"You fell asleep in my car, I drove the whole time,
But that's okay, I'll just avoid the holes so you sleep fine."
-Tear in My Heart, Twenty One Pilots
1. Ice Skating
Seamus himself was an ice skating virgin; that is until he tagged along one day with Dean, Padma, Lavender, Ginny, Neville, Ron, and Parvati in sixth year. The lake had frozen over before Christmas break and they had laced up their skates and decided to try it. Seamus was absolute rubbish at it, as he expected. Astonishingly, Neville was superb: gliding across the ice with more grace than ever possessed. Dean had went skating several times at a rink in Bath, and one of his sisters was enrolled in lessons there, so he was much better than Seamus. He watched as Dean helped Ginny effortlessly, as if it were easier than walking.
"Are you coming?" Ron asked impatiently over his shoulder, where Lavender was cooing over him. Seamus distinctly got the feeling that Ron didn't want to have skate with her by themselves.
"Er, yeah," he said, trying to quell the nervousness rising inside him as he stepped onto the ice. Almost immediately his feet flew out from under him and he smacked the ice. Ron and Dean snickered, and Ginny and Padma looked as if they were trying hard not to.
"Need some help?" Parvati asked, offering him her hand. She helped him up. "You okay?"
"Fine," he said, though his teeth were chattering and his arse hurt worse than if he had fallen on asphalt. "I can't balance, is all."
"I'll help you," she said. "It's so easy once you get the hang of it." She led the way, one skate forward, gliding on the other. Seamus copied her movements, feeling altogether bulky and clumsy.
"Where did you learn?"
"Here, at Hogwarts. Lavender taught Padma and I."
They were well behind their peers, who were skating circles around the center of the lake. "I don't think Ron and Lavender are doing too well," he said, thinking back to Ron's shortness with her earlier.
"Yes, I was thinking the same thing," Parvati agreed with a sigh. "It's a shame."
They were picking up speed now; Seamus was gaining confidence. He leaned forward, the wind cutting through his hair as they sped around the ice. He almost forgot about his fall and undoubtful bruises, and the cold wasn't bothering him much. His misgivings about skating were in the back of his mind, replaced with a feeling of elation, when-
CRACK!
Seamus was only aware of cold, ice so bitter he couldn't breathe or contemplate anything apart from the sensation of needles digging into his flesh. He couldn't breathe, couldn't move. This must certainly be what death feels like…
Arms hoisted him up, and he was out of the water and on the ice, gasping for air and soaking wet.
"Lavender, go get Hagrid," ordered Dean. His voice was shaking. "His pulse is slow, we need to get him to Madam Pomfrey!"
Seamus was dimly aware of fingers pressing against his carotid, and hands picking him up and carrying him off the lake.
"He's seizing! He's having a seizure!"
That was the last thing Seamus heard before darkness submerged him.
When he woke, it was cold. He opened his eyes and immediately screwed them shut again against the light.
"Oh my God, Merlin, you're awake!" It was Parvati. "Madam Pomfrey, he's awake!"
"That's good, very good," Madam Pomfrey said, stepping into sight. Her expression was one of relief.
"You fell in the lake," Parvati rushed, her face pale. "I thought-I thought you'd- It was scary, Seamus. You went under the ice, and we couldn't see you. Neville jumped in and saved you-"
"Neville?"
"I know, crazy! He pulled you out and then Lavender got Hagrid, and we carried you to him and he carried you here, and you had a seizure! It was so scary." Her voice shook.
"Where is Neville?"
"They're going to get McGonagall." Parvati leaned forward. "They stayed for twenty minutes but Pomfrey chased them out."
"She didn't chase you out?"
"I wanted to stay," she said softly.
"I'm glad," Seamus replied. For the first time he is acutely aware of her hand threaded between his own. "Thanks for helping me."
"You scared us. Don't do it again."
"Last time I go ice skating."
Parvati smiles. The door opens behind them, and Seamus hears McGonagall say, "I suppose...fifty points to Gryffindor, for Neville…"
Parvati drops his hand, but her eyes don't move from his.
2. Canon in D
The last day of term before Christmas was warm and cozy. There was a party in Gryffindor commons room, celebrating. Parvati played on the piano in the corner, her fingers twisting every carol known to mankind out of the keys. Dean and Ginny argued sitting on the stairs over something petty.
"You've got to help me, mate," Ron muttered to Seamus.
"What?"
"It's Lavender, she's driving me insane." As he spoke, Ron glanced over his shoulder, paranoid.
"Why don't you break up with her?"
"Because she's fucking insane," Ron hissed under his breath. "You've got to help me, Seamus."
"Where's Harry?"
"The Slug Club," Ron muttered. "Can you cover for me? I'm going to sneak upstairs.
"Watch out for Ginny and Dean, they're fighting over there."
"Good," Ron said venomously. "I don't like them dating anyway." And with that, Ron vanished. Only moments later Lavender strolled over. "Have you seen Won-won?"
"Ah, yeah, he went upstairs. Not feeling too well, I think."
"Why didn't he tell me?" she pouted.
"I guess you'll have to ask him later," Seamus said evasively. Thankfully Lavender picked up on the hint and wandered off.
Dean and Ginny looked like they were having a very heated discussion at this point; Dean stood up and left after several more moments, heading to Seamus. Ginny, face red, stormed up the stairs.
"What's with you?"
"Ginny's gone mad. Yourself?"
"Nothing." But Seamus was watching Parvati's slender fingers dance across the piano, the familiar notes of Canon in D filling the room. Dean followed his gaze and sighed.
"For Merlin's sake, just snog her already," he sighed.
"What are you talking about?"
"Parvati."
"I don't want to snog her."
"Really?" Dean scoffed.
"Bug off."
