A/N: Hi all and welcome to the story. This will be a long one. Everything is planned out and there's nothing I hate more than a WIP that never gets finished, so I promise that this will be completed! TW for slavery and violence (although nothing I post will be overtly graphic). This is also going to be predominantly gen (definitely compared to HBP standards anyway) so canon pairings only and they're not really going to play a huge part of the story.
Please read and review and let me know what you think.
Dean Thomas was an absolute moron and an insensitive prick of the highest calibre and no attempt to convince Ginny Weasley otherwise would work until she had consumed her body weight in chocolate frogs and cauldron cakes. It was this statement that she hissed at Colin as she stormed down from the boy's dormitory and across the common room to where he was sat by the fire, losing pitifully to his younger brother at Exploding Snap. She stared down at him as he looked up at her in amusement - and what was he would admit might have been relief for the interruption - and sat back in his chair, waiting for her to speak. Too angry to form words, Ginny seethed for a minute through gritted teeth, as she composed herself through deep breaths. Whoever said she never listened to her mother, he thought idly, had never seen her calm herself down from the latest boyfriend trouble. Finally managing to regain a bit of decorum, which Colin knew was not at all helped by the knowing smirk he couldn't keep off his face, Ginny sighed and stated in a voice that could cut glass, hands imperiously placed on her hips, that so-help-her-Merlin someone had better supply her with sugar and sympathy soon, or she was going to have to summarily hex any and all men that crossed her path for the next week.
"Dean," Colin had replied knowingly, smiling first in understanding to Ginny and then reassuringly to Dennis, who was staring at the irate girl like he might wet himself. Which, Colin admitted to himself, was fair; the Weasley family had a reputation. With one word, the apoplectic rage seemed to leave Ginny and she deflated like a popped balloon, flinging herself into one of the comfy chairs recently vacated by a terrified first year. The Weasley family had a reputation.
"What's he done now?" Colin asked, biting back the groan he knew was waiting in the back of his mind and indicating to Dennis to clear away the cards. They were not going to get to finish the game tonight.
"He's a prick," Ginny replied with a snarl, "An absolute fucking insensitive bastard who can't tell the difference between his wand and his-"
"Hey," Colin cut her off, lurching across the table to fling his hands over his little brother's ears in mock outrage, "there are sensitive little ears present!" He was fixed with two equally withering glares as Dennis slapped his hands away in consternation.
"You don't need to tell me Dean Thomas is a prick," Dennis informed the two older students with a sniff. "I heard he cursed Katie Bell to get onto the Quidditch team." Colin was shocked, to say the least, he had not heard that particular rumour yet. He fixed his little brother with a very stern look.
"Where did you hear that?" Colin asked very seriously.
"Because that's a vicious rumour," Ginny continued. "Probably started by Seamus, twat can't throw a Quaffle to save his life. Besides, Harry reckons it was-"
"None of our business and up to the professors to sort out, right?" Colin cut across her, staring pointedly at his younger brother. "Besides, weren't we declaring Dean the devil incarnate and verbally flaying him alive for some reason?" The change of subject was not at all subtle, but with a little brother like Dennis, it was completely necessary. Colin didn't want his idiotic younger brother running off and emulating his hero Harry Potter by investigating the latest mystery at Hogwarts, which he hoped Ginny could understand. She'd always been sensitive about cursed objects anyway.
Colin raised an eyebrow at her and she seemed to shrug off a thought. Luna would say she was plagued by Nargles again. Ginny nodded appreciatively in return, apparently thankful for the return to the matter at hand.
"That's right. Dean's a prick and I need something sickly sweet in my hand before I even begin explaining how or why," she stated firmly. "So…kitchens?"
Thankfully there weren't any prefects around as Ginny slipped out of the portrait hole with the two boys following behind. Colin knew that she had years of experience sneaking out past both her mother and Percy, the live-in prefect, to the broom shed at the Burrow, which had taught her how to evade authority figures. But it was after curfew and he was too tired and did not have enough of his friend's experience to be properly sneaky. Besides, Professor Dumbledore had held the whole school back after dinner to announce that everyone was confined to the dormitories for the night, following the end of the meal. They weren't saying why, but he suspected it was something to do with why Katie Bell was still in St Mungo's. So, whilst he was both an amazing friend and a probably terrible brother for agreeing to go along with Dennis on this little trip, he was also incredibly grateful that Hermione Granger was not around to catch him at it.
