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

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN- THE QUIDDITCH GAME

The next week Colin tried to pay lots of attention to who was investigating what had happened on Halloween. He wondered whether he should tell anyone about what he´d seen on Halloween; and if he should, then who?

Ginny was back to her usual, pale and wan looking self and seemed very distraught about what happened to Mrs. Norris. Ron said she was a great cat-lover. Colin didn´t have much trouble convincing himself that she had nothing to do with Mrs. Norris, though he hadn´t been able to catch her alone again to talk to her. He didn´t see a trace of paint on any of her robes and he suspected she had hidden the paint-splotched one in a panic, hoping she wouldn´t be blamed for Mrs. Norris´ fate. She also seemed to be worried that Ron, Harry, and Hermione would be expelled- but Colin suspected that she was more worried that she would be expelled herself.

Colin wasn´t alone in wondering what was going on, however. People began talking about Mrs. Norris almost as much as they talked about Quidditch.

"I dunno why everyone´s so upset. Mrs. Norris isn´t dead, you know," said Seamus Finnigan, a second year boy, as they played with gobstones in the common room.

Gobstones was a game something like marbles, except that the stones would squirt a foul smelling liquid in your face when you lost one. Colin wasn´t sure, but he sort of thought he liked the muggle version of the game somewhat better.

"Not dead? Oh come on, she was stiff as a board! She must have been there for hours- you know, rigor mortis-" began Rich.

"I don´t think she´d been there all that long," offered Colin cautiously.

"No, really, she´s not dead, she´s only been petrified. I heard Professor Sprout telling Filch not to worry," explained Seamus.

"Petrified? Is that really any different than saying she´s dead?" snorted Rich.

"Oh yeah, absolutely, it´s nothing like. Professor Sprout is growing some mandrakes, and when they get big enough they can be made into a potion and she´ll be revived. And it doesn´t hurt her any to sit there made of stone while she´s waiting for it. I hope they grow slowly, I sure don´t miss that moggie..." said Seamus.

"I think it´s supposed to take months!" said second year Dean Thomas excitedly, looking away from the shot he was taking and ending up hot squarely in the eye with a spray from his stranded gobstone. "Ergh!"

"What were Harry, Ron and Hermione doing there, anyway? They weren´t at the feast," asked Colin.

"I dunno. Sounded like they went to a Halloween party hosted by the ghosts, and they were on their way back upstairs to the common room."

Colin felt vaguely disappointed that Harry wasn´t up to something more dramatic. But then again, at least Harry seemed to have gotten out of trouble.

Filch had been scrubbing at the writing on the wall with Mrs. Skower´s All-Purpose Magical Mess Remover, but it had no effect; the foot high words seemed to gleam brightly against the stone as if they were still wet. Filch kept pacing outside the bathroom where Mrs. Norris had been attacked, red-eyed. He would lunge out at unsuspecting students and try to put them in detention for things like "breathing loudly" and "looking happy".

But it wasn´t until Herbology that Colin found out what the writing on the wall really meant. He and Brian, the Hufflepuff boy he´d met in Diagon Alley looking at Quidditch brooms, were working in Greenhouse One on asphodel roots. Everyone was talking about the upcoming Gryffindor versus Slytherin Quidditch match, and Brian commented, "D´you think it´s safe to let Harry play?"

"What do you mean, safe?" asked Colin, bewildered.

"After what he did to Mrs. Norris? The Chamber of Secrets, Colin! That´s serious stuff. I don´t want to be anywhere near the Heir."

"You mean, you know what that writing on the wall meant? Can you tell me? What does it have to do with Harry?"

"Some fourth year in our house has this book called Hogwarts, A History and they read the whole section out loud in our common room the night Mrs. Norris was petrified, since we all wanted to know. That´s how I found out, I´m surprised you don´t know- maybe Potter´s been keeping it quiet. I hear that all the copies of that book have been checked out of the library- he might have taken them all-"

"I don´t think Harry had anything to do with Mrs. Norris! I think he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time! How can a history book can explain what´s happening now?" asked Colin, irritated.

"Okay, you can judge the evidence for yourself, but I´m sure it´s Potter," said Brian seriously. Then he launched into the story. "It seems when they built this place, Slytherin made an extra room that Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw didn´t know about. The room is called the Chamber of Secrets, and there´s supposed to be some sort of monster inside that will kill anyone who´s muggle born. Slytherin thought only students from wizard families should go to school here, see. Slytherin left the school sometime after they finished building because he was mad that muggle-born students were let in. When Slytherin´s own true heir arrived at the school they were supposed to finish his work and get rid of all students who were supposedly unworthy to study magic."

"So the Chamber of Secrets is what´s been opened," said Colin, thoughtfully.

"Right. By Slytherin´s heir. So enemies of Slytherin´s heir should beware- and that means you, Colin, since you´ve got muggle parents."

"Beware of what, exactly? And what makes you think Harry has anything to do with this?"

"Who knows what dark creatures Slytherin found? Maybe it´s a dragon. But Potter was caught right at the scene of the crime! Why wasn´t he at the Halloween Feast? It was the perfect time to sneak off and do something evil. And who are his parents anyway, I hear most of his family is dead but they sound like an old magical family; he could be Slytherin´s Heir. He hates those muggles he lives with during the summer. And how did he survive that evil curse You-Know-Who put on him without dying? You-Know-Who killed loads of people, the best wizards around. Ernie says Potter probably has evil powers and that´s how he defeated He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named."

"But... I just don´t buy it, Brian," Colin shook his head lamely, "I believe you about the Chamber and all, but I just don´t think Harry´s the Heir. He wouldn´t do that." Colin glanced across the greenhouse at Ginny, still hearing the bathroom´s echoing sobs in his mind.

But those sobs hadn´t really sounded like Ginny, he realized suddenly. He´d seen Ginny crying more than once since Mrs. Norris was petrified, and the crying from inside the bathroom sounded.... hollow, and lower in pitch. And Ginny hadn´t looked remotely weepy when she walked into the toilet. Was there someone else in the bathroom with Ginny? All he really knew was that Ginny had been the one painting on the wall.

