Once again, I have Red (TheNextFolchart) to thank for being such an awesome beta and fixing my awkward sentences!

"You're crazy," Harry said, shaking his head. "You're Dean's best friend."

"That's what I thought!" Seamus said. "But now he's spending all his time with Longbottom."

Ron snorted. "What, are you girls? Just because he won't pee with you -"

"Ron," Hermione said.

"He hates me." Seamus flopped face-first onto the couch.

Harry rolled his eyes.

"You're being overly dramatic," Hermione said. "Harry's right. You and Dean are best friends. He is just tutoring Neville for their big test in Arithmancy. And he'll be back soon, anyway, unless he wants to get in trouble for being out of the common room after hours."

"Cheer up, mate," Ron grinned, slapping Seamus' back. "You guys can pee together again when it's over."

"Piss off."

A suit-clad Dean pressed a tie into Seamus' hand and cracked a joke about bowties and old men.

"Bowties are cool!" Seamus held his clover-covered bowtie under Dean's nose to demonstrate. Dean shook his head and shoved it away.

Seamus licked his cone - chocolate, he noticed - and looped Dean's tie around his neck.

Harry flew past the dorms on his Firebolt, chasing a Snitch. Dean and Seamus hopped on their brooms and flew off in his wake, and a castle loomed over them.

- The doors were tall and wide, and they flew past a giant as the building shook with it's steps -

A ringing song echoed throughout the building, and they sat in the balcony with the Quidditch team.

Luna was onstage - clad in a shimmering white dress and radish earrings - and her voice reached every corner. Hundreds of voices joined -

And he recognized the song as 'Masquerade,' from Phantom of the Opera.

Dean nudged him, laughing, and pulled a white and black harlequin mask down over his face. He held out his hand and Seamus liked how their fingers looked - chocolate and vanilla, entwined.

They twirled, around and around as they floated higher and higher into the stars.

The song followed them.

"Masquerade! You can fool any friend who ever knew you!"

Dean winked. "What?" Seamus yelled over the din, but Dean was already twirling out of his arms and into Neville's, and Seamus was suddenly dancing with Peeves, who had a neon yellow suit hanging from his transparent form. "No," Seamus tried to say, but Peeves spun him away from Dean, and he hated this, he wanted to go back, go back, go back -

"Think of it! A secret engagement! Look, your future bright. Just think of it."

"But why is it secret? What have we to hide?"

- go back go back go back -

Mistletoe appeared, and Seamus was back in Dean's arms, and he was tipping Seamus' head back and leaning down -

And then Dumbledore was there, pulling the Sorting Hat down over Seamus' eyes, and the hat cackled in his ear and screamed, "GAY!"

And everyone was laughing and Dean was screaming and running from the room -

"Dean!"

"Seamus!" - and Dean was tied to a wooden pole, a fire at his feet, and Death Eaters were chanting in parseltongue, stomping around the fire -

- and Dean was screaming, and twisting, and jerking as the fire started to consume him.

Seamus ran and ran, but roots slithered from the ground as snakes and latched onto his ankles.

"Seamus! Seamus!"

"Dean!"

"Seamus!"

"Seamus!"

Seamus sat up with a gasp, his eyes wild and wide. Dean was on the edge of the bed, yawning, one hand on Seamus' shoulder. "Dean."

Dean rubbed his eyes, stifling a yawn. "Yeah, buddy. I'm here. You awake now?"

"Yeah." But Seamus closed his eyes and shoving his face into the crook of Dean's shoulder while hugging his waist. Dean tensed for only a moment before he hugged Seamus back.

Seamus took deep breaths until his heart stopped thumping in his ears. Dean rolled his neck, sighing with the series of pop!'s. "Alright?"

Seamus nodded, pulling away and rubbing his face.

"You want me to grab the chessboard?" Dean asked, standing up. "We can go play by the fire."

"Yeah. Okay."

Dean yawned again, stretching like a cat, all lean muscles and chocolate skin.

"Dean?"

"Mm?"

"Thanks."

Dean smiled tiredly. "What are friends for?"

For "Opera - To watch an opera in your dream represents your quest for the grander things in life. The dream may also be trying to tell you that you are being overly dramatic in some waking situation" in the Dream Challenge; Hamlet in the Inspiration-by-Shakespeare Challenge; Dad in the Oh the Thinks You Can Think Competition; "Cwtsh (Welsh) - a hug or cuddle; a safe place; the space or the cupboard under the stairs" in the Interesting Words Challenge; Lumiere and 'chessboard' in the Disney Characters Competition; "Bowties are cool!" in the Doctor Who Quotes Challenge.