"You're going to grow up and marry a beautiful veela woman and have loads of children, according to your mother"
"What do you think I'll do?"
"You can do whatever makes you happy, son"
Louis didn't mention the fact that his father sounded excited at his mother's idea.
"Molly, honestly. Why do we need to walk all the way around in a bloody circle just so you can avoid your ex!" Lily yelled, rolling her eyes. Molly smacked her younger cousin on the back of the head.
"He is not my ex. We are simply fighting. And you don't have to walk with me" she said.
Lily took this as her chance and waved, racing off down the corridor.
Molly shook her head and kept walking forward. She rounded one of the corners and stopped, her eyes going wide. Two boys were huddled in the corner, snogging. The first had strawberry blonde hair, while the other, who's face she could see, had blonde hair.
"Austin? Austin Macmillan?" she asked out loud, before she could stop herself.
The boys jumped apart and as the second one spun around, Molly let out a gasp.
"Louis?" she yelled.
Her cousin blinked at her in surprise, obviously not expecting to get caught in his current position. He looked at Austin, then at Molly, before taking off down the corridor. Molly opened her mouth to stop him, but closed it again when she caught sight of the hurt look Austin was wearing.
"Austin, he didn't mean anything by it, I'm sure. Let me talk to him, alright?" she asked.
Austin nodded his head, before straightening his Hufflepuff tie and walking away from her.
Molly let out a sigh of annoyance.
She really hated the boys in her family sometimes.
So bloody hard-headed.
"Louis!" Molly yelled.
The corridor around her remained silent, but she knew this was the way her cousin had gone when he left. Slowly she rounded a corner, looking around.
"Louis, are you here?" she asked loudly.
A loud grunt came a few feet away, and Molly looked down, seeing her cousin hiding. She sat down next to him and shoved his shoulder lightly.
He did nothing but grunt again in response.
"Louis, use your words. That's enough of this grunting" Molly ordered. Louis put his head on his knees and remained silent.
"You're a git, you know that, right? Austin is completely torn up about you running off like that. And if you're acting this way because you think we'll care that you fancy blokes, you're bloody crazy on top of it. Albus and Scorpius are shagging, and everyone is alright with that" Molly said, before Louis looked up at her.
"You just don't understand" he said, before standing and walking off.
Molly narrowed her eyes as he left.
She was going to understand, even if it was the last thing she did.
"Louis, it won't be that bad"
"Austin, you just..you don't understand, alright?"
"We've been dating for months now! Why can't we tell someone?"
"Molly knows"
"Molly found out on her own, by accident"
"What bloody difference does that make?"
"Are you ashamed to be dating a bloke? Or me? Is that it?"
And before Louis could respond, Austin stood and left.
Professor Teddy Lupin looked up from the essay he was grading as the door to his office swung open and closed loudly again. Louis waved a hand at him awkwardly. Teddy smiled and waved him forward, pulling a chair up across from him with a wave of his wand.
"Louis, it's nice to see you. You haven't been around much this year" Teddy said, as Louis took is seat.
"I need to talk to you" Louis said.
Teddy's smile disappeared.
"Are you in some sort of trouble?" he asked, expecting the worst from one of the known pranksters in the family.
"No! Well, yes. But not the type of trouble you think. It happens to be more of a...romance problem" Louis said, trying to find the proper words to define what he wanted without giving too much away.
Teddy smiled again.
"That's something I can help with, then. Who's the girl this time, Louis?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.
Louis had always been popular with the girls of the school, and since he had been old enough, he had many girlfriends and many girls who wanted to be his girlfriend.
"Teddy, what I'm about to tell you...I haven't told anyone. Molly knows, but only because she walked in on something she should have never seen. If I talk to you about it, do you promise you won't tell anyone? Not my mum or dad, or Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny, not Albus, and espeically not my sister" Louis said.
Teddy seemed confused, but nodded his head.
"It's not a girl" Louis whispered.
"But you said a romance problem..if it's not a girl, then..oh" Teddy said, putting the pieces together in his head.
Louis looked slightly alarmed, so Teddy reached across the desk and patted him on the side of the head.
"Calm down, Louis. I'm not upset or angry with you or any of those horrid things I'm sure are running through your mind at the moment. And I'm sure that your family wouldn't be either" Teddy assured him, smiling brightly.
"It's not just my family, though! The students here won't react well! They were alright with Albus and Scorpius, sure, but neither of them are really popular. How is everyone going to react knowing that one of the most popular blokes in the entire castle is gay?" Louis asked, before stopping short.
Teddy smiled sadly.
"Louis, it's up to you. But the bloke won't wait around forever" he said.
Louis watched him for a moment before standing and nodding his head.
Teddy was right.
It was unfair to make Austin sit around and wait for him to be ready to face his fears.
It was now or never.
"Are you sure?"
"Just hold my bloody hand, you arse"
"Only if you're ready"
"Austin!"
"Alright!"
