AN: This chapter is basically a Seamus Finnegan version of Forged By Fire, but it will start to divert away from the exact story next chapter. It may get a little more similar towards the end, but that's a long way away, so on with the story.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

"Sit down, you worthless boy!" Mommy snapped and he obliged, but it was so hard to sit still in the cart like she wanted. Seamus was fidgety and hyperactive, leading him to constantly want to move but Mommy didn't like that. She said that 'it made the already unbearable job of taking care of him harder.' Seamus had only begun to understand what that meant, and he didn't like it.

He didn't want to be a burden to Mommy or his daddy, but neither of them cared about that. He just was.

So he tried his very best to be good. He stayed in his room when he was told; he didn't touch Mommy's pills or Daddy's weird bottles; he sat as still as he could and obeyed his mommy and daddy.

But he was three, and every three year old got into trouble at one time or another.

He remembered when he touched Mommy's weird metal thingy, uncapping it and watching in amazement as a little flame dancer waved at him inside. Seamus was so fascinated by the little magic he held in his hands (he wouldn't discover true magic until years later, but that's another story) that he didn't notice Mommy coming up behind him, eyes flashing dangerously.

"What the hell are you doing?" She screeched like a banshee, yanking the metal thing out of a startled Seamus's hands. Then, she grabbed one of his pale hands and held the little flame dancer under Shay's palm.

It hurt so, so much! It felt almost as bad as that time Mommy pressed his hand onto the stove because he misbehaved. But this was as close second.

"MOMMY!" He screamed so loud he knew that Ms. Martin, their neighbor, must have heard them. Maybe she could come save him from the fire warrior with his white hot sword, but Ms. Martin didn't run to the door. No one did, not even Adam from across the hall, who like to play war with Seamus and was teaching him how to play chess. He was all alone with this horrible pain.

And then it was gone and Mommy was hugging him. The pain was going away, replaced by Mommy's warm hugs and kisses and I love yous. She never hugged him.

"R-Riley!" Daddy suddenly slurred as he staggered in. "W-Where are you?"

"Momma?" Seamus whispered as his mother suddenly went rigid.

"Shay- Shay, I need you go into the closet and hide. Don't come out until Daddy's gone," Riley O'Connor Finnigan commanded, practically tossing her only son into a closet.

"Mommy?" Seamus whimpered, curling into a ball.

He cried silently as a shadow monster reached for him, threatening to consume him, and he tried to hide in the coats to no avail. The dark swallowed him and more and more scary shadows were reaching for him. The yelling wasn't helping either.

"You bastard! I hate you and that bitch of a child you sired!" Daddy screamed and Seamus heard a sharp slap echo through the apartment.

"I-I'm sorry!" Mommy stammered. "I'll do better, I promise, Sean!"

"Better isn't good enough!" Daddy roared and Seamus flinched as he heard Mommy cry out and a thump.

"Now, go get me some smokes before I do something I regret!" Daddy yelled and the front door slammed.

He covered his ears and closed his eyes against the darkness.

"Please, please, please," he begged, but he knew it was in vain for Daddy's heavy footsteps were stomping towards Seamus's hiding space.

"You think you can hide from me, boy?" The man hissed. "Well, think again!" The closet door was swung open to reveal Sean Finnegan, and Seamus would have gladly welcomed the shadow monsters over Daddy's anger.

"Get out of there!" Daddy snapped and he was yanking him from his safe place and throwing him into a wall, causing pain to ignite in the little boy's back.

"Daddy!" Shay cried, desperately. "Please. I'm sorry!" He wasn't sure what he was apologizing for, but he knew that sorry was the best thing to say.

"Sorry doesn't cut it, you freak!" Daddy screamed, kicking Seamus in the stomach.

"Daddy! No more!" Seamus screamed.

"Shut up!" Daddy shouted. He continued to kick and yell and hit until Seamus couldn't take it anymore.

Seamus didn't know what happened, but one minute Daddy was kicking him and the next the front door was slamming. All Shay could think about was how it was possible to see pretty colors with his eyes closed.

