A/N: Disclaimer: I'm not Rowling-yet. None of these characters that you recognize are mine.
Also, I may be a bit off with the British dialect and trying to make Seamus sound as Irish as possible, I'm from neither country and while I'll do my best to serve them all justice, and Rowling justice, I won't be profoundly good, in case you haven't noticed yet. I'm just sort of taking Seamus' accent like it is shown in other stories and stuff to make it sound more realistic and hopefully it works somewhat.
The main thing about his accomplishment was that he was totally alone in his endeavors. This included the detention itself. He had no doubt in his mind that one day, the classroom would consist of every student in the school lined up for their daily dose of Crucio. The image was as painful as it sounded. Already there were a few students lined up there, but to watch rather than be participants. Slytherins. The Carrows had clearly stated where their loyalties lied in the houses the first week everyone had been back; it came as no surprise to Seamus that they would be the ones to watch.
What only made it worse was their incessant whispers as he plowed to the front of the room. It had been completely emptied of desks up in the front, more room for punishments. Alecto was grinning: which was never a particularly pleasant picture. Amycus was smirking, wand in one hand and the other hand clenched in a fist at his side. Seamus came to standing before them, planting his feet firmly on the ground. Funny thing it was, that the first thing to gain him any sort of attention from them was speaking out and not doing the action itself.
"Well, Finnigan, I'm sure you know why you're here today," Amycus lay a drawl in the word 'sure'. He only gave a small flinch, not feeling threatened, not yet. "You spoke out against my sister."
"What she said was wrong, and yer gonna find me right one of these days." The comfort of the brave beast in his chest was making him louder. He was speaking for Dean.
"I wonder why you chose to speak out then, of all times, Mr. Seamus…"
Alecto snickered, "It's almost as if you," she gave a little hip swing as if it was cute, "had some Mudblood whom you were fond of. A girlfriend of yours? Did she die? Run away?"
A flinch was earned from him as she mentioned the 'M' word. Seamus was aware that Alecto was the only one to notice the first flinch, the second at the word "run away".
"A classmate, perhaps, Alecto, but we shall find out soon enough, shan't we?" Amycus let out a horrible giggle that sounded more akin to him being strangled.
"Oo! Oo! I'll guess first." Alecto was like some sort of horrible flirting schoolgirl, "Let's see...a classmate, a Mudblood, an unregistered one, on the run...one who is close to you...who you obviously care about very, very much to give such a response as you did in class…" Inside he was screaming, sweating, they would figure it out soon and he'd be doomed. Doomed because of his closeness to Dean.
Amycus gave a very long, drawn out eyeroll, "Oh, come off it, 'Lec. Probably one of his crushes. She's got to be a pretty one, eh?" Still focusing on a girl. The relief was one that he knew would be short lived, whether days or months, he wasn't sure.
"Perhaps not a love interest then...a best mate? A friend?" Three flinches. The first of which went unnoticed. The second and third of which received giggles in their blatantness.
"Ah, so you've got a missing friend, 'ave you, Finnigan?" Amycus twirled his wand a bit in the air. "Seems only fitting."
They weren't the brightest, he could tell. They hadn't put it together. Maybe they simply thought he meant friendship love when he'd spoken against Alecto in class, which at the moment, he'd take for anything. It was better than what could have come out of those god-damned mouths of theirs.
"Doesn't really matter, now does it?" Amycus sniggered, and suddenly a blinding flash of light was sent at him as the dark wizard shouted some curse or other. A cut opened up along his cheek, making it look like he'd been scratched. "That's merely a taste, my dear boy."
"Oh get on with it, Amy. CRUCIO!" Alecto screamed, and everything went blind with pain.
Seamus had seen the Cruciatus curse done before, back in fourth year, when Moody had taught them it. The spider had done a strange sort of almost dance in its pain. Not to mention how Neville had reacted, which had received hate toward the professor from the students. But never had he imagined the full impact upon the body it had. He was writhing on the floor, in positions his body never had managed before.
