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“Seamus, we’re already fifteen minutes late, can you please hurry up!” Dean shouted from the hallway where he was tying his shoelaces towards the bathroom where Seamus had been preparing for the past thirty minutes.
“I’m almost ready. I just… can’t… get…” Dean couldn’t hear the rest of the sentence as Seamus devolved into grumbling. Dean headed to the bathroom to see what was troubling Seamus. He found him fighting with his bow tie.
“What are you doing?” Dean laughed.
“I can’t get this to work,” Seamus pouted. Dean took pity on his boyfriend and slapped his hands away from the bow tie. He took the ends and deftly tied it into place.
“There, you look gorgeous.”
“Yeah, are you sure? Do I look presentable enough to see your family?” Dean looked surprised at Seamus.
“Are… Are you nervous about meeting my family?”
“Well… yeah,” Seamus admitted, shuffling his feet. “I’ve never met them and they don’t know about us, and I don’t want to mess things up.”
“It will be fine. And if push comes to shove, I’ll tell them,” Dean sighed. “I’m not going to keep lying. Not after everything that happened this past year. I’m too glad to be able to see you and them again without the threat of death hanging over my head.”
They looked at each other for a minute before Dean pushed Seamus out of the bathroom towards his shoes. Seamus pulled them on before taking Dean’s hand and nodding. Dean tightened his grip on Seamus and turned, apparating the two of them to an alley close to his mother’s house. Dean orientated himself to see which end of the alleyway they needed to exit, before walking determinedly to the closest exit of the alley. They turned right and stopped four houses down. The garden was covered in lights and a Santa was climbing the sole tree. The curtains were drawn, but silhouettes were cast onto them by the lights inside. Seamus took Dean’s hand in his as he hesitated at the garden gate and gave it a small squeeze.
“You got this,” he whispered in Dean’s ear. Dean took a deep breath and stepped forward to the door. He rang the bell and could hear shouting behind the door.
“It’s Dean!” a young boy’s voice came.
“Mum! Dean’s here!” a teen girl’s voice filtered through. The door opened revealing a man in his early forties. Behind him, four kids were clamouring to get to Dean first.
“Hey Phil,” Dean smiled.
“Good to see you again, son,” Phil smiled back and pulled him into a hug. He then let him go and turned to Seamus holding out a hand. “You must be Seamus. Welcome, I’m Phil, Dean’s step-father.”
Seamus took his hand and shook it.
“It’s nice to meet you sir.”
Phil invited them in where Dean was promptly overrun by his two step-brothers and two step-sisters. Dean picked up his youngest step-brother while hugging the rest. His oldest step-sister held him for a minute.
“Please make sure you keep living. You know you’re always welcome with us if you ever need to hide from those stupid wizards,” she whispered in Dean’s ear. Dean gave her a grateful squeeze.
“I know Lana, but that won’t be necessary I hope,” he whispered back in reassurance.
“Dean, you have to see the bike I got from mum and dad,” the elder boy said, pushing his sister out of the way and tugging on his arm. Dean let himself be led away by his brother after putting the other back down on the ground. In the back garden was a brand new BMX bike.
“Wow, you must have been really good this year to get that, Raymond,” Dean whistled in admiration.
“I passed last year at the top of my class and I’m still there,” Raymond responded.
“I’m proud of you, Ray.” Dean gave him a one-armed hug before steering him back inside. He found Seamus deep in conversation with his mother Jade and his two oldest sisters Lana and Amelia. Phil handed him a glass of red wine and Raymond a glass of coke.
“Peter got a pair of roller skates and a skateboard, so we can now go out to the skatepark together.” Raymond continued to chatter about what presents all of them had gotten. Dean hummed and nodded while watching his family all together. Even if his family thought Seamus was just a very good friend, they were doing their best to make him feel at home. A ping behind him caused all conversations to die down.
