A/N: Thanks to everybody who has reviewed so far. I love it when I get good reviews, and the critical bits are helpful too, as they let me know what I can do to make the story better. Thanks everyone. Now, a rather long chapter, somewhat lighter than the last one. I hope you like it.

Chapter 19:

End of First Term

Later that evening, Harry found himself by Colin's bed in the hospital wing, explaining to him many of the events of the previous years. He had asked Dumbledore first just how much it would be safe for Colin to know, but Harry thought, and Dumbledore agreed, that since Colin had been imprisoned for several months by Wormtail, he had a right to know why. The only thing Harry didn't tell Colin about was the prophecy, as he hadn't even told his friends that yet. It wasn't that he was trying to keep it secret from them. It was just that he was mostly trying to keep it out of his own head (because really, there was very little that one could do to prepare for an apocalyptic battle with the most evil wizard of our time, except working very hard on Defense Against the Dark Arts, which Harry was already doing) and he figured he didn't need the concerned looks of his friends always reminding him of his fate.

When Harry had finished telling him everything he figured he could, Colin sat looking rather amazed. "Wow, Harry... I had no idea about most of that stuff... I mean, of course, everybody heard rumors, but..." Harry was a little bit embarassed. The purpose of this talk had been to bring Colin up to speed with the nature of the war of which he had been a prisoner for three months, not to revive the "Harry Potter Fan Club" from his second year.

Harry decided that the best thing to do would be to change the subject. "Yeah, well, I've still never had to do anything quite so hard as keep myself sane during three months of captivity... how'd you manage to make it out so... okay?" asked Harry sincerely. He had truly been wondering how Colin had coped with being held captive by Wormtail for so long. Harry knew he himself would have probably gone mad, being used by the enemy without any way out... he would not have been able to handle feeling so helpless.

"Well..." Colin hesitated. "He wasn't as bad as-- I mean, he..." Colin trailed off.

"What, Colin?" asked Harry curiously.

"It's just, he didn't seem as evil as he must be to have... to have betrayed your parents like that," said Colin. It was almost as if he was afraid of sounding too sympathetic toward the enemy, and didn't want Harry to get mad at him.

"Hmm..." Harry said thoughtfully, "he's probably just covering all his bases. Figured that he better not be too cruel to you, in case you escaped from him. How'd you manage that by the way? I mean, you mentioned the potion wore off, but, how could he be so careless?"

"Well, he tried to time it so that he could keep me out for a few days at a time, so that he'd be able to put me back to sleep when he regularly came to collect my hair, and move me to my next hiding-place. But as he kept me longer and longer, I got weaker, and eventually the potion was knocking me out for longer and longer. I heard him mutter something one night about having to back off so that i wouldn't go into a coma or something. So I knew he'd be lowering the dose until he found what kind of dose kept me asleep for around three days. So for the last few times, I pretended to be asleep for longer than I really was. And he'd just sit there, muttering about how he'd have to be careful or he'd have another death on his hands. Eventually, he gave me a dose that he hoped would keep me out for three days, but really only kept me out for two. I was planning on catching him off guard whenever he opened the cupboard, expecting to find an unconscious hair-donor. I figured maybe I'd be able to snatch the wand from him after he'd magically opened the lock."

"That was really brave, Colin," said Harry, "planning to take on an armed wizard."

Colin beamed proudly, "Well, I had to, really. I knew from things I heard him muttering that he was using his disguise to try to kill or capture you, and I needed to try to save you. Besides, I figured the worst that could happen was that he would knock me out. He wouldn't've killed me when he still needed me to be a hair-donor for his potions (I remember Snape mentioning once that you can't make a good polyjuice person to turn you into a person who's dead). But I lucked out. Didn't have to fight him at all when I tested the door and found it open!"

"Still, really brave, and really clever," said Harry. Colin just beamed some more.

The school was abuzz with the news of the recent infiltration. Colin had a stream of visitors, and seemed to be relishing in the experience of having fans rather than simply being a fan. Meanwhile, extra precautions were taken to make sure that no such situation ever occur again. As it was obvious to all concerned (including Dumbledore) that the reason Colin was chosen to be Wormtail's disguise was his proximity to Harry, Dumbledore ordered all Gryffindors to go down to the hospital wing in turn, to be kept under watch for an hour each, just to make sure that they weren't actually a death-eater in disguise.

The next couple of weeks were rather tense, with the fresh scent of suspicion and well-founded paranoia in the air, so everybody was doubly relieved as the term came to a close. One interesting piece of gossip that Hermione had (quite accidentally, she claimed) overheard from Lavander and Parvati, was that Colin Creevey was now going with Gryffindor Seeker Amy Bell, who had been helping him catch up with the course-work that he had missed while Wormtail was holding him hostage.

When Harry checked this rumor with Colin one night in the common-room, Colin just grinned and nodded, saying "Apparently, she thought I had been really brave too!"

The night before the morning on which most of Gryffindor tower was scheduled to head home for the holidays, Harry and Ginny once again stayed up in the common-room after Ron and Hermione went to bed.

