“Have fun with that Seamus. No
one in all of Hogwarts is going to help you
with a fire spell.” Seamus groaned,
Ron was right. He managed to blow everything up as it was, never mind working
with fire! Hermione might… but he was loathe to ask her and have to see the
smug look on her face… no, he would find someone else.
“Come on,” Seamus pleaded, “you
have to know someone who can help!” He didn’t have long to learn the spell, and
definitely didn’t want detention again.
Harry and Ron sat in the common
room, and then seemed to take pity on him, “Alright, go to the Ravenclaw common
room, ask for Samantha Cartwright, she might
help you.”
Seamus ran out of the portrait
hole, yelling back apologies to the people he had knocked over. It took him a
while to reach Ravenclaw tower, and he was exhausted by the time he had climbed
to the top. He knocked impatiently, heart still racing.
When one does not know what it is, then it is something; but when one
knows what it is, then it is nothing. The eagle asked.
“What? Is that your password?”
Seamus cried, frantically knocking again, but the eagle refused to speak again.
“Come on!”
Another Ravenclaw walked behind
him, and deftly edged around Seamus before knocking.
The more of me you take, the more you leave behind.
“I have no idea!!” Seamus yelled
as the Ravenclaw answered, “footsteps.”
Seamus clambered after the
Ravenclaw into the common room, cursing that stupid door. The Ravenclaw’s
looked at him strangely, wondering what a random Gryffindor was doing in their
common room.
“I’m looking for Samantha?
Please tell me there’s a Samantha here.”
“Yeah, I’m here.” A voice said,
and he turned to look at a very amused girl with fair blond hair. “Aren’t you
that Irish bloke from Gryffindor who’s always trying to hit on girls with awful
pick-up lines?”
“What? No of course not!”
Seamus’s denial seemed to do nothing, as the other Ravenclaw’s kept sniggering.
“Yes you do!” she insisted, “you
used one last week! Oh what was it… Oh yes! If only my exploding spells were as
hot as you!”
The sniggers grew louder and as
she saw his ears turn red, Samantha decided to cut him a break. “So what can I
do for you? I assume you had something in mind since you burst into our common
room like this.”
“I need help learning a spell.”
“Why don’t you go to Granger? Or
another Gryffindor? That would be way easier than trekking all the way up here.”
He mumbled something.
“Sorry, what was that?”
“It’s Flagrate. Everything I do
already explodes and since this is a fire charm….”
“Ah, I get it now. Kind of
ironic, the brave Gryffindor’s get scared and shove you off onto a Ravenclaw.
Well yes Mr. Finnegan, I will help you.”
***
“Ready for our first lesson Mr.
Finnigan?” Samantha moved to walk beside Seamus as he walked back to his common
room.
“Oh, yeah. I was just going to
drop these back off in my dorm.” He gestured to the bag on his back.
“Yeah that’s fine.” Sam said,
continuing to walk alongside him and the other Gryffindors. “What?” She asked,
looking back at their quizzical faces, “He saw inside my common room, I want to
see inside yours.” The Gryffindor’s shrugged, not wanting to get into an
argument with a Ravenclaw. They hadn’t really gotten to know Sam yet, but
usually, bickering with a Ravenclaw was not worth the effort.
After a fair number of stairs,
they reached a portrait of a rather robust woman in a pink dress. “So this is
the Fat Lady” Sam mused, looking away as they said the password. Ignoring the
reproachful look she got from the Fat Lady at the sight of her blue robes, Sam
stepped through the portrait hole.
The common room was circular,
just like her own, but that it where the similarities ended. The Ravenclaw
common room was full of deep blues and coppers, the domed ceiling was painted
with stars. The whole room had an airy feel, and by the door to the dormitories
there was the white marble statue of Rowena Ravenclaw. That was the common room
she was used to, a room of calm and serenity. The Gryffindor room was, in a
word, crowded. It was filled with loud students, cushy armchairs, various
random tables. There was a fireplace that dominated the wall where her statue
would have gone. It was cosy, the red, well, the red everything made the place
feel homey.
“Well?” Seamus returned without
his books, “what do you think?”
It took her a moment to respond,
she felt like the room was overcrowded, things and people were everywhere, so
different from her own common room. “It’s very red.” She answered Seamus, who
laughed at her.
“Come on, let’s go someplace
quiet.” He ushered her out of the room and she began walking until they reached
an abandoned classroom.
“Alohomora.” Sam muttered.
“Are you sure we can be here?”
Seamus asked, closing the door behind him.
“If they wanted to keep us out
they should put a better charm on the door.” Sam replied as she idly flipped
through a charms book. Then she turned to him and took out her wand.
“Flagrate.” She said, and then
wrote Samantha Isabelle Cartwright in
the air in a smooth cursive. “Now you try.” She said.
