Narrator:

"I like you, Ron", Harry finally admitted. It felt good to get that off his chest, especially since it had been hanging in his mind from day 1.

"Well, no duh," Ron responded, "Or else we wouldn't exactly be friends." Ron was getting irritated that Harry had admitted something so obvious.

"No, I mean, I like like you. I think I have a crush on you...", Harry bolted back.

Ron was left standing there in shock. He had no idea that Harry felt that way. In fact, they always seemed like buddies, never more. The craziest part was that Ron could have imagined a relationship with him. However, it was too late now. Ron had no idea how to tell him that he liked Hermione. In fact, what if this came between Hermione and Harry's friendship?

"Well, umm, I'm flattered..", Ron continued.

Harry knew that a "but" was coming. He had waited so long to tell Ron about the crush he had but never actually said it. Honestly, it had begun developing from when they first met. That's why he had been so nervous on the very first day he met Ron. He actually bought all of the sweets to impress Ron in some way.

It used to be a childish crush, like the ones people lose in a week, but it developed into much more. Harry also found it difficult because he had pretended to like Ginny.

He wasn't trying to hurt her in any way. It's just that Harry didn't want to be seen as "different" and Ginny was a sweet girl.

The worst parts of the secret were when Harry would have to show a display of affection to Ginny. It wasn't exactly comfortable for him when she kissed him either. Harry knew about Hermione and Ron but, judging the character of Hermione, it didn't seem like they'd develop into a serious relationship.

After all, Hermione prided herself on her intelligence and Harry knew that Ron wouldn't exactly enjoy hearing "you're wrong" every 5 minutes.

Because of this, Harry quickly ran out of the room saying that he had to go to a meeting before Ron could finish his sentence. It's not that Harry wouldn't accept disappointment. He just wasn't in the mood to accept it right now.

Ron was left standing by himself when he realized something. He would probably have to mention the encounter to Hermione. Even though he didn't want to create more problems between them, he knew that keeping secrets wasn't the right thing to do long term. This was especially true in this circumstance.

After pondering on what had happened for about 10 minutes, he decided to go find Hermione. This was the first encounter between them since the kiss. Ron was excited to see her but nervous about the news he had to tell.

Hermione:

Ron sidled up to me that day, looking extremely nervous. I figured that something was wrong so I decided to just tell him to say it. This is mainly because I simply hate waiting for people to spit something out.

"Nope, no no. Do not speak yet. Something is definitely on your mind, Ron. Just spit it out or this," she gestured to the two of them, "will never work out."

Ron tried to act dumbfounded for a couple of seconds but knew that he might as well tell her straight up. After taking a couple of deep breaths, he took up the courage to tell Hermione the truth.

"Harry came up to me a small while ago. He had some interesting news. Before I say it-"

"Just say it, Ron. I can't wait any longer." Hermione answered.

"Alright. Harry told me that- he told me that he likes me. Like, he has a crush on me." Ron finally sputtered.

"Obviously Ron. I'm not an idiot. I see the way that he looks at you. May I remind you that I know a little something about love potions?" Hermione answered.

This was true, actually. The other day, Ginny and Harry had traveled back to the store to get a love potion. Hermione had done her research prior. Part of the research was a list of clues that somebody was in love. Ginny had bought her potion and taken it home. Hermione expects that the potion is in good use at this moment.

Hermione continued, "Like I was saying, it's quite obvious that Harry has a crush on you. I've known for a while but haven't known what to say to him. I know that you aren't gay, for sure, so I had nothing to worry about."

Ron let those words rest in his mind for a while. Okay, he didn't appear gay. What if he was, though? What if the fact that he could visualize a relationship with Harry meant that he was truly gay? He didn't know what this meant for both him and Hermione. He didn't quite understand if it meant that his fancies for Hermione were real or an illusion.

Ron continued asking Hermione several questions.

"Would you... care if I also liked boys?", he steadily asked.

