I had begun to rethink the whole Colin/Draco thing because I simply didn't want to write it, but I ground it out over the course of today. It's not over yet, but I can only harm my favorite character so much in one sitting. Oh, I also realized that I've been misspelling the nurse all along. I now know it's `Pomfrey'. my bad. I should just keep the books by my computer for reference. Anyway, come along then....
"I'm sorry, Hermione. I didn't mean it."
"Oh, it's okay, Colin. Where are you going? You've barely touched your lunch."
"I don't feel so well. I think I'll go see Madame Pomfrey."
"Okay, I hope you feel better." she turned back to the others. She was simply watching as Harry and Ron caught back up with each other. You would have thought that they'd been apart forever instead of a handful of weeks. Well, they weren't even actually apart, she thought. Just being stupid boys. Two extremely hardheaded and bullish boys. They might not admit it to anyone but themselves, but being apart like they were was killing them both inside.
Lunch proceeded on with all sorts of Gryffindors coming by and basking in the energy flowing off Harry and Ron. Hermione felt it. It was like standing next to a gigantic electric transformer. She was afraid to pick her fork back up, scared that it might shock her. As lunch finished up, there were so many people standing around their table that she was nearly excluded from any conversation that took place. She felt left out.
A shock hit her, not from her fork or other utensil, but from her last thought. Left out. Oh my god! She could have smacked herself, but there wasn't enough room. That's why he left! He wasn't sick at all. Oh, why hadn't she figured it out sooner? Well, she was caught up in the return of the friendship just like everyone else. Except Colin. He hadn't said a word while he was in here and he didn't eat hardly anything. Now that she thought back, he did look a bit broken up. Oh darn it all.
"Harry," she called over the din. "Harry!!" she was not getting any response since all the people around where talking at once. She reached over and punched him hard in the shoulder.
"Oh bloody hell, Hermione, what was that for?" he replied.
"Look around you. Who isn't here?" Harry scanned the crowd, the frantic look on his face told her that he picked up on her question.
"Where'd he go?" he asked her, leaning closer, pushing George Weasley out of the way to do so.
"He said he was sick and left lunch about two minutes after we got here. About when the table started getting very, very crowded."
"Oh no!" Harry had a horrid look on his face. "I don't think I've said a word to him since the lake. I don't even want to know what he must have thought of all this. No, I bet I know exactly what he thought."
"What do you mean?" Hermione asked him.
"Colin has a big abandonment problem Hermione."
"Then I bet that is why he took off. He thought that you were going to forget about him since you and Ron made up," Hermione said.
"That is the absolute last thing that I'd do. Oh Colin...I've got to find him."
"I'm going to help you," Hermione said.
"What's going on?" Ron had come over and knelt beside them.
"Colin's gone," Harry and Hermione told him.
"I'll help you too."
"Actually, Ron, that might not be such a good idea," Hermione said to him. Ron looked hurt for a second and then it made sense.
"Alright, what can I do then?"
"Well Ron, you could check in the infirmary in the off chance that he went there after all. Just check on him, don't try to do anything," Hermione said.
"Good idea. Will you do that Ron?" Harry asked him.
"Of course."
"Then let's go." the three of them headed out at a brisk walk and went their separate ways, Ron to the infirmary, Hermione to Gryffindor tower, and Harry everywhere else.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Now, to a certain Slytherin ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
After the exchange with Colin, Draco had gone back into the dungeons to change out of his robes into something a bit more appropriate for the matter at hand. He came back out in black jeans and a green and white shirt. Draco had shrunk it just a tad with a spell, getting the exact look he was going for.
He was strolling the corridors hoping to find the young Gryffindor, as he now thought of him. He was looking down a hallway and turned back around just in time to be blindsided by a rapidly moving blur. He fell down, along with the blur. He looked up and saw none other than Harry Potter trying to get to his feet.
"I seem to be making a habit of this today," he said to Harry. Harry looked at him funny, having no idea of what he was talking about. "Where are you off to in such a hurry, Potter?"
"Not that it is any business of yours, *Malfoy*, but I'm looking for Colin."
"Why? You've got the Weasel back at your side again, so why would you need him anymore?"
"I guess that some things are just not meant to ever be understood by a Slytherin, Malfoy." Harry dusted off his robes and took off back down the hall.
"Oh, I understand very well, Potter, very well indeed," Draco said softly to Harry's retreating form. "I figured that you'd not do Colin that way, you self-righteous bastard. This is going to be even better than I first thought." Draco dusted himself off and started walking again. "Instead of the proverbial punch to the stomach, this will be the dagger to the heart," he thought. "Now if I were a broken-hearted Gryffindor, where would I be?" he asked himself as he headed down the hall. He got his answer after interrogating a few second year Hufflepuffs he came across a minute later and set off for the lake side. "If I can pull this off, Potter..." he said aloud as he walked out of the building.