With a start, Colin realized that Ginny had given the whole school a warning of danger coming. Maybe Ginny was crying about something a whole lot worse than getting blamed for petrifying the cat? He wondered if that meant Ginny knew who the Heir was. Maybe that´s why she was looking so pale, maybe she was under strain from trying to stop the Heir somehow... but what could a first year possibly know to fight against Slytherin´s monster? But Harry was only a first year when he fought against You-Know-Who to save the Philosopher´s Stone, he realized. And somehow Ginny learned to levitate. He wondered if Ginny had told Harry everything she knew, and maybe that´s why Harry, Ron, and Hermione turned up at the wrong place at the wrong time. Maybe it wasn´t a coincidence at all...

His entire outlook had changed in an instant. Colin realized that Ginny had sounded an alarm, and inadvertently she protected him- if he hadn´t run away for fear of being blamed for writing on the wall, he might have been the one petrified and not Mrs. Norris. Or maybe worse than petrified. But then, he wouldn´t have been in that hallway anyway if it hadn´t been for Ginny, he would have been downstairs in the dungeon, looking for Harry- but I would have followed him up to the same place anyway, Colin realized.

But then, who was sobbing in the bathroom? Was that the Heir of Slytherin, a girl? Maybe Ginny had just confronted someone! Charon´s face floated through his mind for half an instant, but it hadn´t really sounded like her either. Maybe Ginny had some sort of duel in the bathroom...and Harry had come to help. But with who? The voice had an echoing, distant sort of noise, like someone crying with their head in a bucket...

His brain was still churning from all this when he saw Harry pass by in the hallway- Colin was still automatically walking where he´d be most likely to run into Harry between classes, since that was how he´d learned his way around the school in the first place. He realized that Harry was the perfect person for him to talk to. Harry was about the only person that Colin believed could defeat whatever was in that chamber. Colin wondered why he hadn't thought of talking to Harry from the beginning. Maybe if he told Harry all that he'd seen and heard, maybe then Colin could help Harry the way Ginny and Ron and Hermione were helping, and they could all bring down the Heir of Slytherin together, whoever she was. Maybe Colin could help take the burden that was straining Ginny by doing some of the work himself. Maybe this was the perfect way to get to know Harry better... he could start by telling Harry what Brian had said, and then pull him aside somewhere privately to talk about Ginny once he had Harry´s interest.

"Hiya, Harry!" he called out brightly.

"Hullo, Colin," said Harry woodenly.

"Harry- Harry- a boy in my class has been saying you´re-"

He strained against the throng of students in the hallway, but he was too small to fight the tide of people bearing him toward the Great Hall. As he saw himself sweep past Harry he managed to squeak out "See you!" before he gave up. There was sure to be another opportunity, after all.

Colin spent the month of November watching carefully for a chance to talk to Harry alone, and keeping an eye on Ginny, who seemed to be fading away under the burdens she´d put on herself. Eager though he was to help, Colin had full faith that Ginny, Harry, Ron, and Hermione were onto the Heir. He tried to use his Finding Spell to catch Harry alone, but Harry seemed to be on the Quidditch field surrounded by other students most of the time. He´d noticed Harry, Ron, and Hermione slipping into that same girls´ toilet least once- Percy had noticed it too, and he told them off for it. Colin hadn´t seen Ginny on any more midnight wanderings, though, and he´d never seen anyone else go into the bathroom- evidently nobody really used that toilet; it was always out of order. But Colin wasn´t about to ruin his chance to be part of the effort to catch the Heir by talking openly about everything he´d figured out, so he wasn´t able to convince any of the Hufflepuffs in Herbology that Harry wasn´t the Heir of Slytherin.

"You know, Malfoy seemed really happy about those attacks, you heard what he said- `You´ll be next´- and he hates muggle-borns- it´s more likely him than Harry," Rich pointed out one day.

"Malfoy´s not powerful enough to control a monster! His marks are terrible! But Potter is best friends with Granger; she´s probably the smartest girl in the school, she could help him-" said Brian.

"But Hermione´s muggle-born! If Harry was out to get muggle-born students, why would he be friends with her at all?" protested Colin.

"Well... er... maybe he´s not her friend and once he learns how to control the monster he´ll make it attack her?" suggested Brian. But even Brian didn´t seem to believe that; Harry, Ron, and Hermione were the best of friends. And Harry´s mum was a muggle-born witch too. The idea that Harry was Slytherin´s Heir made no sense at all, and there wasn´t a doubt in Colin´s mind that Harry was tracking down the true Heir.

It was with a great deal of excitement that Colin headed out to the first Quidditch match of the year. He had a fresh roll of film in his camera and he and Chuck and Rich wandered out into the muggy air and admired the banners streaming around the Quidditch pitch. It seemed as though three-quarters of the school was rooting for Gryffindor- the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws seemed to hate Slytherin as much as the Gryffindors did- but most people didn´t share Brian´s opinion of Harry, only a few Hufflepuffs seemed worried. Most of the school had turned out to watch the game and everyone else was cheering as loudly as possible for Harry and the whole Gryffindor team.

The team captains shook hands, and then he heard Madam Hooch´s whistle and saw the fourteen players soar up toward the grey skies- Gryffindors in red, Slytherins in green. Harry flew higher than anyone, probably looking around for the Snitch. The entire Slytherin team had been bought brand-new Nimbus Two-Thousand-and-One broomsticks, evidently from the Malfoy Trust- so that´s where my scholarship money has gone, thought Colin, bitterly- and their brooms seemed even faster than Harry´s Nimbus Two-Thousand. But Harry was obviously the better flier- Colin saw him dodge a bludger narrowly first thing in the game. But the strange thing was, the same bludger came back again and again and seemed to be picking on Harry. After awhile the Weasley twins were guarding Harry on either side, whacking the bludger away repeatedly, while the rest of the Gryffindor team was falling apart under attack from the other bludger. It was starting to rain, and the Gryffindor team spirits were darkening like the skies above. The scoreboard read Gryffindor 0, Slytherin 60.