When Seamus came too, he started to cry. He didn't know where he was and it was way too white. The walls were white; the floor was white; the clothes the people were wearing were white. The air smelled mediciney, like that weird stuff Mommy made him swallow last month because he kept telling her he was hungry. He didn't like that; it made him all tired and he fell asleep for almost a day before he woke up.

"It makes me wanna strangle 'em!" A voice growled. Did the voice mean him? Daddy said that all the time before he wrapped his arms around Mommy's neck. Would these people do that to him?

"I know, but you have to stay quiet. You'll scare him," another voice whispered. "You never really do get used to the bruises and all the signs of neglect."

"What do you mean bruises?" The first voice questioned.

"He's covered in them from his stomach and chest to all over his legs. He looks like he hasn't eaten in days and I'm not sure if they've ever even given the poor kid a bath. So pale, he probably hasn't even been out of the house in months, and if so, it wasn't for very long."

"What about the fire?"

"We really don't know what started it, or if the parents were even home. All we know is that his neighbor, teenage kid named Adam Clark, smelled smoke and ran into the apartment to find it up in flames. The kid was just lying in the entry hall, unconscious, parents no where in sight," the female voice murmured in horror.

"Where is he?" A voice yelled and Seamus felt like bawling. Mommy was mad; would she hurt him? Would he be punished?

"The mother," the female voice spat angrily. "You have more patience with parents. You talk to the mom, and I'll stay with him."

"Okay, but don't mention his mother. We don't want to upset him," the man instructed and footsteps walked away, fading.

"Hey, sweetie," he felt the mattress being lowered as the woman sat on it. "I'm Ms. Thomas, but you can call me Amy. What's your name?"

Seamus didn't respond.

"I bet it's a really cool name."

Silence.

"Tell you what: we'll play a game. You give me hints on your name and I gotta guess it."

Seamus cracked open one eye. He liked games.

"O...kay," he stammered, hesitantly.

Amy clapped her hands quietly. Seamus thought she was real pretty with dark skin and brown hair pulled back in a bun. She wore a white uniform and her eyes were almost black and sparkling.

"Can you give me the first letter?" She asked, her voice like a bell

"S."

"Hmm," Amy tapped her chin in thought. "And you're Irish, judging by the accent?"

Shay didn't really know what an accent was, but he was Irish, so he nodded.

"Sean?" Amy guessed.

Seamus shook his head hurriedly. "That's Daddy's name."

"Oh... is it... Seamus?" She asked and Shay nodded with a toothy grin. She knew his name! Mommy forgot his name a lot, but Amy knew it!

"Shay," Seamus whispered.

For at moment, Amy appeared confused but then her eyes lit up with realization. "You go by Shay?"

Seamus nodded.

"So your Daddy's name is Sean? Do you like living with your Daddy?"

Shay shook his head. "Nu-uh. He don't like me. He hit me and yells at me. He don't like Momma either."

Amy nodded solemnly and for a moment, she seems at a lost for words. Then she suddenly grinned. "You know, I have a son your age."

"You do?" Shay's eyes lit up with curiosity. "What's his name?"

"His name's Dean."

Little did either of them know, Amy Thomas's son would grow up to be Seamus's hero and best friend.

Seamus didn't have the perfect life from then on, but it was much better than before the fire.

Riley was not charged due to lack of evidence on abuse and neglect from her, but Sean was given time in a drug abuse and alcoholism center, along with eight years for child abuse, physical assault (on Riley) and neglect. The prison time was longer than most child abuse sentences because there are suspicions that Sean started the fire but no one could prove this.

Seamus grew up with a neglectful mother, who cared more about drugs and sex than him, but then again, she never physically hurt him and that was enough for Shay.

Then, Seamus's life really started looking up on his eleventh birthday when an owl brought him a letter sealed with a Hogwarts seal.

I know Shay has an accent, but I really don't know how to write an Irish accent, so just imagine it. Thanks for reading! Please review.