CHAPTER THREE - HOME AT LAST

"Welcome back to Hogwarts! I hope your minds are suitably empty and that you all are ready to have them crammed full again," Headmaster Dumbledore joked as he clasped his hands together at his podium at the front of the Great Hall.

"We will proceed with some announcements, then commence the Welcoming Feast." Dumbledore's eyes twinkled at the mention of the Feast, as if he knew something they all didn't. Which was probably true. The man was always keeping some secret it seemed. Harry didn't doubt that it was something major too.

The war had ended when Harry was very young, but the recovery from war on their society had taken a long time. His parents said that Dumbledore had kept many things from them during the war, many things they should've had knowledge of. The Order of the Phoenix was Dumbledore's group in the fight against the Dark. Harry's parents had joined right when they'd left Hogwarts, eager to join the war effort. They'd left the Order shortly after he was born, wanting to stay out of the conflict now that they'd had a child.

Harry remembered a glimpse of a memory from his early childhood, a feeling more than a visual. He recalled being afraid that something bad would happen. His parents liked to pretend it never happened, but he could still remember the feeling of being trapped, of being scared of what would happen next. He supposed it was from being born during wartime, that he as an infant could feel the emotions of those around him and as such, was still affected by them.

Harry was startled out of his thoughts when Dumbledore concluded his speech.

"Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!"

Harry settled into the feeling of finally being at Hogwarts, of being at home again. He turned and smiled at Pansy, who grinned widely back at him.

"It sure feels good to be home, doesn't it?" chirped Pansy as she grabbed his hand and held it between them.

Harry blushed and ducked his head.

"It really does," Harry said as he squeezed her hand, content to hold it between them. As soon as he felt his blush fade, he peeked up and met her eyes, a faint blush on her cheeks. She looked away from him as she was caught staring at him, though her hand remained in his.

Most of the students were anxiously awaiting the feast. Grumbling stomachs could be heard across the Hall if one listened close enough.

Dumbledore sat in his chair and spoke once more, "Let the feast begin!"

As he finished his sentence, all five tables in the room were suddenly filled with steaming dishes, pitchers of beverages, and tiers of sweets for after dinner was done. Harry dropped Pansy's hand immediately and he and Blaise immediately reached for the treacle tart, as not to be beat to it before the others. Draco and Pansy met each other's gaze and laughed to themselves at the antics of their friends.

Blaise and Harry were notorious sweet tooths and couldn't be swayed otherwise. Pansy had to actually bribe Harry with sweets at one point during their first year to leave the dormitory on the first day. Harry had been so nervous to go to breakfast that morning, scared that his mother and father were going to send a howler to him for not getting placed in Gryffindor. All eventually turned out well after his father's initial disappointment at Harry being a Slytherin. He had gotten over the fact his child wasn't in his House before the Christmas holidays, Lily and James tried their best to be understanding and loving parents. James was the only one of the two that had any problems with Harry being a Slytherin in the first place. His prejudices from school seemed to still be ingrained in him after all of that time.

Harry and his dad did truly love each other, regardless of each other's House affiliations, although Harry had found himself pranked quite a few times when he returned home for the holidays and breaks.

"Henry James Potter and Blaise Mariano Zabini! Why did you both go straight for the desserts again? I thought we had gone over this last year!" Pansy poked fun at the two boys. "At least grab some actual food before you eat sweets."

Both boys groaned but reached for some roast chicken to mollify Pansy.

Draco and Pansy met each other's eyes and smirked, used to getting their way.

"I see you two smirking, don't think you've pulled one over on us," Blaise muttered and Harry grinned at him.

"So what are we planning for the rest of this year? Are we still trying to take the youngest Weasley brother down a peg? Trying to keep the Weasley girl away from Harry still? What's it going to be?" asked Pansy, serving herself some dinner before asking the house elves to pour some pumpkin juice into her goblet under her breath.

"Why do we have to have a goal again?" muttered Draco, content to stuff his face as politely as possible in Pureblood company. Which meant he was carefully perching as much as he could onto a fork and then slowly attempting to eat it in one bite.

"Because during our first year, we didn't have any goals and Harry almost died!" Pansy snapped at Draco, "And don't be so disgusting, Draco! Use your manners."

Draco ducked his head, properly ashamed from being scolded by Pansy and took a sip of water to clear his throat.

"I understand that, but can't our goal this term be just to do well in our classes? Maybe break a few rules?" he smirked at the idea of breaking rules.

