A Forbidden Love

Chapter 31: Together

The day after the feast, classes begin. The first few days go by without any issues, but on Thursday, the fourth day of classes, things start to feel different again. It's the same feeling I got in the Great Hall. I look around, and, again, it seems as though everyone is looking at me. I try to brush it off like last time, but it becomes more and more noticeable as the day wears on.

All the glances are making me paranoid, so I start straining my ears in the hall and courtyard to see what I can hear. I don't hear much, but it's enough.

I hear a girl in one group that passes say, "I've heard he's gay," following it with a glance toward me.

Another girl says "Did you hear his father on the platform," to her friend as they pass. "What a disgrace," she says, mimicking my Dad's voice.

Friday afternoon, a group of boys walk by, looking at me, and grabbing and rubbing each other mockingly. When they stop, they laugh, still looking, and now pointing, at me.

I begin to shift uncomfortably. Crabbe and Goyle, who I am walking with when this happens, must notice
because they make nonverbal threats to the group. The group quickly runs away, but I can still hear them laughing.

The next week of classes, the problem continues to get worse. From almost every group I pass in the hallway, I hear comments about how gross or unnatural I am or have people shoot disgusted looks in my direction. By mid week, nobody will even sit by me.  In class, the kids leave one or two seats between me and my friends and Harry and his friends. In the Great Hall, we are isolated by almost an entire bench. The two most popular kids of my year are suddenly the two most hated. This is seriously getting out of hand.

Coming out of Potions one day, I grab Potter by his arm and pull him to the side. This was a mistake, but it's important. As soon as I grab him, kids begin mockingly making hearts and googly-eyes in our direction. I can't stand it.

"Can we meet tonight?" I say when the hallway empties out. "I'm dying."

"Of course babe," he says. I smile, happy to still have him. Then I frown, remember what I plan for tonight.

When midnight rolls around, our designated meeting time, I jump out of bed and run to the room. The door is already present, so I assume Harry is already here. I walk up and open the door. I stumble back in shock when I see what's inside. Harry is definitely not inside. Inside, instead, are two middle-aged men making out.

As they turn, I recognize the face of the one. "Umm... Professor Lupin?" I say.

"Shit... I mean crap!" he says, breaking apart from a guy with shaggy, black hair, almost like a dog. His face looked familiar too, but I couldn't put a finger on it.

"First off, I'm thirteen. I don't care if you swear in front of me. And second, what the heck?"

"Just pretend like you didn't see that," says shaggy dude.

"Right... Because the image of my professor making out with someone will be easy to forget," I say, sarcastically.

"Plus, it's a guy, right? That probably has something to do with it." Again, shaggy dude speaks.

"Sirius, he's dating Harry. I don't think that has anything to do with it," Professor Lupin explains.

"He's dating my godson? My God son is gay? Sweet!"

Suddenly, I'm really dizzy. I realize exactly where I remember shaggy dude from. He's Sirius Black, as in the Azkaban escapee. Not only was one of my favorite professors snogging a criminal, but that Azkaban escapee is my boyfriend's godfather.

My shock must have shown because Lupin says, "Please don't tell Harry. He doesn't need to know about his godfather yet. Not until we prove him innocent."

"But... But..." I stutter. "I can't lie to my boyfriend. I would never even think of it."

"It's for his safety. He has enough on his plate already."

After some thought, I look down. "OK sir," I say, "I can do that."

"Thank you, Draco. It's unfortunate but it must be this way."

"Wait!" He looks like he might say more, so I cut him off. "I think I hear footsteps."

"Draco, were you meeting anyone down here?" Lupin asks.

"Yeah, Harry."

"Crap! Sirius..."

Without further command, Sirius transforms into a dog. Suddenly, all of Potter's dog sightings, which he swore were death omens, make sense. Sirius was hiding around to protect him. I don't know why I trust Sirius, I barely know him, but something about his concern for Harry and Lupin's trust in him makes him trustworthy in my eyes.

Sirius barely transforms when Harry opens the door. "Hey Draco!" he yells, before looking around the room. I don't even think he saw me. Like I had, he thought the door meant I was there.

He looks around. "Umm... Professor Lupin, to what do we owe the honor?"

"Actually, I was just leaving. The room's all yours."

"Thank you sir. Can I ask one question before you leave?" I tense up and so does Lupin. This could be bad. "Why do you have a dog?"

"Oh, haha. I love dogs." I laugh quietly, to myself. I couldn't help thinking, You have no idea, Potter. "I come here periodically and wish for a dog to play with." I breathe a sigh of relief. He played that off well.

"Oh. Well, see you, Professor."

"Bye, Potter."

He turns to me. "So, what was the emergency?" He looks concerned.

"I... I... I don't think I can do this anymore!" I burst into tears. "All the comments in the hallway, all the looks, all the isolation. I can't deal with it. I think... I think..." I can't say what I want to. I'm bawling at this point. "I think we should break up until this passes."

"Hey, hey," he says calmly as he pulls my head in to his strong chest. "Is that really what you want?"

"N... No," I say, still sobbing. "But..."

"No buts. If you don't want to break up, then I'm not leaving you. I know it's hard for you. You come from a powerful family above discrimination of all kinds. I get it. But, we are going to get through this, and we're going to get through this together."

"I love you, Harry." I look him in the eyes, my face lined with tears.

He hugs me tightly. "I love you, too, Draco."