Austin grabbed Louis' hand, clutching it tightly with his own. Louis smiled a little and let out a loud sigh, making Austin look at him in worry again.
"I'll be fine. We're together, and I'm tired of having to hide it" Louis said, looking at the doors to the Great Hall.
Everyone was in there.
His friends, family, Austin's friends.
How would they react?
Austin squeezed his hand and Louis felt bravery rush through him.
He'd be perfectly fine as long as he had Austin.
"Look at them!"
"There's no way Louis Weasley fancies blokes!"
"I've always suspected about Austin, but Louis?"
"It's impossible"
Louis let go of Austin's hand, allowing him to go to the Hufflepuff table while he walked over to the Slytherin table and sat down next to Alexander, Fred, Albus and Thomas. Thomas and Alexander both thumped him on his shoulders, and he jumped, glaring at them.
"We happen to be your best mates, so we would appreciate it if you would tell us the next time you start dating a bloke" Thomas said.
Louis let out a sigh and shook his head.
"You don't care?" he asked.
Alexander snorted loudly.
"Bloody moron, eat your breakfast" he ordered.
Louis smirked and took a bite of food, only to lose it a moment later when someone smacked him on the back of the head.
"You git! You should've told me about you and Austin!" Lily yelled at her older cousin, her hands on her hips. She, Rose, and Lucy were all standing behind him, looking quite offended.
"Molly knew" he said, trying to steer some of the blame away from himsef.
"Oh, shut up!" Lucy ordered.
Louis smiled innocently.
Rose glanced over at where Austin was sitting, talking with Scorpius quietly. The two boys looked up and Scorpius gave a thumbs up to Louis, making Albus laugh.
"You really fancy him?" Rose asked.
Louis nodded.
"Alright then, we approve" Lucy decided, as Rose and Lily nodded.
Louis smiled and took another bite of his breakfast.
James was smiling at him from the Gryffindor table, Fred was laughing and joking with him like usual, he had the girls' approval, and even Scorpius, Lysander and Lorcan were smiling at him from their places at their tables.
"Now to tell your mum" Lily said, breaking into his thoughts.
Louis frowned.
He had forgotten about that.
Summer holidays started, and Austin had gained permission to visit Louis the last two weeks of summer. Between now and then, Louis realized he had to gain the courage to tell his parents that it wasn't just his best mate coming to stay with them, but his boyfriend.
"Good luck, write me" Austin whispered, squeezing Louis' hand.
School had been horrid the last few weeks, with girls glaring at the pair of them everytime they walked by together. The other students hadn't been much better. Most blokes asked if Louis honestly thought he was fooling anyone by pretending to be with Austin, and when he told them he wasn't pretending, they just laughed.
Austin smiled and walked away.
As Bill led his son away, Lily mouthed, "Tell him!", before they disappeared.
"Dad, I need to talk to you" Louis said, entering the kitchen.
Instead of his father, however, he found his two older sisters sitting at the table.
Dominique smiled.
"Louis, sit down. Dad will be back in a moment" she ordered.
Louis tried to shake his head, but Victorie pulled him down into the seat next to her. She ruffled his hair and grinned.
"You've gotten so big since the last time I saw you" she said, looking amused.
"I need to talk to dad" Louis repeated.
Victorie frowned.
"What's wrong?" she asked, narrowing her eyes.
"None of your concern" Louis snapped. Victorie's blue eyes flashed with hurt for a moment and she turned her head, her blonde hair hiding her face.
"Honestly, I didn't...I'm gay" Louis said suddenly.
Dominique's jaw dropped open and Victorie's head snapped back around so she could get a better look at her brother to see if he was serious.
"You're...Merlin, Louis" Dominique said, running a hand through her hair.
"I knew it. I knew that this family couldn't accept it. Everyone else was fine, but all you lot want me to do is marry some bloody veela woman I'll hate for the rest of my life to produce fantastic veela children. Well, I'm not going to do it! I'm in love with Austin Macmillan, alright? And that's all there is to it!" Louis yelled.
Dominique and Victorie both nodded their heads towards the kitchen door, and Louis spun to see Bill and Fleur standing there, both looking shocked.
"Louis?" Bill asked.
"Dad. Mum. I-" he started, but before he could finish, Fleur had wrapped him in her arms and was hugging him tightly.
He made out what sounded like, "Sorry" in French, but after that his mother just muttered things into his shoulder.
"What your mother is trying to say, I think, is that you don't have to marry a veela woman, Louis. That's just what we thought you always wanted. If Austin is who you love, then you need to be with Austin" Bill said, putting a hand on his son's shoulder.
Louis smiled.
"Honestly?" he asked.
"Honestly. Although I will have to have a talk with that boy when he comes over or the summer" Bill said, his eyes narrowing. Dominique and Victorie both nodded their heads.
"You lot are bloody amazing" Louis said, letting out the breath he was holding in.
His family still loved him, and even if the rest of the school never came around, it didn't matter. He had Austin and his friends and family and that was all that mattered in the first place.
