The Difference Between Dreams and Reality

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By: plus2minus1brilliance

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Chapter Two - Silver Linings

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Since Seamus had decided that he absolutely did not think of Ron as anything other than a friend, it had been much easier to not completely embarrass himself in front of the taller boy. He'd only babbled once more, when Ron had asked him to pass the pork chops, and had managed to keep from blushing noticeably.

At least, he was fairly certain he had - no one had mentioned anything.

Dean had alternated between sending him questioning glances and sending him glares throughout the evening. Seamus alternated between just plain ignoring his best friend, and pouting. Luckily, no one seemed to notice that, either. Dean would have just loved to tell the whole lot of them the situation, just to get back at Seamus for not telling him.

Now the five Gryffindor sixth years were back in their dormitory, making things more homey, and getting ready for bed. Dean sent him one last glare as he re-taped his West Ham poster to the wall next to his bed.

"Are you two in a fight?" Neville asked suddenly, obviously seeing Dean's glare.

Seamus cursed inwardly, and turned a pleading look on his best friend, begging him with his eyes not to do the vindictive thing. Dean rolled his eyes in response and shot Seamus a look that said 'you are so lucky I like you', before turning to Neville. Seamus noticed that Harry and Ron were also watching the exchange.

"No, we're not fighting," he said. "It's…an inside thing."

"Oh…" Neville said, nodding, although they could tell he didn't quite understand. Seamus was quite grateful for that.

Seamus saw Harry and Ron exchange a glance before shrugging and turning back to their beds. Seamus also saw Ron take off his jeans and replace them with pajama bottoms. Not that he was staring or anything. Just…noticing.

With an internal groan of pure confusion, Seamus crawled into bed, buried himself under his blankets, and prayed for sleep to come quickly.

And for a complete lack of subconscious visions.

Two hours later, Seamus sat up in frustration. Sleep had yet to come. That wouldn't have been so bad, but he also couldn't get thoughts of the dream out of his head. No matter what else he thought about, the dream just crept right back in. At least if he was asleep, there was a chance he might not remember what happened in the dream when he awoke.

But still, it was just a dream. Just because Ron had licked honey off Seamus' chest and stomach in his subconscious, didn't mean that Seamus wanted Ron to do the same in real life. Because he didn't. And Ron wouldn't, even if he did.

There was no reason to keep debating it. So there.

Seamus now demanded all thoughts to leave his head. He instead focused all his brainpower on a song his mother used to sing to him whenever he had nightmares. It took another hour, but finally, Seamus slept.

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Dean had apparently decided to give up on trying to force information out of Seamus, because he was no longer glaring at the Irishman, and talked genially with him all through breakfast. Seamus was more grateful than he ever had been, even if he wasn't going to tell Dean that.

He'd had another dream. Different, a bit, in plot from the first one, but the characters and theme remained the same. And this time, Seamus remembered the whole thing.

No…Dean didn't know about it - even if he had been in it. Perhaps especially because he'd been in it. Dancing…watching…

Seamus shuddered at the thought and wondered once more if it meant anything.

"You're not eating…" Dean commented.

Seamus looked from his plate, which he'd loaded with food and then proceeded to ignore, to Dean, who was looking at him worriedly.

"Oh…sorry, I forgot," was his lame excuse.

"Forgot to eat? That's not like you, at all. Are you feeling all right?" Dean asked, putting a hand to Seamus' forehead to feel for a temperature.

Seamus pulled away, swatting at Dean's hand. "I'm fine, I just…I'm tired. I didn't sleep well last night."

"Another dream?" Dean's tone was completely serious and tinged with worry.

Always the perceptive one, was Dean. No wonder he hadn't been bugging Seamus, he knew that whatever it was, it was really bothering his friend. And now, he'd be nothing but sympathetic.

"Yes," Seamus admitted, hoping he was doing the right thing, "another dream."

"Want to tell me about it?"

Seamus smiled slightly, but shook his head. "Not here, it's too crowded."

"All right, next break, then. We can go back up to the dorms." Dean smiled back reassuringly.

