Author's Note:

To all my loyal reviewers, I'm sorry for the long delay between chapters. My computer died, so I haven't been on line for a very long time. Tell me what you think of this chapter. Is it too weird?

Chapter Six

Lily Potter was gravely troubled indeed. Her little one had gone through quite a nasty ordeal, and there seemed to be nothing she could do to ease his mind. She had wanted to go to Harry, wanted to rap him in sheltering arms and tell him that everything would be all right, but James had advised her against it.

"I don't know much about kids, Lovely," he had said "but at Harry's age, if I had found out I'd been dooped by a gay guy, the last thing I would have wanted would be my mummy. I think that would make him feel even more gay than he already does. I've had a chat with Cedric. He'll straighten out this whole mess with our Harry."

"He does have a way of doing that," Lily had agreed.

Now, the only thing she could think to do was take Harry's body somewhere beautiful, somewhere safe where the two boys could talk. To her, Hogwarts seemed the best choice. It was familiar, and at this hour, nobody would bother them there. Harry's little friend Hermione was now the headmistress, so even if somebody did see Harry, nothing would come of it. She made her way down the familiar paths of what had once been her home away from home. Hogwarts was so peaceful by night, and as she always did, Lily fell in love with the beautiful grounds lying parallel to the beautiful sky. It was the kind of place that, even before she had been told of her powers, Lily would have imagined full of mystical fairies and other beautiful things of magic.

"Hullo there, Harry!" a friendly voice greeted out of the darkness.

Lily pulled herself from her reverie and looked about her for Harry. Then, belatedly, she remembered that she was occupying Harry's body, and anyone who saw her would see him instead. The person who now thought she was Harry stood head and shoulders taller than even the tallest man Lily had ever seen. Kind, beetle black eyes smiled down at her through a bushy beard.

"And hello to you, Hagrid," she said, smiling up at the half-giant. "What brings you out of your warm hut this night?"

Hagrid gave her a strange look. "Harry? My boy, are ya feelin' all right?"

"Why of course I am, Hagrid," Lily assured him with a sweet smile. "I had a bit of a mishap with a Malfoy tonight, but other than that, everything is just lovely with I."

"Ur, right," Hagrid said uncertainly. "Lovely. Ya wanna come inside a piece and tell me 'bout this mishap?"

"All right," Lily agreed. "I suppose you should know about what happened from me before the poor things end up all over the Daily Profit."

"Poor things?" Hagrid asked. "Come on. We'll talk 'bout this over tea 'n rock cakes."

Lily followed behind him, stepping carefully. She had to walk in a very lady-like fashion to avoid tripping over the dress she wore. Harry, of course, was not wearing a dress, but even though she was walking in his skin, Lily could see and feel the dress her spirit wore as though it were physically adorning the body of her dear son. Lily supposed she could change into a transparent outfit more like the one her temporary body was wearing to prevent her from walking differently than Harry would, but even though Hagrid wouldn't see it, she couldn't possibly change her clothes in front of him. Still, Lily knew she needed to act as much like Harry as possible. She reminded herself to always refer to Harry as I. Sirius always said that out of all of them, she was the worst at acting like Harry. James had told her once that if she ever had to occupy Harry's body around people, she should make a game of it.

"Lovely, why don't you pretend that Harry's name is I. Instead of 'Harry won at Quidditch' it's 'I won.' Do you think you can do that?"

She had thought so, and he had smiled at her. Lily's eyes glistened as she thought of how she loved him. James was so good, so fun, so patient. James was her earth and sky, her air and water, her waking and her sleep.

"Must've been a real nice mishap," Hagrid said, opening the door to his hut.

"Well, not really," Lily said ruefully. "It was actually quite bothersome." She lifted her skirts, sitting daintily in one of the wooden chairs at Hagrid's table.

"Could've fooled me," Hagrid chuckled, preparing tea. "What with the way ya were smilin' all the way here 'n all."

"Oh." Lily smiled dreamily, eyes closing half way in sweet recollection. "Oh that. No no, I wasn't smiling about that, dear Hagrid. I was just thinking of how lucky I am to have…"

"Noooo!!" Albus Dumbledore's warning shout echoed through Harry's mind as he ran through the wall immediately to Lily's left. Taking her shoulders, Albus gently but firmly propelled her to the backmost recesses of Harry's body.

"My word! I never saw yer face go so blank before. Are ya all right?" No Answer. "Harry?" Hagrid asked concerned. "My boy, ya need rest. With Quidditch, writin' yer novels, 'n medical school, I think yer a bit scattered."

