neville longbottom (longbottom) wrote in caged, @ 2013-08-21 19:13:00 |
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Entry tags: | ! 97-08, [ log ], neville longbottom, seamus finnigan |
WHO: Seamus Finnigan and Neville Longbottom
WHEN: August 20th, 1997 during Hannah's party
WHERE: The Cloisters, Hannah's house
SUMMARY: Seamus and Neville talk about Dean.
RATING: PG
STATUS: Completed Log
"Neville," Seamus said by way of greeting, throwing a leg over the bench and reaching out to grab a handful of bacon and cheese tartlets. He had questions and possibly favors to ask, but not having seen his housemate in months necessitated more of a lead in. "Okay summer?" "It's been all right. I've had better," Neville replied honestly after nodding a greeting in return. He'd noticed Dean, like Justin and the other Muggle-borns, wasn't in attendance and he wanted to comment on that, but having info dumped on poor Hannah after she'd told him she wanted to give people something nice, Neville was wont to choose his topics a little more carefully. "Yours?" Seamus shrugged, stuffing the mouthful of tart he was chewing into the pocket of his cheek in order to respond. "Not bad." He finished the bite and swallowed before elaborating. "Been staying near home most of the time, me da's got me working at the pub so it's harder to make it over. Should come out for a night, if your Gran'll let ya. Get good and pissed with me and Dean before we have to toe the line Snape sets." Neville laughed, shrugging his shoulders. He didn't think his Gran would let him at all and he was too rubbish at lying, especially to his Gran who had a knack for seeing through lie, to get around that. "Maybe. I'll ask her tomorrow." But Dean's name had stuck out to him as much as Dean's absence had. "So Dean's all right, then?" "Well…" Seamus hesitated. "He hasn't gone in yet." This was the third day past when Dean ought to have made an appearance, and it felt as though any minute the other shoe was going to drop. "I saw him last night, we were trying to come up with solutions, or someone to say he's their kid. It's a weird thing to ask someone though, you know?" There were people playing in the pool a few yards away, but Seamus was wading into wholly different waters now. "Anybody got a father who's willing to say they had an affair with Dean's mum? And then you have to sort out all the history of it…" Suspecting what he did about the Ministry, Neville didn't think it was a good idea for anyone to report to the Muggle-born Registration Committee, especially with the likes of Umbridge running the show. His mouth twisted in thought and he peered into the pool as he tried to make heads or tails of Dean's situation. His hand found the back of his head, his fingers mussing the already mussed hair there. "There's no one that I know of. It's a lot to ask." He let his hand fall back to his lap and he shifted his gaze back to Seamus. "What about legging it? That out of the question? I'm sure it's what Harry and Hermione've done." The question reminded him of another, and it made for a convenient diversionary tactic, both in the conversation and from having to properly consider the growing likelihood that he would have to say a more permanent sort of goodbye to Dean, one of these days before school began. "Do you really think Ron's got spattergroit? What shite luck if he does - first a ginger and then a purple plague." "I don't know," Neville said slowly, thinking back to the owl Ginny had sent him about Ron's condition. Something about it had seemed a little off at the time, but he hadn't been able to put his finger on it. "Ginny owled me about it, but she didn't sound too worried about him. Spattergroit can kill you, you know. So I thought that was odd." And then the gears in his head started turning and he laughed under his breath. Of course. He lowered his voice several decibels and leaned into Seamus a little. "I wouldn't be surprised if he'd legged it with Harry and Hermione now that I think about it, actually." "Well they should've taken Dean with them then," Seamus said, trying to keep bitterness and admonishment from his voice. It was hypocritical given the way he and Dean were practically inseparable during the school year, but it still annoyed Seamus the way that Harry, Ron, and Hermione excluded most everyone else from whatever their plans were. It wasn't as though he hadn't come around and accepted that Harry was going to be a horse's arse sometimes, but was a good bloke besides. It wasn't as though Dean would be a hindrance. For a moment, Neville wished they'd taken him. Because after everything he'd done, he'd more than proven himself to Harry. But he was glad to be going back to Hogwarts. It wasn't going to be an easy year by any means, but if Umbridge and Snape and Malfoy were all there, he wanted to be there to give them hell. His face remained impassive, though. "Yeah," he said, finally, "they should've. But listen, I'll talk to Gran about coming over and the three of us can figure something out if you want." He paused and worry flickered into his features. "I don't think any good can come from going to the Ministry, though. Not with Umbridge in charge of all that." "Fucking Umbridge," Seamus muttered, shaking his head. "If she goes after me mam and da, I'm almost sorry I'll miss seein' it firsthand." Seamus wasn't sure what was worst, Muggles, Muggleborns, or magical folk knowingly having children of Muggles, but as menacing as the former professor was, he thought it likely she would be prone to underestimating all three. Underestimating Kathleen Finnigan never went over well, and Neville was familiar with the concept of dangerous maternal figures. It had been an unsettled debate for a while now, whether Gran or Kathleen would win in a fight. "I'm hoping she'll be at school. I'd love to see the DA take her on again." Since the end of fifth year, Neville had had a bad habit of bringing up the DA around former members when he was feeling lonely and it typically came off as extremely awkward. But he really meant it this time. If there were ever a year that really needed Dumbledore's Army, it was the year without Dumbledore. "Who's going to teach us, if Harry and Hermione have done a runner?" Seamus wondered. It wasn't as though he was against the idea, but with two of the best defense students banned from the school, and Snape as the Headmaster… He sighed. "We're probably going to need it, if the news is any indication of what's ahead." It would be brilliant if he was wrong - for once Seamus would rather be - but who was going to be on the side of the righteous, given who they were standing against? "I don't know," Neville muttered, pressing the heels of his palms against his eyes. That was something he hadn't thought of and he definitely didn't consider himself an alternative. Not yet. His hands fell to his legs and he braced them against his thighs. "We'll figure something out. If it even comes to that." It was only a half-formed idea in his head. If it was even that. But he had a feeling it was going to come to something eventually. Seamus turned at the sound of someone in the pool shouting his name, and smiled at Susan's pleading for a partner to chicken with. "We will do," he assured Neville. "We might not have Harry and Hermione, but we'll… we'll figure something out." It didn't bode particularly well that he couldn't think of any better means than to repeat the same hollow show, but Seamus clapped Neville on the shoulder all the same and stood, grabbing a fistful of t-shirt from the back of his neck and tugging it cleanly off over his head. "Come on," he suggested, even though it was unlikely that Neville would repeat the gesture and set a girl on his shoulders to do battle in a pool. If he was the only roommate he was going to have this year, Seamus wanted to stay on Neville's good side. "Maybe later," Neville replied, waving Seamus off with his hand. There was no way he'd be joining them in the pool, especially not now that he had more on his mind than he'd had before. It wasn't just the prospect of Umbridge, Snape, and Malfoy at school any more. It was what he -- maybe they? --- was going to do about them. |