Chasing Time (Seamus Finnigan)

twenty

<< note: I have written this a little while ago, and here I call Angelina Angelique, I guess because that's her name in Dutch. I am Dutch so read the books in my own language first. Sorry if this confuses you ☺. And thank you for reading! It means a lot to me! >>

Seamus looked up at me. 'Oh, it's you. Didn't see you there. What did you say?'

'I'm just- I just want to talk to you,' I repeated. Seamus seemed to think about that for a few seconds. 'Um, yes, sure,' he then said as he closed his book and put it in his bag along with his parchment, quill and ink.

'Where do you want to go?' he asked when he was ready. 'Not a specific place, actually. How about we go for a walk?'

He nodded as we set off. 'So what did you want to talk to me about?' he asked when we were walking across the school grounds. 

'I just want to say sorry, actually. Because... you know... if there's something you don't want me to know, that's fine. And I was a bit rude to keep asking.'

'No, actually you should be the only one to know, but I think I'm just... a bit... stupid sometimes. Often.' 

I laughed. 'I'm stupid too. I should have trusted you. I mean, I'm pretty sure you would tell me if you wanted too.'

'Yeah, that's kind of true. But I thought it would just be... weird to talk to you about this.'

'Would it?' I asked with a chuckle. 'Yeah, definetly.'

'And how do you know so, if you never tried?'

'I don't have to try it to know it would be very weird. And awkward maybe.'

'You know you are making me very curious now, don't you?'

'Yep. I do. So... now I have to tell you, don't you think?' he said, smirking at me.

I raised my eyebrows in surprise. 'Alright, go ahead then.'

'Okay, but I'll say it when it's decent to say so. So now, I would just like to enjoy our stroll and the weather, if you don't mind?' he said as he ruffled my hair and put his arm around my neck, pulling me closer towards him als we walked across the path that lead to the castle. 'Sure.' I couldn't help but blush, although I knew perfectly well he meant it in a friendly way.

After our short stroll across the school grounds we went back to Gryffindor Tower, because I had to chance into my Quidditch robes for practice. I was a bit late, so I had to hurry towards the Quidditch pitch.

The team was already standing on the pitch, and Angelique was explaining something as I rushed towards the group with my Firebolt in my hand. McGonagall had written to the Ministry about my belongings when my dad was sent to Azkaban, and the Ministry had sent them to Grimmauld Place 12 during the holidays, so I could take some stuff with me to Hogwarts.

Angelique stopped talking straight away when she saw me. 'What's the reason, Yaxley?' she said. 

'I'm sorry, I had um... an assignment to finish. And Snape let me stay after class,' I said, still panting from my run to the Quidditch pitch. 

'Next time, be on time please. Team, mount your brooms. Practice's starting now.' 

The whole team mounted their broomsticks. We practiced some new tactics for two hours and only stopped when it was already dark. 

During the practice, I played pretty good. I scored around ten times and the rest of the team did well too. Katie scored nine times, Angelique thirteen, Fred and George had managed to beat a bludger right to Angelique and she almost fell of her broom (this means a lot when you're talking about Angelique) and Harry didn't fail once to catch the Snitch in a minute. Ron, who was Keeper this year, did much better than normally.

After practice, Angelique mentioned the match against Slytherin once more.

'Tomorrow, team, we are going to win. Because if we don't beat Slytherin, we will have even mince chance to win the House Cup. As this is my last year here at Hogwarts, and as a Captain too, I hope I will finally get the chance to win that damn Cup. So, think about it once more: Harry, catch the Snitch as soon as possible, Fred, George, please knock a Slytherin of his broom for me, Ron, Ron, where are you? There you are! Focus, that's important for you. Alright, who's next? Katie, just go for it like you always do. Don't worry about those Slytherins, worry about the Quaffle only, and Dora! Do that manoevre we practiced, and try not to fall of your broom, if you please. Now, all of you, off to bed! Tomorrow's a great day! Don't forget to eat! Nor to sleep!'

-

The next morning I woke up way too early. I was stressing about the match against Slytherin and I couldn't sleep anymore. It was only seven o'clock, and the match was at eleven o'clock. I got up and put my Quidditch robes on.

I decided to go for a walk to the lake, as the lake was a place where I could completely calm down and think about things.

At nine o'clock I returned to the castle and got to the Great Hall for breakfast. As I entered and searched for Harry and Ron, students wished me luck for the match. When I finally sat down next to Harry I noticed both of them were stressing out too.

'I'm clearly not the only one with loads of stress,' I said sighing. Ron sighed too and Harry was the first one to start eating.

'Are you not going to eat anything either, Dora?' he said whilst he was spreading some butter on his bread.

My plate was still empty, as I wasn't really hungry. 'You'll need energy today.'

I sighed as I took a piece of bread. 'Just one then. I'm feeling like I'm going to be sick.'

'I had that too for years. It gets better,' Harry said with a chuckle.

'If you say so. By Merlin's beard I think I'm going to throw up,' Ron muttered, his bread still untouched.

'You won't. Now eat something for goodness sake,' I said as I finished my bread and took a sip from my milk.

Ron sighed and took a bite. 'Now happy?' he said, munching.

I rolled my eyes. 'What time is it?'

'No idea, but the rest of the team is leaving, so we'd better get up too,' Harry answered as he took one last sip and stood up.

Harry took Ron's arm and pulled him up. 'Come on, mate. We've got a game to win,' he said with a smirk and we left for the Quidditch pitch.