Disclaimer: I own nothing

What best mates don't fight? Raise your hand if you have had more than one spat with your best friend because I just know have!

Yet, Seamus Finnigan had never had one fight with Dean Thomas in the two years they had been friends. In their third year though, that record ended.

"Shay, I could help you if you could just tell me what was wrong!" Dean screamed, his voice carrying down into the Gryffindor Common Room, which was far too quiet for a Friday night.

"There is nothing wrong, Dean. Now leave me alone!" Seamus shouted. His anger had escalated to the point where his Irish accent was stronger than ever, to the point where they almost couldn't understand him.

"There is something wrong, Seamus Finnigan! Don't try to tell me any different!"

"Can't you have some faith in me? Don't you think I would know if something was the matter with me?!" Seamus's voice had reached such a loud volume that in the dungeons, Slytherins looked around in confusion for the row that was occurring.

"You've been acting weird ever since you returned to Hogwarts!" Dean yelled. "You tell us it's because of your dad, but Shay, I know it's more than that!"

"It is not, Dean! Me Mam and me Dad have nothing to do with my behavior, except for when me Dad came to visit over the summer! That is all, Dean!"

"It is not. You're not one to hang on to something like this for so long!"

"What would you know?! You don't even have a dad!"

That was a low blow, and everyone knew it, including Shay. He hadn't meant to say it; it just slipped out and now, Dean, his best mate, was glaring at him with a stare that would make Voldemort cower in fear.

"Fuck you," Dean growled.

"Dean, I didn't mean it! I'm sorry! Please, come back!"

Dean and Seamus came rushing down the stairs, Dean stomping loudly on the staircase while Seamus bolted after him, desperately.

"Dean, I'm sorry!" Shay cried. "I-I didn't mean it. Please..."

"Sorry doesn't cut it, Finnigan," Dean said, his voice flat and lifeless. Seamus would've preferred if he was yelling. "That was below the belt."

"I know and... and I'm sorry."

Seamus was on the verge of tears. He couldn't believe he'd just said that! He sounded so much like his dad it scared him.

"You little bitch, why aren't you cleaning?! It's not like you have any friends to do anything else with!"

"Stop crying already! Nobody cares, not even your mother!"

"I wish you weren't my son."

"Dean, please... I-I'm sorry."

"Goodbye, take your pity party elsewhere and do me a favor and don't invite me," Dean stated before walking in the direction of a shocked Hermione, a rageful, red faced Ron, and a seething Harry.

Shay, not even thinking about what he was doing, turning and sprinted through the portrait hole, only sobbing more when someone nailed him in the back of the head with a balled up piece of paper while they shouted, "Jerk!"

Seamus didn't stop racing until he was gasping for breath beside a wooden door in an empty corridor on the second floor. A plaque beside the door read 'Girls Bathroom.' Under the inscription and on the door itself were the words 'Moaning Mytle' in green spray paint.

Shay knew about Moaning Myrtle and was relieved to have stopped outside here, whether than anywhere else. No one ever came in here, which meant he would be all alone. Except for Myrtle, but he wasn't going to count, she wouldn't badger him like the others.

Myrtle wasn't in there at the time, so Shay, feeling tears fill his eyes, slowly took off his robes and shirt, revealing his skin, which resembled a horrible work of art.

Bruises painted almost every available patch of skin, turning his normally pale skin tone into a blended work of blue, black, purple, yellow, and light brown. Healing cuts and scars danced across his chest and drew thin lines all over his stomach, standing out in red and white swirls among the other colors. Welts streaked across his back from his dad's belt, tying up the injuries into a terrible and awfully artistic canvas.

"What happened to you?" A soft voice gasped and Shay spun around to face the intruder.

It was a translucent girl with dark pigtails and wire rimmed glasses that made her blue eyes looked huge. She wore Ravenclaw robes and her face was set in an expression of horror and shock.

"Um, nothing, Myrtle," Shay responded, throwing his shirt back on in the blink of an eye.

Myrtle shrugged, deciding not to push it, and changed subjects. "What are you doing in here? Are you here to visit me?" She sounded so excited.

Seamus sat down on the tile floor and looked up at her. "I needed to get away for a while. We can talk if you want?"

Myrtle nodded, excited yet curious, as she floated down to the floor and sat across from him. "What are you getting away from?"

Shay shrugged. "My mate and I had a fight. I said something I shouldn't have and... well, it only takes one brick to being the castle down."

"Why don't you apologize?"

"I tried, but it doesn't even come close to making up for it, " Shay whispered, hoarsely.

"Well, actions speak louder than words. Try doing something to make him forgive you. What were you fighting about?"

"Um, well, he was concerned for me because I haven't been sleeping well or eating much and he saw those bruises. He wanted the truth, but I couldn't give it to him. He didn't take that well."

"Well, why don't you tell him the truth?" Myrtle asked, curiously. "What could be so bad that you can't tell your best mate? You should cherish them. People like me didn't have many of those."

Seamus frowned. "How come?"

Myrtle simply shrugged her shoulders. "I never really fit in at my primary school. I wore glasses and my teeth were crooked and I was really, really smart. I was kind of socially awkward and nobody really liked me because I was different."

"Did you have any friends?" Shay whispered.

Myrtle smiled softly. "I had one. Her name was Ella Myers, and we were friends until I went to Hogwarts. I wanted to tell her about the school, but I couldn't. I just told her I was going to boarding school, but Ella could read me like a book. She knew I wasn't telling the whole truth.

"She yelled at me, why was I lying to her. And I told her I had a good reason. We got into a huge row and finally, she stormed away and even when I came back that summer, she didn't talk to me. Not at all.

"I didn't have many friends at Hogwarts either. Everyone made fun of me, and pushed me around and just all around hated me all because I was different.

"I was in the bathroom crying because someone made fun of my new glasses, and then just heard a sound. A boy in the girls bathroom. I opened the stall door to tell him to go away and I saw... a huge pair of glowing eyes and then, I died.

"I haunted the people that made fun of me. Some of them nearly went crazy," Myrtle giggled, but there was little humor to it. Only bitterness and satisfaction.

"Myrtle," Seamus began cautiously, "why don't you move on? I can understand you haunting those people that made fun of you, but they're all gone... graduated, maybe even dead, so why do you stick around?"

Myrtle smiled. "That is the one question no one has ever asked me. I stick around because it's want to be there for kids like me: the friendless, bullied, hurting kids that no one really gives a damn about. Because all I needed was someone to care about me and maybe I wouldn't have been in here crying when I died. An incident like that shouldn't even happen once, much less more than that. Don't you agree?"

Seamus nodded. It did make sense and it was quite selfless to give up a life in the afterlife beyond this world to save other kids like you.

Ding, dong! Ding, dong!

"Shit," Seamus cursed. "It's midnight, already? I best be getting back, Myrtle. I promise I'll come back tomorrow, okay?"

"Okay," Myrtle said with a small smile. This boy wasn't like Harry Potter or Draco Malfoy; he was different from anyone she'd ever met.

Could she have just made her first true friend besides Ella?

She had.

Shay sprinted through the halls and hopped through the portrait hole to find the common room vacant of life.

Taking the stairs two at a time, he leaped into bed and laid his head on the pillow.

Causing one more glance at Dean's bed, he whispered, "I'm sorry, Dean. I really am."

He didn't notice one lone figure sitting up in bed, watching him, listening to Shay's quiet cries because Shay may have lost his best friend tonight.

And that figure knew that nothing would ever be the same.

the figure can be anyone because it really doesn't matter who it is. It's just to show that it's obvious things have changed drastically in everyone's eyes. Thank you