They knew the world was going to go mad. It was inevitable. Dumbledore was dead, and the man who had killed him was gone. Everything had changed. In the blink of an eye, the world had turned upside down. While they slept, the pieces had begun to move across the board.
Seamus lay in his bed listening to the sounds of the other boys as they fought to sleep, trying to forget. Finally he could stand it no more, and he threw off his covers and quietly made his way down the stairs to the common room. He sat down in an armchair by the fire and pulled his legs p to his chest, resting his chin on his knees. He sat and stared at the dying embers in the fireplace and let his thoughts overwhelm him.
A soft sound made him turn. Dean stood at the bottom of the stairs, Neville just behind him. "Hey," Seamus called softly. "You guys couldn't sleep either?" The two boys shook their heads and came over to join him by the fire. "I can't believe it..." Dean whispered, and a shadow crossed his face. Neville sighed and closed his eyes for a moment. "So now what?" he asked quietly. Seamus and Dean looked at him, then at each other. They knew what he meant. But they didn't have an answer.
They sat in silence, each lost in his thoughts. Finally Dean broke the silence. "Harry's going to leave." Seamus looked up at him and frowned. "What do you mean?" he asked quietly. "What do you mean he's going to leave?" Neville smiled grimly. "He has to." he said. Dean and Seamus looked at him with mild surprise and confusion; there was a bitterness to Neville's voice, and a kind of sadness. His was the voice of one who can't hold back his sorrow. "I wish I could go with him," Neville continued. "I know that if he leaves, Ron and Hermione will go with him. Ginny'll want to come, too," Dean tensed and he looked away for a moment. Neville kept speaking without looking at Seamus or Dean. "You can tell, Harry's saying goodbye. He'll stay for the funeral, but he already knows he's going to leave."
Seamus stared out the window. Harry was already gone, in a sense. Ron and Hermione were with him; they were apart from the rest of the House. They were above everyone else, whether they knew it or not. Seamus felt his eyes burning and closed them tightly. He felt Dean's hand on his shoulder and opened his eyes again. "I just want to go home," He whispered.
Neville sat straighter. "We'll win," he said in a low voice. The sadness was replaced with a kind of pride as he said, "My parents fought them last time. I'll fight them now. And we'll win again." Dean nodded; his face was set. "They made a mistake, killing Dumbledore," he said. "I'll do anything I can to get revenge." Neville and Seamus looked confused, so he elaborated, "I'm a wizard now because I had a chance to come here, to Hogwarts. Dumbledore was, and still is, Hogwarts as far as I'm concerned. They took something from me that was special and which can't be replaced."
Seamus grinned. "I'm with you," he told the other boys. "I'll fight, no matter what. And we will win, for Dumbledore." They all fell silent again, staring at the last of the embers. Seamus settled back in his chair, thinking. We're together on this, he thought. He was strangely calm. I'm with my friends here. We're Gyrffindors. We all would die to protect each other, and I won't let any of my friends die. Harry and Ron and Hermione have to do whatever they have to do, but the rest of us are all behind them, no matter what. Seamus could see the faint greenish tinge in the sky that announced the coming of dawn. A new day was coming, and with it came confusion, grief, and loss. But that wouldn't stop them. They were all Gryffindor, through and through, from the tiniest first year to those who had already left the school. They would bare this challenge together, and together, they would defeat it.