Chapter four

'So he's checking out other blokes and it's causing him to get angry and his lashing out. That makes so much sense now and why he hasn't spoken to me about it. He probably doesn't know I'm fine with gay people. I happen to have three aurors that are gay, two men, one woman. Do you think I should say anything to him, I wouldn't like to embarrass him?'

'You might have to Harry because Poppy said he hasn't spoken to her or Hestia. That's the new healer who is taking over from Poppy next year.'

'I thought she would retire soon and I know I hated talking to Poppy when I was a student here. There should be another bloke here for the boys to talk to.'

'I have thought about it, getting a male healer here just for the occasional visit. And hearing the way James spoke to you before, I think I might. If he had a man here to speak to, he might have handled this better.'

'Okay, let me have permission to keep him out later tonight and I'll talk to him. But thanks for telling me, I just hope he'll talk to me. I need to go over those files of students you don't trust. So I might do that first thing tomorrow.'

'I have them ready for you,' Minerva pointed to the files on the desk.

'That's a large pile Minerva,' Harry stared at it for a minute, 'I should get back to searching this school.'

'You have it permission to keep James out tonight and I hope it goes alright.' Minerva watched Harry leave the room and thought Harry will get through to James and hopefully he will be fun loving person he used to be.

Harry walked down through the school until he found Ron, Daniel and Cho, 'Hi, sorry it took so long, find anything?'

'No, it's all clear boss. I don't think we'll find anything, I think they were planning on bringing in people and dark objects through that tunnel.'

'I think your right Daniel and I don't think we'll find anything, but we still have to search. But I need a private word with you for a minute, won't be long you two,' Harry led Daniel away from the other two, 'I need to ask you something personal, so I hope you don't mind.'

'I don't mind boss, so ask.'

'When did you realise you were gay?'

'Sixteen, but I got suspicious at fifteen. I kept checking out the boys around here and not the girls. So the following year it was getting worse, so I spoke to this boy I knew that was gay. Is there a reason you wanted to know?'

'Yeah, Minerva told me that's what James's problem is, he's gay and hasn't accepted it yet. He's not the type to talk to one of the male professors and he hasn't spoken to Poppy. Normally James would talk to me about anything, but last year he stopped and that's when he started to get moody and his attitude changed. I know he might be a little uncomfortable, but I'm going to talk to him tonight. But I was hoping if he needs it, could he talk to you while you're here?'

'Sure boss, I'll give him all the facts if he wants me to. And what you said, oh yeah, he'll feel a little uncomfortable talking his father about this. But I know you're fine and easy going with gay people, so once he knows that, he should get better with talking to you.'

'Thanks and I'll let you know if he needs to talk to you. But we should get back to work.'

Harry and Daniel joined Ron and Cho, then the two pairs walked off in separate directions. Harry explained to Ron about James and he realised why he has been acting so differently lately.

After dinner, the other seven aurors turned up, so the first lot headed home. Harry walked over to the Gryffindor table.

'James, I need to speak with you before I head home, it won't take long.'

'Oh, alright dad,' James spoke with his friends for a minute then followed his father and they headed outside, 'I'm not supposed to be out here at night.'

'It's fine, Minerva has given you permission. But we need privacy to talk and out here is the best place,' Harry led his son down towards the black lake. 'What I want to talk to you about son is personal. Something I found out today and I realised why you have been getting very angry and snappy at everyone. Let me say this first, you can talk to me about all this and I am perfectly fine with it.'

'What did you find out about me?' James asked nervously.

'I know you're fighting your sexuality and you don't need to. You were born that way and it's who you are supposed to be.'

'Dad,' James turned so he was facing away from his father, 'How did you find out?'

'I was told by someone that has seen who you like to look at. You don't need to be embarrassed to talk to me, but if you are, then I know someone you can. Do you know Daniel, the dark haired auror that was here today?' James nodded, 'Well he's gay and he said if you want to, you can talk to him. He was sixteen when he figured it out, so he does know what you are going through. But I wish you would have talked to me.'

'I didn't know how you would take it knowing I'm…' James couldn't say the word.

'Apart from Daniel, Trevor is also gay and so is Emma. Some of my best friends and work colleagues are gay. That should tell you I'm fine and so is your mother. We love you and it does not bother us in the least if you have a boyfriend and eventually have sex with him. You are our son and if you want to shag men, then that's what you should do and don't let anyone tell you it's wrong, because it's not.'

James slowly turned and faced his father, 'So, you're really okay that I'm…gay?'

'Yes, I really am,' Harry pulled his son into his arm, 'You don't have to talk to me, but now at least you know you can.'

'Thanks dad, I've been so worried about how to tell you.'

'You never have to ever be worried about telling me anything. But you weren't worried about telling your mother, were you?'

'No, because I've heard mum talk about some of the Harpies that are gay, but I've never heard you mention anything and I wasn't sure how you would react.'

