Tap tap tap.
"Go 'way," Colin muttered sleepily.
Tap tap tap.
Colin groaned and threw the covers off his body in annoyance. "Fine," he huffed. "I'm awake." He turned to his right to glare at the source of the noise, a fledgling Snowy Owl. The owl looked rather put upon, as though he had inconvenienced it somehow by not being awake.
Suddenly happy at the interruption, Colin rushed to let Cecilia in. She flew to land on his bedside table, knocking a glass and a dirty pair of socks off in the process, and Colin silently thanked the universe that the glass was empty.
Colin,
Remember that surprise I told you about? I've made reservations for us tonight at The Phoenix Song in Diagon Ally (I told you I'd remember our anniversary!) for seven 'o' clock.
Love, Harry
Colin grinned stupidly at the letter as he reread it a second time. If anyone had told him as a child that accepting a date with Harry Potter would lead to five years of happiness, he'd have laughed at them. Yet here they were now.
The smell of bacon reigned in his train of thought, and his stomach gave a gurgle. He quickly sent a reply off with Cecilia and headed immediately to the kitchen, shrugging into an oversized sweater as he went.
He found Dennis bending over the stove, his wand trained over a frying pan of sizzling bacon and a second pan of eggs, neatly scrambling themselves into uniform bite sized pieces. Colin watched him for a moment. As far as he could tell, Dennis hadn't left Colin's apartment in two weeks. He spent all his time baking, dozens upon dozens of batches of biscuits, pies, cakes, and carefully decorated truffles. So much so that Colin had taken to bringing a basket or two of treats with him to the office every morning. His social standing at the paper had taken a definite upturn since then, he'd noticed.
"Smells good," he commented.
Dennis flicked his wand and the bacon flipped over neatly. "It's almost ready. Do you want orange or pumpkin juice?"
"Pumpkin," Colin responded with a smile at Dennis' back.
A moment later, pumpkin juice poured itself into two glasses. Eggs piled onto two plates, and the bacon soared through the air after it, little droplets of grease dripping to the floor as it went. Dennis watched the grease fall with a frown. "I've never been able to master how to keep the grease from doing that. Some little trick of the hand I've been told, but I can't seem to do it properly."
Colin shrugged. "It's easy enough to clean the floor with a spell, so I've never bothered with the finer points of magical cooking."
Dennis moved to sit at the table, and Colin followed him. "I'd like to do that," he said abruptly.
"Like to do what?" Colin asked around a mouthful of eggs.
"Master the finer points of magical cooking and baking."
"You do?"
Dennis nodded, and by his expression Colin knew that this was something Dennis really wanted. He supposed he should have known; the kitchen was where Dennis had always run to when life threw up roadblocks. During the year they'd spent in hiding through the War, his brother had been happiest the times he'd had access to any type of kitchen, magical or muggle.
"There's a trade school in Paris," Dennis said hesitantly. "It teaches both magical and muggle techniques in cooking and baking. I want to go."
"If you want to do it, then you should," Colin said. "I know you'll be great at it. Your baking skills are praised every time I bring your treats into the office."
Dennis smiled, the first genuine smile Colin had seen from him since Leanne had taken off, and Colin silently thanked the universe for the second time that day. Dennis had been so stifled and unhappy with his current Ministry job. Perhaps Leanne leaving him had been a good thing. Colin knew how heartbreak could make people re-evaluate their whole lives, discover that perhaps the way they lived wasn't how they wanted, and to take journeys that ultimately lead to where they were happiest all along. Wasn't the fact that he was happy with Harry, instead of pining over Draco Malfoy, proof of that?
"When do classes start?"
"Next week," Dennis answered. "I need to figure out my living situation over there. I know I could apparate every day but - I think it would do me some good to get away for awhile. Make some memories in a place that has no memories."
"I can understand that," Colin said quietly.
Their chatter turned to less serious subjects then, and Colin was relieved that Dennis seemed to be coming out of the stupor he'd been in the last couple of weeks.
"Did I tell you, Sally Anne asked Casey out yesterday," Colin said with a happy laugh. "Apparently she got tired of waiting for him to make the first move."
"What did he say?"
"He said yes! Which surprised the whole office, honestly. We all figured that he wasn't interested in women. Sally Anne wasn't the first one to flirt with him, and he'd never given any sign that he noticed or cared."
Dennis chuckled and waved his wand to clear the breakfast dishes. "Our gender can be oblivious sometimes. Good for her for making the leap."
"Yeah," agreed Colin. He glanced at the clock above the sink and swore softly. "I'm going to be late for work if I don't leave now. Terry scheduled an entire staff meeting first thing and I can't miss it."
"What's it about?"
"That's what I'm going to find out," Colin said. "Thanks for breakfast, Dennis."
Dennis nodded and pressed a chocolate pie into Colin's hands just before Colin disapparated.
