Chapter Thirteen: Shaping Up

"What about McDonalds?"

"No way."

"Why not?"

"Because," Harry said, laughing. "It's too busy. I want somewhere quieter, where I don't have to deal with crying babies and angry customers."

"Well that pretty much rules out any restaurant then." Ginny replied, pressing the newspaper against her leg to cross out the restaurants with her pen.

It had been a week since Harry and Ginny had reconciled. It had been a little awkward at first when they had met for lunch the next day but they had worked past the uncomfortable stage and quickly picked up from where they had left off. They were now officially together and Harry couldn't be happier. It felt like a huge weight had been lifted off his shoulders since he had told Ginny about himself. For once there were no more secrets.

Currently they were at the park where Harry had taken Ginny on their first date. He had his legs stretched out and was leaning back against a tree. Ginny was lying on the ground, her head resting in his lap with her knees bent, a newspaper resting against them. They were looking for a job for Harry, who had, after finding out Draco and himself were low on cash, decided he'd get a job to keep rent. Ginny had been extremely happy about this and had immediately offered to help him look for a job.

Harry leaned his head back against the tree, closing his eyes while he absentmindedly played with a lock of her hair.

"What about a hardware store?"

"Nope."

Ginny lifted her head from his lap and sat cross legged facing him. "Harry, you'll never find a job if you keep being this picky." She smiled at his relaxed form before saying, "Why don't you just come work at the bookstore with me?"

He sighed slightly, opening his eyes to look at her. "Because Ginny. First of all, you're not hiring and secondly, to tell you the truth, I'd be too distracted to get any actual work done."

Ginny blushed faintly, leaning in to give him a quick kiss. "Good answer." She said teasingly, grabbing his hand and intertwining her fingers with his.

Grinning like a fool, Harry continued, "Look, how about you pick ten jobs out of there and I have to choose one."

"Alright." She said, lying down once again, resting her head in his lap. She spent a few minutes going through the help wanted ads, circling one occasionally before she handed him the paper. "There, choose."

Harry took the paper from her, scanning the circled ones before chuckling slightly, "Assistant at a nursing home? Can you really picture me working there?"

"No, thought I'd throw that one in for kicks."

"Pet store, no. Grocery store, no. Post office, definitely not. That would be so unbelievably boring." He continued reading off the list quietly to himself before he paused, grabbed the pen from Ginny and put a star next to the job he wanted. "There." He said, handing it back to Ginny for her to read.

"Blockbusters?" Ginny asked quizzically, "Why Blockbusters?"

"Because, all you do is stock the movies, rewind the tapes and you get to watch movies on the T.V. screens in there all day. Plus you can eat the boxes of candy they sell."

Ginny laughed at Harry's laziness, "I think there'll be a bit more to it than that."

"Maybe but it can't be much harder than that."

She shook her head, "Alright then. You chose the job now you just have to go in and apply for it. When do you plan on doing that?"

"Later today. Right now, I can think of something much better to do with my time." To emphasize his point, he pulled Ginny onto his lap.

"Really?" Ginny asked playing dumb, wrapping her arms loosely around his neck. "And what would that be?"

Harry didn't answer. Instead, he leaned down slightly, his hands going into her soft, auburn hair before pulling her in for a kiss.

--

Harry dropped Ginny off at her house before making his way to the Blockbusters advertised in the newspaper. Pulling into a parking spot, he got out of the car and walked towards the door. He stepped inside, hearing the bell ring on the door and walked towards the counter to his left.

He slowly walked along the length of the counter before he came across a person with their back towards him.

"Excuse me?" Harry said, trying to gain the person's attention.

The person quickly whipped around to reveal an acne ridden kid who must have been about fifteen. Maybe even younger.

"Oh," He exclaimed in a pitch a few octaves higher than it should have been for a guy. Putting down a few DVDs he'd been fiddling with he said, "Can I help you with something?"

Harry took in the teen's appearance. He was tall and skinny, had curly blonde hair that sat atop his head like a mini afro and silver rimmed glasses. He wore fairly tight jeans that looked to be too small for him, a white t-shirt and a blue vest that kept slipping off his right shoulder, it being much too baggy for him. This must be the standard uniform for the store.

"Yeah, uh, can I speak to your manager?"

"He's out right now. Well actually to be out he'd have to have been in first which he never is. He just clocks in then leaves. I'm the assistant manager though so what can I help you with?"

"You're the assistant manager?" Harry asked in disbelief. "How old are you?"

"I'm sixteen." The kid said, "My name's Kyle." He stuck out his hand, waiting for Harry to take it.

Eyeing his hand and not wanting to come off as impolite he shook it. "I gathered that from your nametag." Harry said, pointing to the silver nametag with 'Kyle' printed in black, bold letters pinned to his vest.

"Oh yeah." He said, laughing in an embarrassed sort of way. An awkward moment of silence passed before he asked, "What can I help you with?"

"Right." Harry said. Pulling out the newspaper from this morning he gave it to Kyle. "I'd like to apply for the job."

