Seamus Finnigan
Seamus was happy to greet his best friend at the platform, they never got to see each other much during the summers thanks to Seamus living in Ireland and Dean in England. His ma refused to let him go to England, King’s Cross not counting, and Dean’s ma thought Dean too young to travel alone. It was a shame really.
“How was your summer?” Dean asked as he sat down in front of him. Seamus grinned as he explained how he had managed to blow up his cousin’s broom by adding fire-powder to the bristles. He liked that Dean always seemed to appreciate his experiments.
“Of course, ma made me help old uncle Patrick muck his stables afterwards as my cousin did get some burns and a broken arm thanks to the broom combusting mid-air.”
Dean laughed.
“Mum would have had my hide if I did something like that!”
“It was a near thing…” Seamus said with an unapologetic grin.
“Hi Harry!” Seamus said as he sat down on the other side of the boy. The dark-haired wizard seemed to brighten, and it was funny how he didn’t seem to notice how his two friends frowned at his reaction.
“Hi Seamus, everything good?”
Seamus grinned. “Perfect.”
The chatter around the table was endless and only stopped when the sorting of the first years commenced. Seamus studied Harry when he could and was surprised to see that the boy seemed to have grown a couple of inches since Litha and looked much more filled out than he used to. He looked happy and carefree.
Harry Potter was the fourth champion and Seamus felt just as confused as Harry looked. Yet he had stood up and prepared to join the other champions back-stage. Seamus barely had any time to react.
“Harry, did you enter your name?” Seamus questioned loudly.
Harry blinked owlishly and shook his head.
“I didn’t.”
If this had been last year, before Harry had been welcomed onto Irish soil then Seamus would have been uncertain, but this Harry Potter had celebrated Litha with him and his kinsmen. Harry was under the protection of Dolan Macmillan.
“Then don’t go back there, they cannot force you to compete in something you didn’t enter, and magic is tricky. If you go there, then the cup may see it as your agreement to compete.”
Seamus ignored the flabbergasted looks thrown in his direction, they looked at him as he had grown a second head.
“How do you know that Finnigan?” Cormac McLaggen asked.
Seamus huffed.
“Gramp’s a solicitor, he made sure that I knew of these things before starting Hogwarts.” He didn’t mention how his Gramp was an old war veteran very disillusioned with English men, French women, and Finnish liquorice.
Harry nodded and sat back down.
“Harry my boy, you need to join the other champions now.” The headmaster said imploringly.
Harry shook his head. “No,” he jolted suddenly “I wish to contact my guardians!” he added as if only now remembering that he did indeed have guardians.
“The Dursleys cannot undo this Harry, you need to take responsibility for your actions.” Dumbledore sighed.
“I want you to send for my godfather Sirius Black and my other guardian Donal Macmillan.”
The hall fell into hushed murmurs at the names.
The headmaster seemed frustrated at the continued refusal.
“Don’t make this difficult, Mister Potter.”
Harry ignored him and Seamus grinned. This proved to be an even more exciting evening than he had predicted.
“Your guardians, according to the British ministry, are your aunt and uncle, your godfather is a fugitive and Mister Macmillan is not a British citizen. Enough of this!”
Harry flinched and Seamus could see him starting to crack under the pressure, that would not do.
“Harry James Potter is Irish now thanks to the bond of blood claimed by Mister Macmillan. The Faction has informed the British ministry of this, it is outright insulting of you to ignore what was long ago decided by wizards and witches much more relevant than you.” Seamus stated loudly.
“You have no part in this Mister Finnigan.” Professor McGonagall chided.
Seamus rolled his eyes. “I’m acting in the manner of a concerned kinsman, something also covered in the accord, should you not know this Headmaster?”
His classmates looked baffled at his outright defiance and Harry looked grateful, Seamus only felt pride.
“Damn Seamus, didn’t know you had it in you.” Dean whispered in awe.
Seamus smirked.
“Thank you, Mister Finnigan, for aiding young Harry.” Mister Macmillan said with a nod, Seamus straightened his back. “I only did what honour compelled me to, we Irishmen need to stick together.”
The older wizard chuckled as Seamus unconsciously preened at the attention.