"There´s something wrong with that bludger," muttered Chuck. "See there? George- or Fred, I dunno which- just whacked it out toward that Slytherin Chaser, and it´s supposed to go after whoever is closest- but see it´s changing direction and heading right back for Harry again. It hasn´t gone for anyone else all game," he said, frowning. "Slytherin must have done a spell on it-"

"Now, really! Gryffindors can´t pass up the chance to pick on Slytherin, can they? Just because someone´s losing doesn´t give them an excuse for bad sportsmanship," came an angry voice from behind Colin. He turned to find Charon Morkoth, bedecked in a green scarf, in the row behind him, cheering on a goal from Marcus Flint.

Chuck scowled, but Colin smiled weakly. "Hi, Charon."

Just then Gryffindor called a timeout. Colin was hopeful that someone would figure out what was wrong with the bludger.

Two other Slytherin girls were beside Charon. Cruella was sneering from her left, and Peggy was eyeing them with trepidation from her right. Charon continued, "I mean, if Gryffindor wins, you won´t hear me saying Gryffindor must have cheated or something. I hear that Potter is a good seeker. But I can see that Flint and Pucey are excellent Chasers, and that we´ve got some fantastic Beaters too. I want Slytherin to win, but that doesn´t mean I have anything against Gryffindor."

"But isn´t it obvious why we don´t like Slytherins, Charon? Slytherin hated muggle-born students. Snape favors Slytherins. Malfoy acts like everyone is scum but Slytherins. Who else but a Slytherin has anything to gain by enchanting a bludger to attack our seeker? You can´t pretend that bludger is supposed to be acting that way. Of course we´re not happy with Slytherin! Can you blame us, really?" Chuck replied scathingly.

"All right then, look at it from my point of view. Slytherin died a thousand years ago, and back then people were so scared of magic he was likely to be killed by muggles, so of course he was afraid of them. But I don´t have anything against muggles. I don´t know why the Sorting Hat put me in Slytherin, but it´s not because I want muggle-borns to die. There are lots of nice people in Slytherin. I never asked for Snape to be so unfair in Potions- I know Colin´s better at it than I am. But since the whole school seems to be against us," -she waved one hand toward the crowd of Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs who were cheering for Gryffindor- "it´s nice to know that at least someone supports us. If your seeker has the bad luck to end up near where your own beaters had directed the bludger, it´s certainly not our fault."

Rich was about to reply when the timeout ended and both teams headed back in the air, and he dropped the issue to watch the game. Colin thought about this though- what would he have done if the Sorting Hat had put him in Slytherin? Even Hagrid said Slytherins weren´t all bad. Maybe Charon had a point. Maybe Malfoy was the exception and not the rule. On the other hand, Colin was certain that someone from Slytherin had fixed that bludger- and Charon, for one, didn´t seem too concerned about it.

The rogue bludger still was pelting right at Harry- but the Weasley twins had dropped their guard, leaving Harry unprotected. Harry was doing some incredible acrobatics on his broom to avoid the bludger- spirals, zigzags and rolls- he was clearly the best flier on the field. Colin took loads of pictures and laughed in amazement along with most of the rest of the crowd. It was tough to tear his eyes away from Harry and watch the rest of the game. Gryffindor was scoring points in ever heavier rain and slowly catching up with Slytherin´s huge lead. The score was Gryffindor 30, Slytherin 130.

"Wow, he´s just brilliant, isn´t he," whispered Charon, looking up at Harry, who changed direction suddenly to leave the bludger behind again.

"I think he´s just showing off," said Cruella sulkily.

Charon smiled wryly. "I wish Harry was in our house instead of Malfoy." Her nose wrinkled in disgust at Malfoy´s name. Colin wondered if he´d heard that correctly, and saw Chuck and Rich spin around in surprise too.

"Better not let Pansy hear you say that," Peggy warned her.

Colin tried to think of how to ask Charon why she wasn´t as horrible as most of the other Slytherins - and wondered how he could ask her which of the Slytherin girls were more like Malfoy (in hope that he could narrow down who the Heir of Slytherin was)- but he couldn´t think of a way to ask without insulting her again. Just then, something on the field distracted him completely.

He saw a bludger hit Harry´s arm, hard. Harry slid sideways on his broom, his right arm hanging useless at one side. Colin took pictures madly, watching through the viewfinder of his camera. Then Harry dodged the same bludger when it headed back again, and dove toward Malfoy in what looked like an attack- until Colin saw something gold shimmering just above the spot where Malfoy was sitting. Colin´s hope soared as he squinted through the rain at the sparkling speck. Could that be the Snitch? As Malfoy zoomed out of the way, Harry took his remaining hand off his broom and caught the Snitch. Then, gripping the broom only with his legs, Harry headed straight for the ground, obviously unable to even try to control his broom with his injured arm.

Harry hit the mud with a thud and rolled off his broom as the crowd roared with excitement. Harry had earned 150 points for catching the Snitch, and the final score was Gryffindor 180, Slytherin 130- Gryffindor had won!

Chuck and Rich were jumping up and down, and Charon and her friends were looking downcast.

"Er- congratulations," said Charon to Colin, looking sour, before turning away and dragging her feet as she walked away.

"I´m going to make sure Harry´s all right," Colin said to Chuck and Rich. He raced down from the bleachers and onto the field.

Harry looked unconscious, rain was streaming down his face, but he still had the Snitch in his left hand. His right arm was sticking out at a very odd angle and was clearly broken. A crowd of concerned Gryffindors surrounded him. Professor Lockhart had arrived first to check on Harry.

Colin saw Harry waking up and tried to call out to him through the crowd, "You were brilliant, Harry! You really were! Amazing, the way you dodged that bludger! And we´ve won, you beat Slytherin, Harry!" but if Harry heard him he showed no sign of it.

"Not to worry, Harry. I´m about to fix your arm!" proclaimed Lockhart loudly.

Harry was trying to sit up, but his face was full of agony. Clearly, Harry´s broken arm was hurting a lot, and Colin expected him to be taken to the hospital wing. Colin stood on top of the front row seat and took several photos; he thought the pained look on Harry´s face would make them really good ones.

