It was no secret that Dean Thomas was an excellent artist. He was often seen with a sketchbook and pencil during free times and meals in his own world. It was also no secret that Dean valued his friendships with the other boys in his dormitory. The five of them had been through classes, Quidditch matches, Hogsmede visits, meals, and battles together. They were part of the Gryffindor class of 1991.
It was his very first night at Hogwarts. The boys had shyly introduced themselves to each other in the Great Hall and now they were each doing their own thing. Dean was unpacking his trunk. Moving some jumpers unearthed a wrapped package. "Enjoy! Love, Mum" the label read. Inside was a brand new sketchbook and set of pencils. Dean sat down on his bed and opened the book. Glancing around the room, he began to draw.
There were four other boys in the room. Seamus Finnegan, Dean's new best friend, was slender and sandy haired with a strong Irish accent and was currently digging through his extremely messy trunk searching for pajamas. Neville Longbottom was round faced and chubby. He appeared to be very nervous about being in Gryffindor and was frantically muttering "Where is it? Where is it?" as he looked through his own trunk. Ronald Weasley was tall and very red haired. Judging from the amount of other redheads at the Gryffindor table during the feast, he was also from a large family and his older brother was the prefect who had escorted them from the hall. Ron sat on his bed with his pet rat on his shoulder. He was munching on some chocolate that seemed to be shaped like a frog. Finally, Harry Potter was scrawny with messy hair, glasses, and the lighting scar that Seamus had explained to him on the train along with a crash course on recent Wizarding history. Harry was sitting cross legged on his own bed fingering the red and gold scarf and tie that had been left for him.
Dean tapped his pencil against his mouth. He had already drawn the five beds and himself with a sketchbook and pencil. He had already decided to do one sketch at the beginning and one at the end of every school year. Each one from after the Leaving Feast would feature a moon out the window with a shadowy figure on it. Maybe he would give them to the other boys as graduation presents. The idea was to depict each one as they were at that moment. Dean decided to cheat this one a little since he didn't know the others that well yet. The sketch would be postponed to Halloween.
The kerfuffle in the common room died down as people went off to bed. Many were still discussing how the troll had gotten into the castle and how three first years had beaten it. Harry, Ron, and Neville had already gone upstairs when Percy Weasley stood up and called for them all to go to bed. Dean rolled his eyes at the pompous prefect before heading up with Seamus who had been trying to extinguish his Herbology essay that had somehow caught fire.
Once upstairs, Dean grabbed his book and opened it to the original sketch of the boys. Quietly studying his mates, Dean considered how to draw them. Ron was already asleep and snoring. Since Ron's snoring was louder than the other four, plus the rest of the Gryffindor boys, put together Dean decided to draw the redhead as sleeping with Scabbers on the pillow next to Ron's head.
Neville was examining his Remembrall which was glowing. "I can't remember what I've forgotten again," he moaned. Dean also drew in Trevor the toad.
Harry wasn't on his bed but rather sitting in the window seat again, staring outside. Hedwig the owl was perched on the seat in front of Harry and he was gently stroking her feathers.
Seamus had finally extinguished his homework and it was now only slightly smoking. Dean added the feather that Seamus had also managed to set on fire during Charms because it had been the most entertaining moment of the year so far. (aside from the journey to Hogwarts and Hogwarts itself)
After the Leaving Feast, the boys should have been packing for the train ride home but they decided to celebrate Gryffindor's win of the House Cup by playing Exploding Snap until well past midnight. One by one, they fell asleep and Dean pulled the sketchbook back out. He decided to draw the dormitory in the background and have his mates in the foreground. Dean was up all night to make the picture perfect. First he drew the moon. Dean himself had not seen Fluffy but Ron had described it in great detail while Harry was in the hospital wing.
Harry himself was dressed in Quidditch robes with a Snitch in his mouth facing a blank mirror. Dean had considered what would the Boy Who Lived desire most but decided to leave the mirror empty out of respect for his friend. The only thing on Harry's nightstand was a thick book.
Ron was sitting astride a chess knight and looked very proud of himself beside a fallen troll that had a large lump on its head. Dean had thought about coloring Ron's ears red but it would have been hard to make out the ears amongst the hair. Ron's table was clustered with family pictures and sweets wrappers.
Neville was standing in the middle in a bathrobe with his arms crossed over his chest and a slightly scared expression on his face. Little did Dean know that this pose would come up again. For someone so forgetful and constantly losing belongings, Neville's part of the room was the neatest and most organized.
Seamus was writing a letter to his mam. Over the course of the year, there had been over 150 letters between Mrs. Finnegan and her son. Some of them had been from Seamus's father asking questions about Hogwarts. There had been at least a dozen after the troll incident alone. Around Seamus's bed was a disaster zone of parchment, clothes, books, and owl treats.
