IY: Don't have much time. I'm stealing wireless Internet... -guilty look-
Kit: Criminal...
Thanks to: Akkalia, Someone, Alissiana, Shame Ness2, Midnight Suburbia (hope you had a good time), red eyed dragon, Darkspider (sorry, majority rules...), Airlady, Dezra (no bottom!Draco here, sorry. I hope you keep reading anyway!), sasuke-luvs-naruto, Aella-Bay, digi-writer1392, cyiusblack, Slasherific, -x-Bashli-x-, random-laughter, and kateg123
Most of you chose option three (which you made up yourselves, I might add XD), which includes a date with Michael this chapter and the timeskip mall scene the next. ...You guys make me work too hard. XD
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or anything else that you might recognize!
Stonewall Secondary: Chapter FIVE
"So, uh… How do I look?" Harry asked, giving a slow twirl for Ron's benefit.
"You… You look good, mate!"
"There's really no need for you to sound so surprised, Ronald," Harry replied dryly.
He glanced down at his current attire: black jeans, fitted green t-shirt, and black Vans. They were all new, bought with his new-found wealth, since the nicest articles of clothing he'd owned before were his Hogwarts uniforms (and he couldn't very well go prancing around in those, now could he?).
"Hmm… Are you sure? I don't want to look stupid; it's the first time I've ever gone on a date!"
"Not surprising," Draco drawled, "Considering the clothes you usually walk around in… You do know they all make you look like a colorblind, fashion-deprived fool, right?"
Blaise winced, "Ouch, Drake. You could've eased him into awareness of his obvious lack of fashion sense."
Harry scowled at them. "Hey! It's not like I wanted to wear those rags. I didn't have a choice in the matter!"
"How could you not have a choice in what you wear, Potter?" Draco asked, rolling his eyes. "You're the one wearing them."
"Yes, but I've never actually bought my own clothes before. Today was the first time I've ever set foot in a department store."
Blaise raised both of his eyebrows. "Really, now? I guess you really were deprived, then."
Harry glanced at Ron, "What have you been telling them?"
The red-head shook his head, "I didn't tell them anything! You'rethe one who went blabbing to Malfoy."
Harry's forehead scrunched up in thought. "Hmm… I guess I did. How stupid of me…"
The blond in their company frowned. "Hey! I am perfectly discreet! …When I want to be, that is," he added, snickering.
Green eyes narrowed. "Well, whatever. I've got to get going; it's almost eight and the cinema isn't that close."
"You told that Michael guy it was!" Ron cried, eyes narrowing in concern. "Will you be okay walking all the way there on your own?"
Harry laughed. "Don't worry, Ron. I can walk perfectly fine by myself."
He grabbed his matching black jean jacket and headed for the door.
"I'll see you guys later, okay?"
Harry closed the door to the house, only to turn back and open it again a second later.
"Try not to wreck Mrs. Figg's home," he added, sticking his head back in. His words were almost-but-not-quite a plead.
Draco and Blaise glanced at each other.
"We'll see what we can do," Draco promised, smirking.
"Harry!"
The future savior of the Wizarding World jumped, startled out of his perusal of his new sneakers.
"Oh, Michael! Er, uh, hi." Harry blushed, not sure of what he should be saying. A greeting was safe, though, right?
"Hey, Harry!" The blond stopped about a foot away, giving him a once-over. He whistled, clearly impressed. "Wow, you sure do clean up nice."
"Er, th-thanks…" Harry stammered out, glancing up from his shoes. He quickly swept his gaze over his date's tall form. "Uh, y-you look good too."
Michael smiled rakishly. "I should. I spent about an hour trying to pick out a decent outfit."
Harry blushed. He'd spent that much time trying to look nice for their date?
Michael winked. "How 'bout we go buy the tickets?"
"Oh, right. Sure. Lead the way."
Harry followed timidly behind the blond as he weaved through the loitering crowd of teens towards the ticket booth.
"So, which movie do you wanna see, Harry?" Michael asked him, grabbing his elbow.
Harry was flustered, but when he looked at his date he found the blond gazing intently at the small movie ads above the booth. They had a few minutes to decide since there were a few couples ahead of them in line.
"Er, uh, I dunno. But it has to be PG-13, at most, because I'm not seventeen yet…" Harry turned away, trailing off sheepishly.
Michael grinned, "No, it's cool. I just turned seventeen about three months ago, in May. I know where you're coming from."
The blond turned back to the ads. "Okay, PG-13... There's Nancy Drew, Evan Almighty, and that one with the bugs…" He made a face, "Let's not see that one. Bugs and I don't really get along…"
Harry laughed. "Okay, that's fine. Hmm… I don't really feel like watching a girl solve mysteries today… So, how about Evan Almighty?"
"That's a good choice, Mr. Potter! Hold on, I'll get 'em." He turned to the attendant. "Two for Evan Almighty, please."
"Sure thing. It'll be $12.50, sir." (USD)
Michael whipped out his wallet, paid, received the tickets, and then led Harry away by his elbow.
"Er, I could've paid for my ticket, you know. You didn't have to pay for me…" The green-eyed teen was blushing horribly as he said this. It seemed he couldn't do anything else recently…
"Nonsense!" Michael replied, waving his free hand as if to dismiss the notion. "I invited you, so I'm the one who has to pay!"
He led the Gryffindor over to a bench. "Now, do you want butter on your popcorn?"
Harry blinked.
"So, did you like it?" Michael asked, leading the smaller teen through the crowd exiting the theater by his elbow.
