The Meeting
The meeting with Amina’s mother, Mrs. Mends, went as expected. She lectured Harry on and on about how she doesn’t think he’s doing a good job as Head of Slytherin, but something was slightly different this time around. She seemed more concerned with what classes and clubs Amina was attending rather than Harry being a Gryffindor, and maybe the clothes actually were helping.
“I’m just concerned with that club that your ‘godson’ made up,” Mrs. Mends spit the word out like fire from her lips.
“Um, you mean my godchild, and are you referring to S.Q.U.A.D.?” He guessed that he couldn’t remain neutral on the issue any further, not if they were going to badmouth Teddy.
“I know my daughter is a part of it and that it’s been filling her head with this nonsense.” As she went on, Harry was struggling to bite his tongue; he couldn’t talk back like he used to, he’s a teacher now.
“I don’t think they are filling anyone’s heads with anything; I’m pretty sure it’s just a club for people to hang out.” Harry tried his best to defend without offending.
“Well, I highly doubt that.” She crossed her arms, which, come to think of it, what does S.Q.U.A.D. do?
“If it would put your mind at ease, I can go to a meeting and report back to you on anything Hogwarts may deem inappropriate,” He suggested
“Hmm, I don’t know, don’t you have some preset bias for them. You may turn away at anything bad due to wanting to protect your godchild’s club.” She narrowed her eyes pointedly at Harry, which sent a shiver down his spine.
“I-I promise I will not let my relationship with Teddy cloud my judgment, I will personally have the Headmaster look over things as well if you wish”
She pondered the offer for a beat “Alright, if I find that your notes are not up to code, I will get the Headmaster involved, I look forward to seeing the results, Mr. Potter,” and with that, she got up swiftly and left without so much as a goodbye.
Well, it looks like he will be attending a S.Q.U.A.D. meeting after all. Luckily for him, there was a meeting the next day, according to Vicky at least, who had been begging Harry to come. He’s not sure the reason for his first visit is exactly what she had in mind, unfortunately.
As the day came for his evaluation, Harry noticed something odd about a particular teacher, Malfoy. He saw how Malfoy was far more closed off during breakfast, going over paper after paper, scanning them over as if he was missing something. Later on in the day, Harry saw him walking all about the halls like a madman, he even saw Malfoy cut past a group of students, nearly knocking them over. He guessed S.Q.U.A.D. was going to have to wait. He has to investigate Malfoy yet again. Harry knew that the meeting was going to be after lunch, so as long as he figured out what Malfoy was up to before then, he should have time.
When he saw Malfoy talking to a young Gryffindor student, he knew he was up to nothing good. He began asking around for answers, specifically asking the Slytherin students, who just shrugged and looked at Harry like he was crazy, but he knew he wasn’t. Why else would Draco be talking to all the Head boys and girls about the new students? He must be trying to get the first years to be against him for being Head of Slytherin or something like that. Either way, he began following Malfoy around the school, he went down to the library, where he found him picking up several boxes labeled S.Q.U.A.D. and bringing them towards the North Hall. What was Malfoy up to, and to think he’s changed his prejudiced ways, Harry guessed that he only went towards muggles and not toward people who were queer.
Harry wasn’t going to sit back and let that git ruin all of Teddy’s hard work, and he immediately followed Malfoy into the hall. When he entered, he saw the whole hall covered in rainbow ribbons and balloons; several students were hanging or at least attempting to hang a sign that said ‘Welcome First Years,’ which kept on getting pulled back and forth by the students.
“You guys, I said it needed to be more to the left!” A familiar voice called out from behind Harry. It was Vicky rushing into the hall with a clipboard and a purpose. “Oh, hi Harry, you made it! Are you here to help set up?” she asked, barely looking him in the eyes as she was scrambling around her papers.
“Vicky, I told you, when we’re at school, you need to call me Professor or Mr. Potter”
“Sorry, sorry, I know, just ugh! Hey, has anyone seen the boxes full of the welcome buttons!” That must’ve been the boxes Malfoy stole.
“Uh, I think I saw them, by any chance, have you seen Professor Malfoy?” Harry asked, trying not to seem accusatory.
“Oh shoot, that’s right!” Vicky smacked her forehead in frustration, “Ug, I asked him to get them, Merlin, where is my head? Could you go over to him to help sort ‘em out - NO GUYS, YOUR OTHER LEFT!” She ran off to the other students.
She… asked him to get them. Does that mean he’s helping them? He had so many questions: why would someone like Draco Malfoy help out with something like S.Q.U.A.D.? He must be planning something or trying to get it shut down from the inside. That explains why he helped Harry with his clothes; he and Mrs. Mends must be planning something together. Harry marched over to Malfoy, who was in a far corner, unboxing the buttons Vicky mentioned.
