Here's a little story I thought of just recently. After the idea came to mind, I just had to write the story for it. References to this will be in Colin Creevey Lives On.

Surprising Revelations

As the war between the wizarding world and Voldemort--Lord Evil, as the Creevey brothers called him--mounted, some parents preferred that their children come home for the holidays, even Muggle parents like Mr. and Mrs. Creevey. It was Colin's 5th year of Hogwarts and Dennis's 3rd.

"You can handle doing the dishes the Muggle way, can't you?" Colin's dad asked him with a wry smile the night Spring vacation started.

Colin laughed. "Hey, that's how I've always done them, right?"

After a good laugh and plenty of suds, the dishes were all cleaned up. Colin and Dennis spent the next half hour watching their favorite evening cartoon.

As soon as the show was over, their mother came in to say, "OK, boys. It's getting late." And, as the two pulled themselves up and started to leave, she remember, "Oh, there's laundry hanging outside! Better go get it."

As their mother went out to do so, Colin and Dennis went into the bathroom to brush their teeth. In mere seconds, the two struck up the conversation that seemed to come up quite a lot lately.

"So... when do you think Harry Potter will beat Lord Evil?" asked Dennis through his toothbrush.

"Well, it can't be too long," was Colin's response. "I mean, he's Harry Potter!" This exclamation accidentally sent a dash of wet toothpaste onto Dennis's face; when Colin gave a sheepish smile, Dennis just smiled back and wiped it off.

"I hope this whole thing ends soon," Dennis admitted. "War is scary."

With a casual shrug, his brother said, "Of course, it's scary. It's war, isn't it?"

The two suddenly stopped brushing and spat into the sink. "Something's not right," said Dennis, staring at his brother.

"Yeah," he agreed. "Mom should be back inside by now."

Quickly rinsing their mouths, the boys went down to check for themselves, but not before Colin swiftly picked up his wand from their nearby room, just in case.

As they got into the kitchen and looked out the door, they looked to the laundry line and saw nearly all of it was in the basket. Next to the basket, however, lay their mother.

As the two boys ran outside, they felt a sudden chill sweep over them. Unusual weather for this time of year, they thought before seeing the sinister cloaks gliding above.

"Dementors," breathed Dennis; vapor left his mouth due to the unnaturally freezing temperature. He rushed over to his mother to check on her. "Mom, can you hear me? Please, answer me!" Mrs. Creevey lay still.

As he tried, his despair mounted. It's probably too late, he thought. They probably already sucked her soul out. Don't talk to yourself like that, he scolded himself. It's just the Dementors draining your hope and happiness out of you!

Desperate to help his family, Colin pulled his wand out and cried, "Exp--Expecto Patronum!" Nothing happened.

Come on, Creevey; like Harry taught at those DA meetings, he told himself. Happy thoughts, think happy thoughts.

Colin thought about how he first met his hero; how he'd always been so nice to him and of all the pictures he'd managed to take of him... "EXPECTO PATRONUM!"

The Dementors drawing ever closer to Colin's mom and little brother were suddenly shooed back a little by the appearance of a silver rodent that seemed to fly towards them.

It's working! Colin thought with a grin, and his happiness seemed to feed power to his Patronus.

Unfortunately, one or two Dementors managed to slip around the rodent to reach their intended targets. Colin tried desperately to keep positive thoughts in his mind while trying to fend them off, but it just wasn't enough.

That's when a silver tabby cat seemed to spring up from nowhere as it joined the silver rodent in driving the demonic creatures away. A bit strange seeing a cat and a rodent work together, Colin thought humorously, but they are Patronuses, so they have the same cause.

As soon as the Dementors were gone and the two Patronuses vanished, Colin turned around to see a familiar woman entering the yard. "These Dementor attacks are getting worse and worse," she said as she came. "Are you alright, now, Creevey?"

"I-I guess so, Professor," he stammered as she went over to check on Dennis and his mother. "Professor McGonagall, will they be OK?"

McGonagall took a moment to carefully observe the two and concluded, "They'll be fine. Let's get them into the house before any Dementors return, though."

