The Exchange – The Photography Student
"Hey. Have any of you seen Leir?"
Haley was wandering the halls of the school trying to find the Hufflepuff. She really did mean to apologize to the boy after what had happened the previous night. She had been approaching various students in Hufflepuff to see if any of them knew the whereabouts of their fellow yellow-clad peer. Most of the responses were as follows:
"Leir? He's usually off by himself."
"Leir? Who's Leir?"
"Leir? That stuck-up new kid? Who cares?"
"Leir? My name's so-and-so. But for you baby, you can call me whatever you want."
One response managed to send a shiver down her spine.
"Leir? Isn't that the kid who died nine years ago? I hear he still haunts the school at night. People think he's just a regular student, but really he's more of a poltergeist."
In hearing this, Haley immediately paled. But then the Hufflepuff broke out into fits of laughter, exclaiming that the expression on Haley's face was priceless. The Slytherin was ready to hex this boy, but stopped once a passing student caught her attention.
"Leir? Leir Valex?" The young Hufflepuff girl said. "I think he's in the hospital wing."
Haley blinked. "What?"
"That's what I heard." The girl shrugged before continuing on her way.
Haley sent a glare at the boy who was still laughing before dashing away towards the hospital wing. Dashing probably wasn't the best thing for her to do while she still had a cold, but she was worried about her friend. Haley burst through the doors of the hospital wing, surprising Madame Pomfrey.
"Is there something I can help you with, Mi…ss Jones?" The woman caught herself from saying 'Mister Potter' in realizing that there were other occupants in the wing.
Haley was taking deep breaths. Dashing definitely wasn't a good thing to do when you have a cold. "Is Leir Valex here?" She panted.
A look of concern washed over Madame Pomfrey's face before she got up, grabbed a bottle from a cabinet and a spoon from a drawer. She poured some liquid onto the spoon and turned to Haley. "Open."
"What? I don't-"
The nurse shoved the spoon into the younger girl's mouth. The sticky substance practically crawled down her throat leaving a rather disgusting taste in its path. Madame Pomfrey simply rolled her eyes. "My dear child, if you had a cold, why on Earth didn't you come see me?"
"I… I didn't think it was really necessary…"
"Well, instead of sitting through it for a week, you could've been over it in a day. How do you think Mister Malfoy got over his cold so quickly? You no doubt caught yours from him."
"Oh…" Haley felt a little stupid. She hadn't even noticed the quick recovery. But then she remembered why she was in the hospital wing in the first place. "Madame Pomfrey, is Leir Valex here?"
The elder woman was putting away the bottle when she nodded. "He came in last night with a broken wrist."
Haley gasped. "What? What happened? Can I see him?"
"He's resting now. You can come back later." The nurse began to usher the girl out of the wing. "As for you, I want you to drink plenty of fluids and have a good night's sleep tonight. You'll feel better in the morning. I promise." She smiled at the Slytherin before closing the doors.
'What happened?' Haley frowned. Slowly, she turned around and headed back towards the Slytherin common room.
---
'Why do I bother with this job? I hate it. All these dim-witted children ruining my potions, wasting my ingredients.' Professor Snape growled to himself. He was sitting in his chambers after a grueling day of potions classes.
He didn't feel like he was getting any closer to duplicating the potion Longbottom and Potter had created. There have been several occasions where the potions professor had wanted to simply quit in this quest and just leave Harry Potter as a girl. But his reputation and pride were at stake and those were two things Severus Snape was not willing to bargain with.
To his latest concoction, and more recent attempt in creating the gender-bending potion, Snape added minced Wiggin's Leaf and began to stir the silvery substance clockwise. He made sure to make note of everything he had added and every which way he stirred. By doing so, Snape was able to remember how to create a potion that would give its victim temporary warts in a very uncomfortable area. He also saved that one for a particular Transfiguration professor.
Collecting the new concoction into an eyedropper and feeding it to Mr. Whiskas, Snape sat back and prepared himself for another failed attempt. He closed his eyes and rubbed his temples. 'Maybe I should go to Egypt during the summer. Go somewhere completely different than here. Somewhere far from these brats…'
The professor opened his eyes and looked at his test subject. Nothing appeared different, yet again. Snape sneered and was about to throw out this new potion when something about Mr. Whiskas caught his eye. The professor pulled the small mouse out of its cage and lifted its tail.
