"Okay, all done!"

Ginny groans as she tries to put down her stiff arms carefully after holding up her camera for way too long.

"Remind me again never to compensate convenience for comfort," she told her assistant, Maddie, as she handed her camera to her.

"Duly noted. And I will make sure to confirm with you twice, even thrice, before you decide leaving your tripod in the hotel room." Maddie took Ginny's camera, placed the cap on the lens immediately before putting it carefully into the camera bag.

"After yesterday, you can't blame me. That hike through the marshland all the way to the hot spring town killed my back. It was pretty, not gonna lie, but that was just a lot of burden on my physical and mental capacity."

Ginny continues to stretch her arms and body in order to relieve the stiffness that built up. Who knew being a travel photographer would bring about body pains and muscle stiffness? She thought. With a final stretch, she looked to her assistant, who's checking their schedule on a planner.

"Do we have anything else to do after this?"

Maddie ticked the last box and said, "No, I think that is the last thing we had to do. And quite frankly, I'm impressed we manage to cover the whole area within three days."

"Yeah, I'm pretty impressed myself. With all that walking and hiking, I thought we would have to extend a day or two to get everything covered. It's also a good thing that you came with. It would have taken longer to do this by myself." Ginny smiled at her assistant gratefully.

Madeleine Chambers, or simply Maddie, is not just Ginny's assistant, she is also her apprentice. Originally, she applied to be a photographer for the Daily Prophet, but the photographer spots have all been filled, which left her no choice but to apply for the next best thing-assistant to the photographer, who also happens to be a travel columnist. In the beginning, there wasn't much demand for travel, what with the post-War reconstruction of Wizarding London. People were more concerned with trying to get things back together than going away on vacations and what not. So, for her first two years on the job, Maddie was merely Ginny's assistant in London, doing errands for her. However, the assignments in the last couple of years have become lengthy and tedious since the travel editor started demanding extensive and detailed travel articles to appease the now travel-hungry citizens of Wizarding England. As a result, Ginny started bringing Maddie with her to assist in shoots and, occasionally, to let her do the shoots herself. Ginny thought, she might as well let her assistant experience on-site shooting every now and then since she's aware that Maddie came to the Daily Prophet to become a photographer anyway. Besides, it's not like she's gonna work here forever.

"You know, I'm still really grateful that you let me do some of the shoots. You even pushed for my name to be credited if any of my shots got chosen for publication," Maddie said as she did a final check of the bags and their content.

"That's nothing to thank me for. Besides, that's just the natural thing. It's your work, so you deserve credit for it."

"Still. Thank you. Really."

Ginny gave off a small, but hearty laugh. "Come on, before we get all mushy in here. Here, let me help you."

Ginny and Maddie picked up the camera bags and the equipment bag and shrunk them. Then, started heading to the port to wait for the next ferry back to the main port.

"I still can't believe this is our last day in Japan. We've been here for almost a month, but it just feels like we've just arrived here yesterday." Ginny marveled as she looks at the sun setting behind the mountains surrounding the lake.

"It's a beautiful country. I'd definitely come back here when I can."

"That sounds like a plan. Speaking of plans, any plans when we get back to London? You do have a week off as customary after a long assignment."

"I think I'll just stay in bed for a few days. I mean, I had tons of fun, but I can't deny that I'm exhausted."

"Fair enough. We did go to a lot of places and talked to many different people." Ginny sighed. "At least one of us gets to take a whole week off. I have to get this article going, get all these photos post-processed, and I have to visit my family."

"But there's still three weeks left to submit the article."

"Yeah, but I also need to start drafting the second volume of "MAGICAL". The publisher has been sending memos left and right the week before we left for Japan. You'd think I'd get him off my back after hitting the target sales for the first one."

"MAGICAL" is Ginny's travel photography book series that focuses on wizards and witches who own or are part of travel establishments and/or experiences in the wizarding world. Instead of just focusing on the 'magical' locations, Ginny wanted to give soul to these places by featuring the people behind the magic. Ginny didn't have any expectation at first. After all, it was just a passion project that barely got the go signal. However, because of the travel boom that started two years ago, her book sold like wildfire. She got a lot of positive reviews on her photos, but also people loved the stories and wanted to experience these places for themselves. More than Ginny, the publishing editor of her book was beyond ecstatic with the commercial success, so he demanded a second volume 'as soon as possible' just three months after the release of the first one. So here we are, one year later, with a draft-less Ginny. The only difference is now she has enough content to create her first draft after this trip.

"Are you sure you don't need me to come in for work? I am your assistant after all." Maddie asked.

"Positive. Don't you worry about it. I always end up finishing on time, so this is nothing," Ginny replied with a smile.

They see the ferry slowly coming into the port. They both took their tickets out for the ferry conductor to check. They slowly made their way inside the ferry and sat facing each other on one of the stalls. Feeling the exhaustion seeping through their bones, they silently looked out into the sunset, just enjoying their last day in Japan.