"I don´t want a photo of this, Colin!" Colin heard Harry say loudly, and Colin stopped taking pictures, suddenly realizing that if Harry was camera shy when he was feeling well, of course Harry would hate to have someone take a picture of him when he looked about to faint. Colin felt his face redden and he quickly got down off the bleacher and looked down and pretended to be adjusting his camera.

The next thing Colin knew, Lockhart twirled his wand and pointed it at Harry´s arm, and the arm went from sticking out at a strange angle to a sort of rubbery state that didn´t look at all normal, though it seemed to hurt Harry less. The arm looked like it was made of jello. Colin gasped in outrage, sputtering mad at Lockhart and more convinced than ever that Lockhart´s books were full of rubbish. Madam Pomfrey, the school nurse, could have mended those bones in a second. Colin was unable to resist the urge to take more photos, and then he watched as Harry tottered off, supported by Ron and Hermione, to the hospital wing while the rest of the school (except for the Slytherins) continued exploding with joy. Colin suddenly felt really guilty about taking photos after Harry had asked him not to, and he wanted to talk to Harry more than ever, to apologize, but he knew he couldn´t fight his way through the crowd. Maybe if he gave Harry copies of the photos where he was catching the Snitch, Harry would be happier with him.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN- THE GIANT SERPENT

That afternoon there was a huge party in the Gryffindor common room. The Quidditch team had cakes, sweets, and bottles of pumpkin juice. As the food dwindled away, everyone headed off to dinner, though it seemed pointless to try to eat anything more. But after dinner, the party in the Gryffindor common room was even better than the one preceded it. The Weasley twins had somehow gotten loads of extra éclairs and desserts from the kitchen, as well as several bottles of something called Butterbeer, and the loud and raucous celebration was fantastic. Several people who had spent their afternoon studying, like Hermione, put aside their quills for the evening celebration.

The only person who didn´t seem to be joining in the party was Ginny. She had come to the game, of course- bundled up extra heavily by Percy in warm robes, because she was still looking so pale. By now, Colin had to remind himself that this wasn´t her normal state. After the game, Ginny had seemed happy enough, eating some tarts and writing in her diary- but after awhile the diary sat open on her lap and she was staring at the wall of the common room with that now-familiar glazed look for several minutes at a time. She seemed to be waiting for something. Colin was willing to bet she was waiting to report back to Harry. But then Colin overheard Ron talking to Seamus Finnigan about how Lockhart had removed all the bones in Harry´s arm and saying it would take all night to re-grow them in the hospital wing. When Colin saw Ginny stand up and sneak out of the common room unnoticed after hours, he was tempted to follow her just to corner her alone and ask her what she knew about the Chamber of Secrets- but it wasn´t worth the risk of getting caught.

Colin was more anxious that ever to talk to Harry, but he knew that Harry had to be just furious with him, since Harry had asked him not to take a photo while he was injured and Colin hadn´t been able to resist. And come to think of it, Harry was missing out on the party too- and he was the hero of the Quidditch match! And then Colin realized that apologizing to Harry was the perfect way to get Harry alone- something he´d been trying to do for a month- and then ask him about whether he needed help with the Chamber of Secrets! There were just too many reasons to break his agreement with Professor McGonagall tonight. Colin decided that it was worth the risk of getting caught. If Harry was stuck in the hospital wing alone, there was no way for him to avoid Colin. And if Colin told Harry what he´d already seen, he was sure Harry would welcome his help.

As the party faded and people started going up to bed, Colin grabbed some leftover grapes from the party and slipped out the door heading toward the hospital wing, where Harry was evidently quarantined for the night. Colin avoided the hallway with the writing on the wall (where Ginny probably was headed to, he thought), headed down a few staircases, toward the West Tower, and up the staircases toward the hospital wing.

Colin didn´t run into anyone until he had already gone several stories up on the spiral staircase. Then suddenly, as he rounded a corner on the stairs, he saw something large and bright green in the corridor ahead. It was an enormous serpent, headed toward the entrance to the hospital wing, with its back turned to him. Colin´s jaw dropped in amazement- the serpent had to be at least twenty feet long, and as thick as an oak trunk. He wanted to run away but seemed to have forgotten how his legs worked. And anyway, the one person Colin wanted to run to for help was the person the serpent seemed headed for anyway- Harry. This had to be Slytherin's monster. Colin might be too late to save Harry, but he had to try. But then, if he and Harry failed, someone was bound to need to know what they had to fight. He had to tell someone, but there was no time. There was only one thing he could do. Colin took a deep breath, steeled his courage, set down his grapes, and raised his camera to take pictures. Just as he heard the shutter click loudly, he was shocked to notice a small red-headed figure was walking beside the serpent with her eyes closed.

It was Ginny Weasley. His mind raced with confusion for half a second.

Then Ginny, hearing the echoing camera clicks in the empty corridor, turned around, and Colin heard a hissing noise much like what he had heard coming from the behind the bathroom door on Halloween. The serpent stopped and turned two great yellowish eyes on Colin.

Colin felt his whole body seizing up instantly; he couldn´t have run away if he´d wanted to, his legs resisted any effort to lift them from the floor. His hands were frozen in front of his face with his finger still pressed down on the camera shutter, but even the camera seemed to have seized up and a horrible melted smell came from it. Colin´s eyes would not close, but his view of the staircase dimmed to pitch black and from somewhere far away he heard a scream that sounded something like Professor McGonagall. He felt his brain slowing down and with what dim perception he had left, he knew that he had just been petrified by Slytherin´s giant serpent.

CHAPTER NINETEEN- HOSPITAL WING

Colin felt a splash of something running over his neck and body and felt himself finally starting to relax from his rigid state. Dimly, his eyes began to focus and he saw a woman with a great jug of pinkish juice. He tried to close his eyes but couldn´t, and they were starting to water. The woman seemed to be helping him stiffly into a sitting position, but his body was resisting being moved at all.

"Blink if you can hear me," she commanded. Her voice was faint and echoing, as if from a long distance away.

Colin realized it was Madam Pomfrey, the school nurse.

With great effort Colin squeezed his eyes closed and open again.

"Very good. This one will be fine," she said absently.

Madam Pomfrey forced one of his arms down a bit (they had been right in front of his face), and curled his fingers around a goblet of more of the pinkish juice.

