Harry was running late.
He'd forgotten to set the alarm last night, and Colin had been still snoring softly when he'd woken up nearly an hour later than usual. His brain was unhelpfully sluggish as he hurried to dress, and as he attempted to knot his tie for the fifth time he wondered why someone hadn't invented a way to make the process faster. A moment later, he cursed himself under his breath. "Idiot. Are you a wizard or what?"
The rhetorical question remained unanswered as Harry waved his wand. His tie knotted itself perfectly. As Harry rushed to leave, he stumbled upon a small brown bag by the door. Oh. Right. The bag Colin had found. Shaking his head, he grabbed it and ran out the door.
Perhaps because he was running late, the universe decided that meant it was the perfect opportunity to laugh at him. It was pouring, rain dropping heavily and splashing loudly on the dark pavement outside the house - and of course he'd left Grimmauld Place wearing his slippers. He didn't bother going back in the house to change, opting instead to wave his wand at his feet. A pair of sandals appeared. Harry sighed and let it go. He disapparated with a pop; his mood had turned as dark as the clouds that hung overhead, and it didn't improve when he discovered that the east entrance to the Auror office was closed due to a maintenance crew.
By the time he made it to his office, Harry was ready for the day to be over. He set down the brown bag he was carrying on top of a pile of papers on the desk and turned his attention to his soaked feet. A warming spell brightened his mood a fraction.
It was just his luck that the stack of papers on his desk would collapse. Papers floated down to rest on the carpet in odd formations. Sprinkled among them were a few items that spilled out the brown bag Colin had found. "Why did I think it would be a good idea to get out of bed this morning," Harry grumbled to himself as he sunk to his knees.
He slowly straightened the mess. The owner of the bag was obviously muggle, or at least fluent in the muggle world - several coins that were not from the magical world had scattered across the room, as had a couple of textbooks (Criminal Justice for Dummies, So You Want to be a Bobby), and a small black notebook - moleskine, Harry noted as he picked it up. A knock startled him and he dropped the notebook, his heart pounding. He stood quickly and opened the door to let in an office memo - those bloody notes got louder every day, he'd swear his life on it - before turning his attention back to the items on his carpet.
The memo hissed at being ignored, but Harry barely heard it: The notebook had opened when he'd dropped it, and phrases that would alarm anyone in his line of work leapt out at him. I think he's playing with me... Is it wrong to feel this way...? I'm as sick as he is. Curious, Harry reached for the notebook and read further. He left a message for me written on the wall (using her blood, according to the lab). I find myself both horrified and yet strangely intrigued. What must be going through his mind...
Completely disregarding the memo, Harry curled up on the floor and continued to read. The memo seemed to realize it was being ignored: It floated down to settle upon the desk as something akin to a sigh emanated from the parchment in annoyance.
A soft chime interrupted Harry in the middle of a particularly engaging entry. He'd been expecting the floo, but he still jumped slightly at the sound.
"Hi Harry, how have you been?"
Harry looked up, his years of Auror training the only thing allowing him to tame his features so as to not give away how startled he had been. He glanced at the clock (how had an hour passed already?) before he turned to smile at the face poking through his office fireplace. "I've been well, and yourself? How have you been enjoying life in Paris?"
Dennis Creevey's face lit up. "It's been a blast. I'm learning so much and have taken any opportunity to explore the city when I'm not studying."
"I'm glad to hear that," Harry said. He sat down next to the fire and took a deep breath. "Listen, I am sorry to have to ask, but you can't mention this conversation we're about to have with Colin or anyone else, understand?"
Dennis frowned. "Why, what's going on?"
"I'm working a case," Harry said by way of explanation. "All information is confidential until solved. It's not that I don't trust you, but..."
"I understand," Dennis interrupted. "How can I help?"
Harry cut right to the chase. "I'm working a missing persons case, and your name was mentioned in her Ministry employee file."
Dennis looked at him for a moment before Harry saw realization flash across his face. "This is about - " he paused, and several emotions flashed through his eyes before settling on something that looked a bit like hope. Harry didn't react to the reaction, but internally wondered what it meant.
"Why don't you tell me," he said.
Dennis closed his eyes briefly. When he opened them again, Harry saw both pain and determination. "I'll tell you whatever you want to know, but I need to - may I ask some questions in return? About the case? Please?"
Harry considered the request for a moment before nodding his assent. "As long as you understand that there will be some information I am not at liberty to discuss."
"I understand," Dennis repeated his words from earlier. He took a deep breath and began to talk. Harry's eyes widened as he listened, the only outward indication he gave to register his shock.
He was beginning to regret the fact that he couldn't talk to Colin about the details of the case.
