To Be A Magical Boy

Chapter 11 - Sixth Year (part 2)

Slapping his timetable down on the table beside Dean, Seamus couldn't suppress his triumphant grin. "Got 'em. I got 'em all, even Potions."

Dean glanced up from where he was ladling scrambled eggs onto his toast. He eyebrows rose as his gaze turned to where Seamus' hand was planted beside him. "You've already got your timetable?"

Seamus nodded, plopping down into the seat beside Dean and running his eyes over the layout of his classes. It was a pretty good timetable all things considered. He had a couple of free periods that day already. "Yeah, McGonagall's handing them out. You should go and get yours, like."

Dean peered over Seamus' shoulder, running his eyes across the sheet of parchment. "Charms, Transfiguration, Defence, Potions... I can't believe you actually signed up to Muggle Studies."

"Oi, I'm not doing it alone," Seamus said with a glance towards Dean. "You promised you'd do it with me."

"You know, I kind of feel like that's cheating seeing as I was raised a Muggle," Dean said, though he was grinning.

They'd spoken about this – about taking Muggle Studies in sixth and seventh year. Until the summer holidays, Seamus had been inclined simply because he was interested in Muggle technology and thought he could learn more about it that he hadn't growing up. That interest had been initially sparked by his dad and his side of the family, but Seamus tried not to think about that too much. He tried not to think of his family all that much at all, for that matter.

That avoidance had changed over the summer, because Seamus had made a decision. There were few enough ways that he'd be able to experiment with making fireworks, but Muggle Studies was one of them. Potions and Charms were others. In their final year of Muggle Studies, the major project designated to them was specialised and self-chosen. Hence, Seamus signed up for it. And Dean too, for that matter.

"Do you think McGonagall will let me do it?" Dean asked. "I mean, I don't mind so much just going to the art club to get a fix of painting so –"

"Dean," Seamus interrupted him. "You're doing Muggle Studies with me. I thought we already decided that, like?"

Dean grinned. They'd discussed at length over the break what subjects they would be taking, mostly because it was natural to expect that they'd be taking the same ones. Fortunately, they'd completed their OWLs with relatively similar results, so it was manageable. All Dean had to do was tell McGonagall his choices.

As Dean rose to his feet, Seamus snatched a piece of toast from the toast rack and followed at a quickstep behind in his wake along the length of the hall. McGonagall, a little way further down their table, was in the midst of handing out more timetables to the sixth and seventh years. As they approached, Seamus could hear Parvati's almost whining question.

"Is that handsome centaur, Firenze – is he still going to be teaching Divination?"

Seamus glanced her way and had to bite back a smile. To most, it would perhaps seem that Parvati was wistfully hoping that the centaur Firenze would indeed continue teaching for her own personal entertainment. Seamus wondered how many saw that Parvati was all but flouncing in her act; he didn't believe she was truly enamoured with the centaur anymore than he was. Probably less, for that matter, because really, he was a very good-looking centaur. It had been something of a distraction the previous year, especially when he'd neglected the need to wear a shirt. Seamus had never wanted to attend Divination quite as much as he had the previous year.

Watching as an apparently crestfallen Parvati accepted her timetable – and flashed him a wink as she passed him on her retreat – Seamus followed Dean to McGonagall's side. She handed Dean's requested timetable readily enough with only a slightly dubiously raised eyebrow at his choices. "Muggle Studies, Thomas? An interesting choice."