Granger's Café

Pairing: Draco/Harry.

Disclaimer: Hermione decides that the drama in the wizarding world is growing too much. She decides to open up a café in the muggle world, so as to enjoy simplicity during the day. Little does she know that one of the applicants for a job there, will cause a whole new circle of drama for her. And how exactly will her little café benefit Harry and Draco's lives, and how will it banish the drama from both worlds they live in? You know what they say, about Granger's café; her food is like magic, that's what they say, because it keeps all your problems and troubles at bay.

~000~

Chapter Thirty-Six:

Valentines Day I

The smell of freshly baked cookies was the perfect way to wake up in the frosty February mornings. Harry had become accustomed to it as Draco liked to wake-up early and experiment with different cookie recipes in their own kitchen. It was his way of making prototypes before giving them to Hermione to test out. As it turned out, even some of Draco's most strangest combination seemed to work well for the curly-haired woman, but her opinion was lowering in value lately as she was seven months pregnant. She ate just about anything these days. She made Ron in Hogwart's look like a picky eater.

As Harry opted to remain in bed for a little while longer, a smile curled onto his lips at the thought of what he and Draco could get up to for Valentines day. He wanted to do something romantic -and that's when it hit him. They still had not been on a proper date yet, just the two of them. It had been long enough -hadn't it? How could they have not been on a date together yet? Harry, though alone, felt sheepish at the sheer thought of it. A date alone would blow Draco's mind, let alone anything else he could dream up. Maybe they could even have some hot wild sex on the kitchen table. He smirked and felt his penis twitch at the thought.

As he pulled on his pyjama trousers that he had kicked off during the night, along with his thick cashmere socks, his stomach rumbled for the delicious smell oozing underneath the doorway, beckoning him to leave the comfort of his bed. As he reached the door, he lifted his woolen dressing gown off the hook on the back of the door and tied it tightly around his waist as he left the bedroom.

As he had predicted he found Draco in the kitchen baking cookies and making tea. However, on this particular morning he was not alone.

"Good Morning Harry," Astoria smiled as she lifted her teacup to her lips and took a large swallow from the steamy liquid.

Rubbing at his tired eyes, Harry raised his other hand in greeting, "Uh morning Astoria I didn't know you were dropping by"

She shrugged her shoulders inside her white, cow-collar jumper, "neither did I, admittedly, but I had another scan yesterday evening and I thought I would drop it off to you in person. I thought it would make your day a little more cheerful," she flashed him a wink and took another sip from her cup. Harry squirmed a little before smiling.

Harry sat down at the table, his libido dying instantly as he shuffled his chair further underneath the table. He suddenly felt too tired to be awake. He desperately wanted to go back to bed. He dropped his head into his hands, not caring who saw him, before sighing softly to himself. He rubbed at his eyes again. He was beyond tired, he felt as though energy had evaporated into thin air. A hand pressed down on his shoulder, and a steaming mug was pushed underneath his nose. He peeked an eye open.

Coffee. Black. No milk, no sugar.

Perfect.

He turned his eyes away from the piping hot black liquid sitting beneath him, and nuzzled the palm of Draco's warm hand that was still resting firmly on his shoulder. It was soft and smell of freshly baked cookies. "You'll kill me waking up as early as you do," he grumbled with a soft smile, as Draco bent down and placed a warm, lingering kiss on his scar -a spot where no one else seemed to want to touch.

Draco smiled as he softly stroked Harry's feverish cheeks, "you feel a little warm. Do you want to go back to bed. I can take your morning shift, you know it's fine with me"

Harry frowned, "we have shifts today? I thought this was an annual holiday for everyone," he bemoaned.

Draco nodded and straightened his back, sipping at his own mug of coffee in his other hand, "yes it is. This afternoon. But Hermione wanted one of us to take a few orders in the morning. I know business will be a little on the slow side as it is February, but it couldn't hurt"

Harry huffed softly as he pickedup his mug and drank a sip, "as long as you don't mind. I'll come down and help you with it, you know I don't want you working yourself to the bone. You've barely slept this last month"

"You shouldn't do that, Draco" Astoria admonished from across the table, arms folded before her, clearly not liking being ignored, but watched the couple bicker lightly with interest. "This baby will keep you both at your wits end, you'll need as much sleep as physically possible"

Draco shrugged a shoulder, "why bother? Sleep isn't like nuts, I can't just store it up and get an extra one out whenever I see fit. I've got a routine and so far it hasn't bothered me. I'll be fine," he waved her off.