Colin spent his workday developing pictures. The calm of the darkroom soothed him, and he allowed his mind to let go of his worries. It was a short reprieve; the moment he entered Grimmauld Place he felt his mind weighing heavy on him once more. He changed clothes quickly, and by the time he had finished Harry had arrived home. Colin kissed him in greeting and could tell that Harry's mind was somewhere else.
They apparated for the Burrow together, Colin holding a bottle of wine, their contribution for dinner. They appeared a short walk from the house, but far enough away that Colin couldn't tell which Weasley was running around the garden - probably chasing a garden gnome, he thought - although that narrowed the list somewhat, as Percy wouldn't be caught dead chasing the fat little gnomes around the grass.
They walked without speaking; Colin glanced at Harry out of the corner of his eye every now and then and wondered what Harry was thinking. Why did it feel as though lately there was so much empty space between them?
"What if the mouse enjoyed the game?" Harry said quietly, his voice breaking the spell of the silence. He sounded almost as though he were speaking to himself instead of Colin. Colin looked at Harry, unsure what to say. "What if," Harry continued, "the mouse enjoyed the hunt, even though he was the prey? Would he be content in the role the cat put him in, do you think? Or would he become a hunter in turn?"
Colin didn't say anything. It didn't seem like Harry was looking for an answer. They walked the rest of the way to the Burrow in a strange, pensive silence.
They were greeted warmly as they entered the house, and Colin watched as Harry seemed to come back to himself as he chatted with Ron and Hermione and good-naturedly endured George's teasing about his hair, which he hadn't even attempted to comb before they'd left. Colin extracted himself from the chatter to find the kitchen.
"How are you dear," Mrs. Weasley said as he entered the room. She tweaked her wand at the stove. The flame lowered to a simmer, the blue flame dancing as it went.
Colin set down the bottle of Elf made wine on the counter and smiled at the woman. He could feel his spirits lifting already. "I'm well," he answered. "Another one of my pictures was chosen to be on the front cover."
"Congratulations!" Mrs. Weasley said with a smile.
"He's the best photographer there," Harry said as he entered the kitchen. Pressing a finger to his lips, he stole a deviled egg while Mrs. Weasley's back was turned. Colin held back a laugh.
"Of course he is," she responded. "And I saw that," she added as she turned around.
"Saw what?" Ron entered the kitchen, followed by Hermione; his eyes wandered from the deviled egg Harry was attempting to stuff in his mouth whole to the entire tray of eggs sitting on the counter.
"Oh no you don't," Mrs. Weasley warned. "Get out, the lot of you! You're going to spoil your appetites." She shooed them out, her hand swatting at anyone within reach, but Colin saw the suppressed laughter on her face before he was shoved out the door by Hermione, who had stumbled into him as Ron attempted to avoid his Mother's aim.
Harry was already in the hallway, watching the lot of them trip over each other as they escaped through the doorway. "The trick is not to get caught during the act," he laughed.
"She won't scold you as much as us, mate," Ron mock grumbled as he straightened out, clutching Hermione for support. "I think she still thinks of you as scrawny."
Harry shook his head, some of the laughter leaving his face, but Colin was the only one who noticed.
"Oi, George!" Ron called as he headed back toward the living room, "Got anything that will help me nick food?"
"Ron!" Hermione scolded, just as Colin heard a "don't you dare!" come from the kitchen.
"I wouldn't dream of stealing food from our Mother!" George's head popped into the hallway, and if his sugar sweet tone hadn't been enough to void his statement, his giant wink left no room for doubt. Hermione shook her head in disapproval as Colin and Ron roared with laughter. They spilled into the living room, walking in on Ginny and Dean in the middle of attempting to charm a teacup to dance with great success; Angelina and Audrey looked on, both laughing so hard they had tears in their eyes, while Percy ignored the whole affair, his nose stuck in a book.
"What's all this - " George started to say, but was interrupted by the sound of the clock chiming. "Dad's home!" he finished, turning his head to look at the door. A moment later, Mr. Weasley stepped inside, and in the flurry of greetings Colin turned to look at Harry. He'd stopped by the couch, his eyes looking toward the rest of the group but lost in a different world, and Colin felt a shiver of concern once more.
He set his worries aside as he heard Mrs. Weasley bustle in to announce that supper was ready. He noticed that the dining room had been expanded since the last dinner he'd had here, and was glad that Mr. Weasley had finally taken Hermione's gentle suggestion about a new house modification spell she had invented. Now the group of fifteen fit comfortably.
