Heart on Fire(Seamus Finnigan and Watty Awards 2013 Finalist!)

Chapter 26

"You'll like her I swear! She's really sweet and has the most hilarious sense of humor! You should have heard this joke she told the other day about the different types of yellow-speckled gnomes, it was hilarious!" 

"Hermione, I don't know. I don't think I'm ready yet." Seamus said as he continued to play with his goddaughter. Rose laughed as she watched her 'uncle' made silly faces.

"It's been three years and we haven't heard a thing from her, for all we know she could be with someone else too." Ron said with his face full of donuts.

Hermione slapped her husband's arm. "Ronald!"

Seamus laughed softly. "It's okay, I think I'm over her. I just don't know if anyone would want to actually go out with me with all of my public baggage. I'm a convicted felon, I don't have a great reputation dealing with the loss of loved ones."

"It's not like she doesn't have any baggage either." Ron coughed. Hermione proceeded to hit him with the book she was reading.

"What he's trying to say is, that she also has some things about her too that might be unattractive to others, but that's her decision to tell, and honestly I don't think it would be that big of a deal to you. Oh please Seamus! Just one date! It would mean the world to her!" Hermione begged.

Seamus sighed. "If it means that much to you, then I guess I will."

Hermione hugged him and smiled. "Oh good! She'll be so happy. You'll love her!"

~

They had decided to meet at a local wizarding cafe in Diagon Alley on a late Saturday afternoon. Seamus was only given her name and what she looked like to try and figure out who she was. It was only a couple minutes after Seamus arrived at the cafe when his blind date came through the door.

He immediately stood up and did an awkward wave that he soon regretted right after. She walked on over and smiled. "Novella?" He asked.

"And you must be Seamus, it's a pleasure to meet you." She said in an American accent.

"It's nice to meet you too. You look beautiful by the way." Seamus added in, not knowing if it would be weird or not, but she was absolutely breath taking. She had her brunette hair in a quick bob and was dressed in an understated casual look that made her natural beauty stand out even more. 

Novella blushed. "Oh thank you, I didn't know how well I looked because Ennie was up all night with a tummy ache and it took forever to calm her down and I didn't know whether or not to come, but everyone said that I should."

Seamus burrowed his eyebrows. "Not to be rude, but who's Ennie?"

His date's lips formed a little 'o'. "Did Hermione not tell you?"

"Tell me what?"

"Clementine, or Ennie as I call her, is my 18 month old daughter." She said.

"Oh." Seamus said quietly.

Novella sighed. "Is that a problem? Because if it is then I'm going to go."

Seamus smiled. "No! No of course not. I'm Hermione's daughter's godfather and I had a daughter."

"Had a daughter?" She said, her eyes confused.

"And I guess Hermione didn't tell you that either." Seamus sighed. "My daughter Maggie died shortly after she was born. She actually would have been 4 a few months ago."

"Oh my gosh, I'm sorry. I know I don't know what it's like to lose a child, but I do know what it's like to lose someone you love and I know it's the worst experience to ever go through."

Seamus wanted to ask who she lost but decided not to, not wanting the date to go any darker than what it already was. "Thank you." He said after a minute. "So, what would you like to get?"

~~

It wasn't until the fourth date that Seamus finally got the courage to ask Novella what he felt would probably be a sensitive subject. They were walking around a small pond and talking about themselves. "If you don't mind me asking, what happened to Ennie's father?" He had yet to meet the little girl, because Novella wanted to make sure things were serious between the two of them before she introduced him to the most important person in her life.

"Not really sure, probably in America still. We knew each other in school, he was a few years older than me, but we didn't actually date until I was 21 after we ran into each other. A few months after we were dating, I found out I was pregnant, and the next day after I came home from work all of his things were gone. I was already alone because my mother and father had already died, and my mother was muggle born and her parents disapproved of magic so I never knew them, and my dad's parents were too old and had lost their mind already and he was an only child. So I stayed in America until Ennie was born and then I got a job offer here and moved as soon as I could. What about Maggie's mother?"

Seamus put his hand in Novella's. "Well, it's kind of a long story. Ailsa had helped me through a very rough year and even stayed by my side during the Scubaing times." (Novella already knew of Seamus' criminal past, and had not judged him. She knew what it was like to feel alone with no one to talk to or help.) "We got married the day before I was sentenced. It wasn't very long after I got out that she got pregnant. She was working at Hogwarts at the time in the hospital and when she was about 7 or 8 months pregnant was attacked by a young werewolf coming home one night. Maggie had taken most of the injuries and Ailsa was saved before getting the werewolf gene herself. After Maggie died, Ailsa just wasn't the same. We all tried to help, but she just wouldn't talk to anyone and kept everything she was feeling to herself. One night we got into a large fight and the next morning she was gone. A month later I was sent the divorce papers. Three years later and I haven't heard anything since."

"Well, don't we have some fucked up lives." Novella sighed.

~~

They had been dating for almost three months when Novella thought it was finally time for Seamus to meet Clementine.

They planned on meeting at a park close to Novella's apartment. When Seamus arrived, he found the two sitting on a blanket unpacking their picnic basket. "What's this?" He heard Novella ask her daughter as she pulled out a jar of peanut butter.

"Peeny butt!" Clementine yelled.

"Good job sweetie! Oh, look over there! Do you know who that is?" She asked looking over at Seamus.

"No." The little girl said.

Seamus came over and sat down next to Novella and smiled at the little girl. "This is Seamus, Mommy's friend. You remember me talking about him?"

Clementine's eyes lit up with a memory. "Mus! Mus go kiss kiss!" The couple laughed but Ennie's face got serious. "Mus kiss kiss Mommy! KISS KISS!" Now she was staring at them.

"Well, we better obey her or she might not let us share her peanut butter." Seamus laughed and then kissed Novella on the cheek. They looked over at Ennie who just erupted in laughter. Novella reached over and picked up her daughter in her arms and started tickling her which caused even more giggles.

This, Seamus thought to himself, must be what it feels like to have a family.