The Alternative to Loneliness

Ch. 2

The First Roll

Take sexy pictures of Harry Potter? Of course, Colin was always up for a challenge, but he wasn't sure he would have signed on for this sort of job had he not felt like if he hadn't done it, Draco Malfoy would have had his thugs beat the flash bulbs out of him! He had always thought of Draco as a mafia boss with his hitmen always by his side. Now he had made Colin an offer he couldn't refuse.

The small Gryffindor ran into the Great Hall, where Luna and Ginny were waiting for him. "Hi!" he said, hoping he didn't sound overly exuberant. He usually did when he was nervous about something but one of the perks of being small and an easy target for bullies was when something like these recent circumstances arose, nobody would think it was anything more than the norm.

Luna looked around, her large pale eyes round with mild surprise. "Oh my, it is dinner time, isn't it?" she said. "I'm so very, very glad that it is dinner time. I was just hoping that we would be heading to dinner because I was feeling a little hungry, you know. Hello, Colin."

"Hi Luna," he said and kissed her on the cheek. She smiled at him, still looking surprised. But then she always looked surprised.

Ginny made a gagging sound. "Please, spare me your grossly disturbing relationship."

"Sorry Ginny," he said, sitting down next to her. "Luna, have a good dinner."

Luna was looking up at the ceiling with a mystified expression on her face. "Yes, you have a good dinner too. I thought it was raining today, you know. It felt so like rain." Ginny and Colin sat staring at her as she left for the Ravenclaw table, still talking about how the weather had felt in the castle hallways.

Ginny raised her eyebrows and bent over her plate. "Your little brother asked me to watch the squid with him over the weekend," she said as she started to shovel food onto her plate.

Colin, who had been mid-gulp of pumpkin juice, spit half of it back into the goblet. "What?" he coughed. "Dennis asked you on a date?"

She shrugged. "Yeah."

"What'd you say?"

"I said no, of course," she said. "I don't think Mary'd like it all that much."

"Harry?"

"No, Mary. You know, my girl."

Colin had been about to swallow a fresh goblet of pumpkin juice but had to set it down quickly before he spilled the whole thing. "Your girl?" he sputtered. "You mean like Luna's my girl?"

"You mean you didn't know? Why do you think I go to watch her Quidditch practices? Believe me, it's not because I want to steal their secrets. Nothing's a secret with that team."

"But I thought you liked Harry Potter!"

Ginny shrugged again. "Oh, well, you know. It was really more like I was jealous that my brothers preferred his company to mine. And then after that whole thing with the Chamber, it was nothing more than hero worship. All just as well that he didn't think anything of it. He's rather stupid, if you think of it. Wouldn't know a fancy if it hit him over the head with your zoom lens. Glad I got myself straight and realized I liked Mary before he actually got a clue, you know."

"So then," he said slowly, "you wouldn't mind somebody going after Harry?"

"Why, you interested?"

"What, me?" he stammered. "N...no! Not at all! I'm a boy, first thing. Second, I like Luna. A lot! I'd never like anybody more than her."

Ginny laughed. "Right, right then. You don't fancy Harry. But you know, there is talk. Why you always follow him around and whatnot. I tried to tell people it was just hero worship on your part, same as me, but they think you're a little queer to begin with. And you shagging Luna doesn't make you any less so."

"Sh...shagging!" he sputtered. "We haven't...we don't..."

"Alright! So you aren't shagging. But you are snogging, you can't deny that."

Colin felt his cheeks grow increasingly hotter. Ginny could be pretty blunt about certain things, and his and Luna's relationship never failed to supply her with a few jabs to throw his way. Not that he really minded. She meant it just in fun, whereas the rest of the school was a bit crueler.

When Draco had professed his love for Harry to Colin, the small Gryffindor boy had been a little worried that the Slytherin would run into opposition and that could make Colin's situation quite a bit sticky. He didn't want his friends to be hurt, but he didn't want to be hurt either, and he was realizing the more he looked over toward the Slytherin table, that his safety depended on Draco having a clear path to Harry.

It wasn't easy to keep food down, but he shoveled it in anyways and ran up to Gryffindor Tower for more film. He had an entire trunkful, but for the kinds of pictures Draco wanted, Colin was worried if it would be enough. It was coming on dark and Colin had noticed Harry head out with his practice clothes on a little over a half hour ago. He'd also noticed Draco notice. He wasn't sure what Draco had to be thinking about, Colin had never liked a boy like that before after all, but he wondered if he was thinking about Harry on his broom with his hair all pulled back by the wind and sweating. He'd heard girls talk about him and he thought they'd said something about flying and his messy hair. He would try to pay closer attention now.

He opened his second trunk and looked down into it. He was already a third of the way through his stash, he saw as he scooped a few dozen film canisters into his camera bag. He was going to have to be more careful in thinking out his pictures, not just take what his dad called Tommy-gun shots. He got some great candid pictures with the Tommy-gun, but with this huge assignment, he knew either he had to have an unlimited supply or think out every shot. He would have to talk to Draco about that. But he really didn't want to.

Now that he had his film and his camera, he had to figure out a way to get just the right pictures for his new employer. He knew what he thought Draco would want, but Colin wasn't very good at flying; Madam Hooch always said he was too excitable. Still, he knew the only way to get these shots would be to get on a broom.

Now he just had to get a broom.