“Malfoy,” Harry stated in a stern tone as soon as he reached Malfoy, who stood straight up and turned to him with a startled face.
“Potter! Hey, what are you doing here?” He looked to have a few buttons already on his dark green suit jacket. One with a rainbow on it and the other with the words ‘he/him’ on it.
“The real question is, what are you doing here?” He crossed his arms to appear more intimidating, which he guessed didn’t exactly work, given that Draco chuckled to himself.
“Well, I’m helping set up obviously.” He lifted one of the boxes, shaking it teasingly, then continued to unpack and organize them by flag.
“I got that, but why?” Harry started to help out with the buttons, deciding to focus on the ones with different pronouns.
“They asked me to”
“Heh, why?” He realized he said that out loud judging by the look Draco gave him, “Sorry, I didn’t mean-”
“No, I suppose it’s a valid question, I wasn’t exactly the most open-minded back then, but,” Draco took a heavy sigh, “A lot of students need someone to look up to that is open-minded or else…why even be a teacher in the first place”
He looked almost sad as he was talking, but as much as Harry hated to admit it, Draco was right. I mean, Teddy has been begging Harry to come out and support S.Q.U.A.D. ever since its conception, but he just. Harry felt a ping in his chest, guilt, and regret, nearly jealousy, that someone like Draco Malfoy had more bravery to actually support something that he couldn’t bring himself to do. I mean, shit, it’s his Godchild he didn’t have to be openly queer to support his family. Yet, here Malfoy is, sorting pride flags out like it was no big deal. Even wearing allyship pins as easily as a tie.
“So, what made you want to help out?” Draco took Harry out of his mind with that question. He couldn’t just tell him that he was reporting to a bigoted parent’s concerns and got sidetracked by stalking him throughout the halls, trying to catch him red-handed in a crime.
“Uh, just wanted to help Vicky out since Teddy isn’t here anymore”
“Oh, so you're not -”
“Ok, everyone, the first years should be coming in any minute, so let’s make sure we have everything ready! Ha- Mr. Potter and Mr. Malfoy, could you move the button table to the entrance!” Vicky called out to everyone using an amplifying spell.
“Right, you wanna get that side, and I’ll get the other,” Draco said as he moved his way to the end of the table.
“Or we could just.” He cast leviosa on the table and began to move it towards the entrance.
“Yeah, that’s what I meant…I’m going to see if Miss. Weasley needs help.” He walked away, looking oddly embarrassed.
Harry shrugged it off and thought it would be a perfect time to start gathering his notes for Mrs. Mends. While he was by the entrance, he noticed some pamphlets titled ‘Welcome to S.Q.U.A.D.’ he grabbed two as he figured it would be nice to give to Mrs. Mends and to have one for himself as well. He began reading it, and it had all your basic information: what it is, what it stands for, and what it aims to accomplish. It had a very informational page on different sexualities and genders and on just how to be a better ally in general. Finally, on the back, it had a picture of Teddy and Vicky with a description of how they began the club, how they are looking for a president, and that there will be an election for other important and needed positions for the club.
There was a lot of information about the club. He guessed this was due to the fact that it was a welcome meeting for first years. The place, despite the few decorations, looked bare. Only a few students were there to help out, and the snacks were sparse, he first assumed it was due to lunch being right after the meeting, but when he finally saw the donation jar, he understood. Teddy told him that S.Q.U.A.D. was struggling, but he always thought Vicky could handle it or some other teacher would step in to help.
He heard laughter and turned to see Draco and a few students laughing together; they seemed close. Harry knew Draco was fairly close to a lot of Slytherin students, but most of these were Hufflepuff or Ravenclaws, hell, even two Gryffindor students that Harry knew from the Quidditch team. How many meetings has Draco been to?
“Alright, it’s about five minutes before our meeting starts let's get ready for the newcomers!” Vicky stated excitedly.
All the students got into positions mainly, Vicky was at the entrance with sign-up sheets and the pins ready for the first years. Some went to the information area like Wagner, they were under a sign that said ‘Pronouns, Passing, and More!’ Amina was sitting with a Hufflepuff girl making bracelets together, and Draco took over Vicky’s clipboard and was making sure everything was going right. Harry decided to stand by him, given that he was the only other teacher there.
“Are you guys expecting a good turn out?” Harry asked, trying his best to make conversation.
