Written for the HP Romance Challenge!

Pairing: Colin Creevey/Ginny Weasley

Due date: July 15th 2011

Written by: RandomPonyWriter

I've never written about either of these characters! Please tell me how I did! Keep in mind throughout this story that I wrote it while comforting my sister who just broke up with her boyfriend. Also there is more history between Colin and Ginny which I decided not to explain because thsi had to be a one-shot. So yeah, their love for each other isn't out of the blue; this is just the scene where they realise it.

Read and Review : )

Also, Just letting you know that I obviously didn't write the original HP books so I don't claim ownership of the characters etc.

"Smile Gin," Colin Creevey enthused as he followed Ginny Weasley towards the Hogwarts lake, wondering whether he could capture the way her hair gleamed a fierce copper red in the sunlight with his camera.

Ginny turned and poked her tongue out at Colin. "I thought that Carrows told you to get rid of your camera Col," she sighed. It was fairly obvious that the Carrows had a hatred for anything muggle, especially Colin's camera. "You know that they'd love any excuse to do you in now Col, being muggleborn."

Colin shrugged. "I thought the Carrows told you to stop going out onto the grounds," he retorted playfully. "Looks suspicious you know, being friends with Harry Potter and all."

Ginny smiled at him and he snapped the picture, smiling back at her, his hazel eyes reflecting the sunlight. Strange how the sun could still shine when everything else seemed so dark. The darkness was everywhere these days, even the castle seemed to have withdrawn somehow, no longer seeming as alive as it used too, unmoving staircases and quiet portraits. The walls no longer radiated magic but felt somehow darker, cursed by dark magic.

Everything was different now, not just Hogwarts itself. The teachers watched as students were punished cruelly unable to do anything about it and not having the heart to tell the students to stop fighting the dark side. To stop fighting was to give up, and no-one wanted to give up. The Carrows and Snape had changed the school now and it no longer felt like happiness, protection and warmth, but rather a cold, harsh prison. The absence of Dumbledore was everywhere, everywhere.

Colin followed Ginny as she made her way towards the trees beside the lake. Colin had long since learned that this was Ginny's favourite place in Hogwarts and always had been and he understood why. Out here they could pretend that nothing was out of the ordinary, that the blood of the students didn't stain the castle's walls. This place was the same as it always was, bright and sunny, the light filtering through the trees accompanied by the sweet smell of the fresh green grass underfoot.

Ginny leaned against her favourite tree, closing her eyes and sighing as she wondered yet again where her brother was, and Hermione and, though she hated to admit it, Harry. What were they doing and why did Harry leave her in the dark? Something about him hadn't felt right lately, or rather, something about them hadn't felt right. Ginny ignored the feelings, as she usually did; things with Harry would be ok, and it was only because he was gone that she couldn't feel the same connection with him. Right?

At least, that's what she told herself.

Colin leaned against the same tree, next to Ginny and closed his eyes as well, marveling in the sounds. He could no longer hear the sounds of the castle; the shuffling of students feet as the rushed from class to class, staring at their shoes and keeping out of the way, only speaking in hushed tones, or worse, the sound of muffled screams coming from the students that dared to take a stand, being subsequently caught and tortured by the Carrows and their fellow students.

Now, all he could hear was silence and the sound of birds twittering in the trees combined with the sound of Ginny's steady breathing. A warm breeze washed over him, relaxing him as he rested his weight against the tree and it was the best he'd felt in so long, since the death of Albus Dumbledore.

He worried about her sometimes, about Ginny. She was his best friend and he cared about her immensely. Lately even the thought of her being harmed was more painful than the cruciatus and he would know, being muggleborn. It had been a strange relationship that they had started: They'd known each other since their first year but it wasn't until a few months earlier when he had been tortured along with Ginny and Neville for something they'd done to anger the Carrows. Because Colin was muggleborn he had suffered worse than the other two and had been quite broken after wards. It had been the first real punishment any of them had received so far at the school and it shocked them. Colin had ended up bleeding, hardly able to walk but forbidden to go to Madam Pomfrey. In the end, it had been Ginny that had fixed him up, healing him from the inside out. They'd become best friends from there on out.

