The Devil's In The Details

Chapter Eleven

The door closed with a soft click, which sounded louder in the silence his entrance created. Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnigan had reached the dormitory before Kaerim and were already bustling about their beds, setting up their posters and unpacking their socks. Neville came up the stairs and closed the door behind him.

The restless hush that had fallen over the duo was a sure sign they'd been talking about him before he'd interrupted. He supposed if Kaerim had thought of it, it might have been nice to pay attention on his way in instead of ignoring what they had been saying. Too late now, but he was positive this would not be their last discussion about their dorm-mate.

Dean cleared his throat, "Hello, Harry, Neville. Good summer?"

"Thrilling."

"Good! How about you?"

Dean gave a weak grimace and glanced vaguely at Seamus before answering Neville, "Not too bad. Better than Seamus' anyway."

Kaerim opened his trunk at the end of his bed and began to ruffle through his things, trying to find his pajamas and toothbrush.

"Really?" Neville asked from where he too was bent over, rifling through his trunk. He looked over his shoulder to Seamus with wide eyes, not moving the rest of his body, folding himself into an uncomfortable-looking pretzel. "What happened?"

Seamus took his time straightening the corners of his posters without answering right away but sighing to make a show of 'thinking' about his answer.

Kaerim rolled his eyes, finally finding his toiletry bag and tossing it onto his mattress. Whatever happened to Seamus over his holiday was not as pressing as Kaerim's need to pee and then sleep.

Seamus said something into the wall, words all blending as though he was nervous and embarrassed, but also annoyed in a combination only he could achieve.

Kaerim straightened up and threw him a look, "What?" he said irritably, pressing his forefinger and thumb into his eyes and squeezing until he had a firm grip on his nose.

"Me mam didn't want me back at Hogwarts this year!" he snapped loudly, eyes tracing all about the room. Namely, anywhere that Kaerim wasn't.

"What?-" Neville said in a marveled voice, "Your Mum's a witch, isn't she? Why wouldn't she-?" he trailed off as if second-guessing himself mid-question.

Kaerim let his hand drop and swing by his side. "Because of me, I suppose," he mused softly.

"What?! What for?" Neville cried.

Seamus shuffled his feet, losing any steam he might have thought he had, "Well, it's not just you... It's Dumbledore too, you know?"

Kaerim looked away from the nervous boy and up at the ceiling. "She's with the Daily Prophet?" he said, voice flat.

"Well, yeah."

"The same paper that proclaims I'm a liar? That changes its opinion depending on what suits Fudge at the moment?" Kaerim spoke callously, tilting his chin to the side to look down at Seamus dangerously.

Nobody spoke for a while. His brain was vibrating as though he had bees in his head. If the bees were made of jagged rocks and if their wings were made of little fluttering sledgehammers. The other three busied themselves with getting themselves changed for bed. Hoping the issue would be dropped for the evening, Kaerim left the room to ready himself as well.

When he returned the other boys were sitting on their beds and a hush once again fell over the room as Kaerim billowed into it. He was getting quite tired of the trend and hoped it wouldn't continue for the rest of his Hogwarts career. He'd been aiming to make it to his bed and to be able to pull the curtains to shut out the dorm and wallow.