Memories as a Teacup: Chapter 6
Title: Memories as a Teacup: Chapter 6
Author: wook77
Pairing:: Dean/Seamus (other slash and het pairings contained within)
Rating: PG (Eventual rating: Hard R to NC-17)
100quills prompt: 42. Life
Warnings: Canon compliant through DH. Pre-Epilogue. Additional Warnings at the beginning of Chapter 1.
Wordcount: Overall: ~70k This part: 5600
Summary: Four years ago, Dean Thomas died in the midst of a raid. Seamus saw it happen right in front of his eyes but seeing isn't believing and reality is in the eye of the beholder.
A/N: Many many thanks to nefernat for the beta job. All remaining mistakes are my own. I've neglected to mention that this started as fulfilling a prompt for miz_thang88 at slashfest.
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"Jesus, Seamus, I don't know what brought this on. You wanted me to talk to Parvati. You wanted me to come here and now you're pissed at me?" Seamus froze at Dean's beleaguered tone. "I can't help not remembering you. It's not like I had much choice in the matter."
Just like that, Seamus switched from pissed to mortified."I…"
"No, you had your say, it's my turn. You don't want me around, I'll leave. Doesn't mean that I'm going to stop trying to figure out who I was, though. There's a good chance that they'll be able to help me and I'm going to take it."
"I don't want you to go," Seamus admitted quietly.
"You think it's any easier for me? You think it's easy to be here? You think that I'm cool with everyone else knowing my life when I don't? I'm sorry, all right? I'm sorry that I don't know you other than the last month or so. I'm sorry that I didn't come to you years ago but I didn't know about you because no one told me."
"You're right," was all that he said as he left the lift. He felt the same so it wasn't like he had much of a defence for his anger though it was still there. "Let's just go back to the flat. 'S not the place for this sort of talk."
The rest of the trip was made in silence. On the Tube, Seamus flung himself into a seat, kicking his legs out and weaving his hands together across his stomach. Dean, for his part, sat on the opposite side and mirrored the position.
Once they were in the flat, the silence continued. It felt like a Boggart in the closet, crouching and waiting to jump out while assuming Seamus's worst fear. Every minute only intensified that feeling. Seamus couldn't take it anymore.
"There's this thing called a Boggart, nasty bugger and it -" This time, it was Seamus that was interrupted.
"What's this got to do with anything?" Dean asked from his spot on the end of the sofa while flipping through the channels of the telly.
"Just let me finish here and would you please stop that?" Seamus gestured towards the remote. Dean put the remote down so Seamus went on, "Look, so this Boggart is a creature that assumes the shape of your worst fear. Back in third year, we had to figure out how to defeat it. Your Boggart, if I'm remembering correctly, was a hand that skittered along the ground. Mine, back then, was a banshee. Scary nasty bitches, banshees, every Irish kid grows up with stories of them and how they'll kill you. Had such a fear of banshees back then."
Seamus paused as he thought how to put the next bit. "Four years ago, my Boggart changed to you lying on the ground in a crumpled heap. Happened so quick, you know? I didn't get a chance to do much other than check for a pulse before I was stunned. Order arrived and took me away but they left you behind. It wasn't like I could protest cause I couldn't move, yeah? Went a bit mad after that, withdrew from everyone and went on these suicide missions but not a single one ever killed me. Kept doing that until Parvati talked to me, listened, really fucking listened, and she helped put me back together best I could go."
Dean was still silent and Seamus raked a hand through his hair before sitting on the arm of the sofa. "Look, what I'm trying to say here is that I'm trying to keep myself together and I'm not doing so well. I've got you back, but I don't, yeah? Just lately, it's me talking and you being quiet and, well, Christ, I'm sounding like a geebag. I'm a bit hurt by it and that's not your fault and I'm not meaning to take it out on you but it's there all the same. I know you're having problems but I'm as well so a bit of patience on both our parts?"
The silence continued with Seamus staring at Dean and Dean looking at the black screen of the telly. He was just about to give up, go make a cup of tea or head to sleep or something when Dean started to speak.
"I was just suddenly walking in London. One minute, I was eleven and the next, it seemed, I was twenty-one and no idea how I got to the spot I was in. Took me awhile to find the Tube station and then I went home and I didn't have my keys so I knocked and knocked until my mum opened the door. She fainted dead away, just collapsed to the ground. I was so scared, had no clue what the hell had been happening to me and it didn't help that mum just dropped like a stone. My dad came out and he fell into a chair. There I was in the doorway and I didn't recognise a single thing in the house. My mum and dad looked so old. Biggest shock was my one sister, though. She was pregnant, belly out to here," Dean gestured for a belly the size of a football, "and she waddled right over and slapped my face. Stung quite a bit but then she hugged me and cried. When mum came to, she just kept crying too. They all did, even my other sister when they were finally able to ring her. We went to hospital and they couldn't find anything about why I didn't remember the previous ten years. Went to another and another and another and another. Kept going to all these specialists and no one could tell me anything.
"Finally, though, I gave up. Had to work around not having scores from school. Just wasn't worth looking for my own place, you know? A bit of familiarity was enough and, well, I just wanted to stay where it was comfortable. First time I saw you on that bench, I didn't recognise you at all." Dean's admission was said matter-of-factly and it was that much harder for Seamus because of it. "Can't help but wonder if maybe I'd thought you looked familiar that I'd've started to get something back."
"Let's not go into the what-ifs and the might've-beens," Seamus requested. If they started that, he was quite sure that he'd admit where they'd been and the dreams he'd had of their future. He wasn't quite sure that he was ready for that. "Let's just work from here. Parvati's the best, she'll do a good job."
"She said that we all went to school together. She also mentioned that we're to have dinner with her and Lavender later this week?"
"We're going, then?" The thought of going for dinner made him nervous and he wasn't sure if it was because Dennis would be there or if it was because they were going together, almost like a couple.
"Thought it might be fun, Parvati thinks it'd be a good idea."
"All right, then, dinner it is. She mention anyone else?"
"Yeah, said something about Dennis maybe being there. She said that we were all in Gryffindor together. Dennis and me, we got along, didn't we?"
"For the most part. I mean, he was quite a bit younger than us, three years, I think. We were all in a… a group together, though. He's a good lad, it's just that…" his voice trailed off as he tried to think of a way to explain just how Dennis was now.
"Yeah?"
"He's not well. There were a lot of losses during the War and after. Dennis lost his brother, Colin, and he, um, he took it hard. He's not well, so just be sure not to mention Colin, all right?"