"Oh my…."
---
"I'm telling you, it was that Ethan guy." Ron frowned.
"Now, Ron. You can't just jump to conclusions." Hermione chided.
The trio was sitting in one of the open hallways that overlooked one of many courtyards around the school. The cool air was refreshing, especially since Haley's cold had nearly gone away. The Slytherin had told her two friends about her meeting with Leir last night and Ethan's reaction to the other boy. Needless to say, her own suspicions of how Leir broke his wrist were reflected in Ron's words.
"Come on, Hermione. Harry bumps into Leir. Ethan doesn't like Leir. Ethan disappears for the night and Leir spends the night in the hospital wing. It's so obvious. Ethan broke Leir's wrist." The redhead folded his arms across his chest, sure that this had to be the right conclusion. How could it not be?
"Hey guys! Smile for the birdie!"
The trio was surprised by a sudden flash. Once the spots faded from view, they were met with a grinning Colin Creevy.
"Hey Colin, how've you been?" Haley smiled.
The younger boy just smiled and shrugged. "Same 'ol, same 'ol. It's a shame that Harry's gone though. Any idea when he comes back? I wanna get pictures of him during the Quidditch match against Slytherin."
"Creevy, you've been taking pictures of Harry since your first year here. Don't you think you have enough?" Ron asked.
Again, the younger boy shrugged. "Taking pictures is making memories. And Harry's like my hero. So I want as many memories as I can of my hero while we're still in the same building as each other."
Haley blushed and looked away.
"Well, we aren't sure when Harry gets back. Soon, we hope." Hermione jumped in. The other two just nodded in agreement.
"Oh. Right-o. Well I'll be off." The boy just smiled again and waved goodbye.
"Anyway, who else could it have been other than Ethan?" Ron continued.
"Why does it have to be a who at all? Maybe he just fell on it or something." Hermione tried.
"That wouldn't be too surprising. It would make sense why we always bump into each other." Haley giggled.
"But Ethan-"
"Hey." Colin Creevy poked his head back around to where the trio were sitting. "I heard you guys mention the name Ethan. You wouldn't happen to be talking about Ethan Maxwell, would you?"
Haley was a little surprised. Colin knew Ethan? "Well, yeah."
The younger Gryffindor smiled. "Oh okay. If you see him, tell him I said 'thanks.'" With that, Colin turned to walk away again.
"Wait! Colin!" Haley stopped him. "You know Ethan?"
"Of course. He's a fellow photographer." He grinned, motioning towards his camera. "In fact, he helped me fix my camera last night."
Hermione leaned forward towards the boy. "Last night?"
"Yeah. My flash got jammed. But he was there in the studio, developing some pictures and he helped me. He's always so helpful," he smiled sheepishly. "Especially when I'm too short to reach anything from the cupboards."
Haley briefly thought back to last night about how Ethan had helped her with the dishes.
The boy bit his lip. "You know, now that I think about it," he looked up at Haley. "You must be his hero or something. Lately, all he's been developing are pictures of you. Not a very efficient way to make memories, if you ask me."
Ron rolled his eyes. "But isn't that what you do to Harry?"
"It's not like Harry's the only person I take pictures of Ron." And with that, Colin snapped another picture of an incredulous Ron. The boy smiled. "That'll be a fun one."
"So wait. Ethan has a bunch of pictures of me?" Haley frowned.
Colin nodded. "Yeah. He was making a print of one just last night in the dark room right before I asked him about my flash."
"And he was with you all last night?" Hermione continued.
"Well, I walked with him to the dungeons before going back to Gryffindor. It's not like I stayed with him. We're not like that."
The brunette girl gaped. "Oh! I wasn't implying-"
"Just kidding, Hermione. I know you weren't." Colin grinned again.
"Do you think you could show us where the studio is?" Haley asked.
Colin shrugged. "I don't see why not. I was just on my way there. Come on."
And with that, Collin led the three friends down the halls of Hogwarts until they reached a portrait of a man painting a portrait of a woman. And with the simple utterance of the word "parallax" the portrait swung open to reveal a room littered with photographs from wall to wall.
"Did you know this was here?" Ron whispered to Haley. The girl could only shake her head "no."