They were halfway down the fifth floor corridor when the Fat Friar floated past and idly informed them that Filch was dealing with a Peeves-related incident in the astronomy tower. They nodded their rather surprised thanks to the helpful ghost, continuing on their way with more confidence as Colin took advantage of the reported safety to light his wand. As they watched the ghost float through the wall, he calmly suggested that a good disillusionment charm was always helpful when seeking out a midnight feast. Ginny growled and stormed ahead, yanking Colin along behind her. She muttered that if she were capable of performing that spell her life would be a damn sight easier.
Colin avoided asking the question that was blooming at the back of his mind, half afraid that Ginny might go completely ballistic and yell at him in the middle of the corridor, stealth be damned. He was mustering the courage to interrupt her tantrum when she apparently read his mind.
"Just ask Colin," she muttered in irritation. Well, let it never be said that Colin was a man to miss an opportunity.
"Why aren't we just grabbing some food from the stash in the common room then?" he whispered, torn between wariness at her apparent omniscience and genuine confusion. "Surely that's easier than trekking all the way down to the kitchens?"
"Because I don't trust Romilda fucking Vane not to have laced the whole lot with Fred and George's love potions. That's why," Ginny replied tartly, glaring at the tapestry on the wall ahead of them. Colin silently willed the shortcut behind it to lead to the right floor for once, "She's on a mission this year." Ah, this Colin understood. After all, the fourth years may lack subtlety when it came to lusting after the 'Chosen One', but they could be damn perseverant when the mood struck.
"Who's Romilda Vane?" Dennis chirped up from behind the pair of fifth years, standing on his tiptoes to stare at the wall over his older brother's shoulder. Ginny nearly jumped a foot in the air. She had apparently forgotten that his little brother was there; unfortunately for her, when it came to his little brother, where one Creevey went, another was sure to follow.
"Why are you here again, Dennis?" she asked dryly, ushering them both though the tapestry. Colin was pleased to find that the shortcut had landed them, as hoped, in a classroom on the third floor. He did not immediately jump to his little brother's defence, but watched his friend carefully. Ginny's bad moods, whilst infamous amongst the Weasley clan, did not normally extend to yelling at everyone in her immediate vicinity – unlike some oblivious, Quidditch-obsessed, stupidly noble, idiotic boys that he knew – but Colin knew she would certainly allow herself a bit of leeway with annoying third years who were gegging in on her sulks to the kitchens. Unfortunately for her, Colin thought with a slight grin, as he watched her swallow her irritation and bury it deep, deep down, the price for Colin's presence and patience with her latest relationship troubles was his little brother's first introduction to post-curfew food forays. So he knew she would be tolerant, she would exude tolerance even, because there was no one better, in the whole of the Scottish Highlands, to complain about boys to than Colin Creevey. Even if he did say so himself.
He did however feel a little bit guilty. Their midnight feast bitching sessions about boys were usually sacrosanct and he was dragging his little brother along. But he'd promised Dennis some family time and she'd interrupted their game of snap. Also, he understood, God did he understand that she was going through some shit this year, what with her brother being a dick about her relationship with Dean, but Ginny had more relationship angst than Lavender Brown and that was saying something. So perhaps, just perhaps, he wanted to bring along a buffer for this latest session. Sue him, as his cousin Jenny would say. Knowing that Ginny was probably a bit miffed was not however going to deter him from his brotherly duty of educating his younger sibling on the finer points of the politics of Gryffindor Tower.
"Romilda's that cow in fourth year," he spat, never being one for tact or circumspection, "the one that keeps going on about her cousin, the Auror." He rolled his eyes to ensure Dennis knew how ridiculous he should find the whole thing. "She's all over Harry this year just because the Prophet has finally admitted he isn't a complete lunatic and might have a point about You-Know-Who being, you know, dangerous." He muttered a quick Nox as they opened the classroom door and stepped out into the corridor, indicating to his little brother to be quiet; the third-floor portraits were notoriously irritable if they were woken up by curfew violation.
Ginny rolled her eyes, although Colin knew he had a point. Half the school was suddenly enamoured with her brother's best friend, as if the whole of last year never happened, as if ostracising Harry was old news. Which, admittedly, in the grand scheme of the Hogwarts gossip cycle, it probably was. But Ginny was quick to inform them that having spent a whole summer in the company of the Boy-Who-Lived, she did not think that Harry was going to forgive and forget anytime soon. So, really, Colin acknowledged, feeling a little better, any efforts of Romilda and co. were rather in vain on the Potter front. But he still didn't like the sudden hypocritical change of public opinion and said as much to Ginny before they fell silent and warily headed down a staircase that was looking a little too innocent.
