Story Title/Link: Preamble

School and Theme: Beauxbatons: Manhunt

Mandatory Prompt: 15. [Word] Comfort

Additional Prompt(s): 14.[Song] "I'm A Man" by The Spencer Davis Group

Year: 2

Word count: 1202


He was, unfortunately, handsome, Ginny pointed out as she twirled the rings on her fingers and Dean draped another piece of white fabric over her shoulders.

"C'mon, you can't tell me you haven't walked into a wall just staring at Blaise," Ginny said. "Even Harry has!"

Dean cupped Ginny's face in his hands to make sure she was looking into his eyes. "Ginny, I love you like any boy who cherishes his first love, but Harry has had a crush on every human that has ever breathed."

Ginny frowned at that. "It doesn't matter. All that tells me is Blaise is objectively handsome, and you are wasting your shot."

Dean would have been bothered (honestly, he was still bothered a little) had Ginny not brought it up at every one of her appointments thus far. While Blaise-gossip was a brilliant way to get Ginny to stand still for her fittings, Dean swore that she needed to calm down.

"I like him as a business partner…and we are done!" Dean added with a flourish.

Ginny took a hard look at herself in the mirror.

"Do you think I'm making a mistake?" she asked, fiddling with her fingers.

Dean looked at the very first person who had ever stolen his heart.

"Gin, I think you'll make a fabulous Mrs Potter. I promise, he isn't marrying you as a weird replacement for his mum," Dean said, pulling her out of the dress. "We wouldn't have let you marry him if he was."

Ginny gently punched Dean's arm and got dressed back into her training gear to leave.

"Remember what I said," Ginny sang on her way out after giving Blaise a polite nod as she passed the reception desk.

Blaise looked to see if Ginny had left before lacing his fingers into Dean's.

"You still haven't told any of them, have you?" Blaise asked.

Dean shrugged and leaned in to kiss him. He'd missed Blaise today. "They won't understand why we took so long. Besides, I want Mum to know first. She kind of deserves that much."

Blaise wasn't convinced, and Dean knew why. Dean didn't have the easy trust with his mother the way Blaise had. While they had both been raised by women in an "us against the world" style of parenting, Blaise took comfort in the fact that no matter what happened in his life, he would always have his mother. Dean, on the other hand, realised just how badly suited he and his mum were.

They spoke two different languages. Dean's mum spoke in Shona, and he answered back in English—unlike Blaise who shared Italian with his mother.

While Dean's mother hadn't said it in so many words, having a son so far out of the norm had made living together uncomfortable. They had already stood out so much in the early years. His Black, single mother (before she had met his step-dad), raising a son in a predominantly white village, as that was where she was able to get a nursing job. Mrs Thomas was a constant in Dean's life (the way his step-father and half-siblings weren't), but it was one he took no comfort in.

"Ok," Blaise said, pulling Dean out of his thoughts. "But I want to kiss you in front of our friends. I want the business plaque to have your name hyphenated with mine. I don't want to push, but I thought this was something you wanted too."

Truth be told, Dean did want that. Hell, he had wanted that from the moment Blaise had met his eyes across the dance floor at a ball five years ago. But life in the Muggle world wasn't necessarily understanding to gay men. That understanding also shrank exponentially when one was a young, Black man who clearly was more comfortable with traditionally-feminine career pursuits.

Dean went about closing the store almost automatically, his mind everywhere but on the tasks, he was attempting to complete.

While he loved Blaise, Dean wasn't sure if coming out to his mum would widen the already uncomfortable rift between them. Dean knew he had an entire network of friends who would stand behind him. But Dean's role in their group wasn't to be vulnerable—that space was reserved for Neville. No, his role was to create and bring comfort.

It was cruel to think of his friends like that, but Gryffindor hadn't been like Slytherin where everyone was part of one big extended family. They had unspoken rules and boundaries in Gryffindor, and Dean feared what breaking those roles would mean.

"Just consider it for me," Blaise said, his voice tired and on the verge of giving up. The street lamp highlighted his high cheekbones, and Dean was taken aback at just how sad Blaise looked.

Dean did not reach up to kiss Blaise that night, and Blaise pretended not to care.


"Our existence is a radical act," Dean said to his mother two weeks later.

He had asked Blaise to stay back. Not because he didn't want the support, but because his mother deserved to know from his own lips. It was moments like these where he wished she took comfort in the things most other mothers did.

No, instead he was standing in his mother's kitchen during her hospital break to attempt to explain his sexuality. It wasn't as if the signs weren't there before. Dean had tried the straight thing with Ginny, and it just hadn't worked out.

But being interested in fashion and drawing did not automatically make one gay either.

Dean hadn't had the comfort of knowing, intrinsically, he was gay from day one. While according to the community elders he had spoken to, his journey wasn't unusual, Dean still resented how long it had taken him to feel sure about this. It took even longer for him to be comfortable in his skin after he had come to the realisation.

"Mama." Dean hadn't called his mum that in a long time. "Mama, I like boys, and I have a boyfriend, Blaise. You would like him; he comes from a good family." Dean blurted out the words in the simplest language he knew how, and even then he wasn't sure she understood.

He held his breath, waiting for an answer, telling himself that the silence was comfort enough.


The Potter wedding shouldn't be this chaotic, Dean thought as he danced with Ginny, throwing her and catching her in such a wild fashion that it left both of them grinning. He was so glad that Blaise had convinced Ginny that the Weird Sisters would make for much better wedding music than a string-quartet. Her dress would definitely be ruined, but Dean didn't mind.

Dean let Ginny turn him one last time before pushing her over to Neville who was having the time of his life dancing with Blaise. Dean knew his strengths, and keeping up with Blaise on any sort of dance-floor wasn't one of them.

The music changed to a cheesy slow dance, and Dean felt fourteen again.

Blaise gently held Dean around the waist as they swayed to the music at a comfortable pace, surrounded by classmates who had become friends and, sometimes, family. That moment was simply magical.