Longing for You - Deamus

Pretty and Witty and Gay

Seamus wasn't excited for Christmas at all. It was an odd feeling, to be so unenthusiastic about what used to be his favourite time of the year but there he was, dreading it. He had had a hard decision every other year choosing between spending Christmas at Hogwarts or at home with his family and this year was no different. Except this year, both options seemed equally bad. Spending Christmas at Hogwarts meant he would have to be around Snape and The Carrows but at least he might have people to talk to. Going home meant having to put up with his parents' blatant insensitivity.

In the end, he chose the latter and found himself sat on the Hogwarts Express back to London with Luna, Neville and Ginny who were all very excited to see their families. It was impossible not to feel bitter about it; he was going from a world of hatred and bigotry to a world of hatred and bigotry. However, Seamus was aware of his tendency to get angry so he pretended to be asleep until he did actually fall asleep.

His dream was kind of strange; it wasn't so much of a dream, more a slideshow of images that could only be described as soft. Filtered and romanticized images of hot chocolate and rain and blankets and Dean and Christmas trees and mellow jazz and Dean and holding hands and cuddles and Dean and teddy bears and Dean and marshmallows and Dean and flower crowns and Dean. When the train pulled into King's Cross, he woke up smiling. He yawned, rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and found Luna staring at him with a smirk on her face.

"What?" he laughed.

"I understand what Dean meant now, sleepy Seamus is cute. Now come on, you have to get off this train at some point."

Reluctantly, he disembarked the train (still baffled about what Luna had just said but too anxious to read too far into it) and headed towards his mother.

"Hi mam"

"Hi honey! How are you?" She replied far too cheerfully. Seamus had been expecting the silent treatment but his mother's enthusiasm sparked a bit of hope in him that maybe she wasn't as bad as she was in the summer.

"I'm okay, just a bit tired. Hogwarts isn't quite what it used to be."

"Nonsense! You're just used to being taught using Dumbledore's ridiculous methods but now that he's not in charge I'm sure it's just like how it used to be. They're supposed to be preparing you for the real world, not swaddling you like children. Now come on, let's get you home."

Seamus was too exhausted to argue so he just took his mother's arm as she apparated away.

When they landed in the living room, Seamus' dad was sat in a chair reading the newspaper. He looked up at the commotion and a smile spread across his face.

"Hi son! Come sit down and tell us all about how your year's been."

Seamus did as he said hesitantly and flopped down on a sofa away from his parents. He was still skeptical of their uncharacteristic kindness.

"Uh, it was actually really bad. Snape's the headmaster now and he's employed two Death Eaters to teach Muggle Studies and the Dark Arts." He chose not to sugarcoat it.

"Professor Snape, dear. Respect your teachers." His mother cut in.

"Oh- uh well Professor Snape has ruined the school and is oppressing the teachers and students he doesn't like. Dark Arts is quite self-explanatory and Muggle studies is where they teach us about why muggles are scum so, naturally, I tried to speak up and defend muggles - I mean, you're a muggle dad - so they punished me. And by punished, I mean they beat me because teachers are now allowed to do that since Snape was put in charge and basically everything's gone to shit."

"Well - I agree that it's not very nice what they're saying about muggles," his dad spoke up, "but they probably have their reasons for it and I suggest that you refrain from getting yourself in trouble again. We got a very worrying letter saying that you were being troublesome and that you've been encouraging others to join a gang and break rules. Rules are in place for a reason and it's not okay to go around disregarding them - you could be expelled!"