seamusement

[seamusement]

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[seamusement]

Sea cocked his head and took a moment, turning away from Ron’s gaze. When he looked back, his grin had returned and he was nodding firmly. “Illegal? Me? Why I never!” he started in his thick Irish brogue. Dean looked like he was trying to pull Seamus back to talk but Sea held up a finger and sent a silent ‘sorry’ to his best mate as he continued walking with his mate Ron. “Well...what did ye have in mind? I’ll likely be up for anything but it’ll help if ye might have something in particular ye’re keen on...I figured ye might since ye were so needy to enlist my particular expertise and services. His eyebrow waggled at Ron and he shot him a cheeky grin.

Important Discussions || Ron & Seamus

Ron eyed his fellow Gryffindor a bit suspiciously; growing up with Fred and George had made him quite wary of striking up deals when you weren’t sure what your part would entail. But he also shared a room with Seamus and could hex him in his sleep. And it would be worth it to see the Slytherins pay for… something. “Yeah, sure mate. You’ve got a deal. Though, y’know, if the favour is anything illegal ‘m sending Granger after you. Just as a warning. Fair enough?”

[seamusement]

A shivering Marigold huddled unto herself and scrambled onto the shore to dry off, conceding defeat. Seamus’ face lit up in a gigantic smirk and he cocked his head as she once again slipped into her casually commanding tone. He wondered briefly if she was spoiled or lazy or felt entitled or what but he really didn’t care, he ought to help out anyway; it would really help him feel better. Besides, he did get her wet. The short Irish boy just wondered for a moment how she come upon such a demanding attitude and could not help but assume it was a joke. Or, he hoped it was.

Regardless, Seamus nodded and set to work. His surprising nonverbal success and assault had probably been over-zealous to be honest. The boy shook his head and peered over his shoulder again at Marigold, casting charms onto her robes to stay dry. He smirked and called back, “Once I wanted ye to get wet, ye’d already after being wet just now. I’ll help ye catch some newts but ye could cop on and stop being a feckin’ dosser. Ye could practice the spell yerself, ye could.”

Sea smiled and leaned back, his shoulders arching and sliding over, his elbows pushing out, his spine adjusting forward, and his feet planting firmly. His non-spell arm rose to his side and braced sideways in front of him, steadying his weight, while his other gripping his wand’s handle tightly and extended behind him and above his ear. He looked somewhat like a pitcher as his wrist made a snapping noise and he shouted “Carpe Retractum!”, his wand arm flying forward with a lot of force. A golden orange jet of light emerged and brightened as it shot into the water and hooked a newt quickly. Then Seamus used his other hand to hold onto the wand as well as he leaned backward, trying to keep his feet planted and back arched, looking comical almost as the orange jet of light slowly retracted and held within its grasp a small wriggling newt at the end of the line. He grabbed the creature as it neared and then the boy smiled up at Marigold, held it in between his fingers, and roared with laughter as he tossed it toward her feet. “C’mon, ye bloody gobdaw. If ye want enough, we’ve got a lot of work to do.”

Fishing for trouble

Even if this older boy did seem a bit awkward and know-it-all-y, he was much better than her brother’s other friends. At least, so far. He still seemed perturbed by something, but that wasn’t any of Mari’s business, so she immediately forgot about it. Let others deal with their own problems; she had enough of her own, God knew.

Feeling quite proud of herself to her attack, Mari let her guard down. That was a mistake. First of all, her attack didn’t even work as planned because suddenly there was a shimmering charm in front of him blocking the path of her spray. It fizzled out right after the water hit, but it had held enough to stop the small jet from reaching him. How did he do that? Fifth years were supposed to just be learning how to do magic without speaking. There was no way he could be that adept at it already!

And because of her shock (and, unfortunately, admiration), she had no time to protect herself from his next move. Consequently, she found herself covered in lukewarm lake water. No matter that whatever spell he’d used wasn’t particularly powerful, it had been enough to completely drench her. Now she stood looking much more of a wet cat than before, shackles raised at the unwelcome wetness. “Ugh! Look what you’ve done!” She hadn’t been wearing enough clothes for the time of year as it was, and now she was shivering profusely. But somehow she wasn’t truly upset. It had been a while since she’d played like this with somehow.