As breakfast ended, Professor McGonagall descended to give out their class schedules. Seamus tried hard to focus on the classes he wanted to take. His thoughts, however, betrayed him, and he found himself wondering which classes Ron was taking. With a loud groan that was nearly a yell, Seamus put his head down onto the table hard enough to shake his silverware.

"Mr. Thomas," McGonagall said, coming up behind them.

"Professor," Dean replied, giving her a polite smile.

"Charms, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Transfiguration, and Herbology," McGonagall read off. "Anything you'd like to change?"

"No, ma'am, that's good," Dean replied, taking his new schedule and reading over it.

"Mr. Finnigan." McGonagall now turned to him.

"Hmm?" Seamus asked, not moving his head from its current position.

Professor McGonagall didn't look pleased.

"Er, he's not feeling very well this morning, Professor. Terrible headache, you know," Dean supplied.

"I see. Well, Mr. Finnigan, you have Charms, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Transfiguration, and Herbology, as well. Any changes?"

"No, thank you," Seamus mumbled, reaching up a hand to grab his schedule. McGonagall handed it to him and moved on.

"Well, what do you know…" Dean said after a moment. "We've got a free period right now."

"I'm sorry, I'm too busy trying to blow the world up with my mind. Please try again tomorrow, if there is still a tomorrow to be had," Seamus replied, doing his best imitation of an answering machine.

"Well, either way, we should go back to the dormitory. Class isn't for another hour and a half, and I'm not sitting here the whole time."

Seamus grunted in reply and slowly lifted his head.

"Here, bring some waffles with you, or there'll be no living with you until lunch," Dean said, putting a few into a napkin. He grabbed a banana, as well - he was always trying to get Seamus to eat more healthily.

They passed Harry and Ron in the common room, ducked under a Fanged Frisbee, and made their way up to the dormitory. Seamus sank immediately onto his bed, curled up on his side, and pulled his blankets over his head.

"Life is confusing!" he called out.

Dean laughed and sat down on the edge of Seamus' bed, poking at the blankets. Seamus squirmed away from him.

"Hasn't it always been, though?" Dean asked.

"No," came the muffled response. "Not when we were little. Not even when we started school."

"Yeah…it did get a little more complicated in second year, though, with the basilisk and everything…And then in fourth year, of course…and now with You-Know-Who returned…"

Seamus brought the covers down to reveal his pouting face. "Are you trying to depress me?"

"No, I'm trying to put things into perspective."

"Oh…well, that's all right, then."

The boys lapsed into silence as they each thought of the coming terror. Minutes passed, and then -

"Can I have my waffles now?" Seamus asked, reaching over for them.

Dean rolled his eyes but handed them over. They sat in silence for a bit longer while Seamus munched the now cold waffles.

"You're in my dreams, you know…" Seamus began, chewing slowly.

"Really? Doing what?" Dean asked, trying to keep his curiosity to a minimum. Seamus needed a friendly ear right now…a therapist sort.

"Not just you. Neville and Harry and Hermione are there, too. And you're all…watching me. And dancing."

"…Dancing? Like…waltzing?"

"No…More like the type of dancing you'd do at a nightclub."

"Ah. And we're watching you…what are you doing?"

Seamus took a moment to finish his waffles before continuing. Steeling himself.

"Having sex."

Dean only paused for the slightest of moments, forcing himself to stay in therapist mode. Therapists don't laugh or make rude comments.

"Hence the honey and the licking?" he asked, thinking back to what he'd overheard Seamus muttering on the train.

"Yeah…"

"Who are you having sex with?"

"Ron." Seamus said it fast, getting it out before he could stop himself.

"Huh…intriguing…"

"Intriguing? What's that supposed to mean, intriguing?"

"Well you've just never shown any interest in him before, have you? Normally my sex dreams are about people I'm interested in."

"I'm not interested in him! That's the whole problem!" Seamus waved his arms about, the napkin from his waffles going flying and landing on the floor.

"Wait. If you're not interested in him, then why is there a problem?"

