(A/N – Sorry for the wait…I got a bit of writer's block. Enjoy the chapter!)

Chapter 20 - Christmas morning - Dean's POV

I was politely woken by my six year old sister jumping on me at four in the morning and screaming "Wake up, Bean! It's Christmas!"

Yes…she calls me Bean.

I groaned. "Alright, Zucchini, I'm up." Yes, I call her Zucchini. Her real name is Brittney.

I rolled over and found that Seamus' owl was sitting on my bedside table. My stomach fluttered in excitement. I flicked on my lamp, and then reached into the drawer and pulled out a few owl treats, before untying the letter.

"Can I read it?" Brittney asked.

"No," I said, practically tearing the letter in my rush to open it.

"Is it from your girlfriend?" she asked mockingly.

I rolled my eyes. "Go away. I'll come get you in a minute."

"Fine." She stomped out of the room.

Dean,

Oh bebe, I'm so sorry about your Mum. I'm sorry I didn't write back sooner. I'm so sorry. Sorry, sorry, sorry. I love you.

So I know this might be a little late, and I don't know how early you normally get up on Christmas morning but my Parents said it would be ok if you came here after breakfast, and stay for the rest of the day. I don't know if you have family plans or anything. Please don't feel bad if you can't come. If you have somewhere else to be…maybe you can come tomorrow or something.

I hope you can come…

Owl me back as soon as you get this. Or…as soon as you have an answer. Whenever you can.

Love you so much!

Seamus

I laughed at the disjointedness of his letter. I almost gushed at how cute it was and then realized that my brother was standing in the doorway. His hair looked wet.

I coughed. "Hi."

"What you reading?" he crossed the room and tried to snatch the letter out of my hand. I pulled it out of his reach just in time.

"None of your business. Zucchini get you up?" I replied, changing the subject.

"Yeah. Apparently I wasn't getting up fast enough for her so she dumped water on my head."

I laughed.

My brother David was 18, about a year and a half older than me. He was currently in his last year of muggle high school.

"I have to ask you something," he said.

"Shoot," I said, pulling on a t-shirt.

"Are you…gay?" he whispered.

I dropped the comb I had been running through my hair. "What…?"

"It's not like…I mean, I don't really care. I mean…it's not like a bad thing…I guess," he stumbled over his words.

I just sat there on my bed staring at him, my jaw hanging down. "Uh…" I muttered after a few minutes.

"If you don't want to talk…" he started.

"No. I mean…Yeah. Yeah, I am. Sorry."

"Sorry for what?" he asked.

"Um…I don't really know. No answering right away, I guess."

He nodded. I laughed uncomfortably. "Cool…"

"Yeah…" I replied slowly.

"So um…Who's the letter from?" he asked, obviously thinking he might be changing the subject. Obviously he wasn't.

"Um…" I wasn't sure if I wanted to tell him. "My…boyfriend," I said finally.

"Oh…" he laughed. "Wow…"

"What?" I asked.

"You have a boyfriend fore I even have a girlfriend."

I laughed. "Yeah, and you're older."

He laughed too, comfortably this time.

"Don't tell mum," I said.

"As long as you don't tell her that I'm failing History and Chemistry."

I laughed. "Your secret is safe with me," I said.

"Let's go have Christmas."

"Is Mum up?" I asked.

"Of course," David replied.

o

Seamus,

You don't have to be sorry about anything. None of this is your fault.

I asked my Mum if I could come today and she said yes. I'm ready whenever you are, just floo in and I'll come back with you.

Love, Dean.

I scrawled my messy signature and folded the letter hastily, tying it to Francis' leg and carrying her over to the front door.

I ran back up the stairs and changed my shirt. Then I decided that the pants didn't match the shirt so I changed those too. I looked in the mirror and realized that the shirt was a little big so I changed it again, and finally I was satisfied.

I practically flew into the bathroom, opening the cupboard so fast that it banged against the wall and made a mark. I winced slightly, reaching in to get the hair gel.

I spent about 20 minutes perfecting my hair, and I was just about to wash the huge amount of gel off my hands when I heard my Mum call "Dean!" up the stairs.

I started rushing. I quickly washed the gel off my hands and got out my toothbrush. "What?" I called back down the stairs, just as Seamus appeared at the top. "Oh…hey!" I said, smiling.

"Hey," he grinned. He walked into the bathroom and pushed the door closed before launching himself at me, trying to kiss me.

I laughed. "Wait…" I said, waving my toothbrush.

He rolled his eyes. "Do it later."

"I just ate breakfast," I laughed.

He grinned wickedly. "I don't care."

I sighed, smiling, and gave up, pulling him into my arms and kissing him. His hand slid up my back and into my hair, before sliding under the tap, rinsing the gel off, and toweling itself dry, his lips never breaking contact with mine. I smiled into his kiss.

"Not funny," he mumbled, kissing his way down my neck.

"Very funny," I sighed back. "You saw me doing my hair when you came up.

"Shhh…" he whispered, his hands sliding around my waist and holding me lovingly, not a hint of hidden intentions in his touch.

I brushed my fingertips over his cheek before tilting his chin up to mine and pecking him lightly. "Can I brush my teeth now?" I asked.

"Noooo…" he groaned "You taste better than stupid mint toothpaste."

I laughed. "It's cinnamon," I said. "And you're just saying that. I don't want bad breath when I meet your parents."

"Oh, so that's what you're nervous about…" he said comprehensively.

"What?" I asked.

"Your Mum said you'd been in the bathroom for half an hour when I got here. You always spend forever on your hair when you're nervous."

"Oh…" I blushed slightly. Seamus smiled.

