Composition Techniques {Shadow}

The sun was setting. Right behind the lake. Pinks and oranges flamed across the sky, the deep blue of night edging it's way in to take over.

How long did she have? Fifteen minutes? Ten? Trish tapped her fingers on the windowsill, impatient. She could be out there now, soaking up the last of pre-curfew freedom. She could be splashing those colors onto canvas, creating her own interpretation of the dying light. Instead she was waiting. And Trish hated waiting.

When the grounds below the Gryffindor tower were lit only by the moon and the faint lights of the castle, Trish ran up to her dorm and grabbed her heavy bag. A large paintbrush toppled out to the floor in her dash back downstairs, and she almost tripped over it before picking it up and stuffing it back into the bag.

The common room was still full. Her fellow Gryffrindors were busy with their homework, or more likely, with socializing. It was easy for her to dart past the groups engrossed in their conversations and slip out of the common room door.

Once in the hallway Trish skipped her way to an empty classroom and shut the door behind her. She closed her eyes and focused all her attention on the words in her head.

“Shadow,” she thought. “Shadow! I know you can hear me.” She waited, knowing if she thought hard enough the bond they shared through her blood would call him to her. “Shadow I want to go paint the lake. Let's go let's go!”

By the time Shadow felt the ripple of Patricia's thoughts reaching out to him, many of the students in the Hufflepuff common room had retired to their dormitories, leaving only a few others sitting quietly, either studying or finishing up their last bit of homework. Shadow sat alone in a corner with his sketchbook. As Patricia excitedly burst into his thoughts, explaining she wanted to paint the lake, a quiet smile played on his lips.

'I will gather my things.'

He stood from the chair and swiftly retrieved his charcoals. Once he was ready, he stepped into a secluded area at the stairs to the dormitory where no one could observe him as he shadow-crossed into the empty classroom where Patricia waited for him.

'Ready?'

He voiced wordlessly, finding it more natural to communicate through their mind link rather than aloud. With his satchel over his shoulder he held out his hand to her. Instead, she threw her arms around him and they shadow-crossed again, this time appearing under the moonlight outside, specifically down at the boathouse. Patricia hadn't told him an exact location, so he thought here would be best, as it was one of the more secluded areas around the grounds where they were less likely to be caught sneaking around.

Seeing as Patricia didn't have any complaints about his choice in location, Shadow wasted no time making himself comfortable by sitting at the edge of the docks with his feet dangling as he took out a larger sketchpad from his satchel and pulled out his charcoals. Within a few minutes of looking out at the lake he had decided his composition and began sketching it out on the parchment.

Even with her arms wrapped tight around Shadow the trip was uncomfortable. She wasn't made to travel the dark passages of the night, not like he was. For the brief moment that she was neither here nor here Trish squeezed her eyes shut, clutched her hands onto her friend's arms. No matter how many times they shadow crossed together she would never get used to it. It was the quickest way to travel, though, and the only way they managed to sneak out of the castle at night. She wouldn't give up the moments of panic for anything in the world.

When she was finally on solid ground Trish let her arms fall away and took a step away from Shadow. She grinned, then she jumped forward to hug him once again. This was a different hug. This was a greeting hug. The other was a travel hug.

“What took you so long?” She asked, playfully skipping away after detaching herself. “That was at least fifteen seconds longer than normal. Were you talking with someone in the common room? You know that Sebastian..”

Trish continued to talk as they walked down the dock, chatting about how her day had gone since they had last seen each other at lunch. There was little room for Shadow to interject, though he did nod and give her that super secret gentle smile of his that was just for her.

When they reached the end of the dock she plopped herself down next to Shadow, who was already pulling out his charcoal and canvas. She reached down and slipped off her shoes, letting her bare feet dangle into the chilly water. Now that she was at the lake she didn't have the motivation to draw it. Instead, she took one of her pens and parchment and began to sketch out Shadow's profile.

She looked up and down, her eyes studying the face she knew better than her own. Her hand seemed to move on its own, tracing out lines she had made a thousand times before. Shadow was not a new subject of her art.  