"Yeah! You know, for a second there, I thought nothing was gonna happen. I kinda felt bad for the poor guy."
The blond smirked. "Yeah, I know what you mean. But it all worked out at the end, right? All in all, I thought it was a pretty good movie."
"Yup! I'm gonna have to bring the others to see it!" Harry said, smiling. He blinked, however, when a thought hit him. "Although they might not get it…"
"Where are they from, anyway?" Michael asked, tilting his head curiously. "I thought McDonald's was a worldwide enterprise. It's weird that they've never been there before."
"Oh, uh, they're from… out in the country! Yeah, they lived in, uh, pretty remote areas. They're here for the rest of the school year, since our school closed down."
Michael blinked. "How could you go to their school if they lived out in the country…?"
Harry ducked his head, wincing. He was so stupid! How was he gonna get out of this one?
"Er, we went to boarding school together, in Scotland. Yeah, and since the school was closing, they decided to go to school here, er, with me."
"Huh," was all Michael said in reply, blinking rapidly. "So, uh, what school will you guys be going to?" he asked, changing the subject with a shake of his head.
"We're going to Stonewall Secondary. We'll be juniors (or is it grade 11 over there?) this year."
"Really? That's great! I go there too! I'll be a senior (grade 12?) this year, so I'll get to boss you around." Michael said, winking.
Harry laughed nervously. "You're kidding, right?"
"Of course I am!" the blond said, laughing. When he sobered, he looked down at his watch. "Oh, man! It's already 11:23! C'mon, I'll drive you home. It's way too late for you to go walking."
"Oh, no, no! It's fine. I'll be fine! It's not that -"
Michael cut him off by placing a hand over his mouth. "There is no way I'm letting you walk around by yourself at midnight."
Harry sighed, slumping and nodding miserably.
"I knew you'd see it my way! Now c'mon, I need to make it home by one." Michael laughed sheepishly and put a hand behind his neck at Harry's questioning look. "I've still got a curfew…"
"Oh." Harry nodded understandingly and allowed himself to be led away again.
They stopped before a slightly dented red Neon. It had a few scrapes along the back fender, but other than that it looked well taken care of.
"That's from when I crashed with our mail box." Harry's disbelieving glance had Michael expanding his story. "Yeah, it's stupid… I'd just gotten my driver's license and I still had a bit of trouble reversing out of the driveway…"
Harry snorted, but managed to restrain the rest of his giggles.
"Oh, ha-ha. I don't see you driving, Mr. Giggles. It's tougher than it looks!"
That set Harry off on another laughing binge. This time, Michael joined him.
"Okay, okay. Calm down now. Where do you want me to drop you off?"
Harry bit his lip. He couldn't get dropped off at the Dursleys' because when he turned back time he might accidentally see himself… Where could - Mrs. Figg's house! Harry felt like slapping himself.
"Er, I'm sleeping over at a friend's house, so I don't know the address. I'll just tell you where to turn."
"Okay. That's fine with me! Which way first?"
"So, uh… I, uh, I had… It was really… Er, I mean -" Harry stopped, blushing and looking down at the wood of the porch under his feet. Fidgeting slightly with the hem of his shirt, he took a deep breath and started again.
"Er, what I meant to say was that I had a good time. Thanks."
Michael smiled and reached up to cup his chin. "No need to thank me. I had a great time too. Maybe we can do it again sometime?"
Harry raised his gaze and smiled shyly. "Er, yeah. That would be fun."
The blond winked. "Mr. Potter, I promise that you'll never be bored around me! I'll give you a call sometime, 'kay? I gotta get going now, curfew and all…"
Harry nodded. "Okay. That's fine. Good night."
Michael laughed. "That's not how you say goodbye!" He stepped forward, planting a chaste kiss on the startled Gryffindor's lips. "Now that is a proper farewell."
Winking, the blond turned and walked off the porch, heading to his car. Opening the door, he looked back towards the statuesque brunette. "Bye Harry!" Michael called, laughing, then drove off.
Harry blinked. Well. That was certainly interesting…
"So… Is it customary for Muggles to return home at five past midnight on a first date?"
Harry jumped a mile. "Malfoy! Don't scare me like that!" he said, spinning to face the former Prince of Slytherin.
"What are you doing up, anyway?"
Draco shrugged casually. "Couldn't sleep. I thought I'd watch a bit of television until I got tired… Lucky I did, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to witness you stuttering like that pathetic loser Longbottom."
"Shut up, Malfoy!" Harry said, scowling angrily, hoping Malfoy would mistake his blush for rage instead of the embarrassment it really was.
Judging from the smirk on the blond's face, Harry could tell he was out of luck.
"You didn't answer me, Potter," Draco reminded him.
"What? Oh, right. I don't know, actually… Maybe? A lot of people were still at the movies when we left…"
Draco sniffed haughtily. "I don't think it's proper for you to be out so late. With a stranger, no less."
Harry smiled teasingly. "Aw, were you jealous? Don't worry, Drakey-poo. You're the only blond for me!"
Harry laughed at the great fish impersonation the Slytherin was currently doing.
"Just kidding, Malfoy! Anyway, I've got to go now; it's getting late," he said to the still dumbfounded blond, starting to walk away. Once he reached the sidewalk, he gave his school-yard rival a jaunty wave. "See you tomorrow!"
The blond was left standing alone on Mrs. Figg's front porch. "What just happened...?"
Chapter five: complete!
So? Did you like? Mall scene coming up next! Are you guys excited? I am! I'm going to the mall for inspiration! (...That's a lie. I just wanna shop. LOL)