Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or its universe. All rights go to J.K.R and her publisher.

Warning: Muggle AU!

Oneshot: Searching for Experience

He was excited. Today was the day they were going to meet after three weeks. It wasn't like they hadn't met. They had, during the past two weeks but only for studying. More like he had needed her help in studying. Exams had been a bit tough. He knew he would score well enough. Not like her though, he thought. She would probably ace it. She had pretty much aced them since their first year of engineering. His girlfriend was so smart. He was proud of her.

It had been three weeks since they met. One week after exams since they had been busy. They had decided to go on a date today. So there he was, dressed fashionably for the date, standing outside her apartment, thinking how it would go.

He wanted to surprise her, so he used the spare key that he had borrowed from her roommate and entered. The apartment was a bit dark with sunlight filtering in through windows. He decided to see if she was ready and went to her room. He knocked on the door and asked, "Daphne, are you decent?".

He waited for it and didn't directly barge in. He had done that once. He still felt phantom pains in his eye. He had walked in on her while she was changing and got nailed in the eye by her hairbrush.

He knocked again but still no reply.

He tried the latch and it was open. So he decided to enter, it wasn't like he hadn't knocked.

He quietly entered the room. There she was sitting on her bed, hands covering her eyes, her hair a bit of mess and tear tracks running down her face.

He went near her and touched her shoulder.

"Hey, Daph. Are you alright?", he asked worriedly.

"Harry! Didn't see you there. What happened?" she asked, wiping her tears.

"Nothing Daph. We had decided to go on a date today, so I came but that's not important. What happened? Tell me please" he asked while he sat down beside her and took her in his arms.

"I don't know what to do", she said." You know that our exams finished a week ago. Since it's our final summer vacation and we finished our third year, I was looking for internships. I have applied for over 50 in this past week and didn't even get selected for one. Am I that bad Harry?" she said tearfully.

"Shh, don't cry Daph," he said, taking her face in his palms and wiping her tears."You are not bad. You are the best in our whole year," he said consoling her.

"Then why am I not getting selected?" she asked.

"It's probably because most applications for summer internships closed about a month ago. Most companies start taking applications in mid-April and continue to take them till mid-May. Now I am not saying that you won't get an internship. Because few companies would still be recruiting now since exams are over. I will help you to apply. Okay?"

"Okay," she agreed and gave him a smile, a bit of her worry lessened. But he could still see that she still was worried.

"Now then," he said standing up. "You promised me a date, Miss Daphne Greengrass. So get ready we are going on a date."

"Alright," she said standing. "But you should wait outside while I change," she said while pushing him towards the door.

A few minutes later.

There is still time, he thought while checking his watch. He had decided to take her to a movie that she was looking forward to. He had come a bit earlier to pick her up since he was excited about the date. This would lift her mood a bit, he thought. We should also probably go and get ice cream too.

He heard the door open and snapped out of his thoughts.

"How do I look?" she said, her eyes not meeting his, a bit embarrassed.

He took a moment to take her in. She was wearing a summer dress with light makeup. He tried not to stare or linger on certain parts of her body, he didn't want her to think he was a creep. He took in her face, averting eyes with flushing cheeks. The shine of her lip gloss caught his eye. The shy way in which she bit her lip, as she awaited his response, was adorable.

Beautiful, gorgeous, stunning; were all worthy answers that came to his mind, but his courage failed him.

"C-Cute," he stuttered, a bit of red colouring his cheeks.

"Shall we go then?" he said a bit bashfully.

They then went to see the movie. While Daphne was engrossed in the movie, he was stealing glances at her and was amused, observing the changing expressions on her face.

They had come out of the cinema and he felt that he was successful in distracting her with the movie.

Now he only needed that to take her mind off things.

"Shall we go to the next place then?" he asked, extending his arm a bit.

She nodded and took his arm in her hands. "Let's go," she said while resting her head on his shoulder.

And so they went there while discussing the movie they just saw.

Now they were standing there, in front of an ice cream parlour. Not any random one but the best one, at least in their opinion— Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour. Florean was a legend among ice cream makers. He had made over thousand different flavours of ice creams and Daphne being a true connoisseur of icecreams had tried them all. They now had a competition going on with Florean making more flavours and Daphne rating them according to her standards. Fortescue's even had changed their menu to reflect the ice cream grouped according to Daphnes ratings.

They entered the shop.

"Please sit and enjoy yourself while your good boyfriend brings you ice cream," he said while pulling a chair a bit for her to sit on.

The shop was a bit empty since it was an off day. He could only see some regulars who smiled at him, used to seeing them both come there, he nodded and smiled back while making his way to counter.

"Yo, Grandpa Florean," he said on reaching the counter, attracting the attention of the old man who had his back turned.

"Hello there, young Harry," the ice cream maker said, coming near the counter. "I didn't see my favourite customers for the past few weeks. How were your exams?"

"They were good. I think I will do better than the previous one."

"What happened to her? Why is she looking so glum" Florean asked, gesturing to Daphne with his head.

"She is not getting selected for an internship even after applying for many." Harry said while looking at Daphne along with Florean." So I thought I would take her out to let her enjoy a bit before helping her with the search."

"Well, Harry my boy. You are in luck then. I just finished the one she was looking forward to." the ice cream maker said boisterously.

"Alright then. Old man Florean, give me the special one and my favourite."

"One Curry flavoured and One Cookie dough coming right up," said Florean as he prepared the order.

"Here you go ."

"Thanks, old man Florean," Harry said while paying for the treat.

He then went towards Daphne who was lost in thought.

"Here," he said, offering her the cone of curry-flavoured ice cream.

"Thanks," she said." Wow! Is this a new one?"

"Yes, curry-flavoured one" he acknowledged.

And so they spent their date talking about the ice cream and various mundane things.

AN: This is my first fanfic.

This one-shot was written for Haphne Summer 2021 Collection over at the Harry/Daphne discord server. Be sure to check out the other fics written by members of the community!

Please let me know your thoughts and comments. Many thanks to Theo for editing and his valuable comments and also to Akamoroti for helping with a scene. Also, thanks to Sectumus Prince, ElmDorianGray, ThatGGuy, Dorothea Greengrass, Wake The Dragon and rest for their encouragement and support.

Do surely check out Haphne Summer 2021 Collection.

Thanks for Reading!