“Shadow,” she said, trying to get his attention. “Did you know you have the absolute best cheekbones? I mean, look.”  She pushed her drawing towards him, pointing them out. “Hey wouldn't it be weird if that myth about vampires was true? That they couldn't see themselves in mirrors? I could totally be your mirror then. I'd draw you and then you'd know what you looked like.” Trish laughed and ran a hand through her bubblegum pink hair. “'Course you'd just have to trust me, though. I might draw you nothing like you are, and you'd never know.”

Shadow smiled a small smile as Trish hugged him a second time, though he scratched the back of his head as he jested about him taking longer than usual. Still, she continued on to describe her day as they walked to the end of the dock. This was how it often was when they spent time together: Patricia filling the silence while Shadow listened carefully. It was quite pleasant hearing about her day, which happened to be infinitely more interesting than his. He liked to hear about what she had been up to.

When they sat down to begin sketching, Shadow took notice in how quickly she lost interest in the lake, and instead, turned towards him. Again, he didn't mind that either, as she had done portraits of him numerous times before. Shadow on the other hand rarely drew people in his art; he had never been comfortable staring at anyone that long. Even with Patricia, he averted his gaze whenever their eyes met.

Shadow smiled again, this time at her comment about his cheekbones. He couldn't say he had ever noticed anything so specific about his face, but the compliment was appreciated. In response to her comment, he gave a curt nod as he outlined the mountain ridges that framed the moon in the sky and said, "Well if that were the case, I would trust your expertise Patricia. I would be more concerned if the roles were reversed; I don't think I could do your features justice." He started to fill thick black lines onto the page, shaded the mountains in the distance and darkening certain lines to give the mountain more depth.

Trish broke out into a grin when Shadow complimented her.

“Yeah, you're probably right,” she teased, tossing her hair out behind her. She had no doubts that if he were to actually try to capture her features he would do just fine. She was probably the person he looked at most, with the possible exception of Mystery. It wouldn't be hard for him to put that down on his canvas, if he wanted. He was always more interested in the world around them, though, than the people inhabiting it. Trish supposed that made sense. There was so much of the world he couldn't see, locked up inside all day. He had to take it all in and remember it as well as he could.

Even now he was busy drawing the mountains that ran along the horizon. Trish peered over at his sketchpad, studying what he had on it. She could never capture the world like Shadow did. In blacks and grays and all that negative space. Trish felt like she could crawl right into the picture and it would be more real than the ground she was sitting on right now.

She went back to her own art for a while, trying to capture the way the lake rippled in the wind. She pulled her sweater tight around her, realizing that same wind was chillier than she had first thought.

Once she had been quiet long enough she turned back to Shadow, gently touching his shoulder to get his attention.

“Oh, hey, so you know Garrett? He's in your house, same year as us. Got that super dark hair? I think I have a sketch somewhere, from Muggle Studies...” She looked down at her sketchbook and started flipping back pages. It was nearly back to the beginning when she stopped it on a sketch of a boy with a thick line of stubble across his jaw. “Here it is!”

Trish held the book out for Shadow to look at. Of course he had to know Garrett. They had been in the same house for seven years. Trish knew him from a few classes – like Muggle Studies, where she partnered with him on all the projects, since Shadow did not take that class. He was nice, she guessed. Kind of a goofball. Always brought some candy or smuggled food from the kitchens to their study sessions.

“He asked me to go to Hogsmede with him next weekend. Like, a date. I said I'd let him know. But since you can never go on the weekends I thought maybe I'd say yes. It's not like I'd miss time with you that way, since you'll be inside...”

While she spoke Trish had looked away from Shadow and back to the lake. She had been a bit surprised when Garrett asked her out. It wasn't like others hadn't before. This was the first time she felt compelled to say yes, however. It was complicated, she thought, biting her lip. She had always felt Shadow was enough of a companion for her. He was always there. They were never going to be apart.

But what if they were? The year was almost over, and who knew what came after Hogwarts? Maybe it was time to spend time with someone else, in a different sort of way.

Trish turned back to Shadow, her expression unusually nervous. “What do you think I should do?”