Jaxon crossed out the words, for what was by this time probably the hundredth time. When he saw his grades, he had internally groaned. As much as he didn't like to let anything ruin his good mood, seeing them definitely did. Especially potions. An F! And he had really tried on that final too. On the bright side, at least that had been the worst of them, although some of the others weren't that much better. He originally thought it would be best to sort of give his mom a charming heads up. Which was why he could found in the library, sitting at a lone table, chewing on the end of his quill as he stared off into space, trying to think of ways to butter his mom up through a letter.

It was proving to be more difficult than he original thought it would be. He didn't like disappointing his mom. Or his dad. And he knew they would be. But honestly, was it logical for them to expect him to be good at everything? It was impossible. But then again, it probably wasn't impossible for him to at least pass all his classes, even if it were without flying colors. He supposed students did it all the time, and he couldn't think of any way to talk himself out of that argument. Sighing in a frustrated manner, he threw down his quill in favor of picking up his wand and absently practiced the color changing charm on his parchment as he furrowed his brows in thought.

Ivy stared at the report she had in her hands, her eyes skimming over the grades. They were all expected and anticipated, so she was rather content. Now she had a book of plants in her hand, trying to revise for next term's Herbology exam. It really sucked to get a B when you had a green house supervisor for a mother, even though the species of plants they were studying were completely different. Her previous short letter of Hey mom, a Dragonsnap bit me today, had garnered a You probably aggravated it again, response from the humorous Mrs Seeker. Her dad, on the other hand had been disappointed when he found out she had failed her Potions... Again.

"Too bad he's a chemistry teacher." Ivy mumbled, shoving the plant book back into a random shelf. As she passed one of the tables, she noticed the parchment in front of an older boy had turned a surprisingly vivid shade of neon pink. "Oh, hey. Could you show me that?" Ivy asked distractedly, "If you don't mind, that is."

That had been one of the charms she couldn't perfect, and no one was willing to risk their hair or items helping her with it. "I do understand if you don't want to be walking around all blue coloured though." That had been the unfortunate fate of Demetri when he offered to help her with ver Charms.

Blinking, Jaxon was brought back to reality by a girl he had never met before. Shaking his head clear of his thoughts about parents, grades, and potions, he looked from her to his paper. Oh. He realized after a moment what she must be referring to. Funny. He hasn't even realized what he was doing. No matter. This was one charm he didn't have a problem with. Obviously. Well, he didn't realy have problems with any charms actually. It was one of his best classes. Unlike potions.

Damn it! Get you're head out of the cauldron man, be thought internally. Out loud, he responded with an easy grin. "I suppose I could. But first, what's your least favorite color?" Jaxon figured he wasn't doing much anyways. He supposed he probably should finish his letter, but he wasn't getting very far, and Jaxon was all for study breaks.

Ivy grinned slightly, taking a seat opposite the boy. She set her books and loose pieces of paper down on the table. "Least favourite color? It has to be that," She chuckled, pointing at the piece of parchment on the table. It was just too.. bright. "Actually, scrap that, anything that is neon will do." She was fine with pastel pink, really. Ivy just had an immediate dislike for any colour too loud and bright.

Ivy drew out her wand, spinning it a few times in her fingers. As she did so, she couldn't help but catch a glimpse of the crossed out words on the parchment. Some were illegible, destroyed and mutilated by the lines that canceled it out, but a few others she could still read. "Didn't do so well for your finals?" Ivy murmured sympathically, "I didn't do so well for some of them either. I even failed Potions." Ivy shook her head, remembering the day of the exam, when they had been asked to make a cure for boils, and she had actually made a concoction of a bright sickly yellow that caused warts to grow on one's skin. That was, of course, her second attempt at the potion after the first had bubbled over violently and doused her with a potion that dyed her skin a pastel green.

"Great!" He replied with a wider grin, brown eyes on the paper as it turned from the pink it was to a neon green color under his instruction. Looking up at the girl, a slow smirk worked it's way onto his lips. "Because that color is going to be your incentive to not turn me blue. If you do, you'll have neon green hair for a while." He promised cheerfully, an amused look overtaking his features as he realized the witch had read his letter. Well, what could be read anyways.

"Ah. Yea. Didn't do too well in potions either. I don't know what it is about them, but I don't think they like me very much, and I hardly think I should be punished for it, but you know how it goes." Jaxon rambled, grin never leaving his lips as he did so. Leaning forward toward her slightly, he added in a conspiratorial whisper, "I think they have a vendetta against people who look better than they do." Winking at her, he sat back, smirking at his thinly veiled compliment. "By the way, I'm Jaxon. But you can call me Jax." He stated, offering a charming smile to go with his introduction.