"Fine," she conceded, laughing. "You win. I am no match for a fifth year, obviously." Trying to suppress the shivers, Mari waded over to the shore of the lake, where her robes lay splayed out over the bank. "You owe me newts!" she called over her shoulder. Once she was on dry land, she began to siphon off the water from her clothing, casting an Impervius Charm on her robes just in case. Mari hoped the Gryffindor really would get her newts for her, because she was too cold to do it herself now, even if she wouldn’t admit it.

[seamusement]

Seamus blushed furiously as Malfoy turned on his heel to leave. He blinked and considered replying but instead slammed his books closed, pushed in his chair, and stomped rather loudly to another corner of the library. At this point Madam Pince decided to investigate the loud noises but by the time she stalked over to the tables Seamus had previously occupied alongside several others, he was gone and she was patrolling. Pacing up and down, she shhhhed everyone in sight.

The short Irish boy swallowed and put his bag down, spreading out all his books again far from where Pince or Malfoy might bother him. He was still waiting for Dean and didn't want to leave despite how upset he was right now and stand up their arranged studydate. Seamus blushed again and pushed the thought from his mind, thinking further about what Malfoy had said. The pretentious prat might say anything to piss off Seamus, especially as a Gryffindor.

But was he wrong? Sea liked to think his brogue wasn't that hard to understand, in fact to him it sounded like the majority of the school spoke wrong despite the fact that it was all still clearly coherent, apparently unlike his. Others had teased him about it before but most weren't as cold and pointed as Draco when they claimed they couldn't understand him. Then again, Sea reasoned, the Slytherin boy had no reason to try and sugar coat and try to make him feel better by lying about it.

He sighed, knowing Dean understood him well enough and that was all that was really important for now. Besides, Seamus was good at Runes and didn't need help to begin with, what he needed was for Dean to finally arrive so Sea could help him. Plus some help with wrangling the stray runes wouldn't be unappreciated. The sandy haired youth grunted and traced shapes with his fingers on the desk, waiting for Dean still and trying not to think about Malfoy anymore

A Welcome Distraction: Seamus & Draco

Draco bit the inside of his lip to try and keep his urge to grin under control. There was something about annoying Finnigan that made him incredibly happy—maybe just the fact that it was so easy to do, or maybe it was just how expressive and even over-the-top his reactions were. Overly-sensitive Gryffindors were one of Draco’s favorite forms of amusement at Hogwarts.

He did have to stop himself from backing away when Finnigan stood up—not because the much shorter boy was threatening, but simply because was so used to backing away from fights, any fight, that it was instinct. Besides, Hermione wasn’t here to back him up (or better yet, lead the charge) and as much as Draco wanted to have his father’s courage, he knew he didn’t. Still, he managed to hold his ground in front of Finnigan, curling his lip into a derisive sneer instead. “Well,” he drawled, “as none of my mates would be so crass as to cause a ruckus in the library, I’ve never been in a situation where I had to defend Madam Pince against their accusations. You see, we have manners and decorum, and respect for the purpose of a library. You, I’m not sure you even know what one is; clearly you don’t know how to act in one.” He shrugged, as if it was of no concern to him, but didn’t bother trying to modulate his scornful expression as he continued, “Although you are right about one thing: I don’t know why I bothered offering to help an ungrateful oaf like you either. I guess I’m just too nice for my own good, sometimes. Don’t worry, I won’t make that mistake again. From here on, you can struggle and fail on your own instead.”

He jerked back, raising his chin indignantly at Finnigan’s rude familiarity, and scowled. “Can’t you even speak English?” he asked shortly. “Merlin, it’s no wonder you can’t manage Runes.” He nodded at the mess on Finnigan’s table. “Not that it’s hard for most people,” he added with more than a trace of smugness, “at least not most people with brains��but given your lack thereof, I don’t understand why you bothered to take the class in the first place. At least that will be one nice thing about our O.W.L. exams: after this year, we’ll be free of idiots like you in our classes after you’ve failed all yours.” Draco thought that would be a good parting insult and prepared to spin on his heel but paused a moment so he could take in the full effect of his words on the Gryffindor boy. Not that he expected an intelligent retort of course, but maybe his face would turn so red he’d actually explode, or at least swear loudly enough to be banished from the library for the rest of the night—or the week, if Draco was extra lucky.

