Disclaimer: I'm not J.R.R. Tolkien, I'm not J.K. Rowling, But I write from the heart, from the heart.
Summery: Ghosts and portraits and very disgranteled Dean.
Bata: Beankin' – I thank you so very much for that.
Mad About You – Chapter 7
Artist – Sting. Title – Mad about you. Album – The soul cages.
Once they were inside their dorm Harry and Seamus began to get ready for bed without speaking or even looking at each other. The whole evening experience had been so strange, for both of them. Neither of them actually planed to tell the others what was going on, certainly not that way. Harry naturally planed to tell Ron and Hermione some day, probably after school was over, but he should have known that Hermione was far too clever and observant not to notice anything.
Harry and Seamus looked at each other, a little tilt of the head, a nod and they were both behind the curtains of Harry's bed. They sat facing each other with their knees drawn to their chests. Harry quickly cast the silencing charm around them though there was no one else in the room.
"That was… interesting," said Seamus,
"More like terrifying," exclaimed Harry and they both laughed a little.
"You certainly dug your grave back there; you know they are not going to leave you until you tell them about Terry."
"I'm not going to tell them about anyone. It's none of their business!"
"Since when did that ever stopped anyone around here?" Harry sighed, Seamus had a point there. They both sat lost in thought for a while,
"I can't believe that git Dean!" Seamus exclaimed loudly causing Harry to jump "He's supposed to be my best friend! None of the others had a problem with that, even Ron."
"Yeah, that was weird; I always thought it would be the other way around."
"I really hate to think he hates me because of that." Seamus sounded sad,
"Shey, he doesn't hate you, he's just in shock," Harry tried to comfort him,
"What would you do if Ron was acting that way?" Seamus lifted his eyes to look into Harry's,
"I don't know…" Seamus sighed and looked at his feet.
Harry bit his lip and wondered what he could do to make Seamus feel better and the only thing he could think of was to lean forward and kiss him. Seamus instantly melted into the kiss and pulled Harry on top of him. At that moment they heard the door of the dormitory open and Ron and Neville entering. Seamus and Harry hastily broke apart forgetting the silencing spell. They listened for a while to the other boys getting ready for bed and then waited till they heard their breath deepening with sleep.
They lay next to each other for a while each wrapped in his thoughts when Seamus suddenly sat up, "Where's Dean? He didn't come in with the others. Its way past curfew. Bugger! He's going to get in troubles and it's all my fault. Harry, we have to go and find him!" Harry didn't feel like going to look for anyone at this hour but knew how important this was for Seamus.
"Wait," he said before Seamus could get out of bed and run around the corridors like a reckless git getting caught by Filch. After all Seamus didn't have the experience or the equipment Harry had. He dived behind the curtain and came back holding an old parchment.
"What's that?" asked Seamus curiously when Harry tapped the parchment with his wand saying clearly,
"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." Lines started to spread from the tip of his wand forming words. Seamus gaped in surprise and looked at the inscription,
"Who are Moony, Padfoot, Prongs and Wormtail? And what are the Marauders?" before Harry could answer the words changed and the lines started to form a complicated pattern. When the map was complete Harry explained,
"This is the Marauders' map. It was written by my dad and his friends. It shows all of Hogwarts and the people in it." Seamus was impressed,
"No kidding… which one's your dad?"
"Prongs. They called themselves after the form of their animagus. My dad was a stag. Padfoot is Sirius Black, he was a dog. Moony is professor Lupin, he's a werewolf," Seamus laughed,
"Of course. I can't believe it – professor Lupin was a hell raiser…" Harry smirked,
"We probably don't know the half of it."
"Who is Wormtail?" asked Seamus and Harry's smile faded,
"It's Peter Pettigrew." he said sourly Seamus took one look at his face and hastily changed the subject,
"How did you get that map? Don't tell me professor Lupin gave it to you…" Harry laughed and shook his head,
"Of course not! It was Fred and George, back in third year."
