Slytherin by Choice

Chapter 1

At Home

"Why?" Ginny demanded as we made our way to the car. "Why does he have to be so much like you?"

I looked at her over the roof of the car in shock. "And what's that supposed to mean?" I demanded.

"Slytherin by choice, and gay!" she nearly screamed. "Next summer he'll probably come home saying that he's dating Scorpius!"

I glared at her, getting tired of the way she kept freaking out over the way Al was growing up.

"What?" she demanded. "You're bisexual, aren't you?" she demanded. "And you've told me that you could have easily gone into Slytherin, it just depended on your choice at the time. Why is he so much like you?"

"Why is it that you have such a problem with our son?" I demanded, not even bothering to unlock the doors of the car. "Al is our son, Gin. He's a part of us. What does it matter what House he's in or what his orientation?" I nearly yelled. I was severely reminded of when Ginny learned the truth she'd already venomously spat. It was nearly identical to this one.

"Never, in my entire family, has there been a Slytherin," she said angrily. "Never in my family has there been a gay person. The Weasleys are better than that. Above that."

"In that case, I'm ashamed to be a part of your family and I'll take my tolerant son and leave," I said darkly. "As far as I am concerned the whole Weasley family is below the Slytherins we knew in school. Not a one of you has accepted Al since he went into Slytherin except for Hermione. Then again, she's not really a Weasley, is she?" I demanded. "She's a Granger. Both Molly and Arthur even relatively ignore him, and I'm sick of it. I have bent over backwards, trying to make it so we could all be peaceful to each other and I am sick of bringing my work home. Listen to me, Ginny," I said, "because if you don't, I will leave you."

"You'd leave me for a boy?" she shrieked indignantly.

"I would leave you for a tolerant individual who refused to look at the world in black and white, Ginny. There are shades of gray and you need to open your eyes to that."

I opened the car then and got in. Ginny couldn't drive, she'd never gotten her license, and I didn't expect her to follow.

I wasn't surprised when I heard the pop of her Disapparation.

Shaking my head and sighing heavily, I started my car only to be shocked when the door opened.

I looked over quickly and saw a tall platinum blonde man sitting in my passenger seat. "Draco!" I said, pleasantly surprised.

"We have a...situation," he said, choosing his words carefully. "I just saw your wife leave in a fit, so I assume you may know. At least part of it, anyway."

"Draco, what are you on about?" I asked.

"Harry, our sons are gay," Draco said, turning in the seat to look at me. "And together from the way Scorpius was talking. Now, I don't know what we're going to do, but we have to come to some conclusion...soon."

I sighed. "They really did take after us," I said softly, leaning my head back to stare at the roof of my car. "In more ways than one..." I softly added.

"Well?" Draco demanded. "What do we do? We can't keep up our little charade if our sons are going to have something between the sheets, and I don't want to lose that."

I sighed heavily. "Did Scorpius come out and actually say that he and Albus were together?" I asked.

Draco shook his head. "No," he said. "But he did say that he was interested in him," he answered.

I chuckled. "They idol us. Perhaps a little too much."

"Enough to copy a relationship they know nothing about?" Draco asked, a smirk on his lips.

"So what do we do now?" I asked. "Tell our sons?"

"And have our wives kill us?" Draco asked. "I think it's safe to say that telling anyone anything is completely out of the question. Besides, you could lose your position if that came out into the open and I don't want to see that happen."

I sighed. "If my wife was going to kill me for what we have, she would have done that two years ago," I said softly, closing my eyes and letting out another heavy sigh.

"What do you mean?" Draco asked.

"I mean that she saw us saying goodbye to each other after lunch at the Ministry two years ago," I answered. "She was going to surprise me with lunch and received one in return."

"She was in your office?" Draco asked.

I nodded. "Behind the other door," I said. "It was cracked, and as soon as you walked away she nearly did kill me. To be honest, if things don't change around my house, she wont get a chance to commit murder because I'll be gone."

"What are you talking about?" Draco asked.

