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Harry was sitting in the staff room, waiting for the meeting to start.
One of the things McGonagall had started when she became headmistress was monthly staff meetings. Apparently they hadn’t had many staff meetings beforehand, but to be fair there had also been other issues during then that prevented the regular meetings. She’d also been able to convince Harry to become the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor a couple years after he and his classmates had come back to complete their eighth year (since they never really had a seventh one to begin with). He was an Auror for a bit, even became Head Auror for a little while, but then decided to take up her offer to teach at Hogwarts.
There weren’t many dark wizards left once the ones trying to fill Voldemort’s power vacuum had been caught and (as McGonagall and Hermione loved pointed out) he quite liked teaching and was considered to be really good at Defense.
Not like he’d had a choice if he wanted to live.
There were some others he knew that were also now teaching at Hogwarts. Neville was teaching Herbology, Luna was teaching Divination, and Cedric Diggory was teaching Transfiguration.
Which made things a bit easier for Harry, and all of them really. Made it easier for them to acclimate to being teachers since there were a few of them all in the same age group and all starting out for the first time.
Harry was mostly glad that he didn’t see Trelawny much (she was still there, but mostly taught higher level Divination students, meaning mostly those that actually had Sight) since she would still sometimes act as though something horrible was going to happen to him. Luckily that occurrence decreased once Voldemort was dead.
He did not miss taking that class.
Cedric had been a professor the longest out of all of the newer professors since he’d graduated a couple years before the Second War broke out, so he helped each of them acclimate. Harry was the newest addition.
After surviving the graveyard and returning with Harry, Cedric had backed Harry when he claimed that Voldemort was back. While The Daily Prophet still tried to claim they were all liars, the fact that there were two eyewitnesses meant more people believed them immediately over the paper and Ministry. Especially since Cedric had no ties to Voldemort. (Though why Harry would ever want more fame or Voldemort to be back was something the Ministry never bothered to answer when they accused him of lying).
As he was talking with Neville, Luna, and Cedric, he noticed out of the corner of his eye that Cedric kept… looking at him when Harry wasn’t obviously looking back. There was almost… love? in that look and Harry wasn’t fully sure what to do with that information. He must just be imagining things.
Except he kept noticing those looks.
He’d seen Cedric look over at him like that during meals and other meetings, too.
And from the way Neville and Luna looked at each other, they may have noticed too.
McGonagall came in and any thoughts Harry had about asking his two coworkers/friends went out the window as the meeting started.
~~~~
After the meeting ended, Harry found himself walking back to his quarters with Luna and Neville since both of their quarters were nearby.
“So… given how Cedric keeps looking at you, I'm guessing neither of you have pulled your heads out of your arses enough to realize you both feel the same way about the other?” Neville asked, breaking the silence once the three of them were far enough away from their other coworkers. Harry looked over, a bit startled.
So they did notice the looks.
“That means I’m not imagining those looks then?” Harry asked back, wanting to make sure. “He’s actually been looking over at me like that? Regularly?”
Neville chuckled. “Geez, have you just figured that out? Yes, he’s been looking over at you like that whenever you’re not looking at him for ages now.”
Luna nodded at what Neville said. “He’s very interested in you, he’s just been too afraid to make the first move. He thinks you might reject any advances from him.”
He was surprised. It was common knowledge that he’s bi, he came out publicly after the war ended. And Cedric was very attractive and intelligent and brave and a host of other things. He’d willingly stepped in front of Harry in the graveyard to protect him without knowing who he was up against.
That alone would’ve won him Harry’s heart.
Not to mention how he’d believed Harry when he said he hadn’t put his name in the Goblet of Fire, even when Ron hadn’t, he’d told the Hufflepuffs to leave Harry alone when the whole school seemed to make it their job to be against him, he’d backed Harry up with saying Voldemort was back no matter what the paper called them, and he’d fought during the Battle of Hogwarts.
There were many reasons why Harry had developed feelings for him. And until recently, he’d assumed Cedric was straight and didn’t feel the same way about Harry.
Now he was hearing that he was wrong about both those assumptions.
“Wait, he thinks I’ll reject him?!” Harry asked, focusing back on what Luna had just told him. She nodded. “Why in Merlin’s name would he think that?”
“Well, he doesn’t think he measures up to you,” she said with a slight shrug. “Thinks you might want to be with another Gryffindor or someone our age.”
“That’s ridiculous.”
“Then ask him out,” Neville said. “That way we won’t have to watch him stare longingly at you and won’t have to watch you do the same when he isn’t looking.”
Harry blushed a bit. He thought he’d been subtle about that.
~~~~
Harry decided to finally just talk to Cedric and ask him out. His nerves were still threatening to make him chicken out. Especially since he still hadn’t had a chance alone with Cedric for them to talk. They were both just too busy with classes.
Eventually, they both had some free time about a week after Harry had talked with Neville and Luna. He went over to Cedric’s office and entered, finding him sitting at his desk and looking over what were probably essays from one of his classes. Harry still remembered having to write those. And how much he hated it.
Cedric looked up as Harry closed the door behind him. “Oh, hiya Harry!”
“Hey Cedric.”
“What’s up?” Cedric asked, brow furrowing a little as he stood up to meet Harry as he walked over to Cedric’s desk. He walked out from behind it and leaned against the front of the desk while Harry stopped a few inches from him.
“Wanted to talk to you about something.”
“Shoot.”
Harry took a breath to calm his nerves.
“I’ve seen the way you look at me when you think I don’t notice,” Harry started, watching as Cedric’s eyes grew wide and he opened his mouth to speak before Harry continued, “and I heard that you apparently don’t think you’re good enough for me?” Cedric’s face reddened with a slight blush at that. “So I was told, and decided, to make the first move instead of waiting for you to possibly do it. Would you want to go on a date with me?”
Cedric seemed to bluescreen for a moment and Harry just waited patiently for his brain to reboot.
“You-you want to go on a date… with me?” Cedric asked, eyes wide and blush still painting his cheeks. Harry nodded with a slight laugh.
“Yeah. I’ve wanted to date you for a few years, but I thought you were straight and wouldn’t be interested in me,” Harry said, enjoying the way Cedric’s blush deepened a bit.
“You’ve wanted to date me… for years? How many years exactly?”
“Uh… since my fourth year. So it’s been a while. And you haven’t been the only one sneaking looks when the other isn’t looking.”
Harry just smiled at Cedric as he thought that over.
“So, will you go on a date with me?” Harry asked again after a few moments of silence.
That’s when Cedric took a couple steps, closing the distance between them, and pulled Harry into a kiss. Harry’s own brain bluescreened for a moment before he gathered his bearings and kissed back, enjoying the warmth of Cedric’s palms on his cheeks and the softness of his lips.
The kiss lasted for a while before the two of them had to pull back in order to breathe. Harry could tell that he was blushing based on how hot his cheeks and neck currently felt.
After gulping down a few breaths, Harry asked, “So is that a yes?”
Cedric laughed and kissed Harry again before responding.
“It’s definitely a yes.”
~~~~
Harry ignored the way Neville, Luna, and McGonagall were smiling and looking at him and Cedric sitting next to each other at breakfast the next morning.
He paid more attention to the way Cedric kept looking at him, whether or not Harry was looking back or not.
Especially since Harry kept looking at him the same way.