"I should have guessed. Bet Ron was over the moon about it."
"Hermione too, she tried to make me give it to McGonagall."
They both snickered and turned to scan the map. Being after hours most of the corridors were empty.
"The astronomy tower looks in full usage," pointed out Seamus with a smile, "Everyone in this castle is a crazed hormone junky." he shook his head,
"Yeah, except for us, of course…"
"Of course…"
They continued to scan the map looking for the little sign that read "Dean Thomas". They sat close together, their heads bowed together and their knees touching. If they hadn't been concerned about Dean they would probably lose the map at this point.
"There he is!" called Harry after a couple of minutes. He pointed at the map. Apparently Dean was sitting by the window of a disused class in the fifth floor.
"Let's go!" Seamus leaped from the bed and went to put on his slippers. Harry in the meanwhile dived behind the curtain again and came up with his invisibility cloak.
They made their way silently to the corridor outside the dorms and then Harry pulled the cloak over both of them. They made their way to the empty common room and out the portrait hole. The Fat Lady looked around her to see who left the tower, when she saw no one she said in an amused tone,
"Harry Potter, I presume…" Harry turned a little red under the cloak and murmured,
"Good evening…" the Fat Lady laughed,
"Don't you go doing anything naughty," she said in a highly amused tone and he flashed crimson as they left. Once they rounded the corner Seamus couldn't hold the laugher anymore.
"The Fat Lady got the hots for you." he called,
"Yeah, so does Moaning Myrtle, what's your point?" Harry's voice was almost bored but his eyes glistened and Seamus laughed again,
"Harry, you freak magnet…" he leaned forward to kiss Harry "I hope you told them you're mine!" he whispered
"Yes, because that's exactly the type of conversations we have… actually, come to think about it – this is the type of conversation I was having with Myrtle the last time we met… she saw me with Terry in the Prefects' bathroom." he explained apologetically. Seamus opened his eyes wide,
"Harry, that's gross… not to mention voyeuristic… she's one seriously disturbed ghost…"
"Shey, she hunt the prefects' bathroom to see some action, of course she's disturbed. Let's get a move on if we don't want Filch to catch us."
"Speaking of disturbed freaks." murmured Seamus as they started walking again and Harry smiled.
As they moved silently towards the fifth floor Harry mused how different walking with Seamus under the cloak was than walking with Ron. With Ron (and sometimes Hermione) there was always the awkwardness of not touching each other too much which made moving around a lot slower and noisier. With Seamus it was much easier, his arm was wrapped around Seamus' waist and they walked in a smooth motion.
When they reached the class Dean was in they slipped through the door and took the cloak off. Dean jumped from the window seal in alarm.
"What the fuck are you doing here?" he breathed out angrily,
"We came to talk to you and make sure you're alright." said Seamus and made a few steps in Dean's direction,
"I don't need you freaks coming after me, and I have nothing to say to either of you!"
"Fine! Will you at least listen to what we have to say?" Seamus voice was almost pleading but his stanch was tight and angry,
"NO!" Dean shouted and ran past them and out of the room,
"That went well." murmured Harry and put his hand on Seamus' shoulder,
"He is such a sodding twat! He makes me so angry. What the hell is his problem?" called out Seamus in frustration and slammed his fist in the nearest desk. Harry didn't have an answer for that. Dean was acting so out of character and frankly he found his behaviour offensive and even insulting. He wrapped his arms around Seamus and felt him shaking. Seamus took a deep breath and leaned his head on Harry's shoulder, his arms moving to hug Harry. They stood there without speaking for a few minutes when Harry suddenly remembered they were not in the dorms and that Filch could walk in on them any bloody second. He quickly pulled the map and looked at it. Luckily Filch was strolling in the first floor with his infamous cat Mrs. Norris. Dean seemed to have made his way back to the Gryffindor tower safely.
"We should get back" he whispered in Seamus' ear.
"I know. I don't want to."
