Title: Sound of the Revolution, Chapter 08
Author: kevo
Pairing: Harry + Cedric.
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: I do not claim ownership to these characters or the series they're from.
Summary: In his fifth year, Harry faces ostracism with boyfriend Cedric for coming out and for declaring Voldemort has returned. (Order of the Phoenix canon re-write.)
Author's Note: Another chapter I nearly didn't have out on time. But I would've been so disappointed in myself had I not posted on this story's anniversary. Which today is! Five years, baby! Woot!

The Love So Green Collection

Playlist #2:

sound of the revolution

CHAPTER EIGHT

"Nobody's Perfect"

"Come on, people, focus!"

The second meeting of Dumbledore's Army was not advancing the group's skills as far as anticipated. Everyone was paired off once again to work on Disarming. In truth, the problem wasn't a lack of focus; it was a lack of urgency. Harry, Ron and Hermione had perfected the charm under circumstances that most teenagers didn't ever face. He struggled to find the right words to express this without using his past as an example. That was Gilderoy Lockhart territory, a place Harry vowed never to tread.

"This isn't chess," Harry snapped as he observed the group. "You don't have time to ponder your next move while your partner takes his turn. You need to always be thinking, always be ready. You're not just reacting, you're acting independently of your opponent's actions."

Merlin, could I have used the word "act" anymore? Harry chided himself.

He made sure not to let this insecure thought show on his face or break the aura of confidence he was attempting to exude. Eager to gain insight from someone more experienced in the field, Harry had written Lupin for teaching advice. The former professor told him that, first and foremost, he had to appear confident to maintain control over the class, or else they would walk right over him. After the incident with Ginny at the last meeting, he wasn't about to give them another reason to doubt him.

Recalling the redhead's rage, Harry snuck a peak at her across the room. She had steadfastly avoided speaking or in any way drawing attention to herself from the moment she entered the Room of Requirement. Whether this meant Harry's words had resonated wasn't apparent until the session was over and she finally approached him.

"Harry, can I talk with you?" she asked, still barely making eye contact.

"Yeah, all right," Harry replied.

He led her outside and a good distance down the corridor, out of earshot.

"I'm sorry for the way I've been behaving," Ginny said. "These last few months, I know that I've… Anyway, I'm sorry."

"I'm not the one you should be apologizing to," Harry told her.

"I know," Ginny agreed. "Only I owe you both an apology. Because he's your – your boyfriend, and I should've treated him better. It wasn't fair to you. So I'm, like I said, I'm sorry.

"Thanks," said Harry. "Sorry if I was rude to you the other day."

"You were justified," Ginny assured him. "I was rude to you long before that. It's just… It's hard for me."

"I know," Harry replied, understanding her meaning.

"Are you…" Ginny began hesitantly. Harry could guess what she was trying to ask. "I mean, are you definitely…"

"Yes."

"Okay," said Ginny.

"I'm…"

Harry stopped himself. He was about to say again that he was sorry, but it didn't feel right this time. What was he sorry for? Being gay? Certainly not. Even if it did hurt Ginny that Harry was, he couldn't apologize for it.

"I'm glad we talked," he concluded. "Are we going to be okay?"

"I hope so," she replied. Her eyes were slightly shimmery with unshed tears, but Harry pretended not to notice them. "I still need to talk to Cedric, I know, but I'm not really ready for that yet."

"Sure," said Harry. "But don't put it off for too long. He's actually," he hesitated briefly, unsure how she'd react to him saying this, "he's a real great bloke. You should get to know him."

"Of course he's great," Ginny said, smiling slightly. "Why do you think I hated him so much?"

Without anything else to say, the two friends parted ways. Harry found Cedric waiting for him outside the Room of Requirement. Harry replayed the conversation for him, including Ginny's promise to speak with Cedric soon.

"You know, Hermione said she has a crush on Michael Corner now," Cedric told him.

"Michael Corner as in…?"

"Fred Weasley's 'friend'? Yup."

"Damn," said Harry. "She just keeps falling for gay blokes."

