Before I Knew

36. Liar

"Not the most uplifting song the Hat's ever sung, was it?" Dean asked Seamus as they put up posters and photographs around their beds. They'd arrived at the dormitories first and had the space to themselves for a little while.

"Not exactly," Seamus muttered. "Do you believe what it said about Hogwarts bein' in danger and all?"

"I don't know why it would lie," Dean replied. "What it said about uniting makes sense, though."

"Like we'd ever unite with those soddin' Slythins," Seamus scoffed.

They continued unpacking in silence for a few moments, Seamus thinking hard about something.

"You think we might be in danger, then?" he asked eventually.

Dean nodded. "Well, Dumbledore did say that You-Know-Who was back at the end-of-the-year feast last year."

"But that can't be true!" Seamus exclaimed, a slightly panicked look in his eyes. "I mean, he died ages ago, everyone says so."

"You think Harry and Dumbledore are lying, then?"

Seamus gave him a curious look. "Haven't ye been readin' the Prophet?"

He shook his head. "No, my parents think owls swooping in with newspapers every day would tip off Michelle. Besides, I didn't want them to find out about Cedric dying. I didn't want to worry them and they might not've let me come back."

"Me mam almost didn't."

His jaw dropped. "What? Why didn't you tell me?!"

Seamus glared at him. "We haven't seen each other and ye barely wrote me all summer, Dean! Did I do somethin' wrong? Have ye been avoidin' me?"

Dean looked away, feeling ashamed. It was true, he had been avoiding Seamus. He just hadn't been sure how they were supposed to act like it was just another summer when Cedric had just died, and how could he have expressed that in a letter? So he just avoided the issue, but that was apparently not the right way to go about it.

He cleared his throat. "No, 'course not Shay. What's happened?"

"Well naturally she got real scared after Cedric got…after he died," Seamus said quickly. Dean noticed how he avoided saying Cedric got killed. "And then with Dumbledore and Harry runnin' around like madmen sayin' Ye-Know-Who is back, she didn't want me to come back. Fought with her about it all summer."

"But where would you have gone?" Dean asked incredulously.

"She suggested Beauxbatons since it's sorta close and fairly reputable," Seamus wrinkled his nose. "I told her I'd rather go to Salem Prep in the States than ever step foot in that prissy French school. She doesn't much like the States, so she caved after a while and said I could come back."

"So she thinks Harry and Dumbledore are lying?"

"Well, nobody knows what really happened, do they?" Seamus asked. "All we have to go on is Harry's word. And if you think about it, everythin' Harry's done nobody's been around to see. He was alone when he defeated Quirrell, and same with whatever monster was in the Chamber – if there really was one. Who knows if he's actually been tellin' the truth or if it's all been an act for attention?"

Dean frowned. "I don't think he would – "

They stopped short when they realized that Harry and Neville had just walked into the dorm. Harry eyed them as if he knew they'd just been talking about him. Dean felt a flash of guilt and got back to putting on his pajamas.

"Hey, Harry," he said. "Good holiday?"

"Not bad. You?"

"Yeah, it was okay." He laughed a bit nervously. "Better than Seamus' anyway, he was just telling me."

"Why, what happened, Seamus?" Neville asked, putting a rather horrid looking cactus on his bedside cabinet.

Seamus glared at Dean, his back turned to Harry and Neville. He turned his attention to his Kenmare Kestrels poster and pressed on the edges about five times to stall before he answered.

"Me mam didn't want me to come back."

"What?" Harry sounded nearly as surprised as Dean did.

"She didn't want me to come back to Hogwarts," he elaborated as he pulled out his pajamas, not making eye contact with anyone.

"But – why?"

Seamus felt a hot flash of anger run through him as he pulled his pants on. As if he didn't know. All of this was his doing, after all. He finished buttoning his shirt and carefully maintained his tone as he said, "Well, I suppose…because of you."

"What d'you mean?" Harry asked.

