Nothing You Can Do

By Spunky

Summary: When Seamus Finnigan finds himself outside protection during a Christmas tide attack on Hogwarts, he must join Harry Potter in seeking refuge in the Muggle world. But what happens when he learns more about The-Boy-Who-Lived than he ever wanted to know?

Disclaimer: "Everyone's stealing from someone:

Burglars get burgled as well.

There's nothing that's new under heaven;

There's nothing unique over hell."

Anonymous

Simply stated - It ain't mine, I'm just borrowing. Actually the disclaimer isn't even mine.

(HP)(HP)(HP)

Seamus was awoken the next morning by a sharp rapping sound and a distorted, nagging voice. He opened his bleary eyes to take in the unfamiliar surroundings. He was in a small Muggle room, hardly large enough to fit the rickety bed and desk that filled it.

He rolled over on the bed, trying to take in his surroundings, and was rewarded with a sharp poke in the side from a loose coil springing up from the mattress. He winced and returned to laying on his stomach, his recollection of the night before jolted to the fore of his mind by the throbbing in his side.

The attack on Hogwarts ... the portkey ... he was with Harry ... at his Muggle relatives.

Seamus groaned and shook his head to clear it. Next to him Harry was picking himself off the floor.

"Sorry about the lights, I've got to find a new bulb at some point. Listen, do you want the floor or the bed?" Harry asked as they entered a small darkened room.

"It's your room." Seamus responded in surprise. "Don't you want the bed?"

"It really doesn't matter to me. Here, you take the bed, you'll sleep better."

"But-"

"Don't worry about it. I doubt I'll be getting much sleep tonight anyways."

"Morning," Harry greeted Seamus, "Sleep well?"

"Not bad." Seamus replied, still not fully awake. "It was the waking up part that caused some problems. What time is it?"

"Six. Listen, I've got to go take care of breakfast. You're going to have to stay up here in this room. I'll try to bring you something to eat later, alright?"

"Six?" Seamus moaned, "Too bloody early!"

Harry gave Seamus a sad, sort of sympathetic half-smile. "Yeah, you're as bad as Ron. Listen, I'll be back so just... stay up here and don't get your wand out. The ministry can track everything here and I'll probably be blamed for it all. This house is covered in so many wards, even a simple levitation charm would be picked up."

" um'kay."

Harry left and Seamus reached behind him and pulled the musty old pillow from behind his head, trying to cover his face to block the rays of sun that leaked in through the window.

...too early... bright lights...

His efforts proved fruitless and Seamus gave up the attempts to return to sleep. Sitting up he reached to the night stand reflexively, groping futilely for his wand. It wasn't there.

Harry had taken it, Seamus recalled. The night before when they had first arrived.

"Give me your wand." Harry had said, motioning to Seamus as he settled down on the bed."I'll have to store them, we can't use magic here. Your cloak as well. I'll get our stuff when Fawkes comes to get us."

Harry pulled up one of the floorboards by the bed tucking both wands and their school robes in an old hole in the floor before replacing the floorboard.

Seamus had questioned his roommate about the odd behavior but Harry had only shrugged and stated that since magic wasn't allowed at Privet Drive, it was better not to take any chances.

Mentally shrugging, Seamus began to inspect his surroundings. Not that there was much to the room. A small bookshelf sat beside a rickety old desk that contained quite a number of brand new books. Or rather, books that would have been brand new had there not been a thick layer of dust covering them. The drawers of the desk appeared to have been dislodged off of their runners and further exploration brought little results. The drawers were empty. That's odd, Seamus thought to himself.

The bed Seamus was perched on looked as though it hadn't been replaced in about a hundred years, the mattress too, come to think of it, Seamus winced once again as the memory of the spring in his side came to the forefront of his mind.

His eyes fell on the single window in the room. It was bare of trimmings and the window sill framing the window looked as though something had been torn from it. Seamus stood up and looked out the window to the street below where Seamus and Harry had portkeyed in the night before.

"Boy," snapped the man, "What the hell are you doing here? Get in before the neighbors see you."