"Perhaps you are right, Hagrid," Albus agreed, making himself comfortable in Harry's body and folding his hands under his chin. "I suppose a long raspberry bubble bath, a good book, and some nice wool socks are in order. I'll be right as rain by morning."

"Professor Dumbledore used to say that," Hagrid said, looking at Albus very strangely.

"Yes," Albus agreed, smiling at his old friend. "Some things never change. Now, how about that tea? I really must tell you about that debacle with young Draco."

"Young, Draco?" Hagrid asked. "Harry, Draco's twenty same as you."

"Oh, right," Albus agreed with a chuckle. "Don't mind me, Hagrid. As you said, I'm a bit scattered. With his level of immaturity, Draco seems so much younger, you see."

Hagrid chuckled, looking puzzled but relieved. "Well, y'know I never liked the little beast. I spose he was a might immature. Never really thought about it, though."

Hagrid set out the tea cups, saucers, and a large plate of rock cakes. Albus watched him thoughtfully, a smile playing upon his lips. Gentle Hagrid was always a source of warm feelings for the former headmaster, and death had done nothing to change that. So many were the times he had wanted to take his friendship with Hagrid further, and so many were the times he had not for fear of putting him in danger.

"There yer eyes go a'sparklin' again," Hagrid teased. "Are ya sure that mishap was as much of a bother as yer lettin' on?"

"Oh it was," Albus said with a chuckle, mentally telling himself to tell the story as though he were Harry. "You see, Dean and Seamus took me to agay dance establishment. There, I met Draco Malfoy."

"'N then?" Hagrid pressed, taking a drink of his tea.

"He was dressed very fashionably in a blue dress," Albus continued "and I mistook him for a young lady. I proceeded to leave the establishment with him, and only when his voice modification spell wore off did I realize he wasn't a girl at all, but a boy."

"Aw Harry," Hagrid said smiling good-naturedly "y'know as well as I do that girls 'n boys don't dance together in gay clubs. Yer gay, aren't ya?"

"Harry Potter? Gay?" Albus asked, trying unsuccessfully not to smile at the obserdity of the idea. Harry, he knew, would not be smiling if he were having this conversation. "Come now, Hagrid. Do I really strike you as the homosexual type?"

"Well," Hagrid singsonged "there was that little thing ya had goin' with the dear departed Mr. Diggory. Member that?"

"Mr. Diggory?" Albus felt his eyes go wide. "You mean young Cedric? My word! I never would have guessed. I really must ask Harry about that later."

"There ya go with that callin' people young that ain't thing again," Hagrid said, perplexed. "Cedric was older than you. 'N ya are Harry, remember?"

"I most certainly, …" just in time, Albus remembered. "I most certainly am. Merlin. I'm so tired I don't know what I'm saying."

"Right," Hagrid said uncertainly. "Harry, ya wanna stay here tonight? If ya don't even remember yer own name, it's probably not safe for ya to be travellin' tonight."

Albus chuckled. "Hagrid, as appealing an offer as that is, I simply must get back to Harry's – to my flat. There's a bit of a Draco Malfoy lodged within, and before my bubble bath, I must extricate him."

"Harry!" Hagrid's face took on an expression of mock horror. "Ya took him home with ya? Ya were gonna keep him all night long?"

"Well, you see," Albus fixed his gaze on the tabletop.

"Say no more," Hagrid said, beaming. "Ya can go now 'n, ur, extricate the magnificent Malfoy from yer flat."

"Magnificent?" Albus asked, amused. "Hagrid, Mr. Malfoy is many things, but magnificent is not one of them."

"Aw come on Harry!" Hagrid laughed. "It's me. Hagrid. Member me? Obviously ya think he's magnificent if ya took him home. It's not like ya to do things like that, so I know there's somethin' to this little incident with Malfoy."

"Well, you see, Hagrid," Albus explained on Harry's behalf "I was completely unaware of his identity."

"Maybe he wore a dress," Hagrid said "'n maybe his voice changed, but Harry, ya'd still have been able to recognize him. Least I would. His face was the same, right?"

"It was all made up," Albus told him. "Lipstick, eye makeup, blush, the whole thing. Plus, he was wearing a wig."

"Were his eyes the same color?" Hagrid asked.

"Well, yes but," Albus tried lamely.

"Then ya knew deep down in yer soul that it was Malfoy."

"Draco told me his name was Drayia and that he was his own twin sister," Albus explained, realizing at once how rediculess it sounded.

