Who: Seamus Finnigan and Katie Bundy (with appearances by the aunts) What: Get discovered by the aunts and things change forever When: Summer 1998 Where: Where Katie lives with her aunts Rating: PG-13 (the usual...snogging and swearing)
Aunt Cecily had promised Katie that she and the other aunts would be gone all day visiting her uncle Basil. And judging from the wink that followed Katie was fairly sure that her aunt knew she would be inviting Seamus over while they were gone. It had been several weeks since the Bridget incident and though she’d spent a fair amount of time with the Finnigans she hadn’t really had much time alone with Seamus so she was really looking forward to his visit.
She waited in the kitchen by the floo for Seamus more nervous than she ever remembered being before seeing him, even that first day in the greenhouse. She’d taken special care when getting ready. She was even wearing the only dress she owned that wasn’t specifically for some stuffy fancy party. She tugged on the ends of her hair and hoped that Seamus appreciated the effort.
Seamus stepped out of the floo and shook the powder from his hair. Mam was getting on him about it, but he was of age and he’d cut his hair when he felt like it. He opened his mouth to greet Katie, but stopped short when he caught sight of her. “You’re bloody gorgeous.” She was wearing a dress and her hair wasn’t up in its customary bun. Taking a step toward her (because when she looked that good, all he wanted to do was snog her), he stopped again and his eyes widened. “We’re not meeting your aunts, are we?” he asked, alarmed. She hadn’t said anything about that in her ward. His T shirt and denims were clean and neat, but he was not dressed to meet her family. “I need to go home and change, lass.”
Katie laughed at Seamus’ freak out, “The aunts aren’t here,” she told him, “I just wanted to look nice for you since we had the house to ourselves today.”
She winced a little when she heard herself. She hoped that he didn’t think she was planning on seducing him. Yes, she wanted to snog him and probably more than that but she wasn’t prepared for everything.
“Oh.” While he’d been alarmed at the possibility that he would meet Katie’s family dressed as he was, he was a bit disappointed that he wasn’t going to meet them. Or rather disappointed that they weren’t going to be able to stop sneaking around.
However, that was soon forgotten when he realized that they were in her house alone. Giving her a mischievous grin, he closed the distance between them. “You are bloody gorgeous. Sexy, too,” he murmured, leaning in to kiss her.
She kissed him back thrilled to finally be alone with him after weeks of family togetherness with the Finnigans. She reached up to pull him closer and found that though his mother might not appreciate it she liked his longer hair. Especially when she could run her fingers through it while kissing him. After a few minutes she came up for air, “You’re pretty gorgeous yourself.”
He shrugged, “What can I say, you’ve got good taste, lass.” And then he kissed her again, harder this time, and backed her against the counter. He had missed this tremendously. However, his leg soon started to ache from standing. “Don’t suppose we could sit?” he said, shifting his weight to his good leg. Raising an eyebrow, he added, “Or lie down? You know, for my leg.”
She grabbed his hand and gave him a sideways look before leading him towards her bedroom, “The stairs will be okay won’t they?”
She hated asking because she knew that he didn’t want his injury to be seen as a disability but she also didn’t want to cause him pain.
Bloody hell, yes, the stairs would be fine. He figured they’d go sit on the couch or something. But she was taking him upstairs. Likely to her room. So he nodded and let her lead him upstairs. The stairs were a bit slow going; he was beginning to wonder if the healers were right, whether his leg would ever be fully healed. He wasn’t going to dwell on that now though. There were much more important things to think about.
“So this is your room?” he said when she opened the door.
She looked at the room with new eyes and realised that there was really little of her personality in the room. The walls were plain and adorned only by a few prints of flowers and most of her belongings were still in her school trunk. She nodded and led him to her bed.
She took his hand as she settled next to him, “I’m not ready to have sex yet, okay?” she asked. She knew that it was okay though since Seamus had never pressured her. The words were just as much for herself as they were for him.
He was so startled by her blunt pronouncement that he did precisely the wrong thing: he laughed. Still smiling a bit, he shook his head. “When we have sex, lass, it’s not going to be here.” This room didn’t look one bit like Katie. “It’ll be a good memory, can’t be anywhere you despise.” He squeezed her hand. “And how’re you going to be the first girl I spend the night with if I’ve got to leave?”
Toeing off his shoes, he scooted back on the bed, partially because he needed to rest his leg. “Wouldn’t be opposed to a snog or two though. Give you something nice to think about when you’re up here hiding from the aunts.” Of course that just made him picture her in this bed, thinking about them kissing and...yeah, not helping the no sex situation.
Katie settled herself next to him, “And just what am I supposed to think about?” she teased rubbing her foot against his ankle.