Dean depicted himself as closing The Standard Book of Spells Volume 1 to show the end of the first year and grinning at his West Ham football poster. As real Dean put the finishing touches on his robes at seven in the morning, he heard Percy shouting at Fred and George to get packed. Ron's ears turned red at the sound of his brothers. Harry laughed at his friend while Neville was rushing around looking for his socks. Seamus was finishing another letter to his mother while trying to jam belongings into his trunk haphazardly. Dean smiled as he closed his own trunk on the first year at Hogwarts.
Dean was not the first person to note the absence of Harry and Ron at the Welcome Feast. That would have been Hermione. He saw her go up to Percy and ask, "Have you seen Ron and Harry?" At this point, the car had not crashed into the Whomping Willow. Later that night, Harry and Ron recounted what happened to Dean, Seamus, and Neville and they sat up for a while discussing the blocked barrier at the platform. After the last one, Harry, finally fell asleep Dean pulled out the sketchbook.
Over the summer, he had been using a different book for most of his sketches. This one was for Hogwarts only and would only have pictures of his friends. Dean decided the boys would all be sleeping in this picture. But how would he capture his friends?
Dean drew himself first this time. He had a new picture of his entire extended family from over the holidays and drew himself as clutching it in his sleep. In reality, the picture was under Dean's pillow.
Ron was holding his broken wand in one hand. After the Howler from Mrs. Weasley, Dean changed Ron's usual sleepy expression to one of horror.
Seamus was sporting extra bruises and two black eyes as well as a bloody nose. He hadn't shown up to Hogwarts with injuries but had told Dean in vivid detail about all of the wrestling contests he had had with both his Wizarding and Muggle cousins over the holidays.
Drawing Harry was even thinner than last year, just like real life Harry. As part of the story about the barrier, he and Ron had explained how Fred and George helped Ron break Harry out of the Dursleys'. When they had been changing into pajamas, Dean had thought he saw a few ribs on Harry's chest.
Neville hadn't really changed much over the holidays. He had gotten rid of his Remembrall since it didn't help him anyway. Dean decided to add a plant to Neville's nightstand because the still forgetful boy's grades were bested by very few (including Hermione) in Herbology despite being rather poor at his other classes and Dean had no idea what else to include.
The Leaving Feast sketch was easier to draw. Again, Dean drew the moon first, this time with a giant snake on it.
Harry was holding the Sword of Gryffindor in one hand and the Sorting Hat in the other. Fawkes the phoenix was perched on Harry's shoulder.
Ron had his hand on Harry's other shoulder. Sticking out of one of the pockets on Ron's trousers was a set of car keys. Dean had no idea if Mr. Weasley's car had actually used keys but didn't know how else to include the car. At Ron's feet was a pile of slugs. Colin had shown the pictures to everyone in the tower.
Neville was standing in front of a melted cauldron and watched fearfully as an unseen figure pointed a wand at him.
Seamus had had a growth spurt (and told every girl from every house some of whom had punched him) so Dean drew Seamus's trousers and robes too short, showing his friend's wrists and ankles.
Dean held his sketchbook. On the page, a faceless girl with a Hogwarts uniform but blank tie was shown.
With the breakout of Sirius Black, the Gryffindor third years (or at least the boys) stayed up very late discussing the security on the castle as well as the Dementors. Harry told Dean and Seamus who had not been in Lupin's compartment what had happened with the Dementor on the train. They also discussed their new classes. All five of them were taking at least Divination and Care of Magical Creatures.
In the sketch, the five boys were sitting around a table with the Daily Prophet article about Black in the center. All of the beds were lined up against the walls. Ron was holding Scabbers the rat very tightly. Hedwig was sitting on Harry's shoulder and behind Harry was a balloon like woman floating away. (Harry had recounted the tale of Aunt Marge to uproarious laughter). Trevor the toad was sitting on Neville's head. Seamus was stroking his owl Athena's feathers. Dean was holding the pet rock he had brought from home due to jealousy of not having a pet thanks to his mum's allergies.
The end of year sketch was grouped like the first one: all of the boys clustered together. This time however, they were standing in a pyramid and they all were pointing their wands at different boggarts.
Front and center was Neville with Snape dressed like Mrs. Longbottom. Neville was smirking at the professor who hated him so much. Flanking Neville were Ron and Seamus. Ron had a look of pure terror on his face as he shakily pointed his wand at a tiny spider on the floor. Seamus's banshee had her hands halfway to her throat. Behind Ron was Harry whose Dementor leered over the boy whose eyes were now unfocused but had something silver shooting from his wand. Dean's severed hand was just lying there while Dean stared at it with a look of revulsion on his face.
