HARRY POTTER X READER one-shots [COMPLETE]

A New Angle (Colin Creevey)

A Colin Creevey X Reader that I thought of on the spot. I never really wrote about Colin and I'm not sure if any stories have been written about him, but what's not to love about the young wizard who always holds onto his camera? Anyway, this doesn't mean I'll be returning to writing full-time again, but we'll see where this goes. If this book still gets as much hype as it had before, that was. And this is not gender-biased, so both guys and girls can read this one-shot. It won't be romantic, I promise.

NOTE: Most of what I wrote here is completely made up. I'm not sure if Colin's true backstory actually exists. If it does, well...just say that I disregarded it here, because at the time, I had no idea.

There was always a sort of enchantment in the great outdoors that everyone admires, and it was no different for you. As a student who loves to explore the castle grounds, you took it upon yourself every day to trek as much ground as you could, whenever you could. Of course, most people would think you were a little strange, going out for so long, but all you ever wanted was to revel in it and absorb as much as you could.

After all, life's too short not to take in everything around you and memorize nature's every last detail.

Something caught your eye one day, however, at the beginning of the year when you just got out of your first day of classes. The sun was shining brightly in the azure sky, and the trees were still flush with emerald green leaves swaying in the slight summer breeze. Your feet carried you along the familiar dirt path, down the stone steps, winding through the way to the Black Lake where you knew enchanted underwater creatures would dwell, surfacing once in a while to wave in faint greeting. You didn't expect anyone to be there--in fact, who would take it upon themselves to go out right now when they've just gotten their first batch of homework.

Indeed, however, there was a young boy holding a camera, raising it to his face and snapping away at the shutter. Once in a while he would pull it away to check on the battery and the film, just to check if it still had enough storage to store more pictures.

The sight of such an object being carried around by a student baffled you, to say the least. It wasn't like you've never seen a camera before; you have, with your mom taking pictures and having them printed out where the people inside them would move, almost like watching a short movie of a sort. But this camera looked slightly different from what you were used to seeing. The sight of it made you tilt your head in intrigue, your arms folded in thought.

It was then when the boy noticed you standing there, watching him with a pensive look on your face.

"Oh. Hi!" he said, slightly startled at your presence. "I didn't expect anyone to be here. I'm a new student here and going to Hogwarts is such a privilege, you don't even know..."

So the boy was new? A first year student, you presumed. The sight of the red and gold crest on his black robes told you he was a Gryffindor, and you nodded slowly in acknowledgement. "It's alright," you responded, chuckling as you approached him. "I never expected anyone to come down here at this time, either. It's really a nice place, isn't it?"

"Oh yeah. It's brilliant! I've heard all the stories about this place. I never actually expected to be coming here, though!" the boy explained excitedly. "I mean, neither of my parents are wizards--I'm not really magic folk--but to be here at a wizarding school? Sometimes I still wonder if it's all a dream."

"I'm sure you've met a lot of other classmates around your age who are just about in the same position as you are," you assured him. "Most of us are born into a wizarding family, but some are half and half, and some are just like you--born into a Muggle family. Then a letter comes to them by luck, and lo and behold." You gestured to the grounds, in the direction of the Hogwarts castle. "It's a wide mix of students here, but they all start in the same position. I'm sure you'll manage just well."

"I hope so. I'm just really, really excited to be here." The boy beamed as he stuck a hand out to you. "I'm Colin Creevey, by the way. I assume you're one of the older students here?"

"Yeah. I'm (Y/N) (Y/L/N)," you introduced yourself as you shook his hand. "A member of the (insert your house here)."

Colin nodded. "That's really cool. It's nice to meet you."

You nodded as well, letting go of the handshake as you looked at the camera in his hand. "So...how did you get into photography?"

What you didn't expect right then and there was for Colin to actually grin from ear to ear, his face alight with sheer excitement.

"It's always been something I love to do!" Colin explained to you. "My dad gave it to me for my ninth birthday--I've had it for two years now, and it's incredible! Most people would assume that using a camera is really easy, but it takes a lot of time and patience to take a great picture. So he taught me a few techniques on how to look through the lens, imagine the scene at an angle you'd like, and then..."

"Click." You finished for him with a slight smile on your face.

"Exactly. And you know what the best part is? You get to keep that with you, forever. It's so much better than a painting! I mean, of course, it's not like the moving ones at Hogwarts," he clarified, "but it's still something you can look back on again and again. My dad would say that a photo is a moment frozen in time--freeze it well whenever you can."

Now this got you thinking. Everything you've seen so far had always changed in the blink of an eye; even the moving photos you saw whenever your mom printed them out always had some sort of difference with every passing second. Surely it was a moment, but it didn't entirely "freeze" what was there in the second that you took the photo. It was the same with the wizarding paintings. This...it was a good thing to use whenever you'd find something amazing--to just freeze a bird on a branch before it took flight, or to capture the lighting on a structure before a cloud shifts and covers it. It would help you remember what it all looked like before the seconds ticked on and something in the landscape changed.

You remembered the struggles going through trying to remember how everything looked before you entered the castle again. It was hard to capture it all in words, that was for sure. But now that you saw Colin's camera, you realized just how privileged of a boy he was, to be carrying his favourite thing around while taking pictures and freezing moments in time while he was here at Hogwarts. Muggle and wizard things never mixed in a naïve pureblood's mind, but you saw where everything came together, and it made you smile.

"You don't mind showing me how it works?" you asked.

"Thought you'd never ask," Colin beamed excitedly.

For the rest of the afternoon, you and Colin began to talk about photography and your favourite places in the great outdoors. Colin showed you how to work his camera as well, demonstrating the different components and how to view the photos on the film, and soon you found yourself at ease with him. It never crossed your mind before just how amazing photography could be, both magic and Muggle photography alike. But now that you've met Colin, it finally dawned on you.

To memorize every last detail in nature is to freeze it when the time was right. To remember what it all looked like when was to capture the second within the lens.

It amazed you how looking at things at a new angle could change and enhance what you've already known, and fascinated you like never before.

Not sure if this makes sense but oh well. Time to hit the hay. See ya.

~fiery-hallows