Seamus pursed his lips. "Well, she…er…well, it's not just you, it's Dumbledore too…"

"She believes the Daily Prophet?" Harry sounded angry. "She thinks I'm a liar and Dumbledore's an old fool?"

Seamus stared defiantly at him. "Yeah, somethin' like that."

Harry angrily changed into his pajamas, every movement he made was filled with aggression. He'd climbed into his bed and was reaching for the curtains when Seamus asked,

"Look…what did happen that night when…you know, when…with Cedric Diggory and all?"

Dean went still. Seamus' voice had gone funny, like he was earnestly trying to figure out the truth from Harry, like he was really trying to give Harry a chance.

"What are you asking me for?" Harry snapped. "Just read the Daily Prophet like your mother, why don't you? That'll tell you all you need to know."

Dean shook his head. Harry had let his anger get the best of him and it was only going to go downhill from here.

"Don't you have a go at my mother," Seamus growled.

"I'll have a go at anyone who calls me a liar."

"Don't talk to me like that!"

"I'll talk to you how I want." Harry grabbed his wand off his bedside table. Dean tensed up, ready to step in in case he went for Seamus. "If you've got a problem sharing a dormitory with me, go and ask McGonagall if you can be moved, stop your mummy worrying – "

"Leave my mother out of this, Potter!"

"What's going on?"

Dean turned to see Ron standing in the doorway looking bewildered.

"He's havin' a go at my mother!" Seamus answered, shaking with anger.

"What? Harry wouldn't do that – we met your mother, we liked her…"

"That's before she started believing every word the stinking Daily Prophet writes about me!" Harry roared.

"Oh. Oh…right." Ron frowned as the realization hit him.

"You know what?" Seamus' voice had gone icy cold. "He's right, I don't want to share a dormitory with him anymore, he's a madman."

"That's out of order, Seamus," Ron defended, his ears red with anger.

"Out of order, am I?" The blood was draining out of Seamus' face. Dean wanted to step in, but he didn't want Seamus to turn on him too. "Ye believe all the rubbish he's come out with about Ye-Know-Who, do ye, ye reckon he's telling the truth?"

"Yeah, I do!" Ron snapped.

"Then ye're mad too," Seamus spat.

Ron took a threatening step forward, jabbing at the badge on his chest. "Yeah? Well unfortunately for you, pal, I'm also a prefect! So unless you want detention, watch your mouth!"

Seamus was fuming. He'd give anything to hex Ron, detention be damned, but if he got in trouble his first day back his mom would definitely pull him out of Hogwarts. He turned to his bed and pulled on the curtains so hard they ripped off and fell to the floor.

Ron glared at everyone. "Anyone else's parents got a problem with Harry?"

His eyes landed on Dean, who put his hands up. "My parents are Muggles, mate. They don't know nothing about no deaths at Hogwarts, because I'm not stupid enough to tell them."

"Ye don't know my mother, she'll weasel anythin' out of anyone!" Seamus retorted at Dean, causing a hurt look to flash across his friend's face. "Anyway, yer parents don't get the Daily Prophet, they don't know our headmaster's been sacked from the Wizengamot and the International Confederation of Wizards because he's losin' his marbles – "

"My gran says that's rubbish," Neville quipped. "She says it's the Daily Prophet that's going downhill, not Dumbledore. She's cancelled out subscription. We believe Harry," he said as he got into his bed, glancing nervously at Seamus. "My gran's always said You-Know-Who would come back one day. She says if Dumbledore says he's back, he's back."

Harry gave Neville a sappy look of gratitude and Seamus decided that he'd had enough. He repaired his curtains and promptly closed them, not even saying goodnight to Dean. Dean shook his head sadly and got into his own bed. His outlooks for the rest of the school year had not improved one bit.

A lot of this chapter is made up of exact quotes from OotP, so I'm just going to remind everybody that everything (Except Salem Prep, my creation) belongs to our queen, J.K. Rowling. I'm simply embellishing the story =)

~Ki