[Lou's Gallery] Body and Soul (Sam)

"No, it's nothing, I just, I mean..." Sam stumbled over the words as he put the tall cups and the bag onto the table, his mouth having evidently decided to respond before his brain had figured out what it wanted to say. It was fairly pathetic, given that he could stand in front of a roomful of students (at least half of whom he knew had only taken divination because they thought it was a soft option) and keep their attention for an entire hour. And yet he wasn't able to string a sentence together when confronted with someone who had formerly been a good friend. Was it because he wanted them to be friends again? Was he hoping that they could just pick up where they'd left off twenty years ago, or just...

What was on his mind? Did he want to ask anything, want Louise to explain? He wasn't nervous, not exactly, just uncomfortable that he seemed to have said the wrong thing, and then there was the fact that he felt odd about his position and talking about it. Despite what she said, there was a reason to be nervous, because... and then suddenly he realised that he wasn't the one who'd been discovered selling adult items by an old friend. Louise might have a right to be embarrassed, and some people would probably expect that. but she didn't appear to be. On the contrary, she was trying to reassure him that everything was okay. And in that moment, Sam decided to be honest.

"Nothing's wrong" he began as he attempted to open a small pot of milk that seemed to be specially designed to keep it's contents safely packaged until the end of time "I'm really glad I found your shop today and it's great to see you again. I'm just...well, it's hard to know where to start after so many years. I mean, the last time we saw each other we were still teenagers, and that's the way I still remember you, and I guess maybe it's that way for you as well?" the small piece of foil on the top of the milk pot came off between his fingers, leaving him with no way to get into it. " It feels weird telling you that I actually work at Hogwarts, never mind that I'm...oh, I feel like I'm showing off or something, but after You-know-who fell, and Minerva McGonagall became headmistress... well, I'm deputy headmaster now. I guess the governors picked me because of..." and here he trailed off, not wanting to discuss what had happened during that terrible year, the people they'd lost and the things he'd seen. Instead, he glanced at the window to make sure nobody was passing, then pulled his wand out and in a quick motion, vanished the lid of the pot and poured the milk into his cup at last.

He shook his head. "There's about a dozen other things on my mind, but I've mainly been thinking that if anyone told me that I'd have ended up in such a position I wouldnt believe them, and I'm half expecting you to either ask for proof or laugh in my face." A half-smile slipped across his face as he raised his cup and offered it in a toast. "What about you? What's on your mind just now?"

How could Sam struggle to talk to her when his job was to teach classes of teenagers? Louise found it both confusing and charming. The witch didn't know how to react to his insecurity other than that she asked him to share his thoughts. To be entirely honest she didn't really want to answer any questions with regard to the adult toys but she had always liked Sam and she felt they'd never talk again if they didn't get over the uncomfortable feeling now. Maybe once they talked things through properly they'd both feel more relaxed in each other's presence.

Since she felt a little embarrassed herself, Louise didn't look into Sam's face when he spoke but rather kept her gaze down to observe his battle with the tiny milk pot. A slight smile appeared on her face when he said that he was pleased to have met her. She felt the same, after all. It had been so long that there was so much to catch up on. Somehow Louise was afraid that they'd discover that they had changed too much to still be friends but then again she felt like she was still pretty much the same even if she sold adult toys by now.

The smile on her face became wider when Sam voiced his concerns. He had so little self-confidence! He had been made deputy headmaster of Hogwarts and thought that she didn't believe him, maybe didn't think him worthy of this position. Did she really have to reassure him? It felt ridiculous that she out of all people should do so but then again his behaviour seemed to call for it.

"Congratulations," Louise said quietly, "that's really a great honour, I'm happy for you and I'm sure you do a great job..." Her voice trailed off as she felt that she could not compete with him when it came to career matters. While she believed that it was important to exhibit pieces of art so people could see them, she now felt that this was not even half as important as educating young witches and wizards and more or less running a school. She didn't even want to compare developing adult toys with the education of young people. There was no doubt she'd lose this comparison.

What was on her mind now? Well, truth be told Louise felt like her work was insignificant, even silly. "I'm happy that you came into my gallery today and that we can reconnect now. There have been moments in the last years when I've wondered how you were doing..." Her voice trailed off and she offered him a smile before taking her cup of cappuccino and taking a sip of the hot drink.

