Stardust [Lily]

[cordelia regan smith]

lily luna potter

Tonight was a special night. One of the first late night astronomy classes had just finished. While that was all fine and dandy, it was what came after that Cordelia was looking forward to the most. After a few years of pushing, she finally managed to get permission from Professor Malfoy to stay after class and take photos of the night sky. She had everything she needed too; scrap of paper with written signature and everything, since she was bound to get stopped on the way back to the dungeons, the correct film for it, and her camera was ready to go. It was going to be a daunting task, since she didn’t have all night to do it.

As she set up, Professor Malfoy and the remaining students disappeared from the astronomy tower. There were a few minutes of clunking below as the stragglers took their time getting back to their respective common rooms. Then it was silent. Just how she liked it. Placing her camera on her tripod, she started snapping photos. Pure bliss. No one was there to bother her.

[Deleted]

Lily didn't have astronomy this year, which she was now regretting. The stars were freaking beautiful! She should have been out there with the other students. But, like always, she barely paid attention to what classes she selected. The only thing she really saw herself doing after school was playing Quidditch so none of those classes really mattered. And she didn't' even really see herself doing that. She didn't see herself doing anything, really. Lily wasn't want to look into the future. She liked to just focus on the moment and live where she was.

So, that's what she was doing now. This philosophy often kept her out after hours and she often got in trouble for it. This was just another one of those nights, but this time Lily found her way to the Astronomy Tower and saw Cordelia setting up her camera in the dark. Lily grinned, crossing over to her. "Cordelia, aren't you a little rebel," she mused.

[cordelia regan smith]

lily luna potter

A few clicks from the camera told her that everything was in working order. Right then she was focusing on bracketing the ISO, making sure that if her camera settings were off, at least once of the pictures she took would turn out. That was the one problem with a non-digital camera. If only Hogwarts had been lenient about those. It was one of her main problems with magic. On the flipside, she enjoyed the challenge of working with film. Muggles still used it from time to time, but the digital age was upon them now. Her parents didn’t understand all that, so it was easier to get them to buy her film than it was technology.

Pulling up a chair from the corner, Cordelia dragged it behind her camera so she could sit down. Next on the list was a long exposure shot. Hopefully it would look good, since it was going to take a long time to actually get done. Before she had the chance to sit down though, a voice came from somewhere near her. Jumping backwards, she let out a semi-quiet screech and knocked the chair over. Looking around wildly, all she could see was the outline of a red-headed girl. Why’d she think that was funny, and how did she know her name?

[Deleted]

Lily giggled as Cordelia let out a sound, waiting patiently for the girl to turn toward her. She didn't seem to recognize her, and Lily took a step closer, giving a little wave. "Hey, hey where's the big show? It's Lily," she laughed loudly, stepping even closer so that hopefully she wouldn't just be an outline. She didn't meant to scare the girl but, of course, it did make her smile when the badger made that adorable squeaking sound. "What's got you so jumpy?"

[cordelia regan smith]

lily luna potter

The girl shrouded in shadow stepped out almost seconds after Cordelia had bounced backwards. She had been almost positive that she had shut the door in a way that she could hear it open. Her first thought was that this was one of the school ghosts checking in on the lone student hanging around the Astronomy Tower. Instead though, the redhead stepped into the light and started speaking to Cordelia. She titled her head to the side as the girl said it was Lily. This was Lily? But Lily had blonde hair. But Lily was also part of a family that mostly had red hair. She put two and two together and realized that the blonde-Lily wasn’t the normal one.

“I-It’s okay…I didn’t kn-know you were there.” Cordelia looked down at her feet and realized that the chair she had set up was laying on its side. Bending down, she lifted it back to its place and stepped towards Lily so she could see her better. She had thought the blonde had fit her friend, but this looked like it was a perfect match. Went along with her personality. “I was f-focusing on my camera so I guess I didn’t hear you…” She did her best smile to show she was over the shock she had been through only moments before.

[Deleted]

Lily shrugged as Cordelia exclaimed that she just didn't know Lily was standing there. Not surprising, lily could be sneaky when she wanted to be. Lily nodded, "that's all right, darling. What are you doing up here?" she asked. Well, it was clear that Cordelia was taking pictures, of course, but Lily asked the question anyway. "And why do you look confused? Though, that smile is almost convincing," she chuckled, reaching a finger up to tap the corner of Cordies lip where it was curling upward. The girl had one of those smiles to die for, and Lily appreciated that kind of power.

cordelia regan smith

[cordelia regan smith]

lily luna potter

What was she doing again? “Oh!” Cordelia exclaimed. “I w-was trying to get n-night shots. L-long exposures and stuff…” She trailed off, realizing there was a good chance that Lily wouldn’t understand the camera talk she had just blurted out. Thinking of how to explain it, Cordelia stared at her camera, grabbing one of her elbows and letting her arm swing back and forth as she thought. “Ever s-see those p-pictures where the stars are blurry? That’s w-what I wanted to do.” And she was confident that she would be able to pull it off too. The only problem was that there was a distraction now, and a very good one at that. Even if Lily said she would be fine and play along, Cordelia knew it would be hard to keep her still. As long as she didn’t knock the camera over, Cordelia was fine with whatever the Gryffindor did. Plus she’d need something to do during the long exposure shots.