"His what?" Hagrid asked. "His sister? Harry, don't ya think if Malfoy had a squib twin sister that information would leak out in the media somehow?"

"Squib?" Albus asked.

"Well, she'd've had to be a squib," Hagrid confirmed. "Either that, or ol' Lucius would've had to've sent her to another school of magic. If he'd've done that, her accomplishments would still've got in to the papers."

"Oh," Albus said, admiring the tabletop anew. "Actually, she said she went to Hogwarts with her brother."

"Her twin brother?" Hagrid asked. "Why didn't ya see her with him, then? Were they not on speakin' terms? Were they in different houses? Maybe she was a Hufflepuff."

"Well, not exactly," Albus said. "According to the story I was told, Draco and Drayia were very close. They went to the same school and resided in the same house."

"Tush," Hagrid laughed, holding his sides with mirth. "Similar names, same school, same house, same everythin'? Harry my boy, sounds like Malfoy was droppin' obvious hints to ya all night long to let ya know who he was."

"Well," Albus said thoughtfully "when you say it like that, I can see how it could look that way."

"It lookse that way," Hagrid said gently "cause it is that way. Harry, yer gay. Either that or ya have a likin' for both girls 'n boys. Either way, it's okay with me. Ya don't have to hide anythin'. I won't judge ya."

"Hagrid," Albus said seriously "I assure you I am only interested in members of the opposite sex. This incident with Draco Malfoy may have been a laps in judgement but…"

"Yer lyin' to me," Hagrid said softly. "Yer afraid, Harry, 'cause ya've got a real big image to live up to. Look Mate, it's all right to be gay. It doesn't make ya less of a man." Hagrid stood, walking across the table to stand beside Albus. "Look at me." He flexed his massive muscles, straightening to his full height. "Would I be less of a man if I told ya I was gay?"

Albus gazed. The years had only enhanced the half giant's good looks. He was tall and strong, and with his dark hair and beard shining in the moonlight coming in from a nearby window, he looked to Albus like an ark angel come to earth. "Are you?" he asked.

"I am," Hagrid said simply.

"With who?" Albus couldn't avoid asking.

"Never anyone, Harry," Hagrid replied. "Ya see, I always loved professor Dumbledore."

"You did?" Albus asked, unbelieving.

"Course I did," Hagrid said with a whistful smile. "Never told him, though. What would a powerful wizard like that want with me? But now, -- now as he's gone 'n all, I'm of a mind to think I wish I had."

Albus stood, rapping his arms as far as they would reach around the friend he had loved for so long. "I'm sorry," he said earnestly. "I'm sorry life wove all our destinies in the way it did, but I have it on good authority that Albus always loved you as well."

Hagrid returned the embrace, gently resting his head against Albus's. "Harry my boy," Hagrid said, his kind face breaking in to a broad smile "if ya were anyone else, I wouldn't believe ya, but since yer you, I know yer right. Dunno how ya know, but I know yer tellin' me the truth."

"Thank you for believing me, Hagrid," Albus said softly. "It is the truth."

"'N thank ya for tellin' me, Harry," Hagrid replied. "I spose ya found out from the pensive he left ya in his will. I'm reall glad ya told me."

"As am I, Hagrid," Albus said gently. "As am I."

Harry stood by the lake, looking solemnly down at his reflection. He still looked the same, but was he? He had the same green eyes, but only hours earlier, they had looked with love in to the eyes of another man. The same lightning scar rested on his forehead, a symbol of all he'd endured and survived, but could he survive this? Could Harry really, while keeping his dignity and sanity, go on with life knowing that he had consensually engaged in a homosexual experience?

Harry was devastated, but worse than that, he was furious! What would Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon say if they knew how far he'd fallen from grace? What would his parents say if they'd been watching? The frightening fact was, they very well could have been! As much as he hated to admit it, even to himself, Harry was very extraordinary. He could see spirits, talk to them in his mind, and even hold them in his body if they wished. Since his mum and dad often settled comfortably in Harry's body with him, they knew it well enough to enter undetected.

"Harry?" A man's voice asked from behind him.

"Dad?" Harry asked, not turning to face his visitor.

"No," the man said, laying a hand on Harry's shoulder. "It's Cedric. Your dad and I got to talking, and he thinks I'm the best one to help you with things right now."

"There's no helping this, Mate," Harry said, sitting down beside the calm, star-flecked water. "So Dad knows about – Malfoy? Who else, Cedric? Everyone?"

