The Firefly and Dragon Restaurant

Rumour

It can't be denied that the Wizarding World were caught somewhat off guard in the summer of 1998 when the famous Harry Potter didn't go into the D.M.L.E.'s Auror Department. It was, of course, a well-known secret that Minister Shacklebolt had offered a number of 'elite' students from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry a position in the Ministry of Magic without the need to complete their N.E.W.T.s. Instead, the Hero of the Wizarding World disappeared to France for a while to apparently stay with Fleur Delacour's cousin to 'escape the furore' after the war.

Come September, the Wizarding World was even more surprised to find out that the Boy who Lived Twice had returned to Britain and had gone back to Hogwarts to re-take his seventh year and finish his schooling with a fair number of his contemporaries, including all of those who had apparently been shortlisted by Minister Shacklebolt. Some saw it as a political move by Minerva McGonagall, but they did so like to pitch the current Headteacher of Hogwarts against the Minister of Magic to try to stir up trouble. Admittedly, there was also a considerable amount of astonishment that the Vanquisher of Dark Lords dropped Defence Against the Dark Arts as a subject and, instead, the Triwizard Champion was taking Muggle Studies and Catering N.E.W.T.s. Indeed, there was considerable speculation in the Press that the Golden Boy had had enough of every minute moment of his life making it into the newspapers and that his summer in Paris and his return to Hogwarts was actually a prelude to him disappearing from the Wizarding World for good.

Nobody actually thought to ask Harry.

And such was the astonishment about the Chosen One's choice to go back to school that the newspapers nearly managed to miss the scandal that the Malfoy family had been cleared of all charges due to mitigating circumstances. The news might have passed unnoticed, apart from the fact that the Wizarding World's Saviour had also stood up in front of the Wizengamot and defended his renowned school arch-nemesis, Draco Malfoy. That caused considerable tittle-tattle which was considerably enhanced by an enterprising young witch named Pansy Parkinson who had just started writing for The Daily Prophet. She stirred up a Billywig's nest of gossip. She hinted that there might be another underlying reason why the Youngest Seeker in the History of Hogwarts had stepped forward to save the Youngest Death-Eater in History (Ever) from an unfortunate and cruel life of incarceration in Azkaban. And when Pansy wrote about the two young men actually saving each other's lives during the war and all the obsessively focused attention of their early schooldays, well, that ignited a lot of young witches and wizards' imaginations. It sparked theories of star-crossed lovers, suppositions that they were two sides of the same coin, inferences that love was disguised as hatred, and, as a result, Potterwatch was started again, this time dealing solely with the rather depressingly empty love-life of the Most Eligible Bachelor in the Wizarding World.

Consequently, every relationship that Mr Desirable No.1 had ever had was accordingly picked apart. Not that it took much time; there wasn't much to surmise from his short affiliations with Parvati Patil, Cho Chang, and Ginevra Weasley. Still, the newspapers managed to squeeze two-weeks' worth of column space out of their conjectures. Witch Weekly even ran full-page spreads on each of the young women with full photo-shoots. Ginny, Cho, and Parvati thought it was hilarious (they had Harry's blessing). Anyway, the outcome was further theories that as the Leader of Dumbledore's Army had never had a successful relationship with a woman and because he was so often reported as being 'obsessed' with the young Malfoy heir that he must, indeed, be gay, or bi-sexual, or maybe pansexual. Another two weeks' worth of speculative imaginings were printed about Harry's 'relationships' with Cedric Diggory and Oliver Wood and any one of the Weasley brothers. Oliver Wood remained discreetly silent; Charlie couldn't be contacted; Percy spluttered and went very red-faced; Ron winked lewdly but clutched Ms Hermione Granger firmly to his side; George told the press all sorts of ludicrous lies but his business boomed as a result; and the journalists seemed rather intimidated by Bill so they never asked.

Again, no one actually bothered to ask Harry.

Indeed, Harry probably would have confirmed their hypotheses about his sexuality, should they have questioned him directly. But as no one did, Harry happily ignored it all and got on with his life. In fact, Harry was slightly surprised that no one actually requested an interview or to do an article on him but he was quite content with it to be that way. He had learnt during his younger years that the best way to deal with the Press was to just let them get on with it because they'd only twist his words and make stuff up anyway. And, just perhaps, the Press never bothered him directly because they were a little daunted by the Master of Death so, in general, the stuff they wrote about him was fairly innocuous and quite laughable.

Harry spent the Christmas and Easter breaks with Fleur's cousin, and he returned to Paris again after his N.E.W.T.s were over. Of course, when Pansy Parkinson found out that Fleur Delacour's cousin was a man, the excitement went through the roof but nothing was actually confirmed and everyone knew it was just guesswork and speculation because there was never actually any evidence.

However, Harry had a plan and he had decided to throw everything into it. And if no one actually bothered to ask him, well, he decided it worked in his favour.

The gossip columns soon got bored of their absent Hero, there were other things to focus on like: was Ginevra Weasley really going to play Professional Quidditch for the Holyhead Harpies; and who had brought the empty shop next to Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes on the corner between Diagon and Horizont Alley; and had the geek-turned-heartthrob, Neville Longbottom, really proposed to Hannah Abbott, the new landlady at the Leaky Cauldron?

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