Disclaimer: Don't own HP
This is my submission to the First Date collection being done in honor of the Flowerpot Discord server anniversary. Thanks to DJKopper and Palkey for assisting with beta reading.
We always love meeting new people, so come pop in to say hello!
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He plopped down into the bar seat, exhaustion from the day overtaking him as the barmaid wandered over.
"Rough day, Mr. Potter?"
He nodded.
"Little bit. I'll take the fish and chips. a pint with it, please."
He sighed, stretching his back as he felt a small pop before relaxing and pulling out a small book to pass the time. Sleep would be welcomed, but the rumble in his stomach needed to be satisfied first.
"You want anything, darlin?" he heard the barmaid ask someone a few seats down.
"No, I'm good, thank you. I'm waiting for someone."
His drink arrived and he took a long sip, savoring its taste before returning it to the counter. He'd absentmindedly ordered the fish and chips, something quick that wouldn't take long, allowing him to retreat back to the comfort of his bed for much needed rest. He looked down the bar to his left, toward the woman a few seats down.
Her silver-blonde hair fell gracefully to her waist, held back by a single ribbon, exposing the curve of her neck and the angle of one sculpted cheekbone. She was beautiful. She cast fitful glances at the door every few moments.
He looked away, her blue eyes meeting his green ones briefly, though he caught a small bit of nervousness in her face before turning back towards his book. For a moment he wondered what it would be like if he had a date with someone like her, the designer clothes she had on showing she was clearly a somebody, but he shook that thought away as he catalogued it as silly.
"Would you like a water, darlin?" the barmaid asked her.
"Yes please. Actually, make that two waters. He should be here shortly."
The door opened and out of his peripheral vision he saw her look up, only to sag a bit as another couple entered the restaurant. He felt a small amount of empathy run through him, his own dating experience being what it was. Before he could look over, his meal was placed in front of him and his eyes widened.
It was the largest plate of fish and chips he'd ever seen. A wide bowl lined with yesterday's newspaper, its pictures dancing up at him beneath the imposing amount of food.
He looked up at the barmaid. "I, uh, I don't think I ordered this. I just asked for regular fish and chips."
The older woman laughed.
"Right you did, but it's Tuesday night lad. Double fish and chips. Enjoy, you look like you'll have leftovers."
As he dug into his meal, he continued to read his book, yet unable to keep from sending glances to the woman a few seats away as her posture continued to sink lower and lower. She'd been stood up, clearly, yet she still looked at the door, hoping her date would show up with some sort of explanation and apology.
Something stirred within him, a wave of sympathy that washed over him and forced itself to the surface. He turned towards her.
"Excuse me, miss?" he asked, catching her attention.
"Yes?" she said, her soft, melodic voice danced in his ears, yet he could see a sadness in her eyes. An almost defeated look that sent a jolt through his chest. It was a look he knew because he'd worn it himself on several occasions. It was the look of someone who knew they'd been stood up but refused to admit it.
"You've been here just as long as I have, you must be hungry." He gestured down towards the bowl. "My eyes were clearly bigger than my stomach. Would you care for some fish and chips?"
She bit her lip and furrowed her brow, concentration welling up in her face before she shook her head.
"No. No thank you. I'm waiting for someone."
He nodded, not really wanting to tell her that he wasn't going to show. He wouldn't want to be told that in her position either.
"No worries. Just let me know if you change your mind," he said, turning back towards his book.
A few minutes later he heard the sound of a chair scratching against the floor to his left before someone settled into the seat next to him. He looked over, seeing the blonde haired woman with an unsure look in her eyes.
"I- I wouldn't mind some, if the offer still stands."
He gestured towards the bowl as he closed the book and slipped it back into his robes.
"Be my guest."
As the two ate in silence, neither knowing what to say, a comfortable, if somewhat stilted silence fell between them. He looked up at the wireless playing behind the bar, some band he didn't recognize, filling the silence with their questionable sounds.
"I was really hoping he'd show," she finally said as she leaned back from the bar, wiping her mouth with a napkin. He shrugged.
"Likely his loss then."
She looked at him incredulously.
"How could you possibly know that?"
He shrugged again.