“I think that’s more up to you than me. Since you’re setting the rules here,” he replied with a grin.
“So, should I maybe think about kissing you like we did in the greenhouse the last time we saw each other before you had to go into hiding?” Just thinking about that afternoon made Katie smile and blush. It was the most they’d done together up to this point and she honestly wanted to do it again. But teasing Seamus was too much fun to pass up and she could tell that he liked thinking about her alone here thinking about him.
Seamus closed his eyes for a moment, but that just made it easier to picture all sorts of things. Like Katie straddling him in the greenhouse, her mouth moving across his chest. Or her in her bed, wearing very little, thinking about that. His eyes popped back open and he shifted a bit on the bed.
“Is that your way of asking me to take off my shirt again, love?” He sat up just enough to grasp the hem of his t shirt and raise an eyebrow at her.
She gave him a cheeky look, “If you want to I’m sure not going to complain.”
He pulled his shirt over his head and tossed it toward the foot of her bed. His mother and Katie had been conspiring for the last few weeks to fatten him up and he was nearly back to his normal weight. Giving her a wink, he was about to tease her about whether she liked what she saw. However, the look on her face made it apparent that she did. Without a word, Seamus kissed her hungrily.
It had been weeks since she and Seamus had enough time alone to sneak in anything more than a quick kiss so she met his kiss with equal hunger. She immediately took advantage of his exposed skin and let her hands wander freely. It made her happy that she didn’t feel his ribs quite so completely this time.
To repeat the memories she had of that afternoon in the greenhouse she managed to get Seamus flat on his back so she could straddle his hips again. Once settled she took a moment to memorise everything. The way Seamus looked in this moment, his hair a little longer than before and his torso not quite so skinny. She settled her hands low on his stomach near his belly button and smiled as she watched his skin jump from the contact then she slowly ran her hands up his torso bending closer to him as she did so until she ended with her hands on his shoulders and her mouth hovering over his.
“I missed this,” she said her mouth still stalled just far enough away from his so that she could speak.
“Aye,” he said, voice low, sliding a hand into her hair and closing the slight distance between their mouths. If he were being honest, he’d given a great deal of thought to that afternoon and what else might have transpired had they not been interrupted. The hand not tangled in her long blonde hair grasped her thigh, fingers sliding beneath the hem of her dress until his fingertips brushed against her knickers, mouth only pausing long enough to move to her neck. Some part of his brain reminded him not to leave a mark.
Katie didn’t really know what to do next this was new territory (including where Seamus’ hands were wandering) so she simply followed his lead though she wasn’t as careful when kissing his neck and shoulders and probably left any number of love bites in her wake.
Suddenly, Seamus rolled them both over so that he was atop Katie, hand now on her hip, fingertips brushing against the soft skin above her waistband. His mouth moved a bit lower to her collarbone, but he couldn’t get any further. The collar of her dress was in the way. Instead, the hand under her dress slid even higher.
When Seamus’ hand touched her stomach a little voice in her head told her that maybe they should slow down. Katie promptly told that voice to kindly shut it’s mouth and pulled Seamus back up for a deep kiss. Her own hands were exploring his back roaming until they settled on his backside moving him even closer to her.
His moan was completely muffled by her mouth on his. There wasn’t much separating the two of them (there could be even less, encouraged a mischievous voice) at this point and everything was lined up just so. Katie’s hand on his arse. pressing him even closer, made it that much more difficult to remember his manners; his hand slid steadily upward.
Katie let his hand creep up a bit higher before she came to her senses and gently pushed him away.
“We should probably calm down,” she couldn’t hide the disappointment in her tone even if she wanted to.
He knew she was right. He did. With a sigh, he reluctantly extricated his hand from her dress. Pressing a kiss to her forehead, he rolled off her and flopped down next to her on her bed. “Yer gonna be the death of me, lass,” he said, only half-teasing. It wasn’t as if he could hide the evidence of how much he’d liked what had been going on. He scrubbed his hands over his face and then smiled over at her. “Maybe we ought to go downstairs. Or for a walk. Or something.”
Katie set about straightening her clothes and hair which had taken serious damage from their intense snogging. She handed him his shirt before standing up and going to her dresser for her hairbrush. She wasn’t going to lie to herself there was something powerful about knowing just how much Seamus wanted her even if she knew that boys reacted physically fairly easily. But they had time to get where they were going and they didn’t have to rush it, even if she really did kind of want to.
“A walk sounds good,” she finally agreed. “Or we could listen to a programme on the wireless.”
After watching her brush her hair for a few moments, he pulled his shirt over his head and ran a hand through his hair. “A walk,” he said, more firmly, rising from the bed to stand behind her, arms sliding around her waist and mouth brushing against her neck.