"Here, drink this carefully, and Professor Snape will talk to you all in a moment," said Madam Pomfrey. Colin tried to ask what was going on, but his tongue was too heavy to move.

Drinking the juice was far more effective in reviving Colin than feeling it splashing over him. He tipped a bit of the liquid into his mouth and let it roll around on his tongue, and then he tilted his head back and felt a trickle moving down his throat. He immediately felt his innards soften into a dull aching state, and with some effort his lungs expanded with a deep breath and he moved his remaining hand away from his face. Then Colin swallowed the rest of the juice and set down his glass.

As he began to wonder what happened, he remembered the whole scene- the giant serpent, with Ginny beside it- the great, yellow eyes of the serpent- what was Ginny doing? How did that serpent attack him from so far away? He had been petrified, that was why his body felt so stiff and sore. And this pinkish stuff must be mandrake juice. Of course they would have to start by splashing it over him, since a statue can´t swallow. Colin was still unable to talk to anyone, since his tongue could only barely move. He turned his head stiffly to look around.

Colin realized he was in the hospital wing. Harry wasn´t here, but Mrs. Norris was mewing stiffly in Filch´s arms off to his right, and to his left Colin saw a row of hospital beds like his own. In the beds were Penelope (the prefect girl he´d run into outside Platform 9¾), Hermione, Nearly Headless Nick (the Gryffindor Ghost), and another boy that Colin did not know. Each of them was either petrified or in some state of being restored. Snape was standing in the doorway overseeing the process and seemed ready to make an announcement as soon as everyone could hear him again. Colin´s eyes goggled at the row of petrified students. What had happened? How long had he been petrified? Were they all attacked on the same night? Had they caught that huge serpent? Do they even know it´s a serpent? What was Ginny doing with it? He was full of questions but unable to ask any of them until his tongue would move properly. The wait was agonizing.

Finally, Snape began to speak. "Madam Pomfrey has just given you Mandrake Juice to restore you. Each of you was petrified at some point this year; presumably all of you were attacked by the beast from the Chamber of Secrets. Some of you have been petrified for quite some time. It is now the end of May."

Colin could hardly believe his ears! He wished he could ask if he´d heard correctly. He tilted his head to look out the window just to check the season, but saw only the pitch black night. He thought hard- the Quidditch match- he had gotten petrified in November. If Snape was right, that meant he´d missed six months! But his tongue was still too heavy to manage saying anything, so he grunted in surprise and kept listening.

Snape continued, "This monster is now considered too great a danger to the students for Hogwarts to continue to remain open. The identity of the Heir of Slytherin is still a mystery. The Hogwarts Express will therefore be taking you home first thing tomorrow. If any of you can identify your attacker, I urge you-"

But Snape was interrupted by Ginny Weasley´s arrival in the hospital wing, with two adults who had to be her parents beside her. Ginny was silently sobbing, tears cascading down her face, and she was covered with slime and muck from head to toe. Her dad shared her vivid red hair and looked stunned, while her mother kept fussing and looked like she´d only recently been crying as hard as Ginny. Snape looked even more startled to see Ginny than Colin felt. Colin´s mind puzzled again over the image- Ginny, with closed eyes, walking beside the giant serpent. But that was months ago, evidently. What on earth had happened to her tonight?

"Miss Weasley!" Snape exclaimed, as her teary-eyed but happy parents spoke in low voices to Madam Pomfrey, who immediately got her a bed and drew a curtain around her. Snape drew near to join the conversation happening just outside the curtain as Ginny changed out of her filthy robes and into a hospital gown inside the curtain. Colin strained to hear but the conversation was too far away. Snape´s eyes flashed as he asked several questions. Finally, he addressed them all once again.

"It appears that the beast from the Chamber of Secrets may have been killed tonight. You will remain here until Madam Pomfrey is satisfied that each of you is well."

At this, Snape swept out of the infirmary, and with him, any hope that Colin´s questions would be answered. The hospital wing was filled with silence and a few frustrated grunts from the row of petrified students. Colin struggled to guess what had happened. Ginny and Harry must have managed to kill the monster after all! But there had clearly been many more students attacked besides him. Were they all attacked the same night he was? How could it have taken Harry so long to defeat the serpent?

Colin managed to call out thickly to the Weasleys, "Wha happa?" but they were busy tending to Ginny and didn´t answer.

Then Ron arrived at the hospital wing with a dazed looking Professor Lockhart. Like Ginny, they were both covered from head to foot in sludge. Ron muttered something to Madam Pomfrey, who set up a bed for Professor Lockhart. Colin puzzled over this- was Lockhart helping Harry? Colin thought perhaps he had lost his faith in Lockhart too quickly. Ron headed straight for Hermione´s bed, grinning broadly.

"Hermione! You´re OK!"

"Yeh," she managed, shortly.

"You had it right Hermione, Slytherin´s monster was a basilisk!" said Ron. "Harry killed it! But that´s not all, the Chamber of Secrets was in Myrtle´s toilet and Harry had to use Parseltongue to open the chamber."

"Mmmm! Haaa-" Hermione squealed in astonishment.

Ron lowered his voice. "You-Know-Who was the Heir, he was controlling Ginny through Riddle´s diary! He took her down into the chamber and she almost died before Harry saved her."

"Teh us moah," Colin moaned from the next bed over, shocked. Poor Ginny!

Ron looked around the room and realized that five formerly petrified people were all straining to hear his words. He decided to take center stage, so he stood at the foot of Hermione´s bed where he could see everyone.

"D´you all want to know what happened?"

"Yes!" was the unanimous loud reply- even Filch, Lockhart, and Madam Pomfrey wanted to hear this story.

Colin saw Ron glance toward Ginny´s bed nervously. Colin thought about Ginny's diary and realized that Ginny hadn't been helping Harry after all. Before he had time to think things through, Ron began.

"Gin-, I mean, er- a student found You-Know-Who´s diary and it controlled them so they opened the Chamber of Secrets. Hermione had just worked out what the monster was when she was petrified, and we found a piece of paper in her hand that told us it was a basilisk. Its eyes turn you to stone. You lot would have died, except none of you looked directly into its eyes- Mrs. Norris saw the reflection in a puddle, Colin looked through his camera viewfinder, Justin saw it through Nearly Headless Nick- who was already dead- and Hermione and- actually, I don´t even know your name, sorry-"

"Penny," the girl offered thickly.

