Colin Creevey and the Search for a Hero: The Giant Serpent

Colin Creevey and the Search for a Hero (continued)

CHAPTER TEN- THE FIRST DAY

In the morning, Colin slung his camera around his neck, bolted down his breakfast and headed straight for the owlery to send a message to Dennis. There seemed to be every color and size of owl imaginable. Colin picked out a pretty gray one with somewhat speckled feathers and rolled up his rather long note to Dennis, tying it to the owl's leg. He had written until his hand was cramping, all about Harry Potter and Gilderoy Lockhart, the Sorting Hat and the Great Hall, and the amazing castle. Once the note was tied on firmly the owl soared straight out the owlery window and Colin raced to the window and snapped several photos of the owl soaring over the grounds and out of sight.

Colin was hoping to find Harry eating breakfast in the Great Hall, but evidently Harry had already left. However, Percy wasted no time in passing Colin his class schedule, and he saw that the morning was filled with History of Magic followed by Defense Against the Dark Arts. He walked the corridors slowly on his way to class; taking pictures of the castle, the ghosts, and the suits of armor- all the amazing things he could see. History turned out to be rather dull- almost like history back home, except that Professor Binns was a ghost and entered the classroom by floating through the blackboard. He wondered how Professor Binns would manage to write on the blackboard, or even hand out and grade their solid exams, as his lecture notes seemed made of the same semi-transparent material that the ghosts were, and he seemed to pass right through anything solid.

Colin was really looking forward to Defense Against the Dark Arts and the chance to see Gilderoy Lockhart up close. It was rather heavy carrying all the Lockhart books to class, and Colin found himself taking rather more photos than usual as he walked there because his aching arms needed a break. Finally he arrived in the classroom, somewhat late, and saw Professor Lockhart standing at the front of the class in flowing turquoise robes, reading down the roster. He winked as Colin slid into his seat, and when he had finished roll call he smiled indulgently at them all.

"Now, I know what you must be thinking," he began, wagging a finger. "Your first year, your first class ever, many of you have never even waved a wand before, and here you are learning from Gilderoy Lockhart, Order of Merlin Third Class, Honorary Member of the Dark Force Defense League, and five time winner of Witch Weekly's Most Charming Smile Award! It must be very intimidating!" Colin felt sure that Lockhart must be able to read minds in addition to all his other talents. "But the truth is," continued Lockhart, lowering his voice and winking at them, "that nothing will prepare you better for dealing with the Dark Forces than learning from an accomplished, internationally acclaimed wizard like me. Now, I don't expect this to come as easily to you as it has to me, you may feel like you're barely able to grasp the fundamentals. But when you look back after a few months of training, I'm quite sure that you'll all find you're learning faster than you realize!" Colin felt very comforted.

"Now, I don't want to overwhelm you on your first day, but I don't want to bore you either! So I'll start with telling you a little about me, then I'll give you a peek of what's ahead, and then we'll start the lesson." Lockhart spent three quarters of the period telling them all about his adventures and ambitions while Colin and the other students gazed on in awe.

A Gryffindor girl with wavy blond hair raised her hand to ask a question. "Yes?" asked Lockhart, his teeth gleaming as he smiled broadly.

"Professor, I was wondering if you would tell us why you decided to come teach at Hogwarts," she asked, blushing furiously.

"I'm glad you asked me that, Miss?"

"Miss Dahl, sir," she replied happily.

"Yes, Miss Dahl, that's an excellent question! I could be out there freeing the magical community from manticores and dragons, so why come to Hogwarts instead? Well, I feel it's my duty to share my wisdom with young witches and wizards beginning their training! Yes, I know, not many of you will be ambitious enough to seek out and rescue communities in need as I do, but you never know when you might find yourself in a tight spot- and with some help from me, you might be able to benefit all sorts of people as I have numerous times," he smiled again.

When he had finished with his life story, he pulled out a large cage covered with a drape. "Now this," he began, "is just an exciting glimpse of what lies in store for you. This is the lesson for the second year class after lunch. I wanted to give you just a peek! I realize this may be quite frightening for you, but rest assured that nothing will harm you while I am here."

Colin trembled with excitement as Lockhart dramatically whipped the drape off the cage and proclaimed "Yes! Freshly caught Cornish pixies!"

The cage was full of tiny electric blue creatures with shrill buzzing voices. One of the girls screamed, and the pixies seemed to rocket wildly about the cage in response. Colin grabbed his camera and started taking pictures. Half the class moved forward to take a closer, fascinated look at the pixies, who were sticking out their tongues and making faces at the class, while the other half stood back with frightened stares.