Seamus followed closely behind Harry as they entered the house. The inside of the house was as proper and pristine as the outside and Seamus felt as though he had walked into a Muggle decorating catalogue as he crossed the threshold of the house. The walls of the hallway were covered in pictures of a oversized boy at different stages of growth, sometimes accompanied by a boney and long necked woman and the man who had just met them at the door, but mostly alone. Prominently placed on a small table at the base of the stairs was a large photograph, apparently the most recent of the collection, in which the boy held a large trophy over his head grinning.

Nowhere in the collection did Seamus see a photo of Harry.

It took Seamus a moment to realize that the man, presumably Harry's uncle, was talking to, or rather, ranting at Harry. As Seamus watched he realized that the man seemed to be slowly turning a deeper and deeper shad of purple, the veins in his forehead bulging, as he ranted on and on.

"...you'll explain yourself right now. I don't know who you think you are, showing up here without warning, in the middle of the bloody night. It's enough that you're here during the summer. What the hell, do you think that you can just show up? We took you in out of the kindness of your hearts and I'm not going to put up with any of your attitude. Making us drop everything. Christmas is coming up and we're very busy, don't you think you can just show up. Oh, no. I won't take it."

Harry broke into the rant sharply. "Listen, My school's been attacked and my headmaster sent me here to get me away from the attack. I'm sorry I didn't warn you but there wasn't any time. I found out about twenty minutes ago myself. I wouldn't have come here if there was any other choice, but there wasn't. I'm sorry if this is a problem but I'm about as happy as you are with the situation."

"And who's this?" asked the man, gesturing at Seamus. "Another one of you people?"

"This is Seamus, he's a wi- like me, yes. My headmaster asked me to bring him with me."

"Well you can just go back to that school of yours and take him with you. I won't have you fre-"

"I have no way to leave here until my headmaster contacts me when the attack is over. You kick me out now and I'll end up camping out in the front yard. Somehow, I think the neighbors might notice that fairly quickly."

Silence. Harry and his uncle seemed to be locked in some sort of staring contest. Each glaring at the other. The uncle appeared to be contemplating something. Seamus felt awkward standing there, waiting for someone to do something, say something.

Finally the man broke the silence, his voice gruff.

"I'll deal with you in the morning. Get up to your room. I don't want to hear a peep out of you, you hear?"

"Alright. Let's go, Seamus." said Harry, nodding toward the stairs. Seamus followed.

"What was that all about?" Seamus asked when they were out of earshot.

"It's nothing. Uncle Vernon just doesn't like surprises, that's all. Listen, you need to stay up in my room while you're here. It's better if you don't have to deal with him."

Turning away from the window Seamus glanced around the room once again.

Harry's uncle had seemed awfully angry over a little surprise, Seamus reflected. He certainly wasn't what Seamus had expected from a relative of Harry Potters'. No one at Hogwarts seemed to know much about where Harry lived outside of school. Harry just didn't talk about it.

Seamus knew Harry stayed at Hogwarts over Christmas and Easter break and he had often spent the second part of his summers with the Weasleys, even attending the Quiddich World Cup with them a few years ago. Beyond that, all anyone heard was that he lived with his Muggle relatives. It was such a bland and simple idea that even the Hogwarts rumor mill had left it alone.

Hogwarts

What was going on there? The night before had been terrifying. The school, surrounded by Death Eaters trying to break in. A memory of the black and white mass he had glimpsed, assembled on the lawns of Hogwarts, filled his mind. There were more Death Eaters there than Seamus had thought existed. All of them working to bring down the wards protecting the castle. Protecting his friends.

Hopefully the wards that McGonagall had set around Gryffindor tower would hold firm. If the Death Eaters did manage to breach the castle Seamus had no doubt that they would head straight to the tower. They wanted to get Harry didn't they?

What was it that Dumbledore had said? You have made a fool of him too many times for him to leave you alone. No one escaped You-Know-Who. Not once. Yet Harry had done so three times.

It was some time later that Seamus decided to venture downstairs to see what was keeping Harry. It had been an hour or so since Harry had left. Why he had left Seamus wasn't sure, he hadn't been awake enough at the time to ask and he couldn't recall if Harry had mentioned what he was doing. Getting breakfast, Seamus assumed.

