Some oneshots about healing, set during the years after the Second Wizarding War. Characters and the world belong to JKR, except for the occasional OC. Enjoy the story, and please review!

Dennis Creevey

Dennis Creevey had never known a time without his brother. Wherever he would go, his brother was always there with him. When he first started school, his brother was two years above him. He held his hand as he entered the school. When he started taking an interest in photography, his brother taught him how to use a camera. And when his letter from Hogwarts arrived, with the purple wax seal and the green letters, his brother hugged him and yelled: "Dennis is going to Hogwarts!".

And after the sorting, Dennis sat next to Colin at the Gryffindor table, excitedly telling him about how he fell into the lake. They joined Dumbledore's Army together and later had to go into hiding together, when You-Know-Who rose to power. Colin had snuck into the castle for the battle, but he'd forced Dennis to stay at their hiding place. 'Wait for me, I'll be with you soon,' he'd said.

They would never do anything together again.

Still Dennis woke up in the mornings wondering if Colin had made coffee already, before the realization sunk in. Still he walked down the stairs, half expecting to find Colin sloppily eating cereal at the kitchen table, before realizing that Colin would never eat cereal again. Still he would read something he didn't understand and think "I should ask Colin what this means", before being hit with that pain and guilt all over again.

He hadn't been able to pick up a camera. He hadn't gone into Colin's room either, scared of what he would find there. When they got back to their house after the war ended, they found the place destroyed. A few member of the Order of the Phoenix helped them restore it, but a lot of stuff was missing and some things were irrevocably destroyed. None of them had gone into Colin's room yet.

On July 26th, his letter arrived. His fourth year; if not for the war, it would've been his fifth, but he'd have to repeat the year now. This year, there was only one letter, not two. Colin would've started his sixth year – seventh if not for the war. Dennis remembered all of the conversations they'd had about classes. Colin had earned seven OWL's, and he was going to take all seven classes in his sixth year. When the Ministry fell and they had to go into hiding, he'd just let the school know his choice.

Dennis put the letter on his nightstand, not sure what he was going to respond. He wasn't entirely sure he wanted to go back to Hogwarts at all. It would feel wrong to sit in the Gryffindor common room without Colin. And there was so much pain connected to the place... It was where Colin had died, his last moments unknown. It was the place that had rejected Dennis last year – he would be in his fourth year while his classmates went to their fifth year. It was too painful and humiliating. And he would have to miss some of his classmates – three of them had died, three others were still missing.

And the last reason – if he went to Hogwarts, he would eventually reach his sixth year, and then his seventh. He would finish his school while Colin hadn't been able to. That felt so wrong, so unfair. He knew he couldn't do it.

Still, he didn't throw the letter away. It had been on his nightstand for five days, still unopened. He had picked it up a few times, held it over the trash can, but he hadn't been able to throw it away, so he always ended up putting it back.

This evening, Dennis once again picked it up, but he put it back before he could even walk to the trash can. He sighed and lay down in his bed, ready for the sweet embrace of sleep that would bring him dreams where Colin was still with him.

Colin was sat at his desk, working on something. Dennis sat on the bed and flicked through one of his brother's comics, not actually reading anything. He was watching his brother.

After a while, Colin turned around and looked at him. 'Hey, Dennis, have you replied to your letter yet?'

Dennis looked at his feet. 'No, I haven't. I don't know-'

'Oh, but you have to go back! You can't just stop living because I'm dead, Den.'

'I...'

There seemed so much pain in his brother's eyes. 'Dennis...'

'I just don't know if I can do it, Cole,' Dennis whispered.

'I can't make your decision for you, but can you promise me something? In my bag, there's a book, with a red-and-gold cover. Can you take it and try to finish it?'

Dennis looked at his brother again. His mousy brown hair was messy, the way it had been when he left. His eyes seemed to shine with pride. A smile played around the corner of his mouth.

'Yeah, okay, I'll try,' Dennis promised.

'You'll find my camera in my bag, too. You can have it – I won't need it anymore.'

He got up from his chair and walked to the door. 'I have to go now. I'm proud of you, Dennis.'

He walked through the door. Dennis jumped up.

'Colin, wait!' He ran after him, but his brother wasn't in the hallway. He was gone.

