Time For Your Close-Up

[Jacob Kingsley]

Jacob gripped his camera bag tightly, looking around furtively as he made his way out of the castle and beelined for the gardens. It wasn't that he was embarrassed by his hobby, but he knew it was an odd one for a twelve year old. Truth be told, he had always loved taking pictures. Back when he'd been four and five, he'd aimed for his mom and would more often end up with a shot of the ceiling, but it hadn't dissuaded him at all. He'd eventually improved, a quick lesson from his dad helping him to learn that his aim was important. And he'd learned that it wasn't the small square at the top but the little hole that he needed to peek into.

Magical cameras had sure changed a lot since then and as he took his camera out and began to assemble it, Jacob forgot all about looking around for other people. He was in his zone. The world always seemed to fall away when he was with his camera, and his parents would find him hours later near a tree or flower or some other natural object taking photos or down the street taking pictures of someone's old house. They'd had to speak with him about that, explaining that some people didn't like their houses being photographed without their permission. He understood that about people, he knew firsthand the violation he felt when someone just snapped his picture before he was aware they were doing so, but he still didn't understand why it wasn't ok to snap a picture of a house.

Turning his camera towards the flowers in the garden, Jacob snapped shots of the bees as they buzzed from flower to flower, pollinating the space. He went down onto his stomach, focusing the lens on a bee further away and smiled as he lined up the perfect shot.

 

[Abian Hunter]

When Abian had learned he was magical, he had immediately made assumptions about the sort of life he would live as a wizard. Almost none of it had actually come true. Some things were better than he imagined, but there were also a lot of things he was finding a little disappointing. It had all started when he had to buy a stick of wood to actually do magic with, and worsened when the transportation to school had turned out to be just a train. Not a magical flying train as he had hoped, but a regular old train. He did enjoy his time at Hogwarts, but it was hard to enjoy learning spells when you weren't succeeding when you tried to cast them half of the time.

But Abian was nothing if not an optimist. He was sure there were magical places at Hogwarts he hadn't found yet. Places that would simply blow his mind. He just hoped he didn't need to know a good spell to get to them. He had managed the spells they had learned in charms, but only barely. Transfiguration was a topic he preferred not to think about at all. Today, Abian had his heart set on going to the gardens. He hadn't been there yet, but gardens at a magical school had to be some magical gardens. He was expecting huge plants, maybe even human-eating ones. Though he knew that was a little unrealistic. There had to be ones that levitated or changed color or did something though. Why would there be a garden if it wasn't magical?

But his first impression of the gardens was a disappointment. The plants looked like any old plants, and even though he didn't recognize all of them, he was pretty sure none of them were going to fly or explode. Or eat someone. But as he rounded a corner, he did see something else interesting. Or rather, someone. Jacob was a cool guy, and in Abian's eyes he was definitely someone who knew a lot about the wizarding world. Right now, the boy was taking pictures of flowers. Abian couldn't comprehend why anyone would do this, but he did remember something he had heard. Uno had told him there were cameras that could take moving pictures. If Jacob had a magical frisbee, surely he had a magical camera too. "Jacob!" He called as he hopped over a small flowerbed on his way over. He didn't do a perfect job, and silently apologized to the few flowers he had smushed before making his way over. "Is that your camera? Does it take moving pictures? Tell me someone wasn't pranking me when they told me about that." He looked at the boy eagerly, then moved his focus to the flower. "Sorry, am I interrupting?" He hadn't really considered that Jacob might want to be left alone, but now he realized this part of the gardens had been a pretty quiet and peaceful place until he had come blundering in.

 

[Jacob Kingsley]

Jacob's hand jerked as he heard his name and he knew that picture would not be any good. He rolled over onto his back while Abian kept talking. He'd already gotten the shots he needed, so Abian wasn't really interrupting anything. From this angle, he couldn't really see Abian. The sun was sending a huge glare his way, and he lifted his hand to shield the sun a bit. It wasn't doing too much. So he eventually had to sit up. "Nah. I've been here for a while. I don't think the bees are gonna do anything else" he said with a smile.

"Well, I have to develop them first and then, yea, the pictures will move" he replied, his smile widening. He liked explaining things to Abian who was new to the magical world. It made Jacob feel important to help guide the younger boy into the magical world. He knew it was something his dad and mom would be pretty proud of him for doing, but he was also pretty proud of himself for doing it. Jacob knew a little about the muggle world. He had spent summers with his grandad who was a muggle through and through. But he loved his world and how he had grown up with magic. "Want me to take your picture so you can see when I develop it?" he asked, hoping Abian would say yes. He only had a few shots left before he could head to the conglomerated arts room and the special closet it had to develop magical photos. It was a room within the room, but it was so tiny that he laughed when anyone called it that.

 

[Abian Hunter]

Abian had been so excited to run into someone familiar and at the prospect of moving pictures, that he had almost forgotten his purpose of coming to the garden. Surely, Jacob would know if there was anything magical here. But as he looked down at Jacob lying on the ground, he didn't really look like someone that had come here to explore and find magical plants. "You were taking pictures of bees?" He asked, wondering why on earth anyone would do that. It was almost stranger than taking pictures of flowers. But he quickly forgot all about that when Jacob admitted the pictures would move after developing them. He was a little sad it would take such a long time to see them. He supposed wizards had never heard of digital cameras. Developing pictures was something of a different age to the Hufflepuff. "Will it always move the same way, like a video? Or is it like, alive?" He asked, always curious to learn more about magic. His eyes widened slightly when the older boy offered to take his picture. Abian nodded immediately. "Yes!" He said, looking around eagerly. "Should I move when you take them? Or not?" He wondered if there was something cool nearby that he could pose with, but all he saw was flowers and plants. "Do you know if there's any cool magical plants here? Anything dangerous?" He asked. That would be awesome to take a picture with to show his little sister.

