The Paranoid Harry Potter

Wait a minute...four hostages! The hostages would have been people close to the competitors. Where was that list? Yes, here it was - Miss Chang and Miss Granger were the hostages for Diggory and Krum. They were chosen as they had been the Champion's partners for the Yule ball. Miss Delacour's sister had been chosen as her hostage. Which left Ron Weasley as the hostage for the Boy-Who-Lived...and two of the other Champion's had their partners from the ball as hostages.

Hmmmm. Obviously the Boy-Who-Lived had been very close to Mr. Weasley. He would have to talk to the boy. He sent a message to Professor McGonagall asking her to send the boy to his office. Fifteen minutes later there was a knock on his door.

"Come in, come in", he cried. "Thank you for coming Mr. Weasley. I was hoping that you could help me out with a problem we are having."

"Of course, Professor", said Ron Weasley. He was a bit nervous. He had never been called to the Headmaster's Office before.

"Now my boy, the thing is...well, I don't suppose you remember anything about the Boy-Who-Lived", asked Dumbledore.

"Uhhh..." said Ron, a look of utter bewilderment upon his face.

"No, no, of course you wouldn't. I will explain why later, if you wish. However you might have some information that might be able to help me. I cannot impress enough upon you how important this is. I need...Well, it is a bit of a delicate matter, but I implore you - I need you to be absolutely candid with me. Do you think you can do so?" asked Dumbledore.

"Sure, I guess", answered Ron.

"Excellent, excellent, well, without further ado - My dear boy, I'm afraid I need you to tell me exactly what you find attractive in a boy."

"What? In a boy?" asked Ron. "I'm not sure what you mean, Professor."

"Well, my dear boy, although I am certain that you no longer remember it - There is proof that you were once extremely close to the Boy-Who-Lived. That being said, if you could tell me what kind of boy it is that you like. You know - the type of features that you would find attractive in a boyfriend. Then at the very least we might have a rough physical description of the Boy-Who-Lived. Surely, he would match the type of person you find yourself attracted to."

Ron stared at his Headmaster. What the hell was he talking about? Boyfriend...Did he mean? No, he didn't. He couldn't. Bloody hell - he did mean that, yes, yes he did.

"I AM NOT A BLOODY POOF", yelled the boy. His ears and face were turning redder than his hair.

Oh dear, thought Dumbledore. The poor boy, he seemed to be one of those who are uncomfortable with their orientation. Still, he was convinced that he was right. While he had been waiting for the boy to come to his office he had quickly taken a peek at his memories of the ball in his pensieve. While it was true that Ron Weasley had escorted a girl, one of the Patil twins, to the ball, the boy had not shown the slightest interest in her. Even Dumbledore could see that the girl was objectively quite attractive, most teenage boys would have been all over her. So what other explanation could there be? He would just have to persuade the boy to come clean.

"Come now, my dear boy. There is no shame in it. I have known many absolutely splendid wizards of your...aah...persuasion. I quite understand, at your age...well many wizards are not comfortable with disclosing their true natures, even though they would be far happier if they just accepted who they were. Still, as I said, I completely understand your reticence. Do not worry, I will be extremely discrete. No one will learn about your preferences from me", said Dumbledore, his eyes twinkling away at the boy.

Ron stared at Dumbledore in sheer horror and disbelief. His mouth worked and worked but absolutely nothing came out.

.....

The howler that Dumbledore would eventually get from Molly Weasley, after she learnt of his interrogation of her son, would have shattered his eardrums if he had not managed to silence it in the nick of time.

....

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