With great charm comes great responsibility. (Cordelia)

[Deleted]

As far as Gilderoy was concerned today had been a success with both his classes as he packed up his things about to leave the Charms classroom. He had gotten through Transfiguration with a ease and also got chosen for some questions in Charms and nailed those as well. Any chance to show people just who they were dealing with. The future even greater Gilderoy Jr because he was great now so of course he would only get better as time went by. Still now that his classes were out of the way he had a whole day to enjoy it and possibly whoever was lucky enough to spend it with him. He didn't have any plans but sometimes things were just better that way. He didn't always need to plan out his day, just let it go by and see what happens.

With all his things Gilderoy left the potions class room among a few other students, none of which were paying much attention to him. Probably worried about how they were doing in class, a problem Gilderoy didn't have at the moment or rarely for that matter. Either way them not paying attention to him would change once he was as famous as he should be one day. What he also noticed was someone ahead of him and he decided to talk to her as he picked up his pace. "Hey Cordelia," Gilderoy said as was now beside her and his pace matched hers while she walked. He hadn't really talked to her much, not after confusing her stutter for something that happened only around him. He was a little disappointed to realize she just did that and it wasn't just because Gilderoy was around. "You have that camera on you today?" He asked half idle question and half curious as he had seen her with a camera a number of times.

cordelia regan smith

[cordelia regan smith]

@lockhart

As far as Cordelia was concerned, today had been a failure with her both of her classes. She had struggled in Transfiguration, which was nothing new, and while Charms had been easy (obviously), getting called on in Transfiguration had practically ruined the Charms lesson for her. Everyone probably thought she was stupid or something. That or they didn’t pay attention, which sounded way better to her now than it normally did. Being ignored and made socially invisible by other students let her go about and do her own things. Once she was forced back into the real world, then everyone took notice to the stuttering, awkward mess that she was. She was lucky that anyone even decided to spend time with her to begin with. Sometimes it was just better that everyone avoided her. The last thing she needed was to drag them into her messes.

Thankfully, Charms had been the last class for the day for her. Not having to take Potions anymore was basically a godsend. The last thing she needed to be doing after a frustrating day like today, was blowing ingredients up in a cauldron. That never went over well with the professor or her classmates. So instead of class or catching up on work, she was wandering around the third floor, trying to figure out what to do next. The easy answer to go eat, or to find her cat somewhere in the common room and force him to cuddle with her. He wasn’t a huge fan of that. Speaking of not being a fan of someone, the boy that ran up next to her in the hall and was now talking to her was a great example. Gilderoy Lockhart. Easily the complete opposite of her in everything. She had never seen someone so…full of himself? Was that even the correct term? The Hufflepuff was almost positive that he was aware of his personality, which meant that he was something else altogether. One word came to mind, but she would never say that out loud.

“H-Hello…” she responded quietly. Deciding not to attempt his name today had been a good idea. The longer it was and with harder consonants, the more likely she was going to butcher it. Especially ‘Gs’. They were some of the more difficult words for her. Gilderoy’s question about her camera caught her slightly off guard. “N-No?” Now that it was brought up, she realized that it was strange that she didn’t have it with her. That camera was practically an extension of her body. “Why-Why d-do y-y-you ask?”

[Deleted]

There was that stutter he was expecting as she greeted him and answered his question. He wasn't sure why she stuttered like that, he never really thought about it much after he realized it just wasn't cause he was around. He knew some people did it when nervous and others just because, whatever the reason he didn't need to bring that up. It's just how the girl was and he didn't need to dig deeper than that. He might have been as open about who he was on most things because why hide details about someone as great as himself. That didn't mean everyone else might be as open. What did surprise him a little was her lack of her camera, he saw her plenty of times with it but still he didn't know everything about her or almost anything really.