"Oh my God, you're so adorable." He kissed me lightly on the cheek and pulled me out of the bathroom by my hand.

He practically flew down the stairs, leaving me to trail behind.

"You have way too much energy," I said as I caught up to him.

"You don't have enough energy," he responded quickly.

I laughed. "My sister got me up at four."

"Uh huh…" he stepped into the fire place while I grabbed a handful of floo powder and stepped in after him.

"Bye Mum," I called as Seamus said his address and we went swirling through the floo network.

After a few moments, we stopped suddenly.

"Welcome to Ireland," Seamus said cheerfully.

I opened my eyes, which had been tightly shut for the journey. "Why, thank you," I smiled.

"Seamus? Is that you?" came a voice from the next room.

"Yeah, Mum," he called back. He held out his hand and helped me step out of the fire place.

A mid height, red haired woman with a wand sticking out of her pocket came into the room. "You must be Dean," she said, smiling. "Happy Christmas. I'm Melanie." Seamus' mother's accent was even stronger than his.

"Happy Christmas," I replied politely.

"Mark!" Melanie called towards the back door.

The door opened and a tall man with sandy blonde hair came in, stamping the snow off his shoes as he did. "You must be Dean," he shook my hand. "Mark."

"Nice to meet you," I said, a little nervously.

"Oh…k. We're going upstairs now," Seamus said quickly. He grabbed my hand and pulled me towards the stairs, nearly pulling my arm out of its socket.

"Behave yourselves!" Melanie called after us. Seamus rolled his eyes.

"I thought you said they were in denial?" I asked as we reached the top of the stairs.

"Eh…they got over it," Seamus replied.

He pulled me down the hall to a white door with a tiny shamrock sticker in the middle. He reached for the handle and then froze.

"Um…" he blushed slightly. "Have you seen Ron's room?"

I nodded slowly.

"Um…this is sort of the same idea," he said blushingly. "…And equally embarrassing."

I laughed. "Ok, now open the door before I ravish you here in the hallway."

He waggled his eyebrows and opened the door which, as I had expected, cast an eerie green glow into the hallway.

I stepped into the room to find a large number of posters of the Irish national team. However, instead of their uniform robes, most of the posters displayed the male quidditch players in shamrock printed boxer shorts.

I smirked as Seamus shut the door behind his with a click. I stared around the walls and ceiling for a few moments before he cleared his throat.

"Yes?" I asked,

"You mentioned something about ravaging me?" he smirked.

I grinned wickedly and slammed him backwards into the door before he knew what was happening. I pinned his hips with mine and my lips hovered over his for a few seconds before he groaned impatiently and pressed into me, kissing me fiercely.

"Mmm…" I sighed a few minutes later, relaxing my hold on him. "Merry Christmas to you too…"

He chuckled and rested his head back against the door, eyes closed. I reached up and touched his cheek and he smiled, his eyes remaining closed.

"I have something for you," he said, slipping past me and crawling under his bed. He crawled out with a large box wrapped in gold with a red bow around it.

"How very Gryffindor," I smirked. He handed me the box. I sat down on his bed and tore the paper roughly. It was a plain cardboard box inside. I slid open the flaps and there was a black and silver football inside.

I smiled and tipped the ball out of the box and was looking it over when I saw a scrawled signature across one side. My jaw dropped.

"Don… Hutchinson?" I asked. I was actually shaking. "As in Don Hutchinson from West Ham United? Are you fucking kidding me?" Seamus was grinning widely. "How did you know?"

Seamus just raised an eyebrow. "I have been in our dorm at school, you know. How many posters of him do you have, exactly?" he asked.

"Seventeen," I said slowly, still in awe. "How did you get it?"

"I went to a signing thing in a muggle mall."

My jaw dropped once again. "You MET him!" I asked loudly. He smirked. "Isn't he, like, the hottest thing you've ever seen?"

"Nope," Seamus replied unblinkingly.

I glared. "Don't you go insulting-"

"YOU…are the hottest thing I've ever seen," he cut in quickly.

I shut my mouth quickly. "Oh my god. I love you." I jumped on him, pinning his back against the door again and smothering his mouth.

He kissed me back for a few seconds before pulling his lips a few centimeters away from mine. "I love you too," he whispered. Then I kissed him so hard that his head nearly smashed against the door. His arms came up around my waist and he crushed his body against mine, almost painfully. I groaned at the contact.

He suddenly whirled me around so that my back was against the door, his knee between my thighs, putting him in complete control. I moaned loudly into his lips as he ground his thigh into me.

"Wait…wait," I whispered into his lips. "I have something for you, too."

"Can't it wait?" he whispered back, trailing his lips down my neck.

"It won't take long, I promise."

Seamus groaned but pulled away and sat down softly on the bed. I sat next to him and he ran his fingers through my hair. I pulled a small, navy blue box with a silver ribbon out of my pocket.

"This is…um…kind of corny," I blushed slightly, hesitating.

He ran a hand over my cheek. "I love that corny kind of stuff," he said.

"Of course you do, fag," I replied lovingly, handing over the small package.

He carefully untied the ribbon and lifted the lid. He smiled when he saw what was inside. He lifted a broad, strong looking sliver chain out of the box and read the ID tag which said 'S+D,' with a tiny ruby on each side of the letters. He handed me the bracelet and put on its partner from the box. The bracelets were identical, solid silver.

"I'd say the words, but I figure there are better ways to thank you," he said softly, leaning towards me. I wound my fingers into his short hair and pulled him down on top of my as I lay back on his bed, his lips crushing mine violently. I groaned loudly as he flipped open my belt and slid his hand down my pants…