Post by eskimoRock on Sept 7, 2012 15:20:06 GMT -5
So this is my first story since my rtb got deleted, and it's not very well known! Here's the first chapter, and the next chapter can be found here: www.fanfiction.net/s/8438894/1/Dear-Colin
If you like, please review!
Dear Colin- Dennis finds his brother's old camera, and proceeds to document his life after the final battle through photographs, keeping his big brother close the only way he knows how.
Dear Colin.
Before I tell you about the photo, I should probably explain what happened that night. You know your side of things, of course, and you know how your night ended, but I don't think you understand how it felt for me. You can't have done. Because no matter how close we are, or were, you were out there fighting a battle and I was forced to sit waiting for a brother that was never going to arrive.
I still remember every single detail. How you sat me down and offered to help me with my Charms homework, and we'd barely begun when McGonagall came bursting into the Common Room, claiming that You-Know-Who was close and we all had to go to the Great Hall. I was so scared, Colin, you know I was. We had been granted special permission to go to the school in the first place, because we showed "promise" and they needed victims to illustrate to the others just how inferior the Muggleborns were. Imagine what You-Know-Who would do to us when he found us? We were in greater danger than most at that moment, and you knew it as well as I did. That's why you shocked me when you turned to me in the Room of Requirement, at the back of the queue for evacuation, and told me you wanted to go and fight. What possible chance would you stand? As a Muggleborn, you had a target placed upon your head just as surely as Harry Potter did.
Ginny Weasley backed you up, bitter that she could not join the fight herself. I refused to leave without you, and you told me to go to the Gryffindor Common Room, because it was safe there, the Death Eaters couldn't enter, and the Fat Lady would protect me. I agreed. I promised that I wouldn't leave the room without you. You didn't realise that they might send fighters up to the towers, but it was okay. When I heard footsteps along the corridor, and the sound of McGonagall's voice, I hid in my dormitory, right in the corner where I could see out of the window, but ready to hide if I needed to. None of the fighters came into the room, obviously seeking out the ones higher up with the better viewpoints. It gave me a good chance to listen and find out what was happening without having to worry about Death Eaters finding me.
After what felt like an eternity, You-Know-Who's voice rang out across the grounds, and his followers retreated. The fighters stationed in the tower left, keen to see what was happening down on the lower floors now that their job was done, but I was frozen in place. I'd seen people battling out on the grounds, Colin, people killing and dying, but I didn't see anybody that looked anything like you. That relieved me. I thought you were safe. Even if you were injured, they had an hour to fix you up before the fighting started again, and you'd be good as new. Maybe you were fighting alongside Harry Potter himself! I knew how much that in particular would mean to you.
I moved back down into the Common Room, knowing that when you came to fetch me, you would expect me to be there waiting. When you didn't come, I wasn't disheartened- you were probably looking after your friends, making sure they were okay.
I've been told it was only an hour later that You-Know-Who spoke again, but it felt like much more. When he said that he had killed Harry Potter, the Great Harry Potter himself, I ran to the window again, desperate to find out if it was true. When it was confirmed, I cried. I'm not ashamed to admit it, either. You'd spent six years explaining to me how Harry was the hero, how he had saved us once and he would do it again. I believed you. If he was dead, there wasn't much chance for either of us, Colin.
I couldn't watch any more, so I just sat and waited. If we lost, then I would surely hear about it. If we won…it was seeming more unlikely by the moment. I sat for hours and hours waiting for a sign either way, too scared to look out of the window in case I saw something else that I wished I hadn't. Desperate for a distraction, I ran up to your dormitory and snatched the camera off your bed. It comforted me slightly, because it was something of yours. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, I head voices outside the Common Room once again. Standing up and clutching my wand tightly in front of me, I was shocked when three Ravenclaw seventh years entered, two boys and a girl. They didn't seem to recognize me, and while I knew their faces I couldn't confirm who they were.
"Professor McGonagall asked us to come up and check there wasn't anybody left in the Common Rooms. It's safe to go down to the Great Hall now." the girl smiled reassuringly at me, and my heart leaped as I ran through corridors and down stairs to reach you, camera clutched tightly in hand. We had won! How could we possibly have won? It must have taken a miracle! I was so happy that I didn't really notice the state of the castle itself, and it was only when I reached the entrance hall that I faltered. If it was so bad here, what would it be like in the hall itself? Taking a deep breath, I pushed open the doors.
