When We Were Only Friends
Chapter 1
Seamus
Have you ever had that feeling that you're being watched? Well that's the feeling I had as I turned away from the window of the Hogwarts Express after waving goodbye to my mother, who stood with tears running down her pale face on platform 9 3/4. She had been ecstatic when I had received my letter; being a half-blood she wasn't sure I'd be magical or not. My father hadn't wanted to come and see me off, which was a great disappointment to my dear mother. Dad was hoping I'd be 'normal', I'm sure. Well, I'm glad I'm a wizard. I wouldn't have met the best friend I'd ever have if I wasn't.
Anyway, I was trying my very hardest to find a seat, when I tripped on a rouge owl cage, and ended up sprawled on the floor of the carriage. Head throbbing, I pushed myself up. The light was suddenly blinding, and I had to shut my eyes tightly to stop myself from fainting.
"Are you alright?" a soft, sweet voice asked me from what seemed to be a mile away.
"Yes, I-I'm alright, I think." I muttered. I opened my eyes to find a tall, dark-skinned boy holding out a hand to help me up. I took his hand and he hoisted me up with surprising strength for such a slender boy.
"Dean Matais Thomas. Nice to meet you." He grinned widely at me.
"Seamus Finnegan. Pleasure." I replied, returning his warm smile. "Where are you sitting? I… well, I don't have anywhere to…"
"No worries, mate, I'm just down here." Dean turned and began to walk down the carriage. I smiled to myself; perhaps this was the friend I had been waiting for.
We climbed into a small compartment that already seated a small, rotund boy holding a toad very tightly in his chubby hands. He looked up sharply when we entered, and, upon seeing Dean, relaxed again.
"Seamus, this is Neville Longbottom. Neville, Seamus Finnegan. I'm sure you will be fast friends." He introduced us, a knowing smile tugging at the side of his soft mouth. I studied his out of the corner of my eye. Dean was at good four inches taller than myself, and a bit slimmer; but then again I was a little on the broad side. His smile was adorable, and I knew that it would brighten my day for as long as I knew him, which I hoped would be a long, long time.
Dean
Who was this stocky little Irish boy who had (literally) stumbled his way into my path? When I had first heard his voice, it was as if a piece of my future had forced its way into its past, to tell me that this was fate; in case you can't tell, before I to my letter, I was an aspiring poet. I chuckled to myself - I really did feel as if I had just met someone who would be my friend forever and beyond.
A jolt ran through the train as it drew up at the station.
"This is it then." Seamus said, his lilting accent pulling me from my reverie. I opened the compartment door, only to come face to face with a face I had seen not a minute before in The Daily Prophet. I couldn't help it:
"Harry Potter?!" I gasped. He was instantly recognisable by the lightning-shaped scar marring his forehead. Harry promptly turned on his heel, and strode away alongside a lanky red-head and a short, bushy-haired girl, who was carrying an enormous amount of books for her first day at Hogwarts. I hurried after them;
"Sorry, sorry, mate, it was just that I didn't expect to m-meet you, you know? Look, I'm sorry." I blustered. Harry turned around, a warm grin softening his features significantly.
"It's alright. Well, at least now I know that we really haven't met; I was starting to worry that we had and I'd simply forgotten who you were." He said, laughing. I joined in, relieved.
"Dean Thomas. Maybe I'll see you at the sorting?"
"Nice to meet you , Dean. Yeh, I'll keep a eye out for you." The ginger was tugging on Harry's sleeve urgently muttering that they were going to be late.
I followed them off the train with Seamus and Neville in tow; the poor lad seemed to have misplaced his toad, however. He was madly searching the ground, whispering "Trevor? Trevor?!" I spared a moment to sympathise, but then I noticed a large shadow looming over us. I stepped back, mouth agape. A very hairy man, at least seven feet tall and five feet wide, was calling out for first years to gather around, and gesturing with a hand that I was sure could have fit all three of them sitting down with room left over. Harry gasped: "Hagrid!". So that was the giants name. I had no more time to ponder this, however, because I was jostled into moving along with the crowd of first years following Hagrid to the lake.
There was a collection of boats floating on the lake, none of which I was particularly keen to step into; each looked less sturdy than the last! Nevertheless, the first three boats now had six students each, and Neville and Seamus were climbing into a fourth. I followed in their wake, cautious but courageous, I like to think.
We spent a good ten minutes drifting across the dark, murky water until the boats tapped lightly against the bank. We disembarked, and stood shivering in on the muddy grass. Hagrid rounded us all up, and led us into the castle that would soon become my home.
Seamus
The first time I laid eyes on the Great Hall of Hogwarts is a moment I would never forget. Candles floated in every available space underneath the high ceiling that had been enchanted to look like a galaxy. Every student turned in their seats as we entered, probably wondering who the newest members of their house would be. I shuddered; it felt almost as if they were observing me like a predator would observe its prey. I looked to the floor just as I felt a small hand on my arm. I looked up and saw Dean looking down at me with curious, hazel eyes, concern etched over his features.