Cedric nodded gravely, sitting his shimmering form down beside Harry's wholly solid one and floating slightly. "I'm sorry, Harry. None of us meant to spy on you. It's just that we all know how much you hate gays, and you were going in to a really uncomfortable situation. We wanted to be here if things got out of hand. That's all."

"Then why didn't any of you help me?!" Harry asked angrily. "Why did you let him, -- let me – let things get out of hand that way?!"

"I don't know how he was doing it," Cedric began "but Malfoy was projecting feminine energy at us. We thought he was a girl just as much as you did."

"Damn him!" Harry said, throwing a rock into the water. "He shouldn't be allowed to do that!"

"No, Harry," Cedric said gently, draping a reassuring arm around his shoulders. "Of course he shouldn't, but the fact is, he did. Now you have two choices."

Harry leaned against Cedric, not meeting his gaze. "Yeah Mate, two choices. I can run away forever, maybe move back in with Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon, or I can go home and beat the holy living tar out of him. Right?"

Not even close," Cedric chuckled. "Harry, Malfoy is in your house. All your stuff is there, so even if you do choose to seek the not very comforting protection of your aunt and uncle, you will still be subjected to that awkward confrontation I know you want so desperately to avoid."

"DAMN!" Harry yelled, throwing an even bigger rock into the water. "What if I haven't convinced Draco, … Malfoy that I really thought he was a girl? What if he never believes me! What if he thinks I'm a…" Harry lowered his voice to a whisper "closet gay."

"Well," Cedric said conversationally "then he tells all his friends who tell all their friends. Then, you'll wake up one morning, reach for The Daily Profit, and find an article about your 'double life' plastered all over the front page."

Harry groaned. "Oh Merlin! Cedric, this is terrible! What can I do? What can I do?!"

"Like I was saying, Harry," came Cedric's gentle reply "you have two choices. You can go in to hiding for the next thirty years until this story blows over, or you can be gay with Malfoy."

"Me? Gay? With Malfoy?" Harry held his face in his hands, trying to stop the oncoming wave of nausea from overtaking him.

"Ah ah," Cedric admonished, cupping Harry's chin in a gentle hand and turning his face so their eyes met. "Hear me out. Try it for a week. Then, when you break it off with Malfoy, people can no longer accuse you of keeping a closed mind about homosexuals. If people try to press gayness on you, you can tell them you already tried it and found that it wasn't for you. Harry, this experience with Malfoy will find its way to the presses regardless of what you do. If you break it off with him after a week, people will probably assume it was his fault. If you break it off with him tonight, Malfoy can play the victim, and do you really want that?"

"No!" Harry said vehemently. "He has no right! I'm the victim here!" The thought of Draco using this situation to his advantage filled Harry with icy rage.

"Then fight back!" Cedric said, squeezing Harry's shoulder. "Let Malfoy's desire end in his destruction."

"I will, then!" Harry agreed. "But Cedric?"

"Hmmm?"

"I'm really not, -- well you know."

"Gay?" Cedric guessed.

"Right," Harry confirmed. "I know I need to be with Malfoy for a week, but how?"

Gently, Cedric ran a transparent hand down Harry's cheek. Harry jumped back, startled, but the caress was not the cause of Harry's alarm. As Cedric's hand made its way down Harry's cheek, the skin broke apart. Silvery blood ran down, and when Harry looked closer, he saw that the rip was a hole, pierced all the way through his friend's hand. Cedric's other hand also bore this cruel-looking hole, bleeding silver as though newly pierced.

"Cedric?" Harry asked, concerned.

"Harry?" Cedric asked in response, smiling gently.

"Are you – are you all right?" Harry asked, staring fixedly at the bleeding wounds.

"Of course," Cedric told him, confused. He followed Harry's gaze. "Oh, that! Harry, don't worry. It's just my stigmata acting up again."

"Your, what?" Harry asked.

"Never mind that," Cedric said with a shrug. "It's important, but not for now. All I will tell you is that the marks that can never fade are bleeding for the task I am about to undertake."

"Cedric," Harry said, concerned "I don't understand."

Cedric sighed, his eyes looking suddenly old. "It isn't for you to understand, Harry. Just trust that my strength will be enough to carry you through the time you will be bound to Malfoy, and all will be well." Gently, Cedric slid inside Harry's body, pushing him back. "Go now. I'll handle this."

Reluctantly, Harry obeyed. Cedric was acting strangely, but somehow, Harry knew that all his questions would be answered in time. For now, he would trust, hide, and wish his brave friend all the luck in the world. With Draco, he was going to nneed it.