30 - Snake
Most days, Harry left the bakery door unlocked when he was still inside despite the 'closed' sign on the door. Because the only people who would still walk in were either those truly desperate for coffee (usually either crazy people or apologetic cops) or one of his, by now regular, visitors.
He was pretty sure one of the latter would be checking up on him tonight, so when the door opened, he didn't stand up from where he was slumped in a seat cradling a mug of hot chocolate. Instead he lifted his head just enough to catch a glimpse of his visitor. And Harry sighed in relief that at least he didn't have to deal with the somewhat mysterious Prince or a concerned police detective tonight.
"You ok there buddy?" Monroe asked with an easy-going voice as he sat down across from him.
Harry sighed, still vividly remembering second year when his Parseltongue abilities had become known and his classmates feared that he would – well, kill them, probably. The memory did not make his current situation any better even as he vaguely wondered how Monroe would react if he bought a snake and started talking to it.
"Those boys actually fainted – from fear," the wizard finally said, "because of me." And that was really kind of the issue here. Despite everything, it still bothered him, just a little, that even here – so far away from the wizarding world – there was still something hanging over him, a prejudice, a label that shaped the way people thought about him. Even his friends.
"Actually, I thought only the one fainted. Didn't the other one run away? In terror. And actually, forget what I just said because that is probably not helping."
Harry resisted the urge to start banging his head on the table like a teenager. Instead he sullenly asked "Am I really that frightening?"
Monroe snorted, "Right now? You look about as threatening as a disgruntled kitten."
"I do still remember our first meeting, you know." Harry shot back, with a slight hint of amusement.
"Hey, that was just a precaution. I didn't want to get into a fight with a Grimm, because, you know, well, bad things happen when a Bludbad lets loose."
The wizard raised his eyebrows sceptically. "So you didn't want to fight because I might have gotten hurt?"
"Exactly, yeah. I was just trying to avoid that."
"Right, of course you were. Because I'm as frightening as a disgruntled kitten," Harry shook his head with a small frown, "A kitten that scares the hell out of children."
"Don't worry about it Harry," Monroe said, "A lot of people were scared of Nick too, at first. But by now he's becoming known as a nice Grimm. They'll figure out soon enough that you're one of those as well. In fact, Nick's probably already spreading the news."
Harry sighed again, this time for a different reason.
And the urge to get that snake and show his friend only increased.
Word Count: 500
