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

Chapter 4

Ailsa woke up with a pounding headache and pounding on the door to her room.

"Wake up Ailsa!' A voice called from the other side of the door. She couldn't tell exactly who it was, but the voice sounded familiar. "The dining room is packed and I need your help. And there's a Hangover-B-Gone outside your door, in case you know, you need. Okay, well, umm, HURRY!"

She got up from her bed very confused and walked over to the dresser to change. While expecting very few clothes, she found her whole wardrobe stacked inside. She changed, then opened the door to find a jar of a think pink, sparkly liquid. Ailsa drank it, expecting it to be yummy and strawberry flavored, but instead almost puked it back up because it was so dreadful. 

She heard stomping up the stairs and turned around to see Seamus with a dark red face. "What took you so long? I've been downstairs for the past two hours trying to get everything ready, because you know what today is?! "

"Day for you to get a calendar?" She said smartly which only resulted in Seamus becoming more red.

"No, Ailsa, it's August 31. Which means we are very, very busy because tomorrow is when the Express leaves. Which means, love, that HALF OF HOGWARTS IS HERE!" 

Ailsa sighed. "Seamus, dear, you are a bit overreacting. Now come on, let's go downstairs and sort this all through. What time is it?"

"8 AM."

"WHAT?! Why in the world did you wake up at 6? That's terrible!"

Seamus laughed. "I woke up at 4, people started coming in for breakfast at 6. Most days we'll have to wake up at 5:30 to get ready for the day." 

She shuddered in disbelief and walked down to the dining area. All of the tables were packed with families, with a few lonely wizards and witches here and there in for their usual breakfast at the Leaky Cauldron. "I wouldn't say half of Hogwarts is here. Maybe 1/8."

"Come on, start helping! I'll get the food ready, but you can waitress." Seamus stated. Then the day officially began.

It was nonstop customers all morning, then after 10 Seamus instructed her how to do the housekeeping and the spells and charms it required, which required more work than Ailsa would have thought. The Leaky Cauldron only had 30 rooms, but some varied in size and it took more than an hour and a half to clean 15 rooms with magic. She had to stop an hour before lunch to help Seamus with the cooking. 

Lunch was less busy than breakfast but still pretty frantic. Ailsa had visited with many of her friends who were about to go back to Hogwarts for some of their final years there. She had tried to stop and chat with them but when she did Seamus usually yelled "AILSA! STOP TALKING TO EVERY SINGLE WITCH AND WIZARD HERE FOR FIVE MINUTES!" from the kitchen. Which resulted in most of the room snickering, but Ailsa shrugged it off.

It wasn't til' 4:57 when she had finally finished cleaning every single room of the Leaky Cauldron. Then it was back to fixing dinner. She thought everything would be finished after that, that she would finally be able to take a breather, but then came the "Drunk Hour" as Seamus called it. That was when England's finest came in for a fix. 

Most were regulars, like Follian McGardlin, a large bloke, who liked about 5 mugs of Firewhiskey and a shot of Dragon's Tears while he told us about his terrible day at the Ministry of Magic where he worked cleaning the toilets. Others weren't so talkative and just needed something to cleanse their day.

Around 11 Seamus called for last drinks. He came over to Ailsa where she was fixing a "to-go" drink to a woman, "Hey, do you mind if you close up for the night? I have to run off and do something."

"What if someone comes in for the night? Or if someone needs something? Or if dark wizards come and mess this place up!" Ailsa said overcoming with fear for the worst.

"Don't worry, there's something set up in your room whenever something like that happens. I'll be back in about two hours. You'll be fine." And with that Seamus apparated somewhere unknown to Ailsa. She screamed in anger, but then people came downstairs to complain.

~

Seamus apparated somewhere, but he didn't really know to be honest. He was in a small town, middle of nowhere with many farms surrounding it. Just the type of place he liked. Seamus walked into a 24-hour diner and sat down in a booth. A large middle-age woman came over. 

"Is there something I can get you honey?" She said in an American accent. Seamus cursed in his mind. He hadn't meant to apparate to America, if he did he would have brought some money. All he had were some sickles and a few pounds.

"No thank you. I haven't converted my money yet, just flew in two hours ago. Can I have a newspaper though please?" Seamus lied.

The woman looked at him suspiciously. "Sure." And she leaned over to the next table and grabbed him one. "Where you from?"

"Ireland." He said and read the newspaper. In the third page he found what he was looking for. He waited until the lady was out of sight and apparated to the site. 

It was a small out-dated country home with vines going in and out of the home. Lavender would have loved this house, Seamus thought. He pulled out his lighter and let it gently touch the door. Within seconds it was ablaze. It only took minutes until the house was covered in flames. Instead of sitting far away to watch, he took his seat 30 feet away. 

It hurt to be so close to the heat, but Seamus didn't care. What was more pain? 

~~~~~

So what do you guys think? Like it? Next chapter should be more interesting. Can anyone say PAR-TAY! Sorry it took me so long to update. My life has been really hectic. Really. I'm moving soon, and when I say moving I mean going to go stay with family friends two hours away until my house sells. So I don't know how often I will be able to write there. They're not really fans of Harry Potter there. D: 

So that boy I mentioned in the author's note? The thigh one? Yea. It's over. He called me ridiculous and lots of other rude things, so I'm never going back to him. Maybe I'll find a decent boy in that new town. :)

Would any of you like to be in the next chapter? Just send me in your name(or the name that you want your character to be named) and some basic details and wallah! 

LOVE!

~Kate