Chapter 21:
Speaking of a Young Man's Fancy...
As soon as the door shut, Mrs. Finnigan bustled up with an armload of things. "It's time to go, loves, she clucked, and helped each teenager into his or her cloak. "Here's your bag, darling," she said to Rachel. "I put your book back into it, and your shoes, too."
"Aw, thanks, Mrs. Finnigan," Rachel said.
"Not a problem. Now, does everyone have everything…?"
"My guitar?" Seamus offered.
"In the car so you can take it back to school if you want."
"Oh. Thanks, Mam."
Mrs. Finnigan kissed her youngest and then began herding the others out. Hannah frantically administered final goodbye hugs and kisses amongst her family then joined the little cluster with her mother.
"Who wants to ride back to King's Cross with me and my mom?" she said.
"I do," Dean and Tanya said in unison.
"I'll ride with Mrs. Finnigan," Katelyn called.
Rachel stifled a sudden yawn. "I guess I will, too."
"I call shotgun!" Katelyn cried. "Ahahahaha, Rachel, get the front seat! I get the front seat!"
"Whatever, Kate, knock yourself out," Rachel replied with another yawn.
"You're really tired, aren't you?" Hannah said, her jaw dropping. "You hate the backseat."
"'Tis true, but I'll manage. ¿Vamos?"
"Right, right," Mrs. Finnigan said, clapping her hands. "Janis, we'll meet you at King's Cross?"
"What about Da?" Seamus asked.
"He left for the hotel already, love."
"Ah."
"¿Vamos?" Rachel repeated, now sounding rather pitiful.
Seamus put a bracing arm around her, and Mrs. Schreiter zipped up her parka.
"Let's make like trees and go, guys," she called.
Hannah rolled her eyes.
So everyone piled into the two cars. Mrs. Schreiter pulled out of the parking lot first, but Mrs. Finnigan rummaged through her purse for a moment and then declared that she had left her contacts book in the ladies' room and ran back into the building without turning the car on.
"Well, this gives us a chance to chill, then, doesn't it?" Katelyn said from the front seat, watching the breath rise from her mouth in clouds.
Rachel groaned. "Hardeeharhar. That was cheap. But you're right. It's an iceberg in here."
Seamus undid his seatbelt and slid into the middle seat, and tucked his arm around her again. Rachel, much too tired and cold to care for propriety, huddled close in return. Katelyn, hearing the rustling of fabric against leather seats, turned around, and opened her mouth to speak. A witheringly furious look from Rachel effectively silenced her, however, and she returned to her forward-facing position and began to whistle innocently.
The minutes dragged on, and when Rachel dropped off to sleep soon afterwards, Seamus put his other arm around her—but just to keep her warm, of course…
Katelyn turned. "Seamus Finnigan, you hopeless, hopeless man."
"What?"
She shook her head. "Look at you. You'd make Hitler cry, you're so pitiful."
"What?"
"Oh, don't give me that. You know exactly what. Just tell her, you idiot!"
"I don't know what you're talking about," he said stubbornly.
"Admit it. You're hopelessly in love with Rachel."
"I'm not in love."
"Okay, maybe not," Katelyn conceded. "I will give you that—you're only fifteen. But you are hopelessly in-fatuated with her. Face it, Seamus. The whole world knows. You know Wes? One of the first things he said to me was aren't you friends with that couple that always rows? I had to convince him you and Rachel weren't a couple."
"Heh." Seamus tried hard to keep from grinning.
"It's not funny! I'm serious, here. This has dragged on long enough."
Seamus fixed her with an angry and wounded look. "It's easy for you to say, Barcanic! You don't have to worry about what will happen when you tell her! You don't have to wonder if she will hit you or hate you or laugh at you, and what you will do after that! You don't have to choose between the best friend you've ever had and the only girl you've ever liked this much!"
Katelyn looked startled. "Oh…! I…guess I never thought of it that way before."
Seamus sat back against his seat, his brow furrowed and his ears red. "Yeah. So don't even start lecturing me about telling her."
She bit her lip and reached out to pat his hand. "I'm sorry, Seamus. I guess it's a little more complicated than I thought. I guess…I kinda forgot that you don't only like Rachel romantically."
"She's my friend, first and foremost," he agreed.
At this moment, Mrs. Finnigan returned. Noticing the strained looks of both cognizant teens in her car, she stopped and looked about to ask what was the matter, but Katelyn said, "Seamus was just stressing about finals."
"Already?" Mrs. Finnigan asked. "Love, they're not until June."
"Oh, yeah," Seamus said. "I forgot. Let's go."
"All right. Looks like Rachel needs a proper bed, anyhow."
