A pair of dirty knees were the highest point of Lua Taylor as the Gryffindor swung, bat-like, from a friendly branch in a favorite old tree on the edge of the castle grounds. Winking skillfully against the setting sun, she focused all of her attention on the viewfinder of the camera she’d been assigned for yearbook duties. Chipped fingernails dialed the lens until an overgrown patch of green came into perfect view, and a pair of Ravenclaws with it. Lua grinned triumphantly and snapped away.

The blood rushing to her forehead, the many hazards for her tangle of hair, the fireflies that were beginning to creep out of hiding were of little mind to the fifth year— though the last “obstacle” was always a welcome one, and surely there would be time to converse with the tiny, winged lanterns when she was done with her task. Lua’s leg muscles stretched as she gained further grip on the branch, and twisted just a little to capture something different. The Whomping Willow was especially photogenic at this hour, and though she didn’t want to disturb anyone who had sneaked away to snog beneath its curtains, she did think they owed the tree its own cameo.

The slim material of a loose, summery dress was pinned between the branches and Lua, so that the green didn’t catch its own private show. Not that Lua would have been particularly bothered— she’d been raised to love and nourish her body, and to hardly blink when clothes were shed. Still, it would have been a disappointment if her Hogwarts photography career came to an end because she’d trapped herself in the cocoon of her own dress and fallen from the tree. Lua was (not so?) careful to rely on yoga and luck for those reasons alone.

“Just a bit to the right,” she murmured to herself, to her far off subjects, whom she hadn’t meant to stalk. They appeared to have abandoned their studying for an impromptu picnic, which was exactly the sort of thing Lua believed belonged in the yearbook. “Hold on, Teacup, you’ll get your dinner soon,” she added. A niffler, who sat sniffly and mistrusting upon the crux of the branch leaned over only a tiny bit, as much as he could dare. “Just a few more and…”

And. Lua gasped. The swarm of pixies appeared fast, much less delicate than the fireflies. And much closer in her lens than the lazing pair on the lawn. Swinging a little more wildly than intended, Lua brought the camera from her face and swatted (a little guiltily) at the swarm with her wand in hand. Teacup disappeared into the depths of the tree. “Shoo,” she whisper-shouted. “Please! I didn’t mean to disturb you. Come on, I’ve got some treats in my bag if you just— ouch!” Lua shuddered away from one that had ignored her pleas and gone for her arm, looking like an upside-down belly dancer.

"Immobulus!" Nicholas shouted wand pointed at the pixies who froze in their flight paths.  "You know, you kinda deserved that for spying."  He hadn't planned on heading over toward Lua, not wanting to show up in any pictures more than he had to.  He'd just wanted to get some air.  And find a quiet place to light up.  Instead, he'd seen the swarm of pixies go after his housemate and decided to intervene rather than see the girl fall out of the tree.  Also her own damned fault for being in the tree in the first place but he liked Lua and didn't want her to get hurt.

He stared at the pixies as he moved closer to one to look at it closer.  Ugly little creatures.  And at the moment he couldn't remember how to actually get rid of them. Oh well, he would have to improvise.  With a swish of his wand, he gathered them all together and a rope appeared around them tieing them all together; then with a flick and a thought, he sent the bundled pixies zipping up above the treetops and across the forest and as far as his concentration would push them.  Hopefully, it would take them a day, or several, to find their way back.

"So did you get any good shots?"  He held out his arms as if to catch her though he didn't think she needed the help, "Coming down?"

The wiggle worm who was Lua Taylor continued to maneuver chaotically— but dexterously— for a few breaths after the pixies became rigid. The instinct to move, flounce, run wild even midair had seemed to outpace her eyes and wand both, and it was only when she locked eyes with a particularly startled little fiend that she stopped squirming and her face mirrored his. Eyes wide, mouth rounded in surprise, Lua watched them float like ice-cubes in a huge glass of lemonade (lavender mint, thank you!).

And then they flew down, caught Nicholas, and crinkled in an upside-down grin, as if all of her had suddenly been released from a hex.

“Oh, Nicholas, thank you!” She cried, her arms flinging open in a hug that could not possibly reach him. “That was lovely of you. I’m glad you didn’t use a spell that hurt them.” Her eyebrows zoomed up— down?— and she chanced another glance at her nippy little friend with the bewildered face.

She drew in a breath, giving her attention back to Nicholas. Lua’s hair rippled with protest as she shook her head. “I wasn’t trying to spy, honest! I’ve an assignment— well, sort of— it’s a very loose assignment. They just gave us these cameras. But I thought we needed some good candids and landscape shots. People can be shy. Or they over-pose a bit. Lots of the sixth year girls are so self-conscious,” she frowned, feeling quite sad for them. “But I wouldn’t hand anything over to the editors without their permission!”

Rather, she would do as she was doing now, pinpoint her schoolmates from a distance… and then charge up with biscuits and her request, plus the glossy originals. Lua felt the crawl guilt in her stomach. Itchy.

Or maybe it was the pixie bites.

Fingers danced over her abdomen, attempting to itch and not itch. How had the bite even made its way there?