Screaming is the type of thing one doesn't like to think of oneself doing too often. Seamus in particular. He saw screaming as something that warped the vocal chords. Yet suddenly his mouth was open and a noise unlike anything he had ever heard before was coming out of it. Rasping, begging, pleading. Whimpering was even thrown into the mix as they cackled in delight. There were no laughs from the students at the walls, it was as if they were all too horrified.
When suddenly he was a sobbing mess on the floor, no longer being thrown about in ways that were equal to a contortionist's, Amycus came up and gave him a good shove in the ribs.
"You're a good fighter, boy. But not good enough. We'll get that information out of you one of these days. You'll betray your friend faster than you can possibly imagine…" Just the thought of it caused his heart to give a large squeeze. Betrayal to Dean was in no way going to ever happen. It wasn't as if he knew where the tall black boy was anyways.
"N-no ya won't, you sick bastards." It came out more of a wheeze but he tried to emphasize the word "bastards" so they heard it.
"Little Mudblood lover." Alecto called cheerfully, and screamed the curse once more.
The feeling of his limbs being stretched in all directions was enough to drive him mad and all he could do was scream. Every feeling of hope had left Seamus at this point. There was laughter from the siblings again as he let out more screams, throat tearing and popping at the effort.
A sudden release sent him to the floor in a heap again, but this time they did nothing but stand there. Seamus didn't lift his head from where he lay, sprawled out with his limbs looking left over and uncared for. A small noise from a student, a cough, reminded him that there were others than the Carrows witnessing this. It sent a shudder down his back. That any student had to watch any sort of torture and to be expected to follow the 'example' was almost past believing.
These students could gossip, they would, and they'd tell their little friends about him and how his detention had gone. Not a word would come from his mouth at all. There was a large fear of what the Carrows may gather from the gossip. Students had joked-or meanly commented before-about it but not to his or Dean's face. Now it seemed all of Hogwarts was going to know something of this torture by morning.
"We'll let you go now, boy. It was only an hour...a shame, really, that we were unable to continue it." Amycus purred to him, the "professor" was standing right in front of him now. "Speak out of terms again, Finnigan, and we will commit more than two hours of this to our schedule every week."
The threat felt like nothing to him. As the students were filed out, whispers had already started. It was just beginning. Seamus weakly pulled himself up onto his feet and rushed out of the room as fast as his beat up body could go, ignoring looks of any type from any passing student and heading straight to his dorm where he spent the night curled up on Dean's bed, heart aching and sobbing his eyes out until he fell asleep to the sounds of the night outside.
"Everyone's talking, Seamus." Neville stated it like he hadn't already noticed the looks and the quiet voices as he'd entered the Great Hall.
Seamus felt like he'd been caught in front of a stampede of elephants and hadn't gotten away in time. There were bruises all over his body and his face still had the large gash down his cheek. Not a single person, not even Neville, had offered that he get something put on it when he'd arrived that morning. They were all seated-looking glum-with the chatter going on all around. Luna had joined them at the table, along with Ginny. Seamus felt almost like he could relate to these people-they'd all been abandoned here to make do with what they had by people they trusted.
Ginny scrunched up her face, "They're talking about...Seamus, you don't know anything about Dean, would you?"
The entirety of his mind went numb. A sharp pain tore down the center of his chest as he stared ahead at the wall in front of him. Secrets were always destroyed at the worst moment. The students had spread the worst, those damn Slytherins had said more than what they'd even had affirmed. Not only that, but this was Dean's ex-girlfriend who was talking as if she still cared about him. Although, she didn't. Seamus knew that much.
"You don't have to talk about him if you don't want to." Luna said gently, he saw the distinct glare she gave Ginny, who looked a little miffed. "It's just that there's been some talk about…well I need to get to class."
