For QL season 2, Beater 1. Basilisk, beastly, difficult, "The marks humans leaves are too often scars"

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"You'll be fine!" Seamus assures his best friend.

Dean's hand is gripping the handle of the broomstick tightly, his knuckles white. "Easy for you to say," he grumbles, unimpressed. "That's what you told me last class, and Neville wound up hurt."

Seamus rolls his eyes. "Seriously, Neville's accident last class was a million-to-one chance. You're not going to get hurt."

It's obvious that Dean doesn't believe him.

Seamus changes tactics. "If Neville can come back for lessons, you can do this."

In front of them, Neville is walking with his broom gripped in his uninjured hand, his face drained of all color. It may not be a great argument, but it gets Seamus' point across.

As Dean nods, Malfoy and his companions joins them. "Oh, is the Gryffindor afraid of flying?"

Malfoy's followers laugh loudly. And Malfoy smirks.

Despite Dean's dark skin, Seamus can see a blush of humiliation creep across Dean's cheeks. He feels the warmth of anger boiling inside of him. He steps in between Malfoy and Dean.

"Shove off, Malfoy," he growls.

The smirk slides off Malfoy's face as he looks between his companions. He meets Seamus's blue eyes; his own flashing dangerously. "What did you tell me?"

Seamus pulls out his wand. "I said, 'shove off'."

Malfoy glances at Seamus and then his wand, before shrugging. "Let's get out of here," he says.

As soon as Malfoy stalks off, Seamus lets out a sigh of relief and pockets his wand. He turns back to Dean. "Are you okay?"

Dean grins widely. "Yeah." He pauses. "Thanks."

Seamus shrugs. "You don't have to thank me. It's what friends are for, right?"

"Right."

"So did Harry ever tell you what was actually in the Chamber?" Seamus asks Dean.

Dean is pulling his trunk behind himself as he glances in each compartment, looking for an empty one. "No," he replies. "But I heard Ron saying that he saw a giant snake skin while he was down there."

Seamus visibly shivers. "Are you sure that's what he saw?"

"According to him, it is. I believe it though. I mean, what else was Salazar Slytherin going to put in a secret chamber? The House animal is a snake after all."

"But there's not a snake that is that huge," Seamus argues. Softer, he adds, "Or, at least, I'd hope not."

"I'm just telling you what Ron said." Dean shoves a door open and pulls his trunk inside. As he's putting it in the rack above, he asks, "So would you still have protected me from this theoretical giant snake?"

Seamus can hear the teasing tone in Dean's voice. "Of course," he replies.

Dean rolls his eyes. But lets it go. Strangely, he believes that Seamus would do it, even though he's terrified of snakes.

All the Gryffindor third year boys are standing in their dorm room. It's trashed - the beds are flipped, the contents of their trunks are scattered, and their side tables have obviously been searched.

From the damage, Seamus knows that magic wasn't involved. The drapes are cut with a Muggle knife, and the markings on the bed matches. There's no denying that Sirius Black was looking for something in their dorm room. But Seamus can tell that he hasn't found it yet.

Dean bumps into Seamus' shoulder lightly. "Are you okay?"

Seamus shakes in anger. "He might come back," he says, his voice tight. He glances up to meet Dean's chocolate eyes.

"I don't think he will," he tries to assure him. "I'm sure that Professor Dumbledore will highen security."

Seamus makes a disapproving face. "There's already Demeters at the entrances. There's not much more Professor Dumbledore can do."

"Is this going to be like last year?"

Seamus cracks a smile. "Probably. I'm not going to let you out of my sight."

Dean rolls his eyes. "Typical."

He's not sure what a thirteen year old boy can do against a full-fledged Death Eater like Sirius Black - a man who has killed at least thirteen people - but it makes him smile that Seamus is going to try anyways.

"Do you believe him?"

Dean looks up from his trunk. "Harry?" he questions.

Seamus sits on the bed in front of him. "Yeah. Do you believe what Harry said? That You-Know-Who is back?"

He packs in his books. "Harry's never really lied to us before, now has he?"

"I suppose not," Seamus responds. "But if it's true…"

He trails off, but it's not difficult for Dean to fill the rest in. Dean rises and takes a seat next to Seamus on the bed. "Is that really what you're worried about?"

Seamus looks away. "Yeah," he admits.

"I'll be fine. I have you to look out for me, don't I?" Dean questions, bumping into Seamus' shoulder.

Dean isn't sure what Seamus can do against You-Know-Who, but letting him believe that he can will ease Seamus' mind.

"Of course," he answers quickly. And there's a small smile on Seamus face.

"Seamus!"

Dean is next to Seamus as he collapses in an armchair. "I'm fine," he assures Dean.

Narrowing his eyes, Dean asks, "What did she make you do?"

"Lines," he replies. "Just lines." He looks paler than usual and his blue eyes keep falling shut. But Dean has heard horror stories about doing lines with Umbridge.

"That beastly woman," Dean curses. He pulls Seamus up. "You know," he starts, "you didn't have to take the fall for me."

Seamus flashes him a bright smile. "I know. But what are friends for? Besides, you didn't need to get detention. I know you had a date with Ginny."

"You were really worried about that? Ginny would've understood me having detention."

Seamus shrugs noncommittally. "It doesn't matter now."

Seamus pulls Dean away from the crowd. There's hurt flashing in Dean's eyes. "Come on," he says. He urges Dean up the stairs. "You don't need to see that."

"I'm fine," Dean assures him.

Seamus raises his eyebrow at Dean. "You didn't seem fine."

Dean shrugs. "It's been over long before now. I just wasn't expecting her to…" he trails off.

"I know," he says. "So how about we play a game of Exploding Snaps and forget this evening?"

Dean pulls the cards out of his trunk. "You're on." As he deals, he asks, "Are you ready to go down?"

Seamus laughs. "You wish."

"It's finally over," Seamus says.

He sits down next to his best friend. Dean looks up, his dark face dirty. "It's about time."

"You know," Seamus murmurs, looking out on the grounds, "I was so angry that you disappeared. Mostly because I couldn't protect you."

Dean forces Seamus to look at him. "It was my turn to protect you. Because I know that I could've easily hide with you. But that would've put you in danger too. It was easier to go into hiding."

Seamus shakes his head. "Don't ever do that again," he demands.

Dean smiles. "Never," he agrees.

"Good," Seamus says.

A/n - I completely and utterly fail at fluff. But I tried?