"Two cups of hot cocoa," said Colin as he came into the living room with two mugs in his hands. "Oh, and I added a dash of cinnamon for flavor," he added with a smile as he handed the mugs over.

Though still shocked from her experience, his mother managed a smile. "You're my little chef as always, Colin," she said before blowing on her drink and taking a sip.

McGonagall nodded to Dennis and said, "Drink up; a little chocolate always helps after the effects of a Dementor attack."

Mr. Creevey held his wife close to him and said to McGonagall, "Thank you, Professor. If it wasn't for you, my family might not be entirely here."

"It was no trouble, Mr. Creevey," she assured him. "Just be careful... this war may get worse."

"I heard... frightening things." This faint voice came from Mrs. Creevey.

"Dementors are very foul creatures," the Deputy Headmistress explained. "They feed on a person's every happy thought until they are forced to relive their worst memories."

Mrs. Creevey took another sip of cocoa before explaining, "I heard explosions... screams... I remember mostly a woman calling for someone named Nicholas... and she was calling my name as well."

McGonagall stared her as if deep in thought, and then she asked, "Your name?"

"Abigail," she said. "Abigail Lewis."

To the whole Creevey family's surprise, McGonagall got up and said, "If you'll excuse me for a moment, I need to check on something, and then I'll be back."

With that, left the room.

About a quarter hour later, McGonagall returned with a look of bewilderment on her face. The Creevey brothers were just asking themselves why when she started to talk.

"Back when I had recently acquired my job as Transfigurations professor and Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts, Headmaster Dumbledore had hired my husband to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts," she explained. "He was known to the students as Mr. Professor McGonagall and I as Mrs. Professor McGonagall. He did very well in his post, and as soon as our first year of teaching was over, we celebrated with our 2-year-old daughter at a small cafe.

"Unfortunately, everything went downhill that day. Something went horribly wrong in the cafe kitchen," she continued. "There was an explosion... two or three people were killed... one of them was my husband, Nicholas. I lost my daughter in that accident as well, but instead of dying, as I thought, it seems she was found and taken in by a Muggle family, never to learn of the wizarding world."

Jaws wide open, Colin and Dennis stared between their teacher and their mother. "But... that would make Mom..." the former started in astonishment. "But, she would've shown signs of magic, wouldn't she?"

"Unless she's a Squib," pointed out the latter. "Oh, that's a non-magical person with magical parents," he added when he saw his mother's look.

"According to recent evidence, that would have to be the case," said McGonagall. "I recently took a DNA sample to Professor Slughorn, and he did some potion work that confirmed that your mother is, in fact, my little Abigail McGonagall whom I lost about four decades ago... who was raised by the Muggles Mr. and Mrs. Lewis before she married Mr. Creevey and had you two."

The Creevey brothers' astonished looks changed to excited grins as they exchanged glances. "We're the grandkids of a Hogwarts teacher!" cried Dennis.

Colin nodded. "Wait 'till everyone at school hears about this!"

"I'm afraid you won't be telling anybody," said McGonagall, cutting through the excitement.

The boys stopped and frowned as Colin said, "But... Grandma," he smiled slightly at the thought he could call his teacher 'Grandma' without it being derogatory towards her age, "If you and Mr. McGonagall really are our grandparents, that means we're not Muggle-born after all; we're half-blood."

She nodded. "True, the revelation that you have wizard blood in your family tree would make you smaller targets in this war... if it weren't for who that blood comes from." As her audience didn't seem to understand what she meant, so she explained, "As his Deputy Headmistress, I am considered to be one of--possibly the closest person to Albus Dumbledore. If You-Know-Who and his followers knew you were my grandchildren, they could and would use you to get to me." She placed her hands on her grandkid's shoulders and said, "I don't want to be responsible for you two ending up in danger."

After a moments pause, the Creevey brothers sighed and Colin said, "We understand. Thanks again, Grandma."

"Yeah, see you at school, Grandma," added Dennis.

McGonagall smiled and, as she made her way out, added, "Remember, it's 'Professor' when we get back."

Well... there you have it. Back to continuing "Colin Creevey Lives On".