AN: For Camp Potter 2017!

Let Me Explain (Dean/Seamus)

"Let me explain!" called out Dean, jogging to catch up with Seamus. The leaves crunched under his feet, the reds and browns highlighted by the sun's rising and the halo of anger radiating from the young Irishman.

"Explain what?" asked Seamus, his Irish accent punctuated by his anger. "Why you didn't send me one letter during the holidays? Or why you disappeared without a trace—only so I could find out you were alive through your radio channel?"

"Seamus—"

"Seamus, what? Do you know how worried I was—how worried we all were?"

"If I'd have messaged you, it would have put you—and everyone else in danger. And trust me when I say it would have been so dangerous that you'd forget all your concerns about me."

Seamus tried to interrupt, looking outraged, but Dean continued.

"I kept trust in the fact you'd find Potterwatch, and that you'd find me—and you did," he added softly.

Under the canopy provided by the Forbidden Forest, Dean stepped closer to Seamus, registering his flushed face.

"I know you're angry; I knew you would be—"

"Too bloody right," said Seamus, but there was no real venom in his words.

The two of them stood, completely silent, before Seamus whispered:

"Never do that to me again."

A painful lump rose in Dean's throat at the pain and pure relief in Seamus' voice, and as he unsuccessfully tried swallowing it down, he allowed a strangled promise of I won't pass by his lips.