Seamus Finnigan ran through the rain. Why he had chosen tonight to go and get Ginny's Christmas present, he himself didn't know. And then was when he ran straight inot Professor McGonagall. 'Oh, no,' Seamus though, 'Not now.' Professor McGonagall looked Seamus straight in the eye.
"To my office, Seamus." Seamus followed her into her office. He looked down at his feet.
"May I ask what on earth you were doing, Seamus?"
"I......"
"Out with it."
"I was getting a Christmas present."
"A Christmas present?"
"Yes, Professor. It's for Ginny Weasley."
"Ginny, eh?"
"Yes, ma'am."
"You know I could have you expelled for this, Mr. Finnigan.
"Yes, Professor."
"But I won't." Seamus finally looked up at Professor McGonagall.
"Thank you, Professor."
"You are quite welcome, Seamus. As it is you first offense, I see no need to expel you. But there is still the matter of your detention. You are to spend tomorrow afternoon with Professor Snape," Seamus groaned at her words, why couldn't he have gotten a detention with Gumtree? "and the 7th year Slytherins. They still need to be punished for the matter of the fireworks display that was set off during Transfiguration." Seamus giggled at the thought of the Slytherins getting yelled at by McGonagall after tons of Filbuster Fireworks were set off during class.
"Is ther a problem, Mr. Finnigan?"
"No, Professor, I just don't much like Malfoy."
"Well, you should have thought a little bit more before you snuck out of your house at night."
"I understand."
"Now get to bed. It's late." Seamus an off to bed in a terrible mood. He was supposed to meet Ginny at the same time of his detention. How the heck was he supposed to get out of this mess? He lay down in bed, but he couldn't sleep. He grabbed the pictureframe that lay on his bedside table. He looked at Ginny's always smiling face, and then at himself. Ginny looked cheerful, yet he looked upset. The Ginny in the picture playfully bobbed the Seamus in the picture on the head. Seamus (the real one) laughed and placed the picture back on the bedside table. He tried once again to go to sleep, and this time he was successful.......
"No! Ginny! Dean, Parvati! Harry, Hermione! Ron, Lavender, Neville!" Seamus was running through the forest, his face was bleeding, his heart was racing. Finally he saw the clearing. But where were the others? Then he saw it. Several dead bodies lay at its feet. One of them was Ginny Weasley. Seamus woke up, panting, sweating, and crying.
"Seamus, are you okay?" Harry asked. All of the boys were now crowded around Seamus.
"I guess it was just a bad dream."
"What was it about?"
"I was in the forest, and I was screaming. I was hurt pretty badly. Then I reached a clearing, and there was this thing....... A bunch of people lay dead at its feet."
"Do you remember who was dead?" Ron asked.
"All I remember is seeing Ginny's dead body, and this rush of anger and sorrow washed over me. And then it was over."
"Ginny was dead?"
"Yes, she..... she was."
"Why her?" "I don't know."
"I've had the dream, except Hermione's dead, and so are you two, and so is everybody else. I'm the only one left. That thing....... I think it's Voldemort," Harry said quietly.
"Don't say the name," Neville squeaked.
"You guys, can we just forget about Seamus and Harry's dream?" Dean piped up. "Yes, please. I'm hungry," Ron said. The 5 boys headed down to breakfast in the Great Hall. Everyone else was nearly done when they arrived.
"Hey guys, why are you so late?" Lavender asked as Ron slid into the empty seat next to her.
"Seamus had a bad dream," Ron said loudly.
"Oh, did you have a bad dream?" Giny asked, concerned.
"It's nothing," Seamus muttered.
"I wouldn't call a dream that involves You-Know-Who nothing," Dean said.
"You-Know-Who was in your dream?" Ginny nearly yelled.
"Shh. Not so loud. Malfoy'll hear," Seamus said in a whisper.
"But did it? I want to know, Seamus, and I have a right to," Ginny said. "According to Harry, yes. I don't know for sure. But I do know that Harry claims to have had the same dream," Seamus said.
"Oh, my. What if this really happens?" Ginny asked.
"Then you'd better be careful, Ginny, and so had I," Seamus said.
"Me? What've I got to do with all this?" Ginny asked, a look of sheer terror on her face.
"Nice going, Finnigan. Now you've gona and scared poor Ginny," Ron said angrily. "It's best if she knows, Ron," Harry said.
"Knows what?" Ginny asked.
"That if this really does happen, and if it happens the way Harry and I saw it, all of us are going to be dead sometime within the next six months," Seamus said. Ginny gasped, Lavender dropped the cup she was holding, and Parvati stopped giggling. All three stared.
"Oh, no, we're going to die?" Parvati asked.
"No. Let's go, Seamus, we're going to be late for Defense Against the Dark Arts, " Harry said.
"But I'm not done with my breakfast," Seamus said.
"Come on, Seamus," Harry said, dragging Seamus away from the crowd.
"Don't let everybody know about the dream, Seamus. You'll freak them out," Harry said.
"Sure, sure. I didn't want to tell them, but everybody else was talking abou it," Seamus replied. They walked into the classroom, where Professor Gumtree was standing near the blackboard, smiling sweetly at the few Gryffindors who had already arrived. Melissa Gumtree was the assistant head of Gryffindor House, and everybody liked her, even Professor Snape. She was the first Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher Seamus had had that hadn't left after one year of teaching, and she had been a great friend of James and Lily Potter, Harry's parents. Just then Ron, Lavender, Dean, Neville, and Parvati walked in. Ron sat down on Harry's other side and looked angrily at Seamus. Fortunately, class started then, or else Ron would have found a reason to be angrier with Seamus than he already was.
