Igniting Hearts

Click.

Click.

Click.

"Would you stop that? It's broken and no matter how many times you click the button it won't change!" a girl yells at him from across the nearly empty Gryffindor common room.

Looking at her out of the side of his eye, Dennis doesn't deign to give her an answer. Instead, he positions his finger, ready to press down once more–

"Don't you dare," the girl growls. "I have an Arithmancy assignment due in four hours and I'm never going to get this finished if you and your damn clicking keep interrupting my train of thought!"

Dennis pushes down the button.

The girl screams and throws her quill at him. It misses. Muttering angrily to herself then, she gets up and gathers all her work together before stuffing it in her bag. Passing him on her way to the dorms, she sends him a fiery glare.

"I hope you're happy," she snaps. "I'm going to fail my Arithmancy paper!"

Again, Dennis says nothing. Instead, he watches her stomp up the stairs to her dorm, leaving him all alone except for the first year who's slumbering deeply on one of the common room's sateen red sofas.

Looking down on the camera in his hands, Dennis's chest constricts.

Colin...

This camera is the only memento he's managed to save of his brother's in the wake of his parents destroying Colin's existence from their home and now, it's broken. It hurt and Dennis fears it'll break him if he is told it can't be fixed and that he should toss it. Turning the camera over in his grip, he lifts it so he can look out the viewfinder. Staring through the pinprick window and at the dying flames of the Gryffindor common room's hearth in the yellow light of the dimmed-down torches, Dennis is moved. That dying warmth, it's like his heart.

Everyday since his brother has died, his heart has grown a little colder, a little more callous. Soon, he believes, it will be just as cold as the coals of the fire come morning. However, unlike the Gryffindor common room's fire, Dennis doesn't think there'll be someone who comes by once it dies to ignite it back to life. No, when the warmth finally leaves his heart, it'll stay dead and cold.

Just like Colin.

"I thought she said it was broken," a sleepy voice pipes up from the sofa.

Looking in the direction of the sofa, he sees the first year – a feminine looking red-haired boy – staring at him with half-lidded eyes. Dennis stares. "So?" he finally says.

Bringing a freckled hand to rub at his eyes, the boy frowns. "Why don't you get it fixed?" he questions Dennis.

"Why are you awake?" Dennis huffs, ignoring the boy's question. "You were dead to the world just a minute ago!"

Yawning into his arm, the redhead shrugs his shoulders. "When she yelled at you the first time, I woke up. I've been pretending 'cause I was comfortable and I didn't really want to get up."

Finger rolling over the piece of the camera that is supposed to set up its film to take a new picture, Dennis scowls. "Do you think I'm daft? If what you've just said is true, then you should still be laid out on the sofa!" he argues.

Disappearing from view for a moment, the boy pops back up and moves around the sofa to come over by Dennis. "My dad always said the sofa isn't a place to get a good night's rest. I figured since I should get up for bed, I might as well ask. I was curious, you know?" he explains.

Dennis curls his lips back in a sneer and pulls his legs up so his heels rest on the edge of his seat's cushion. "Do you always listen to what your daddy tells you to do?" he asks mockingly.

"Mostly," the boy says, unaffected by his tone. "Hey, d'you think maybe something got disconnected in your camera? I remember that happened to my brother's. He just got a new one though because it was less expensive than fixing it."

Bringing the camera close, Dennis glares at the boy. "This camera is not replaceable!" he snaps.

Squinting his eyes at him, the boy says, "You know, some of the older students talk about you. They say your brother died in the battle here a couple years ago. They say that's why you're mean to people a lot, because you miss your brother. I'm sorry about him, I don't know what I'd do if my big brother died..."

Stunned, Dennis gazes at the redhead. Finally, he chokes, "What's your name, lad?"

"Corey Young," he answers proudly. "I'm the first wizard in my family!"

This brings a mournful laugh from Dennis's lips. "I'm the second wizard in my family," he says to Corey. "My brother was the first."

"Oh," Corey murmurs, seemingly uncertain of how to reply. "Um, I know you don't want a new camera, but maybe I could send yours home? My brother's good with his hands. He could at least tell you what's wrong with it…" the redhead offers, obviously trying to steer the conversation away from Dennis having a breakdown.

Not wanting to be finished with Colin's memory just yet, he decides to correct the boy about the camera. "It's not really my camera," he says, "it was my brother's. I just picked it up after he died." Chuckling, he gives the boy a bit of a smirk as he tells him, "I haven't put the damn thing down since. Sometimes, I think my brother would be happy about that. He took this bleeding camera everywhere with him. If what his dormmates said is to be believed, he even slept with it."

Corey giggles. "He really loved his camera, huh? Sounds like my brother and his harmonica! He's really good at playing it now, but when he got it when we were younger, he was awful! My parents would make him go outside to play then. Now, though, he can put down a paper cup outside the terminal at the tube station and earn enough to pay for a ride in less than an hour!" he shares.

Dennis cracks his first true grin in weeks. "Colin took some really awful pictures at first too," he tells Corey. "They were blurry if he used his muggle film and when he used the wizard stuff, they were always shaky. He'd send us dozens at a time home, though. They were terrible pictures, but I couldn't get enough of them. I had wanted to be a wizard just like him and when it turned out I was… Well, we were both happy. Very happy," he mumbles around the lump growing in his throat.

"I bet," Corey agrees. "It'd have been wicked if Dexter was a wizard."

Dennis sinks back in his armchair. "Yeah." He sighs. "It was really cool getting to share stuff with him."

"Like the pictures he took with the camera?"

Dennis eyes the beat-up box with a benevolent eye. Running his thumb along the top, he nods. "Like the pictures," he says.

Swaying a little, Corey asks, "So, would you like my brother to look at it?"

"What if it can't be fixed?" Dennis questions, the fear of losing his brother's camera causing his stomach to roll.

Corey lays his freckled hand over Dennis's. "I'll let him know you want it back even if he can't fix it. That easy, okay?"

Laughing off his worries then, Dennis turns his hand over to wrap around the first year's. "You have a deal then, Corey. We'll owl it off to him in the morning, okay?"

Face lighting up, Corey bobs his head eagerly. "Okay! See you in the morning!" he says before running for the stairs. Pausing there, he sends Dennis an uncertain look. "You'll be going to bed now, too, right?"

"In just a minute, don't worry," Dennis answers.

Smiling at him, Corey turns around and runs the rest of the way up the stairs and to his dorm.

Sitting there, as the embers lose the last of their glow, Dennis whispers to Colin's camera, "That was you, wasn't it, Colin? Making sure your camera and me got looked after."

The camera, of course, doesn't say anything, but his hearts feels warmer. It seems that he had been wrong about there being no one who would ignite life back into his dying heart.

I quite liked how this turned out. It feels...introspective. I've always loved writing fics like and this one feels nice and balanced.

Thanks for reading and please review!