Discovering talents ((Closed))

[lacey]

Generally speaking Hogsmeade was out of bounds today. But no one had noticed Lacey exiting the Hogwarts castle and she was hoping that she would get back to school without anyone noticing her absence. She wasn’t popular so who would miss her anyway? Besides she was dressed so casually so it just might be that the few people who had noticed her exiting the school thought she was going on a jogging-round. Lacey did tend to run around the Grounds every day after all. Because she was still young enough and had to stay in shape. Besides she almost needed a chance to get away and clear her head and what better way to add such two purposes into one but jogging? She wasn’t good at anything other but jogging anyway but anyone could jog. Well, people who had some problems with their legs or back couldn’t, but Lacey hadn’t been thinking that way.

But Lacey needed drawing. It was her way of expressing herself and showing what was going on inside her, it was her way of making dreams come true she supposed. And so it had been a tragedy for her when she had ran out of green and yellow colours in the middle of colouring one of her works. So how could she have not come to restock. Most of Lacey’s money did go onto colours and equipment for art, clothes and jewelry and everything else usually connected with the interests of girls came after that. Everyone had their own priorities and even though Lacey had only a little money, she only bought the best for her art. Her first stop was at Honeydukes however where Lacey bought a chocolate frog. Her father had taken to gathering the wizarding cards that came with the frogs so Lacey made sure to send him an owl or two every time she went to Hogsmeade and could buy one. Lacey rather didn’t get any sweets herself and didn’t drink butterbeer if that meant that she couldn’t send her father a chocolate frog. Father was the only one she had after all and sending him these small treats was the least Lacey could do for him. Besides it somehow made Lacey feel closer to her father as she always dreadfully homesick when she was at school.

Lacey got the chocolate treat quickly and then rushed to the store that sold arts equipment. The sales-lady there already knew Lacey by her face so they shared a quick smile as Lacey entered the store. Luckily the store was practically empty except for one other man here so Lacey could choose her paints in peace. Having already familiarized with the stores outlay Lacey went straight to the paints she had ran out of and spent a couple of minutes choosing the tones she wished. The yellow tone was easy to come by. Lacey wanted the warm yellow tone that seemed to create the sun, with something that seemed almost golden in it. Things were a bit more complicated with the green. There were so many different choices to make while the colours differed only by a tiny bit that Lacey spent quite a lot of time pondering between the tones. It was a glance into her wallet that finally made her decide upon two green tones and only then did Lacey walk towards the counter with her three colours held tightly against her chest like the most valuable treasure.

The man Lacey had seen in the shop when she entered was no standing before the counter as well as he was discussing something with the sales-lady in a quite urgent tone of voice. Glancing at the man form the corner of her eyes Lacey placed the pots with paint on the counter and stood patiently as the sales-lady turned to her with a look of exasperation on her face. “Lacey, dear, do you by any chance know anything about water-colours? We can’t pick out the best one, but do you have any personal experience with using them?” the sales-person asked Lacey while the man turned to look at Lacey as well. Lacey glanced into the man’s eyes that were a deep warm brown and nodded quietly as she looked at the three sets of water-colours displayed. “This one is good for painting on regular paper, while this one is thicker so it doesn’t run off from a canvas. I haven’t tried the third set,” Lacey said quietly tapping the cover of each set once as she spoke of it. “Sounds like a reasonable answer. That will be3 galleons and 5 knuts, deary,” the sales-lady said with a smile while handing Lacey the now wrapped up colours she had chosen. “Thank you,” Lacey sent a beaming smile to the sales-lady as she paid and accepted the colours. After safely depositing them in her big brown bag Lacey left the store the bronze bell over the door singing a playful ‘clang’ as the door glided closed behind her back.

[lacey]

Spending a couple of knuts she still had left on an ice-cream cone Lacey slowly ventured down the street. It was a much to pretty weather to stay cooped up somewhere. Lacey wandered around the streets of Hogsmeade for a little while before a view from a small hill inside the small wizarding village-city caught her eyes. You could see the side of the Shrieking Shack in the distance with it’s slanted roof and the trees around it. Looking from this distance in broad day-light it didn’t look very scaring or haunted, but Lacey still knew that she would be thinking differently if she would have to be near the Shack when it was dark outside. Bu right now the view it presented was simply marvelous! It reminded Lacey a little of a shepherds chalet at the shore of a mountain lake. It held the same romantic aura today.

