#atozchallenge : C

The Creevy Brothers

Most people probably don’t really pay much attention to the Creevy brothers in the book series, but I think this is a fault.

Colin and Dennis may just seem like random background characters, but I think that they are super important to the story.

We first meet the eldest brother, Colin, in The Chamber of Secrets. He is completely enamoured with Harry. He is from the muggle world, and we can see the joy of that first step into the wizarding world for most children. I’m sure that not all of them have the same reaction as Harry did, and Colin shows the other side of that – a total fascination with everything magical. I think that Colin really embodies how normal people would react to first learning that they are a wizard.

Colin also provides a little bit of humour in the book. He is so taken with Harry, and Harry is so annoyed with him, that it gives the story a little bit of lightness. But he is one of the few to be petrified by the Basilisk. I’m not sure about you, but my heart ached more for Colin than for Hermione. I think that we really needed him to be affected by the Basilisk in order for us to really care what happened. The other characters who fell from it, we knew very little about, and Hermione getting attacked was just another “well, yeah, I kind of saw that happening” moment for me.

Colin also shows his loyalty to Harry in The Deathly Hallows, but dying in the final battle at Hogwarts. I find that the movies slightly gloss over this fact, just kind of scanning over his dead body in the great hall with all the others, and our emotions are drawn towards Fred, Remus, and Tonks. But take the time to focus on Colin for a moment. Not only did he love being a wizard, but he trusted so much in Harry that he broke the rules and somehow managed to stay behind when all the underage wizards were evacuated to fight against Voldemort’s army. Such loyalty in such a young person.

Now there is another Creevy. His name is Dennis. If you have only watched the movies and haven’t read the books, then you would have no knowledge of Dennis at all since he is excluded from the movies. He doesn’t make as big as an impression as his older brother does, but what he does do is add a little bit of comedy to the books.

Dennis is introduced to the reader in book 4: The Goblet of Fire. On his first night at Hogwarts, Dennis is the child who fell out of the boats. First years are always taken across the lake to the castle in magically propelled rowboats, and Dennis arrives at the castle late and wrapped up in Hagrid’s coat because he was just so curious that he literally fell out of the boats and into the water. Once again, we are pulled into that magical child-like feeling of wonder and fascination with the wizarding world with Dennis. I’m sure that I would have been one of those children – trying to see how the boat was moving or what was under the boat. I have almost fallen out of boats a few times myself so I totally connect with Dennis on this. We also see the brotherly love between the two Creevy boys, as Colin is just so overjoyed to point out Harry Potter to his little brother. It’s a sweet little moment in the books, and I wish it had been included in the movies as well.