So this Chapter is entirely Harry, but it was the only way it would work and opens up to the next few chapters focuing a lot more on Neville, Draco, James and Lily.

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Out.

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"Harry! What happened this morning? I thought we were meeting by the tree as usual." Josh said, swinging his arm around Harry's shoulders.

"Go to hell." Harry hissed, shrugging him off and walking away.

"What? Harry what the fuck is wrong with you?"

"Seamus! Remember him?" Harry spat and Ron scowled at Joshua.

All the colour seemed to leave Josh's face, "Oh… I… Harry please you have to -"

"Stay away from him Grosen!" Ron growled, tugging Harry's arm and pulling him along the corridor, towards their next classroom.

.~*~*~*~*~*~*~.

Ron was the driving force that kept Harry going for the next few days, he made sure Harry ate, slept and went to the right classes at the right time. He checked that Harry was wearing, semi, clean clothes and followed his friend everywhere to make sure he wasn't harming himself. Even with Ron's efforts it was obvious to others that Harry was having a difficult time, Hermione, aware of the situation, tried to be as helpful as possible, always attempting to cheer Harry up. Seamus watched mournfully, tending to stay away but panicking whenever he saw Harry talking to Dean. Remus and Severus, for their part, kept their distance, occasionally checking in to make sure Harry was okay, they never pushed for information on what had happened though, something Harry was immensely grateful for. Draco, on the other hand, was constantly pestering about what was wrong, and although Harry knew it was because he cared it was still incredibly irritating. "Christmas soon." Ron said, interrupting Harry's thoughts, they were sat in the common room making vague attempts at doing their homework.

"Hmm." Harry murmured, staring in confusion at his potions journal.

"Obviously you're coming to ours for most of the day." Ron nodded, "What are your other plans?"

"Umm… Dunno, we're having Christmas dinner a few days later 'cause Nev has to be with his gran and Lucius has to be at the manor with Draco so…"

Ron smiled, "Well I'm hoping to go visit Charlie at some point, wanna come?"

"To Romania?"

"Yeah, it'll be fun, we can hang out. Plus Charlie'll take us out with his mates."

Harry nodded, a holiday really sounded like a good idea right now, "I'll check with my dads." He muttered, watching as Seamus walked over.

"Can I… Can I sit down?" The teenager asked quietly, Ron glanced at Harry who gave a small shrug so the red head nodded.

Seamus perched awkwardly on the chair in front of Harry, glancing around him nervously, Harry rolled his eyes and cast the muffliato charm. "What is it?" He asked, mildly irritated by the other boy's behaviour.

"I… I'm sorry Harry, I didn't know about you and Josh, I swear."

"I know." Harry said, throwing his potions journal down onto the table, "But you knew about you and Dean right?" He asked sarcastically, Ron couldn't help but snort at the words as Seamus flinched.

"I know I fucked up." Seamus whispered.

"So why did you do it?" Harry asked, honestly curious as to why Seamus had cheated on Dean when he was obviously so in love with him.

Seamus looked down, "I… I freaked out, things are moving so fast and Dean's talking about moving in together after graduation. I was panicking and… Well I'm Josh's 'study buddy' for Arithmecy and he was just there and… I've never felt so bad in my life, just the thought of… I can't risk losing Dean." Seamus sniffed, wiping his nose on his sleeve as tears trickled down his cheeks, "I know I should tell him but…"

"No." Harry said quietly. "Why should he deal with the pain of your insecurities? It's pretty clear it won't happen again, if I thought it would then yeah I'd tell him but… This is your fuck up to deal with." Harry added, ignoring Ron's raised eyebrow, not sure if it was agreement or disapproval. "Dean loves you enough to forgive you. Telling him wouldn't affect your relationship, it would just hurt him."

Seamus gave a small nod, wiping at his eyes and looking like he wasn't sure whether to be thankful or not. "I am sorry you got hurt." He murmured.

"Yeah well… Story of my life. Turns out you weren't the only one." Harry scowled, Ron had done some digging the past few days and found out that Josh had actually slept with a few guys behind Harry's back. Something that had earned him a punch in the face off Ron. "You finished this potions essay?" Harry asked, desperate to get the subject off Josh.

"Umm no… Nev has though, we could ask him for help." Seamus said quietly.

"Sounds like a plan!" Ron said, quickly removing the charm and standing up, "Let's go find him."

.~*~*~*~*~*~*~.

Harry unrolled the scroll, feeding Hedwig a handful of cornflakes as he read it.

Potter, The Prophet has received a claim that you are homosexual, after a bit of digging and an interview with an ex-boyfriend they have decided to run the story. There is nothing you can do to stop them, even legally and the story will hit press tomorrow. I thought you deserved a head's up. And if you want to get your story across then you know who to call. Rita Skeeter.

"Fuck." Harry breathed, handing the scroll to Ron, "Oh fuck. I can't… I'm not… I haven't even told your mum yet! Why is this happening?"

"It's okay, it's fine. Mum will be cool with it, you know she will, and so will my dad. Everyone else who matters already knows and screw anyone else who can't accept it." Ron said, scrunching the scroll up and stuffing it in his pocket, "You should go tell McGonagall, she'll let you floo mum and tell her face to face. Then at some point you can set up an interview with Skeeter, tell the world that you aren't ashamed of who you are you were just wanting a quiet life."

