Harry sat alone in the boys' dormitories, looking at the first ever edition of Hogwarts' new monthly newspaper, the Hogwarts Herald, Dumbledore's latest idea to further inter-house communication. Most sections were of little interest to him – secret passageways and locations of helpful portraits were no news to him, the Marauder's map providing a far more detailed and indeed secret guide to Hogwarts' many hidden features. Most articles in the first issue were written by students from younger years, who were still more enthusiastic and mesmerised by Hogwarts. From sixth year, only Luna Lovegood, Pansy Parkinson and Hermione Granger had written articles. Luna's article dealt with the latest findings on Nargles, with useful tips on how to fashion butter beer cork necklaces to ward the Nargles off, Pansy's article was a heartfelt discussion, on why Hogwarts robes were unfashionable and had to be replaced with better and more modern garments and Hermione had written a 17 page long history on wizarding school newspapers. The latter, Harry vowed to read later, to not fail Hermione sure to come interrogation on his opinion.
The only section that really sparked Harry's interest, however, was the lonely hearts ad, which, hidden in the corner of page ten, advertised for students to send in descriptions of themselves, as well as their interests, in order to be matched up with their ideal partner. Ever since Harry had realised during the summer holidays that his lack of romantic interest in girls so far stemmed to the fact that he was gay, he had wondered, how he was going to explore his newly discovered sexuality, without alerting all of Hogwarts, followed most likely by the rest of the wizarding world, that their Golden Boy was a homosexual.
During the summer holidays it had all seemed so easy. One evening, while getting the groceries for his aunt and uncle, he had noticed an incredibly cute boy, about the same age as himself, stealing several glances, as they crossed ways in the super market numerous times. Harry even stood behind the boy while waiting at the cash registry. After paying, Harry quickly left the store, to see, whether he could tell which way the boy had gone, but he could not see him anymore. Later that night, Harry had wondered, why his heart beat grew faster, when thinking back to the boy's messy blond hair and delicate features. The realisation seemed to hit him and made him feel very stupid. It was such an easy explanation and yet one that made so much sense to him, even made him feel at ease. He was attracted to a man. The following nights, Harry tried to always get the shopping done at roughly the same time, earning him suspicious glances from Aunt Petunia, who seemed rather surprised by Harry's sudden eagerness to run her errands. The following two nights, Harry did not see the boy again, leaving him feeling disappointed. His tenacity paid off, however, as he ran into the boy several more times, but ultimately never struck up the courage to actually talk to him. So far with being a brave Gryffindor. Following his inability to approach the local Muggle boy, Harry knew he had to try harder at school, if he wanted to experience more than distant pining.
It was not, as if Harry did not think he stood a chance with other guys. He was more than happy, with how his body had changed over the last year. He finally had grown a bit, making him by far not the tallest, yet not as small, in comparison to the other boys in his year, as he used to be. Additionally, the years of Quidditch and the seemingly endless hours of gardening his aunt made him do every day over the summer holidays, had really paid off. Harry felt that he looked better than ever before in his life. Wearing clothes that fit him, for a change, did not hurt either. Everything in his life seemed to go exceptionally well at the moment. His scar had not hurt for quite some time, Sirius had survived Voldemort's trap in the ministry, the only thing that was not up to par, was having to spend yet another holiday with the Dursleys. But, with school starting again soon, even that had been bearable.
Barely two weeks after last seeing the blond boy while shopping, the vacation had come to an end, and Harry had made his way to King's Cross, where he was reunited with Ron and Hermione, the latter of which had come back from a short trip to Spain and therefore was glowing with a nice tan and excitement to release her saved up energy from reading on the beach into this year's studies. Coming out to Ron and Hermione had been far more pleasant than Harry had feared. Of course, he never really expected a negative reaction from his two best friends, but one never really knew with such revelations. Harry had thought coming out to them over owl to be too impersonal, so he told them on the train journey to Hogwarts. Ron had clapped him on the back an said, "Alright mate, more girls left for me," which earned him a scowl from Hermione, who had launched herself at Harry, pulling him into a tight hug, telling him that, "We love you, no matter what, you know that Harry, right?" So far, so good.
Harry took another look at the lonely hearts ad:
Hogwarts Lonely Hearts Club – Are you looking for that special someone? Are you afraid to talk to your crush? Send us an owl with a letter containing a description of yourself, your preference in gender, as well as a short list of your interests and we will do our best to match you up with your perfect partner, giving you the opportunity to directly exchange messages via our instant note service.
Hearing steps, Harry turned around, to see Ron coming up the stairs:
"What are you doing Harry?"
"Have you read the first Hogwarts Herald already?" Harry asked Ron. "It's got a lonely hearts section. What do you think, should I risk sending an application?"
"Let me have a look, I've only read Hermione's article so far" said Ron, pulling the newspaper out of Harry's hands. "Speaking of which – 'Afraid to talk to your crush'– maybe I should try that, too."
"Oh, please, Ron. Just ask Hermione out already. You don't need some weird love service to do that. I, on the other hand, don't know anybody yet and could really use this as a chance to get to know other gay guys in our year," uttered Harry, taking the newspaper back out of Ron's grasp.
"Well, it's worth a try," Ron declared. "You never know who might be gay. Apart from Seamus that is."
"I couldn't date Seamus, he is too good of a friend. Also, I'm pretty sure he's got the hots for Dean."
"How come all of my sister's exes turn out to be gay?" remarked Ron. "She's really got a talent it seems."
Some time later, the golden trio was reunited, with Hermione busy proofreading Harry's application for the Lonely Hearts Club.
16 year old male, looking for another male. Medium height, brown hair, athletic build from Quidditch. Interest include Quidditch, the outsides, adventure. I am looking for the right guy, who is sweet, intelligent and caring.
"Seems good to me," declared Hermione. "Now all you have to do is send it off via owl and you're good to go. I'm so excited to see, whom you'll be matched up with!"
"I can't very well use Hedwig, can I? Or else everyone will know that I participated," replied Harry. "I better use one of the school owls to ensure complete anonymity. I'd prefer not to be in the Daily Prophet tomorrow, with Rita Skeeter speculating on my supposed love life." So, Harry sealed the envelope and made his way to the owlery. Now, all he had to do was wait.