[www] Trouble finds you, wherever you go. [mallory]

The sun was shining, the air was warm, and there was a smile on Memphis' face as he walked down the bustling streets of Diagon Alley. School was out for the summer but that didn't mean the place wasn't still packed. He knew in only a few weeks time it would be so crowded with students he'd barely be able to push through, and thats why he chose today to head down to the best shopping district in London. And he knew exactly what shop he was headed for, Weasley' Wizard Wheezes. He beamed as the mechanical arm lifted a magical hat off of the large red head statue on the front of the building. It really was a great looking shop. Moving past other shops he stopped only for a moment to look inside of the Quality Quidditch Supplies shop. Starring at the latest broom model made him feel almost nostalgic. He looked down at the slightly snug and some what worn out light green shirt he had on with a picture of the Caephilly Catapults on the back and remembered all of the great times he'd had playing Quidditch. Sure he never played professionally, but that had been his plan for a long time during Hogwarts and he just might of been good enough to do it. Playing beater on the Ravenclaw team for nearly half of his Hogwarts years was one of his favorite memories of school. Had he not found out he was an Elemental and if none of the chaos after that moment happened maybe he would of gone on to play for this homes team... maybe.

It seemed like nostalgia was on the menu today because not only was he heading to a joke shop he'd never visited before, (although he'd been to Gambol and Japes plenty of times) he was also reminiscing about his school years. Things seemed so much easier now that he was looking back on them, of course they were far from easy when he was living them. He thought he was in love a number of times but always ended up with his heart broken during school. Ruthy, Antigone, and of course... Farren. He thought about the night he'd just had with his childhood sweetheart and part of him still didn't believe it really happened. It had been a long time coming, he'd loved her since they were eleven, but he wasn't sure how he was supposed to feel now. The logical part of himself wanted to figure out exactly what that night meant to her. Did that mean they were together now? Did that mean everything was going to change between them now? And most importantly... did he do a good job? Sure he'd been with plenty of girls but that didn't mean he didn't like positive feedback. No matter how much part of him wanted to analyze every last detail of what had happened there was a much bigger, much more afraid part, that wanted to pretend it never happened. If it never happened then it couldn't hurt when she said it didn't change what they were to each other. She was in a fragile place, she probably wasn't looking to settle down with some halfblood.

Turning from the window he tried to turn off the bit of his brain that wanted to get serious and figure things out. The closer he got to the joke shop the easier that switch got to turn. By the time he was at the front door he was back to smiling, not thinking about Farren, and on a mission to have some fun. If things changed, he couldn't stop it, and if they didn't... well he would survive that too. What he really needed was a perfect distraction, something (or someone) to keep his mind off of the troubles in his own little world. He figured the joke shop was a great place to start his search for that. Opening the door he was amazed by what he saw. Colorful displays at every corner and a large spiralling stair case leading to another level of fun. He walked past the bubbling display of love potions, he didn't need any of those and kept moving toward the fireworks displays. Memphis was all for practical jokes and the occasional mischief but today he wanted something with a bang, literally. He put his hands into the pockets of his faded, tattered jeans and gazed at the display before him. There were so many kinds of fireworks he honestly didn't know where to start. His fathers birthday was coming up and he was going to step out of his comfort zone this year and buy him something different. In the many years past Memphis usually got gifts related to the hobby the two of them shared: their love of books.

His father was an Author and also an avid reader so it was easy to find books to give him. Sometimes Memphis got him quills or scroll, general things that that, but never fireworks. He knew his father would enjoy the show at his birthday party.. but which ones would put on the best show. He wanted the big colorful ones that lingered in the sky for moments before finally falling to the ground. He scrunched his face a little, thinking it over and then picked up a purple colored rocket and looked it over. Then looking side to side he realized he was probably over thinking all of this. They were fireworks, you light them up, and watch them explode.... no need to analyze the fun out of it. Grabbing a few bigger rockets, other assorted fireworks, and something with a picture of warning wizards to not like these near houses he stocked up. It wasn't until after his hands were full of fireworks that he realized he had no idea where he was supposed to pay for these. Did he see a counter when he came in? Was it on the second flood... balancing all of these items as he walked in circles up a spiral staircase felt like a recipe for disaster. His face scrunched up one more time as he looked around the room. Being taller than most usually helped, he could see over the crowds, but it didn't help him today.