"This party's lame, mate," Dean said with a sigh several minutes later. "Nothing's been the same since the Weasley twins left."
"Ron's in the dorm, avoiding Lavender."
"I think I'm going to join him," Dean grunted.
Seamus watched Parvati playing until his feet seemed to move themselves. He sat down on the bench beside her. Startled, she glanced up, hitting a wrong key. She blushed and smiled.
"Merry Christmas," he said.
"Merry Christmas." She sounded shy.
There was a bit of awkwardness in the air and a knot of nervousness in Seamus's stomach. "Looks like everyone's heading to sleep," he said, trying to ease the tension.
"Yes, it does," she agreed. She shut the piano and stood. "We'd better go to sleep."
They walked together to the bottom of the stairs. "I guess we'll see each other after break," he said quietly. For some reason, saying it fills him with sadness.
"Yeah, I guess so," she said. She tucked a piece of hair behind one ear. She looked so beautiful, Seamus thought. "I'll see you later," she said, about to turn around, one foot on the steps.
He grabbed her hand and pulled her back down, and her lips met his in a kiss that drove the hypothermia out of his body.
3. Bruises
Seamus wanders the wreckage alone.
His heart is beating wildly in his chest. He sees George weeping over the body of his twin, Harry crouched beside an unmoving Professor Lupin. He spins around. There: Lavender Brown, splayed out on a table, dead. Beyond her, Oliver Wood carried the dead body of Colin Creevey.
His breath was coming in short rasps now. He saw Neville carrying a girl over his shoulder. "Neville!" he cried. "Neville! Who is it?"
"A Ravenclaw," Neville answered mournfully. "Sixth year."
"Have you seen Parvati?"
"No, I'm sorry mate. I- I'm sure she's around here somewhere." The words sounded limp and promised nothing.
"And Dean?"
"Yeah, I saw him earlier, he's helping Pomfrey fix wounds."
"If you see Parvati, tell me," Seamus says. He gazes around wildly, taking in the ruins of the Great Hall. Crumbled stone and mortar scatter the hall. Everywhere people weep, or otherwise in shock. He takes the stairs three at a time until he comes to the top of the minaret. "Parvati!"
There's no reply.
"Please," he whispers to no one. He races to the courtyard as fast as his legs will carry him. "Parvati!" he shouts.
"I haven't seen her," Hannah Abbott answers.
Seamus tries not to panic. He checks the clock tower, the owlery, the hospital wing. He comes to the edge of a hall where nothing remains: the roof is gone, the floor has collapsed to a sharp precipice. "There's nothing past it," Professor Flitwick tells him blankly. "It's all gone." He says it like he can't believe it.
"Professor, have you seen Parvati?"
"I haven't, I'm sorry."
"I need to find her. Are you sure there's no way to check over there?"
Flitwick shakes his head. "Too dangerous for someone without much experience. We'll check it tomorrow."
"Parvati could be dead by tomorrow!" Seamus explodes, his grip tightening around his wand.
"I'm sorry," he said gently. "Truly, I am. Have you check the Great Hall?"
"Not for an hour."
"She might be there now."
It takes him ten minutes to find himself in the Great Hall. "Have you seen Parvati?" he cries to Hermione. She shakes her head, ashen. He picks his way through the wreckage. Parvati can't be dead. She's not dead.
"Seamus!" Neville calls. He hurdles a bench to him.
"This way," Neville says. His voice is trembling. "Ernie found her in the courtyard by the clock tower."
"Where is she?"
"This way," Neville repeats. He points to where McGonagall organizes a makeshift infirmary. Seamus steps over corpses until he faces McGonagall. She directs him down the table until-
"Parvati," he whispers.
She lies on a crudely made stretcher, a sleeve of her shirt singed off and dirt and dust and blood covering her skin. White bandaging covers her eyes. Everything he wanted to say died in his throat. Tears stung his eyes and he sat down on the bench, cradling her head in his lap, her hand inside his. A pulse is there, faint, almost unnoticeable.
Kissing at the bottom of the stairs. Counting the constellations in May, hands threaded together under a starlit sky. His first "I love you." They kissed and told each other sweet nothings and tried to forget the world.
"Please Parvati," he whispered. He's sobbing now. "Please."
He stayed with her all day and night, until the Ministry came and Healers from St. Mungo's set up a proper hospital in the Great Hall.
"Is she going to be okay?" he demanded.
"She's very lucky," a witch said, doubtful. "A rebounding curse that should have killed her struck her in the eye."
"Parvati was always shit at spells." Seamus almost smiles, basking in the memories. But he's here, and he doesn't smile.
"I think she will make it," the witch says at last. "In what state, I can't say."
Seamus stays by her bed day and night. Padma follows suit. At certain points Dean comes with the Prophet: Death toll rises at Hogwarts, Pius Thicknesse Hearing scheduled for October, Kingsley Shacklebolt named temporary Minister of Magic. Seamus reads them without taking in the words.
On the fourth day Parvati finally stirs. She opens her eyes. They're a milky white color. "I can't see!" she cries, panicked. She touches her eyes gingerly. "I can't see!"
"Parvati," Seamus said softly. He sits down on the edge of the bed beside her. Her hands swing out to find him.
"Seamus, why can't I see?"
"I'm sorry," he says. And she begins to cry. He enfolds her in his arms and she cries harder still. "I'm sorry, Parvati," he whispers.
"Did we kill V-V-Voldermort?" she stammers at last, sniffling.
"We killed him," Oliver tells her.
"Am I blind, Oliver?" she sounds afraid.
"Yes," he whispers. His eyes well up with tears. "But it'll be okay. I-I'll take care of you, I promise." He cups her face in his hands and kisses her, because he's so relieved she's alive. And even though so much has changed, her lips are still warm and sweet, and he would be content to stay that way forever.