"It would seem to be her type," Cedric concurred. "And Michael does have a taste for Weasleys. Unfortunately for Ginny, that taste excludes females. Poor girl." After a wistful sigh, Cedric slapped his hands together and said, "So, we still on for drills tomorrow?"

Ever since Ron had been picked as the new Gryffindor Quidditch team's Keeper, Harry and Cedric had been running plays with him in private on top of the team's existing practices. They both knew Ron had the aptitude to be a great Keeper, yet he was severely lacking in confidence. The extra training seemed to be helping. Whether it would make enough of a difference for the impending match against Slytherin was difficult to tell.

"Yeah, sure," Harry said. "I mean, if you're okay with it. I don't want to cause a problem for you, with your team. A captain helping out a rival team's Keeper…"

"I'm not going to go blabbing to them about it, but I think they'd understand," Cedric reasoned. "And it's just for this first game. After you guys trounce Slytherin and Ron realizes he's a good Keeper, you guys are on your own."

"Here's hoping," Harry muttered.

"Plus, for all you know, I'm only helping so I can spy on you and him and report his weaknesses back to my own team," Cedric informed him.

"Yeahh, sure, Cedric," Harry snickered.

O O O O O O O

As it turned out, Cedric may as well have been working against them, for all the good their training sessions did.

Not that it was Cedric's fault, or even Ron's for that matter. If it weren't for that stupid song putting him off, Ron would've done great. Perhaps that's what had made Harry so edgy and so easily provoked once the game was over. There was nothing, though, that could've prepared him for the consequences of his altercation with Draco Malfoy.

Upon returning from McGonagall's office, he found Cedric waiting outside the Gryffindor common room for him. At Harry's insistence, they walked to a more secluded part of the seventh floor corridor so they could talk privately. Harry was skittish about using the Room of Requirement now that others knew of its existence. He didn't want to be walked in on during an intimate moment or, even worse, accused of breaking the rule he'd imposed on the others.

He retold the events that transpired on the pitch, as Cedric had been in the stands and, like the rest of the spectators, was unable to hear what had caused the fight to break out. Then Harry divulged what came next; being taken to Professor McGonagall's office, being interrupted by Umbridge, and, finally, being banned from Quidditch.

"That's really awful," Cedric said. "I'm so sorry, Harry."

"I still can't believe it," Harry sighed. "I know Umbridge has it in for me, but this… Short of expulsion, I can't imagine a worse punishment. And for what? I didn't even do anything!"

"Well…"

"Well what?" Harry asked, uncertain he wanted the answer.

"Harry, you did start a fight," Cedric pointed out.

"He started it!" Harry argued. "He's always starting it! And what am I supposed to do, just let him say awful things like that?"

"Uh, yes," said Cedric, as though it was the simplest answer in the world. "They're words, Harry. You all let that twat provoke you into doing these stupid things all the time. Like at the end of last year when Fred and George jinxed Malfoy and his friends on the train. Maybe now you'll think before you…"

He stopped, leaving the sentence unfinished.

"What are you saying?" Harry prompted him. "You think I deserved to be banned?"

"That's not what I was saying," Cedric replied, though his tone conveyed a different answer.

"It's what it sounded like. Do you or don't you?"

"Harry, you practically started a riot on the Quidditch pitch!" Cedric cried. "You don't think that merits some amount of punishment?"

"He was insulting my family!" Harry shot back. "And Ron's!"

"So you had to punch him?"

"Yeah, I did!" Harry nearly shouted. "Because that's what you do when someone insults the people you care about! You do something about it, you don't just walk away like some kind of…"

Now it was Harry's turn to leave his statement unfinished.

"Some kind of what, Harry?" asked Cedric, with an icier voice than Harry usually heard from his boyfriend.

"Forget it."

"No, please," Cedric insisted. "Finish. Some kind of wimp? Or a ponce?"

"I wasn't going to say that," Harry denied.

"It's what it sounded like," Cedric replied, throwing Harry's own words back at him. "Is that what you think of me? That I'm a wuss because I believe problems should be solved with words instead of violence?"

