"So, uhhh, Harry?" Seamus Finnigan walked over to his fellow Gryffindor with a kind of swagger and there was a curious smirk on his face. Harry, who had been trying to work on another painfully long and boring potions essay while also trying to eat lunch, looked up.

"What?" he asked. Seamus' grin grew. "Why are you smiling at me like that?" Harry felt a wave of unease wash over him.

"Ah, no reason," Seamus pretended to shrug. "Just polite conversation with a classmate."

"Well if that isn't the biggest lie I've ever heard," Harry replied in a deadpanning tone, unease turning into annoyance.

"Ok, so you got me there," Seamus raised his arms in playful surrender. "I just came over here to ask you, because Dean wanted to know-"

"No I didn't!" another young wizard interrupted, hopping up from his seat at the long table.

"Sure you did!" Seamus grinned wolfishly at him too. Dean continued to protest, but Harry interrupted them both.

"Wanted to know what?" he demanded. He didn't mean to come off as so cross, but with this essay being as long and confusing as it was, he really didn't need to be distracted by other students at the moment. He was busy! Couldn't they see that?

"What did you want to know?" Harry repeated with a tired sigh, silently urging them to just get on with it already.

"Dean wanted to know if you were gay!" Seamus replied, having to shout a little because of Dean begging him not to say anything. The moment Seamus finished asking, however, Dean groaned and hid his face in his hands. Harry, meanwhile, was stunned into silence.

"What?" he asked once the ability to speak finally returned to him.

"Dean wanted to know if you were gay," Seamus repeated, looking totally nonchalant despite how private the question was.

"No I didn't," Dean tried again, but much softer since the question had already been asked.

"What in Merlin's beard ever gave you that idea?" Harry answered the question with another question.

"Well, you seemed to have been quite fixated on Mr. Malfoy all year and Dean and I couldn't help but notice…" Seamus trailed off, still smirking.

"What! Merlin, no!" Harry hissed in disgust. "Draco and I? Are you mental?"

"No, just observant," Seamus shrugged with a cheeky expression. "I mean, you've been staring after him and talking about him all the bloody time and Dean and I weren't starting to wonder if you might be at least a little gay for him?"

"No. That's disgusting!" Harry shook his head, nose crinkling.

"What is?" now Dean was finally speaking up. "The idea of you and Draco, or the idea of two men?" for a moment, the playful air went dark and Harry could sense that he was approaching a rather touchy subject. He understood why, not many witches and wizards were queer, let alone out, but that was because it was an uncommon thing. It wasn't necessarily unnatural, it just wasn't common. And Harry knew he had to think up something fast before some kind of riot broke out because of this conflict between him and Dean.

"Me and Draco, I mean," Harry said. "Blimey, I'd be fine if it were Ron!" he added as a joke, but then Dean's face lit up.

"TOLD YOU!" he bragged to Seamus, hostility gone just like that.

"Told him what?" Harry frowned. Just what in Merlin's beard was going on?

"That you would totally do it with Ron," Dean explained. Harry inwardly cringed at the idea while Seamus pretended to grumble angrily. Truth be told, Harry was fairly sure he was straight. His sexuality wasn't something he'd thought much about. But to have Seamus and Dean both coming up to him now, demanding to know if he was gay, did make him wonder. This 'polite conversation' was taking a very weird turn…

"Look, I don't know what exactly you guys are getting onto," Harry said finally. "But I'm fairly sure I am not gay."

"Suuuure," Dean and Seamus both gave Harry disbelieving looks.

"Look. I have a potions essay to write. If would be so kind as to either help me or leave, that would be much appreciated!" Harry insisted.

"Is something the matter here?" a new voice entered the conversation.

"Professor Dumbledore!" respect instantly entered all three of the boys' voices as their headmaster walked over.

"Yes, hello. It is a lovely day, is it not?" he asked serenely as he approached the trio.

"Yes, sir," the three replied, still in total respect for the wise old wizard walking towards them.

"Then please, tell me, is anything the matter?" he asked gently.

"No, just having some polite conversation," Seamus answered for himself and the other two.

"Is that so?" Dumbledore asked, raising a white eyebrow as he looked at Harry and Dean. The two only nodded, not daring to speak. "Well then, that is good, for it is amongst the most pleasant and idle of conversations that the closest of friendships begin."

"Isn't it, sir?" Seamus agreed, then Dumbledore took leave of the three young wizards, but before he had gone entirely, he caught Harry's eye and Harry thought for sure that he saw a knowing twinkle in them. It was a look that told him that things weren't always what they seemed and that maybe queer wizards weren't as rare as one thought. It was a twinkle that let Harry know Dumbledore knew exactly what their 'polite conversation' was about and Harry began to blush at once.

"See, Dumbledore knows," Dean said mysteriously.

"Nah, I'd bet he would agree with me!" Seamus insisted.

"Yeah right!" Dean play-punched Seamus' arm and Harry could only stare up at them, completely baffled by all that was going on. He even looked around himself to see if anyone else was hearing any of this craziness, but the only person who caught his eye was McGonagall and she had that same knowing look that Dumbledore had given Harry a moment ago. Harry shook his head again and, while Dean and Seamus continued to muse on whether Harry would be more likely to snog Ron or Draco, several clouds passed by and uncovered the sun. The moment the bright light streamed through the windows of the Great Hall, several rainbows spread themselves across the floor.

AN: What house would you guys be in? I'm either Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw.

And yes, this was just a weird little HP short that's meant to take place in 'Half-Blood Prince', and yes, it addresses Harry/Draco and Harry/Ron and even hints to Dumbledore being gay and McGonagall being an ally, but really only Seamus and Dean are supposed to be 'canon' in this story.

Also, if Harry seems slightly homophobic in this story, it's just because the series took place in the 1990s and although the LGBT community certainly existed back then, it wasn't nearly as accepted as it is now in 2018 and admittedly, if one looked at the demographics of Hogwarts, Hogwarts is very cis-het. I wanted to make Harry the "You mean they were gay? I didn't know!" guy because he is rather oblivious sometimes, but he wasn't meant to be like a "Homosexuality is unnatural" guy. I feel like he'd been fine with it once he got more used to it because, again, Hogwarts isn't exactly a queer school, you know? But that was just because it was a different time. Anyway, if there are any issues in this story that you can spot, send feedback! My inbox is always open!