Disclaimer: If the Potterverse was mine, things would have gone very differently. That said, many thanks to JK Rowling for letting us play in the world she created. It's one hell of a sandbox.


"BOOM!"

Smoke filled the air as tiny bits of ash wafted down onto the heads of all the first year Gryffindors.

"Ventus," Professor Flitwick sighed. "A good effort Mr. Finnigan, but let's try not to have a repeat performance, shall we?"

Seamus flushed deeply as Dean scooted a bit farther away from his very embarrassed partner. Flitwick finished clearing the area, gave the two wizards another piece of paper to practice their Fire-Making Charm on, and tottered away.

"Sorry, mate," Seamus muttered. "I reckon it just got away from me."

"Eh, it happens to the best of us," Dean replied with a wide smile that made Seamus feel oddly fuzzy inside. "Except maybe Hermione. Have another go, but this time try moving your wrist instead of your whole arm. The book says that if you…"


"pop…Pop...POP…CRACK!"

Seamus had known this Confounding Concoction would be a failure from the moment he added an extra lacewing fly (in his defense, it was nearly microscopic). Extra lace wing fly probably didn't react well with the magic of the Confundus Charm in the last step, he mused.

"FINNIGAN! You blithering fool!" Snape screamed as Seamus's now cracked cauldron fell to the floor in pieces, the remnants of the failed potion now congealed to the shards of metal, his and Dean's workspace, the floor, possibly the ceiling…

Snape vanished away what he could and scourgified the rest. "Five points from Gryffindor for sheer idiocy. There's a reason the instructions call for five lace wing flies rather than six," the greasy man sneered.

Seamus hung his head. He'd understood the potion and why the lace wing flies were necessary. He just thought that if he added a bit more, he could increase the longevity of the results. Sigh.

"I know what you were after, mate, and it was a good thought," Dean reassured him. "You'll have better luck next time, just keep trying." Seamus beamed at his friend's encouragement, which gave him a strange feeling in the pit of his stomach.


"BANG!"

Seamus's mouse had disappeared in a blinding flash of light. He grinned. Despite the terrible noise, he was sure he had successfully Vanished his mouse except for a notable quantity of hair left on the tabletop. It just left tufts of fur everywhere on its way out of this dimension, nothing too worrisome.

"I would hold off on congratulating yourself, Mr. Finnigan," Professor McGonagall said briskly as she flicked her eyes upward. "Vanishing shouldn't produce any light."

Before he could follow her gaze, what looked like a tiny claw dropped onto the table, and several girls screamed and fled from the room, followed almost all of his classmates. He looked up to see his mouse's skeleton hanging from the wooden rafter overhead.

It turned out he could vanish bodily tissues just fine. Bones were much harder.

McGonagall shook her head and headed into the hallway to wrangle her students as Seamus fell into his seat and slumped down.

Dean leaned over and clapped a hand on his shoulder. "Even McGonagall says the denser substances like bone and rock are way harder to Vanish. You've already made more progress than half the class. Nothing to be ashamed of." Buoyed, Seamus got it on the next try. He was also cognizant of just where Dean had clasped his shoulder for the rest of the day. It wasn't altogether an unpleasant feeling.