Chapter 4

The plan, as Colin had thought it out, was to sneak Agnes into his house

early enough so that his brother would not be awake, his father would be gone

and his mother still busy at her typewriter, then to take the picture quickly

and sneak her back out again before anyone saw that a muggle had found out about

the wizarding world and figured that the sooner he took the picture, the better.

The first part of the plan had gone well; she had arrived at ten that morning

and Colin had made sure he was the one who let her into the house and quickly up

the stairs to his room. Unfortunately, Agnes seemed to have failed to catch onto

his hurried demeanor and it had taken them about three hours to even get to the

point of taking the picture. Now she had finally found a pose she liked, with a

background she liked (some of Colin's school things and the wall of pictures).

All Colin needed now was for her to stop staring at him so he could concentrate.

Colin carefully inserted a new roll of film into his camera and glanced up

at his subject, who was still staring at him, intensely watching his every move

no matter how mundane in hopes that it would reveal itself to be magical. "You

can relax now, he said irritably. "Or else you'll come out looking all stiff and

won't move at all when I develop the picture." She let out a breath and tried to

seem casual.

"So you take it with a regular camera," she asked as he shut the back.

"Yep."

"And it makes moving pictures? Then why can't we make moving pictures?"

"Because it has nothing to do with the camera, but with the solution you

develop it in. You muggles-"

"You what?"

Colin looked through the shutter and tried to swallow his irritation.

"Muggles. Non-magical people who have the same likelihood of producing a spell

as winning the lottery in China."

She harrumphed. "I resent that."

"Resent it all you want," he replied with a shrug, "but it's still true.

Are you ready to take this picture or not?" Agnes straightened up, put a big

grin on her face and Colin suppressed a shudder as he snapped the picture.

"Alright, now all I have to do is develop-"

Before he could finish, the door flew open and in walked Dennis. "Hey,

aren't you going to eat? Mum's only been calling you for-" he broke off as he

saw that Colin wasn't alone in the room. "Whoa-am I interrupting something?" he

asked, taking in the situation.

"Not even remotely." Colin replied dryly, setting down the camera and

wishing, that for once, something would go his way.

Agnes, for her part, couldn't have been more thrilled. "Colin, who's this?

Is he your brother? You didn't tell me you had a brother!"

Dennis took a step back as Agnes bounded away from the wall and towards

him. "It must have slipped my mind," Colin replied casually.

"Just as it slipped his mind to tell me he had someone up here with him,"

Dennis said to Agnes.

Colin grimaced and started to say that it wasn't what it looked like when

Agnes opened her mouth again. "So are you a wizard, too, or is it just Colin?"

Dennis stood there frozen for a moment, his mouth opening and shutting

until he finally found his voice. "I'm a wizard, too," he answered slowly, "But

how did you--?"

"Remember those pictures Dad lost yesterday, Dennis? This is the direct

result of that. Another direct result of that is that I will no longer be

showing my pictures to any parents who might lose them."

Agnes nodded, ignoring the disgusted tone of Colin's response. "I'm Agnes,

I found the pictures and blackmailed Colin into telling me all about it." Her

tone of voice informed them that this was an accomplishment in which she took

pride. "So, you go to the same school? What's it called? Pig warts?"

Dennis looked at her in horror and responded as though in great pain.

"Hogwarts. It's called Hogwarts."

Colin grinned. Let Dennis deal with her for a while. "Hey, I'm going to go

develop this picture, so why don't you two keep each other company for a while?"

He turned to leave but Dennis grabbed his sleeve on the way out. "What do you

mean, telling her all about this?" He whispered.

"Look I didn't exactly have a choice. You see how she is? She's completely

manic. I'll be lucky if I can get her off my back before the end of the week,

not to mention the day."

Dennis grinned. "Taste of your own medicine, eh?"

Colin looked at him blankly, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Harry Potter? Remember him?"

Colin gave Dennis a cool look. "Trust me, this is completely different."

"Who's Harry Potter?" Agnes demanded, from her seat at Colin's desk. They

both gaped at her. "Yes, I heard you." She tapped her ear. "Musician's ear."

"Dennis, why don't you tell her all about Harry Potter while I develop the

photo, ok?"

Dennis looked as though that was the last thing on earth he wanted to do

but nodded blandly anyway and Colin skipped out of the room towards the

makeshift darkroom at the end of the hall, happy to be free of that annoying

monster.

There weren't many times when Colin could say he felt as though he was

totally in control of his life and when he was working on his pictures

constituted many of those times. There was something nearly god-like about

working in the dark room, with the smell of the developing potion, the darkness

all around him, and the line where pictures dried after soaking in tubs. First

he methodically shook the film in the solution canister, back and forth then

positioned it properly to blow it up. Once that was done, he moved a couple dry

ones off of the line and put them in a pile of pictures he'd been meaning to

sort for nearly a week now but still hadn't found the time. Oh, well, he'd find

it sometime before the start of the term. He poked at the picture that was now

in the tray, soaking. Agnes' face was now showing up clearly and was moving,

too, avidly from side to side as though even in picture form, her true goal was

to notice and take in everything around her. He grinned, in spite of the

irritation he felt about her. Maybe Dennis wasn't too far from the mark, maybe

Agnes was just what he had coming after following Harry Potter around constantly

during his first year at Hogwarts. But how could he not have? Harry Potter was

famous and had done more by his second year in Hogwarts than most people do

their entire stay at the castle. It was simply a typical case of celebrity

fever, the result of coming into contact with someone who represented what you

wanted to be but never could. Colin sighed and plucked the picture out of the

potion. He was much more grounded now, or at least he tried to be. Harry, he

knew, was great and was great without even trying. He was a great instructor in

the DA and a hero who had faced He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named countless times. Colin,

well, he had his own things to do and photography, he was sure, was one of them.

