Disclaimer: I do not own
Sort of a coffee shop AU.
HP x MCU Crossover
A/N: As always it was a pleasure to read your responses to the question(s) and the overwhelming support and love left in the reviews made me one happy bird.
To answer the last chapter's question, I drink coffee and tea whenever I feel like it. Which, honestly, is like, all the time. I drink so much coffee (and tea) throughout the day, and every day, I am surprised that it hasn't become my blood type. Recently, though, my coffee pot decided to stop working… and had to wait two weeks for my new one to come in. That was an experience I hope to never repeat.
Chapter Four:
"Are you sure, Harry? Because you can tell me if it's not." Bethany said again trying to persuade the child in front of her to open up.
To be so young he was awfully guarded about his personal life. It was unnatural and more than a bit worrisome. He was probably used to keeping things bottled up, but that had never been a healthy coping mechanism and would have to be addressed. Of course that all hinged on Harry's willingness to trust her.
When Harry did not say anything, Bethany decided to change the subject to something he would hopefully be willing to talk about.
"Why don't you tell me what has happened since your last shift on Monday. Sonya said that your uncle took your money?"
"Yes." Came the monotone reply.
"Can you tell me what might have possessed him to do such a thing?" Bethany said when Harry didn't elaborate on his monosyllabic response like she had hoped he would.
"He, he thinks I owe him for taking me in after my parent's death and raising me," Harry said while fidgeting with his hands. He was extremely uncomfortable with the direction these questions were going but his desire to go back to Hogwarts come fall outweighed anything the Dursely's might do in the meantime. Besides, Bethany had said that this was a safe place to talk and he had yet to catch her in a lie.
"And do you think you owe him, or your aunt, anything?"
Harry was quiet for a long moment thinking. Did he? Did he owe them anything?
He thought about Dudley who was the child in the relationship. He knew that children weren't supposed to owe their parents for every little thing their parents did for them while they were growing up. It was done out of love for the child. He knew that Mrs. Weasley would never demand that Ron, Ginny, or any of her other kids pay her back for all she'd done for them over the years. She did it because it was necessary and she loved her children with all her heart. The same went for Mr. Weasley and Hermione's parents.
Yet the Dursleys did not spare him any love but he was still a child here. He was just the child caught in a loveless relationship with his guardians.
"I don't know. I suppose not really, but they did take me in when I had nowhere else to go, so I guess that has to count for something."
"Yes or no, Harry. Do you think you owe them anything, monetary or otherwise?" Bethany restated firmly when Harry's answer was unsatisfactory. Evading the issue by giving a safe answer would never work with Bethany when she wanted something. She would push until she had the information that she sought, or until the other person came to the same realization as she had. And it was something she was more than prepared to do here.
"No. No, I don't think I owe them anything." Harry mumbled out so softly that Bethany only caught bits and pieces of it. It was enough though, as she had finally gotten the answer she was hoping to hear, and she would not allow Harry to go back and retract what he'd just admitted.
"So you acknowledge that you do not think you owe your aunt and uncle any monetary payment for taking you in and keeping you safe all of these years?"
"Yeah," Harry repeated, still refusing to look at her. She was fine with that.
"That's just what I was hoping you would say, Harry." She said allowing the warmth of approval to seep into her tone. She was now getting somewhere with the teen before her.
"You were?" Harry asked as worry crept back into his voice, but in his eyes, there was a spark that hadn't been present before.
"Yes, because now you've just admitted that your uncle stole something that did not belong to him." She said triumphantly, confident now, that she was getting Harry to see her point on the matter.
"But I live with them, I mean, I could be paying rent to them, and just be overreacting because he took the money without asking first."
"Do you feel as if you are overreacting?" His boss shot right back at him, not allowing him to add on any more justification to his uncle's abhorrent behavior.
"No, I do not," Harry said reluctantly. And he truly did not feel like he was overreacting, just for the sake of reacting.
It was his money his uncle had taken from him.
It was his dream his uncle was snatching from him.
It was his future his uncle was trying to steal from him.
And it was his birthright his uncle was trying to deny him.
So yes, Harry felt that his anger towards his uncle was more than justified.
