Friendship, Loyalty, And Love

Friendship, Loyalty, and Love

Chapter 1:

An Uneventful Train Ride

"Seamus! Seamus Finnigan!" The voice shook the entire house. "Wake up, Seamus! If you don't get up you're going to miss the train!"

The fifteen-year-old boy who was being hailed shot up in bed and looked at the clock on the wall. As he blinked at it he could see it swing from Oversleeping to Running Late. Swearing slightly, the tousle haired young man hopped out of bed and began to pull on jeans and a blue shirt. It had been a warm summer, and was still warm, but he knew that by the time the train pulled into Hogwarts station he'd be very glad of the extra warmth provided his school robes.

"Seamus!" the voice of his mother boomed out through the house again. "Seamus did you hear me?"

"I'm up, mum!" Seamus hollered back. "Stop yelling at me already!" He yanked open his door and clattered down the stairs. "Honestly, mum, it's not like I'm that late," he said as he reached the kitchen where his mother was waiting with breakfast.

"No, not that late. But if you want to eat you'd better do it fast. You father's getting the car ready to take you to the Floo point." Mrs. Finnigan shooed her sleepy son into a seat at the table and started dishing out some eggs for him. "You're all packed, right?" she asked.

"Yeah . . . oh, no! I left my clock on the wall." Seamus made to hop up from the table, but his mother stopped him.

"You just eat your breakfast. I'll go put it in the trunk," she said.

As his mother headed upstairs Seamus thought about the clock in question. It had been a birthday gift last year from his best friend and roommate, Dean Thomas. Seamus had been very surprised when the other boy gave it to him, having been expecting another one of Dean's football posters or some such thing. The clock was a wizarding clock, and instead of telling time it told where the person in question was. This one had been specially made, and its "hours" included Sleeping, Oversleeping, Running Late, Goofing Off, Actually Working, In Class, Home, Traveling, and Peril. Harry, one of the boys' other roommates had commented once, after showing up late for Potions class, that the clock face showed Seamus was in Peril while in class. The general assumption was that this resulted not so much from Professor Snape, despite his known dislike of Gryffindors, but rather from the fact that Dean and Seamus were working behind Neville Longbottom that day.

"Morning, Shame," Seamus's father interrupted his musings as he came in. "Ready to head back to school?"

"Morning, da. Yeah, I can't wait to see everybody again. Are you taking me?" the boy asked.

"Yeah. You're mother's loading your trunk in the car now." Seamus' father occasionally felt out of place when there were lots of wizards around because he was a Muggle, but he loved taking Seamus to Platform Nine and Three Quarters to catch the Hogwarts Express. Seamus thought it was because of all the Muggle parents he got to meet there. He'd seen his father talking with Hermione Granger's parents last year as the train was pulling out of the station, and he suspected his father enjoyed knowing more about the wizard world than the other parents.

"Are you done yet, dear?" Seamus' mother returned to the kitchen. "You really ought to head out." Seamus got up from the table and dumped his dishes in the sink before giving his mother a hug. "Have a nice year, dear, and do write me occasionally." His mother gave him a kiss and he and his father headed out to the car.

***

*Knock, Knock, Knock*

The tapping on the door slowly brought Dean Thomas to wakefulness.

"Dean, sweetie, are you awake?" his mother's voice could be heard from outside the door.

"Yes, mother," he called back before hauling himself out of bed.

"Ok. Come downstairs as soon as you're dressed and have some breakfast. Your father wants to leave for King's Cross Station in an hour." Dean could hear his mother's footsteps heading down the hall from his bedroom and down the stairs towards the kitchen. He started to pull on some clothes, concentrating more on the upcoming year at school than on what he was wearing. He couldn't wait to get to the train station and see his friends again. That had to be the worst part of having Muggle parents who didn't really approve of magic - he ended up spending his summers all alone, or with his friends from primary school, and never got to see his best friend Seamus or his other school mates.

Once he was dressed, Dean tossed the book he'd been reading last night into his trunk and shut the lid. He considered hauling it out of his room now, but decided to wait until after breakfast. If he got lucky his father would give him a hand with the heavy thing.

Down in the kitchen his mother had just finished putting breakfast on the table. "Morning, sweetheart, did you sleep well?" his mother asked.

"Yes, just fine. Where's dad?"

"I'm right here, Dean." His father entered the room and sat down at the table. "What did you want?"

"Oh, I was just hoping you could help me with my trunk after breakfast."

"Sure," his father replied. "You're all packed, aren't you?"