"Here they are," he announced a few hours later, as he went back into his

bedroom. To his surprise, Dennis and Agnes were sitting there on the floor, with

a chart in front of them and the Quidditch magazine between them. "What're you

doing?" Colin asked, dumping the pictures on his desk.

"Oh, I'm just telling Agnes how to play Quidditch."

"Why? She's never going to be able to play."

Dennis shrugged. "What else could I do? I told her all about Harry Potter

and You-Know-Who." Agnes peeked a quick look at Colin and he was surprised to

see she looked frightened.

"You told her all about You-Know-Who?"

"Well, he goes hand in hand with Harry, doesn't he?"

Colin shrugged. "I guess so, but I don't think she wanted to have

nightmares."

"I won't have nightmares," Agnes said a little too quickly.

Colin looked at her with her eyebrows raised. "The most evil wizard the

magical community has ever known, who has a penchant for killing muggles and you

won't have nightmares about that? I have nightmares about that."

"Well, it is a bit worrisome...but I just found out not twenty-four hours

ago that there is magic and now I'm finding out that there's a person I've never

even heard of who wants to kill a lot of people. It's taking a while to sink in.

So, while it does, I'm going to learn about Quidditch."

"Don't you want your picture?" Colin asked her quickly, to remind her that

this was over with.

"Oh yeah!" She jumped up and Colin handed her the picture. "Wow. I'm

certainly moving." Dennis peered over her shoulder at the picture and had to

cover his mouth to keep from laughing.

"Yes, see, as in real life as in the picture," Colin provided helpfully

and Agnes wrinkled her brow.

"Are you saying that I'm hyperactive in real life?"

"All evidence points to yes. Now, that's it, right? You've got your

picture, you won't tell anyone, and it's settled?" Colin asked her, wanting very

much to cross his fingers behind his back.

Looking very remorseful, Agnes nodded. "I guess so. It wouldn't be very

good of me if I didn't keep my word, would it?" Colin didn't trust himself to

answer.

"Come on," Dennis said suddenly, "We'll take you home." Colin looked at

Dennis as though he were insane. "What?" Dennis asked. "It's only polite."

They took the tram back to Agnes' place and Dennis brought along his

Quidditch magazine, which reminded Colin of the fact he'd been seeing a lot of

it lately. "What's with you and the Quidditch magazine? Is there some sort of

hex on it that makes you unable to not read it?"

"Nah, I'm just thinking that maybe it would be cool if we tried out for

the Gryffindor quidditch team."

"Really? Do you think we'd be able to do this?" For the first time in

days, Colin was intrigued and didn't even notice Agnes' stare intensify at the

mention of something magical.

"Yeah, I think we'd be great if we practiced up a bit. Better at least

than the two interim beaters we had last year." Dennis looked absolutely

distressed at the memory.

"Ugh, no kidding. I've wanted to erase my memory ever since watching them.

But Beaters? Are you sure? That's a very...dangerous position."

Dennis just shrugged. "Not any more dangerous than chaser would be.

They're the ones bludgers are aimed at anyway, then the seeker's always a

target. I just figure it'd be better being the one doing the hitting than the

receiving."

Colin thought about this. "Alright, so we try out, but Dennis, we

seriously need to practice this summer if we hope to stand a chance. And

without-" he looked around him nervously-"you know what or broomsticks how can

we?"

Dennis broke out in a grin that could only be described as mischievous.

"Easy. We'll use muggle equipment as ersatz Quidditch supplies."

"Muggle equipment?"

"Yep. You know, like soccer balls, rugby balls, cricket balls and bats. I

throw a ball randomly somewhere and you chase it with the bat and hit it,

preferably away from me...then I chase it and do the same. Hence, we practice."

"That could work," Colin said, his brother's grin spreading to his face.

"Maybe we could even find some more people willing to practice with us, you

know, for better efficiency. Do you know any other---"

"I'll practice with you!" They turned and stared at Agnes, both having

forgotten she was there.

"You'll what?"

"I'll help you practice, I mean, I know I couldn't fly with you if you got

broomsticks or ever do any magic,"

"Keep your voice down!" Colin urged, looking around to see if anyone had noticed

"But I wouldn't mind helping you practice," Agnes finished in a much quieter

tone.

"Even if it meant us aiming hard balls at you and trying to knock you

unconscious?"

She grinned. "Not at all. I've always been good at dodge ball."

Dennis and Colin looked at each other and Dennis finalized their decision

by shrugging. "Okay," Colin told Agnes, "But only as long as you're clear that

this is your head."

"It always has been," Agnes replied smugly.