"Colin? He the one with the photographs?"
"Aye, yeah. Colin was a good bloke, bit annoying, actually. He was so happy about everything and so was Dennis. Hell, they were basically tied at the hip, never saw one without the other. When Colin died, I think it broke something in Dennis. Just be careful with him."
"Sure, no worries. It's not like I have memories of him anyway." Dean tried for a laugh and Seamus smiled in response.
"You'll have 'em eventually."
"Yeah."
"You will, Parvati's the best. You'll see."
"If I don't? Can't stay here for the rest of my life; have to go back to work soon. How long are you off?"
"If you don't, we'll take care of it then. Can always get a bigger flat, one with two bedrooms so you're not stuck on me sofa the rest of your life. So you go back to work and you'll be fine." Seamus hadn't even thought about work, he'd simply called and said that he'd be in later. The office hadn't improved much since Bagman's era and the Tri-Wizard Tournament and it wasn't like Seamus was all that important in the grand scheme of things. "Guess I should go back eventually, yeah?"
"If you want, you could go back tomorrow. Appreciate you being around and all that but I think I'll be able to find St. Mungo's myself and, well, I'm sure you'd rather be doing something than sitting around waiting for me to finish up."
At first, Seamus felt so hurt at the implication that Dean didn't want him around. Seamus didn't mind waiting, didn't care about work or any of that. He wanted to be there for Dean and that was that. Then he started to think that maybe Dean would want a bit of independence with this. After all, Dean had always been independent and that was sometimes the root of the problems they'd had; he'd been too independent for Seamus's jealousy to cope.
"Aye, could do that if you're sure you're all right. How about this, you lead the way to St. Mungo's and then I'll hare off to work after that? Just to make sure they'll let you in without a wand and all that?"
"Sure, thanks." Dean sounded relieved and the hurt curled again.
~~**~~
After the discussion with Dean last night, Seamus felt relieved to be heading into work. Though it had hurt when Dean had asked to do it on his own, Seamus understood where he was coming from and that helped ease the ache. Distance would help more, as well, perhaps it might even keep him from grabbing Dean's face with both his hands and pulling it down to mash their lips together, tasting the missed flavours of that mouth. Yes, distance would be good for them both.
Dean had navigated himself just fine, getting off on the right stop and the hospital had let him in without a wand. Knowing that he was meeting Parvati inside made it easier to walk away and head in to work. When he reached his office, he saw his overflowing box with all sorts of report demands and memos. Perhaps he'd been more missed than he'd thought as one of his favourite co-workers brought him a cup of the piss water that masqueraded as Ministry-supplied tea and stopped for a chat.
As soon as the man left, Seamus started sorting the papers. The first memo detailed requests regarding game scheduling so that the Obliviators could schedule proper personnel. The second made him think that someone had far too much time on their hands as he saw a memo on proper toilet tissue allotments per person per day and how the Auror Department, in particular, was going over their departmental allocation. Seamus would have to take the piss out of Harry the next time he ran into him.
The reminder of the Auror Department brought his mind circling back to Dean and the mess with Dennis. He'd made such a bollocks of everything with both of them. It wasn't fair of him to run off to Dennis whenever something happened with Dean. He wouldn't have done it Before and he shouldn't be doing it now.
Damn Before anyway. It had ruined so much of their lives. Seamus wasn't even sure why they'd established that routine or if he'd ever actually agreed to it. It'd just become habit to meet Dennis at the pub and drink until they both forgot. He was sure that Dennis relied on their meetings as much as Seamus had. They'd both been floating in their own seas of misery and it had been almost easier to drift together, to know that someone else out there understood the pain of loss and guilt at not being able to protect.
Was that why he'd eventually agreed to the routine? Because Dennis was stuck in the same emotional turmoil? Had they really been helping each other stay afloat or had they only been reinforcing the confusion and pain? Had he continued to meet with Dennis because it showed him that there was someone out there that was worse off than him?
Seamus couldn't answer any of the questions. They made him feel guilty and brought up too much of the loss and not enough of the recent reunion. He didn't want to think about it but not thinking about it hadn't got him very far in all the years since he'd lost Dean. He needed help. Perhaps at the dinner, he could ask her to meet with him, help him with all of this. Maybe she'd help him get out of this cycle of confusion and pain and guilt and happiness.
Head spinning, he went back to his memos. It took his mind off of everything else to fulfill some of the report requests with statistics and the benefit versus cost ratios for the various locations proposed for the next Quidditch World Cup. His distraction didn't much matter. The numbers were the numbers and he only had to copy them onto the parchment in the appropriate order.
Besides, if he did bugger this job up, there were plenty of others. They might not pay as well but with Dean there to help with the bills… he pulled his thoughts back away from Dean and went back to his paperwork. The stadium that the Kestrels played in would make a good possible candidate location and it was in Ireland so he'd be supporting the local economy. There were plenty of pubs around, pubs like the Howling Banshee where Dean and him had spent the summer before seventh year getting pissed.
Work wasn't helping much, especially after he'd written about the merits of the Howling Banshee on his most recent copy of a report detailing stadium capacity. He couldn't stop wondering just what Dean was going through. It was far too tempting to call it a day, head to St. Mungo's and find out. The only thing stopping him was that Dean had asked to do this on his own. He cursed himself under his breath before going back to the mind numbingly boring tasks of capacity comparisons.
Quitting time couldn't come early enough, especially when he caught himself longing for one of the Weasley's Skiving Snackboxes. Who said that Noseblood Nougats were only for school children? A nosebleed right about now would give him enough of an excuse to call it a day and head home. Then again, as he copied his completed report into triplicate, a nosebleed could come at any time caused by the sheer amount of boredom.
~~**~~
Dean scratched at his neck, uncomfortable with the testing. Parvati kept waving her wand and then writing things down before going back to waving her wand. First a pink glow and then a purple one enveloped his head. Parvati muttered to herself and then wrote a few more notes down.
"That good or bad?" Dean asked as the pink glow came again.
"Hm?" She looked up, startled, and then flushed. From her reaction, it was obvious she'd been completely entranced by what she was doing and it appeared like she'd almost forgotten he was there. "Oh, right, sorry, it's interesting."
"Interesting?" Dean cocked an eyebrow.
"It looks like there's some sort of spell damage, which I suspected." She cast another spell and seemed to slip back into that concentration but then she asked, "So, how'd it go with Seamus last night?"
"What?"
