You Fall Slowly [A Seamus Finnigan Love Story]

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I don't know why I thought everything would be normal when I returned.

I should have known Seamus would have been his stubborn self. I should have known that his mother, although a wonderful women, would have believed the lies spouted by the Ministry. I should have known that Seamus would believe his mother.

But one thing that I don't blame myself for not knowing, is how much of a jerk Seamus suddenly was. Nothing could have prepared me for that.

After sleeping for nearly a full day, I got up, not quite ready to face the morning of September first. Mum had packed my trunk last night, after having sent Mrs. Finnigan money earlier on in August to purchase my new necessary school supplies and having them sent to our house.

I blindly got dressed, pulling on a pair of worn out skinny jeans and a tank-top (and then one of Seamus' old sweaters that he had outgrown and passed to me as my mum yelled down the hall that it was chilly outside).

Manilla was already settled in her cage, and all I had to do was swing the latch shut and bring her downstairs, along with a few last minute items to be thrown into my trunk.

"You ready, dear?" Mum asked as I padded into the living room.

I nodded before feeling my dad tap my shoulder. "Might want to put these on, kiddo."

I glanced down at his hands, seeing a pair of my leather boots. Upon glancing down at my feet, I saw he was right, since I was only wearing socks.

"Thanks, dad," I mumbled as I kissed his cheek and tugged my boots on, before standing back up. "Alright, now I'm ready."

Mum chuckled and grabbed onto my arm, ready to Apparate to Kings Cross Station. I scrunched my eyes together as I felt the tugging sensation and stumbled for a second as my feet touched the ground again. Unlike many of my friends parents, mum felt it was important to teach me what sorts of things I would be going through when I'm older and let me Side-Apparate with her often.

She pushed a trolley up to me and blew her messy brown hair out of her face. Unlucky me, I inherited her hair that refused to do anything but fall in my face, although mine was a bit more of my fathers color, making it a deep reddish-brown.

I heaved my trunk onto the trolley and set Manilla's cage on top. As we pushed our way towards Platform Nine and Three-Quarters, I glanced around. People were glancing at Manilla, although they didn't stare for long, just continued on their way.

Finally coming to the barrier, I waited until all the muggles were out of the way, then ran forward with the trolley. After a second of darkness, I was on the other said of the barrier, the Hogwarts Express gleaming in front of me.

A grin slipped onto my face. Mum was beside me a second later, ushering me forward.

After multiple kisses on the cheek and reminding me to write her at least every other week (as she does every year), I was finally able to board the train. As I walked down the corridors, looking for at least one of my friends.

The warning whistle sounded outside as I continued to walk through the corridors. I waved to little Dennis Creevey as he rushed into a compartment (I swear he hasn't grown more than two inches in the last two years), and sent a smile to Cho Chang, which she returned with a small one of her own.

I saw Ron and Hermione heading towards the Prefects Compartment, sending Hermione a quizzical look as I caught her eye, gesturing to Ron. She shrugged her shoulders, but grinned, before smacking him on the back of his head as he said something to her.

I then caught up with Harry and Ginny, who were looking for a spot as well. "Hi Harry. Hi Ginny."

"Hey Evette," they chorused together (and don't think I missed the tips of Ginny's ears turning pink).

"Neville," I greeted, looking behind them.

"Hi Eve," Neville said. "You seen Seamus yet?"

A small smile made its way onto my face, almost on it's own accord, at the mention of my best friend.

"Nope, but I'm sure I'll see him at dinner," I responded.

Ginny chuckled. "After you being half-way across the world for all of summer holiday, in surprised you two haven't latched yourselves together yet."

I rolled my eyes playfully at her, before facing Neville.

"Any empty compartments?" I asked.

And although he said no, within seconds, we were settling into a compartment with Luna Lovegood.

Although I didn't know her particularly well, we had spoken a few times. She might come off as a but strange, but she was a sweet girl, and quite smart as well. Well, obviously. I mean, she is in Ravenclaw.

I was looking out the window, lost in my own thoughts for a minute. I'll admit, I was excited about seeing Seamus again.

I thought back to what Ginny said. She brought up a good point. Since I was six years old, there wasn't a summer that Seamus and I hadn't spent together. This summer was hard for me, especially because towards the end of last year, I had actually started to develop a crush on him.

I know, I know. Falling for your best friend, how could I get more cliche than that?

Being away from him all summer kind of lessened those feelings, and, quite honestly, I was glad.

Seamus had taken Lavender Brown to the Yule Ball last year. And, from his letters, I had gathered that they had gotten together over the summer.

At first I was a bit upset, not just because I had started to like him, but also because, in some ways, it felt like I was being replaced while I was away in America.

To be honest, I wasn't really looking forward to sharing a dorm with Lavender again this year. Actually, I never really liked her in the first place. Sure, she was nice enough, but her and Pavarti Patil gossip way to much for their own good. The only reason I've made it through all these years rooming with then was because Hermione and Willow were there as well.

And thinking of Willow made me wonder where she was. She was probably sitting with Celia and Delia.

Thinking about my other girlfriends, I turned to stand up, about to go and look for them, when I saw Neville holding a Mimbulus mimbletonia.

Warning bells went off in my head as I saw Neville raise his quill towards it.

"Neville, don't!"

But I was too late, as Stinksap exploded over all of us. I however, had just enough time to dive to the floor.

When I stood back up, Harry and Neville were drenched, while Ginny and Luna simply had it covering the top of their heads, since Ginny had thrown her arms up and Luna's copy of The Quibbler had covered her face. I had a few spots and splotches of the sap, but was way better off than the rest.

Neville began rambling his apologies, assuring the others that it wasn't poisonous. Just then, the compartment door slid open, to reveal a meek looking Cho Chang.

I know it makes me a horrible friend, but I had to control my giggles as Cho blushed and left awkwardly.

Hey don't look at me like that! I ship Harry with Ginny, anyways. (Don't tell Ginny that, though. She would hex me to no end if she found out that I was the one who came up with Hinny.)

As Ginny got rid of the Stinksap, I settled back onto the seat, ready to relax for the rest of the train ride to Hogwarts, my home away from home.