Introduction

I sit with a my quill and parchment, in the Hufflepuff common room, at a desk by the window, looking out over the Forest. Not the Forbidden Forest. Never again. Just the Forest. An ordinary scene, even though everything has changed.

It's been a strange year, and in many ways a rough year, but looking at what I just wrote, I almost have to laugh. Here it is 1995, and I'm writing with a quill. It was only three years ago that I was learning to hold a quill, and getting used to parchment. The parchment was easy enough, but even a magic quill takes some getting used to after the pencils and felt-tip pens we always wrote with in primary school. Not to mention how weird it seems to describe a witchcraft and wizardry school as ordinary.

I'm muggle-born, you know, and only in my third year at Hogwarts, so I feel rather honored that Headmistress McGonnagall has asked me to document what happened this year. The changes that have occurred have been plenty to deal with by themselves, especially regarding my brother Dennis, but it still feels good to have been asked. When McGonnagall asked me to put together a report on what happened, I didn't even know where to begin. She reassured me that my account wouldn't be the only one, that she's also talked to Draco, Hermione, Professor Sprout, the centaur Firenze, and a few others. Her words still sit with me: "The important thing, Mr. Creevey, is to place quill to parchment, and write down as much as you can remember. Too much information was lost after the events of 1992. This year has been almost as disruptive, if not more so, and I do not choose to permit this one to go undocumented. Given your unique position, your contribution will be invaluable. Don't get too much hung up on polished writing. The key is to make certain that you are as complete in your report as possible."

I still have trouble getting my head around the Transfiguration professor encouraging unpolished writing. I guess what I'm trying to say, to you, whoever is reading this, is that I'm sorry that what I'm writing here is so disorganized and informal. In particular, I'd like to apologize to you, Headmistress McGonnagall. I know that you gave me permission and all, but I also know you'd never forgive this level of sloppiness in a Transfiguration essay.

So, where to begin?

Dennis is gone. There, I said it. I have no way of knowing whether any of us will ever see him again. Is he dead? I don't know. In some ways it doesn't even seem to matter. He's gone. The strange part is that it doesn't even really hurt. At first I wondered if there was something wrong with me, but even my mother didn't cry very much. That part is definitely reassuring. I realize Harry probably won't think much of me when he reads this, but I suppose I'll have to deal with the consequences of taking McGonnagall's advice and just writing things down. Evidence: my mother didn't cry much. Conclusion: somehow my brother must really be all right somehow. Maybe dead, maybe not, but somehow definitely in a better place. No rational thinking skills required for that line of thought. Just admitting that much might even be enough to get my membership in the Chaos Club revoked.

I do wish he would understand. Sometimes I think that maybe he will after all. My feelings now aren't all that different from what he's said about his willingness to test the hypothesis that Hogwarts and magic are real, back when he got his acceptance letter four years ago. Astonishing claims require astonishing evidence, he always says that. But if his own account is to be believed, he didn't dismiss the idea right away. Of course, he was able to test the hypothesis, however strange it was. I'm not really in a position to do that. No, he won't understand.

All right, let me try to at least try to get things into chronological order. But where to start? In Dennis's first year? No... that's not really when all of this started. I guess I should start with the point at which Dennis first found out that magic was real. Which was of course was around the time when I got my own Hogwarts acceptance letter. All right, here goes.

Colin Creevey

May 10, 1995

Hogwarts Academy of Witchcraft, Wizardy, and the Natural Sciences

Author's notes: In hopes of avoiding long update gaps, the plan is to update (roughly) twice a month. The first real chapter should be published on or before January 1, 2014.