Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Characters/Seamus Finnigan
| Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter - Character | |
| Seamus Finnigan | |
|---|---|
| Gender | Male |
| Hair color | Sandy (Brown-ish blond) |
| Eye color | Blue |
| Related Family | Witch mother, Muggle father. Cousin Fergus (mentioned in the 6th book) |
| Loyalty | Albus Dumbledore, Gryffindor House |
Overview
editSeamus Finnigan is a member of Gryffindor House in Harry's year. He shares a dormitory with Harry, Ron, Dean Thomas, and Neville Longbottom.
Role in the Books
editHarry notes that the Sorting Hat takes almost a full minute to decide that Seamus is a Gryffindor.
It is Seamus who asks how someone can be "nearly headless", which prompts Nearly Headless Nick to demonstrate. Seamus also asks why the Bloody Baron is all covered in blood, to which Nick responds, primly, that he had never asked.
Talking about families, Seamus says that he's half and half, that his mother had not revealed she was a witch until after she had married his father.
In Defence Against the Dark Arts, Professor Quirrell says that his strange purple turban was a gift from an African prince for dealing with a troublesome zombie. When Seamus asked excitedly how he had fought the zombie, Quirrell turned all pink and started talking about the weather. (Note: this is the only mention of "zombies" in the series, and thus is highly suspect. The magical construct most closely allied to the Muggle concept of zombies is the Inferius.)
When Neville manages to melt Seamus' cauldron in their first Potions class, he is splashed by the potion he is attempting to make and breaks out in boils. Professor Snape has Seamus take Neville to the Hospital Wing.
As flying lessons approach, Seamus, like everyone else, seems to have stories about flying, which makes Harry feel uncertain about the chances of his learning to fly acceptably.
When it comes time for Harry to make an object fly in Charms class, he is relieved to be paired up with Seamus, as Neville had been trying to catch his eye. Seamus, as it turns out, is not much better than Neville would have been; their feather remains stubbornly inert, until Seamus pokes it with his wand and sets it on fire.
Seamus is one of the students urging Harry to eat something at breakfast before his first Quidditch match. Seamus' comments that Harry will need his strength, as the Seeker is generally singled out by the opposite team, coupled with his dumping ketchup on his sausages, quite puts Harry off.
Over Christmas, Harry learns Wizard Chess from Ron. It is mentioned that Ron's set were from his grandfather, and he knew them well enough that they would do what he asked, while Harry's set, borrowed from Seamus, did not trust him and kept shouting out confusing advice.
Seamus expresses admiration in regards to Harry and Ron's arrival via a flying car.
In their first Defence Against the Dark Arts class, Seamus asks how dangerous Cornish Pixies are.
During Professor Lockhart's dueling club, Seamus is partnered with Ron, and is a victim to Ron's malfunctioning wand.
Seamus chooses divination as one of his electives and tells Harry that Sirius Black has been sighted near the school.
In the first Defence Against the Dark Arts class, facing the Boggart, we find that Seamus' greatest fear is the "banshee," which he defeats by having it lose its voice.
He also pays his first trip to Hogsmeade and presumably spends it with Dean Thomas.
When Sir. Cadogan is appointed in the Fat Lady's place, following Sirus Black's attack, he angrily states that he's barking mad, although Percy Weasley says that 'no other portrait wanted the job'.
Later on in the year, he is impressed when Harry receives a Firebolt for Christmas and Seamus is impressed. After Gryffindor beats Ravenclaw in a Quidditch Match, Seamus is very happy. Seamus also wakes up when Ron announces that Sirius Black broke into the boy's Gryffindor dormitory.
Over the summer, Seamus, Dean, and his mother attend the Quidditch World Cup between Bulgaria and Ireland. Being Irish, he supports the latter.
When he arrives at Hogwarts, he learns that The Triwizard Tournament will take place. He also attends Alastor Moody's (Actually Barty Crouch Jr. in disguise) first Defense Against The Dark Arts lesson along with the other Gryffindors.
When Harry opens the Golden Egg after the First Trask, the loud screech it makes, makes Seamus think Harry has to fight a banshee in the second one.
Seamus accompanies Lavender Brown to the Yule Ball. He is a low profile character other than that.
