Colin took a hesitant step forward, when Dennis stumbled backwards. It broke his heart, the nearly frightened, wild look in Dennis’ eyes, the panicked tone in his little brothers voice. He just wanted to hug him, to pull him close and assure him that everything was going to be. Just looking at him, Colin was concerned. He was taller, but almost gaunt looking and yet so much more grown up than he could have anticipated. There was a swell in his heart, looking at his brother and how much of a man he was now.
Colin chewed his lip, leaning against a close by tree, careful not to be too close at first. “Dennis.” He said with a slight, shaky sigh. “Remember, in your first year, when we were grabbing all sorts of random books off the shelves in the library, and Madame Pince got annoyed because we were making all sorts of messes and racket. And then, later that night, we read a bit about time turners, and how cool they were. And so we tried to make one out of spare bits of parchment?” Colin played with his camera nervously, a habit he’d had since he was a little kid going off to Hogwarts for the first time, but his eyes stayed glued to his brothers form.
“Well, the village is kind of like a time turner. See, you’re here from some time in the future, yeah? Well, I’m not. I’m from the late hours of May 1st 1998. A few hours out from… the battle. I mean, I was still there, but I’m here as well. Two places at once. It’s kinda complicated, but the founders are here too. And a whole buncha kids from the future. It may not seem like it, but things are pretty brilliant here.” Colin finally reached out towards Dennis, pushing off of his tree towards his brother, hesitantly putting his hand on his shoulder to guide him into a hug, but not force him into it if he didn’t want to.
“But, we’re both here, Dennis. And well, I think that’s pretty cool, you know?”