"Now, calm down, please, back in your seats," said Lockhart, restoring order. "Perhaps later in the year you can learn to capture these yourselves! But for today," he said, covering the cage with its drape once more, "let's read from my autobiography Magical Me and learn how I subdued a particularly menacing colony of pixies that were causing quite a fuss over in Cornwall."

Colin again listened with rapt attention. He was particularly looking forward to the re-enactment of the exciting bits that Lockhart promised for the next lesson. At the end of class, several girls stayed in their seats whispering to one another and staring at the teacher. Colin bounded past them all to speak to the Professor.

"Excuse me- Professor Lockhart- could I -er- could I have a picture please?" he asked, holding up his camera hopefully.

"Certainly, Mr...?"

"Creevey, sir." said Colin brightly. "Colin Creevey. All the things you've done are so amazing! I've never talked to a real hero before!"

Lockhart's smile seemed to grow even wider. "Well, thank you, Colin! I happen to have an already autographed photo right here," he said, pulling one from a stack on his desk, "but if you'd like to try out your photography skills, Mr. Creevey, it's hard to say no to a real fan!" He winked.

Colin was delighted when Professor Lockhart allowed him to take several photos and even suggested a variety of poses. Eventually Colin took individual shots of each of the girls in the classroom with Lockhart and they took one of Colin with Lockhart, and Colin promised to give them the copies when they were developed.

"Thank you, sir! This is fantastic!" he squeaked as he left, elated at his good luck. He'd spent half of lunch taking photos and had already used up most of his first roll of film. He raced to the Great Hall to grab some lunch and immediately went searching for the one person he wanted a picture of most of all.

It was near the end of lunch when Colin finally tracked down Harry. He was sitting outside in the courtyard talking to Ron; with Hermione reading a book nearby. Colin set down his books, staring at Harry's hairline and clutching his camera as he moved closer.

Suddenly, Harry looked up and saw him staring, and unlike Lockhart he seemed surprised by the attention. Colin felt the blood rushing to his cheeks as he fumbled for what to say. Why didn't I think over what I wanted to say before I was standing right in front of him?

"All right, Harry? I'm - I'm Colin Creevey," he stammered breathlessly, taking a tentative step forward. "I'm in Gryffindor too. D'you think- would it be all right if- can I have a picture?" he said, raising his camera hopefully.

"A picture?" repeated Harry blankly. It was clear that Harry had never considered having a stack of autographed photos on hand.

"So I can prove I've met you," Colin continued eagerly, hoping he didn't sound too awkward, edging further forward. "Everyone's told me. About how you survived when You-Know-Who tried to kill you and how you've still got a lightning scar on your forehead," he said, trying vainly once more to see through that mop of untidy hair that hung over Harry's face, "and a boy in my dormitory said if I develop the film in the right potion, the pictures'll move." Colin drew a great shuddering breath of excitement and said, 'It's amazing here, isn't it? I never knew all the odd stuff I could do was magic till I got the letter from Hogwarts. My dad's a milkman; he couldn't believe it either. So I'm taking loads of pictures to send home to him. And it'd be really good if I had one of you," he looked imploringly at Harry. On a sudden inspiration, he added, "maybe your friend could take it and I could stand next to you? And then, could you sign it?"

But before Harry could answer, a loud and scathing voice came from behind Colin, echoing around the courtyard.

"Signed photos? You're giving out signed photos, Potter?" It was Draco Malfoy, the blond sneering boy from the train, the son of Colin's benefactor. Malfoy was again flanked by his two thuggish cronies.

"Everyone sign up!" Malfoy roared to the crowd. "Harry Potter's giving out signed photos!"

"No I'm not. Shut up, Malfoy," said Harry angrily.

Colin felt a swoop of indignation. It didn't take him more than half a second to realize that Malfoy wasn't trying to be the first to line up in excitement, he was trying to suggest that Harry was arrogant! How ridiculous! thought Colin. Nobody thought twice about Lockhart giving away signed photos, and Harry had to be at least ten times more important! Colin didn't care how rich the Malfoys were, how big Draco's friends were; he didn't care about anything except setting Draco back in his place. Harry was a bona-fide hero, and he had every right to give out signed photos. Colin knew that based on Harry's reaction this might have been the first time someone asked for his autograph, but he also knew that it wouldn't be the last.

"You're just jealous," Colin spat back at Malfoy.

"Jealous?" said Malfoy, who didn't need to shout anymore: half the courtyard was listening in. "Of what? I don't want a foul scar right across my head, thanks. I don't think getting your head cut open makes you all that special, myself."

The two thugs behind Malfoy were sniggering stupidly.

"Eat slugs, Malfoy," said Ron, angrily. One of the thugs stopped laughing and started rubbing his knuckles in a menacing way.

