Chapter Text
"Whatche doin'?" Seamus said, leaning against the back of the couch to peek at what Dean was working on.
"Nothing," Dean put his quill down. His Transfiguration essay was not going anywhere. "Are you done with Potions?"
"Nah, gave up on that hours ago," Seamus shrugged. "Wanna go hide Neville's Remembrall again? He found it last night," He said as he started rocking on his feet excitedly.
Dean laughed quietly. "Any place in mind?" He got up.
Seamus leaned in to whisper; “We could transfigure it?”
“Are you sure you can do that?” Dean questioned worriedly. “Maybe you shouldn’t.”
On the magic level, Seamus was not unlike a puppy trying to walk on polished floors; doing his best, but ultimately just sliding and falling all over the place and producing the occasional explosion in the process. It’s not that he wasn’t smart, just...kind of irreparably clumsy.
“Really, I’m up for pranks, but we shouldn’t break Neville’s stuff.” He said when Seamus placed the Remembrall on a table draped in red and gold velvet cloth.
Seamus moved his wand quickly but paused before any spell rolled out of his mouth, probably considering Dean’s words.
“Yeah, y’know...” He put his wand down. “Poor bloke doesn’t deserve that,”
Dean smiled.
“I’m still hiding it though,”
Dean’s smile grew wider. He got up to follow Seamus around in order to look for a proper spot. They eventually settled on sitting it behind a large curtain next to the fireplace. They laughed together and settled lazily on the wide couch once the deed was done.
“I’m hungry,” Seamus said, patting his stomach.
Dean hummed and looked around. No one was back from dinner yet. They’d eaten earlier, right after Flying lesson, but Seamus’ stomach was insatiable –so was his—and he knew dinner times were longer now due to the 5th years’ exams. “I reckon the Great Hall still has some food out,”
“Come with?”
“Sure. Food sounds good,”
Seamus jumped to his feet and they ventured out of the common room, through the complicated mess that was the Hogwarts stairways. They were getting the hang of it, although Dean had to seldom help Seamus jump over trick stairs. Seamus was never really happy about it and Dean was pretty sure that bowing, taking his hand and calling him ‘princess’ did not help the embarrassed blush that tinted his cheeks every time.
“Sod off,” He mumbled, accepting the hand offered and skipping over the sinking step.
Dean didn’t let go of his hand right away, making sure that Seamus had regained all his balance first. They continued their way down to the Great Hall, Seamus listing all the food that he was going to eat –assuming that there was any of the good stuff left at this time.
On their way, they met Harry and Ron who were talking about joining Hermione in the library for research. Dean hadn’t pegged either of them to be so invested in their studies but with the amount of time they’d been spending in the library, he could only say that he’d made a wrong assumption. He shrugged it off.
They were soon sitting down at the Gryffindor table. Dean looked over at other tables. There were a few students eating or studying at the Slytherin table, Ernie was reading a parchment with Justin heeled at his side at the Hufflepuff table and the Ravenclaw table was completely silent despite being the most crowded.
Dean supposed they should have brought books of some kind to fit in, but Seamus obviously didn’t think so as he heaved a relieved sigh and took two mini-meatpies and a copious amount of chicken to his place. Dean settled for some salad and two cookies. By his plate, he saw a stack of chocolate frog cards on the table.
“Whose are those?” He asked Seamus.
“Dunno,” Seamus shrugged, munching on a mushroom.
Dean went through the cards. “Whoever it is, they’re keen on Dumbledore. There’s like 10 Dumbledore cards in there,” He put the cards in his pocket, making a mental note to post something on the notice board about it.
“Finnigan!” Someone called from across the room. Dean turned at the same time as Seamus did.
“Is it true that you blew up the lemon in Charms today?”
Draco Malfoy was laughing before anyone even answered him. Ravenclaws shot death glares from their table, but with the blessings of his upper classmates, Draco continued to laugh loudly.
“His cauldron melted last week too. He’s doing us a favour though, ‘cause he’s losing all the house points Granger gets them with her sucking up. I’d HATE to have someone like that in OUR house.”
Dean grabbed Seamus’ shoulder and forced him to turn around and stop listening to Draco’s mocking voice. Seamus was scowling.
Oliver Wood had looked up from his parchment.
“Don’t listen to him Seamus,” Wood said, trying to be comforting. “I mean, sure, you don’t know how to keep a pancake from burning right now, but it doesn’t mean you’ll never be able to transfigure it into a chair.”
Seamus mustered up a smile, but Dean didn’t miss its sad crease around the cheek. He ate quickly, gobbling down his food the same way Dean’s step-father did when he was late to a morning meeting
Dean wasn’t finished eating when Seamus got up, told him he’d see him later and left.
“You should go with him,” Wood told him. “Pro’lly needs a friend right now.”
His food wasn’t done, he hadn’t even taken a bite of the cookie he’d been eyeing since he got to the Great Hall, but he decided that Wood’s words made sense.
He took the short pile of chocolate frog cards out of his pocket and replaced them with his two cookies. He then instructed Wood to give the cards back to whoever had been sitting at his place before him and got up to run after Seamus.
When Dean found him on the way to the Common Room. It was quite a sight and he had trouble restraining his laughter. Seamus was waist deep into a step; trying to find purchase on the higher step and pull himself out. He was mumbling curses in a choked up voice. Dean could imagine Seamus’ legs paddling about like a duck underneath the staircase.
Smiling at the adorable flailing Seamus was doing, he walked to his friend, grabbed him under the arms and pulled. Seamus managed to wiggle himself out and stood up, looking ashamed.
“Come on, laugh as much as you want,” Seamus dusted down his clothes aggressively. “I’m such a joke,”
Dean sighed and looked down at Seamus. The boy was still avoiding his gaze.
“I lost 5 points last week when I asked Snape a question.” Dean said. “Neville lost points for losing control of his broom and Ron lost points for mis-transfiguring a cockroach. Hell, Draco lost points for Slytherin when he tried to touch the lizard too early. The only class no one loses points in is Herbology because Mrs. Sprout is too nice to punish anyone.”
This didn’t seem to convince Seamus. “Y’know, I still...”
“What about when you answered that question on Cornish Pixies? Quirrel gave you 10 points!” Dean smiled gently. The corners of Seamus’ lips were tugging up. “’Sides, don’t worry about those Slytherin loons, you could lose all our house points and I’d still be your friend.”
Seamus swung on his feet. “Thanks Dean,” He sniffled. He made a move forward, hesitant at first, and went in for a hug.
Dean didn’t really hug his friends and, from the way the arms around him hesitated in the proper pressure to apply, it was clear to him that Seamus didn’t either. He clapped Seamus’ back awkwardly and chuckled.
“Whenever you need it, mate.”
When he let go, Seamus wiped his face down and passed a hand through his sandy hair.
“Alright, that’s enough soppiness for today.” He rubbed his eyes. “Let’s go back to the Common Room,”
Dean smiled and nodded. He could only catch glimpses of Seamus’ smile as they were walking, which was a shame because he was more than happy to be the cause of it.