InsaneJournal

Characters: James Potter & Lily Evans
When: Thursday, August 30, evening
Location: front dining car
Warnings/Rating: none; general audiences
Summary: transfiguring some blinds for a lady aboard the train as James promised them [here]
Status: Closed/Complete

There wasn't much to transfiguration once a fellow knew how its mechanics worked. As James had explained to Jaime, it wasn't about changing something into something else. It was about uncovering what one wanted to see from what one could see. Everything had the potential to be anything else. That was why James could never understand the concept that a witch or wizard was only as good as their breeding. What difference did it make what kind of bloodline one was from when there was the same potential in him as there was in any Muggleborn? He had worked his way through several things in the baggage car before deciding that the best item to showcase its inner beauty as a blind was an old canvas luggage bag. It was a bit floppy, a bit worn, and it had clearly seen enough of the world to know what was out there before it had found its way to the Orient's baggage car. James felt it was more than a bit fitting that the bag find a new life for itself showing a better world to a lady in need of a change of scenery. James had started out his work by flattening it out as far as he could and then he'd measured it up against the window in his sleeping car before changing its shape to fit precisely. He imagined all the windows were the same size, but he did test that out in an empty room before settling on the size. It had been the work of moments to create the effect of glass on its surface, but changing that to a believable set of scenery had taken a lot more work. Two days off and on he'd played around with it before settling on a set of five images he thought were good enough to share with the woman from the network. It had taken him more effort to compose a query to Lily for help than it had to come up with the blind treatment for the bag. James spelled the blind into a pocket-sized square and made his way to the front dining car where he took an empty table and slid it into another of the same size to make a longer version. They could blow up the blind to test the charm as he imagined that might make it easier for Lily. That she was willing to help at all was just like her, he thought. She was the kind of person who'd help anyone, no matter how well she liked them, because that was what a good person did. It took someone like Lily to catch the attention of an ignorant prat like himself and apparently it took someone like Lily to care for a git like Snape. Pushing that thought away, James finished spreading out the makeshift blind on the tables as he looked up to see Lily approaching, "I'm---it's---thank you. For coming. I, have, well, that is to say I've got five designs that I'm thinking are nice enough for her. Would you like to see them first or would you like to take a run at making the blind change on your own before I demonstrate what I have?" Nicely done, Prongs, he thought to himself with a wince at his own stuttering ridiculousness. It was hard to think of how to speak with her now. That was all. Mostly.