Even if she was a strange person, Luna deserved more credit than she was given. Especially being so good at intruding upon one's business. The whispers were still circulating around. The cold eyes of the Carrows were watching him, listening to the student's muttering with delight, and he knew it. Seamus gritted his teeth, setting down the bread he'd been about to butter and stood up with a small nod to Neville. There was a wave of whispers that travelled with him as he left the Hall. All eyes were on the retreating figure.
He'd figured out the truth a day later. There was a rumor going around that he knew where Dean Thomas was. Kids who didn't even know Dean were talking about it because that was the most interesting thing going on right now. It was now Monday morning of the following week. Most people were busy scampering about, preparing for their classes in the normal amount of silence. Seamus was seated in the common room, not focused on breakfast for several reasons.
One was that the pain was still there. Most of the ache in his bones was gone, but the gash was very livid. Another was that students were still whispering in those same hushed tones that they had been whispering in since the detention. Classes weren't really something he wanted to face right now, not when the rumors were still circulating. The Carrows had obviously heard them; and it was going to prompt them to pick on him throughout lessons. That much was obvious.
The silent Dark Arts room was bone-chilling. Everyone was seated looking around at each other and at him and at Amycus, back and forth. The first Dark Arts class since the detention. It made Seamus' head nearly fall off from the swimming it seemed to be taking part in. Amycus was standing in the front, eyes on him. But they moved as soon as the man started talking and pacing once more. A minor relief swept over the boy.
"Ah, welcome back to class. As I continue on with your teaching, I think it's only right we practice a few hexes and such. The extremely dangerous things can be taken at an ease, we'll make do with some small dangerous things for now." There wasn't a sigh of relief to be heard. "I ask only for you to get into a line. I will then sort you into two lines, as it is my choice as to which will be our "victim" and which will be our "victor" line."
There was a large shuffling as the students slowly stood. Seamus and Neville went slowly, more slowly than anyone else in the room, Seamus could feel himself filling with dread. Amycus was sorting them into the two lines as announced. He was placed in what he assumed was the victim line simply from the look the man gave him.
"This is the victor line." It was their line, the one Seamus was in. It was a test. Neville was directly behind him, and as the man went on, whispered into his ear.
"I'm not going to hex anyone with something that's too dark to even think about." The other boy sounded sincere, and Seamus gave a nod as he bit his lip slightly.
"Now I would like you all to think back to your second year. The Diffindo charm, anyone? Commonly known as the Severing charm." A tongue slide over yellow teeth. "I am challenging you to use this in a way that perhaps you never thought of before. To harm your opponent. Such as this-come forward, Longbottom!"
Neville stepped forward almost like a robot-and then a gash had run down his nose after a flash of light from Amycus. The new wound looked like it was about to slice his nose off, and Neville stepped back hurriedly, arm raised to stop the blood in his wizard in front cackled loudly.
"I want to see you try this out on everyone. Just minor cuts for the moment. Taking off a shirt sleeve and aiming for the skin is the typical idea here, you must understand."
Each student gave a shudder to the effect that it was like the whole room had shaken. Almost every student that was, except for the Slytherins in the room. Draco Malfoy snickered from the front of the victor line as the first victim was pulled forward in his reach, and Seamus watched with horror as Parvati received it at the ankle and stumbled back to the edge of the room. She looked dazed, like it was completely un-expected. Each student more horrified than the rest and each student receiving their wounds with ultimate terror in their eyes.
Then it was suddenly his turn. Seamus looked to see Lavender Brown standing there, looking scared for her life. In a sudden whirlwind of thoughts, he lowered his wand. He wasn't going to do it anymore than Neville had said he was. The looks were filled with curiosity and a few with understanding as Amycus came to stand in his face. The look on Amycus' face was full of hatred. Clearly he had gotten on the wrong side of the man long before planned. A whisper travelled through the room.
"And what may I ask, is this?"
"A refusal to do what you're askin' me to do." It was the truth and now there was no going back.