"Hermione and Penny saw it in a mirror. Finally, today You-Know-Who took Ginny down into the Chamber of Secrets and wrote another message on the wall- `Her Skeleton will lie in the chamber forever´- so Harry and I had to do something. Ginny is my sister, I had to save her. And they were about to shut the school down." Ron puffed up with pride at this point. "Professor McGonagall asked Professor Lockhart to try to fight the beast tonight. So Harry and I went to help him."

Colin felt a surge of respect for Lockhart. How could he have judged so quickly, after all the amazing things Lockhart had done! Then Colin saw Ron glanced over in disgust at Lockhart. Lockhart seemed enraptured and transfixed by the story, and clearly had no idea he was hearing about himself. Colin puzzled over this as Ron continued.

"Lockhart was packing to leave town. He said that everything in his books had been done by other wizards, and he made them forget they´d done it. He was going to just take off and leave her down there," Ron´s shook his head in amazement, and flecks of slime flew out of his hair and splattered on the floor.

There were a few gasps in the room at this news, including a loud one from Hermione.

Colin distinctly heard Lockhart exclaim, "Oh how horrible! How could he?"

Colin felt stunned. This was even worse than he´d ever imagined. Lockhart was a complete fake? Ginny opened the Chamber of Secrets? Harry had taken months to figure out most of what Colin knew back in November? Colin had expected that Harry or Lockhart would be so much braver and smarter than he was. Suddenly everyone seemed so- well- human.

"So we fought Professor Lockhart, Harry disarmed him and I threw his wand out the window! Then we forced him to come with us to the Chamber of Secrets. Then Lockhart tried to steal my wand and make Harry and I forget everything- he was going to leave us down there, can you believe it? But he accidentally hit himself with the spell and he´s forgotten who he is."

"Lockhart´s memory spell also caused the chamber to partly cave in, leaving me on one side and Harry on the other. So I kept Lockhart subdued while I lifted loads of heavy boulders as big as Quaffles to allow Harry a way to get back. Meanwhile, Harry went looking for Ginny. He killed the basilisk, and he saved her, and he destroyed the diary so You-Know-Who has gone too. Harry and Ginny came out through the hole I´d made in the landslide."

"Dumbledore´s back, and he says we´re going to have a feast, right now, tonight!" said Ron. "So I reckon they´re not closing the school down anymore!"

Everyone cheered at this, having gotten most of their ability to move their tongues again. Even Filch looked rather happy about it. OK, so maybe Harry´s human,thought Colin, but he´s definitely still a hero.

Ron was beaming like the sun when he returned to Hermione´s bedside.

"You did it! You solved it!" cried Hermione happily. Then she gasped again. "I can´t believe I´ve been petrified for a couple of months, I´ve missed so many important lessons, how will I ever catch up?"

Colin´s head was still reeling. He´d missed half a year. And then a happy thought occurred to him. He didn´t have to pay for the rest of the school year because he had missed the whole thing! His next thought was of Dennis, and wanted to send an owl home right away, but his wasn´t sure if his fingers were flexible enough to write. It seemed as though everyone was anxious to go the feast, but Madam Pomfrey wasn´t letting him go anywhere just yet. Ron was reluctant to go to the feast without Hermione or Ginny, but Madam Pomfrey´s increasing agitation at the mess on his robes and her demands that he either leave or change into a hospital robe were enough to convince him to go.

"I never even saw it, there were just these big eyes," said Justin, shaking his head. "I was so convinced Potter was behind it all when I heard him speak Parseltongue."

"I saw it! I took a picture of it before I was petrified," said Colin, looking around for his camera.

"Your camera was melted by the gaze of the basilisk," said Hermione simply. "I went to the library to figure out which snakes could petrify and it had to be a basilisk, I just knew it! But I got petrified before I could tell anyone except Penelope," she added.

"What´s Parseltongue, anyway?" asked Colin.

"Snake language- you know, hisses and stuff. Harry can talk to snakes," said Justin.

"But- I always thought snakes didn´t have ears..." Colin puzzled.

Justin shrugged, and they both looked at Hermione, but Madam Pomfrey was busy checking her reflexes and bending her elbows and knees, so Hermione probably hadn´t heard the question.

"I would never have imagined that anything could harm a ghost," said Nearly Headless Nick, who had originally died 500 years ago in a botched beheading. Nick tipped his head back on straight and tucked it in place under a large ruff at his neck.

Finally, Professor McGonagall arrived in the hospital wing and instructed Madam Pomfrey to allow them all to attend the feast once she had finished examining them. "Owls have been sent to your families to reassure them of your restoration. I´m sure they will be anxious to hear from all of you," she told them.

The feast was like nothing Colin would ever see again. Everyone was in their pajamas, and the feast lasted all night long. Harry and Ron won so many points for killing the basilisk that Gryffindor won the House Cup for the second year in a row. The end of year exams were cancelled, to Colin´s great relief. Most of Colin´s classmates were hugging him or patting him on the back in relief at seeing him again. Rich made a great production of throwing away an old, shriveled rabbit´s foot and a wilted four leaf clover that he´d been carrying around since November. Felicity hugged him so tightly that he´d ended up with one of her curlers stuck in his hair.

In the middle of the feast, an owl arrived from Dennis. Colin ripped it open anxiously.

Hello Colin,

Professor McGonagall sent a letter saying that she expected you would be turned back from stone tonight and sent home on the train tomorrow. I can´t wait to hear from you! I almost tried to sneak up there to see you at Christmas Holiday when Professor McGonagall wrote to say you wouldn´t be coming home, but I didn´t know how to find Floo powder or a fireplace to get to London, and they said the thing that attacked you hasn´t been caught yet.