"Really? Okay well, cool. You're the first person who's applied for it and the ads been out for two weeks." He kept on talking, waving his hands in the air for emphasis. He rambled on for a few minutes, not even aware that he was doing so until Harry had had enough.

"Isn't there some sort of paper I'm suppose to fill out?" He asked, interrupting the kid's incessant rant.

"Well usually we'd have you fill one out and then call you in for an interview but well, the manager isn't here and we could really use another hand around here. So I'll just interview you now, is that ok?"

"Sure, whatever." Harry said.

"Okay well. Why do you want to work here?"

"Because I need a job." Harry said shortly, irritated by the teen's perky personality.

"Right." Kyle said, not at all aware of Harry's irritation. "Well how about I show you how to ring the movies up and use the computers. Then after you've got that done if you do a good job with a customer you can have the job. If you do get it, you can start right away and get off at six. I'll make a schedule for you tomorrow." Kyle turned around and pulled out a blue vest from a drawer. "Here." He said, handing the vest to Harry, "That's part of the uniform. So are jeans and a white shirt but you can start that tomorrow. If you get the job that is. And we'll get a nametag printed up for you too, if you stick around here for a while. The manager doesn't like to buy them unless the new employee's going to stick around. Otherwise, it's just a waste of money. "

"Err… okay." Harry said looking at the blue vest before throwing it on over his green shirt, "Where do I start?"

--

"Okay here comes in a few customers." Kyle said, "You take the first one that comes up."

Nodding his head to show he had heard him, Harry stood behind the counter at one of the registers, waiting for a customer. Five minutes later, a beautiful brunette made her way towards him. He saw her eyes drift to him, roaming his body for a second before she walked up to the counter. She ran a hand through her long, shiny hair, brushing it out of her face before looking up at him through her long lashes.

"Hi." She said a bit flirtatiously, giving him a warm smile.

"Hi." Harry said, before receiving a nudge from Kyle who could only gawk at the beautiful woman. "I mean, hello, did you find everything you needed?"

"Yes, thanks." She said, playing a bit shy.

"I'll take those from you and ring them up if that's all then." He said, gesturing to the movies in her hands.

"Sure, I'm all set." She handed him the movies, her fingertips just brushing against his hand as he took them from her. Looking up at her for a moment, Harry watched as she innocently tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. A few months ago, Harry would have been all over this woman. Giving her his most charming smile and flirting outrageously with her. But things had changed, him most of all and even though he was getting multiple signs from this woman, he wasn't interested one bit. Sure she was gorgeous but he had Ginny now and that's all he wanted.

Putting the movies into a bag, he said, "That's six pounds. The two new releases are due back in three days and the other is due back in five." He handed her the bag before giving her a short smile. "Have a good day." With that he took a step back and turned to Kyle who could only stare at him in awe.

"Wow." Kyle said, looking back at the retreating form of the brunette then back to Harry. "She was flirting with you!"

Looking at the teen weirdly he said, "Well sometimes women do that to men."

Kyle looked somewhat embarrassed and stared down at his feet. "Yeah, well, I've never seen a beautiful girl like that talk to anyone I know before."

Shrugging, Harry asked, "So do I have the job?"

"Definitely." Kyle said, grinning at Harry. "It'll be nice to have someone around here to talk to for a change." He continued talking but Harry had tuned him out. He walked a few feet away and sat in a chair, waiting for the blonde to stop speaking. After a few minutes he began to think maybe working here wasn't such a great idea. He didn't know how long he'd be able to put up with the blonde's personality and the nonstop talking. Maybe that's why the manager was never around, the kid was so damn annoying it probably drove him out of the place. In a way though Harry felt sort of sorry for the guy. He was obviously not the most attractive or the most popular guy around. He probably talked so much because no one ever listened.

Harry stood, interrupting him once again, "So, what do I have to do around here?"

Kyle immediately stopped talking and looked over to Harry. "Well umm, you just do whatever needs to be done. Work the register if customers are here. If there are movies returned, rewind them if they are VHS and put them back on the shelves. All the movies are categorized by genre and then alphabetically. If you don't know what category they go in just look on the computer. Otherwise, you just vacuum the floor or stock the candy, wipe off the counter. The job's really not that hard."

"Good." Harry said, "We aloud to have the food out there?" Harry asked, gesturing to the boxes of candy and such out on the floor.

"Err… No, not really. It would come out of your paycheck if you do."

Nodding, Harry walked over and grabbed a box of mini butterfingers before walking back behind the counter and sitting on his chair.

Opening the box, he grabbed a piece and threw it into his mouth. Looking over towards Kyle he said, "Want one?"

"Uh, I really shouldn't." Kyle said, looking around as if they were about to get caught.

"Come on, live a little." Harry smirked slightly, shaking the candy in his hand for him to take.

Kyle timidly came and took the candy, throwing quick glances around the room. "Thanks."

Nodding, Harry leaned back in the chair and watched the movie on the T.V. "What's playing?"

"Iron Man. It's a new release."

"Ah okay." Harry said. He sat watching the movie for a few minutes before he looked back to Kyle who was staring at him.

"What?"

"Err, nothing. It's just. Well, what about the work?"

