Pretty Boy, Butch Girl

Chapter Six - Draco

Harry called me and asked me if I'd like to go over to Ron's house; it was just him, his brothers and parents, Harry, and Hermione. I said sure, and Lily drove me over to their house.

Molly invited her to stay. Lily texted James to pop over after work. I greeted Molly and Arthur shyly- Molly was quite the hugger- then found myself sitting on the loveseat beside Harry; Ron and Hermione sat on the couch, strangely far away from one another.

"I'm really sorry," I said softly after they'd finished explaining what happened. "I didn't mean to cause so much trouble."

"Oh, please, Draco," Hermione said gently, pleadingly. "Don't think that was your fault. Ginny's been falling further and further into the TERF rhetoric ever since Harry came out. You didn't do anything wrong, and this has nothing to do with you."

"Yeah," Ron said quietly in agreement. "You're not doing anything wrong, anyway. Just being yourself. Ginny's the one with the problem, not you."

I looked down, then leaned onto Harry's shoulder. Logically, I could understand that- at least by thinking about it as Ginny having a problem with Harry and Pansy, rather than a problem with me- but it didn't help to quell the guilt inside of me.

It must have been hell to be a lesbian in a happy, loving relationship, only for you partner to come out as trans. It didn't make it okay for her to do- anything that they said she'd done, but I couldn't help but follow her line of thinking and grow sad.

The air around us was melancholic and muted until Molly called everyone for dinner; Ron promised to tell her we'd already eaten as he and Hermione headed to the dining room to eat. I turned in my seat, and Harry pulled my legs over him, smoothing a hand against my clean-shaven shin.

"I'm sorry," I said. "That you had to deal with all this."

Harry looked over at me with gentle, sad eyes. "I am, too. I just... I don't understand how Ginny could do that at all, you know?"

I nodded, tilting my head to the side to listen, grateful he didn't just dismiss me like Ron and Hermione had.

"She's a good person. I guess that doesn't really matter, but..."

"It does to you,"

"Aye," he admitted softly. "She's not bad, she's... Wrong. It makes it harder, at least for me. Thinks I'm some poor, misguided butch, tricked onto testoserone. Thinks Pansy's some evil, manipulative menace, transing all the femboys. Thinks you're some poor, misguided... You know. If that were true- if you believed that- this must all be terrifying, frustrating. I don't know how to get through to her. I mean, she shouldn't not be blamed because she thinks she's doing the right thing. But you can't get through to someone if you're treating them like piss. It's all so... Complicated. There are no good answers, only bad ones, middling ones, ones that won't do."

"Right," I said softly, reaching forward and caressing his arm. He went on.

"It was easy enough for her to handle Paddy and Tonks. After all- Tonks is intersex, and Paddy just looks like a man in makeup. She seems to understand nonbinary people well enough, which is usually the opposite of how people are. Maybe because she's known them for longer, and it just seems... Natural, normal?" Harry sighed. "I just don't know."

"Maybe she'll get there in the end," I said softly. "When she doesn't feel so... I don't know, angry, hurt. Maybe she won't, I guess, but... Maybe she will."

Harry gave me another sad smile. "Maybe."

When dinner was over, all of the Weasleys came into the living room, filling the many old, worn-in pieces of furniture. James came over shortly thereafter, eating leftovers on the floor in front of Lily's seat, leaning back against her. They asked me questions, chatted with me and each other. I was nervous at first, but there was such a welcoming, lively air that I couldn't help but melt into it, feeling warm and accepted. Ginny came home as the sun began to set, glancing at me and Harry before heading towards the kitchen to get herself some food.