"But I can't help it if I turn you blue!" Ivy protested, "Besides, you could easily change your colour back!" Well she could deflect the spell if he did actually try to turn her hair into a mass of neon green.. strings, but what if he did it without her noticing? Ivy's eyes narrowed at Jaxon, "You had better not try anything funny." Gosh, I sound like grandma. The girl winced internally at the thought, an image of her old grandma flashing before her eyes.

"Potions," Ivy sighed dramatically, "are always so excited to see me they seem to be unable to contain themselves... Literally." She laughed ruefully, remembering each and every time one of her potions had exploded on her. "I can't count on my fingers and toes how many times a potion has gone kaboom on me." Ever since she was a tiny First Year, she couldn't seem to step inside a Potions lesson without a mishap. Maybe I've been jinxed.

Rolling her eyes at his whispered words, Ivy grinned amusedly and retorted, "I don't think that's true, they don't like you too, do they?" A smirk rose unbidden to her lips to match his own as she chuckled. "Ivy, but you can call me Luke Skywalker." That wasn't even funny, but Ivy did it anyway.

Smirking, Jaxon leaned back in his chair, lifting his feet and resting them on the table to the side, so as not to be so rude that he couldn't see the girl. He brought his hands to a rest behind his head, fingers entwined, now in a fully relaxed and unconcerned pose. He didn't give a second thought to the girl's would-be threat. He really didn't care if she turned him blue. Or any other color for that matter. In fact, he would find it just as funny as the next person most likely. Not that he was going to let her in on that particular tidbit. It was just that he knew better than most that you couldn't master something without the proper encouragement and incentive. "Well now I'm just quivering in fear." He replied in mild sarcasm, rolling his eyes. "Nevertheless, you did ask me to teach you how to conquer the charm, and those are my terms. He explained in good humor, brown eyes lit with amusement. "Besides, I'm merely supplying you with the incentive to perform up to par that you obviously lack." Winking, Jaxon flashed her his charming smile.

Chuckling lightly, Jaxon kept his tone light. "Blown up a few cauldrons have you?" He questioned rhetorically, since it were obvious from her words that were the case. "Well don't worry. It happens to the best of us. We're not all potions masters in the making I guess." He shrugged lightly, grinning now. But at her next words, his face morphed into a look of pretend hurt as he cupped his hands over his chest where his heart would be. "Thou has wounded me deeply." He said in a mock tone of mourn, but couldn't keep up the pretense for long and soon cracked a grin, which turned on full force when she introduced herself.

Slipping his feet back to the ground where most people would say they belonged, Jaxon picked up his wand from the table before him. "So Luke Skywalker, shall we get this show on the road then?" He flashed her a challenging smirk.

"You just wait till I master this spell. You just wait." Ivy muttered, only half serious. It was rather ironic, really, that even though she was able to perform much trickier charms, the ability to cast this simple one eluded her. She raised an eyebrow at him propping his feet up on the table but didn't comment. Let him get lectured by the librarian, why not? It would be amusing to watch, at least. "Pft, I don't need incentives, I just need practice, that's all." Ivy waved a hand dismissively, "I like my hair the way it is."

"And I didn't blow them up," insisted the girl, "they blew themselves up." That was not wholeheartedly true, but Ivy had spoken her words with such passion that it might as well have been. "Besides, you're one to talk, how many potions have you blown up" She queried, genuinely curious. Perhaps someone was worse than her for once! Ivy shook her head and laughed at the face he pulled- It didn't suit him very well. One might have describes it as the face of a kicked puppy on the body of a lion. Not that he was like a lion, really, more like a garden snake. Witty and slippery, but humorous and harmless at the same time, yes he was indeed like a garden snake.

"Of course we shall, young grasshopper! Watch and learn!" Then she picked up her wand and cast the spell watching in horror as Jax's shoes turned into a nice pastel yellow. "I was aiming for the table, I swear!" Ivy gasped, covering her mouth with a hand. "Oh but hey, it matches your house now doesn't it? See? I did you a favour!" She rambled nervously, one hand clutching a strand of hair fearfully.

Jaxon snorted. "Whatever helps you sleep at night princess." He baited her playfully, grinning in a cheeky manner. He waved away her question about potions and grinned proudly, puffing out his chest. "Every one I ever made." His tone was light and happy. So he blew up alot of potions. Big deal. He wasn't the only one. Though he was the only one to blow up every single one. "That's a feat not everyone can accomplish you know." He told her. "It takes dedication, work." You would think by now his parents would give up on him ever being good at the subject, but no. They still expected that one day he'd wake up and whip up potions like no tomorrow. He just hoped they didn't hold their breath.