“That must be our first course. Settle down at the table. Amelia, would you help me with the plates?” Phil directed them all to the decked out dinner table. At the table, each plate had a little name plate with their names handwritten on it by what had to have been one of the girls. Phil and Jade each sat at the heads of the table. Dean sat to the right of his mother, with Seamus next to him and Amelia ending the row. Across from Dean sat Lana with Raymond next to her and Peter across from Amelia and next to Phil. Amelia and Phil handed out plates of what appeared to be turnovers, but Dean could smell mushrooms coming from them.
“These are mushroom, spinach and feta cheese turnovers,” Amelia explained when they were all seated again.
“Sounds delicious,” Seamus said. Dean snorted at how Seamus was barely keeping himself from eating.
“We better all tuck in, or he will have eaten all of them,” Dean warned them. With that everyone tucked into their turnovers. For a few minutes the only sounds heard were appreciative hums of eating. Amelia had blushed bright red at all the vocalised praise she got for her food.
When they were all done, Lana and Raymond cleared off the plates while Amelia and Phil returned to the kitchen to prepare the main course.
“So Seamus, what do you do?” Jade asked him.
“I’m studying for my NEWTs actually. Hoping to take my first two, Defence and Herbology, in January. In between studying I’m working at Zonko’s Joke Shop in Hogsmeade. Mr Zonko felt he was getting too old to stand in a shop all the hours of the day, so I got hired for a few days a week.”
“You didn’t go back to Hogwarts?” Jade asked, slightly judgementally.
“Mum!” Dean gasped.
“No,” Seamus shrugged. “Didn’t really feel like walking through those hallways and being reminded which kid was tortured where.” Jade looked appropriately ashamed at his response, while Peter looked confused.
“Can I also not go to school anymore mum? School is torture,” he begged her.
“No, stay in school!” Seamus said. “It’s much easier to learn in a classroom with your friends around you than in your living room on your own. Trust me, I’ll be really happy when I get my diploma.” Peter pouted, but Jade gave him a stern look, making him shut up. Lana and Raymond sat back down at the table as sizzling was heard in the kitchen.
“So Peter considers school to be torture, Raymond is top of his class. What about you Lana?” Dean asked, trying to lighten the mood.
“Nothing special really. I joined the drama club, that’s fun. I’m hoping to get a large role for the summer play.”
“What’s the play going to be?” Dean asked.
“We don’t know yet. Teacher wouldn’t tell us before break. He said I just came up short this winter term, but that he’d seen me practice hard and that I had a good shot for the summer play.”
“Tell me when it is and we’ll try to be there, won’t we Seamus?”
“Of course! I’d love to see a muggle play! We wizards don’t really do plays, so it will be a whole new experience.”
“Your dad is muggle, yet you’ve never been to a play?” Lana asked.
“Nope, mum thought a television was more than enough.” Seamus explained.
“Course two!” Phil declared, putting a plate in front of Jade and Peter. Amelia arrived with two plates for Dean and Seamus. They both disappeared in the kitchen again to reappear with the final four plates. Dean inspected his plate to figure out what was on it.
“The second course is an entrecote with a gravy of port with brussels sprouts and grapes on the side and there’s a mountain of chips in front of you,” Amelia explained what they were about to eat.
“You did great, darling,” Jade said to her daughter as Peter grabbed a fist full of chips from the bowl. “Peter, behave!”
“I get you,” Seamus winked and he too grabbed a few chips from the bowl. The rest of the table used the provided utensils to put some chips on their plate. They all ate with gusto, once again showering Amelia with praise for her cooking. Peter was staring with dismay at his sprouts, before spearing one and pointing it at Dean.
“Dean,” he said.
“Peter,” Dean responded.
“Are you and Seamus like a couple?” Peter asked. Seamus, who had just thrown a chip in his mouth, choked. Dean’s eyes widened and he paled. He looked around the table. All eyes were on him and Seamus, to see what his answer was going to be. He felt a foot caress his leg, and knew it was Seamus silently encouraging him. Dean took a deep breath. He’d said he would tell them if they asked, now he just had to gather his Gryffindor courage and spit it out.
“Yes. We are a couple. Seamus is my boyfriend and he makes me very happy.” He looked at Seamus and gave him a shaky smile.
