The Boy Who Does Not Belong Here (part 1)

Ch. 13 The Daily Prophet

"Simon, SIMON!", Rosh was yelling in panic and ran to him in the second, when he stepped into the common room. The girl was waving the day's Daily Prophet and looked like she had seen a ghost.

"Rosh, what is going on?", he asked worriedly. The girl was not herself at all.

"Where is Wille?", she asked immediately.

"Coming down in a moment. Rosh please, what has happened?", he tried to ask again, and the answer came at the same moment, when the panicking girl shoved the paper in his hand.

On the front page was his and Wille's faces. Only after taking a glimpse of it, Simon had to held a puke. Oh dear Merlin what! He could not read anything, not even look the image again. On the front page of Daily Prophet was a picture on him and Wille kissing. It had been two days ago. He and Wille had escaped in the empty corridor (or they thought it was empty!) to have a make out session. Simon recognized the clothes they had been wearing.

The sweat and panic started to rise in his body. It was the exactly what Wille did not wanted, and what they had tried to avoid. Wille did not want it to come out like that! He had wanted to talk to his parents first. Oh god, Wille's parents did not even know that their son was not straight and together with him. What if Wille would hate him or break up with him?! Why now?! There was only two more days until the Christmas holiday and now this mess!

He could hear the footsteps behind him. Oh shit Wille...

"Morning", the boy greeted Rosh, but stood in his place, when he saw his and Rosh's faces. "What is going on?"

Simon's hands were shaking so much, that he barely could hold the paper, when he handed it to Wilhelm. He even noticed that tears had started to run down his cheeks. With suspicious look, the boy took the paper and at the second the turned his eyes on it, all the colour drained of his face. At that point Simon just started to fully sob in his hands, Rosh immediately taking him on her arms. He could not look Wille, this would be the end. One week of happy couple life and that's it. Simon knew that this had been a dream. But it would have been so much nicer to end it by waking up, not it turning into a living nightmare.

Rosh tried to calm him down by shushing and rocking them lightly. But his crying did not even subsidise, quite opposite actually... He did not know, how long he cried on Rosh's shoulder, but suddenly he was pulled away and Rosh was replaced by a much taller and masculine body. With one inhale, Simon knew it was Wille. He could recognize his boyfriends piney and oceanic aftershave anywhere. Wille held him so tightly that he could not move. Wille pressed his face on Simon's hair and Simon could feel tears dropping on his curls. They just stood there, crying together.

"Did you read it?", Simon finally whispered, when their crying had calmed down a bit.

"Yeah", the boy replied.

"I couldn't", he breathed back.

Suddenly Wilhelm was guiding them to the close-by sofa. He was still holding the exact paper, that had some minutes ago crushed their lives.

Simon brushed the tears, that still occasionally escaped from his eyes, and looked the paper again. The picture was still there, but now he read the article.

"Wilhelm Bernadotte and his Hogwarts gay affair

One of the eldest wizard family's, Bernadotte's, youngest son seems to have found some comfort next to him in Hogwarts.

The Bernadotte is one of the leading Scandinavian wizarding families and they only returned from America not more than couple of months ago due to the sudden death of their beloved grandma Ulrika Bernadotte. Kristina Bernadotte took his mother's position in the Scandinavian wizarding government and their firstborn son Erik is currently following his mother's footsteps by operating as her mom's first advisor. In the future, Erik will be the one taking his mother's position in the Scandinavian government. But the family's youngest son Wilhelm (age 16) continued to finish his schooling in Hogwarts, which is one of the most eminent wizarding schools in Europe.

It was difficult path for young Wilhelm to handle, because as we know, he was not sorted until with the third try. And unlike his family, he is not going to finish his schooling in Slytherin but was eventually placed in Gryffindor. It must have been a huge internal shock for the young boy. There have been even some speculations, that maybe the Sorting Hat has been seen its best days and is starting to make incorrect decisions. The Hogwarts personnel promised to evaluate and research the situation before the next sorting at the beginning of next school year.

But not only Wilhelm had to face the unlike happenings in Hogwarts, it seems, that his internal stability is slightly damaged due to the difficult Autumn. There had been reported from the inside of the Hogwarts, that Wilhelm is spending most of his time with questionable company. He had not taken his place next to his close family members, but rather spends his time with a group of Gryffindor students. It had been also reported that he seems to be exceptionally close with one certain boy...

During this week, Wilhelm and this certain boy, who we later discovered to be Simon Eriksson, were caught out in Hogwarts, sharing some kisses. The internal sources confirm, that some speculations started already a week ago, when to everybody's surprise, Wilhelm asked this Simon Eriksson to be his Yule Ball date. It seems, that boys are not afraid to show their newfound connection for their fellow students, because they were addressing their feelings very publicly, our internal source continues.

This other boy, Simon Eriksson is just a regular boy, with publicly unknown family background. He is not part of any of the known old wizarding families. After some research, we could discover that the boy is originated from Bjärstad Sweden, where he lived with his mom and sister. Simon's sister also attends the Hogwarts, so most likely he is half-blood, because it is not typical to have two members of a muggle family is magical individuals. Despite our research, there was no information about his father.

But what we can conclude? It is clear, that the difficult Autumn had took toll on Wilhelm and he might not be in his right state of mind. Maybe he is cooperating with all the changes by experimenting? Our internal source even states, that there are speculations, that Wilhelm may be under some kind of Potion or Spell, but this has not been certainly confirmed.

We all hope, that in the near future, Wilhelm will feel more mentally stable, and he will execute good in school. He carries a large responsibility, because in the future he will take his place as the first advisor of his older brother Erik. "

"The article was total horrible shit! When the Daily Prophet had turned into a gossip magazine? This is awful", Simon said and shaking just increased when he was reading it.

"I know baby... This is exactly what I was scared of... No one can't just accept that I'm gay and I have a boyfriend, who is the best person in the world. And they even had guts to put your name and family on the article like this. I'm just so angry!", Wilhelm murmured with upset voice.

"And who the hell this 'internal source' is, that they kept on rambling? Who would be so awful person, that they would first take the picture of our private moment and then they even had audacity to sell it in the paper?!", Simon could feel his own rage increase.

"I have no idea, and actually I could not even care at this point. But when the professional reporters become this low? I don't care, what they write about me, but they attacked you also! That I will not stand! But we have to go. Let's try to find McGonagall and ask her what to do", Wille spoke his mind and stood up.

He, Wille and Rosh left the Gryffindor tower, Wille holding tightly Simon's hand. They had just been outed, so why even try to be subtle anymore? They didn't spoke a word during their walk, but people turned eagerly their eyes towards them, and whispering rang in Simon's ears. He just tried to keep his head down and avoid all the contact.

When they reached the front lobby, Wilhelm stopped abruptly. That made Simon rise his gaze up. There was a small and round lady standing in the front hall. She had brown hair, cut sharply on her shoulders and she was wearing a cream-coloured blazer and a skirt, both way too tight for her. But despite the outer core of the lady, her stance was sharp and face hard as a rock.

She was actually freaking terrifying.

And it did not help, that there were two men, sized like closet and double-closet on either side of her.

"Mom...", Wilhelm breathed out next to him and at that point the last small seed of hope left the hall...