Intermission in the Snow
Going to Hogsmeade always was an event Seamus looked forward to. And even though Dolores Umbridge had quite a regime going on in Hogwarts, she was not able to cancel this part of the students' freedom. Not only they were fond of getting out of the school from time to time, also the teachers wanted to have their drink at the Three Broomsticks. So it was obvious that Umbridge was not even supported by Filch when she wanted to get rid of the visits in Hogsmeade.
The snow was quietly falling down this Saturday morning when Seamus got up. He rolled over once more, trying to ignore the pale rays of sunlight which were falling through the curtains. Just once more he wanted to return to his dream which was so wonderful that Seamus wished it had never ended. But an annoying ticking sound forced him to stay awake. Seamus grunted and hid his head underneat his pillow. But once noticed he could not ignore the ticking which apparently was coming from his alarm clock.
Just at the moment Seamus finally decided to get up because he could not sleep anyway the curtains of his four-poster bed were opened up with such an attitude that Seamus yanked his arms up in order to protect his face against the blinding sunlight.
„Get up, sleepyhead! Hogsmeade's waiting!" Dean's voice rang in Seamus' ears and he needed some time to recognize the silhouette in front of him as his best friend. Dean already wore his cloak and as Seamus looked around in the dormitory he realized that everyone else already had left.
„What time is it?", Seamus yawned and stretched before he pushed his blankets aside.
„Half past nine.", Dean grinned and crossed his arms leaning against Seamus' bed while he was waiting for his friend to get up and dressed, „I'd hurry up if I were you or otherwise breakfast is over when you're finally in the Great Hall."
Seamus only glared at Dean in a huff and took off his pyjama to get dressed properly. While he was changing Seamus turned his back towards Dean because he did not want him to see how pink he went. Knowing that Dean stared at his naked body was hard. Of course in their first years spent at Hogwarts Seamus had no problem with getting dressed in Dean's presence or even sharing one blanket with him. But already during their third year Seamus noticed that he was somehow different. He got attached to Dean more and more and it took almost about a year until he admitted to himself that he obviously had fallen in love with his best friend. And of course he had not had the heart to tell Dean about it. He just went on, trying to act as if everything was okay.
„Do we have to go to this meeting in the Hog's Head?" Seamus was not very fond of seeing Harry Potter today. Especially not in Hogsmeade and during his freetime. Enduring him in all the lessons definitively was enough. But Dean seemed to disagree with Seamus in this point.
„What? You think, Umbridge's lessons are better than truly learning to defend yourself in case you have to?", Dean raised an eyebrow, obviously not understanding that Seamus still thought Harry was lying. But Seamus simply shook his head and stayed quiet. He did not want to talk about Harry or anything that had to do with him. Not before breakfast.
As they sat down at the Gryffindor table next to Neville and Lavender, Seamus almost had forgotten about Harry Potter or the meeting in the Hog's Head. He reached out for some bacon, sausages and scones and piled them onto his plate. Dean sat down next to him, helping himself out with some toast and marmalade.
„Morning, guys.", said Neville and looked at them over his Daily Prophet. Seamus ignored the headlines concerning Dumbledore again and pretended being as happy as always.
„Morning, Neville.", he replied, „Gotta join us going to Hogsmeade later?" Maybe he could convince Neville and Dean to stay in the Three Broomsticks instead of going to the Hog's Head.
But right before Neville could answer Seamus' question, Dean interferred: „Speaking of it.. Shae..", he looked at his best friend, a touch of excuse in his face, „..I promised Ginny Weasley to go to Hogsmeade with her. Completely forgot to tell you, I suppose.."
Seamus' jaw fell down and he stared at Dean as if he had completely betrayed him.
„Are you serious?!", Seamus shouted, maybe a bit too loud because some people turned their heads in his direction. He instantly lowered his voice and looked incredulously at Dean, „You're going to Hogsmeade with.. with Ginny Weasley?"
„Well.. yeah.", Dean churned his toast and Seamus did not quite notice if he sounded sorry or happy. And Seamus immediately thought of something that would be horrifying.
„You mean..", Seamus anxiously looked at his best friend and completely forgot about his breakfast, „Like a date or something?" The way of how pink Dean turned already told Seamus that he did not want to hear his answer.
„I.. I don't know to be honest.", Dean finally muttered an looked down at the toast on his plate. Out of the corner of his eyes Seamus could see that Neville also went red and he remembered that he had been the one who danced with Ginny during the Jule Ball. Maybe not only Seamus disliked Dean going out with Ron's sister.
