The Demon Gryffindor of Transfiguration Class PV Closed

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Marshal's new world was pretty spectacular in a lot of ways. There was constant surprise, befuddlement, and anticipation as he awaited the next illogical fact that most wizards would find to be common knowledge. To sum all of the nonsense up in one word, his new life was rather magical. And, quite honestly, he was okay with that.
He never discouraged new things from making an appearance in his life; much to the contrary, he welcomed them- unless said "new thing" was some sort of tomato sandwich or something, in which case he would be forced to throw the sandwich swiftly into the trash, then proceed to swear off all things unfamiliar forever. In his entirely unprofessional opinion, tomatoes were evil; not that they ever tried to hide it. Anyone who thinks otherwise is certifiably a squirrel's favorite food.

In any case, it was morning- a perfect time for school to not be happening. And yet here he was, on the last stretch of hall before he reached the room where Transfiguration class was held.
As mentioned before, the first year Gryffindor had experienced many new things in recent times, most of which he had enjoyed. While the fact that the classes at this school taught magic had allowed him to retain some semblance of excitement about them, schoolwork was still schoolwork, and Marshal had never had much patience for it. He was still forced to sit somewhere he didn't necessarily want to be for hours on end, listening to lectures, writing down notes, and taking accidental naps here and there. The new subjects had kept his interest for a day or two, but the freshness had worn off by now, leaving him dreading all but three classes: Potions, Defense Against the Dark Arts, and Flying.
He wasn't entirely certain why he liked potion brewing as much as he did; it was just intriguing somehow. Mixing weird ingredients together in a cauldron made him feel like a wizard or witch from the movies he had seen, and the thought of creating something with a possibly miraculous effect was enough to get him through that class period.
His love for Defense Against the Dark Arts was easy enough to discern. He had never liked the feeling of being unable to protect himself and, more importantly, those around him.
As for Flying class, the reason was simple: He could fly.

Though he had walked slowly, he managed to make it through the door a good bit before class was supposed to start.
Great! He thought to himself. That leaves me a few more minutes to dread the moment where I learn that I can't turn a mouse into a fork effectively.
Casting his gaze across the different seating options, one in particular caught his eye, or rather, the girl sitting next to it. Blond hair pulled into a bun, delicate brown eyes holding a hint of boredom as she stared toward the front of the class, where the teacher would present their lecture. She was pretty, and what's more, she had candy. He saw her pull something yellow from her bag and place it in her mouth. Maybe Transfiguration class wouldn't be all bad today.
Dropping his bag on the floor beside the empty seat, he casually slid onto the chair. Whereas the girl had everything she might possibly need for the period carefully placed on the desk in front of her, he refused to remove anything from his bag until he absolutely had to. Of course, if he had candy in his bag, it would be a different story.
Note to self; make the candy pocket a reality.
Turning a friendly smile on her, he spoke, "Well, hello there! How do you do? I'm glad this seat was open. It's always helpful when I have a better view than the blackboard can offer."
The poor girl hadn't even gotten an opportunity to say a word yet, and she was very possibly uncomfortable already, due to the over-abundance of flirtatiousness right out of the gate. Of course that hadn't been Marshal's intention, but his mouth had a terrible habit of running away with itself, led by his heart. Hopefully she was more flattered than uncomfortable, and hopefully he didn't get slapped in the face and kicked out of class.
Aside from his heart, his mouth could also be led astray by his stomach. "If you don't mind me asking, what kind of candy do you have there? And more importantly, what's your name? I'm Marshal." As he always did when meeting someone new, he extended a hand, offering to shake in greeting. Whether she chose to take it or laugh in his face remained to be seen.

@Elizabeth Isaacs

Liz didn't really pay attention to any of the kids coming in. She just wanted this class to end so she could have a bit of free time, not that she didn't enjoy Transfiguration. She slowly sucked on her lemon sherbet and stared at the black board. That was until someone slid into the seat next to her. She turned her head to look at the male, a Gryffindor. He looked to be at least 5 inches taller than her with short blonde hair, hazel eyes, and pale skin.

Now Liz was not one to find people attractive that often. But throughout her first week here at Hogwarts this was the second person she had found quiet pretty. No, pretty described Lauren, this male was more...handsome? Liz did her best not to roll her coffee eyes at herself. Handsome. She snorted inwardly. The boy turned to her with a smile.