"Be careful, Weasley," sneered Malfoy. "You don't want to start any trouble or your Mommy'll have to come and take you away from school." He put on a shrill, piercing voice "'If you put another toe out of line'-"

Colin didn't have a clue what Malfoy was referring to, but a knot of Slytherin fifth-years nearby laughed loudly at this.

"Weasley would like a signed photo, Potter," smirked Malfoy. "It'd be worth more than his family's whole house-"

This was the last straw for Colin. At least the Weasleys had a house, unlike Colin's family in their seedy flat. Being poor was nothing Colin had ever been ashamed of- he was more proud of how much he'd managed to overcome than anything else- but he could see that Draco had hit a raw nerve in Ron, who was reddening in the ears and neck. Ron whipped out his wand and Colin gasped. What do wizards do to one another when they fight? he wondered, excitedly. He was willing to bet it was worse than a bloody nose. Colin was about ready to cheer Ron on when Hermione shut her book and whispered, "Look out!"

"What's all this, what's all this?" The now familiar face of Professor Lockhart was walking toward them, his turquoise robes swirling behind him. "Who's giving out signed photos?"

Harry started to speak but was cut short as Lockhart threw an arm around his shoulders and thundered jovially, "Shouldn't have asked! We meet again, Harry!"

Colin grinned as the dazzling combined star power of Lockhart and Harry overwhelmed Malfoy, who seemed very small next to them as he disappeared back into the crowds.

"Come on then, Mr. Creevey," said Lockhart, beaming at Colin. "A double portrait, can't do better than that, and we'll both sign it for you."

Colin stared in awe. He realized that all the super-celebrities of the magical world must all know each other, must hobnob together at fancy parties, and for someone like him to witness a meeting between them was just too cool for words. Colin fumbled for his camera, still star-struck, and took the picture just as the bell rang behind them, signaling the start of afternoon classes.

"Off you go, move along there," Lockhart called to the crowd as he set off back to the castle with Harry. Colin hastily checked his schedule and headed off for the common room to grab his things for Potions.

To his relief, Colin found that he was actually able to carry rather than push his cauldron, now that he had dumped most of its contents onto his bed. He listened closely as Professor Snape's quiet but riveting voice explained that Potions was not a class for foolish wand waving. Then Snape set them in pairs to make a simple potion to cure boils. Colin was partnered with a Gryffindor girl that he recognized as the blond who had asked Lockhart why he went into teaching. Felicity Dahl was about a foot taller than Colin, with pale, perfect skin and bright blue eyes that made her look like a porcelain figurine. They used Colin's cauldron and quickly found themselves falling behind the rest of the class. Colin, who liked the Potions dungeon the moment he entered it, was finishing off his roll of film with pictures of slowly simmering cauldrons and great glooping bubbles and glass jars full of interesting things. Felicity was refusing to touch the horned slugs that they needed to stew and seemed too disgusted at their surroundings to even touch the desktop. The flash of Colin's camera attracted Professor Snape to their cauldron immediately.

"Potion brewing is not a spectator sport, Mr. Creevey," he said slowly. "Ten points from Gryffindor. You will put that camera away and not bring it here again unless you intend it to become an ingredient in your potion. Is that clear?"

"Yes, sir," said Colin, gulping in astonishment as much of the class, especially the Slytherins, tittered in the background. Colin stashed his camera in his bookbag, red-faced at having lost house points on his first day.

"I see that you two haven't yet stewed your slugs. I estimate that at your current pace you will finish about two hours after your classmates, well after your next class begins," he said in a scathing tone. "I recommend that you pay more attention to your potion and less attention to whether your cauldron stands out in the crowd, Mr. Creevey," he sneered, eyeing the golden name label on the cauldron and the scratches and dents near its bottom with disdain, "otherwise you can both try brewing this recipe again in detention."

In a near panic, Colin took over preparing the potion alone. He carefully stewed the horned slugs and crushed his snake fangs in a feverish hurry as Felicity wrung her hands helplessly and looked like she might throw up at any second. This isn't so bad, it's just like cooking supper at home, only the ingredients are lots more fun, he thought. To his relief, his efforts paid off and he finished his potion at the same time as his classmates. When Snape swept by checking each finished potion and noting the inadequacies of each, he stared silently at their cauldron for several moments in what seemed an apparent inability to find anything to criticize. It looked exactly the color and consistency as it should be.

"Well, Mr. Creevey and Miss Dahl, one of you seems to have a hidden talent in brewing potions quickly," he said, glancing from one to the other with a searching look. "Perhaps you merely need more challenging work to motivate you in the future? You two will each compose a three page essay on the usefulness of horned slugs in potion making, due to me by Friday, in addition to the regular homework," he said, grinning in a menacing way.

