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Eleanor lowered the view finder from her eye, her blue pirate's squint correcting itself into a childishly round orb. Her eyes, of course, were the most deceptive bit of her appearance, and had worked in her favor when she was a few years younger. Now they were pesky, betrayed her age, and made it near impossible to get a proper job. Not that employers were knocking down doors to hire new photographers in this economic environment. Apparently the muggle recession had crept its way into the Wizarding community, and the papers were at a loss to find new sales tactics.

Ellie St. James had the solution.

Herself.

Turning her camera about, so that the lens faced her, rather like a baby being turned about for inspection, she blew gently on the glass, scattering invisible or non-existent dust. Amidst the tornado of her belongings in the room she kept at her father's house, the single shelf of cameras, lenses, film, and prospective portfolio fodder remained compulsively neat.

Using a special, satiny cloth to wipe away the warmth of her breath, she felt rather like a mother swaddling her child. The circular motion cleared the lens of breathy fog, and Eleanor adjusted it before bringing the view finder back to her eye. She winked the other, so that her attention was focused solely on what she could filter through the camera.

Leaves crunched beneath her as her boots interrupted the autumn funeral pyre. She stopped at the fencing, her pelvis catching the weary wooden planks, her tummy arching over them as the snap snap snap and purple smoke rippled through the patch of abandoned nature at the edge of the gingerbread town.

The sun was setting, having arrived annoyingly early on its winter sleep schedule. Ellie had been taking photos for two hours at least, and the growing cold had barely registered against her skin as she filled roll after roll of film. Tomorrow evening would bring a full moon, and before it, the breakfast table would hopefully hold a pretty spread on the historic haunts of Hogsmeade village. For amidst the news of deaths, kidnappings, and vicious attacks, Ellie knew the public craved a good old story, plain and simple-- but relevant.