July 18th, 2022
Walkerburn, Scotland

Four chairs surrounded the dinner table in the Henry house, three of them occupied. George's mother, Jeanette, was eating a salad from a plastic container, glancing between the two of her sons. Sam, George's brother, was staring at George, occasionally looking to the living room to catch a peek at the television. Milton, George's father, was somewhere in Whitechapel, probably writing on a laptop - but wherever he was, he certainly wasn't here.

The timing for George's parents to finally bring forward the conversation about dad's continued, purposeful unemployment was quite poor. George had really come to terms with his sexuality in the year previous, and while he was still a bit grossed out by the concept of kissing, he knew that he would rather be grossed out by the idea of kissing a boy instead of kissing a girl. He was definitely gay - he'd already told Jack. And this summer, he'd planned to tell his family. But now he'd need to come out of two closets - one in his dad's apartment in London, and one in Walkerburn.

George was certain that the bond he shared with his brother allowed him to see straight through him. He was staring at George with a certain amount of menace as he took another huge chomp out of his takeout hamburger. He was two years older than George, and essentially looked like a small adult rather than an older teen. While George had wasted away in the Hogwarts library, his older sibling had clearly maintained a highly active lifestyle - after all, they'd both wanted to become police officer. The closest thing to that for a wizard was Auror, and George had no interest in that at all.

A long silence had lingered ever since George had finished catching the two of them up on his affairs - his class performance, strained relationship with Jake, promotion to the captain of the Broom Racing team, what broom racing was, et cetera. It took a while to clarify that he was not talking about 'Quitch,' a sport which, as his mother remembered, George did not like.

After picking up a chicken nugget and staring at it in thought for a moment, George set it back down into his little box of nuggets and fries and took in a deep breath. He set his elbows on the table and steepled his hands - shutting his eyes to try and imagine what he ought to say to broach the subject.

"Are you praying?" asked Sam with his mouth full, catching a hard glare from George as the younger brother opened his eyes. "Do wizards pray?"

"No!" shot back George, as their mother set down her fork and prepared to intervene in what was bound to break into an argument. "I'm not praying! Wizards do- well, they can do. I don't know, they're allowed to!"

He scoffed and leaned back in his chair, folding his arms over his chest. "I was just thinking... because I have something important I need to say..."

Sam snapped his fingers, eyes flashing with recognition. He immediately looked to their mother. "He's gay! I told you!"

"SAM HENRY, DO NOT SAY THAT ABOUT YOUR BROTHER!" said Jeanette, speaking clearly - she was using her teacher voice, which never, ever worked on either of her sons. Very little did when they really wanted to have a row. "And don't interrupt him when he has something he wants to say. Listen to your brother. Now. Go ahead, George."

George paused, staring at his mom with a look of abject dread on his face. All colour had drained from his cheeks - all the wind had been taken from his sails, and his dream dramatic revelation was reduced to a told-you-so for his big brother. He felt about ready to cry - but he didn't want to make the moment even more humiliating, so he just looked at Sam and spoke softly, "Yeah... I am... gay."

"I told you! I knew it!"
"You did NOT!"
"Stop interrupting your brother!"
"He's got a boyfriend!"

Jeanette froze, looking at George.
George looked back for a moment before his gaze snapped to Sam, denying his accusation furiously.

"I do not!"
"It's Jack!"
"It is not Jack!"
"It's Jake!"
"Ew, it is DEFINITELY not Jake!"
"Wait- do you have a boyfriend?"
"NO!"

Jeanette took a moment to reassess the situation, leaning back in her chair and rubbing her temples while Sam continued to barrage George, interrogating him about which of the boys he'd mentioned from magic school were the boyfriend he undoubtedly had. "It's the big fella from Charms!"

George's pale face had been getting redder by the moment, but the mention of the big fella turned him a deep shade of tomato red. He felt his stomach twist as Sam hit a little too close to target. An unexpected gut punch - George hadn't remembered mentioning that encounter at all. "Hugh?" George choked out, blinking in surprise.

"It's Hugh, it's definitely Hugh!" Sam insisted, looking to his mother as if she was placing bets as much as he was. He gestured to George. The sight of him was probably enough to confirm it to them both, with how red he'd suddenly become, even through the layer of makeup he wore regularly these days. Jeanette shook her head, refusing to take part in speculation with an authoritative demand - "Leave your brother alone!"

Sam spent a few moments hesitating before going back to his burger, munching plaintively. He considered George with a long look, and George squirmed as he felt everyone looking at him. He'd expected to be the centre of attention, but should have known better than to think he'd be in control of the situation with Sam around. The drawbacks of being the little brother, he supposed.

"It's Alan," Sam said, throwing one last guess out at his younger brother. George slammed his fists on the table, causing all of their drinks to slosh, and a rogue fry flew off the table's edge from atop George's place mat. "You had that sleepover."

"Sam, that is gross!" Nothing that Sam would've suspected happened had happened at that sleepover! It was a purely innocent affair! George had basically been at a non-stop sleepover for most of the year for the past three years, that was how boarding school worked. It wasn't like one night in Alan's mansion was the height of romance or something. "That is so gross, Alan is my friend!"

George shoveled a handful of fries into his mouth, sulking silently as his mother looked between him and his brother. He knew just what she was thinking - trying to gauge whether George would be more upset if he acknowledge that dinner was ruined by sending Sam up to his room, or if she just let them sit there and eat in silence. He didn't voice a preference. It didn't matter - dinner was ruined, his big coming out was ruined, and everything was ruined.

"If he's gay and can have sleepovers with boys, can I have girls over overnight?" Sam wondered, in an innocent tone of voice that George had learned from him. The sulking younger teen couldn't help but smirk as he watched their mother try to formulate a response to that - treating the boys fairly had always been the priority, but Baby George tended to get the better end of the deal most times.

"No, this is not a reason to have your girlfriend stay over," replied Jeanette, in a flat tone of voice that implied there would be no persuading her further. Sam leaned back in his chair, nibbling on a fry, looking across the table at George. "..And I don't know if you should've been allowed to have your sleepover, George, but I'll bring that up with your father."

"So he could sleep over with girls because he's gay?" Sam wondered, incredulous. After a few moments, Sam leaned forward, putting his elbows on the table and steepling his hands. George watched him think - glancing to his mother as the anticipation built. Undoubtedly, Sam was just about to say something stupid. Then, Sam took a deep breath, let it out as a sigh, and opened up his eyes with renewed determination. "Mom, George... I actually have something I need to tell you."