Closed Worth a Thousand Words

[Cameron Roswell]

Cameron groaned as he looked over the last few photos he'd finished developing. Thankfully, he'd gotten a few decent shots of the Halloween feast that these wouldn't be a huge problem, especially not with the other photographers working at the feast and getting all the important ones of the costumes, but it annoyed him how many of his photos were coming out blurry. He knew he'd only just started taking photos last year, but it was his dad's camera, so surely like magic, it was in his blood, he should be better at this already.

The sound of the darkroom door opening had Camera scrambling to try and hide his failed photos, letting out a hiss as he managed to drop half the pile across the floor, dropping to hurriedly try to scoop them all up.

 

[Gwen Goodwin]

Gwen enjoyed working on Accio, but she didn't like how she had to take photos at the events. She would much rather enjoy herself at them and be photographed. She hadn't taken many pictures at Halloween at all, but had snapped a few before leaving. She headed to the Accio room to develop them so at least she had something to turn in. She opened the door to the dark room, and frowned as saw who was inside, and what he was doing. Cameron was a weird little guy, and Gwen had avoided talking to him much so far. "What are you doing?" She asked as she scrambled around and dropped some photos. She closed the door behind herself and then picked up one of the photos, raising her eyebrows. "This is crap." She said bluntly.

 

[Cameron Roswell]

"Shut up, no it's not," Cameron said hotly, making a grab for the photo Gwen had picked up while trying not to drop anymore he hand clamped in his hand. Objectively, he agreed, the photo she had was crap. A lot of them were, but he didn't need stupid Gwen Goodwin telling him that. "I'd like to see you do any better, everyone's always moving around too much," he grumbled, deciding to switch tactics and quickly cram all the other developed photos quickly out of sight. Gwen had only been in Accio a year longer than he had, she wasn't that much better than him, surely. "I was trying to get some work done before you barged in here," Cameron added, hunching his shoulders and eying the photo in Gwen's hand again, debating if he should make another grab for it. She'd already seen it but maybe she'd forget if he got it back quickly.

 

[Gwen Goodwin]

Gwen smiled as the boy angrily defended his terrible picture. She held the photo a little higher so he couldn't reach. "Really? From what I can tell, it's not usable for Accio at all." She said, shaking her head slightly. She paused and looked at him. "I have done better, my pictures actually make it into the yearbook." She said coolly. Though Gwen had to admit she hadn't taken as many pictures as she probably should, she doubted this boy even noticed. Gwen smiled slightly at his next words, tilting her head. "Trying being the operative word there?" She asked sympathetically.

 

[Cameron Roswell]

"From what I can tell," Cameron mimicked, making sure to raise his voice into an unflattering falsetto. "What do you know, you're barely a year older than me," he said, feeling his face burn as Gwen teased him, clenching his fist tight enough to crinkle several photos still in his hands, the blurry occupants of which hurriedly vacated the frame for green, likely more in focus pastures.

It was so unfair, Cameron was supposed to be a wizard, and he sucked at magic, so why couldn't he be good at this instead? His dad had done photography AND magic and been fine, so why couldn't Cameron just do one. Photography wasn't even inherently magical, even if Cameron kept flubbing the magical development process and frying half his photos. "I'm learning. Ya' know, since we're at a school and all," he said hotly, turning his back on Gwen to shove things around on the table behind him, hoping maybe if he looked busy enough Gwen would get the hint and buzz off. "Don't you have something better to do? Like learn not to be nosy?"

 

[Gwen Goodwin]

Gwen raised her eyebrows slightly when the boy mocked her voice. If he truly wanted to play this game, she could utterly destroy him. She smiled as he mentioned she was barely a year older than him, tilting her head. "Really? You're so short, I assumed you were a first year." She said, giving him a mock sympathetic look. "I'm sure you'll grow more, eventually." She added with a sweet voice.

Gwen laughed softly when the boy told her he was learning. It would probably have been better for him if he had at least pretended he didn't think his own photos were crap. "Alright, no need to get defensive, but you better learn quickly or you'll be kicked out of the club." She told him as if she knew this for a fact. "I'm pretty sure Eugene isn't as nice and understanding as he pretends to be. Hufflepuffs always pretend they're saints but they can be the meanest people behind your back." She told him, though she had no idea if that was true. "No, I don't have anything better to do actually. I came here to develop my own photos, which are actually good." She told him with a small shrug.

 

[Cameron Roswell]

Cameron bristled at Gwen's jab at his height, annoyed that he could feel his ears going red with embarrassment. "I was in Accio with you last year you know I'm not," he snapped, shoulders hunching around his ears. He couldn't wait until they got more interns so he wasn't one of the youngest in the club so Gwen could shut up.

He blanched when she implied he'd get kicked out of the club, feeling his face get hot even though he was sure she was just messing with him. Pretty sure. Hopefully sure. "No I won't, shut up," he said churlishly, his mind wondering to Aine when Gwen mentioned Hufflepuffs before shaking his head as if to shake off the idea. "Go on then, if they're so good, show me," he said, turning back to face Gwen and crossing his arms. She was awful and insufferable and Cameron was hoping every photo she had came out terribly, but maybe he could at least watch her and glean a few tips to help develop his own photos so they would stop coming out so blurry. And this way he didn't have to outright ask her for help too.

 

[Gwen Goodwin]

Gwen blinked and tilted her head, looking at Cameron in a mockery of confusion. "Oh, you were?" She said, blinking a few times. "Oops." She added, smiling a bit. This boy was way too easy to rile up.

Gwen headed over to a workbench and started taking things out of her bag, she hadn't come here to just talk to this boy, after all. She frowned at him. "I'm here to develop my photos, not to show off or teach you the basics of photography." She snapped at him. "But if you want to hang around here until I'm finished I doubt I could stop you." She added with a sigh and a roll of her eyes.