Round 8 of the Quidditch League Competition.

Team: Falmouth Falcons

Position: Chaser 2

Round Prompt:Hermione and Seamus used to study together during sixth year. They liked being around someone who understood what it's like to love someone and watch that person be with someone else.

Prompts:

(dialogue) "You have his eyes."

(word) possible

(word) elegant

Word Count: 1054

Beta's: Flye

Summary: Hermione and Seamus used to study together during sixth year. They liked being around someone who understood what it's like to love someone and watch that person be with someone else. (Prompt by MoonstoneIce)

Hermione stared blankly at the page in front of her. All of the possible answers barely staying in her mind for longer than a second. She knew that her emotions were all over the place at the moment. She never imagined that she would be the type of person who got emotional over a boy; especially not Ron Weasley. He frustrated her to no end.

She had often heard that you don't choose who you fall in love with, she now understood that sentiment. Turning her attention back to her homework, she blankly stared at the page once more. One of the worst things about her overly-emotional state - apart from the anger, hurt, and tears - was that it had managed to distracted her from her homework.

Hermione loved homework.

"Hey," a voice interrupted her.

She looked up in slightly surprise - it wasn't often she had company in the library - to see Seamus. "Hey."

"Mind if I join you?"

"Be my guest."

Seamus was the one who broke the silence. "Love is distracting, isn't it?"

Hermione's brows furrowed as she actually turned her full attention to his. Though it didn't look like he had been crying, there was a sadness about his eyes. "What do you know about love?" She instantly regretted that question. It wasn't just his expression, but moreso because she knew she hadn't been thinking of the possible repercussions of such a comment - that wasn't like her.

"Lavender and I used to date," Seamus admitted as he pulled out some parchment, ink, quill, and a book. "He just doesn't seem like her type."

Hermione sighed as she looked down at her homework once more. Ron. She didn't think he was her type either. "Why did you two break up?"

Seamus shrugged, but she could see he was holding back.

She could definitely understand that he might not want to discuss it, she definitely didn't. Thinking about all of the possible futures was frustrating. And as each day passed, the smaller the chance of her and Ron even getting close to dating. They were only friends - at least, she hoped that they were still friends. She was mildly aware of Seamus leaning closer and looking down at what she was doing but didn't react.

"Acromantula venom."

"Acro…" Hermione drifted off as she looked at Seamus before down at her homework. "Yes!" she exclaimed as she quickly wrote that down, the following paragraph flew out of her with elegant strokes of the quill. She couldn't help but miss pens when she was in this writing mood, there was no need to constantly dib to continue writing. "Thanks."

Seamus' lips turned upwards in a smile before picking up his quill. Although, he made no movements to write. "Can I ask you a question?"

Hermione nodded, glancing over at his homework. "Is it about charms?"

"I do need help with that," he admitted.

She knew that his question hadn't been about charms but allowed them to fall into their homework. The conversation gradually moved onto explosion and it was fascinating to see how much Seamus had developed.

"It's so easy to get lost in your own world and be so absorbed that you miss what is going on around you," Hermione commented.

Seamus tilted his head. "What do you mean?"

"You know so much about explosions, the mechanics behind them. I still remember you nearly blowing yourself up on countless times in first year," Hermione admitted, smiling as Seamus laughed. "And I didn't even know you dated Lavender. She's not a very subtle person."

"Subtle is not a word I'd associate with her." He let out a thoughtful sigh. "Passionate, elegant, energetic," he listed. "Lav puts her all into everything she does."

The way he spoke about her - and the longing look on his face - made Hermione realise that things can change in a heartbeat. One day she was helping Harry and Ron with their homework, that was a routine, the next she was sitting with Seamus. It was refreshing to do homework with somebody different. "She sounds like an amazing person. What happened?"

Seamus looked at her, twisting his quill between his fingers. "It just… ran it's course. We started so innocently, going to the Yule Ball together, but we didn't actually start dating until the following year. By the time summer came, we'd drifted to being friends, very close friends. She even came to my house over the summer." He stopped and let out a chuckle. "She was fascinated with my Dad's eyes, kept saying that they were the same as mine. The amount of times she said 'You have his eyes' was ridiculous."

Hermione smiled fondly at that. These little details that he was reiterating was fascinating. Every sentence showed how much he'd cared for her.

"I always thought that we'd drift back together, you know?"

"Yeah. It's still possible though," Hermione told him. "Just because they're together now, doesn't mean it'll last."

"That's true." He looked at the table and fell quiet for a few seconds. Hesitation crossed his face for a split second before he looked at her once more. "Did you and Ron ever date?"

Hermione shook her head and it made her feel even more ridiculous. Getting so upset over something that had never even happened was possibility the more over-dramatic things she'd ever done.

Seamus placed a hand on her shoulder. "That's sometimes worse. All of the possible outcomes which could have happened. The what-ifs. The-"

"Seamus," she said, her voice coming out weaker than she liked. He instantly went silent. The worst thing about his words was that he was right.

It's better to have loved and lost, than to never have loved at all. She would never know what it would have been like with him, she was too late.

"I can't believe it," Seamus said suddenly, pulling her from her thoughts.

"What?"

"All my homework is done." He sent her a reassuring smile. It was obvious that he was blatantly distracting her - after all, they both knew that they had both finished all of their homework. "We should study together more!"

Hermione smiled at his comment. She loved the fact that he wanted to study with her again was refreshing. Forcing Harry and Ron to do their homework was annoying at times. "That'd be great."