Disclaimer: I only own the idea I came up with for this story.

Thank you for the reviews! I'm so flattered and excited – one of my reviewers went to her school's lgbtq office with the idea of going around college with scarlet letters on their chests, and they liked it! I am so inspired by your passion. Thank you so much.


"She had not known the weight until she felt the freedom." ~Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter


"Oh my god," Ginny exclaimed. "I can't believe he did that. What an awesome idea!"

"Are you okay with him mentioning you, Hermione?" Neville asked.

"I told him he could. It makes you feel stronger knowing you have someone else to share something like this with, and he needs all the strength he can get."

Ginny looked thoughtful. "Sharing, huh?" When Seamus sat down, she turned and asked, "Seamus, can you make me a badge, too?"

His eyes widened. "You… want a badge?"

"Yeah! I want to support you. And gay rights, of course."

"Wow…"

"But you're not gay, Gin," Ron said daftly.

"Then she can get an S for 'straight and supporting,'" Luna suggested.

Ginny grinned. "S it is!"

"S for me, too," said Hermione.

Luna put her request in for an S, as well. "What would the others be? L and B? T? P?"

Hermione thought for a moment. "Yeah, that sounds right. Seamus?"

He shrugged. Just then, a sixth year Ravenclaw girl walked over to him, confident in her step but nervous in her eyes. It was clear she hadn't come out until just this moment. The entire school looked on; it was a little different than Seamus's friends asking for badges, and because they were sitting with him already, no one else paid attention to what they had been saying.

"Seamus, I'm Astoria. Would you make me an L, please? I know gay can be for both guys and girls, but I'd like an L if you wouldn't mind."

Poor Seamus was so shocked, his jaw was hanging open. Hermione took the liberty of answering for him. "That would be a 'yes.' Come find us tomorrow at breakfast."

Astoria smiled. "Great, thanks!" She walked back to her seat.

"Me too, Shay," Dean said. He knew it would mean a lot to Seamus if he publicly supported him. "But G for mine, of course, as I'm not a lesbian." Seamus gratefully smiled at him, and he reached across the table and held Seamus's hand, indicating to the other students that the rumors about him and Seamus were true. "You did good."

"Thanks… I can't believe you all want letters, too. And that Ravenclaw… she's the sister of a Slytherin. She should know she'll get a lot of flak for this…"

Harry swallowed his food before talking. "Like Dumbledore said, you're a symbol of strength, now. I wouldn't be surprised if more people ask you to make some. Could I… have an S, too?"

Seamus just gave a powerful speech, people were asking him to make them letters, even a random girl risked torture from school mates by walking over to him and asking him for an L, and Harry still couldn't tell them he was gay, yet he was able to face Voldemort with the strength of the entire school put in one body every year for seven years. What was wrong with him? Maybe it was because the 'Golden Boy' wasn't supposed to be gay. His heart felt heavy, and he couldn't maintain the fleeting feeling of joy for Seamus that came when he made his speech. He felt terrible about that. He also felt incredibly guilty. He technically just lied to all of his friends by asking Seamus for an S instead of a G. All he wanted to do was curl up by the fire in the common room.


By the time potions came around the next morning, Harry was feeling a bit better. His friends, as always, managed to get his mind off things for a while. However, as they had most of their classes with the Slytherins, he was bound to be reminded. They were sitting at their tables waiting for Snape to arrive when Millicent Bullstrode opened her mouth to the Slytherin girl next to her.

"Did you know that little Ravenclaw twat was a lesbian? I mean really, she's a Greengrass! I don't know why she came out. She's not going to get support, especially from her family; I don't know what she's thinking. They're purebloods, and they won't be happy about finding out there's filth among them. And that Finnigan is just starving for attention since Potter always steals it all. Now that Voldemort is gone, he has his chance to steal the spotlight."

Harry and Seamus violently stood, but they were cut off before they could take a step in her direction.

"I can't believe you're talking shit about her in a class I'm in!" Everyone looked at the doorway and saw Daphne standing there, books and bag in hand. "Why the fuck are you running your mouth about her when you're a disgrace to not only the wizarding world, but the entire human race? Sexuality is normal, healthy, and it doesn't matter who you prefer. It isn't a choice, it's biological. Being a moron is biological too, I guess, so I can't fault you for that. But being a raging bitch is."

"Well first of all, you weren't here," Millie said venomously, "and second of all, why are you defending her? It's gross; a girl kissing another girl or a guy kissing another guy. It is a disease, you know, so I guess I can't fault them on that, either. But public displays of it should be illegal."

Daphne started walking over to Millie's table. The Gryffindors, all ready to strike, were too interested in a Slytherin-on-Slytherin fight to do anything, so they simply watched. "She's my sister! I don't fucking care what the medical term is for it, it is not a disease!" She slammed her books on the table, but Millie just glared up at her.

"For goodness sakes, Daphne, calm down. You should be careful with what you say. You never know; rumors might start about you being gay."

"Are you really threatening me?!"

"That depends on your definition of threatening."

Before she could punch Millie, Draco was up and out of his seat, pulling her away, his chair falling to the ground with a loud bang. "Daphne, let it go. Millie's never been the brightest star in the sky. She's not worth it."