Colin led them to one portion of the wall with pictures of people Haley recognized mostly from Gryffindor. Probably half of them were of Colin's "hero."
"These are my photos." Colin beamed with pride. All the people in the photos were smiling and waving in content.
Haley had to admit. Despite Colin having been around almost every corner with his camera to take her picture as Harry, he wasn't half bad. In fact, he was very good. Colin had mastered the use of light to capture the perfect angle for the perfect shot. Every smile was a happy moment suspended in time.
"Wow, Colin. These are really good." Hermione said as she studied each photograph.
"You know," Ron added. "All this time you've been taking our pictures left and right and this is probably the first time I've seen them." The redhead smiled at his miniature self in the photograph who waved gleefully in return.
"Oh Colin. There you are. I-"
The four looked up to see Ethan walk out of the dark room. The Slytherin boy was a bit startled to see them all there.
"Oh hey Ethan! I didn't think you'd be here." The younger photographer smiled.
"Yeah…" Ethan kept his eyes fixated on Haley. "I hadn't planned on it but you know me," turning to look at Colin, he smirked at his Gryffindor friend. "Can't stay away for long. It's an addiction."
"You're telling me. Oh. I wanted to thank you again for helping me with my camera. I'd go mad without it."
Ethan walked over to Colin and ruffled the younger boy's hair. "Then treat her better, Creeves." The Slytherin boy folded his arms across his chest and leaned back against a table. He returned his gaze back to Haley. "I didn't know you'd be entertaining guests, Creeves. I would've tidied up a bit."
"Oh right!" The younger boy grinned sheepishly. "Ron, Hermione, Haley, this is Ethan. Ethan, Ron, Hermione, and I think you already know Haley." He lightly elbowed Ethan in the ribs, a knowing grin on his face.
Ethan stood upright and held out his hand to Ron and to Hermione. "Nice to finally meet you. I've only heard stories about your many conquests."
"Well, it's how we keep busy." Hermione smiled.
"Colin was just showing us his wall. Where's your wall?" Ron smirked.
Ethan simply ignored the redhead and looked back at his younger friend. "You should show them your portfolios. They're much better than the photographs here."
"Oh right!" Colin beamed. He grabbed Ron's wrist and pulled him over to where his cabinet was with Hermione followed closely behind.
Haley stayed behind, studying Ethan who had returned to leaning against the table. His hands were in his pockets as his gaze followed the other three.
"So, where is your wall, Ethan?" She frowned.
He shifted his gaze back to his housemate. "Why so curious, Haley?"
"Colin's mentioned something to me about the… subject of your photographs. It made me a little… 'curious,' if you will."
Ethan sighed and bit his lip, turning his gaze from the girl to something off to the side. He stood upright and led the girl to another part of the room. Without a word, he stopped in front of one portion of a wall and sat down on the table positioned across from it. "Here. Here is the wall you so desire."
The Slytherin girl stared at it. There were hardly any pictures of her there. A few here and there, but most of them were pictures of Ethan's various friends in all houses, mostly Slytherin.
"You look surprised." Ethan remarked, swinging his legs back and forth from their dangling position.
"I- I'm sorry. I assumed… Colin said-"
Ethan hopped off his makeshift seat and walked over to a nearby cabinet. He pulled out an album and tossed it on the table where he took up his previous seated position next to it. He leaned back on his hands and continued to swing his legs "What you're looking for is in there." He said, nodding towards the album.
Haley hesitated. She just stared at the book. "Wh-what's in it?"
The boy leaned forward towards his friend. "I won't lie to you Haley. I assume Colin mentioned the fact that I've been taking a lot of pictures of you?" She nodded. "They're in there."
Haley looked up into Ethan's eyes before looking back at the album. She pulled out a chair, sat down, and opened the book. Sure enough, there was photograph after photograph of a candid Haley smiling, yelling, laughing, and just being herself day after day.
"I… I'm not a stalker. I swear."
She looked up at her friend who was staring at the ceiling. "Why do you have all of these?"
"Is it really that hard to figure out?" He looked down into her eyes. "I told you that I like you. You're beautiful Haley. As a photographer, of course I'd want to try to capture your beauty."