"Dunno, just a hunch. I've been stood up before. Multiple times, actually," he said, a blush forming on his cheeks. "Each time it turned out to be a good thing or I'd find out later she wasn't worth my time. I'd like to think everything happens for a reason."
He leaned back in his chair.
"One time my best mate set me up on this blind date. He simply gave me a place and time with the instructions to "look for the leggy brunette." No idea how I was supposed to figure out who that was, but I went anyway. Sat there for two hours until I finally went home. The next day I got approached during lunch. It was my date's ex."
The woman went wide eyed as she took another bite of fish.
"No way."
He nodded. "Yep. He had apparently heard about her blind date and caused a huge stink."
"What'd he tell you?"
Harry took another gulp of water before turning towards her.
"Stay away from my girl," he said, lowering his voice to imitate the jealous ex.
"I didn't need that sort of drama in my life, still don't, so I dodged a bullet."
"Did you ever get to meet her?"
He nodded. "Yeah. Met her a few weeks later at a party I was dragged to. Tracey and I got along great, but we both quickly realized that we wouldn't be compatible romantically. She's a great friend though."
The woman placed her dirty napkin onto the empty plate as he peered over at her, noticing that she had relaxed significantly and was no longer casting glances at the door. She gave a small laugh as she looked up at the television.
"That reminds me of a date I once went on with this French guy named Luc. He was nice, charming even. He said all the right things, made a show of being chivalrous, right up until we sat down to eat. Then things changed. He changed."
"Wasn't who you were expecting?" Harry asked.
She nodded.
"He refused to let me say anything to the waiter. Insisted on ordering everything for me. As if I don't know how to select a nice wine. Hmp. Then he talked about himself for an hour. He barely let me get in a handful of words before he was once again going on about his family's vineyard or how successful their global business was."
Harry winced.
"Sounds like quite the tosser. Ouch."
"Very ouch," she agreed. "I couldn't wait to get out of these. Once he paid for the meal I made a quick exit for the nearest apparition point."
"He didn't try to follow, did he?"
She nodded, but looked at him with a devilish smile, causing his pulse to quicken for a short moment.
"Oh, he did, but I let all my frustrations out on him and that stopped him dead in his tracks."
Harry laughed at the mental image of this beautiful blonde woman berating some tall, stuck-up French bloke.
"I bet that was a sight."
"It felt great, that's for sure. The highlight of my night, though I'm sure it was a funny sight. He was about six inches taller than I am, so I was looking up at him with my finger in his face the whole time. I must have ranted for a good two or three minutes before I stormed off," she added with a laugh.
They chatted for a while, swapping self-deprecating jokes and stories of failed dates before he paid for the meal. As they entered the cool night air he looked over with a sheepish smile, unsure of himself for the first time all night.
"Would you like to see my favorite place in the city? It's a little park that's around the corner. I like to clear my head there whenever I need to get away and today was a bit of a wild one. I had planned to take a quick walk through it and I wouldn't mind some company. There's a family of puffskeins that lives there…and I'm going to stop talking now."
She didn't laugh, but her eyes held humor as she nodded, gesturing for him to continue. "Lead on."
The glow and noise of the bar faded, leaving only the sounds of the night as they walked. She laughed gently, turning towards him with a sly smirk.
"Worst place you've ever been on a date?"
He laughed, throwing his head back at the absurd question as her smirk spread into a smile.
"Definitely the muggle carnival."
Her eyes went wide.
"That sounds like a story."
Harry shivered, rubbing the back of his neck. "I went on a few dates with a muggle woman several years ago. She wanted to go to a carnival. It scarred me for life."
She laughed again and Harry felt his heart beat faster at the sound, as if it were tuned to perfection.
"And that's because…?"
"Clowns," he said, wrinkling his nose. She laughed again and he blushed, rubbing the back of his neck again before straightening. "What? Clowns are the absolute worst."
"Oh, I don't disagree," she said as her laughter turned to giggles, "It's just the way you said it with such conviction. Don't worry, I'll protect you from any scary clowns if we happen to come across them."
She patted him on the shoulder and he blushed again before shaking his head.
"And you? Worst date location?"
"Oh, that's easy. He took me to dinner at his parents house."
Harry nearly stopped walking, a look of disbelief plastered across his face.
"You're joking."