[seamusement]

Seamus smiled and nodded. "Of course it could. But ye know, if ye did that, I might need a bit of a favor. Besides the next month's worth of prefect rounds scheduling, of course. That would be necessary for me clean-as-a-whistle night of completely educational benefit. Nah, I'd need something more than that, to be sure to be sure. How's that sound, Ron? Mind owing me a favor?" Sea grinned. He wasn't sure what he would use the favor for in the future yet. Hell, it might make a good Get Out of Jail Free card for the future if Granger or Malfoy decided to be prats and get him in trouble if Ron could intervene and use his sway as a fellow prefect. But then again, it probably wouldn't be much of an issue in such a case. Enlisting Ron's help in a devious future scheme however, when it suited Seamus, sounded more enticing and probable. But he shrugged and decided they would just have to wait and see. Would Ron even be willing to strike a deal, raising hell for the Slytherins in exchange for owing a mysterious future favor? Sea waited for his response.

Important Discussions || Ron & Seamus

Ron fought to hide the smirk that threatened to spread across his face at his roommate’s feigned innocence. He knew just as well as anyone that the Irish boy could almost put Fred and George to shame when it came to planning pranks. Another year or two and Seamus might just outdo some of the twins’ best ones, even. “Course you wouldn’t, Shay. That’d definitely be unthinkable. Couldn’t imagine you of all people doing anything like that. Definitely not. Well, now that I’ve got some plausible deniability there…” And now Ron did grin, nudging the other boy slightly in the ribs. “Maybe that complete lack of contraband could be put to use against the slytherins tonight? Coz y’know, I’ve got the schedule of prefect rounds now.”

[seamusement]

Seamus stopped and thought to himself for a moment. "No, not exactly," he started. "It can't summon like Accio does. Ye have to be able to see the object, or at least have a good idea where it is and once ye cast yer spell in the general direction of the object, it hooks it and like the spell is called, it seizes and pulls the object ye desire. So if ye can't reach an object which is also unSummonable, it'll do the trick but that's not always the case. It's bloody useful for living things too. And I reckon ye could try to work on extending the distance like ye're suggesting though I've never tried it so I dunno how far it usually extends. I promise it's bloody useful though."

Sea was a bit put off at first by the Slytherin girl's demanding personality and manner of speech. She seemed different from Harry in that respect but he admired that she was forward and in-charge, very capable and self-assured. It wasn't that she was bossy as much as it was clear that she was the boss in her own mind. He admired that about Mari so far.

As Mari hastily splashed back at Seamus for his small mishap with the lake water, he laughed and grabbed for his wand. The sandy haired Gryffindor lad pulled it out of his pocket quickly and wielded firmly. Gripping the handle and concentrating for a moment as his brow furrowed, Seamus nonverbally willed the incantation Protego with an upward straight slashing movement from his spruce wand. It was exhausting as he was still a beginner to nonverbal magic but it was worth the practice and the water the Slytherin girl had tried to splash him with had simply dripped down the temporary invisible wall of the Shield Charm, which consequently shimmered out of existence.

Seamus then retaliated in turn with a wicked grin and a swishing movement of his wand. This time, he decided it was easier to call for the spell aloud since it took enough of his concentration to make it perform adequately anyway. "Aqua Eructo!" Sea uttered with another flash of a smile as the tip of his wand glowed an icy blue and a jet of water like that from a particularly tame fountain sprang forth into existence and aimed itself toward one unfortunate Marigold Potter.

Fishing for trouble

Mari listened to Seamus’s explanation, careful to note the way he gripped his wand. It was a steady grip, and tight, unlike other spells that required a loose grip in order to make the motion snappy. She rather liked this spell that required a certain amount of strength on the castor’s part. “So you said you could summon an object that somebody made un-Summonable, correct? Meaning if I really wanted something that Accio couldn’t get me, this spell would do the trick, then?” That was an interesting idea, if Mari had heard right. It would be useful at home, where nearly everything was locked up. Of course, she could have misunderstood the messy Gryffindor.

