Colin Creevey Versus The Apocalypse

Chapter 2

Colin went to bed that night and had nightmares. He could see a man in the shadows laughing. Then there was himself, facing the shadow. A man appeared, and Colin fought it to the death. He saw himself dying, and the man said, "You did your best, boy," before killing Colin. The dream would keep occurring but every time Colin died differently. Once he would die perishing in flames, then he would die by a back-firing spell. The worse was the abyss. He would just keep falling and falling forever.

The man, in a dark cloak, would laugh the entire time. Colin would die screaming. Professor Dumbledore would appear right before Colin would die, and he would kill the man in the cloak. Then he saw his funeral. He could see people surrounding his casket, talking about how he had died a heroic death.

And then he woke up. Colin screamed. Joey, in the bed next to him, woke up as well.

"Colin, what do you want?" he asked. Joey checked his watch. "It's one AM."

"Well, I had the strangest dream. I was fighting this man. I'm not exactly sure who he was, but he killed me. Then Dumbledore showed up and killed him. I saw my funeral; it was so weird," Colin said.

"Weird. You sure you okay?" asked Joey.

"I'm fine. Now go back to sleep," Colin said. Colin groaned. Joey was not exactly one to go to sleep quickly or to leave somewhere without asking questions.

There was a long pause. "Okay, Colin." Colin waited for a few minutes for Joey to fall asleep. Then he too fell asleep.

That next morning, a Monday to be precise, Colin awoke. Joey was still asleep, but who said that he was a morning person? His pillow was covered with drool, a regular occurrence.

"Colin, is that you?" said Ginny as Colin walked into the common room. Ginny was dressed in a nightgown; her long red hair bounced on her shoulders. Colin squinted.

"Yeah, it's me, Ginny. What time is it?" Colin asked, yawning. Ginny checked her watch.

"Uh, it's about six. Colin, are you scared of dreams?" Ginny asked. Colin narrowed his eyes.

"What did you say?" Colin asked.

"Are you scared of dreams?" Ginny asked. She couldn't catch what Colin was saying.

"What kind of dreams?" Colin asked.

"Nightmares." Ginny looked at Colin with a confused look. "You know, Colin. Scary dreams. Like the monster under the bed."

"I was always scared of the guy on the oatmeal box," Colin said. He really meant it.

"Muggles are so strange," Ginny said. With that comment, Hermione Granger walked into the common room.

"Hermione, I need to ask you something," Ginny said. Hermione ignored her, and sat down with her books laid across the table.

"I'm busy, Ginny. I have classes to study for. Can't you see that?" she asked, annoyed. Colin blinked with an amazed look. Hermione was never annoyed at Ginny, but this year she seemed like she didn't have time for anything or anyone. The blame was easily on all the classes she took.

"Look, Hermione, why don't you just drop a few classes? The workload would easily be" Colin said before Hermione rudely cut him off.

"I don't have time to talk. Leave me alone," Hermione said. "Now."

Colin sighed and walked off to his dormitory. He dressed in his robes and pulled out his wand. He pulled out a book he'd been reading on Julius. "The first victory of Julius came in the year 1889, in which his army successfully raided the Warlock Convention. This was followed by unexpected attacks in several key strategic areas in the war against Julius and his army," the book said. "Julius was finally defeated in the Battle of Munich in 1892. He was branded as a suicidal maniac and disappeared. An urban legend of sorts says that he once said that his return would make the end of the world itself. The author thinks this was as ludicrous as Julius.

"Julius was not able to be defeated because of his ability to create spells. This left the Ministry Army totally defenseless. Not until the Battle of Red Lake was Julius able to be defeated in battle. The Ministry of Spell Research took it upon themselves to create some type of counter-spell against Julius. In 1891, they created a universal counter-spell that worked against every spell Julius created. Then on February 10^th, 1892, at Munich, Germany, Julius's army's final battle took place. However, it was not much of a battle. The men involved seemed to surrender, almost at Julius's will. There was very little fighting, and there was very little killing involved."