"Okay, I would have understood that, no problem. But I feel like you were hiding it from me. Why wouldn't you just tell me that you want to take my picture?"
Ethan looked a little uncomfortable. He looked down at his shoes. "It's rather… embarrassing, isn't it? I'm not as happy-go-lucky as Creevy is. He has no problem going up to anyone and snapping his or her picture. He doesn't even have a problem with constantly going up to Harry Potter and taking his picture over and over again. I know if I were Potter, I'd be annoyed. I guess… I just didn't want you to be annoyed with me. If you were annoyed with me, then I wouldn't be able to take your picture anymore and lately, you've been like a muse to me. If I lost my muse…" He looked back at Haley. "Well, photography would hardly be as fun as it is now."
"Ethan, I wouldn't mind you taking my picture every now and again. I just don't want you to do it behind my back. It feels as if you're hiding something from me and it only makes me suspicious of you. Like maybe you really are a stalker or something. You're my friend. I don't want something as trivial as photographs to tear our friendship to shreds."
Ethan sighed. "Fine. No more sneaking in shots. I'll ask permission first."
Haley smiled. "Good. That's how it should have been in the first place." She turned her attention back to the album. "Are you serious? You take pictures of me while I'm eating?"
The boy smiled. "It's entertaining when you eat. You're the sloppiest girl at our table."
"Hey! I was really hungry that day!" That's when Haley paused at one particular photograph. One that she recognized right away. "You took this?"
The hazel-eyed boy glanced at the photo Haley was referring to. In it was a very up close shot of her as she looks to the side and smiles. "Oh that."
"So Draco really did find it."
Ethan blew a raspberry. "It didn't really work out as I thought it might."
Haley frowned. "What are you talking about?"
"I figured that if I left a copy of that picture somewhere near the entrance to the common room, Draco would find it and pick it up. And maybe if you saw him with it, you might think he was some weird stalker or crazed fanatic. He found it, but you were too concerned with his cold. Bloody timing…"
"Why would you even bother trying something like that? How am I supposed to believe that you aren't the stalker or 'crazed fanatic?'"
"I suppose you aren't. You'll only have to trust my word on it. And as to why… well… I'm jealous. You and Draco are awfully close. I hoped I might get you to lean more to my side." He shrugged. "Can't blame a guy for trying."
"Okay, first of all, I'm not leaning in any direction whatsoever. For the record, I don't favor anyone. And Draco and I are just friends. Just like how you and I are just friends. And I'm not interested in moving further than that with anyone and I don't think I will be interested in such a thing any time soon. Okay?"
"Like I said, 'can't blame a guy for trying.'"
"And while we're in the mood for being honest with each other, did you hurt Leir?"
Ethan blinked, a little thrown by the change in subject. "Leir? The guy who had his hands all over you last night?"
"He did not!! He was just helping me up!"
"By groping you…" Ethan mumbled, none too subtly.
"Ethan!"
"No, okay. I didn't do anything to him. Why?"
"This morning I was trying to find him and the next thing I know, he's in the hospital wing with a broken wrist."
"Why were you trying to find him?"
"Shouldn't you be more concerned with how he broke his wrist?"
"He deserved it for being too friendly."
"Ethan!"
"Fine. I didn't have anything to do with it. Though I admit that I would like to shake the hand of the person who did."
Haley just frowned at the boy. "Are you going to be like this with every person I'm friends with?"
"No. You're with Weasley and Granger all the time. I'm not like this when you're with them. Of course, it helps that I know that they're together."
"What about Blaise? You're not like this with Blaise."
"That's cause I know Blaise. You're not his type."
"And what if I became better friends with Colin? Would you act all jealous with him?"
Ethan frowned and bent over Haley. "You wouldn't."
Haley just shrugged. "You never know."
Ethan smirked and leaned back on his wrists again. "If you tried to latch yourself onto Colin, I'd be very surprised if he responded. He's made it quite clear to me who he's fond of."
"You two are that close?"
"Me and Creeves have been friends ever since I transferred here my third year. He's the only one as addicted to photography as I am."
Haley snapped the photo album shut, having finished flipping through all of the pages. "Yeah, but you hardly show it. Colin just snaps the shot without a worry or a care."
"True." Ethan paused, looking up at the ceiling again. "You know, something's been bugging me though."
"What?"