Katelyn winked at Seamus and patted his knee a final time before turning around. Mrs. Finnigan started the car, and they left the parking lot and made their way back to King's Cross. As the constant orange glow of streetlights flashed over the car's interior, Seamus tightened his arms around Rachel, and then, after a moment's thought, reached down and tenderly kissed her hair. Though she didn't say a word, Mrs. Finnigan noted this small act of affection via the rearview mirror, and she went on driving with a contemplative expression on her face.
--
It was nearly two in the morning when all of the students stumbled away to their respective dorms after having been let in by an extra-cranky Mr. Filch. Rachel, Katelyn, Tanya, Dean, and Seamus climbed the stairs to Gryffindor Tower slowly, their languid conversation punctuated numerous times by yawns. Rachel and Seamus and Tanya were pink-cheeked, bleary-eyed, and tousle-haired, as they'd fallen asleep on the long train ride home: Tanya on Hannah's shoulder, Rachel in Seamus' arms (again!), and Seamus against the compartment wall. Hannah, Katelyn, and Dean, however, were wide-awake with the same sort of awareness that results, from, say, binge drinking (i.e., some, but rather nonsensical).
"Wonderful wedding, though," Dean said with a yawn.
"Haley looked so purdy," Katelyn slurred.
Rachel said the password, and they all clambered into the common room. "You know," Rachel said wistfully, "I never thought I'd consider this place home, but, there you have it. I'm glad to be back."
"No kidding," Tanya said. "…well, goodnight, all!" She gave a wave and climbed the stairs to the girls' dorm.
"Good idea," said Katelyn. "Come on, Hannah, Rachel. Bedtime."
"Wait, Hannah," Dean said. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"
"Sure," she said. "Katelyn, I'll be up in a minute."
"I think I'm going to bed, too," Seamus said, stifling a yawn. He and the two girls went together towards the stairs.
"You go on up," Rachel said to Katelyn when they reached the little alcove between the two flights of steps. "There's something I need to tell Seamus. Hannah and Dean, it'll only take a sec, I promise."
Katelyn grinned knowingly and looked over at Seamus; his face was bright with pleasant surprise and tentative hope. "Okay." She scampered upstairs.
Seamus tried to disguise his anticipation as Rachel turned back to face him, not even caring that Dean and Hannah were watching curiously. His throat catching on the words, he began quickly, "Rachel, I really, really like—" at the same time that she began, "Seamus, I just want to thank you for—"
They both stopped. "Sorry, what did you say?" she asked, her expression inscrutable.
Seamus took a deep breath. "I said…I really…really liked hanging out with you tonight. I don't know why you were so worried about your waltz…it's fine."
"Oh," she said. That was it? Oh?
"What were you saying?" he asked hastily, feeling heat rise to his face from beneath his collar.
"Oh. Well, I just wanted to say thanks for putting up with me on the ride home. I don't usually do that…I guess I was just really tired. Thanks for letting me sleep on you…and for keeping me warm. It was nice of you. Really nice of you."
"You're welcome," he said resignedly, feeling a little foolish and a lot disappointed.
"You didn't mind too much, I hope?"
"No, it wasn't a problem. I felt…it wasn't a problem."
"Okay," she said, grinning. "Goodnight, then."
"Goodnight."
They went their separate ways, then, and each went up to their dorm, Seamus closing the door a good deal louder than was necessary. Rachel noticed this but attributed it to Seamus not yet knowing the extent of his teenage strength. Tanya and Katelyn were already in bed when she came into the dormitory, and Hermione and Parvati and Lavender were sound asleep behind their magically soundproofed curtains.
"Where's Hannah?" Tanya asked as Rachel began to take pins that were holding her thick and unruly hair up.
"She's talking to Dean downstairs."
"Oh," said Katelyn with a grin, and tossed aside the book she'd been half-heartedly paging through.
"What do you plan on doing?" Tanya asked suspiciously.
"Nofing," Katelyn said innocently.
Rachel gave her an arch look. "Hannah's going to be mad when I tell her you've been speculating on her romantic life again."
Katelyn blanched.
"Katelyn's gonna get it, Katelyn's gonna get it," Tanya sing-songed.
At that moment, the dorm door swung open, and a strangely pink-cheeked Hannah slipped in. She froze when she saw the other three standing there.
"Hi, Hannah," Katelyn said with a wide grin. "So…"
Hannah looked livid.
"What were you doing with Dean?" Tanya asked, tactless as usual.
Hannah was bright red, but she dug into her pocket and chucked a small object at them before launching into her bed and ripping shut her bed curtains.
Rachel stooped down and picked up—the Chapstick.
"Oh, my gosh!" Katelyn cried. "You kissed Dean!"
--
(A/N: Wow! This chapter was jam-packed with stuff, wasn't it! Seamus finally admitted in no unclear terms how he feels about Rachel! Hannah and Dean finally succumb to the mutual attraction they've felt since at least third year! And the seeds for many future quarrels are sown…)