“C-Confused?” It was the hair, that’s what it was. She didn’t want to sound silly saying it though. Unfortunately, her mouth decided to say what she was thinking, regardless of her efforts to stop it. “I didn’t kn-know you had red hair…it scared m-me because I l-liked the blonde so much.” She smiled again, unsure if that would get her in the clear. Lily stepped closer and tapped Cordelia’s face as she did so. Immediately, she could feel her face burn up. She had never really had someone that close to her before.

[Deleted]

Cordelia explained that she was trying to do the 'long exposures' and Lily refrained from making a dirty joke. Lily waitede, though, for Cordelia to go on to explain. She grinned, "those pictures are awesome. Sorry , I didn't mean to interrupt," but she didn't really sound that sorry. "Do you need some company, though?" she added, holding out her arms to reference herself. She was the company, obviously, and she was damn good company at that.

Lily nodded as Cordelia questioned the comment about her being confused. Then, Cordie explained that she didn't know Lily had red hair. Lily grinned as the sentence ended with Cordie saying she liked the blonde so much. Lily didn't lower her hand from Cordies face just yet, "you're sweet," she said, moving her finger to tap the other corner of Cordelias mouth before finally bringing it back, "but yet, I'm naturally a redhead. I'll admit I liked the blonde too but but, well,"' she giggled, "you know how they say blondes have more fun? I'm afraid I was having a little too much fun. Needing to ground myself a little," of course Lily didn't believe in 'too much fun', but it was a fun excuse for the hair at the moment.

"So, show me how this long exposure thing works," she said, gesturing to the camera on it's stand.

cordelia regan smith

[cordelia regan smith]

lily luna potter

Cordelia shook her head that it was okay for Lily to interrupt. She knew it was going to happen either way, so the Hufflepuff was mentally prepared for that already. It had come to her realization lately that there were two groups of people she was friends with: those that let her stumble all the way through her sentences and gave her time to process things and those like Lily, who were like they were on fire all the time, saying whatever came to their minds as soon as it did. Cordelia appreciated both of them for different reasons. On one half she was allowed to think and process things slowly, on the other, she was challenged to interact and socialize like a normal person was. It was kind of fun too. “S-Sure. It g-gets lonely up here sometime. J-Just me and the stars…” More like always. The astronomy tower was as far away from any other human life as possible. Even the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw common rooms were quite a ways away from them.

Lily flicked her finger to the other end of Cordelia’s mouth, and she stayed as still as possible, unsure of what was going to happen next. All she really wanted to do at this point was to continue taking photos, but that didn’t seem like it was going to happen right away. When Lily wanted to do something else, it was hard to get away from that. Cordelia didn’t need to know her for too long to understand that. Finally, Lily pulled her hand away and talked about how she was naturally a redhead and all that. Apparently being a blonde was too much fun. Cordelia reacted to this, grabbing onto a strand of her own hair and staring at it. She had never had too much fun, but that was probably because she had never actively searched for it.

Then she asked about how the camera worked for the long exposure. That was more in her area of expertise. Stepping around the chair, Cordelia motioned that she was attaching a switch to the camera, holding it out for Lily to see. “I hold this d-down for however long I want the picture to be.” It was a simple enough mechanism, but actually getting the shot correctly was the tough part. She would have no idea what it would look like until development.

[Deleted]

Cordelia mentioned being lonely and Lily's smile wavered. She didn't like that word, or the fact that anyone had to feel that way. That's why she was here, wasn't it? To keep Cordelia company? She was good at that. She was also good at changing the subject, which she did by bringing up the camera and asking Cordelia to explain how it worked.

Even though it was dark, Lily could see the way Cordelia explained and showed Lily what she was to do. Lily grinned, nodding, "so you literally have to sit here holding the button for hours?" she said with a small giggle. "I'm glad you have the patience. I can't sit still for that long. At least there are artists like you out there, Cord." Lily's eyes found the sky, shifting among the stars until they landed on the moon.

