Alone into the Darkness

Prologue: Don't go alone...

Seamus Finnigan was having one of the worst days of his life. Well, it was quite bad to be frank. He had a failed sexual act (interrupted), for while he was doing it with his girlfriend's twin sister (who could tell them apart in the dark?), they were caught by his girlfriend in the said act (which left Seamus both lonely and sexually unsatisfied).

Well, last night he got seriously drunk. And the party was a nice one, and Padma and Parvati could not be told apart (alright, they could be, Parvati was wearing the "Don't touch my guy" face all evening, while Padma's was "I'm in need of a MAN!"), and he was too drunk and...

Needless to say, Padma was quite good in bed, but Parvati interrupted them at an inappropriate moment, so Seamus was deprived of his enjoyment. Even worse - Parvati had now officially left him while Padma was in no state to finish what she started after this all, so he did not even have anybody to help his little problem.

So, there he was, sitting on the sofa in the Gryffindor Common Room, the Ancient Runes book in his hands (Studying? No! He adored this book for the three witches that wrote it had pretty large... important things, so he never got past the first page that held their photo), sulking about his life.

Every once in a while he threw glances around the Common Room, checking if people knew of his... er... downfall with the Patil twins, and noticed that Hermione was staring at him. Even worse - not in the "There sits the guy who cheats on girls with their sisters" way, but the "There sits a guy who's free now!" way, as she was slightly heartbroken (well, more than slightly, but she kept that particular emotion deep inside) when Ron cheated on her with Seamus. Anyway, Ron was now slightly taken (what did he ever find in that Hufflepuff fifth-year named Jack Michaels was a mystery to everyone), while Seamus was not, so...

Nevertheless, he had to ignore her, as there was somebody else towering over him. Not just anybody, but the only other free girl in the vicinity of this school - Lavender Brown. Seamus never regarded her as a sexual interest (on his scale of "Hot or Not" she was about 6 - "Slightly Warm", as she had the smallest bust size among the top three years of Hogwarts students, and the compensation of the size of her as-- well, her other assets was not enough for him), but she still was female, and she was alone, so...

"Are going to say something, or you will stand there as if you're glued to the only picture in this book?" he asked of her, looking up. She looked down at him, a mix of dislike and need in her deep blue eyes. Her eyes were the only thing besides her as-- well, her dark side, that he liked.

"I'd gladly smack you across the face for those words, as you're the only guy who still wanks off to this picture - the one in the latest Potions text is much more popular - but I really need your help," she replied angrily, pulling the book out of his hands and throwing it onto the table he had his feet propped upon. He frowned, got himself up, grabbed the book and stared her straight in the eyes, accepting the "Talk now or be brutally slaughtered for harming my book" gaze.

"What could that possibly be?" he asked of her, "And why do you ask me of all people? Doesn't my reputation among girls of this school scare you away like all the others?"

"Not likely, mister, and even if it did, it's not like I'm asking you to make love to me-" she replied, stopping when Seamus rolled his eyes, "-I just want somebody to help me with carrying those books!" she added, pointing over at the tall stack of books positioned on the same table. It was quite large, and Seamus had no idea how he would carry it all.

"You are donating them to someone or what?"

"No, I'm turning them in to the library!"

"And where do I fit in?" he asked quizzically, raising an eyebrow.

"You help me carry the books, as you're the only male around strong enough for the job ." Here Seamus looked abashed, as he never thought that a compliment could be said as an insult, like she just did. "And not occupied with snogging someone," she added, thus making Seamus look at her instead of Hermione.

He swallowed nervously.

"Sure then," he replied, thinking that maybe he might get some success tonight... Maybe.

*****

As they traversed the hallway, a certain somebody had blocked their way. A certain blond-haired Slytherin somebody.

"What do you want Malfoy?" Seamus asked angrily.

"Just walking. Is that forbidden now, Finnigan?" Malfoy retaliated with a sneer.

"Listen, get out of the way, you stupid prat, and let us go!" Lavender growled.

"Oh, I'm scared!" the Slytherin replied in mock horror, "Tell me, Brown, did he do you yet?"

Lavender simply ignored him, and tried to go around the roadblock that he and his two cronies, Crabbe and Goyle had created with their presence in the hallway. Needless to say, she did not achieve much.

"Alright, I see I won't hear anything new from you two," Malfoy concluded coldly as he turned on his heel, "Crabbe, Goyle, let's go!"

But as he reached the corner (which wasn't that far off, really), he turned around swiftly and drew something out of his pocket.

"Take a load of this!" he yelled, throwing it at them.

Seamus reacted instantly, dropping the books onto the floor, leaving only the topmost one in his hands (as it was quite thick) and put it in front of Lavender, who just stood there, wide-eyed. The whatever-it-was hit the book so hard Seamus had to apply all of his strength to stop it with the book. Once he did so, he noticed that Malfoy was gone already, and the whatever-it-was turned out to be a knife with a curved blade, which had sunk to its handle into the book. The book also turned out to be none other than the ill-famed "Passionate Trousers".

Seamus held up the book in front of Lavender, raising an eyebrow slightly, as she simply grabbed the book and shoved it into her bag.

"Guess we first fix the book with magic. Surely I don't want trouble with Madam Pince," she said as she helped him pick up the books from the floor. And she did not thank him for saving her from that knife, as he noticed bitterly.

*****

Madam Pince threw them both questioning glances as Seamus swore inwardly. He swiftly made a mental vow that once he found out who told the staff of his misadventure, he or she or they will be subject to torture by hellhamsters, as Hagrid had just recently acquired several dozens of them for practical lessons on "small and nice-looking things that can bite your head off in one go" he was going to have with the seventh-year students.

After having Lavender telling her that she wanted to hold "Passionate Trousers" a bit longer, she made an angry face. Fortunately, Lavender's hitherto-clean record made her change her mind.

*****

They were sitting in the now-empty Common Room, Lavender rummaging through her textbooks on magic in search of spells to repair books and Seamus wondering why the hell he was here with her if she still hadn't thanked him for saving her.

He took the book in his hands and turned it around a bit, looking at the knife's blade that was protruding from the book. Finally, Lavender found the necessary spell and turned to him.

"Pull it!" she said as she put the book down.

He had pleasantly noticed that she had one of her hands on his shoulder now. At least she trusts him. He pulled at the knife, but found himself experiencing the most bizarre feeling - as if he was being pulled to somewhere... The knife was a Portkey, he realised too late to change anything as his mind sank into the darkness that was beyond the window...