"We'll do it in a bit. There aren't any customers right now and the place looks pretty clean to me so sit and watch the movie."

The blonde hesitantly pulled out another chair and sat down, grabbing another candy offered to him.

--

Harry walked into his flat, dropping his keys on the table, completely exhausted. Not from the work that he eventually got around to but from his new coworker. The guy never shut up. For five hours all Kyle did was talk. It's like he was a damn broken record. No wonder why nobody else worked with him, they must have all quit because they couldn't stand him, the kid was so clingy. He followed Harry around the rest of the day, chatting up a storm. Shaking his head to stop himself from thinking about work, he headed into his room to change into something more comfortable than his jeans. He had just sat on the couch when the door opened and in walked Draco, holding a six pack of beer.

"Oh, hey." Draco said, slamming the door shut with his foot. "Want a beer?" He asked, not waiting for an answer before throwing him one.

"Thanks." Harry said, cracking it open. He took a long swing from it, melting even further into his chair.

"Where were you today?" Draco asked making his way into his room.

"Out with Ginny."

"Oh." Draco said simply. Harry could hear the slight annoyance in his voice. After finding out he was back together with Ginny, Draco hadn't been too happy and usually avoided conversations about her at all cost. Harry figured Draco would eventually warm up to Ginny after seeing nothing between the two of them had changed but when that would happen he didn't know. Hopefully it was soon.

Draco waltzed back into the living room, stretching out on the couch.

"Hey, I picked out a place for tonight." Draco said, grabbing the remote from off the table, flipping through the channels.

"What's tonight?" Harry asked, confused.

"We're low on cash Harry. I've been telling you that for the past week. I've selected a very fine house to make some profit off of." He said, an eager look on his face.

"Oh." Harry said, putting down his beer. "About that… Listen, Draco…" He trailed off slightly, not really knowing how he was going to put this. He knew Draco would most likely not understand and would get angry.

"What?" Draco asked, looking up from the T.V. at Harry's serious voice.

"I'm done with that."

"With what?"

"Well, stealing."

Draco paused, gaping at Harry for a second before he turned off the T.V. and sat up.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean I'm done. With stealing that is." He opened his mouth but closed it quickly, fishing for the right words. "Well, it's… it's wrong mate. And I don't really want to be apart of it anymore."

"Where the hell is this coming from?" Draco exclaimed, getting up from the couch. He didn't wait for an answer before he continued, "How the hell are we going to pay for rent. For food?"

"Well," Harry said, hesitating slightly. He wasn't quite sure if he should tell Draco. "I got a job." He quieted, waiting for Draco's reaction.

"You what?" Draco half laughed, confusion on his face.

"I got a job." Harry repeated slower.

"A job?"

"Yes."

Draco paused for a moment before he cracked a smile. "Good one mate." He fell back onto the couch laughing. "You got a job? Bloody good one. You're Mr. Responsible now eh? An upstanding citizen." He continued, laugher harder. He looked up to see Harry merely sitting in his chair, completely serious. His laughter abruptly stopped.

"You got a job?"

"YES!" Harry said, "For the third time, yes I got a job."

"But, but…" Draco sputtered, not knowing what to say. "We don't do jobs. You don't do jobs."

"Well I do now. We need the money right? Well a job gives you that."

"Yeah so does helping yourself to other people's goods."

Rolling his eyes at Draco, he got up and went into the kitchen, with Draco in toe.

"Where the hell is this coming from?" Draco said again, waiting for Harry to answer this time.

"I can't steal anymore Draco. Not only is it wrong but I wouldn't have been able to get Ginny back if I didn't promise to stop."

He scowled, "Well don't tell her then."

"I can't. I made a promise. If she somehow found out, then we'd really be done. No more chances. If I went and stole tonight, I'd just end up feeling guilty. Then I'd act guilty and then she'd know something was up."

Shaking his head, Draco sighed. "You're changing mate. You don't see that? She's completely changing you."

"No she isn't.

Draco ignored him, "What's next? You going to start doing volunteer work at the church?"

"Knock it off." Harry sighed, trying to calm his rising anger. He knew Draco would overreact, just like he always did. "Look mate. We're still friends. We have been for the past two years and nothing's going to change that. Ginny may be positively influencing me but in the end its my choice to do whatever I want and I'm choosing not to steal anymore. If it's between stealing or Ginny, I'll take Ginny in a heart beat. She means a lot to me Draco, she's not just a passing ship. I'm with her and she's not going away, so get used to it." He walked over to Draco and put his hand on his friend's shoulder. "Just… give her a chance. I know you've been worried that she'll come between us and we'll stop being friends but she's not going to tear our friendship apart. Just, think about it, okay?"

"Yeah, yeah." Draco said, shrugging off Harry's hand from his shoulder. Trying to shake off the awkward moment Draco joked, "So you got this job cause you're whipped?"

Giving him a grin Harry retorted, "Yeah, kind of like how you are with Pansy." He went back into the living room, hearing Draco's voice float in from the kitchen, "I am not bloody whipped!"

--

Author's Note: Hey everyone! Thanks for the reviews. Hope you liked the chapter.