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"Seamus, I am one of the smartest kids in this school and I'm not saying that to brag or to sound pompous, but we both know it's true. And that means that I am not stupid; I know something is very, very wrong with your home life at the moment, and if you think you can hide that from me, you are mistaken."
Seamus sighed. Why couldn't she just leave him alone?
"Hermione, please, nothing is wrong. I just got into a fight with some Muggle kids near my house, a one time thing."
The brown eyed witch rolled her eyes. "Seamus, like I said, I am not stupid. Those bruises you have... some are weeks old and others couldn't have been made more than a couple of days ago."
"Hermione, please. We both know I'm clumsy and I'll admit, I don't live in the best neighborhood, so why don't you let it go?"
"No, Seamus, I won't let it go because I am your friend and I don't want anything bad to happen to you!" Hermione exclaimed.
"Nothing bad will happen to me, Hermione!" Seamus snapped. "Nothing bad is happening to me! Why are you so concerned all of a sudden about my well being?"
"Shay, you've never given me a reason to be concerned into now. Suddenly, you're covered in bruises; thin as a stick; and look like you haven't seen the sun in months. On top of that, you never eat anymore and you don't sleep as much as you should, staying up for days and then, when you do sleep, you have night terrors that wake all of Gryffindor Tower," Hermione pointed out.
"I. Am. Fine, Hermione. For the last time!" Seamus shouted, drawing quite a lot of unwanted attention and a suprised stare from Hermione.
Embarrassed by his outburst and fed up with Hermione's pestering, Seamus stood, gathered his books, and stormed out of the library.
"Um, hey," Ron said, awkwardly as he walked into the dorm room to find Seamus Finnigan reading his Transfiguration book.
That's weird, Ron thought. Seamus never studies.
But Shay was remembering what his dad had told him before leaving for Hogwarts: "I'm allowing you to go to that freak school; the least thing you can do is being home good grades. I better not see anything below an EE on your report card or there'll be hell to pay."
Seamus knew he couldn't stop the beatings entirely, but there were things he could do to make the beatings less frequently and sometimes less painful.
"What are you doing up here? Shouldn't you be down at lunch?" Ron asked, sitting on Dean's bed across from Seamus's.
"Shouldn't you?" Shay retorted but stopped. Damn, why was he so snappy today? "Sorry, that came out rude. I'm just not very hungry."
"You should still try to eat. You're stick thin and this not eating is not gonna help that," Ron said with a weak smile.
Seamus shrugged. "I was really sick over the summer, and now, food just doesn't have the same appeal as it did," Shay lied. Truthfully, his stomach had shrunk from all the days his dad made him go days without food. Shay had learned the hard way that eating too much too fast after hardly eating anything at all for so long didn't settle well with his stomach.
"Ooh, bad luck, mate," Ron winced. "What were you sick with?"
"Really bad case of the flu. Lasted almost two weeks. I'm just glad it went away before I came back to Hogwarts."
They lapsed into uncomfortable silence until finally Ron had to break it.
"Why did you yell at Hermione in the library today?" Ron asked, quietly.
Shay shrugged. "She was pestering me about everything from my sleeping and eating habits to my bruises, which if I recall, I have explained to her more than enough times."
"Still," Ron trailed off, knowing he was treading on dangerous ground. One misstep and then, the explosion. "She's just worried. I mean I know she can be a mother hen sometimes, but you're certainly giving her a reason to worry."
"Well, I'm fine, Ron, and you can tell her that," Shay said, firmly.
Ron's temper flared at the fact that Seamus wasn't even telling him what was wrong, and worse, he wasn't even going to apologize to Hermione for blowing up at her earlier. "No, you're not. You are going to tell Hermione that and apologize to her," Ron ordered.
"I will not apologize to her. She was pestering me, so if she would have just listened to me and left me alone, we'd both be okay," Seamus growled.