"Okay, class, today is a very important lesson, and you must pay attention," Gumtree said. Hermione's hand shot up, but Gumtree ignored her.
"It's time you learned to protect yourselves against Dark Wizards. Now, I'm sure all of you know who the most powerful Dark Wizard of all was, so can anyone tell me?" everyone's hand went up. hermione was standing up and waving her hand around in the air. "Sit down, Miss Granger. Could you tell me, Mr. Longbottom?"
"You-Know-Who?" Neville said stupidly.
"Well, that's correct in a way, but can anyone tell me his true name?" Only Harry's hand remained up.
"For God's sake, why do I have a class full of wimps? Mr. Potter, you need to use the restroom before class."
"Um, Professor, I don't need to use the restroom," Harry said.
"Well then, what do you want?"
"I have the answer."
"Finally. You are the only student who will say it."
"Tom Marvallo Riddle, or more commonly known as Lord Voldemort, was the greatest Dark Wizard of all," Harry said.
"Excellent! Where on earth did you learn that? It's not in our book," Gumtree said. "I've been face to face with Voldemort 6 times in my 17 years on earth, and each time I learn something new. I learned that in my second year at Hogwarts in the Chamber of Secrets," Harry said.
"Incredible. Now, back to the lesson at hand......." Seamus' thoughts fell back on the dream. Before Seamus knew it, class was over and it was time for Transfiguration. They all walked in silence and sat down drearily. McGonagall looked at them all. "Alright, what's wrong? Did Gumtree's lesson scare you all?" McGonagall asked. "No, Professor, it just..helped a little," Parvati said.
"Out with it," McGonagall demanded.
"Seamus and Harry had a dream with You-Know-Who in it, and a lot of people were dead," Parvati squeaked.
"All of us 7th years and Ginny Weasley, to be exact," Harry said.
"And Gumtree told us that dreams with Dark Lords usually happen," Ron said.
"Ah, I see. Now, on with class," McGonagall said. After a boring lesson, class ended.
"Class dismissed. Seamus, could I see you for a second," McGonagall said. Everyone except Seamus and Neville eagerly tore out of the classroom.
"Seamus, you are to report to Professor Snape's dungeon immediately for your detention," McGonagall said.
"Thank you, I had forgotten all about it," Seamus said. Then he remembered about Ginny.
"Neville? Can you do me a favor?"
"Sure, Seamus. What?"
"Will you tell Ginny that I can't meet her today because I have a detention?"
"I'll try."
"Thanks." Seamus walked off towards the dungeon. There sat Snape and the Slytherins.
"Alright, this is a detention for you all. You will work in pairs of 2 or 3. Finnigan, you're with Parkinson and Malfoy. The rest of you get partners and then I'll give you your instuctions," Snape said. The others got into pairs, and Snape began to speak again.
"Your group will be assigned a fairly difficult potion. You must gather the ingredients from around school. As soon as you find them all, you will come back and make the potion. You must correctly make your assigned potion before you can leave detention." Everyone groaned as Snape handed out the potion instuctions. Seamus, Draco, and Pansy got a fairly easy potion: the shrinking potion. The ingredients were all fairly easy to find: daisy roots, sliced caterpillars, a shrivelfig's skin, and pond water. 'How easy can this get?' Seamus wondered.
"Oh, we got a hard one," Pansy complained.
"No we didn't. I know where to get all this stuff," Seamus said.
"Alright!" Malfoy said, slinging his arm around Pansy. She giggled lightly and the three took off.
"We should split up. I'll go with Pansy," Malfoy said.
"Oh, alright. You two get the shrivelfig from Professor Sprout. I'll get the rest, it's all in the same place," Seamus said. So Pansy and Draco took off towards Hagrid's hut, and Seamus toook off on his own. He ran to the garden. He pulled up some daisies and tore off the roots. He stuck them in his ingredients bag. Then he picked up a few caterpillars and stuck them in as well. Last of all, Seamus filled a container with pond water, then ran back to the dungeon where Malfoy and Pansy were waiting. The cauldron was already set up. Seamus began cutting the roots while Pansy stirred the water and Malfoy sliced the caterpillars. After Seamus finished, he tossed the roots into the cauldron and skinned the shrivelfig. He threw that in as Draco threw in the caterpillars. Pansy stirred the potion, and told Professor Snape that they were done. He rushed over, and pulled out a toad. He put a drop of the potion into the toads mouth, and it turned into a tadpole.
"Good work. You three may go," Snape said, and they tore out of the dungeon. Seamus ran as fast as he could to Gryffindor Tower. The Fat Lady looked at Seamus, then said, "What's the password?"
"Madrigal," Seamus said, and the door opened. He climbed through the hole and into the common room.
"How dare you show your face in Gryffindor Tower after what you've done?" Ron yelled.
"What?" Seamus asked, confused.
"I saw you with Pansy and Draco," Ginny said through sobs.
"You better have a good explanation for ditching my sister to hang out with Slytherins, you traitor!" Ron said. Seamus knew they wouldn't believe the truth, so he lied.
"No, I don't," Seamus said sadly and walked away. Harry stormed after him. "What'd you lie for?" Harry asked.
"What makes you think I lied?" Seamus asked.
"I know you better than that, Seamus. I know you must have a good reason," Harry replied.
"Well, you're right. I did lie. I had a detention, and with all the excitement of the dream, I forgot to tell her. I didn't remember until it was too late. I asked Neville to tell Ginny, but obviously, he forgot."
"Why didn't you tell Ginny that?"
"Because she'd never believe me. I'm through, Harry. I can never show my face in Gryffindor Tower again." Seamus began to cry.