Disclaimer - I don't own Harry Potter. This is written for ONC, for prompt twenty-six, "As a tourist in a foreign country, you were just snapping pictures. Later that night you go through your camera roll and was shocked to your core when you saw what you caught on camera."

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words
Vacation in Dijon

The camera shutter clicked as another picture was taken, and then the young photographer was off to take a picture of the next tourist destination, his zeal knowing no bounds.

"Colin, slow down," his father said as the young wizard continued looking for things to take pictures of in the plaza of Notre-Dame de Dijon as the family toured the city for their summer vacation. He'd already spied the next something he wanted to take a picture of. "We'll be here in Dijon for a few days for vacation."

"You know, telling Colin to slow down is useless," his mother said as his younger brother stood by her, watching with wide eyes. "We couldn't get him to slow down about his first year at his school, remember? And we still haven't figured out what he meant by being frozen in place and tests being canceled for the semester."

Colin heard his father take a deep breath and turned his head so he could see his father, and saw a look of frustration. Colin frowned before turning his attention back to the buildings surrounding the Muggle-built church, or at least he thought Muggles built the place as it wasn't the history of the site that interested Colin, but instead the look of the architecture. When his family arrived and started touring Dijon, he imagined various medieval stories in the vein of King Arthur and Merlin that were likely modern versions of Merlin roaming the streets.

And it excited him, wondering if, as he took pictures, he might manage to take a picture of a wizard the Muggles around them were unaware of.

His head tilted slightly, remembering how he'd indeed returned home, and babbled away about what happened his first year, only to realize after his parents started asking for clarification that telling them might not be a good thing that him becoming frozen as a statue that last year would not make either of his parents happy, might even result in them considering not sending him back even though Hogwarts was where he wanted to be.

"Harry Potter is there, after all," Colin thought. He started to turn his attention back to his next photography target when—his hand shot up, waving, his mouth twisting into a big grin. "Granger! Hermione Granger!"

The person in question was startled, her bushy brown hair quite the familiar site for the young Gryffindor, mainly since Hermione Granger was one of Harry Potter's best friends, the other being Ron Weasley, making Colin memorize everything about them so he could tell his parents. However, he wasn't sure how much of that got out as he spoke so fast his parents were now saying they'd not made heads or tails of what he'd said.

"Granger?" his mother said as if she found the name familiar. "A classmate, if I recall."

"One of the best friends of the Harry Potter," Colin said, turning to his father, who gave him a funny look for some reason, while his brother Dennis now turned to look at Hermione Granger wide-eyed. Without hesitation, he hurried over, his camera swinging back and forth on the strap hung around his neck. "Hermione Granger!"

The girl looked at him, surprised at seeing him, before she smiled. "Oh. Creevy. Your family is on vacation in Dijorn as well?"

"Yes!" Colin said, turning to his parents. "This is my dad, the milkman, and my mum. And my little brother Dennis. We don't know if he's also a Muggleborn like me and you."

"You were taking pictures for your dad if I remember?" Hermione said.

"Yes," Colin said. "He gave me my camera, but his hobby is also photography."

"I see," Hermione said, turning her head. "This is my mum and…." A frown appeared on her face. Her brown eyes blinked as she looked at the woman standing nearby. "Mum, where's dad?"

Not looking worried, her mother turned to look over her shoulder. "It looks like your father's wandered off again. I should go and look for him, you think?"

"That wouldn't be a bad idea," Hermione said, smiling, although Colin didn't think Hermione was quite pleased with her father wandering off as he did. She sighed as her mother told Colin's parents it was nice to meet them before apologizing for her husband taking off as he had.

"So, you're also Muggleborn?" Colin's father asked.

"Yes, I am," Hermione said. "I'm a year ahead of Colin and in the same house, Gryffindor."

"House?"

"We're divided into four houses," Colin said before babbling out what he'd learned.

Hermione took a breath, having caught sight of his parents looking at each other in confusion. "We're sorted into houses for our time at Hogwarts based on where our strengths are so they can foster those traits in what they hope ends up being a positive matter."

"Not Slytherin," Colin blurted out.

Colin's mother cleared her throat. "Do you know what Colin means by being frozen?"

"Not frozen," Hermione said. "Petrified. A few of us were under a petrification spell, so the end-of-the-year tests were canceled. I was disappointed because I could have caught up."

"You mean your lives were in danger?" his mother inquired, yet Colin could hear the fear in her voice.

"The professors are quite capable, having created the counter to us being petrified once they had the supplies, but they do keep us safe," Hermione said.

"You were also petrified?" Colin's dad asked.

"Yes."

"And do," Colin's mother started saying, clearing her voice. "Do your parents know?"

Hermione glanced over her shoulder in the direction her mother headed to look for her father. "No."

"You didn't tell them?" Colin's father said, his voice straining.

Hermione turned her head, her eyes widening. "Oh! It's not what you think. Although, it is complicated."

"Well, being friends with the Harry Potter is like that, isn't it?"

Hermione frowned. "It's just Harry, Colin. He doesn't like the fame, you know."

"Fame?" Dennis asked. "Harry Potter is famous?"

"Well, yes. He is famous in the magical community," Hermione said.

"What for?" Colin's mother asked.

"For being The Boy Who Lived," Colin said.

"The what?" Colin's father said.

"That expression of confusion on your face," Hermione said, frowning as she did so. "It's one of the reasons I don't talk about what goes on at school with my parents."

"And the other?" Colin's mother asked.

"My dad," Hermione glanced over her shoulder in the direction her mother went to look for her father and then turned to look at them. "Well, as I said, he's wandered off again. But we visited Diagon Alley last summer, which was a bit too much for him."

"Did he wander off?" Dennis asked.

"Oh! Thankfully not," Hermione said. "Dad stuck close to my mum and the Weasleys."

"Ron Weasley's parents?" Colin asked.

"Yes," Hermione said. She pointed her finger over her shoulder. "I'd best go and see if I can't find my parents. Oh, and have you seen any of the magical tourist spots?"

"I, no," Colin said. "I didn't know there were any.

"Well, I guess we need you to research them for our next trip," his mother said.

"Hold on," Hermione said, reaching into her bag for paper and quill. She quickly scribbled something and then handed it to Colin's father. "I don't know if you can read my handwriting, but here are a few things to look out for in Dijon that are linked to Muggle tourist locations." She then nodded her head. "It was nice to meet you."

She turned and hurried away.

"Well, that was a very nice girl," Colin's mother said.

"Hermione Granger is very nice," Colin said.

"Colin, why do you refer to her as Hermione Granger and not, you know, just her first or last name?" his dad said.

"Because she's one of the Harry Potter's friends," Colin said.

"Looks like we'll need to have a talk with you later," his mother said as Dennis remained by her side.