Ron made his way to the infirmary rather quickly, knowing the way quite well since he'd visited Harry there on many a day. When he arrived, he found that Madam Pomfrey had stepped out for a bit. He peeked his head in and saw many an empty bed. He walked completely in and saw only two people in the entire wing, neither of them being Colin.
"Can I help you, Mr. Weasley?" a voice asked from behind him, scaring the daylights out of him.
After he settled back on the ground, he turned and saw the nurse right behind him. "Oh, maybe you can. Has Colin Creevey been down here at all today?" he asked, hopeful.
"No, he hasn't. It's actually been quite slow. No injuries, just two sick. That'll change soon enough though, once the quiddich season starts up again and it gets colder." She looked like she was relishing the thought of sick kids. Ron chose to leave while she imagined children on stretchers with broken limbs and vomiting everywhere. He left the hospital wing, shivering, and decided to just roam the halls, hoping he'd get lucky.
(A/N: I'm not big on nurses. They always seem to be a bit strange, way too happy in their own little world, wishing they were doctors or something and not having to take temperatures and the like.)
Hermione went to the common room in the Gryffindor tower as quickly as she could. When she got there, it was mostly empty. Seamus and Neville were sitting on the couch playing Exploding Snap with Aidan and a very muddy Dennis.
"Have you all seen Colin?" she asked the group.
She got three no's from Seamus and Neville and Dennis, but a yes from Aidan.
"How long ago? Do you know where he went?"
"It was probably, well, about an hour ago I guess. I came in to get our brooms and he was sitting by the window."
"Was he okay?"
"Well, he seemed really sad over something. He wouldn't tell me what it was though, so I went back out with the brooms."
"How long have you been back in here?"
"Gee, maybe twenty minutes," Dennis added. "I sort of fell in the mud. We came in to change and met these two here and started playing."
Any other time, a very muddy Dennis would have been funny, but not now.
"Hermione, what's with all the questions?" Neville asked her.
"We all kinda ignored him this morning when Harry and Ron made up, and no one's seen him since. I'm worried and Harry's beside himself."
"Oh my. That definitely isn't good. He's a rather volatile lad, he is," Seamus said. "Should we help you look for him?"
"I'm sure Harry wouldn't mind. Just check everywhere." she headed back out the door. The boys inside split up, two going to clean up real fast and the others to the door.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~Back to a certain Slytherin ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
"Aah, you really shouldn't leave your toys about, Potter. Someone like me might come along and take one," Draco muttered softly as he spied Colin sitting on a rock between the lake and the big field. He walked over slowly and stopped behind him.
"Hello again, young Gryffindor. Feeling any better?"
"Oh, hello Draco. No, not really. If anything I'm a bit more confused than before."
"Anything that you'd care to share?"
"I don't know, Draco. I guess that first of all it feels weird to even be sitting here talking to you in the first place."
"I can see how it might be that way, but keep in mind that often those you believe are wrong about many things, you know what I'm saying?"
"Yeah, I never took the time to talk to you, I just believed that you were rotten because everyone else said you were."
"Bravery might be a trait for Gryffindors, but it seems that common sense isn't." He smiled at Colin and got one in return.
"What else is on your mind, young Gryffindor?"
For some reason, Colin really liked it when he called him that. He was wrestling over whether or not to tell him more. Oh, why not, he figured. "It seems that I'm back where I was when I started here. No friends, still on the outside, looking in. I thought that I had it all, then it was gone." his voice cracked a little on the last few words.
"Well, at least you know what it's like to be on the inside for a while. I've been sitting by the wayside for my life. I've had no friends of my own, only ones my father thinks would be good for me. I've sat by and watched all the good things happen to everyone but me."
"I never thought of it like that before," Colin said. Here was Draco laying himself open to Colin after talking to him for the first time just a few hours ago. Colin decided to follow suit. "I thought Harry liked me, but I was only a replacement, I guess. It was too perfect."
Draco sensed it was time to go in for the kill, Colin was his for the taking, he knew it. Colin had become emotional again, getting all teary-eyed. "You do know, young Gryffindor," Colin shuddered when he said that ("how sexy when he says it that way," he thought) , that some things come apart so that others may come together." He looked down into Colin's eyes with his own deep ones. "Jackpot," Draco thought and smiled.
Colin looked up into Draco's face. What a smile. Colin already knew that Draco had soft hands, but his face looked soft too. He looked a little closer. Soft lips, too.