Harry wanted to say that Draco's odd sleeping pattern was bothering him. Many a morning, of late, he had fallen asleep spooning the blond man, their body heat keeping them warm, only to wake-up with nothing but a cold mattress stretched out before his eyes. It was like an empty chasm. A void that nothing else could fill, except for Draco's body. He took a small sip of his piping hot coffee. He could feel Astoria's eyes rest upon him as she surveyed the both of them. He needed to get away. He down the rest of his coffee, the liquid pooling in the pit of his stomach. "I'll see you two later on, I want to clean the kitchen up downstairs. It was a right mess last night"

He disappearred into the shared bedroom to get dressed, with Draco's worried frown and Astoria's clicking tongue in his wake.

~0~

James was not enjoying school. True he had only just managed to scrape past a few mock exams for their OWLS, but he was still not enjoying his time there. Not even with his friends. Everything seemed to remind him of Teddy; the smell of oak-ointment to help keep the Quidditch brooms in decent condition, the musty smell of hardbacked books, the clean, fresh smell of fire-warm bedsheets -it was all Teddy.

They had been writing to one another, of course they had. But sometimes the letters were just not enough to sedate the gnawing loneliness within his heart. He wondered if his own dad had ever felt this way in his life, about another person? Had he ever spent half his nights wide awake, staring into the commonroom fire and longing for his lover's head to emerge from the spitting flames?

He sighed heavily.

It had been hard returning to school after what had transpired. He often felt as though the gaggle of girls whispering behind gloved hands were looking at him, and searching his tired face for comfirmation of their gossiping. Of course he had not heard any rumours for himself. He told himself that it was only a matter of time. He hadn't recieved hate-mail either. He was grateful for that. His dad had sent him more frequent letters, telling him of such things as the new babies progress, Aunt Hermione's business and pregnancy and also about how in the Spring they would need to make a start on renovating Grimmauld place.

James had come to terms with the majority of everything that had changed around him. He was happy for his dad and Mister Malfoy and that they were bringing a new baby into their lives. He was also happy about the new baby. He hoped it would be another little girl. She would have the best family looking after her. Protective big brother James, the playful Scorpius and Albus and the adoring Lily. Not to mention their parents. He smiled to himself. He had even been so bored a few evenings that he had organised who got what room in Grimmauld place and how everything would be divided amongst them.

But mostly, he thought about Teddy.

His heart would beat, low and achingly within his chest, as he curled up alone on the sofa's beside the fireplace and dream about those long nights he'd spent with his lover. He supposed he could write him another letter. But he was so sick of letters. He didn't know what to write as he was sure that someone was intercepting them and reading what they wrote to one another. It made his stomach churn.

He opted to not write a letter yet. It was still only the morning, he could wait. For what, he did not know.

~0~

By late afternoon Harry would have welcomed an on-coming shower of 'Crucio' to befall him other than what he did have to endure; a long tiring morning of scrubbing the kitchen spotless, opening the cafe for a few morning stragglers and then baking them cakes and making up sandwiches for them to have with their morning coffee's or tea's. He was bone-tired and on top of that, he knew that if he went back upstairs that he would not find Astoria or Draco in the kitchen. They had been called-out to have lunch with Narcissa. Apparently Harry was not free enough to go to lunch with them.

He was aggravated beyond belief when he stepped into his apartment and headed straight for the shower. He had yanked the taps around until the water hissed out in a piping-hot spray. He discarded his clothes and stepped underneath, wincing at how cold he had managed to get, even within the warm kitchen. He grumbled and snarled under his breath as he viciously scrubbed at his messy hair and tried to rid his body of icing sugar and egg-whites as well as erasing the jealousy that clung to his body liek grime.

He couldn't feel guilty for acting the way that he had. He wasn't at that stage just yet. All he had wanted to do was spend the day with Draco and do something romantic out of doors. Sure they could do some more intimate things later on, but they had never made the effort to dress-up for one another and sit across from one another at a restaurant. He missed their closeness. He knew it sounded rather petty, but he could not help the way that he felt.