"You realize, young man, that not listening to your superiors is what lands you in trouble in the first place? You will cast that spell. I don't care whether your damn Irish blood refuses to do so or if you're just making things up to annoy me at this point." Death Eaters needed to take mints or something once in awhile, he was getting full blast of the man's horrible breath from where he stood, since he wasn't exactly tall enough to be eye to eye with him.
"I'm not going to either." Neville had spoken up.
"Oh, is that so, Longbottom? Are you in need of a detention as well? I was going to have you perform the Cruciatus Curse on some of our first years who had earned themselves detention today, I deeply regret not having that be our final plan. I guess I'll just have to…" A small flick of his wand, a burst of light, and there was Neville on the floor, writhing and crying out in pain.
Seamus stared at the spectacle along with everyone else, wits not collected just yet or nearly enough to keep a steady focus on what was really happening at first. With his teeth bared, he threw himself into Amycus' weight, causing Neville to be released from the spell as the 'professor's' attention was diverted.
"Standing up for your friends again, are you, Finnigan?" He gave a snarl, then spoke while motioning with his wand at everyone else around them, "Shall I tell them that you support Mudbloods and could practically be one yourself? Maybe I'll show them that you are the problem in this school. Mark my words, boy, you're number one on my list of students I adore torturing; take pride in that, considering you're one of so few."
The tones were full of relish. Carrow very much enjoyed what he was doing. Seamus didn't back down, instead he moved so he was standing in front of Neville. If his friends were going to be tortured, he'd take it instead of them. It almost felt like he deserved it in some ways.
"Very well then. Detention, both of you, tomorrow night, at 5." Seamus felt his blood run cold once more.
"Five o'clock … I've never feared a time more." Neville was saying it quietly as they walked to the doors of the castle.
"You didn't deserve this, mate. I'm the only one here...me got a reputation with him now, 'm sure."
"You can't say that, Seamus." A shake of the head from Longbottom. "It isn't your fault the Carrows are who they are. But you have gotten on their bad side, that's for sure. Sort of ridiculous-all of this, in a way…"
"It's insane." He said it very quietly as they stepped out into the open grounds. The sky was overcast again, the students scattered about in small groups, chattering nervously.
Thinking about tomorrow's punishment was too much to bear at the moment. Before Neville could talk anymore about it, Ginny Weasley and Luna Lovegood popped up right in front of them, grim looks on their faces.
"Neville, Seamus, we need to talk." Ginny was one to get right to business, a quality that was a tad too much like Hermione for his own liking.
"About what?" Luna raised an eyebrow at Neville for asking such a thing.
"How we're going to go against this," the blonde girl gave a pause, "we were asked to do the Cruciatus Curse on each other today in class."
Seamus had been preparing to say something, but this silenced him immediately, along with Neville. It was truly getting to the point where he was wondering how long they could all survive in this school for the rest of the year. It was only October, damn it. A person had to survive at least long enough to see December again. The unspoken words in his head rang about in their malice at this thought, to see Dean again. Yet before he could say anything of the sort, they were both suddenly pulled into a corner and he found he was being thrust down to the ground by Ginny. Girls always rubbed in that they were taller than him when they could, it seemed it was Ginny's turn.
"I mean it. They didn't do that for you guys?" Luna looked around with her usual curious wide eyes.
"We were doin' the … were supposed to do the Severing charm...to harm the others." His throat was so dry when he was saying this he was forced to swallow in the middle of it.
Ginny shook her head, "So the rumors are true? You'll both be having a detention?"
The news of more rumors was something completely both surprising and not at the same time to him. It figures the news would have spread, but through rumors was a bit odd. Then he met the red-head's gaze, and his stomach dropped as he realized what she had probably heard.
They were obviously all suspecting Dean in something of his actions now. After the first one most people apparently just thought it was obvious. One bit of any sort of flammable motivation and he'd be off; everyone knew that, even Seamus himself. But it was an accusation now. The idea that they could have started gaining more ideas about the whole situation was a bit frightening as well as amusing in a weird way. This wasn't how things were supposed to work out, Dean had said as much, but maybe...maybe a small part of it was.