"You saw Ginny leave didn't you?" I asked. Draco nodded. "She heard Al tell me that he was gay. She's never been really happy with him since he wrote home to tell us that he made it into Slytherin and why. Ginny didn't read the why. Maybe if she had she'd understand him a bit better, but he didn't want her to know."

"Nadia has that problem with Scorpius. Not the Slytherin part, but the gay part. He came out to us two weeks ago and she hasn't said a word to him since."

"Sounds like what your mother did," I said softly.

"So," he said, breathing out a heavy sigh. "Motel?" he asked. I nodded.

Were anyone to look at my life today and ignore the past twenty or so years, that person would probably be most confused by the contents of that last conversation. Nor would that person have any idea why I had that dopey, love-struck look on my face as I turned out of the parking lot and onto the busy London streets.

2 years ago, Ginny would have been one of those same people. 2 years ago, that incident I had just described to Draco occurred. Something that had been relatively routine with Draco and I had become a need for secrecy.

It was an affair. Simple as that. Well, perhaps it wasn't quite that simple. Nothing in my life was. I'm not above admitting that I was screwing up. I'm not above divorcing Ginny to avoid causing her further pain, but she didn't want that. She would put up with my nighttime excursions just so that she could be with me. When she found out about it, Draco and I had been doing this for roughly eight years, off and on. To be completely honest, I'm amazed that we've kept it going this long. Both of us have wives and children and jobs that require most of our attention, on and off the clock. Then again, being the head of the Auror Department, I don't really have any off time. I have a pager that goes off at all hours and I have to leave whenever that happens.

It's not easy. It never has been. When Ginny discovered us, I told Draco that we had to call it quits for a while. He didn't talk to me for three months and they were the worst of my life, despite trying to fix things with my wife out of the view of our children.

Seeing how I was behaving to the way I had been, she told me to do whatever I pleased and she wouldn't care. I know she does. I've heard her crying when I've come home from one of those nights. Those are the nights I sleep in the guest bedroom. Tonight I'll probably be sleeping there as well.

At Hogwarts

I got off of the train with Scorpius the same way we did every year. With all of our friends surrounding us. There were six of us, three of each gender and all in the same year and House. The funny part was that there was only one who didn't have black hair and that was Scorpius. He had the trademark Malfoy hair, which wasn't a surprise to anyone.

The six of us crammed into the same carriage and I looked around at everyone, glad that we were back together for our fifth year.

I sat next to Scorpius, of course. People like us often do. Next to him sat Demeter Zabini. She was the average Slytherin with a taste for money and unafraid of doing whatever it took to get whatever she wanted. Across from her was Thomas Nott. Next to him sat Geneva Blaise and next to her was Katrina Bole. All of them were part of families that had been in Slytherin for generations and I was the outcast in the beginning. After all, who had ever heard of a Potter in Slytherin? Both my father and my grandfather had been in Gryffindor. Being that I was also part of the Weasley family gave me even more glares back then. Weasleys and Slytherin didn't mix. Hell, neither did Weasley and Malfoy, but anyone who looked closely enough could see that it was right there as well.

At least, it was on one side of the relationship.

I was much more cautious than Scorpius was when it came to the idea of 'us' and it was my father's fault. No one knew that I knew, and I wasn't going to tell anyone about it. My mother had been screaming at my father one night that he had come home late and she said that she assumed that he had been out 'shagging Malfoy'. He confessed that he had been and I went back to my room. I thought about telling Scorpius more than a thousand times, but every time I had the chance, I couldn't say it. Honestly, I don't think I ever will. I'm going to let them tell us, if they ever do.

Like father, like son, I guess.

I wrote my father that night.

Dad

I know I told you just before I got onto the train today, but I'm going to say it again. I'm gay. I guess that just takes me further into the Black Sheep column than being a Slytherin did. I didn't want to tell Mom just yet, but she's always listening when I have something to say just to you, and she's never happy with what she hears. I just don't understand how she can be like that. It's very Slytherin of her, if you don't mind the pun. Why does she hate me? What did I do? Will our family ever be friends again?