Seamus could vaguely recall Harry mentioning something about staying upstairs but... well, he needed a distraction. It wasn't as though it was breaking into Gringotts, Seamus reasoned. He just wanted a glimpse of the ever elusive Dursleys that all of Gryffindor had heard next to nothing about.

He snuck out of the room, carefully closing the door so no one would hear him and crept toward the stairs. He lowered himself a few steps before setting on the fourth step from the top. Close enough to the door that he could get back to the room before anyone saw him but low enough that he could see the hallway below.

Down below Seamus could hear the sizzling of bacon on the stove. A woman's voice drifted up.

"I spoke with Janine Muller over at number nine yesterday. Did you hear? He husband just surprised her with an early Christmas gift. He's taking her on a cruise in the Mediterranean! Oh, wouldn't that be just lovely, Vernon?"

"I'll speak with Brian and see where he got the tickets." said the man who had met Harry and Seamus in the hall the night before, "Maybe I could get some time off from work this spring."

"Dad, I want some more bacon." a boy's voice whined.

"Boy." Harry's uncle snapped, "Get over here with that skillet. Dudders wants some more." and then more jovially he continued, "You want to have your fill, don't you lad. That's my boy! Always wants his money's worth."

"Six pieces." 'Dudders' commanded.

"Now Duddydinkdums be careful. You don't want to get anything on your Wrestling Championship shirt. I don't have time to launder it before Marge arrives and you'll be sure to want to show it to her." There was the sound of something clattering to the floor. "Clumsy boy. Well, what are you waiting for?" the woman snapped. "Clean it up."

"Petunia, did you get that wine Marge likes for today's luncheon? I promised he we'd have it for her when she visited."

"That and those little sausage appetizers, with Dijon for the dipping. Don't you worry about the meals now, I've got it all under control. Oh, Vernon dear, It's nearly nine. Marge's train comes in at nine forty-five. If you want to be on time you had better be going."

There was the sound of a chair being pushed back and someone getting up.

"Now you listen here boy." said the man, "You behave yourself when Marge gets here. I won't have you blowing her up again, you hear?"

Harry's defiant tone drifted up to Seamus. "Then tell her not to insult my -"

SMACK.

Seamus eyes widened in shock as he recognized the sound for what it was. Harry's uncle had hit him. Never...never had Seamus imagined ... It felt as though he had walked into another world. One that turned everything he knew upside down.

There was a long pause before the man continued on in a gruff voice.

"Finish cleaning up the kitchen and dust and vacuum the living room. Then get up to your room. I don't want to hear a peep from you or your freak friend. You hear?"

Silence.

"Are you deaf boy or just stupid? Answer me when I speak to you!"

"Yes Uncle Vernon." Seamus's heart clenched. There was no more of the defiance in Harry's voice. Instead he seemed defeated. Almost submissive.

"Now get going."

The sound of footsteps in the hall below sent Seamus backpedaling into Harry's room. He nearly flew cross the room, his heart pounding, his stomach in his knees. He leaped up onto the bed to sit, pulling his legs up to his chest.

What had just happened?

Harry's uncle had hit him, that much was clear, and it hardly seemed like it was the first time something like this had happened. If it had been, Harry wouldn't have reacted with submission.

At least not the Harry that Seamus knew.

He was supposed to be Harry Potter, The-Boy-Who-Lived, Star Quidditch Seeker, Powerful Wizard. His life was supposed to be perfect, except for the small detail of You-Know-Who trying to kill him every so often. And those were adventures. Heart stopping, thrilling adventures.

How had no one at Hogwarts noticed this?

It was over an hour before Harry returned to his room. He held a plate with toast crust in his hand which he handed to Seamus.

"This is the best I could do for breakfast." Harry apologized, "You're lucky Dudley still insists on having his crust cut off. Sorry it's not more but I couldn't risk it."

Seamus watched, detached. He accepted the plate of bread crusts and sat down in his desk chair. They were quiet for a moment. Neither seemed to know what to say to the other. Seamus nibbled on the humble offerings, the whole time staring at Harry who was gazing out the window into the garden below.

