Being Harry Potter

Seamus looked around the room. Everything looked just like it did when he saw through Harry's eyes a short while ago. Seamus was bubbling over and had to tell someone about what he'd just been through or else he might explode and leave little bits of Seamus all over the common room.

"Oh, Neville, come here I need to talk to you!" He yelled as he made his way through the crowd over to Neville. Along the way he was greeted by Hermione and the others but he mainly ignored them.

"Well you've made it back. You really didn't miss all that much, you know, the party is just starting to swing up," Ron told him.

"Yeah, Seamus, we were just about to break out the music and dance," Hermione told him, "you interested?"

"Um, actually, no. Not right now. Maybe a bit later, thanks," he answered curtly and continued to Neville.

"Hey Seamus, what horrible thing did Snape have you do?" Seamus' progress was stopped by a hand on his shoulder and he turned his head to see Harry. Harry pulled his hand back when he saw Seamus' eyes widen.

"Ah! Oh, sorry Harry, you well, surprised me. I'll talk to you a little later. I need to find Neville for a bit." Seamus waded away into the crowd in Neville's direction.

"What did he mean that I scared him?" Harry seemed surprised and a bit upset.

"Harry, no one will ever understand that boy, you should know that by now," Hermione told him.

Seamus made his way to Neville who was sitting with the Creeveys. "I need to talk to you for a minute or two. Alone," he said, looking at the other boys.

"Um, sure. Colin, Dennis, I think I'll be back soon." Seamus led him away by the arm and up to their dorm room.

"Seamus, you are practically jumping out of your own skin. Did you take some of the nurse's special pep-ups again?"

"No, I didn't. Well, not recently anyway. That's not the issue now."

"Okay then, how was your detention?"

"Unbelievable, Neville, simply unbelievable."

"Why? Did Snape smile or something?"

"No, funny, but that isn't it."

"Well, did the detention bad or not?"

"Oh, Neville, it was bad all right, but what happened when it was over was what made it great."

"Are you planning on telling me anytime soon or should I just sit down and wait this one out?" Neville crossed his arms and leaned against a nearby bedpost.

"Okay, here we go. This is going to sound really strange, but hear me out, all the way. Promise me."

"Sure, whatever-" Neville was cut off by two hands appearing on his shoulders and giving him a slight shake.

"No, Neville, promise me."

"Alright. I promise."

"Good, now first of all, you have a very open mind right?"

"Seamus, you know I don't care if you're--"

Seamus scowled. "That isn't what I meant. What I'm about to tell you will likely blow your doors off, Neville."

"Fine, fine. What is it already?"

"Okay. Snape had me clean out this horribly filthy room that Peeves destroyed. That bloody ghost had tossed things everywhere. Anyway, I'm almost done cleaning it when I find this little door." Seamus was very excited again and had to take a few breathes to calm down.

"Well Seamus, was it a spooky door?"

"Neville, hush. I'm being serious here."

"Oh. Sure."

"This door was maybe two or three feet high and it had a pretty knob on it. I opened it and it lead into a dirt-lined tunnel, and that tunnel lead into someone's mind."

"Right. Of course. A hidden tunnel in Hogwarts that leads into someone's mind. I knew about that already."

"You did?" Seamus asked, astounded, and missing the dripping sarcasm.

"No, Seamus. Of course not."

"Oh, well...why'd you say that you did?"

"Because Seamus, there are no portals that lead into other people's minds, that's why." He was completely deadpan as he told Seamus this, his arms back crossed across his chest.

"Um, yes there is. I was there."

"Right. Then who's mind was it?" Neville was quite unbelieving and tiring of what he thought was Seamus' latest version of Mock Neville.

"Guess."

"Just tell me."

"No way. Guess."

"Fine. Dumbledore?"

"Nope. Guess again."

"Fine. Madam Hooch?"

"Ha! No." Neville guessed more and more random names, watching Seamus' face light up as he named off more and more unlikely names. Not that there was a name that was likely to have a mind tunnel anyway.

"Justin Finch-Fletchly?"

"No. Though, that wouldn't be all that bad."

"Seamus, just tell me, please."

"Oh fine. You never let me have any fun." Seamus put on a pouty face even though he was grinning. "Harry Potter."

"Harry Potter? Harry Potter? This is another of your masturbatory fantasies, isn't it, Seamus?"

"Oh no, Neville, it was much better than those. Well, almost all of them."

"You are so full of it, Seamus. I almost believed you. Almost."

"It's true, honest, Neville. I swear."

"Sure."

"I'll show you, come on."

"I'll miss the rest of the party, Seamus."

"No, actually, you won't. Now come on."

"Fine. I warn you, Seamus Ian Finnegan, this had better not be a trick."

"On my honor."

"Oh, everything will turn out fine then," he told Seamus with more than a bit of a smirk on his lips.

Seamus dragged Neville through the common room, leaving quite a few startled faces and half-formed questions. They moved as quickly and quietly as possible through the castle. Twice along the way Seamus found himself lost. Luckily after a few minutes of creeping along he remembered his path.

"Where are we, exactly, Seamus?" Neville asked as he looked

"I don't exactly know. I think we're almost in the dead center of the castle and somewhere above the dungeons."

"Oh great. The dungeons." Even the thought of Potions class crossing his mind made Neville shiver.

"You're fine, Neville, you're with me. Besides, here we are." They stopped in front of the door and Seamus turned the knob and it opened.