I know you're on my side. You always have been. I never told you, but I heard what you said to mom that night in the summer before my second year. You told her that you'd leave her if she didn't shape up and the next morning she warmed back up to me. Thank you for that. I wasn't ready to lose my mom then.

I don't know if you're going to do the same thing now that I've come out to you with her listening in, but if you do, I don't want you to leave her because of me. I'm not going to be the cause of your relationship breaking. I'll be straight if I have to. I'll tell her that I was joking. I'll do whatever I have to. I'll even ask to be re-Sorted into Gryffindor if I must.

Please, Dad, don't get a divorce because of me. I know that life at home hasn't been all roses and unicorns since I started school, but we can make it better, can't we?

Love,

Al

I sent the letter after breakfast the next morning with my owl, Diablo, and watched it fly away before I went on to class. Fifth year was O.W.L. year and I was just as nervous about it as the next fifth year. I ran down to potions and skidded to my seat next to Scorpius just as Professor Pucey looked up. He gave me a look that I avoided with a whispered hello to Scorpius and began the class. Being the Head of our House, he was the one who gave us the standard "O.W.L. Year Speech", as James had called it the year before.

Once the speech was over, he dove into the lesson headfirst and we started our potions. The Draught of Peace. If brewed incorrectly, it could put the drinker into a deep, irreversible sleep.

Scorpius and I were very apt potions students, and we worked well together. In fact, there have been times that the both of us have botched potions while working with other people just so that we could be lab partners permanently. Professor Pucey never argued with us after we nearly exploded half of the dungeons by botching the highly unstable potion we had been working on that day. That was before I found out about our fathers, though.

I went through every one of my classes and dinner before I got back to my dormitory and found my father's response to my letter sitting on my bed. I hastily picked it up and broke the Ministry seal on the back before I unfolded the letter and read it. He was always quick when responding to my letters. Not even my brother and sister were that lucky.

Al

Don't worry about your mother and I. Things between us haven't been the best the last couple of years and it is not your fault. Whether or not we do indeed get a divorce is still in the air and it is not because of you. In fact, it is because of the choice I have made in the past that has absolutely nothing to do with any of you kids.

I'm sorry that you had to hear that conversation between your mother and I. I tried to avoid dragging you three into our problems and apparently I've been unsuccessful in that endeavor. I don't want to you to worry about things when it comes to your mother. By Christmas things should be all right. She's just never dealt with a person like you before and she blames it on me. She says that you're too much like me and there are times that I wonder if that's the truth. You and I are a lot alike and I mean that in almost every sense of the word.

I told you once that the Sorting Hat considered me for Slytherin, but I had refused it. I was young and raised as a Muggle. I had met Lord Malfoy while getting my school robes and he, at that time, was a rude and arrogant snob. I didn't want to turn out like that and I thought that Slytherin would do that to me. I am proud of being a Gryffindor, I don't deny that, and a part of me had wished for you to follow in those same footsteps. However, before you get the idea that I have been lying to you, I am more proud of the things you have done. You stood up to your fears and you embraced them. You have more courage than I did at your age, despite the things I went through. I would have rather died than be a Slytherin when I was your age, now I wish I had been one. It seems that as most Gryffindors get older, their tolerance for those in Slytherin become less. I hate to say that this is true with your mother, but it is.

I want you to know, Albus, that no matter what happens, I will be there for you. Not even Ginny can stop that. I've actually talked to your aunt about this and she agrees with me. I guess it's because she's not a true Weasley. Things happen that we cannot control and the way others think or act is one of them.

Don't get too wrapped up in family matters this year, Al. It's your O.W.L. year and you really need to concentrate on that. I'll let you know if things with your mother change and which way they go. You'll also likely know before your brother and sister if anything else should happen because I don't have the relationship with them as I do you. Parents aren't supposed to have favorites, but I couldn't help myself.

Love,

Dad

It's not your fault. That's what I got from my father's letter. Don't worry, Al, just focus on your studies. My aunt had said that to me more times than I can count and my father had just said it to me.

So I let it go. I didn't worry about my mother or my parent's marriage. I didn't have to.