"Doesn't mean he's not going to forget all of that with all of Gryffindor throwing themselves at him," Colin seethed, lighting his wand with a vicious mutter and resuming the conversation as they found themselves in an unused corridor by the entrance hall. He couldn't even find it in himself to be thankful the staircase had behaved. Perhaps he'd mastered the art of glaring them into submission, like Professor Snape seemed to do.
"For fucks sake, Col," Dennis sighed in exasperation, gazing lazily around at the eerily quiet, empty classrooms. "Just because Potter is never going to go out with you, doesn't mean that no one else is allowed a shot". Colin knew his little brother didn't mean to offend him, but still, that seemed a little unnecessary.
"Why are you here again, Dennis?" Ginny asked again, this time with an arched eyebrow.
"Listen, Dennis, I said that you could come along if you would stop saying that in public" Colin seethed, cutting in before Ginny really got going. He had tried any and all techniques to get his brother to stop going on about his first-year (and maybe continuing but he'll never admit that to anyone) crush on Harry Potter and he thought a midnight adventure, Famous Five style would finally do the trick. Apparently not.
He stormed over to the wall and began searching angrily by wand-light for the right discoloured stone that opened the passage to the hallway near the Hufflepuff common room.
"What, that you fancy Potter?" Dennis crowed nastily, because he just couldn't leave things alone once he got going. "It's obvious to anyone that's got eyes. You came home first year with all those photos Col." His annoying younger brother leaned against the wall, smirking as Colin spared a moment to gesture rudely at him before continuing his search of the wall. "Mum, Dad, look!" the brat continued in a terrible impression of Colin's excitable, pre-pubescent voice "He's the saviour of the wizarding world and he's so nice and funny and he let me take all these photos of him". Ginny shot him a look and went over to help Colin's search. This was why Colin liked Ginny. She was a good friend. She was better than his little brother anyway. Dennis, however, was not to be deterred, revelling in the opportunity to wind his brother up in front of Ginny Weasley, the best chaser Gryffindor has seen since James Potter (or so Professor McGonagall said). "Here's a photo of him at breakfast, here's one of him coming out of Herbology, and here's one where the professor vanished all of his bones when he broke his arms," Dennis dropped the terrible impression and continued in a very dry tone. "You know that's just weird Col, no one takes a picture of a bloke when he's broken his arm. That's just weird mate."
Colin sighed and leaned his head against the stonework as Ginny smiled. He tried reminding himself that he did indeed love his little brother and did not actually possess homicidal feelings for the little shit. Well, at least not all the time anyway. It was not working.
"I know," he half howled, finally turning his head to meet Ginny's amused grin. "I was a terrible eleven year old with a crush and no social skills. It was a terrible plan to make him fall madly in love with me and sweep me away to his castle that ended with me frozen solid in the hospital wing for half the year."
Ginny flinched, swallowing heavily as she busied herself scanning the wall for the stupid discoloured stone that just wouldn't stay in the same place for any one minute. Although she knew academically that none of the events of her shitty first year were her fault, that she was a child who was manipulated by the spirit of the most evil dark lord of the century, any reminder of the impact that Tom Riddle had on the lives of her friends made the old guilt settle deep within her stomach. She tried to push the thoughts away and focus on the here and now, Colin wasn't to know, her involvement in the whole affair had been shushed up by Dumbledore and Harry and Ron weren't the type to gossip about what had gone down in the Chamber. He didn't mean to awaken old memories. Besides, he was the victim here, not her, if he wanted to deal by making glib jokes then that was his right.
"You weren't the only one with an embarrassing crush that year," Ginny forced out through her dry throat, eternally grateful that Colin didn't pick her up on how shaky she sounded all of a sudden.
"Really?" Dennis chirped up, pushing off the wall in the desire for some gossip.
"Oh my God!" Colin suddenly exclaimed. "Oh my God, I just remembered something!" His eyes lit up with glee and Ginny felt a wash of dread come over her. She and Colin had bonded, at some point in their second year, about their respective unrequited and totally pitiful crushes on the Boy-Who-Lived and the completely embarrassing things they'd done to try and get his attention. Although it had felt good at the time to have someone that understood her complete and all-consuming mortification, she was painfully aware that Colin was one of the select few wizards that had the capacity to bring about her death by sheer humiliation. The evil glint in his eye brightened as he saw her bristle in discomfort.
