Scars That Heal (Dramione Fanfiction) [COMPLETE]

35 - Into Town

*Trigger Warning - Discussion of Self-Harm Scars*

After the Quidditch match there was no way Dean and Seamus could hide their relationship, and they no longer wanted to keep their love secret. There was a constant stream of students, mainly younger, coming over to congratulate them in between lessons and Seamus just didn't understand why.

"We're just another couple, why haven't people done that with you and Malfoy, or with all the others?" he asked Hermione.

"Because you're a gay couple, you idiots," Ginny snorted, "Most of them probably haven't seen openly gay gay people like you before and they're intrigued. They probably want to know if you're just friends who are joking around."

"We're not!" Seamus protested.

"Yeah, you made that clear after the match," Ginny said, raising her eyebrows.

"Have any of them been, y'know... mean? About you and Dean?" Draco asked quickly.

"Not to our faces. I haven't heard anything, but I'm sure there'll be someone out there who doesn't like it." Seamus said a little gloomily.

"Well, you've got us, and we think that as long as you don't perform as many public displays of affection as Hermione and Draco--"

"Oi!"

"--We're totally comfortable with it." Ginny smiled.

"Thanks. Y'know, we only didn't tell you guys because we weren't entirely sure what you'd make of it. We thought you might pretend you were fine with it, but not be really."

"Nope. We all knew it anyway." Luna said pointedly.

"Really?"

"You two never have been subtle, and you were fawning over each other way back in September." Hermione grinned as Seamus shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

"W-We didn't start going out officially until January. It was kind of... Something we clearly both wanted, but neither of us wanted to say it in case the other didn't feel 100% the same way. But in the end, we did, and we're happy. For now, anyway, but if Dean doesn't come back from seeing Feathersworth soon..."

"Sorry I'm late," Dean said, coming to sit at the lunch table and kissing Seamus briefly. There was a small murmur of disdain from one of the other tables, and Ginny quickly showed them what she thought with an unmistakable hand gesture.

"She wanted the paper in today, and I need another extension if we're going to get the Support Sessions up and running again." Dean explained, grabbing some bread rolls and dipping them into a bowl of soup.

"So, are we?" Draco asked Hermione. "If you feel ready to start doing them again, I mean."

Hermione wasn't sure entirely how she felt. The Support Sessions obviously meant a lot to the people who went to them, and it was a good thing for her. Now she was feeling more stable and her work/relaxation balance was better, Hermione felt it was time to accept that she had to be honest with those who attended. She had had a lot of questions about what had happened - most had heard that she nearly fell off the Tower, and Draco had saved her - but no-one knew the side of it that was real. It wasn't something she really wanted to reveal; it was an intensely personal thing to talk about, but she felt it was an important part of her recovery to process the enormity of what she had nearly done. Also, she could now be of more help to people who felt the same way as she had done. She could relate to those who were constantly sad - it still plagued her, sometimes - and those who had lost close loved ones. It would strengthen her, as well as the people at the Sessions.

"I'm ready. First one will be next week, usual time. I think it's time to get back into it."

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