"Seamus. Last night. He seemed a bit abrupt and upset. I wanted to make sure things were all right with the two of you." A blue glow emanated as she cast another spell.
"He's feeling a bit off, I guess. It can't be easy to just have me reappear, we're both having problems, I guess." He didn't want to betray the confidences but Parvati was trying to help him and he felt like he should tell her everything, "He said that he wants me to talk more, that he's always talking and I'm just quiet but that's the way I am. I don't know if that's the way I was but…"
"But he needs to know the you of now, too, doesn't he?" Parvati sat on the edge of her desk, her Healer's robes floating around her. "This can't be easy on you, either. You thought you were a Muggle, didn't know anything about magic and then suddenly here he is telling you that you're someone else and then there's all the magic floating about. It has to be really odd for you."
"Yeah, it is. I mean, he just made light out of his wand or just cleans with a sweep of his wand and there I am, picking up everything piece by piece. And… and it's weird to know about it now and it doesn't help that my family didn't tell me a thing about it. They acted like they didn't know anything about this. Hell, when Seamus first approached me, I freaked out. He came back and gave me this box of photographs and a sketch of the two of us. I still didn't believe him." Dean paused, unsure how much to tell. "I think I hurt him when I didn't recognise him right away."
"Of course you did." Dean's gut twisted. Seamus was quickly becoming important to him. Some of it must've shown on his face because she continued, "It's not your fault and it's not his. The hurt's bound to happen. You're both different people now and you need to learn about each other. You two, well, you two were…" she trailed off and he could tell that she was trying to think of how to describe their relationship, "…inseparable, so Seamus has had a lot to go through. He didn't deal well with your death. Took a while but he got better bit by bit. Rediscovering you rocked the shaky foundation he had. Do you have the photographs that he gave you?"
Dean nodded and pulled out a couple of the photographs and the sketch. "The sketch, there's something about it that I keep going back to."
Parvati looked at the drawing and her hand covered her mouth once more. He wasn't at all sure why she seemed to have such a strong reaction.
"Did he explain about it?"
"I didn't ask. You can tell that we were mates, just looking at it. I probably drew it for him because of that." He handed her the photographs. "He's a very tactile person, isn't he?"
"What makes you say that?" Parvati looked through the photos and traced a finger across the one of the group of them.
"In the photos, we were always standing with an arm around one another or something, even the ones when we were twelve." Dean felt stupid for thinking the next part but considering that Parvati was there to help, he continued, "He keeps touching me now, too, but then he apologises for it. He pulls away and watches me for my reaction."
"Are you all right with him touching you?" The question seemed odd to Dean.
"Yeah, it's fine. We were mates, yeah? I don't mind. Why do you ask?"
"No reason, I do more than just heal physically. You can talk to me; whatever you say in here is kept between us. So whether it's about Seamus or your family or your frustration, you can talk to me."
"Ok, thanks."
She smiled and started to cast another few spells. The colours switched from green to blue to purple.
~~**~~
When Seamus entered the hallway, he saw Dean and Parvati standing together talking. They looked up and the smile that split both their faces melted the frustration of the day. He smiled back and hurried his approach.
"You're looking awfully happy," he remarked when he reached them.
"Vati ran some tests and it's looking like she might have an idea of what happened. The specialist didn't have time today so I'll come back tomorrow to meet with him." Dean's grin went from ear to ear. Seamus gave Dean's arm a squeeze, unable to resist the urge to touch that happiness.
"That's amazing! Thanks, Parvati," Seamus said as he turned to her.
"All in a day's work. It is what I get paid for, you know." She looked at him oddly for a moment and Seamus wondered what Dean had said to her.
"You're the best." He kissed her on the cheek before turning back to Dean. "You about ready?"
"Yeah, sure," there was an exchanged look between Parvati and Dean that made Seamus nervous and then Dean continued, "we can get going."
"Seamus?" Parvati asked as they turned to go down the hallway back to the lifts.
"Yeah?" He turned around and, when she crooked a finger at him, he walked over to her.
"We'll be right out, Dean," she said before walking into her office. Seamus shrugged his shoulders and followed. Once inside, she pulled the door shut. "Dean tells me that you're having problems."
"What else he say?" Seamus tried not to sound defensive.
"Just that, that you're having problems but that you're trying. He told me you fought last night but that you explained that you're trying to adapt and it's not going so well."
"Wouldn't you have problems? I mean, it's not like you can prepare for your best mate to come back from the dead, now can you?" Seamus raked a hand through his hair before pacing the office.
"He's not just your best mate, though."
"Christ, but what would you do if Colin were suddenly in front of you with no memory of you? Would you be all right with that? You saying that you'd dance a jig and pick up where you left off, no problems?" Seamus spat at her and her face went closed for a moment.
"That was low, Seamus, very low."
"I'm sorry." When she didn't react, just continued to stare at him, he raked his hand through his hair once more and then moved closer. "It's not the same. He's not the same and it's odd because he looks the same and sometimes he says the same things and it jars me."
"You want to come in and talk? We could do it here or at my flat or yours. I just think you need to talk to someone about this, too."
"Yeah, maybe. Should tell you about Dennis, too." Seamus looked out the window where Dean leaned against a wall. "I haven't told Dean everything about back then, either. He doesn't know what we were, just that we were mates."
"I could tell from the way he spoke. You'll have to tell him eventually." She embraced him and then pulled back. "Now, what about Dennis?"
"Later, yeah? Not enough time for it right now."
"He rang me, told me that he was coming to dinner. Anything I should know before then? The short version, of course."
"He's not well, really not well." Seamus looked about the office and then finished, "That's all I can tell you in the short version."
"All right, then, we'll see how he is at dinner." She walked over to the door and opened it.
The walk to the lift and then the ride down was done in silence. The entire trip back to the flat was silent as they were both lost in thought. Seamus didn't want to lose the tenuous friendship they had right now. It was enough, dammit, enough that he wasn't going to fuck it up with telling Dean that they'd slept together, touched each other in every conceivable way. How would he start the conversation, anyway? It wasn't like he could say to Dean, 'look mate, so your cock used to slide right into my arse and Christ Jesus but it felt fucking amazing to have you deep inside. Only thing that felt better was when you sucked me off.'
They were at his door before he realised that they'd gotten off the Tube. He dug for his keys and, when he couldn't find them right away, spelled the door open.
"I'll cook dinner, if you'd like," Dean offered and Seamus turned and gaped. "What? I can cook, you know."