“And he makes me very happy,” Seamus added. “Very important.”
“I told you, pay up!” Peter said to Raymond. Raymond handed Peter a pound with a smile.
“You… What?” Dean asked, confused by the apparent bet his youngest step-siblings had.
“The boys had a bet that you were a couple or just both in denial about the other,” Amelia explained.
“He’s eight!” Seamus said surprised.
“And?” Amelia asked.
“How is he this insightful?”
“I think that has more to do with how obvious you two are,” Jade smiled indulgently. “Which is fine. I’m glad the two of you are happy.” Dean looked up at her with a hopeful look in his eyes.
“It’s not an issue?” His mum took his hands and looked him in the eyes.
“Of course not, silly! We rolled with you being a wizard, why wouldn’t we roll with this? You are still the Dean we know. Wonderful son and brother. What more could we wish for?” Dean could feel tears prickle in his eyes and he looked from his mum to Phil. Phil simply gave him a nod to show his support.
“I’ve been seeing Katie for the past two months,” Lana said quietly.
“I thought you were crushing on Johnny,” Raymond accused her.
“That was six months ago!” Lana shot back. “I haven’t mentioned him in ages.”
“But you’re with a girl now?” Peter asked, his face screwed into a confused look as if he was trying to solve a difficult maths problem.
“Well, sometimes people like both girls and boys,” Phil explained. “Which is really great for them, because they have so much more choice. They have the choice of all the single people, not just the boys or just the girls.” Peter nodded as if he understood.
“But if Dean brought his boyfriend, why didn’t you bring your girlfriend?” Peter asked.
“We’re not that far yet,” Lana tried to explain, but Peter just looked confused. “We are just dating. We haven’t met each other’s parents yet. And I didn’t want to put too much pressure on Katie meeting mum and dad, and Christmas dinner is, like, the epitome of pressure.”
“I still don’t get it,” Peter said.
“I’ll ask Katie to join us for New Year’s Eve alright?” Lana gave in. Peter nodded absolutely ecstatic.
“Any other boyfriends, girlfriends, non-binary partners we need to know about?” Jade asked. Amelia and Raymond quickly shook their heads and stuffed their mouths with food.
Conversation drifted from the partner choices to Amelia’s love for cooking and baking. Amelia had chosen a cooking class as an elective course and had been having a lot of fun. She was considering continuing the class next term and was looking into getting a side-job at the local bakery. Dean was excited to see someone else in the family enjoy an art, much like he did. As Phil and Amelia went to prepare dessert, Dean helped his mum clear the plates.
“Thanks for being so understanding mum,” he told her in the kitchen.
“Of course darling. We just want you to be happy. That’s all we’ve ever wanted.” With that she pulled him into a hug. Dean left his tears out at that moment, crying into her shoulder.
“I’m so sorry for the fear you all had to go through with that stupid war,” he sobbed. “You already lost my dad to wizard’s stupidity, and then you almost lost me too.”
“Oh Dean. We’re just glad to have you back. I’m not saying that we’ve forgotten it, but it certainly put into perspective what was important. Having you around, that’s what is important, everything else. Whether that is that you’re the only wizard and are therefore the odd one out, or that you are an artist or that you are gay; none of that matters, because you are alive and with us.” She took his face in her hands and wiped his tears away. Dean looked into her eyes and saw the earnestness in them. His heart swelled with the love his mother and, through her, his family showed him.
“Now, I think Amelia and Phil have finished with dessert, and if we leave them sitting out on the table, then Seamus will have eaten yours and Peter will have eaten mine.” Dean laughed at that. It wasn’t as if it was too far from the truth.
“… and chocolate ice cream,” Amelia finished her explanation of the dessert, as Dean and his mum took their seats at the table again.
“You okay?” Seamus whispered in Dean’s ear. Dean nodded and they tucked into their dessert.
The rest of the evening was filled with laughter and board games. Dean and Seamus left the house close to midnight. Dean felt happier than he had in more than he had in over a year. The future was looking good. His family supported him and Seamus and that’s all he really wanted.