: "My reputation is terrible, which comforts me a lot." - Noel Coward
Gobstones Club: Yellow Stone - Family. (Accuracy: Ginny/Dean (pairing), Power: 'I spent weeks working on that!', Technique: Brewing (action))
Library Lovers: Divergent - Veronica Roth ((plot point) Changing name, (word) inconclusive, (word) result)
Serpent Day: Checkered garter snake - (character) Susan Bones