Hot Blooded -- Cordelia

[Deleted]

Margaux was bored, and not for the first time that week. Maria's new partner was taking up all of her time, and the Beauxbatons could only find so many people that could hold her interest for more than five minutes like Maria could.  Was it so hard to do, be able to speak to Margaux without sounding like a complete idiot, or not being able to completely satisfy her phyiscally?  According to the boys, and some girls, of Hogwarts, it was.  Margaux was wandering the castle, not really caring or paying attention to where she was going, finding it rather amusing when the staircase would change and force her to switch her path.  Finally, Margaux found herself at the top of the castle; she had choices to make here.  She could go to the Astronomy Tower, infiltrate the Divination Tower, or see what kind of people were wandering down the hallway towards her.  She decided to go with Option One, and climbed the stairs to the Astronomy Tower.  She strolled towards the balcony where the sun was shining down.  She leaned forward on the railing and tilted her face towards the Sun, closing her eyes and breathing deeply, not noticing when someone else came in.


cordelia regan smith

[cordelia regan smith]

@margaux

Thankfully astronomy class wasn’t until later that night, so that meant Cordelia had quite a few hours to stand up on the tower and take pictures. She had found herself doing that more often lately, seeing as it was typically empty until the later hours and usually quiet as well. Echoes from the grounds below made their way up on occasion, but for the most part it was typically just her and her camera. Having full concentration to do what she wanted and get the pictures that spoke to her the most was exactly what she needed most of the time. While elsewhere on the grounds, or in the castle, other students always felt the need to check out what she was doing. Hiding up here made sure that didn’t happen at all.

Dragging herself up to the tower, camera in tow, Cordelia popped through the door and climbed the last few sets of stairs to the top of the astronomy tower. A blast of sun blinded her as she crested to the platform, only to notice that there was somebody else already there. Cordelia let out a groan, knowing that there would definitely be talking of sorts, or at least questions about what she was trying to take pictures of. She always forgot that the extra students this year meant that finding a quiet place to take pictures was almost impossible. It was possible that the other girl would leave within a few minutes, seeing the peace was about to be disturbed by Cordelia taking pictures. She hated doing that to people, but she had a mission right now. Crossing over to one of the railings a small distance away from the other girl, Cordelia started getting things set up.

[Deleted]

Margaux heard the groan behind her and spun around, her long hair swinging behind her. As her eyes adjusted to the darker shadows within the Astronomy Tower, she saw who had joined her and a slow smile widened. It was none other than Cordelia Smith, the shy little Hufflepuff she and that Gryffindor boy Daryl and she had taught to dance at the November dance party. She had lost track of the girl over the past few months; she had been rather busy after all with Elias and Maria. But now both of them had partners and Margaux grew bored of the short-lived dalliances with other students she fooled around with. Cordelia from her memory had been terribly naive, which made things all the more fun for her.

“Cordelia, eesn’t eet?” she called out, her voice a smooth purr as she made her way over, her hips swaying in rhythm with her hair. She reached the girl and peered interestedly at the equipment Cordelia was setting up. “You are a photographer, non?” she asked, curious as to the girls’ hobby. “Do you only photograph landscapes, or do you do portraits as well?” she added, not bothering to try and hide the flirtatious manner in her voice.

cordelia regan smith

[cordelia regan smith]

@margaux

Cordelia barely had a moment of free time to herself upon entering the Astronomy tower, which figured, because it was like she could never take photographs from up here without someone wanting to know what she was up to. It seemed like she was right on the ball too, about this other girl wanting to ask her questions, because it hadn’t even been a few seconds of setting her tripod up that the other one was heading in her direction. What she hadn’t expected was that the girl, one of the French students, the accent gave that away, seemed to already know her name. That was definitely something else. She couldn’t recall talking to any of them before. If she had it her way, there wouldn’t have been any talking at all right now, but apparently it was time to chat. As long as it didn’t waste all of her free time to take pictures.

Not exactly bothering to acknowledge her immediately, Cordelia finished popping the legs out so that the tripod was standing on its own before turning around to face the Beauxbatons student. “Y-Yes?” She squeaked out quietly, both answering that she was who she was, and that she happened to be a photographer as well.

Now that the other girl was closer, Cordelia realized she did know her. She was one of the people that had helped teach her how to dance at the party thing that Lily had thrown. That had been fun. Terribly awkward, but fun. There had been Daryl, who she obviously knew already from the art club, and then Edmund, the boy from Slytherin, and then this girl. Whose name she couldn’t remember at all. “M-Mostly l-landscapes…” Unfortunately this kind of conversation was all too common. Someone always happened to take interest in some form or another. “W-What are you d-doing up here…uhhh…” She trailed off again, realizing that she was going to say the other girl’s name but still couldn’t recall it. There was no way she was going to make it out of this without some kind of embarrassment. Things had been going well lately too.

