Fire

Fire is a turn on.

That's not a joke, it's a statement. It's not a metaphor, it's a fact. Seamus Finnigan has always been attracted to fire and its mutual promises of both power and destruction. It's something about the way a good fire can build and build for hours upon end, before it finally brings everything crashing down.

In every other way but that, Seamus is an average Gryffindor. He's snarky and confident, with the heart of a lion beating in his chest. Maybe that's why he survives the battle in the end: he knows how to find a haven among the chaos better than anyone. He always has been the best at hiding around fire.

But it's been days since the battle petered out, the final struggling Death Eaters fleeing into the forest to hide and lick their wounds. Now is not the time for fire and power, destruction and ash: now it is the time to recuperate, to attempt to save as much of the castle as is possible. Seamus has not been assigned to clean Gryffindor tower, but it's where he ends up. He follows a boy he hasn't seen for two years, the boy who volunteered to do this, the boy who is now a man more important than anyone else in these crumbling rooms.

Seamus likes this about the boy, who happens to be the oldest Weasley he knows. He knows that Percy is an uptight, stick-in-the-mud kind of guy. He knows that Percy went on to better things – secretary to Barty Crouch, Senior, for example, before Crouch ruined himself in the rise of his demented son.

But he knows other things, too, personal things: he knows Percy's boggart is himself lined up just like his brothers to die in a stupid move, that he loves jokes but doesn't have the right sense of humour to be any good at telling them, that he values rules because they give order and order is what civilised society is built on and what will prevent the world from burning to the ground.

Seamus still doesn't know how he ends up befriending Percy Weasley, but he does so in his first year – Percy is in his fifth – and though he is never quite as close to the redhead as he is to Dean, he is still close enough to respect him. In third year when Seamus abruptly realises he isn't into girls the way his friends are – by then even Neville Longbotom has been kissed, on the nose, by a Hufflepuff called Hannah – and asks Percy if it is normal, because Percy is in his seventh year and clever and proud and he seems to know everything. Percy tells him that it is normal enough, that even he hadn't been into girls until a couple of years after his own classmates.

When Seamus admits that he knows what he is attracted to and it isn't girls, Percy claps him on the back. "Just be who you're most comfortable being," he advises. Percy has always been weirdly good at giving advice, considering his own life falls to pieces.

So it is that the battle is over now, Voldemort dead and gone, and Seamus is watching Percy all over again. "You still seeing that Clearwater girl, the Ravenclaw?"

"No," Percy says, his voice quiet and brisk. He knows how to talk to Seamus in a manner that shows he is comfortable being with him, and that involves no pretence at politeness, and certainly no pretended bitterness that he never kept in contact. That is Percy's own fault, after all. What other choices are left when your family let you walk out, except to turn away from everyone connected to them? "She isn't what I'm looking for in a partner."

"She called you out on that Ministry bullshit, didn't she."

Percy's ears turn red as he clears his throat. "Shut up."

Seamus, for once, does as he is asked, continuing to watch Percy work. The other man is not using his wand, for reasons largely to do with some kind of penance that only he thinks he needs to pay, but his arms aren't quite straining from the effort of heavy lifting. It is as though he has complete control over his body, enough to steady his shaking hands and keep himself from weeping at his loss. All the younger boy can imagine is that control vanishing when faced with the intense heat of passion, a fire in his gut as he pins the other boy against the wall and kisses him all over: his neck, his jaw, his cheeks, until finally, finally, he kisses those lips and is greeted by nothing but need as –

"Seamus?"

"What." It isn't a question so much as a choked gargle, as Seamus is flushed with need. There is a fire in his gut, all right, and it's not just because he is mortified to be caught.

"There's no point salvaging this. We should burn it."

"Burn it?" He hates how stupid he sounds, how slow, but he is used to it. This is how he has always felt around Percy, before he finally realises that he isn't just attracted to males, but to males he knows well. Maybe it isn't so much the gender as the personality, but maybe he's just got a thing for people who put up with him and his obsessions – especially the one about fire.

Maybe he's just got a thing for never having friends, and always having something more.

"Yes, burn it. With fire." Percy coughs. "Do you want to do it, or shall I?"

"Together?" It's a hidden message for do you even have your wand?

"I suppose," comes the response, along with the flash of sparks as his hand connects with the elm wood of his wand. Together. On three – one, two –"

"Three!"

Seamus knows it's not really a couple moment. It's not that time Dean got drunk last summer and let his best friend kiss him, and it's not leaning into Dean when he's not paying attention. But it's a good moment nonetheless, watching the flames burn from their wands and devour the flammable rubble before them.

It's not a couple moment, not really, but as Percy's pale hand brushes against his he knows that fire is a turn on and that he can pretend that it might be something more.

Written for: Holly, aka OCDdegrassi - prize for 1 ticket in the Challenge Ticketing Challenge on HPFC.

Characters: Seamus Finnigan, Percy Weasley

Word count: 1,067

Prompts: Seamus/Percy, unrequited.

A/N: I recently researched different sexualities, and I rather like the idea of demisexuality. I'm fairly certain I know no one who's actually that, but I'm sure someone in the Harry Potter universe is - so why not Seamus? Holly requested a Seamus/Percy fic with a prompt of unrequited love, and I worked it into the post-battle idea I ended up with almost immediately. Now, I myself ship Dean/Seamus - but Percy/Seamus isn't too terrible, now that I've written it. Thanks for requesting it, Holly, and I hope you enjoyed it!