"I was just thinking we could put that camera to work. You take the pictures and I'll point out great things to take pictures of, with me in some of them of course. I did say great things after all." Gilderoy answered with a slight smirk, the idea crossed his mind when he had seen her with the camera before. "I can even hold the camera and you could get in some the pictures too, I'm sure that would make some beautiful pictures as well."

cordelia regan smith

[cordelia regan smith]

@lockhart

Put her camera to work? Wasn’t that what it was for? As far as she knew, the only thing cameras were meant for was taking photographs. That was work. It seemed like every time she had a conversation with Gilderoy, she understood him less. The real question though, was why he was talking to her in the first place. If she didn’t have her camera on her, then she wouldn’t be able to take pictures of him like he was saying. He did understand that, right? No camera meant no photographs of him, or her, for that matter. The last thing she was doing was trusting someone she barely knew with her camera. Even if magic could fix it, it was the whole philosophy behind it. Having a broken camera was practically a joke to her. She had tripped and smashed it plenty of times, only to have to magic it back together once again. That was only one explanation for why her Charms skill was so high.

“I-I d-don’t know…” Cordelia finally responded, after mulling it over for a few seconds. In actuality, she just didn’t want to take portraits. It was one thing if she had an idea for a portrait or human subject to exist within her desired location, but shooting model photographs wasn’t really her thing. “I-I-I d-don’t l-like b-being in pi-pictures so I d-doubt they’ll b-be that gr-great.” It all went back to the fact that she didn’t want to hand her camera over to him for those shots. “P-Plus I’d have t-to g-get it from m-m-my d-dorm…” She was pretty sure that would be enough of a deterrent. There was no way that he would ask her to go all the way down to the common room just to get her camera for a few silly looking pictures, was there?

[Deleted]

Cordelia didn't outright say no but she also didn't say yes either. Instead just replying how she wasn't sure. He couldn't really blame her for being hesitant, as amazing as Gilderoy was he also hadn't spent much time around Cordelia. It probably was weird for someone to just walk up and ask about taking pictures, even if they would be great pictures just by the fact he was in them. If she outright didn't want to he wouldn't push the subject but to Gilderoy she just seemed on the fence right now. All she needed was a little persuasion and he had the charm for just that he was sure. She also commented about how pictures of her wouldn't be great because she didn't like to be in them. "That's just silly, if you like it or not won't show up in the picture just how you look. So with just that alone pictures with you in them would be great."

It made sense he supposed to keep her camera in her dorm, it wasn't like it was a free day so she probably kept it there to be safe when she knew she wouldn't be using it. "I don't mind waiting or walking with you while you get it. I'm no stranger to the dungeons." Gilderoy smirked slightly as he still didn't think she was telling him no just yet. Still she might have just been trying to be polite. "Listen you can say no, my feelings won't be hurt but what's the worst that can happen? You spend sometime with a handsome guy taking pictures? Not the worst thing in the world, right?"

cordelia regan smith

[cordelia regan smith]

@lockhart

Cordelia didn’t have the heart or the gall to tell Gilderoy that he was wrong about the outcome of her pictures. Since she didn’t like being in them, it most certainly would show when she had them printed. The last thing she wanted to be a part of her collection was a series of self-portraits where she looked gloomy. Obviously destroying them after the fact was easy enough, but Gilderoy seemed like the type that would beg to see them until she finally produced results. Again, she wasn’t capable of telling him no. “I j-just d-don’t l-like b-being in them…” Cordelia repeated. She wasn’t sure how many times she would have to say that for him to relent. It didn’t matter if her being in them would ‘make them great’. She didn’t think so, and that was why she didn’t take them in the first place. Most people seemed to understand that.

Her thought process on the whole thing had led to the bit about having to go get her camera from the common room. That also should have been enough to shake Gilderoy off, but he was resilient. She wasn’t capable of shaking him off here either. “As l-long as they aren’t p-portraits,” she said quietly. Turning down a chance to take pictures from another person’s perspective did sound interesting. At least that was what she was getting from all of this. The bit about taking pictures with him specifically didn’t really matter to her; getting a different outlook did though. Deciding that it was worth spending a bit of time to get rid of him, the Hufflepuff started walking in the direction of the dungeons. It would be a long walk, and she knew Gilderoy wasn’t going to be quiet the whole time, even if that was her preferred method of getting to the common room. “Why-Why are y-you interested in m-my p-photos?”

