Disclaimer: I own nothing
Something was very wrong with Mr. Finnigan. Minerva McGonagall knew this as soon as the little pyromaniac stepped into her classroom on Monday morning, followed closely by a concerned looking Dean Thomas.
He had lost a considerable amount of weight since June, resembling a skeleton whether than a scrawny boy that had yet to hit his growth spurt. He was wearing winter clothes, robes that fell past his fingertips and pants and socks that covered every inch of his legs and a shirt with a high collar, hiding his neck. Falling into his eyes, his hair was long and shaggy like he hadn't had a haircut in a year or two and it had grown all the way down his neck, making him look kind of like a girl. But what worried her the most were the glamour charms.
Being a teacher, she had been taught to sense magic on a student, particularly spells that could suggest something was going on. This included glamours because it was not uncommon for students to use glamours and self Transfiguration to hide abuse and self harm.
She concentrated on seeing through the glamour, and her gray eyes widened to the point of it appearing comical. But what she saw was in no way funny.
The boy's face was covered in bruises, including one on his cheek in the shape of a handprint. Scratches covered his cheekbones like someone's rings had cut deep into his face. His lip was split and his nose was slightly crooked like it had been broken and healed horribly. There was a scar across his forehead from temple to where it disappeared beneath his hairline.
"Alright, class, we are going to do a bit of individual work for the beginning of class. Open your books to page 39 and read through chapter one. We will discuss it afterward and maybe get the chance to practice the process of self Transfiguration."
The class looked slightly shocked on how easy today's class sounded, but they obeyed, flipping open their books to the correct page and beginning to read.
"Mr. Finnigan, may I see you in the hallway?" She asked and the boy, looking quite confused, seeing as he had not blown up one thing yet, nodded and allowed himself to be escorted into the hall.
"Mr. Finnigan, would you care to explain why you are wearing a glamour charm?" She sighed and the boy's eyes widened.
"How did you know?" He gasped.
McGonagall smiled, slightly, but it was more in a comforting way than in an oh-that's-funny way. "Mr. Finnigan, as a teacher, I am required to learn how to sense glamours and recognize self Transfiguration, along with other spells. I am also required to learn how to see through them."
Seamus's face went white when he realized where she was going. "It-It's really nothing, Professor."
Minerva mentally rolled her eyes, but in order to not appear immature, she just gave him a look of disbelief. "Really, Mr. Finnigan? Cuts, bruises, and a rather worrying scar are nothing?"
"I fell down the stairs, Professor, and used a glamour to avoid having to explain it a dozen times," Shay explained.
It was a believable excuse, but Minerva had heard the same excuse from almost every abused child she'd encountered in both her teaching career and her time as a student. "I doubt that, Mr. Finnigan."
Seamus stood there, defiantly, refusing to state the truth.
She leaned a little closer to him and said, softly, in a comforting way, "Seamus, if someone is hurting you, you can talk to me, or anyone else for that matter. We can help."
Yeah, right! Seamus thought. 'Like anyone can help me in this situation.'
"I'm sorry, Professor, but you're mistaken. No one is hurting me," Shay stated firmly.
Minerva sighed. She couldn't make him tell her, but she could speak with Albus about this.
"Come in!" Albus Dumbledore called when someone knocked upon his door.
The door opened and in stepped Minerva McGonagall.
"Albus," she said immediately, sounding rather worried about something. "I need to discuss an urgent matter with you."
"Yes, Minerva?"
"I believe," she bit her lip, "that Mr. Finnigan is being abused."
Albus dropped his quill, looking up in absolute shock. "Why do you suspect that?"
"He was glamour charms in my class today and I looked beyond them and saw everything from bruises to cuts to scars. His nose looks like it's been broken and healed incorrectly. What do you think, Albus?"
"Did you talk to him about it?" Albus asked, worried for his student.
"Yes! I tried to get him to talk to the me, but whoever's hurting him has a firm grip on him. He wouldn't tell me a thing," Minerva said, concern rippling through her for that funny, friendly Gryffindor, who was only thirteen and had experienced the hatred of the world, firsthand.
"Well, we can't do anything about it until Seamus tells someone or we have concrete evidence to suggest that abuse is going on in Mr. Finnigan's life," Albus explained.
"I know, Albus, but we can't just allow the abuse to continue until Seamus ends like little Lucy Scargoil," Minerva pointed out, her heart constricting at the memory of the abused girl that was killed by her parents right before her third year was due to start.
Albus sighed. "I know, Minerva, and there are other ways to get the evidence needed to get Seamus out of this situation. For example, we could ask his friends to see if there is any suspicious activity going on. And Seamus will come to the hospital wing at some point (every student does) and if Poppy finds something that could suggest abuse, we can report it to the Department of Child Services and Abuse Victims. But until we find evidence, the most we can do is simply watch out for Mr. Finnigan."
Minerva looked at her lap. "We really should change that whole report policy. What if we find evidence too late and the child dies, just like Lucy."
Albus nodded. "I agree, Minerva, but I can assure you that Mr. Finnigan will not be like Lucy."
Minerva nodded and left, quickly, stopping at the display case just outside Albus's office.
In the display case, on the second shelf, was a picture of a girl with light brown hair and dancing green eyes, wearing Hufflepuff robes. Below the picture read the words 'Rest in Peace, Lucy Scargoil. May the truth set you free.'
"I only pray that Mr. Finnigan will tell the truth, unlike you, Lucy, " Minerva whispered, remembering one of her favorite students, one that hadn't even been in Gryffindor.
"Mr. Thomas, would you please stay after class?" McGonagall called after the Muggleborn boy, who was standing side by side with the reason of this visit himself. "Mr. Finnigan, you may go."
Looking rather suspicious, Seamus let his best mate in the Transfiguration classroom and Dean approached her desk.
"Yes, Professor?"
"Mr. Thomas, have you noticed anything strange going on with Mr. Finnigan since the return to school?" Minerva questioned.
Dean looked torn for a moment before he opened his mouth and everything came pouring out before he could stop it or edit it in anyway.
"Well, he looks really thin and I've noticed some bruises, including one on his wrist in that shape of a handprint. He's also really quiet compared to his usual talkative self."
McGonagall nodded. "I've noticed these things as well. Do you know what might be causing it?"
"Well," Dean shuffled his feet. Shay was going to hate him for this. "One the train ride, he mentioned that his dad had visited him over the summer. Shay's father was arrested for abuse, neglect, and suspected arson when Seamus was three, and and he hasn't seen him since. But then he mentioned that his dad came to visit to settle some divorce and custody problems, yet over the summer, I called Shay and I heard a man yelling in the background. As far as I know, Shay's mother is single, and when I asked him about it, he lied, saying it was his mom when it was clearly a man. I don't know what it is, but something's wrong."
"I agree, Mr. Thomas. I am trying to get to the bottom of this, and please, come to me if you find out anything else. If someone is hurting Seamus, I want to get him out of the situation as soon as possible."
Dean nodded and left.
Rubbing the bridge of her nose, Minerva sighed, her head spinning with all this new information.
Abuse.
Neglect.
Father.
Prison.
Suspected arson.
In the beginning, this concern for Seamus had been a suspicion, and little more, but now...
It looks like the little pyromaniac was in more danger than they originally thought.