Bah humbug ((Colin))

[Caitlin Martinez G7]

There was a total of eleven inches of oak wood in between her fingers right now, twirling around, as if it were nothing but a mere coin. The wand was being worked like no other tonight, blasting spells here and there, being dropped, et cetera. But Caitlin couldn't help that. She wanted to have fun and charming the wall in the empty classroom she was in, seemed to be a good idea at the time she started. And now she just couldn't stop. So far she had turned it into a polka dotted wall, a striped wall, a wall with moving pictures - very similar to a television - and a wall that did shadow puppets. That had been entertaining. But she didn't know what to do now, her mind was all out of ideas, "Bah humbug," she muttered as she set her wand down on a windowsill. She looked outside the window at the grounds that were bathed in a beautiful moonlight.

Caitlin had always been enchanted by the moonlight. She used to sneak out at night to read by it, and she found it amazing how it was always the same - no matter where you went. It was always the same moon, always doing it's job. It was remarkable, and yet it was...so expected. You knew that it wouldn't change, it was as if that was one of the few things in the universe you could count on. It would always be there. Shining and smiling down on you, no matter where you were. Caitlin looked up at the moon, remembering that old nursery rhyme; "I see the moon and the moon sees me, God bless the moon, and God bless me." She let a small smile cross her face. Sometimes she felt like such a child, and sometimes she was just a child. Sometimes she didn't want to grow up, and sometimes she didn't.

The moon tonight was a waxing crescent, one of Caitlin's favourite phases. She really enjoyed astronomy, she had spent a lot of her free time reading about the constellations and the moons and everything else involved with the stars and galaxies. It was something that calmed Caitlin when she needed to think. Some had singing, drawing, dancing, and Caitlin had reading and studying the stars. She remembered being told she read too much as a young girl, but that got her places. She knows a lot now because of that reading, and if only others had read as much as her she could possibly have an intelligent conversation with someone. Although that was very unlikely.

She picked up her wand again and then pointed it to the wall while mumbling an encantation that turned the wall into a 3D model of the moon phases. Caitlin walked over and touched the full moon gently as it passed. She studied the form of each moon phase, and then named each one aloud. She was surprised to see she still remembered them all. When she had done that, Caitlin waved her wand and a 3D model of the Milkyway appeared. She ran her fingers through it and the stars scattered. With a giggle Caitlin looked out the window, half expecting to see the stars in a different formation. Was it her imagination or were they different than before? She looked back at the model and tilted her head, trying to remember the name of the constellation she was looking at. That was when someone entered, breaking her concentration.

((I was actually quite surprised at how easy that post came to me...))

[Colin Morgensen G7]

His fingers hastily opened the package that had arrived this morning. It had been a whole day, a whole day of classes. Boring, most of them, and they took forever. All the while his mind had been on the package laying on his bed. He knew what was in there, but that didn't stop his excitement. It made his stomach hurt and clogged his throat as his pictures tumbled on to the bed spread. It was hard to see them through the moonlight that filtered in through his window. The pictures could still be seen though. He shuffled through them quickly. Hogwarts in sunshine, Hogwarts on a windy day, Hogwarts in the rain, the mountains with the sun setting behind them, and... his breath caught. Harry! The picture of him and Lockhart together had been copied by good ole' Dad. It wasn't moving yet, Colin still had to do the whole Potion thing again, but it was there! He smiled and put the photos back in the package.

Running around Hogwarts could get tiring. After doing this for about thirty minutes, Colin grew hungry. He hadn't found anyone in which to confide his happiness with. All of them had been surly and very much like brutes. The apple pie he dug into tasted wonderful. It was so warm and tasty, just so... good! Licking his lips to get rid of the stickiness, Colin took up his pictures again and moved away from the Great Hall. Perhaps he could find someone suitable on his way back to the dorm. After all, Gryffindor Tower was on the seventh floor! He surely had to meet someone who had taste for photography on his way. Right?

It turned out that no one he saw did he know, or at least was close enough with to share. Shrugging, Colin tried to tell himself it didn't matter. Even if it did. It hurt to keep something bundled up in you for too long. So yes, he really did need someone to fatefully come across his path... Sighing, Colin opened a door. A random door, but he had thought it was some secret passage of some kind or something. He thought everything led to somewhere; but if you thought about it, that was what Hogwarts really was. Kind of. There was no secret passage inside, however, but a person. A particular person he had met in the Great Hall, one who had said before she would like to see his pictures.

"Caitlin!" He scurried into the room, letting the door slam behind him. He hardly heard it. "Heya! Lookie what I got! See, pictures!" It was almost like those cartoons he used to watch when he was ten. You know, when the person was so excited they jumped up and down and clicked their heels together? Colin couldn't click his heels in a manner like that, but he could jump around a lot. "See, look! Look!" He pulled out the photos and with a great dramatic effort, let the paper it was packaged in drop to the floor. "Dad just sent them to me after he processed the film in my camera." He stroked the camera that was now hanging around his neck; he had missed it. "You wanna see?" He had nearly thrust it into Caitlin's hands to look, but had stopped himself just in time. After all, that wasn't very polite right? He grinned before just realizing he was standing in stars. Wait... stars?

"Wow!" He exclaimed, reaching out to touch one. His hand went through it, the light of the star flickered. "That's soooo cool!"

