It's Not about Potter

Mr. Finnigan,

We have been watching you for some time. One of us will be meeting you at the edge of the forest Monday night an hour after dusk.

- LM

The piece of parchment disintegrated from Seamus' hands and left a very small corner from the letter.

Tell no one.

Seamus gulped at reading the last bit of information. He knew exactly who it was from, barely even believing it himself. It was only the second week of school and Seamus, himself, didn't even believe that they had come back. Death Eaters. They were back and had contacted him. What did they want with him? What did they see when they were watching him? Seamus tried to search through his mind for some moment that they would have found interesting or at least a cause to write to him.

Of course. Harry Potter, Seamus thought. He slammed his fist on the table and stood up, walking out of the Great Hall and up to his dorm in Gryffindor Tower. Everything's about Potter. Well, I just won't let it be about him this time. Seamus then decided that he would go to the forest, even though he didn't know that he never had a choice to begin with.

When he got to the common room, he nearly yelled the password at the Fat Lady, feeling angrier by the minute. A few first years were leaving for their first class when Seamus grabbed one of them by the arm. "What day is it?" he asked him.

"M- Monday," the first year stammered, trying hard not to drop his books.

"Good." Seamus let go of the first year, who ran out of the common room with his friends, absolutely terrified. Seamus then went up to his dorm, got his stuff for Defense Against the Dark Arts, and went to class.

When he got to class, he sat down at the back of the class, far away from Harry and his friends. What Seamus didn't know was that he was surrounded by Slytherins. He was too angry to care, though, and stayed where he was. Beside him on his left was Malfoy and on his right was Zabini.

"Not sitting with Potter and Weasel?" Malfoy sneered.

"No. I've had enough of him and his group." Seamus stared straight ahead, not caring about whatever snide comments Malfoy would probably say to him.

"Good." Malfoy smirked to see Seamus slightly surprised. Was Malfoy actually letting him stay there? "You heard me." Malfoy leaned in a little closer and added in a whisper, "Don't even think of not coming." Seamus nodded and then class began.

How does he know? he thought, but then another thought came to him. LM. That must be Lucius Malfoy. Everything, or at least a lot more, made sense to him at that moment. He still didn't know exactly why he was meeting one of the Death Eaters, but at least he knew why Malfoy was being civil to him.

Seamus went through the rest of the classes the same way that day. He sat with Malfoy and his crew in the classes when the Slytherins were there. When they were with other houses, thought, he either sat with the Ravenclaws or the Hufflepuffs, but he didn't converse with them like he did with the Slytherins.

By the end of the day, Seamus and the Slytherins were laughing about stupid things that Harry had done throughout the years. Seamus would have thought that the day was the strangerst day of his life, but he was still too angry at Harry to care. Everything seemed slightly blurred, anyway, and almost dreamlike. Seamus half expected to wake up and find that he had dreamed the whole day. Then, he would have no consequences for his actions throughout the day. He was having fun, which was making him a lot of enemies rather quickly.

* * * * *

Seamus was sitting on his bed, waiting for the sun to set. When it did, he put on a sweater under his robes and left Gryffindor Tower. Some of the Gryffindors called out to him as he walked by, but he ignored them.

In the Entrance Hall, Seamus noticed some Slytherins skulking around. He wondered if they were there to make sure that he went, but he knew that they had nothing to worry about. There's only one reason they want to talk to me, he realized on his walk to the forest. They want me to do something great. Seamus wouldn't miss this opportunity for the world.

When he got there, he saw that Lucius Malfoy was waiting for him. Seamus had come there a little early, but the Death Eaters probably knew that he would. Whatever they were there for, they wouldn't want him to have the upper hand by being there first.

"You're early," the older Malfoy said. Seamus noticed that he looked like Draco Malfoy, but there were some qualities that Draco Malfoy didn't have. He also noticed that Draco Malfoy had some that his father didn't have either. Seamus could almost tell what Draco's mother was like by seeing the differences between Lucius and Draco.

"I know," he replied, waiting for the Death Eater to reveal why he was there.

"Like I said in the letter, we have been watching you. You've probably heard from Potter's 'crazy stories' that we're back. Well, for once, it looks like he's telling the truth."

"What does this have to do with me?" Seamus was eager to hear if the story had something to do with him, or if it was all about Harry.

Lucius laughed, seeing the young Gryffindor's impatience. "Everything," he said. He knew that by saying everything, he was telling Seamus exactly what he wanted to hear. "We're looking for people who have the right way of thinking. People like you."

Seamus smiled at this, suddenly feeling very important. "So, you want me to become a Death Eater?"

"No. You want to become a Death Eater." Lucius was absolutely right. At this moment, Seamus had the exact same gleam in his eyes that many new Death Eaters had in the past. Lucius could see the hunger for power in Seamus now and knew that the deal was already set. "I will send you another letter with your first assignment."

"Assignment?" Seamus echoed.

"Yes. What did you think being a Death Eater means?" With that, Lucius left and walked deeper into the forest. Seamus wasn't a full Death Eater yet, but he was training to be one, which was important. Another important thing was to not let him know that he wasn't a Death Eater yet. He hadn't gone through the initiation or had been branded with the Dark Mark, but by thinking that he was one of them, he would be the most useful resource in Hogwarts.