Author's Note: Written for…
Battlefield Wars Competition. Team/Position: After All This Time – Always, Lieutenant. Mandatory Character: Barty Crouch Jr. Assisting Character: Luna Lovegood. Plot: the characters take a trip abroad together.
School of Prompts Challenge. Prompt: orchid
Flora and Fauna
Barty's hands shook as he adjusted the camera lens, fumbling with the small dial in thick mittens as he concentrated on finding his target in the dim lighting. He took a deep breath to still himself and shot the photo, exhaling in a cloudy puff.
"There are thirteen varieties of Falkovite orchids. Only nine are recognized and recorded in Hambleton's Herbology Handbook, and one of those is thought to be extinct. It is my personal goal to disprove Hambleton's narrow-minded views and-"
"You sound too much like a professor."
Barty paused in his dictation to glare at the witch sitting across from him in the ice cavern in a puffy pink and yellow snowsuit, sketching by the light of their wands. Beside him on the cold ground, his Quick Quotes Quill stilled, hovering over the sheet of parchment and waiting for him to resume.
Luna glanced up from her sketchpad and smile sweetly at him. "If you want Daddy to print your article, you need to make it interesting."
"How is this not interesting?" he asked, waving his hands at the black orchid growing in the center of the cavern. "We've travelled over four thousand miles to the corner of hell just to document this beautiful, incredibly rare specimen."
Luna stifled a giggle, patting the ground next to her. "Alaska isn't so bad. And as much as I agree with you about the orchid, not a lot of our readers will. Maybe you should think about sending the article to that herbology journal you read."
Barty pouted, putting the camera down by the parchment and dropping down beside his girlfriend and sighing. "But I want to write for your magazine. If I can get a column I can start joining you on all of your little excursions. You'll look for wildlife; I'll examine the plant life. We could be an unstoppable team."
"We already are an unstoppable team," she said, linking their hands. "I just worry you won't be happy working at the magazine."
"I'll be happy as long as I'm with you." He tucked a strand of her silver-blonde hair up under her pompom-laded hat and cupped her cheek. "I miss you when you're away. I want us to be together."
Luna smiled, turning her head to kiss his palm. "I miss you too. You've no idea how difficult it is, leaving you." She bit her lip. "I could give it up, you know. I've been getting offers to work at a sanctuary."
Barty shook his head. "You won't be happy unless you're gallivanting around the world, looking for the creatures your mother told you about."
"I'd rather be with you."
"Then it's settled. I'll finish up the article on our little discovery here – with your help, of course. Then maybe we can find something fun to do before we go home and convince your dad to give me a column."
Luna nodded, setting down the pencil she'd been using and tipping the sketchbook so Barty could see her latest work: a picture of him in an unflattering snowsuit, his brow furrowed behind the lens of a camera as he snapped a photo of the elusive flower.
"I want this printed next to my column in the magazine. This is even better than the pictures I took." Luna laughed as she packed up her things, and then leaned into Barty's side. He slid an arm around her shoulders and kissed her forehead
"You do realize that if Daddy agrees to give you a column, that means we'll be rivals, right?"
Barty froze, frowning down at the girl. Suddenly he pulled himself away from her and stood to retrieve his camera.
"I suppose I'll have to improve my writing, then."