"Are you alright, Seamus?" he asked.
"Y-yes, I suppose." I muttered, a steady blush creeping up my neck, threatening to peer over my collar. I flashed a smile at him, and looked hurriedly back at the floor.
"Hey, hey, it'll be alright. Look at me, Seamus." I looked up into Dean's soft, kind eyes and felt instantly calmed.
"Thanks, Dean. Really, thank you." I said, a note of seriousness tinting my voice. Dean looked at me with new eyes.
"No problem, Seamus. Look, we're nearly at the front." The whole time we'd been talking, the deputy head, Professor McGonagall had been reading out the names of their fellow first years. I tuned back in:
"Harry Potter?" McGonagall called out. The whispering was almost deafening to me in the moments before they were quietened by Dumbledore, the tall, bearded headmaster who rose from his high chair in the centre of the teachers table.
The slight, black-haired boy I had seen on the train walked slowly up the narrow steps to sit on the three legged stool next to McGonagall. A ragged, tatty wizards hat was placed upon his head. It began to talk in a gruff, unfriendly voice. It muttered to itself for a while; it seemed to be having a hard time deciding. Eventually, however, it shouted:
"GRYFFINDOR!" The table to my right exploded with cheers. I grinned; if I ended up in Gryffindor I would be very pleased.
"Dean Thomas?" I froze.
Dean
I flinched at the sound of my name ringing out inside the vast hall. I looked down at Seamus; his wide, blue eyes met mine. I looked back up, determined. As I took the first step towards the podium, I felt heartened. I can do this. It's not that hard, I thought to myself as I hopped up the steps and sat on the stool, waiting nervously for the weight of the hat to be placed on my head.
"Ah, hello young man." I jumped so hard when the hat spoke that it slipped down my face. "I haven't met a Thomas before. However… the kindness and courageousness you have already shown in your short time here at Hogwarts so far is clear to me. Your heart… yes… it is of the purest gold. I see a certain freckled Irish boy has already found a special place there, am I right? Yes… I think so… GYFFINDOR!" My blushing face, blanched, then lit up with joy. Gryffindor! I couldn't have hoped for more.
"Let's see… Seamus Finnegan?" Oh no. What if Seamus wasn't in Gryffindor? What if I didn't see him everyday? What if-
"Finnegan… Siobhan Finnegan? Yes I remember her, feisty little one, she was. I see you take after her, you kept her name after all." Seamus paled, and I felt sorry for him in that moment.
"Ok… it would hardly be fair to drag you from your only friend so far… and a very good friend at that… GRYFFINDOR!" A wide grin split his pale face, and he bounded down the steps. I stood up, and he threw himself into my arms. We held each other in pure joy for a few moments, before realising that a couple of tall red-heads were smirking in our direction; it didn't seem malicious at all, but we still hurriedly released each other, awkwardly sitting down opposite the gingers.
"Fred and George Weasley, love-ly to meet you." One of them grinned good-naturedly.
"I'm George, glad to make your acquaintance." The other said, a smile flickering on his face, as if he was trying to keep it off.
We laughed nervously, before gasping when an enormous roasted boar appeared in front of us, obscuring our view of the Weasley twins.
"Dig in!" One of them shouted from the there side of the table. We did just that; before long, our plates were piled high with food, and we were greedily gobbling it down.
Seamus
Feeling stuffed to the brim, I waited until Dumbledore dismissed us before following one of the Gryffindor prefects to my dorm room. We were just walking up one of the many staircases when it suddenly lurched to the side, shocking me out of my relaxed state. I was immediately alert to what the prefect was shouting to us:
"Don't worry, first years, keep calm. The staircases do tend to move around, we'll just have to take another route."
When the staircase had stopped moving, we all hurried to get off it before it decided to move again.
"All right, boys, this is you to the left, girls to the right. You all share a common room - the room we are in now. Off to bed!"
I couldn't focus on anything in the room we were stood in, and so I just shuffled off with Dean leaning on my shoulder, to our dormitory.
I flopped down on my bed. Ugh. I'm. So. Full. I thought, wishing that i could be magically in my pyjamas, and under the duvet. I then took a moment to think who I was sharing with.
Dean. A burst of happiness exploded in my chest. My best friend.
Harry Potter. The Boy Who Lived.
Ron Weasley. Harry's red-headed friend, brother to the twins I had met earlier.
Neville Longbottom. I had met him on the train. Nice boy; he had also finally found his toad.
With this happy thought, I drifted off to sleep, still fully clothed.
Dean
I hadn't date quite as much as Seamus, poor lad. He had fallen asleep the minute his head had hit the pillow. I walked over to him, and started carefully removing his shoes. He couldn't sleep with them on, after all. Once I had removed them, I went over to my bed and took the blanket that had been folded neatly at the end, and laid it over my friend. I gazed down at him; my first real friend at Hogwarts. Seamus rolled onto his side, snoring softly. I smiled; he was adorable, really, you just needed to get under the slightly defensive facade he had created to hide his insecurities. I hoped I could help him; I would so anything I could to help him. Anything.