((Hee-he, this one real quick too. ))

[Caitlin Martinez G7]

“Colin!” Caitlin called back with false enthusiasm, though she had an amused smile on her face. He was apparently extremely excited about something. As Caitlin wondered what it was, she pulled herself up on a desk, and listened to Colin as he jabbered on. Ah, pictures. It all made sense now. The world looked all shiny and new through the eyes of someone who understood. He nearly thrust them into her hands, this caused Caitlin to laugh, and then he exclaimed about the model. She shrugged and jumped off the desk, peering over his shoulder.

“It’s nothing, a simple charm; I’ve been doing it since second year. So, are you going to show me the pictures?” Before he could reply, Caitlin snatched them out of his hands and laid them down neatly on an empty desk. As she placed them down side by side, her eyes surveyed each photo with such admiration that it almost made her want to cry out with excitement. When she had put each one on the desk, she looked back over them – letting her fingers trace each subject of the photo.

“Colin, these…these are magnificent.” She breathed, moving on to the next picture which just happened to be of Harry. Caitlin grinned and touched the corner of it. Even in the moonlight it looked wonderful, probably ten times greater than it would in the daylight. Caitlin found that most beautiful things were ten times more beautiful in the light of moon. Since the moon itself was the most beautiful thing in life. She looked up at Colin with a large smile on her face, “Do you have a portfolio? You should seriously think of doing one, you could save your best pictures in it and then sometime later on in life show them to some huge art director and they might use it. Though, I don’t know how they could possibly choose out of all of these…wonderfully amazing pictures.”

[Colin Morgensen G7]

Caitlin seemed really excited to see him too. Colin smiled and took a deep breath. He had to calm down soon, least he scare away Caitlin, and that would be no fun. No, no fun at all. He felt a little heat rise to his face at her mentioning the spell. To him it looked really complex, but she waved it aside with a dismal that surprised him. Since second year? Geesh! Colin wasn't what you'd call an expert at Charms, but as far as he knew, he hadn't been taught the spell that would show him the stars and planets, like this would. Maybe Caitlin had looked it up... yeah, that must be it. Colin grinned, hoping that some of the red creeping up his neck had dispersed as he decided to wave it away too.

His bubbly excitement was back. "Really? You really like 'em?" Colin's grin widened. "Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, maybe I should. I don't know if I'd actually be accepted or anything..." He paused, thinking. It was all rather exciting; he could hardly stay flat-footed on the floor. He looked down at his own pictures, the ones Caitlin had complimented so nicely. She appeared to have liked the Harry one; Colin's absolute favorite. He didn't feel like mentioning it, though. For some reason, he thought Caitlin could already guess. "I don't know if I'll end up being a photographer or anything to do with pictures in the future." Colin mused, still staring at his pictures. Some of his happiness was beginning to ebb away. "I can't decide. No one in my family has ever been a magician, so if I did a job with magic and stuff, then I would start a whole new thing, you know? And if I went to photography school, it would be like Hogwarts was a waste." He slid into the desk bearing the pictures, and put his head in his hands. "And, I don't think there's any magical jobs with photography, unless I want to be the photographer for the Daily Prophet. But after what's been going on," Colin added doubtfully, "the job sounds pretty dangerous and depressing. I wouldn't enjoy taking pictures of the Mark..." He looked up at Caitlin. Lately he had been thinking about his job choice very much. Perhaps she would understand. After all, she would have to chose between a muggle job and a magical one soon. She had all the wonderful O.W.L.'s coming up.

((Sorry it's been so long, Caitlin. *huggles* It was really bad of me, but I do have an excuse! A valid excuse too, which I think you already know about. The computer problems and everything. But anyway, I DID finally post. ;D *gives you cookie*))

[Caitlin Martinez G7]

"Colin, you can be anything you set your mind to. Never forget that, as corny as that sounds. I mean, I know my parents always used to tell me that I can be anything or anyone I wanted to be, and I never used to believe that - because how was I supposed to become something people thought only men could do? But now I have endless possibilities." She traced her finger along the picture of Harry, she particularly liked that. When Colin started talking about being the only wizard in his family, she looked up with a smile. What made him think he couldn't be a wizarding photographer? Surely, there were people who photographed wizarding weddings, and such. Just like muggles. Just because there was magic in their blood, that didn't make them any less capable of doing something that muggles did.

"Do you know what I plan on doing, Colin?" She inquired as she tilted her head toward him, her eyes dancing with so much happiness. Ever since she was little she had wanted to be a journalist, someone to report on what was happening in the world. Not once did she ever think of going back on her dream, not even when the worst thing happened in the world. She still wanted to write about events that changed peoples lives. When she was accepted to Hogwarts that dream hadn't changed. She still wanted to be a journalist, only this time for the Daily Prophet. She smiled again, looking back down at his photographs before continuing; "I want to write. I want to be a journalist in the real world, where things aren't always sunshine and roses. I want to open peoples eyes and make them see what is really there, not just what they believe to be there."

"I want to make an impact on the world in the only way I know how. Through writing. You can do it to, Colin! I know you can! You can show the world through photos. Not exactly the world I am showing, but one of your own. Of dreams, of love, of romance, of happiness and smiles and laughter! Of faries and goblins, of everything that is magical to those little kids outside the world of magic!" She threw her arms out and twirled around, her hair flying out around her in silky waves. "Colin! Don't you see?! It's endless! You can be anything you wish to be! You can be an art director! Open your own photography agency in the wizarding world if you want to work with wizards, or you can even open a branch in the muggle world with muggle photographers and photograph events there too! And you can take your photography course in the muggle world while keeping your Hogwarts years intact!" She spun toward him and threw her arms around him, smiling up. "It's endless!" She breathed.

((*huggles and munches cookie* and now you're on vacation. No fun. *pouts*))