They Don't Really Care About Us

She had been his first love and his last and moving on from her death, even though it had been over six years ago, was something that he couldn't do for reasons unknown to him.

He remembered what had happened as clear as day when he had heard the news about Lavender's pending demise. She had never fully recovered from her attack from Frenrir Greyback and had spent months fighting for her life in St Mungo's, until finally when Seamus had gone in to visit her on Christmas Day of 1998, they informed him of her death just hours earlier. Seamus hadn't known what to think or feel at the time, he hadn't felt sad, he hadn't felt happy or angry; he was just numb. If he remembered correctly he had thanked the healer and walked out of the hospital and proceeded to wander around London until he had processed what had happened. He hadn't been the same since that night.

Seamus never enjoyed the huge New Years' get togethers that Harry threw. He was the odd one out when it came to midnight and everyone started kissing each other, he was the odd one out when it came to dancing, he was the odd one out in every situation possible. He just couldn't find it in his heart to find that special someone that would make him fit in, not after what had happened to Lavender. The only reason that he went was because he felt that he owed it to Harry and Ginny after the amount of help that they had been to him after Lavender had died.

"Seamus, mate you came!"

Seamus turned around to see Dean and Parvati walking towards him across the field that stretched out around the Potters' house.

"Yeah," Seamus said, hugging Dean and kissing Parvati on the cheek as they reached him, "I haven't missed one yet, why would I start now? Besides, if anyone wasn't going to come I would've put my money on you two; where've you left Daniel for the night?"

"Padma's place," Parvati said, "She offered to babysit instead of coming this year. She's looking after Neville and Luna's daughters as well, what are their names again?"

"Alice and Abigail I think," Dean said trying to remember what Neville had told him when they had last spoken which had been when Abigail was born.

"That's it," Parvati smiled, "Shall we go inside?"

"After you," Dean said stepping aside and allowing Parvati to pass him first.

As soon as she and Dean had passed him and were ascending up the stairs into the house, the smile that Dean had forced, slipped off of his face immediately. Seeing his old friends, while it was fun to catch up and see them again after so long, was just a reminder of how little he had accomplished since Lavender's death. Dean, Parvati, Harry, Ginny, Neville, Luna, Ron and Hermione were all married with at least one child. He was still single, with a job at the ministry that barely paid his rent; even if he was looking for someone, who would want to be in a relationship with him? He was a train wreck.

"Come on Seamus, everyone's waiting for you," Dean called out the door. Seamus took one last fleeting look at the front gates and sighed in resignation. There was just no way that he was going to be able to sneak away now that Dean and Parvati had seen him and so it was with much unwillingness, Seamus moved slowly towards the stairs that lead into the house, mentally preparing himself for a night of boredom, followed by celibacy.


Seamus was unaware of how many drinks everyone else had consumed, but watching them dance together was becoming extremely entertaining. He, himself hadn't drunk a single drop of firewhiskey, unless someone had spiked the fruit punch, which, Seamus reminded himself, they probably had.

"You are not dreenking eizer?"

Seamus looked up from his glass of water to see a petite blonde girl who looked about fifteen, looking up at him. He looked down at her quizzically before returning to watching people dance.

"No," he said, "I like getting home in one piece."

"But you are Ireesh are you not?" the girl asked and Seamus pinned her accent as French.

"Yeah, what of it?" Seamus asked.

"Oh, nussing, I just thought zat ze Ireesh liked to 'partie dur' or 'party hard' as ze Eenglish say."

Seamus laughed, "Yes, we do like to have a good time, but every once in a while you come across the responsible Irishman at a party, which is me."

The girl smiled angelically at him and held out her hand, "My name eez Gabrielle."

Seamus took it, "Seamus, nice to meet you Gabrielle."

"Enchanté, Seamus," Gabrielle said.

"So," Seamus said, "What brings you here Gabrielle?"

"I am 'ere with ma grande soeur," Gabrielle said, "She eez dancing with 'er 'usband at ze moment and I do not want 'er to get 'urt, so I am not dreenking tonight."

"Oh, you're Fleur's sister?" Seamus asked, making the connection quite quickly.

"Très bien! Yes, Fleur is my seester," Gabrielle said, "I am staying wiz 'er over ze Christmas 'olidays because Maman and Papa say zat I am too old to be leeving at 'ome with them."

Seamus laughed dryly, "Don't worry too much Gabi, I can call you Gabi right? Only your name is a little too long."

Gabrielle chuckled slightly and nodded, giving Seamus a signal to continue what he was going to say.

"Oh right," Seamus said, "Don't worry too much, I was twenty before I moved out of home, at fifteen you're doing okay."

Gabrielle's eyes seemed to light up, "I am not fifteen," Gabrielle said, shyly, fluttering her eyelashes at him

"Oh," Seamus stuttered, feeling a blush creeping up his neck, "I-I'm sorry, it's just you look so young-" he cut himself off, "How old are you?" he asked curiously.

"'ow old do you theenk I am?" she asked.

"Fifteen," Seamus said, "that's why I made the assumption in the first place. Now how old are you?"

"I am eighteen," Gabrielle said with a giggle.

It took all that Seamus had to not look surprised when she revealed her true age, "Uh," Seamus said, rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment, "You look really pretty," he tried.

Gabrielle sighed, "You 'ave no idea 'ow to interact with girls do you?"

Seamus laughed nervously, "No, not really. I'm a bit out of practise."

"Would you like me to teach you 'ow to interact with girls again?" Gabrielle asked, stepping forward so that her nose was almost touching Seamus' chest.

"That would be nice thanks," Seamus said, looking down at her, wondering why she was so close to him.

"Alright zen," Gabrielle said, a cunning look in her eye.

Seamus realised what she was going to do a moment too late, just as she stood on her tiptoes and pressed her lips against his. As quickly as it had happened, her lips were gone again and she pulled his head down towards her mouth and whispered in his ear, "You know, zey don't really care about us, all of zem dancing ze night away, waiting for ze clock to strike midnight, eef you want, we could go and do some dancing of our own?"

Seamus looked at her and nodded. He had just met her and normally he wouldn't do this, but that kiss it had felt electrifying. It had felt out of this world and somehow he managed to completely forget about the sadness that was hanging over him in the very long aftermath of Lavender's death.

Seamus was a strong believer in the fact that when people were created that they were split into two halves, and eventually the two halves would meet each other and fall in love and Seamus had no doubt at all that he had just found his other half.


AN: I'm so tired so I'm sorry for any spelling and/or grammar mistakes in my story. I just wanted to sleep last night but my friends made that almost impossible by chatting away louder than a fricken explosion and then dragging me out of the house and down my driveway at 6AM, hitting me with my garden hose, deflating my mattress and putting Pizza boxes on my head. I hate people sometimes. Yeah I've had 5 hours of sleep in the last 24 hours and now I have to go out for dinner. Yay for my life.

Also, this may probably be the last time I upload something before Christmas so MERRY CHRISTMAS! I hope Santa is good to you :)

Potter on

~The Original Horcrux~