Being Harry Potter

Seamus sat in Potions class listening to Professor Snape drone on and on about how exactly one must measure the ingredients, particularly the felwort and iron moss, or else horrible things would happen when you mixed them with the bat's blood over the flame. Those things included an explosion quickly followed by a horrendous stench around the offending persons that would last for days. There were a few other, smaller, things but they weren't as interesting. He was idly swinging his feet, trying to pay attention. "Why does he always have to say what will happen if someone were to do those things?" he whispered to Neville.

"Perhaps he's daring someone to do it?" Neville answered offhandedly and quickly regretted it.

"I think you might be on to something."

"Seamus- no! I was kidding." Neville whispered as loudly as he dared.

"Five points from Gryffindor for Mr. Longbottom's disruption of my lecture," Snape called out, hardly missing a beat. Many of the Gryffindors moaned but were silenced by Snape's icy glare. The room was silent except for the always-snickering Draco Malfoy. He pointed at Neville and laughed, joined by his two soft-headed cronies, Crabbe and Goyle.

"Mmmm, find that funny, do you? We'll see about that then. Make your potion, Malfoy," Seamus said under his breath. Snape continued for another ten minutes about various things, all of which Seamus completely ignored. Finally it came time to mix their potions. They were supposed to be making a restorative draught but Seamus was going to see that Malfoy made something else entirely.

"Now, partner up and gather your ingredients. And remember, you must measure exactly," Snape said and walked to the front of the room while the supplies were gathered. "I'll be looking forward to seeing your concoction, Mr. Longbottom."

Neville gulped as Seamus returned with their supplies. "He is making me more nervous than normal, Seamus. He keeps on staring at me." Neville said to him.

"Bah, just wait a few minutes. You won't need to be nervous, you'll just need to hold your nose." They set up their scales and their mixing bowls and set the fire to simmer the bat's blood.

"I do hope that you've measured correctly, Mr. Longbottom," Snape said as he walked by. "I don't want a repeat of the dimming potion disaster, do you understand?"

Neville barely squeaked out an affirmation. The 'dimming incident', as it came to be known, caused Neville to glow like a light bulb and give off shocks for three days. Needless to say, it was sort of an embarrassment to Neville.

"Aaah, very good Mr. Malfoy. Perhaps Mr. Longbottom should study with you," Snape said louder than necessary, quite easily overheard. Draco and his goons snickered once again.

"Oh, laugh it up, Malfoy," Seamus muttered. "Neville, let me know when Snape's back is turned.

"Seamus, don't do it. It's not worth it."

"Oh, but I do believe it is. What's a few more points, anyway? Harry, Ron, and Hermione will get them back by the weekend somehow anyway."

Malfoy and his goons had just started adding their ingredients to the bat's blood when Neville reluctantly nudged Seamus. Seamus gave his wand a flick and a swish and muttered the magic words and levitated a bit extra felwort into Malfoy's pot. The resulting explosion shook the room, knocking dozens of spider webs and dust and other small things from the ceiling. A radiant green mushroom cloud rose from the pot and enveloped Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle. The smell was horrible.

"HAAA!!!" Seamus yelled out, much louder than he intended, and began giggling hysterically. So hard, actually, that he nearly fell out of his chair. The class went dead silent except for the laughing of the Irish lad. Malfoy turned and glared at him with what could easily be called the most hate-filled expression ever.

Snape turned around a second later and saw two things at the same time. One, the charred and reeking faces of three of his students, and two, the convulsing form of a still-laughing Seamus Finnegan. "One hundred points from Gryffindor for that inexcusable act. And for you, Mr. Finnegan, a detention to be served tonight." As a Gryffindor in Potions, Seamus was instantly presumed guilty until proven innocent, and even then Snape would disbelieve the evidence, not that there really was any in this case.

"Oh, no!" Seamus tried to speak, "not tonight, I'll miss the party."

"Aah, that is a shame, Mr. Finnegan. Maybe next time you will consider your actions more carefully before you cause an explosion in my class. You're lucky that I don't do something worse. Tonight, after dinner. Now the three of you," he said, pointing to Malfoy and company, "head to the showers as fast as you can. If you're lucky, you can get some of the smell off before it sets in." The three shot out of the room like greased lightning.

Hundreds of daggers were being shot back and forth across the room between Slytherin and Gryffindor. Grins covered the faces of the Gryffindors while the Slytherins wore frowns. All in all, a typical potions class.

After the class ended Seamus was mobbed outside in the hall by his friends and was thumped on the back repeatedly. Ron and Harry were laughing so hard that they were crying. Hermione was trying to look stern and disproving but even she couldn't hide her grin.

"That was bloody brilliant, Seamus!" Ron congratulated him.

"Yeah, they'll stink for days now," Harry added.

"We'll save you some treats from the party, Seamus," Hermione added, playing her typical role of buzz kill and spoiling the fun.

"Aye, thank you. I hope it doesn't take too long, whatever horrible thing Snape plans for me."

"Well, just do it quickly and get back," Neville told him as they were nearing their tower.

"I hope it's not shaving his back," Seamus said and went quiet, obviously sickening himself.

"Malfoy's a git," Ron recited, and the door opened. It was Ron's week to decide the password and he couldn't pass up an opportunity like that. The Fat Lady still didn't approve of his choice of words but had ceased tutting each time it was said. They strode in there and threw their books aside and relaxed. They talked about the party, the stinking trio, Snape's unwashed hair, everything. Finally dinner came and went.