„What d'ya mean with that?", Seamus asked and finally took a bite from one of his sausages. They had turned half-cold.
„She only asked me if we wanted to go to Hog's Head together, okay?" Even Dean's ears were pink. And Seamus, who recognized how fond Dean was of going on a date with Ginny, suddenly felt how his appetite disappeared. He never before had been so extremely jealous!
„Fine.", Seamus said, sulkily looking at Dean, „Then go to Hogsmeade with her. We'll be all fine, won't we, Neville?" He looked at him across the table and Neville seemed to be confused for a moment, looking from Seamus to Dean and back. But then he nodded and agreed: „A-Alright, Seamus!"
Dean seemed relieved and started eating his toast. Seamus could not even look at him and when Dean silently said ‚Thanks, guys.' he only grunted.
At eleven o'clock Seamus and Neville went through the Hogwarts portal, draped in warm cloaks, long scarves and woolen gloves. Dean had already been leaving for Hogsmeade with Ginny half an hour ago when she picked him up at the Gryffindor's table. And neither Neville nor Seamus wanted to talk about them when they walked through the falling snow. Instead of that they were arguing about an essay they had to write for Prof. McGonnagall, concerning the new insights of transfiguration during to the industrialisation in 1780. But just when Neville told Seamus that Madam Pince had not allowed him to enter the forbidden section of the library, they heared a jarring voice behind them and turned around.
It was Draco Malfoy.
„Look who we have here.", he said with an evil grin on his face, „Burned Face and Chickenshit Longbottom." Seamus instantly wanted to grab his wand but Neville held him back. „He's not worth it.", Neville muttered.
Malfoy came nearer guarded by Crabbe and Goyle as always. He raised an eyebrow. „Ohh... Longbottom's protecting you, Finnigan. How sweet. Say, are we disturbing you during your pityful date?" He made a pause to let Crabbe and Goyle laugh about his joke. But then his eyes narrowed and he added hissing: „Or are you planning something... prohibited?"
„Like hell we would.", said Seamus clenching his fists. Malfoy looked at him as if he was considering to believe him or not. But then he snickered and went on saying: „Well... seems as if Gryffindor students are not all as brave as they should be…." And off he went.
Seamus stared at him wildly while he was disappearing in the snow until Neville said: „Don't be angry, Seamus. We'll go join the meeting in Hog's Head and it'll be all-"
„I'm not going." Seamus broke away from Neville, still focusing the point where Malfoy had disappeared.
„You... you're not?", Neville seemed confused, „Is it... because of Dean and Ginny?"
„No!" Seamus went on, leaving Neville behind. Like hell he would tell him that he was right with his assumption!
„You... you don't have to be afraid of telling me that you want to go out with Ginny!", Neville shouted while trying to follow Seamus' fast steps, „Either way I know that she would never favour me, Seamus, I'm just-"
„It's not about Ginny!", Seamus turned around and looked at Neville with sharp eyes. Neville flinched and Seamus suddenly felt guilty for yelling at him. „I'm sorry.", he muttered and went on, „But, you know... Dean's only talking about her currently and I don't want to…."
„...lose your best friend. I know.", Neville smiled at Seamus and followed him. They did not talk a word during the remaining way to Hogsmeade.
After drinking a beer in the Three Broomsticks Neville said goodbye to Seamus who still refused to join the others in the Hog's Head. Instead of that he strolled around in Hogsmeade and visited some of the shops. But quite soon he started to get bored. While Seamus was wandering through the humongous shelves filled with sweets in the Honeyduke he contemplated to go back to Hogwarts. But at the same moment his head forced him to stay. Maybe he was able to intercept Dean on his way back to the castle.
Turning up his collar Seamus stepped out of the Honeyduke and stared at the grey sky above him which slowly turned darker and darker. How long did the others stay at the Hog's Head?! Annoyed he kicked some of the snow on the street and just went on, not even knowing where to go. Showing off in the Three Broomsticks again would not be such a good idea. The last time he took a peek inside through on of the windows Malfoy had been sitting in one corner of the room and running into him again was not a thing Seamus was looking forward to. Instead of that his feet carried him trough a piece of woodlands away from Hogsmeade.
Seamus' steps slowed down the further he went on the narrow, snowy path between the fir trees whose tips were striving towards heaven. He thought about Dean and Ginny and his stomach turned upside down. Maybe he had become irrelevant for Dean now that he had a girlfriend to talk to.