"I've been taking a better look at his photos, especially those of Harry Potter."
"…Oh?" She didn't know why, but for some reason, this fact alone made her very nervous.
"Haley, you should look at this one!" Ron bellowed from across the room between laughs. "We were so little!"
The Slytherin girl took one last glance at Ethan before walking over to her other friends. 'What was he going to say?'
"Look at Ron! He always had dirt on his face no matter how many times his mother tried to wipe it off." Hermione giggled.
"Hey! How would you like it if I licked my hand and wiped it all over your face? I don't think you'd like it at all! And at least it isn't my hair that took up half the picture!" Ron countered.
Haley glanced at the photo her friends were congregating over. It was of the golden trio seated in the Great Hall, right before they dug into dinner. It must have been taken in her earlier years because all three looked much smaller than they did now. When she glanced over herself as Harry, a sudden sadness came over the girl. 'Will I ever get to go back?'
"Haley? Are you okay?" Hermione asked, concern written across her face.
The girl snapped out of her thoughts and just smiled. "Yeah, I'm fine."
"You probably miss your old life, huh?" Ethan said, leaning against the table across from where the other four were.
In hearing this, Haley again froze. 'Does he know?'
"I mean, looking at those pictures must remind you of your own friends back in America, right?" The Slytherin boy shrugged.
Haley let out the breath she didn't realize she was holding. "Yeah. I miss the way things were." She glanced at Ron and Hermione and offered them a small smile and then looked back up at Ethan. "But that doesn't mean I don't like things now. I have good friends here, too. Speaking of, I think I'm gonna go check on Leir again."
At this Ethan frowned. "Why?"
Haley rolled her eyes. "Because he's my friend. And if you were in the hospital wing, I'd visit you too."
"I think we're going to take off as well." Hermione said, standing up. "Thank you for showing us these, Colin. You're really talented."
Colin beamed. "Thanks!"
"Yeah. Maybe next time you can show us some of your stuff, mate." Ron grinned, shaking Ethan's hand.
Ethan just smirked. "Maybe." He looked at Hermione and shook her hand as well. "It was nice to finally meet you face-to-face Miss Granger."
"It was nice to meet you too, Ethan." Hermione smiled. "We'll see you later, Colin."
"Bye!" Ron chirped and led the way out. "You really should have taken a look at his work, Harry. He's surprisingly good."
Haley shrugged. "Maybe next time."
"So what did Ethan say?" The Gryffindor girl asked.
"Colin was right. Ethan has an album of pictures of just me."
"What?! I'll punch his lights in!" The redhead was ready to turn right back into the photography room but Haley stopped him.
"Apparently, he thinks of me as his 'muse.' Can you believe that? He took all those pictures in an attempt to 'capture my beauty.'"
Hermione sighed. "That's awfully romantic if you think about it." She nudged her boyfriend slightly in the ribs.
"That's a pick-up line, if you think about it!" Ron frowned. "He's a sly one. I don't trust him one bit."
"Careful." Haley smirked. "You're starting to sound like Draco."
"Am not!"
"So what are you going to do about it, Harry?" Hermione asked, stopping the oncoming feud before it even started. She knew her two best friends well enough to know when the bickering might begin.
The raven-haired girl furrowed her brows. "Although he was rather sneaky about it, he was very honest about it when I asked him. I don't know I'll do. I'll just leave things as they are but I'll try to be more conscious of what Ethan does. I can't say I completely trust him, but I don't think he's done anything so wrong that I'm completely suspicious of him. Plus, he really is a nice guy once he opens up to you."
"Just be careful. Some guys just don't have the greatest intentions when it comes to their sexual drive." Hermione offered. She took her boyfriend's hand in hers.
"Yeah and if any of those guys ever attempt to attack you, just call on me and I'll be there to hex him right up the-"
"Thanks Ron." Haley smiled. "I think I can handle things. If I can take on Voldemort, I can definitely take on some hormonal teenager." The three friends paused at the base of a staircase. "Well I turn here. I want to know what really happened to Leir."
"Keep us posted." The Head Girl said.
"Yeah. And if it really was Ethan, we'll hex him right up the-"
Hermione quickly covered Ron's mouth with her free hand and smiled at Haley. "We're going now. Bye Harry."
