The next step as it turned out was to invite Hermione and Remus to dinner, just the four of them (Ginny had suggested inviting Ron along with his most recent plus one, but Pansy had suggested that this would give the wrong impression and also limit the amount of manoeuvring they were able to do). This was a lot harder than it sounds, and after several attempted requests Harry decided that the next time Lupin dropped by his office he'd invite him to dinner that evening and somehow drag the two women along too.
Fortunately even though the laws involving werewolves were now markedly more relaxed than they had been in previous years they still required werewolves to report to the Ministry regularly for updates and blood tests to prove the use of wolfsbane potion. Normally it irritated Harry that his friend had to subject himself to that regularly, but right now it was a good thing, because he'd been able to give Ginny a headsup about dinner that evening when he saw Lupin enter the Ministry building and was just now waiting for him to drop by for a chat as he did every time he came to report in.
It was quarter past five when Remus knocked on the doorframe of Harry's door.
"Hi Remus, come in," Harry greeted, giving his desk a quick check to ensure he didn't have any sensitive documents out.
Remus grinned as he sat down, "Another check out of the way."
Harry frowned momentarily but let the issue drop, just because he didn't like it didn't mean he could change it. He moved their conversation onto lighter topics and looked for a suitable point at which to extend an invitation.
In the end it was Remus who brought up dinner plans, "Are you doing anything for dinner this evening?"
Harry smiled thanking his lucky stars, "I am now. How about the Leaky?"
Remus nodded, "That would be good."
"You want to head over there now?"
"All right," he agreed and they were off, once Harry had shoved all his scrolls into the correct files and locked his office.