Colin didn't really want to leave the classroom when the bell rang. He didn't mind the extra homework at all- he was finding potions fascinating anyway- but he was frustrated at losing points and he felt stung that Professor Snape would single him out as unmotivated. Nothing could be further from the truth! He decided to work especially hard in potions to try to impress Professor Snape. If this turned out to be his favorite subject he wanted to be on the best possible terms with the teacher.

"Don't take it too hard," he heard Ginny beside him in the hallway. "Everyone hates Snape. He doesn't like Gryffindor. He'll find every excuse he can to take points away. He's put my brothers in detention loads of times."

Colin knitted his brows. "Why, though? None of the other teachers are so mean..."

Ginny shrugged. "He seems to like Slytherins an awful lot, that's all I'm saying."

That night in the Gryffindor common room, Colin raced to finish his dinner and his homework, and then looked around for Winston to see about developing his first roll of film. Winston was deep in a Quidditch conversation with Phil, and seemed rather surprised when Colin interrupted him to ask about the potion to develop moving photos. He sighed deeply, "The roll that cost us all ten points, with photos of every moment of our day, you mean?" he said with a bit of a hard edge to his voice. "Small wonder you're already finished, eh?" Phil smirked and scowled likewise. "Anyway, I don't have any of that potion right now, my mum always made it for us. But I think there's a student photolab somewhere on campus, you can work it out yourself, just ask an older student to show you where it is," he said dismissively, returning to his Quidditch discussion.

Colin felt a bit disappointed, but not deterred. He looked around the room for an older student who seemed friendly. Harry was nowhere to be found, as usual. He saw Ginny in the corner writing in her diary. Felicity and some second year girls were soaking their fingernails in some frothy navy blue liquid and giggling. Most of the older students were in pairs or groups, and Colin didn't really know any of them. Finally, he spotted someone who was alone.

"Percy," he asked, "can you teach me how to develop photos?"

Being a prefect Percy was quite possibly the best person Colin could have asked, as it turned out. Percy took Colin to a small dungeon near the Potions classroom, which was an entire photo laboratory. Percy taught him a simple charm to turn the candles into red light, and showed him where the photo developing potion was kept in a cupboard. "If you use a lot of it, though, you'll need to learn how to brew it," he said, gesturing to a corner of the room with a cauldron and a tattered recipe posted on the wall and bottles of supplies all around it. "But the recipe is fairly simple, I think a first year could manage it after a few practice batches." Percy helped Colin get started on his film, patiently developing the photo of the owl soaring across the grounds. "Nice shot," said Percy encouragingly. "Now that you've got the idea, I'll leave you here to finish the rest. Any student can work in here for as long as they want. If you leave a mess Snape is sure to find out who it was, so make sure you tidy up when you're done. It'll go faster once you get the knack," Percy finished, smiling.

Getting the knack was quite a bit more difficult than Colin had hoped, and by the time he needed to return to Gryffindor tower he had almost completely depleted the supply of developing potion, but had only five photos to show for his efforts. He'd also forgotten to ask Percy how to turn the candles back to a normal light, and had to clean up in the dimness and leave them glowing red. But he hadn't yet developed the photo of Harry and Professor Lockhart, he'd waited until he felt more confident before getting to that one and was disappointed that he'd run out of time.

CHAPTER ELEVEN- THE FINDING SPELL

After his dinner the next day Colin returned to the photolab dungeon and began to brew more potion. Making it was lots of fun, and Colin found himself humming, whistling, and even singing as he worked. He had only barely enough time to finish the potion and pour it into bottles before he had to race back to the dormitory. It looked again like it was exactly the color and thickness he expected, and he hoped it wouldn't do any damage to the film if it wasn't quite right.

By the third night, Colin was trying out his photo potion. He was working quicker now that he had a bit of experience, and he was delighted to find that his fresh potion worked far superior to the one that had been in the photolab when he first arrived. He had yet to see any evidence that any other student was using the photolab at all, but that was fine with him.

Colin sent a copy of every picture on his first roll of film to Dennis by owl, along with a long description of where he took each photo, a bit of muggle money, and a plea to send him back a whole bunch of new film.

He was disappointed that he wasn't allowed to bring his camera into most of his classes- Professor McGonagall had been most upset when he took a picture of her demonstration transfiguration, but Colin felt it was worth it to capture something so awesome. About half of his fellow first year Gryffindors ignored him whenever possible- they didn't seem to have forgiven him for losing them points in Potions, something that didn't actually make too much sense to Colin since several of them had cost Gryffindor points in the days since. The other half of the class seemed friendly enough, though, and he enjoyed sitting between Ginny and Mhairi in Charms class and talking with Chuck and Rich as they worked on the same Soap plant in Herbology.

"Say, Colin, where is it that you spend the evenings? You haven't been in the common room or the library or the dormitory all week!" said Chuck one day.