Perhaps he should just go ahead and make reservations at a nice muggle restaurant? He doubted if Draco had planned anything anyway, he was losing his keen edge. But that didn't matter. Harry need to do something for them for Valentines day. Feeling a little better -and cleaner -he stepped out from underneath the shower and wrapped some warm towels around him before leaving the bathroom for the bedroom.

Once dressed in his lazy-day clothes and completely dried off, he went to the kitchen, picked up one of Draco's gorgeous cookies, and dialled the number for a restaurant that he remembered Hermione mentioning a few times. It wasn't a fancy place with crystal glasses of the worlds finest china, but it would do for a cosy romantic meal out. He wanted to remind Draco of what they had, not what was coming. He was excited for the baby coming along, but there were still a good few months to go before any of that came to fruitation.

He was being selfish he knew that.

He just wanted some time by themselves.

As soon as the reservation was made for seven o'clock he felt a lot better with himself, and resorted to curling up on the sofa and flicking idly through the television channels with leisure.

~0~

James had fallen asleep in the common room armchair during his free period before lunch. He missed his afternoon lessons and slept right through until dinner. He had been so tired from not sleeping the previous evening that even his feeble hunger had not awoken him. He was so exhausted for not having seen Teddy in little under a month. It was beginning to eat away at him and even his school work was getting effected by it all. Even his head of house had called him into their office and asked if he was having problem at home. He had merely shaken his head and replied, "no sir. Nothing"

He had even stopped spending time with his little brother and Scorpius. He regretted doing so but he simply did not have the energy to see them being so happy. He prayed that something -anything could make him feel less miserable but for all he knew it would never happen -his prayer would never be answered.

He was curled up in his duvet on the common room armchair when a hissing spit erupted forth from the fireplace. James did not seem to notice it at all. Only when a hissing 'psst!' echoed out, did he sit up a little straighter and crane his head to take notice. He craned his neck forward, a frown etched into his brow. He eventually had to remove himself from the warmth of the armchair. He knelt before the fireplace and peered into the flickering flames -and gasped. "Oh my God -Teddy?"

The blue-haired boys' features broke out into a grin, "hey babe, why do you look so damned sulky this evening? Shouldn't you be eating dinner?"

James bit on his lower lip, not knowing what was going on. "What are you doing here? We'll get into trouble!" he hissed sharply, sweat breaking out on to his forehead.

Teddy's smirk grew wider, "that's the great news, love. Dad and Pa said that you can come over for dinner and a movie etc. As long as we don't get frisky they said they don't mind you coming -they're going out to a movie as well so we can be together -just -me and you" he finished in a soft whisper, his voice betraying just how much he yearned for the younger boy.

James bit on his lip harder.

He was rather skeptical about why the grown-ups would suddenly allow them to spend time alone together. "Are you sure?" he eventually asked, though Teddy's smile did not waver. A hand stretched out of the embers. James could feel their heat but it did not burn as he accepted the hand and felt the unnerving tug on his navel as he was pulled through the floo network.

~0~

"Do we have to go out tonight?" Draco whined, rubbing at his temples underneath his flopping blond fringe. He needed to get it cut.

Harry paused, half-way in doing-up his cuff-links. He stared down at the blond whom was slouched in one of the armchairs across the room from him. "Yes -it's Valentines day -I -I haven't seen you all day"

"That's hardly my fault now is it?" Draco snapped rather roughly, massaging his temples a little harder.

Harry flinched at the harsh tone. He had only wanted to spend the evening with his lover. Maybe have some time just to themselves in a cosy, romantic atmosphere. Was that so wrong? His fingers slipped on the cuff-link. Should he just give-up? Return to the bedroom and simply undress? He was tempted, if it meant spending the night with Draco, but somehow he doubted that he would. Instead, he straightened his back and narrowed his eyes. "Suit yourself," he stated coldly, "I'm going out. I probably won't be back until late. I'll see you later"

He grabbed his coat from the coat-peg in the hallway and departed through the door. Draco was left utterly stunned in the armchair, staring at the door that now seemed to be a four-foot barrier between himself and Harry. He ground his teeth together and slammed his fist into the arm of the chair. Why did he always manage to cause an argument? He sighed and waited until the anger and evaporated from his system. He ran a hand down his face before standing up onto his tired legs and walking out into the kitchen.