She watched his mock bow and sarcastic introduction with a mix of annoyance and mirth. It wasn’t as if Mari didn’t know she was a bit disdainful, and it was always a good laugh when somebody pointed it out to her. Especially in such a ridiculous fashion. Perhaps this Gryffindor boy would be one of the ones she could actually stand to be around. She couldn’t even stand her nitwit brother and his gang of fools, so to know there was a Gryffindor that didn’t annoy her to death was rather a surprise.

Because she was so busy musing this to herself, she was quite unprepared for the spray of water that jumped at her when Seamus curtsied. It wasn’t much, but it was enough to make her legs wet above the knee, and her clothes a bit damp. Even if it was still relatively warm out, the unexpected splash caused her to shiver. For a moment she was afraid she looked a bit like a wet cat who was upset and surprised. Then she regained her composure. “Or really?” she asked with one eyebrow raised, not giving in to the shakes that were beginning in her legs from the cold. “That’s the best you can do, then?”

"Take this and see whose ‘demonstration’ is good enough!" Using all her strength, she sent water flying back in the sandy-haired boy’s direction, not bothering to use her wand in her haste. She smiled in childish glee at the anticipation of her revenge.

[seamusement]

Seamus nodded quickly, his eyes never dropping the contact between the pair as he leaned in closer for the whispering. "I..." he started slowly and then rethought what he was about to declare. Lowering his voice further, the small boy jerked his head in a nod as he responded, "I would never put contraband in our room, Ron. Ahem, I'm after meanin' Mr. Prefect. Never." Sea's teeth gleamed as he feigned a look of absolute innocence and leaned closer to Ron, his torso basically pressed up against the other boy and his lips rather close to his ear as he whispered in a breathy, impossibly low voice that even annoyingly invasive and eavesdropping-prone Granger from her position a few yards ahead would never possibly hear, "The trunk at the foot of me bed would put Filch's feckin' list to shame. Hell, it'd put bloody Zonko's to shame as well, to be sure."

Important Discussions || Ron & Seamus

Ron glanced around, making sure that no one was near enough to eavesdrop before lowering his voice into a conspiratorial whisper. “Right, so, y’know, with me being Prefect and all, we’ve gotta be really careful about pranks we pull. So if you’ve got any… contraband hidden in our room, don’t tell me about it, yeah? Wouldn’t put it past Granger to torture information out of me to try to bust you. I think she has it out for all of us, honestly.”

[seamusement]

Seamus nodded and threw the heavy fish back into a shallow part of the lake and waded in a bit further, flexing his toes in the silt and water and ruffling his fingers through his short hair for a moment before returning it to his side. His other hand still gripped tightly to his wand, he explained a bit slower, "Well, Accio's fine and all, like I said, but not only will this be after teachin' ye a new spell 'fer yer repetoire'," he mimicked his haughty, demanding disdain for a moment, sticking out his tongue before continuing, "But it's also helpful fer objects within yer reach and things that've been magicked be unSummonable, which isn't that uncommon fer valuables and treasured possessions and the like. But it's great fer live animals, by hooking them instead of hoping they won't try and break free of their summon." He shrugged lightly, tracing the pockets on his pants.

"But like I said, it's all up to ye. Ye'll decide what's best fer ye." Seamus listened again and then mock bowed. "I'm quite pleased meet ye, Miss Marigold Potter, but I already knew who ye were because yer brother's in me year. I'm Seamus, Seamus Finnigan," he 'disobeyed' by introducing prior and then with a laugh, he turned, faced the lake again and tried to concentrate. Another movement in the water caused a splash and he immediately spun on his heel twenty degrees, and cried, "Carpe Retractum!" As soon as the orange gold light of the Seize-and-Pull Charm erupted from the tip of his wand, it angled forward and wrapped around. "Note me grip, wandwork, and posture." He instructed as it began to retract with the slighted movement of Sea's fingers on the hilt of his wand. The Gryffindor fifth year boy began to lean backward, his back arching and shoulders tipping. It looked like he might topple over in a colossal heap if it weren't for the tension on the other end of the line. "Ye use yer weight as a counter-weight to the object yer pulling. Of course, the magic helps a lot too to be sure to be sure but it isn't all in the spell work fer this one." He heaved again, reeling in his spell on a newt like a hefty catch on a fishing line. Seamus' teeth gleamed as he sized up the large newt and it drew nearer to him until the tension was minimal and he was standing erect once more, a newt in his outstretched palm to present to Mari.