"Yeah? Only thing you ever cooked before was water for tea."
"When I was home all the time after… well, after, mum showed me how to cook to keep me out of her hair." Dean looked awkward at the mention of the time or his mother, Seamus couldn't tell which.
"You talk to her since you left?"
"No, not going to for awhile. I'm still fairly pissed about all of it. They kept everything from me and I don't have to forgive that." Dean looked fierce and Seamus reached out a hand and squeezed his wrist.
"They're your family. They did what they thought was best. I can see their point, to be honest. Magic didn't do nothing but give you problems. You ever want to hear about it, you let me know." Seamus started to let go but Dean pressed his hand over Seamus's.
"I want to know it all."
"All right, you start fixing dinner and I'll get changed out of me robes." Seamus walked in to the bedroom and quickly changed. By the time he came back out, Dean had something sizzling in a pan on the cooker while he chopped vegetables. Seamus sat at the small table and watched. Dean really did know his way around the kitchen and Seamus couldn't help admiring the way that he seemed so comfortable.
This was something they hadn't shared before. The most either of them could cook was heating up takeaway or water for tea. Instead of focusing on how much Dean had changed, Seamus chose to simply experience it. He watched as Dean slid the vegetables into the pan and then tossed a bit of this and a bit of that into it. Every once in awhile, Dean would turn and grin at Seamus, causing a small frisson to go through him. That grin, so self-assured, brought back fond memories of training together, the way that they'd practise spells and then go out for a pint, grinning over the food.
Dean set the food down on the small table with a flourish. "There you go, told you I could cook."
"We'll see, mate, we'll see. This is probably rubbish, just made to look like pretty rubbish." Seamus grabbed his fork and took a bite. It tasted divine, the way the flavours melded together. Seamus bit back the moan that threatened to erupt.
"Told you." Dean sounded far too impressed with himself. Seamus tossed a rude gesture towards him.
"So what do you want to know about?"
"I don't know, everything. What do you want to tell me about?" Dean pushed at the food on his plate.
"All right, well, told you we were best mates and I told you about how you saved my skin when we first met." Seamus wracked his brain for something other than how they'd slept entwined or how it felt to have Dean kiss him. "There was this guy, evil megalomaniac sort, and he had a bunch of followers. They called themselves the Death Eaters and they hated anyone that wasn't born to magic parents."
"People like me, then?" Dean asked and Seamus nodded.
"Aye, so our final year in school, you had to go into hiding and I got sent off to Hogwarts. We owled back and forth all the time, came up with our own code and everything. It was rough, really rough. Eventually, bunch of us ended up having to hide in the school and then Harry, you'll meet him at Parvati's dinner, he saved us, killed Voldemort though we lost a lot of people. You and me, we were right there fighting during the final battle. You were brilliant, mate, absolutely brilliant. We lost a lot of good people, though. We were only kids and we were fighting people with years of experience. That's where Colin died, Colin and a whole bunch of others. After the dust settled, you and me, we talked and decided to join the Aurors."
"Aurors?" Dean interrupted.
"They're sort of like the bobbies, make sure that no one's doing anything illegal. After our year of training, we were assigned to hunt a few of Voldemort's remaining supporters. We were good at it, too. One day, we got a bit of a suspicious tip about the location of one of 'em. The two of us went without back-up, we were such cocky bastards. God, if we'd had back-up…"
Seamus paused to collect himself for the next part. "We should've waited but we were so full of ourselves, so fucking full of ego that we went alone. Yaxley and Lestrange were supposed to be inside this one house but it looked empty. We watched for a bit and then I suggested we go in. As we crossed through this clearing, you got hit with something. I fired off a couple of spells. When I touched you, you weren't breathing. Swear to God there wasn't a pulse or nothing." Seamus's voice shook as he relived those moments.
"Yaxley came out of the building along with one of the Lestranges. I got hit with a Stunner and then a bunch of other Aurors came. They took me but they left you behind. Couldn't do anything about it. Couldn't even move let alone talk. By the time I could go back, your body was gone. I tracked everyone I could to try to find you. Didn't think you were dead, not then. Wouldn't think of it. Anytime someone would say it, I'd argue with 'em. Went a bit crazy, to be honest, went on missions on my own but I couldn't find you. When I'd tracked and…" Seamus hesitated over how to phrase the next part. "… and questioned them, they all said you were dead. Few months later, in an old warehouse, I found a body, burnt beyond recognition. Mediwizards told me it was you and I finally cracked, just broke into a thousand pieces. Parvati, she was the one stuck putting me back together." Seamus stopped the recitation of the past to reach out a hand and held on to Dean as if he were the anchor to life itself. "I swear I looked for you. I swear on all that's holy I did."
Dean's hand covered his and squeezed. "Not your fault."
"Aye, it was. It was my idea to go without more people. My idea to go across the clearing. My idea not to wait. My ego that said we didn't need anyone else. Me that didn't think they'd come out. Me that got stunned and couldn't tell anyone that you might be alive."
"My mum, when we were arguing, she said that you killed me and that's why I left when I did. I didn't believe her and I don't believe you." Dean squeezed his hand once more.
"But I did, I - " He would've continued but Dean interrupted.
"You didn't make me do anything."
"You don't remember!" Seamus yelled.
"Fuck you, Seamus! Fuck you if you think I would just do whatever you said. I know myself well enough to know that you can't make me do a damn thing I don't want to do now, let alone back then." Dean stood and started to pace. Seamus, shocked at the anger, merely gaped. "You know, between you and mum, you'd think that I didn't have a brain in my head, that I was completely incapable of thinking for myself."
Seamus moved to cut off the pacing, raising his hands in front of him. "Never thought that, y'ken? I never thought that once. It's more that I was the insisting one and you were the one that wanted to wait. I didn't listen, too stubborn for me own good."
"When are you going to realise that this isn't your fault? It's not yours, it's not mine." Dean threw his hands in the air and then threw himself back in to his chair, picking up the fork. Seamus stood there, at a loss for words or action. "You going to eat this or should I throw it out?"
Seamus sat.
"Now tell me something about school. Tell me about how you defeat a Boggart. Tell me a funny story about training. Tell me what my favourite spell was. Tell me about magic. Do some tricks." In all the demands, Seamus heard the main one - 'don't talk about me dying anymore'. He was all too happy to oblige.
"See, these Boggarts, only way to get rid of them is to laugh, so you had to turn them into something ridiculous. Nev, his Boggart back then was this professor and…"
As always, I'd love to hear what you thought.
