Survival

Chapter 3: Arrival

9:00 pm; Axminster, Devon

The Creevey home is near to the local railway station so it takes the brothers just a little over ten minutes to reach it. Their mum hugs them warmly and their dad greets them cheerfully. Hot soup and pie are there for dinner and Colin and Dennis gladly gobble up their mother's delicious preparation.

For this moment, everything is normal. But Colin can't help the fast beating of his heart. He cannot imagine how he's going to tell his parents that him and Dennis will go into hiding and that they themselves will have to go away.

Colin knows he's not really an important target, but he knows that the Death Eaters surely despise his family for producing not one, but two Muggle-borns. Imagine what they could do to their parents for that grave sin?

He eats his food and lets everything be normal. Just for one night, he supposes, everything can be normal.

3:00 am

Dennis awakes in the middle of the night to go to the washroom when he hears the sound of footsteps from Colin's room. The insomnia from Hogwarts is still there, he thinks. Should he interrupt his brother's midnight musings?

Dennis doesn't know what is wrong with Colin. At Hogwarts his elder brother had always brushed it aside as the stress from his OWLS year but Dennis knows better. He has seen people in his year and he knows that things are not as bad as they seem to be with his brother.

His brother seems someone else entirely. He has purple bruises on his body. Dennis shivers at the memory of that sight. He had seen it today evening after dinner when Colin had come out of the bathroom, wearing a towel as if nothing was wrong with him. His eyes seem different too. It's as if the light has gone from them.

It's as if he's almost a...ghost.

To add to the absence of the light from his eyes, he has horrible dark circles too. Dennis wonders if he even knows his brother. He wonders this question a lot these days. Have they grown apart? A childish thought comes to him.

Does Colin not love him anymore?

Dennis cannot bear to hear the answer to that as 'no'. But he needs to know.

So, he knocks. He knocks upon his brother's door at three in the morning.

The footsteps come to a halt for a moment. Then they resume, becoming slightly louder as they head towards the door. With a click, he sees Colin looming over his head.

He looks...traumatised, for lack of a better word.

"Hey, Dennis," he almost yawns. "What do you want?"

"Can I come in?"

Colin glances backwards and then says, "Sure. You might as well as know what I am up to."

Dennis walks upto the study desk lying in corner which is lit by the lamp lying upon it. That lamp is the only current source of light in the room. Colin's beloved, red coloured Chemistry book and some papers lie scattered over it. His brother sits on his chair.

"I am...going to make many tins of poisonous gas," Colin says suddenly.

Dennis always knew Colin had the potential to be hundred percent weird, but this is beyond weird.

"And what on Earth will you do that for?"

"For killing Death Eaters." A pause. "Listen Dennis, times are going to be rough for us. We are Muggle-borns and they don't like our kind at all. They will kill us first chance they get. And Mum and Dad? They have no better chances of survival either. They must hate our family for producing not one, but two freaking mudbloods. Do you understand what this means?"

"What?" Dennis frowns.

"We run, you dummy. We send Mum and Dad faraway from here as soon as possible and then, we run."

"Ah...okay...but how do we convince our parents to go away? Dad has a job here. No way he would agree to your ridiculous scheming."

"He will have to — I will make sure of it."

"Colin, are you alright? You've been worrying me ever since the start of this year."

Colin's face softens. Dennis doesn't understand, not right now, but he will...soon.

"Dennis, tell me honestly, did you hear about the illegal potions business that was going on this year in Hogwarts?"

His brother nods his head fervently.

Before Colin can open his mouth, Dennis asks —

"Have you been on drugs this whole time?"

"No, but I was the one making them."

"No!"

"Yes. Romilda Vane and I were running that business. She wanted love potions from me and I, on the other hand, wanted to make some money. We're not exactly rich, are we?"

"Colin, that's wicked. Truly wicked. I saw Cho Chang's face. She was in misery! And yes, I knew she was doing them potions."

Colin turned his face the other way. "Dennis," he said quietly, "do you think the Death Eaters care about morals?"

"No, but — "

"No buts. Nothing. They don't give a damn about morals. So why should we? Why should I?"

He rose from his seat to face Dennis, who looked equal parts curious and terrified. Colin didn't want to do this, but it was time to let his brother know how things were going to be now.

"Dennis, look, pack your bags. Not many bags, just one or two. Fill them with all the necessities. Nothing useless. Tomorrow, I will talk to Mum and Dad. You'll be there, of course. They will have to listen. And then, we we have made up their minds to go away, we will go to Ernest's."

"Ernest eats my mind with his Chemistry."

"Well, suck it. We need him right now."

"Ah, I understand. For your gas tins, right?"

"Yep."

"Colin...do you love me?" his brother asks carefully.

"Don't be so sentimental, Dennis. It makes me too barmy when people are sentimental."

"No, but do you?"

"Of course I love you, you big softie. Of course I love you. I am doing all of this so we can live in a safe world when all this has passed."

Dennis hugs him and stays like that for a long time.

I am sixteen, Colin thinks as he hugs back Dennis, and I think I understand what people mean to each other.