The hall turned as one to see who had entered, and to me, it seemed to go completely silent. Professor Sprout burst into tears. Flitwick looked like he was about to do the same.
A hand on my shoulder startled me, and I looked to the side to see Luna Lovegood staring down at me. She had been a good friend of yours, I know. While the others had ridiculed you and called you weird, she had always been kind. Carefully, deliberately, she took my hand and led me across the hall, through staring faces and families huddled together, towards the back of the hall.
I thought how strange it was that you hadn't ran at me yet, hugged me and reassured me that you were safe. That everything was okay.
When Luna finally reached the back of the hall, I realised that you never would.
So that's how I came to find out, Colin. It was only later that I realised I had broken my promise to you. The last thing you ever said to me.
I'm sorry.
Looking down, tears filling my eyes, I realised that I was still clutching your camera, and an idea came to me in that moment. You lived your life through your photography, and so I would keep the spirit of you living through mine. It seemed like a brilliant idea. You were gone, nothing could bring you back. I felt like my heart was about to split into tiny pieces, but if I could seal a tiny piece of my grief away in each picture I took for you, it might be a little easier to bear. I would document my life through the photographs, everything you missed.
So here's the first photograph, Colin. I knew that I had to document the day somehow, it was without a doubt the most important of my life. The last day of yours. It may sound strange, but I turned around, crossed the hall, and took a single picture, of Harry Potter and Ginny Weasley. They didn't mind. I could tell that they pitied me, the boy without a brother. Ginny hugged me tightly and told me that she was sorry, and that my brother would always be a friend of hers.
You idolised Harry Potter, he was the symbol of everything we hoped and dreamed for. He was our chance for a future. He had lived when you had not, but I was not bitter, because you would always have preferred it that way. As you once said, he made a difference and you did not. I never agreed, you know. His arm is around Ginny, and that was important. Harry, your idol, and Ginny, your first true friend at Hogwarts, connected by both love and loss.
Happiness, sadness, hope, despair, loss, love and friendship, all sealed into one photograph.
Colin, you should have seen it.
If you like, please review!
Dear Colin- Dennis finds his brother's old camera, and proceeds to document his life after the final battle through photographs, keeping his big brother close the only way he knows how.
Dear Colin.
Before I tell you about the photo, I should probably explain what happened that night. You know your side of things, of course, and you know how your night ended, but I don't think you understand how it felt for me. You can't have done. Because no matter how close we are, or were, you were out there fighting a battle and I was forced to sit waiting for a brother that was never going to arrive.
I still remember every single detail. How you sat me down and offered to help me with my Charms homework, and we'd barely begun when McGonagall came bursting into the Common Room, claiming that You-Know-Who was close and we all had to go to the Great Hall. I was so scared, Colin, you know I was. We had been granted special permission to go to the school in the first place, because we showed "promise" and they needed victims to illustrate to the others just how inferior the Muggleborns were. Imagine what You-Know-Who would do to us when he found us? We were in greater danger than most at that moment, and you knew it as well as I did. That's why you shocked me when you turned to me in the Room of Requirement, at the back of the queue for evacuation, and told me you wanted to go and fight. What possible chance would you stand? As a Muggleborn, you had a target placed upon your head just as surely as Harry Potter did.
Ginny Weasley backed you up, bitter that she could not join the fight herself. I refused to leave without you, and you told me to go to the Gryffindor Common Room, because it was safe there, the Death Eaters couldn't enter, and the Fat Lady would protect me. I agreed. I promised that I wouldn't leave the room without you. You didn't realise that they might send fighters up to the towers, but it was okay. When I heard footsteps along the corridor, and the sound of McGonagall's voice, I hid in my dormitory, right in the corner where I could see out of the window, but ready to hide if I needed to. None of the fighters came into the room, obviously seeking out the ones higher up with the better viewpoints. It gave me a good chance to listen and find out what was happening without having to worry about Death Eaters finding me.