Chapter 7
Author: wook77
Pairing:: Dean/Seamus (other slash and het pairings contained within)
Rating: PG (Eventual rating: Hard R to NC-17)
100quills prompt: 42. Life
Warnings: Canon compliant through DH. Pre-Epilogue. Additional Warnings at the beginning of Chapter 1.
Wordcount: Overall: ~70k This part: 5600
Summary: Four years ago, Dean Thomas died in the midst of a raid. Seamus saw it happen right in front of his eyes but seeing isn't believing and reality is in the eye of the beholder.
A/N: Many many thanks to nefernat for the beta job. All remaining mistakes are my own. I've neglected to mention that this started as fulfilling a prompt for miz_thang88 at slashfest.
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"Jesus, Seamus, I don't know what brought this on. You wanted me to talk to Parvati. You wanted me to come here and now you're pissed at me?" Seamus froze at Dean's beleaguered tone. "I can't help not remembering you. It's not like I had much choice in the matter."
Just like that, Seamus switched from pissed to mortified."I…"
"No, you had your say, it's my turn. You don't want me around, I'll leave. Doesn't mean that I'm going to stop trying to figure out who I was, though. There's a good chance that they'll be able to help me and I'm going to take it."
"I don't want you to go," Seamus admitted quietly.
"You think it's any easier for me? You think it's easy to be here? You think that I'm cool with everyone else knowing my life when I don't? I'm sorry, all right? I'm sorry that I don't know you other than the last month or so. I'm sorry that I didn't come to you years ago but I didn't know about you because no one told me."
"You're right," was all that he said as he left the lift. He felt the same so it wasn't like he had much of a defence for his anger though it was still there. "Let's just go back to the flat. 'S not the place for this sort of talk."
The rest of the trip was made in silence. On the Tube, Seamus flung himself into a seat, kicking his legs out and weaving his hands together across his stomach. Dean, for his part, sat on the opposite side and mirrored the position.
Once they were in the flat, the silence continued. It felt like a Boggart in the closet, crouching and waiting to jump out while assuming Seamus's worst fear. Every minute only intensified that feeling. Seamus couldn't take it anymore.
"There's this thing called a Boggart, nasty bugger and it -" This time, it was Seamus that was interrupted.
"What's this got to do with anything?" Dean asked from his spot on the end of the sofa while flipping through the channels of the telly.
"Just let me finish here and would you please stop that?" Seamus gestured towards the remote. Dean put the remote down so Seamus went on, "Look, so this Boggart is a creature that assumes the shape of your worst fear. Back in third year, we had to figure out how to defeat it. Your Boggart, if I'm remembering correctly, was a hand that skittered along the ground. Mine, back then, was a banshee. Scary nasty bitches, banshees, every Irish kid grows up with stories of them and how they'll kill you. Had such a fear of banshees back then."
Seamus paused as he thought how to put the next bit. "Four years ago, my Boggart changed to you lying on the ground in a crumpled heap. Happened so quick, you know? I didn't get a chance to do much other than check for a pulse before I was stunned. Order arrived and took me away but they left you behind. It wasn't like I could protest cause I couldn't move, yeah? Went a bit mad after that, withdrew from everyone and went on these suicide missions but not a single one ever killed me. Kept doing that until Parvati talked to me, listened, really fucking listened, and she helped put me back together best I could go."
Dean was still silent and Seamus raked a hand through his hair before sitting on the arm of the sofa. "Look, what I'm trying to say here is that I'm trying to keep myself together and I'm not doing so well. I've got you back, but I don't, yeah? Just lately, it's me talking and you being quiet and, well, Christ, I'm sounding like a geebag. I'm a bit hurt by it and that's not your fault and I'm not meaning to take it out on you but it's there all the same. I know you're having problems but I'm as well so a bit of patience on both our parts?"
The silence continued with Seamus staring at Dean and Dean looking at the black screen of the telly. He was just about to give up, go make a cup of tea or head to sleep or something when Dean started to speak.
"I was just suddenly walking in London. One minute, I was eleven and the next, it seemed, I was twenty-one and no idea how I got to the spot I was in. Took me awhile to find the Tube station and then I went home and I didn't have my keys so I knocked and knocked until my mum opened the door. She fainted dead away, just collapsed to the ground. I was so scared, had no clue what the hell had been happening to me and it didn't help that mum just dropped like a stone. My dad came out and he fell into a chair. There I was in the doorway and I didn't recognise a single thing in the house. My mum and dad looked so old. Biggest shock was my one sister, though. She was pregnant, belly out to here," Dean gestured for a belly the size of a football, "and she waddled right over and slapped my face. Stung quite a bit but then she hugged me and cried. When mum came to, she just kept crying too. They all did, even my other sister when they were finally able to ring her. We went to hospital and they couldn't find anything about why I didn't remember the previous ten years. Went to another and another and another and another. Kept going to all these specialists and no one could tell me anything.
"Finally, though, I gave up. Had to work around not having scores from school. Just wasn't worth looking for my own place, you know? A bit of familiarity was enough and, well, I just wanted to stay where it was comfortable. First time I saw you on that bench, I didn't recognise you at all." Dean's admission was said matter-of-factly and it was that much harder for Seamus because of it. "Can't help but wonder if maybe I'd thought you looked familiar that I'd've started to get something back."
"Let's not go into the what-ifs and the might've-beens," Seamus requested. If they started that, he was quite sure that he'd admit where they'd been and the dreams he'd had of their future. He wasn't quite sure that he was ready for that. "Let's just work from here. Parvati's the best, she'll do a good job."
"She said that we all went to school together. She also mentioned that we're to have dinner with her and Lavender later this week?"
"We're going, then?" The thought of going for dinner made him nervous and he wasn't sure if it was because Dennis would be there or if it was because they were going together, almost like a couple.
"Thought it might be fun, Parvati thinks it'd be a good idea."
"All right, then, dinner it is. She mention anyone else?"
"Yeah, said something about Dennis maybe being there. She said that we were all in Gryffindor together. Dennis and me, we got along, didn't we?"
"For the most part. I mean, he was quite a bit younger than us, three years, I think. We were all in a… a group together, though. He's a good lad, it's just that…" his voice trailed off as he tried to think of a way to explain just how Dennis was now.
"Yeah?"
"He's not well. There were a lot of losses during the War and after. Dennis lost his brother, Colin, and he, um, he took it hard. He's not well, so just be sure not to mention Colin, all right?"