[Deleted]

Margaux could tell that she was interrupting the Hufflepuff, but Cordelia wouldn't dare be rude to anyone.  She had gotten that impression at the November Dance Party, when her and Daryl had 'taught' the girl to dance, before the redhead stole her away.  Daryl, that was another one she had to look up sometime soon.  He had been fun, but Maria had shown up and so of course, she had been entertained otherwise.  Still, Cordelia was a pretty one, and she intrigued Margaux with her little stutter.  "Ow charmant," she declared, walking around the tripod, simple observing.  "Margaux," she added as Cordelia searched for her name.  She put on a fake pout.  "I am sorry zat you forget my name ma cherie, as I remember yours so well," she said, walking closer to the girl.  She gave her a once over, then smiled.  "I won't distract you," she promised, flouncing back over to her seat by the window and sitting down, breathing deeply.  The sun shined down on her dark hair, making it glimmer in the light.


cordelia regan smith

[cordelia regan smith]

@margaux

The girl, Margaux, which Cordelia was made aware of again, walked around and observed the tripod as she continued getting her camera prepared to pop it on top. She definitely seemed interested in the whole thing. But didn’t everyone? There was always some curious observer whenever she was in a populated place. Not that the astronomy tower was always populated, but she had run into others up here before. Margaux seemed to be hurt by the fact that Cordelia couldn’t remember her name, apologizing for it. The Hufflepuff couldn’t let her do that, especially because it wasn’t her fault in the first place. “D-D-Don’t b-be s-sorry...I-I’m n-not g-good with n-names,” Cordelia stammered out, looking down at the ground as Margaux looked at her. “It’s m-m-my fault.” Cordelia could feel the French girl still staring at her, but then she said she wouldn’t distract her work and went back to the place she was standing before, sitting down this time.

Returning to her tripod, Cordelia finished placing her camera on top of it and started to make sure everything else was ready to go. She had somehow managed to fiddle with her camera during the brief conversation and had already loaded the film in that time frame. Looking through the viewfinder, she started to focus on the far wall of the tower, spinning the camera around with the help of the tripod. At one point it crossed where Margaux was sitting against the window. That actually looked good. Biting down on her lip, Cordelia stood back up to face the other girl. “I-I s-suppose I could do p-p-portraits right n-now though…”

[Deleted]

Margaux just gave the stuttering girl a small smile and said nothing more; she didn’t know if Cordelia stuttered all the time or if it was just around her. Being a quarter veela, a good number of people ended up stammering just a little in her presence. Just yesterday evening right after dinner, she had encountered a rather adorable boy with blue lining on his robes, which she had come to learn meant he was in the ‘smart’ house, whatever that meant. The only thing was that he stammered out every other word, and Margaux simply had to use her usual means to shut him up. If she remembered correctly though, Cordelia had stuttered around her friends at the party; likely she had had that affliction for some time.

Just when Margaux was getting bored of the view out the window, Cordelia spoke again. Slowly, she turned around a smile creeping onto her face. “Zat would be wonderful,” she said, her voice a low purr. She stood up and walked slowly back over to the girl, hips swaying as her hair moved back and forth as it swished behind her back. “Wair do you want me?” she asked, coming to a stop right in front of her. She knew that it would only further push the girls stutter, but maybe it’d have the opposite effect. Her veela charm typically had her normal speech impediment effect regular people, perhaps the opposite would happen to stutterers.

cordelia regan smith

[cordelia regan smith]

@margaux

Cordelia was starting to think that Margaux was waiting for her to say that she would do portraits. It wasn’t so much as how she had delivered the question earlier, or the inquisitiveness towards the camera. It was the way the Beauxbatons girl looked at Cordelia after she finally relented and said she would take pictures. She knew she had a problem with people taking advantage of her, but this was an innocent action. Pictures were going to be taken regardless of whether they were portraits or landscapes. A little variation in her work never killed her. Plus, if these turned out well, she could always add them to her portfolio. That way she could prove she had done portrait photography, succeeded, and never planned on doing it again. Surprisingly it wasn’t because of the human interaction that came along with it. She simply didn’t enjoy taking pictures of other people. There was an art in it somewhere; Cordelia didn’t see it though. Landscapes and everyday objects, whatever she fancied at the time, was more her cup of tea.

Margaux sauntered back over towards Cordelia, and the Hufflepuff couldn’t help but think of the other girl as a cat. Now that she thought about it, it was like dealing with a cat too. She wanted to continue doing her work in peace and quiet, but the distraction was too much to ignore. She couldn’t figure out why that was. Margaux eventually reached her again, and she realized that she had forgotten to tell her that she wanted to take the portraits against the window. Cordelia looked around her to see if there was anything comparable, mostly to avoid having Margaux walk back to the other side of the room again. “H-How about that r-railing?” She pointed at one nearby. There were lots of things one could do with a railing and pictures, so it wouldn’t take too much imagination. Cordelia lifted her tripod up, camera on top, and shuffled it over towards the spot that would make most sense for it to be. Now she just needed to wait for Margaux to get into place.