Click
~oOo~
A/N: Yep, I'M BAAACK! Consider this a sort of warm-up fic before I get back into writing Charming.
Written for xXxRandomxXx's 'I never...' Challenge. The challenge was to write a fic for a pairing I'd never normally author for – supplied by xXxRandomxXx, in this case Colin Creevey/Ginny Weasley. This fic also had to include some sort of crash and a clicking noise.
Disclaimer: Anything you recognise isn't mine – I'm just playing with it! So don't sue me, and enjoy. :)
~oOo~
It was Saturday afternoon at Hogwarts, and Ginny Weasley was sprinting through the empty corridors, sobbing.
Everyone else was out having fun or relaxing, in their common rooms or out by the Lake, and ordinarily, Ginny would be doing much the same. Instead, she pelted through the castle as fast as her legs would take her. She didn't know or care where she was running to, didn't care where she'd end up, as long as wherever it was was far, far away from them.
She never wanted to see any of them again. Not Harry, not Hermione, not even Ron, who'd just sat by, grinning ruefully while his two best friends swapped saliva.
The memory of Hermione sitting on Harry's lap, blushing and giggling as he tried to pull her into a kiss was not something that Ginny ever wanted to remember, much less dwell on. A cold stone fist clenched in her gut as she saw again in her mind's eye the tender way Harry had looked at Hermione, the way her fingers tangled in his messy black hair, the way he'd held her close to him as she kissed him... and the way he'd kissed her back.
A fresh wave of tears spilled from Ginny's eyes. Harry always poured his heart and soul into everything he did. So why should kissing his new girlfriend be any exception?
A broken sob escaped Ginny's lips as she ran onwards. It seemed like nothing could make her happy anymore; all she could think about was this. Harry was of course at perfect liberty to kiss whoever he liked, but it broke Ginny's heart that that person wasn't, had never been, and would never be, herself.
Blinded by tears, she turned at the top of yet another staircase and collided with something solid with a loud crash. Reeling, she landed firmly on her backside on the cold stone floor.
Stunned and breathing hard, she tried to blink away her tears as a hand came into view.
"Here, I'll help you up," a voice said, and then she was being pulled to her feet.
Staggering slightly and wiping her eyes with the palm of her hand, Ginny mumbled a thank-you and turned to run away again. She stopped as a hand caught her sleeve, pulling her back.
"Ginny? Are you okay?" It was Colin Creevey, looking a little dishevelled from their collision but otherwise only concerned.
Wiping at her eyes again, she replied croakily, "Yeah, I'm... I'm fine." She cleared her throat and said in a slightly clearer voice, "Are you alright?" Glancing at the camera he held in his other hand, she added, "And your camera – it's not broken, is it?"
"No, no, all fine." Colin looked her up and down with startlingly blue eyes. "Are you sure you're okay? Want to talk about it?"
Biting her lip, Ginny shook her head. In an attempt to change the subject before she could start crying again, she gestured to his camera and said, "So, um, you've been taking photos?"
The blond boy's face lit up with a radiant smile. "Yeah, I have, actually! But not just for fun – I'm busy shooting for a History of Magic project," he said proudly.
"Yeah? What's it about?"
"Well, I thought that since so much interesting stuff has happened to Harry, and since he defeated You Know Who he's like, a part of Wizarding history, I'd make my project about him. I mean, the Troll Wars are pretty cool and all, but nothing really beats Harry Potter, does it? Plus heaps of interesting stuff's happened to him, you know, so I thought I'd start by doing some scene photography – like, places that he's done epic stuff, and then I was going to try and find him and ask him if – oh!" Colin stopped gushing as he seemed to be struck by a realisation. "You're friends with Harry! D'you think you could ask him if he could maybe come and see me, just to take a few photos? It's legit, for schoolwork and everything, it won't take long – do you think that might work?"
Ginny just looked away and said icily, "I'm fairly sure Harry's a bit too busy to do a photoshoot." Before he could reply, she added with false cheer, "Sorry about that. You'll have to try to find him yourself. Anyway, I've got to go... um, study to do, homework, you know. The usual. See you around, yeah?"
She only left him time to nod before walking briskly away, the tears already starting to fall again.
~oOo~
Several days later, Ginny found herself walking the corridors alone again. She'd tried to distract herself by immersing herself in her studies as much as possible since she'd witnessed the... incident, so it was on her way back from the Library in the afternoon that she became aware of a strange, repetitive noise coming from somewhere nearby. After a moment's consideration she realised that the noise was actually high-speed clicking and that it was emanating from the door she'd just walked past... the door to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom.
Curious and filled with trepidation, the redhead inched back towards the door, wand at the ready. After all, who knew what could still be lurking in the castle after the Death Eaters' take-over of the castle last year?
