Those Forgotten

Those Forgotten

1. Seamus first noticed it on a Saturday.

Dean returned from Hogsmeade with a slow step, his face closed off, his eyes weary.

Seamus wasn't surprised. Everyone had been expecting it, deep down. Dean didn't seem shell shocked or confused or any of the normal emotions you would expect from a boy whose girlfriend had just ended their quite-happy, six month relationship.

But Ginny had always been standing near the light and just waiting for a pair of green eyes to notice her.

Seamus knew Dean wasn't surprised, but he knew that he wasn't alright, either. That night at dinner, he saw his best friend's eyes watch Ginny Weasley with the same look that he always watched Hermione Granger with.

Just once, just once, just once, just once...

Ordinary and normal had no place with those who were destined to stand next to heroes.

Seamus dimly wondered if it ever could be any different.

~*~*~*~*~*~

2. It was a dull, rainy Thursday over breakfast. Dumbledore rose, eyes solemn, as the rest of the students also stood in the black-draped hall.

"Padma Patil," was the quiet murmur as students raised goblets and drank a silent toast.

Parvati alone remained seated, because she knew that if she stood, she would only see solemn faces masking confusion.

Who?

Ravenclaw, I think.

She sat opposite of Ron Weasley, who she remembered had taken her sister to a ball. He had spent all night ignoring her, and when she left, he hadn't even noticed.

If Parvati didn't think she would just end up screaming, she would have laughed.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

3. On a Monday, studying in the library for an Arithmancy project, Hermione Granger turned to Terry Boot and asked, quite plainly, which side he would be supporting.

He gaped at her, at the fierceness with which she asked it, with shock that he should even be doubted, before answering the light, of course, the right side, the good side.

Only later on, as he replayed the incident in his mind, did he realize that she didn't ask what side he would fight for.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

4. Colin unfolded and refolded the letter he had received on a Wednesday from his aunt dozens of times, but he never read it all the way through. Every time he started he saw McGonagall's ashen face as she told him and his brother, the faces of his parents (confused and a little scared) when he got his letter.

He came across Ginny Weasley in the hall, crying on the shoulders of her older brother. All he heard was "Harry...hurting..."

He wished someone would cry for him.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

5. Millicent Bulstrode fell and cut her forehead on the front steps on a Sunday. Despite her size, despite the small utterance of pain, no one rushed over to help her. Dimly, she wondered if anyone noticed.

Staggering into the Hospital Wing, blood running in her eyes, she was ushered quickly to a bed, tapped by a wand, given a potion, and left as the nurse turned to an injured Harry Potter in the bed beside her.

Millicent had a mark for a few weeks afterwards. No one asked her about it.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

6. Tuesday was her day for Herbology, and Susan should have loved it; the one class where her house shone, the one where hard work and diligence could truly pay off.

Double Herbology with the Gryffindors meant raised hands from Hermione Granger and beaming smiles given to shy Neville Longbottom.

Susan pruned a plant all wrong, just to see if her professor would notice. She did, and five points were given to Gryffindor for helping her right her mistake.

She washed the dirt from her hands later and turned the water as cold as it would go.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

7. Friday evening, just once, Seamus held her in his arms. She accepted his invitation to walk around the lake with a side glance at the red-faced Ron. For two hours, seventeen minutes, several kisses, and one aching moment of truth, the ordinary was noticed and the normal blessed.

Then there was only wind whistling around his shivering body as he watched her walk up to the castle. When he returned to his room, Dean was waiting.

"That's it, then," Seamus said heavily, sitting onto his bed and trying not to look at the beds occupied by two of the people who would change the world.

Dean nodded.

"That's it."