Who: Rose, Colin, Justin What: running into Colin! When: this was totally written on Tuesday THAT IS WHY COLIN DOESN'T HAVE A WARNING. Where: some random house in a Muggle neighborhood. Warnings: oh god the SAD PANDA that is Colin Creevey. Status: Incomplete
Leaving the house always felt a little exposed, to Rose. But she knew they couldn’t stay in there, not forever; there were things needed from the outside world, things that sometimes could be bought and sometimes had to be stolen (she leaned more towards stealing, personally; if she ever needed money, she didn’t want to have spent it all on things that she could get for free!). She did feel a little better with Justin beside her; at least he could do magic without being tracked down, she wasn’t quite sure why she wasn’t able to. She moved as quickly as she possibly could out the door, letting Justin take care of the wards or whatever it was he did when they left (she didn’t pay attention, really, considering she didn’t expect to have to break into the place where they were staying), looking up and down the street for any danger.
Colin had been working on things for work, but he’d gotten a bit side-tracked. It wasn’t his fault he couldn’t keep his focus running all the time. Even his mum had said so. He turned to take care of two people coming out of a house, smiling at the way they interacted. He didn’t realize until he’d taken the picture that one of them, the boy, was doing magic. A wizard! Oh! He squirmed a little, letting his camera rest against his chest again. Oh, but they may be the kind that he was supposed to look out for. Luna said to look out for himself. He started thinking over the many names he had stored up. Which one would he remember to respond to more?
What if they knew him? He blinked a few times before watching them. The boy looked familiar. He wasn’t positive at this distance who it was. He tilted his head to the side, watching them for a moment longer before his mind reminded him that might appear strange. He looked down quickly and turned. It was probably better to walk away now. Walk away.
Another day, time to find another place to hide. After four years of this, Justin should have been used to the process, but he still felt overwhelmingly nervous every time they left one place to find another. What if someone found them again? What if they got bombarded while moving between places? What if he did his wards and charms wrong or Rose had to use her magic which always seemed to get them caught? So many questions, not enough time to find the answers to them all. Oh, but he tried. He hated not having all the answers. He wanted to know so badly why Rose’s magic was different than his.
He didn’t notice the flash of a camera as he lowered his wand and ran a hand over Max’s head, patting him confidently on his side. He liked Max. Max, unlike most humans, was easy for Justin to understand. There was no guessing whether Max was on your side, or not.
“I have some money left from the houses I did last week, want to splurge on a pizza?” he asked Rose. They really did deserve a real meal, and though pizza wasn’t healthy, it was something they could easily take with them to have leftovers for the next couple of days, at least. Still, he did not notice the young boy observing them from a distance. If his charms worked right, they were mostly hidden from Muggles and Justin was pretty sure he’d done his charms perfectly.
It was Max that noticed the flash first, and when his head moved Rose’s jerked up to see where he was looking. Shit, someone had taken a picture. Before Justin had even finished talking, she had moved, quick as lightning, using the bushes in front of the house to get to the boy before he could move.
The camera was out of his hands and in hers, her fingers stickier than glue. Backing off a little ways, she examined it, keeping the boy in her peripheral vision as she tried to figure out how to open it. “What d’you think you’re taking pictures of?” she asked, glaring at him vehemently. If she couldn’t figure out how to open it, she was just going to smash the blasted thing. Before he could summon it back, if he could do that. She couldn’t tell if he was a wizard or not.
Colin let out a surprised gasp as the girl he’d taken a picture of grabbed his camera. He reached for it, eyes watering slightly. Hector! “Just...just you guys standing there. I thought you looked very...like you. I don’t know you but...” His voice trailed off and he held out his hand. “Please. Hector didn’t do anything to you, and I didn’t mean to take pictures of you if it upset you. I’m sorry. Please. It’s the only thing from home outside of my brother that I have left.”
He couldn’t stop himself from starting to cry the longer it was in her hands and not with him. “I won’t show anyone the picture.” His voice shook as he spoke, heart pounding in his chest. “I didn’t mean to take a picture of you doing magic and I really am sorry. Please give Hector back. Please don’t hurt him. I don’t know if I can fix him proper if you do.” His voice grew soft at the end, hand still reaching out for his camera.