[Deleted]

Cordelia still refused, again stating she didn't like being in her own photos and he wasn't going to force her to if she didn't want to. "That's fine, no pressure. I was just sharing what I thought." Gilderoy said with a smile, he never wanted to force someone to do something they didn't want to. Forcing or backing someone into a corner isn't something a great person like himself should ever be doing. "Still just give it some thought sometime. Beautiful scenery and other things are nice but so can photos of equally charming people such as ourselves." He'd drop it after this, Gilderoy didn't bring it up to just pressure her into doing it, he wasn't that type of person.

She agreed to get her camera on the condition that she wouldn't be taking portraits. With that he was mildly disappointed, not enough to show or to ruin his day but here he was offering up the chance to take photos of something far better than some scenery and Cordelia was turning it down. "You have my word that they won't be portraits unless you want them to be." He smiled as he finally replied, she could always chance her mind and with a subject as perfect as him around he wouldn't be surprised if she did. Still again he wasn't going to pressure the poor girl on the subject and force her to take photos of something she didn't want to. Gilderoy proceeded to follow beside her as she made her way toward the Hufflepuff common room he assumed. "I'll admit part of it was about the portraits," he replied with a pause to Cordelia questioning his interest in her photos. "Still it's a fascinating art, something I'd just like to know more about in general for the future. Who better to ask than the pretty girl whose always going around with her camera?"

cordelia regan smith

[cordelia regan smith]

@lockhart

No pressure. Every time someone said that to her, there was always a follow up to it that had something pressing tacked on. Every. Single. Time. A professor in class, stating that there was no pressure to write the extremely long term paper earlier in the semester, but at the same time it would probably take a few days’ worth of effort to research and complete it. Or that there was no pressure to cast a simple levitation charm in front of the entire class. She hated those ones the most. Especially because she knew she could do it, and so did Professor Zhu. Yet at the same time, she also sucked at being able to do anything with watchful eyes on her. Cordelia was pretty sure that muggles had a phrase for that. Big brother watching them at all times, or something like that. Glares that, while not necessarily scrutinizing her work or judging her character, were still turned towards her attention and whatever it was that she was doing. Hiding behind the body of a camera was so much easier. Instead of voicing her worries about there not being any pressure, Cordelia relegated her response to a simple nod of her head. She had already given this sort of thing a lot of thought, and even if Gilderoy was trying to butter her up with compliments, it wouldn’t really work. “M-M-Maybe,” she answered slowly about photos of charming people. “Un-Under the r-right circ-circumstances…m-maybe…”

Unfortunately, her last bit of commentary about portraits under the correct conditions would probably come across that she was willing to do them now. That was something that needed to be backtracked on. Not today at least. Hopefully Gilderoy would understand that she was talking about a later point in time and not this very second. She probably wasn’t helping if the Ravenclaw boy was confused. “N-No p-portraits to-today,” she restated, just to make it clear. It was better to get it out of the way now than later. Doing it late always made everything that much more awkward. She had been learning over the last few months that speaking up for herself was an extremely important tool to have, and one that she had been too afraid to utilize for the first fifteen years of her life. Better late than never though.

Gilderoy admitted that he was interested because of the portraits, and that finally answered why he had been so intent on getting some. If this was going to lead something of a common interaction, Cordelia figured that she might as well get them done with at some point in time. It was better than stringing him along for months with the hopes that he’ll one day get his very own portrait. She didn’t want to be one of those people. Continuing to nod her head as he explained that he had wanted to know about photography in general, Cordelia stopped walking when he finished the second sentence. The pretty who with the what? “I-I-I’m s-s-sorry…I-I uhhh…” her mouth was moving too fast for her to process what he had said still. Normally it was the other way around. The panic would set in, and then she would stare blankly at the person until words could be formed. This time was just useless stammering for a sentence that would never actually be coherent. “I-I d-don’t…I d-don’t under-uunderstand?”

[Deleted]

Gilderoy merely smiled at Cordelia as she mentioned only taking portraits under the right circumstances. There weren't better circumstances than when Gilderoy was around, who else was a better subject for a portrait after all. Still he didn't want to pressure the poor girl, no he fully meant no pressure when he said. He'd never want to come off as desperate or needing something, it was unbecoming of the type of man he was. Especially when it concerned photographs, in time the world would want all the photos of him they could get. As for the people who didn't take them when they had the chance, well that was for them to regret later on down the road. Still Cordelia felt the need to say once more no that she wouldn't take any portraits for me at least today. "My dear, you have my word you won't hear me ask for any for the rest of the day. Sound good? Just don't go taking any of me when I not looking." Gilderoy teased for a second with a wink as he wouldn't have minded or blamed her anyway.