"Hem-hem," he began in an eerie mimic of Umbridge, before breaking out into a wide grin, "His eyes are as green as a fresh pickle-" Ginny launched herself across the corridor to cut him off, sheer desperation fuelling her flight.
"Don't you dare, Colin Creevey!" she hissed at him, drawing her wand and blindly casting silencio as he continued that dreaded song, in the vain hope he'd just shut up.
"The hero who conquered the dark lord!" Colin finally finished, dropping into an elaborate bow as he burst into giggles.
The lack of a moving target meant Ginny was finally able to get off a stinging hex that had Colin yelping and falling through the wall next to him.
"What was that?" Dennis asked, completely confused by the whole thing and looking rather wary about hanging round in a corridor with the girl who'd just cursed his brother into the stonework.
Ginny was pleased. He should fear her, she could cast a damn good hex and she'd only wanted Colin along for the night. Which, admittedly wasn't Dennis's fault and she also suspected that Colin had dragged him along to spite her for some reason. So she didn't feel that guilty about hexing him. At all. Honestly.
"Something that shall never be spoken of again," was her only reply. Dennis caught on quickly and gave her a very emphatic nod, earning him a smile of approval. That song and all memory of it should be trapped in a Pensieve in the depths of Gringotts where no witch or wizard should ever venture near. Although, knowing her luck, the goblins would release it and make a pretty galleon off the royalties she thought glibly to herself, as Colin stuck his head back through the wall.
"Hey guys, I found that stone we were after," he laughed, dodging back through as Ginny chased after him, wand drawn. They stared each other down for a minute before bursting into giggles, waiting for Dennis to follow them. A minute or so later he came hurtling through the wall like it was the barrier at platform 9 ¾.
"How have we not been caught by now," he complained into the stonework of the floor. This was something that she had been thinking to herself, it was very odd that they hadn't stumbled into any patrolling teachers yet. It was almost as if they had decided en masse that patrolling after curfew was off for the night. Perhaps they were off having a firewhisky fuelled gobstones tournament, it's what she'd be doing as a teacher and Professor McGonagall was known to be a fearsome gambler. But regardless of for what reason they hadn't been caught, Ginny Weasley was never one curse a Phoenix for giving its tears. So she shrugged and hoped the luck would last long enough for her to consume some sugar. Colin however felt the need to labour the point.
"Sheer skills and stealth, little brother," he answered, reaching out an arm and yanking Dennis to his feet. "Besides, I just realised that neither of us has a more embarrassing first year relationship than you." Colin smiled and ruffled his younger brother's hair. Ginny took a sensible step backwards, she had six brothers, and she knew the smirk growing on Creevey the Younger's face was not good news.
"If you say the giant squid Col," Dennis began, clearly delighting in the crestfallen look on his brother's face at being so easily caught out, "I'll have you know that we were both very happy together- brief as our love was- and that we parted on pretty good terms, all things considered."
Ginny rather admired the kid's ability to keep a straight face; she knew that falling into the lake before the sorting could either make or break one's Hogwarts career and Dennis was clearly still dining out on the fame of that particular adventure.
"The squid helped me out of the lake, Col, that's true love and I can never be embarrassed by that," Dennis finished with a wink. Ginny smiled back at him, acknowledging the point won against Colin, as the youngest of a veritable pack of siblings she understood the importance of winning a few battles against a big brother.
"Well, you've got me there, Dennis," Colin acknowledged wryly, "But you do raise an interesting concern. If we don't get a move on, Professor Sprout is going to come along and feed us to that Tentacula she's got in Greenhouse Three." They all shared a quick glance before hurrying along to the entry to the kitchens. "Besides," he continued in the same dry tone, "we still haven't heard exactly what the foolish Mr Thomas did to warrant this particular little adventure."
Ginny was so shocked she actually stopped in the middle of the hallway and had to hurry on before either of the boys noticed. She'd honestly forgotten that she was meant to be pissed off at Dean. The sudden reminder did not, however, lessen her irritation, which swarmed back unexpectedly and to her consternation, much like the doxies did in the Order Headquarters last summer.
"I'll tell you inside," she grunted as they reached the portrait, leaning forwards to tickle the pear. A bit removed from the immediate row, she was starting to question whether she might have over-reacted a little bit and she did not want Colin to turn round and head back up to the tower if he thought she was being silly. Which, she reminded herself with a shake as she stepped through the portrait hole, she most definitely wasn't.