Colin told him all about the photo lab and pulled out his brand new photo of Harry and Professor Lockhart. "I'm going to ask Lockhart to sign it after class tomorrow, and I'll ask Harry to sign it whenever I can talk to him," said Colin.

"Wow, cool!" said Rich. "But why does Lockhart's image smile and wink and Harry's keep trying to run off the photo?" It was true, Lockhart's image seemed to be grabbing Harry's arm to drag him back into the photo frame, and Harry's image was putting up a good fight to stay out, you could only see his arm.

"I reckon either he doesn't like Lockhart," said Chuck slowly, "or he really doesn't like having his picture taken. The actions of the image reflect how they were feeling at the moment. Sometimes you can solve mysteries that way, you know. Like if you get a picture of the whole staff in the suite of your house, and when you develop the photo you see the maid staring at or reaching for the silverware- then you can guess where the missing spoons have probably gone," he explained. Rich and Colin laughed.

"I can't imagine anyone not liking Lockhart, he's brilliant," gushed Rich. "I guess Harry is just camera-shy."

Colin thought about this for a few moments. 'What if I get a photo when he's not looking? Say, in the middle of a Quidditch match?"

Chuck seemed to catch on right away. "Well, if he's thinking about something else- say trying to catch the Snitch- I think his photographic self would only be trying hard to reach the Snitch. And smiling a lot, if he's having fun!" he answered.

Colin smiled. He wondered when Quidditch practice would begin.

Lockhart was more than willing to sign Colin's photo immediately- he even asked for a copy! But Harry was harder to pin down. Every time Colin saw Harry he was with Ron and Hermione, and he didn't even seem to notice anyone else, not even Ginny, who Colin saw trying to talk to him several times. In Charms class, Colin asked Ginny for her brother's class schedule, knowing Harry's would be the same, and Colin was hoped he could stop Harry in the hallways on the way to a class. He succeeded in nonchalantly wandering down just the right hallway at the right moment several times a day and calling out, "All right, Harry?" It always gave him a bit of a thrill when Harry would call back "Hello, Colin." But Harry usually seemed preoccupied and sometimes even exasperated by whatever else had been going on in his day, so Colin wasn't able to pull him aside and ask him to sign the photo.

Friday night Colin was searching the common room yet again for Harry and not finding him there when he ran into a round-faced second year boy who also seemed to be searching the common room.

"Hullo," the boy said, "My name is Neville Longbottom."

"Colin Creevey," said Colin, politely.

"Have you lost something?" Neville asked.

"Er- um- yeah," said Colin. "Sort of."

"Me too. I've lost my toad, Trevor. Third time this week," commiserated Neville. "I usually use a Finding Charm on him, but I'm so forgetful..." Neville was looking sheepish and red-faced. He whispered, "...that I forgot to use it."

"I'll help you look," said Colin, and they lifted cushions and bags in the common room searching. "What's a Finding Charm, anyway?"

"Oh! Well, it's for if you've got something really important that you don't want to lose," said Neville, "you put a spell on it so you can find it again."

"Wow!" said Colin, amazed at the very idea. "Really? Can you teach me?"

Neville looked taken aback. "I've... I've never taught anyone anything...." he said faintly, looking nervous. But as Colin looked at him pleadingly he seemed flattered and he smiled nervously. "Ok, we'll have a go." He removed one of his shoes. "Suppose I don't want to lose my shoe," he said. "Marco!" he said, pointing his wand at the shoe. "Ok, now it's all set up right. When I lose my shoe- and I probably will- I'll be able to find it," he explained. He paused, then said, "I'll have to show you properly, I think," tossing his shoe a few feet away and nearly hitting someone's knee. "Er- sorry, Parvati," he said, getting more and more red-faced every moment as his lesson continued. She scowled back at him. Neville seemed to have lost his train of thought, he looked like he didn't know how to continue.

"Go on," prodded Colin encouragingly. "How do you find it?"

"Right," said Neville, shakily. "Then you hold your wand tight and use the spell and go to where your wand pulls you. Only you've got to use the same wand as before," he said. Then he turned away from the shoe and said "Polo!" and his wand whipped around until it was pointing the toward the shoe, and downward. Neville turned around and took a step closer to the shoe. "Polo!" he said again, and Colin watched as his whole arm jerked forward toward the shoe under the wand's actions. "It gets stronger the closer you get. Almost like a magnet if you get too close." Neville pointed right at his shoe and said "Finite Incantatem!", picked up his shoe and said, "That last one is to turn the spell off when you're done." Neville sat down to put his shoe back on, but stood up again almost immediately at a croaking noise. He lifted up the cushion. "Trevor!"

