There's Something About Neji

This is my official answer to “If AtO had any romance and Harry ended up with a male, who would it be?”

Neji, I choose you.

So here is a a quick and short stab at how things start for this pairing. Obviously, this won't happen in AtO itself. 

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“What is it?” Shikamaru asked, not opening his eyes. “You've been staring at me for a long time.”

Harry didn't even try to deny it and said, “You're not very attractive.”

Shikamaru blinked awake and stared at Harry with narrowed eyes. “Wow.”

“I'm trying to figure something out,” Harry explained, unfazed by Shikamaru's reaction. “Something important.” Seeing Shikamaru's narrowed look, he said, “I found a male attractive.”

“Not me, obviously.”

“Obviously,” Harry said. “It's Neji, uh, from the Hyūga clan. He has really long hair and...”

“I know Neji,” Shikamaru said with a careful tilt of his head. 

Suddenly Harry found it hard to put his rush of thoughts into proper words. “He's really, beautiful?”

To his credit, Shikamaru seemed to get the gist of Harry's dilemma. “And you're not attracted to other males?”

“Not you,” Harry pointed out. “And not anyone else I know.”

“Good to know,” Shikamaru said, not missing a beat. “Then again, I don't fall in the beautiful category.”

Harry frowned. “You think that's what this is, the novelty of seeing a very beautiful person?”

Shikamaru shrugged. “What do you think it is?”

“I like him,” Harry said out loud for the first time acknowledging what he had been suspecting for a while now. “I can imagine us together. I've never done that with anyone else before.”

“You have my condolences.” Shikamaru said with a shake of his head. “He's the clan's prodigy. And even though he's a branch family member, I doubt they would just let him... well, ignoring his clan, there's also his team. And most importantly, I don't know which way he swings.”

“So he's smart as well,” Harry said to himself in wonder, imagining if he could gift Neji with books. Then he frowned. “Wait, what's a branch family member?”

Shikamaru shot him a pitying look as he spoke.

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Like I mentioned in a comment/reply to my previous Q&A session, I think this pairing allows for a nice and healthy mix of drama and 'aww'-moments.

There's so much potential for Harry to have internal conflicts and grow as a person- because he won't be happy with the caged bird seal. Will he wage war on the Hyūga to ensure Neji's 'freedom' even if Neji doesn't like Harry? Who knows?

Yeah, I shouldn't be thinking so much about this so much (especially since I'm having draft plot problems) but this was fun to dabble in for a bit. 

Polar.