Chapter seven

Late in the afternoon, Kingsley Shacklebolt and Joseph turned up at Harry's home.

'Since it's late, I thought we could have some dinner together and you can tell me what you want Harry.'

'Sounds good, because I need some advice on something. But Joseph, you can stay with us this time,' Harry smiled at him.

'If you want Harry, you know I'll keep whatever I hear to myself.'

'Yeah, I do.'

Harry, Kingsley and Joseph walked down to the small pub, found a booth at the back, ordered some drinks and their dinner.

'So what's up Harry?'

'Well, I've been doing a lot of thinking, but something occurred to me, then the woman who did my will made he realise something as well. See in the muggle world, when famous rock stars or movie stars end up in relationships, most of the time they don't work because the person they end up with is only after their fame or money, sometimes both. Now even though I don't want to be considered any different to anyone else, I know I am and with the way everyone keeps following me around, or staring at me shows I am treated differently.'

'I get you there Harry, you will have some that might just want to be with you because you are famous, you are the saviour of our world. Some might even do that without realising they are doing that. Your money I wouldn't worry about as no one knows you have any, only us and the Weasley's and Hermione of course. So it would be your fame that might attract people to you.'

'If you don't mind Harry, but looking at you right now, you're a nice looking young man. Now most of us have seen photos of you over the years, none of them were very nice. But since you don't have that haunted look anymore, or any cuts and bruises over you, people can really see you properly, so you will be attractive to some people.'

'Oh, thanks, but yeah, none of those photos were very nice. Hermione told me she overheard a heap of girls talking about trying to slip me love potions, one actually did give me some chocolates, Ron ended up eating those.'

'I heard about that, you took him to Slughorn for a remedy, he ended up getting poisoned, Slughorn panicked, but you didn't, you saved him with a bezoar.'

Harry laughed, 'Yeah, I did, but what Ron was saying and doing before was hilarious. But you see, Hermione told me they were only after me because I was the chosen one, or thought I was. So how do I work out who likes me for me and not who I am?'

'That's a difficult problem Harry, I've noticed a few looks from woman and men since I became minister, I never got those looks before. So I do understand, but I'm not sure what to do about it.'

'Um, does Joseph know about you then?'

'We actually dated a few years ago, but realised we were just friends.'

'Well at least I don't have to be careful what I say then. This is all new to me, not just because of my age and finally having some time to think about relationships and not Voldemort, but being gay is not something I ever thought about.'

'Yes, exactly like you told me that day. But let me ask you this, are you ready to start seeing men, dating them, even if you want to keep it quiet for now?'

'Yeah, I am. I'm not sure about getting into a serious relationship, won't know till I meet someone. But I've always been alone, not in the sense of my friends. But Ron and Hermione are finally together, it's taken them long enough and I realised I want that. I went out the other day, disguised and it was great, so I thought of doing that to see if I meet anyone.'

'In one way that's good, but in another it's not. See, some men, well I suppose woman as well go for certain looks, like me, I have a few looks I like. Dark haired men are one type I'm attracted to, like Joseph. So if you were disguised and you liked the look of a man but he might not like blond or red headed men, he wouldn't even look at you.'

'He makes sense Harry, I'm the same. I check out men that are my type, which is dark men. Something about the rich dark skin just gets to me.'

Harry, Kingsley and Joseph all laughed, 'Okay, I get what you mean, so I'm back to my problem of working out if someone likes me for me and not how I'm thought of. Let me ask you both something, as you can see my scar is covered at the moment, but if I did this,' Harry took his glasses off, 'and you didn't know it was me, would you recognise me straight away?'

'Actually no I wouldn't because Harry Potter wears glasses,' Kingsley said, but looked confused.

'No, I wouldn't either Harry.'

'I don't get it, you do wear glasses, so that can't change anyway.'

'Actually it can, in the muggle world that have these things called contact lenses, so I wouldn't need to wear glasses if I got those.'

'What are contact lenses?' Joseph asked.

'There these small plastic eye shaped discs that sit right on your eyes and work like glasses, but you can't tell you have them on. You can even get different colours to change your eye colour. I wouldn't do that, as I've been told I have my mother's eyes.'

'Well, looking at you without glasses would make a difference. Might give you a chance to see who takes an interest in you before they realised who you are. But I have to say Harry, you really have nice eyes, I never noticed before. I can just imagine what your mother looked like. Bright emerald green eyes with red hair, she would have been beautiful.'

