The Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition, Season 5, Round 5 – What's in a name
Montrose Magpies
CHASER 3: Pansy (as inspired by Pansy Parkinson): Write about a character loving another character despite being mistreated or ignored by them.
Optional Prompts:
9. (word) serene
12. (object) toilet paper
13. (colour) ruby red
Wordcount: 933
AN: I am aware that Colin Creevey didn't go to Hogwarts for his sixth year, but for the sake of this story, let's pretend he did anyway.
Bravery
It takes a special kind of bravery to love someone without resentment, especially while being ignored or denied. Unrequited love is one of the toughest conditions a person can live with.
There were two things in life Colin Creevey knew everything about: photography and Harry Potter. He had followed the older boy around whenever he could for years, taking pictures and treasuring any scrap of attention the bespectacled boy ever turned his way. Every single incident was thoroughly documented through his pictures, properly sorted, categorized and lovingly stored in a series of leather bound photo albums with gilded edges. He'd even acquired a few lengths of ruby red ribbons to tie around them in case he ever found the courage to present the object of his admiration with the gift.
He was perfectly aware that the older Gryffindor did not have a particularly high opinion of him. Or much of an opinion of him at all. He did tend to end up displaying nothing but his almost stalkerish tendencies towards the black-haired boy and a general eagerness to please. Which didn't really inspire much else than uncomfortableness. But it was okay. Harry had enough to deal with as it was.
There was a kind of serene quality about the whole thing as well. A sense of peace, of knowing exactly where he stood on the matter, with no chance of that changing any time soon, which was of some comfort when the rest of the world was such an uncertain place.
Whether he lived to tell the tale or not, the world would know of the Boy Who Lived's achievements through his pictures. After all, a picture said more than a thousand words. He was documenting people's lives before and during Voldemort's rule, and the heroic acts of Harry Potter that put an end to it. And he was absolutely certain that Harry would defeat the dark wizard. His faith in the young man was irrevocable. Faith was perhaps the strongest motivator of all. It was this conviction that kept him going through his hellish sixth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He tried to live strictly by the words 'What would Harry do?'. He firmly believed in everything his former housemate stood for, and it was a cause he was more than willing to die for. If necessary. It wasn't like he wanted to die, or anything. Far from it, actually. He was eager to greet the world awaiting them all beyond the evil wizard's rule. But if his life was demanded to make sure that future came to pass, then he was ready to pay that price.
And, right at that moment, saving a couple of first graders from the coming torture of what the Carrow siblings called detention was as close to what the infamous Harry Potter would do as he could get.
It seemed like one of the younger students, walking around the corner in animated conversation with a friend about something or other, had accidentally grazed the Muggle Studies professor, Alecto Carrow, as she was walking alongside her brother in the opposite direction. The slight contact hadn't caused any kind of trouble for the teacher, but the student in question had dropped every book, parchment and quill he'd held in his arms in the shock of the gruesome teacher duo's sudden appearance. There was no way the Death Eater siblings were going to let the young ones go without some kind of punishment. Both of them thrived on inflicting pain and downright torture on the students in their charge.
The slender young Gryffindor pressed his back — already sore from his previous session with the Carrows in the old dungeons — against the cold wall of the fifth floor corridor. He closed his eyes tightly and took a deep breath as he let his head fall back to rest against unforgiving stone, steeling himself for the tortures the immediate future would have in store for him if he followed through on his current plan of action. Though there was no "if" about it. The tiny first year Hufflepuffs didn't deserve the treatment the Death Eaters would put them through. Not that Colin himself did either, but it was better that he dealt with it than some innocent youngsters who didn't know how to stay off the dark teachers' radar.
He could hear the frightened sniffles of one of the unfortunate Hufflepuffs while the other one tried to plead for mercy amidst stutters and squeaks. It was all it took to harden his resolve to intervene on their behalf. No first years were going to feel the wrath of the Carrows and the severe and unjust punishments they were known and feared for meting out. Not on Colin's watch.
He just wished there were some way to let Harry know that they were all doing everything they could for the remaining students in his absence. The sixth year Gryffindor was sure that having one less thing to worry about would do the older boy good.
He might have to spend the next few days in bed, sleeping off the bone-deep pain of the Cruciatus Curse. Possibly with several meters of toilet paper wrapped loosely around both his arms and legs, soaked in the ruby red blood seeping from the wounds he would obtain while thrashing around in uncontrollable pain. But it would all be worth it, knowing that, at the very least, the younger ones had been spared. At least until the next time someone said or did anything unacceptable in the presence of the wrong person.