"Well, hello there! How do you do? I'm glad this seat was open. It's always helpful when I have a better view than the blackboard can offer." Liz's eyes widened slightly. Was this boy flirting with her? Her pale face immediately went red at the thought. The tips of her ears were also a pale pink. She was not used to being flirted with. She knew she was pretty, but she didn't expect anyone else to find her pretty enough to flirt with.

The male continued, "If you don't mind me asking, what kind of candy do you have there? And more importantly, what's your name? I'm Marshal." Liz made quick work of the rest of her Lemon Sherbet so that she could respond beyond just turning pink. Clearing her throat she finally responded.

"My names Elizabeth. Elizabeth Isaacs. Oh! These are Lemon Sherbets. I may have um...stolen them from my enemy. But it's fine. She's crazy anyway. Would you like some?" She asked, smiling and pulling another one out and popping it into her mouth. She then held out one in her hand for Marshal to take.

@Marshal Mozor

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He watched her closely as he spoke those first words, noticing the slight change in the color of her face. She did appear slightly uncomfortable at the compliment, but that could either be a good thing or a bad thing. Good if she was so flattered that she couldn't help herself, bad if she was embarrassed to have a weirdo like him hitting on her. But regardless, a compliment never hurt anyone, right?
There was a moment of awkward silence, long enough that Marshal figured he'd better come up with a charming apology.
Before he could, however, the girl responded, "My names Elizabeth. Elizabeth Isaacs."
Elizabeth, he repeated in his mind. How many nicknames could you make out of that? Liz, Lizzie, Beth, Eliza... He scrunched his nose in distaste. Better forget about that last one.
In hindsight, it probably would have been best if he had actually responded to her, rather than drifting off into his oblivious cloud of thoughts that didn't help him in this particular situation. But then, his train of thought never did seem to follow any sort of logical track.

Thankfully, she quickly answered his other question, bringing him back to the conversation, "Oh! These are Lemon Sherbets. I may have um...stolen them from my enemy. But it's fine. She's crazy anyway."
First of all, he had never heard of Lemon Sherbets, and thought they sounded absolutely delicious. Secondly, the part about her stealing the sweets from her "enemy" gave him pause. Surely she didn't really mean that she had stolen the candy... Like stolen stolen.
He pictured the petite girl wearing a black ski mask, slinking through the halls and into a separate house's common room, where she finally lifted a bag of the yellow sweets out from under the ghastly enemy's nose and made off in triumph. The perfect crime.
Perhaps Elizabeth was joking, or maybe she had good reason for stealing the candy. After all, crazy people shouldn't have candy, right? It might excite their craziness or something.
Any further thought on the matter was derailed by Elizabeth's next words, "Would you like some?"
In the end, crazy people are crazy, and Marshal had a sweet tooth.
"I would love one, thank you," he said, taking the treat that she offered to him and placing it in his mouth. His eyes lit up as the flavors met his taste buds, and he nodded appreciatively. Everything was better when you had something tasty to suck on.
The moral of the story: Crime is fine as long as Marshal gets candy.

"This is good," he informed her, his speech slightly impeded by the candy in his mouth. "So what's your favorite thing about Hogwarts?" He glanced around cautiously, then added quietly, "I know we don't get to see a lot of cool animals for a couple of years, but that's what I'm looking forward to the most. I need to prepare for the dragons I'm going to tame."
He only knew any of that from a conversation he had had with Leonard recently, and it was in that same conversation that he had developed an obsession with becoming a dragon tamer. Hopefully Elizabeth liked magical creatures too.

@Elizabeth Isaacs

Elizabeth had prayed he hadn't seen her blush. She didn't want him to think he had flattered her, even though he had. But he appeared to get a little closer to her as she blushed, causing more redness to soak into her cheeks. After giving him her name he seemed to drift into thought, however he quickly answered her question. "I would love one, thank you," his face seemed to light up as soon as he put it into his mouth. This made Liz smile happily. The small girl loved that she got to make the boy happy. She had even gone against her normal selfish prospective in life just to give him a piece of hard earned candy.

Her smiled grew wider as she remembered the thrilling adventure she had had taking it from Tina. That girl seriously got on her nerves and getting to leave her a note that said something nasty back to her after all the times Tina had attacked her appearance had put Liz in a state of bliss. "This is good," Marshals voice jolted her from her devious thoughts. Liz nodded in agreement. "I know right! They were quiet a steal!", she laughed, thinking about it again. She couldn't believe her luck in getting something as delicious as these.

