barcelona [ethan]

[Deleted]

Séamus wasn’t really one for Quidditch, normally. There were a lot of people around all the time, and he personally thought that competition brought out the worst in a lot of people, especially when it was for something like house points. It was funny, Shay thought, how something as petty as winning the house cup could cause spitting and cursing and all manner of unpleasantness. Shay continued to ponder whether it was only his own mild manners that led to this conclusion as he began to make his way to his seat. Despite all of his ambivalence about Quidditch, Séamus was still watching the match. Dom had asked him to come watch her play, and just about everyone who knew the Slytherin knew that he wasn’t good at saying no to his friend. As he neared his intended seat, away from most of the other students so that he wouldn’t have to talk too much, Shay realized that the area wasn’t as empty as he had originally thought. There was a ghost sitting in one of the seats – or hovering above it, Séamus wasn’t sure which. The Slytherin hadn’t ever known a ghost to like to watch Quidditch, but there was a first time for everything. “H-hello.” He greeted, sitting down a seat or two away from the ghost to maintain a polite distance.

@ghostethan

[Deleted]

Quidditch. Ethans favorite thing about Hogwarts. He had once been the Ravenclaw team captain, and now his Dom was. Dom, his best friend for most of his life. Actually, now that he thought of it, she had been his best friend for a little under half of his life. He had met her when he was 12, and only lived til the age of 17. It was incredibly sad to think about it that way. He much preferred to think of it as most of his life, because she was there for all of the most important parts.

This pitch was there too, for a lot of vital moments in his growing up. He had fallen in love with the game, and was planning to make a career out of it. He was going to go on, get onto a team, play for quite a few years and then retire from the sport to be a professor at Hogwarts. Now he was here, forever, or for as long as it took him to move on, whatever that science was. He hadn't considered that professor Binns was a ghost and a professor, so maybe he could consider something similar. But then Binns had been teaching for years before he died, Ethan hadn't taught at all. Maybe it was something he could look to in the future, but he hadn't thought of it yet. He was too busy still being fairly forlorn about his state.

He was in the stands, which wasn't a big surprise, it was one of his normal hang out spots. He saw someone nearby, but he didn't say anything. He just settled above one of the seats, and looked out at the pitch, imagining he was watching a practice, one were he was giving his team pointers and goals and plans. He could see Dom clearly in his mind, right out there on a broomstick. He was so focused on this nostalgic shade of her that he didn't notice the boy had said something at first. Then, it registered in his brain and he turned to look, giving a sweet and soft smile. "Hi there," he said gently.

@seamus

[Deleted]

One of the best things about ghosts in the wizarding world was that they were nothing like Muggle movies made them out to be. Most of them weren’t all that mean or scary – they were just lost people who were looking to find a purpose in their life after it ended. There was something that Séamus found so profoundly sad about ghosts – not because they had died, necessarily, but because those who were living forgot that ghosts had once been alive, too. Shay couldn’t remember the last time he had seen someone talking to a ghost when it wasn’t for the personal gain for the living person. He was somewhat guilty of it, too, since Séamus could be more than slightly intimidating by talking to anyone, and that extended to the unliving. But Shay was going to change the unfortunate pattern of misunderstood ghosts, and the slightly less unfortunate pattern of him being afraid to talk to others. Stupid shyness.

“Do you normally watch Quidditch games?” The Slytherin asked, voice equally mild as the ghost’s as he continued the conversation. Since they were sitting in the stands, Séamus assumed that the ghost intended to watch this game, but maybe that wasn’t a correct assumption, either. Shay just waited for an answer, not wanting to say anything else for fear of getting it wrong.

@ghostethan

[Deleted]

The kid asked him if he normally watched games and Ethan nodded, but was frowning a bit. "I used to play them, actually. Before..." he stopped. This was all too new for him still. He had only been back four days, after all. "Do you have any friends playing? I like how all the houses are mixed together, for the most part. We should do things like this more often," they, he thought, they should do things like it more often. He wasn't any part of this anymore. He wished he had thought of this idea when he was the Raven Quidditch Captain. That would have been great. Maybe then he and Cordie could have played on the same team, and that would have been fun. She was a scary opponent, though, back in the day. Still, it would have been nice to see more inter-house teamwork rather than the teams being separate all of the time. He had a good feeling about this game, even if he had to just watch... but making a new friend seemed to be a good idea. That could cheer him up, right?