Ron's face went beat red with rage. "Why are you such a jerk all of a sudden? Something obviously happened over the summer, and you know what? Maybe you deserved those bruises! You're being a bloody prat, so stop it with the pity party and if you know what's good for you, you'll stay away from everyone because one more toe out of line, especially where my friends are concerned, and I will punch your lights out!"
Ron turned and stormed out the room.
Shay sighed, fighting down his tears at being left alone to deal with his demons.
'If you isolate yourself, no one will find out and they won't get hurt like Adam did," a voice pointed out in the back of his mind.
'I don't want to be alone,' Seamus thought. 'Please don't leave me. I just don't want you to get hurt.'
But, logically, he knew if his dad took a beating too far one day, everyone would be hurt.
That didn't stop him from thinking that maybe they wouldn't.
"Hey, Seamus," Harry greeted. "I-I saw Ron storm out. What happened?"
"He and Hermione are just bugging me," Shay responded, not meeting Harry's emerald orbs.
"About your... situation?"
Seamus looked at him in confusion.
"Dean told us about your Dad. He came back, didn't he? To stay?" Harry clarified, putting emphasis on the last two words to show his meaning, clearly.
"No, where did you get that idea from?" Shay said, immediately defensive. Harry couldn't know; that put him in danger!
The Boy Who Lived sighed. "Shay, I know the signs. The Dursleys neglected me for years and they still do. You show signs of being neglected and abused and it doesn't take Hermione level genius to make the connection between those sudden signs and your dad 'visiting' over the summer."
For a moment, Seamus didn't say anything and neither did Harry.
Finally, Shay whispered, "Harry... our situations are different. You wish you had your Mum and Dad back, but me? I wish I didn't have a mom and dad, and that sounds so horrible."
"I understand, Shay," Harry stated, softly. "When you think about it, we're really not that different. I want my Mom and Dad back because the Dursleys hate me more than Snape hates Gryffindors."
Seamus snorted. "Probably equal on that one. I don't think Snape could like Gryffindors any less."
The raven haired boy laughed. "Good point. But my point is is that I don't think that you don't want parents. You just want parents that care."
Seamus didn't respond.
"Shay," Harry sighed. "I'm not gonna pester you about it because Merlin knows how much I hate when Hermione and Ron do just that. But just so you know, it doesn't help to bottle everything inside. It really only makes it worse."
Harry stood and left the dorm room, shutting the door behind him and leaving Seamus Finnigan with a lot to think about.
"Shay?"
"Tell me you're the last one!"
"Huh?" He asked, looking rather perplexed.
"I've already had visits from Hermione, Ron, and Harry. Tell me you're last?"
He laughed. "No promises, Shay. But, you know, if you just told them what was bothering you, they wouldn't have to badger you like this."
"That's the thing: there's nothing wrong!"
"Shay, I've been your best mate since first year. I know when something's bugging you."
Shay looked away, sniffling. "Maybe something is, but no one's hurting me. It's just... I saw my dad for the first time in almost a decade this summer, and I'm just having a hard time dealing with that. "
"It's more than that, Shay. The bruises, your insomnia, night terrors, and your lack of appetite... it doesn't add up to it being only because of this visit from your dad. I know you, Shay, and you're always so verbose and excited, and you move on from things. You never dwell on things for long, so why is this any different?"
"It just is!" Seamus burst out. "I'm sorry, but it is and you don't understand! I know about your dad, but he never physically hurt you and left you for dead! And to see him after all these years... would you move on from that so easily?"
For a moment, the boy said nothing. He'd give anything to meet his dad just once, but would he forgive and forget? He may never know.
"I'm really not sure, Shay. In your position, probably not, but I know that that's not it. "
"Get out."
"Shay-"
"Get out, Dean! Please!"
Dean nodded, turned on his heel, and left his friend, sitting on his bed, staring at the wall with tears in his eyes.
'I'm sorry, Dean,' he thought. 'I'm so sorry.'