Albus stayed seated at the table, his heart started pumping at twice the rate it should be and he started feeling nauseous, despite the fact that he had ate little at dinner. His siblings had since left. James running off, hurling insults at Lily about her cooking, who at first appeared hurt at their brother's dislike of the meal. However, after realising that he wasn't being serious, she started chasing after him. Albus was sure that James would regret messing with their younger sister – she took after their mother too much for that.

Albus looked up at his parents and gulped. He had felt like the odd one out in his family for as long as he could remember – even more so when he got sorted into Slytherin. James often teased him about it. On numerous occasions James had called him a "black sheep", poking fun at him until his mother or father or sister scolded him. Albus knew that his older brother was only having a laugh, but the words hurt. The fact that someone else had to stand up for him was like salt to the wound.

His hands were resting on his lap as he watched his parents kissing each other. They were soft, tender and loving – making Albus feel guiltier about the fact that he was the hole in an otherwise perfect family. He coughed awkwardly.

Both adults turned around. Ginny smiled, cheeks turning a rosy shade of pink while Harry appeared horrified; his face turned a dark shade of red. His grip tightened around his partner, as support for him rather than for her.

She took hold of Harry's hand and led him towards the table. It was painfully obvious that their son wanted to talk to them about something; she could tell when any of her children were worried. Albus paled and a dark pit of uncertainty rested in his stomach.

There were a few minutes of silence when no one said anything. Harry was gulping down water faster than anything Albus had ever seen before. The ticks-tocks of the clock seemed more piercing and deafening than ever. Albus decided to take control, wiping his brow and combing a hand through his hair he gulped.

"Mum…Dad…I have to tell you something…" he began, refusing to meet their eyes as he tried to picture their reactions, but that was the problem; he couldn't. He couldn't imagine either of his parents being angry or horrible about the whole situation, but he couldn't exactly envision them being overjoyed that their youngest son stood out more than they had originally thought.

His father – having lost the livid shade of scarlet which had dominated his face reached out and, in a comforting manner, shook his shoulder slightly, forcing green eyes to meet green. A single tear escaped Albus' eyes, but he instinctively wiped it away. Harry opened his mouth to speak, to offer words of encouragement and support, but stopped in his tracks when Albus [took in] a sharp intake of breath [breathed sharply in], shifting his gaze so that he was no longer looking at Harry but rather anywhere else, and in the next few seconds Albus Severus Potter completely lost control of his brain and before he knew it he was uttering:

"Mum…Dad…" staring between his two parents he saw mixed looks of curiosity, worry, and pity. Albus didn't want to be pitied, didn't need to be pitied.

"I'm gay…"

He started to let tears fall freely down his cheeks as his mother entwined him in a hug and his father gave him a quick kiss on his forehead before rushing about the kitchen; evident he had next to no idea what he was doing.

Ginny pulled away from the hug gently, she spoke warm-heartedly, letting carefully chosen words drift out of her mouth like a daydream.

"Albus..." She clasped hold of his hand, easing his shaking body and giving him enough time to try and relax. Meanwhile, Harry placed three mugs of hot chocolate on the table, all of which were overflowing with tons of cream and heaps of marshmallows. Handing one of them to Ginny he hastily took a swig from his own cup which resulted in a frothy moustache to appear around his upper lip. Albus giggled, light sparking back into his eyes as quickly as they dimmed again. He clamped his mouth shut.

"We love you no matter what okay?" Ginny finally finished, her hand still cradling his, the other clutching her hot chocolate, having not yet taken a sip.

Albus nodded, staring down at his own drink as he watched the cream and marshmallows slowly dissolve into the steamy hot liquid creating a mixture which would be sweet to the taste and absolutely delicious.

"Aren't either of you going to try it? I made it the muggle way, just the way you like it…" his father drifted off, seemingly hurt that neither of them had yet taken a sip.

"Sorry…" Albus mumbled while taking the mug to his lips as he let the chocolate trickle down his throat, the concoction sickly sweet and the temperature scolding hot. Still, his dad had tried, and that was enough for him.

"Don't apologise sweetheart! You have absolutely nothing to be sorry for. We know this must have been a scary thing to do, and we are so proud of you." He looked up, and seeing his father nodding in agreement to his mother's words, he felt relief wash over him.

Standing up he hugged both of his parents, he thanked them, kissed them and, upon placing his hand on the handle of the door, he stated clearly and confidently:

"Oh…and you have already met my boyfriend. He came over last summer."

He laughed when he saw the confused looks etching their way onto his mum and dad's faces and ran up the stairs of the Potters' house, passing James and Lily on the way (who were out of breathe and had most probably been eavesdropping on the conversation) and attempted to dive straight into his room, but was unable to achieve this feat due to the alarmingly tight way his older brother was clenching his arm.

"You mean…that you…" Al smirked as James was, for once, lost for words as he practically choked on the air trying to construct a simple sentence.

"What's wrong James?" he mocked, voice sickly sweet – in no way about to pass up this opportunity to catch his brother dumbfounded. "Afraid I'm going to turn into a bloody rainbow?"

With those last couple of words Lily slapped James' hand away and engulfed Albus in a bear-hug, her long red hair surrounding him, covering him like a waterfall.

"Ignore him," the words were secretively murmured into Albus' ear, slightly muffled by how tightly they were embracing each other. "He's just a bit surprised, that's all."

Lily pulled away, nodded, and left for her room; the two boys were now alone in the hallway. As he stared into the eyes of his brother all of Albus' previous confidence vanished and he instead felt numb. James' stare was neutral, his mouth drawn into a thin line and his eyes were unreadable (which, truth be told, was what made nerves tug at his heart more than James' possible anger).

"Your boyfriend stayed with us last summer…" James began, trailing off his brow wrinkled in confusion as he was deep in thought. When the realisation finally came, his usual cockiness returned, hand in hand with a voice that could only be described as pure disgust.

"But loads of your Slytherin mates stayed over summer break."

Al gulped, squirming under his brother's tough glare as he once again attempted to enter his room. But James pulled him back, grabbing his shoulder in a way that was not meant to hurt but made Albus flinch none the less. James sighed and immediately let go.

"Well noticed James," he spat, his voice as cold as ice as he leaned against the doorframe. "If you keep that high level of intellect up, you might even pass your NEWTs this year."

He slammed the door of his bedroom shut.

Locking his door he took out a fresh piece of parchment, his own snow-white quill and, using emerald green ink, started his letter, each letter formed perfectly on the page:

S.M.

I have told them. Not about us specifically but I'm sure that they'll figure it out soon enough. They were accepting, like you said they would be. I can't wait until we don't have to hide it anymore! I'll see you on the train?

Yours,

A.P.

Satisfied with the letter, he attached the letter to his owl and opened the window to let her fly off into the night sky, silhouette vivid against the brightness of the full moon.

A.N. Okay, so I wrote this ages and ages ago when I was having difficulty coming to terms with my sexuality (I still don't know what I am, but am now perfectly accepting of the fact that I'm not straight). What Albus says about how he thinks Ginny and Harry would react is very much how I think my own parents would react if/when I come out, although I think mine would probably not be annoyed at how The Different One is Being Different Again, because I'm quite similar to the rest of my family.

Also, I do regret making James a bit of an asshole here but I'm not in the mood to edit and just wanted to upload something. I may rewrite it at some point.

I've currently got a lot of projects on the go – most of them Harry Potter related – but my next upload will be a Whouffle threeshot (which is, of course, a HP AU). I think I should probably seek medical help because my entire life seems to revolve around Hogwarts.

All the best,

Martha x