And yet, now he felt something new and he realised that it had been there the whole time. But it felt new, this love he had for Ginny and he knew that it was real; he could feel it in his heart, knew it in his mind and believed it in his soul. Sometimes, he swore Ginny felt it too, when they accidentally stood too close together or when she looked him the eye. Sometimes he swore it wasn't just him who felt the electricity when their skin accidentally touched. Surely she could feel it too.

"Gin?" he asked quietly, not wanting to disturb the peace.

"Yeah," she answered softly, eyes still closed, even when Colin turned to face her, drinking in the sight of her in all her beauty.

"Are you in love with Harry Potter?"

The question startled Ginny and he eyes shot open to meet Colin's intense gaze. What she saw there stopped the yes that was about to spill from her lips. On one hand, she loved Harry and she knew she did. On the other hand, there was Colin and it took her this long to realise it, but as her eyes met his and saw the flames burning within their hazel depths, she realised that she loved him too and had for quite some time.

This was Colin, her Colin. The Colin that was so strong when he was tortured for being something he couldn't help. This was Colin, who had helped her through her pain so many times, who had sat and listened as she finally told him about Tom Riddle's diary and had held her while she cried. This was Colin, who stood beside her fighting the Carrows' even when they knew that all they'd achieve was more pain. Yes, this was her Colin.

Then there was Harry, her Harry. Or was he? Ginny couldn't be sure anymore. He had let her go and so she supposed that he wasn't hers. Yes, he was noble and honorable, but now there was something Colin had on him. Harry had left her, had chosen to fight without her, even if he did think it was for her own protection. This was Harry, who had withheld so much information from her. This was Harry who treated her like she couldn't handle anything, like she was child. This was Harry, who had pushed her away.

It seemed so clear to her now.

Something fierce burned in her eyes as she spoke. "I thought I was once Col," she told him, "But I think I was wrong."

Colin moved closer to her, shifting so that his arm was pressed against hers, side by side with their backs against the tree. "What changed your mind?" he asked her, relief flooding through him as she implied that she didn't love Harry anymore.

Ginny's eyes didn't move from his as she replied. "I found someone I want more than him, someone who treats me like an equal," she told him, "And I believe I love him very much."

Colin was enthralled by the way Ginny's eyes sparkled as she stared at him and for once, he believed he could see love for him shining in her eyes, or perhaps it was love for whoever she referred to when she spoke of her love. He yearned to be the one she loved more than anything.

"And who might that be?" Colin asked, his voice shaking a little with his fear at her answer, as though her next words could break him.

Ginny grinned and leaned in closer to him, her eyes still holding his. His eyes widened as she moved closer to him, her most beautiful smile lighting up her face. "Kiss me Col," she whispered as her lips drew near to his ear before she moved back slightly.

Colin had been waiting for those words for longer than he'd expected and once she said them he felt free. It didn't matter that there was a war going on around them, it didn't matter that they both were fighting for their very lives; in that one moment all that mattered was each other.

Colin leaned forward slowly, towards Ginny and tentatively touched his lips to hers. As he did, she brought a hand up to tangle in his mousey brown hair, holding on tight as though to keep him from drawing away too soon. His hands moved to wrap around her waist as he drew her closer to him, his lips starting to move frantically against hers.

The kiss was over before he knew it and he was pulling away for air, panting as he sucked oxygen into his lungs, staring at Ginny as if he'd never seen her before.

She smiled back and this time he knew that this time she had felt what he had always felt before because it was shining so clearly in her eyes and ringing through her final words.

"I love you Colin Creevey."

He cupped her face with his hands and he felt like his whole world was there between his palms.

"I love you Ginny Weasley."

- - - - - - -Ginny Weasley && Colin Creevey- - - - - - - -

Years later, Ginny was married to Harry Potter, still mourning the death of her best friend and soul mate, remembering clearly, the moment in which he had died, fighting valiantly by the castle doors.

She would never forget him and she knew that she could never ever stop loving him.

Harry didn't know a thing, hardly anyone did. He didn't know that every time he touched her she imagined he was Colin. He Didn't know that every time she cried for Fred, she was crying for Colin too. He didn't know that she pretended he was Colin as he wrapped his arms around her night. He didn't know that when he looked at her, all she could see was Colin's eyes.

Colin's hazel eyes…

This was actually fun : ) I seem to like this pairing.

Please read and review.

Ps. This whole chapter is unedited so excuse the mistakes. It's very late at night/very early in the morning. I may come along and clean it up later.