Mallory Harrison woke up late once again. It was not really her fault. The whole night she was working on a new fashion design and stood up trying to make sure it got done so that she could spend the whole next night sewing it. The idea wasn't out there for once. It was a very simple dress with soft colors and a lot of puff. It was perfect for a Hufflepuff. Mallory was going to be late to work thanks for staying up late though. As she slipped on a pair of her black tennis shoes she brushed her teeth at the same time. The perks of being a witch though Mallory was conjouring all of the things she needed for the day with a flick of her wand. Grabbing her sweater with her free hands once her shoes were on she slipped it on and ran over to her kitchen sink and spat out the toothpaste left in her mouth. Her eyes went to the clock. "Oh merlin!" Hopefully Geroge won't be to mad she was late.... he was normally the one late.

Making her way through the crowds in Diagon Alley she was so glad that school was out but glad that the school rush was not here. It was busier than normal but not crazy busy like when they were school shopping. Pushing past some rude people just standing in the middle of the street she made her way right into the lovely store she worked at. She didn't see George anywhere, which was good. Taking a deep breath she looked around. There were a few people around but many of them looked like they were finding what they needed. Mallory needed to go put her purse up in the employee area in the second story. Quickly going up the stairs she went to a room that was located in the back close to the firework section and shoved her purse right inside the door, not even paying attention where she flung it. As soon as she turned around she seen a gentlemen with his arms full of fireworks and couldn't help to laugh.

The perks of working at this place was there was always something funny that happened. Plus those cute little pygmy puffs. Those things were to die for. Clearing her voice, she spoke up to the man. "Do you need help there, mate?" She raised an eyebrow. "We do have baskets you can put things in." Raising her wand she flicked it and spoke some words under her breath. A basket came zooming right over to the man. He looked strangely familiar. Oh-- yes, he was Memphis... Memphis Something-with a G. She wasn't sure if he knew her. He played on the quidditch team in Hogwarts. Mallory loved quidditch but she didn't ever get placed on the team. She was a good chaser, but that game was to rough for her. Most of the time during Hogwarts Mallory was just flirting with the boys or showing off her talent. He was two years above her anyways. He was a cutie at least. A smile formed. "Are you ready to be checked out?" Mallory was already checking him out, in her mind...

Standing there looking lost must have been working for Memphis because the next thing he knew a gorgeous blond stepped his way. He looked her over super quick and very approvingly, she was cute. And she didn't remind him of any of his past flings, which was always a plus. His mind began to turn and his smile grew, maybe she could be just the distraction he needed. And then she spoke and he was a little let down. She didn't approach him because of his good looks, of which he was sure he had, but because she was an employee and noticed he looked like he needed assistance. He didn't let that bring him down too much though. Instead he gave her a classic Memphis grin and nodded. "Baskets, now that is genius." he nodded as the basket came hovering toward them. A smart, clever witch who is very attractive happened to be Memphis' weak spot. Sure he could of floated the basket over to the two of them too, but his magic was a bit different. He was a menace when it came to wand work. He could barely do the Lumos charm these days, not that he had any need to. "Thanks." he said as he unloaded the fireworks into the basket she had retrieved for him. Once in the basket he realized he had room for a few more and turned to her, using the fact that she worked her to his full advantage.

He couldn't help but chuckle to himself when she asked if he was ready to be checked out. It took him all of ten seconds to realize what a clever play on words that was. He made a mental note to use that one the next time he was working at the rune store in Neroli. "I'm not quite, I'm trying to get a good selection of fireworks. It's my dad's birthday next week and the family is having a party for him." In Memphis' travels he had learned many things about girls. One of those things was that most girls loved a family man. Show that you care for those close to you, and you could usually get pretty close to the girl too. Nevermind that it was actually true. Memphis was quite close with his father, he always had been. "And I wanna' really surprise him with these ya know." He motioned to the basket he was carrying and then shrugged his shoulders. "Do you know if any of these aren't all that great or if I missed any of the good ones?" Looking back to the fireworks display he realized he had gotten a good assortment but there were plenty of items that he had not grabbed. He peered back and her and really took a good look this time, and at more than just her body, and thought maybe he recognized her. There were a lot of females in his memory. He was sure he'd never been with her... but then how did he know her.