"Well we've got to do something. I'll think about it for a while, Neville, Seamus, you do the same. Otherwise…" Ginny was slightly pale now, "we're doomed."
Luna was the first to leave the silent huddle. Standing up gingerly, he gave a nod at the two still on the ground and hurried off toward the castle. A few people looked up as he passed. At this point, it was starting to feel weirdly normal at this reaction, but now the stares were a bit harder, a bit more focused. A bit more concerned with him in particular.
A rumble was heard from somewhere overhead and rain began to fall. Seamus was the first to beat the oncoming traffic of students who were now running from the courtyard in a panic to escape the downpour. The first crack of lightning caused him to jump as he walked. The thought of Dean having to be out there in the rain and with people looking for him, not letting him rest because they were determined to find him brought on a small headache and the familiar aching feeling in Seamus' chest.
The detention was as bad as last time, if not worse.
He lay on Dean's bed now, reviewing the past events in his head as he listened to the occasional moan from Neville, who hadn't been nearly as badly done over but was definitely bruising up.
The minute the door to the Muggle Studies classroom swung open, he had
felt everything start to bottle up inside of him like a volcano preparing to explode.
Students were already there, a small line of them. Most were first and second years, trembling with fear. It was horrifying to see such young people fearing for their own safety. At that age even Harry Potter hadn't had to go through any Unforgivable Curses. A few were older, scattered about the years, but none from the oldest set of students. Seamus didn't feel any sort of relief from that. Amycus and Alecto were standing, waiting as they had last time.
Like last time, they played with their prey. Neville was first, undergoing remarks about his parents and "if he happened to know a Mudblood or two, mind turning them in" before he was screaming on the ground. But even Neville wasn't played with for long. The smiles Seamus received as he stepped to the front were those of a predator who has found their favorite food. He was very much number one.
"Ah, good to see you again, Mr. Seamus." Alecto had been practically purring. She appeared to be the narcissistic one of the two by far. "I do wonder if you have any...new information about your little friend with you…?" A shiver had struck through him. Throughout the day he'd thrown any thought of Dean out of his mind to avoid emotional torture.
"No, I 'aven't."
"You're really too sweet, I'm sure, if only you could see the reasonable side of things…" Neville was huddled in the corner of the room, why he was still there was beyond Seamus' range of thought at the time.
"Longbottom! Get over here! I'd like to see you get the information out of him, since he doesn't seem to trust us yet." Amycus had called. There was no reply and Seamus had, in his head, thanked whoever watched over them all that Neville wasn't behaving. "Very well then, we'll get to the fun part of it. Crucio!"
The whole routine was very much the same, painful experience as last time. Screaming, neck straining in pain, and body spasming, all the while refusing to tell them anything when he was given breaks. It was certainly longer than last time, which had only been half an hour, contrary to Amycus' lie of "only an hour". Now it was more like 45 straight minutes of pain, and torture. There was little talking and more action, the students on the side watching in horror.
Neville had helped him up and they exited without any further words between them and the Carrows who cackled as they left, saying things about "Mudblood lovers" and so forth. They still hadn't put any of the pieces together. Seamus was still thanking everything he had that this was so.
But as he was leaning against Neville with his body twitching occasionally from some sort of pain as they walked up the stairs, the familiar feeling of a headache returned to his head. There were still people around, hell, it wasn't even dinner yet. Neville certainly wasn't in nearly as much pain, it was quite obvious from the way he was able to lift him, but there was a limp to his walk. Seamus had tried not to say anything until he was in the common room, where they were swamped with other students.
"I've just gotta get-get him up to the room, please, if you wouldn't mind." Neville bravely announced over top of the din. Seamus wasn't seeing anything very well but he could hear everything. Even his own house was whispering about him.
The bed he was put on by Neville wasn't his but instead of trying to refuse it, he had climbed to the front of it weakly and held onto the sheets below.