Harry put his glasses on, 'I think so, but she was my mother, so I'm bias. Sirius told me that's what attracted dad to mum in the first place, her eyes. Did you know they hated each other, right up until seventh year? Mum called dad an arrogant toe rag,' Harry laughed.

'No, I never knew that. So what changed?'

'No idea, I never got a chance to ask Sirius. He died not long after I spoke to him about the fight my parents had in sixth year. Remember when Dumbledore wanted Snape to teach me occlumency?'

'Yeah, I remember, Sirius was furious.'

'Yeah, he was, he gave Snape a warning. Anyway, I was hopeless at first, but one time I got so sick of Snape having a go at my father, that I produced a shield charm and broke into his memories. I saw the way my dad and Sirius treated Snape when they were students. Mum and Snape were good friends then, they met when they were about ten. That's what the fight was about. Sirius said he was bored, then spotted Snape, dad lifted Snape up by his ankles, then was about to take his pants off, that's when Snape was able to get me out of his head. Threw me out of his office and refused to teach me after that.'

'He was probably embarrassed that you saw that.'

'Yeah, he was, but he was so angry, I'd never seen Snape that angry before. Hagrid and McGonagall said dad and Sirius were pranksters, a lot like Fred and George, but they were more than that, Sirius said they did a lot of hurtful things to Snape.'

'I think kids that age always do things like that to people they don't like Harry, especially when you think of how different James and Sirius was to Snape. He was into the dark arts even then, your father and Sirius hated everything to do with the dark arts, so they automatically hated each other.'

'Yeah, I know and I get why. At first I was confused about what I saw my father doing, but Remus explained some things to me, so I understand more now.'

'About Remus, he made you godfather to his son right?'

'Yeah, Teddy, I haven't seen him yet, haven't really wanted to go out properly.'

'Have you thought about taken him, being godfather, you have the right.'

'No, I wouldn't do that, he should stay with his grandmother. If she was a muggle, yeah I would take him, but I know nothing about kids, and I only met Andromeda Tonks once, she didn't seem to like me very much. So I just hope she lets me get to know Teddy.'

'From what I've heard and know about Andromeda, she is very guarded, very careful who she gets to know and that comes down to her sisters. She marries a muggleborn, but her sisters are Bellatrix Lestrange and Narcissa Malfoy. We know Bellatrix was one of Voldemorts main death eaters and hated her sister because she married a muggleborn and not a pure blood. Now Narcissa might not have wanted to be a death eater but she did believe in marrying only purebloods. If I was you, I'd send Andromeda a letter, explaining you want to get to know your godson, but you are not going to take Teddy away from her. She would be feeling very insecure at the moment. She lost her husband and only child, Teddy is all she has left.'

'Yeah, he is her only family. God I wished Tonks never turned up that night. I know she was an auror, but she should have stayed with Teddy. I never wanted any kid to be without their parents, I know how hard that is.'

'She probably wanted to stay with her son Harry, but when you become an auror, duty sometimes takes priority over your personal life. We learn more about what we have to do and how important we are to the wizarding world. That's why only certain people can be accepted as an auror. When someone first sits in there doing some tests, one thing is a questionnaire. You don't really realise what it actually means, but it's to see if you have the right temperament to become an auror. When I look at you, I think okay, Harry Potter, had a lot of experience with dark witches and wizards and dark magic, would make a great auror, but then I see how much you think of family, or you're friends. That can cause a conflict with being an auror. It doesn't mean you can't have a personal life, it just means you have to be willing to put that personal life on hold or in the background and do your job, your duty. It's not an easy life, but if you're dedicated, it can be very fulfilling and Tonks was dedicated to her job.' Joseph explained.

'Well, I always wanted to be an auror, but you've given me a lot to think about. Because my friends mean everything to me and I would protect them with my life if I had to, they're the closest people to a family I have. But then again, they are adults now, starting their own lives, relationships and I know they can all look after themselves.'

'If you want to sit down with me or us, we can help you sort out whether you will be suited to being an auror. I think you will make an excellent one myself, so I might get you some information. Take your time, read it all through carefully, then you can ask us anything about it, how's that sound?' Kingsley asked.

'Sounds good Kingsley and I would like to talk to you both more about it, thanks.'

Harry, Kingsley and Joseph kept talking as they ate, then still talked as they walked back to Harry's place, before Kingsley and Joseph left. Harry showered and got into bed with thoughts of how much he enjoyed himself tonight. Just sitting with two men he thought of as friends and they just talked, but with no danger about or danger in the conversation. So Harry fell into a very contented and peaceful sleep.