Title: Surprisingly Magical

Beta: CleopatraIsMyName

Challenge/Prompt: Written in place of the Caerphilly Catapults' Beater 1 for round 8, season 2 of the Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition (task: mention the basilisk). Other challenges included the Slash/Femmeslash Boot Camp(#16, Shock), the Favorite Era Boot Camp, (#11, Innocence), and Hogwarts' Care of Magical Creatures class (write about something seemingly mundane that is in fact magical in origin).

Rating: K

Word Count: About 1600

Characters/Pairings: Pre-Justin/Colin slash (pls dont ask because i dunno)

Disclaimer: This work of fiction is in no way connected to the author of Harry Potter, JK Rowling. Harry Potter is owned by her, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

When he woke up, it was to a peculiar flash of light overhead, blinking before disappearing out of view from beneath the safety of his eyelids.

Opening his curiously heavy lids took more effort than Justin had ever recalled needing. And afterwards, all he saw was the long, white ceiling above his head, darkened at the loss of light within the room. Turning his head took significantly less effort, however, and he raised an eyebrow at the boy bustling about to his right.

"Who are you?" Justin tried to say. His voice came out hoarse, cracking in the most awful fashion, and before he could try to clear his throat, a wand was on his lips.

"Open up," the boy quietly stated, placing a bulk of metal of some sort on the table near Justin's bedside. Obediently, he opened his mouth, and was surprised when the charm spoken was one meant for conjuring water. He felt impressed, despite himself. Justin still hadn't been able to master it, though Ernie had tried to pompously teach him on several occasions.

Once Justin had had his fill, the other boy cancelled the charm and stood back, sitting down at a seat a little ways from him.

"How are you feeling?"

"Fine," Justin said, carefully picking himself up and settling into an upright position. He felt rather groggy, as if he hadn't really slept for very long, but was up anyway. "Who are you? What's going on?"

"You don't remember?" the boy's voice sounded oddly familiar, though not really. The curtains were shoved aside seconds later.

"Mister Creevey?" Madame Pomfrey called. Once she'd spotted the boy, an innocent expression on his previously concerned face, she clicked her tongue, hands on either side of her hips. "You shouldn't be out of bed. It's been too soon since you were administered the draught and roused from your unconscious state."

"But I feel fine," Colin whinged, a pained expression plainly overtaking his face. "And Professor Carrington may have said I have all the time in the world for my end-of-the-year project, but it feels like a lot of time has passed since then."

Time passing... potion... woke up... Creevey... With a start, Justin finally understood just what was going on.

"Wait, weren't you petrified by the monster that lives in the Chamber of Secrets?"

The boy giggled before nodding solemnly.

"Yeah, I was. Apparently, though, we were given the cure a while ago. I was one of the first to wake up."

"There were others, besides Mister Filch's cat and you?" Justin questioned, confused.

"You," Justin's eyes widened comically at that. After a few seconds, whilst Colin named the others, including a prefect, Hermione Granger, and the Gryffindor House Ghost, Justin snapped out of his state of shock.

"Wait, I was petrified? By what?"

"I heard it was a giant bird," Colin said, mouth to the side in contemplation. "But then I heard it was a basilisk."

"Basilisk? I think Hannah told me about that. She said it was from a book she'd read."

Colin shrugged his shoulders, and Justin belatedly realised the Gryffindor boy didn't actually know his friend. It was an odd feeling, and Justin briefly brushed it aside.

"How long have I been in here?"

"It's the twenty-ninth of May," Madam Pomfrey said. Justin and Colin cast their formerly locked gazes at her in shock, both at the fact that they'd forgotten she was even there in the first place, and at the sheer amount of time that had passed.

"I've missed five months of school?" Justin asked. He felt an inexplicable twin combination of bewilderment and anger take hold of him. It'd taken so long for him to finally have his mother accept his enrolment to Hogwarts, and all just for him to lose several months of education. How was he supposed to explain that to her?

And at the same time, Colin didn't seem to mind.

"I missed Potions for that long?" he bubbled, sitting up straighter, bare feet tapping on the clean, tiled floor of the Hospital Wing. "That's great!"

"You do realise you have to make up all that missing work during the summer, right?" Justin shook his head in befuddlement. At Colin's sad expression, he melted slightly and said, "Well, he might cut you some slack. Petrification is a much better excuse than your dog eating your homework."

Colin's shocked laugh rid him of his kicked-puppy expression, and Justin felt better. For some reason, it hadn't looked as nice as his beaming smile. Well, no sad faces were ever happy...

