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The paper crinkled as Colin turned another page in the photo album. Each sleeve was full of polaroids or one of the photos from the magical camera his dad purchased in Diagon Alley on their first trip there. The photos he sent home his first two years away at Hogwarts somehow convinced his father that Dennis would be okay to come along as well, though it left the man alone for most of the year. Da's letters never let on he was lonely. Colin suspected he just worked more when they were gone so he could take as much time off work as he could during the summer.
Colin rubbed his eyes again, unable to sleep for the second night in a row. There hadn't been much news recently about Harry or any of the others that didn't come back to school. His stomach churned each time he heard the ticker-tape noise of his little smuggled radio as it searched for the Potterwatch signal. Up in Gryffindor tower there was seldom a time he could catch it.
His finger smoothed over the lines on the faces in a larger photo, one he'd paid to have printed on bigger paper. Dumbledore's Army members clustered for the photo, some of them smiling and proud, while others shied away from the flash of the camera bulb for one reason or another. He scowled as he caught the top of Marietta Edgecomb's hair in one corner near Cho Chang. Served that sneak right, what Hermione did.
Hermione. His eyes found her, and the two boys on either side, with ease.
Worse for wear was an understatement. Colin was sure if they all lifted the hems of their shirts, anyone could count their ribs as easily as they could spot the bruise-colored bags beneath their eyes. The hell outside of Hogwarts and the hell within didn't seem so different, to look at them. His heart ached at the sight. None of them deserved this, none of the children inside the castle either beneath a curse or asked to cast one, or those that were fighting the war for years before he was. Colin's hand balled into a fist, the noise of the cellophane covering the photos crinkling, but the sound was lost amid the reuniting friends and family blurring around him.
Dennis put his hand over his brother's for a moment, easing the fist into relaxation once more, before walking towards a knot of others in his year. His entire focus following his brother, Colin frowned and felt a well of guilt rise in him. Maybe if he'd let his Da raise them at home, go to a normal school, this wouldn't have happened. He could have sheltered him. But as soon as the thought rose, he squashed it down again. No matter where they were, they were magic, and being muggleborn wizards put a target on their heads automatically. Now, though...now they knew how to use that magic to rise up and fight.
Setting his jaw, Colin flipped the album shut, rushed up the stairs to put it back under his pillow, and jogged back down the stairs changed out of pajamas into his robes. If there were a fight, he would be ready.
Harry will fix this, Colin thought to himself and he strode up to shake his hero's hand for the last time, the tightness of a faded crush choking him for a few moments as their palms connected. Harry will make it right.