InsaneJournal

Who: Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas
What: Discussing the future with a few rejected fireworks
When: Backdated: Thursday, June 18, 1998
Where: Grounds of Hogwarts
Warnings: Language. They’re teenage boys, y’know.


Dean wasn't really sure how it could be Thursday already. Given how stressful things had been, the week was moving surprisingly fast. Most of his NEWTs were done with--just Transfiguration to get through tomorrow--and then they would be really, truly finished with school. For better or for worse.

Today had been his two weakest subjects--History of Magic and Potions--but he thought he'd done all right. There had been plenty of questions in HOM he wasn't 100% sure about, but none that felt like they came completely out of the blue. The Potions written exam had been hard, but Dean was pretty sure he'd aced the practical part so that was something.

"Where do we want to set these off?" he asked Seamus, shaking the bag he carried. It mostly contained fireworks rejected from the spectacular show Seamus had been working on, though he'd also chucked in a packet of Wagon Wheels (nevermind that they'd just had dinner). "I can't believe that after this week, we'll never blow things up on the grounds again."

"Hmm, over the lake? Seems safest," Seamus shrugged as he carried another bag of fireworks over his shoulder. He'd made a lot, no question, but it was one of the only times he had permission to make things blow up and it was going to be his big finale.

"Oh don't remind me. I was all happy I'd never have to touch anything History of Magic related again, to think we won't blow shit up here again...well that's why we're making Saturday our biggest one." Not to say he hadn't thought a lot about things being the last time, it had been at the back of his mind for the last few months really. Some things he wanted to let go and couldn't wait to be done with but a lot of others...well it was hard to imagine life without them. Skirting curfew, quidditch practices, messing about in the common room, snogging girls in all corners of the castle, blowing things up and wrecking havoc at will, and of course Dean himself.

Dean glanced back at the castle, a little sadly. “It’s kind of hard to imagine. I mean...this has almost been more home than home, you know? Mum and Dad’s seems so small when I go back, and the staircase is always in the same place.” His strides were almost two of Seamus’, his legs being so much longer, so he purposely slowed down and waited for Sea to catch up. “I just don’t know what it’s going to be like now. I mean, I’ll still see you even if Gryff party house is a no-go, and hopefully the other Gryffs and Padma, but...what about all the people we see every day now, that we won’t see at all? It’s just…weird. As small as the wizarding world is, there are still people we see all the time that we might never really run into again.”

"Hell we've spent more time here than home so...it's weird to leave. Still kind of cool to be able to think how we once lived in a magic castle for seven years..." Seamus picked up the pace some so he could catch up to Dean, pretty much used to their stride difference now. Dean had shot up in height way too much a few years back. "Yeah and like who knows where people will end up, and I don't know maybe they won't stay in touch or..." Seamus sighed and looked at the ground ahead as he mulled that over. "It's kind of weird to look ahead and you know...not know what your life will really be like six months from now. I mean, I guess you'll be at art school and I'll...I don't know. I'll be somewhere I guess. But it's just...we don't know what anything's going to be like yeah?"

Dean slung the bag of fireworks over his shoulder and shoved his hands in his pockets. “Exactly. I mean, I know it’s all gonna be good, but…” He shrugged. “It feels like everything familiar is going away.” Not just Hogwarts, either. If Seamus was going to try the cursebreaking thing--and even though he hadn’t sounded sure last time they talked about it, he certainly hadn’t taken it off the table either--then really everything would be different. And for all his brave talk about visiting him in Cairo, or making an Egypt party house, he really hoped that wasn’t what Sea was going to choose. Five years was a long bloody time. “Do you...are you still thinking about DMAC?”

"Well...I guess 'cause it is." What a mopey pair they must've looked, but Seamus would admit to himself that he was glad Dean had some similar worries. It felt a bit like he was being left behind, everyone had a job and plans and here he was still figuring things out. "Yeah, I...sent in the application the other day. Figured I'd take my shot, why not. Maybe Harry's dad has seen too much of my less than stellar work to want to hire me but...I don't know, didn't have a lot of other options you know? Plus...my letters are from his wife and friend so...maybe that'll count for something?" He put a smile on at the end there, though it wasn't his usual grin. He still had the cursebreaking application, and it was mostly done too, but he couldn't bring himself to owl it out just yet. If asked, Seamus wouldn't even been able to say what he was waiting for with that but...maybe if everyone had their own thing and there was no place for him, maybe cursebreaking would be the best option. Start fresh just like everyone else seemed to be doing.