“I hope so, Miss. Weasley has been putting a lot of her time into today, I’ve even had to talk to Head of Ravenclaw to talk about her grades and attendance to make sure she doesn’t overwork herself with this”
“Yeah…I think she thinks if S.Q.U.A.D. doesn’t do well that she would be hurting Teddy, along with the other members”
“That’s too much weight to put on a kid’s shoulders”
“Heh we know all about that” Harry chuckled, which he actually got Draco to chuckle back. Their laughter was cut short as Draco checked his watch to see that the meeting had started, yet no one had shown up yet.
When Harry noticed Malfoy’s worry he quickly tried to offer some comfort “Poor first years probably so lost throughout the halls”
“Heh yeah, I hope the signs we put around the halls helps them out”
More minutes pass by and still no one. Vicky starts to tap her fingers on the welcome desk, occasionally peeking her head out to see if there was anyone walking outside.
“So…what do these meetings typically do?” Harry asked.
“Normally they talk about some problems that they face, either at school or home then we talk about how we can fix it, but today was mainly about getting new members and announce the president nominees, well probably just nominee since I’m the only one that’s been nominated”
“President?!” He said that a little too loud as the students in the quiet hall were now staring at him. “S-sorry just, why you?”
“Well for starters I’m one of the only teacher volunteers besides Ms. Granger who doesn’t want to step on any toes as a straight women, and well given that I’m-”
“Welcome guys, come in!” Draco was interrupted as a small group of first years walked in and Vicky greeted.
Don’t get him wrong, Harry was glad to see the students walk in but, he was hoping to figure out more about how Draco got nominated over Hermione?
The meeting went on as normal, he suspected, thankfully a few more students came in; most weren’t even first years but older students that decided to finally check out the club. They all began to talk about their lives and relationships with their queerness and expressions which was nice. Despite Harry and Ginny both being queer, they avoided the queer spaces given the risk of outing themselves to the whole wizarding world, so Harry had never seen such joy and acceptance for people like himself. Many students asked why he was there however, which left Harry without any words to explain, but as if on cue, Draco would give some excuse for him like how he heard his godchild might be there or that he wanted to talk to a few of the Slytherin students there about their school work. He didn’t know how Malfoy knew to save him from the uncomfortable questions, regardless he was thankful, maybe that’s why he was nominated.
“Alright everyone I have an announcement!” Vicky stood on a chair and amplified her voice again “As you all may know we have been lacking some serious leadership since our dearest founder has moved on” She dramatically wiped a fake tear away “but luckily a brave teacher has stepped in to become our S.Q.U.A.D. President!” the members cheered, “Now typically we would do a vote but given that he was the only nominee, I guess he’ll have to do”
“Hey!” Draco jokingly protested
“Kidding! Kidding! We are happy to have our first openly queer teacher also be our first S.Q.U.A.D. President, so please welcome Professor Malfoy!”
‘Openly queer?’ Harry thought as he watched Draco walk up next to Vicky, waving to all the members both new and old as they cheered him on.
“Thank you Miss. Weasley for your lovely introduction” he began taking her place up on the chair “I just want to say that, this road to acceptance of course hasn’t been easy, and I want you all to know that I will try my very best, to make it as painless as possible for you all.” they crowd clapped as he got back down just as the bell chimed for lunch “Well I guess that’s it for our first meeting of the school year, here’s to many more now go to lunch before I give you all detention” they all laughed “seriously” and with that they all began to scatter out of the hall.
“Professor don’t scare the poor things” Amina scolded Malfoy
“Well they do need to get to lunch, as do we, so with them gone we can start cleaning up earlier”
“That’s why your president, totally not because you were the only option” Wagner jokes
They all seemed pretty close, like a little family. As they were putting a cleaning spell on everything, Draco was looking over the sign-up sheet to see the turn out. Harry went up next to him because, the hell does he mean by openly queer?
“Malfoy” he greeted
“Potter”
“So um, your president” how to be tactful with this.
“Mmm hmm”
“And your…queer…openly?”
“Yes” Of course Malfoy wouldn’t make this easy
“Since when?”
“Since always, or at least since I’ve been teaching, I have a pride flag in my room” He guessed he missed that while in his classroom “Well I mean the general wizarding public doesn’t know but I don’t exactly hide it, I mean” he gestured to his buttons on his jacket, yeah Harry should’ve connected that
“Sorry for not…noticing?”
“Yeah well, looks like things are pretty much done here, guess I’ll see you in the dining hall Potter, thanks for stopping by and hope to see your future support for your godchild’s club” That last bit stung, he doubt Draco said it like that on purpose, regardless it left a bitter taste in his mouth.
“I hope so too” He smiled at Malfoy as he gripped his note, even if Mrs. Mends doesn’t approve, Harry was going to fight for S.Q.U.A.D.