As Gilderoy explained why he was interested in her photography or just photography in general she stopped walking and looked confused as she stuttered out a response. It seemed she was confused on what he had meant or at least that's only what he could guess. She didn't really get much out between the stuttering and saying she didn't understand. Gilderoy just smiled as he had stopped walking as well turning to face her. "Well one day I want to write books like my father did. Go on these big adventures, help save people and then tell the world about it. So they can be prepared as well or just read some amazing stories." Gilderoy wasn't ashamed or embarrassed to share his goals in life, he in fact enjoyed it as he explained to Cordelia. "The only thing I ever found lacking with his books was they didn't have any good photographs, not just of him but the things he fought or the places he had been." That bugged Gilderoy the most, if his father had only thought to take pictures of his adventures the books would have been perfect. Also no one could claim his adventures were just lies. "So like I said it's just something that I find interesting and I'd like to know more about for whenever I do go out into the world." Gilderoy finished explaining, hoping he had made it clear for the girl and it would ease her stutter. He doubted stuttering more than normal was any fun for her and he wasn't one to want to cause someone discomfort.

"So that's why I came to you, unless I'm mistaken and there is another pretty blonde girl named Cordelia whose always running around with a camera?" He joked as he knew there wasn't or at least as far as he knew there wasn't. 

cordelia regan smith

[cordelia regan smith]

@lockhart

Cordelia just nodded her head as Gilderoy said that he wouldn’t bug her anymore for portraits. That was all she really wanted to hear. It was funny. She found that she was more apt to do a portrait series if a person didn’t ask to have them done. There was something more natural about getting them in the moment, or at a position they found themselves typically in, but not a state that everyone would see them in. That was why she liked photographs. Capturing those little things meant being able to show others pieces of life that normally wouldn’t be available to them. That and it was fun to run around and ignore everything except for what she was looking at through the camera lens. “I w-won’t,” she confirmed, noting to herself that it would be a waste of film to take snapshots of something in motion, specifically Gilderoy.

Still rather confused on his last statement, Gilderoy didn’t exactly help by starting to explain how he wanted to be a writer. Did any of this have to do with her photography? She was sure she had missed something somewhere, and he was just going on regardless. Most people wouldn’t let her get a word in. He at least had the courtesy to do that. “Y-Your f-f-father wrote b-books?” she found herself asking. He was talking about it quite a bit, so it wouldn’t hurt to inquire, would it? The lack of photographs, as Gilderoy put it, was probably due to the fact that it wasn’t a picture book. Cordelia didn’t have the heart to tell him that though. Research and novels based on real life very rarely had images in them, unless it was like, a diagram or something. At least that was how it went in her experience with books.

By the time Gilderoy finished giving his explanation about his father’s books, she figured out what he was getting at. Mostly because he said so himself. That made more sense to her. She had almost forgotten that the initial confusion had been caused by the fact that he had called her pretty. It all came back when he repeated it again. “I-I th-think I’m the o-only one...” she muttered, trying to avoid answering the other part of it. Unfortunately she felt like she needed to at least address it. Kind of. “B-But I d-don’t know about th-that other p-part…”

[Deleted]

Gilderoy just smiled as Cordelia asked about his fathers books. "Oh yes, he was pretty popular about twenty-five years ago. He wrote plenty of books about the adventures he would go on and people he helped. The library has a few of the if you ever want to check them out." Gilderoy explained proudly, he genuinely was proud of his father or at least the man he used to be. Nowadays he didn't seem like the man in those books at all, he could hardly remember what he was doing in that moment let alone a few days ago. Still Gilderoy was used to that with his father. "He lost his memory somehow while he was teaching here at Hogwarts. He never fully recovered that's why no one ever really talks about him. He kind of just disappeared from the news after the incident." That was the sad part but it wasn't like it wasn't common knowledge to anyone who wanted to know about it. Besides not everyone stopped talking about him, in fact that's all his mother would ever talk about sometimes. 

