Seamus could tell that Neville was desperately trying to hold back tears. It didn't matter that they were seventeen now or that they had both seen so much more in their lives, pain was pain and the fact that Neville's hand was now bleeding with the words 'blood traitor' burning his skin made Seamus wince. He knew how much the quills hurt, how much the anger built up like bile in your stomach when you were made to endure such a senseless punishment for something that shouldn't have been punished in the first place.
The words didn't even reflect the punishment. Neville had stopped in the hallway to help a first year student, and ignored Snape when he had tried to get him to move along. Seamus knew how much Snape terrified Neville and despite the fact that the boy in front of him was tearing up about the cuts on the back of his hand, he knew how much braver his friend had become in the last few years.
"Come on." He said softly as he took a hold of Neville's arm and led him up the winding staircases away from the dungeons to the place that had slowly become their safe haven - the Room of Requirement.
Upon opening the door, Seamus immediately felt like he was at home. He closed his eyes as the heat from the roaring fire washed over him and he couldn't stop the tiny smile from creeping onto his lips.
He forced himself to open his eyes again though as he felt Neville pulling away from him and saw that the boy - no, the man - he was proud to call his leader being hugged by a small girl. He heard her say a small "thank you" before she ran off.
It was the small things like that that reminded him why he and Neville, and all the others, were even doing this in the first place. It wasn't to fight in a war, to defeat He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, to bring down the 'teachers' that made their lives a misery. No, Seamus did this so that students like that girl met no harm at the school he had once loved to attend, so that they wouldn't suffer like he had, so that they would have somewhere safe that they could go to when things did get bad.
He nodded his head towards the fireplace when he got Neville's attention back and the pair of them headed over towards it, sitting down in the biggest, comfiest armchairs that the other students basically knew to save for them at this point. He grabbed a bowl from the ground and filled it with water before taking Neville's hand and a soft rag.
Neville was silent and Seamus couldn't help but wonder what was going through the other man's mind, but he didn't dare ask. Instead he let his mind wander, let himself wonder if their friends who couldn't be there with him were okay. He knew no-one had heard from Ron, Harry, or Hermione in almost as long as he'd gone without hearing a thing from Dean. He knew it was driving Ginny to the end of her tether, not knowing whether her brother or the man she loved were alive or dead. He knew how she felt, at least in part.
"Shay?" Lavender called out as she entered the Room of Requirement, her eyes darting around as she scanned each hammock. She'd just been stuck in detention with the Carrows for what had felt like an eternity. She knew had been for a good cause; she'd taken the heat for a younger student who would not have been able to withstand that sort of torture. "Oi! Seamus! Where are you?"
"Over here!" The Irish boy called from where he was sat by the fire bathing Neville's hand in a bowl of water. "Shit, Lav!" He was on his feet in an instant, almost knocking the bowl and it's contents flying all over Neville in the process.
"I'm fine." Lavender said quietly as she held out a hand to Neville. While he now was better at defensive and offensive spells than he used to be, she knew that healing spells lay just outside of his comfort zone, and you'd have to be desperate to ask Seamus to perform one.
"You're fecking fine!" Seamus exclaimed, his fingers now touching the swollen area around Lavender's eyes. "What the hell did they do to you?"
Lavender shook him off. She didn't have the will to explain to him. She knew that if she did then she would end up bursting into tears and they couldn't afford that, not when they were trying to restore morale in the younger students. "Neville, just give me your hand."
Without even looking at Seamus, she knew that he was mad at her. She could feel it practically radiating off of him, but she chose to ignore him as she went about her work, healing the hands of her classmates as best she could.
Eventually Parvati found her way into the RoR and set to work on Lavender's eye, fixing her a cup of tea when they were done and forcing her to sit down and rest.
"He's watching you again." Parvati said under her breath as Lavender leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes. Her head was pounding but she put that down mainly to her exhaustion rather than her injury.
"He'll do that for a while." Lavender mumbled, nudging Parvati with her foot. "Try not to stare, yeah?"
"I'm not." Parvati insisted, though Lavender couldn't quite believe her on that one.
"He's my best friend, Parv." Lavender reminded the girl as she opened one eye slowly.
"Your best friend, huh?" Parvati was raising an eyebrow at her so she quickly closed her eyes again, deciding that it was just easier to avoid the judgement. She knew what Parvati and Padma thought was going on between her and Seamus.
"Second best friend." Lavender corrected herself, though she knew that wasn't exactly true either, but it was complicated.
Parvati was silent for a while which suited Lavender just fine as she was able to rest for a few minutes.
"He's coming over" were the words to break the silence.
Lavender opened her eyes just in time to see that Parvati was right and Seamus was now in front of her.
"Can we talk?" He asked, glancing sideways at Parvati who was already on her feet.
"Yeah, sure." Lavender shook her head slightly at Parvati, telling her to sit back down. The type of 'talks' she and Seamus had, usually meant that it was them that had to leave. One or both usually ended up breaking down in some shape or form.