Colin relaxed even further during the meal. Mrs. Weasley's cooking was the highlight of any visit to The Burrow. A close second was the conversations; it was one of the things he missed about Hogwarts, the ample gossip around the meal table. He laughed with the rest of them as Audrey described how she'd spilled coffee all over the floor as an excuse to listen in on two of her coworkers sharing rumors, including a particularly salacious bit of information about herself.
"...so then I popped my head 'round the doorway and asked if their boss knew that they'd both slept with his wife, and I've never seen anyone go that pale so quickly!"
Colin laughed even harder as Audrey continued - "...and now both of them are being so helpful, getting me coffee throughout the day and one of them assured me that he's told everyone else that no, I did not shag Percy in the lift, and he's been telling others to lay off the rumor mill!"
Percy ducked his head, his face a picture of embarrassment as he laughed too. "One never knows when a bit of blackmail might come in handy," he said above the roar of merriment.
"Why Percy," George said in mock horror. "What happened to the rule book? Are you sure you haven't been imperiused?"
Percy rolled his eyes, his cheeks turning even pinker than before. "It should only be used as a last resort," he said pompously, sounding more like himself. "Rules are there for a reason, you know."
"I was really worried there for a second," George said seriously before laughing uproariously.
Colin looked around the table as the stories continued, his chest filling with an emotion he wasn't quite sure he could name. Even Harry seemed relaxed and happy as he joked with Ron and George. This was what he missed so much he almost couldn't breathe. His parents had both died years ago (drunk driver had ran a red light) and Dennis now lived in Paris. Family had always been important to him. Weekly dinners and bonding over meals and trucks and pictures of ghosts - it had never quite been the same after the car crash. The Weasley family had embraced him as one of their own, even before he and Harry and officially become a couple, yet it had still felt like something was missing. Perhaps that had simply been his grief for his parents, hanging over him like a thundercloud.
But as he continued to look around, Colin realized that for the first time, he felt truly at home here, with his family that had chosen him even before he'd understood that he'd chosen them too. His gaze fell on Harry, who was teasing Ginny and Dean about something, his eyes sparkling in a way Colin had missed. Was this another sign that with enough love his Harry really could conquer the demons that he was fighting?
After dinner everyone gathered outside to watch Charlie, Bill, Ron, Ginny, Dean, George, Angelina, and Harry play four-aside Quidditch. Percy sprawled on the grass, his nose in his book, his hand stroking Audrey's hair; Molly and Arthur conjured a small sofa, with room for Fleur; and Colin sat with Hermione who had a book in her hands too, although she kept looking up at the sky.
"Can't concentrate?" Colin asked her after the fourth time she sighed heavily.
"Am I that obvious?" Hermione said wryly. "I've been creating a new spell and I've hit a snag. The research hasn't helped much so far."
"What's the spell supposed to do?"
"It is a variation of the Confidentiality Spell that I created," Hermione explained. "The current one ensures that one isn't able to divulge information that they're not supposed to. There's no penalty for breaking Confidentiality, because you can't break it in the first place, even if you tried to do so."
Colin's brain whirled. The spell sounded good in theory but... "What about situations where - "
"Where it would do more harm than good to keep the secret?" Hermione finished for him. "Exactly. That's what I'm attempting to address here. There has to be a way to add in a loophole to the magic. There are spells that are similar to what I'm looking for, but none that are helpful enough to be of use here."
"Why not just use a spell where there is an actual consequence? Like how you did with that parchment for Dumbledore's Army."
"Because inevitably, someone will decide that the consequence is a worthwhile price to pay," Hermione said. "Even the Unbreakable Vow is breakable, after all. Yes, you'll die, but you can still break your silence. I want to create a spell where you can't break it at all, unless someone would be hurt by staying silent. But I want 'hurt' to be defined a specific way, so that one can't use it as a loophole in the wrong way. That's the part I'm struggling with." Hermione gazed up at the sky, where Ron and Dean were fighting over the Quaffle. "I know it's only a matter of time before a loophole will be needed. I've been working closely with one organization in particular who will benefit greatly from this variation of the spell when it's completed."
"You'll find the answer," Colin reassured her. "It will come to you when you least expect it."
Hermione gave him a brief smile. "I'm sure you're right."
They both focused their attention back to the sky as they lapsed into an easy silence. Colin narrowed his eyes as he looked up at Harry, who seemed to be arguing with Ron. None of the rest of the players had noticed, and by the time the others turned that way the argument seemed to be over; Harry had angrily waved his arm at Ron and flown in the opposite direction. Colin glanced at the others on the ground, but the only one who seemed to have observed that something was amiss was Hermione.
"I wonder what that was about," Hermione mused.
"It looked heated," Colin said, worried once more.