His eyes roamed the room, looking for some indication as to where Harry might have disappeared to for the evening. He found nothing to satisfy his curiosity. His eyes then landed on the phone, the ugly black mechanism attached to the wall. He had avoided it as much as possible. However now it seemed as though he had no choice. He grabbed a hold of the phone and removed it from it's hook, mentally trying to remember what it was that Hermione and Harry had taught him about the phone.

The Redial button!

He pressed down on it and held the phone up to his ear. 'Good evening, Ask Italia in Victoria how can I help you?' the rehearsed voice asked on the other end of the line. Draco frowned; was that where Harry had booked for them?

"Um yes, do you have a reservation for a Mister Potter or a Mister Malfoy there this evening?" he asked a little warily.

'One moment let me just check for you' he heard a rustling sound of pages being turned, 'Ah yes we have a reservation under a Mister Potter for ... twenty minutes. Are you the other member of this party, sir?'

"I er ... yes, yes I am"

'Alright well your other party is here already, shall I wait to order?'

"Yes if you would be so kind. I shan't be long. Oh, by the way could you confirm your address for me please?" As soon as he had written down the address, he replaced the phone on the hook, dashed to the bedroom to change into a fresh, clean shirt and apparated to the restaurant.

He landed in the alleyway just off to one side of the main road, with a small flower-shop at the mouth. Grateful that he still had his muggle wallet in his jacket pocket, he walked to the small flower shop and asked for a single red rose. He thrust a five pound note at the elderly woman and told her to keep the change. She smiled at him and told him that whoever his lady was, she was truly blessed to have him.

Upon entering the beautifully lit restaurant, Draco felt his breath escape him; the atmosphere was so tranquil and heart-warming there was no way that he could not melt there and then. He held the rose tighter, a thorn piercing the skin of his thumb. He ignored it as he spotted Harry, sat in the corner away from prying eyes, a single candle propped in the middle of the table and a glass of red wine, half-drunk beside it. His heart clenched at the heart-broken expression on Harry's face. Had he done that? He drew a deep breath and walked over to the table and sat down in the chair opposite Harry.

"That seat's tak-" Harry's sombre voice cut off as his eyes looked up and focused on Draco. They narrowed. "What are you doing here? I thought you were staying at home tonight"

Draco nodded slowly, "I was going to until I realised what day it was," as Harry's disbelieving look, Draco reached across the table, forgetting the rose momentarily, and clutched at Harry's hands, "I am so sorry, love, I honestly did not know what the day was" he squeezed Harry's warm hands a little tighter, "can you forgive me? I know I don't deserve it but -"

"Is that for me?" Harry asked softly, his voice almost a whisper, as his emerald eyes landed on the deep red rose.

Draco swallowed unknowingly and nodded, offering the beautiful rose to his boyfriend. "Happy Valentines Day," he mumbled rather meekly.

Harry smiled softly as he ran his fingertips over the silky rose petals and felt a pleasant shiver run down his spine. No words could express how joyous he felt as that moment -that Draco had actually chased after him. His heart was thumping passionately throughout his chest. "I love you," he whispered over the table, before leaning over and pressing his mouth against Draco's, their hands still locked tightly.

Draco trembled as the kiss sent his heart soaring. He did not want it to end, but to say the words back, to love Harry Potter was all too much to risk over a kiss. "I love you too, Harry"

With their foreheads pressed together, Harry's angelic smile tickling his lips, the brunette hummed softly. "Is there any chance we can order now? I've been waiting forever"

Draco could not help it. He burst out laughing.

A/N: Hi my lovely reviewers! I hope you liked this slightly longer installment and I must warn you that I may not update until January. The reason for this being that I literally update without anyone asking, which I don't mind, but when the reviews are slow/non-existant I feel as though it is all for nothing. So I will be taking a break until January [most likely the end of the month depending on how things go]. I know this may sound selfish of me but ... that's just the way it is.

Merry Christmas and let me know what you think!

Belle x