The Dating Game, Part Eighteen Title: The Dating Game, Part Eighteen Fandom: Harry Potter Author: digthewriter Rating: PG-13 Word Count: 550 Warnings: AU/EWE A/N: Unbetaed. No actual kittens were hurt in the making of this chapter. [Read part Seventeen]
Harry was running late.
He was running very, very, very late. He'd be lucky that by the time he'd arrive at the pub Malfoy would still be there! He couldn't believe it. Everything that could have gone wrong, had went wrong.
Teddy had fire-called Harry an hour before he was supposed to meet Malfoy. Evidently, Teddy's new pet kitten had eaten a string of Christmas ribbons and was choking. Andromeda tried to help the tiny animal by using magic but she hadn't been very successful. The pet needed to be taken to the pet hospital and Teddy only wanted Harry. He always needed Harry to fix things, which usually, wasn't a problem.
As soon as they arrived at St Lucas Hospital for Small Animals, Harry demanded to be seen immediately. Eventually, the veterinarian was able to help Teddy's pet, even though they were short-staffed, it being Christmas Eve and all. Harry sighed with a relief and by the time they were back at Andromeda's, Harry was fifteen minutes late.
Harry tried to owl the pub, but their Floo connection seemed to be off.
Finally, he got ready as fast as he could and reached the Thirsty Scholar. Malfoy was at the bar with a pint of beer in front of him, and another man's hand on his shoulder.
"Hi," Harry said, as he reached the bar and stood by the empty stool next to Malfoy.
"Potter. I was beginning to think you weren't going to show," Malfoy said. His voice was calm, but there was something in his eyes that Harry couldn't decipher. Harry looked at the hand that was still on Malfoy's shoulder. "Oh, this is Chandler. We just met—"
"Sorry I'm late," Harry said as he continued to look at the man's hand and then finally looked up to meet his eyes with Chandler. "Harry Potter." He offered his hand to the man.
Chandler finally let go of his hold on Malfoy and shook Harry's hand. "I was just keeping Draco company while his date arrived. Well, if he arrived..." Chandler looked at Draco and winked as they both started to laugh as if Harry had walked in on a secret joke.
"Right. Just there was an emergency with Teddy..." Yeah, Harry went there. He internally groaned for using Teddy but it was clear he needed to do something to get Malfoy's attention off Chandler and on Harry.
"An emergency with Teddy?" Malfoy immediately stood up and pushed away from the bar.
"It's fine, I took care of it," Harry said casually. "Should we get a table?"
"Yeah. Sure," Malfoy said, reluctantly. "Are you sure we don't have to go to Teddy for anything—"
"It's fine," Harry said, and lightly gripped Malfoy's elbow. "Let's go in the corner over there and I'll tell you all about it."
Malfoy obediently followed. After he sat down, Harry went back to the bar and grabbed Malfoy's pint and ordered them another round. He gave the bartender a few extra Galleons to bring it over to their table.
He looked at Chandler before returning to his table, and the man looked unimpressed. "Well, thanks for keeping him company. I'll take over from here then," Harry said and didn't wait for response. He returned to his table where Malfoy was waiting for him.