Capturing a Scene

[Nixon Mercury]

Wanting to make the most of a free afternoon, Nixon headed out of Hufflepuff house with his camera in his hands, and ascended the grand staircase to reach the seventh floor. Slowly but surely, the corridor had become one of his favourite places to take photos of inside the castle, the windows providing a beautiful view of the grounds and courtyard from above. However that day Nixon wasn't intending to take photos of the view, but rather of the corridor itself as he wanted to practice capturing images of simplicity. Usually Nixon opted for his photos to have lots of contrasting colours and more than one focal point, so in an effort to teach himself more about photography and advance out of what he recognized as his comfort zone as a photographer, he walked around, looking through his camera at the corridor around him and capturing whatever stood out to him as a 'simple' image. At first he focused on the walls of the corridor, but over time became more adventurous as he began to find snapshots of other things. Feeling confident, he paused as he reached an archway, and took a photo capturing the architecture with a few students standing beneath it.​

 

[Theodore Westwick]

Theodore was in a bad mood, which was normal for him these days. He was angry with himself for the fight with Edmund, but he was also angry at his brother for avoiding him because of it. Before their argument, things had been strained but still mostly the same as before. Now that they had had their first-ever fight, Edmund seemed to prefer avoiding him. He was spending even more time with that stupid girl, his girlfriend now. Apparently she was the daughter of the new minister, which somehow made her worse in Theodore’s eyes. How could someone like that understand someone strange like Edmund? Clearly no one really understood him, no one besides Theodore. He had his hands shoved deep into the pockets of his robes and walked with his head down through the corridor. Without Edmund by his side, Theodore never felt confident. He felt exposed, vulnerable. He glanced around as he walked, half-hoping for a glimpse of his brother while also nervous about being approached by anyone who didn’t like him. There were quite a few of those people around, and he didn’t want to be cornered by himself. As he glanced around, his gaze fell on a boy with a camera. A camera which seemed to be aimed in his general direction. Theodore froze, watching as the boy took a picture. A picture that would have him in it. Somehow, this thought made him very angry. Even as he felt it, he knew it was absurd. But being photographed on his own, without Edmund by his side felt wrong. It felt like there shouldn’t be any evidence of this temporary split between them. Like maybe if no one else saw, it wasn’t really real. Without stopping to think, he walked over to the boy, a glare on his face. He knew him, vaguely. They were in some of the same classes, though Theodore didn’t know his name. “You shouldn’t take photos of people without their permission. That’s rude.” He snapped. “I don’t want to be in your stupid picture.”

 

[Nixon Mercury]

Feeling confident the image he was capturing would turn out well, Nixon continued taking snapshots, only pausing and looking away from the camera as he noticed one of the students in the background of the photo begin to approach him. The other boy was familiar to Nixon but he couldn't dwell on that thought for long as he was quickly being snapped at, told that he was being rude for taking photos and that the picture was stupid. Frowning, Nixon answered, "It's actually a photo of the archway, and you were barely in it," because it was true, he was focusing on the archway rather than the students loitering. The fact the students were in the photo at all was to frame the focal point and because Nixon couldn't be bothered asking them to move. He couldn't see why this boy was being so dramatic about something so insignificant. "Now that you've moved, you're not going to be in more photos, so how about you leave me alone and I continue what I was doing?" Nixon suggested, trying and mostly failing to keep his tone neutral. He really didn't have the patience to deal with someone else ruining what had been a pleasant day for him thus far.​

 

[Theodore Westwick]

Theodore narrowed his eyes at the other boy, annoyed that he didn’t seem intimidated by him at all. If he’d had Edmund at his side, he was sure the boy would be a lot more nervous. Theodore gave him his best glare, staring into his eyes in a way he thought was disconcerting to others. “If you want to take a picture of the stupid archway, wait until there’s no one there. You should get rid of that.” He said, glancing at the camera and wondering why the boy was even taking pictures. “I want you to erase it. Don’t develop it.” He said angrily. He knew he was getting worked up over a small thing, but his emotions were running wild lately and this was the first outlet had in weeks. “What are you even going to do with photos you take of strangers without their permission? Don’t you know that’s weird?” The irony of him calling someone else weird wasn’t lost on him, as he had always aspired to be strange to others. But this was just rude. “You shouldn’t ‘just continue what you were doing’, because what you were doing was creepy. Do you think I’m the only one who doesn’t want some random boy taking their photograph? I highly doubt that.” He crossed his arms, giving him a look. “And a stupid picture of a stupid archway can’t be for the yearbook. So why are you being so weird?” This was the most Theodore had spoken to any of his classmates besides Edmund and Zoe. It felt strangely nice to talk to him about what he was doing wrong. He was even tempted to involve a teacher, but somehow thought he would take the Hufflepuff’s side. Theodore didn’t really think any of his teachers particularly liked him.

 

[Nixon Mercury]

All Nixon wanted was to stroll around the castle and take photos in peace, but the more the other boy spoke and the more he seemed to almost intend to start a fight made Nixon realize he was in over his head. Being a photographer for Accio, when taking photos he usually minded his own business and in turn was usually ignored but for some reason unbeknownst to him, that day he was drawing negative attention while taking photos for the first time and he wasn't sure of how to handle it. Dumbfounded, and trying to hide the hurt in being insulted, having his motivations questioned, and being patronized all at once, Nixon lowered his gaze to his camera in his hands as he pieced together a response. "I won't develop it then, if it's so offensive to you." He said, continuing to keep his gaze down, thinking it would avoid the conflict that was happening. "When you leave I'll take photos of something else, okay? Just leave me alone." Nixon really hoped this would get the boy off his back, because the last thing he needed was to feel self conscious when he needed to take photos of, or around the school. Photography was one of the few things that brought him joy and he wouldn't be able to work for the yearbook or be as involved in his articles for the Hogwarts Monthly if he felt scared to use his camera.​

 

[Theodore Westwick]

Theodore was legitimately angry about the photo, but his anger was starting to fade. The moment he saw the boy break eye-contact to look down at the camera in his hands, he had to fight a smile. There was something nice about this, about being able to intimidate someone else and make them do what he wanted. He had been feeling so powerless and so alone lately that this felt almost like a breath of fresh air. Selfishly, he thought of how much Edmund would enjoy the story about this when he told him about it later. It might even be a normal moment between them, and he wanted to make his brother proud. “How do I know you’re telling the truth?” Theodore asked quietly, keeping his gaze on the boy’s face. “And how do I know you’re not just going to be taking pictures of other people without their permission? There has to be some sort of rule about privacy in the school. You can’t just do what you want because you have a camera.” Theodore allowed a smile to appear on his face. He wasn’t actually sure what he wanted the boy to do, it wasn’t like he could delete the photograph right here and now. But that was part of the fun. He wondered what the boy would say or do now, as he seemed to feel cornered by Theodore.