A Face In The Crowd
teddyalupin:
Date: December 2, 2027 Location: Expo grounds
Teddy had been told they shouldn’t ever use their abilities to change their appearance beyond recognition in official Ministry capacities without strict approval due to the potential problems it could pose if people didn’t know there was a Ministry presence. They’d also bee discouraged from doing so in any situation which might conceivably become a Ministry concern. As far as Teddy could tell, that had meant anything public.
They followed the first half of that. Not so much the second. That’s why on the first day of the expo when Teddy had no obligations, they shortened their hair, pushed back their hairline, shifted the shape of their eyes and nose, and softened the angle of their jaw to a rounder shape. People who knew them well might see the glimpses of Teddy showing through, but most would look right past them. Teddy rather liked the days of anonymity. It was a time without responsibility.
It was for that reason that Teddy had no qualms smiling at someone they recognized and gesturing toward a display of cameras designed to hover at the front of a broom. “I get the idea, but I wonder if anyone told them you can just put a hover charm on a phone and take up less space.” They weren’t necessarily looking to continue the conversation, but if Teddy ended up with a walking companion out of it, they certainly wouldn’t be sad.
It was only the first day of the Expo, but Julian was already part of the crowd that had gathered in front of Spudmore’s display. If he bided his time, there would be much less of a line to test the Firebolt Premier. The Expo itself was two weeks long and the crowds were sure to thin later that week. While his own schedule was packed, he at least tried to be strategic about when the best time would be to get his ticket to ride a broom he could never afford.
He certainly was just setting himself up for heartbreak, and as the thought flickered in his mind someone behind him had made a comment about the cameras. Julian hadn’t been paying attention to that.
“I suppose it depends on the cameras then, doesn’t it? I’m not sure if phone cameras have the same quality as… those.” Except Julian was sure that camera quality nowadays was pretty good, in the right hands.
He remembered a conversation with Albus about how some of the magical world was designed to stay the way they were—even if they hadn’t been aware of the technological advances that had been coming.
“That, or the Prophet just refuses to actually use phones. Probably something about how the film won’t develop right, or the charms that make the pictures move won’t work.”