"Did you go to Hogwarts?" Adding up all of the contributing factors in her appearance he knew there was no way she was older than he was, so maybe that was why he only sort of recognized her. Memphis usually went for girls his age or older when he was in school. He wasn't going to bring up the fact that he only sort of remembered her, he didn't want her to think that she was some average looking girl that could of passed him in the hall a bunch of times with out him noticing. After all she was very pretty and Memphis thought he might have a shot. Please don't let her say she was a Ravenclaw and he completely passed her by all those years in Hogwarts. That would be a damn shame.

"The real question is, do you want to give your dad a heart attack from excitement or just have him enjoy a pretty light show?" She raised a blonde eyebrow at him. Mallory was all into having fun but she knew if her mother was ever to have any fireworks close to her she would hex her right back, or just find a potion that will do the job for her. David in the other hand would enjoy her fireworks and probably be worried his little sister was going to get hurt. The Harrison's worried a few times. She loved her family more than anything though. "I think we want him to have more birthdays." Reaching into his basket she pulled out a large black firework container, she held it up and spoke to the man in front of her... "This one is pretty testy. I had one explode in my face putting it away. I always wished George would put a skull on it, but he has not done that yet.... so I would never recommend that... but I can show a few that you forgot that simply perfection in the sky and for anybody that see them."

As she placed the black one back on the shelf next to the others she gently pushed it back. Mallory had enough things explode on her in this place. Grabbing another firework that was around the same size of the other one that was wrapped in a teal glittery paper she held that up to show Memphis. "This one here is amazing. Shoots off, looks like nothing is gonna happen for about 70 seconds and then... boom!" She smiled brightly, "Looks like teal fireflies shoot around the sky... and if you say a message before it shoots off that message appears." Enchanted fireworks were amazing. She always wanted to use that firework but never had the occasion to do so. It was very nice to do for an engagament or birthday. "There are so many fireworks though, you did pick out a great selection."

Many of the students of Hogwarts came in there. Most of them looking for George. She nodded at the question, still holding the fireworks. "I was a Hufflepuff. I would've graduated this year but I left early due.. um- just due to some issues that sort of happened." Mallory was not going to talk about what happened. Just thinking about it her eyes changed to a darker blue color rather than the bright aqua that she had. Shaking the thought out of her head she looked back at Memphis. "You were Ravenclaw, I believe. I remember you were on the qudditch team. I watched a lot of the games." Mallory still loved quidditch. It was an amazing sport. "I actually work for the owner of that qudditch store close to here. I am his personal assistant, or better known as a gopher." She chuckled gently. Flicking her wand once more the basket stayed in the air and she put out a slender hand to him. "Mallory Harrison if you don't remember me at all."

Many people knew her from her Metamorphmagi ability, but her early years of the school she didn't show anybody that talent. She was more embarrassed and thought she was a freak. A person who change appearance at will and whenever she got angry her face changed. Since she grew up she realized that it was not bad to be different. It was actually something that made her unique and special. Unlike other witches she could make her hair any color, any shade, any shape... anything she wanted. Her emotions did mess it up sometimes but that is what control helps her with... which she still needs to work on quite a bit.

She had brought up a valid point that Memphis hadn't even begun to consider. His dad was pretty healthy, so he wasn't real worried about him having some kind of episode but it was a family party. Mentally he went over the guest list and checked family members that might go into cardiac arrest if he starting blowing things up in the backyard. There were a few old Bennett witches that might have a hard time, but he could just let them know ahead of time to step back inside. Nodding to himself he was confident the fireworks wouldn't be too much of a health problem. She was right though he didn't want to buy anything unstable, even if it was just a party full of cousins and such Memphis still didn't want to make a complete fool out of himself. His silver gray eyes followed her as she put back the black boxed firecracker, letting his eyes slip just a little bit while her back was turned. A big smile found its way onto Memphis' face when she explained the teal wrapped firework. "Really?" he asked, he believed it was true, but it was such a clever firework that he couldn't help but say it out loud. That would be perfect for his needs, he could say 'Happy Birthday Elijah' or 'Dad'... he was never sure which name to use in these kinds of situations... and it would be written in the sky. His dad would love that.