"Kind of, I suppose. It's a lot more intimidating since I know I can't offer what a boy could...", Hermione awkwardly continues, "but I suppose the same goes for what a girl can. You aren't though, right?"

Ron didn't know how to answer to this. Asking was clearly a sign that something would change. Besides, he wasn't even completely sure. After just shaking his head, he decided to head back to his dorm. He sat for hours just pondering until it was time for sleep.

Ron dreamt vividly that night. The dream felt real, though. His dream began when he was talking with a random boy wizard, one of whom he didn't know in real life.

In the dream, he had extreme feelings for the wizard and they actually went on a date. There was something about dating the wizard that felt so much deeper than any girl he'd gone out with.

It was as though the feelings were more real that way.

As Ron woke up, he felt confused yet happy. He knew, this time, that he liked boys. He wasn't sure if this made him gay, exactly, but he was open to liking boys. Later that day, he wanted to tell Hermione what he had felt. What if she had been upset? He refrained from doing so when he continued researching online.

The most threatening part of the whole idea was that it was still not accepted to be gay in the muggle world. He couldn't imagine what the wizard world might have thought.

It felt like he was trapped and just couldn't tell anybody. Even the idea of his family not accepting him terrified him greatly. They were all kind people but they could really go either way in how they felt about this.

Ron just began to tear up when he imagined his parents not accepting him. They could have kicked him out and what if they hated him for being gay? It felt like the end of the world. He also was already bullied so coming out as gay wouldn't make it any better.

Potter is lucky, he thought. Harry was already really celebrated and famous in the wizard world because he was the "chosen one". Nobody would care if he came out. In fact, Ron was pretty sure that Harry didn't want to even be gay. He didn't like the idea of labels in his life.

It was the next day when Ron made a huge decision. He was going to come out to a couple of his other friends. He wasn't sure how they would take it but it was definitely a start to coming out completely. Before doing so, however, he wanted to do research on what his sexual orientation actually was.

If he liked girls, definitely, but felt stronger for boys, did that make him gay or bisexual? Was this even normal within the lgbt world? Ron had seen others being bullied for liking both girls and boys. Both straight and gay people tend to dislike those who like both genders in the wizard world. Ron didn't know anyone personally who felt like this but had seen bullying for it constantly on his campus.

He'd once heard one of the bullies say that they then felt threatened by the other gender for that one person. It was stupid but sort of understandable. However, Ron thought, it's just not right. After taking about 1500 deep breaths and reading many coming out stories, he decided that he was going to come out to his less close friends worst. He thought that he'd be less hurt, then, if they didn't accept him.

The next day...
It was a sunny day outside. Instead of the usual cold weather of Hogwarts, the clouds seemed to part.

Ron had been studying for hours just to figure out what he identified as. He found a particular article that caught his eye:

ARE YOU A WIZARD QUESTIONING YOUR SEXUALITY?

Here is all you need to know!

After doing plenty of research, I've discovered several ways to identify yourself from the muggle world.

The first thing you must understand is something known as the LGBTQ+ community!

L: lesbian; meaning you are a girl who likes only girls

G: gay; meaning you are a boy who likes only boys

B: bisexual; meaning you are a boy/girl who likes both genders

T: trans; meaning you are a boy who now identifies as a girl or vise-versa. You are attracted to your biological gender

Q: queer; a term for people in the lgbtq community seen as offensive

The above terms are only a few of the community.

If you are bisexual, you might lean boys or girls(meaning you prefer or feel stronger for boys/girls). This could be a transition period or you might just like both genders.

Stay tuned for more on the community!

This was it, Ron now knew he was bi leaning boys. He walked up to the corridors and spotted a couple of his acquaintances. It was time to tell them the truth.

Writer's Note: Thank you for reading this far! I spend plenty of time on writing so would greatly appreciate it if you dropped a review and follow/favorite the story if you like it! I'll update around every 3-4 days :)