Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Luna had grown up with the possibility of loving a girl, a boy, or anyone in between.

Though her parents were a heterosexual couple, they’d never reinforced society’s idea of heteronormality with their daughter. They taught their daughter that love was love and, when referring to her future spouse, they always used the words “wife or husband.”

When exposed to the heteronormative culture at Hogwarts, Luna was surprised. She’d never known that the world could be this hateful; it hurt her in so many ways to see that people spread so much hate within Hogwarts’ walls.

Luna tried not to assimilate into the Hogwarts culture. It brought her a lot of bullies, but she knew what she felt was right. She was standing up for what she believed in, and people shouldn’t hate her for that anyway.

As she grew up within Hogwarts’ walls, she felt multiple attractions. Sometimes, she couldn’t decipher her feelings, and it became increasingly difficult to decode what her sexuality might be. It wasn’t as if she had anyone to consult. Though her father was supportive of her, he was straight and had no idea how to understand what Luna was feeling.

It was moments like these where Luna missed her mother more than ever. Pandora had been bisexual, proud even back then when not being heterosexual was highly taboo. If only she was still here… maybe she could’ve helped Luna with all these emotions she was feeling. Lesbian, bisexual, pansexual… none of these labels seemed to fit her.

She didn’t have much time to worry about her sexuality during her later years at Hogwarts, though. During her fourth and fifth years, most of her attention was spent with Harry and supporting him in his fight against Voldemort.

However, she gained a little bit of insight after having escaped Malfoy Manor. While at Shell Cottage with Dean, they had plenty of conversations, and Luna discovered that Dean and Seamus were dating in secret. Luna confessed that she wasn’t sure about her own sexuality, and Dean told her that doing some research might help

She didn’t have much time for research after that, though. The Battle of Hogwarts was a whirlwind of action, and Luna felt herself grateful at the end that she didn’t die because she would have the opportunity to explore who she was.

Eventually, after much research and digging through old newspapers both at the Hogwarts library and the Muggle library near the Lovegoods’ home, she settled on a term. Queer. Though it had a history of degrading use, Luna felt as if she was reclaiming the term by using it with pride. Queer, like weird… Luna had always been weird. People called her an oddity. She was someone that didn’t fit within the lines, and that wasn’t a bad thing. Her sexuality didn’t have to be defined; she was proud of it no matter what.

However, she faced plenty of ostracization from others with more “definite labels.”

Lavender had come out as lesbian a few years ago, and Luna was almost completely sure that she and Parvati were dating. While back in Hogsmeade on business, she saw Lavender sitting at the bar in the Hog’s Head, and decided to go over and talk to her. Maybe they could bond or something, and Lavender could help introduce her to the community.

“Hi, Lavender.”

Lavender looked at her. “Lovegood.”

“I’m queer,” Luna said with a small smile.

Lavender stared at her for a moment. “Why are you telling me this, Lovegood?”

Luna shrugged. “You’re lesbian. I… I just recently came out to myself, I suppose. Maybe you could help me with introducing myself to the community?”

“Queer? That’s just a term you’re using because you’re too scared to come out as lesbian.”

“Sod off, Brown.”

Luna turned to see that suddenly, Ginny was standing next to her. Her arms were crossed, and her face was set in a hard expression of determination. Luna had no idea where she’d come from, but she was grateful for her presence nevertheless

Lavender raised an eyebrow. “And who are you to talk?”

“Who cares? Fuck labels.”

Luna could’ve kissed her at that moment, but for some reason, her ever-present bravery to be her and follow her gut’s decisions had fallen away.

Ginny smiled at Luna. “If you want someone to help introduce you to the community, I’m always here to help.”

Luna ended up spending a lot more time with Ginny after that. They’d always been close friends back at Hogwarts, even though they hadn’t necessarily hung out in the same social circles (Luna, in fact, had a lack of a social circle at all). Their friendship flourished in the following months. Ginny took Luna to a gay bar for the first time, but Luna didn’t feel attracted to any of the women there. It was at that point that she realized she was falling for Ginny herself.

She tried to suppress the feeling. Sexuality was the only thing she had ever felt a need to suppress, especially her romantic feelings for her best friend. If Ginny didn’t like her back, she’d ruin this entire relationship, and she didn’t want that to happen.

A few months later, she was visiting her mother’s grave with her father and Ginny when she remembered what her mother had taught her. Pandora had always taught her daughter to be proud of who she was and how she felt, and Luna realized that she didn’t want to suppress her feelings anymore.

A few minutes later, when Xenophilius left to give his daughter some space, Luna turned to her best friend.

“Ginny, I love you.”

Ginny stared at her. “Luna, wha—”

“No, let me finish.” Luna sighed. “I’ve loved you for a long time now, I think, and I hate that it took me so long to realize it. I hate that it took me so long to admit it. And, Ginny, I’m telling you this here because my mother… my mother always taught me to never suppress who I am and how I feel. And this is how I feel, Ginny. If you don’t feel the same way, that’s okay bu—”

Ginny silenced her with a kiss. Luna had to pull away because she couldn’t stop smiling.

