Liquor and a Letter

King Harry

This was going splendidly for me was the only thought in Harry's head as Justin tried, and failed, multiple times to talk to his parents. Every time he looked like he was going to confess, he chickened out and changed the topic. Meanwhile, Harry played the role of silent friend and secret boyfriend. He continued to listen to Justin babble on about this, that, and the other until, finally, the dam broke.

"LOOK, YOUR SON AND I ARE IN LOVE, ALRIGHT?" Harry exploded from his seat, cringing at his outburst and the bewildered look the entire family was giving him. He really had to work on his tact. "Err...I mean your son and I love each other dearly."

"Son, is this true?" Harry could tell the man's father was getting angry and readied himself for a fight if need be.

Justin meekly nodded and murmured out his affirmation. The air in the room grew thick with tension as the parents turned to glare at him. In any other situation with strangers, he would have recoiled back in fear, but he didn't care anymore. Harry sat up defiantly and returned their glare, pouring all of his hatred for their prejudices and beliefs into his look.

"So what if it is? He loves me and I love him. That should be the only thing that matters in a relationship but apparently you two can't accept that. Everyone of his friends from university and I have accepted him for who he is but you, his parents, can't. How does that make sense?" Harry spoke passionately and set off on his rant. He was taught that love was the only thing that mattered in a relationship regardless of gender or anything else. To see Justin's parents so blatantly disapprove of their child filled him with anger.

"I love your son with all my heart and he makes me happy as I do him. As a parent, that should be the only thing you should want for your child. You should want him to be loved, to be cherished, to be held dearly by someone who sees them for all they are. Gender, sexuality, and anything else shouldn't stand in the way of that. If you can't see that, then there's something deeply wrong with you that you can't fix."

Justin's parents looked properly chastised at his speech so Harry went in for the killshot. He took Justin's hand in his and caressed it soothingly before pulling the guy's head to lean on his shoulder. They looked like the quintessential picture of a couple in love and he could see the two older people's eyes soften.

"My question now is will you accept us?" He asked in a whisper.

"But what about that wonderful girl you're engaged with?" Justin's mum asked in return.

Harry let the man in question take over and listened as he told them everything about why he got engaged to Hermione in the first place. They looked more than guilty at his confession that he did it to make them proud and he derived some satisfaction from it. He explained to them that he had been seeing Andrew a year before he even met Hermione and only proposed to her to buy himself some time and make them happy.

What followed after was a heartfelt hug between the family as they accepted their son for who he was after he got their permission to break the engagement off with Hermione. Against his wishes, a lone tear dropped from Harry's eyes as he watched the family embrace. It reminded him of something he never got to feel but it still made him somewhat happy to see Justin being loved and appreciated by his family regardless of his orientation. He did the right thing.

Feeling the polyjuice begin to wear off, Harry made a hasty excuse and retreated out of the door with Justin escorting him. "Don't thank me and good luck," he hurriedly called to the man before beginning to disappear.

"Wait, can I at least take you out to a pub? Just to celebrate a job well done?" Justin asked quickly and hopefully.

Never one to pass down an opportunity to get drunk, Harry obliged with a nod of his head and disapparated soon after a cursory glance to make sure no one was looking. What he didn't know was that Justin had one final request for him when they eventually would meet back up at the bar.
———
The pub was packed to the brim with a bunch of men, moreso than any other bar, but Harry didn't notice or care. All that mattered to him was the pint in his hands and the company of the man who he just saved from a pretend marriage. Life was swell, except for the fact that Hermione and him were nowhere close to being friends again. Though, he did hold out hope that it was possible.