Disclaimer: I own nothing

Time skip to three days before Christmas Break

Seamus hadn't spoken to Dean or any of his dorm mates since that row almost two months ago. He'd been working on ways to apologize, but he discovered that he was severely sleep deprived to the point where when he spoke, his words came out jumbled, slurred, and sometimes in the wrong order.

Shay wasn't doing any better than two months ago; if anything, he was doing worse.

His eating habits had dropped off even more. Instead of eating very small portions at three meals a day, he would go days without eating and only ate something small when he did eat. He'd learned that eating an average sized meal caused him to throw it up later and his appetite was so small, even a doll sized meal every three days made his stomach hurt.

Meanwhile, his sleep was worse than ever. Shay would go days without sleeping, going to bed at nine and laying in bed until four AM wide awake before getting up to do his homework. When he did sleep, his night terrors were horrifying and he honestly preferred to never sleep than to deal with those when he did.

Then, there were his grades. He did every homework assignment and studied for hours on end, but his concentration was practically nonexistent by now. His grades were slipping from O's and EE's to almost all D's. The only class he had an O in was one of his extra-curricular subjects, Journalism. Shay found that while not very good at magic, he was great at writing anything from stories to poems to songs.

But his father wouldn't care about that single O because the rest were dreadfuls and Shay knew he was in for it when he received the Letter.

Before I continue, letters can be sent two ways at Hogwarts. There was the way of sending them by Owl of course, but there was also, Mailing for Muggle Parents of Students, or MMPS. Muggle parents often struggle with the owl mailing process as it is entirely new to them and therefore, they could simply use a quill, provided to each and every family with their child's Hogwarts letter, to write their child's name. The school will detect the quill and the letter will appear in the child's mailbox in the Owlery.

Alright, long, boring explanation moment over. Moving on with the story.

Shay reached into his mailbox and retrieved a single letter in a crisp white envelope with the words 'Seamus Finnigan' written in green ink.

Opening the letter, he froze in his slightly relaxed state (Shay almost never relaxed anymore and when he did, it was only slightly) when he saw the handwriting.

The letter was short and demanding, written in slightly sloppy handwriting that had obviously not been spell or grammer checked. After scanning the letter in shock for several moments, he finally made out something like this:

'Boy,

You will come home for the Christmas holidays. No questions; no complaints. Just do it.'

It was unsigned, but Shay knew who it was from.

His father wanted him home and not for the reasons most children's parents want their kids home.

Shay knew he was in for it.

His father had only sent him one letter before and it was when he was nine to tell him that he blames his son for getting locked up in jail. In a way, this was even worse.

Shay spun on his heel and raced in the direction of Moaning Myrtle's bathroom.

He and Myrtle had become good friends since his row with Dean and he visited her every single day. When he had a problem, he went to the female ghost for advice and someone to vent to and in return, Seamus had learned more about the ghost than he'd learned about anyone else, even Dean.

"Myrtle?" He called as he burst into the room, nearly hyperventilating with terror. "Are you here?"

"Shay, what happened?" A high pitched voice asked as Myrtle appeared, seating her transparent form upon the sinks and facing him, looking concerned.

"M-My dad," he stammeted, holding up the letter. After a month or so of talking, Shay had finally told Myrtle after she had promised not to tell another soul-living or dead. So far, she'd kept that promise. "H-He wants me home for Christmasl"

"Are you gonna go?" Myrtle questioned, looking oddly calm, but he could see the worry in her blue eyes.

Seamus shrugged. "What choice do I have? If I go, he'll beat me, sure. There's no escaping that, but if I don't go... when summer comes around, it'll only be worse."

"Maybe you could talk to the Headmaster," Myrtle suggested.

Shay shook his head. "We've been over this, Myrtle. My dad knew that Adam was thinking of telling and he nearly killed him; he hadn't technically told anyone yet! Could you imagine what my dad would do to get back at me for telling? My mom, sure, she's not a model parent- far from it- but I don't want her dead or close to it! And if he gets his hands on Dean or Harry or any of the others, I don't think I'll be able to deal with that." His voice broke.

Myrtle frowned; she hated seeing her new friend so sad, so broken, like this. "Shay, it's gonna be okay. If you tell, he'll go to jail and he can't bother anyone again."

"Myrtle, he got out once," Shay cried on the verge of tears. "And he's been hurting me since. If he can do these things to his own son, imagine what he'll do to complete strangers! I can't tell. I-I'm gonna go to home; I-I'll keep Dean on speed dial and call if things get out of hand. Okay?"

"Okay, Shay, but please, just... take what I said into consideration. When are you leaving?"

"Christmas break is a three days away. I'll start packing soon- today or tomorrow- but I'll try to make sure I visit as soon as I get back, okay, M?"

Myrtle sighed. She knew she wouldn't be able to convince Shay to tell. "Okay, Shay, be safe."

Shay nodded and turned to leave, shutting the door quietly behind him.

His world was a spinning, jumbled up mess and he had no order to the chaos around him. Shay had never been a neat freak, but he'd always kept his life farily organized from his homework being in a specific place to making his bed every morning.

But now, his life was in a landslide, tumbling down on him before he could even stop it. As the walls of his palace come crashing down around him, he stands in the center of it all, weakening with each minute.

How could he stop it?

His dad coming back... one section of bricks crumbling.

His mates not speaking to him... another section.

His grades slipping... another part of the wall gave way.

He was powerless to stop this. Logically, he knew there had to be a way, but what that way was, he didn't know.

"Freak!"

"You're not my friend anymore."

"Maybe you deserved all those bruises!"

"Jerk!"

"Worthless!"

"Dumb!"

"Stupid!"

"Unwanted!"

"Pyromaniac!"

"You are no son of mine." His mother's words on the day his father was arrested. Those ones hurt the most.

The voices won't stop. They keep screaming and echoing off of the crumbling walls and even if he covers his ears, the voices don't stop.

Even when he yells and screams and shouts at them to shut the F up, they don't stop.

And he won't admit they're breaking him.

Shay doesn't know if it's because of sleep deprivation, not eating, shock over the letter, or just being deep in thought, but he doesn't even see the stairs ahead of him.

And then he's falling, rolling down the stairs and yelping as the contact formed numerous bruises on his pale skin.

Finally, he makes it to the bottom, cracking his skull against the marble floor.

And then he's gone.

I know Seamus seems a little OOC, but then again, if my life was like Seamus's, I would be out of character too. Please review!