Being that he was insanely nosey Memphis immediately wanted to ask what had happened, why she hadn't gone back to Hogwarts to finish, but he got the feeling that she didn't want to talk about it. With the war not so far in the past he assumed it probably had something to do with that. Memphis had his own details of that dark time that he didn't want to share with the class, so he understood where she might of been coming from. Had he been making eye contact while she spoke he might of noticed her eyes change color, but instead he was watching her lips as she spoke. However when she mentioned that she knew who he was he lit up like a light bulb and gave her a classic toothy grin. "Yeah I was," he said while puffing his chest out just a little, "First string beater for three years." He was proud of his Quidditch accomplishments. Sure he hadn't been selected by any professional teams but still making the house team was pretty good. Lots of students tried out and only two made first string beater each year.

He was a little surprised to hear that she also worked at the Quidditch store. How was it possible that Memphis could have seen her so many times before but just couldn't seem to place who she was? He felt a little bit embarrassed now, not enough for his cheeks to turn red, but enough for him to try to rack his brain for her name. He let out a small laugh when she mentioned that she was a gopher, he knew what that felt like, but he was still lost in his own head trying to remember her name. Before he had the chance to succeed she told him what her name was. As soon as the words left her lips small bits of information came floating back to the Elemental. She was the metamorphmagi girl. Memphis had never actually spoken to her during school but he had heard all about her. Whether it was intelligent classmates commenting on the rarity of the skill or fickle girls acting jealous because they wanted to be able to change the color of their hair at will, apparently ten second spells were too difficult for them. His interest in her was already pretty high but now it was over the top. Of course Memphis wanted to know more about her ability. He wanted to pick her brain and find out what it was like to have such an amazing gift.

Sure Memphis had a gift of his own, but it was one he was pretty much forced to hide from the rest of the world. He could count on three fingers the number of non-elementals who knew about his ability. She didn't have to hide, she didn't have to pretend that she didn't have it, she was special and everyone knew it. "I remember you." He said with a casual tone to his voice and a smile. He didn't want to scare her off by bombarding her with his geeky questions so he decided to play it cool. "David was your older brother right? He was a few years ahead of me." He was also pretty sure David was one of the wizards who got kidnapped a few years back, having been working at a newspaper at the time he read all about it, but he couldn't bring that up either. "Okay so I think I've got everything that I need for this party...." he looked around the store and then back to her. He couldn't help but want to just keep looking at her. "You guys don't have any of those crazy cone shaped party hats do you?" Figuring it was a long shot Memphis shrugged his shoulders. He wanted to keep the subject on what he was buying but every second his mind was running in the other direction. In the direction of her being a shape shifter. He had to ask... it was bubbling out of him and despite his gut telling him she might be tired of this question he just had to ask.

"Is it true you can change any part of your appearance.. any time you want?"

"You played a mean beater." She smiled at him. That was one position she would never be able to play. Throwing that large bat at the balls and having the carry the bat the whole game, to much work for her. Chaser was her position whenever she played. She was tall, but quick. The lean body made her go faster. Seeker would be very well for her but she was not that quick. She was better at chaser. It was nice someone remembered her. Most of them was because of her ability. Being poked and prodded about that was something that occasionally annoyed her but it was a gift and she enjoyed it. Memphis remembered her brother though. "Yeah, he was my brother. He is a mediwizard now and has a little girl. Shes adorable. Takes after me." She giggled slightly. "I'm joking. He is doing very well though." David was the best big brother in the world. He did so much for Mallory and the family that he acquired and he cared about everybody but himself. He always is so over-protective and just was amazing. He wasn't fond of many of the boys that Mallory had in her life. Most of them he thought she could do better. Her parents just didn't even attempt to talk about their daughter's love life. They knew that she couldn't have them tell her what to do. Mallory was a rebel.

He was all set, that means she could ring him out even though she did enjoy this conversation and his handsome appearance. Then he asked about the hats, "I think we might have some on the bottom level. I know for sure we have ones that leave you boils... I don't think thats what you want. We might have a few that are normal." She chuckled. "Any certain color or anything you want?" She raised an eyebrow at him. He was a very nice guy so far. It was nice to have that around her. Maybe it would be possible to go out to lunch or something later on. It would be nice to see him outside of her job. Mallory loved meeting people here, but it was just a work environment. Sales came first, then friendship.

