Disclaimer; nothing you recognise belongs to me.
For Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry Assignment #9. The task was 'write about two people (or more) who are inseparable'.
The first time Seamus met Dean, he had been reading. Not because Seamus liked to read or that he even liked the particular book that he happened to be reading that day. No, Seamus was only reading because he was bored; bored with nothing to do and no one to talk to.
But then he met Dean; Dean who completely changed Seamus' life just by being there. He became his best friend.
"Whatcha reading?"
He looked up and saw the tall, lean boy standing outside the compartment door. He was smiling a smile that was wider than Seamus had ever imagined possible. He smiled back, a warm feeling starting to form in the pit of his stomach. Seamus closed his book and placed it on the seat next to him.
"Doesn't matter. Wanna come in and join me?"
Everything that happened after that; everything that came after, was fate.
Seamus had never been one for subtlety. He was blunt, at times painfully so, and he had never been one to apologise for it. Whatever was on his mind was what he would end up saying, no matter who it'd hurt. He just didn't care. That was before Dean though, well Dean and a rather stressful walk back from a terrible Herbology lesson.
"You can't say things like that Seamus."
"What do you mean? Brocklehurst was being a right old hag and if she doesn't want anyone to call her that, then she shouldn't act like one."
Dean rolled his eyes and folded his arms.
"What? Don't you agree with me?" Seamus asked indignantly.
"What? No of cour-," Dean huffed and stopped right in his tracks to turn and face Seamus. "Of course I agree with you, but there is just some things that you can't say, even if you are right. And calling Mandy Brocklehurst an old hag in front of the whole class is one of those things. Do you get what I'm saying?"
Seamus nodded. He understood exactly what Dean was saying.
Even though he didn't really agree with what Dean was saying (why act like a cow if you aren't prepared to be called one), and he didn't care that much about Brocklehurst's feelings (she had always been way too pretentious for Seamus' liking), he did care about Dean. And for Dean, his one best friend in the whole entire world, he would try and watch his mouth and what came out of it. It didn't always work but from that moment on he always did try.
Seamus' mother had always told anyone that would listen that her son had a knack for comforting others. Seamus though had never thought that to be true. Because whenever anyone started to cry or react to something by getting angry or sad or anything else like that, he would immediately become uncomfortable. He always had no idea what to do or what he was supposed to say. He was clueless.
So, whenever his mum started one of her rants about how good of a son Seamus was, he always went to contradict her; to show her he wasn't as great as she thought he was. But then he would remember a moment from his second year; a moment that proved that maybe, just maybe, his mother was right about this one.
Dean was pacing the dorm, his arms crossed firmly across his chest and his head positioned towards the ground. He was nervous, anyone could tell that. And Seamus knew about what; the Chamber of Secrets had apparently just been opened.
Dean didn't know whether he would be allowed to attend Hogwarts ever again or whether he would even make it through the night without being killed by some evil heir of Slytherin. He was worried and he had a right to be; no one was telling him, or anyone else, anything. And even though he didn't want to admit it, deep down Seamus was worried too.
"Dean, it's gonna be alright mate." Seamus said after minutes went by where the only sound made was Dean's shoes scuffling against the dormitory carpet.
Dean shook his head frantically, rejecting Seamus' attempts at comfort. "You don't know that Seamus. No one does. I'm a muggleborn and that means that no matter what you or anyone else says, people are gonna want to get rid of me. I still have five years left here Seamus and that's only if they let me stay. If they're able to petrify muggleborns now, you can only imagine what they'll be able to do when I'm in seventh year. Maybe leaving would be for the best y'know, I mean at least I can still walk and talk and do things. I'm one of the lucky ones."
"Stop talking like that! Everything is gonna work out in the end alright? You just have to trust me. Please Dean, trust me on this."
Dean stopped dead in his tracks and turned to face Seamus. "I'm scared Seamus. I'm really scared. And I don't- I don't know what to do."
Seamus' eyes softened and his shoulders slumped. Without a moment's notice he stood up, walked towards Dean and wrapped his arms around his best mate. There was so much going on that night; so much fear and anger towards the unknown coursing through their bodies. But just like always, they both knew they could count on each other.
Seamus' heart ached for Dean that night. He remembers wishing he could just take away all of Dean's pain if it meant that Dean wouldn't have to deal with it anymore. He never wanted Dean to feel hated or rejected ever again, especially since to him that couldn't be further from the truth. He just wanted Dean to be happy. If only he had known what was to come.
"What do you mean you've never tried Butterbeer!?"
