My luck lasted for exactly seven minutes and forty-two seconds before it was thrown out the window. And the pitcher was none other than our favourite redhead."Harry, mate, there you are! Me and 'Mione have been looking for you all over the train, good thing I noticed it was you inside that cloak, eh?" Ron grinned widely, and I sighed in defeat. I my cloak could not stop them, nothing would. "Why you wearing that cloak anyway? You cold?"
"Cold? What do you mean cold? Are you cold, Harry? Do you have a fever? Maybe you should lie down a bit," came the voice of Hermione Granger from behind Ron.
"It's ok, Hermione, I'm just a bit chilly. Nothing to worry about." I said as reassuringly as I could, but I suspect it didn't sound very reassuringly at all. I needed to work on that.
"But you should at least take the hood down," reasoned Ron, and I shook my head frantically.
"No!"
"But why ever not?" asked Hermione.
"Don't want to."
"Don't be silly, Harry." And with that she broke the universal cloak rule, and drew back my hood. The nerve. I would have thought 'no' was a rather easy answer to comprehend, but nooo, not to Hermione. And she's supposed to be the smartest witch in our year, I'm not going to think about what that says about the rest of us.
"Hermione, I told you no!" I yelled and tried to cover up my face, but alas, it was too late. Or at least I assumed it was by Ron's fish on land impression and the fact that Hermione actually, for once in her life, looked truly surprised.
"Harry, you look… you look… wow, I mean, you look…" spluttered my bushy haired friend, and I sighed glumly waiting for her to say the G-word. But although the word she said next did start with a G, it was not the word I had been anticipating. "Gorgeous!"
Gorgeous? What did she mean gorgeous? I looked at her in disbelief. "Gorgeous, what do you mean gorgeous! I look like a bloody girl!"
"Oh, no, not at all! You look like a boy to me, it's just, you're so cuuute!"
It was official, Hermione had finally gone off her rocker. I blame overdosage of library dust. Turning to look at Ron, I asked. "Don't tell me you've gone completely bonkers too? You can see that I look like a bloody girl, right?"
Obviously not very comfortable disagreeing with Hermione, she had a nasty habit of snapping people's head off, Ron hesitated a little before nodding slowly. "Yes, and now that you'd finally grown a bit too, damned unlucky."
"Thank you! See 'Mione, I don't look 'gorgeous', I look like a girl!" I said with a triumphant nod.
"Well, I'm sorry if I inflated your male ego, but honestly, did it ever cross your mind that males and females might have a different view on things? It doesn't matter if you guys have a thing about being real tall and having big muscles, I'm telling you, every girl in the whole school will find you utterly adorable! Well, ok, maybe not everygirl, but more than enough. You had a lot going for you with that cute lost-puppy-look you had before, but with this new one, I promise, you'll be mothered like you've never been mothered before in your life."
Lost-puppy-look? Oh no, now she was going too far! I did not look like a lost puppy! So maybe I was a bit small and I had big, green eyes and a constantly confused look about me, but that did not qualify to lost puppy! I was about to come with a biting retort, but Ron stopped me. "Don't mind her, mate. Let's get to the important part, what in the name of Merlin happened to you?"
"It seems that when I thought my life couldn't get any worse, Murphy's Law kicked in. Apparently, I'm the mate of a Veela." I sighed dejectedly, letting the puppy case go for the sake of wallowing in my own misery.
At that Ron's eyes got, if possible, even wider than they had been when he'd first seen me. "It's always you, isn't it?" he sighed and I was about to nod eagerly, happy that someone was agreeing with me, when he continued. "Bloody lucky bastard, not only are you rich and famous, you have the bloody love of a bloody gorgeous Veela." I looked at him in disbelief. Did he actually think this was a bloody dance on roses, or was he just stupid? Before I could figure it out, he continued. "Do you know who she is? Is she someone we know?"
"Uhm, Ron? How much do you know about Veela and their mates?" asked Hermione tentatively, and I understood that she at least had made the connection between my looks and the gender of my mate. That was why she was the smart one.
"Dunno, not much I guess, why?" And that was why Ron was the stupid one.
"Well, judging from Harry's somewhat softerappearance, I'd say we don't know who sheis." Hermione said, her voice filled with heavy hinting. Ron however, only looked confused. "She is not someone we know, because of Harry's more female features," she tried again, but Ron only looked more lost. "Oh Ron, get a clue!" She snapped finally. "Harry's mate is a male!"
At this I could have sworn Ron's chin dropped all the way down to his chest, if not further. He looked wide eyed between Hermione and me, as if not completely grasping what she had said. After what seemed like hours he finally pulled himself together and asked cautiously, "A male?"
I shook my head yes. "Yeah, me and Remus have been looking into it, and that's the only explanation."
Taking a few minutes to let it sink in, Ron finally nodded. "So, a boy. How do you feel about that?"
I was a bit startled by the question, and who could really blame me? This was decidedly not the temper tantrum I had expected on Ron's part. Obviously he had matured a bit over the summer. If it hadn't been for the angry, red splotches on his cheeks and the way his left eye kept twitching, I would never have guessed he wasn't completely calm. "I don't know," I answered hesitantly. "I'll need some time to think about it, it's, well, a bit unnerving to tell you the truth. But I think, well, I don't think I mind all that much," Really, I'd been happily gay inside my little broom closet for quite a while now, of course I didn't mind! "I've had some time to think about it, and I think I'd like to have someone love me unconditionally. You know, love me just for me, not because I'm Harry Potter or the Boy-Who-Wouldn't-Bloody-Die, but just because I'm Harry and because Harry is perfect for that person." Damn. The female appearance came with a soppy side.
"Oh, Harry!" Hermione said gently and enveloped me in a big hug. "I think if anyone deserves the absolute love of a Veela, it's you. You've been through so much," Well, when you put it like that… "And if he ever as much as thinks about hurting you, I will rip his bowels out and feed them to the giant squid before tearing his head off and stomping on it."
I was rather impressed by her speech, I didn't know she had it in her. Death threats and all, it was really rather sweet. "Thank you, 'Mione, but I don't think that will be necessary. That's part of its charm, isn't it? That he can't hurt me without hurting himself even more."
At this Hermione smiled brightly and nodded. "Indeed it is, and if, despite this, he still manages to hurt you, all you have to do is refuse him and his Veela side will do the killing for us!"
At this Ron came with a scandalized "Hermione!", but the bushy girl only laughed and smiled more brightly.
"No one hurts one of my boys," she said simply, and I couldn't help but feel happy that I was back with my friends, fiercely protective or not.