He had never realised quite how much the whole "magic" thing had taken from him. The year of his life spent on the run had to be the worst of it, and he hadn't considered that it was only the start. But now he is trying uselessly to be a part of both worlds- magic and Muggle- and failing.
And that starts with his stepdad's car.
His stepdad had tried to teach him when he'd asked, but he had a job, and Dean was a very bad driver. He's too used to magic, maybe. You don't need to know how to do a three-point turn on a broom. You don't need to check over your right shoulder on a broom. You don't need to know pedestrians' rights.
Nope, magic has made Dean Thomas soft. Which is hilarious, since it'd thrown him into a war.
His sister Sara is a better driver than he is and she's two years younger, which is the real indignity. As he tries to make the short drive to the dentist, she's sitting in the backseat chewing gum and pointing out his many mistakes. Dean wishes fervently that he'd refused to let her along when she'd asked.
"You almost hit that car's mirror, idiot," says Sara. He hastens to adjust away from the parked car.
"No, stop!" says his dad from the passenger's seat. The car jerks to a stop before Dean remembers he's still supposed to be driving.
He's doing poorly as a Muggle but then he's doing poorly as a wizard too. He'd bought a new wand, sure, but he hasn't been to Diagon Alley since then. And he doesn't use it much, either, except for cleaning or cooking or Apparating, if he's in a time pinch.
"Pull over and let me drive it," complains Sara.
"The point is to teach Dean to drive," says his dad.
"Ugh," says Sara.
After the war when he and Seamus had first moved in with each other, they'd been confident in what they were doing. Seamus going to the Aurors and Dean going to Hackney. It was a part of growing up, right? University, a job.
Seamus doesn't ever want to talk about how it's going with the Aurors, just says it's all fine and clams up. Dean fills the silence by talking about the classes he's taking, the professors and the classmates, anything funny that happens, and eventually they both fall into a weird silence and just watch TV or play cards. Neither of them has brought it up, but they are not Dean and Seamus anymore. Not the same Dean and Seamus they'd been for seven years, at least. Dean is failing in that respect, too.
"Turn your blinker on, moron," says Sara.
Dean turns his blinker on and merges.