An active, character-driven Hogwarts experience set in the early 2000s. Unique items, plots, and features. Non-canon; this isn't Harry Potter's story, it's ours.
Post by MJ Birdwhistle on Jul 20, 2022 20:03:13 GMT 10
MJ opened the door to the empty classroom slowly and peeked inside. Well, it was empty - what had she expected? She wondered if Alice would show up to work on her painting as well. Professor Rivera said they would find everything they needed here.
She stepped inside and picked a desk, setting her satchel down next to the chair. It was then her gaze was drawn over to the art supplies - her Head of House hadn't been wrong! It had been so long since MJ had been able to do art. She didn't know what to expect when coming to Hogwarts and knew for second year, she would ask her Granny and Great Aunt for supplies to bring along with her.
Excited to paint something for the new children's ward at St. Mungo's (she deduced it was the magical hospital), she looked over what was on offer. She favoured gouache paints herself and was glad to see some on offers. MJ gathered together everything she would need - paper and pencils to plan her painting, brushes and paints and a water cup for the actual painting itself. She selected a modest sized square canvas to work on.
Taking everything back to her chosen desk, MJ sat down to consider what she would paint.
What would she want to look at, if she was in a hospital? Something she wasn't able to see a lot because of where she was. Sunshine, flowers, nature. It made sense to draw something like that. It was going to be enchanted so she had to pick something with elements that could move around.
MJ began to doodle on the paper she had picked up, sketching out a few ideas of what she could paint.
Post by Alice Jane on Jul 20, 2022 20:20:22 GMT 10
After the class, Alice went directly to the empty classroom for the charms practice. She didn't know what to expect there but Professor Rivera said that they could find everything there.
At the entrance, she noticed MJ already there. What were the odds they were thinking the same thing to do? "Hey, You are also here to paint?" She asked.
Just as Professor Rivera had said, there were many painting supplies to choose from. She had just a few colors to paint with at home, compared to it, there were so many different varieties here. She had never seen so many varieties of colors and sheets.
"What are you going to paint?" She asked, still looking at all the kinds of stuff.
Post by MJ Birdwhistle on Jul 20, 2022 20:24:36 GMT 10
"Alice! Yeah, I thought it would be a good idea to get it done as soon as possible." She gave the Gryffindor a bright smile, glad to see a friendly face. She watched as Alice looked through all the supplies - was she as overwhelmed with all the choice too?
At the question, MJ gave a shrug, "I have a few ideas. A field of flowers with some animals, or a water scape with fishes. The Professor said the painting would be enchanted so I'm guessing it's going to move like the paintings in the hallways. I want to do something that will make the children smile, something that maybe they don't get to see a lot of in hospital."
She put her pencil down for a moment, pondering a third option, "How about you?"
Maybe Alice already had an idea and didn't need to plan hers out!
Post by Alice Jane on Jul 20, 2022 23:51:35 GMT 10
Alice listened to MJ's ideas carefully. They do sound like nice ideas. If this picture is going to move, then it should have some movable objects.
"Something someone would love to see in the hospital." She said, wondering about it. "Maybe a picture of some children playing without a worry about the world. Or a family having a meal together."
It was hard to decide on an idea. Alice picked up a square sheet and a pencil before sitting beside her. "If I would be in the hospital, I would want to see pictures of people close to me, but we can't do that for every person. Right?"
Post by MJ Birdwhistle on Jul 21, 2022 3:16:16 GMT 10
"I think that would make for a nice painting... Maybe you could do children playing together at a park or something?" She tilted her head to the side, trying to help Alice with her idea as much as possible. "It won't be something that you could paint for everyone but I think it would still be nice to look at."
MJ herself had settled on what she wanted to paint as she set aside her sketch. She was going to go with a pond scene, underwater with some fish and a frog swimming around. She thought it would look really nice once it was enchanted as well, with the water moving and the different plants and animals coming to life. At least, she assumed that's how Professor Rivera's spell would work on it.
She mixed together the paints and started on her canvas. She laid down a light wash for the background and then blocked in where the frog and fish would go, with some background shadows for plants to fill out the space. Then she added some in the foreground too. Painting was always an activity she enjoyed, a talent her Granny had said she got from her father.
Apparently he was an artist too.
The colours came together and soon her scene came to life before her. There were colourful fish in a school together and a frog diving happily. Of course, she was just a child and had a child's skill when it came to painting but she enjoyed herself. She thought it looked rather well. She set her paintbrush down after a long moment of quiet painting and studied what she had done.
"What do you think?" She invited Alice to look at her painting and give her opinion but MJ didn't dare move it just yet. The paint would need a few minutes to dry.
Post by Alice Jane on Jul 21, 2022 18:15:56 GMT 10
Alice nodded, "Yeah, it sounds sweet." She started with the green lawn with no building. There was nothing to confide the children, only a large green lawn with no end, where they could play freely. She drew four children; three were running away while one was chasing after them, and there was a big grin on all the faces.
She tried to draw one of the girl's structures and hair like her only and the remainder of the children similar to her childhood friend. Maybe after enchantment, these children would run around. She painted the sky with sunset where some light was falling on the children. It was a peaceful evening time but not dark enough to scare them.
The scene was almost similar to what she had in mind, but the faces of the children were not recognizable, but she was fine with it. For anybody else, they were just random children with no perfection in facial structure.
When MJ invited her to see it, she looked at her painting. "Wow, it's awesome. After enchantment, it would look like a real underwater scene." She replied with excitement. "That fish is cute." She added, pointing towards a little one.
"What do you think about my painting?" She asked, pointing towards hers. She couldn't wait to see both paintings come to life.
Post by MJ Birdwhistle on Jul 21, 2022 18:29:24 GMT 10
She was happy that Alice seemed to like her painting, which helped MJ feel like she had made a good choice with what she ended up creating. Looking at Alice's own work she gasped.
"You're so good at painting people! I always struggle with them." She could vividly picture the children running around and playing together and she smiled.
"I really like the colours you used for the sunset too, I think Professor Rivera is going to be really impressed with you!" She grinned at her friend. They both had finished their paintings!
MJ let her own dry for a moment, tidying up the supplies she had used. Everything she had used must have been magical in some way - she didn't need to throw out any dirty water (it was always clean!) and the paints weren't muddied or mixed up either. There was no need for her to wipe them down or something. MJ just had to put everything back when she found it.
Maybe she would ask Professor Rivera about where to get magical art supplies...?
Once she was done, she picked up her now dry painting and satchel, "Shall we go show these to our Professor?"
She was excited to see Professor Rivera's reaction too!
Post by Alice Jane on Jul 21, 2022 18:58:34 GMT 10
Alice was glad that MJ liked her painting, then probably Professor Rivera would do too. "Most of my painting contains people. It is hard for me to draw animals or fish, but your fishes are really nice." She replied.
"I hope she would like it." She replied with a smile.
Alice started cleaning until the painting was drying. It was easy to put the colors and other spare stuff in its place, and nothing to clean, not even her clothes.
"Yeah." She replied, and they both walked out of the room to show the dried painting.
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