She could only manage a shake of her head as the fit of giggles returned. He couldn't help notice that her nose wrinkled at the end when she found something particularly amusing. He felt his cheeks flush at the thought.
"Nope. Second date. Told me he wanted to take me to the best restaurant he knew. Popped up right over to his parents' front door. It was dreadfully awkward. He was nice, but no thank you."
Harry bit his lip to keep the laugh from escaping, failing miserably as he nearly had to stop walking to catch his breath.
"That's just…why?"
She shrugged. "I'm sure he had a method to his madness."
They walked in comfortable silence, neither feeling the need to fill the air, or perhaps they were both simply full from so much fish and chips. Harry wasn't sure. His night had taken an unexpected turn but that didn't seem to be a bad thing. As they made it to the park, he cast a tentative look at her.
"Do you, ah, work for the Ministry?"
She shook her head. "No, I'm an apprentice. What about you?"
"No, no Ministry work for me," he said, "I actually run a small bookstore not far from here. I had just closed up the shop when I stopped into the restaurant for some food."
"Is it mostly school books?" she asked as they made their way along the small stream that ran through the park.
"A bit of everything," he replied. "School books from both Hogwarts and Beauxbatons, but also more advanced texts published by various scholars and whatnot. It's our fiction section that's the most popular, however. Not a lot of places offer muggle literature, so we sell quite a bit of them."
As he explained how he came to sell muggle books he could see how captivated she was, her expression taking on a far off look, as if his words had struck a chord and taken her somewhere else. As the path turned she lost her footing, and she grabbed his arm to steady herself.
"You alright there?" he asked.
She smiled sheepishly and nodded, her cheeks a shade deeper.
"What made you want to open the shop?"
"Despite my embarrassing recollection of how badly I am dealing with dates," he started, "I've been told I'm good with people. One of my old professors said I had a natural talent for helping people, so I figured I'd put it to good use somehow. I love books, they're such a great way to connect with others, so I figured why not?"
The stream split off into multiple directions as they continued walking along the stone path. He looked over at her.
"What about you? What are you apprenticing for?"
"Medicine. I'm trying to become a healer. I will become a healer. I want to be a healer for children, to be precise."
Harry let out a low whistle.
"Wow, that's really awesome. Anyone who wants to help kids gets a gold star from me. Anything in particular that made you want to go in that direction?"
She shrugged.
"I guess it was my little sister, Gabby. She was such a little firecracker growing up, never content to just play around the house. She always had to go out and explore. I remember her getting hurt or sick when we were growing up, so I got it into my head that I was going to cure her of all her problems. At least that's what my mother says. In truth, I just remember how grateful we always were to her healers, and I wanted to help people like my parents with their own kids. Not sure if that makes any sense."
"It makes sense," he said, "I think that's admirable. Wanting to help others, I mean. We could use more of that."
They continued their walk through the park and he smiled as her eyes lit with warmth watching the falling leaves and serene environment. He hadn't set out to spend the evening with anyone, but it turned out great in the end, if incredibly different than he pictured things going. As they came out the other side of the park, they faced each other, an awkwardness to their features.
"Thank you," she said, a small smile spreading across her face. "I'm- I'm glad I got stood up."
He laughed lightly.
"Not a sentence I'd ever thought I'd hear, but I'll take it as a compliment nonetheless."
She laughed, and her eyes shifted just a bit, that look of uncertainty he'd seen earlier returning.
"This was probably the most unique first date I've had, that's for sure."
His eyes went wide.
"F-First date?"
She looked down, blushing, and looked back up with a small hint of uncertainty. "Yeah. If you'd like it to be, that is. I don't want to be presumptuous."
His heart raced and his stomach flipped before he nodded.
"I'd like that, yeah. A successful first date I'd say."
She smiled, the uncertainty receding.
"Good. I'll…" her eyes went wide. "Oh no, I've been terribly rude, haven't I? I never even asked your name."
He stuck out his hand.
"Harry Potter."
She shook his hand and smiled brilliantly as the air around her seemed to warm with joy.
"Fleur Delacour, nice to meet you."
She took a half step and leaned up, brushing her lips against his cheek, the smell of cinnamon filling his senses. His smile widened as she pulled away, her eyes shining brightly against the moonlight, stars reflecting in her deep azure pools.
A unique first date indeed.