@seamus

[Deleted]

Shay nodded diplomatically when the ghost said that he had used to play Quidditch, before he died. Pointing out that dying would put a damper on the game wasn’t very nice, and Séamus had no intention of doing that, especially since the ghost seemed so sad about the whole thing. And why shouldn’t he be? Dying wasn’t exactly sunshine and roses, especially because he looked so young… Shay blinked when the other boy asked if he had any friends playing, and then nodded. “D-Dominique.” He responded. Under other circumstances, Shay probably would have described her as ‘the redhead’, but there was more than one redhead on the pitch for that game. “I w-wish th-they w-would h-have d-done it earlier in the y-year. S-so the f-foreign k-kids c-could p-play.” Most of the foreign students seemed to be disinterested in the Hogwarts kids now that they were no longer shiny and new. But having a cross-school Quidditch game would have been a great way to promote unity. “T-too b-bad th-there aren’t f-flower c-competitions.” Shay lamented. He would have liked a chance to prove his skills, but his mother would kill him if he so much as looked at a broom the wrong way.

@ghostethan

[Deleted]

The boy answered Ethans question, and Ethan felt a mix of emotions. Happiness, first, because he was always glad to know that Dom had friends. Irritation, second, because he and Dom hadn't spoken since he got back five days ago and... he hadn't been that accommodating as a friend. But what did she expect? He had died. Was that so hard to understand that this was a scary, horrible thing? He took in a breath and nodded as the guy went on, stuttering as he went. Ethan didn't mind that. One of his best friends in school stuttered, and was also half deaf, so Ethan was used to the sound. It was just like talking with anyone to him, really.

Ethan smiled at the boys last words, "you work with flowers?" he asked, taking interest in that first and foremost. It was a unique skill, something that Ethan had definitely not done in his lifetime.

@seamus

[Deleted]

Séamus nodded at the ghost’s question about him working with flowers. “I’ve b-been d-doing m-more w-with H-Herbology l-lately.” That wasn’t really by choice – Shay just knew that it would be a lot easier to get a job in Herbology than it would be to get a job in floristry. He did like all kinds of plants, so it wasn’t that much of a burden, but he definitely preferred flowers, which didn’t try to bite him or poison him or anything. “B-but I l-like m-making b-bouquets. The ones at the B-ball w-were p-pretty.” Séamus paused. Since he hadn’t seen this ghost before, he wasn’t entirely sure how long the ghost had been around, which meant it was possible that the other boy had no clue what he was talking about when he mentioned the ball. Still, Séamus didn’t want to assume that the ghost hadn’t been there and insult his intelligence, so he just clamped his mouth shut.

@ghostethan

[Deleted]

The guy said he was doing more with Herbology lately, adding that he liked making bouqeuts. "I always like bouquets," Ethan shared. He hadn't seen the ones at the ball but... in fact, it took him a moment to figure out what ball the kid was talking about. The ball that came with the tournament, probably? Ethan had read about that. "What's that ball called again? I just erh.... materialized a few days ago. Ethan Johnson," he introduced, giving another genuine smile. It was kind of nice to talk to someone who didn't know who he was right away. He didn't get all that sympathy and panic from the get go with this guy. He was just nice and honest. Though, he was sure most of the students knew his name now since he was killed in the school... but he hoped that it wouldn't make this guy be any less personable.

@seamus

[Deleted]

Shay smiled when the ghost said that he liked bouquets. In his opinion, everyone should like bouquets, but it was nice to know that flowers were something that he could enjoy even after death. Not that Séamus thought that he’d ever want to be a ghost, since his Muggle family couldn’t see him because of the Statute of Secrecy and he wouldn’t be able to do anything other than float around thinking about flowers. The ghost asked what the Ball was called, but that wasn’t what Shay focused on. Instead, the ghost’s name echoed in his ears. It was Ethan. Dom’s Ethan. Suddenly Séamus was very grateful for his stutter, because Ethan wouldn’t be able to see how freaked out Séamus was by how the Slytherin’s voice sounded. “Y-Yule B-Ball.” He answered, still trying to collect the rest of his thoughts. “D-Dom t-told m-me about you.” Shay blurted out.