Another question came out of his mouth and a smile formed as she stepped down the stairs. As soon as she made it to the hats area to see if they had any party hats she did answer that. "Didn't you wonder how I am so pretty? Thats my ability, silly. I look like a totally hag without this ability." She chuckled, obviously she was joking. Hopefully he got that. Mallory wasn't sure.... "I'm joking..... I can change my appearance anytime or anything I want. I don't do it all the time though. Most of the time I just be myself. Nerves or emotions change it more often. After the Battle at Hogwarts, I was so distressed I had green hair for a week. That was not fun." She shrugged gently. Mallory liked talking about her talent. Not many people could do it. It was a genetics thing. You had to have the gene and it mainly ran with the females in the family. Mallory's mother didn't have it. She wasn't sure of who had this ability in the family. It was good she had it. She was hoping if she had children that one of them acquire this.

"I can show you something pretty cool though." She smiled gently at him and focused and her mouth turned to a duck bill. "Quack" She started to laugh and her mouth went right back to her regular mouth. "Always quacks me up." She was very corny. A very odd sense of humor, but she loved to make people laugh whenever she can.

"Oh, thanks." He said with a bright smile, he loved that she knew what he had played and especially that she had complimented him. Memphis loved being recognized or remembered, not that he had really done anything to be remembered by, but still. The fact that she remembered good things about him from Hogwarts made him like her even more. He wondered if she knew any of the bad things but he wasn't about to bring up anything negative. "Well thats good." He said, enjoying the small talk about her brother and his daughter. Being the kind of guy that he was it wasn't hard for Memphis to actually care what girls talked about. Even if he didn't know the person or had no idea what they were really talking about, he still cared. And it all boiled down to the fact that if she cared about it then she cared if he cared and if he cared than he might get lucky. Not that he could really admit that that was the reason, even to himself. Memphis liked to think he was a better man than he really was. He thought he enjoyed good conversation and fine art but really he just loved having a pretty girl on his arm.

When she spoke of the kinds of hats they might had Memphis couldn't help but laugh out loud. The mental picture of him bringing home prank birthday hats and all of his relatives breaking out in hives was too funny to keep in. Of course he wouldn't do it, they would hate him for life, but it would be funny. "Something blue or teal, most of us are Ravenclaw and Ombrelune Alumni ya know." He regretted to add the Ombrelune part, but with a new step-mommy came a new family. He followed her down the stairs and toward the area with various party supplies, including hats. He grabbed a stack of dark blue ones with silver tassels streaming out of the top like a volcano. "These will do." He was nervous about asking her about her abilities but when he saw that she was smiling he didn't feel bad anymore. Maybe it wasn't an annoying question to be asking. Maybe she liked that people recognized her because of her ability. Maybe she would answer more of Memphis' questions too. He balanced the colorful hats on top of the basket of fireworks and switched the arm he was carrying it with.

"I highly doubt that." He replied to her comment about why she was so pretty. He laughed and smiled a big white toothy grin at her. She had a good sense of humor and he loved that in a girl. "Does it take a lot of concentration in order to change your appearance? Like do you have to focus on it for every moment that your changed?" If the answer was yes than he was pretty sure that she probably really was this gorgeous for real. Not that it mattered to Memphis, pretty by nature or pretty by magic was still pretty after all. He tried to picture her with green hair and nodded. He knew what it was like to have your emotions control your magic. When Memphis got too upset things tended to start floating, and that was hard to explain to people. "I believe that." He replied with a nod, having your hair change color when you got stressed out must of been annoying. The Elemental was glad that she was so open about it, the stopper on his questions had pretty much gone out the window because each one that she answered only gave him two more to ask.

He could barely believe what he was seeing with his own eyes. Sure he'd been in Transfiguration's class, yes he had never been able to actually make anything transfigure, but he'd seen others do it, but this was so much different. There were no spells or wands involved, it was just her will and her imagination running the show. He was quite impressed. "Wow, that is incredable." Sure it was also funny, that part hadn't been lost on him. His smile was beaming at her but he was more astonished that he was amused. "I hadn't realized you could change your appearance to that extent as well." He had assumed that she could do only features that humans could possess. New hair, different nose, skinny or fat, things like that but he had never thought she could turn herself into a duck-woman. "Can you change your entire body into a different species? Or just bits and pieces?" He now wondered if being a Metamorphagus could also mean being an animagus. Unfortunately Memphis' flirt side had all but closed up shop and his curious researching side had taken over. He hoped he wasn't bombarding her with questions she wasn't comfortable answering but the filter on his mouth was fading away fast. "And could you turn into inanimate objects? Like a table or a chair, if you wanted to?" He wasn't sure why anyone would want to aside from a party trick, but he had to ask anyway.