Nothing else is new here- except Ian asked why you´re not at school with him and I told him you´d been accepted somewhere better on scholarship. I´ve been washing a bunch of cars to help pay for next year, I´ve already saved up 200 pounds! I´ve had to hide it under my mattress so dad won´t find it and spend it. Mum´s coming to visit in July. Mum and grandma were upset when we didn´t hear from you at Christmas, so Dad and I told them you´d been kept at school with pneumonia and I sent Mum a few letters this spring pretending to be from you.

Mrs. Godfrey and I have been really worried. Please send a note telling us you´re all right.

-Dennis

Colin sent the owl back with as long a letter to Dennis as he could manage to write with his stiff hand, describing everything that had happened, explaining that he wouldn´t be coming home until the regular end of term after all, and reassuring everyone he was fine. He really did feel fine; he was just stiffer and sorer than he had ever been in his life.

The last days of the term in June passed quickly in a blaze of sunshine. Professor McGonagall called him aside into her office the day after the feast.

"Mr. Creevey," she began, "I´d like to discuss your financial and academic status for next year."

Colin nodded. He had been expecting something like this.

"As you have no doubt realized, you do not need to concern yourself with tuition payments for the months of the year that you spent petrified. We have calculated a small refund and returned it to the Malfoy Trust," said Professor McGonagall steadily.

Colin breathed a big sigh of relief. "Thank you, professor."

"Furthermore, I assumed that you would be needing a scholarship for the next school year and I filed an application on your behalf while you were petrified," Professor McGonagall continued. Colin´s face brightened.

"Unfortunately, you were attacked only a few months after beginning your magical education. That, combined with the cancellation of end of term exams, leaves us again with no way to evaluate how much you have learned. So we are, unfortunately, unable to offer you a full scholarship for next year, because we cannot evaluate your performance relative to your peers."

"But... potions, I was really good at potions..." Colin protested. "I made the best Sticky Solution..."

"Professor Snape has already chosen which students merit a potions scholarship, and your name was not on the list."

"But-"

"However, I´m pleased to say that we are able to offer you a partial scholarship of seven hundred galleons, contributed by the Peter Pettigrew Memorial Fund."

Colin felt a great deal of relief. "Thank you, Professor," he smiled.

"The fund honors the memory of a Gryffindor who was killed by the followers of You-Know-Who. The award is given to a Gryffindor who demonstrates a dedication to fighting the Dark Arts. Your obvious admiration of Mr. Potter has been taken as a demonstration of that dedication," she continued.

Colin nodded and smiled.

Then Professor McGonagall´s mouth tightened. "There is a second issue I must discuss with you, Mr. Creevey: I warned you after your last detention that you were not to go roaming the school after hours, and that you would lose the opportunities to earn money from the staff if you broke the rules again. However, the night you were petrified, you were out after hours in an obvious violation of that restriction. The rules have been put in place for your safety, Creevey, and if you had obeyed them it's likely that you would never have been petrified in the first place. You were found with a bunch of grapes at your side, headed toward the hospital wing where Potter was recovering from the de-boning in his arm. Do you have an explanation for this behavior?"

Colin tried to think fast. He didn´t like to lie, but he thought bending the truth might be a good idea under the circumstances. "Ginny," he said simply. "I´d seen her leaving the common room. She looked so pale, and I´d seen her walking around several times in a trance, like she was sleepwalking or something. I thought she might know something about the Chamber of Secrets and I saw her walking with the basilisk before I was petrified. I even got a photo, only my camera got melted."

Professor McGonagall looked closely at him through the spectacles perched on the end of her nose, surprised and suspicious. "You thought Miss Weasley had something to do with the Chamber of Secrets? Why?"

"I saw her- the night Mrs. Norris was petrified- floating in midair and there was paint all down her robes. She didn´t seem to be conscious of what she was doing and so I thought it was important for me to find out," Colin held his breath hoping.

"I see. Well, your actions were clearly in violation of the rules, and it was foolish of you to take on this kind of investigative work on your own, especially without sharing this information with others. You should have gone straight to a teacher with information that Ginny seemed to be enchanted! However, if you had not been petrified, it appears that if you had chosen to speak, you would have been able to tell us where the chamber was, what was in it, and give us a good start on who was controlling it before any students were attacked at all. I will speak to Professor Dumbledore about this, and see if that merits extending the opportunity to earn money from the staff while you are here," she said thoughtfully.

"The last issue deals with your education more directly," Professor McGonagall continued. "Happily, the cancellation of the end of year exams leaves us with no reason not to promote you to second year. However, I do have serious concerns about your ability to keep pace with your classmates next year after missing so many lessons. Therefore, I have arranged to grant you a limited exemption from the Decree for Reasonable Restriction of Underage Wizardry over this summer holiday. You may attempt to catch up on the work you have missed, with lessons and homework done by owl and practice spells done at home. You may not use magic outside of your home, however, and you are not to do any spells which risk being noticed by the muggle community."

This hadn´t occurred to Colin at all. He´d never even heard of the Decree for whatever it was. "Er- thank you," he said.

"That is all, Mr. Creevey."

Before he turned to go, he paused and asked, "Er- Professor McGonagall, is there someone I can write to and thank the Peter... er... the fund providing me partial funding for next year?" He decided he might as well start out on the right foot with his benefactors this year.

"No. Peter Pettigrew´s mother and father have both passed away, and he had no siblings." Professor McGonagall looked very sad.

"Ah. I see," said Colin, weakly. "Thank you again, Professor."

Ginny, once she had recovered from her shame at being tricked by You-Know-Who into opening the Chamber of Secrets, was acting perfectly happy. She had a rosiness in her cheeks again and spent much more time talking. She came up to Colin in the common room one day.

"All right there, Colin?"

"All right. Looks like I´ve got a way to pay for part of next year. And you?"

"Never better." She smiled cheerfully.

"So, Ginny," Colin began carefully, "Do you remember anything of what you did while that diary was controlling you?"

Ginny shook her head no, shrugging.