“Well, you did make a good point. Nobody learns how to fix magical accidents better than someone who’s prone to causing them, right?” Dean scuffed up the grass with the toe of his trainers, thoughtfully. “I uh...I hope you get it. I know I said you’d be wicked at cursebreaking, and I honestly do think it’s probably true, but…” He kicked a rock and it went bouncing off the turf and splashed into the lake. “Fuck, Sea, I don’t want you to go to Egypt for five years.”

They'd reached close enough to the lake that Seamus put his bag of fireworks on the ground and plopped down beside them, working on getting a couple out while Dean kicked a rock away. He stopped and looked up when Dean admitted he didn't want him to go to Egypt. Truth be told, for a moment he thought he misheard. It was something he'd really wanted to hear but...you didn't just ask that sort of thing. At least he didn't.

Seamus glanced back down then out to the lake. "I...don't actually want to go either..."

Dean almost laughed with relief. "Really? You don't want to go have killer cursebreaking adventures in the tombs of Cairo? Here's me thinking I'm going to be a total arse and a terrible mate for hoping they'd turn you down for not having Ancient Runes, and you don't even want to go." He threw himself down on the grass and pulled out the packet of Wagon Wheels. "You really had me worried, you know. I mean I know you've been kind of quiet about it, but I thought you were just trying to make a decision."

Seamus couldn't help but chuckle himself too. "Fuck, mate, I was actually hoping you'd tell me not to go so I'd have an excuse from a more reasonable person to use, or something like that." He was smiling and stuck his hand in the packet of Wagon Wheels to grab a few, though his smile faded after the first one. "Nah I mean I've been quiet because...I have no fucking idea what to do it seems and you and everyone else all seem to have ideas and are starting all these new exciting adult lives. I don't know, I was being stupid about it and thinking well if everyone is starting all this new shit and there's no real space for me...might as well go across the world and start something there." He put on a grin and shrugged now. "Reasonable right?"

Dean shoved him and grinned. "You arse, nobody knows what to do with their lives. Padma has a summer internship. And then what? Maybe she'll get a permanent position, maybe not. Maybe she won't even stick with potions! I'm going to school for four more years so I can put off figuring out how the hell drawing pictures is going to help me buy food and pay rent. Vati didn't really know what she wanted to do either, last I heard." He reached into the second bag of fireworks, grabbed one at random. "Here's my reasonable person excuse: when in doubt, don't take on a five-year commitment. I mean, honestly, if the DMAC thing doesn't work out, just get a shit job at a restaurant or something while you think about what you want to do. There's so much more out there than what we've been cramming for at school, now's the time to try it, right?"

"Yeah yeah, you're right, like usual," he admitted with a small smile. But shortly after, Seamus couldn't help it, he burst out laughing and fell back onto the grass. He wasn't even going to argue with any of what Dean said though he still thought Dean and Pads and most of the graduating class had at least a direction in mind and that mattered. "So try fucking everything but stick around I'll miss you, yeah?" Rolling over to reach into the other fireworks bag, Seamus pulled one out of it and sat back up, elbowing Dean back as he did so. "And you mate, don't you grow out of your unreasonable friends who work shit jobs at restaurants, deal?"

"Yeah, that. Try everything within apparating distance. Because if you think I want to start at a brand new school with a bunch of strangers and not have my best mate around, you'd better have Bones check your head one last time before we leave." Dean shook his head. "You can't get rid of me, mate. We're going to be a hundred and I'll still be leaning over your shoulder going 'Try it again, but this time with double the saltpeter!' Besides, I can't draw The Adventures of Seamus and Dean with no Seamus."

He lined up a few fireworks along the edge of the water, pulling his wand out of his pocket, ready to set them off. "All right, I'm dying to find out why these are the rejects. How far should I stand back?"

Seamus grinned like an idiot and busied himself with pulling out more fireworks from his bag. Truth was that he had been worried about everyone moving on with their lives and leaving him behind, especially Dean. "Fucking ace. Because gotta say, trying to imagine any sort of adventure without you was weird and just didn't work. I'd literally spend most of my time in Cairo going 'yeah cool but if my mate Dean were here..." He'd really tried to imagine how cursebreaking would go, but after seven years of having the guy be such a huge part of his life...Seamus just couldn't imagine what it would be like not to have him there. And he didn't want to.

"Uhhhh...err on the side of caution? Because I'd say about two out of five will sputter out and be really disappointing. The other three...well maybe we should give them a bit of a radius." Other people would say that last sentence with a bit of concern, Seamus said it with a shameless grin.

Never mind that there was still another day of NEWTs to go, Dean felt like everything he’d been worried about had just been lifted off his shoulders. His best mate wasn’t moving to another country, and the Gryffindor party house was still a distinct possibility. It was going to be a fantastic summer, it was going to be a brilliant year, and--once he set this row of fireworks off--it was shaping up to be a pretty damn good Thursday evening.