Jaxon merely crossed his arms, arched a brow, and watched as she had requested. Swing what she had down, and listening to her ramble, he couldn't help himself. He snorted. Again. Shaking his head in amusement, he took pity on the girl and soothed her fear. "Don't worry. I'm not going to change your pretty hair." He advised, leaning across the table and poking at the ends of her hair with his wand. "Yet." He added, grinning. He sat back, brown eyes showing he was still quite amused. "Besides, the agreement was I would change it if you turned me blue. And I am nothing if not a man of my word." He assured her with his wide grin. "On the upside, I guess a guy could always use a pair of yellow shoes at some point in his life, and watching you showed me what you're doing wrong. You're pretty good in transfiguration aren't you?"

"I'm sure a cup of milk would help," Ivy said, almost thoughtfully as she dramatically tilted her head to one side. "Hmm, but what would work better? Full cream milk or low fat milk?" She laughed, having no experience in this at all. Honestly? A bowl of chocolate pudding would suffice. Ivy knew she was being rather odd today, but considering that she had just been released from the chains of exams, she was entitled to some oddness.

Letting out a low whistle of amazement, Ivy shook her head in disbelief. "Every single one? You're worse than I am and that's saying a lot." Not all her mishaps were as drastic as explosions, but she often encountered other things such as accidentally spilling too much powder into her potions, knocking over her cauldron, so on and so forth. "You know, continue down this road and people might think you're doing this on purpose."

"And yeah, you'd probably need them during some point." Ivy chuckled, eyeing them with a smirk on her lips. Then she proceeded to ponder his question. Was she good at transfiguration? "I'm average, I suppose. I can get the shape, but never the color and pattern details. Why?" How did Transfiguration tie in with color changing?

Jaxon's grin faded a little as he blinked at the witch, not sure whether she were being serious or not. In the end, he gave a half shrug said, "Well alright then." But unable to help himself, he added, "But for me, hot chocolate is the bedtime tradition. With extra cool whip." The boy grinned, eyes taking a far-off look as he thought of said hot chocolate.

Shaking his head and arching his brow at Ivy, Jaxon merely smirked. "Who said it wasn't on purpose?" Jaxon didn't exactly try to blow up all of his potions. He merely liked to experiment with them. "Look, I already know I suck at potions. It's just not something I have ever or will ever get right, no matter what. It's that one thing I'm just no good at." He attempted to explain to the girl. "But I'm a firm believer in doing everything fantastically. So if I'm going to fail at something, you can bet every galleon you own I'm going to fail epically at it." He finished with a nod and grin. Jaxon knew he was anything but conventional. He kind of strides to be, and he didn't mind of no one gave any value to his theory. He did, and that was all that mattered.

A thoughtful expression overtook his facial features as he considered how best to explain this part to her. "Well, usually people who have trouble with charms are pretty good at transfiguration. Reason being is because they tend to think of charms work like you would transfiguration spells." Jaxon told her, watching her to see if we're understanding. "See, transfiguration spells are more...hmmm...how would you say it...they require more..thought, I suppose. Charms is more about the actual spell and wand movements. Get it?" Jaxon wondered is he was speaking too much, and absently rubbed the back of his neck in a nervous gesture.

"Chocolate's only good if it's pudding," Ivy grinned, swinging her legs happily. "Ever tried hot caramel milk? That's good." Subconsciously, Ivy licked her lips just thinking about these sweet stuff. It was a good few hours after lunch and she was starting to feel hungry. Pudding and hot caramel milk. Mmm.

Ivy tilted her head slightly, thinking about what Jax had just told her. That was a possibility, but she was very honestly better in charms than transfiguration. It was just this one spell. "Um, I guess that could be a reason. But I mean.. Its something else, I think. My old dueling mentor used to tell me my mind wasn't focused enough, so thats probably the reason."

(Sorry for the short post, life's getting in the way again. :c)

Jaxon shook his head in disbelief. "You've got to be kidding me!" He exclaimed, eyes widening briefly. "Chocolate is definitely good in more ways than just pudding." He told her in a matter of fact way, nodding his head as if to say that was that. Thinking better of it though, he shrugged. "To each his own I suppose though." Raising an inquisitive eyebrow at the girl, he gave her a bemused look. "I can't say that I have tried that, no. But it sounds absolutely disgusting." He added, making a disgusted look. Jaxon didn't like caramel very much. Even the way she locked her lips as she thought of the great couldn't make him want to try it. And that was saying something.