Seamus lifted his wand,
“Flagrate.” A small puff of smoke wisped from the end of his wand and Sam burst
out laughing.
“I’m sorry.” She gasped, trying
to reign in her laughter, “I’m sorry but that was so funny!” She calmed herself
and then gestured that he should try again. His results were exactly the same.
“Just tell me what I’m doing
wrong.” He said, exasperated after several more tries and the lack of guidance
she had given him.
“I’m watching you to see what
you’re messing up on. There’s no specific wand movement that you need to learn
for this one, just keep going.”
Time passed and he made no
progress, and then he was just frustrated. He should have controlled himself,
because he should have been ready for what was next.
“Woah!” Sam jumped away as a
burst of fire exploded from his wand. When the smoke cleared Seamus was covered
in soot, his hair was dark, and his face set in a childish glower.
Sam emerged from behind the desk
with a playful sigh, “you were doing so well.” And then ducked with a screech
as Seamus threw a charms book at her.
“Was that even the spell?” He
asked.
“Of course not! That was more
like incendio on steroids!” He chuckled and looked at the state of the room.
All of the area around him was burned. There was a clear circle on the wooden
floor of charred wood, and several desks had crumpled to the ground in
splinters. “Come on, let’s fix up the room and then call it a day.” Seamus
nodded. He began the rounds of ‘reparo’ on each of the desks as she worked on
repairing the floor. Other than the spells there was no noise, until the door
handle started jiggling. Sam turned to him quickly and pointed her wand at him.
Moving it in a smooth ‘S’ motion she whispered, “scourgify.” Seamus felt all of
the ash and dust vanish from his body and clothes, and then stood as professor
McGonagall entered the classroom.
“Mr Finnigan, Miss Cartwright,
what are you doing in here?” She asked sternly, and Seamus could already feel
that she was going to take away house points.
“Professor,” Sam began, “I was
helping Seamus with a spell for charms.”
“And you felt the need to
practice in my classroom?”
Sam bit her lip before blurting
out, “all the other professors put stronger spells on their doors! I thought
that since you didn’t, it was an invitation to use the room when it was free.
And to be fair, Seamus can’t just practice fire charms anywhere, he could burn
down the entire school!”
The end of McGonagall’s lip
twitched up in a smile, “Be off with the both of you, and don’t let me catch
you in here again.”
“You won’t Professor.” Sam
gripped Seamus’ hand and led him from the room.
“That was lucky.” He whistled.
“Lucky? That was skill.”
“You lied to her?”
“I lie every time she catches
me, it’s our way of bonding.”
Seamus shook his head, laughing
until they reached the staircase.
“Well this is my stop.” Sam
said, “Look, I know you’re disappointed that we didn’t really get anywhere
today, but I’m going to think on it and then we can look at it again tomorrow,
hopefully then I’ll have thought of something to help you.”
He nodded, “See you around Sam.”
***
“Alright, come on Seamus.” Sam
appeared and slid into the seat beside him at the Gryffindor breakfast table in
the Great Hall.
“I’ve only just sat down.” He
complained, “You’ve got to let me finish my breakfast.”
“Oh alright, hurry up though.”
She nudged his elbow and the jam on his toast smeared all over his cheek. She
bit back a laugh and looked across the table to the other Gryffindor’s.
“Harry, Ron, how are things
going?”
They both shrugged.
“Well aren’t you just riveting.”
She drawled, helping herself to an apple and began to slice it. “How’s the
transfiguration essay going?”
Their faces paled.
“You haven’t started have you?”
She asked with a knowing smile, continuing to cut her apple.
“Come on Sam, you’ve got to help
us.” Ron begged in a hushed voice, casting a glance at Hermione who was sat a
few seats down.
“You help them with their
papers?” Seamus butt in.
Sam grinned, “I help, for a
small fee.”
“Come on Sam, anything.” Harry
pleaded.
“Anything? Well that is quite
the offer Mr. Potter.” She waved her wand, summoning a dollop of melted
chocolate to appear on her plate which she began to dip her apple slices into.
“It’s not like you have anything I want…” She trailed off as a shadow cast over
her. Looking back, she saw Hermione stood behind her.
“Cartwright.”
“Granger.”
The two greeted each other and
the air grew chilly as they glared at one another. Hermione soon walked away.
“What was that about?” Seamus
asked.
“Granger doesn’t like that
someone beats her.” Sam said, beginning to stand. “Come on Seamus it’s time to
go. As for you two,” She looked at Harry and Ron, There’s a book on each of
your beds, chapters 8 through 17 should help you. We’ll discuss payment later.”
She winked at them as she walked away, only to bump into Cedric Diggory.
