It was Friday, and his classes had ended. The weekends hadn't been something he was too fond of yet, having spent a great many simply reading either on his bed or in the common room, not having much else to do and not having the confidence to approach other students yet. Today, however, he wanted to fulfill a wish he had since starting the class, the chance for talking with someone was inviting in itself.

He stood quietly in front of the Transfiguration professor's office, fighting a knot that had recently grown in his stomach. Shadows of doubt and fear started to creep into him as he stood, not sure if this was a good idea after all. After a moment he bit his lip and and knocked upon the door, bracing himself as if waiting for some attack as he waited for the Professor's reply. "Maybe he's out..." he whispered to himself, trying to give himself a bit more confidence.

Leopold hadn't been expecting anyone.  He ran a quick eye over his schedule to make certain that he hadn't forgotten an appointment, discovered that he hadn't and then looked back at the door.  It sounded like a student's knock.

"Enter," he called out.  When the door opened and he saw who it was, he smiled.  "Mr Archer.  come in.  Please have a seat.  Would you care for some tea and a biscuit or do you think that would spoil your dinner?  To what do I owe this unexpected visit?"

Howler, Leopold's monkey climbed down from his usual perch on top of the bookcase.  Whenever students showed up in Leopold's office, it was quite likely that he'd be able to manage to get his hands on at least one biscuit.  The little monkey looked at Noah, trying to gauge how easy he would be to convince that Leopold never, ever, fed him anything other than dry bread.  Given the monkey's bright eyes and gleaming coat he was clearly not neglected, something the monkey generally hoped people would overlook.

Noah entered with a small grin before sitting quietly, "I was just... hoping I would be able to speak with you a bit, professor, if you are not overly busy... I find your class very interesting and hoped, if nothing else, to talk with someone who is so skilled... even if it isn't about much..." Noah said, rubbing the back of his head lightly, "My dad uses transfiguration at his job quite a bit, so I find the idea behind it a bit interesting... but if you're busy or are expecting someone that's okay, too, since this isn't very pressing..."

His eyes wandered for a moment to the monkey, his smile brightening a bit at the creature and a bit of his nervousness lost.  He tried to not seem as if his attention was too unfocused however, turning gaze swiftly back to the Professor, mentally bracing himself for the backlash of bothering a professor with his first year curiosity.

"You'll find I always have time for my students,"  Leopold said, his smile widening. "Was there anything specific you wanted to talk about or just transfigurations in general?  Transfigurations is one of the most useful branches of magic.   It has the greatest number of applications when it comes to industrial uses although I suspect you'd get an energetic argument from our charms professor.   I spent a number of years working doing transfigurations.  It likely has had an impact on how easy they are for me to cast."

Leopold took a sip of his tea and raised his eyebrows at Noah.  "Shall I pour you one?" he asked.

"Oh! Y-yes please~" Noah responded to the tea offer, flashing a grateful smile. "Well, a bit of both I suppose... I have a few questions about it and want to learn a bit more; talking can be a much better way to learn than books, you know?"

His confidence seemed to be steadily rising, taking heart at the atmosphere and his curiosity adding a bit of fuel to the fire. "Though, I suppose that quite a bit of things I've wondered are for things that would be well over my skill lever.  Though now that you say it I'm a bit curious on those industrial uses as well." he said, voice trailing a bit before he seemed to realize something, "Ah! Sorry, I can be a bitter scatter brained and mentally jump around a lot..."

"A trait of the best minds to be sure,"  Leopold said, pouring the tea.  "You will find, Mr Archer, that you are surrounded by a school designed to pass knowledge on to you.  I doubt you will be shocked to learn that you will learn those things you are interested in at a pace that has been determined to be reasonable.  Might I suggest instead of trying to learn faster, then trying to learn better.  Milk?  Sugar?"

He set the teapot down.  "The specifics of industry are, as one would expect, dependent on the industry.  Wand crafting, for example or broom craft.  Each used decidedly different techniques and spells."

"Ah, yes please..." he answered in response to the offer for milk and sugar before nodding lightly, "I just... get rather excited at the idea of knowing how to do these new things and get ahead of myself..." he said, his face reddening a bit, "I'll study what we've recently learned and then think 'Oh but what about x' or 'how would you y' and start jumping around... not the healthiest of habits, but it's rather interesting."

