laconic • t.nott ✓

27 ➺ to owe bravery

「 TO OWE BRAVERY 」

ALECTO CARROW'S CLASS. AS PER Seamus's request, Theo has arrived early. He stood outside the still empty classroom and waited for Seamus, wondering what he wanted.

Seamus duly arrived. His face split into a halfhearted grin as his eyes fell on Theo. The front of his white shirt had a splotch of pale violet and his attempt at hiding it with his robes was clear, though Theo suspected it must have shifted on his way here.

"What's that on your shirt?" said Theo as a way of greeting.

Seamus gave him a pointed look. "Good morning to you too, Theo. I accidentally spilt some potion while trying to feed it to a hysterical second-year boy." He entered the classroom and Theo followed.

"Why was he hysterical?"

Seamus remained silent as he chose a bench at the back of the class and sat. He dropped his bag on the desk with a thud, sighing heavily like an old man done with life. When Theo slid into the spot next to him, he drew a quill from his bag and started rapping the desk sharply with the point of the quill. Tiny dots bloomed on the rough wooden surface.

All signs of stress were visible in Seamus's features, Theo observed - droopy eyes lined with black circles, wrinkles, a sad frown pulling down the corners of his mouth. Theo wouldn't be surprised if his hair started turning grey. After several minutes of rhythmic tap tap sound, Seamus said, "He watched your fellow Slytherin Goyle break his friend's arm."

Theo stared, shocked. Goyle had been boasting about something in the common room last night though Theo hadn't bothered enough to find out what it was about. "He broke his arm? Is he okay? How did you fix him?"

"I didn't have to," answered Seamus. His voice sounded low and burdened. "Madam Pomfrey did. Snape gave her permission to do her job - I reckon he didn't want a little boy whining in pain all the time. The boy's fine, I think. She's an excellent matron. But his friend, this other boy - well, he was right there when Goyle had grabbed his arm and snapped it. He couldn't stop wailing. I had to give him a calming draught." He pulled at the stained portion of his shirt. "He kept kicking and thrashing so the potion poured right down my front."

Theo sat in silence for a minute. He wanted to reach out to Seamus and hold him, let him know that the pain he had to face and soothe every day would be over soon. Their Hogwarts days would end and then they could - what? Could he really be certain that all of these would be over? You-Know-Who would still continue to assert control over their lives, recruit more people into his ranks. How could he assure Seamus that he wouldn't be the next person to lose a loved one?

So he didn't say anything. Thankful for the empty classroom, they sat in each other's company, everything silent save for the sharp rapping of Seamus's quill.

The sound stopped suddenly. Seamus stirred like from a dream. He looked at Theo, blinking as if trying to wipe out images that kept flashing in front of his eyes. Theo knew the feeling.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have -" Seamus stopped, biting his lips. "I asked you to come here early because I wanted to talk to you about something."

Interest piqued, Theo turned to him eagerly. "Really? So you didn't bring me here to sit with me in silence? Because that felt nice."

Seamus smiled a lopsided smile. Theo couldn't help but stare. It felt good to make him smile. Most of the times he's seen Seamus laugh or smile, it had seemed halfhearted. It was only when he smiled like this - with genuine tenderness that pulled up one corner of his lips, which were pressed into a thin line as though he felt afraid to show happiness in such dire times - that Theo could see the real him. "It did feel nice, yes," Seamus said. "But there's something else too."