Okay, anyone see that one coming? Probably not, huh? Should I do it? What do you think? I could go either way.....
"I'm sorry, Hermione. I didn't mean it."
"Oh, it's okay, Colin. Where are you going? You've barely touched your lunch."
"I don't feel so well. I think I'll go see Madame Pomfrey."
"Okay, I hope you feel better." she turned back to the others. She was simply watching as Harry and Ron caught back up with each other. You would have thought that they'd been apart forever instead of a handful of weeks. Well, they weren't even actually apart, she thought. Just being stupid boys. Two extremely hardheaded and bullish boys. They might not admit it to anyone but themselves, but being apart like they were was killing them both inside.
Lunch proceeded on with all sorts of Gryffindors coming by and basking in the energy flowing off Harry and Ron. Hermione felt it. It was like standing next to a gigantic electric transformer. She was afraid to pick her fork back up, scared that it might shock her. As lunch finished up, there were so many people standing around their table that she was nearly excluded from any conversation that took place. She felt left out.
A shock hit her, not from her fork or other utensil, but from her last thought. Left out. Oh my god! She could have smacked herself, but there wasn't enough room. That's why he left! He wasn't sick at all. Oh, why hadn't she figured it out sooner? Well, she was caught up in the return of the friendship just like everyone else. Except Colin. He hadn't said a word while he was in here and he didn't eat hardly anything. Now that she thought back, he did look a bit broken up. Oh darn it all.
"Harry," she called over the din. "Harry!!" she was not getting any response since all the people around where talking at once. She reached over and punched him hard in the shoulder.
"Oh bloody hell, Hermione, what was that for?" he replied.
"Look around you. Who isn't here?" Harry scanned the crowd, the frantic look on his face told her that he picked up on her question.
"Where'd he go?" he asked her, leaning closer, pushing George Weasley out of the way to do so.
"He said he was sick and left lunch about two minutes after we got here. About when the table started getting very, very crowded."
"Oh no!" Harry had a horrid look on his face. "I don't think I've said a word to him since the lake. I don't even want to know what he must have thought of all this. No, I bet I know exactly what he thought."
"What do you mean?" Hermione asked him.
"Colin has a big abandonment problem Hermione."
"Then I bet that is why he took off. He thought that you were going to forget about him since you and Ron made up," Hermione said.
"That is the absolute last thing that I'd do. Oh Colin...I've got to find him."
"I'm going to help you," Hermione said.
"What's going on?" Ron had come over and knelt beside them.
"Colin's gone," Harry and Hermione told him.
"I'll help you too."
"Actually, Ron, that might not be such a good idea," Hermione said to him. Ron looked hurt for a second and then it made sense.
"Alright, what can I do then?"
"Well Ron, you could check in the infirmary in the off chance that he went there after all. Just check on him, don't try to do anything," Hermione said.
"Good idea. Will you do that Ron?" Harry asked him.
"Of course."
"Then let's go." the three of them headed out at a brisk walk and went their separate ways, Ron to the infirmary, Hermione to Gryffindor tower, and Harry everywhere else.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Now, to a certain Slytherin ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
After the exchange with Colin, Draco had gone back into the dungeons to change out of his robes into something a bit more appropriate for the matter at hand. He came back out in black jeans and a green and white shirt. Draco had shrunk it just a tad with a spell, getting the exact look he was going for.
He was strolling the corridors hoping to find the young Gryffindor, as he now thought of him. He was looking down a hallway and turned back around just in time to be blindsided by a rapidly moving blur. He fell down, along with the blur. He looked up and saw none other than Harry Potter trying to get to his feet.
"I seem to be making a habit of this today," he said to Harry. Harry looked at him funny, having no idea of what he was talking about. "Where are you off to in such a hurry, Potter?"
"Not that it is any business of yours, *Malfoy*, but I'm looking for Colin."
"Why? You've got the Weasel back at your side again, so why would you need him anymore?"
"I guess that some things are just not meant to ever be understood by a Slytherin, Malfoy." Harry dusted off his robes and took off back down the hall.
"Oh, I understand very well, Potter, very well indeed," Draco said softly to Harry's retreating form. "I figured that you'd not do Colin that way, you self-righteous bastard. This is going to be even better than I first thought." Draco dusted himself off and started walking again. "Instead of the proverbial punch to the stomach, this will be the dagger to the heart," he thought. "Now if I were a broken-hearted Gryffindor, where would I be?" he asked himself as he headed down the hall. He got his answer after interrogating a few second year Hufflepuffs he came across a minute later and set off for the lake side. "If I can pull this off, Potter..." he said aloud as he walked out of the building.
