The Yule Ball | Deamus

Chapter One

A/n: Welcome! These chapters are gonna be kind of short, and so is the story as a whole, but I hope you enjoy this quick read!

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Dean Thomas had no idea what he had gotten himself into when he became best friends with Seamus Finnigan.

The two just seemed to naturally fall into place with each other from the start, and where one went the other could usually be found following close behind. Dean liked all his other fellow Gryffindor classmates enough, but he wasn't as close with them as he was with Seamus.

Dean usually waited for Seamus to get up before going down to breakfast, and that day was no different. It was a Saturday, and so the lack of lessons meant that no one had to get up as early as they usually would've done. Seamus liked to sleep in - today seemingly later than usual - and just when Dean was debating going down to eat breakfast alone he heard the rustle of blankets and his stomach simultaneously gave a loud rumble.

Seamus pulled back the curtains of his four-poster and emerged, tousle haired. Even rubbing the sleep from his eyes Dean couldn't help but notice that his best friend was rather attractive. All in a friendly sort of way, of course. Not that he was attracted to him, it was all merely observation.

They were discussing Lavender Brown's crush on Seamus the previous day, and Dean had jokingly compared him to the likes of a troll, questioning why Lavender would have any interest in him. Looking at Seamus now, he certainly did not look like a troll.

"You okay there, mate?" Seamus's voice brought Dean back to reality, he startled and nearly dropped his sketchbook, which he had hastily shut moments earlier when he had heard the rustling of Seamus's blankets.

"What are you drawing?" Seamus asked nosily. "Can I see?"

"No," Dean said, quickly. "It's a surprise."

It wasn't. It meant nothing, really, but Dean didn't think he could explain why he was drawing a smiling Seamus. He wanted to practice drawing people, and he didn't exactly want to ask anyone to sit there for a long period of time while he attempted to draw them. Certainly not Seamus, he was far too impatient for that and most times could hardly sit still. It just so happened that Seamus's face was the one he had memorized the most, so it was easiest to draw.

Seamus began to undress, and for the first time ever Dean began to feel extremely awkward. His face burned and he averted his gaze, focusing instead on the cover of his sketchbook.

"Hey, do you still have the jumper I let you borrow?" Seamus asked.

Dean swallowed hard. "Er, yes. One second."

He began to dig through his trunk, messing up his neatly folded clothes. He wanted to find the jumper as fast as possible. The longer Seamus stood there shirtless the more Dean's heart thumped in his chest. Dean was worried if it got any louder Seamus would hear it.

Finally, he had found it. It had probably only taken ten seconds, only it felt much longer than that.

Even a foot from his face, Dean could tell that the jumper still smelled like Seamus. There was an usual draft in the common room one evening, and Dean got cold rather more easily than Seamus, so Seamus had taken off the jumper and offered it to Dean. Dean hadn't worn it much, and quite frankly had completely forgotten about it, and must've thrown it in his trunk at some point.

He had to be careful to hold Seamus's gaze as he turned around and handed the jumper back over. He was rather slow in doing so, he found that he didn't really want to give it back just yet.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Seamus asked. "You're acting funny."

"I'm okay," Dean said. "Just hungry. Let's go eat."

Seamus rushed off to washroom first and then they left together. Dean was so distracted the whole way he almost stepped on the trick step, his foot was a mere inch away from sinking into it when Seamus grabbed his arm to stop him.

"Seriously mate, what's up with you?" Seamus eyed him with concern as they continued down the grand staircase.

"I didn't sleep well," Dean lied.

He could tell Seamus knew that he was lying, but thankfully he wasn't questioned any further. At last they reached the Great Hall, but by then Dean hardly had an appetite anymore. He wasn't quite sure what was wrong himself, but he had this weird feeling, one that seemed to intensify every time he looked at Seamus.

The Great Hall was already beginning to empty, owing to the fact that they had arrived so late. Most students were beginning to return to their common rooms or head outside for one of the last nicer days before the weather got too cold.

Dean forced down a couple pieces of toast and tried to act as normal as possible so that Seamus wouldn't question him any further. He engaged in small talk up until Lavender joined them at the table, giggling nervously after Partivi had pushed her along. Parvati had returned to her seat, occasionally glancing their way but clearly pretending not to be paying attention.

"Hey Seamus," Lavender said, batting her eyes.

"Oh, hey," Seamus said awkwardly. "How are you today?"

Lavender smiled widely, as though thoroughly pleased and surprised to be asked this question. Dean didn't understand it, the two had shared this same conversation almost
every morning, with little to no changes in what they said to each other.

"I'm doing good," Lavender said. "How-"

But by that point Dean had decided to zone them out. He already knew how the conversation would go, having heard it a million times before. It was always kind of annoying, but it never had bothered him as much as it was today.

He had to pinch himself, wondering if perhaps he was in a dream. Everything about the day so far just seemed rather odd. Between thinking his best friend was attractive and getting very annoyed with Lavender, he didn't know what to think.

There was an idea, hidden very far away in his mind, but he didn't dare think of it. There was just no way, right?