Colin wondered why the name of the spell wasn't revealed. Why? Was it too dangerous to know? He put down his book and walked out of the common room. The hallway was smaller than the main halls, but he wasn't in the main common room.

"Colin, what are you doing?" Professor Snape asked Colin as he walked through the main hallway.

"I'm taking a walk, sir," Colin responded. Professor Snape took a second glance at Colin.

"Mister Creevey, it is 6:30 in the morning. Don't you think it's a little early?" Snape asked. Colin had completely forgotten about the time.

"I just needed to clear my head, sir," Colin responded, scared of Snape. "Good bye." He ran down the hall and entered the common room a few minutes later after stopping to catch his breath. There were a few kids in the common room, including Harry and Ron, who were keeping away from Hermione.

"Ron, do you know what's wrong with Hermione?" Colin asked. Ron shrugged.

"No, I really don't know. She just has too many classes. She's taking every class available, you know," Ron said. He bit his lip. Colin couldn't agree more.

"Colin, what's bugging you?" Ron asked. "You're not so jumpy anymore. You're more, uh, serious." Ron stared at Colin with a look that questioned Colin's own sanity. Colin swallowed.

"Um, it's nothing," Colin said. Ron narrowed his eyes at the other boy.

"What's bugging you?" he asked through gritted teeth. Colin took a deep breath before answering.

"I had a dream about Julius," he said. Ron was confused now.

"The Julius. The Julius of the Great Wizard War?" Ron asked. "What's so scary about him? He's dead."

"He's not dead," Colin responded. He had broken his promise. He sighed as Ron nodded, unaware of how he felt.

"You're right. My dad sent me a letter about the Daily Prophet ad. Did you see it?" Ron asked.

"Yeah, I saw it. It was definitely Julius who sent it. Dumbledore thinks that too. But wait till you hear the scary thing," Colin said.

"What?" Ron asked. "What's so scary?"

"He talked to me. Julius is at Hogwarts," Colin said gravely. He was on a roll.

"What? He couldn't get into Hogwarts! Not with everything around us!" Ron said in a loud outburst. The members of the common room looked at him with wide-eyed looks.

"Ron, it's time to go!" Harry Potter whispered, walking in Ron and Colin's direction. Harry looked tired. His glasses drooped down his nose.

"What time is it?" Colin asked. Harry shrugged.

"Time to go to breakfast?" Joey Walcha offered from behind Colin.

"Yeah, about that time," Harry answered.

* * * * *

The Great Hall was filled with the same laughter, shouts of joy, the usual noise. The tables sat the same students of four Hogwarts houses and their teachers. Professor Dumbledore still sat at the teachers' table. Joey was talking to Colin about something funny that had happened to him while he was walking in the common room.

"Joey," Colin said.

"Yeah?" he asked.

"Shut up." Colin coughed. His allergies were kicking in. He sneezed.

"Colin, you okay?" asked Ginny. Colin sneezed once more.

"I'm fine. I think I'll go to the common room now. Excuse me," Colin said, trying to hold his sneezing. He ran down the hall to the common room entrance. He said the password quickly and ran in the room. He grabbed a tissue from the dispenser and sneezed, blowing his nose at the same time.

"Are you sick?" asked a voice from somewhere in the common room. Colin instantly recognized the voice as Nearly Headless Nick, whose real name Colin had forgotten quite a while ago.

"I think so. I'm not exactly sure. Say, I've got a question," said Colin.

"Shoot," responded the house ghost, taking a seat next to Colin.

"Did Julius go to Hogwarts?" Colin asked.

"No, I'm afraid he didn't. His parents educated him, if I do recall. He was an American and fought in their Civil War, you know. His parents had no way to get him to Hogwarts. Times where tough back then; we didn't have any Nimbus 2000 to get us across the world. I don't even think our broomsticks were faster than a bicycle," the ghost said to Colin. Colin sneezed once more. He could hear the sound of students coming near the common room entrance.

