Longing for You - Deamus

The Patronus

Dean couldn't sleep. It was a freezing mid-January night – far too cold to do anything but shiver and wish for death. The very solid ground beneath him couldn't help but tease him with blurred images of his bed at home that he used to curl up in with his sisters and watch a movie (preferably a Disney one). That all seemed so far away now.

He sighed in frustration and climbed out of his makeshift tent. The cold air bit through the worn sleeves of his jumper and tugged at his skin. He knew he needed to keep moving in order to stay warm so he walked; he probably walked further than he should have but it was better than walking in circles, the home-sickness was dizzying enough. His next technique was to distract himself – as an artist, this was easily done. Except looking at the scenery didn't help because it just reminded him of how cold he was so he delved deep into his bank of memories.

Hundreds of smiling faces flooded the train station. Dean, in classic Dean fashion, had got there so early that there were only ten or so people there when he arrived. He quite enjoyed being early because it meant he could watch the people come in, he could give them names and backstories and watch the dull London station steadily overflow with life. The magical world, it seemed, was far more interesting than the muggle world; there were endless possibilities.

He was also one of the first on the train for a similar reason. He liked watching crowds but hated being in them and dreaded the thought of having to navigate a busy train with a heavy trunk and then ask someone if he could sit with them. He just hoped he ended up sitting with someone relatively decent. His worry built as the train started to fill up and no one had come to sit with him yet. That was until he noticed a particularly small, sandy-haired boy struggling to carry a particularly large trunk up the aisle of the train. Dean, sympathetic towards the poor boys situation, got up and opened the door of his compartment.

"Would you like a hand there?" he questioned.

"Uh, no I think I-" he was cut short when the heavy case dropped on his foot and he let out a yelp. Dean glanced angrily at the laughing bystanders, grabbed the boy's trunk and hauled it up onto the luggage rack above his seat.

"Oh, um, thank you." His face was red and his voice came out quiet and nervous. "Mam made me pack way too much. I'm Seamus by the way."

"I'm Dean. Nice to meet you Seamus!"

"You too." Seamus fell down next to him. "I'm so tired! Came all the way from Ireland to get here and I woke up late so I skipped breakfast as well! I hope there's food on this train."

"Unlucky! I live in London so I just had to get the tube here."

"That's so cool. I've always wanted to live in London. As much as I love Ireland, I've seen enough fields to last a lifetime! Plus, I have to go all the way to Dublin to find wizard shops."

"Maybe when you're older you can move here."

"Hmm maybe but I'm supposed to take care of my parents when they're old and I don't think they'd like London too much."

"Oh well, you can dream right!"

"Yeah. Hey, can we be best friends? You can't survive Hogwarts without a best friend." Seamus babbled excitedly.

"That sounds nice. Pinky promise?" Dean held out his little finger and Seamus linked it with his own.

"Pinky promise."

A few moments later, two girls opened the door to the compartment with red faces and still carrying their trunks.

"Hi. Can we sit with you?" the shorter girl asked. "We were sat with some older boys but they were really creepy so we left."

"Yeah of course." Dean replied, kindly.

"Oh thank you so much! They kept calling us beautiful and trying to touch our hair and stuff, it was really weird."

"What? That's disgusting." Seamus exclaimed.

"Yeah. Oh well, we're here now." The shorter girl smiled. "I'm Susan and this is Hannah."

"Hi!" Seamus and Dean said in unison before introducing themselves.

"What house do you think you'll be in?" Seamus said to no one in particular.

"I hope I'm in Hufflepuff." Hannah replied. "My parents were there when they went to Hogwarts but I guess Ravenclaw would be nice too."

"I have no idea where I'll be but I guess Hufflepuff and Gryffindor sound the best." Susan said. "What about you Dean?"

"I'm not sure either. I don't know much about the houses but Hufflepuff sounds nice. Maybe Slytherin."

"Oh you don't want to be in Slytherin!" Seamus almost yelled. "That's where all the bad guys come from!"

"They can't all be bad."

"Trust me, you're too nice. You'd hate it there."

"You just met me, you can't know that."

"You helped me with my trunk; a Slytherin wouldn't have done that."

"Okay fine." Dean wanted to change the subject as quickly as possible. "Where do you think you'll be then?"

"Well me ma was in Ravenclaw but I'm not exactly clever so I hope I'm in Gryffindor!"

"Maybe we'll be there together."

"I damn well hope so."

Dean was pulled out of his daydream – or night dream seeing as it was pitch black outside – by nearby footsteps. He was unsure of whether or not he was outside the protection boundary so he hid behind a bush and kept watch through the leaves. His breathing was unsteady and he forced it to go quiet because he didn't even want to try and imagine what would happen if he got caught. It all happened very quickly.

A bright light hurried through the trees into the clearing, lighting up everything in its path. As it slowed, Dean could see it formed the shape of a silver ferret and behind it, he saw, was a slightly dazed looking Harry Potter. His mind rushed with thoughts and questions and he had to resist the urge to scream out of... joy?

Harry was alive. Harry was alive so there was hope. But where were Ron and Hermione? And why was Harry following a ferret patronus when his was a stag? Why did he look so out of it? Whose patronus was it? Was someone leading him into a trap?

The ferret stopped by a frozen lake and dissipated into thin air leaving Harry alone and confused. He seemed to spot something at the bottom of the lake and gazed at it curiously. From where Dean was hidden, it looked eerie, like the build up to an attack but he stayed put, not wanting to do something rash.

He rather uncomfortably watched Harry take his clothes off and climb into the icy water. Every fibre of his being was telling him to go and pull him out of there. Panic rose in his chest when Harry still didn't come up. 5 seconds, no movement.

He hadn't realised he was holding his breath until another person came running over to the water and reached their hands in to grab Harry, allowing Dean to expel a sigh of relief. He came out spluttering and holding a sword which slipped through his shivering hands onto the ground. His saviour, who now appeared to be Ron, pulled Harry's shaking body into his arms and helped him get his clothes back on.

Dean walked back knowing Harry and Ron were both safe and there was still hope for everyone. He walked back smiling.

'>'

Woah two updates in one day? I really must've abandoned my update schedule. Lol jk I never had one of those. Yep, you guessed it, I'm a mess.

This was partly to make up for the time I was away admiring Ben J Pierce's face and partly because I want to finish this book before I get to absorbed by GCSEs so I'm not worried about too many things at once.

But yeah, hope this was okay and I love you all (even you Francesca)