Slowly Seamus stepped out of the woods and entered a bright clearing from where Hogsmeade could not be seen anymore. Frustrated he leaned against a fence and looked up to the Shrieking Shack which lay silently in the even snow. Seamus was freezing but he did not want to go back and warm up. He wanted to be alone feeling pity for himself.
It got darker and darker. Soon the snow was nearly the only thing left shining white in the twilight. But Seamus did not care. He muttered a quiet „Lumos!" and a small ball of light was floating next to him in the air.
Seamus must already have stood there for hours when suddenly a crunching sound of footsteps in the snow behind him forced him to turn around. He went even more pale than he already was when he realized who was stepping towards him, gasping and rushed. Obviously he had been running.
„Dean?", Seamus let go of his wand which he had held in his hand all the time and it fell into the snow.
„Seamus!", Dean ran the last few metres and enfolded Seamus tightly in his arms. Automatically Seamus returned his gesture and pressed his face against Dean's chest. He was warm and cozy and Seamus realized how much he had been freezing.
For several minutes they both simply stood in the snow, hugging each other while Dean still was gasping very fast. Then finally Dean was the first to speak.
„Merlin's Beard! Seamus! Where have you been?!", he looked at him both worried and relieved, „I've searched for you everywhere in Hogsmeade! Neville told me that he left you in the Three Broomsticks, but you weren't there and... why the heck are you out here at the Shrieking Shack?!"
Seamus stood silent for a while looking down at the snow and then mumbled: „I... wanted to be alone."
„What?! Why?!" Dean looked confused at Seamus and let go of him. He seemed completely struck by Seamus' words. Then after a few moments while Dean had stared at his best friend's face he asked: „Are you angry at me?"
Seamus needed to clear his throat before he could speak. Whatever he said now... Dean would probably know about his secret when they would leave for Hogwarts. But he had to say at least something.
„No... well... yeah... maybe. Somehow.", Seamus still did not look at Dean while he was talking but instead examining a very dirty spot of snow on the ground.
„What do you mean...?", Dean still looked confused at Seamus and because of Seamus not answering he guessed, „You're not… jealous, are you?"
Seamus immediately went red. How could he know? How the hell could he know?!
„I... I'm not!" Now he was looking directly in Dean's face and he was quite sure that Dean did not believe him. Because he grinned straight away.
„You are." Confident of victory he raised an eyebrow and took a step nearer towards Seamus.
„No, I'm not!", Seamus recoiled, hitting against the fence in his back.
„Of course you are." Dean smiled while saying these words and pushed his hands deep into the pockets of his jacket. „You're jealous because I went to Hogsmeade together with Ginny." Seamus nearly felt how he went more and more pink while Dean was talking.
„You did, didn't you?", he said, accusingly looking at Dean. Dean sighed, then he answered.
„Yeah, I did. But to be honest... Ginny only wanted to talk privately with me to tell me... that she has a crush on Harry."
Seamus' eyes widened after these words. Dean was joking! Ginny could not... or could she?
„So... you're not dating her anymore?"
Dean shrugged. „Think I never did." The ease in Dean's voice sounded more than fishy to Seamus and he raised an eyebrow.
„You don't seem very... disappointed." He spoke the last word very careful, in case Dean was just pretending. But instead of answering Dean looked up into the starry night and did not say a word at all. Nervously Seamus looked up at the stars, too. His heart was beating so fast that Dean surely could hear it. But Dean stayed quite for some minutes before he began to speak again.
„You know, Shae... I realized that whatever I felt... well, feel for Ginny... can't be love. Maybe... maybe I just have a crush on her, you know? Like, she's cool and beautiful, but….", Dean's voice faltered and Seamus turned towards him. They faced and Seamus believed that Dean had turned a bit pink, too, but he was not sure at all. „Shae…."
Dean's words let Seamus shiver and he felt that he could not speak anymore so he simply nodded.
„Shae... I think... I think you're more important to me than I thought.", he turned his face away, scratching the back of his head, „I... I think, I... may love you."
Seamus' heart stopped for a few seconds. His brain turned to something comparable to the mushy snow on the ground and his heartbeat filled his ears. And then he just reacted in the only way that came into his disarranged mind.
„You... you stupid troll!" He catched Dean's cheek with his hand and turned his face so that they looked into each others eyes. And then he simply leaned forward until their lips touched.
