Written for the Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition - Season 2 - Round 1. Happy 16th anniversary of the Battle of Hogwarts!
He's lying on his back tracing shapes on the ceiling when the door rings.
His eyes widen and he jumps up, only slipping against the floor once before dashing to the door. He shoots down the stairs, wanting to be the first to answer the door. He's a fraction of second too late though – Colin gets there before he does. The door is yanked open just as Dennis skips to a stop on his socked feet.
They both fall silent, and a greeting dies on Dennis' lips. It's a stranger, and an intimidating one at that. He's dressed in all black despite the muggy summer air, and his glower could cut through cement. Behind them, their mum is just coming out of the kitchen, wiping her hands on a towel. She catches sight of the man in the doorway, and walks up to him, subtly shoving the two of them behind her.
"How may I help you?" she asks politely.
For a beat, the stranger doesn't respond. He just watches them. Then, he slowly intones, "I believe you received a letter earlier today."
It's not a question. In an instant, their mum is tensed and angry and she shoots them a look that tells them to leave. Dennis listens at once, dragging Colin away by the back of his shirt as he cranes his head back.
"Let's listen," he whines to him.
Dennis shifts his weight from foot to foot. He wants to listen –badly. The curiosity's digging into him, especially since they don't get visitors often in their small town. Colin beams at him.
"Okay, let's go."
They two of them creep back to the hallway, then rapidly duck into the doorway as they see their mum and the stranger go into the living room. They exchange a wide-eyed look of disbelief. Slowly, they follow after and linger at the entrance.
"—Professor," their mum is saying.
So the stranger was a teacher? There's a brief scuffle as both Dennis and Colin try and press closer.
"It's the best education he'll get in this country. Left unchecked, his magic will only grow and more accidents will occur. I'm sure you've seen it happen before."
His voice is nasally and unpleasing to the sound. Dennis frowns to himself, wondering why the teacher would be talking about magic of all things with his mum.
"I—I'll have to think about it. Discuss it with John."
"And the boy?"
"I'll tell him."
The teacher glances towards their hiding spot, then back at her. "I believe it's prudent we get the matter over with now. He's listening to every word, after all."
Their mum lurches to her feet and whips her head around to face them. Her face is stormy, and it compels them to shuffle into view. It promises a strict lecture, and possibly a grounding later.
But she says nothing, and the teacher explains everything again, with a quick demonstration, before leaving with a swish of his black robe. He'll come back tomorrow, he says, to bring Colin to buy supplies for next year.
He's going to Hogwarts.
They both get confined to their room the next day, but Dennis is too busy dreaming about the day he turns eleven.
-X-
It's lonely without his brother.
His days turn into a dull routine: school, homework, chores, sleep, repeat. The house has gotten quieter. It's not fun to play football, or play pranks, or try a new experiment without someone to share it with.
The only bright point comes when Colin returns for winter break. Dennis waits eagerly at the door. The moment it opens, he's jumping on his brother and demanding to know all about the magical school somewhere far far away.
"It's brilliant," Colin says later with shining eyes, when they're isolated and staying up late at night like they used to. "I can't describe it. It's just – amazing."
It's in this way that Dennis learns about Snape – the teacher that came, and Dumbledore, and how the Great Hall glows at night. He learns about the lake and magic.
But most of all, he learns about Harry Potter.
Colin fumbles with his old camera in his rush to show him the photos. When he excitedly shoves the object into his face, Dennis tilts his head in confusion. The boy in the picture is rather small. Ordinary. His glasses are small for his face, and he's looking away from the camera.
"This is him," Colin announces. Dennis has never seen him this way before, with his eyes glinting in feverish happiness.
It makes him uncomfortable, because he's changed so much. He's different from the brother he remembers. But he brushes the feeling aside, and listens as his older brother recounts Harry Potter's past.
-X-
His letter comes under the summer sun, so similar to that of his brother's. The two of them celebrate and cheer, and their parents hold a party just for the two of them.
It's the start of his new life.
If only he knew how very wrong he was.
-X-
The war is a tsunami, coming in and washing everyone away. There is nothing left unscathed.
He's only a child. He's still fourteen. He can't fight in a war – he's too young. Dennis curls up on his bed, the only thing still unchanged in his life, shivering despite the warm air breezing in.
He's scared. He's so, so scared. All he can hear at night is the screams echoing throughout the dungeon, and the white faces of the students he passed by in the hallways. He doesn't want to go to war, and he knows his parents don't want him to go. But Colin is chafing against the restraints.
He had always been too passionate for his own good, Dennis thinks dully.
They're both confined to their rooms for now, but they have magic and their parents don't. Dennis knows Colin is planning to sneak out. He knows it as well as he knows that the coin grew warm in his pocket.
Dennis pulls it out and stares at it with dead eyes. Carefully, he places it on his bedroom table, and grabs nothing but his wand.
To war.
He sneaks to his brother's room. They don't speak; there's no place for words anymore. They arrive at Hogwarts together, and with a heartening speech from the Boy-who-lived, they're in battle.
It's something they've trained for. How to fight, how to defend, how to kill.
The reality is much more horrifying than that. It spears him in the gut the moment he steps out.
Dennis has no choice but to fight. To not fight is to die, and that's not an option. He has to survive and then… and then—he doesn't know anymore.
For now, he has to cut down an enemy before they get to them.
It's strange, he thinks, how war has such a timeless quality to it. He's been fighting for hours, or maybe minutes. Everything is a blur of fightdodgeattack.
Dennis can't hear anything anymore. The war continues to rage around him, not stopping in its path of destruction. Already, the familiar sights of Hogwarts are gone and replaced with death. It's everywhere. He can't escape anymore.
He blinks as there's a sudden lull in the rhythm of the war. Dennis looks around, lost, before focussing on another objective: his brother.
He has to find his brother. Even with useless arm and a limp, he can do at least that.
Colin. Colin. Colin.
The name repeats in his head like a mantra. He stumbles around, to the lake where the Giant Squid used to lay and the inner courtyard. Nothing but bodies and cries surround him. He ignores this; he has to find his brother – needs to find him.
Colin. Colin.
Dennis struggles through the sea, his breath coming out in short pants. The strength is draining out of his limbs; he doesn't know how much longer he can hold out.
Colin.
And then, the field falls silent, and with it, the body on the ground comes into view.
His body is splayed like the twisted branches of the Weeping Willow, ugly in death. His eyes, once bright with hope and laughter and emotion, stare blankly up at the mourning sky. There's nothing peaceful about it. There's nothing beautiful about it. He used to be somebody with a name and a little brother and years and years of life in front of him but now, he's nameless amongst the army of corpses surrounding him.
Dennis doesn't know how long he stands there in the middle of the ruin, simply staring. The grief will come later. For now, he's numb. Then, he takes a slow step backwards, and another. He stumbles and trips his way through the maze of bodies, and then he stops where Hogwarts meets the Forbidden Forest and crumbles to the ground. Immediately, bile and vomit splatter to the ground. Dennis gets up again, ignoring the burning in his throat, and continues to walk away.
He doesn't return.