"So what's your favorite thing about Hogwarts?" he continued, and then in a lower voice said, "I know we don't get to see a lot of cool animals for a couple of years, but that's what I'm looking forward to the most. I need to prepare for the dragons I'm going to tame." Liz's brown eyes lit up at the mention of animals. Finishing her second Lemon Sherbert she responded.

"Whoa! You wanna tame dragons? That's so cool! I've heard of dragon tamers but haven't ever met one. I saw a dragon once with my family when we went on a trip to Romania. It was HUGE!, she said excitedly. "I really enjoy potions. I want to be a potions master...well I guess mistress, when I grow up. I think they are so cool. You can literally bring people back from the brink of death with them and turn into other people. You can even evade death with them. I have done a ton of reading on them!" she said.

It wasn't often the girl opened up about her interests so quickly. She didn't often talk on and on like she just had. She usually gave small quips or bland responses. But Marshal had hit the right topic almost immediately. She thought dragons were so cool, but Thestrals were cooler to her. She had heard about them and seen drawings of them in books, but having never seen someone die she hadn't seen them in real life. Her dad however had seen them and had described them to her whenever she asked.

"So Marshy. Where are ya from? I'm from Ireland. Right outside Dublin to be specific. We live in the country and are surrounded by forest and open land. It's very nice. But I have been a ton of other places. My family likes to go on vacation a lot." She asked this after realizing she should probably ask something of her own.

@Marshal Mozor

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Pay attention to the details of life - every sunrise, every sunset, and everything in between - or it will be gone before you even realize what you had

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@Elizabeth Isaacs

"I know right!" Elizabeth replied when he complimented the candies. "They were quiet a steal!"
There was that word "steal" again. Still pretty certain that she didn't actually mean it, Marshal chuckled along with her, the sound of her laughter instantly brightening his day. Personally, he found the sound as sweet as the taste of the candy in his mouth, and he savored both.
He sucked slowly, trying to make the Lemon Sherbet last as long as possible.

Following his statement that he aspired to be a dragon tamer, the girl's eyes lit up with excitement.
"Whoa! You wanna tame dragons? That's so cool!" She exclaimed, then continued to gush over the fiery creatures, as well as Potions. What a marvelous coincidence that the two of them appeared to share some similar interests. The significance wasn't lost on Marshal.
He was extremely pleased that he had chosen the right topic to bring up in the conversation. He found the girl's enthusiasm delightful, and couldn't help but let it feed his own excitement.

"Wait, you've actually seen a dragon?" he blurted, loud enough to earn a few glances from other students around the room. Eyes darting quickly from one staring face to another, he lowered his voice again. "Like, in person? What was it like? Did it breath fire? If so, how close do you think you need to get in order to roast a marshmallow?" The questions just flowed out of him, spurred on by his newfound love and desire for information on the topic, especially concerning the last question.
"And I love potions too! I'm pretty new to it, but I think it's really fun to make them; and the crazy effects that different ingredients cause are awesome. I aspire to create a weird potion someday. Something that nobody else has made, or would even want to make." And he did. Even if his creation was useless to everybody else, it might make him laugh. Good enough.

Could you really save a person's life with a potion? He really needed to do some more reading about them, though in his defense, he hadn't known anything about potions until very recently.
The thought that you could turn into somebody else by drinking a strange mixture was thrilling, not that Marshal would ever feel the need to be anyone but himself, of course.
This was already the best Transfiguration class he had attended, by far.

Elizabeth went on to ask him a question of her own. He particularly noticed the part where she called him "Marshy."
She had given him a nickname already?
Excellent.
A cluster of figurative butterflies fluttered in his stomach when she used the nickname. He loved the sound of it coming from her. But if one of his male friends had called him that, he would have had much different feelings about it.
"Ireland?" he replied when she told him where she was from. "That's cool. It sounds a lot different from where I grew up. There are tons of people in London, but that's all right, cause I like to meet new people." He shrugged. "My family goes on vacation sometimes, but not all that often. We did go to Paris once."
He remembered seeing the Eiffel Tower and thinking it was large beyond all reason. The food had been good, though.