After what felt like an eternity, You-Know-Who's voice rang out across the grounds, and his followers retreated. The fighters stationed in the tower left, keen to see what was happening down on the lower floors now that their job was done, but I was frozen in place. I'd seen people battling out on the grounds, Colin, people killing and dying, but I didn't see anybody that looked anything like you. That relieved me. I thought you were safe. Even if you were injured, they had an hour to fix you up before the fighting started again, and you'd be good as new. Maybe you were fighting alongside Harry Potter himself! I knew how much that in particular would mean to you.
I moved back down into the Common Room, knowing that when you came to fetch me, you would expect me to be there waiting. When you didn't come, I wasn't disheartened- you were probably looking after your friends, making sure they were okay.
I've been told it was only an hour later that You-Know-Who spoke again, but it felt like much more. When he said that he had killed Harry Potter, the Great Harry Potter himself, I ran to the window again, desperate to find out if it was true. When it was confirmed, I cried. I'm not ashamed to admit it, either. You'd spent six years explaining to me how Harry was the hero, how he had saved us once and he would do it again. I believed you. If he was dead, there wasn't much chance for either of us, Colin.
I couldn't watch any more, so I just sat and waited. If we lost, then I would surely hear about it. If we won…it was seeming more unlikely by the moment. I sat for hours and hours waiting for a sign either way, too scared to look out of the window in case I saw something else that I wished I hadn't. Desperate for a distraction, I ran up to your dormitory and snatched the camera off your bed. It comforted me slightly, because it was something of yours. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, I head voices outside the Common Room once again. Standing up and clutching my wand tightly in front of me, I was shocked when three Ravenclaw seventh years entered, two boys and a girl. They didn't seem to recognize me, and while I knew their faces I couldn't confirm who they were.
"Professor McGonagall asked us to come up and check there wasn't anybody left in the Common Rooms. It's safe to go down to the Great Hall now." the girl smiled reassuringly at me, and my heart leaped as I ran through corridors and down stairs to reach you, camera clutched tightly in hand. We had won! How could we possibly have won? It must have taken a miracle! I was so happy that I didn't really notice the state of the castle itself, and it was only when I reached the entrance hall that I faltered. If it was so bad here, what would it be like in the hall itself? Taking a deep breath, I pushed open the doors.
The hall turned as one to see who had entered, and to me, it seemed to go completely silent. Professor Sprout burst into tears. Flitwick looked like he was about to do the same.
A hand on my shoulder startled me, and I looked to the side to see Luna Lovegood staring down at me. She had been a good friend of yours, I know. While the others had ridiculed you and called you weird, she had always been kind. Carefully, deliberately, she took my hand and led me across the hall, through staring faces and families huddled together, towards the back of the hall.
I thought how strange it was that you hadn't ran at me yet, hugged me and reassured me that you were safe. That everything was okay.
When Luna finally reached the back of the hall, I realised that you never would.
So that's how I came to find out, Colin. It was only later that I realised I had broken my promise to you. The last thing you ever said to me.
I'm sorry.
Looking down, tears filling my eyes, I realised that I was still clutching your camera, and an idea came to me in that moment. You lived your life through your photography, and so I would keep the spirit of you living through mine. It seemed like a brilliant idea. You were gone, nothing could bring you back. I felt like my heart was about to split into tiny pieces, but if I could seal a tiny piece of my grief away in each picture I took for you, it might be a little easier to bear. I would document my life through the photographs, everything you missed.
So here's the first photograph, Colin. I knew that I had to document the day somehow, it was without a doubt the most important of my life. The last day of yours. It may sound strange, but I turned around, crossed the hall, and took a single picture, of Harry Potter and Ginny Weasley. They didn't mind. I could tell that they pitied me, the boy without a brother. Ginny hugged me tightly and told me that she was sorry, and that my brother would always be a friend of hers.
You idolised Harry Potter, he was the symbol of everything we hoped and dreamed for. He was our chance for a future. He had lived when you had not, but I was not bitter, because you would always have preferred it that way. As you once said, he made a difference and you did not. I never agreed, you know. His arm is around Ginny, and that was important. Harry, your idol, and Ginny, your first true friend at Hogwarts, connected by both love and loss.
Happiness, sadness, hope, despair, loss, love and friendship, all sealed into one photograph.
Colin, you should have seen it.
. Poor, Poor Dennis.