Justin’s eyes widened as Rose darted off. Blast. He gripped his wand tighter and went after her toward the blonde boy she approached. How had he messed up the charms? What had he done wrong? But then, as he approached the two and caught sight of the boy’s face, Justin’s eyes widened even more. “C-- Colin?” he stammered. Impossible, right? Were there really others out there? Was it really this likely to run into someone he actually knew?
Gaining his sense, Justin held up his wand, hand shaking. He hated to do this as the sight of the boy’s tears made him want to lower his wand and just hug him, but he had to keep Rose, Max and himself safe.
“How did the DA get its name and what was our last lesson?” he asked, voice cracking. Please, please let it be Colin. He didn’t think he could actually fight a Death Eater if it was someone following them in disguise.
Rose stared, wide-eyed, as the boy reacted; he looked like he was about to cry. She had never encountered that sort of reaction before, but then again, she didn’t usually give people the chance to react when she stole things from them. She was still trying to figure out the camera, though, and contemplating smashing it despite the fact that it would probably turn this stranger into a wibbly mess, except that Justin recognized him.
She took a quick step sideways, standing closer to Justin, one hand shooting out to grab hold of Max’s collar when he came up beside her. Now she was just holding the camera, as if it was a hostage, not entirely sure what was transpiring. If Colin knew the answer to that question, did that mean he was safe? Rose didn’t know, but she seemed to have gotten them some leverage over him at least, unless he was faking it. She waited, tensely, to see how this would turn out.
Colin stared as he saw Justin’s face. “Justin?” He wanted to cling to him, but then his wand was held out toward him. His lower lip quivered and he cleared his throat, wiping at his eyes. “Dumbledore’s Army. We were going to be exactly what Umbridge feared.” He sniffed lightly. “And the Patronus. We learned about Patronuses last.” He kept his hand held out.
“Please, Justin. I just want Hector. Can’t I just have him back?” He stepped closer. “It’s me, Colin. Please. My uncle gave me that camera when I got my letter for Hogwarts. He said I was a very special boy.” He looked at the girl, eyes slightly wider than normal. “Please. He’ll think I’ve been irresponsible if it gets broken. He won’t think I’m special anymore. He’ll think I’ve been very bad.”
Justin lowered his wand, eyes still wide. It was Colin! Colin Creevey! Another DA member! Colin! His first instinct should have been to get Hector back for Colin, but instead it was to move forward and hug the younger boy. He’d never been so glad to see someone other than Rose in four years! Normally, if he and Rose saw someone--witches or wizards--other than each other, it wasn’t a good thing.
He moved back after he’d hugged Colin, though, and looked at Rose. “It’s okay, Rose, he’s one of us! His camera is safe, too.” He didn’t know what to do about someone crying, but he did know he didn’t like that Colin was crying. If he got Hector back, would that make things better? It was hard to concentrate on anything but the fact that they’d somehow found another one of them! They weren’t alone! “Colin, is there anyone else with you?” Justin could hope, right? Maybe the entire DA was around somewhere! Maybe all hope was not lost for them!
If Justin was hugging Colin, then he had to be safe. Apparently he was part of a sort of army thing, even. Rose didn’t know what that army was, but the mention of it made her feel better anyway. She stepped forward, one hand still reassuringly on Max’s collar (he was even more nervous about Colin than she was), and held out the camera to the stranger.
“Here,” she said, and then belatedly, “Sorry. I’m Rose, like he said. And this is Max.” She wondered if she was going to be expected to hug him, too. She didn’t normally give hugs to people she didn’t know.
As Justin’s arms wrapped around him, Colin held onto him tightly. His breath was still shaking a little, but he stopped crying. He looked up as Rose held out his camera, taking it in his hand. Hector. His breathing started to even out. It was okay. Hector was here, Justin was here, and he was going to be okay. “Thank you,” he said quietly. He buried his face into Justin’s neck for a moment. He just wanted to breathe in something familiar, even if he couldn’t claim to know what Justin smelled like before.
At Justins words, he pulled back to look at him. “Dennis. Dennis is the only one I have with me.” He didn’t want to let go. Not now or ever...well, maybe later. He nuzzled against Justin a little longer before stepping back. “I saw Luna. She’s in danger, I think. Something’s the matter. She said to be careful.”