There was a common misconception amongst their year mates that it was only the Gryffindors that enjoyed breaking the school's rules. Whereas it was generally the opposite from Draco's experience. Draco, Blaise, Pansy, and Harry were very prolific rule breakers; the only difference between them and the Gryffindors was that they weren't daft enough to get caught.

"Draco dear, you know that what you've just said is quite possibly the most commonplace thing I have ever heard? How banal of you."

Draco gasped.

"Banal? I am a Malfoy, we are not banal!

"There they go again," Blaise stage-whispered to Harry as they dug into their meals, the Wizarding equivalent of watching a fight with popcorn. "How utterly fascinating that they do that to each other without even realising."

Harry nodded, his mouth full of mashed potatoes. He glanced across the Great Hall,

making eye contact with the Weasley twins who grinned maniacally and waved. He swallowed his potatoes, grinned, and waved back at them, his eyes wandering over the Gryffindor table. He spotted Ronald Weasley's face turning red when he saw Harry waving to his brothers. Ron got up from his seat and started down the table to berate the twins, Seamus and Dean scrambling to keep up with him.

Harry snickered and Blaise turned his head to follow where Harry's eyes were.

"Ah, yes. There the red-headed terror goes again. Are we even surprised anymore?"

"I don't believe so, Blaise, I don't believe so."

They chatted as they ate the Welcoming Feast, Draco and Pansy bickered all the while. Harry and Blaise lamented over their poor choice in friends.

Soon enough, the Welcoming Feast ended and the Slytherins were ushered to the dungeons. When they had whispered the password ("Canis Major"), they made their way into the Common Room. The whole room was lit with fire, from the fireplaces to the torches lining the walls. The fireplaces all had cozy seating areas surrounding them, the first few fireplaces next to the entry were stock full. The four Fifth years made their way to the fireplace closest to the window looking into the Black Lake.

Blaise sat himself in the only living chair in the seating area, so the other three were forced to squeeze into the sofa opposite him. The seating areas that far against the window were generally only used by the First or Second years, and one could definitely tell if they were any older due to the furniture's size.

"So," Pansy started, "Did we decide on the goal for this term, or do we need time to think it over still?"

Draco moved her legs off of his lap and got up off the couch.

"You have got to be kidding me, Pansy. We already went over this!"

She turned so that she could rest her feet in Harry's lap instead and laid her head on the armrest.

Blaise rolled his eyes as Pansy started on Draco again. Draco started pacing in front of the fireplace.

"Can't you two just get over this?" interrupted Harry, as he placed his hands on Pansy's ankles. "Everything will be fine, we don't need a goal to keep our heads out of our arses like idiot Gryffindors, okay?"

Pansy sighed and resigned herself to wait until after classes had started to bring the subject up again. She knew when to keep a subject for later. Draco, on the other hand, did not.

"No, I want to get this out of the way," said Draco as he sat on the coffee table in front of Harry and Pansy. "I think we should just focus on studying, we have more classwork and homework than we've ever had before and I think it's important that we acknowledge that. We have to be successful."

Pansy cocked her head in agreement, "I concur, Draco, but we need to have something else. Something with more substance than 'Do better in school.'"

"Then what do you propose, Pansy?" Draco remarked with a sneer.

"Well, we all belong to Ancient and/or Most Noble houses, correct? Why don't we make it our goal to find someone suitable for a courting contract? I know my parents are pushing for me to find someone I wish to accept a courting contract from and I would like to be matched with someone who checks all of my boxes."

Pansy stopped rambling and looked up from her hands where she had been playing with her nails, a clear sign she was nervous about what she was talking about. The boys looked like deer caught in wandlight, completely frozen with eyes wide and jaws dropped.

"What are you all looking at me like that for? Haven't your parents mentioned such things to you all?"

Harry finally snapped out of it and announced to the room, "Mine haven't mentioned it just yet, I think they want me to find love like they have before they suggest a contract of any kind. Especially with the fact that I'm different than most other boys our age."

Pansy cocked her head at the mention of Harry being different, sitting up and situating herself almost on top of the Potter heir. She took his hand in hers, patting it on the top with her other hand.

She spoke slowly to him, under her breath so that the other boys—who were still in shock it seemed—wouldn't hear her. "Harry, you're no different than any other boy. Any person, including me, would be so lucky to have such a caring person as you are." Harry lifted his hung head to look Pansy in the eyes.

At that same moment, the two other boys crept out of their shock.

Blaise was the first to notice what was going on, and he nudged Draco.