Cordelia explained how she thought she was the only one in between her stuttering. "That's good to know, still two of you would be an interesting notion." Gilderoy replied half jokingly half interested by the idea. While he thought for a moment Cordelia felt the need to say she didn't know about being pretty. It wasn't a new argument he was met with, plenty of girls that were perfectly attractive never felt they were for one reason or another. Gilderoy was of the opinion that most the girls he ran into were beautiful in general or they just had they're own beauty about them, Cordelia was no different. Still maybe that was just the gentlemen in him that found the beauty in woman even when they couldn't, still he didn't think that was the case here with her. "Now, you don't have to worry about being modest, I've already admitted how pretty I think you are even if you don't want to. Might as well accept it before I just keep reminding you." Gilderoy teased slightly at the end with a smile as he stood there in the hall with her.

cordelia regan smith

(Pictures will return when I get to my computer, I'm sorry my adoring fans . )

[cordelia regan smith]

@lockhart

Twenty-five years ago was a long time, so it was no wonder that Cordelia had never heard of this before. She also didn’t make a habit of hanging around Gilderoy all that often. If she had, then maybe this would have been brought up years ago. Or maybe not. Gilderoy was just weird enough that she did her best to avoid him most of the time. His father sounded rather wonderful though, especially if it was true that he had written books and taught at Hogwarts at one point time. In her short experience at the school, the professors were some of the best, and even they were picked from a small pool of talented witches and wizards. She assumed that even being interviewed for a job here was an honor of its own. “S-So are th-they fic-fiction b-books?” she inquired, now becoming interested in the stories that the older Lockhart had written about. Cordelia enjoyed a good mystery or crime novel from time to time, and if that was what Gilderoy’s father had written, then she was game to read everything he had. It would probably mean a lot if students got into them again, all these years later. Especially if he had lost his memory like Gilderoy said he had. She knew that was one of the difficulties of magic at times, and that any permanent magical damage could be tricky to fix if a spell went awry. That was only one of the reasons why she wanted to become a healer. Even easing up the pain and suffering that some people received from spell damage would make a different for them.

Cordelia was pretty sure she was fine with there only being one of her in existence. She wouldn’t want her clone to suffer through the same things that she did, because then that would be twice as awful. The only useful part that could possibly come out of that would be a second person to take pictures and develop them. That would mean she could either do double the photography work, or continue her typical amount and give the clone all the grunt work. Or would she be the clone? Even thinking of that started to confuse her more, and she had to physically shake her head to get rid of it all.

Instead of immediately responding to Gilderoy’s admission, she kept walking, with the hope that her silence would at least get her to the common room so she could grab the camera. Walking quietly was certainly nice, and she knew there wouldn’t be much more of it if she was going to be taking pictures with Gilderoy nearby or in them. There would be a lot of input. Mulling over his weak threat of her having to accept the compliment or else he would continue, Cordelia sighed as she started down the steps into the entrance hall. “…I s-suppose I-I’ll accep-accept it,” she said quietly. It was kind of embarrassing taking something that she didn’t personally think was true, and especially since it was coming from Gilderoy. She couldn’t tell if he was joking or telling the truth half the time.

[Deleted]

Gilderoy just smiled as Cordelia asked if his fathers books were fiction. Typically that stuck a cord with him, he couldn't stand it when someone questioned the great things his father had done. Yet it was obvious that Cordelia just didn't know and was curious. There wasn't anything wrong with that and after all he was the one to bring up his father. She obviously didn't know who he was after all. "No, all his books were based on his adventures around the world. He protected people from all kinds of creatures and shared the stories with the world." He explained having read each book himself, as a kid he couldn't get enough of his fathers books. Possibly because it was his one true connection to the man. His father barely remembered he had a son most days yet the man in those books was totally different. "Don't get me wrong, I'm sure he might have embellished a few details just for keeping the readers attention but that doesn't change what he had done."

Cordelia began to walk once more and Gilderoy followed, all the while she stayed quiet. He took the time to think if he had taken his words to far. This was Cordelia after all and it was obvious she wasn't very comfortable with too much attention just from being in classes with her when she was called upon. Not to mention the stutter she had. He wasn't lying, she was indeed pretty but just maybe she wasn't the type of girl he should keep saying that to. Just for the sake of her nerves. Not everyone was made to receive compliments like Gilderoy was, then again compliments in general were made for him. Cordelia finally spoke accepting his compliment, probably out of the fact he had jokingly threatened to remind her again and again. "Good," was his reply and he left it at that not wanting to pressure her anymore.