Harry nodded, chewing on his lip and trying hard not to panic, "Who tol…" He trailed off, looking up the table to where Joshua was sat with his friends, "Why would he do this to me?"

"Because he's a shit." Ron scowled, "Come on, we can catch McGonagall before lessons start. And it's better if I'm out of the hall, I think I'll get expelled if I punch the bastard again."

Harry managed a weak smile, following Ron from the hall and to McGonagall's office. "Oh hello boys, what can I help you with?" The woman asked, looking mildly surprised to see them so early in the morning.

"Umm… I…"

"She'll find out tomorrow anyway Har." Ron murmured.

Harry nodded, "I'm gay." He said, "And the Prophet found out and they're running an article and… I just need to see Mr and Mrs Weasley, tell them properly before they find out from… Well you know."

McGonagall looked horrified, "Oh Potter… I'm so sorry." She murmured, "Of course, use my floo, go to the Burrow. I'll excuse you from your first class, you too Weasley." McGonagall flooed with the, assuring Molly that they were allowed to be off school and could she please have them floo back by ten o'clock. And then suddenly Harry was sat at the kitchen table, with Molly, Arthur, Bill and Charlie watching him curiously.

"Sorry." Harry mumbled, "I didn't mean to interrupt a family thing…" He trailed off, ignoring Ron's eye roll.

Bill shrugged, "It's fine… Do you want me and Charlie to go?"

"No, no… You'll find out tomorrow anyway so…" Harry sighed, glancing at Ron who looked at him encouragingly, "I… It's… I was gonna tell you I just… It's difficult for me, the place I grew up isn't exactly accepting of such things and…"

Mrs Weasley leant forwards and took his hand, "Sweetheart whatever it is you can tell us. I may not be delighted with some of my childrens life choices but I love them all the same, you are included in that."

Harry looked at the woman and gave a weak smile, "I… I'm gay."

"Oh… Well there's nothing wrong with that. I know in the muggle world it might be different because you wouldn't be able to carry on your family line or whatever but…" Bill shrugged, "Here most people don't care, and the ones that do aren't worth shit."

"William." Mrs Weasley said, her voice angry and Harry froze before realising she was commenting on his language and not on Harry's sexuality.

Arthur gave a small smile, "Like Molly said, we all love you regardless of who you love."

Charlie nodded slowly, "Why are you telling us now though?" And so Ron explained about stupid Skeeter and the bloody Prophet, and after a small glance at Harry also explained about Joshua almost definitely being the one to tell the Prophet that Harry was gay.

"Well I'd say you're better off without him!" Mrs Weasley said quietly, squeezing Harry's hand before moving off to make tea.

Charlie grinned, "I can always set a dragon on him if you'd like?" He offered.

.~*~*~*~*~*~*~.

"So Ron was thinking of going to see Charlie just before Christmas. Would it be okay if I went with him? It'd just be for a few days." Harry said, passing his father the Gurdy roots, "I mean technically I'm seventeen now so I don't have to ask." He mused before realising he probably sounded rude, "But I figured I should check that you didn't have anything planned."

Severus gave a small smile, "Well as far as I know the week before Christmas is clear but you might want to check with Lucius, I know he's been looking forward to seeing you." He said gently.

"Sure." Harry nodded, wrinkling his nose as the potion let off a slightly acidic smell and he wondered how he'd been roped into making some cheering potion in the room of requirement before Neville, Draco and Remus arrived.

"How are you doing? I know you've had a tough few days with… whatever happened."

Harry shrugged, looking at his father, "I'm doing better." He mumbled, "Thanks… For not pushing me this week."

"Well I didn't think a million questions would help with whatever you were dealing with. I admit I did check with Ronald to make sure you weren't doing too badly though." Said Severus.

Harry gave a small chuckle, "Ron's a good friend." He said, "He's barely left my side this week, making sure I'm not…" Harry trailed off and Severus looked up sharply.

"Have you? Cut yourself?"

"No!" Harry said definitely before slumping slightly, annoyed at himself for snapping at his father. "But I probably would have if Ron hadn't followed me everywhere and took my wand away when he wasn't around." He sighed, deciding not to mention the fact that he'd barely eaten in days, not wanting to worry his dad too much.

Severus looked faintly surprised, "Oh." He said, his respect for the Weasley boy growing immensely, "He's a good friend."

"Yeah… Seamus knew to tell him too which says a lot." He sighed when he saw the questioning look on Severus' face, "Me and Josh broke up, you probably guessed that though right?" Severus nodded, turning the heat on the cauldron down, "Well he cheated on me… With Seamus. Seamus didn't know about me and Josh though! And as soon as he did he told me what happened."

"Are you okay?" Severus asked quietly.

Harry sighed, "I will be." He sighed, "I… The prophet's running an article on me tomorrow, telling the world I'm gay."

Severus moved, wrapping an arm around his son, "Grosen told them?"

"I think so. Look… Don't tell dad? You know he'd only hunt Josh down and kill him."

Severus chuckled, "I won't." He murmured, "But you know I could always fail the boy." He offered.

"Dad!" Harry laughed, sniffing his tears back and hugging the man.