Written for QLFC

Wigtown Wanderers, Seeker

Prompt: Save a Character-Colin Creevey

WC: 1322

In Living Color

Colin cursed his shaky hands as he tried in vain to get a photo—just one photo—of the castle that wouldn't turn out a blurry mess.

Giving up for the moment, he put his camera back into his bag and pulled out a jar of salve. The Healers at St. Mungo's had told him the noxious paste would cure the curse wound on his shoulder, but in the month following the final battle, it hadn't done anything more than dull the worst of the pain. The damn pain that made his shoulders, arms, and hands shake so much that he couldn't get a single decent picture. The more time that passed, the more sure he was that his career in photography had ended before it could begin.

For a split second, Colin felt the urge to toss his camera into the Black Lake and give up photography forever.

"It's amazing how whole it still looks from this angle."

Colin turned to find the source of the voice.

"The view from here is deceiving," Harry said softly. "If I didn't know better, I'd think the professors were up there in their offices, enjoying the first few weeks without students hanging around the castle. Dumbledore would be sneaking around and playing little pranks on them like he used to. Even Filch would be in a decent mood because there was no one around to make a mess. But I do know better."

With a sigh, Colin sat next down on large flat rock, shoulder to shoulder with his old hero. Before the war, he would have been drooling at the idea of being so close to Harry, let alone having the chance at a private conversation with him. But now… It was hard to get too excited about anything.

"Everything is different."

Harry nodded toward Colin's camera bag. "Looks like not everything."

Colin snorted. "I haven't taken a single picture worth anything since I took that curse for Dennis. Lot of good that did him in the end, too."

"I'm sorry about your brother," Harry murmured.

"You of all people shouldn't be sorry," Colin whispered. "I just… This is going to sound absurd, but I wish I'd taken more pictures of him. More pictures with him."

Harry raised an eyebrow in disbelief.

"He and I were always taking pictures of everyone and everything else. I alway thought there would be more time to take pictures with him," Colin explained. "But now…"

"But now you can't," Harry finished softly.

"Exactly."

Harry looked back out over the Black Lake, seemingly lost in his own thoughts, and Colin was unexpectedly glad for the silence.

"I figure you're not alone in that regret," Harry finally said. "I know there aren't a lot of pictures of people who didn't survive the first war. I don't have a lot of pictures of my parents, and Ron's got very few of his mother's brothers. It's like they all assumed they would have the time to do it after the war was won."

Colin shook his head. "Not surprising. We all think we've got the time until we don't."

Harry nodded and then got to his feet. "I've got some errands to run, Colin, but I think I've got something I'd like your input on. Would you be free to meet me for dinner tomorrow night? Say the Hog's Head at seven?"

"That would be great, Harry," he replied, shaking the other man's hand.

And just like that, Colin was alone again with his camera and his regrets.

Colin walked into the Hog's Head at seven o'clock sharp and quickly scanned the small back booths for his friend. Instead, he saw Hermione Granger ensconced in a whirlwind of books, parchment, and quills scattered across the pub's largest table.

He walked over and tapped her carefully on the shoulder. "Hermione? Have you seen Harry? I was supposed to meet him here."

She held up her left hand for a moment as she finished scribbling down a long sentence. When she was finished, she looked up and smiled at him. "Harry just went to fetch a couple of other people. He should be here in a moment. Have a seat."

Colin gingerly sat down across from her, careful not to disturb Hermione Granger's organized chaos. He fiddled with the buttons on his shirt as she immediately became engrossed with her research again, and he thought for a moment about just sneaking out. He'd likely only been invited because Harry felt bad for him. He had Hermione and Ron and a hundred other smarter, more helpful people at his disposal. What could Harry really need him for anyway?

Before he could act, Harry burst through the door. Behind him trailed Luna Lovegood, Professor McGonagall, and Professor Flitwick, who was levitating a large stone basin.

"What's that?" Colin blurted out as the stone bowl gently came to rest on the table.

"It's a pensieve, Mister Creevey," Flitwick said. "It's used to view memories."

"But how—"

"All in good time, Mister Creevey," said McGonagall, an uncharacteristic twinkle in her eye. "Perhaps its presence would be best explained if Mister Potter could finally tell us why he's gathered us here?"

"Of course," Harry said. "You see, I ran across Colin earlier, and we got to talking about how there aren't a lot of pictures of people we miss. I wondered if anyone had ever tried to create a photo from a memory. That's what Hermione's been looking into."

Hermione looked up from her notes. "I haven't found anything yet, though that's not surprising. Once wizards figure out a way of doing something, they rarely seek out another method."

"So you want us to try to do something that's never been done before?" Flitwick asked slowly.

Luna beamed. "That sounds like fun."

"I thought we could use this as a planning meeting," Harry explained. "Just to get everyone on the same page. Professor McGonagall, I had hoped you and Professor Flitwick could explain for us how exactly a pensieve works. Colin, I was hoping you could walk us through the inner workings of a magical camera and then maybe the photo development process too?"

"That would allow us to see if there's any overlap in the magic. It could be a good starting point for the process," Hermione added.

"Of course," Colin said, stunned that he'd been included in this meeting of the minds. Maybe his photography career wasn't over after all.

"Shall we get started?"

One Year Later

Colin brought his favorite memory of Dennis to the front of his mind as he touched his wand to his forehead. The silvery strand stuck to the tip, and he carefully dropped it into the pensieve full of modified Photo Development Potion. It was an odd sensation, but Colin had come to enjoy it—or, rather, what it meant.

He looked around his studio and smiled.

Photos of people long dead smiled back at him from every corner. Amelia Bones, Dorcas Meadowes, Regulus Black, Lavender Brown, James and Lily Potter, and hundreds of others were hanging there, ready to be included in the memorial edition of Hogwarts: A History being published in a few months. Dennis was the last photo Colin needed to be done with his portion of the process.

After a few long minutes, Colin pulled the newly developed photo from the pensieve. Dennis smiled and waved back at him, his chest puffed out with pride. It was as though he knew what Colin and his friends had done. They'd brought the memories of so many people back to life. They'd given people the ability to honor their loved ones, even if no physical evidence of them remained. They'd done what no one had ever done before.

Colin hung the picture up to dry and smiled back at it. He knew Dennis' death hadn't been in vain. No one's had. The proof was in front of him, in living color.