"There's a problem because I'm having sex with him in my head! Multiple times!"

"…do you mean that per dream, or just that you've had the dream more than once?"

Seamus paused again, and bit his lip, then murmured, "Both."

"Right."

Silence again.

"I think it's been an hour," Seamus said after a while, pushing his blankets off.

Dean stood and checked his watch - yes, it was time to get to class.

"I still can't believe that we finally got out of Potions, and we still have to deal with Snape," Dean groused.

They both understood that the previous conversation was over, at least for now.

"I know…if only they could have told us over the holiday, so we could have picked differently," Seamus replied as they started on their way to class. "Mind you, I still wouldn't have wanted to take Potions, and I like Defense Against the Dark Arts."

"True. If only Professor Lupin would come back!"

"Werewolf or no, he was the best," Seamus agreed, thinking back.

When he'd gotten home that year, his mother had told him about how nice Lupin had been when they were in school. Seamus had agreed that he was still the same, and they lamented the fact that some people were far too ignorant for their own good.

People were already queuing outside the classroom, the Wonder Trio included. Seamus refused to look in their direction, and opted instead to stare at the wall. Dean started up a conversation about Muggle music in an attempt to distract his obviously stressed best friend.

Class managed to be…interesting enough to keep Seamus' mind occupied. He'd even gotten some amusement when Harry had back-talked to Snape, which made the fact that he completely failed at nonverbal spells a little less dismal.

They had another two periods free before their next class, and spent the whole time in their dormitory. Dean continued what he'd been saying about Muggle music, and Seamus decided that they should learn instruments and form a band.

"And what would you play?" Dean asked, chuckling.

Seamus thought for a moment about what would best suit him. "Drums," he finally decided.

"I can see you as a drummer, actually," Dean conceded. "I think I'd do bass guitar."

"Ooh, like Paul McCartney! Which makes me Ringo…so who's our John and George?"

"Um…I don't know. Do we know anyone who can sing?"

"My cousin on me dad's side has got a pretty voice," Seamus offered.

"The cousin that doesn't know you're a Wizard?"

"Oh, yeah…well, do we have to tell her? I mean, if we're a Muggle band…"

"But why be just a Muggle band when we can bring Muggle-style music to the Wizarding world?"

"True. Wizards could do with better music…we still haven't gotten around to the Punk movement!"

"Sad, really."

"Think anyone here can sing, then?"

"Don't know, but we can ask around, I suppose. I think we might want to actually learn our instruments first, though."

"Oh, right, I forgot about that bit!"

The two boys looked at each other, then broke into fits of laughter. They both knew they'd never really form a band, but it was really fun to think about. And, more importantly, really distracting. Anything to keep from thinking about Ron.

And, incidentally, to keep from thinking about their Defense Against the Dark Arts homework, which looked brutal.

But, as they didn't have class again until after their after lunch break, they decided eventually to at least try to start it. By time lunch rolled around, they'd each gotten their names and the date written in the top corner. By time they had to leave for Transfigurations, they'd each gotten about a paragraph done.

Transfiguration was, if anything, more difficult. And all Professor McGonagall had really done was give them a speech about how much hard work and dedication it would take to pass her class this year. And then, of course, assigned the longest essay she'd ever assigned.

All Seamus could think was that he was so glad Charms and Herbology weren't until tomorrow. Still, all the concentrating on school work did come with the lovely side effect of keeping away any thoughts of dreams. Every cloud has a silver lining, as the saying goes.

Seamus was beginning to wonder, however, if perhaps this wasn't going to be his best year.

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Author's Note: And here's chapter two! Exciting! It's 3:30 AM here, and it's one of those times I'm very thankful not to have a job or school that I have to be up early for.

So, is it any good? I think it is, especially compared to what it used to be. -shudders- Please review with your own opinions, I love hearing them!

I would like to state that, even after reading that section of Half-Blood Prince, I still wasn't sure about when the rest of their classes were. So if Transfiguration wasn't supposed to be until the next day, I apologize.

And, as always, thank you for reading.