Halloween had always been something Seamus had looked forward to as a child, but it had never been as big a deal as this in his household – not that it could have been, of course. As he and Dean stood and stared at the great hall, marvelling at the transformation, he finally understood the wide smile on his mam's face whenever they mentioned what holidays were like at Hogwarts. Magical society was shaped by experiences like this. This was something that almost every witch or wizard in the United Kingdom had seen at some point in their lives, and that was a sobering thought.

'Unreal,' Seamus eventually judged.

'Cool,' Dean added, grinning and tugging on Seamus's sleeve as he eventually started towards Gryffindor table. 'Come on; we're probably in someone's way. It'll still be there when we sit down.'

'Shut up,' Seamus said, trying to look far grumpier than he really was. It only made Dean laugh, which wasn't such a bad outcome anyway. The closer they were, the better – Neville was hovering right on the edge of both of the main friendships in their dormitory, and Seamus didn't want an opening coming up where his place had once been.

That being said, he didn't think there was any danger of it happening. He and Dean had steered carefully away from the subject of what they thought of each other since the last conversation they'd had on the matter. That was girly talk anyway.

'Reckon I could carve a decent pumpkin,' Dean thought aloud, settling into his seat and pouring both him and Seamus a cup of pumpkin juice.

'Yeah?' Seamus said, distracted. 'What would you carve it into?'

After thinking for a few moments, probably just as distracted himself, he finally answered. 'Maybe a severed hand. See if I can charm it to wiggle its fingers and crawl along round the side of the pumpkin.'

'Don't get ahead of yourself now,' Seamus teased, grinning at him broadly. 'We've only just got on to levitating charms today.'

'Well, some of us have,' Dean said innocently, snickering as he was punched in the arm.

'Git.'

'Some of us just set our feathers on fire…'

"Alright. Alright,' Seamus said, ruffling his hair playfully and settling back into his chair. 'You've made your point, you bully.'

'D'you reckon they'll do anything weird? For Halloween?'

'Maybe,' he said, thinking about what it might be. 'Maybe not. They put a lot of work into how it looks. I dunno if they'd bother to think about what happens. We could all tell stories tonight, though. All five of us.'

Dean smiled, drinking down the rest of his pumpkin juice. 'That'd be fun.'

'Five sickles Neville has nightmares.'

He gave a soft laugh, shaking his head and pushing his cup away from him. 'You're cruel. Keep your sickles.'

'Then you agree?'

'Didn't say I didn't.'

They looked up at one another to smirk, both quite aware that if anybody really took the piss out of Neville they'd be on them like a shot. It wasn't that they liked him, per se. He was a bit of a damp squib, without actually being a squib, and not exactly beneficial to any first-year's reputation as a friend. Seamus wouldn't like to admit aloud that he thought popularity mattered enough to think about that, but he did. Dean probably did too – even kind, cool Dean, who'd suggested they go and see him when he was still in the hospital wing for his flying incident. It was just the way things went, though. Maybe next year when things weren't so full of pressure. Maybe if he calmed down a bit and settled. Maybe if he got rid of that toad.

Either way, nobody was allowed to pick on him. Not some time in the future, and especially not now.