Title: Fracture Patterns
Era: Post Battle of Hogwarts
Characters: Seamus, Dean, Lavender, Hermione, Neville, Parvarti, Ron, Harry.
Summary: The aftermath of war as seen through the lives of the Gryffindor students of '91-98'.

Notes: I thought it time that the Gryffindor yearmates had a little love. All of them, not just Harry. (Though all the trio will be included) This will be 8 introspective pieces on the impact of the war and the final battle on our hardy band of Gryffindors. Mostly in a time stream progressively further and further post-battle. Overlap will apply. And yes, I may have taken some liberty with the characters killed in the Battle of Hogwarts.

Seamus is first up. Enjoy.

Chapter 1: These Fresh Scars

In the aftermath of the battle, Seamus barely recognises his surroundings. The Great Hall is only recognisable by the enchanted ceiling, now showing the dawn breaking through the clouds. Frankly, he'd rather keep looking up at the false sky than face the devastation below it. The rubble, he knew, extended throughout the castle, and parts of the grounds, including the decimated walkway which was brought down with his handiwork. As did the scorch marks of missed curses littering the walls and even the rubble. The stretchers were the worst.

Row upon row were laid out on the floor in macabre fashion. –His mind flashes to third year's impromptu sleep out. He was buzzing with adrenaline and pretended to sleep as Percy Weasley wandered past shushing whispering students. He and the boys from the dorm are discussing what's happened. Harry is pretty quiet, but Dean and Neville were sprouting some pretty wacky theories on Black's entry- Seamus shakes off the stray memory. The closest end of the hall holds the injured battlers, Madame Pomfrey rushing around, a few students and professors she'd enlisted helping her.

Seamus isn't sure how he's managed to escape being part of that line up, or even worse, the lines at the other end of the hall, where the silence is a heavy blanket.

He should be with his friends, his mother, celebrating. Instead he finds himself drawn to the silent lines

Colin Creevey is one of the first he recognises. The bright bubbly Gryffindor seems so small in death. -The blond boy running across the grounds with his camera, enthusiasm oozing from every inch of his body as he followed Harry- Dennis Creevey has returned, in a state of disbelief that his idolised older is gone. Michael Corner is another row over, blood matting his dark hair, Leanne is there too, skin bleached pale. Continuing, he sees Parvati, her hand clasped tight with her twin's as she holds vigil over Padma's fallen body. His yearmate doesn't even acknowledge him. A flash of red further along reveals Fred Weasley. Like Parvati, George has not left his twin's side. He sits with his head buried in his hands, Percy watching over his younger brother. Remus Lupin, his favourite of the various Defence teachers they'd had. His Auror wife was beside him. Someone had left their hands entwined. He knew that the two of them had just had a son, and the burning at the back of his throat intensifies.

Then he sees his best friend.

It's unfair. Dean had survived the rest of the year, dodged the snatchers, survived capture, only to die here at Hogwarts. Seamus hoped that the Death Eater responsible was one of those taken down.

He'd missed Dean this year. More than he'd realised he would. It had been weird with only Neville and himself in the dorm, well, until they had been driven to hiding in the Room of Requirement. Sure all five of the boys had gotten on quite well for the most part, the misunderstandings between Seamus and Harry during fifth year aside. But the missing three had left a void in the room.

He'd missed the debates over the finer points of Quidditch vs. Football, Dean's ability to create witty caricatures of any staff, student or ghost. Merlin, even that small injection of humour would have been appreciated this year.

Seamus can't move. Dean doesn't have any family here to stay here like some of the others.

It's here that Mary Finnigan finds her son. Her eyes quickly scan him, double checking for injuries before hugging him around the shoulders gently.

"His family wouldn't know," Seamus breaks the silence, gesturing helplessly. "He's been out of contact with them this last year..." he trails off, his mouth going dry. That horrible job has fallen to him. He owed it to his friend to break this to his family himself. Seamus can't let some Ministry flunky drop this on the Thomases.

His mother doesn't say anything straight away, but Seamus feels her arm tighten momentarily around his shoulders.

She moves to pull him away, "Seamus, you need to rest," she says quietly. Seamus doesn't move.

"Dean..." She swallows, choking on her words a little. She'd liked Dean. "He'll be safe here, his family can be told soon, but not now. We all need rest. And your poor father must be going spare without any news."

Seamus concedes, and lets himself get pulled along.

Arriving home, Seamus barely registered his dad's relief before the exhaustion overtook the adrenaline still thrumming through his body.

The rest of the week was a haze, with only a couple things that stood out amongst the blur of activity within the wizarding community. Unfortunately, neither of them were pleasant.

Telling Dean's family about the Battle of Hogwarts was a particularly painful experience, and he'd needed all his Gryffindor courage to continue. His mother had offered to come, but he declined. Dean's sisters were sobbing, clinging to each other and his mother had cried silently as she listened to Seamus' tale. He could never forget the lost look in her eyes. Dean's stepfather listened silently, staring at his hands blankly, and Seamus caught a glimpse of a small wooden snitch in those hands. Dean had carved that during their third year, and had managed to animate it even, though that spell had worn off within another year.

One of the other things to stand out was the news of the deaths that followed the battle. He'd (maybe naively) thought that there would be no more deaths. Everyone would recover from their injuries.

Lavender Brown was among those that died from their injuries in the days after the Battle of Hogwarts. He'd seen her topple over that banister, only have Greyback attack her. Had helped pull her to safety after Hermione blasted the monster. Apparently, it had been in vain, and there was another funeral to attend.

Seamus now knew what people meant when they talked about survivor's guilt. He didn't feel that he'd done anything special to survive, so how had he been spared?

And even as the wounds of the year closed over, that thought continued to haunt Seamus long after the scars faded.

Thoughts?