Now there were the sounds of Neville rustling around the room gently. It seemed so unlike Neville to not reveal the pain he was probably in, but maybe things were changing now. Things had changed so much in the world already that the constant changes in friends weren't exactly something he welcomed much at all.
The third week was full of whispers. After that detention, Seamus had felt more stares on his back and there was a constant feeling of fear and dread for when the students put two and two together, if perhaps they already hadn't. They certainly didn't that second week. There were no more classroom disturbances from him that week, but that was mostly due to Amycus and Alecto not prompting anything. They didn't do a single awful thing or say anything for a whole three days.
Seamus assumed he should have been scared, but it was better not to think about it. The sun was finally out and he was seated on the lawn, staring up in the sky, enjoying himself ever so slightly finally. A small amount of guilt was resting in his stomach at the thought that he was feeling happy when Dean was probably on the run, but Dean would have wanted him to be somewhat happy while he could. While they could all get away with it.
"The D.A." A sudden voice beside him caused him to turn his head too quickly, and he let out a small grimace before giving a look at Neville, who was seated beside him seemingly lost in thought, "The D.A." He repeated, staring at Seamus. "Dumbledore's Army."
"Wait...that ol' thing?" Something like hope rekindled in him.
"Ginny thought maybe...maybe we could get it back together. To fight against the Carrows and all. Standing against them outwardly." Neville was whispering this all, but he was actually smiling for once.
"I...we didn't give that up or nothing, did we?"
"Nah, and Ginny knows kids would be willing to do it, just like they would with Umbridge. I'm to be part of the command." Neville looked proud. It was sort of a stupid thing to be proud of, but to Seamus, it was the greatest thing ever because finally light was being shed in the face of pure evil.
"I'll do it. Join. 'm not getting anywhere sittin' here, 'm I?" He grinned back at Neville, who nodded.
"Ginny figured you would. It's going to be a little while to get everything situated. We might not be official until November. But in the least, we can do something. And stand out, of course, even without everyone else."
Neville abandoned him for a bit of thinking time. All of that was abandoned as well as soon as someone's screams shook Seamus out of his thoughts. Down by the lake. A Slytherin stood in front of a girl who was lying on the ground, screaming her head off. The Cruciatus Curse being done right in front of almost every student in Hogwarts?
He was down there faster than anyone else, even beating Amycus Carrow who had arrived out of nowhere and was seemingly out of breath when he did. It was that shit, Malfoy, torturing a younger, second year girl. The screams died out as Amycus came forward and the curse was cut off.
"I was doing what you instructed me to, sir." Malfoy looked completely unsympathetic at the girl at his feet. "She was talking about Mudbloods."
"Is that right?" Amycus had this awful grin on his face. Seamus stepped forward, aware of everyone watching him with wide eyes.
"You're just gonna go beating up whoever talks 'bout any normal respectable wizard or witch that you hear of, Malfoy?" The bleach-blond boy looked up, seemingly unfazed.
"Well you wouldn't know much about respectable wizards or witches seeing as who you choose to hang out with, Finnigan," Draco spat out, body seeming to shake with anger, "you're pissed all because of that filthy Mudlbood friend of yours running for his life, aren't you?"
He almost mentioned to Malfoy that they weren't even sure Dean was fully Muggleborn having never found out about his father, but he didn't bother with that detail. Instead he stepped a little closer, not caring that the other boy stood several inches taller than himself.
"Doesn't really matter what I care an' think about, does it? You are going to keep up doin' anything to keep your bloody father proud of you, ain't you?"
"Keep my father out of this." Malfoy had raised his wand to point at Seamus' face-all around them was complete silence, as it appeared everyone had arrived at the scene. "Or do you want them to know about your Mudblood boyfriend?"
Something inside of him cracked and he threw himself at Draco, only to be stopped by a large figure now standing between them. Amycus. With a sneer on his face that Seamus never wanted to see again. There was only anger inside of him now, so the obstacle didn't really matter, as things tended to get caught up in fiery explosions when Seamus let it all out of his system.