"No! Merlin! Why is this even a discussion?" Harry wondered angrily. "I've had about the shittiest night. I was hoping for some support from my boyfriend."

"I don't blindly give you my support simply because we're involved, Harry," Cedric told him. "If I think you did something wrong, I'm going to tell you. That's just the way it is."

"I don't need this right now," Harry grumbled. "When you decide you're done being an asshole, come find me. Until then, fuck off."

Without giving Cedric a chance to respond, Harry stormed off, back to the Gryffindor dormitory. He'd regret saying that, he already knew it, but right now he was too angry to care.

O O O O O O O

The return of Hagrid that night, and the gamekeeper's tale of where he'd been, provided temporary relief for Harry's foul spirits. He didn't give his fight with Cedric another thought until the following morning. When he did, he decided he was still annoyed. Maybe he shouldn't have curse at his boyfriend like that, yeah. But Cedric was being spectacularly unsupportive, and that's just as bad. Maybe worse.

Okay, maybe not worse.

He stomped down to the Great Hall for breakfast with Ron and Hermione, before Hermione took off to help Hagrid with lesson plans. If Cedric attempted to talk to him, Harry was willing to listen. And so he waited. And waited. And even after more than an hour passed, despite the pile of homework waiting for him and Ron's paradoxical claim that he was no longer hungry, Harry insisted that they wait a little longer.

Cedric was nowhere to be found.

It wasn't until dinner that Harry finally saw him. The older boy didn't spare a single glance toward the Gryffindor table. This was troubling. Even when they would squabble, he at least got the sense that Cedric was deliberately trying to keep himself from looking at Harry. This was different.

The week went on and Harry barely saw Cedric for more than a few seconds a day. It rapidly became apparent that this wasn't because he was suddenly and unexpectedly busy. He was avoiding Harry. The only time Cedric had ever done that was during their not-so-brief separation before the second task of the Triwizard Tournament. Which left Harry to wonder: had he screwed up so badly that Cedric wanted to break up with him?

It had been nearly five whole days when, sitting in the Gryffindor common room, Ron said out of nowhere, "So, you and the boyfriend are fighting, eh?"

"What?" said Harry. "What makes you think that?"

"You're being all moody," Ron replied.

"I've been banned from Quidditch. You don't think that'd put me in a bad mood?"

"Yeah but that's a different kind of bad mood," Ron said. "When stuff like that happens, you get more cranky. Like last year, with the Goblet of Fire and us not talking. When you're upset about Cedric you go catatonic." At Harry's raised eyebrows, he added, "All right, that's the word Hermione used for it. But you are!"

"I guess," said Harry. "Has it really been a year since my name came out of the Goblet of Fire?"

"Yes it has, my friend," Ron said. "More than."

"That means Cedric and I have been dating for nearly a whole year," Harry realized.

"If you ignore that nasty bit back in February," Ron threw in.

"Which we do," Harry said, conveying with his voice that 'we' was meant to include Ron in it.

"Well, you got over it, didn't you?" Ron said in his own defense. "And you'll get through this too. I'm not worried, and you shouldn't be either. Just go find him and apologize."

"What makes you think I'm the one who did something wrong?"

"Did you?"

"Yeah," Harry admitted reluctantly. "Still, cheap shot."

"Speaking as the guy who's usually the one who screwed things up, it's easy to tell," Ron said. "Now, do what I said. Find him and talk it out."

"He's avoiding me," Harry argued. "How can I go find him when he doesn't want to be found?"

"Easy," said Ron. "Where does he go when he's ticked off? Hermione, she goes to the library. It works out pretty great for me, because she would never cause a scene in there, and Madam Pince would have a fit if she yelled."

Where would Cedric go? Harry mulled over the possibilities. The library, like Hermione? Probably not. The Quidditch pitch? Maybe, though Harry wasn't keen to go down there anytime soon. He could always stake out the prefects' bathroom or the Hufflepuff dormitory, wait until Cedric showed up.

Then Harry recalled a conversation they had before the first official meeting of Dumbledore's Army, about that brief separation in February. He remembered where Cedric said he used to go, hoping Harry would find him there.

