The Boy Who Lived

'The Closet Clam'

Dean and Seamus were delighted to have Harry, Teddy, and Mione visit for the day and they recommended The Copper Clam in the Kings Road Arches on the seafront in Brighton.

'Trendy jeans, mate,' said Dean as they sat on their roof terrace looking towards the sea. 'What's the occasion?'

'Harry's going on a date with Draco Malfoy!' said Mione smugly.

'At fecking last,' said Seamus. 'Does the bet still stand from school, Dean, because if it does, you'll be owing me a bloody mint.'

'Language, Seamus,' Harry admonished. 'Young tender ears,' he said, nodding towards Teddy who, luckily, was engrossed in his colouring-in book.

'Anyway, what's yours is already mine, darling, so all outstanding bets are null and void,' said Dean, rolling his eyes.

Harry raised an eyebrow as he fussed Hercules's ears. 'What bet?'

'Oh, come on, Harry. The sexual tension between the two of you was higher than the ceiling in the Great Hall,' laughed Dean. 'Some people lost an awful lot of money when you got back with Ginny after the war. The bets were high that that you and Malfoy would see past the old animosity and finally get it on. Especially as people were betting heavily that Malfoy had switched allegiances. No one said anything. How could they? Though Nev told a couple of people to back off. And we all know that by seventh year, when Nev said "back off", everyone immediately retreated ten feet. Something had obviously gone on that Nev knew about but no one else did. Probably something to do with his fake curse...'

'You knew about the fake curse?'

'Yeah! Everyone did,' said Dean. 'You can't do something like that and not expect the first years to question why, when "Dastardly Death-Eater Draco" cast the Cruciatus on them, it didn't hurt yet they looked and behaved like it did. People understood the danger of what he was doing and not to blab. They knew not to say anything about any of it. But they got that he wasn't happy and the amount of time he spent with Hagrid and the animals just showed where his heart was. Once upon a time, he'd never have deigned to talk to Hagrid, let alone pet a Hippogriff again.'

'Luna said he never wanted to harm Buckbeak, he just thought he'd please his father by getting Hagrid in trouble,' said Seamus.

'Luna knew?' Harry asked.

'Luna knows everything, I reckon she's a Seer,' said Seamus. 'She knew about us before we did.'

'Everyone knew about you before you did,' said Mione. 'You were worse than Harry and Draco.'

'Hey, we actually got together,' said Dean.

'True,' said Mione.

'It was a beautiful wedding, guys,' said Harry.

'If you need any help with planning yours and Malfoy's wedding, you know where we are,' grinned Seamus.

'I'm not marrying Malfoy. Don't you think if he was my soulmate, I'd have known a lot earlier?'

Harry didn't fail to notice three pairs of eyes rolling.

'Five galleons he's your soulmate,' said Seamus, holding out his hand to shake on it.

'No way!' said Harry.

'Scared, Potter!' Seamus teased.

'Ten he's not,' said Harry and they shook on it. 'Did I tell you he's straight?' Harry grinned smugly.

Dean and Seamus laughed so hard they cried.

'He's not straight. He's just so far in the closet, he's in Narnia,' wheezed Seamus between his hysterics. 'Time to drag him out, Harry, kicking, and screaming, and singing George Michael's Outside at the top of your voices.'