Mister Macmillan turned towards Harry.
“The matter has been dealt with, do send for me if they harass you further.”
Seamus stayed back as Harry said his goodbyes.
A big grin was brightening the dark-haired boy’s face when he turned to Seamus.
“Thank you, Seamus.”
The Irish wizard flushed and scratched the back of his head.
“You don’t have to thank me for that, mate.”
Harry Potter shook his head.
“So much has changed this past summer, I’m not used to having guardians who care you know? Mister Macmillan told me that Sirius wanted to come but that leaving Irish soil would be too dangerous right now. It never did strike me that grown-ups could help me, they usually don’t. So, thank you.”
Seamus felt flabbergasted, the words were too loaded for him to truly comprehend. Harry had told him more about himself now than he had in the three years they had shared the same dorm.
“I’m glad everything turned out alright for you Harry.”
The first task had made Seamus’s face turn pale. The great dragons were awesome but the fact that someone had wanted Harry to participate in this made him nauseous.
Why would anyone put a fourteen-year-old against a dragon, if not to kill them?
Harry had looked ghostly whilst the champions had to fetch a golden egg from a dragon nest while the rest of the Gryffindor’s had looked sombre. Many had turned against Harry for throwing away his chance at glory, even Dean had been flummoxed until Seamus had explained why Harry couldn’t possibly compete.
Theo had even approached him after the whole debacle, the Slytherin had never spoken a word to Seamus while they were at Hogwarts and neither had Seamus. The two of them had an understanding. Fay had never understood this unfortunately as the Irish witch tended to seek both out whenever she pleased. She was a Gryffindor, yet she tended to keep with the Ravenclaws most days as several of her friends were in that house.
Another thing that Seamus had noticed after the first task was how Fay tended to sit closer to the Golden trio. Harry had yet to notice how the witch sought out his attention but Seamus who normally kept a close eye on his kinswitch had indeed seen it.
Seeing Harry attending the yule ball with Fay Dunbar at his side had surprised everyone but Seamus.
“You seem strangely happy about Fay and Harry, mate.” Dean murmured, slightly perturbed by his friend’s grinning face.
“Huh?” Seamus said, his eyes squinting at Harry and Fay who sat next to each other at the furthest corner in the library. They looked to be stuck in their own little bubble, not noticing their surroundings.
“You’re being creepy Seamus!” Dean complained.
Seamus turned to his best mate and shrugged.
“Ma will be happy.”
Dean looked even more concerned at that.
“You know how Fay is my cousin on ma’s side?”
The dark-skinned wizard nodded slowly.
“Well, a joining between the Dunbars and Potters would cement Harry’s bond of blood you know, his children would be proper Irish!”
Dean groaned.
“That’s so disturbing!”
Seamus shrugged again and returned to watch the pair in the corner, he may like the idea of Fay becoming a Potter but that didn’t mean he would let Harry take any liberties with his cousin.
Professor Moody tried to kidnap Harry after the third task, he asked the other Gryffindor to stay behind and had attempted to stun the younger wizard. Harry had responded by ducking and casting a patronus that had run into the supposed kidnapper. That’s at least what the portraits reported according to the rumour mill.
Harry himself had been sent home to Ireland when Mister Macmillan and Mister Black learned of what had transpired. Fay had been worrying something horribly since, Seamus had spent the past half-hour assuring her that her boyfriend was waiting for her back in Ireland.
“He sent you letters, a dozen of them actually!” Seamus said while rolling his eyes.
The poor snowy owl had flown into the great hall almost every morning, how the animal still lived was a mystery.
“He was almost kidnapped by a deatheater Seamus!” Fay chided with a glare.
Oh, that’s right. Professor Moody had been a deatheater in disguise, the fact that a terrorist had taught them all year did not faze Seamus though. They had after all had a werewolf in the classroom last year and a fraud the year before, he reckoned it was all the same.
“But he escaped, didn’t he?” Dean said softly, trying to assure the nervous witch.
“One does wonder where he was trying to take Harry, maybe he should let himself be taken next time and then escape?” Seamus pondered loudly.
Dean groaned and Fay gasped.
“Seamus Finnigan!”