After twenty years, maybe that was all that was left to say. That they were glad to have met each other again. It seemed nice, but at the same time strange and vaguely inadequate, and Sam found himself wishing for something more. There was so much more he could say, but he didn't want it to sound as if he was showing off, or making himself out to be more important than...what? More important that deputy headmaster of Hogwarts? Merlin's pants, that was an important job, and of course he hadn't just been given it out of sympathy. Suddenly the vague uncomfortable feelings of inadequacy seemed to vanish and Sam wondered why he had ever expected people would question his position.

And maybe, just maybe they were glad to meet each other again because now this could be a new beginning, rather than the end of something that had started so long ago. With that thought, all kinds of things flooded into Sam's mind and he felt as though he could say anything to Louise, anything at all, and it wouldn't be embarrassing any more.

"This place is great. Really. Part of me's actually rather envious" he said, looking around once again at the paintings and sculptures, then turning back and taking a drink. "You know I always liked to paint? Well, I wonder if..." he started to pause, to have misgivings about what he was saying, and then remembered that he wasn't about to get laughed at or told he was being strange "that is, if you wanted to have a look at some of my pictures. You know, tell me what you think?" That was genuinely all Sam had in mind. He thought it might be rather nice to visit with Louise again and let her look at some of the landscapes he'd painted of Africa and the other places he'd visited. He wanted to tell her about his travels, too, but that seemed like too much of a leap in conversational topics all at once, so he let that slide for now.

"So, um. What do you like to do when you're not working?" he asked, trying to remember what her hobbies had been when they were at school.

There was such a strange atmosphere now. Louise couldn't really tell what it was but something made her feel weirdly nervous now. Somehow she felt like a wrong sentence could destroy everything again and they would not see each other again.

She smiled when he complimented her on her gallery although she did not believe a word when he said that he was envious. How could he? He was the deputy headmaster of Hogwarts for Merlin's sake! There was definitely no reason to be envious for him. Yet, Louise didn't voice that thought as she felt certain that it would be just one of these things that could ruin the situation and maybe mean that they wouldn't meet again.

"Oh yes, I remember," the gallery owner said, smiling a smile reached her eyes. "I'd love to see your paintings! Maybe one or more pieces might even fit into one of my next exhibitions here! I always try to find many different artists for the special themed exhibitions so the visitors can see that people from all different backgrounds are drawn to art. I always hope to reach many different people with the pieces I exhibit and give them courage to try and get creative themselves. After all, even if their work won't be exhibited it is a way to express yourself and to deal with your own troubles and sorrows..." Her voice trailed off now.

Had she phrased this wrong? She hoped that Sam would not interpret her words as her indicating that he was an hobby artist who was just painting away his own troubles...

"Oh! I didn't mean..." Sam suddenly felt embarrassed after being so sure that nothing would make him feel that way again today. Sure, it was nice of Louise, but he didn't want her to feel like she was in a position where she had to pick the best of his paintings to display. He hadn't meant that at all! He stopped himself from blurting out a bundle of half-finished sentences and took a drink of his coffee - which was not at exactly the right temperature, so he took a second sip - before speaking again.

"That would be great, so long as you give me your honest opinion. I wouldn't want you to feel like you had to exhibit something of mine just because we know each other." There, that sounded a bit more...mature. "And I know exactly what you mean. While I enjoy painting landscapes and charming them to move, I also find myself splashing a whole palette of colours onto a canvas when I feel like expressing my mood. Not always a canvas, either - do you remember the divination classroom, with all those little tables and chairs? Its a bit different now. Proper desks for one thing, because the little tables were the wrong height to write comfortable and any child over five feet tall got a terrible stiff neck bending over a crystal ball like that. And I painted the entire ceiling. It's a mural of the different astrological signs and their historical meanings. I don't know what the kids think, but it makes me happy!"

Sam hoped he wasn't saying too much, but the fact was, he was almost as passionate about his art as he was about his subject, and he was proud to have found a way to combine the two. "So what sort of themes do you have for your exhibitions? What was the most recent one, for example?" And why have I never stumbled across this place before, because I think I want to spend a lot of time here in future he thought as he smiled at Louise across the table.

Louise didn't quite understand why Sam felt so flustered now and looked at her friend, her eyebrows raised. Apparently he thought that she'd feel obliged to exhibit his art. While the gallery owner would like to find a painting or more among Sam's pictures that she could show, she would not exhibit anything that was not worth it. After all, she didn't want to have anything that would stick out in a negative way in her gallery. It was always her ambition to try and show different kinds of art but they had to have a certain quality.