Dean rolled his eyes at Seamus', a smile present on his face. "I meant what I said. I've never tried Butterbeer! Which really shouldn't be all that surprising considering I've lived my whole life not even knowing what Butterbeer was."
Seamus eyes went wide. "Well then, we'll just have to go and get ya some. Follow me," he said, a mischievous smile starting to spread across his face.
Dean followed.
The first time Seamus started to think that he might have more than just platonic feelings towards Dean, it was right before fourth year. It was the night of the Quidditch World Cup Finals; Ireland vs Bulgaria. His mum had bought an extra ticket with the idea in mind that maybe, just maybe, Seamus' father would want to join them. But of course, he didn't. So, they invited Dean instead.
"I still can't believe you invited me Shay. To the Quidditch World Cup of all places!"
Seamus smiled. "Of course, I mean who else would we invite?"
Dean looked at him knowingly. "I can think of one person."
"Well don't think then, because I know for sure that I would prefer your company over theirs any day."
Dean shook his head, "Whatever you say Shay."
They walked in silence, both
"Boys! Hurry up!" Seamus' mum yelled at them from at the front of the stadium.
"Coming!" The two of them shouted back in unison, both of them running to catch up to where Mrs Finnigan was standing.
Maureen Finnigan was a scary woman at the best of times and at the worst of times she was absolutely terrifying. With a big personality and a loud voice that heavily contrasted her tiny stature, she was an exact replica of her son. She had sandy blonde hair and bright blue eyes that seemed to know exactly what you were thinking at any moment in time. Seamus loved her more than anything.
"Now, you too are gonna have to behave tonight, do you hear me? No funny business whatsoever. After the game I am going straight to bed and while I don't care what the two of you do, if it wakes me up we are gonna have some problems. Understand?"
The two boys nodded, both of them kind of frightened by the seriousness in her tone.
"Great. Time to watch some Quidditch!"
Seamus and Dean shared a glance, both of them amazed by the wonder that was Mrs Finnigan.
"She's your mum mate," Dean whispered to Seamus after she had turned around.
"No need to tell me that. I'm the one who has to live with her every day."
After the Quidditch match, when both of them were frightened out of their minds and scared more than they had ever been in their lives, they decided to have a talk. A talk about everything and nothing at the same time; just as long as it put them to sleep.
"Shay? Are you awake?" Dean asked as he stared at the ceiling of Seamus' room.
"Yeah, I'm awake," Seamus answered with a whisper.
"What happened tonight?"
"Death eater rally, or at least that's what I overheard my mum say to my dad. She's scared; death eater rallies used to happen all the time before the last war and she lost her parents then. She was pretty young back then too, she talks about them all the time."
"Do you think he's back?"
Seamus shot up. "No. And you shouldn't either, cause he's dead and he's never gonna come back. Alright?"
"Okay Shay. I believe you."
"Good," Seamus said, his voice calm. He laid back down. "I'm glad."
"At least Ireland won though."
Seamus chuckled. "Yeah, at least Ireland won. They hadn't won for years before that. Mum always used to complain about it."
"My Mama Esther gets like that too, but about soccer. Mum though, well she couldn't care less."
"Did people used to make fun of you for having too mums?"
Dean paused.
"You don't have to tell me, not if you don't want to," Seamus quickly added. "I was just curious.
"Nah it's fine mate. Um I guess so? People made fun of me for a lot of things I guess."
What do you mean?"
"I'm a freakishly tall Black-British boy living in a mostly straight white town. I have two black mums, six black sisters that I'm not even related to, and a missing dad. I'm also a wizard but back then no one knew that, so instead I was just that weird kid that bad stuff happened to. So, of course I got made fun of but exactly what for, I'm not sure."
"Fuck, well that sucks for you I guess Thomas."
Dean laughed. "Right. It wasn't so bad I guess; gave me a lot of spare time. Which is how I learnt to draw. With no friends, you've got to find something else to do, so I started to draw."
Seamus couldn't believe what he was hearing; how could someone like Dean, amazing and wonderful Dean, have no friends? Dean was spectacular to talk to, easy to get along with, talented, kind, funny; there was literally no reason not to be his friend.
And as Seamus thought more and more about how wonderful Dean was and how amazing of a friend he had become to Seamus, a pit started to form in his stomach. Because unlike Dean, Seamus had made lots of friends before; friends that he was still rather close to, even to this very day. But the way he was thinking about Dean was unlike any way he had ever thought of a friend before.