Shaking the random, nonsensical thoughts from his head, Justin turned to gaze at Madam Pomfrey.

"Is that Basilisk still running amok?"

The matron merely shook her head in reply. "I have no idea."

Justin's expression fell at that. What was the point of being awake, then? What if the Basilisk came back? Harry Potter wouldn't have given up, would he?

"What about Harry Potter?" Colin's voice shot from Justin's right. Justin raised an eyebrow at the younger boy. "Is he okay?"

"Does it matter?" Justin asked, bitterly. "He'd probably just petrify us again."

"There's no way Harry would have ever done that in the first place," Colin pouted, puffing up his cheeks slightly in irritation. "He's a hero."

"But he's the Heir of Slytherin."

"No, he's not."

"Yes, he is."

"No, he's not."

"Yes, he is."

"Boys," Madam Pomfrey promptly levitated a tray of food next to Justin's bedside, a pointed glance at Colin ridding the small table of a large camera Justin vaguely remembered seeing the boy carrying around the school, on the few occasions he'd seen him. He shuddered slightly as he recalled how he'd looked when they'd discovered him petrified on the floor, months before. It was such a shocking contrast to how bubbly and energetic he seemed, now. "I would like for you both to eat and get some rest, in your separate beds. No more fighting. I have several other patients whom still require their own sleep. Now, Mister Creevey, bid a good night to Mister Fletchley, and get to bed."

Colin looked put-out at that, though he muttered a farewell to Justin, nevertheless, and stumbled slightly to his bed, camera cradled in his arms. Justin realised that, though the other boy seemed to be very energetic, he had also, indeed, been a victim of petrification, and probably no less tired than Justin was, if not more due to his activity.

He settled back on the bed a few minutes later after sipping his a bit of his soup and drinking his pumpkin juice. Too tired to put off sleep for much longer, he closed his eyes and drifted off, dreams of laughter and Parseltongue littering his unconscious state.

Never once did he wonder just what sort of project Colin had due that required a camera.

When he'd awoken from his short rest, Justin reckoned Colin had been correct, that Harry Potter was too much a hero to commit the foul acts he and his fellow Hufflepuffs had believed him capable of. When he'd apologised at the Feast later that night, the Headmaster's slightly words still echoing in his ears, Harry had just seemed tired and frankly just relieved to have had the debacle over and done with, much to Justin's own embarrassment and shame.

It wasn't until a month had passed that Justin finally felt much of his energy return. His sluggishness had decreased enough that he no longer felt the overwhelming desire to sleep for hours on end, and his appetite had increased enough to mimic his previous state, before the petrification incident had occurred.

And then he'd found out just what Colin had done by his bedside in the Hospital Wing.

"Colin," Justin panted, a photograph clutched in his hand. The boy in questioned swivelled right 'round to meet his gaze. "What is this?"

"Oh, hello," Colin grinned, walking forward and taking a peek at the photograph. With a sharp intake of breath, he took a step back warily. "That was that project I had to do for Professor Carrington."

"You took a picture of me?" Justin frowned, glancing back down at the picture. It was plain black-and-white, Muggle in that it didn't move an inch. The curtains had been carefully closed, and a single light source glared at Justin's face, making him the picture of innocence, carefully tucked beneath the sheets of the bed, arms at his sides, and hair mussed slightly. "Why?"

"Let's call it sudden inspiration," Colin started. Justin looked back up, and felt a wave of confusion hit him at the quiet, perceptive look in Colin's own eyes. "And, you seemed rather... sweet?"

Before Justin could stammer anything remotely identifiable as English, the boy had quickly sidestepped him and hastily hurried away, footfalls echoing down the corridor, the only other sounds those of other students still traversing the hall outside the Great Hall during lunch.

Glancing back down at the image, he noticed his photographic double's hair surprisingly moving as if a gust of wind had worked its fingers merrily through it. With the idea that he hadn't quite believed the camera to have been anything but Muggle firmly implanted in his mind, Justin also, similarly, realised that... well, he hadn't exactly known what to expect of Colin Creevey, either.

'Hm,' he mentally hummed to himself, biting back a smile. 'That was unexpected.'

Author's Note:

I dunno why I ended up going this route with both my tasks XD It was spur of the moment, really. Plus, the pairing. Really odd pairing. I like it, though :3 I may just write more Justin/Colin, one day.

Thank you for reading!