"Of course I will give you my honest opinion." Maybe she'd phrase it a little different than when she examined art of people she didn't know though. If she didn't like his work she would not bluntly say so.

"Indeed. Art is a means to express yourself and it should not be all distanced and cold because then it isn't really art anymore." For a moment Louise paused to think of how the Divination room had looked back in her school days. "I'd love to see the changes you've made to the classroom. It does sound really great and inspiring."

A brief smile spread across her face as she listened to Sam's questions about the themes for the exhibitions at the gallery. "Well," she began, suddenly feeling a little awkward. "The last theme has been couples. Paintings, photos and sculptures showing the interaction between two people..." her voice trailed off as she was wondering what Sam thought now. Did he think about whether or not she was living in a partnership? Was he engaged?

"I have had all different themes. If you run a gallery you always have to think about selling though and people like to buy romantic themed art. Besides there are many artists who like to capture moments of intimate togetherness."

Sam smiled. "In that case I'd be delighted to show you some of my pictures. I could bring one or two here for you to see if you like...or you could come to Diagon Alley sometime. My father's shop's still there, although I don't think the coffee's quite as good as this.." he joked, whilst hoping she would say yes. Pleasant though it was here, he rather hoped he could meet Louise somewhere else when she wasn't effectively working "...and I'll be sure to get a couple of photos of the classroom for you to see. I'd invite you to look for yourself but you could imagine how the students would gossip!"

Then Louise looked a little uncomfortable and Sam wondered what he'd said, until she explained the previous exhibition theme, and then he felt rather strange as well without really knowing why. Suddenly he had a terrible thought that perhaps Louise was married, maybe she even had children. Why should it be so terrible after they'd only just reacquainted themselves? He drank a little more coffee while he considered this and she explained how she chose a theme for an exhibition.

"I guess that's true. And I suppose you have quite an eye for such things. I mean... for the artistic themes and the, uh... colours and..." a little more coffee, then - "Anyway, I don't think I'd have anything either of us would consider quite suitable for such an exhibition. When I'm not painting landscapes a lot of my work tends to be quite abstract. I suppose we could title it Student mindscape or some such thing" he joked. His eyes drifted down to her hands, trying to surreptitiously check if Louise was wearing any rings. He couldn't quite see without craning his neck and making it look obvious. Oh well, if he made too much of a fool of himself he could always leave.

"So when you're not working, would you like to have dinner sometime? That is, unless you're uh, already seeing someone. Not that I'm suggesting a date, I mean, not unless you wanted to..." The man who could fearlessly stand in front of a classroom and face down an unruly poltergeist once again failed to form a coherent sentence.

Louise smiled as Sam told her that he'd be delighted to show her his pictures. This was something very personal, even intimate and the young witch felt flattered that Sam was opening up to her like that. He seemed still nervous, joking about the coffee. For a brief moment, Louise wondered how Sam would react if she actually tried to make him nervous. She decided to try that out sometime. However, today she rather wanted to make him feel at ease around her.

"I'd love to see your pictures. You can choose where you want to show them to me. I mean, just say what's more convenient for you." She offered yet another smile, hoping to reassure her friend some more.

"You would do that for me?" she asked when he told her he would take photos of the classroom. Now that was nice of him. However, she wouldn't mind the gossip if he invited her to Hogwarts. However, she assumed that it was different for him as a member of staff and she did not want to challenge him by asking him to invite her to the school.

"Well, that couple exhibition is all set up and ready anyway. I mean, I could still include one more piece but it's actually all done." She paused, considering his words for an instant. "I like the title student mindscape. Do you know if some of your students have artistic talent? I mean, it would be interesting to make an exhibition to which staff and students of Hogwarts could contribute. We might find a new great artist among them." She was not joking here but actually thinking how great it would be to discover a fresh young talent.

Louise couldn't suppress a soft laugh when Sam began to ramble nervously again. "Hey Sam, calm down," she said, stretching her hand out to him. However, she only briefly touched his arm before taking it back again. "I'd love to have dinner with you sometime," the woman said quietly. "In fact, I've been hoping for you to say something like that. You know, I'm really glad you came into my gallery today..." Her voice trailed off as she hadn't really intended to speak her mind like that.