"Of course." The conversation lapsed into silence as everyone finished their food. Meals at the Thomas house always got a little strained when his holidays drew to a close. His parents kept wishing he was heading to Eaton or some other normal school, and he never felt he could talk about the work he was doing at Hogwarts.

"Well, if your done we should probably head out," Dean's father finally broke the silence, and the two of them got up from the table to go up stairs.

After hauling the trunk down and out to the car Dean came back in to say good bye to his mother.

"Mum, I hope your year goes well while I'm gone."

"Oh, love. I'm the one who's supposed to say that." His mother smiled sadly at him. The distance that had grown between her and her only child tended to upset her. "And I do hope your year goes well. I mean, it's not what we were expecting, but you've got an opportunity and I hope you do as well at your studies as you can." Mrs. Thomas gave her son a hug, and then he and his father got in the car to head to the station.

***

King's Cross Station was moderately crowded when Dean and his father arrived there. His father grabbed a trolley and they loaded the trunk onto it, then pushed their way to the barrier between platforms nine and ten.

"Well, Dean, I hope you have a good term," Dean's father said.

"You're not going to come through, are you?" the boy asked.

"Um, I think I'd . . ." Dean's father was interrupted by a yell.

"DEAN! Hey! It's good to see you!" Seamus Finnigan pushed his trolley up to the barrier and leapt at his friend to give him a hug. "How are you? How was your holiday?" The Irish boy's enthusiasm seemed to radiate off of everything and Dean couldn't help but grin at him.

"Hey, Seamus. It's good to see you too. I don't think you've met my father before," Dean gestured to his father. "Dad, this is my best friend from school, Seamus Finnigan. Seamus, my father."

Seamus smiled at the elder Thomas and held out his hand. "It's very nice to meet you, Mr. Thomas."

"Um, yes . . ." Dean's father started to say as he took Seamus' hand and shook it.

"And this is my dad," Seamus interrupted again, waving at his father who was fighting his way through the crowds. "Dad, this is my friend Dean I've been telling you about, and his father, Mr. Thomas."

"Very nice to meet you both." Seamus' father smiled and Dean could see where Seamus had gotten a lot of his looks. The sandy blonde hair and grin seemed to run in the family, as did the bright blue eyes. "Dean, Seamus has told us a lot about you, I'm glad I've finally gotten the chance to see you." Mr. Finnigan shook Dean's hand, then looked at his watch and sighed. "Come on, we ought to go on through and get your stuff on board. Why don't you two head through first."

Seamus grabbed his friend's hand and yanked him through the barrier, leaving the two adults on the other side. Mr. Thomas looked quite startled and faintly alarmed when Mr. Finnigan gestured for him to pass through the very solid looking wall. "Um, I'm sorry, but I don't know how . . ." he trailed off.

"Oh, you've never been through? But Dean's . . ." Seamus' father also trailed off and then started again. "I'm sorry we interrupted your farewells. Here, it's very easy. Just lean against the wall, and close your eyes." Mr. Finnigan demonstrated and they both leaned back. "Then..." he started, before swinging around and giving Dean's father a light shove, pushing him back through the wall.

***

"What!" Mr. Thomas yelled out as he slipped through the wall and stumbled back onto the bustling platform. "Oh good heavens." Mr. Finnigan stepped through and gave the other man a faintly sheepish look.

"Sorry about that, but I realized I didn't know how to explain it and it really is a lot easier to just do it without thinking about it."

"Dad?" Dean's curious voice came from behind the two men. "You came to see me off?" He sounded hopeful, but kept his face neutral.

"Well," the elder man paused. "Well, yes. I figured since we didn't get a chance to say good bye before your friend got here I should come through and make sure you got on the train ok."

"Come on, Dean," Seamus was standing at his friend's elbow, tugging at him, "Let's get these monsters," he said, he gesturing to the trunks, "onboard and snag a compartment."

The four of them hurried over to the train and hauled the two trunks and Seamus' owl's cage on to the train. They found an empty compartment and loaded it up, then all stepped back off in order to say good bye.

"See you, Shame. Don't get in too much trouble, and do write occasionally," Mr. Finnigan leaned over and gave his son a hug, before turning to Dean. "It was nice meeting you, Dean. I'm sorry we didn't get an actual chance to talk, but maybe you can come visit us sometime."

"I'd like that," Dean said, then glanced at his father. "I don't know when I'll get the chance though. It was nice meeting you."