@ghostethan

[Deleted]

Seamus told him what the ball was called, but then mentioned Dom. Ethan didn't mean for his shoulders to slump a little at the thought that Dom told him about Ethan. That meant hat Seamus probably knew how much Dom loved him. Or at least the fact that they had been best friends. And, in turn, he probably knew how much Ethan had loved her. Ethan turned back toward the game, lifting a hand to ruffle through his ghost hair. Don't ask how, but ghosts can do that. "She did, huh," he meant it as a question but it didn't come out that way. It came out... scared. A small, frightened sound. Like one a lost kitten would make when found in the pouring rain, hiding under a car hood. He cleared his throat, "well, I... don't know what else to say," he managed to get out, chuckling nervously.

@seamus

[Deleted]

Shay nodded when Ethan made his comment about Dominique telling the Slytherin about the ghost… who definitely hadn’t been a ghost at the time of their conversation. That was probably rude, telling someone else the details of a private conversation like that, but… “All g-good th-things.” Of course Ethan knew that, though – Dom didn’t have a mean bone in her body. She had a couple competitive ones, but those were two very different things, as long as you didn’t tease her about losing. Ethan said that he didn’t know what else to say, and Séamus echoed the other boy’s nervous chuckle. “M-me n-neither.” He hadn’t known Ethan when the other boy was alive, so it wasn’t like they had much common ground to go on. So, Shay decided, he was just going to have to make some common ground. “D-do you l-like l-lavender? You l-look l-like a l-lavender k-kind of g-guy.” Yup. All Séamus knew how to talk about was flowers, so he was just going to keep talking about those.

@ghostethan

[Deleted]

Seamus said that Dom said all good things about him, which made him look down for a moment and take in a long, quiet breath. He knew she wouldn't say bad things, of course, but it still was nice to hear that she... said good things. All good things. Then, as Ethan said he didn't know what to say, Seamus chuckled too and said he didn't know either. Ethan stayed silent, but Seamus broke it with a question of Lavender. Ethan looked over at him with a smile, "I guess I do, yeah. I don't know if there's any flower I don't like. They're all nice," he said dumbly. "I'm afraid I don't have much knowledge about them. Lavender tea is great for trying to relax, though. And I like the color," he explained.

@seamus

[Deleted]

Ethan smiled at him, and Shay smiled back, glad that his awkward icebreaker question hadn’t resulted in the ghost leaving him behind or laughing or something. Séamus already thought that Ethan was a pretty great person, given that he was friends with Dom and Dom was a great person. Ethan went on to say that he didn’t know if there were any flowers he disliked, but that was from a lack of knowledge. “If you w-want to f-float to the g-greenhouses s-sometime, I c-could sh-show y-you.” Séamus suggested. He was all for sharing his knowledge of flowers with people, and he was sure that Ethan could probably use someone treating him like a normal human being even though he was dead. “D-do you n-need s-someone to t-talk to?” Séamus blurted out. “I m-mean, about b-being a g-ghost.” Shay was sure that Ethan had already talked about it some, but that was probably with someone he had known when he was alive, and maybe having someone who didn’t have any expectations of Ethan would be good for the other boy.

@ghostethan

[Deleted]

Shay invited him to the Greenhouses to show him his flowers and Ethan nodded, smiling. "I would love that," he said. It would be nice to do anything aside from feeling sorry for himself, really. But then Shay asked if he needed someone to talk to and Ethan winced a little at the word 'ghost'. He was silent for a moment, but before he answered the crowd cheered and Ethan glance back at the game. After another few moments he turned back to Shay. "That'd be... actually," he had an idea, "what I really could use is something to help me write things down. Like letters?" he spoke quickly as they idea rushed out of him. "Would you be interested in that?"

@seamus

[Deleted]

Séamus had to admit that he was over the moon to have someone who actually wanted to visit the greenhouses with him. He was sure that Dom would go if he asked, but there was a difference between someone coming because they wanted to make him happy and coming because they were actually interested in learning about flowers. Ethan winced at the word ghost, and Shay reached up to pat his shoulder… before realizing he couldn’t actually pat anything. He was going to need to find a way around that, Séamus decided. Physical contact was so important to feeling normal, and not having it must have been weird. “I c-can d-do th-that!” Shay answered immediately, excited by the prospect of being able to help Ethan. “S-sometimes I f-flip m-my l-letters w-when I wr-write, b-but it’s st-still r-readable.” And having someone else thinking up the words for him to write would remove a lot of stress around writing for Séamus, so maybe reversed letters wouldn’t even be a problem.

@ghostethan