Sam started once again to relax a little. Although he didn't like showing off, he did enjoy discussing and sharing art with others and he had even sold a few of his own pictures in the past. He suspected they were mostly to cover up stains on peoples' walls rather than to take pride of place in someone's living room, but at least he already knew that they were good enough to sell. "You should come to my father's shop, then" he said, sounding more confident at last "there are several canvases there already so you can take a look and see if there's anything you might want to display in an exhibition in the future. And I'll borrow a camera so you can see the classroom as well." he smiled, taking another drink of the coffee which was starting to cool rather quickly now.

As for a future exhibition, he loved the title, but didn't want to leap up and say it was a brilliant idea in a way that sounded as though he was just humouring her. The truth was, it conjured up images of bright swirling colours alongside nightmarish images and even some of his own visions (which he had painted but given alternative titles so nobody would guess there was any connection), and as he thought about it he was unwittingly staring into space. "Oh, sorry. Yes, I was just thinking...I'd say that has definite potential" he said with what he hoped was just the right amount of enthusiasm "I'm not sure about students right now. A few years back there was a girl I'd have definitely recommended, but she graduated... I think she was working in Diagon alley, if I can find out where she is now I'll let you know" It was a little vague, but also Sam wanted to ask the young woman if she was still painting before he gave her name to anyone.

Then Louise touched his arm and all thoughts of students fled his mind. All other thoughts fled as well, and he seemed to look at her for the first time. She'd been hoping he would ask her out for dinner? Did that mean she was just thinking they would continue their friendship where it had left off, or was she perhaps imagining something more..? Sam's mind started to run away with itself again, but this time he stopped the thoughts before they could make him tongue-tied. Taking a deep breath that he hoped wasn't too obvious, he made himself actually think before replying.

"I'm glad, too, and not just because of seeing you. I mean, I'm glad to see you, but I'm happy to see this place and how nice you've made it, and I'd love to come and see your next exhibition, if you can trust me to wear something more acceptable than this shirt..." he glanced down at his hands for a moment before looking directly into her face "Are you doing anything next saturday evening? I won't be able to get away from school before then, I'm afraid, but if you're free, maybe we could have dinner then?"

"Alright, that's settled," Louise said, smiling. "I'll come to your father's shop and take a look at your pictures. If you need a camera to take photos of your classroom, I can probably give you one of mine. I mean, as a photographer I have more than one..." Now she was sounding nervous and she hated it. She did not want to sound as though she was a school girl who was self-conscious because she was talking to a boy.

She took a sip from her coffee now and then offered Sam another warm smile. "There are so many possibilities to make a good exhibition. It's tough to decide on a good theme. It needs to attract people and the pieces exhibited should be something these people would buy too. Besides it should not be too... trivial in a way. The couple thing was just acceptable because... well, I needed to sell some things. Some artists are picky where they exhibit because they want to sell and that puts a pressure on me too..." her voice trailed off and she shrugged.

"I'd love to meet that former student of yours if she's still painting. Let me know if you find her." She smiled encouragingly although she did not really believe that this girl was the next big hit in the magical art scene.

She felt that Sam reacted to her touch and somehow it gave her a confidence boost that he seemed nervous again. "You mean, you prefer seeing the gallery to seeing me?" she teased the man, not even trying to hide a grin.

"I'll make sure to invite you to the next exhibition opening and I trust you when you say that you're able to dress appropriately." Another smile was on her lips and when he asked her out for dinner, it even widened some more. "I'm free next Saturday and I'd love to go out with you. Do you already have something in mind? I would like to be dressed appropriately then. Is it just a dinner or a date?"

Ah, good point. Sam did have a camera - well, he borrowed one from his sister occasionally - but it wasn't the sort of thing you used to take professional looking photos. It was practically an antique and didn't look at all out of place in his father's shop, which was where it was mostly used. When they wanted to advertise a particularly rare piece or just to try and get more trade for the shop generally, a photographic advertisement in the Daily Prophet was really the only way to go. "Well, if you want to photos to be in colour I should probably borrow something a bit more modern than the camera my sister uses" he joked. But as for preferring the gallery to her…now he did blush, and there was no way to hide it.