The words came tumbling from Colin´s mouth before he knew it. "´Cause I was sort of wondering who was with you, crying in that toilet on Halloween, and why you knocked me over a few weeks before that, I probably wouldn´t have gotten detention if you hadn´t, and-"

"I did what?" Ginny looked astonished. "I´m sorry Colin! I don´t remember anything! Someone crying in that bathroom- that would have been Moaning Myrtle, the ghost, she´s always having tantrums and that´s why it´s out of order. Did I really knock you over? I suppose it´s lucky that I don´t remember all the awful things I´ve done this year. Dumbledore says loads of wizards have been tricked by You-Know-Who before. I´m just lucky Harry and Ron were able to get me out of that Chamber," she blushed slightly.

"Yeah, Harry is amazing, isn´t he?" Colin couldn´t resist asking, "D´you remember anything about how he fought off that basilisk?"

"No, once I think I passed out before Harry got there. But when I woke up, Harry had a sword and a bird and the Sorting Hat. I heard about it after, though. I think Harry told You-Know-Who that Dumbledore was the greatest wizard in the world, and then the bird and hat and sword sort of appeared. And the bird poked out the basilisk´s eyes, and then he used the sword to kill it."

"Why didn´t the bird get petrified?" asked Colin.

"I´ve no idea. But he was a magic bird, maybe he was too powerfully magical to be affected?"

There was a thoughtful pause, and then Colin asked, "Why did Harry call Dumbledore the greatest wizard? Isn´t Harry more powerful than Dumbledore?"

"Well... he might be someday... but Dumbledore has done all sorts of things! I think he´s just as amazing as Harry, he´s very powerful! Dumbledore was in Gryffindor too, you know, and he used to teach Transfiguration. Hang on, let me get the card from Ron´s Chocolate Frog collection," she said, dashing across the room and returning with what looked like a baseball trading card. Colin turned it over and read:

Albus Dumbledore

Currently Headmaster of Hogwarts

Considered by many the greatest wizard of modern times, Dumbledore is particularly famous for his defeat of the dark wizard Grindelwald in 1945, for the discovery of the twelve uses of dragon blood, and his work on alchemy with his partner, Nicolas Flamel. Professor Dumbledore enjoys chamber music and ten pin bowling.

"I had no idea. And- dragon blood and alchemy, that means he´s good at potions," muttered Colin. "I was beginning to think I was the only Gryffindor who was really good at potions..."

Ginny laughed. "You´re forgetting Hermione. She´s good at everything."

Colin's respect for Professor Dumbledore went soaring as he thought through what this meant. When he mentioned this later on, Chuck said Dumbledore is the only one that they reckon You-Know-Who was afraid of, which meant he must be very powerful indeed.

A few days later Colin was relaxing outside in the sunshine when he would normally have been in Defense Against the Dark Arts Classes (which were cancelled since Lockhart had gone to get his memory back). Colin was looking over the lake and feeding the giant squid some toast, while Chuck and Rich were packing their trunks. Colin had just tipped everything back into his cauldron in seconds and didn´t need to spend time packing.

"Hello, Mr. Creevey," Professor Dumbledore began, approaching him and folding his tall, thin frame into a sitting posture alongside Colin on the edge of the lake, so that his long, flowing white beard trailed over his knees and into the water. "Professor McGonagall has spoken with me about the night you were petrified, as to the matter of how to punish you for being out of bounds for the second time. She indicated that you were following Miss Weasley out of bounds and in fact knew a great deal of useful information before you were petrified."

Colin nodded and looked up at him mutely, hoping...

"Your punishment shall be a detention. Since the year has ended, no points will be taken from Gryffindor. You will serve your detention after you return next year," Dumbledore announced.

"Thank you sir! I-" began Colin.

"However, Colin, I cannot impress upon you how important it is to consider your priorities before you act," said Dumbledore, seriously. "Your first detention was given for going out of bounds in order to earn money. Money, while essential to live, is hardly important compared with truth, bravery, or love. If you forget that, you will lose the opportunity to earn money from the staff and faculty here. But more importantly, you will lose your integrity. It takes courage to choose poverty, but there are times when that is the right thing to do."

"Your second stroll out of bounds- or at least, the second that I know about-" continued Dumbledore, his eyes twinkling, "-was to follow Miss Weasley. Despite the fact that you had already learned a great deal by following her, you had not shared it with a teacher. Curiosity can be a very dangerous thing, Colin. You would do well to strive to become someone worth following, rather than striving to follow Miss Weasley- or Mr. Potter."

Colin turned crimson at this, as he wondered how Dumbledore knew he´d been following Harry. And suddenly he realized that he never had ended the finding spell, and Colin wondered how and when he could ever get close enough to Harry´s glasses again to do so.

"Yes, sir," Colin said shakily.

"Finally... I find that he likes to eat Haggis best," Dumbledore said, winking as he glanced down at the toast Colin had been feeding to the giant squid.

Colin smiled. He half wished he still had a camera to take a picture of Dumbledore, and he was amazed that taking Dumbledore´s picture had never even crossed his mind until this moment. For now, though, just knowing that people like Dumbledore and Harry existed was much more important than whether he had their pictures on the wall for a month. He somehow knew he would still be admiring Harry and Dumbledore next year, or the year after that.

But Colin also realized how much he´d changed this year. In many ways, he had already taken Dumbledore´s second piece of advice. He didn´t just want to follow or help Harry anymore. Colin was ready to fight You-Know-Who or Slytherin´s beast himself. He wanted to be everything his new benefactor would have hoped of him.

Colin shared a compartment with Chuck and Rich on the Hogwarts Express going home the next day, and had arranged to use Floo powder and the fireplace of some vicar in Liverpool as his transit stop getting home from Diagon Alley. He enjoyed the train ride playing Exploding Snap and reading the cards from Chuck´s Chocolate Frog collection.

"Can I borrow your card of Dumbledore? I wanted to get a photo but I haven´t got a camera anymore," Colin asked.

"Sure, you can have it, I think I have three of him already," said Chuck.

"You´ll have to meet me in Diagon Alley when you go to buy your books for next year. I´ll send you owls, okay?" Chuck asked Colin and Rich.

"Colin!" he heard Dennis´ voice as he emerged from Platform 9 3/4. "You´re all right! Have you got a scar or anything from being petrified? Did it hurt? How did it feel?"

"Dennis, I´ve got more things to tell you than there are minutes this summer," said Colin, as they pushed Colin´s cauldron toward the underground.