Disclaimer: If you recognise it then I don't own it. Sadly. All characters are property of the marvellous JK Rowling.

This is Remus/Harry slash. Don't like? Don't read! (For those of you reading my Sirius/Harry, I just couldn't resist slipping 'La Café Romantique' back in there. The idea of an amusingly fake French restaurant/cafe amuses me for some reason...)

Chapter Three

Remus sank back into the sofa and pressed his hands over his eyes. He was just glad to be back inside Grimmauld Place and not in the company of Tonks. After one evening alone with her he wondered how anyone could possibly think that they would make a good match together. She was just so… opposite. Remus didn't know how other people thought but to him opposites certainly weren't attractive.

He wanted to batter Sirius, or at the very least give him a good hexing for not only having the nerve to send him out of the house on a date but on a date with a woman. Not any woman either, but Tonks! He waved his wand over himself quickly when he realized that he was still wearing Sirius's robes that the owner of which had magicked him into earlier on. If Sirius so much as dared to show his face in the same room as him in the next few hours Remus wouldn't be held responsible for what happened.

The door opened.

"Ah, so the date went well then?" Harry asked cheerfully as he walked in to find Remus on the sofa wearing an infuriated expression and his own robes again. His wand was pointed at Harry's chest.

"I'm not even going to dignify that with an answer…" Remus threw himself backwards into the sofa and wondered whether Harry would take well to being hexed. He had expected the intruder to come and sit with him but he hovered indecisively in the doorway. Remus turned to look at him.

"I'll leave you to fume then, shall I?" Harry asked and Remus found himself shaking his head. He did want to be alone but he didn't want to push Harry away. What he really needed was to do some hexing on the idiot who had got him into the most horrific situation in the first place. For some reason Sirius appeared to be avoiding him though.

"No, you can stay."

"So generous." Harry smiled and Remus found himself smiling slightly in return. "Care to tell me why Sirius is still in one piece after that stunt earlier then?"

"Well I've not seen him yet. He appears to be avoiding me," Remus said coolly and then added, "Although I can't for the life in me fathom why that would be."

"Perhaps he values his life?" Harry suggested.

"He can't do for trying that on me," Remus muttered darkly but he didn't feel as infuriated as he had done before. He glanced at Harry who was watching him and smiling brightly. Remus didn't know how Harry could possibly be so cheerful, but then again he hadn't been the one on a horrific date, had he?

"So… what happened?" Harry asked after some time. Remus gave him a cool look which then softened.

"It was awful."

"How so?"

"Well Tonks is just… Tonks," Remus sighed. "You know that café you and Sirius went to the other day and laughed so hard at the person singing that you were thrown out?"

"La Café Romantique?" Harry asked with a slight grin on his features. "Oh god… you didn't!"

"Sadly we did. Tonks dragged me in there and I was close to laughing myself actually," Remus admitted. "Tonks tripped over three times before we got anywhere near our table and landed in the lap of—" Remus broke off and began to laugh.

Harry stared at him impatiently and when Remus continued to laugh he jabbed him in the side. "Landed in whose lap? You can't just leave it there!"

"Cornelius Fudge!" Remus managed to choke out and Harry could only stare in disbelief.

"I don't believe it…" Harry told him, knowing at the same time that Remus was unlikely to lie about something like that.

"You better believe it! Fudge pushed her off and onto the floor," Remus explained and then sighed.

"Do I really want to know what happened next?"

"Oh yes! Well she grabbed the table cloth and soup went everywhere. Mostly on her head and on Fudge's trousers," Remus laughed. "Fudge had his wand out in an instant and started throwing hexes at her."

"Remus, there is no way in hell that—"

"Read the Prophet tomorrow. I'd be willing to bet good money that it's on the front page, and I don't have good money to bet!"

There was a moment of silence as Harry stared at Remus for a while longer until he began to laugh. Remus joined in and it felt like the worst date he'd ever had in his life managed to pale in significance. He could only hope now that he wouldn't be mentioned in the article the next day. It was his luck that Fudge had been out with Rita Skeeter.

"That has to be the worst date that I've ever heard of," Harry smiled as he curled up closer to Remus and leant against his shoulder. He felt the man tense against him before he relaxed and felt glad of Harry's presence at his side. Remus honestly couldn't remember the last person he had let be so physically close to him and he could barely remember why he'd become so aloof anyway…

Harry realised suddenly that the story probably didn't end there. They had been out quite some time. "So what happened then?"

"I was hoping you'd overlook the fact that only took up about ten minutes of time…" Remus sighed. "Okay, so all the waiters suddenly crowded round, Fudge was being restrained, Tonks was already back on her feet, falling over and generally shouting and screaming at everyone."

"You left her?" Harry asked shrewdly.

"I was on a date I didn't want to be on, Tonks looked like she was about to be arrested whilst Rita Skeeter's photographer leapt out of nowhere and started taking pictures of everything, even the cutlery for Merlin's sake!" Remus said and began to laugh again despite himself.

"So you just left in the middle of the fight scene and ran out into Diagon Alley," Harry filled in for him.

"Yes but I'm telling you what happened, not vice versa," Remus reminded him. "I just drifted away down the street. Most of the shops were closed except for the restaurants anyway and I had no idea there were so many!"

