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The bell of the Phoenix’s Coffee was hard to hear among the noise in the coffee shop. It was the middle of the rush hour, and the line to the counter was abnormally long.
It was less than a week to the beginning of the new year at Hogwarts and all the late shoppers were crowding in the shop to get their daily dose of the coffee before joining the madness of shopping. Phoenix’s Coffee offered the best coffee in Diagon Alley, beans from all around the world and three types of fresh milk. People were ready to stand in the line for thirty minutes to get the cup.
The owner, muggleborn Tammy Fieltons, inspired her shop on the popular muggle chain coffee shop. There was a menu for every season, shop-inspired gifts and, most importantly, your name on the coffee cup.
At first, everyone was allowed to give the barista their first name. There were a couple of awkward situations when it turned out that there were three Thomases in the shop at the same time and the order was mixed up (apparently, on of Thomases had an allergy for almond milk and needed an immediate trip to St Mungo’s). After that Tammy tried to make it easier to distinguish clients. People were supposed to get the barista their nicknames, which obliviously didn’t turn out well. Apparently, no one was able to be creative at seven in the morning before their first coffee.
One of the last trails was to get people to say their whole name. Unfortunately, this idea too turned out to be a disaster when some names were too long to fit on the cup. And well, there was also this one day when there were apparently two Harry Potters and three Hermione Grangers in the shop, at the same time (luckily, this time, there wasn’t any almond milk accident).
After almost three months of trials and fails, Tammy finally managed to find the perfect solution: a simple spell that put the last name of the client on the cup they touched after their order. It saved all the confusion or lack of creativity and guaranteed the truthfulness of the names.
The line moved slowly and he began to tap his feet impatiently. There were a few side glances at his face, but nowadays no one had enough courage to look at him for too long. There was some advantage of having a powerful boyfriend from time to time.
After another fifteen minutes, he finally managed to stand in front of the barista. He briefly looked at the menu, ordered the Caramel Frappuccino with coconut milk and touched the cup with his order written down, given to him by the young woman. She looked bone dead tired and in the need of a big dose of caffeine herself. She briefly looked at him when he paid and, without a glance at it, put the cup on the line of the drinks to be made.
He stood at the side, looking down on his watch to check the time. He still had about ten minutes to his meeting in the Leaky Cauldron, which should allow him to be there just in time.
There was a young boy, looking barely eighteen, who was responsible for reading names and giving cups to the inpatient crowd. He had a nice, ringing voice, easily louder than the quiet chatter in the shop. He gave the couple their espresso-sized cups with a polite smile and looked at the next ready drink. His eyes got slightly bigger and he anxiously looked around the shop.
‘Po- Mister Potter?’ his voice was now shaking a bit, but still as vibrant as earlier.
There was a sudden silence in the shop when people started nervously looking around. There was only one ‘Mister Potter’ in Wizard world and even five years after the war, he still made people turn their heads around to be able to catch the glimpse of him. He defiantly never visited Phoenix’s Coffee.
‘Mister Potter’ the boy’s voice was loud and steady once again. He was smiling widely, probably waiting for his chance to shake Harry Potter’s hand.
Draco slowly took two steps that were separating him from the counter. He gave the boy a slight smirk and took the cup into his hand.
‘Caramel Frappuccino with coconut milk? Thank you.’
No one dared to move. The boy’s face felled and he mechanically nodded, letting go of the cup. Draco turned around, took a sip of the coffee and without hurry, made his way to the doors. He felt the eyes of every client and staff on him when he opened the door. He didn’t look at anyone, although he managed to catch a glimpse of few outraged faces and one or two sad ones. Most of them looked simply too stunned to gather their thought properly yet.
He made his way to the Leaky Cauldron with a small smile on his lips. When he entered the pub, Harry was already waiting for him at their usual table.
‘Hello Mister Potter’ the blond said, sitting at chair opposite to Harry’s.
‘Shouldn’t be I the one to say it? Mister Potter? How did it go?’
‘At Phoenix’s Coffee? Perfect, as I said it would. You should have seen their faces…They didn’t know what hit them’ Draco smiled, taking another sip. The offered the cup to Harry, who, with a quiet sigh, took one too.
‘Your coffee always tastes more like a dessert than a proper drink’ he complained, taking another sip. ‘I still can’t believe you won that bet.’
‘What can I say, never bet with Slytherins’ The blond smiled widely. He looked Harry in the eyes and took his free hand from the table. He gave the silver band on his finger a quick kiss. ‘Thank you.’
‘Yes, love you too’ Harry smiled, taking the last sip from the cup.
He put the empty cup on the table ad gently waved at the waitress for their order. Draco squeezed his hand harder.