A/N: Written for gabbie93, who wanted a Seamus/Dean story.

"You're not as miserable as I expected you to be," Seamus said to Dean conversationally. Dean shrugged and skimmed another stone along the surface of the lake. Three jumps.

"I'm not as miserable as I expected to be," Dean replied, after a time.

"If I were you, I'd be fuming," Seamus said. Then he added unhelpfully, "Dumped by Ginny, kicked off the Quidditch team-"

"Alright, alright," Dean said. "You don't need to list it all. Just because I'm not miserable doesn't mean I like being reminded of it."

Seamus grinned shamelessly back at him. "Sorry," he said, not sounding very sorry at all.

Dean couldn't help smiling back. Seamus's grin was always infectious. "I guess it didn't mean all that much to me," he tells his friend. "Ginny and I had been on the rocks it was ages. I knew it was over as soon as the honey-moon period ended."

"Why'd you stick with it, then?" Seamus asked.

Dean shrugged again. "I guess I just hoped that it would work out," he said. "I realised that I didn't feel how I should about her, but I just hoped that that it'd happen eventually if I just left it long enough."

"And the Quidditch team?" Seamus asked.

Dean grinned at his friend. "I've always preferred soccer anyway," he said.

"You're insane," Seamus informed him.

It was easy to forget that Dean had ever gone out with Ginny… sometimes. Dean seemed to suffer no ill-effects from their train-crash of a relationship. Even when she and Harry got together, Dean didn't seem to really mind.

But sometimes Seamus would remember, and the knowledge would hit him like a bludger in the stomach. Dean had had a girlfriend. Dean had liked Ginny. Dean was straight.

"Did you sleep with her?" Seamus asked one day, from out of nowhere.

Dean choked on his butterbeer, and Seamus had to slap him on the back. "Where did that come from?" Dean asked, with watering eyes.

Seamus shrugged. "I dunno," he said. "I was just wondering."

They were in the Hogshead, enjoying the peace and quiet, in contrast to the noisy bustle of the Three Broomsticks (although Seamus had to admit that he wasn't quite used to the lack of cleanliness yet). Dean took another swig of his butterbeer before he answered. "Not exactly," he said.

"Not exactly?" Seamus said, raising one eyebrow. He only had one – he'd yet to regrow the other one from the last potions practical.

"Well," Dean said, blushing, "we tried, but…"

He trailed off, and Seamus prompted him. "But?" he asked.

"You'll laugh," Dean said.

"I won't!

"You'll make fun of me."

"I won't!"

"You will."

"I promise I won't."

"Fine," Dean relented. "We tried, but I, er, I couldn't… get it up."

Seamus laughed loudly, causing a witch a few tables away to look over at them. Dean glared at Seamus. "I can see you're a man of principles," he said sarcastically.

Seamus put a lot of effort into wiping the grin off his face. "Sorry," he said, looking slightly ashamed. "But that must have been awkward."

"Very," Dean said.

"Why couldn't you?" Seamus asked curiously. "Ginny isn't exactly ugly."

Dean shrugged. "I told you, I wasn't really attracted to her. I just… wanted to be."

"That's a great reason for starting a relationship," Seamus said, his tone matching Dean's previous sarcasm.

"At least I've had a relationship," Dean said pointedly.

Seamus glared playfully back at him. "Do you see any fit, gay guys around here?" he demanded. "Point me to them and I'll be more than happy to ask him out."

Dean grinned. "Aren't we a pair?" he said. "You can't get 'em, I can't keep 'em."

"You don't even like them," Seamus added. "Sure you don't swing my way?"

"I've had a girlfriend, haven't I?" Dean pointed out.

"That doesn't mean you're straight, though, does it?" said Seamus.

"What's it like?" Dean asked Seamus one day, as they were sitting by the lake. They were supposed to be revising. Instead, they were skimming stones.

"What's what like?" Seamus asked.

"Being… you know…"

"A poof?"

"Yeah."

Seamus shrugged. "Same as being straight, I guess," he said. "Just… harder to find people to date, and you have to tell people what you are. And hope they don't hate you for it."

"Doesn't sound like much fun," Dean said.

"It's alright," Seamus said. "It'd probably be better if I knew other gay people."

"How'd you know you were gay?"

"Gee, so many questions. I dunno. I just… knew, I guess. I like blokes, so I'm gay. The same way that you know that you're straight."

Dean doesn't reply to that.

The term ends before Dean can bring himself to broach the subject again. Then the war happens, and Dean's on the run.

He spends the whole time thinking of Seamus.

When they're reunited at the Battle of Hogwarts, Dean thinks it might just be the best day of his life.

"Ready to give those Death Eaters what's coming to them?" Seamus asked as they left the Room of Requirement.

"Yeah," Dean said, in a distracted way. "Seamus, can I have a word?"

Confused, Seamus agreed. "What's up, Dean?" he asked, as his friend pulled him into an empty classroom.

Dean could feel his heart beating wildly in his chest. He couldn't chicken out of this. Quickly, he leaned forwards and kissed Seamus chastely on the lips. "Just in case," he said, as he pulled back. "Just in case we don't make it."

Seamus looked stunned for a moment, before leaning forwards. "And this," he whispered as their lips drew closer and closer together, "is just in case we do."