Neville seemed embarrassed and very pleased with himself for having taught Colin something, and Neville watched while Colin practiced on his own shoe. It took him at least an hour to get things working, and Colin dropped his wand several times when it his grip on it wasn't tight enough. Once the wand went shooting like a javelin out of his hands and toward his shoe. It almost hit someone in the leg, except that they moved at the last second coincidentally. Neville and Colin both had a good laugh over that one.

Amazing though the spell was, at first Colin didn't see how it would help him to find Harry, which was what he had been looking for. But then he realized that Harry's shoe- or anything else Harry was wearing- was probably in the same place Harry was, most of the time.

By now Harry, Ron, and Hermione were all doing an essay for Professor Binns in the common room. Colin edged closer, pretending to be part of a nearby crowd that was watching the Weasley twins playing exploding snap. He kept hoping Harry would kick off his shoes. He saw Harry's wand in the bookbag, but somehow it seemed a bad idea to enchant something that was already powerfully magical. Finally, he saw a window of opportunity when Harry took off his glasses and set them on the table while he rubbed his eyes. It took Colin only a split second to lean over as if tying his shoe, point toward the glasses, and whisper, 'Marco!" Conveniently enough, nobody seemed to have noticed, because the Weasley's snap game had had a large explosion at about the same moment that diverted everyone's attention. He gripped his wand firmly and whispered, "Polo!" and was pleased to feel it tug toward the back of Harry's chair. Colin tried once more to find an opportunity to talk with Harry, then gave up and went to bed, feeling very happy that he'd at least be able to find Harry over the weekend, and he was sure to find a chance to talk to him then.

The next morning, Colin was awakened by the sound of his wand jumping off his bedside table and zipping across the room trying to impale itself in the dormitory door. Since he'd never ended yesterday's incantation he realized that Harry must have walked very close by. He caught the wand before it woke the others in the dormitory and hurriedly pulled on his robes and cloak, grabbing his camera and the picture to be signed, and burst out the door and down the circular stairway.

Sure enough, Harry had just walked right past his dormitory door on his way down from the second-years' room at the top of the staircase, and it looked like he was about to exit through the portrait hole. But best of all- Harry was alone.

"I- er- heard someone saying your name on the stairs, Harry!" he fibbed, trying to stick his wand into his pocket and hold it there in an innocent looking way. The wand was at close enough range that it seemed to be struggling hard to break free and head straight for Harry. He wondered if Harry realized there was nobody else anywhere near the stairs this early in the morning. "Look what I've got here! I've had it developed, I wanted to show you-" he thrust out in his other hand the photo of Harry and Lockhart.

Harry smiled as he looked at the photo.

"Will you sign it?" Colin asked eagerly.

"No," said Harry flatly, "Sorry, Colin, I'm in a hurry- Quidditch practice-" said Harry, sleepily.

Colin realized with a thrill that Harry was wearing special red robes and carrying a broomstick. His head nearly exploded with questions as he scrambled awkwardly through the portrait hole after Harry, keeping one hand firmly holding the wand in his pocket.

"Oh, wow! Wait for me! I've never watched a Quidditch game before!"

"It's really boring," said Harry quickly. Colin wasn't fooled in the least by Harry's modesty. He looked up at Harry with even more admiration.

"You were the youngest House player in a hundred years, weren't you Harry? Weren't you? You must be brilliant. I've never flown. Is it easy?" Colin's flying lessons with Madam Hooch began next week, and he was both excited and anxious at the prospect. "Is that your own broom? Is that the best one there is?" he continued, thinking of the broomstick that Brian had shown him back in Diagon Alley. Colin was practically running to keep up with Harry, who seemed to be in quite a hurry to get to the Quidditch field. Colin wrung his brain to remember Brian's description of Quidditch, which had gone by in such a blur. Was that really only a week ago? Colin thought.

"I don't really understand Quidditch," Colin continued, somewhat out of breath by now. "Is it true that there are four balls? And two of them fly around trying to knock people off their brooms?"

"Yes," said Harry. "They're called Bludgers. There are two Beaters on each team who carry clubs to beat the Bludgers away from their side. Fred and George Weasley are the Gryffindor Beaters."

Colin felt a surge of new respect for the prankster twins. "And what are the other balls for?" asked Colin, tripping down a couple of steps when his grip on his wand loosened and it tried to go shooting out of his pocket toward Harry's head. He caught it before it fully left his pocket and thankfully managed not to fall over.

"Well, the Quaffle- that's the biggish red one- is the one that scores goals. Three Chasers on each team throw the Quaffle to one another and try to get it through the goal posts at the end of the pitch- they're the three long poles with hoops on the end," answered Harry.

"And the fourth ball?" asked Colin, knowing the answer to this one.