"I know where he is."

O O O O O O O

When Harry arrived at the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy, he found the Room of Requirement's door was already there waiting for him. He wondered if anyone else who passed by was able to see it, or if it was invisible to all but him. He didn't give the matter much thought. He grabbed the knob and opened the door.

Inside, in their usual configuration of the room, sitting on their favorite couch, was Cedric. He was clearly startled by Harry's appearance.

"Shit, Harry," he gasped, clutching his chest, "you nearly gave me a heart attack."

"Sorry," Harry mumbled. "I thought maybe you'd be in here."

"And here I am."

There was a moment of awkward silence. Harry hadn't formulated a plan for what to do about his boyfriend beyond finding him.

"Cedric, I'm sorry," Harry began. "What I said, it was completely out of line. I was angry, but that's no excuse."

"Harry, don't," Cedric interrupted, rising from the couch. "It was my fault. I got myself worked up, and I let that affect what I said to you. What you did, going after Malfoy… It's the kind of thing my dad would've been proud of. He always used to be on me to defend myself, be a man, but it's just not me. I'm a Hufflepuff, through-and-through."

"That's one of the things I love about you, Cedric," Harry told him. "You don't need to use your fists to prove that you're brave."

"I know I don't," said Cedric. "I only worry that sometimes you… You're a Gryffindor, y'know? And, like I said, I'm a Hufflepuff. We both know the reputation my house has. I couldn't stand thinking you might –"

"I'm not your dad," Harry said firmly. "And I would never poke fun at you like he did with your mom."

"Okay," Cedric replied.

"So if you knew all this, why didn't you just say something a few days ago?" Harry asked.

"Because I'm an idiot?" Cedric ventured. "I know I should've just said something to you, but I was embarrassed. I screwed up pretty bad, and I didn't know what to do. I'm not perfect, y'know?"

"You are to me," Harry said. And he meant it. "I get it, though. Merlin knows I haven't been perfect. You were right. Whether your dad would've been proud of it or not, fighting Malfoy was stupid. I mean, really. What he knows about real family could fill a doxy egg. Oh, and by the way –"

Without another word, Harry closed the gap between them and kissed his boyfriend. It had been far too long since he'd last done that. After two or three dozen of those, Harry pulled back so he could speak again.

"About that thing I said. Or rather didn't say."

"Harry, you don't have to –"

"No, I do," Harry insisted. He cupped Cedric's face in his hands, both out of love and out of a necessity to have Cedric looking at him when he said this. "You are one of the bravest people I know. All the shit you've been through in the past few months, and you never give up."

"It's nothing compared to what you've done," the older boy scoffed.

"I'm probably not the standard that anyone our age should measure themselves against. For anything."

"Perhaps not," Cedric conceded.

"And hey, y'know what I realized earlier?" Harry asked, hoping to move past the dreadful argument. "It's November."

"Yes, Harry, all month," Cedric replied with a playful amount of pomposity.

"Ha ha, that's not what I meant," replied Harry. "We've been dating for a year now."

"Yeah, we have," Cedric smiled. "Our anniversary isn't until the twenty-fourth, but we were definitely doing some heavy flirting at this point."

"At least now I know we were flirting," said Harry wearily. "I was a nervous wreck. I'm still not sure what 'don't tempt me' was supposed to mean. Honestly, I had no idea what I was doing at all."

With a trademark sexy grin, Cedric tugged Harry in for another kiss as he murmured, "Could've fooled me."

End Notes: Hope you enjoyed it! Originally I hadn't planned the stuff about Cedric being insecure about being more of a pacifist. It came to me as I was finishing the chapter over the past few days. I wanted to emphasize that Harry and Cedric aren't a completely perfect match, and that that's okay.
When I posted the first chapter of "A Lack of Color", I was nineteen on the verge of twenty. Now I'm twenty-four on the verge of twenty-five, and less than a year away from getting married. Suffice it to say, I've gone through a lot in the last five years. It has been an absolute pleasure to have this story, and you readers, along with me on that journey.
I'll try not to take another five years to finish the story. -kevo