She reached up and behind to wrap her arms around his neck and her eyes drifted shut as his mouth brushed against her neck. She let herself stay that way for a moment before opening her eyes again, “My bag breaking was the best thing that ever happened to me,” her tone one of pure happiness.
“Aye,” he agreed. “Me, too, lass. I love you.” His arms tightened around her and he planted one last kiss on her neck before stepping away. “And now we are going to take a walk.” He turned the doorknob and opened the door, glancing back at Katie with a grin. “And we’ll try to stay out of trouble.”
Katie giggled as he opened the door, “This is you, trouble follows you wherever you go.” The picture the two of them made was one of a couple very satisfied with themselves.
Once the door was opened Katie was greeted with a frantic looking Aunt Cecily, “I’m sorry, Katherine!” she whispered, “Angelica got into an argument with Basil and insisted we come home immediately.”
“Oh fuck,” Katie muttered under her breath before taking a deep breath and looking back to her aunt, “I guess I was going to be found out anyway, right?”
Cecily opened her mouth to speak but was interrupted by a strident voice coming from the stairs, “Whatever was so important Cecily that you had to come rushing up here like some heathen Muggle?”
Katie winced when she heard Angelica’s voice knowing that first she sounded like the social climbing idiot that she was and second she was the least sympathetic of the aunts. Her hand reached automatically for Seamus’.
Seamus was still trying to comprehend the swear word that had come out of Katie’s mouth. He’d never heard her say anything like that before. Then he realized why she’d said it. And it wasn’t a good sort of swear. And then one of Katie’s aunts was blathering on about Muggles. Katie had told him what kind of people her aunts were, but the reality of it didn’t hit him until just then. They were going to hate him. And likely try to make Katie break up with him. Well, he wasn’t going to let that happen, he thought, fingers lacing with hers.
“Seamus Finnigan, madam,” he said, deciding that charm was his best offense. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.” He stuck out his free hand forthrightly.
Angelica looked at Seamus’ hand like it was a dead thing so Cecily stepped forward and shook it instead, “Katie talks about almost nothing but you. You’ve made her really happy,” she tried to get in before Angelica can say anything. She knew that it won’t do any good and Angelica will still say whatever she wants to but she’d been too young to tell Rue she’d approved of Maddie she wasn’t making the same mistake with her little girl.
Angelica gave Seamus a haughty look before turning to her youngest sister and her niece, “This will be discussed,” there was a serious threat in her tone. She then turned to Seamus, “Leave,” she said before turning on her heel and heading back down the stairs.
Cecily watched her sister go then looked at her niece. Her little girl who had been so happy just moments ago looked like she’d been crushed. And she wasn’t about ready to have it. She stepped closer so that only Seamus and Katie could hear her, “I won’t let anything happen,” she said, her usually quiet voice fierce, “If they push we’ll leave Katie. I’ve stayed here too long as it is.”
Katie looked at Seamus before reaching up to pull him down for an almost desperate kiss, “Go home. I’ll floo over as soon as we get this worked out. Okay?” she asked.
Seamus’s eyes widened. Leave? Bloody hell, he wasn’t going to leave. And especially not because the aunt -- Angelica, he thought, based on Katie’s descriptions -- told him too.
“No,” he replied to both Katie and the aunt who’d stayed behind, who was trying to reassure them both that she’d do something. She hadn’t done anything since Katie was eight. “I’m not going anywhere. If your aunt wants to discuss this“ - here he mimicked her aunt’s haughty tone - “then I’m gonna be here.”
Did she really think that he’d just leave her to the wolves and floo home to wait? His fingers tightened around hers and he shook his head emphatically. “And I don’t care how many times you tell me to leave, lass.”
Katie gave him a look that clearly told him that it was his death sentence and silently led him back down the stairs to where the other two aunts were waiting. Cecily followed behind Katie more than likely formulating a way to smooth things over as she often did.
Seamus had faced scarier people in his lifetime. Goyle crucio’ing him, the Carrows and their insanity, Death Eaters during the battle. He tried to assure himself that three old biddies -- no matter that they were Katie’s family -- would be no match for that.
At the bottom of the stairs, he once again stuck out his hand. “Seamus Finnigan, pleasure to finally meet you all.” He glanced over his shoulder to include the aunt who’d followed them down the stairs. “Katie’s told me so much about you.” He managed to control his tone enough not to convey exactly what he thought of them.
Anglica continued to ignore Seamus. Rosemary looked first at Angelica and then at Cecily who sent her older sister a pleading expression. Rose nodded once seemingly to herself before stepping forward and shaking his hand.