The chocolate pie was swiftly taken from him as he walked into the conference room: Sally Anne had a sweet tooth for anything even remotely related to chocolate. Colin looked around the room. Every one of the paper's three dozen employees had assembled, with only one person not accounted for.
"Where's Terry?" he wondered.
The door opened in answer, and Terry Boot stepped through. The room gradually quieted as Terry moved to stand at the front of the room, and Colin quickly took a seat: the only empty one in the room was next to Natalie Mayes. She glanced at him as he sat, but her attention moved back to their boss as Terry began to speak.
"A few of you have approached me over the past couple of weeks and asked if there was anything wrong," Terry began, his voice soft. "Each person mentioned that I haven't been acting quite myself lately. I told everyone that I wasn't ready to talk about it yet, and to be honest I am still not ready, but two days ago it was made clear to me that ready or not, I should be open about why I've been on edge."
At that statement, Colin saw Natalie shift slightly in her seat in his peripheral vision. He briefly wondered why, when Terry's next words answered it for him.
"One of you - very well meaning, if a little misguided - took it upon yourselves to cast a counter spell to the Imperious Curse on me." Terry shook his head, a slight upturn to his lips showing that he wasn't upset. "Apparently I really have been acting strange, if anyone thought I was under the Imperious Curse."
A light breeze of nervous laughter flowed through the room. Under the pretence of stretching, Colin glanced at Natalie: There was an unmistakable blush to her cheeks, and Colin suspected that she was the person Terry was talking about. That was a pretty bold move, he mused to himself. She had to have known that she could have ended up with disciplinary action against her if Terry hadn't have taken her actions well.
"My Mother," Terry continued, "has not been well lately. It is possible that she may end up in a long term care facility shortly due to her mental instability, and I have not been dealing with this news very well. I'm sorry that I've taken out my frustration on some of you lately. You have all been patient with me, far beyond what I have deserved, and I thank you all for it."
"Is there anything we can do for you?" Colin looked around, but couldn't figure out who had spoken.
"I would just ask for your continued patience," Terry said somewhat apologetically. "But please don't be afraid to call me out if you feel I've been unfair or unkind in any way."
There was a somewhat uncomfortable silence, and then Sally Anne lifted Dennis' chocolate pie above her head. "Anyone else care for a piece before I eat it all," she called out, and the room dissolved into laughter and shouts of "I do" and "don't forget me". Colin looked over at Terry to see the look of relief on his face, now that the spotlight was off of him, and he caught the man's eye. Good job boss, he mouthed, and Terry sent him a small smile in return.
The rest of Colin's day passed slowly, unusually so; perhaps this was simply due to the fact that he spent much of it filling out paperwork, but it seemed even longer because of his excitement about the evening's upcoming date with Harry. Finally, at half past five, he apparated back to his apartment, startling Dennis as he was putting the final touches of decoration on a large cake.
"Colin! Warn a bloke next time, would you!" Dennis threw his hands in the air in frustration. "I've been decorating this cake for nearly three quarters of an hour now!"
"Sorry," Colin said guiltily. "I'm so excited for my date I forgot to apparate outside of the building."
Dennis huffed and set down the tube of frosting in his hand. "I didn't mean to snap at you. I'm just frustrated. The roses aren't quite turning out how I want them to, I think my technique isn't right somehow."
Colin studied the cake for a moment. Truthfully, he didn't see why Dennis was upset about how the roses looked, but his eye for detail only seemed to focus on photography; frosting to him was to be eaten, not admired beyond the surface level. "It looks delicious," he said at last.
Dennis chucked a spare bit of frosting at him. "Go get ready for your date," he said in mock grumpiness.
Colin ducked to avoid the sticky pale purple goo, laughing, and decided it would be prudent to follow his brother's advice.
The entrance to The Phoenix Song was just two doors down from Flourish and Blotts, and if Colin hadn't taken so long getting ready, he would have nipped in to see if they had received any new books on photography. He had asked for a book on the art of magical mirror illusion some weeks ago and was eager to see if they'd had the chance to fill his request. Eyeing the shop regretfully, he tugged gently on the door handle of his destination and slipped inside.
He couldn't help the gasp of amazement that slipped from his mouth. The walls were shimmering, the paint seemingly vibrantly alive with the exact shades that a Phoenix at the height of its life displayed. Background music softly played, a tune that instantly relaxed Colin's nerves and with a jolt of recognition he identified it as the sound of a Phoenix in song. To complete the entire picture (the photographer in him wished for his camera at that moment), the waiters were all dressed in matching Phoenix uniforms.
The door opening behind him drew his attention away from the impressive decoration, and Colin smiled as Harry walked in and gave a gasp of amazement identical to the one Colin had uttered a moment ago.
"They've really gone all out, haven't they," Colin said by way of greeting.