"Colin? He the one with the photographs?"
"Aye, yeah. Colin was a good bloke, bit annoying, actually. He was so happy about everything and so was Dennis. Hell, they were basically tied at the hip, never saw one without the other. When Colin died, I think it broke something in Dennis. Just be careful with him."
"Sure, no worries. It's not like I have memories of him anyway." Dean tried for a laugh and Seamus smiled in response.
"You'll have 'em eventually."
"Yeah."
"You will, Parvati's the best. You'll see."
"If I don't? Can't stay here for the rest of my life; have to go back to work soon. How long are you off?"
"If you don't, we'll take care of it then. Can always get a bigger flat, one with two bedrooms so you're not stuck on me sofa the rest of your life. So you go back to work and you'll be fine." Seamus hadn't even thought about work, he'd simply called and said that he'd be in later. The office hadn't improved much since Bagman's era and the Tri-Wizard Tournament and it wasn't like Seamus was all that important in the grand scheme of things. "Guess I should go back eventually, yeah?"
"If you want, you could go back tomorrow. Appreciate you being around and all that but I think I'll be able to find St. Mungo's myself and, well, I'm sure you'd rather be doing something than sitting around waiting for me to finish up."
At first, Seamus felt so hurt at the implication that Dean didn't want him around. Seamus didn't mind waiting, didn't care about work or any of that. He wanted to be there for Dean and that was that. Then he started to think that maybe Dean would want a bit of independence with this. After all, Dean had always been independent and that was sometimes the root of the problems they'd had; he'd been too independent for Seamus's jealousy to cope.
"Aye, could do that if you're sure you're all right. How about this, you lead the way to St. Mungo's and then I'll hare off to work after that? Just to make sure they'll let you in without a wand and all that?"
"Sure, thanks." Dean sounded relieved and the hurt curled again.
~~**~~
After the discussion with Dean last night, Seamus felt relieved to be heading into work. Though it had hurt when Dean had asked to do it on his own, Seamus understood where he was coming from and that helped ease the ache. Distance would help more, as well, perhaps it might even keep him from grabbing Dean's face with both his hands and pulling it down to mash their lips together, tasting the missed flavours of that mouth. Yes, distance would be good for them both.
Dean had navigated himself just fine, getting off on the right stop and the hospital had let him in without a wand. Knowing that he was meeting Parvati inside made it easier to walk away and head in to work. When he reached his office, he saw his overflowing box with all sorts of report demands and memos. Perhaps he'd been more missed than he'd thought as one of his favourite co-workers brought him a cup of the piss water that masqueraded as Ministry-supplied tea and stopped for a chat.
As soon as the man left, Seamus started sorting the papers. The first memo detailed requests regarding game scheduling so that the Obliviators could schedule proper personnel. The second made him think that someone had far too much time on their hands as he saw a memo on proper toilet tissue allotments per person per day and how the Auror Department, in particular, was going over their departmental allocation. Seamus would have to take the piss out of Harry the next time he ran into him.
The reminder of the Auror Department brought his mind circling back to Dean and the mess with Dennis. He'd made such a bollocks of everything with both of them. It wasn't fair of him to run off to Dennis whenever something happened with Dean. He wouldn't have done it Before and he shouldn't be doing it now.
Damn Before anyway. It had ruined so much of their lives. Seamus wasn't even sure why they'd established that routine or if he'd ever actually agreed to it. It'd just become habit to meet Dennis at the pub and drink until they both forgot. He was sure that Dennis relied on their meetings as much as Seamus had. They'd both been floating in their own seas of misery and it had been almost easier to drift together, to know that someone else out there understood the pain of loss and guilt at not being able to protect.
Was that why he'd eventually agreed to the routine? Because Dennis was stuck in the same emotional turmoil? Had they really been helping each other stay afloat or had they only been reinforcing the confusion and pain? Had he continued to meet with Dennis because it showed him that there was someone out there that was worse off than him?
Seamus couldn't answer any of the questions. They made him feel guilty and brought up too much of the loss and not enough of the recent reunion. He didn't want to think about it but not thinking about it hadn't got him very far in all the years since he'd lost Dean. He needed help. Perhaps at the dinner, he could ask her to meet with him, help him with all of this. Maybe she'd help him get out of this cycle of confusion and pain and guilt and happiness.
Head spinning, he went back to his memos. It took his mind off of everything else to fulfill some of the report requests with statistics and the benefit versus cost ratios for the various locations proposed for the next Quidditch World Cup. His distraction didn't much matter. The numbers were the numbers and he only had to copy them onto the parchment in the appropriate order.
Besides, if he did bugger this job up, there were plenty of others. They might not pay as well but with Dean there to help with the bills… he pulled his thoughts back away from Dean and went back to his paperwork. The stadium that the Kestrels played in would make a good possible candidate location and it was in Ireland so he'd be supporting the local economy. There were plenty of pubs around, pubs like the Howling Banshee where Dean and him had spent the summer before seventh year getting pissed.
Work wasn't helping much, especially after he'd written about the merits of the Howling Banshee on his most recent copy of a report detailing stadium capacity. He couldn't stop wondering just what Dean was going through. It was far too tempting to call it a day, head to St. Mungo's and find out. The only thing stopping him was that Dean had asked to do this on his own. He cursed himself under his breath before going back to the mind numbingly boring tasks of capacity comparisons.
Quitting time couldn't come early enough, especially when he caught himself longing for one of the Weasley's Skiving Snackboxes. Who said that Noseblood Nougats were only for school children? A nosebleed right about now would give him enough of an excuse to call it a day and head home. Then again, as he copied his completed report into triplicate, a nosebleed could come at any time caused by the sheer amount of boredom.
~~**~~
Dean scratched at his neck, uncomfortable with the testing. Parvati kept waving her wand and then writing things down before going back to waving her wand. First a pink glow and then a purple one enveloped his head. Parvati muttered to herself and then wrote a few more notes down.
"That good or bad?" Dean asked as the pink glow came again.
"Hm?" She looked up, startled, and then flushed. From her reaction, it was obvious she'd been completely entranced by what she was doing and it appeared like she'd almost forgotten he was there. "Oh, right, sorry, it's interesting."
"Interesting?" Dean cocked an eyebrow.
"It looks like there's some sort of spell damage, which I suspected." She cast another spell and seemed to slip back into that concentration but then she asked, "So, how'd it go with Seamus last night?"
"What?"