"Malfoy, get yourself back up to the castle. I'll talk with you in a moment." Out of the corner of his eye he watched Draco start moving swiftly through the crowd, and before Amycus could react, Seamus pushed himself through the crowd after the greasy git.
Draco started running at that point, once he'd seen that he was being followed, and throwing hexes and curses backwards at a fast rate. One hit Seamus right in the knee but despite the odd pain that he suddenly felt, he continued running on. The yells of students behind were lost as he entered the castle, stopping when he realized Malfoy was nowhere to be seen. The git was gone, out of reach now.
With his heart pounding, feeling absolutely torn in two, he marched back up to the dormitory. There wasn't anyone in the common room and he sat on his own bed this time, nursing his knee which appeared to have been cut open. For now, bandages would have to realization of what he had just done dawned upon him in that moment and a dry sob came out of his throat. Draco had said the words he knew were floating around, but said it to his face, which only made them more realistic. Once more, it was just the beginning.
When dinner came around, the first time someone announced something in front of the entire school occurred. It was the Friday now. Amycus Carrow stood up and stared around at everyone like they were his children and he was proud of them in his cold, heartless way. Or at least, proud of most of them. Seamus felt the hair on the back of his neck rise. He'd eaten-finally-at dinner, but now it felt like all of that food was a horrible choice.
"Ah, hello, my students." The voice chilled his blood. "This evening, I would like to go over a few things with you before we all head to bed.
'I would like to remind you all that all known Mudbloods are to be reported to the Ministry, or us, rather, immediately. You don't know half of the danger you cause when you do not tell us information." Those black eyes were staring directly at him. As were everyone else's, but Seamus was only willing to meet Amycus'. "I will be forced to torture the information out of you if that is so.
'Let me make it perfectly clear along with that little notice-a point that has come to my attention as needed to be reviewed with you all. I did not know we had such a problem here at Hogwarts. Students who associate themselves as this are a major problem and a hinderance to the Wizarding society. If one cannot supply more to our population, there is no reason for them to exist. There are students here," and Amycus paused as if to correct himself, he was pacing, and he looked pointedly at Seamus, "I mean to say, a student here, who seems to think that it is okay...to love someone of the same sex."
It had been silent before but now a feather could have dropped and one would have heard it. Walls inside of Seamus came tearing down as he dropped his gaze from the 'teacher's' and looked at the ground, horror rising inside of him while he did so. Everyone was looking at him now. Some might've been pitying but others seemed to be in shock. Seamus was in shock alright. He'd been counting on them not putting the pieces together for weeks. It might've been an accident; hopefully a dream.
"And not only that, but a Mudblood!" The voice was triumphant, proud of what he had accomplished. Everything inside Seamus was suddenly water, sloshing around. It was too early. Too early in the school year. Things could have been better if it wasn't only the third week of October. But it was and everything was in pieces.
Someone was calling his name. Someone with an awful voice and a snide tone and evil intentions. Alecto was standing at the end of the hall, waving at him with that horrible grin on her face. Seamus was so numb he couldn't even really focus. But he wasn't going to stand up for her pleasure, or anyone else's. Even if everyone else was staring at him with looks of pity and pain on their faces.
"If you don't get up here this instant, you little fag, I will personally pull you up here myself!" The F-word caused sharp intakes of breath all around the room. Seamus felt his blood turn to ice pricks. "CRUCIO!"
The fall to the ground was more painful than anything. People were shuffling about, footsteps came like someone was running toward him but then they stopped as if by an invisible wall. Amycus was laughing with his sister. Seamus felt his neck muscles throb with the screams echoing from his mouth, and now tears were starting to go down his face. Why had they found out about Dean? Now everyone knew and it was pointless to pretend.