Dean's father looked at him for a second, then leaned over and hugged him. "Have a good term, Dean. Study hard. If you get the chance to send us a letter, that would be nice. There is some way to send normal post, right?" His father suddenly looked a little worried at the thought of having an owl show up at their hose with a letter. The original acceptance letter from Hogwarts and the yearly follow up notes about book requirements had been the family's only experience with owl post, and they found it quiet disconcerting.

"Yeah, there is." Dean smiled up at his father for a second, then reached up and hugged him again. "Thank you for coming through," he whispered, so quietly his father almost didn't hear him.

Then they separated, and Dean and Seamus hurried onto the train as the whistle began to blow. The two men were pushed away from the train by the sudden influx of students, and stood together as the platform began to clear of all but adults. As the train began to leave they saw their two sons lean out of a window and wave at them.

Then the train was gone, and the two turned to leave. The one preoccupied with thoughts of his son, and the strangeness which had become involved in their life, and the other worried about his son's friend, and why it might be that the man walking next to him seemed to be so uncomfortable in these surroundings. Mr. Finnigan helped Mr. Thomas to pass back through the barrier and they said goodbye. Both went off, thinking their separate thoughts. But when Mr. Finnigan got home he brought up the chance meeting with his wife, and what it might mean for the two boys, while Mr. Thomas merely told Mrs. Thomas that Dean had gotten off safely.

****

On the train the two boys in question sat back into their seats opposite each other, and began to chat.

"So, tell me about your summer? What did you do? Where did you go?" Seamus began.

"Eh, there's nothing to tell," Dean replied. "Didn't go anywhere interesting, didn't do much of anything. We took a week trip to the beach, but that's hardly novel."

"Clearly your holiday was fascinating," Seamus teased. Then the smaller boy turned serious. "Dean, if your summer was so boring with your parents, why didn't you take up my offer to come visit me for a while. I would have loved to see you over the summer. And wouldn't it have been nice to get away from home?"

Dean scowled at this line of questioning. "Seamus," he started and then paused. "Look," he tried again, "I just couldn't have gotten my parents to agree."

"You couldn't have, or you didn't manage?" Seamus asked, and at his friend confused expression he tried again. "As in, you didn't even try?"

Dean grimaced, then stared out the window for a while. Finally, when Seamus was starting to get slightly worried the other boy looked back at him. "No, Seamus. I didn't even try."

"Why?" Seamus looked hurt. "If you didn't want to come you could have just told me that at the beginning of the summer instead of saying, 'we'll see'."

"No, that's not it. I'd have loved to come I just..." Dean trailed off once again. "My parents . . . my parents . . ."

Seamus arched an eyebrow at his friend, waiting to see if he'd be able to continue.

"They don't really like magic," he finally finished.

"What do you mean?" Seamus cocked his head to one side and gave the other boy a quizzical look. "You mean like Harry's aunt and uncle?" At this the Irish boy began to look a little mad.

"No, no. Not like that at all," Dean hastily reassured him. "They just . . . don't really approve, and would rather have me around during the summer so they can keep an eye on me."

"I don't understand. How can they not approve of wizards? You're a wizard. Don't they support you?"

"No," Dean sighed. "Not really. They very much wish I'd gone somewhere normal where they could tell their friends about how I was doing at all of these simple, easy to understand things, like playing football, or having trouble with my science teachers. They can't exactly explain to their coworkers about how my potions professor is horrible to us, or how one of my roommates once saved the world from an evil man by failing to die."

Seamus thought about this for a little bit, then really looked at his best friend for the first time since they'd met this morning. He could see how Dean was looking stressed, and tired, and could tell how much his parents behavior upset him, and just how hard it had been for him to keep quiet about that all summer. Then the smaller boy stood up, stepped across the compartment, and gave Dean a hug. "I'm sorry, Dean, I'll stop hassling you," he said. And the other boy leaned into the hug for a second before pulling back.

"Look, Seamus," he started. "I'm a little tired. Do you mind if I take a nap?" Dean was staring out the window, but Seamus could tell the other boy was embarrassed that he had been able to read him so well.

"No, not at all," Seamus replied, and then snagged a book out of his backpack and plopped himself into the seat next to Dean. "Here," he said. "My shoulder's a better pillow than the window, I'll bet. You just get some sleep."

Dean looked at his friend and roommate, and then gave a shrug at the Irish boy's peculiarities. "Thanks," he said, and laid his head on Seamus' shoulder. Then, lulled by the motion of the train and the steady beating of Seamus' heart, he fell asleep. And the rest of the train ride passed uneventfully.

When Hermione came by later to tell them they ought to get into robes since the train was about to reach the station that's how she found them, one engrossed in a book, and the other sound asleep with his hand lightly curled around his friend's forearm.