 

[Jacob Kingsley]

Jacob liked Abian and hadn't seen him in a while, so he was happy that the younger boy had run into him. He didn't often talk about photography with anyone, mostly because he had never run into anyone else his age who enjoyed it. Thankfully, he had other hobbies discuss with other kids. Jacob nodded at Abian's question, flushing slightly at his tone. He hadn't meant to say anything about the bees but it was too late to take back now. At least, Abian seemed far more interested in other things and the topic took a quick turn. He shook his head side to side as if to indicate that neither was truly right. "My dad says they're not alive. But they do sometimes leave their frames to go hang out in other frames. Have you ever seen the school portraits? They don't just always hang out in their frames" he pointed out.

Jacob lifted the camera to his eyes and then lowered it again so he could look around. He was no magical plant expert, not by any means, even if his mother enjoyed gardening during the breaks. He shook his head. "Nah, I think they keep all the fun stuff in the greenhouse." He made a face to show what he thought of that. "Say Shrivelfig!" he said, pointing the camera at Abian once more.

 

[Abian Hunter]

Abian’s curiosity about anything magical knew no limits yet. He had been disappointed a few times so far when things seemed not quite as magical as they should be, but moving pictures was definitely a cool thing. He listened with interest as Jacob explained, nodding along as he mentioned the school portraits. “They talk too! One told me off when I tried to skateboard down a corridor.” He said, then smiled. “I found out the courtyard is a much better place to practice anyway. But where do they go when they’re not in their frames? And do the pictures you take talk too?” His eyes widened. “Can I talk to myself when you take my picture?” Of course, he could talk to himself now. But that was different as it was just in his head or out loud when he was trying to focus on things and repeating them out loud. The idea of having a face to face conversation with another version of himself made him zone out for a moment as he tried to imagine it.

It was a little disappointing to hear there were no magical plants here, as they were all in the greenhouse. Abian thought it made sense, but he still deflated a bit at the news. At least, until Jacob pointed his camera at Abian who immediately took on a silly pose. He opened his mouth to repeat the word Jacob said, but instead a question came out. “Shri- What’s a shrivelfig?”

 

[Jacob Kingsley]

"They visit each other " he said as if it was obvious. "It would get pretty boring to have to stay in your own frame, right?" he added as he lifted the camera to his eye once more. He lowered it, chuckling at Abian's next question. "You could talk to yourself, but it'll look kind of weird and it won't work. I don't think pictures can talk. Paintings can though, so maybe I have to find the right potion. I'll ask my dad" he said. His dad knew everything and always had a good answer for him when he asked questions. Sometimes he didn't like the answers but they were always fully explained. He liked that his dad didn't usually treat him like a baby.

Jacob lifted the camera up again. He was taking this picture no matter what this time. And he did, even as Abian asked him another question. "It's a plant" he replied with a grin.

 

[Abian Hunter]

Abian nodded as Jacob told him they visit each other. That made sense, he had seen a few paintings where the people in it didn’t seem to really belong in the same frame. He supposed it would be kind of lonely for a magical talking painting to be stuck in the same place forever, only ever able to talk to people walking past. “It would be boring.” He agreed. “In the muggle world paintings don’t move or talk, though. Neither do photos, but we do have videos. Do you know those?” He didn’t want Jacob to think muggles had nothing cool. Videos and films were some of the things Abian missed most from his old life. “It’s funny how paintings can talk but pictures can’t. Maybe because it would be very annoying if you had a stack of newspapers with moving pictures in it if they were all trying to talk to you. Imagine the chaos!” He laughed and shook his head. He had seen stacks of the school newspaper spread around last semester, and actually looked forward to the next one coming out. One girl had asked him a question and told him his answer would be in the paper, so he thought it would be cool to see himself in there.

Abian was glad Jacob just took the shot even though he was still talking. It seemed like whenever he talked to the older boy, questions just popped up into his head and he couldn’t stop himself from asking them. The answer about the shrivelfig was a bit disappointing, though. He could have figured that out for himself. “Let me guess, it’s like a fig but all shriveled?” he asked, one eyebrow raised. “Wizards need better names for things.” He joked. He stepped closer to the other boy and looked at the camera curiously. Used to seeing the image immediately, it was strange to think this film would actually have to be developed, in an actual dark room. “You know, developing photos is very old fashioned in the muggle world. Photos are mostly digital now, like on a computer or phone. But it makes sense that wizard cameras aren’t like that. Wizard stuff all seems a bit old fashioned.” Abian shrugged, not meaning any offence with it. To him, the castle and everything in it seemed to belong in a history book. That did make it cool to actually live in it, but Abian liked modern stuff too. “Sorry if I ask too many questions, by the way. You just seem to know a lot.” He said, scratching his neck. “How long does it take to develop pictures? Probably ages, right?”