"See you later." Haley smiled. Ron just waved since Hermione's hand was still covering his lips.
As the friends went their separate ways, Haley couldn't stop the thoughts from entering her mind. 'If Professor Snape does find the antidote for this, what happens to all the new friends I've made? I can't just go back and ignore them… I'd miss them. Especially…' Haley pushed the image of the Slytherin Head Boy out of her mind. 'Well there's nothing I can do about it now. I'll just have to deal with it when the time comes.' When the image of Ethan Maxwell popped into her head, Haley frowned. 'Does he know? And if he doesn't, it sure sounds like he's on his way to figuring it out. What'll he do if he figures it out? What'll everyone do? I don't want to be Haley the rest of my life, but how can I go back to being Harry without hurting the people I care about?'
Haley sighed and stopped in front of the doors to the familiar hospital wing. 'My life is way too complicated…' And with that, she proceeded through the doors.
In the bed furthest from the door, Leir was reading from his Transfiguration book. He looked up as Haley approached and smiled. "Hey. My first visitor of the day."
Haley was surprised by this. "Really?"
"Told you I'm not too popular."
"Well, how are you feeling? I heard you were here from one of your housemates."
Leir shrugged. "Could be better. I mean, I do have a wrist to heal. But it should be good as new in no time."
"That's good. So what happened?"
The Hufflepuff chuckled. That was the first time Haley noticed how light his blue eyes were. They twinkled when he laughed. "I guess I'm the klutzy one. After I said good night to you and your friend I went back towards my common room. I decided it might be fun to slide down the rail of a staircase on my way there. The rail didn't think it was so fun and made me slip and land on my wrist. And voila! Broken wrist. Now go ahead and laugh all you want. I know you want to."
The Slytherin broke out into a grin before letting her laughter slip through. "I'm afraid to know what you're like on a broom."
"Oh." The boy rolled his eyes. "Don't get me started. I'm about as terrible in the air as I am just walking." He smiled.
"Well I just wanted to come check on you before I head off to my next detention. Oh. And to apologize for Ethan's rudeness last night."
"He seems rather protective of you. Is he your boyfriend?"
"No! Of course not. We're just friends. Everyone I hang around with is just my friend. I have no romantic attachments to anyone. I feel like I have to explain this five times a day."
"Oh, I'm sorry. I was just wondering."
"No, no. It's nothing to be sorry about. It just gets a little tiring saying the same thing over and over again."
"Then I will be sure not to ask you again for a long time." He smiled again.
"Well, I really should get going before Filch sends Mrs. Norris to claw my eyes out. I'll see you later, okay?" She patted his hand on the bed and walked towards the exit.
"Haley?"
She stopped and looked back at the boy. "Yeah?"
"I'm really glad you came to visit me, Haley." He smiled sincerely. "I'm glad you're my friend."
Haley smiled in return, ignoring the blush the crept up on her cheeks. "Feel better, okay? And for goodness sake, watch where you're going."
Leir chuckled. "All right, I will. Bye Haley."
"Bye Leir." After Haley shut the door, she let out a breath with a small smile lingering on her lips. She sighed and looked at her watch.
"Ack! Filch'll give me double duty for sure!" And with that, Haley darted off to Filch's office.
"Haley?"
The girl didn't hear the voice call her name as she passed through one of many halls. She was too preoccupied with her current mission: don't show up to detention late.
Draco sighed and continued on his way.
Author's Note/Disclaimer: If I were the creator of the characters in Harry Potter, do you think I'd be writing fanfiction? But at least I have Ethan and Leir to keep me company.
This turned out longer than I had anticipated. But there was so much that I wanted to get out in this chapter. So I just kept going and going and I didn't think it would make sense to cut this in half anywhere. So you know a little more about Ethan and Leir's character may still be a little grey but so far he's a loveable klutz. I like a protective Ron. Cause when Ron's protective, he's like the older brother and not the jealous suitor. Draco wasn't going to be in this chapter either (like he wasn't going to be in the previous chapter). But right at the end, I felt that there needed to be something more. I guess that little something was Draco, even though it was such a small part. There'll be more Draco interaction coming next after Harry's detention.
What happened to Mr. Whiskas? I'm sure you can all guess. But don't. You might ruin it for someone else. Hehe.