“Sam, hi.” He said, that
friendly Hufflepuff smile on his face. “I er, got you some of that tea you
like.” He passed a small box into her hands and watched her face light up.
“Wow, I haven’t been able to
find this anywhere! Thanks Cedric.” She gave him a brief hug before running to
catch up to the disgruntled Seamus who had watched the entire thing.
“Helped him with potions or
something?” Seamus asked dryly
“Cedric? No, he just knows I
like this tea, and it’s really hard to find.”
“So what should I pay you then?”
There was a hard edge to his voice that Sam didn’t like. She bumped her hip
into his as they walked.
“The first one is free.”
They finally reached their
destination.
“Why are we outside?” Seamus
asked.
“There’s nothing for you to blow
up out here.” She explained simply, “Now, I think I’ve got a plan.”
They worked for an hour at
least, she corrected his pronunciation of the spell, corrected how he held his
wand, and then realised something.
“Seamus, what are you trying to
write?”
“huh?”
“this spell is to write things
in the air using fire. If you’re not thinking of anything to write, you’re
probably not focused on the spell enough.”
Seamus pondered this, it was as
good a suggestion as any. He thought and pictured the letters in his mind, and
then said the spell. His wand spluttered like a sparkler and quickly died, but
Sam cheered and hugged him in celebration.
She ushered him on, and soon he
could write short words in the air. They faded away quickly, but at least he
was writing them.
“Seamus, think fast.” He fumbled
before catching the wand she had tossed to him.
“Why do I have your wand?” He
asked.
“Do the spell, try it with my
wand instead.” Seamus slowly let her hold onto his wand while he focused back
on the spell. “Flagrate.” He felt the wand quiver under his fingers, and there
was a resistance, like the wand was fighting him. “What’s going on?” He asked
her. Sam smiled.
“Keep going, once you get it with my wand then you’ll be fine.”
Seamus tried again and again, but the wand refused to surrender. He
stood there, staring at the shuddering wand in his hand until Sam plucked it
from his fingers. She gave him his wand back.
“Flagrate!” He said, frustrated. The tip of his wand burst into soft
orange sparks, he’d done it! His face broke into a smile and he turned to Sam,
hugging her and twirling her in the air. “How did you know that would work?”
“Because my wand would never perform for you, and so then you’d
realise how easy the spell actually is when you had your own wand back.” She
smiled at him as he danced around, the sparks trailing after him.
***
“So…. Sam?” Ron grinned as
Seamus’ ears turned red. It was late, and there weren’t many of them in the
Gryffindor common room. Sam had left earlier after collecting her books from a
grateful Harry and Ron.
“What about her?” Seamus asked,
failing to hide his ears.
“You like her!” Ron said, grinning.
“Get off it.”
“You do!” Ron and Harry laughed
at him and brought up their hands to dodge the flying rubbish Seamus had
thrown.
“You’d better hurry up then
mate, you’ve not got much time left.” Harry said.
“What do you mean?”
“Well, Diggory’s had his eye on
her for a while now. He’s probably going to ask her out any day now.”
Seamus was silent. Thinking back
on it, Diggory had been overly familiar with Sam…
***
The next day, Seamus was tense
as he sat at breakfast with everyone else. He kept the corner of his eye fixed
on the pale blond haired Ravenclaw at the next table over. He would do this, he
had a plan.
He wasn’t used to being nervous,
he was usually fine in situations like these, but this was different. This was
Sam, with her witty words and laughing eyes. She made him nervous.
His heart beat as he saw a flash
of yellow approaching the Ravenclaw bench, Diggory! Seamus leapt up, his feet
catching on the bench and almost making him fall. He scrambled to steady
himself and then ran over to where Diggory was heading. He pushed Diggory
aside, and got there first.
“Sam!” He gasped out, and she
turned slightly in her seat, smiling when she saw him.
“Seamus, you ok?”
“I had this all planned out, I
swear! I was going to ask you to hogsmede and had this whole day planned out,
but I heard Diggory’s going to ask you, and I had to ask you first, so will you
go out with me?” There was a pause as she untangled his rapid stream of words,
and in that pause Seamus realised just how silent the Great Hall had become…
A faint rose hue blossomed on
her cheeks as she stood to his level. “Go out as in…?”
Seamus grasped her shoulders and
pulled her body to his, lips connecting and a spark rushing through him. He
felt her freeze and his blood ran cold, he’d made such an idiot out of himself!
He should have let her go with Diggory…
Then her lips responded and her
fingers curled themselves in his shirt, and it was as if the lion of Gryffindor
burst from his chest. They broke and looked at each other, both grinning like
fools as cheers erupted around them.
They only had eyes for each
other, and so they completely missed the thumbs up Harry and Ron gave to a
certain Hufflepuff who had been in on the plan from the beginning, because all
Seamus needed was a little push.
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