A picture's worth a thousand words

[bluemoon_loon]

Date: Friday, November 17, 2000
Time: Morning-ish
Location: Hogsmeade
Characters Involved: Luna Lovegood, open to one and all! Huzzah, huzzah!
Rating: G

Comments

[boywhoisharryjp]

Harry woke up with quite a bit of energy this morning, and so, after he'd showered and dressed, he decided to go into Hogsmeade. There wasn't anything he really wanted to do there, save from probably seeing Fred and George, but it would be a good use of his time. He would probably be able to find something to do while he was there, or at least someone to talk to. It looked cold outside, so Harry pulled on his heavy jacket and Apparated to Hogsmeade.

The only thing Harry didn't like about Hogsmeade was the people passing by and staring at him, murmuring about him, and sometimes even gushing about him to his face. He, of course, took whatever people said to him with grace, unless it was something derogatory about him or his friends. Those were fightin' words. Harry would fight someone in a heartbeat--though he knew he shouldn't--if he or she said something nasty about one or more of his friends.

But that wasn't on his mind today. Harry wasn't really paying attention to the passersby; he was enjoying the fall weather, the crisp air, and the trees changing. He looked around; he hadn't been to Hogsmeade in a long time, and it looked like it had changed, at least a little. Some of the buildings looked like they had been recently painted. It looked like the windows of most of the buildings had actually been cleaned, which wasn't something that Harry had ever really seen.

Walking down the street, Harry saw someone with a camera, very focused on a certain subject, though he couldn't tell what. As he walked closer, he recognised the blonde hair. Luna Lovegood. Harry hadn't seen Luna in awhile, and he enjoyed her company. Maybe he'd stop and have a chat with her; that would be a good way to start the morning.

"Hi, Luna," Harry said cheerfully, trying to figure out what it was that she was photographing. "What are you photographing?"

[bluemoon_loon]

Luna was a bit surprised to hear a familiar voice, and positively elated to realize who it was.

"Good morning, Harry," she said cheerfully... which for Luna equated to a dreamy smile and sing-song tone. She didn't look up from her camera, carefully adjusting the lighting and motion settings with wool-clad hands.

"That row of buildings, just at the end of the road. I'm collecting a few scenery shots for Mr. Hopping." It wasn't often that her employer sent her away from the studio; he liked to have her there to manage the paperwork. But with his other photographers on assignment, he'd been quite eager to send her out for a few extra background ideas before the holiday rush started.

This shot would be even better with snow, Luna mused to herself. Perhaps they could add it in afterward.

Satisfied with the alignment, Luna righted herself and looked to Harry. It had been quite a while since she'd seen him; though that was perhaps partly her fault. She had been quite the hermit the last few months; it felt like she had lost all contact with the outside world (well, save what was being reported in the newspapers).

"How are you, Harry?" And really, how was he? "You're out early."

[boywhoisharryjp]

Harry grinned. He enjoyed Luna's dreamy smiles and sing-song tones. It was too bad she wasn't still talking about, what were they...Nargles? Snorkacks? He couldn't remember, but those were some of the most entertaining conversations he'd been a part of. It had amused him to hear her ramble on about these obviously fictional beasts that were being reported in the Quibbler. Harry did have a debt of honour owed to Luna, especially because his interview with Rita Skeeter had been reported in the Quibbler. Though she was a little bit loony (hence her school nickname, he supposed), she was really a nice girl and her heart was in the right place.

Harry looked at the row of buildings. They didn't look too terribly special, but leave it to Luna to find something enchanting with something completely ordinary.

Harry nodded. "That would make a great shot with some snow," he said. "Do you have to collect them all now, or can you wait for some of them, in case it snows soon?"

When Luna turned around and looked at him, he realised he hadn't seen her in quite a long time. "I'm doing well," Harry said honestly. "I'm not doing much of anything right now, which is weird. I have a lot of free time, and I don't really know what to do with it. Right now I'm spending most of my time catching up with people." And Ginny, he thought. "Ron's come back, did you hear?" The bloody bastard. "He was gone for 3 months and didn't tell anyone, really." Harry frowned.

"How are you doing, Luna? I haven't seen you in a long time."

[bluemoon_loon]

"Precisely what I was thinking." Luna's smile broadened slightly; she'd always loved snow. "Oh, we'll need to shoot a few more as the season changes, but it's best to do what we can now, before the holiday rush begins. The studio gets rather popular around Christmas, you know." Or, maybe he didn't know.

She listened, her head tilted ever so slightly as she thought about Harry's dilemma. "There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want," she said thoughtfully, as if to herself. Somehow it didn't surprise her that now, after doing so much for not just Wizarding Britain, but the entire world and finally having a moment to relax, Harry Potter was looking for things to do. But there were worse things he could do that catch up with friends.

She blinked in alarm at the news about Ron. "He left?" Oh goodness, where had she been the last three months? "Is he all right?"

How was she? "I'm doing my best." She smiled automatically and shrugged; it was the truth, without being an entirely unpleasant truth. The summer had been difficult for her. After visiting her mother's family in Ireland she'd been feeling very lost and out of place in the world, and it was only compounded by her break-up with Seamus. It seemed that in one fell swoop, her life had lost most of its purpose.

...But she was slowly finding it. Or, if not finding... re-creating.

"I've been attempting to escape reality... unfortunately, reality is very persistent. Oh, and I sold myself in an auction, did you know?" With Luna, there was no such thing as "too random."

[boywhoisharryjp]

"Indeed," Harry agreed. He remembered his aunt and uncle taking his vile cousin to photo studios at Christmas time to get family photos done. He was always taken to Mrs. Figg's. On the rare occasion that she couldn't take him, Harry went with them, but was never allowed to be in the photos. He sat outside the studio while his relatives were getting their photo taken. "Those would make wonderful landscape photos," Harry said. "Maybe in spring, too."

"I'm getting slightly bored doing nothing, though," Harry said, laughing. "When no one is around, I sit around my house and do just that: nothing. I should really choose a hobby." He grinned. But what his hobby would be was what he couldn't figure out. Model trains? Model planes? Model anything? Not really. Harry wasn't that good with attention to detail.

"Oh, Ron's all right," Harry said, rolling his eyes. "Or we've just found out he is. He just up and left for three months. Said he was going on business for Fred and George, and then didn't come back." He still couldn't believe that Ron just thought everything would be back to normal after having been completely gone for three months without contacting anyone. "Guess he was in Scotland." He shook his head.

"Yes," Harry agreed, "reality is indeed very persistent." He could commiserate with her on that. There had been so many times when he'd only wanted to escape from reality, only to have it catch up with him shortly after he thought he'd lost it. "Trying to escape reality is a losing race, I've found," Harry said.

"Oh, I sold myself at that auction as well," Harry said. "Saw you up there, though; you looked lovely." He smiled at her. "The auction certainly was an interesting event, but I did it only to help the people orphaned by the war." No way in hell would I actively help out the Ministry or the Prophet, Harry thought.