"No, I don't mean…oh. Okay." she was teasing him, and he'd almost failed to notice. His grin widened. "I am glad I found the gallery, because if I hadn't, I never would have met up with you again. There, is that better?" He almost winked, but stopped himself just in time. Flirting wasn't exactly one of Sam's strong points, and after the events of recent years combined with his position at Hogwarts, sometimes he felt he had become immured in too much seriousness. Maybe now was the time to let himself be a little more cheerful and spontaneous.

Though as for where to go next saturday - he hadn't thought that far ahead. Was it dinner or a date…oh Merlin, what to say? At least the residue of his previous embarrassment was still visible on his face so it didn't matter if he blushed again, maybe it wouldn't even be noticeable. Normally Sam would have panicked, and said of course it was just dinner, and not to worry, all very casual and informal, that sort of thing. But so much that was not normal had happened in the last hour that he was no longer worrying that Louise might be offended or get the wrong idea.

"Shall we say a dinner date?" he suggested, not bothering to hide his smile "I can think of a couple of places we might go. There's a Moroccan restaurant at the far end of Diagon Alley, it opened only about a year back, so you might not have seen it. It's quite small, but the food's authentic…some of it's quite spicy though, so if you prefer we could go to -" and here he had a sudden flash of inspiration "- The Dancing Kelpie?" Surely Louise would have heard of that venue; a large, lively restaurant that served a mix of Irish and English traditional dishes and tended to have live music at weekends. So they had the choice of a small, intimate place where they could talk and enjoy each other's company, or somewhere that was sure to be busy and where they could be distracted by the music if they ran out of things to say.

He would leave the decision to Louise, but he knew which one he would prefer, and not just because he loved Moroccan food!

[OOC: Immure was from the random word generator because I want to fill my bingo board xD]

"I'd be happy to lend you one of my cameras," Louise offered again. She somehow wanted to give him something from her to take with him. It was an odd sentiment and quite unusual for her. Louise wasn't the type to give things to a man to guilt trip him into seeing her again. She didn't really want to guilt trip him at all. Nonetheless she wanted to give him something to take home. She couldn't explain why but the feeling was there and she was tempted to get a camera from the back of her shop and give it to him right away.

Oh Merlin, he was adorable. Louise smirked as he responded to her teasing. It was funny to watch him as realisation dawned on him that she was teasing and it was flattering to hear how he phrased his thoughts then. For a brief moment the gallery owner was lost for words to say. Did she want to go on teasing or rather behave like an adult woman and show herself grateful for his sweet words?

"That's much better," she said, her voice reflecting that she felt touched. They had been friends at school but she would have never expected that at any time in her life she'd feel different about him. That there'd be other feelings than mere friendship between them and now she felt as though there were a bunch of butterflies fluttering in her stomach. When and why did that happen? They were even planning a real date! Louise's thoughts already drifted to her wardrobe and she wondered what she should wear when she went out for dinner with Sam. She naturally wanted to look her best - which woman wouldn't want that on a date? - but she didn't want to look like that had been her intention. The trick was to look great seemingly without having put any particular effort into the styling.

"Yes, a dinner date sounds perfect," she said, returning his smile. She listened with interest when he talked about two places they could possibly go to. It was pretty obvious which restaurant he'd prefer and Louise was happy to oblige. "I think the Moroccan restaurant sounds great. I haven't been there yet but I'd love to give it a try. Besides I prefer a small and quieter place to a big and busy restaurant. It would be a shame if we couldn't have a proper conversation when we meet again." Now she was speaking too much about something that had already been settled. A nervous smile flickered across her features as she became aware of that.

Sam wasn't sure whether to feel relieved or terrified. If Louise offered to lend him a camera that meant she trusted him and was expecting to see him again, which made him happy. And she approved of his choice of restaurant, something in her tone of voice made him think that she'd heard of the place but just hadn't had the opportunity to visit it yet...or was he reading too much into things? But that gave him hope as well, because if she hadn't gone there, maybe that meant she didn't have anyone to go out to dinner with? She'd said she wasn't in a relationship, but that didn't mean she didn't enjoy the occasional date, or that she had close male friends, or...he was definitely overthinking things.

But no. He was glad they'd agreed to go out together, and although he wasn't sure how serious it was, he would still need to take some time to get used to thinking of Louise in this way. Not as a former schoolfriend who he used to study with, but rather as a potential girlfriend? Merlin, he was almost blushing again just from his own thoughts. That was the part that was terrifying, because he had thought himself past the sort of embarrassments and awkward conversational gaps that came with dating when he'd been much younger. But apparently not. Strange how he could imagine himself to be mature and yet something like this could make him feel just the opposite. These thoughts rushed through him mind in mere seconds, certainly not long enough for Louise to be imagining the conflict his mind was experiencing.

