[Lou's Gallery] I do believe in love (Theophilus)

Today was the big day. Louise had worked feverishly to prepare everything for the new exhibition at her gallery. She quite liked the concept of it - in the muggle area of the shop there were normal photos on the walls showing people in passionate embrace, kissing, holding hands - just showing their affection to their loved one. These photos were mostly black and white with only little coloured details such as a rose that a man was giving his girlfriend. Louise had taken most of these pictures herself, portraying people of different ages and style. In the middle of the room were some sculptures, also showing hugging figures. Louise's favourite was from a French artist who had used one piece of wood to create a couple that looked like they were one.

In the wizarding section of the gallery, there were moving pictures of affectionate gestures, magical sculptures and even a very large and expressive magical painting that was maybe not quite appropriate for the younger visitors to see even though it was rather abstract. While she was very pleased to have convinced the artist to let her show the painting, Louise's favourite item was from a German photographer who had captured a scene where a couple was first arguing and then ending up kissing each other. It was such an emotional scene and it really was a capture of life.

Behind the veil that was protected by an age charm, Louise had not changed much. The items that she sold there were in her opinion the next step. From immovable pictures and sculptures to the livelier wizarding art the exhibition kind of closed with the practical approach to love or rather the satisfaction of sexual needs. Not everybody had the luck of being with a person they could love like displayed in the first two rooms anyway. Louise was single herself but even though it sometimes made her sad to see that so many others had what she didn't have, she liked to observe couples. In the end a romantic scene was only for a moment. In a real relationship there were also a lot of not so romantic times, that much was certain.

While the official exhibition opening was going to take place in the evening, Louise had sent an owl to the Daily Prophet to advertise the event and to offer them to send a journalist to take a first look at the pieces of art and ask her some questions if they so wished. Later on she would not have the time to focus on an interview, that at least she hoped. The witch inspected the tables she had put up in the first two sections of the gallery and on which she had placed bottle coolers for the champagne and glasses. It all looked perfect. She took a deep breath and decided to check her own appearance one last time in the mirror.

She was wearing a peach coloured knee length dress with broad straps on the shoulders and an elegant gather. While the skirt was swinging nicely, the upper part of the dress was tight and complimenting her female curves. The reddish brown hair was straight and lose. Louise rarely managed a presentable updo and didn't feel like seeing a hairdresser for it. In fact she felt more at ease with her hair falling on her shoulders, framing her face nicely. She had applied some make up, mostly to accentuate her expressive eyes even further. Applying some soft rose coloured lip gloss, Louise walked back to the gallery front, waiting if the Daily Prophet had enough interest in the exhibition to send a journalist to Camden.

[OOC: here's the description of the gallery]

It wasn't enough that Artie was back in town, but Theophilus Dayton did have to work. He was put on assignment to write about the gallery that was having a new exhibition. The artist was Louise Ellington. He really did not know much about her or the art, but he was willing to admire someone else's muse. Normally the only art he would get to admire was his own. Most of his assignments were checking other people's work or music articles. They thought that his body covered in tattoos would be more appreciate to the more rougher side of the art scene rather than the sophistication of art dealers or galleries. His boss told him to cover the tattoos up and make sure he looked nice because he was there as the daily prophet.

Theo wore a black button up shirt with his finger-less gloves on. He had a dark blue vest that was buttoned in a line with the button up shirt. He had gray slacks on with a gray bag sling on his shoulder to write down descriptions of the art and interview questions. He was prepared for anything, even if it was boring - which was a portable muggle radio with headphones so he would be able to appreciate the art with no interruptions.

As he made his way to Camden he entered the gallery.  There was a muggle entrance, which he preferred to take, with people embracing each other and holding hands. They were very beautiful. She was an amazing photographer. There was a sculpture in the middle of the room of hugging figures. It made him miss the love of his life. It was okay though, he needed to put his focus on his word. He pulled out a note pad and a pen and begun to write a few things about the emotions in the faces of the couple as he moved back to the wizard section, but stopped himself. He noticed a woman in a peach covered dress. Was this the gallery owner? He was pretty sure. It was how she composed herself. She seemed to look like she knew what she was doing and had a deep appreciation for this place. He went toward her, placing the notepad in his back pocket. "Louise Ellington?" He waited to see if it was the woman and then continued by placing his hand out in front of her and put on a cheesy smile. Hopefully she did not mind his gloves. He never took them off. "Theo Dayton. Daily Prophet reporter." He smiled.

The reason why he wore those gloves was to protect him from visions. Some were nice, others just terrified him. He hated seeing death. He loved seeing happiness. You never got to pick and choose when you are a seer. You get what you get and this was his way of protecting himself from what he never wanted to see.

Time was passing so slowly when one waited for something. Louise had checked everything at the gallery twice and all looked just as it should. Everything was prepared and she was waiting for the reporter to arrive. Maybe the responsible editors of the Daily Prophet had changed their opinion and decided that the exhibition opening was not interesting enough to waste an article on it. While Louise was really proud of what she had achieved she knew that this event would not make the most exciting headline.

When the door swung open and a man entered, Louise wondered if that was finally the Daily Prophet reporter or just a random guest or someone who came early for the opening. She observed him quietly, giving him time to take a brief look around first. After all, the main thing about the exhibition opening was not that she got attention but that the art work made by her and other witches and wizards was being looked at and ideally even sold. Her first impression of the man was that he was rather warmly dressed for a summer day like this. The man looked around and seemed to take notes which reassured Louise that he had to be the reporter.

As he approached her and introduced himself, she offered a warm smile. She was more than a little surprised to see that he was wearing gloves and wondered why he did that. It was unusual that anybody did that during the summertime. Maybe he had some illness of sorts or was covering up something. Maybe the opportunity to find that out would arise later on. Shaking his hand, she nodded. "Indeed, I'm Louise Ellington. It's a pleasure to welcome you at my gallery, Mr. Dayton. Would you like to take a look around first or can I tempt you with a glass of champagne?"