When Harry and Neville return to the dormitory at the start of the year, Dean says that Seamus has had a rough summer. Seamus says that his mother had not wanted him to return to the school, partly because of Harry, partly because of Dumbledore. Seamus uncomfortably admits that his mother reads the Daily Prophet. Harry angrily suggests that if Seamus believes that Harry is a liar and mental, maybe he should ask McGonagall to change his dorm so he does not have to stay in a room with Harry, so as to calm his mother down. Ron, coming upon this tableau, suggests that Seamus should shut up before he gets detention. Seamus considers and then goes silently to bed.
In the morning, Harry wants to clear the air between himself and Seamus, but Seamus is gone before Harry is fully awake.
Seamus apparently is left wondering on the second day of classes when, as Harry enters the greenhouse for Herbology, Ernie Macmillan loudly states that he believes Harry's report of the return of Voldemort.
Harry gives an interview to Rita Skeeter about the events surrounding Voldemort's return. The following Monday at dinner, he tells Dean and Neville about it. Dean is awestruck, and says he can not wait to see Umbridge's reaction. Seamus is not taking part in the conversation, but Harry can tell that he is listening. When the interview appears in the Quibbler, Seamus steps out of the queue at Transfiguration class to tell Harry that he believes Harry, and that he has sent a copy of the magazine to his mother.
In the final meeting of Dumbledore's Army in April, which is mentioned as being the first time Seamus attends, the class is working on Patronuses. Several people in the class are having trouble; Lavender and Neville, in particular, can only produce little bits of white vapour. Seamus calls out that he's doing it, but before Harry can look, it has disappeared; Seamus says that he was not sure what it was, but that it was hairy.
When Harry decides to make use of a diversion provided by Fred and George to get into Umbridge's office so he can speak with Sirius, Hermione tries to dissuade him. In Potions class, she speaks in a vehement hiss, and Seamus spends five minutes checking his cauldron for leaks as a result.
Following the final OWL exam, Dean and Seamus tell Harry that they are planning a dusk-to-dawn end of OWLs celebration and suggest that one of the students, Harold Dingle, believes that he can get some Firewhisky. Harry is in a panic, trying to get in contact with Sirius, and pushes past without answering.
Seamus manages to get into N.E.W.T classes for at least Defence Against The Dark Arts, Charms and Transfiguration. He also tries out for Quidditch as a chaser, but does not get it much to his disappointment. Later in the year, Apparition lessons are planned to take place and Seamus says that, 'My cousin Fergus used to do it just to annoy me, you wait until I can do it back'. During Charms class when they had to learn how to conjure water from their wands, Seamus, concentrating more on Apparition than the class, waved his wand wildly, setting off a hose-like jet of water and knocked Professor Flitwick flat on his face. As punishment, Flitwick made Seamus write ordinary lines ("I am a wizard, not a baboon brandishing a stick").
Later in the year, Dumbledore is murdered by Severus Snape. Seamus attends Dumbledore's funeral to pay his respects.
Seamus is among the members of Dumbledore's Army in the Room of Requirement when Harry, Ron and Hermione return with Neville. His face is so badly bruised however, then Harry doesn't recognize him until he speaks.
Seamus is one of the three who cast Patronuses when Harry is about to be overwhelmed on the verge of the Forbidden Forest; the other two are Ernie Macmillan and Luna Lovegood.
As the renewed battle rages, Harry, from under the Invisibility Cloak, casts Shield spells in the path of Voldemort's curses. Voldemort's intended victims, Hannah and Seamus, run past and into the Great Hall.
He also witnesses Hagrid carrying Harry's "dead" body back to the school grounds. However, he learns later that Harry was pretending to be dead. He also hears that Harry has defeated Lord Voldemort and celebrates with the rest of the teachers and students at Hogwarts.
Strengths
editWeaknesses
editRelationships with Other Characters
editIs Dean Thomas' best friend. He is also close with Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Neville Longbottom.
Analysis
editIt is noted that Seamus had joined Dumbledore's Army for only its last session before it was discovered and disbanded. This timing is, in fact, rather important. Harry has noted and tried to work around the fact that there are an even number of people (including himself) in the DA; most often, he has the students pair up so they can practice on each other, and as he cannot generally be one of the pairs, as he has to inspect and correct the other students, he often creates a single group of three, Neville, Hermione, and Ron. In the final session, Marietta Edgecombe is not present because she is telling Professor Umbridge about the group; Harry would be much more likely to notice her absence if suddenly he could pair everyone up. Seamus's presence, by keeping the number of working students odd, prevents Harry noticing that Marietta is missing, and thus helps provide the necessary surprise.
Questions
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