Lacey walked up a number of steps before a near-by gallery before taking a seat on one of the steps. Placing her rather heavy bag on the step next to her Lacey turned her eyes back to the image of the Shrieking Shack as she ate her chocolate ice-cream while gazing pensively towards the Shack. It would make a fine picture. A photo or a drawing. Colours would most likely be best for this sort of work – or rather colours and paints were Lacey’s specialties – but she didn’t have any more of those along than the three tones she had bought just today. But she didn’t want to go back to Hogwarts just yet so she would have to make do with pencils. Finishing the ice-cream cone, Lacey found a clean tissue from her bag and carefully cleaned her fingers before screwing the tissue up and jogging down to the street where she could throw the tissue away. Returning to her seat on the steps Lacey opened her bag again and pulled out the block of paper she always had along and after turning to a still empty age left the block on her knees as she rummaged in her bag once again. This time she came up with a dark-blue bulging bag that had been pulled together by a light-blue string. Lacey had made the bag herself one day for her pencils and had found it to be very handy so she kept on using it. She would have to make a new one soon enough though, as this particular bag was starting to get too worn to be trusted to safe-keep Lacey’s pencils.

Lacey took hold of a gray pencil first and then looked at the Shrieking Shack once again while tapping her lips with the pencil for a moment as she used her eyes to measure the building up. Finally being satisfied with the image that had became imprinted in her brain Lacey pulled the first bold line on the page outlining the Shack with quick and almost sharp moves of her wrist. Lacey outlined the roof too having to glance up twice to be sure she got the slanting of the roof at the right angle. Then the dark-brown pencil came out and Lacey over-draw the lines of the walls with it and added a touch of yellow and green to the lines creating the roof. The roofs of all old houses tended to be affected by the sun and while the yellow colour wouldn’t be seen separately at most cases, it created a similar effect. And green because the Shrieking Shack was old enough so that it’s roof did have a bit of moss and mould on it. While it wasn’t good for the house itself, Lacey rather liked the picture it created on a roof. The windows of the Shack appeared as quickly as the outer walls had before Lacey started to colour the walls with smooth moves of her wrist, mixing dark-grey, dark-brown and dark-green all together.

And then came the trees. Lacey had 6 different green colour-pencils in her hands at the same time as she shaded the leaves and trees. Bowing even lower on the block on her knees Lacey was so enveloped in her drawing that she literally jumped when someone touched her shoulder. She hadn’t heard anyone approaching her so she could only gasp as Lacey’s head whipped around to stare at the man who had startled her. It was the same man that had been in the art store. Lacey recognized the chocolate-y eyes as the man took a small step backwards with a smile. “I didn’t mean to startle you, but I though you’d noticed me,” the man said quietly while holding out Lacey’s pencil towards her. “Thank you, I would have hated to loose it,” Lacey said with a smile as she accepted the pencil back as the man sat down on the stairs next to her staring towards the Shrieking Shack as well. “It looks pretty form here, don’t you think? Or was that what you were drawing? May I see?” the man asked and Lacey hesitated for a moment before handing her notebook over to the man. Catching her lower lip between her teeth Lacey waited while almost holding her breath to see what the man would say and was grateful when the man handed the notebook back with a smile: “Have you learned drawing somewhere? As these are very good. Or have you thought about attending the Magical Art Academy?”
“I’m not rich enough to pay for the Academy and I haven’t gotten any training. I just draw for myself,” Lacey replied quietly while the man smiled: “The Academy is accepting free students as a trial. You know what – come inside and I’ll give you blanket of what they need. Finish the paintings and in coming autumn I’ll give you a recommendations letter if I like your work? I’m the owner of this gallery here.” Lacey stared at the man before smiling widely and jumping up happily. “This would be a dream come true, sir,” Lacey stated truthfully with anxiety shining from her eyes.