She peered cautiously around the corner, before letting out a breath she didn't realise she'd been holding as she identified the source of the sound.
Taking a step into the room and pocketing her wand, she said, "You're not supposed to be in here."
Colin jumped and turned around, the frantic clicking stopping as he quickly lowered his camera. "Oh, hello," he said cheerfully, though somewhat guiltily. "I didn't see you there."
A smile tugged at the corner of Ginny's mouth as she looked around and observed, "You know this is a girls' bathroom, right?"
He picked at the stonework on which he was sitting and she thought he might have blushed slightly as he answered, "Yeah, but... I thought it would be okay since Harry and Ron came in here when they were in second year and they never really got in trouble for it... and besides, nobody ever comes in here, right?"
Ginny only smiled a little more.
"Look, you won't tell anyone I was here, will you?" he almost pleaded. "I'm only taking some more photos for History of Magic."
Ginny advanced a few paces and looked around. "You and your History of Magic. What d'you want photos of this place for, anyway?"
Colin looked shocked. "I thought you of all people'd know – remember our first year, when the Harry opened the Chamber of Secrets, and killed the Basilisk and saved you?"
"Ah," she said. There was a brief pause, and then a thought struck her. Turning to her companion, she said, "Colin... is it just me or do you have a thing for Harry?" She bit her lip. In hind sight, she thought, perhaps that was a little too direct to be polite.
Colin seemed unaffected by the question and shrugged. "Well, he is the Boy Who Lived... of course I'm a fan. Always have been. But you knew that."
She looked at him, one eyebrow raised in a way that suggested she'd meant something else by the question. A moment later, a spark of comprehension appeared in Colin's eyes, followed immediately by dismissal.
Rolling those sky-blue orbs, he said, "Not like that! You know I'm not gay."
Ginny couldn't help herself. She laughed. Surprised at herself, she was still smiling when she said, "Don't worry, I'm just teasing. So, once you're done here at Hogwarts, what are you going to with your photography? I assume you're not just going to give it up?"
"You know... I'm not actually sure," he mused. "Maybe I can photograph for a newspaper... but not the Daily Prophet, since they still print utter bollocks, even these days... Maybe the Quibbler? I don't know." He sighed. "As long as they've got someone else to do the potion that makes the pictures move. I'm rubbish at Potions, and ever since Lee left I haven't been able to get it to work properly. Lee was ace at Potions," he said sadly.
"Maybe I can help," said Ginny, and Colin looked up eagerly. "Potions is my best subject besides Transfiguration, and Professor Slughorn is always saying that I've got flair or whatever... Show me the recipe and I can see what I can do, if you like."
Sudden delight suffused Colin's features. "You'd do that?"
Ginny looked into his blue eyes, sparkling and wide with happiness, and at that moment everything felt right. She grinned at him and said, "Of course." Smiling wider when he returned her grin, she added, "So when do we start?"
Colin jumped to his feet eagerly. "Right now if you want!"
"Okay, lead the way."
The left Myrtle's bathroom together and headed in the direction of the Gryffindor common room, walking side by side.
~oOo~
A week later at nearly midnight, Ginny stumbled into her dorm and flopped down on her bed, exhausted. She'd been helping Colin brew his Photoreality Solution yet again, and although she enjoyed the potion-making as she always did, the process for this particular potion was time-consuming and very specific, and it took a long time to mature. Still, as tiring as it was, it meant plenty of time spent with Colin, alternately talking, laughing and concentrating hard on the task at hand.
As she stared up at the canopy of her four-poster, Ginny pondered, slowly coming to the realisation that this was the first time in weeks – no, months – that she'd been honestly happy without Harry.
She thought about Colin, picturing him sitting beside her, poring over the recipe yet again. He was kind of cute, she supposed. Cute, boyish, and her age. On top of that... chasing after Harry wasn't getting her anything except heartache, and she supposed that given enough time and distraction, she'd grow out of him... just as she'd grown out of every other silly crush she'd had so far.
There was Harry. There had always been Harry... And then there was Colin, with his dirty-blonde hair and honest blue eyes, his cheeky sense of humour and his honestly disastrous way of handling Potions... Someone to talk to, help out, hang out with. Someone to befriend.
Ginny smiled quietly to herself. So maybe... maybe things were looking up after all.
~oOo~
A/N: Well, there it is – I hope you liked it! Whether you did or not, please leave a review. Reviews are what keep me writing for you guys! (Personally, I'm not convinced that this is one of my better fics, but hey, it was a Challenge after all, and I'll leave it to you to decide the verdict.)
And finally a great bit THANKS to everyone who's been following along and reviewing my stuff – you guys are amazing! :D