He let out of half chuckle-half sigh when he realized he was bombing her with questions when he was supposed to be paying for the merchandise he was holding. She probably had more important job related things to be doing and he was taking up all of her time. He couldn't help it though, she was very attractive both from a physical and mental stand point. "I'm sorry I'm asking so many questions. I've just never actually met anyone as unique as you before." He hoped he could lather on enough charm that she would agree to see him again some time. "I should probably pay for all of this." He lifted the basket a little and then looked around for anything resembling a register, he didn't know where to go, so he looked back at her and waited.

Not many people came in and mentioned Beauxbatons. Many of the students did go there during the war to escape the Muggleborn issues, but Mallory didn’t hear about that school much. Actually, Mallory never met anybody from that school yet. Most of the people she knew were Hogwarts students. Her family were a lot of Ravenclaw alumni’s also. Mallory was the odd ball. She loved being a Hufflepuff though. She supported her house with pride. They were hard workers and friendly. They were very well rounded and supportive of everybody in their house. They didn’t have many issues with other houses except being picked on, but they got along with most of them. She smiled at the hats. They looked seemed to match what he was looking for. When he asked the question about her changing appearance she answered pretty quickly, “It really depends. If I want to be something I have to focus. I kind of have to imagine it first and then it sort of appears. It’s not always what I want to be though. Sometimes it has a mind of its own but that is probably because I am still learning it. I really don’t have anybody that can teach me this thing. I experiment more and more every day and learn more about the ability.”

Every day she learned more about herself and the ability. Sometimes it’s just a new trick or sometimes it’s a new way to control her emotions. At least she was amusing this man. He seemed to be very excited about the ability and personally Mallory loved the attention. He was defiantly a Ravenclaw with all the questions he was asking. It wasn’t specifying a type that comes from that house but most Ravenclaws were the intelligent people who attempted to learn more and more every day. “It’s not really like Transfiguration. That class I am horrible at, “she chuckled gently. “I can do basically appearance things. I haven’t tried gender yet, because I do not want to be stuck a boy for a couple days just in case I can’t go back. I have tried a duck, cat, and monkey face… body is usually the same.” Mallory didn’t change her body much, well at all, because she liked her body. She was graced with tall height, long legs, and very slender frame. She was lucky. He continued with another question, “That I cannot do.” Why would she want to become a chair? Some fat person sit on her and be stinky…. That would be a very bad experience. Mallory actually shuddered to herself thinking about a stinky over-weight gentleman being stuck on top of her as a chair.

Unique. She loved being called unique. She knew she was that, but she loved compliments and even if someone didn’t mean it that way she took it that way. “Thank you.” She smiled. “And I can answer any question you would like anytime.” She smiled at him and then noticed the products in his basket once more. She almost completely forgot. Mallory should continue with her job. “Of course, let me help you with that.” With a flick of her wand and words under her breath, the basket floated in the air towards the counter located close to the front of the store by the pygmy puffs. The hats then bounced behind the basket landing on top of the basket in the end. Making her way over to the counter there was another associate already there to ring him out. “Well, I guess I don’t need to help you there… but if you want to talk more just let me know. I do get a break soon or just can talk to me here or whatever you wish to do.” He was a very nice guy. Attractive, smart, and very friendly. He did ask many questions but at least he wanted to learn more about her ability. Most people just wanted tricks. It was nice having someone wanting to know more about it.

Memphis listened when she answered his questions about her ability. It was fascinating because he had only ever read about a Metamorphamagus but he had never really spoke to one before. He was starting to wish he had spoken to her more when they were in school because her skill was so amazing to him. He could manipulate the air around him, he could levitate things, and become the wind but his ability seemed like small time compared to hers. He could only imagine all of the applications of being able to do what she could. He was happy with his appearance, he was very confident in it actually, but the idea of being able to change it at will really interested him. The idea of being able to be anyone at any time would be insanely useful, he imagined. He felt a little bad that she didn't have anyone to teach her how to use it though. Memphis had no idea where he would be if it wasn't for the Elemental Council. If it wasn't for them he probably would of never even known of the gift he was born with. And the thought of that made him a little sad.