Seamus had never known that he was different to the other boys, not until 'liking girls' was something that boys started to do. When all his friends talked about how pretty Isobel MacDougal was or how fit Gina Murray was turning out to be, Seamus would just tune out. He didn't think Isobel was any prettier than she had been last year and back then no one seemed to want to comment on it. But things were changing, Seamus would come to realise. Boys liked girls now and girls liked boys back and soon they would all start to date and that was just how the world worked. Seamus would just have to figure out where that left him; a boy who would never have feelings for a girl.
"Why are you so mean to Harry?"
"Because Dean he's lying, he keeps saying that You-Know-Who is back when he's not. Why does it matter so much to you anyways?"
Dean paused before asking, "If I think Voldermort's back too, would you be mean to me too?"
"Merlin Dean, you know better than to say his name. And no, I would not be as mean to you as I am being to Harry."
"Why?"
"Because you're Dean."
"That's not a very good reason."
"That doesn't make it any less true though."
Sixth year was rather rough for Seamus. You-Know-Who was back, Dumbledore ended up dying and Dean dated Ginny. Ginny Weasley with her red hair and nice eyes and her perfect Quidditch skills and her feminine features. If Seamus needed another piece of evidence to why Dean was so obviously straight, well he got one.
Seamus had known since the end of fourth year that he was gay. The Quidditch World Cup matched with the Yule Ball had only ended up confirming his suspicions. He had a fun time with Lavender, don't get him wrong, but it wasn't anything more than a good time with friends.
He had known since fifth year that he had feelings for Dean; feelings that perhaps were a little more than friendly. It shouldn't have surprised him as much as it did; him and Dean were inseparable, had been since they first met. You didn't see Dean without Seamus and you didn't see Seamus without Dean. Even when they weren't together, they were always telling stories about each other or funny moments that had happened when they were together; their parents were always hearing about how Seamus did this and how Dean said that.
But that was all before sixth year. Sixth year when Dean's life became consumed by Ginny; when his life became all about how Ginny said this and Ginny did that and how Ginny was the best thing that had ever happened to Dean. That was probably the thing that hurt Seamus the most; the idea that Ginny was now the most important person in his life when to Seamus that person had always been Dean.
Dean and Seamus hadn't spoken in weeks. Well, technically they had talked but about things that they would never normally talk about. Their conversations had turned bland and with that so did their friendship.
Seamus didn't know what to do. On one hand he missed Dean and their late-night conversations and everything about their friendship that made it special. But everything that made their friendship special to Seamus, was something that needed to end if Seamus wanted to stay friends with Dean. And while deep down that wasn't something he really wanted, it was something that needed to happen now that he knew there was no way that Dean could ever like him back.
He sighed and ran his hands through his longish hair. He was in the common room by himself, writing this stupid essay about something he could barely remember what.
"Whatcha doing here by yourself Seamus?"
He looked up and saw Parvati Patil standing at the bottom of the dormitory stands, her arms crossed tightly across her waist as if she was giving herself a large hug.
"Not much Parvati, you?"
She shrugged. "About the same. You upset about Dean?"
He paused; shocked that Parvati had even noticed that he was upset in the first place, let alone about Dean.
"Yeah. I am actually."
Parvati nodded knowingly, "I'm the same, but about Lavender instead of Dean."
Seamus' eyes widened. Parvati and Lavender? Since when had that been a thing?
Parvati smiled in a sad sort of way. A smile that Seamus could understand. In fact, right now, it was probably the only thing he could understand.
"Glad I'm not the only one."
It wasn't long after that, that Ginny and Dean broke up. Dean was heartbroken of course and Ginny, well Ginny finally got the one she wanted. Seamus could only hope that one day he would be as lucky.
"Dean?"
"Yeah Shay?"
"I'm glad you're alive."
"Me too." Dean paused, his eyes searching Seamus' bruised and battered face for a sign. A sign that maybe, just maybe, after this everything would be okay.
Seamus smiled weakly at Dean before leaning forward and gripping his hand into his own.
They stayed there for a moment, hand in hand, the pair of them bloody and tired, covered in sweat with enough bad memories to last them a life time.
"I'm glad you're alive too Seamus," Dean whispered to the boy on his left. "More than you'll ever know."
And before Seamus could do anything, before Seamus could say anything, Dean reached forward and pressed his lips against Seamus'. He kissed Seamus and told him all the things he had been too scared to say; I love you, I missed you, I need you. And as Seamus kissed him back, he told him the exact same things. He told him all the things that he had felt for years but had never had the courage to say.
They were finally honest with each other, whether it be for better or worse.