The moon had been the hardest part to draw. Depending on where you looked, it was either a man or a wolf.
The fourth year picture was extremely green and gold. The beds were in a circle and the five of them were discussing the Triwizard Tournament. Seamus was still wearing the rose that sang out the names of the Irish Quidditch team. His hands were waving around excitedly. Dean's sketchbook showed the same faceless, House-less girl from the Leaving Feast picture of second year but now she had black hair. Ron was playing with his miniature Viktor Krum and making it walk around on his palm. Neville was writing a letter to his gran with a list of forgotten belongings. Harry sat slightly apart from the others and appeared to be lost in thought.
Dean had privately thought that Seamus and Harry had looked the least ridiculous in their dress robes when they had been getting ready for the Yule Ball. He and Neville had just looked like they were trying too hard. Ron just looked stupid. At the time, Dean had begun planning to use said dress robes for the five of them in the end of year sketch. Dean first drew the beds then the moon. Each boy was standing in front of his bed and the moon had an outline of Cedric Diggory on it.
Harry stood in the middle this time with the Triwizard Cup in his hand and a sad expression on his face which was half turned towards the window beyond which lay the moon. There was an egg in his other hand and a miniature dragon on his shoulder. Ron had his arms crossed and was glaring at a picture of Hermione and Krum that he appeared to have thrown on the floor. On the floor between Harry and Ron was a picture of the two of them with Parvati and Padma who were both glaring at the boys.
Neville was looking guiltily at a picture he held of him and Ginny who was wincing as he stepped on her toes yet again. In Neville's other hand was some gillyweed. Seamus was grinning at the picture of him and Lavender. Behind him on the bed was a Blast-Ended Skrewt. Dean was standing with his arms folded. He seemed to be looking at the picture of Parvati on the floor.
Dean started the fifth year picture after the row between Harry and Seamus. He drew the two of them back to back with arms crossed across their chests and glaring at each other. In Seamus's hand was a rolled up copy of the Daily Prophet. Ron and Dean were standing near Harry with annoyed expressions on their faces. Dean's ongoing sketch of the girl was still faceless but now had a Gryffindor tie. Neville was slightly behind them caring for his Mimbulus Mimbletonia. Not much had changed over the summer in regards to the five Gryffindors.
The Leaving Feast sketch was rather intimidating. Superimposed over the moon was a toad. There were no beds in this picture, just the five of them in a line with a mass of faceless people behind them. Every wand was outstretched. Harry, Ron, and Neville all bore a few more scars from the Battle of the Department of Mysteries. Sticking out of Harry's pocket was the Marauders' Map. In Seamus's left hand was The Daily Prophet with the headline "You Know Who is Back!".
All of them had grown over the holidays. Dean and Ron were now over six feet tall. Harry was still the shortest at five and a half feet. They were sitting on the floor between the beds playing Exploding Snap.
This moon was the largest it had ever been. Albus Dumbledore was clearly visible on its surface. They sat on their beds solemnly looking off to the side. Harry looked sad and determined, twirling a locket between his fingers. Seamus was scribbling a letter to his mam looking furious. Ron was staring at a picture of him with his brothers and sister with tears in his eyes. There was a drop over Percy's face. Dean's sketch of the girl was complete. Only her face and hair were visible as he hugged the book to his chest. Neville seemed to be in shock and there were a pair of crutches next to his bed. Dean had seen how Luna had helped him into a chair at the funeral. So far, this had been the worst year ever. Little did the Gryffindors of 1991 know how much worse it would become.
Dean wasn't in his dormitory when he did this sketch. How could he be when there was no proof his father was a wizard? This sketch was the saddest so far. There were still five beds in the room, but only two boys. Neville and Seamus sat on the middle beds staring at the empty ones. There was a darkness to this portion of the picture. Harry and Ron were in a corner, wands raised at an unknown foe. Dean was sitting on a rock with his sketchbook open to the very first picture of the five of them from first year.
They were battered and bruised but very much alive. Somehow the five of them had made it out. They stood in the middle of the room clasping hands. Around the room and on their clothing were various names: Remus, Tonks, Colin, Charlotte, Michael, Anthony, Su, Megan, Natalie, Zacharias, Severus, Albus, James, Lily, Sirius, Dobby, Cedric, Marlene, Benjy, Regulus, Dorcas, Gideon, Fabian, and so many others. "Fred" was written directly over Ron's heart. "Ted" was on the back of Dean's wand hand. Harry had posted the picture Sirius had given him of the original Order of the Phoenix in the Room of Requirement.
This moon was huge. The Hogwarts crest was in the exact center but there were other drawings around it: a sword, a broom, a dish of pudding, a wand, a lightning bolt, a teacup, a heart.