Watching her think about what he had said about charms and transfiguration, Jaxon took the time to study the girl for a moment. She was very pretty, he'd allow that. But not in that obvious, flaunting, look-at-me sort of way. She seemed kind of quirky, and that was one thing he could appreciate. Bringing his thoughts back to what she was saying, Jaxon pondered on it for a few moments, lips turning down into a thoughtful frown. Finally, he just shrugged, offering a grin. "Well, I'm no teacher or tutor, so who knows. That's just how it works for me." He explained. "But I did offer my services, and my services you shall receive." He added on with an air of someone bestowing a great gift. "So. First things first. You're too...stiff. You need to loosen up a bit. Relax, ya know? And stop thinking about how it can go wrong. Just focus on the color you want the object to be, and let your wand do the rest." He instructed, waving his own wand lazily and with a satisfied smirk, his shoes turned blue. "Now it's your turn."

"No. Chocolate pudding is the best," Ivy mock glared at Jax, her eyes narrowing at him. "And caramel milk is NOT disgusting, thank you very much. You know what they say, don't knock it before you try it." Her glare softened into a smile as she shook her head, pursing her lips. "I will make you try it someday." Ivy snapped her fingers abruptly, bringing a hand down loudly on the table as she shot up, earning quite a glare from the librarian. "I know! If you fail to teach me this spell, you WILL have to drink a cup of caramel milk."

Ivy settled back down in her seat, after nodding a quick apology to the librarian. Loosen up? A small frown crinkled her eyebrows as she thought of that. In dueling, it was commonly known you had to maintain a strict control over your spells and emotions for if they got out of hand, the consequences would be very dire indeed. It's a colour changing spell, how bad can it get? A small mistake could have great repercussions. Was she willing to take the risk?

Hesitantly, Ivy pointed her wand at the table, willing it in her mind's eye to change into a subtle, demure purple. Then she muttered the spell.

The table had changed- It was a vivid neon purple, not the pastel fhe had intended it to be and- Good God! Was it smoking? "Crap," Ivy cringed, hastily waving her wand and casting "Reverso." The table changed back to its normal hue and state, but Ivy still stared at it suspiciously.

"Noooo." Jaxon countered, dragging out the 'no'. "Chocolate anything is the best." He nodded his head once, but had to stifle a laugh as the librarian glared fiercely at the pair. Jaxon rolled his eyes at the threat. "I said I hadn't tried caramel milk. Not that I haven't tried caramel." He corrected. Then shrugged again. "But it hardly matters, because you will get this charm right." Jaxon said this with the upmost confidence, mostly in himself as a teacher, but also because he knew the girl could perform the charm correctly. She had already shown she could do the charm. It was the self doubt that kept it from being exact. "That is if you don't get us kicked out of the library, in which case I win the deal by default." He added on with a sly smirk.

"Whatever, stay in the dark then." Ivy scoffed. She was sorely tempted to mess up the spell l- just to prove him wrong. That would show him. He seemed so self assured Ivy felt the need to take him down a peg or two. "Heck, no!" She protested adamantly, "No one wins if we get kicked out. Deal?" Ivy cringed when the librarian glared at her again, making a sharp shushing noise that sent small beads of spittle spraying over the book she had been stamping. "Ew" Ivy wrinkled her nose as she turned back around to face Jax, "Remind me never to that book."

"Say, how good are you in dueling?" Ivy wondered, raising an eyebrow quizzically.

Jaxon could only raise an eyebrow at the girl as she scoffed at him, completely amused by her reactions. Sometimes it was hard to get good reactions from people, mainly because some people were just too serious to understand that Jaxon was joking more than anything when he said things, and mostly because unfortunately most people didn't understand his sarcastic and slightly theatric sense of humor. But with Ivy he was captivated by the reactions he got. Mainly because they surprised him in a way.

Which is why he had to stifle a full blown laughing fit when she reacted to what he said about getting kicked out of the library, and he was nearly bursting when she commented on the librarian spitting on the book. He did glance over to see the name of the book though. If nothing else, it could serve as a good joke one day that he could play on her. Getting ahold of himself, Jaxon merely grinned, eyes full of laughter as he quietly said, "No way. If you get us kicked out then it is completely your own fault you don't learn the charm, which means I win. But if you'd like, I could always put a silencing charm on you that way we don't have to worry about it." He offered, far too innocently for the smirk on his lips. "I'm sure I'd be thanked for it by several people." He added on, teasing her lightly.

When she asked him about dueling, Jaxon shrugged, leaning back in his chair again and dusting invisible lint from his shoulder, sending her a cocky half-grin. "Oh, I can hold my own in a duel." Then, glancing at her curiosly, he asked, "Why do you ask? And how about yourself, Princess?" Jaxon couldn't resist adding on the princess part. Ivy reminded him of one of those high maintenance girls who didn't like to get dirty or blanched when you had to use ingredients like beetle's eyes and frog guts in a potion. In fact, he was willing to bet alot of money that was her problem in potions. He wasn't too sure he'd say it out loud though. Merlin knew hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. Then again, her reaction might actually make it worth it. Hmmm...