"Was that a feckin' good enough demonstration fer ye, Miss Potter?" Seamus quipped and did a mock curtsy to the Slytherin girl, accidentally splashing a bit of water in Marigold's direction but creating an even better reaction than he'd planned. Lack of anticipation and situational comedy combined and sunk in quickly as Sea was soon roaring with laughter, bent over and close to wheezing.

Fishing for trouble

Mari looked over at the short, sandy haired boy splashing around in the lake near her. His eyes were red, which pointed to all the signs of a good sobbing session. What was it with these people who had nothing better to do than to cry. Although, she supposed, considering I’m here catching newts, I can’t really say much, can I? And he did seem to be interested in helping her, even if she didn’t need any help. Far be it from her to turn down a chance to have somebody else do her work for her, when it was such a mundane activity as this.

"Thank you very much," she said to the boy. "Obviously I don’t need this Carpe Retractum spell, since I’ve clearly got this Accio charm quite well learnt. But I suppose I could be interested in expanding my repertoire. Show me the movement again,” she demanded. “And also, do try not to look so sad, would you? It’s ruining the mood.”

"Oh, and before you ask why I happen to be out here catching newts, if indeed you planned on asking, let me encourage you to do the exact opposite. Now then, my name is Marigold Potter, Slytherin. You can introduce yourself if you like, but after you show me the spell again." She saw the fish struggling in his hand. "And would you please let that fish back in the water? No point in killing it all for good fun."

[seamusement]

Seamus whirled around at Ron's voice. He was actually surprised the redheaded boy was talking to him at all. Not that they never talked but between classes it was much more likely that Ron would be hanging with his best mate Harry than talking to Seamus or anyone else but now he was indeed saying he needed to talk to Sea and making a stride to catch up with Seamus, leaving Harry behind for now. For these reasons, this was certainly a surprising event. Shrugging to Dean and breaking away from his best friend with a grin and a flickering expression, the Irish boy walked backwards a bit to meet up with Ron jogging ahead to meet his pace. "Yeah, ye rang?" Seamus asked with a light expression, a smirk, and a raised eyebrow.

Important Discussions || Ron & Seamus

"Oi, mate!" Ron called out to the shorter Irishman as they walked between classes, slipping away from Harry to jog a bit towards Seamus. He had ‘very important business' to discuss with his roommate, things he didn't want his fellow Prefect to happen to overhear should she pass them in the hall. “Wait up! I need to talk to you about something.”

[seamusement]

Seamus was strolling down to the Black Lake, it was just turning into October now and was still sunny out, if a bit chillier than when he'd first arrived at Hogwarts in September. Of course, it was still the perfect weather for strolling and wading in the waters near the school, in Sea's opinion. The short Irish boy continued on his way with his hands in his pockets, wearing a pair of tight jeans and his jumper. His tie was hanging loosely out and his hair was ruffled. And Sea's eyes were red and bit puffy, looking as if he'd been rubbing at them quite a bit among other things fairly recently.

Seamus needed a break; he was heading to the Black Lake for some alone time above all, to think to himself and try to make sense of everything that was making him so impossibly confused right now.

Sea was also feeling a bit reckless.

As he reached the edge of the lake, however, he realized he was not the only one there. Seamus spotted another student, a girl with long dark hair and a pale complexion. She was fairly deep in the water and apparently using a Summoning Charm based on her incantation. Surely enough, a living newt shot out of the water and barely into her grasp moments later. Seamus nodded and clapped loudly to alert her to his presence.

