A New Face

Daemon didn't often take the time for walks of any kind - usually, he would prefer to head down to the pitch and spend time practicing either alone or with whomever was around. After the last time he had been at the pitch, however, he was wont to return. He had met a Ravenclaw Quidditch player and undoubtedly there would be some kind of inter-house rivalry between the two of them. It would be interesting, he wagered.

That said, Dex was tired of being a captive in his dormitory, listening to the whining of the female students or the egos of the males. He certainly hadn't been put in his house for an annoying need to victimize others. He was simply ambitious and needed a house that could help him, according to the Sorting Hat. Or something like that, anyways.

As he made his way around the grounds he found a tree with a low-hanging branch and tugged on it to test how much weight it could hold. Satisfied with it, he pulled himself up and sat there with his legs hanging off one side of it. He felt oddly peaceful there, watching the other students who were walking around the grounds, some in pairs and some alone.

From his bag he pulled a book - his favorite - and turned so his back was resting against the trunk of the tree and his legs extended along the branch. The sun was coming through the leaves above him such that the heat of it landed on his face and the sun shone on the book cover. With a rather contented sigh, he opened the book to the page he had marked and settled in for an afternoon of reading. Was he strange for a Slytherin? Probably. But someone who refused to read was someone who would fall behind those who did.

He hadn't been up in his perch for too very long before he heard the crunching of fall leaves nearby and looked up.

Elisabeth had taken the day to practice her Animagus abilities, she needed the practice, and today was the perfect day to do so, the sun was out shining warmly in contrast to the brisk Autumn breeze that surrounded her. She had started practicing whenever she had time, and was getting better at staying in her Animagus form for long periods of time.

Elisabeth found a large tree, and went behind it, concentrating on essentially transfiguring herself into a tabby cat, her eyes, hands, ears, everything became more catlike until she had fully transformed into a cat, now about five feet shorter than her normal height of 6'2.

She explored the grounds, feeling refreshed as she did so, like she always did when she was in her Animagus form. Elisabeth stopped when she neared a boy reading a book in one of the trees, she moved forward slightly, not realizing she had done so and stepped on some fallen leaves. The boy looked up almost immediately, and Elisabeth began to go back to her regular state. "Hi." She greeted him, blushing slightly, she straightened her Ravenclaw quidditch sweater over her skirt. "I'm Elisabeth." She introduced herself softly

Dex blinked in surprise at the cat, understanding finally when he saw the Ravenclaw standing before him after she changed back to her normal self. She was particularly friendly, not to mention pretty - something Daemon rarely considered or thought about.

Closing his book, he let it rest on his legs as he regarded her from his branch. "My name is Daemon." He replied simply, turning so his legs hung off the branch and he could face her as they spoke. Toying with the edges of his book pages, he glanced down before looking up at her once more.

"I don't think I've had classes with you before." He began, unsure how to phrase his question exactly. "You're not a fifth year, I take it?" Dex may not be overly social, but he was excellent with remembering faces. Something about the girl standing in front of him was familiar but he couldn't place it.

Elisabeth watched as they boy turned on his perch, introducing himself as Daemon "Nice to meet you Daemon." She said, trying to be polite, Daemon is a nice name she thought. He was cute as well- something Elisabeth rarely thought about when meeting boys.

"We don't have any classes together, no, and you're right about me not being a fifth year, I'm a sixth year, actually." She confirmed, though he looked a little familiar himself, perhaps she had seen him in the halls, or in the library, where she tended to spend most of her time.

"What book are you reading?" She asked, curious not only for what book, but if it was in fact the library where she had seen him before. She was strangely confident, something she rarely attained such a high level of.

((OOC: He's wearing the shirt from his signature))

Daemon nodded to her in greeting as she replied. She was strangely outgoing for a Ravenclaw - those he met were often shy or reserved at the least. Elisabeth, however, seemed the extremely friendly type. Not that Dex was complaining. "My friends call me Dex," He replied, "At least they would if I had any friends." He added jokingly. He tagged a smile onto the end to show that he wasn't serious. He wasn't a loner exactly, but he preferred to stick to certain people he knew he could get on with.

"Ah," He replied, nodding. "I'm a fifth year. Slytherin." He added after a moment of thought. He wasn't wearing Slytherin colors - rather, he was wearing a rather Gryffindor ensemble now that he thought about it. Daemon had never preferred green, though, so it didn't matter to him very much.

Looking down at the book in his hands, he lifted it so the cover was facing her. "Brave New World." He replied. "Muggle authors are rather fascinating."