"Yes, Miss Greengrass," came Snape's voice from the doorway by his desk that led to his rooms. "Sit down before you get in trouble as well." His gaze focused on Millie. "Here, eight pm sharp, every Saturday for two months. I will not tolerate lateness." He turned with a swirl of his robes and waved his wand. Instructions for the day's potion appeared on the board. "Get into groups of two or three. Get the materials. Do the potion. Two hours." He disappeared through the door from which he came.

Draco steered Daphne towards the materials closet and they disappeared inside. Before she walked out of the closet, Hermione walked up to Daphne (the closet was fairly large). "Good for you for sticking up for your sister. That took a lot of guts."

Daphne actually smiled at Hermione. The Gryffindor smiled back, and walked off. As hard as he tried to keep them down, the corners of Draco's mouth turned up. "See? Who needs Millie when there are people like that around?"

"You once called people like that 'mudbloods' if I recall."

"Oh shut up. You know I never meant it."

"Don't let her hear you say that. She'd have a field day."

Draco lightly shoved his sister-figure and exited the closet behind her. As they walked towards the back of the room, she stopped next to Seamus. "What letter would someone who's straight wear?"

"Uh, S… for supporting…"

"I'll take it." And she strode by Millie's table with her head held high, smirking all the way.


"I can't believe this! Ten people 'ave asked me… I need t' make more badges… not including you guys! This… amazing!"

Hermione smiled at Seamus's inability to form full sentences. "I'm so happy for you. Look at what you started!"

"What we started. I couldn'a done it wit'out you and your skills, Hermione." He was so excited that his accent was stronger than ever. "Thank you so much."

"C'mon, let's go make those badges," she said.

"Don't forget ours!" Ginny reminded them.

"Right, that's sixteen… let's just make a bunch, like thirty of S and ten of L, B, and G just to be sure," Hermione told him as they were walking to the opposite side of the eighth year common room. "Just so we won't have to make one for every student that asks. I'm sure there will be more coming out tomorrow."

"Yeah, like me," Blaise shouted from across the room. "I'd like an S! Don't forget!"

"Blaise, are you sure?" Pansy asked quietly. "You know that could get dangerous. Daphne is one thing. You're another."

"Pans, we're the biggest, baddest Slytherins of the lot. No one's gonna bother me and if they do," Blaise punched his hand with his fist.

"We're certainly not the baddest," Daphne put in.

"Our parents were in Voldemort's inner circle, Daphne. Yours weren't."

"And when we switched sides and fought in the war, we got the Order on our side. Trust me, I'll be fine. Especially if Finnigan can do what he did."

"He is right," Daphne said. "No one will bother him or you or any other Slytherin who decides to support this. The war is over, Pans. It's time to start acting like it."

Pansy and Daphne glanced at Seamus's badge before he turned to leave, then at each other, and then at Draco. "No," was all he said. The girls decided to let the subject drop and began a game of monopoly with Theo.

"Hey, Ginny! Come over here and play monopoly with us."

Ginny looked at Theo as if he'd grown a second head, but complied. After all, monopoly was her favorite game, and Theo had never been rude to her or her friends. Millie walked in just then, sneered at Daphne nastily, and went through the door to the girls' dormitories. "I heard what happened in your potions class," Ginny told Daphne. "I'm glad you stood up to her. I wish I could have seen her face when you went to punch her."

"Thanks. I wish I had punched her, but someone had to hold me back."

She glared at Draco, who rolled his eyes. "Oh, 'thanks for getting me out of detention, Draco. I probably would have had to scrub cauldrons with a toothbrush for a month if it wasn't for you.'"

Daphne threw a pillow at him. "You know Snape would've gone easy on me."

"Okay I have to know…" came Ron's voice from the chess board. "Why are you lot being nice to us, all of a sudden? What's the deal? Inviting Hermione to do homework with you, calling Ginny over for monopoly, helping Harry in chess against me – what happened to the jibes and sneers and evilness?"

"Well Weasley, if you used your head to notice, in the war we kind of switched sides. You see, that's when people on one side decide to help the other side." Snickers were heard around the room at Draco's words. "And we didn't switch sides on the spur of the moment. Usually, something as big as a side switch from the evil to the good takes a lot of balls and heavy thinking, which you're incapable of. There, do you feel better now?"

Ron fumed, and Ginny felt bad, so she interjected. "He was just asking, theres no need to be rude! While I appreciate all you did, Ron does have a point. I'm grateful for what you've been doing, however subtle, but I understand Ron's question. Despite the side switch, none of you had to be nice to us, and you never were. Oh and since you all have switched sides and are being 'nice' to us and all that, speak to my brother like that again and I'll bat bogey your face. I'm sure you remember what that's like."

Draco rolled his eyes again while the other Slytherins snorted. Theo smiled at her. "Let me explain. Those blockheads over there are too proud for their own good, so I'll speak for them as well as myself. We weren't allowed to be seen being nice to you. If we were, someone in Slytherin would run to our parents, or even Voldemort, and we'd get into serious amounts of trouble. Like, death sentence trouble. We either had to be outright nasty, like Draco, Blaise, and Pansy, or not acknowledge you at all, like me, Daphne, and most of the others. Draco might have a harder time adjusting because, again, he's too proud, but since I never said a word to you, I have no image to keep up."

"Glad that's cleared up, can we start our game, please?" Pansy grumbled.

Theo turned to Ginny and shot her a charming smile. "See? Too proud. She'll come around. You'll see."

"THEO! Stop flirting and start playing!"

Ginny rolled the dice and looked down at the board to try and hide her flaming cheeks.


I hope you enjoyed that chapter!