"What is this, a house elf room?" Neville asked.

"It might have been. It seems like storage now."

"You did a good job cleaning up in here."

"Thanks, now there's the door over there."

The two of them made their way over and knelt in front of it. It was just like Seamus explained it. "This is your last chance to say that this is a joke, Seamus," a suddenly quiet Neville told him, almost hoping it was. His small bit of bravado was now gone

"It's not. I swear it. Now, when you go in, it'll seem odd for a bit, then everything will be normal again. Well, as normal as can be with you inside Harry Potter and all."

"Alright. Here goes." Neville opened the door and looked inside. He was quite hesitant, but found his Gryffindor courage and started through.

"Oh, I almost forgot to tell you," Seamus said as Neville was a good twenty feet in the tunnel, "when your time is up, you fall out into some bushes and weeds near the Forbidden Forest."

"Oh, you forgot that, did you? Well, dammit Seamus---" Neville was cut off as the door slammed shut and he shot down the tunnel. "Oh, crap oh crap oh crap!" Neville slid to the light.

He stopped dead in his tracks and after a second he saw the Gryffindor common room, just like Seamus said. He immediately felt like he had to burp. Or more likely, Harry had to burp. Harry promptly did so, and Neville felt it too. "Oh wow!!"

Neville was in awe for the next few minutes. Harry was chatting with Ron and Hermione and Neville could feel the emotions he felt for his friends. Raw, powerful. He might do anything for them, Neville thought. So very strong.

"I've got to get rid of some pumpkin juice," he heard Harry say. Hermione answered that she really didn't need to know that.

"Oh wow! Seamus would absolutely love this!" Harry did his business and zipped back up. Neville did his best not to look, but you know how teenage boys are, always comparing and all. Try as he might, he couldn't help but gloat just a bit as Harry looked in the mirror, fixing his always-tousled hair and left the bathroom with the faucets unused. "Your hands, Harry, your hands...that's nasty, Harry."

He felt a little twinge of pain and guessed that someone had stepped on his foot. Rather, someone had stepped on Harry's foot.

"Sorry," he heard a high voice utter.

"It's alright, Ginny, I have two of them." Harry answered her. She blushed a bit and he felt himself do the same, at least he was pretty sure that he was the one blushing, not Harry.

Neville was smiling on the inside and he could feel Harry doing the same. Harry had turned to walk back to Ron and Hermione and was saying something to one of Ron's brothers when Neville started sliding away, down a dark tunnel. He fell for a few seconds and landed in some low bushes.

"Well, how was it?" a voice asked from nearby.

"Oh my goodness, Seamus. It was absolutely incredible. Indescribable. Unreal."

"Funny, I seem to remember you saying I was full of crap not twenty minutes ago."

"I'm sorry, Seamus. It just sounded so far fetched, but I believe you now, most definitely." Neville was still laying in a pile with his eyes wide open.

"You know, we should probably get back in soon. It's getting a bit chilly out here.

"I - we - he went to the loo, Seamus. You'd have loved it"

"You've got to be kidding me!! I missed it?"

"I don't know. I guess. Sure. He didn't wash his hands, though."

"You looked at it, didn't you?"

"Looked at what?" Neville retorted, knowing full well what Seamus was talking about but not wanting to admit to it.

"His doink, Neville. What else do you think I'm talking about?"

"I still can't believe that you call it a 'doink', Seamus," Neville said shaking his head.

"You can blame that on my mum, Neville. She always called it that and it stuck in my head. Now, back to the matter at hand," he said as he helped Neville up, "how was it?"

Neville blushed and grinned. "I'm bigger."

"I knew you looked!"

"Can we go back to the Tower? We're probably being missed by now."

"Yes, that's probably a good idea."

They'd skulked most of the way to the main gate when Neville suggested that it might be smarter to use a side entrance. A few moments later found them heading in through a smaller door and tip-toeing down the corridors. They returned to the common room a bit dirtier than when they left and the Fat Lady again commented on their appearance but Seamus tutted her off and they entered and rejoined the party.

It was shortly thereafter that Seamus and Neville officially became co-conspirators as they constantly glanced in Harry's direction while drinking and snacking, both wondering what exactly he was thinking at that second and when they could do it again.

The party continued on for another few hours until the lateness of the evening began to catch up with everyone and students began to stagger away handful by handful. Seamus and Neville finally left only after it was hard to hide their obvious glances at Harry behind a crowd of people.

"So, exactly how much bigger are we talking about?" Seamus asked Neville as they were making their way to their room. Try as he might he wasn't able to wrest that thought from his mind.

"I...I don't know, Seamus. It wasn't as if he held it next to a ruler or anything." He yawned. They entered their room and started getting ready for bed, Neville nearly nodding off while slipping on his pajama bottoms. He staggered backward onto his bed and pulled up the covers, Seamus doing the same a bed over but with a bit more grace.

"I'm giving him juice all day tomorrow, you know,"

"I'm not surprised, Seamus, not at all." And with that last comment Neville was lost to the world for the time being. Seamus tried his hardest to join Neville in Nod but couldn't. It seemed that he had that certain itch that strikes teenage boys on a very regular basis and this particular itch really needed scratching. Completely forgetting a single charm in his madness, Seamus scratched the itch so well that he momentarily woke Neville up. The other boy didn't say a word but just rolled on his other side and fell back asleep.