"Seamus. Last night. He seemed a bit abrupt and upset. I wanted to make sure things were all right with the two of you." A blue glow emanated as she cast another spell.
"He's feeling a bit off, I guess. It can't be easy to just have me reappear, we're both having problems, I guess." He didn't want to betray the confidences but Parvati was trying to help him and he felt like he should tell her everything, "He said that he wants me to talk more, that he's always talking and I'm just quiet but that's the way I am. I don't know if that's the way I was but…"
"But he needs to know the you of now, too, doesn't he?" Parvati sat on the edge of her desk, her Healer's robes floating around her. "This can't be easy on you, either. You thought you were a Muggle, didn't know anything about magic and then suddenly here he is telling you that you're someone else and then there's all the magic floating about. It has to be really odd for you."
"Yeah, it is. I mean, he just made light out of his wand or just cleans with a sweep of his wand and there I am, picking up everything piece by piece. And… and it's weird to know about it now and it doesn't help that my family didn't tell me a thing about it. They acted like they didn't know anything about this. Hell, when Seamus first approached me, I freaked out. He came back and gave me this box of photographs and a sketch of the two of us. I still didn't believe him." Dean paused, unsure how much to tell. "I think I hurt him when I didn't recognise him right away."
"Of course you did." Dean's gut twisted. Seamus was quickly becoming important to him. Some of it must've shown on his face because she continued, "It's not your fault and it's not his. The hurt's bound to happen. You're both different people now and you need to learn about each other. You two, well, you two were…" she trailed off and he could tell that she was trying to think of how to describe their relationship, "…inseparable, so Seamus has had a lot to go through. He didn't deal well with your death. Took a while but he got better bit by bit. Rediscovering you rocked the shaky foundation he had. Do you have the photographs that he gave you?"
Dean nodded and pulled out a couple of the photographs and the sketch. "The sketch, there's something about it that I keep going back to."
Parvati looked at the drawing and her hand covered her mouth once more. He wasn't at all sure why she seemed to have such a strong reaction.
"Did he explain about it?"
"I didn't ask. You can tell that we were mates, just looking at it. I probably drew it for him because of that." He handed her the photographs. "He's a very tactile person, isn't he?"
"What makes you say that?" Parvati looked through the photos and traced a finger across the one of the group of them.
"In the photos, we were always standing with an arm around one another or something, even the ones when we were twelve." Dean felt stupid for thinking the next part but considering that Parvati was there to help, he continued, "He keeps touching me now, too, but then he apologises for it. He pulls away and watches me for my reaction."
"Are you all right with him touching you?" The question seemed odd to Dean.
"Yeah, it's fine. We were mates, yeah? I don't mind. Why do you ask?"
"No reason, I do more than just heal physically. You can talk to me; whatever you say in here is kept between us. So whether it's about Seamus or your family or your frustration, you can talk to me."
"Ok, thanks."
She smiled and started to cast another few spells. The colours switched from green to blue to purple.
~~**~~
When Seamus entered the hallway, he saw Dean and Parvati standing together talking. They looked up and the smile that split both their faces melted the frustration of the day. He smiled back and hurried his approach.
"You're looking awfully happy," he remarked when he reached them.
"Vati ran some tests and it's looking like she might have an idea of what happened. The specialist didn't have time today so I'll come back tomorrow to meet with him." Dean's grin went from ear to ear. Seamus gave Dean's arm a squeeze, unable to resist the urge to touch that happiness.
"That's amazing! Thanks, Parvati," Seamus said as he turned to her.
"All in a day's work. It is what I get paid for, you know." She looked at him oddly for a moment and Seamus wondered what Dean had said to her.
"You're the best." He kissed her on the cheek before turning back to Dean. "You about ready?"
"Yeah, sure," there was an exchanged look between Parvati and Dean that made Seamus nervous and then Dean continued, "we can get going."
"Seamus?" Parvati asked as they turned to go down the hallway back to the lifts.
"Yeah?" He turned around and, when she crooked a finger at him, he walked over to her.
"We'll be right out, Dean," she said before walking into her office. Seamus shrugged his shoulders and followed. Once inside, she pulled the door shut. "Dean tells me that you're having problems."
"What else he say?" Seamus tried not to sound defensive.
"Just that, that you're having problems but that you're trying. He told me you fought last night but that you explained that you're trying to adapt and it's not going so well."
"Wouldn't you have problems? I mean, it's not like you can prepare for your best mate to come back from the dead, now can you?" Seamus raked a hand through his hair before pacing the office.
"He's not just your best mate, though."
"Christ, but what would you do if Colin were suddenly in front of you with no memory of you? Would you be all right with that? You saying that you'd dance a jig and pick up where you left off, no problems?" Seamus spat at her and her face went closed for a moment.
"That was low, Seamus, very low."
"I'm sorry." When she didn't react, just continued to stare at him, he raked his hand through his hair once more and then moved closer. "It's not the same. He's not the same and it's odd because he looks the same and sometimes he says the same things and it jars me."
"You want to come in and talk? We could do it here or at my flat or yours. I just think you need to talk to someone about this, too."
"Yeah, maybe. Should tell you about Dennis, too." Seamus looked out the window where Dean leaned against a wall. "I haven't told Dean everything about back then, either. He doesn't know what we were, just that we were mates."
"I could tell from the way he spoke. You'll have to tell him eventually." She embraced him and then pulled back. "Now, what about Dennis?"
"Later, yeah? Not enough time for it right now."
"He rang me, told me that he was coming to dinner. Anything I should know before then? The short version, of course."
"He's not well, really not well." Seamus looked about the office and then finished, "That's all I can tell you in the short version."
"All right, then, we'll see how he is at dinner." She walked over to the door and opened it.
The walk to the lift and then the ride down was done in silence. The entire trip back to the flat was silent as they were both lost in thought. Seamus didn't want to lose the tenuous friendship they had right now. It was enough, dammit, enough that he wasn't going to fuck it up with telling Dean that they'd slept together, touched each other in every conceivable way. How would he start the conversation, anyway? It wasn't like he could say to Dean, 'look mate, so your cock used to slide right into my arse and Christ Jesus but it felt fucking amazing to have you deep inside. Only thing that felt better was when you sucked me off.'
They were at his door before he realised that they'd gotten off the Tube. He dug for his keys and, when he couldn't find them right away, spelled the door open.
"I'll cook dinner, if you'd like," Dean offered and Seamus turned and gaped. "What? I can cook, you know."
"Yeah? Only thing you ever cooked before was water for tea."
