19 Years

Chapter 9 : Return to the Burrow

Chapter 9 : Return to the Burrow

For several hours they chatted, remembering the happy, and some of the not-so-happy, times at Hogwarts. They drifted in to a comfortable silence until, just over an hour before they were due to arrive in London, the door slid open and the still little Denis Creevey entered, looking nervously at Ron.

Harry looked up and smiled, "Hey, Denis."

"Hi, Harry," he said, "Um, I just wanted to say goodbye and, er, give these to you." He held out a stack of photographs.

"Oh, wow, thanks Denis, are these all yours?" Asked Harry as he took the big bundle off the still small boy.

"Nah, most of them are Colin's... my parents, and me, wanted you to have them. There's a couple from this year but most of them are a bit older, though actually I added a couple I took today and yesterday," he said hesitantly.

"These are great," said Harry looking down at what must have been fifty pictures.

"Well goodbye, Harry, goodbye you lot," he said and ducked out of the door.

"Yeah, we'll see you soon Denis," called Harry as Ginny and the others called their goodbyes.

Ginny looked down at the stack in Harry's hand, "More pictures! We're never going to run short of memories."

"Mmm, what do you say we start looking through these?" Asked Harry.

"Sounds good," said Ron, sitting up.

Harry and Ginny sat on one side of the compartment and began passing photos across to Ron and Hermione.

The first ones were of Harry's second year. Mainly him trying to escape Colin's camera; a few showed Ginny looking tiny and shy. Harry roared with laughter as he came across a photo he remembered Colin taking of he and Lockhart one day outside Defence Against The Dark Arts. Lockhart was grinning and continuously running his fingers through his long hair and pouting. Harry looked murderous. Ron was rolling around on the floor with tears in his eyes when he came across this vision of a twelve year old Harry trying to retain himself from strangling a grown man.

There were only a couple of photos from his third year, but there was one of he and Lupin sitting side by side on classroom desks having a conversation. There were a lot of the Tri-Wizard Tournament and Harry shuddered as he watched a tiny version of him swooping and swerving out of the way of a Hungarian Horntail. There was even a picture of a distraught Harry being led away from Cedric's body by Moody, which was out of frame. Behind Harry were the strange strangled expressions of students moving from celebration to shock and despair.

There were photos of the DA group in fifth year, wands raised in defiance, but a cheerful group nonetheless. There were a couple of pictures of Fred and Georges' dramatic exit from Hogwarts and Harry put these aside to give to the Weasleys.

There were fewer photos of sixth year, it seemed the atmosphere at the time had finally affected Colin enough to diminish his prodigal photographing of everything. There was one that Harry remembered posing for by the lake; Harry and Ginny were sitting side by side under the shade of a sycamore tree. They were laughing and Harry would reach out to kiss Ginny on the cheek; it was taken only a few days before Dumbledore's death.

There were photos of the DA camp in the Room of Requirement; students sprawled in hammocks looking exhausted and resolute. Harry saw some sort of war time spirit as he looked through these pictures. They showed the mutinous and unbending attitude of the students; some of it looked like a lot of fun as they were celebrating some success. Other photos were altogether more disturbing; a battered Seamus having his wounds tended to by Lavender and Parvati while other students sat around, Neville supporting a small boy over his shoulders with a grim expression as he came through the door. There was even a couple of pictures of the evening of the battle when Harry, Ron and Hermione has returned to the castle. They were being hugged and cheered in the first but in the later ones they stood grimly, realising this was the climax.