Lavender followed Seamus out of the RoR and into a nearby classroom when he turned to face her. His fingers met her face again.
"Shay, I told you, I'm fine." She said quietly, though she didn't push him away from her this time. It was always different when the two of them were alone. It toyed with her emotions, her feelings, which was why she knew it was a bad idea, but she let it happen anyway. She knew he was in love with Dean though, and she knew he would never feel the same way about her.
But here she was. And here he was, making her feel all the things she didn't want to feel.
"This…" Seamus began but trailed off as his gaze met Lavender's. He swallowed tightly before coughing to clear his throat. "I just… You mean a lot to me, Lav. And I just don't…" He stuttered out, failing to put what he wanted to say into words.
Lavender moved to wrap her arms around him tightly. "I know." She said quietly. She did know. She knew he hadn't seen or even heard from Dean in months. She knew he was terrified. All they knew was that he was alive out there somewhere.
"I can handle detention." She reassured him as she pressed a kiss to his cheek. "You're not gonna get rid of me that easily."
Seamus wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. Lavender felt how tense he was, but then everyone was tense. They were in the middle of a war after all, and any day now she expected to hear the news that it was all over.
Dean groaned as he rolled over and shifted the pinecone that had been trying to lodge itself in the middle of his back. He was used to this by now though. He had been sleeping rough for the better part of a year.
He opened his eyes as he realised that he wasn't going to get back to sleep anytime soon. He was frozen and the sun was already getting up so he figured it was probably about time to make a move.
"Ted?" He called out quietly as he sat up, looking around for the muggle-born man that he was on the run with. He spotted the sleeping bag where Ted had been and figured that he was probably off getting water or something.
Dean rubbed a hand down his face. He was sure he had aged about ten years in the last nine months. Seventeen going on twenty-seven. It wasn't the fear of being caught or the stress of living in the wilderness that was the worst though. It was the being away from Seamus that killed him. He didn't know how Seamus was or how he was handling school or anything.
He shook himself out of his thoughts before he had time to dwell on them for too long. They were meant to move on again today so he knew that the longer he sat around, the longer it would take for them to actually get on the road, so to speak.
He got himself to his feet and bundled up his sleeping bag before scanning the area for Ted. He knew the older man wouldn't have gone far, but his anxiety was pretty much ingrained into him at this point. He didn't want to call too loud though; they couldn't be sure who was listening, who was nearby. There were snatchers all around these parts - hell, there were snatchers everywhere.
Dean busied himself by packing up Ted's things and then finding himself something to eat in the backpack.
"Hey." Ted's voice made him jump, despite the fact that it was exactly the sound that he had been waiting for. "We're not alone."
Dean gave a short nod as he pulled the bag up onto his back. "Ready to make a move then?" He asked as he looked around them. He knew that if they were being watched, then the snatchers wouldn't make themselves obvious but it was more habit than anything else.
They walked for a while and though Dean knew that they were going in a straight line, it still felt as though they were going around in circles. Every single tree looked the same to him now, but then that was what often happened when you had to live amongst them day in and day out.
When they finally stopped by the side of some caves, Dean let the backpack drop to the ground and sat on a nearby log, his hands moving to rub over his face again. He knew he was doing this to keep his loved ones safe, to make sure that Voldemort and his followers had no reason to go after his muggle family, but it was killing him slowly.
"You alright?" Ted asked, breaking the silence that Dean hadn't even noticed had fallen between them as he handed him a bottle of water.
"Yeah, just...losing hope." Dean admitted quietly. There was no point in hiding anything from Ted. They had been practically living in each other's pockets for too long for secrets to exist between them.
"It'll be over soon." Ted gave his trademark answer as he sat on the ground opposite Dean with a groan.
"You say that, but… I don't even know how long we've been out here now. I've lost all track of time and I just - I want to go home, Ted. I want to see my mum. I want to see my sisters. I want to see Seamus. I want to wrap my arms around them all and tell them how much I love them." Dean sighed and shook his head slightly.
"I miss my family too." Ted said quietly. "And it won't be long until we can get back to them. I can feel it in the air."
Dean looked up at Ted, his head tilted to the side slightly as he found himself wondering, not for the first time, how the man could stay so positive all the time. He was thankful for it though. His own positivity was slowly dwindling even more everyday, but Ted was always there to perk everything back up. "I wish we could tell them how much we miss them though." He said finally, after a few more moments of silence.
"They know." Ted said simply. "They know because they miss us just as much. Your boyfriend, your mum, your sisters, my wife, my daughter, her husband... They all know."
Dean paused for a moment before he cleared his throat. "They're all okay though.." He was doing his best to be as positive as Ted now. "My mum and sisters have each other and Seamus, he has Lavender."
"Lavender?" Ted asked as he threw Dean a squished sandwich from the bottom of the backpack. "Who's she then?"
"His best friend. She's honestly a gem." Dean said with a soft sort of smile. He knew that he could always count on Lavender to be there for Seamus. She was usually the one that helped him to see sense, something he would definitely need in these times.