Ron made his way to the infirmary rather quickly, knowing the way quite well since he'd visited Harry there on many a day. When he arrived, he found that Madam Pomfrey had stepped out for a bit. He peeked his head in and saw many an empty bed. He walked completely in and saw only two people in the entire wing, neither of them being Colin.
"Can I help you, Mr. Weasley?" a voice asked from behind him, scaring the daylights out of him.
After he settled back on the ground, he turned and saw the nurse right behind him. "Oh, maybe you can. Has Colin Creevey been down here at all today?" he asked, hopeful.
"No, he hasn't. It's actually been quite slow. No injuries, just two sick. That'll change soon enough though, once the quiddich season starts up again and it gets colder." She looked like she was relishing the thought of sick kids. Ron chose to leave while she imagined children on stretchers with broken limbs and vomiting everywhere. He left the hospital wing, shivering, and decided to just roam the halls, hoping he'd get lucky.
(A/N: I'm not big on nurses. They always seem to be a bit strange, way too happy in their own little world, wishing they were doctors or something and not having to take temperatures and the like.)
Hermione went to the common room in the Gryffindor tower as quickly as she could. When she got there, it was mostly empty. Seamus and Neville were sitting on the couch playing Exploding Snap with Aidan and a very muddy Dennis.
"Have you all seen Colin?" she asked the group.
She got three no's from Seamus and Neville and Dennis, but a yes from Aidan.
"How long ago? Do you know where he went?"
"It was probably, well, about an hour ago I guess. I came in to get our brooms and he was sitting by the window."
"Was he okay?"
"Well, he seemed really sad over something. He wouldn't tell me what it was though, so I went back out with the brooms."
"How long have you been back in here?"
"Gee, maybe twenty minutes," Dennis added. "I sort of fell in the mud. We came in to change and met these two here and started playing."
Any other time, a very muddy Dennis would have been funny, but not now.
"Hermione, what's with all the questions?" Neville asked her.
"We all kinda ignored him this morning when Harry and Ron made up, and no one's seen him since. I'm worried and Harry's beside himself."
"Oh my. That definitely isn't good. He's a rather volatile lad, he is," Seamus said. "Should we help you look for him?"
"I'm sure Harry wouldn't mind. Just check everywhere." she headed back out the door. The boys inside split up, two going to clean up real fast and the others to the door.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~Back to a certain Slytherin ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
"Aah, you really shouldn't leave your toys about, Potter. Someone like me might come along and take one," Draco muttered softly as he spied Colin sitting on a rock between the lake and the big field. He walked over slowly and stopped behind him.
"Hello again, young Gryffindor. Feeling any better?"
"Oh, hello Draco. No, not really. If anything I'm a bit more confused than before."
"Anything that you'd care to share?"
"I don't know, Draco. I guess that first of all it feels weird to even be sitting here talking to you in the first place."
"I can see how it might be that way, but keep in mind that often those you believe are wrong about many things, you know what I'm saying?"
"Yeah, I never took the time to talk to you, I just believed that you were rotten because everyone else said you were."
"Bravery might be a trait for Gryffindors, but it seems that common sense isn't." He smiled at Colin and got one in return.
"What else is on your mind, young Gryffindor?"
For some reason, Colin really liked it when he called him that. He was wrestling over whether or not to tell him more. Oh, why not, he figured. "It seems that I'm back where I was when I started here. No friends, still on the outside, looking in. I thought that I had it all, then it was gone." his voice cracked a little on the last few words.
"Well, at least you know what it's like to be on the inside for a while. I've been sitting by the wayside for my life. I've had no friends of my own, only ones my father thinks would be good for me. I've sat by and watched all the good things happen to everyone but me."
"I never thought of it like that before," Colin said. Here was Draco laying himself open to Colin after talking to him for the first time just a few hours ago. Colin decided to follow suit. "I thought Harry liked me, but I was only a replacement, I guess. It was too perfect."
Draco sensed it was time to go in for the kill, Colin was his for the taking, he knew it. Colin had become emotional again, getting all teary-eyed. "You do know, young Gryffindor," Colin shuddered when he said that ("how sexy when he says it that way," he thought) , that some things come apart so that others may come together." He looked down into Colin's eyes with his own deep ones. "Jackpot," Draco thought and smiled.
Colin looked up into Draco's face. What a smile. Colin already knew that Draco had soft hands, but his face looked soft too. He looked a little closer. Soft lips, too.
Okay, anyone see that one coming? Probably not, huh? Should I do it? What do you think? I could go either way.....