The girl in question was Marigold Potter, a Slytherin third year and the younger sister of one of his dorm mates, one Harry Potter. He had only ever talked to Marigold once or twice in passing, they certainly weren't good friends, but Seamus didn't want to find another place to think right now so if they were both going to be a the Black Lake together for now, he might as well be polite and make small talk. As he rolled his pant legs up to his knees and prepared to slowly tiptoe in, he commented, "Ye've done a bloody good job with the Summoning Charm, I can tell. But I'm after thinking that's a bit outside of ye level. Besides, even if ye've mastered it, don't ye think it might just be easier to attempt a Seize-and-Pull Charm? Maybe ye haven't covered it in class yet and it's not nearly as well-known as Accio but it's within yer skill level and it's great for hooking fish and flying seahorses." Seamus smiled. "I reckon it'll do nicely for newts as well," he offered.

"Let me demonstrate," Seamus announced, pulling his wand from his rear pocket and holding it firmly. He stared at the water and caught sight of a quick movement which he assumed to be a newt. "Carpe Retractum!" the boy enunciated (though his accent was still apparent), and he leaned backward as a golden orange jet of light shot forward from his wand like a fishing line, which dove into the water and affixed to the nearest thing it could. Seamus leaned further and the enchanted 'rope' began to reel back in to its source.

A plump fish, confused-looking fish was held in the grasp of the orange jet of light and it flew right up to Sea's wand and he caught it firmly in his outstretched palm. It flopped uselessly and he chuckled, "Well, not quite a newt but ye get the feckin' point. It's bloody effective and it should serve yer purposes."

Fishing for trouble

Mari waded with the water of the black lake up to her knees. She’d left her robes on the lawn, preferring the muggle shorts and undershirt she kept around for such occasions as these. ‘Stori had refused to help her, as per usual. So Mari found herself catching newts alone, although she almost preferred it that way. That way there would be no witnesses to her soon-to-be crime, and she could perform her prank in peace. Fred and George would be so proud! Although secretly she still believed she was a better prankster than those two.

Not that her current plan was anything overly elaborate; sometimes it was best to stick with a classic attack. And Mari had been too bored to wait and think things through. Better to just have at it as soon as possible. So that was how she found herself knee-deep in the black depths of the lake, fishing for newts with her wand. She used a simple summoning charm that she’d seen in one of the charms textbooks. Normally, she didn’t try and practice spells above her level, but this one she thought would prove useful in future endeavors. Therefore, she just had to learn it.

While she fished, she thought about the git who thought it would be funny to try and lift her robes during class. His mistake, that was. As soon as she felt the fabric move, she whipped around, found him, and sent him to the nurse with a bloody nose. She hadn’t used a particularly powerful Impedimenta, but it nevertheless was able to break his nose and freeze part of his face. She would face detention for that one for two full weeks, every Tuesday and Thursday night with Professor McGonagall, which she didn’t relish the idea of. The professor wouldn’t even listen to her reasons for using magic, just sternly telling her off for using it to harm others.

Well, at least she could surprise her brother with a newt in his robes. Just as she waved her wand to catch another newt (she was bored and kept tossing them back), she heard a noise behind her…

[seamusement]

Seamus stared coldly at Draco, a scowl suddenly spreading across his entire face. His lighter, frustrated expression from before was vanished, replaced now with a much fiercer one. His eyes grew dark and his jaw clenched as his whole face became stony. This fiery yet hardened glare was met by Draco's disdainful tone and cold attitude.

He stood up from his chair now, pushing it out and around as he did so, and kept his gaze level with Draco's the entire time. Seamus gritted his teeth. "We bot' know ye wouldn't be defendin' Pince once it was as one of ye mates sayin' so. But that's not really the bloody issue here. Ye might feckin' hate me, Malfoy, but that's really too bad. I already told ye, I don't want yer help, nevermind why ye actually thought it might be a good idea to come over and be a snide git anyway."

Sea raised an eyebrow in a questioning manner but his question was mostly rhetorical, he wasn't really looking for an answer, it was more of an issuance of a challenge. The Gryffindor boy took a step closer toward the Slytherin, making sure to keep his voice low. The library was full and the sounds of shuffling papers and light, tiptoeing footsteps, and the eager scratching of quills had done their job to mask his comments so far. "So then, Draco," he started, his tongue curling around the last syllable of Malfoy's first name, making sure the 'o' he was forming with his lips lasted, feeling a bit shamelessly powerful for using the other boys's first name so informally. "Why don't ye git on outta here, ye bloody bowsie?"