“Pleased you meet you, Seamus,” she said her tone polite but not entirely friendly, “I wish I could say we’ve heard all about you but it seems that Katherine has been keeping secrets,” she sent her niece a scolding look.
“Makes me wonder what else she’s been hiding,” Angelica muttered.
Katie wisely kept her mouth shut.
Rose looked at each person in the room as if she were trying to come to some kind of conclusion. Finally she turned back to Katie, “Katherine, how long have you been seeing this boy?” she asked.
Katie’s hand tightened in Seamus’, “Since February, Aunt,” she answered. She couldn’t look her in the eye.
“Why didn’t you tell anyone about him?” Angelica interjected, “You’re sneaky just like your father.”
Katie winced and continued her tone quiet and nearly monotoned, “I didn’t want to get in trouble.”
He was torn between wanting to take Katie away from here and wanting to shout his real feelings at her so-called family. Because it was heartbreaking to see the old Katie standing beside him, head down, voice quiet. He gave her hand a comforting squeeze, hoping she’d look at him.
“From what Katie’s told me about her Da, he sounds like an amazing man. I wish I could have met him. Her Mam too. I know they’d be proud of her.” He glanced over at her, smiling. “I know I am. You should be too.” The last bit was said with just a bit of defiance.
The look Angelica shot Seamus could have frozen over hell, “You think she should be proud to be the daughter of an irresponsible man who caused his own death?”
The harsh words about her father were like knives to Katie she winced with each one and couldn’t stop the tears that came when Angelica said he’d be responsible for his own death. She could feel the familiar pressure in her chest that told her one of her attacks was coming on but she was helpless to stop it at this point. It was clear though that she was having trouble breathing.
Cecily, who had been standing behind Katie and Semus put a hand on her back and started rubbling it, hoping to calm her down.
“Angelica, don’t you think that’s going a bit too far?” she asked.
Angelica turned her dark-eyed gaze to Cecily, “Too far? You were too young to remember it but Rue tore this family apart when he chose to marry that mudblood.”
“She wasn’t a mudblood,” Katie whispered though she was sure no one heard her.
“Too young? Honestly, Angelica! I was sixteen! I knew what was happening. My brother, who I adored was marrying a woman he loved. Please, tell me where that’s supposed to be wrong. Because I didn’t understand it then and I don’t understand it now.”
“Cecily watch your tone with me,” Angelica warned.
“Or you’ll what? Ground me? Belittle me into silence yet again? Not this time Angelica. I’m not going to let you do this. Katherine has been happy this summer. I haven’t seen her happy since she was with her parents. Stop thinking about yourself for one bloody second and think about Katherine.”
“Katie,” Katie whsipered. She was tired of people calling her Katherine.
Cecily squeezed her shoulder, “Katie. Think about Katie.”
“THAT’S ENOUGH!” Seamus finally roared. His blood was boiling. “What happened to Katie’s parents was an accident. It coulda happened to anyone. People wreck their cars everyday in the Muggle world. But you...” he turned his attention to Angelica. “You disowned your own brother! And you’ve made Katie’s life miserable.” He shook his head. “I didn’t understand why she didn’t want me to meet you. I thought it couldn’t possibly be as bad as she made it out to be. But it’s so much worse.” He glanced over at the other two. “And you let her bully Katie! You’re supposed to be her family and protect her.”
With one last, disgusted shake of his head, he stepped in front of Katie, looking her in the eye, one hand tucking her hair behind her ear. “You don’t have to stay here, lass. You’re of age. And you can come stay with us. You can have my room. I’ll sleep on the couch.” Raising his eyebrows, he gave her a tentative smile and nodded. “Just say the word.”
While Angelica sputtered Katie turned to Cecily, “You meant it when you said you’d leave?” she asked.
Cecily nodded, “Absolutely. I would need some time to get thing together.”
Katie glanced at Seamus, “I can stay with you until Aunt Cecily gets things worked out and gets us moved out, right?” she asked.
She was still having trouble breathing but it was easier than it had been a few minutes before.
“Course you can,” he replied, smile stretching to a grin. “Go get your things.” Leaning in, he pressed a kiss to her forehead. “I love you,” he said, voice low enough that only she could hear.
She bounced up on her tiptoes and kissed him full on the mouth before darting back up the stairs to put together her trunk. She threw things together as quickly as she could. The last thing she added was a picture of her parents smiling with their arms around each other. It was, like all the pictures she remembered from growing up, a Muggle photo but she didn’t need for it to move to see how much they loved each other. This was the right thing to do and somehow she knew that her parents would be proud of both her and Aunt Cecily for finally doing it. She was free. Finally.