Chapter Text
Nothing the witch who told Dean that he was a wizard could have prepared him for the wixen world, Diagon Alley, Platform 9 and ¾, and Hogwarts itself; it was all so awe-inspiring and somewhat scary. As he was standing in line to be sorted (he kept to the back of the line as everyone was bustling forwards, but could still see everything – he was one of the tallest children in his class, and it gave him some comfort), his dark eyes wide and shining in the floating-candle-light, he could not catch anyone's eye. He had never felt so alone. Professor McGonagall was already calling names. A boy, stoutly-built, sandy-haired, the top of his head barely reaching Dean's shoulder, was trying to push to the front. Dean stepped aside as much as he could, to allow the boy pass him.
'Thanks, mate,' said the boy looking up at Dean's face for a second and pulling his sight to the side right away.
'No problem,' said Dean, but at that moment Professor McGonagall called Finnigan, Seamus and the boy jumped and started pushing forwards, evidently that was his name. A minute later he was pronounced a Gryffindor.
What seemed like ages later, Dean sat down next to Seamus at the Gryffindor table. Everyone cheered, Seamus clapped him on the shoulder. Perhaps this won't be so bad, thought Dean. He mostly listened during dinner, Seamus seemed very happy to be there and eager to talk about himself and his family – his mother was a witch, but his dad was a Muggle, and even though he went to Muggle school before, he also knew everything about wixens and Hogwarts. Once everyone around Dean had finished talking about their families, Seamus turned to him:
'What about you? Dean Thomas, right?'
'Yes. Um, my parents aren't wizards,' said Dean awkwardly.
'What do they do?' asked Seamus curiously. 'Me dad's a mechanic, owns a repair shop,' he offered by way of encouragement.
'My mum's a science teacher and my step-dad's a nurse.'
'Shouldn't it be the other way round?' laughed Seamus.
'No,' said Dean firmly, annoyed.
'Sorry, mate, didn't mean anything by it. It's just unusual, is all.' quickly said Seamus. 'It's cool.'
Dean did not say anything in reply, he was not sure this boy was all that cool anymore.
'So, how was it finding out you're a wizard?' asked Seamus evidently trying to move past the incident.
'It was so weird,' started Dean after a moment's hesitation. 'They send out a teacher to deliver your invitation, you know, to kids like me. So, one morning a woman shows up at our doorstep, says she's called Charity Burbage and that she works at a special-talent school and that I have what they look for. My parents are suspicious because they have never heard of Hogwarts, so they start pushing, what sort of talent this Professor is talking about, and so she simply says magic. We just gaped at her and then started laughing, but then she started a blue fire in our fireplace with a flick of her wand and started asking us questions about whether anything strange happened around me from time to time and I remembered, once I broke a vase at a friend's house and I was so afraid they'd find out and I was looking around thinking what to do and I heard clinking and looked at it and it was good as new. Then another time a frisbee flew on our neighbour's roof and I had to get it and before I even climbed the tree to get onto the roof, the frisbee just flew right into my hand and there was no wind, good thing too, because that neighbour is scary with a scary dog. My parents finally agreed to at least go see Diagon Alley. My mum was fascinated, she read all my textbooks during the summer.
'And your step-dad?'
'He just said that if wixen colleges or whatever you... we have are free then I'll have to go there, otherwise I'll still have to get my A-levels and go to a regular college.'
Seamus laughed and Dean laughed with him this time.
Next morning, Dean woke up to Seamus gently shaking his arm.
'Morning, mate,' said Seamus brightly. 'Want to go to breakfast? I reckon it's going to take some time to find it.'
After that they just sort of fell in together. Seamus, who apparently was an early bird, always woke Dean to go to breakfast. At the beginning of the first day, Dean anxiously offered that he and Seamus sit together in class, then the next one, and the next... When they reached the last class of the day, Seamus dumped himself into the seat next to Dean before he could get the words out. Seamus also took to educating Dean about the wixen world, even though Dean, much like Hermione Granger, liked reading books about it in his spare time, although he never told anybody, except Seamus to whom he gave it away by accident - Seamus he was telling something Dean already knew about and he corrected his supposedly more knowledgeable friend.
'Why didn't you tell me you already knew this stuff?'
'I don't know everything, and even when I do, I like to hear you tell it.' shrugged Dean.
Seamus just looked at him like he was weird, but not without fondness.
Another thing that made Seamus think Dean was a weirdo was the fact that Dean liked football. Seamus tried explaining the rules of Quidditch to Dean without much success in impressing him. However, during the first match of the season, between Gryffindor and Slytherin, Dean changed his opinion. Quidditch was amazing. Although, even afterwards he still insisted that Seamus must come out to watch a football match with him. And they did go to a match the summer after their first year. Seamus was thoroughly unimpressed by it.
'It's OK, though, mate,' he said afterwards. 'My dad... he doesn't take me to Muggle activities much at all. So this was cool.'