A Welcome Distraction: Seamus & Draco

Draco enjoyed the way Finnigan’s face fell upon recognition. (He had long ago decided that since there was, apparently, no way to be universally adored—much as he deserved to be—the only recourse was to learn to take pleasure in the dislike of those people too pathetic to know they ought to want to be his friend.) He felt a smirk tug at the corner of his own lips in response, and did nothing to stop it. He almost asked sarcastically if Seamus had been expecting someone else, but that seemed too obvious a barb—to expected—to be all that entertaining, so he let it go.

He didn’t expect his generous offer to be rebuffed quite so quickly, though; was Finnigan too stupid to recognize his own need for assistance, or just too arrogant to let himself accept help from Draco? Either way the Slytherin reacted with a scowl, tilting his head so he could look down his nose with scorn at the shorter Gryffindor. “Suit yourself,” Draco snapped, “I can’t imagine who could possibly help someone as hopeless as you anyway.” The other’s response suited neither of his plans; Finnigan had not shrieked and gotten himself banished—a mere shushing wasn’t going to get him expelled from the library—nor had he elected to place himself in Draco’s debt. He might as well have stayed with his own homework and not even bothered coming over here, saved himself the effort. He spun on his heel to stalk back to his seat, but Finnigan’s complaint made him turn back around with an incredulous glare.

"This is a library,” he said coldly, the words clipped and singular, as if by speaking slowly he could somehow pound them individually through the other’s thick skull. “You are supposed to be quiet in here, because people are studying. That’s the whole point of the entire room, of course the librarian is going to shush you when you interrupt that!” Draco kept his voice down, because he knew how to behave properly, but his harsh whisper still dripped with incredulous disdain. “I would hardly call it an overreaction on her part. Not when it is literally her job to maintain a positive study-environment for the rest of us, regardless of your banal and noisome rudeness.”

[seamusement]

Seamus grimaced immediately and frowned at the person behind him, who was not in fact Dean...it was Draco Malfoy, a Slytherin in the same year. The Gryffindor boy furrowed his brow and listened to the pompous outsider mock his efforts with his homework. As he wasn't paying attention, the runes were certainly doing a very good job of making themselves busy with jumping about to another page. He sighed.

"Hello Malfoy," he answered, a bit coldly. Seamus didn't exactly hate Draco but the boy was a Slytherin and that made him a slimy git by default. Plus the other boy was easily greasy anyway based on his own individual behavior, which made him even more unlikable in Seamus' perspective.

Sea hesitated here. "I..." he started with an unsure note in his voice, which he instantly corrected, coughing to cover and confidently continuing, "I don't need any help from ye. I'm waiting on some help right now anyway as is. So bugger off, ye bloody chancer."  A loud shushing noise from Pince coming across the library caused Seamus to drop his tone again and he rolled his eyes at the librarian when he knew she couldn't see, "I'm not even bloody makin' ructions and she overreacts so much, ye know? Feckin' polluted sap, to be sure to be sure!"

A Welcome Distraction: Seamus & Draco

Draco had been quite cheerfully, if not exactly contentedly, bent over his translation homework for Ancient Runes. He had meant to meet Hermione in the library to work on theirs together, since it was one of the few classes they shared and because they were both quite frankly more intelligent than almost anyone else in that class or any other and so made for excellent homework partners, but she had yet to arrive. Probably sat down to read ‘just a chapter,’ Draco thought to himself wryly; his friend’s penchant for getting sucked into her books was well-known to him and he was sure that’s what had delayed her.

Being even more of a swot himself than he cared to admit, Draco actually had no qualms about doing homework on his own anyway, although he probably would have found a quieter and more secluded corner if he hadn’t intended to share his table with the Gryffindor girl. As it was he sat right at the end of one of the more popular subject-sections, and thus had to endure the noise of everyone else who had chosen to study or revise in the library as well. Fortunately Madam Pince generally kept a fearfully tight leash on the students in her domain so that wasn’t much, but Draco still would have preferred to have more distance between himself and his erstwhile peers.

Especially some of them.

