"Sullivan? Sullivan!" The voice drifted into my dream. It was only when a cold sensation passed up my face that I woke up. My eyes shot open. Alder and Sky were looking at me.

"Where am I?" I asked and Alder laughed.

"You're in our hallway," he replied, grinning. I glanced at him. "You dozed off in History of Magic."

"What were we learning about?" I asked.

"The legend of Harry Potter," Alder said, in a narrator voice. Sky yipped happily rubbing her head on my leg. I blushed with embarrassment.

"You gotta be honest," I said, bashfully. "History is boring!" My boyfriend's smile lessened to smaller smile.

"I know, but I never expected you to fall A-EFFING-SLEEP in it."

"Maybe I was tired?" I suggested. Alder glanced at me, and his eyes darkened slightly.

"Can I go with you for the holidays?" I blinked.

"But Al, your father-" he gave me a hard stare.

"Sully, I don't care. I don't care anymore. I told him I'd be going over to a friend's house for the holidays. I'm not sure he got the message... but I just don't want to be with him this year." I stared at him. I'd never heard him speak like that.

"But..." He continued the hard stare and I sighed. "Fine. I'll have to tell my mother though." Alder and I walked over to the owlery.  Twigtalon hooted in surprise. "Hello Twiggy." Twigtalon pecked me, but I was used to it now. I took out a quill and wrote a note to my mother:

Hello, Mom, I know this is short notice but, a friend is coming over for the holidays-

"Why not boyfriend? She won't hurt you for calling me that."

"Oh right but first..."

Well, he's not a friend exactly... more like I'm dating him... hey mom, I'm bi! Isn't that cool?

Alder giggled at the last sentence and I smiled. "Isn't that cool?" I said mimicking my note. I turned back to the paper

But, yeah, I hope you're okay with this,

Your boy,
Sully.

I put the quill away and tied the note to Twigtalon's leg. "There you go boy," I said. "Get that to my mother." Twigtalon hooted in reply and flew off. I turned to Alder. "Done." He smiled. We walked out of the owlery. We waited for the holidays.

———
My mother waited for us on Platform 9 3/4. "Hi mom!" I said racing over and giving her a hug. We were very close, and had grown closer after my father left. Alder walked slower over to us. I gave Alder a look that read 'whatever we do, don't ask about my father'. He nodded. My mother looked at the shorter boy.

"Hello, I'm Olivia Sense, but you can call me Ms. Sense or Sullivan's mom." She held out her hand and he took it. They shook hands. "I had a feeling it was you. The boyfriend he mentioned." She glanced over at me. Alder looked at her, smiling.

"Really?" Alder asked. "How?" My mother looked at me.

"Throughout his second year he couldn't stop telling me about this 'really brave boy who came out gay'," she replied. Alder blushed.

"He couldn't?" Alder looked at me and we smiled. "Well, I always found Sully... cute." I blushed slightly.

"Is that so?" My mother asked.

"Yes..." I gazed at Alder.

"Can I say something?"

"Sure." I starting blushing more and looked away.

"When I first saw you... I also found your accent cute." My mother watched silently. Alder took my hand. My mother looked at her watch.

"We should get going." She led us to to her car and we got in. She looked back at us. "Just warning you, we live in a muggle district, so keep your magic secret." Alder nodded. I looked at the radio.

"We also listen to muggle music," I said,"to help blend in." I pressed play on the radio. 'I Swear' by All-4-One came in and I started singing along to it. "And I swear by the moon and the stars and the sky, I'll be there." My singing voice was nowhere near as angelic as Alder's, if anything, it was squeaky and soft.  Alder watched me, and love filled his gaze but I didn't see it.