Daemon regarded her carefully then, wondering if she perhaps was Pureblood and would disagree with him. It was a sort of unspoken rule that Slytherin House preferred Purebloods but not all Purebloods ended up in Slytherin. Perhaps it was stereotyping of some kind, but as she was Ravenclaw, he rather expected that Elisabeth would be interested in books. When she asked, he wasn't surprised.

"I've read this one more times than I should admit to." He smirked, extending the book towards her in case she wanted to look at it. If she had already read it, all the better.

Elisabeth smiled as Daemon joked around, contemplating if she should call him Dex as well, or wait until they knew each other better. She decided to do that later, for the time being, at least.

"Slytherin, as you could probably tell by my sweater I'm in Ravenclaw." She said, smirking slightly. Elisabeth took a step closer to the tree, not too close, but close enough where she was now under the trees half shade due to the falling leaves of Autumn.

Elisabeth's face lit up as he said he was reading Brave New World "Muggle authors are amazing, I love Aldous Huxley." She said, her grin widening. "My mum is a half blood, and she gave me her muggle book collection as a birthday gift." She explained.

She took a glance at which cover was on his copy, as there were a few, "I have the same edition back home." She explained, thinking of her vast book collection, composed of both muggle and magical authors alike. "It's amazing how long ago that book was written." She commented. "So, do you mostly read utopian/dystopian style novels?" She asked, curious to learn more about Daemon.

Dex debated hopping down from the tree to be at her level, rather than practically peering down his nose at her, but thought that might just make things awkward. Instead, he leaned against the tree so he was closer to her without causing any sort of strangeness between them. He gave her a smile as she pointed out the colors she wore, though he had already figured as much.

It was strange, he mused, that he was being so open with this girl he didn't know. Usually he didn't pay anyone much attention, even girls he considered pretty. Dex tended to be so caught up in his own life and issues that he didn't spend vast amounts of time on others. Not exactly something to be proud of, perhaps, but it was the truth.

"You're joking." He said, eyes widening at her declaration that she now owned an entire collection of Muggle novels. "Man, my parents would go nutty if they thought I was wishing I had a Muggle collection." He frowned then, crossing his arms in front of his chest. Perhaps that wasn't the best thing to say in front of someone who clearly wasn't Pureblooded. Not that Dex particularly cared about what she thought of him, of course. That would imply caring if she liked him, which, of course, he didn't.

"I mean, I don't get why they don't accept Muggle stuff. It's been ages since the war - or feels like it - and I don't get what their problem is. It's fascinating."

Daemon was probably giving away too much of himself. He usually never did anything like that, but something about the idea of this girl being so like him seemed to have turned his usual rules on their heads. If he was being honest, Dex didn't really have close friends. More like acquaintances he was fine with keeping his distance from. Shame, though, that he didn't meet this girl earlier.

Had he seriously just thought that?

Her words brought him back to the present and he shrugged before answering her question. "I'll read just about anything. Those definitely interest me the most when it comes to Muggle novels. They seem to have all sorts of ideas for fixing things, don't they? It's a wonder the Wizarding World hasn't tried anything like what you could find in one of these books."

Elisabeth smiled softly at Daemon's amazement over her book collection, no one else had ever really been interested in hearing about it, with the exception of other Ravenclaws of course, but that was expected, a Slytherin pureblood? Elisabeth never thought that would happen, but it seemed she was wrong. This boy seemed to be...different, he didn't fall into the pureblooded social norm, he was unique in his own way, and Elisabeth had to admit, she liked that about him.

Elisabeth herself wasn't acting like her normal, secluded self, she had never really been this open before, and it was a nice change. Perhaps their love for books had connected the two on a deeper level, or maybe it was something even deeper than that.

"I understand, your parents must be strict Purebloods, my father is Pureblood, but he fell in love with and married my mother, a half blood." she explained "So my library is one big mix of the two cultures, occasionally clashing with their ideals, but I like that about it, it makes it...unique." she said, smirking slightly, she had just used the same word to both describe Daemon and her book collection, yet, he didn't know it.

Elisabeth pondered why the Wizarding World didn't have books like muggle books. "Perhaps the Wizarding World isn't using its imagination to its full extent," she started "maybe magic gives us such an unlimited view of life, we don't think to make anything else of it." she continued "We can fix any problem with magic, and even entertain ourselves with it, so we don't feel the need to delve into the deeper thought that is fantasy." she finished. Realizing what she had just said, she blushed, her cheeks turning a brilliant crimson red over her usually pale complexion "Sorry," she apologized "I get a little carried away and philosophical sometimes." she explained.