"When I was home all the time after… well, after, mum showed me how to cook to keep me out of her hair." Dean looked awkward at the mention of the time or his mother, Seamus couldn't tell which.
"You talk to her since you left?"
"No, not going to for awhile. I'm still fairly pissed about all of it. They kept everything from me and I don't have to forgive that." Dean looked fierce and Seamus reached out a hand and squeezed his wrist.
"They're your family. They did what they thought was best. I can see their point, to be honest. Magic didn't do nothing but give you problems. You ever want to hear about it, you let me know." Seamus started to let go but Dean pressed his hand over Seamus's.
"I want to know it all."
"All right, you start fixing dinner and I'll get changed out of me robes." Seamus walked in to the bedroom and quickly changed. By the time he came back out, Dean had something sizzling in a pan on the cooker while he chopped vegetables. Seamus sat at the small table and watched. Dean really did know his way around the kitchen and Seamus couldn't help admiring the way that he seemed so comfortable.
This was something they hadn't shared before. The most either of them could cook was heating up takeaway or water for tea. Instead of focusing on how much Dean had changed, Seamus chose to simply experience it. He watched as Dean slid the vegetables into the pan and then tossed a bit of this and a bit of that into it. Every once in awhile, Dean would turn and grin at Seamus, causing a small frisson to go through him. That grin, so self-assured, brought back fond memories of training together, the way that they'd practise spells and then go out for a pint, grinning over the food.
Dean set the food down on the small table with a flourish. "There you go, told you I could cook."
"We'll see, mate, we'll see. This is probably rubbish, just made to look like pretty rubbish." Seamus grabbed his fork and took a bite. It tasted divine, the way the flavours melded together. Seamus bit back the moan that threatened to erupt.
"Told you." Dean sounded far too impressed with himself. Seamus tossed a rude gesture towards him.
"So what do you want to know about?"
"I don't know, everything. What do you want to tell me about?" Dean pushed at the food on his plate.
"All right, well, told you we were best mates and I told you about how you saved my skin when we first met." Seamus wracked his brain for something other than how they'd slept entwined or how it felt to have Dean kiss him. "There was this guy, evil megalomaniac sort, and he had a bunch of followers. They called themselves the Death Eaters and they hated anyone that wasn't born to magic parents."
"People like me, then?" Dean asked and Seamus nodded.
"Aye, so our final year in school, you had to go into hiding and I got sent off to Hogwarts. We owled back and forth all the time, came up with our own code and everything. It was rough, really rough. Eventually, bunch of us ended up having to hide in the school and then Harry, you'll meet him at Parvati's dinner, he saved us, killed Voldemort though we lost a lot of people. You and me, we were right there fighting during the final battle. You were brilliant, mate, absolutely brilliant. We lost a lot of good people, though. We were only kids and we were fighting people with years of experience. That's where Colin died, Colin and a whole bunch of others. After the dust settled, you and me, we talked and decided to join the Aurors."
"Aurors?" Dean interrupted.
"They're sort of like the bobbies, make sure that no one's doing anything illegal. After our year of training, we were assigned to hunt a few of Voldemort's remaining supporters. We were good at it, too. One day, we got a bit of a suspicious tip about the location of one of 'em. The two of us went without back-up, we were such cocky bastards. God, if we'd had back-up…"
Seamus paused to collect himself for the next part. "We should've waited but we were so full of ourselves, so fucking full of ego that we went alone. Yaxley and Lestrange were supposed to be inside this one house but it looked empty. We watched for a bit and then I suggested we go in. As we crossed through this clearing, you got hit with something. I fired off a couple of spells. When I touched you, you weren't breathing. Swear to God there wasn't a pulse or nothing." Seamus's voice shook as he relived those moments.
"Yaxley came out of the building along with one of the Lestranges. I got hit with a Stunner and then a bunch of other Aurors came. They took me but they left you behind. Couldn't do anything about it. Couldn't even move let alone talk. By the time I could go back, your body was gone. I tracked everyone I could to try to find you. Didn't think you were dead, not then. Wouldn't think of it. Anytime someone would say it, I'd argue with 'em. Went a bit crazy, to be honest, went on missions on my own but I couldn't find you. When I'd tracked and…" Seamus hesitated over how to phrase the next part. "… and questioned them, they all said you were dead. Few months later, in an old warehouse, I found a body, burnt beyond recognition. Mediwizards told me it was you and I finally cracked, just broke into a thousand pieces. Parvati, she was the one stuck putting me back together." Seamus stopped the recitation of the past to reach out a hand and held on to Dean as if he were the anchor to life itself. "I swear I looked for you. I swear on all that's holy I did."
Dean's hand covered his and squeezed. "Not your fault."
"Aye, it was. It was my idea to go without more people. My idea to go across the clearing. My idea not to wait. My ego that said we didn't need anyone else. Me that didn't think they'd come out. Me that got stunned and couldn't tell anyone that you might be alive."
"My mum, when we were arguing, she said that you killed me and that's why I left when I did. I didn't believe her and I don't believe you." Dean squeezed his hand once more.
"But I did, I - " He would've continued but Dean interrupted.
"You didn't make me do anything."
"You don't remember!" Seamus yelled.
"Fuck you, Seamus! Fuck you if you think I would just do whatever you said. I know myself well enough to know that you can't make me do a damn thing I don't want to do now, let alone back then." Dean stood and started to pace. Seamus, shocked at the anger, merely gaped. "You know, between you and mum, you'd think that I didn't have a brain in my head, that I was completely incapable of thinking for myself."
Seamus moved to cut off the pacing, raising his hands in front of him. "Never thought that, y'ken? I never thought that once. It's more that I was the insisting one and you were the one that wanted to wait. I didn't listen, too stubborn for me own good."
"When are you going to realise that this isn't your fault? It's not yours, it's not mine." Dean threw his hands in the air and then threw himself back in to his chair, picking up the fork. Seamus stood there, at a loss for words or action. "You going to eat this or should I throw it out?"
Seamus sat.
"Now tell me something about school. Tell me about how you defeat a Boggart. Tell me a funny story about training. Tell me what my favourite spell was. Tell me about magic. Do some tricks." In all the demands, Seamus heard the main one - 'don't talk about me dying anymore'. He was all too happy to oblige.
"See, these Boggarts, only way to get rid of them is to laugh, so you had to turn them into something ridiculous. Nev, his Boggart back then was this professor and…"
As always, I'd love to hear what you thought.
Chapter 7