Finally Seamus took a deep breath, steeling himself for the topic that he knew Harry wouldn't like.

"Your uncle hit you."

Harry looked up abruptly, in surprise. "I thought I told you to stay in this room."

"I sat on the top of the stairs and listened. Don't try to change the subject."

Harry glared. "You weren't supposed to hear that. You know, I told you to stay upstairs for a reason."

"Harry, he hit you." Seamus repeated. Was Harry more concerned with Seamus knowing about what happened then with the actual abuse? How long had this been going on?

"He just slapped me."

"Like that makes a difference!" Seamus exclaimed.

"Keep your voice down." Harry hissed, throwing a glance at the door as though he expected someone to enter the room at any moment, "You're not going to tell anyone." It was a command, not a request.

"Harry, that's abuse. It's not supposed to happen. You know that, right?"

"I know very well what it is." Harry snapped, "But as long as I'm here, there's nothing I can do about it. Don't worry about it, I know how to deal with my uncle."

"Don't worry! Harry- Why don't you leave? I'm sure the Weasley's would love to have you live with them. Or you could stay at Hogwarts -"

"I have to stay here."

"No you don't. Didn't you hear what I said? Anyone would love to have you live with them. Hell I don't care if you moved in with me. You shouldn't be living in this -"

"I have to stay here because it's the only place in the world that Voldemort can't get me."

A shiver ran up Seamus's spine as Harry said the name of the wizard that the entire world feared. That was one of the many things that reminded Seamus of just how different his roommate was from the rest of the school. No one said You-Know-Who's name. They didn't dare. Dumbledore was the only one who would use it. The only one You-Know-Who feared. And yet, Harry had never had any trouble using his name either.

Suddenly the rest of what Harry had said registered. This was the only place that You-Know-Who couldn't get to? That stopped Seamus for a moment. How was that possible? Why was this Muggle house the only place that You-Know-Who could not breach? Why not ward off Hogwarts instead?

"How? How can this be the only place You-Know -Who can't get to? Couldn't you just set up the wards somewhere else? I mean, I'm assuming there are wards around the house."

"Of course there are wards. Weren't you listening in Dumbledore's office yesterday? I have to be where my mother's blood resides. That mean, wherever my aunt and cousin are living. They can't construct these wards anywhere else."

"Why?" Seamus asked, his brow furrowing in confusion. "Why do you have to stay where your mother's blood lives? I mean it's pretty obvious that your relatives don't really like– I mean, that you don't get along very..."

"That they hate my guts and think I'm an abnormal freak who's entire purpose on earth is to ruin their lives?" Harry finished frankly. Something akin to amusement flickered across his face, not meeting his eyes. "It's alright, I'm used to it."

Seamus could only stare.

"I have to live with my relatives because my mother sacrificed herself for me when I was a baby." said Harry patiently. Then he scowled. "Despite popular belief, I had absolutely nothing to do with Avada Kedavra bouncing off my head as a baby. When Voldemort" Seamus flinched, "came after my family he killed my dad first. My dad tried to hold him off so my mum could get away with me. But Voldemort still caught up with my mum and me. He told my mum that she didn't have to die, but she insisted that he kill her instead of me. So he killed her and then he tried to kill me, but then I had my mother's love for protection and you know how well that worked."

"Do you... do you remember that night?" Seamus asked, interested in spite of himself. He hardly noticed that Harry had managed to change the topic.

"No." Harry shook his head before adding, "Dementors."

Seamus sucked in a breath and a memory of Harry falling 50 feet from his broom during the Quiddich match where the Dementors had attacked. No wonder Harry was so effected by Dementors. If Seamus heard his parents being murdered when he was near Dementors then he would probably faint too. Or worse.

"You hear your parents being killed whenever you're near Dementors? That's horrible."

"I did. Somehow I doubt I'd hear them anymore."

"What–" Seamus started, but then he realized what Harry meant. Something worse. Something worse had happened to Harry. Worse than having his parents being murdered in front of him.

Seamus couldn't imagine.

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Please Review! I had a nightmare of a time writing this chapter and would like to hear what you think of it. Thanks!