The walk had so far been a quiet one after that till Gilderoy spoke once more, a little bored of being silent. "So... besides your camera and pictures what else do you like? I know almost nothing about you after sharing some classes for six years besides being the girl with camera and..." Gilderoy saved himself there with a pause, he was about to say with a stutter. Something a gentlemen such as himself shouldn't rudely bring up. "And being quiet in class." He congratulated himself on the nice save sarcastically in his mind.

cordelia regan smith

[cordelia regan smith]

@lockhart

She listened silently as Gilderoy described his father’s achievements around the globe, and the kinds of things that he had done, and in turn, written books about. Being an adventurer sounded dangerous – the likes of which her possible future profession would scoff at for the carelessness and flippancy of those traversing around every which way. Some fabrications, as Gilderoy pointed out, were a possibility, but that was literature. The only truth in any literature came in the form of history books, and those were made according to the victorious side. “W-Was he l-like a uh…m-magiz-zoologist? Or a b-beast hunter?” There were so many careers out there nowadays, that Mr. Lockhart could have done anything. Saving people was a rather virtuous career in itself though, and if he had actually done that, then he should still be applauded for it. The fact that his books weren’t readily known anymore was quite odd, in her opinion. “W-Would they b-be in the b-biographical s-section at a b-bookstore?”

It sounded like the compliments would end. For now. There was only so much of that she could take without being eternally confused about everything. Why anyone would want to talk to her in the first place was already hard enough to comprehend as it was – being called pretty was just another step above that. Gilderoy seemed to understand though, or at least knew that she could easily slip into the common room once they reached it, and refuse to leave again for the rest of the week if she so desired.

Silence dwindled on for a while longer as they meandered into the entrance hall, only to be broken as the Ravenclaw boy started to talk again, this time asking her about what else she did. That was a difficult question to answer. “Y-You n-nailed it…” she said slowly, embarrassed that it was obvious what she did and didn’t do. Camera and being quiet. That certainly summed her up in a few words. She was going to leave it at that – she wanted to leave it at that. Except she felt like she needed to explain herself for whatever reason. “I-I d-don’t t-talk in class be-because of m-m-my st-stutter…d-don’t w-want to w-waste everyone’s t-time…”

[Deleted]

Gilderoy enjoyed answering people's questions about himself or his father but in the case of his father sometimes he just didn't have the answer. He knew from the books and his mother that his father hadn't been a magizoologist or some beast hunter. Yet his books didn't explain why he traveled so much, possibly he just liked to explore the world and these were those adventures. Life would have been so much better if he could have just gotten to know that man and ask him himself. No his father no wasn't that man, all those memories were long gone as well as everything else his father knew. "I believe he just really enjoyed exploring the world. Then wrote about the places he had been and people he helped along the way." Gilderoy attempted to explain with an almost forced smile but even that was just like his normal tooth filled smile before adding more. "Can't really ask him now sadly but it's just the feeling I get." Cordelia asked next where she might find his father's books and he smiled for real once more. "They should be if they still sell them. It has been over twenty years since he wrote anything. They might not keep them in the bookstores that long. I have them all at home if you're interested."

After asking what else she might enjoy Cordelia just explained that he had nailed it. Gilderoy didn't believe that, there was more to people than just two things in her case being quiet and photographs. Either she was shy or just didn't want to share with him. Whatever the reason he just didn't believe it but wasn't about to call her out totally and be rude. "Aw come on, you don't like anything else? Quidditch? Animals? Being a mystery?" Gilderoy laughed a little at the end, mildly teasing her, hopefully not enough to get her nervous again. Cordelia then explained why she didn't speak in class and he could understand a little if she felt like she didn't want to talk. "Well if you ask me hearing your voice, stutter and all, wouldn't be a waste of anyone's time. Speak up next time you got the answer, it'll be far better than listening to the professor drone on and on. Besides, the stutter is cute sometimes."

cordelia regan smith