"I know, and there must be about four bars on that street," Harry added.

Remus raised an eyebrow. "And just how do you know?"

"Well I used to work for Tonks in her bar before she sold up and I'm sure Sirius and I have been to all of them by now anyway," Harry told him. "I just have to have a few concealment charms on when we go in else I don't get served and get gawped at instead."

"You're technically not old enough to drink yet," Remus said lightly.

"I'm what – two months? – away from being old enough. I don't see why you're still bothered!"

"I'm not really, I just don't like the idea of you drinking," Remus admitted.

"You know I don't like to drink that much anyway… I'm just a social drinker," Harry said, although going to bars with Sirius every now and again probably didn't work in his favour. "Anyway, what happened to you then?"

"You changed the topic, not me…" Remus said before going back to his tale. "Well I wandered away and there was shattering of glass. I turned round to see Tonks leaping through the giant plate glass window of the café."

"No way…"

"Yes way, now stop interrupting me!" Remus cried, sounding quite exasperated.

"We're going to see that shop tomorrow… I want to see what state it's in after all this."

"Fine. So Tonks leapt through the window, followed by five waiters, a waitress, two of the kitchen staff, four intrigued customers, Fudge, Skeeter, her photographer and two junior Aurors," Remus counted them off on his fingers. "Needless to say, I didn't want to get involved in that mess so I just sort of slipped into the shadows whist Tonks ran down the street followed by about sixteen other people."

"Why the hell didn't she just Apparate!" Harry asked with an incredulous smile on his face. Remus wondered whether Harry's mental images of the scene came anywhere near to the real thing.

"Christ knows!" Remus laughed realising just how ridiculous the whole scenario must seem. "That's pretty much it really. Tonks ran about Diagon Alley and into god knows how many other Alleys for about an hour trying to lose everyone on her tail. I think she was looking for me most of the time to be honest."

"Remus, this is the most ridiculous tale I've ever heard," Harry told him plainly. "Either you're a very good liar or Tonks is somewhere being stitched up."

"She's in the kitchen with Molly now," Remus clarified. "She kept falling over things so she's all cut up, not to mention that after leaping through a window she's hardly in great shape."

Harry laughed. "So how did she get out of there then?"

"I took pity on her and pulled her down a little alleyway when she ran past me," Remus told him. "I just Apparated us both back here and that's it – the most disastrous date ever. We never even sat down in the restaurant!"

"Just be grateful – it could have been worse," Harry smiled as Remus wrapped an arm around his shoulders and pulled him closer. Harry didn't complain and snuggled up to him. They hadn't been working on getting closer for long but it was clear that with the right motivation Remus could easily overcome his demons.

"How the hell could it have been any worse?" Remus demanded incredulously. "The next time she ventures out into public she'll be arrested!"

"At least you can't be forced on dates with her if she's in prison," Harry said cheerfully. "Besides, you could have been dragged down onto Fudge with her. You'd have been almost arrested then as well, probably."

"True," Remus agreed, a smile crossing his tired features. "I suppose I ought to be grateful then…"

"Don't roll your eyes at me," Harry said without looking up at him and Remus laughed. Silence followed, stretching out comfortably between them as they savoured the presence of the other.

Remus found himself staring down at Harry, studying his face in the firelight. His eyes wandering down over the scar on his forehead, along the bridge of his nose and further. Remus's gaze traced the contours of Harry's lips, a slight smile curving them still.

A tickle of Harry's hair against Remus's cheek made him pull back sharply, not that he had even realised he'd been leaning in towards him until then. His heart was racing along with his mind and Harry turned to look up at him.

"What's wrong…?"

"Nothing. I'm just tired and dreading what the papers will bring tomorrow," Remus lied, knowing that he'd been seen through before he'd spoken more than a couple of words.

Harry watched him but it was clear that whatever was bothering Remus wasn't going to come out, at least not that evening. He pressed closer to the man, leaving no space between them and feeling the fluttering of Remus's heartbeat through his robes. He felt sure he could get the troubles out of the man before long, it was just a matter of time.

Remus stared down at Harry and swallowed hard. He'd been leaning in towards him, towards his lips. A slight shiver passed through him at the thought and he wanted nothing more than to run and hide alone somewhere to figure things out.

Was he attracted to Harry?

Okay, stupid question; anything with a pulse was attracted to the boy.He ran his eyes over Harry's face, taking care to avoid lingering on his lips again.

The door burst open and Remus tensed, feeling guilty, as if he'd been caught doing something he shouldn't. Sirius walked in followed by Tonks, Kingsley, Molly and Minerva.

Harry stared at Tonks, noticing the bandage around one of her wrists and the pink on her face where cuts were healing. He didn't notice the raised eyebrows from Minerva and Sirius when they saw how close he was to Remus and the way that the latter's arm was draped around him. It didn't strike him as odd for a moment that he had been curled up with Remus in the firelight, but it struck the others as such.

The raised eyebrows and the slight murmurs of surprise were not lost on Remus and he squirmed slightly in his seat, wondering how he was being perceived. He was saved from commenting however by Sirius.

"So, what exactly happened to you?" Sirius grinned widely as he turned to Tonks. "Spare us no details!"