Year One

Dean giggled uncontrollably as smoke rose from the goblet in front of him and his best friend, Seamus Finnegan. The brunette's hair was sticking up in every direction, his stunned face covered in soot. "I guess I should just call you fire boy," he said, bursting into laughter again as the other boy pouted furiously.

"That's mean!"

"He's not wrong," piped up George from the next seat over. "That's the second thing you've blown up this year."

"Ah, shut it, or I'll blow you up." This sent Dean into another fit of laughter, which he tried to silence as everyone in the Great Hall fell silent as Professor Dumbledore began speaking. Seamus was trying to focus on the announcement, but it was hard to concentrate with random outbursts of muffled laughter coming from beside him. He tried to knock his knee against Dean's, but when that did nothing to help, he elbowed the skinny Gryffindor in the side.

"Ow!" His yell had been more of a whisper, but at least five heads turned their way, causing Seamus to turn bright red for no reason at all. Perhaps it was the fact that the cup was still smoking, or that his hair was still a bloody mess. Still, he didn't like being stared at.

Dean was cut off in the middle of another fit of laughter when Professor Quirrell burst into the Great Hall, panting and swaying as he cried out "Troll! Troll in the dungeon!" and collapsed on the spot. The two first years were shocked, their dark eyes wide and gleaming with curiosity as they stared down at the unconscious professor. Before they knew it, they were being ushered back to their common rooms, straggling behind the rest of the group. Seamus was wearing a scowl while a cheesy grin was still plastered on Dean's face. It took a total of three seconds for Seamus to break. Now he and Dean were both laughing, running to catch up with the group as they giggled and poked at each other, Dean occasionally saying "Fire boy!", which just made them laugh even harder. By the time they made it up to the dormitories, they were struggling to catch their breaths as they climbed into bed, facing each other, still grinning. The lights were turned off and the last thing Seamus heard before he drifted off to sleep was "Goodnight, fire boy," followed by a short little laugh.

Year Two

"Are you sure we're supposed to be doing this, Seamus?" Dean asked nervously, running his arms in an attempt to keep himself warm as they trudged through the snow.

"This is the only time we will do this ever," promised Seamus, a grin plastered on his face.

"Well… we had better go back inside soon. I'm cold." The twelve year old had forgotten his jacket, and while Seamus had lent him a scarf, he was still shivering and hugging himself. He had always been fairly skinny, and he always found it hard to keep himself warm without a few layers.

"We'll go back inside once Potions is over. I had that class." Seamus tugged on Dean's sleeve to keep him on track as they headed for a tree to sit beneath. He was shivering too, but he wasn't going to admit to Dean that he was freezing. That would make him look stupid. Instead, he just gritted his teeth and bared the cold. It was better than looking like an idiot or getting an 'I told you so' from his best friend, though he was rather used to it. Dean was a lot smarter than he was. "Professor Snape is such an arse."

Dean laughed. "Is that one of your funny Irish swears? Besides, you only don't like him because he gets on you for blowing things up all the time." Sometimes, Seamus wondered how Dean could be so smart yet so clueless. Whenever Seamus said he didn't like a professor, Dean always backed up the professor. Also, he barely knew any swears. Seamus was only twelve, but he knew plenty. He had been teaching them to Dean for the past few weeks, despite his friend's protests. He thought it was fun. Dean was a good friend to have.

"Which tree did you say we were gonna sit at?" asked Dean, looking around. There were plenty of trees, and he didn't know if Seamus had had a specific one in mind or not.

"That one," said Seamus, pointing to a random tree covered in glittering white snow. The two boys dashed over to it and fell to the ground, laughing and laying back, Dean making a snow angel while Seamus shifted slightly, trying to get comfortable. "We can go back inside soon, if you want."

"Why, are you cold?" Dean laughed at his own little joke.

"What? Psh, of course not. I just don't want you to be cold."

"Riiiight," said Dean, flashing Seamus a bright smile as he sat up. "Look at my snow angel!"

"That looks great. We can go inside now, if you want."

"You are cold! Haha, imagine that. Fire boy is cold. I suppose we can go inside, but - "

"I know, I know. You told me so."

"No, I was just gonna say we've gotta be sneaky," said Dean, standing up and holding out a hand. He pulled Seamus off the ground and both of them shook out their robes, getting off all the snow. "Don't wanna get caught skipping class by that arse, Professor Snape." Both boys burst into laughter and went running for the building, hoping that they could slip into class without anyone noticing, but secretly wondering if anyone had already noticed their absence. They hoped not. That would put them in some real trouble.