Just then, Gilbert Baton-Smith walked in with a bag of sweets and the latest Vroomsticks (the first broom rag for muggle-born, comparing sports brooms with sports cars; it was a huge scandal with the pures, apparently). "H-hey Bert," Colin said. "C-can...can I have a go on your Comet?"

Gilbert looked up from the magazine with a perplexed look. "What for?"

"Ah...well, you see, my dad was wondering what Hogwarts looked like from above and I said I'd try to get him some pictures and he said he would really like it and the only way to really get a good view of Hogwarts from above is to get up on broomstick and I've been pract--"

"Alright, alright," Gilbert said, turning back to his magazine. "You can take a spin. Only I want it back in one piece, right?"

"Right, thanks Bert!" Colin said and grabbed the broomstick from atop Gilbert's trunk.

People watched Colin speed along through the halls, but just really to watch. Teachers and prefects reprimanded him for running in the halls, but it happened so often, it was really only just to say it anymore, as if mumbling, "No running in the corridors," to him as he passed was really doing their duty. He always ran, despite his best efforts to heed the rules.

When he arrived on the Quidditch pitch, Harry was up in the air in the twilight, chasing a tiny glimmering snitch. Every once in a while, the orange rays from the sunset would glint off the golden snitch or reflect off his glasses.

This was a fascinating opportunity for some pictures, Colin decided as he ran down the hill and jumped onto his broom. The broom didn't seem to care for this manner of mounting and tried a few times to buck him, but finally it smoothed out and he was ascending up through the air. Harry didn't seem to notice him. In fact, at the moment, he had the snitch clutched to his chest and was flying through the air with his eyes closed and a look on his face as if this was the most enjoyable feeling in the world, just to be flying in the air with the wind on his face. He was flying toward the point on the horizon where the sunset was in full colour and knew that once Harry hit there, it would be just the picture Colin was looking for.

The small boy clutched the Comet with his legs and shakily took his hands off the handle. Then he took hold of the camera and aimed it, adjusting things here and there. With a practiced speed, he started clicking pictures. The orange in the air was fading to a brilliant vermilion, which shone in Harry's hair and on the thin metal frame of his glasses. The look of pleasure on Harry's face had deepened to one of pure ecstasy. Colin clutched his camera tighter and bit his lip as he flew nearer. Almost there.

Then, there it was. Harry had flown directly in front of the sun and the brilliant colours of the sunset shown around him, a bright glint of colour beaming from the frame of his glasses. The expression, the lighting, the framing; everything Draco could want was there. Colin was sure he would love it. It was candid and intimate. He clicked the button down on the last three shots on the roll and couldn't wait to go to his dark room and develop it right away. It was perfect.

Only now Colin wasn't so sure he'd be able to make it to his dark room in one piece.

With a yelp, he tried to swerve Bert's broom away, but couldn't quite manage. Luckily, his cry had signaled Harry, who just managed to maneuver out of the way. Colin skidded to a halt in the air (could you really skid to a halt in the air, he wondered) and turned slowly around to find Harry hovering right in front of him, clearly not pleased.

"Colin, what the bloody hell were you doing? You could have killed me! Couldn't you see I was practicing?"

"S--sorry Harry," Colin stammered, clutching his camera tight to his chest. "I was looking out at the sunset in the Gryffindor Common and it was just so perfect, I wanted to take a picture to show my dad. You know, we don't see many sunsets at home, there are too many houses around and I just thought how perfect it would be to show my dad how beautiful it is here. See, he can't come here, 'cause he's a Muggle and all and Muggles can't come to Hogwarts. And even if he could, how often do we get a sunset like this? It's really--"

"Didn't you see me?" Harry interrupted.

"I...well, you see, I didn't really. I'm sorry. I was focusing on the sunset and I didn't really notice anything else because I wanted to make sure it came out just right and then I noticed you at the last second and tried to swerve but I'm not very good on broomsticks so I really only--"

"Well you shouldn't be up this high if you're not that good," Harry said, looking meaningfully down at the ground. Colin looked down, too. The Forbidden Forest was far below them and Colin could see a tiny ripple in the lake where the squid was waving his tentacle at a few students who were snogging under a tree. Or Colin assumed they were. They were so small, he couldn't really tell.

He let out a yelp and hugged the broom, letting his camera dangle. Then he yelped again and cradled his camera in the crook of his arm. "I...I wasn't going to. Only I didn't realize, see. I was--"

Harry let out a sigh. "It's fine, Colin. Just get down before it gets too dark and you can't see where you're landing."

"Alright. Th--thanks, Harry," Colin stammered and pointed the broom toward the ground, which almost turned him upside down.

When he reached the ground, he gladly tumbled onto the grass and lay there with his heart hammering in his chest, looking up at Harry in the air. After a few minutes, he picked up the camera and trained it on Harry. Even at the highest setting, his lens still didn't pick him up. He was up so high, Colin didn't even think his zoom could capture the kind of picture he'd just taken.

Finally, he stood up and tested his legs. The shaking had subsided to a tiny wobble, but it was steady enough to get him to his dark room. With one last look up in the air, Colin shot toward the castle.

Hours later, he was running up to the owlry with the roll wrapped in brown paper and addressed to Draco. He didn't think Draco would want people to know he was sending him stuff, so he put the return label as CC Photography. When he had flipped through the roll, he'd been excited to see that he had managed to get just the effect he had wanted. If he did so fast enough, it looked just as if Harry was flying, just like a movie.

Draco would love it. He just had to. Colin had risked his neck to get those pictures for him!