"So what do you suggest we do? Stay here all night?"
"Yes!" he said firmly and then sighed, "But I'm too fond of luxuries such as a bed… I guess we better make our way back."
Once again Harry pulled the cloak around them and they made their way back. When they reached the tower he pulled the cloak off himself so that the Fat Lady could see him,
"Well, that didn't take long." she observed in neutral tone.
"Ice lollies." Harry said and the Fat Lady smiled,
"You said it, love." she snickered at her own joke and winked before she swung open. Once inside the common room Seamus collapsed on a sofa laughing.
"She shouldn't be allowed to come up with innocent passwords and then make them sound dirty!" Harry said and that sent Seamus in a new laughing fit.
"Oh, shut up! It's your fault, now she thinks I sneak around the castle to get shagged!" he sat on the sofa and tried to hide his smile. Seamus sat up and brought his face close to Harry's,
"Who said you aren't?" his blue eyes were glinting,
"Because I don't actually have to leave the bloody tower to get some!" he leaned forward to kiss Seamus but he was sniggering again and Harry couldn't catch his lips at first but then Seamus calmed down enough to allow Harry to kiss him deep.
"We better go to sleep if we want to be of any use tomorrow." said Seamus sadly when they broke apart. Harry nodded and they made their way up.
When they entered the dorm room the curtains around Dean's bed were pulled and he was obviously sleeping. Seamus shook his head and went to his bed and Harry went to his own. Somehow the idea of being in the same bed didn't sound so appealing suddenly. He lay in his bed thinking, he was actually happy that the whole "coming out" business went so well, minus the little Dean hitch, it was really comforting to know their friends will be there to support them. And then again, there was Dean.
Harry couldn't grasp why he was so mad, it's true he never spoke of gays before but whenever the subject came up – and it was amazing how often it came up with a group of mostly heterosexuals, he never seemed to mind. Harry suspected there was something deeper here that ran between Seamus and Dean, and not just plain homophobia. He didn't know what it was and he knew that Seamus would never tell him, and he wasn't sure he didn't prefer Dean to be just a homophobe.
After about an hour of thinking along these lined he realized he was not making any progress in the sleeping department. He didn't want to sleep alone. He got up and slipped through his curtains, closing them behind him and made his way to Seamus' bed. When he slipped through the curtains he discovered Seamus wide awake.
"You're not sleeping." he observed,
"Neither are you."
"I couldn't sleep. I don't want to be alone."
Seamus smiled and took him in his arms whispering in his hair,
"Me either. But you have to go back to your own bed before dawn."
"No problem, some of us can actually get up before noon without a wand pointed to our head…"
"Sod off." murmured Seamus and made himself comfortable in their embrace and closed his eyes.
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
The next couple of weeks were no picnic. Dean still refused to talk to either Harry or Seamus, and did his best to ignore them all together. Seamus tried to talk to him a couple of times but Dean refused to listen. The others on the other hand, wouldn't give up on finding out who were Harry's former lovers. Between avoiding the attempts of Ron, Ginny, Neville and even Hermione of trying to find out things and trying to patch things with Dean, not to mention the fact they were both afraid he'd be angry enough with them to tell the whole school, things didn't look too promising. The others would never say anything on purpose but if they carried on like that they might let something slip. It was obvious that kind of news will spread like fire in a thorn field if it ever came out and not only in the school, after all Harry was "The Boy who lived" or whatever they chose to call him these days ("The Boy who saved us all" was amongst the titles) and this kind of gossip would make the press' year. It was little wonder that Harry and Seamus soon became edgy and cross, snapping at their friends for no reason. The only thing that was helping them relax those days was the ability to sneak to the Room of Requirement in order to escape their friends and the rest of the school.
Harry was extremely grateful when the Quidditch game against Ravenclaw finally came. That would probably distract everyone for at least a whole afternoon, especially if Gryffindor won. Little did he know that it would land him in an even bigger heap of troubles than before.