Prompt: fireflies

Promise

It's just a few days until September first and the Creeveys don't know what to do with themselves. Colin has been packed for two weeks already, and Dennis hasn't taken off his school robes since he got them in Diagon Alley. They're slightly too big for him, but the nice lady at Madam Malkin's said she was confident he would grow into them. He's already told everyone who will listen that as soon as he learns some decent magic he's going to find a spell to make him taller. He asks his brother if there is such a spell, and Colin's response is that he's positive there is and he'll make it a point to ask Harry on the train.

Then the boys pester their parents about what time they plan on getting to Platform nine and three quarters. Their mother can't take the noise anymore, so she sends them outside to play without answering their question, but they don't mind too much.

Colin tells Dennis to wait by the house while he gets him a 'surprise' and for the next ten minutes or so, Dennis watches his brother wander around the yard waving his hands around in the air. He wonders what he thinks he's doing and if this is considered normal behavior at Hogwarts. In case it is, Dennis decides to take notes, watching the boy as he opens and closes his hands erratically. Every once in a while, Colin stops his movements to study his palms, frowns, wipes his hands on his jeans, and continues his activities.

When he's finished, Colin races across the yard over to where Dennis has come to sit on the bench by the back door. He waves a mason jar in his hand, before handing it to his brother and sitting next to him.

"I bet you can't catch more than I did."

Dennis peers into the jar and counts, loses count, and counts again. Twenty-six. The fireflies inside give off their faint glow that shines through the spaces between his fingers and he shakes his head because he knows he doesn't want them to stay in there. They don't belong in a jar. It seems too cruel.

"We should let them go," he says.

Colin just shrugs. "If you want to."

"Are there fireflies at Hogwarts?"

Colin nods. "You can see a lot of them by the greenhouses. But you have to be sneaky if you want to get out at that time of night."

"I can be sneaky," Dennis says and twists the top off the jar, freeing the insects and admiring the show as they light up on their way up into the sky.

"I know."

"But I'm brave too."

"I know."

"Colin?"

"Dennis?"

Dennis turns to his brother and looks up at him very seriously. "What if I'm not brave enough to be a Gryffindor like you?"

Colin reaches over and ruffles his hair. "You are. But if you're not, I'll be brave enough for the both of us."

"Promise?"

Colin nods and reaches out to catch a firefly lingering near his face. "Promise."