Harry moved to kiss him hello, a look of wonder still on his face. "I'd heard from Hermione who went to the grand opening last week that the place was spectacular, but her description didn't really do it justice."
"I'll say," Colin agreed.
Neither one of them spoke as they were led to their table. The decor was beyond spectacular - Colin didn't think he could use enough superlatives to describe it - and judging from his boyfriend's expression Colin could tell Harry felt the same.
They were directed to a private two-person booth near the back. Colin settled himself on a cushion of Phoenix feathers and laughed as he watched Harry sit down as well: The feathers seemed to respond to movement by changing colours. Every time Harry shifted his body weight, the feathers would change from gold to crimson and back again.
"Out of all of the magical things I have seen in my time in the Wizarding World," Colin commented, "this is by far the most dazzling."
Harry laughed in agreement and opened the menu in front of him. "I wanted to make our anniversary special. I think this qualifies."
Colin reached across the table to squeeze Harry's hand. "This is a wonderful way to celebrate five years together."
"Eight, if you count the part where we became friends," Harry mused.
"Of course you would count that," Colin said playfully. "You couldn't even wait a week before owling me after our conversation that evening at the opening for Homes for Hope, as I recall."
"You intrigued me," Harry admitted, his cheeks colouring slightly.
Colin opened his mouth to reply but was interrupted by the appearance of a waiter. He glanced quickly at the menu while Harry ordered but knew what his decision would be: It was a tradition of his to order the special at any new restaurant he tried. He'd discovered quite a few new foods that way, although he had to admit that he'd only started doing it because Dennis had that habit.
They fell easily back into conversation after ordering. Colin updated Harry on the latest gossip from the office and Dennis' future plans, and Harry in turn updated him on the newest happenings at the Auror office.
"We got a walk-in yesterday. Because of the circumstances in play I can't say much, but it looks like I'm going to have to do some poking around tomorrow at Homes for Hope."
"Which building, the one for magical patients or the one for muggles?"
"It sounds like I'll need to check out both."
"Nothing to do with the institutions' staff mistreating patients, I hope?" Colin asked.
Harry shook his head. "Nothing like that."
"I'm glad to hear that," Colin said. "Terry's Mother apparently hasn't been doing well, and he may have to put her in a long term care facility. Homes for Hope is the best of the lot when it comes to mental illnesses, and I'd hate to have to warn Terry to look elsewhere."
"That's rough." Harry said.
Colin nodded and then gave a yelp as a plate full of steaming food materialized in front of him. He turned red as Harry laughed. "Your face was priceless!"
"So glad to amuse you," he began to say, but the sight of Harry's plate appearing stopped him in his tracks. "What did you get?" he asked curiously.
"They call it 'Phoenix Ashes'," Harry said. "It's black pasta with a black garlic sauce."
Colin mentally made a note to ask Dennis how they gave pasta a black colour. He wasn't sure if it was simply a spell or if they added something special to give it that hue.
Several times during their meal, Harry seemed to teeter on the edge of speech: Colin would hear a soft intake of breath and a moment later a swift huff as Harry decided against saying whatever was on his mind. Colin waited it out, occasionally filling the air between them with light chatter that Harry eagerly responded to.
It was after they had eaten half of their dessert (a chocolate molten lava cake the restaurant had dubbed 'Fallen Ashes') that Harry seemed to gather his courage.
"Willyoumoveinwithme?"
Colin raised his eyebrow at the jumbled mess that had come out of Harry's mouth. "Pardon?"
Harry turned red and took a deep calming breath. "Will you move in with me?"
Colin took in Harry's nervous face and the way his foot kept tapping the leg of the table. He wanted to laugh, but knew Harry would probably take it the wrong way, and this moment was too important to potentially mess it up because of how adorable he found his Gryffindor boyfriend. He swiftly reached to clasp Harry's hand to reassure him.
"I would like that very much," he said with a smile.
Harry's shoulders slumped in relief. "I don't know why I was so nervous to ask."
"For the same reason I was so nervous on our first official date, do you remember?"
Harry smiled gently. "You were so afraid to lose your best friend."
"I still worry about that sometimes," Colin admitted. "The more time that passes the more I know it would hurt, should you want to leave."
Harry nodded solemnly. "I won't promise forever," he said quietly. "The future is unpredictable, no matter what Professor Trelawney tried to convince me otherwise. But I can promise you that I'll be by your side until life decides that I shouldn't be."
"Likewise," Colin managed to say, his throat constricting in an effort to compose himself. Thoughts of someone he loved leaving him always made him emotional, perhaps more so since the end of the War nearly a decade ago.
Harry squeezed his hand, giving Colin the physical assurance he needed, and changed the topic to something decidedly more cheerful.
Colin smiled, and a rush of gratitude bubbled up to the surface as he listened to Harry prattle on about a new product that George was working on for the joke shop.
Life hadn't turned out the way he had expected it to. But somehow, all was well.