He glanced up at one of the most annoying sources of distraction today: Seamus Finnigan, another Gryffindor who shared his Ancient Runes lessons, and one who was apparently currently suffused with a surfeit of nervous energy. He wasn’t being overly loud, no, but the little noises that rose from Finnigan’s table were constant. Draco treated the sandy-haired boy to a glare, but Finnigan’s back was to him, and the scowl didn’t seem to penetrate his shoulders because he gave no sign of noticing, or of quieting down.

As Draco stared he recognized the books in front of Finnigan; they were the same ones he was using. Well, that was no surprise: Ancient Runes was a difficult but fascinating class, and they all had the same homework assignment. Finnigan didn’t seem totally hopeless at the subject, from what Draco had noticed in class, but he wasn’t on Draco’s level—or Hermione’s. Dismissing Finnigan from his thoughts Draco bent over his translation again—then looked up when the Gryffindor boy gave a gusty sigh. Draco looked over and scowled at the source of the noise, then he had an idea, or rather, two ideas.

Carefully marking his place, Draco stood from his table and walked over—taking care to step quietly—to Finnigan’s table. The first, and perhaps most satisfying, course of action would be to startle Finnigan and get him to make such a noise that Pince would kick him out of the library, thus leaving Draco (and everyone else) to their work in peace. If Finnigan didn’t yelp loudly enough when Draco sneaked up on him, though, there was always plan b: help Finnigan with his translation so he would leave, and in the process earn himself a favor from the Gryffindor boy for later use. Draco didn’t have such a multitude of friends—although there was always plenty of people who wanted to curry favor with his father—that he failed to recognize the potential value of having one of his fellow students “owe him one,” whether it was a formal contract or no.

Honestly not sure which outcome he would prefer, Draco tapped Finnigan on the shoulder. When he turned it was with a grin, not a shriek, so that took the first option off the table—oh well. Draco arched an eyebrow coolly, certain that the elated smile on Finnigan’s face had not been meant for him, and said, “Having some trouble, Finnigan?” He couldn’t help but smirk, a little smug; he wasn’t having any difficulty with his revision, although the Roman style was admittedly tricky enough to be time-consuming, although personally Draco was enjoying the puzzle too much to mind. “It looks like—and sounds like—you’re in a bit of a fight with your books, there. Need a hand?”

The offer was as much a challenge as anything else; Draco couldn’t help but enjoy the opportunity to show-up a Gryffindor, even if he was offering to help them at the same time. It was a genuine offer of assistance of course, but taking it would mean Finnigan admitting that he needed—or at least wanted—help. And Draco liked any chance to show-off his superior skills, especially when he could lord it over a Gryffindor in the process.

[seamusement]

A Welcome Distraction: Seamus & OPEN

Seamus tapped his foot absently and sighed loudly. A fierce ruffling of thick papers and a colossal shhhhhhhing met the boy for his interruption to the silent, studious atmosphere. The library returned to a state of absolute quiet once more and Seamus peered down at his open, dog-eared copies of the Rune Dictionary and Magical Hieroglyphs and Logograms and held his quill loosely in his hand, nervously letting it jiggle about as he waited. His assigned homework was to translate an advanced ancient text from ancient Wizarding Rome first into modern runes and then into English.

Though he hardly cared about the project, he knew it was good practice and he should at least attempt it. The problem was that these pesky Roman logograms didn’t like to stay put, instead they were all busy trying to jump off the page and do a strange dance all about the table. After eating dinner with Dean, Lavender, and Parvati and then leaving the Great Hall, Dean had promised to meet with Seamus later after grabbing his books.

Absently, Sea hexed one of the runes into paralysis with his wand and then used his weaker hand which was still absently bobbing his quill, to pin down another rune (one that appeared to be a corrupted form of the rune for happiness) with the point on his quill while it squirmed and struggled. Seamus not only needed help with the translation aspect of the text (which he was better than Dean at anyway) but he could also use a hand in keeping some of the more rambunctious runes from moving about so they could actually be inspected more carefully.

Suddenly, Seamus felt a hand on his shoulder give him a light tap. His tired, dopey expression vanished and Sea’s entire face got about ten shades brighter and more enthusiastic as he whipped his head over his shoulder, expecting to find that Dean had finally arrived. However, Dean wasn’t the one standing behind the surprised Gryffindor…

[seamusement]

[seamusement]