"Colin, are you sure your okay? That sounded awful," the ghost said.

"I assure you I'm fine, Nick. Don't worry," Colin said before sneezing. He hated the allergy season.

"Whatever you say, Colin. I once knew a boy with bad allergies. Then he sneezed his head off. Literally," the ghost said.

"You're joking, right?" Colin asked.

"I don't joke about death, Mister Creevey," the ghost said before disappearing. A few Gryffindor students entered the common room and were giggling and joking, just chatting.

"Colin, why'd you go? Professor McGonagall was looking for you," Neville Longbottom asked. "She needed to talk to you about some dude named Julius. Are you doing a report on the Great Wizard War?"

"No, I just had a few questions that needed answers. I figured she could help me," Colin replied, getting up from his seat.

"She's still in the Great Hall if you need her," Neville said, sensing Colin's actions.

"Thanks," Colin said as he climbed out the portrait hole and walked to the main hallway. He skipped and whistled down the hall; he always found that cut down on the sneezing.

Colin walked into the Great Hall and found the teachers having a conversation. Professor Dumbledore was the first to notice Colin.

"Colin, I trust that you researched Julius?" the headmaster asked.

"Yes, sir. I know he's alive. He has to be," Colin said. "After all, he spoke to me. And he called me in my dreams." Professor Snape chuckled.

"Professor Dumbledore, with all due respect, bringing a child in on this is very stupid, especially a child like Creevey," Professor Snape said. Dumbledore's face got more serious.

"Severus, have I ever mentioned you really judge people based on a first look basis? That is a very biased way of judging people. If you want to know, Colin is excellent in Herbology. He has a certain way with plants. Not to mention his Transfiguration grades are the highest in his class," Professor Dumbledore replied to Snape. "I think Colin would be one of the best students to be in on this, not to mention that Julius has already contacted Mister Creevey."

"Fine. Whatever you say, Albus," Snape said, obviously not happy.

"Colin, has Julius talked to you since your last encounter?" Dumbledore asked. Colin shook his head.

"Unless you count a dream, I would say no," he responded. Professor Dumbledore pushed his glasses up his nose.

"I doubt that dreams would count. That is all, Colin. You may go," Professor Dumbledore said. Then there was a loud howl from the wind and the sky above, as seen on the bewitched ceiling, blackened almost immediately.

"It's happening," Colin said. "He's preparing." Colin studied the sky for a moment.

"Colin, go to your common room. This never happened. Understand?" Professor Dumbledore said. Colin nodded.

"Sir, I think we should tell the students of what might happen," said Colin, voicing his opinion. A terrifying silence swept through the room as Colin awaited his answer.

"No, Colin. Sirius Black is already on the loose. If we tell the students of this occurrence, we could get run out of our own school. Understand?" Professor Snape said.

"This is no time to debate!" Professor Lupin said. "We have the end of the world at hand here! We need to find wherever Julius is and attack him now! He's near here; we know that for sure because he's changed the weather patterns. Why don't we search for him now? If he's alive, the Dementors might have gotten him as well, but I doubt that. Now, let's go split up. We all know the rehearsed plan if we had to search for Black. Colin, go to your common room now."

"Yes, Sir!" Colin said, running out of the Great Hall. He ran quickly, losing his breath easily.

"My plan is going perfectly," said the voice of Julius to Colin from somewhere inside the castle. "But your day will not." Colin ran faster; he breathed even harder.

"Leave me alone. You've been all but forgotten. You have your own stupid followers. You think you're great? Sirius Black did greater damage than you ever would, and he's alive. You-Know-Who is alive and somewhere, ready to strike. And you are just trying to cash in on the popularity of evil people attempting to overrun the wizardry world. You're pathetic," Colin said bravely. Very bravely.

"Look at you," said Julius before striking Colin with a lightning bolt. Colin fell to the ground screaming. The ground opened; a great earthquake began to occur. And Colin fell into the hole, into an abyss.