Laughing a little when she joked about becoming a boy for a few days Memphis nodded. He couldn't imagine her with a monkey face, and he decided not to because she was beautiful exactly how she was. He wondered if she really was born this beautiful or if she had modified her appearance because she could. He felt it would be rude to ask, either way he was pleased with how she looked. "If you were to change something, even something small like the color of your hair, do you have to concentrate on that change to keep it in tact? Or does it just stay that way until you decide to change it again?" He thought that was a valid question. Maybe because she was so new to the ability she had to constantly concentrate on her modifications, but maybe the skill was so powerful it wasn't required. He wanted to know more and he was anxious to hear her answers. She was very interesting and he was really enjoying her conversation. He wanted to push more on the idea of turning into a chair because she hadn't really answered the question he meant to ask.

"Is it impossible to become something inanimate or have you not tried?" He didn't want to sound condescending, or like he was judging her if she couldn't do it or hadn't tried, he was really just curious. Realizing he was standing in the middle of the store ready to cash out but lingering anyway Memphis watched her float his basket over to the register. He was brought back to the real world where at some point he was going to need to pay for his merchandise. Memphis envied the fact that she had such an amazing gift and yet she still held on to her wand magic. He found it odd that she could transform her body but she wasn't great at Transfiguration spells, talk about irony. Memphis sometimes wished that he could still do wand magic, even though he had always been terrible at it. For a while he thought it might of been because he was a halfblood. As a child Memphis put way to much stock in the whole purity of blood ideal. It made sense to him at the time. He was the child of a pureblood and a muggle, so he didn't have fully magically blood running through his veins. For a while he had actually started to believe that it was because of his poor blood that he was so shotty with wand magic.

Of course by the time he was fifteen he had learned the truth, Elementals rarely retained their wand magic. Only the newest or most powerful ones really got to keep using a wand. Memphis didn't even know where his wand was right now... he figured it was at home somewhere. Sometimes not being able to use conventional magic and living in a magical world made things difficult, but Memphis made due. As usual he had managed to let his thoughts run away with him. Running a now free hand through his dark blond hair he smiled at her. "Right." He said more to himself than her, commenting on the fact that he needed to check out. Moving to stand near the register he gave another polite smile to the cashier behind the counter. "Thank you for all of your help Mallory." He said, continuing to be polite, but he really meant it. "I would love to get together sometime so I could pick your brain some more? If you don't mind?" He hoped that she wouldn't but her body language and all the things she had said thus far pointed in the direction that she wouldn't. He turned away from the counter and walked back to her real fast, before she walked away. "Maybe you will let me take you to dinner sometime?" He gave her one of his world class smiles and then went back to the register.

Memphis would come find her again soon and make good on the offer to buy her dinner, but tonight he had other plans. He was happy that he killed two birds with one stone today. He got all of the things he needed for his dad's birthday party and he met an exceptional witch who kept his interest. After paying for his merchandise he waved a simple good bye to Mallory and left the store with a smile across his face. He was anxious to see her again but he knew he should wait a spell before coming to see her, keep her guessing and all of that.

[[endd?]]

"I believe its impossible. Its more of an appearance kind of thing. I am horrible at transfiguration so I am not even attempting it. With my luck I'll turn into a couch forever.... or a couch with arms and pink hair." Mallory chuckled at the thought of a giant couch with pink hair and eyes and arms wiggling around. It was pretty funny. She would probably sell tickets so people would have the chance to see the arm-chair, literally.  The man was pretty charming she would have to admit. He was defiantly a Ravenclaw alumni though. He just kept asking her questions but he had those dreamy eyes that made her drawn him more. He seemed pretty cool in her opinion. As he said his thank yous and offered to go out with her to ask her more questions, she nodded. It would be nice to see him so that she was able to talk to someone about her ability. Not much was known about it but she knew it was hereditary. Mallory was a pureblood. Many people thought that was amazing and it made her friends grow because of her blood. She personally didn't care though. Blood was not the issue. Magical folk cannot just keep marrying other magical folk. They will start having to marry muggles eventually. Mallory believed in love anyways, not blood.

"Dinner would be amazing. Just send me an owl or find me here, either works." He knew where she worked and there were not many Mallory Harrison's in London, so would be easy to send an owl. Anything would work. "Happy birthday to your dad. I hope you enjoy the party." She smiled at him and he had his charming smile. That made her melt. Her hair softened slightly and she shoved it out of her head and waved back to him. As she was doing this another customer tapped her upon the shoulder asking her about the pymgy puffs. It was time to go back to work. Man, it was nice to get away from work for a little while and meet someone knew. He was extremely nice and cute. Hopefully he would contact her about going out to dinner.

[end]