'James, you should know what I'm like by now. I don't talk about other people's personal lives because I know what it's like to have people talk about me all the time. But can you tell me something?'

'Um, sure.'

'Have you got a boyfriend?'

James blushed as he lowered his head, but nodded, 'Yeah I have. He's scared right now, from the moment you stepped into the Great Hall this morning.'

'Am I really that scary James?'

James looked up, 'No, it's just your reputation, we've all been learning what you did all this year.'

'Okay, but tell him I'm not going to confront him or anything even if I would like to meet him. But one last question, then I'll let you go. Why haven't you let it known that you're gay? Because you have nothing to be ashamed about.'

'I'm not ashamed, once I realised I accepted I'm gay, it was just you I was worried about. I thought being your son, you would bound to hear sooner or later. But since I know you're okay, I'll tell Paul we can finally let everyone know.'

'Alright, its time you head back in. Tell Paul I'm not going to do anything, but I would like to meet my son's boyfriend.'

'Thanks dad, for everything and I'm sorry again for the way I've been acting, even if only part of it was to do with me being gay and wondering how you would take it.'

'I'm sorry that being my son is hard on your, but the quidditch advice and offer still stands. And about having other people ask you things about me, just do what I told you, tell them to read a book. Now go on, I have to get home to your mother.'

'Okay, can you let mum know for me, I have been thinking of writing to let her know?'

'Sure, if you want me to, I'll tell her. I might see you tomorrow.'

James hugged his father, then headed back into the castle. Harry watched him, then headed down to the gates. He let himself out, reset the wards then apparated home. As soon as he walked inside, he spotted his wife curled up on the couch reading a book.

'Sorry I'm late, had a few things to sort out,' Harry sat next to Ginny, giving her a kiss.

'Anything you can talk about.'

'Yep, which I will explain as soon as I have a shower and change, been a long day.'

'I'll be here sweetheart,' Ginny kissed her husband again, then went back to her book while she waited.

When Harry finished, he came down stairs, grabbed a drink and sat back with his wife, 'I don't think I've ever heard the Great Hall that silent in my life. You should have seen the looks on the kid's faces and not just our kids, all of them.'

'I could imagine, twenty one aurors walking in with you in front. So what did our kids say about you having to be there?'

'Well Albus hoped I wasn't going to crowd them. Lily's scared because she's got a boyfriend and wondering what I'll do to him. Where James was the most surprising. He was rude and his attitude shocked everyone. But I found something out and we spoke not long before I came home.'

'First, Lily, you aren't going to play big auror for her boyfriend are you. From what she wrote, his very nice and cares for her a lot.'

Harry scowled, 'I'm not going to play big auror Gin, but I do want to meet him and since I'm going to be there for a while, I know I will. She's thirteen for merlins sake, so he better keep his hands to himself.'

Ginny giggled, 'I've been waiting for this day since we found out we were having a girl. So tell me about James, I've been trying to think of why he's changed so much.'

'He's main problem was me finding out, he realised once people knew, eventually it would get back to me. He wasn't worried about you finding out though.'

'Finding out what?'

'That he's gay.'

'So that's it, was he having a problem accepting it?'

'No, he even has a boyfriend, Paul, but he'd heard you talk about some of the gay Harpies, so he knew you were okay. Me, he'd never heard me say anything and wasn't sure how I was with gay people. So I told him I'm fine, I even spoke to Daniel in case James wants to talk to someone. We're fine now and he even spoke to me without getting angry. All this was down to being Harry Potter's son. That's his main problem and me turning up this morning has made it worse.'

'So he's got everyone asking him things about you?'

'Yep, so I told him what I used to say to people when they annoyed me, go read a book, I'm mentioned in enough of them. But he's other problem is quidditch and my record. Finally he told me how often they train. Only once a week Gin, it's not enough if he wants to get better.'

'No it's not, James is good, but he needs more training.'

'I told him how much I used to do, at first he looked completely stunned. But I think he's finally realising that if he wants a chance at beating my record, he's going to have to step it up. But now, this other problem that I can't go right into, I'm glad I found the old map because it showed another tunnel. We think they were going to bring everyone through that. It opened on the other side of the Forbidden Forest. I had Cho and Daniel check it out today.'

'That would have taken years to get that done without alerting the staff. What do you think they'll do once they figured out you sealed it?'

'No idea, but their bound to come up with another way in. We sealed all the old tunnels, the vanishing cabinet and been checking for dark objects. We never found anything, which I'm happy about but it did prove that someone inside Hogwarts is involved.'

'And I know you'll keep them all safe, so I'm only a little worried,' Ginny smiled then kissed her husband. She knew that no matter what, Harry would protect their kids and all the kids at Hogwarts. He will never allow them to go through what the students did back when Voldemort had control of the school. Ginny had told Harry everything about what had taken place while he had been looking for the horcruxes. He had been so angry and part of that was not being there to help. But that was all in the past now and Harry with all the other aurors will make sure Hogwarts is always a place where all the students feel safe and protected.