Disclaimer: I do not own the original canon nor am I making any profit from writing this piece. All works are accredited to their original authors, performers, and producers while this piece is mine. No copyright infringement is intended. I acknowledge that all views and opinions expressed herein are merely my interpretations of the characters and situations found within the original canon and may not reflect the views and opinions of the original author(s), producer(s), and/or other people.
Warnings: This story may contain material that is not suitable for all audiences and may offend some readers. Please exercise understanding of personal boundaries before and during reading.
Author's Note (Generic Note for the Houses Competition): All my works should be considered to be Not Epilogue Compliant and I treat everything that is not the HP books and the Hogwarts Library Collection as apocrypha (supplementary to canon but still outside of it) and treat it as such. I also make a policy of not ignoring abusive and distasteful actions/decisions of characters and not handwaving the effects of trauma experienced by characters. If you feel that a character isn't acting like their "canon self" chances are good that it's because of one of these two things and they are merely displaying a more realistic response than they did in canon.
Author's Note(s): The Love Triangle trope is very complicated, with many different ways it can be resolved (way more than the either/or situation used in YA & NA Lit) and the fact that many people assume that it only exists as a means of creating drama is a recurring gripe of just as many poly people. Well, rejoice, my fellow poly people! Here is a fic where the Love Triangle is exactly that: a completely functioning love triangle. [hears a conservative cry out "think of the children!"] Don't worry; I'm including them, too!
Author's Note (Terms to Know): Danu is the name of the goddess who gave birth to the people of Ireland; O is the callout for a prayer and is not a misspelling of the vocable that makes the same sound (oh); Likewise, Mam and Da are Irish equivalents for "mom" and "dad" and are not misspellings.
Challenge/Competition Block:
House: Hufflepuff
Year: 6th
Category: Bonus (1000 – 3000 words)
Prompt: A Love Triangle (Trope); Seamus Finnegan (Character); "Magic Dance" by David Bowie
Stacked with: Houses Competition (Term 3); Monthly Challenges for All
Representation: Seamus Finnegan; Fluffy Fun; Bisexuality/Triad; Stay-at-Home Parenting; Poly Family; Ginny Weasley
Bonus Challenge(s): Second Verse (Not Mozart); Second Verse (Nontraditional); Second Verse (Unicorn); Second Verse (Brooms Only); Second Verse (Three's Company); Second Verse (Not a Lamp); Second Verse (Ladylike – Aggressive)
Word Count: 1375
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Lightning
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What kind of magic spell to use
Slime and snails?
Or puppy dog tails?
Thunder or lightning?
– David Bowie, "Magic Dance"
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They weren't originally them. First, it was Dean and Ginny, but Ginny had broken up with Dean in a fit of temper, and Dean, too baffled by the quickness of the shift, had let her go. Seamus shook his head when they both came to him separately to complain about the other one. His advice was the same to both of them: "talk it out and don't put me in the middle." Neither of them spoke to each other, but they did take care to not put their mutual friend in the middle.
(Seamus ignored how he would have liked to be in that spot, if it were under better circumstances. Dean was his best friend and their bond was kind of unshakable, but Ginny had always gotten along better with boys than girls—mostly just out of more experience—and they had matching senses of humor. That, and Ginny had a wicked temper and Seamus always did like things that exploded unexpectedly. In between them would be an excellent place if they weren't sniping at each other.)
Then Ginny dated Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived, and Seamus had to watch his friend "not" pine for the rest of the year. That had been as ridiculous as it sounded, and Seamus wanted to knock their heads together some days. Especially when he noticed that Dean wasn't just looking at Ginny in his pining, that his gaze would occasionally linger on Harry before he would shake himself dismissively.
(Muggles had some weird hang-ups sometimes. Maybe appreciating the same gender was one of those things. Da would know.)
Of course, then Voldemort took over all of the British Isles, and while Seamus' mother debated not sending him back to Hogwarts with the Death Eaters in control, Seamus knew that there was no way that Ginny wasn't going to be kept away and no way that Dean would be able to go, no matter how much of the Finnegan lineage he managed to memorize. Who was dating (or vamping) who didn't seem as important as making sure funny, snarky Ginny didn't sass her way into being green-listed (or worse—O Danu, there were so many outcomes that would be worse than death). That year was rough on everyone, but it did give Seamus and Ginny a chance to grow closer (in more ways than one, because when everything hurt, life-affirmation took an entirely new precedence).
