It's been a long day Date: June 6, 2025 Characters: Colin Creevey, Dalton Pucey, other Gryffs? Location: Gryffindor Tower Common Room Private/Public: Public-ish Rating/Warnings: Doubtful Summary: Colin crashes at the end of first day exams.
Colin couldn't believe it. His Patronus had formed, but been shadowy in a disappointing way. He'd dealt with the water tank of Grindelows well enough (they learned that in fourth year!), but his shields weren't strong without the courage of conviction behind them. Professor Potter had been encouraging, knowing that Colin simply wasn't a Defense guy and would hopefully never have reason to be, but Colin had been beating himself up about it since early that morning. His written exam had gone much better, he had a feeling he'd at least aced that portion. Some Head Boy he turned out to be.
Shaking his head at the thought yet again, he collapsed into one of the wingback chairs by the fireplace and pulled out his Transfiguration notes to revise while still awake enough to. Pucey came in full of bravado, "Creevey, heard you bit it on shields - didn't you learn you that like first year?" Dalton looked to a third year and grinned, "Nailed it, I did." And he winked. It was the wink that got to Colin - it wasn't something to brag about, wasn't something to terrorize younger students about! Dalton was a barely walking grunt who was better served in the fields, had no business learning the finer arts of magic and Colin stood, his books forgotten.
"Oh yeah, big man, all brute force and bang, right?" His voice was low but he knew Dalton had heard him.
Pucey turned to him, "What was that? This from the kid who can barely raise his wand for the fear of it. And I'm not talking about magic," he spit the words, obviously trying to impress the younger kids.
"Oh sure, resort to making fun of me, but tell me what happens when that big bad Dark Wizard hits you with a Septumspectra? What do you do when he drains your body of water and you only know the false spell of Agua to try and save your miserable excuse for a life?" Colin didn't know where the anger had come from - he rarely had a temper - but it felt good to go after his tormentor, finally. "And what about when your father isn't there to skate you through potions? You think you'll get an Herbology degree without knowing shite about where the plants go? Or do you think medical supplies and health supplements just appear after you're done rolling around in the dirt?" His voice was raised now and he knew the other kids weren't impressed anymore so much as confused a little fearful. Dalton was looking merely surprised and made to turn away.
"Whatever you say, Creevey, but at least I'll be doing something about it all, instead of hiding behind the Potters." With that thrown over his shoulder, Pucey made his way out of the portrait hole and back into the castle, leaving Colin to collapse back into the chair with his head in his hands.