"No, I wouldn't say that either. You have every right to be mad at him for taking something that did not belong to him. With that being said, do you regularly pay rent to your uncle for letting you stay under their roof? Do they withhold, or ever mentioned withholding your pay for rent?"
Harry shook his head negatively.
"Was that a no, you've never had to pay rent before, or no, you regularly have to pay rent to them."
"No, I've never had to pay to stay with them, well, not yet, anyway, but I am sure that's going to change now that he knows I have a job."
"He was not aware that you were working here?" Bethany said, not knowing what exactly to think about this new information.
"Er, no, but my aunt knows. She, uh, it was all her idea not to tell Uncle Vernon, because he'd be mad."
"Mad that you're working hard and making money to save up to school? Or mad that you had gotten a job without consulting him first." Bethany said with skepticism.
This boy was literally every parent's dream, not only was he well mannered, but he wanted to go to school. And yet, his relatives were doing everything in their power to ensure that the child did not go back to the boarding school.
"They just really don't want me to go back."
"I can tell," Bethany said dryly. Anyone who would willingly take money from a child who had resorted to getting a job just so that he could buy his own plane ticket to go back to his school that was located in Scotland just so he couldn't go back made it pretty obvious how they felt about the whole situation.
She felt anger bubble within her, not towards Harry. No, the poor boy was just a victim of his Uncle's twisted ways. She was angry at the uncle who would do such an awful thing to such a sweet boy and angry at the aunt who the child hadn't even mentioned much but in passing.
"What did your aunt have to say about all of this?"
"Nothing much," Harry said while shrugging it off.
"Your aunt just let all of this happen? Stood by and watched her husband steal money from her nephew, and never said a word," she said in disbelief. How could she allow her husband to just take money from a fifteen-year-old and not say anything? What on earth was wrong with this boy's guardians? More importantly, what had the boy done to deserve such lousy guardians in the first place.
"Pretty much. She always just sort of lets Uncle Vernon do what he wants to do. I mean, I guess, if she really wanted to she could stop him, but..." Harry let the sentence hang in an air of exhaustion, he finally leaned back in his chair. His posture screamed defeat.
Bethany too felt defeated. On one hand, she felt as if Harry had shed a lot of light on his home life, but not really enough to warrant a child welfare visit. But on the other hand, Bethany could at least try to encourage Harry to talk to the police about this. Even though it was a minor theft of a few hundred dollars at best, theft was theft.
"Well Harry, I don't really know what to tell you or how to help you, that doesn't require contacting the police. If you want to try to get the money back, then the police will have to be called and a report filed. If you don't want to get them involved then I am afraid that there is very little we can do to try to recover the money stolen."
Harry didn't want to call the police and get his uncle in trouble. There was no telling how he would react if Harry called the police over a few hundred dollars.
Bethany hadn't mentioned anything about him getting fired, so he assumed he still had this job, meaning that he would have to work doubly hard to try to save as much money as possible the month and a half of break he still had left.
"Mrs. Wolf, I mean Bethany, if you were in my situation what would you do?" Harry asked seeking guidance with possibly the only adult (aside from perhaps Mr. Rogers) he had in his life right now that he trusted.
"If it were me, I would call the police." She said while looking intently at the child before her. "But, in your case, I believe a certain Mr. Rogers is due to make an appearance any time now for his coffee. If you feel up to it, why don't you discuss this issue with him? Maybe he might be able to offer you some advice."
"You want me to tell Mr. Rogers that Uncle Vernon stole my money?" Harry asked in alarm. Mr. Rogers was a regular who for some unknown reason liked to spend time with him. Harry wouldn't- couldn't chance away some like him by telling him all the woes. Merlin, if Harry started doing that, he'd never see Mr. Rogers ever again.
"I do. I think he might be able to help point you in making the right decision here, Harry," she said sadly, knowing that it was going to take some more convincing to encourage Harry to call the police so that he could have a fighting chance to recover his money.
"Come now, Harry, I will walk you upfront so that I can have a quick word with Mr. Rogers too when he gets here." The woman said while pushing herself out of her chair.