"-is the Golden Snitch," said Harry. "And it's very small, very fast, and difficult to catch. But that's what the Seeker's got to do, because a game of Quidditch doesn't end until the Snitch earns his team an extra hundred and fifty points."

"And you're the Gryffindor Seeker, aren't you?" said Colin in awe.

"Yes," said Harry as they left the castle and started across the dew-drenched grass. "And there's the Keeper too. He guards the goal posts. That's it, really."

Colin kept asking Harry questions about Quidditch and his broom and flying all the way down the sloping lawns to the Quidditch pitch. He wished he could have asked to ride Harry's broom, but he thought he would definitely need both hands for that, and he wasn't ready to end his Finding Charm just yet. It only seemed to be a problem at close range, after all. Finally Harry reached the changing room and Colin called after him, "I'll go and get a good seat, Harry!" and hurried off to the top of the stands.

Colin carefully loaded a new roll of film into his camera- he chose an outdoor, high-speed roll this time- and he took a few photos of the flags flying over the pitch to get the roll started. He waited for the team to enter the pitch, and got very lost in his thoughts as he waited. He pondered the amazing change his life had taken, and how incredible it was to be here. He realized he'd never been so happy in his life, not even before mum and dad were divorced. He realized how much he missed Dennis, and how much he enjoyed Potions despite his inability to impress Professor Snape.

He didn't know how long he'd been thinking when he was snapped out of his reverie at the sight of the Gryffindor team soaring out over the field on their broomsticks. Colin sat on his wand and started snapping pictures wildly as Harry raced the Weasley twins around the stadium. It looked so graceful, flying... the wind whipping through their hair. And Harry was the fastest flier by far. "Look this way, Harry! This way!", Colin called out, trying to capture Harry's face and hoping they wouldn't just look like speeding reddish blurs on film. Colin was disappointed when the Gryffindors all landed only a minute or two later.

He looked down onto the pitch to find out why and saw the Slytherin team, dressed in green robes, walking onto the field carrying broomsticks. At first Colin thought maybe the Quidditch practice was a friendly match between the two teams, but that illusion vanished rapidly as he heard them shouting angrily at one another. Colin looked over and saw Ron and Hermione headed onto the field and decided he'd better get closer so he could hear what was going on.

Just as he was reaching field level he heard a loud bang and saw a jet of green light near Ron Weasley, which knocked him backward onto the grass. The Slytherin team was laughing hysterically, and Harry and Hermione lifted Ron by the arms to help him off the field.

"What happened, Harry?" he asked, wide-eyed, wondering who had attacked Ron and what they'd done to him. "What happened? Is he ill? But you can cure him, can't you?" he asked anxiously, hopping alongside them as they left the field. Ron certainly looked ill. He gave a huge heaving burp and glistening slugs dribbled down his front. Ewww, so that's the sort of thing wizards do to one another when they fight. Definitely worse than a bloody nose, thought Colin. He jammed his wand as deep in his pocket as possible and raised his camera with both hands. "Oooh, can you hold him still, Harry?"

"Get out of the way, Colin!" said Harry angrily. Colin stepped aside and grabbed his wand from midair just before it pelted the back of Harry's head. Good thing he's not tall or I wouldn't have been able to reach that, thought Colin. This finding spell can be very inconvenient.

He watched Harry, Ron, and Hermione head for Hagrid's cabin and tried to decide whether to follow them. Just then a Slytherin player swooped by just above his head. "You ought to think about leaving the field, you know. We're practicing here." Colin was about to do just that when Draco Malfoy landed his broom neatly in front of Colin's path and turned to Colin with loathing.

"You should know, my family has provided a scholarship to Hogwarts for years, Creevey," said Malfoy. "Some of the best known Slytherins benefited from my family's generosity- Nott! Lestrange! Even You-Know-Who himself!" Colin felt a twinge of guilt for not having written a thank-you to the Malfoy trust yet. Draco drew very close to Colin and kept speaking, his face twisted with malice. "But never, never did my family think we'd be providing the money for a mudblood to get to this school. It's hard to believe that you bought second-hand books with the best wizard gold there was. What did you do with the rest of it, Creevey? Obviously you didn't spend it on a nice new cauldron!" he sneered. Colin could hear the blood pounding in his ears as Draco continued, "My dad gives me a list of students on the trust, asks me to help introduce them to the right people. Almost all of the students on the trust are Slytherins, and the few who aren't are certainly friends of Slytherin because of our influence. We've always been selective about who we choose. McGonagall said you had a clear amount of ambition and determination, but of course nobody could guarantee where the sorting hat would put you. She didn't mention that you don't have a drop of wizard blood in your veins! I want you to know, Creevey, the only reason you got the trust this year is because you're the only new student who applied. There's nothing special about you. You don't belong here." Draco hissed. Colin fingered his wand and wished he knew how to make Malfoy belch slugs. Malfoy spoke more softly and hatefully as he went on, "And you can kiss Hogwarts goodbye, Creevey. I told my father how you've insulted our family by drooling over Harry Potter like his own personal lapdog. Your scholarship is over." Without waiting for a reply, Draco took off hard and zoomed away on the broomstick, and started encouraging a Slytherin Beater to send a Bludger at Colin. Colin had to run off the field to get away from it, and he didn't stop running until he had reached the far shore of the lake.