But as the pixies were lassoed with Nicholas’ impressive charms work, Lua forgot about the guilt and itch both. She dodged the net and watched the slingshot of pixies go soaring past the nearest trees, toward the forest. Her mouth seemed torn between smiling and frowning. Instead her lips swished to the side and she looked down at her fellow Gryffindor again.

“Yeah, I probably should.” Teeth revealed themselves at Nicholas’ curved arms. Lua swung forward, reaching out as if she might take up his unspoken offer, but then she swung back… and forward again… and back once more… and then— with some bit of bravery that had always seemed innate, she bent upward and grabbed hold of the branch upon which her legs were hooked. Rough bark greeted her grip, and she carefully stretched upward, eventually hugging the tree.

A pleased breath of exhaustion and the collecting of bits and bobs took only a few moments. “I did get some brilliant ones,” she hummed loudly as she began her climb down. She looked over her shoulder. “They’re not all stalkery.” She had more than a few of her friends, who had all clearly seen the camera attached to her neck of late. Still, Nicholas had made her wonder whether Connor needed to approve his own close-ups. She’d hoped to surprise him with one or two.

A few feet from the ground, Lua sprang away from the tree, hitting the dirt firmly. She shifted her backpack around to her front, pulling the camera loose and holding each scales on a balance. “I’ll show you some if you want.” Perhaps his eye was as good as his magic. “If you let me take your picture.” She grinned, bobbing the camera in her grip like a tempting dessert. It was a rare thing that Lua made bargains— but Nicholas was graduating! He needed a bit of yearbook spotlight. (Not that she doubted the long list of superlatives that would be attached to his name.)

Nicholas gave her a look when she was concerned about the pixies wellbeing.  The little devils weren't exactly known for being friendly.  Or even just leaving you be.  No, as far as he was concerned the world could be rid of pixies and it would be a better place.

"You'd better, you've still got two more years here with anyone you piss off with a photo in the yearbook." He squinted at Lua, he didn't think she was lying about getting permission before handing over the photos, but he didn't one hundred percent believe her.  But he wasn't about to accuse her because he really didn't care that much.  Unless she was sneaking into the dorms to take pictures of people they were all technically in public.

He realized pretty quickly that she wasn't going to take his offer.  And instead, he was ready to catch her if something went wrong, or just ready to carry her to the hospital wing.  "You are crazy you know that.  Healers can't do much if you're dead from a fall."

He cared about the younger years.  Okay, just the younger Gryffindors really.  And not the sixth years.  They'd just been annoying as hell when they'd arrived.  But the fifth years in particular.  And he didn't care to see another friend hurt, or worse.

"Sure,"  He said to the offer to see the photos before she finished and made the price a picture of him.  "Fine, but it's going to be over-pose-y as hell."  He smiled at his housemate before he got to thinking about the stalkery shots she might have taken.  "Wait, you don't have any of me on the quidditch pitch do you?"

Too oblivious, too kind, or completely aware and unbothered, Lua only beamed back at Nicholas’ expression.

“I didn’t do it to make anyone mad. Do you think they will be? I’m big on privacy,” she oathed, eyes going wide for the umpteenth time that day. Her father had a conspiracy theory or five about privacy violations, and her mother had drilled the importance of consent into all of her children. “But it gets a bit tricky when you’re going after the action shots, and the courtyard gets crowded, and there they are! A lovely couple snogging.”

Despite their usual languidness, said couples seemed to appear out of nowhere. "I guess everyone wants their vitamin D and serotonin kick around lunchtime.” Lua loved to sprawl out on the grounds with her lunch, too. She could hardly blame them. “Even if they’re not really thinking about it,” she grinned toothily.

“I can’t die from a tree, Nicholas!” Mellow outrage carried her voice, friendly as ever. Lua blinked. “Haven’t you ever read The Giving Tree?” Such was the nature of trees.

“I can handle a pose or two after all of my misadventures!” Her grin redoubled, and she let the bag go swinging back around her shoulder, trapping her hair to the colorful fabric of her dress. Her focus— for the moment— was on Nicholas’ end of the bargain. She was already squinting into the viewfinder again, her fingers twisting and turning the focus, when he asked the question. “Hmm?” She hummed, judging the angle of the sun. “Were you doing something detention-worthy?”

Rather than accusatory, her own question was earnestly curious, a little excited. Despite the school rules, detention largely depended on who was doing what where and when, and which professor happened upon the scene. Lua had always rather been fond of the idea of being caught by Rick Donovan, even if she was a Prefect and was supposed to be setting a good example.

And then it hit her. This was Nicholas. She smiled yet again, this time the upper half of her face obscured by the camera.

“Public snogging sessions are a nicer memory for people to have than corridor duels, aren’t they?” Another twist of the knob. “But— I promise— I haven’t any of you. I don’t think. Unless you’re one of the blurs from last week,” she admitted. “I was in the Astronomy tower window.” She poked her face around the corner of the camera, eyeing him properly; the camera remained exactly where it was, her hands still and patient. The mixture of guilt, curiosity, and fondness on her face was followed by another question. “Are you ready?"