"You want to talk to Steve too?" Harry asked in surprise. Why would Bethany want to talk to Steve? She'd never seemed to care much for Steve and had gone as far as to warn Harry no to leave the shop with him under any circumstances, lest he wanted his friend to get in serious trouble.
"I do." She said while glancing down at Harry.
"Why?" Harry said, worried she'd mentioned something he'd told her earlier. She had promised she wouldn't say anything to anybody!
"I am not going to repeat anything you've told me, I am just going to ask him to try to talk to you. Maybe you will feel more comfortable telling a stranger something rather than your boss."
"But he's an adult! What if he decides to just call the police even though I don't want to! And he's not a stranger," at Bethany's incredulous look, Harry quickly amended his last statement, "well, I guess he kind of is, but he's not a total stranger."
"I don't think he will want to get the police involved, but I am positive that he will sit down and listen," Bethany said resolutely as they rounded the corner and stepped into the main part of the shop.
"Everything all right Kaitlyn, Sonya?" She said before Harry could respond. They were standing talking to each other in soft tones since there were no customers that needed help besides Mr. Rogers who was looking at the menu like he always did before ordering his usual.
Steve perked up when he saw Harry, and Harry tried his hardest to summon his best customer service smile he could muster. It probably came out more of a grimace than an actual smile.
"Yes ma'am." They respond while looking searchingly at Harry, trying to deduce if he was feeling better now after talking to Bethany. Harry refused to meet their eyes instead he stared at his second-hand trainers.
"Good. Now I want you to get Harry and Mr. Rogers their snack and drinks, whatever he wants," she said while motioning to the blonde, "is on me today." She said with an air of finality. The girls both jumped into action, Sonya getting Mr. Rogers's order, while Kaitlyn took Harry's.
While Harry and the girls were distracted Mrs. Wolf rounded the counter and approached Steve.
"Good afternoon, Mr. Rogers," she said in greeting.
"Good afternoon, ma'am," Steve responded in turn shifting his attention from the counter to her.
"Did Harry not work today?" Steve asked politely. "The ladies behind the counter said he was supposed to, and I was waiting to give him my order."
Although almost a foot shorter than him, she locked her brown eyes on his blue and beckoned him away from the counter so they could speak briefly in relative private.
"He was supposed to, but I just wanted to let you know that Harry had a rough night at home last night. I did not feel like it was in his best interest to work with so much on his mind. I cannot indulge you with any information but he's pretty upset about it. If you could try to get him to talk about it, I would greatly appreciate it. Maybe reassure him that he's not to be blamed, and encourage him to make the right choice."
Steve frowned in worry. "Do you know what happened?"
Bethany nodded, "I do." She said while glancing at the raven-haired boy who was just accepting his cup of hot cocoa, she noticed the extra topping that had been added in the way that Harry liked. "Or at least the parts he was willing to share. I probably don't know the whole story, and I worry about what it could mean."
"What do you mean, by-," Steve asked with a frown.
"I asked him about it earlier, but Harry denied it." She said vaguely, refusing to say just what she had asked him earlier.
"Anything I can do or need to be made aware of before…" Steve asked, looking and sounding concerned.
"Just listen to him. He might be reluctant to talk at first, but I would feel better if he could get some stuff off his chest. He would probably feel better too."
"Mr. Rogers?" Sonya called out alerting him that his order was now ready.
Harry, who had just gotten his blueberry bagel, walked over to their usual spot, tucked away in an alcove giving them a little more privacy.
Steve gratefully accepted his own hot chocolate and blueberry bagel from the perky barista and quickly walked over to the table his snack partner had reserved.
Taking a good look at the young boy who, Steve had come to learn, had the biggest heart, Steve understood why the child's boss wanted him to just be there for the child.
He looked so torn and distraught that Steve immediately wondered what had happened last night at the boy's home.
"Hey there Harry," Steve said softly to the boy who was just staring blankly at his quickly melting whip cream that topped his cup. "I finally took your advice and got hot chocolate."
I have a serious question: Do you like these questions at the end of each chapter?
No beverage or food question at the end of this chapter, however; if you would like for them to continue let me know by leaving a review. If you haven't answered the questions in previous chapters and would like to, feel free to, I will read them.