Dennis sat up in his bed. His room was completely dark – it must still be night. He grabbed the flashlight on his nightstand and got up. He knew it had just been a dream, but he had to check.

He checked the hallway, shining with the light, but there was no one there. He sighed and walked to Colin's room. Next to his closed door, on a small table, they'd put his bag and his wand, not sure what to do with it. Dennis opened the bag and pulled out a thin red-and-gold book. He opened it and realized what it was: a photo album.

He flicked through the pages. The first bunch of pages held Muggle photo's, still and motionless, of their parents and them as infants, toddlers, little kids, older kids. Then, the first magic picture, on a page decorated with Gryffindor's colours, titled "Colin's first year". It was the first picture taken with Colin's camera, which he'd got shortly before starting his first year at Hogwarts. A Prefect had helped him develop the pictures magically.

After that, there were more pictures – some with Harry Potter, Colin's first crush, in them, others with Gilderoy Lockhart. But most were pictures of things that didn't seem special on first sight, not to someone who'd spent a few years in the Wizarding World already – pictures of teenagers wearing robes doing their homework, of people playing Quidditch, of the Gryffindor common room, of Hogwarts, of the lake, of some magic creatures, of the Great Hall. They were good pictures, too; Colin had always been better at photography than Dennis.

After a while, Dennis found a page titled "Colin's second year". These were mostly normal pictures too, of everyday life, and some of Colin with his friends. There was one of Dennis petting Colin's owl after he'd brought a letter from Colin. This was a Muggle picture, taken by their dad.

The third page decorated with Gryffindor colours said "Colin's third year". The page after that was titled "Dennis's first year." It had a picture of him on it, holding his letter and jumping up and down in excitement. There were more pictures of him after that, holding his wand, wearing his brand new school uniform, carrying his books, boarding the train with Colin. Another was of him wearing Hagrid's enormous coat, dripping wet, after he'd fallen into the lake. More pictures showed him doing homework, walking through the library, sitting under a tree, flying a broom, and just laughing and living. There were more pictures of him than pictures of Colin in this part of the book, and even more than the pictures of the Triwizard Tournament. Those pictures were great too: they showed him students of Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, of dragons, the lake and the maze. Then there was one of Harry with Cedric's dead body, the only picture Colin took before he realized what was going on. The page was coloured black. "Start of the Second Wizarding War", it said.

The next pictures were of Colin's fourth year, Dennis's second. They again started with two Gryffindor-coloured pages. The same ordinary-looking pictures, but a few of meetings of Dumbledore's Army. Hermione Granger had helped Colin by bewitching the photo's so if anyone who wasn't in the DA looked at them, they just seemed like pictures of the Gryffindor common room.

Next, pictures of Colin's fifth year, Dennis's third. There were pictures of Dennis in Hogsmeade and Colin studying for his OWL's.

After this, a black page. "Summer of 1997. The Ministry has fallen. We're not going back to Hogwarts yet. Waiting for what will happen." After this, there were pictures of their trashed Hogwarts letters – they'd arrived shortly before the fall of the Ministry – and the radio they used to listen to Potterwatch. Later, pictures of the letters of the Ministry telling them to come registrate and turn in their wands. Another picture of them packing their bags after two members of the Order had come to their door, briefly, to give them the name of a safe location and tell them to run.

There weren't many pictures after this, but Colin had made sure to take one picture at every hiding spot, of regular things that wouldn't reveal the location. The pictures and camera had been charmed so that no enemy could use them to figure out their location.

Dennis had reached the end of the photo album. The last picture was one of Dennis and Colin, taken the day before Colin had left and not come back. "Rumours of Harry Potter breaking into Gringotts have been heard. We have hope the war might be over soon."

There were a few empty pages after this, and then another two pages decorated in Gryffindor colours. "Colin's sixth year". "Dennis's fourth year". There were no pictures yet.

Dennis closed the book and hugged it closely to his chest. Then he started crying.

He thought of the dream he'd had. In the dream, Colin had asked him to finish the photo album. It was just a dream – but still, it felt like Colin's last wish.

Finish the photo album.

There was only one way to do that.

Dennis got up and took the album and the camera to his room. He opened the letter of Hogwarts, then grabbed a quill and a piece of parchment. He put everything on his desk, with his Gryffindor scarf next to it, and took a picture.

"Going back to Hogwarts, for both of us. Thanks, Colin."