Short Chapter plus Entirely Original Chapter plus Not being able to sleep for some reason equals update at about 5 am. You're Welcome, maybe??
The first meeting of the LGBT Club was like a breath of fresh air to Harry. She didn't have to worry about avoiding Gilderoy Lockhart, her failure to avoid Colin Creevey -- the boy almost seemed to have her schedule memorized, and greeted her at every chance he got, or even those groups of people that sometimes threw paper balls at her or stepped on her shoe heels.
The LGBT Club had its own room that they met in every other day after classes. It was a repurposed classroom that was magically expanded to be at least double what it would be, if not more. There was a foyer at the back of the room, which was where they did any messy or extra creative projects. On the main floor, there was a small library in one corner, a wizard's chess set in another, and a circle of chairs in the center. Each chair bore the name of its owner and was designed uniquely for them, even the Headmaster of Hogwarts, Albus Dumbledore had a chair, but that was because he was the teacher in charge of the club.
Lacy, a sixth-year Ravenclaw girl, made her chair covered in fur, and would neither confirm nor deny whether she'd charmed it to breath. Hannah, the Slytherin witch of the same year as Lacy was sitting on what was undeniably a throne, but she refused to sit on it properly. Jex's chair turned into what Harry recently learned was called a bean bag chair when they sat in it. Flix's chair was designed perfectly so that it could wobble around when they sat in it, but not that it would tip over. Albus' chair was perfectly normal, except the color slowly shifted between all the colors of the rainbow. Harry sometimes felt her chair wasn't quite up to snuff, since it was simply an incredibly comfortable rocking chair.
She was seriously jealous of everyone else's struggles so far. Jex was just struggling with a new spell they had to learn in charms, Hannah was upset because the only other witch at the school that liked other witches was Lacy, and thought Lacy wouldn't like her -- Lacy never heard about it, of course, -- Lacy was annoyed because Hannah wasn't picking up on how Lacy was subtly flirting with her, and Flix was frustrated at the fact that everyone else was oblivious.
It was so much simpler than dealing with a transphobic teacher, bullies, and a -- Colin. Lucky for Harry, as soon as she brought up her problems with Lockhart, the only thing stopping them all from plotting his doom was Albus reading in his flashing rainbow chair.
"What are the chances of any of his books even being true?" Jex asked.
"They do all seem quite far-fetched," Flix said.
"I was wondering the same thing after my class," Hannah mentioned. "I looked into it and found the stories match up with real events, but there is no solid confirmation on Lockhart being the hero -- just his word."
"Looked into it how?" Lacy asked. "I doubt it was in the library."
"I'm a pure-blooded Slytherin, I have connections to fancy people and their secrets, despite being 'butch.'" Hannah grumbled.
"What does that mean?" Harry asked, never having heard the word before.
"It's a mean thing to call lesbians," Lacy said. "Started by muggles, I think."
"It's one of the few muggle things I wish magic folk never picked up," Hannah said.
The conversation shifted and flowed after that, never really staying on one topic. However, all conversation in the room stopped as the door swung open dramatically.
A young, pale, blond witch was standing in the middle of the doorway, Ginny standing not too far behind. Ginny's arm was outstretched as if to stop the other girl.
"Hi," the girl said. "I'm Luna Lovegood. Does not caring about being a witch, witcher, or wizard let me in here?"
"Ha!" Flix laughed, almost barking. "We officially have a majority! Ravenclaws for the win!"
"What're your pronouns, then?" Hannah asked Luna.
Luna came in and sat on the floor in front of Lacy.
"He, she, they, whatever," Luna shrugged. "Dad likes to mix it up, use all three in one sentence."
Ginny was still frozen in the doorway.
"Er -- H-hi," Ginny stammered. "I'll just, er, I --" Ginny began backing away, but before she could get far, Jex grabbed her hand and pulled her inside.
"Nope!" Jex taunted, as they sat Ginny in front of Harry. "These two are Gryffindor, and we agreed you need two more than every other house in the club. You're just at one."
Ginny was still stuttering and stammering as Jex and Flix continued a playful argument. The one who'd usually have gotten everyone under control was preoccupied with braiding the blond hair in front of her. Hannah wasn't going to say anything because she enjoyed watching cute girls be flustered. This left Harry with the job to look after her housemate.
"Ginny?" Harry asked softly. She was struggling not to agree with Hannah when the redhead turned around.
Wait, no. This was her best friend's little sister!
Harry schooled her thoughts and continued attempting to comfort Ginny.
"Were you coming to join the club?" Harry asked, trying to keep her voice soft and kind.
"Er, not -- not really," Ginny said. "I've just -- I'm not sure. I might be -- um. . ." Ginny trailed off and began nervously fiddling with the end of her sleeve.
"So you're questioning, huh?" Hannah said, with her usual absence of tact. Not that she didn't have the ability for it, she was blunt on purpose. "Straight people don't usually do that, so I'd say you're welcome here.
"Oh, o-okay," Ginny said, relaxing slightly and leaning against Harry's chair -- and thus against Harry.
"You two are very cute together," Luna said. Ginny and Harry blushed looking at Luna, only to blush more when they realized she was talking to Jex and Flix.
"Thank you," the two said in unison, before continuing their totally serious argument about whether the Horntails or the Kelpies were the better football team, despite them both being quidditch teams. How exactly the argument got to that point was certainly beyond Harry.
Of course, they don't just talk the whole time at this club. They still had plenty to do. Hannah and Lacy were discussing what event they should hold to qualify to keep their club status, and Flix and Jex were using the second floor to practice spells. Only Harry, Ginny, and Luna didn't really have anything to do. If only Hermione hadn't dragged Ron into studying, then she would have them both here to help mitigate the awkwardness.
It was Luna who eventually cut the tension.
"You're a lot prettier than I always expected, Harry Potter."
Harry's face was almost as red as Ginny's hair.
"Er, thank you, I guess?" Harry said. "Though, I don't suppose you were expecting me to be pretty at all."
"I was," Luna stated. "I had a feeling you'd be pretty. Don't you agree that she's pretty, Ginerva Weasley?"
"Pretty is an understatement," Ginny immediately said, clearly before she realized she was saying it since she blushed afterward. Luna was grinning at the two of them. Ginny shoved her face in her hands and mumbled something about telling someone something.