"Thanks. I'll let you have it back next Saturday. Hopefully by then I'll have some decent pictures to show you as well" he said, glad that he had free periods at the school when he'd be able to photograph everything he thought Louise might be interested in. Of course, he should really be using that time for marking essays and planning lessons, but he doubted his fourth years would notice if they spent another week on tealeaf reading. He could even ad an extra question into next summer's exam, and they'd never realise. "And I'll book a table at the restaurant later today, and I can owl you the time" Suddenly he sounded quite decisive, a far cry from his usual slightly vague tones. He smiled. Suddenly the future seemed a good deal brighter.

It was so weird to feel like a school girl again, but that was exactly how Louise felt right now. While the conversation was mostly one that adults had, the gallery owner felt like a girl facing a boy she crushed on and she hadn't even been aware that there were any such feelings for Sam hidden inside her. Their planned dinner date made her heart jump and that was rather unexpected. Maybe she had really just been waiting to seeing him again and had, therefore, not found the perfect match yet. She shrugged these little girl's thoughts off. No, that was unlikely. There was no such thing as a soulmate as the one and only true love and speaking of love at this stance was ridiculous as well. However, the witch could not deny that she was delighted that Sam had come to her gallery today.

"I'm looking forward to that," Louise said, smiling. She was indeed looking forward to seeing the pictures from his classroom after he had described it to her. It was bound to be fascinating. She was tempted to jump right to her feet to get the camera for him but she decided against that. Appearing overly eager was never a good thing. Instead she leaned back and looked at him some more. His features still looked boyish depending on his facial expression and she thought she could see her own excitement about their encounter reflected in his eyes as well.

"Splendid," the photographer said acknowledging the fact that he was going to book a table at the restaurant. "I'm really looking forward to try out the Moroccan restaurant. I haven't had Moroccan food in a while and I've always loved it." She wanted to say more, to keep the conversation going but there was nothing that didn't seem like she was desperately rambling just for the sake of it. Therefore, the gallery owner got to her feet and walked to another part of her shop where she looked for the camera she had promised to Sam.

When she returned she held it out to him. "This is a pretty simple camera but it should do fine. It's reliable and can do all that it takes to make a good picture. Let me know if you have any questions." Having said this, Louise took a seat again and waited for Sam to examine the camera.

Merlin, he hoped the restaurant wasn't already booked for next saturday! As much as Sam wanted to spend more time in Louise's gallery, not just to speak with her but because he was genuinely interested in examining the artworks, he now felt anxious to get back to Diagon Alley and make the reservation. He smiled to hear she liked Moroccan food; and wondered if she was familiar with different types of African cuisine as well. Having spent four years traversing the country he liked to think he knew a little about the wizarding culture there, and he hoped to go back one day. Perhaps in time Louise would like to come with him...whoops, where did that thought come from?

"I've got to run a few errands before I get back to my father's shop, so I should probably head off soon" he said with obvious reluctance. Normally his trips to  London were few and far between but the Seer had a feeling he would be coming back more frequently from now on. Some things you didn't need visions for to know they were likely to happen. "I'm looking forward to it as well - and it's not just because I love the food, I promise!" he said, with a grin that was accompanied by a slight colouring of his face as he suddenly couldn't help but look down at his shoes. When he raised his eyes, Louise was walking away and for a moment he thought he'd somehow said the wrong thing, but within a few moments she returned, holding out a camera which he accepted. It looked to be a fairly simple model, though much more up to date than the one he sometimes borrowed from his sister. He turned it over in his hands, checking he knew where the flash and various settings were.

"Thanks. Um, this is the button to change between different light levels, isn't it?" he asked, pointing and hoping he was correct "I'll replace the film, of course" he added almost as an afterthought. There was a shop just down an alleyway on Diagon that sold photography equipment that he assumed would be able to develop the film as well. There were a few students at Hogwarts who developed their own pictures as a hobby, but he wasn't about to ask for their assistance! He checked the camera over once more and then put the strap around his neck, adjusting it for comfort. Then he smiled again and said before he could think better of it "I'm so glad I wandered down this street today..."