It had never felt like this before, this much pain. Last time it had been minor compared to this. Every bone was dying inside of him as he tried to gasp for breath between the cries of pain. Someone was shouting actual words, maybe McGonagall, he had no idea. It was aimed at Alecto for the pain only increased as her anger spiked. He clutched at his neck, clawing at it, maybe it would relieve his pain to cut it. It would certainly end it all.
"I-will-not-follow-your-directions!" Alecto was screaming. He wasn't on fire anymore, instead-now he was silently lying on the floor with a hand at his neck. Seamus gave a groan, his body doing a checkover. This was bad. He'd been bashed into a table at least twice, and both his face and his stomach were already forming bruises.
"You will not torture a student like this in front of so many others!" McGonagall, alright. Alecto only let out a loud cackle, like she thought she was a match for the other professor. Seamus would have smiled if he'd been able to move his mouth muscles into something other than a grimace of pain.
A sudden crack and an infuriated scream that must have come from McGonagall was heard, and then the footsteps were coming closer again. It was Professor McGonagall, it had to be-
He gave a whimper as the heel of a boot landed in his stomach. Amycus.
"You're really giving us a run for our money, aren't you, laddie?" The leering old face was peering back into his. He didn't reply, only shut his eyes.
It was all wrong. All he wanted was Dean, and that only made his heart hurt more. They knew now, they knew, and he wasn't going to be saved from whatever was coming for him, ever. A shrill voice cried out the curse again and he was suddenly in agony once more. Someone was next to him, beside him now, but he couldn't make out who it was through the tears and the pain.
The screams for the first time took on the form of word. He had been forcing the word down for ages now, but it was forming on his lips and it would be too much to continue forcing down soon. The screams never became words from what he'd thought he'd known, but he was clearly wrong. What he screamed was not going to be forgotten-by him or anyone else.
"DEAN!" It was one word but it was enough to silence everyone in the hall, aside from a trill of laughter after his outburst from Alecto, and the person by his side trying to shout at the 'professor' from their knees. He couldn't help it. It came out again, with less force this time, his heart pulling at its core to be let loose. "Dean! Dean…" He choked it out through the sobs that were taking ahold of him despite the pain.
A flash through the air of a curse and the pain was gone. He was just a sobbing mess in the middle of the Great Hall, pain from the torture and pain from being outed all too soon by means of evil were the only things on his mind. The person beside him was trying to lift him in their arms, but now he could make out that it was McGonagall and she wasn't strong enough to carry his entire body.
"Get off of him, he's mine!" Alecto was screaming, her voice raspy. McGonagall was suddenly shoved backwards by someone, and he was lying on the ground again.
Alecto peered down at him with something that looked like pleasure and anger mixed in it. Then-"Imperio!" he was moving forward against his own will, thoughts being turned to mush as she dragged him towards her on his hands and knees. It ended-and "Crucio!" was shouted again. Maybe it would end by someone throwing a knife into his chest. That sounded like a lovely way to die.
More students were shouting now. Everyone appeared to have found their voices and their legs and people were trying to get to him, how he knew he wasn't sure but they were. Alecto was screaming and laughing all the while tears streamed down his face as he twisted, the pain stretching every bone and every limb to an extent not known before. Something cracked as something met with his ribcage, a table no doubt. There was a new poking feeling clogging his breathing.
The pain ended with not a sound to be heard from Alecto. It appeared a brawl had broken out across the Great Hall. A hand landed on his shoulder, then he was lifted. Not McGonagall this time, a male, Neville. A weak sob escaped him as he was met with only more pain and then he was choking for air again.
"Seamus, Seamus, mate-" Neville was concerned as all hell.
"Lu-lung.." Blood was forming inside of his mouth now, and he coughed, letting out a large amount. A few noises of disgust were heard from some of the students around them; but they sounded more concerned. How could they be concerned, he was now to them something abnormal, a person who wasn't loved by anyone because of who and what he was. Seamus had never truly breathed a word of it, only acted out against it once and screamed out the name of his lost lover-which was more than enough. More than enough to let them know his feelings.
A chill of horror flooded through him as everything went black.