"Looks like Pansy found who she wants to arrange a courting contract with," snickered Draco, elbowing Blaise and laughing. Pansy and Harry looked up from their own little world they had created and blushed a bright rosy red. Harry launched himself off of the sofa and Pansy stood and smoothed her skirt.

Pansy crossed her arms haughtily and huffed.

"Well at least I'm looking instead of just accepting whomever my parents decide on. Watch and see, I'll end up in a satisfactory contract and you two will end up with trolls to court!"

And with the last word, Pansy spun away from the boys. She flicked them two fingers as she walked to the dormitories, hips swaying as she went. Harry couldn't take his eyes off of her. Eventually, he dragged his eyes away from Pansy's backside to view the other boys who were shaking with silent laughter.

"What are you laughing at?"

"Oh, nothing. Just the fact that Pansy has you wrapped around her little finger and you're happily wrapped," joked Blaise. "I wouldn't be surprised if your parents got a courting contract owled to them in the next week or so."

"Shove off, Blaise," said Harry, as he sat back down on the couch. "I'm sure she was just being polite and if I were in her position, I would make it my goal as well."

Harry thought back to his fears of courting contracts, back when he was still viewed by Wizarding society as a witch instead of a wizard. It was like a nightmare waiting to happen, waiting to see who you would be paired with for potentially the rest of your life. It was a nerve-wracking experience, specifically for the witches involved. Most likely the wizard one was arranged to court with was many years the witch's senior, and it was almost impossible to get out of the courting contracts when they were drawn up by one of the Ancient and Most Noble houses. Loopholes were very quickly shut down when spotted in these types of contracts, and allowances for leaving the contracts were extremely rare and barely heard of. Wizarding society was, and had always been, very patriarchal.

Courting contracts were precarious, and one usually didn't enter one of their own wills, usually pushed upon them by the head of their family. So Harry could quite easily see her anxiousness and eagerness to get it out of the way, and find someone she wanted instead of someone her parents wanted. He just didn't understand why she even claimed that he would be a desirable prospect for a courting contract, let alone to spend a life with. He would never be able to have biological children at this point in time, unless a miracle happened and somehow mediwixens figured out how to make it possible with the help of potions or charms or something.

He supposed that if he entered into a triad or quad marriage, he would be a somewhat good prospect for someone looking for a courting contract. He was the heir of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Potter, even if he was transgender. He was sure that the more staunch Houses of the Wizarding world would oppose any member of their Houses from entering a courting contract, or even a betrothal contract, with him. No matter how "progressive" the Wizarding community pretended to be, there were those who were still against queer people.

"Harry? Oh, Harry," Blaise sing-songed, trying to imitate Pansy. "Won't you please enter a courting contract with me? I'm so in love with yo—ouch! What was that for?"

Blaise glared at Draco, who was acting very casual and like he hadn't just smacked one of his best friends.

"Pansy is right. We should be thinking about our courting contracts. I don't want to end up with some ogre like Millicent."

They collectively looked across the common room to see Millicent conveniently picking her nose and flicking her bogies into the fireplace in front of her. The three of them shuddered and nodded resolutely.

Harry spoke slowly, not knowing how his words would come across to his friends. He knew they were accepting of him being trans (obviously), but they didn't know how they would take that he was bisexual. "I just want you guys to know that I'm going to be looking for a person who checks my boxes as well." He sat back onto the sofa and looked down to his lap, nervously clenching his hands.

Blaise and Draco took seats on the coffee table in front of the terrified young man, who was baring his soul to them once again. They reached out and grabbed his hands as Pansy had earlier that evening.

"Harry, we could care less that you're open to people, regardless of gender. You accepted me when I first came to school and barely spoke English! You think that I would care that you are bisexual? Or pan for that matter?" said Blaise.

"Blaise is right, Harry. And if it makes you feel any better, I'm the same as you," confessed Draco as he gradually turned his face as bright red as a tomato.

Blaise turned and looked at Draco, then Harry. Then back again at Draco. He smirked, unseen by Harry (who was still looking at his hands, held by two of his dearest friends), and by Draco as well (who seemed a little too focussed on Harry than normal).

Blaise had a plan.

Author's Note: I am so sorry I was gone for so long. Good news is I have about three more chapters for this fic already written and I'm in the process of getting a beta! Super exciting stuff! Please let me know if you like the direction this fic is going, I'm planning on it running for a while. Just know that I will finish this fic. Until next time, Muski.