Then Dean was there, and Seamus couldn't stop himself. That first kiss was glorious. The one after Voldemort's defeat was even better. After so many months of including her, pulling Ginny in for the one right after it had just been natural, even if she tasted like the tears she had been swallowing trying to be strong for her brothers and parents.
No one had really noticed the moment, but like lightning, it had already changed things.
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None of them expected the pregnancy. It had only been a couple years since the war had ended, even less since they had run away from the happily-ever-after feeling that had permeated the British wizarding world despite the remaining issues that had led to the Blood Wars in the first place. Backpacking through Europe and around the Mediterranean had seemed like a great idea until their idyllic bubble had been broken by Ginny's morning sickness. They had quickly realized that while Greece was beautiful, they needed their family around them.
Ginny made sure that Harry was their first stop upon arriving back in the UK.
If anyone needed a head's up on possible family drama, it was the other guy likely to be dragged into it. The increasing pressure for Ginny and Harry to get back together had been a major part of why she had accepted Dean and Seamus' invitation to travel in the first place. Seamus had always suspected that Harry wanted that about as much as Ginny had. The way he had been genuinely happy for Ginny's announcement of impending baby with her two lovers had released a bit of tension that Seamus had not realized had existed.
Seamus loved both Dean and Ginny, but even he knew that competing against the Man-Who-Won was not a thing that could happen. Even when he had been playing the idiot back at Hogwarts, Harry had played to win with a ruthless edge that cut even those closest to him. It hadn't helped that while he didn't understand Harry's ramble about his university classes and work, Dean had grown visibly more impressed as Harry had continued. When Harry had pulled Ginny close right near the end of their visit and whispered something in her ear that made her cry into his shoulder, Seamus had been tempted to slug him anyway.
"Give 'em hell, Ginny," Harry had said as he wiped away her tears. "It's what the twins would have wanted."
Harry hadn't gone with them to face the wrath of the Weasley clan, but Seamus could see his influence in how Ginny hadn't let Molly guilt her even a little bit over not bringing Harry into the family in a more solid way. The screaming match was all his firebrand, though. Seamus had watched the two redheaded women toss accusations and insults back and forth right beside Dean and Arthur. For his part, Arthur had been more concerned with their plans for taking care of his baby.
Arthur had blinked at them in confusion when they had announced the plan for Dean and Ginny to work while Seamus would work from home.
It wasn't what men normally did, but then, it also wasn't normal for three people to be perfectly happy with each other instead of making everyone miserable with fighting.
A love like theirs was like lightning: unbelievably powerful and accountable to no one.
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Seamus had never made a big deal out of certain interests he had. He just hadn't advertised those interests to anyone. His Mam and Da knew, of course, because he couldn't hide enjoying cooking and cleaning from the people teaching him how. His partners knew as well, because one instance of Ginny managing to botch a shepherd's pie to the point of making them all sick was enough for all of them. Thus Seamus was not surprised when people expected him to flake out after the first month he was on his own with Matilda.
Dean had found a low-paying job teaching art lessons at the local community center while he attended classes to get the Muggle education that he had missed while attending Hogwarts. The plan was for him to continue on afterwards to get the education necessary to do the same thing more formally. Ginny had tried out for the minor Quidditch leagues as a Chaser within a week of being cleared by her midwife after Matilda had been born. It was three games into her first season and already there were scouts for the major league teams following her.
They had busy schedules, which made it harder to find time just for them.
Thankfully, Matilda was an excellent dance partner. Of course, it was rather hard to step on someone's toes while being carried. The six-month-old giggled happily as Seamus bopped with her in his arms. One of her dark hands was wrapped around the strap of his apron while the other muffled the giggling. Each jostle made the puffs of her tiny twisties bounce as well.
"What kind of magic spell to use," Seamus sang as they made a circuit around their living room. "Slime and snails?" He dipped them deeply, careful to keep Matilda's head and neck supported. "Or puppy dog tails?" He pulled them up and lifted her high in the air. "Thunder or—"
Matilda screeched in delighted knowledge as electricity arced off of the infant to strike at the wall. Seamus immediately pulled her close to his chest, even as he turned to verify that nothing was on fire this time. There wasn't, thank Danu, but Dean's painting of Tuscany was definitely beyond saving.
Lightning did have a tendency to destroy the things it hit, even when it was made by accidental magic.
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An Ending
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