She let out a sad sigh at the not full moon, moving to lean against the ledge of the tower. "Shame it's not a full moon, isn't it?" she said absently.

cordelia regan smith

[cordelia regan smith]

lily luna potter

Cordelia bit down on her lip as she nodded her head slowly to acknowledge Lily’s question. Hours was an understatement. The main caveat to photography was patience. Those who couldn’t manage a little of that at the right moments would never be able to succeed. At least, that’s what she believed. Someone like Lily could have the artistic vision, but it would be hard to wrangle them into one place in order to achieve that. Cordelia sometimes wondered if there was untapped talent out there in people like that; they simply had never given it a shot, so they would never know. “Y-You should s-stop by the art club sometime then. Everyone else there has m-more talent that me.” She was rather confident in that statement because they were. The rest of the club had captured true artistic talent, whereas she simply had a good idea for what photographs would look good to others.

Lily eventually moved up against the railing, and Cordelia took that as the time to start the long exposure. All she had to do was hold the button down anyways, so talking while that went on wouldn’t hurt. Following her friend over to the ledge, she kept the button tightly pinned down, having taped it down to make sure it wouldn’t stop without her letting it. “A f-full moon would make this a lot easier. D-Do you like them?”

[Deleted]

Lily shook her head as Cord mentioned she should stop by the art club and abut the talent there and blah blah blah. "No thank you. I'd rather just admire one artist. You," she giggled and gave Cordelia one of her signature winks. She wasn't sure she could handle so many artists in one place. They were all just so... involved. Granted, she did feel like they lived in the moment more than most people, which was fine with her. In fact, she encouraged it.

Lily didn't noticed Cordie push down the button, but she figured that she would have started the shot. Lily nodded, looking down at Cordelia again, "yes, I'm sure it would give you a little more light," she agreed. Then she grinned, "I do like full moons," her eyes flashed with a hint of her wild nature. She didn't keep her wolf-ness a secret, but this was kind of fun. Beating around the bush.

cordelia regan smith

[cordelia regan smith]

lily luna potter

She knew she was blushing at Lily’s comment about admiring her as an artist. As she had been more outward with her work, Cordelia had tried to be humble about all of it, but that was becoming increasingly more difficult. Fighting the fact that she was producing decent quality work every now and then, she was getting more used to simply accepting that people liked what she was doing. Being too confident made her feel like she’d become like Daryl or Xan. They were always really proud of their work and abilities. Cordelia didn’t believe she was allowed that, since she really only had photography, whereas the rest of them were good at everything.

All they were doing now was staring at the moon. Cordelia had the button pushed firmly down in her hand. It was going to be a while before that was even close to being finished. Luckily holding it down wasn’t too hard, so holding a conversation wasn’t impossible. “M-More light is always good. Unless there’s too m-much.” Cordelia mused to herself. Overexposed photos were worse in her opinion, than underexposed. Especially ones where half of the picture came in and the rest was blown out. Those were always killer. Lily mentioned the full moon again. She was really fixated on that. “Why?” There wasn’t necessarily anything meant behind that, more that it seemed appropriate since it kept getting brought up.

((100!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!))

[Deleted]

Lily just adored the fact that she could make Cordelia blush so easily. Hell, she could make a lot of people blush easily. It was one of her many talents. It was always fun for her, seeing how far she could go to make someone feel uncomfortable or different in some way. Normally, though, she just wanted them to be happy so she reined the compliments, only true ones that she believed in, of course. She didn't make stuff up.

Lily nodded, "too much of anything is bad," she said. So far she hadn't experienced 'too much' of anything, though, so she was lucky in that regard. Cordelia asked why Lily liked the full moons and Lily shrugged again, grinning. "Because that's when I get to run a little faster, Cord," she looked away from the moon, back to the blonde. "And my teeth get a little sharper," she smiled, trying to hold back her laughter from how crazy she must have sounded, "and I get some fur." She said that last part rather flatly.

cordelia regan smith

[cordelia regan smith]

lily luna potter

Lily was right. Too much of anything was bad. There was this one time where she ate an entire birthday cake, her parents assuming the other children decided to bail on it. In actuality, Cordelia had simply not invited anyone, since that required talking to them. Her father had made some kind of remark about muggles always being like that, and then received a stern look from his wife. That was easily the best part of that day, before the insane stomachache that followed because she had consumed the entire chocolate cake. She shuddered at the thought of ever having to do that again.

The conversation seemed to be focused on the moon now though. It was nice to watch it from the astronomy tower, especially when there was a clear sky like tonight. Nodding her head as Lily talked, only half listening to what she was actually saying, it wasn’t until there was a mention of teeth sharpening and getting fur that Cordelia turned towards the Gryffindor and stared at her. Sharp teeth and fur? Cordelia swallowed, thinking this was another Lily joke, but she had a feeling it wasn’t. “Y-You’re n-n-not a w-werewolf are you?” Cordelia wasn’t concerned for her safety at all since it wasn’t a full moon, but she also knew that the werewolves at Hogwarts were all good people. Just the other day, Elias, the Durmstrang champion, had told her that he was one too. And he was easily one of the most understanding people she had met while at school. “B-Because it’s o-okay with me if you are…”