"So, how do you reckon we're going to get the two of them together before the end of Christmas holiday?" Harry asked curiously, hoping that Ginny had something planned, because he sure didn't.

"Well, obviously, I'll talk to Hermione, and you talk to Ron. And we'll each try to convince our charge that the other really likes them and that they should be the one to break the ice. Frankly, I think I've got more luck with getting Hermione to come forward than you do with Ron, but we've got to hedge our bets," Ginny said, matter of factly.

"You are sure that Hermione likes him, right?" asked Harry cautiously, not wanting to set his friend up for failure.

"Of course I am. She actually even told me one time, when she and him were fighting earlier this year, after you and Ron nearly got yourselves killed trying to duel Malfoy on the Quidditch Pitch. She said he was an irresponsible prat for not stopping you from going, and said she wished she hadn't taken to fancying such an insufferable... well, then she said a word that she doesn't normally say, so I won't repeat it, but you get the point," said Ginny.

Harry laughed slightly. "That was a while ago though, are you sure she still fancies him?" he pressed.

"Yes! Sometimes it's amazing how dense you boys can be!" Ginny said somewhat exasperatedly.

At that moment, Lavander and Parvati passed by the couch where Harry and Ginny were sitting. "Are you guys trying to get Ron and Hermione together?" asked Lavander curiously.

"Yeah," said Ginny off-handedly before Harry could deny it. He wasn't sure Ron and Hermione would want gossip being spread about them.

"It's about time," said Parvati, "they've fancied each other for ages!" Ginny shot Harry an "I told you so" look.

"Anyway, have a good holiday you guys, and see you next term," said Lavendar as they made their way up the stairs.

The next morning was December 22nd, and Harry woke up before Ron did. After tossing and turning for a bit and deciding that he wasn't going to actually be able to get back to sleep, he opened his eyes and pondered how exactly he was going to broach the subject of Hermione with Ron. Ron and Harry weren't the type of guys (assuming that there was a type of guy like this) that were overly comfortable sharing deep emotions with other guys, so Harry wasn't sure how he was going to get Ron to admit that he liked Hermione, let alone convince him to do something about it. Nevertheless, Ginny had instructed him to try to talk to Ron a little bit about Hermione before they saw each other in the Great Hall for lunch, just to see how far he could get.

He heard Ron stirring in the next bed down, and tried to think of something, anything, to get the conversation started.

"Hey, mate," said Ron sleepily, sitting up in bed, "care for a bite to eat?"

"Er... not yet," said Harry, still having no idea what how he was going to complete his assignment, but figuring he needed to stall somehow, "I've got to talk to you about something."

"What is it?" asked Ron, somewhat concernedly.

"Er..." started Harry again, and then continued blunderingly by saying, "it's really terrible what happened to Colin, isn't it?"

"Yeah," said Ron, seriously, "poor bloke. I can't imagine having been in his position." Ron thought for awhile. Then he continued, "But you know you don't have to worry about me actually being in that situation, right? I mean, if Wormtail ever tried to capture me, I think I could beat him. You've seen me in Dueling Club. B'sides, if you ever want to keep me under surveillance, just say the word, and I won't drink anything for an hour. If I refuse to cooperate, then feel free to curse the impostor into next week." Ron grinned.

Harry, who hadn't actually even intended to get onto this conversation topic, was now actually rather glad he did. It was good to know he wouldn't have to worry about Ron being a death-eater in disguise. He thought it rather weird that Ron would have been thinking as much about this as he apparently had been, but, Harry guessed, it must come with the territory of being Harry Potter's best friend.

"Thanks mate," said Harry, smiling back.

Then Ron, who apparently thought that the conversation had turned a little bit too serious to be allowed when they were supposed to be in holiday high-spirits, said, "But it wasn't all bad for Colin, eh? He did come out of it with an awfully good-looking girlfriend. If I'd have known she was single last month..." he trailed off.

Well, here was Harry's chance. Ron had just said 'girlfriend.' Harry doubted if another segway as opportune as this would come up before lunch, so he decided to pounce on it. He took a deep breath, and said, "Yeah, but there're still plenty of other good-looking single-girls around this school, wouldn't you say?"

Ron looked at Harry in a suspicious way that seemed to say, "you're dating my sister, why're you looking at other girls?"

"Not for me," said Harry hastily, "I meant, there's another girl that you're interested in, isn't there?" Of course, Harry already knew the answer, but was curious to see whether Ron would admit it.

"What're you talking about?" Ron said, now even more suspicious than before.

"You know," said Harry. "You can't tell me you don't fancy Hermione."

Ron's jaw dropped.

A/N: Well, this is as good of a place to end it as any, and I've got to get to bed... Hope you liked this chapter, I tried to get a blend of serious and somewhat lighter stuff in. I'd definitely appreciate some reviews to let me know how I'm doing. Even if I'm screwing up, let me know what you think needs fixed! Thanks.