The boy seemed very excited about dragons. Liz wondered how he had gotten it into his head that he wanted to tame dragons. She could never. Potions was so much more safe for her, maybe not for the people taking her potions. But at least she was safe. She took two more pieces of candy out and placed them onto her parchment before closing up the bag and putting it away. It had been worth the difficulty trying to get them. She took one of the candies and held it out in her hand to Marshall.

"Pffft! It was absolutely amazing! Yes they did breathe fire and I wouldn't recommend trying to roast a marshmallow in their fire. You will most likely be burned or eaten." When the boy mentioned love potions and potions in general Liz's head perked up in interest. She nodded along with what he was saying before the topic was quickly changed to where they lived.

"London?! That's so cool! I wish I lived in London! Oh you've been to Paris? What was it like? The city of loveeeee!". she drew out the words, "I've been plenty of places, just not Paris. I went to Deauville once to visit my distant relatives on my mothers side. My mom's from France. Since they only speak English in London do you know any other languages? I know English, Irish, and a bit of French."

Elizabeth loved to brag about her heritage and how she knew so many languages. Her mother was French and her Father Irish, so it was expected that she would know many languages. In fact she had grown up learning Irish, but had been taught English early on, so she only had a slight accent. She popped her piece of candy in her mouth and continued to hold out her hand for Marshall to take his piece.

She rested her head on her other hand and tilted it slightly, smiling. She was staring at him with big brown eyes. They were almost uncannily large, but just small enough that they missed the mark. Her long blonde hair fell over her shoulder in waves. She had quite a lot of hair, it was kind of ridiculous. But she loved it. She patiently waited for his responses.

@Marshal Mozor

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Pay attention to the details of life - every sunrise, every sunset, and everything in between - or it will be gone before you even realize what you had

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@Elizabeth Isaacs

Evidently, Elizabeth wasn't quite sold on Marshal's idea of taming dragons and using them for epic barbecues. Oh well. He supposed he would simply have to convert her.
"But see, if it was so amazing to see them from far away, then just imagine how great it would be to see them up close!" he asserted, the look on his face suggesting that his logic couldn't possibly be argued with. "And all you need to do is either tame the dragon or put it in a cage, then put on some fire-proof pants, and you could have the best s'more ever. I've already talked to a friend about finding pants like that. We'll figure it out." And he believed it entirely. He had decided that this was something he wanted, badly, and when he set his mind to something, he didn't tend to give up... ever. Sure, it may seem impossible and most likely involve a horrible death, but that was of no matter. He wouldn't be defeated.
"You could even help us out," he added. "I'm sure you're smarter than I am, and Leo would definitely appreciate more help in the thinking department than I can give him."
In reality, he wasn't certain that Leo would actually appreciate that at all. But he shrugged inwardly. Leo would be fine.

Marshal eagerly accepted the Lemon Sherbet that Elizabeth held out for him, sucking on it while he listened to her talk, chuckling as she drew out the word "love."
"London's pretty cool. Really busy and rainy, though. Sometimes I feel like there are more tourists than residents there. I guess that's probably how residents of Paris feel too." He took a moment to think back on his trip to Paris before continuing, "It's a really interesting place. There are lots of bikers and berets, and the Eiffel Tower is huge." He lifted an arm in the air, as if showing her the scale of the landmark. "Don't go up there if you have a fear of heights, for sure, but the view is spectacular."
So far, Marshal liked Elizabeth quite a lot. She was pretty and fun to talk to. Plus, she had given him candy. How could it get any better than that?

His eyebrows raised as she listed the languages she knew. It was pretty impressive, considering that he didn't know so much as how to count to ten in another language.
"Wow," he replied. "You'll have an easier time than I did in Paris then. I couldn't understand a word most people were saying. I always felt like they were talking about me behind my back." He glanced around the room again, then said cheerfully, "Not that people don't already do that in English!"
Being loud and outgoing tended to cause people to talk about you often, but Marshal simply didn't care. He liked to assume that people only ever said good things about him anyway.
"I don't know any other languages, but I do know how to use too many words in English," he grinned. "And back on the topic of dragons burning me to a crisp, my dad is a fire-fighter, so it's pretty much in my DNA to put fires out. I'm sure my natural instincts would kick in if I needed them." Of course that logic was absurd, but he liked to think that way.