Colin stared up at the castle, looming spectacularly above the lake, and felt his eyes fill with tears. All the worst things he'd heard about the Slytherins were true. Malfoy hated him- just because his parents weren't wizards. Malfoy was making sure he lost his scholarship. Malfoy even seemed proud of the fact that his family had sent You-Know-Who, the most feared and murderous wizard in history, to Hogwarts. Colin didn't want the Malfoy Trust's money anymore. But how else could he possibly afford Hogwarts? He wondered how many miles away the nearest petrol station that would let him hold a carwash might be. He tried to think about how many carwashes would equal his tuition and gave up in despair. He collapsed in tears on the banks of the river, feeling the water lapping over his knees as he wept.

Suddenly he felt a cool touch on his burning cheeks and looked up- and saw through his tears a gigantic tentacle emerging from the lake. The giant squid seemed to be- but it was impossible- wiping away his tears! He heard Malfoy's words ring through his head, "You don't belong here!" and the squid seemed to be answering them with finality, "Yes, you do." He ran his hand gratefully along the back of the tentacle. "Thank you," he whispered. The tentacle curled around Colin's shoulders, alarming him for a moment when he thought he was about to be dragged into the water. Then the tentacle gave him what was unmistakably a hug and withdrew back into the lake.

Colin stared out across the surface of the water, feeling all the anger and hurt drain from him and filling with a sense of purpose and a calmness. He would find a way to stay here. He didn't know how, but there had to be a way. I belong here. And besides, his scholarship wasn't gone just yet.

Numbly, Colin dragged himself to the Great Hall for lunch. He had just finished eating when the other shoe dropped- Professor McGonagall came to the table. "I'd like a word, Mr. Creevey, if you please."

Colin nodded and followed her to a small office with a welcoming fire on the first floor. McGonagall took a seat behind an enormous desk and look at him with a very serious expression.

"Mr. Creevey, as you know your costs for the year had been generously covered by the Malfoy Family Trust," she began ominously, as Colin nodded glumly. "The Malfoy family traditionally selects students to support with its trust from among multiple applicants, favoring the Slytherins. Of course, it is impossible to predict the house that any first year student will be sorted into. In the past, the Malfoy family has looked at the personality traits of the applicants and has re-evaluated their merit at the end of every academic year to determine whether continued support was appropriate."

Colin felt his mouth go dry, knowing what was to come next but unable to stop this from happening. Professor McGonagall breathed in deeply through her nose and raised her chin with what seemed to be barely controlled anger as she continued speaking. "This year, the Malfoy family has made an exceptionally unusual request to terminate the support of any students outside of Slytherin immediately. While there are other students affected, your situation is perhaps the most dire. There are other scholarship funds, but they require evidence of exemplary accomplishment in one or more fields of study. As you have been here only a week, we can hardly hope to evaluate your academic progress at this time. Now, your tuition has already been paid by the trust through Christmas Holiday, and the funding for your school supplies has already been spent. You need not worry about repaying the Trust for those expenses. However, it seems clear that you will need to find a different source to cover your tuition bill starting in January."

Colin felt his knees buckle slightly and he steadied himself on Professor McGonagall's desk. At least he had a few months to try to figure out what to do, that was better than he'd imagined. He opened his mouth to speak and heard only a croaking whisper, "Are there... any other scholarships I can earn by January?"

Professor McGonagall took another deep breath and looked at him with what seemed to be pity. He thought he could see a tear in her eye as she answered gently, "All available scholarships have now already been awarded. There may be more available for the next academic year, but there is nothing available that will help you to pay for the rest of this year."

"I used to wash cars...back home... when I needed money..." Colin began.

Professor McGonagall frowned gently. "First year students are not permitted to leave the Hogwarts grounds. I am afraid I cannot make an exception for you, Mr. Creevey. I might add that few wizards use cars at all and that the nearest community, Hogsmeade, is entirely populated by the magical community. You are most welcome to attempt to find ways to earn money while you are here, provided it does not interfere with your studies. I will make the staff aware of your needs so they will bring any opportunities to your attention. But as you no doubt can see, most students' needs are well provided for already."

Colin nodded mutely.

"I'm sorry, Colin," she added softly, as he turned to leave her office.