There was an odd expectant silence for a moment before Hermione said hesitantly, "Is Harry doing well?"
Colin looked at her. She held his gaze for a moment before looking away. "Something's wrong, isn't it."
"I think you should ask him," Colin responded. He didn't feel comfortable sharing Harry's secrets with anyone else.
Hermione nodded. "I don't mean to put you on the spot. It's just - I can tell that there's something eating at him lately. Whenever we talk he shies away from talking about his life, unless he's going on about you and your accomplishments. He didn't used to be like that."
"He needs everyone's love and support right now," Colin said slowly. "He'll work it out and open up on his own time, I'm sure."
Hermione looked at him for a long moment before giving him another nod. "I'm sure you're right," she repeated quietly.
A shout from above pulled their attention to the sky again: Ginny had seen the snitch but Harry was right behind her tail, gaining ground quickly -
A whoop from Angelina indicated that Harry had caught the snitch a moment later, and the teams landed amid clapping from the watchers on the ground. Colin noticed that Harry didn't look particularly happy despite having won.
"Anyone want second helpings of dessert in celebration?" George looked at the group hopefully.
"Your team lost, honey," Angelina reminded him with a laugh.
George looked at her as though to say so, and your point is? "In commiseration than," he said.
"I'll get it," Harry said. He walked off toward the house without another word. No one else seemed to find this strange, but Colin noticed Ron looked after Harry with an odd look on his face.
They all lounged about on the grass, those who had been playing still discussing their match except for Ron, who came to sit next to Colin and Hermione.
"So what's up with Harry then," Ron said bluntly.
"We noticed something was wrong," Hermione responded. "But I don't think anyone else did. What happened?"
"Bloody well if I know," Ron said. "I was just teasing him about how my team was going to cream his, and I gave him a good friendly punch on the shoulder, and he got all pissed off and yelled at me not to touch him. What's going on with him?"
"I was just asking Colin if something was wrong with Harry," Hermione said.
"Something's definitely wrong," Ron said seriously. "He's never gone off the rails like that for something so simple."
"Are you sure there isn't anything we can do to help?" Hermione said to Colin. "I think it might be a good idea to talk to him. At least tell him that we're still here if he needs us."
Ron looked a bit uncomfortable at that. "Feelings are your department, Hermione."
Hermione tisked. "Honestly. Haven't you grown up yet? Harry needs his friends right now."
"It never hurts to show that you care," Colin said. "He's in a bit of a bad place at the moment. He'll open up when he's ready."
"I have noticed that he's quieter at work than he used to be," Ron mused.
Hermione shushed him softly, her eyes pointing to where Harry was approaching with a large cake. Ron jumped up immediately, George right behind him. Colin made to get up too, but paused at Hermione's low voice. "We're here for you both, you know that right?"
Colin met her eyes and held them. He gave a tiny nod and a smile, and Hermione visibly relaxed. She moved to join the others clamoring for a slice of cake, and Colin followed suit.
By the end of the evening, Colin had relaxed again. Most of the family lounged around the lawn, sporadic conversation taking place here and there. Colin smiled as he watched Percy and Audrey for a brief moment: They were holding hands, each with their nose in a book. They hadn't wanted a huge celebration for their engagement, both preferring a simple family dinner. Molly hadn't been thrilled at first ("My son is getting engaged! He deserves fanfare!") but at last she had relented.
As his eyes roamed the members of the family, Colin noticed that Harry was missing from the group. He wondered where he'd gone off to - for awhile his attention had been on the conversation he'd been having with Arthur about muggle boats, of all things - he hadn't noticed that Harry had slipped away. And - his chest filled with trepidation - Ron and Hermione weren't with the group either. Concerned, Colin decided to look for them.
He wandered around the yard for a few minutes, but at last found his way back into the house. He heard voices immediately once he'd stepped through the door. It sounded like they were in the kitchen. He wondered if he should join them, but then he heard his name and stopped to listen a moment.
"...need to talk to Colin, or someone else, if you won't talk to us," Hermione was saying.
"I don't need to do anything if I don't want to," Harry sharply retorted.
There was silence a moment. Then Ron's voice - "Look mate, we just wanted to let you know we're here for you if you need us."
"You've done that," Harry snapped. "Are we finished here."
"Harry - " Hermione's voice sounded pleading.
"If you'll excuse me," Harry said. His voice was icy cold. Colin hid quickly, ducking into another room; he heard Harry loudly slam the door on his way out. His heart pounding, he stayed where he was for a long moment. He'd never heard Harry talk to his best friends like that, and it upset him. And he was equally upset that Harry didn't seem receptive to the idea of talking to anyone about what whatever was bothering him - not even to Colin.