Slytherin by Choice

Albus, Severus, Potter. Three names that mean so much to the Wizarding world and I've got them all. Albus. Albus Dumbledore, the greatest headmaster Hogwarts has ever seen, at least, according to everyone I've ever talked to. Severus. Severus Snape, also a Hogwarts Headmaster, however his fame came from his defiance of the evil Dark Lord Voldemort. Potter. Harry Potter. My father. Boy Who Lived, Man Who Won, Head of the Auror Department. It's all the same bloke. My dad gave me these names, probably without thinking that it would be a great deal to live up to, but he seems to have faith in me. Still...how do you live up to that name?

I suppose...a good way to start would be by going to the same school those two headmasters watched over and doing the best you can. It also helps that it's the same school your father went to...not to mention your mother...and uncles...aunts...grandparents...yeah. Everyone. That makes it easy, I guess.

Well, here I am. Getting ready to enter Year Five at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It's O.W.L. year, as my aunt kept reminding us all summer. She's brilliant, really.

All in all, my Hogwarts years have been extraordinarily dull and boring, at least, in comparison to my father's years at Hogwarts. I haven't found any three-headed dogs, basilisks, or werewolves. I haven't competed in a deadly tournament, or broken in to any high-security buildings, or even gone off on a search for things in the middle of the night with my headmistress. I haven't done any of those things, because my life at Hogwarts is blissfully Voldemort-free, thanks to my father.

I can't even imagine all of those times he would have been scared shitless and he still managed to save the day. I still remember that first train ride, five years ago, when I was so scared that I would be Sorted into Slytherin. If it hadn't been for what he said to me, and what the Hat later said to me, I would have been terrified of all things Slytherin for, at least, the first two years of my schooling.

Dad helped me realize that we could make a choice. Nothing was predestined nor was it written in stone. I could have just as easily been in Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw as Gryffindor or Slytherin. The Sorting Hat helped me realize that it didn't serve to dwell in our fears and run from them. Instead, it was better to embrace them in order to overcome them. So I did.

And I've kept doing so.

When I wrote my father that night, to tell him what House I found myself in and why, he wrote back that he couldn't have been more proud of me and that Slytherin had truly gained an exceptional student. It didn't matter to him that I was the first Potter and/or Weasley to find myself in the green and silver common room and be able to call it mine.

It mattered to James. It mattered to Lily. It mattered to Rose and Hugo. It mattered to Uncle Ron and Grandma and Grandpa Weasley. It mattered to my own mother.

It didn't matter to my father, and that's what mattered to me.

I shared my Slytherin dormitory with Scorpius Malfoy, the son of Lord Draco Malfoy. He was the most recent heir to a fortune that was only just less than my own family's. They were friends, so to speak. They weren't close, per se, at least not as far as any of us knew. They worked together at the Ministry and occasionally went out after work to do those things that grown men normally do. I remember mom staying up all night waiting for dad to come home and when he did he had Firewiskey on his breath.

Scorpius and I became fast friends. Unbeknownst to my brother, sister, and cousins, Scorpius and I owled each other frequently during our summer holidays. Scorpius was another reason I was able to overcome my fears of Slytherin.

To be frank, it was my brother, James, who instilled this fear in me. I listened to every word he said, soaking it up as though he were a god and I were nothing more than a lowly earth-bound mortal who knew absolutely nothing. It wasn't until after the words my father spoke and what the Sorting Hat had to say that this fear of mine began to diminish.

Rose, James, Lily, and Hugo had been my best friends before Hogwarts. I remember the looks on both James' and Rose's faces when the Hat called out my House. Shock, anger, anguish...hatred. In that one choice, I had lost my brother and my cousin. When the others found out...like I've already said, my dad was proud of me. He was the only one. That first summer, my mother said two words to me for the first two weeks: "Hello Albus".

I heard them talking one night. My mom was spouting about how I was the first Weasley to ever go into Slytherin and how she was ashamed of that. Dad actually threatened to divorce her that night, but she changed her childish ways and accepted me.

I was honestly amazed by that. My father was willing to leave his wife, just so I could be in a loving home.

Even Uncle Ron freaked out. Aunt Hermione was really cool about it though. She had the same attitude my father did--that Slytherin was lucky to have me.

Now, here we are. I'm entering my 5^th year at Hogwarts and I've already said goodbye to my mother. My father is looking at me with pride and my aunt is fighting with my uncle, as usual.

I'm about to let my father in on a secret that could shake our home so badly that it may never be stable again, but I can't stop it any longer.

"Dad," I said as he put his watch away. He looked at me and, as always, I know he really wants to know what I have to say. I hesitated for a moment, long enough to recognize that my mother is pretending not to be listening. I know that look in her eyes. They're kind of glazed over, as though her focus isn't on what she's seeing, it's what she's straining to hear. She gives my sister a farewell kiss and that's the moment I decide to tell my father.

"Dad, I'm gay," I said quickly and quietly.

In this moment, three things happen. My mother screams, "WHAT?" and turns to me. The train whistle goes off. And my father smiles at me.

He has pride in his eyes again, and I know he doesn't care if I'm gay, straight, green, or purple. He still loves me.

My mother, on the other hand, turned as red as her hair and looked as though she were about to explode.

My father nodded. "I'm proud of you," he says. "I'd love to talk to you about this some more, but you've got to go. Owl me when you get to school," he said. I nodded. "Good. Go."

I smiled at my father and run passed my mother. Some of my Slytherin friends are by the door and the train is starting to move. I jump and Scorpius caught me. We fell backwards onto the floor of the train.

"Did you tell him?" Scorpius asked.

I smirked. "Yup," I answered.