prologue
harry's pov
xxx
It was the last day of Hogwarts, the train would be leaving at 11 am today so there was a larger amount of chaos than usual, mainly for the students that didn't pack the night before, thankfully though I had so I was able to sneak away from the hectic Gryffindor's to go meet him. I knew what it was about and I knew I had to accept that, he was a pure-blood and he was turning 16 soon. So when the familiar blonde haired Slytherin came into view, I hugged him knowing I most likely wouldn't get to do it again.
"You know," he whispered as I pulled away from the hug, all I did was nod in response. "I wish I could stay with you longer, but it's my duty as the only heir to the Malfoy line to marry a pure-blood witch," he says grimly, most likely hating the idea of being with a woman. "As you know on my sixteenth birthday I'll have to choose a wife to marry and court, I don't want to be unfaithful to her, I'm sorry." Draco says, his hands tightening a around mine as he realized this would be the last time we'd see each other like this.
"I'm proud of you," I whispered and placed a peck on his lips, as soon as I pull away he hangs his dead, his eyes trained on the stone floor of the west corridor. I felt a sense of guilt as I began walking away from him, I almost wished he'd pull some cheesy romance movie move and run after me, saying he'd choose me over his family traditions. But that didn't happen, and I'm glad it didn't because I would've allowed him to throw everything away just for me.
I returned to my dormitory with a urge to cry, but I held it in for the sake of Ron and Hermione. If they knew I was gay, and had been dating Draco Malfoy, I'd be done for. I know for a fact Ron wouldn't approve of it, he still holds a grudge against Percy for dating Oliver Wood, if I'm correct they're even engaged now. Hermione was raised in the muggle world, where the current argument of same sex marriage being allowed is currently pending in court, Hermione mentioned once that her parents were at a protest for same sex marriage not long ago. If I'm being honest though, I want to get this weight of my chest, after all there is nothing wrong with being gay in my opinion and the majority of the wizarding world. Same sex relationships have been okay for over 2000 years in the wizarding world, it most likely has always been but it was confirmed in 13 b.c.
I grab my robes from my trunk and quickly put it on as people begin to get ready to leave, it was around 10:20 and we all thankfully got a carriage ride but you had to be down there by 10:30 to get a carriage before they leave without you. I wait with Hermione as Ron tramples down the stairs, generally a mess as he decided to pack last minute. "Ron, can't you be a bit more like Harry? Neat and on time," Hermione says with a look of disgust on her face. She obviously shouldn't have said that as now I'm receiving glares of jealousy directed at the back of my head. As we drag our trunks to the carriages my eyes once again fall on Draco, who's eyes seem a bit puffier than usual as Blaise looks at him worriedly. Blaise Zabini I always liked, he was truly loyal to Draco and showed him compassion, not because he need more allies or money, they cared for each other. For once I wished Draco wouldn't be loyal to his wife, maybe if he had her permission to have an affair or keep up the marriage for traditional purposes, he could find true happiness.
I distract myself from these thoughts as I join the conversation Ron and Hermione are having, much to Ron's obvious displeasure. Their conversation soon became a argument as nearly all of them do. As we begin the twenty minute carriage ride to Hogsmeade we mainly sit in silence, Neville having joined us. Soon enough I make Neville open up a bit and he's talking about some new plant he read about, a look of true passion and bliss in his eyes as he spoke of it. I wanted to find something that interested me as much as Herbology was to Neville. He could talk for ours on end about the plants and not get bored, oddly I didn't get bored, mainly because I'm so fascinated by about his love for this.
So that's why I had him join us for the train ride home with us, once again to Ron's displeasure. As I listened to Neville's rant about Snargaluff's Ron makes a choking sound. "What the bloody hell is that on your neck, Harry?" Ron asks wide eyed, indicating to the hickey on my neck. Instinctively my hand touches goes to touch the love bite Draco had given me just two nights ago. That was probably the best night of my life, the day I'd been waiting to happen for the past few months. "Holy shi - that's a hickey!" Ron yells flabbergasted causing Hermione to try and inspect the mark on my neck. causing me to slap her hand away. She gave me a look of anger as she held the hand I hit. "H-he's a teenage boy, what do you expect?" Neville speaks up, his voice giving away how shy he was.
"Thank you Neville, exactly what he said. I am a teenage boy, I'm obviously going to be romantically and sexually active, plus I'm nearly sixteen, one year away from being an adult." I tell them with a sigh, obviously though having me actually confirm I'm active with other people, well really only one person, caused them to be upset with me. Excluding Neville, of course.
"Who's the girl?" Ron asks me after a few moments of silence. I roll my eyes in response and continue to stare out the window, of course he thinks its a girl. "Come on mate, we deserve to know, it's the least you could do after lying to us," he says and I get a surge of anger. They don't deserve to know anything, I don't owe them anything, I didn't lie to them, they never asked if I was seeing someone ever. They could sense I was getting royally pissed off at them as Ron and Hermione excused themselves, saying they were going to get dressed into their regular clothes.
Neville offers me a small smile causing me to smile, I don't understand how someone so wholesome and pure can exist in this world, even after all of this. "It's a boy," I say and he looks at me in confusion. "The person who gave me the hickey, it was a boy in our year." I say and his eyes widen slightly in shock, but he doesn't seem disgusted by it.
"He's really lucky to have you," he says but when he notices my downtrodden expression. "He was lucky to have you?" He asks and I nod causing him to sigh. "I'm sorry, Harry. I hope you find someone else," he says reassuringly as Ron and Hermione come back. They look at us weirdly as they notice the sudden closeness between us. "You told him, didn't you?" Hermione asks, but it's more of a statement than a actual question. I nod and pull out my book, getting ready to ignore them for the rest of the train ride.
That I did, they seemed quite mad at me but I didn't really care as I read my book, eventually I left to go and put on the most decent muggle clothes I had. I really need to get better clothes soon, at least I was able to transfigure them to much better looking clothes that fit my body. I returned to our compartment as the train began to slow down as we neared Kings Cross station. Ron and Hermione said nothing to me as I told Neville bye, skipping them and heading towards the wall where my relatives were behind most likely. I exited through the familiar wall and appeared twenty feet away from where my uncle stood, a annoyed and impatient look on his face.
He spotted me and let out a grunt, signaling me to follow him, and that I did as he walked towards the car. The car ride to Privet Drive was silent, other than the quiet hoots of Hedwig and my breathing in the back seat. "Go to your room," were the first words out of his mouth when we entered the house, I instantly obeyed. As soon as I entered my room, I sensed something off and wasn't surprised when I saw a Goblin sitting on my bed with a grim expression on his features.
"Mister Potter, we have lots to discuss."
notes
so if you didn't notice this takes place on june first, on June 24th of 2011 gay marriage will be legalized and recognized by new york state. i also currently live in new york actually, but i'm originally from southern Germany.