Chapter Text

Harry was lost in his thoughts as he went to throw out the trash. He sifted through the recycling bag as he walked, hoping to find a stray newspaper that might hold some sort of useful information. Bored out of his mind at the Dursleys’, his usual pastime was reading the Daily Prophet over and over to procrastinate on, well, actually doing his homework. He wondered when Dumbledore would finally come and get him…

“Get out!”

Harry nearly jumped out of his skin in surprise. He looked up from the newspapers to see… Oh Merlin, what was he seeing?

“Dudley?” he said disbelievingly.

The boy in question was pressed up against another boy. Both were shirtless, and judging from their swollen lips and flushed cheeks, they’d just been kissing.

“I said, get out!” Dudley’s eyes were wide with shock and anger as he came towards Harry. “Don’t you say a bloody word, y—”

Harry, utterly forgetting his task of throwing out the trash, quickly went back to the house. Normally, he might’ve fought back… but this… this was a little shocking. Harry was also quite embarrassed that he had walked in on, out of anyone, his cousin.

At least they hadn’t actually been doing it at the moment. That might’ve made him faint.

He’d just walked in on Dudley with a boy he’d never seen before (so not a member of Dudley’s gang, then). This was new information, in addition to the sudden news that Dudley was gay.

He’d experienced weird feelings back at Hogwarts, feelings that he hadn’t confided in anyone except for Hermione after the whole debacle at the Department of Mysteries.

Hermione had grinned and said triumphantly, “I knew it!”

Harry had simply stared at her in confusion.

In addition to his previous and massive crush on Cho, Harry had felt odd feelings of arousal towards, well, members of the same sex. He hadn’t felt as if they were valid, or even real, but Hermione proved him wrong by showing him plenty of books she had in her trunk.

Overwhelmed by his random and sudden confession as well as the recent deaths at the Department of Mysteries, Harry hadn’t questioned her possession of those books at the time, though now he kind of wished he had.

Dudley had changed so much since the dementor attack last summer, Harry realized. Though he hadn’t had much interaction with Dudley in recent months, now he put together all the weird conversations they had as Dudley trying to change. Maybe it was an effect of the dementors; Harry wasn’t exactly sure, but he knew he was grateful for it.

After a great deal of deliberation, he decided to go talk to Dudley. Maybe they could… maybe they could, he didn’t know, bond or something. Maybe they’d confide in each other.

Harry was curious to see how Dudley was handling all this. Obviously, Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia would never approve of their son being homosexual, which was probably why Dudley had reacted so vehemently when Harry had walked in on him.

After dinner, Harry went down the hallway and into Dudley’s room, hoping that he wasn’t naked or anything. Fortunately, he wasn’t.

“Get out,” Dudley said after a moment.

“Dudley—”

“I don’t want to hear it, okay? No one would believe you anyway. Freak.”

“Dudley, I—”

“And don’t you dare say a word to Mum and Dad. They wouldn’t believe you, but just don’t bloody do it, because if you do I’ll k—”

“I like boys too,” Harry blurted, cutting him off.

Dudley stared at him, his mouth open in shock. “What?”

Harry turned a bright shade of red. “At least, I’m pretty sure I do..”

Dudley continued to stare. “This is a trick, isn’t it?”

Harry shook his head. “You know, the Wizarding World is actually a lot less progressive than the Muggle world, so it’s not like I can… experiment like you were.”

Dudley flushed. “Experimenting.”

Harry raised an eyebrow. “You weren’t?”

“I didn’t say that!”

“Is he your boyfriend?” Harry’s lips lifted in a conspiratorial smile. “That’s a little cute, Duddy-kins.”

Dudley turned even redder. “Shut up.”

Harry laughed. “I never thought I’d have something in common with you.”

“Me neither.” Dudley hesitated for a moment, then said, “Would you like to meet him?”

“Your boyfriend?”

“Y— Fine, yes, my boyfriend.” Dudley grumbled. Though it was incredibly weird that he was bonding with his freak of a cousin (though, Dudley supposed, he was a ‘freak’ now too), Dudley was secretly glad that they were. His ‘friends,’ or, rather, the members of his gang, would’ve turned on him if they knew the truth. “Hey, um… last summer, when you were screaming about that Cedric bloke… was he really your boyfriend?”

Harry stared at him. “No, but I…” Dear Merlin, how had Dudley known? “I had a crush on him, I think. I don’t know.”

Dudley snorted. “Of course you did. Er, who is Cedric anyway? You went bloody mad when I started… being a dick to you about it.”

Harry felt his heart grow heavy. “He, er, died.” He swallowed down a lump in his throat.

Dudley stared at him. He was trying to convey emotion, but it was hard for him to express things he had learned to never feel. “I’m sorry,” he finally said.

Harry gave him a small smile. “Yeah, me too.” After a moment, he said, “So, are you going to take me to meet your boyfriend or what?”

A few years later, Harry and Dudley found themselves at a Muggle pride together. It was somewhere they thought they’d never be; nevertheless, they were both indescribably glad about it.

Harry smiled and took a deep breath of air. Next to him stood two of his favorite men in the world: Draco, his husband, and Dudley.