Alternate Jobs: Bartender Harry

First, some quick replies to some messages sent in through the ask box.

1. Did you change your settings?I can't see your blog properly. I'm not sure if you can see this either.

I do break the coding a lot on here when I experiment with the layout. Over the past few weeks, I've deleted and moved some things as part of a much needed clean-up. But nothing seems broken to me. Could you be more specific about what you're having problems with?

2.So good to hear from you! LOVE all the excerpts you post and the many many interesting tangents you're brain goes through. Good luck with you're writing and that you finally reach the epilogue you had written years ago!

I'm glad you're enjoying the crazy tangents. They're fun to write because I'm never sure how they'll turn out. But they're also super distracting because they always pop up when I'm trying to add to my AtO draft.

Anyway on to bartender-Harry.

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“I didn't know that Soma hired anyone so young here,” the new customer said, his barely concealed confusion easy to hear as he sat at the bar. “You must have impressed him."

The dull green vest, the strange headgear that framed his face and the trained watchful air made Harry straighten in interest. His first ninja customer. Topping up the last glass, Harry pushed the tray to the waitress and said, “I own this bar now. What can I get you?”

The ninja blinked, the only outward sign of his surprise before he shrugged. “Anything that will silence the bad memories for a while.”

Harry couldn't help feeling sympathetic. “I've got just the thing.” Scanning the shelves behind him, Harry bypassed the bottles of bright multicoloured alcohols- the crystalline blues, the blood reds and even the glittering black ones- and grabbed an unlabelled bottle filled with dark purple. The strong berry smell that wafted up as he filled a glass reassured Harry that he had gotten the right bottle. 

His ninja customer eyed the purple drink that Harry had placed in front of him. “What's this called?”

Harry shrugged. “It doesn't have a name yet.”

Instead of the wariness that Harry had expected, the ninja downed the drink without hesitation. “That was good.”

“I had a lot of trouble making that one” Harry said, feeling his tension ease as he filled another tray of drinks and handed it to the only waitress who worked at the bar. 

 

“You made it?” the ninja said in wonder. 

Harry nodded. It had taken a lot of work. He'd used a judicious mix of spells and even a few steps of potion making to feed the ruse that he was interested in the bar business. 

It had been sheer luck- Harry couldn't decide if it was bad or good- that got him ownership of the rundown bar soon after entering Konoha almost a month ago. 

Sheer stubbornness and a lack of anything else to do had forced Harry to clean, fix and even tinker with the alcohol brewing machinery in the basement. Seamus' long ramblings had given Harry a basic guideline of what good alcohol should be. A little creativity and a lot of magic had given Harry everything he needed to reopen the bar within two weeks of buying it. 

“Soma never had that many alcohol bottles back there. Did you make them?”

“I changed things up when I took over. Seemed like such a shame to keep the shelves empty.” He shot the shelves a fond look. “They add a lot of colour to this place now.”

The previous owner had been very honest about the lack of customers- especially the high paying ninja customers. So Harry hadn't been disappointed by the civilians who had visited his bar over the past two weeks. They'd actually kept Harry busy enough that he'd has to hire the waitress. 

Having his first ninja customer made Harry feel like he'd achieved some sort of milestone even though he'd never wanted to own a bar.

“I think I'll have the whole bottle,” the ninja said, his eyes fixed on the bottom of his empty cup. 

 

Harry placed the bottle of deep purple alcohol in front of the ninja and turned to fill the orders that the waitress had brought back. 

When he'd reached the bottom of the bottle, the ninja spoke again. “I don't drink a lot,” he said, “Not often. Only once in a while at most.”

 

“Seems like the smart thing to do.”

The ninja shook his head. “It's not normal. Everyone else... they drink more often. With other people. Their friends.”

Harry stilled. The ninja was relating a personal problem to him. Did that mean he had truly become a bartender now? What was he supposed to say? What would Hermione say? “You should do what you're comfortable with. There's no need to force yourself to be like everyone else.”

The ninja shook his head, “But I'm missing out on the social aspect of drinking.”

“Drunken ramblings?” Harry asked in confusion. “You want that?”

“The camaraderie of drinking together,” the man said with a sigh. “I don't have any drinking buddies and no one will want me as one because they know I'm not drinking buddy material.”

“Maybe,” Harry waited until the ninja looked up from the empty glass. “You should be the one who invites other people to go drinking with you.”

“No one will want to drink with me.”

“You'll never know if you don't ask,” Harry said. He motioned to the shelf behind him. “Anything else I can get you?”

The ninja pointed to his empty bottle. “I'll have another one. The taste suits my mood.”

It was a whole month before before the ninja returned to the bar. Only this time he wasn't alone. 

“Yamato-sempai, I do not drink,” a pale skinned teenager said, his black eyes darting around the bar with more than just simple curiosity. 

Yamato greeted Harry with a nod. “We're going to work on our social graces. By drinking together we'll figure out how to become normal drinking buddies.”

“You could just find a book in the library instead of drinking strange experimental alcohol in this rundown place.”

Harry bit down a defensive remark. He had used quite a bit of time, money and magic to fix up the place. Nursing his wounded pride, Harry said, “Same as last time?”

“No,” Yamato shook his head. “I'm in a different kind of mood today.”

Harry nodded, scanned his shelf thoughtfully and grabbed a bottle filled with an amber alcohol he'd created. “You can start with this one. Not too alcoholic and more flavourful.”

The pale one beside Yamato sniffed at his glass and said, “I do not recognize this alcohol.”

“You won't,” Harry said with a touch of pride. “I made all the brews on these shelves.”

“Sai, just drink,” Yamato said, his expression turning stern. “You want to get comfortable with social interactions, don't you?”

“None of team seven drink,” Sai said.

“Not yet,” Yamato said. “You can use this as your means of socializing.”

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I wonder what Yamato's reaction would be when Team Seven comes to the bar and Naruto and Harry meet for the first time.

This idea tangent came about while I was writing a scene of Harry drinking some sake in AtO. I just couldn't stop picturing Harry having something to do with a bar- where he introduces new and unique blends like bacon infused alcohols.

And then Harry would become rich within months, especially when the Hokage gets around to trying out some of his brews.

Polar