(A/N – Sorry about the wait. I had slight writers block so I've been working on other stories.

Enjoy!)

Chapter 14 – Coming Out – Dean's POV

Neville climbed through the portrait hole and flopped onto the couch next to me.

"Hey guys. What's up?" he asked cheerfully.

"Dean and Seamus were just about to tell us something," said Harry.

I could feel my face burning slightly.

"Go on, Dean," Seamus whispered in my ear so no one could hear.

Everyone was looking strangely at us.

"You do it," I whispered back. He rolled his eyes at me. "Please?"

"Fine," he whispered back. He turned to the group, smiling. My heart was pounding.

"Did anyone happen to know that Dean is gay?" he asked conversationally.

"I did," Hermione piped up.

"What?" I asked quickly. "Who did you know?"

"Mione knows everything, hun," Seamus said, laughing.

"Oh no…" said Harry.

'Shit,' I thought. 'I knew there would be a bad reaction.'

"Neville!" Harry said tragically. "We're the only ones in our dorm that haven't crossed over to the dark side!" He sighed dramatically and collapsed backwards into the couch, resting the back of his hand on his forehead in a mock faint.

I breathed a sigh of relief; he was just being sarcastic.

"Awesome," said Zabini. "One down, only Harry, Neville, and Draco left to convert!"

Harry and Neville laughed. "No thank you," said Harry.

My heart was still pounding with left over anxiety. I could not have hoped for a better reaction. Though, now that I think about it, I should have expected it. I mean… the whole group already knew about Seamus, Ron, and Zabini. They couldn't really have reacted too badly.

Seamus leaned up close to me and whispered in my ear, "Can I kiss you in public now?"

I blushed furiously but nodded.

"Good." He leaned over me and kissed my lightly at first, then a little harder.

He pulled back slowly; I could tell he didn't want to push it right away and freak me out. He was probably right. I had been out for about 10 seconds and I wasn't ready for too much PDA quite yet.

"I say we go celebrate," said Zabini.

"Want to go to the room of requirement?" asked Harry. "That should work well for a little party."

"That's perfect," said Seamus.

"I'll go get Draco and meet you guys down there," said Ginny.

We set off for the Room of Requirement.

We found the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy trying to teach trolls how to do ballet. Walking back and fourth past the opposite blank wall, we thought hard about what we needed for a party.

A large black door appeared in the middle of the wall. We all slipped through it to find a huge room, containing everything we could possibly need for a party. There was a huge cooler full of ice and bottle of butterbeer. There was a giant stereo with stacks and stacks of CDs, wizard and muggle. (A/N – The stereo runs on magic, not electricity.) There were a few tables with chairs in once corner, and in another corner there were several sofas and some comfortable looking armchairs. There were 3 doors leading off of the original room.

Ron walked over and opened one of the doors. "It's a bedroom…" he said. "Well…it wasn't me."

"What?" asked Zabini.

"This room supplies whatever the user 'requires'," said Hermione. "Someone must have thought about needing a bed as we walked back and forth past the wall outside. What they were thinking of using the beds for, I don't want to know."

Zabini laughed. "I get it."

We all sat down in the couches in the corner while Harry and Hermione grabbed a bunch of butterbeers.

"So have you come out to your mum and dad yet, Ron?" asked Seamus.

"Yeah, I wrote them a letter just after Halloween. They wrote back almost instantly. They were all, 'Oh, we're so cool, our son is gay!' It was a little bit scary. But I'm taking Blaise home for Christmas so I had to tell them."

"That's cool. So does your whole family know then?" Seamus asked.

"Yeah," Ron replied. "I'm really lucky. I've had no problems so far…except for Ginny, but that's over now."

"Yeah, you are lucky. My parents are in denial. Me dad told me it was just a phase, and me mum just said 'Oh, that's nice,' and went on watering the garden," Seamus sighed.

A few people were staring at me, as if waiting for my story. "Haven't told anyone," I said. "My mum once told me that she wouldn't mind if one of her kids was gay, but that she wouldn't wish it on us because it's a 'hard lifestyle,' but then she goes and makes stupid comments like 'You still like girls, right?' and stuff like that. So I don't know what to think."

Seamus slid his hand behind my back to rest on my hip. I tried really hard not to blush, bit I still went faintly pink. This would take some getting used to.

I rested my head on his shoulder and my hand on his thigh.

Ron clucked his tongue sympathetically. "I'm sure it would be alright once you did it."

"Yeah, I know. It's just that tiny uncertainty. The 'what if'," I replied sadly.

Ron nodded. "Take your time. You'll know when you're ready."

Blaise poked him in the side and whispered something inaudible into his ear. Ron paled. "You have got to stop doing that to me in public!" he said, rolling his eyes.

Blaise laughed and whispered in Ron's ear again. This time Ron groaned and pulled his boyfriends face to his own, kissing him passionately and not letting Blaise pull away.

Seamus kissed me lightly on the cheek and then got up to get us butterbeers.

He came and sat back down next to me, handing me a bottle.

"To Dean," he said, raising his bottle. "For not being a freaking closet case anymore!"

I laughed loudly and Seamus kissed me after taking a drink of his butterbeer. "Congrats, babe."

(A/N – Thanks for reading. Please review…this is pathetic. I'm beginning to think no one is reading. It's not that hard, just press the little button and type something. Thank you!)