"We'll see you in a while, okay?" Hermione offered the condemned Seamus.

"Oh yeah, twenty minutes. Twenty five tops." The rest of the Gryffindors headed back to their towers while Seamus headed to Snape's dungeon. When he arrived, the Potions Professor looked absolutely furious, and this jolted Seamus a bit.

"You're late." Seamus gave no reply, other than a swallow. "I see that you've left your rather flippant attitude in your house then. Good. Hurry up then, I haven't all night." Snape was moving quickly through the hallways. Left, right, right, left. He stopped so suddenly that Seamus nearly ran into his backside and held his nose just in case.

Seamus had only a vague idea as to where he was. Somewhere in the middle of the castle. He hadn't time to wonder long though, as Snape was talking again, quickly. "Inside this room are boxes. Most contain old parchments. Some contain, well, I don't honestly know. Much of the contents of the boxes are strewn about the room after one of Peeves' little tantrums. You are to clean it up. Every square inch. Spotless. I'll take your wand, if you please. "

"No magic?" Seamus asked, incredulous. Snape only shook his head as Seamus grudgingly handed it over.

"You will find it in your dormitory when you are finished." Snape opened the door outwards and stepped back.

Seamus looked in the room and the first thing he noticed was the low ceiling. Maybe five feet at the most. Then he saw boxes and scrolls and Merlin knows what strewn everywhere. "You've got to be joking. This will take forever."

"Good. Have a wonderful evening, Mr. Finnegan." Snape walked away, obviously pleased with himself.

Seamus walked in and the lanterns on the walls lit up, showing even more mess than he saw before. "This might not have been worth it after all," he mumbled as he set to work. No, of course it was worth it. This just was a heavier price than he had expected to pay.

Almost four hours and a mildly aching back later, he was nearly finished. Seamus had put hundreds of scrolls and parchments in boxes, cleaned up old robes and things that he didn't even want to think about, and had come to the conclusion that if it was possible, he was going to kill Peeves again. He had piled dozens of boxes neatly along the walls and was getting to the back of the last wall. "I'm almost done, Peeves, you bloody ghost!" he yelled at the top of his lungs.

Seamus picked up a large box that was countless years old and it fell apart in his hands. "Bloody hell." He kicked it aside and picked up the remains. "Hel-lo, what do we have here?" he murmured as he noticed something on the wall. It seemed to be a small door, perhaps three feet high with a glass knob. "Rather odd, a door that small," he said to the boxes. "I wonder where it goes?" he tried to turn the knob and to his surprise, it opened easily instead of falling off in his hands.

Seamus peered inside and saw a rather dark and seemingly long tunnel. "What the bloody hell is this, anyway?" He got on his hands and knees and went a few feet inside. "Dirt? In a stone castle. Odd." He crawled on, getting more and more intrigued with every foot. "Hello?" he called but got no answer aside from a slight echo. "Watch me end up with another Fluffy or something even more wonderful." His determination up, Seamus continued down the tunnel. It seemed to take a slight downward turn and his left hand landed in mud. He barely had time to be surprised because the door swung shut behind him and he began sliding to a blindingly white light.

He suddenly stopped, completely, but felt no lurch in his stomach like he expected. Everything was dark for a split second, then it looked like he was watching television on the old set at his Gram's, there was a grey outline around the picture. "Where the hell am I now?" he asked aloud. "Oi!! This is our common room!" I'm spying on our common room. How am I doing this?" He was full of confusion and trying to figure everything out when his view shifted a little down and he saw a mug of pumpkin juice tilting toward him. He momentarily cringed as before he heard the sounds of someone swallowing.

The cup was put down and his view of the room returned. "There's Hermione talking to Fred and George. There's Neville and Ron and that little shutterbug Creevey. Hmmm... what exactly is going on here?" he scanned the room, looking for everyone he knew. He heard the low din of party noise, though he was unable to make out individual conversations. He was looking for Harry when he saw Ron turn his way. "Ron!!" he called, " Ron!! Over here."

"Hey Harry, come over here. Neville has a great joke about Malfoy, his father, and a walrus."

"Harry? Where's Harry. Can't you see me, Ron?" Seamus was yelling almost as loud as he could. His view bounced a little as he drew closer to Ron. Suddenly, it dawned on him what might be going on. "Am I inside Harry's head? This is amazing. No, this is astounding. No, this is incredible!"

Seamus quieted down and watched, listened and felt as the party went on around him. He felt Harry laugh, he felt the stitch in Harry's side from the roaring laughter. He tasted the pumpkin juice he drank. He felt Harry's need to go to the bathroom, simply everything. Seamus was awestruck. He watched and felt.

Finally, he started moving again, sliding down another tunnel. "Oh, now where to?" he thought. This tunnel had no light at the end, so he decided that it might be bad. He was falling now. Falling. "Shit!" He landed in a heap in a bunch of high grass and shrubs.

He lay in a heap for a few moments as he replayed the feelings over and over again. Seamus finally pulled himself to his feet and looked around. He stood and dusted himself off, noticing that one, he was near the Forbidden Forest, and two, that his clothes were streaked with dirt and mud. That was a bloody rush and a half. He began the walk back to the castle. He couldn't get over how he felt Harry laugh. Felt everything Harry felt. Simply incredible. He snuck back in the main door and made his way to the Gryffindor room, deftly avoiding Mrs. Norris and Filch completely. He exclaimed "Malfoy's a git" and stepped inside, ignoring the Fat Lady's remarks about appearance.