"Are most things created with Transfiguration then? I had thought before that a lot were hand made from magical materials... though I'd imagine that it's a bit more complex than simply casting spells at a tree to a tree and making a bunch of brooms appear, especially at the cost of some of the higher end ones..." he said, most signs of nerves gone by this point.

"Though... that does bring me to a question I was wondering... how well do you have to understand an item to transfigure something into it? If you only know how an item looks will it only change shape and still have the same characteristics of what it was? Are the properties in the incantation somehow? Is there only a limited number of items that are able to be transfigured into and it just picks it from some list allowing aspects to change? The last seems like it's not very likely..."

Leopold beamed.  It would seem that Mr Archer was a far keener mind than most.  "You've asked a lot of questions there, young man,"  he said, stirring the boy's tea and handing him the cup.  "Biscuit?  Keep your fingers out, Howler, until out guest has had one."  Chastised, the monkey pulled it's hand back, waiting for Noah to take a biscuit from the plate.

"Now, you cannot make a wand or a broom just by transfiguration,"  Leopold continued.  "There are transfigurations used to bind the various elements together.  As far as understand what you are transfiguring from and to, you do need some understanding.  You need to know what a button is and what a beetle is but you don't need to know that the button is carved from ash and that the beetle prefers lemon grass over tea leaves.  Understand?"

"Yes, I think so. Basically you can't transfigure something into something you don't know simply because you know the spell." Noah replied, gratefully accepting the cup and taking a biscuit as well, "Though... preferences... when an object is trans... oh, sorry... I'm not asking too many questions, am I?" he stopped, seeming to realize himself just how many questions he's been asking. "A lot of them are still too far ahead of my level to be useful too..." he finished, taking a sip of the tea.

"Anyway, I didn't only come to ask loads of questions, sir. I also wanted to talk more normally as well... or rather... um..." he stopped, thinking for a moment. After a moment he sighed, not seeming to find whatever answer he was looking for, "I'm also a bit curious about you, Professor Sandusky. I know that you are head of Hufflepuff and the Transfiguration professor, but what took up the space between the two? Have you always been a teacher or were you something else prior to that?"

"I attended Hogwart's as a child and was sorted into Hufflepuff,"  Leopold began.  "After I graduated I fought in the war and after that I took a job with the Hogwart's board of governors.  I took a teaching position here when there was a need but returned to the board when a more suitable professor was located.  I retired not long ago and finding myself with more time on my hands than I knew what to do with, I took this position because once again there was a need.  My story is far less interesting than many others, Mr Archer.  There is a good chance it will be far less interesting than yours."

Leopold didn't see the need to embellish the truth nor did he see the need to include unnecessary details.  His family life he preferred to keep quiet.  The loss of Lillian was still quite painful.  He reminded himself to send an owl to his son, to see how the boy was doing.  Leopold would always  think of his son as a boy, despite the fact that the 'boy' was fifty-eight.

"I see... but..." Noah said, thinking it over a bit, "Why Transfiguration? What specifically drew you to this aspect of magic over say... Potions, Charms, or Defense? What made you take an interest in it?" he said, before lightly sipping at his tea. His voice held a similar curiosity as before, though obviously with less drive towards his professors past than magical theory, however still present in his voice and sincere in intention.

"I was good at it,"  Leopold answered.  "My wand favours that type of magic.  I got a lot of practice in during the war as well and I got very good at transfiguring things quickly.  I suppose I just discovered a knack for it and stuck with it.  When I was a substitute teacher here the first time it was for transfigurations and I truly enjoyed teaching the subject."

He sat back in his chair, regarding Noah.  "Can I assume these questions are because you have an interest in being a teacher when you get older?  If so, I offer this advice.  Teach what you love."

"Not necessarily..." Noah said softly after swallowing a bit of biscuit, "Not to say I find anything wrong with teaching as a career, I've just not had a personal draw to it myself. I am more interested in what sparked your interest in Transfiguration, as whenever I think about my own curiosity in the subject I think it would be more normal for someone to like defense class to learn how to fight or flying..." he said, trailing off a bit.

"I'm just a bit scared sometimes that others will think I'm weird... or that I do it because I'm obsessed with changing things or control or... something like that." he finished, a bit defeatedly.

"You're no stranger than some one who prefers Atronomy or Potions,"  Leopold said.  "Look at Ollivander.  He went into wands.  Something else you need to consider is your own aptitude.  You might have an interest in a subject but no talent.  I love Quidditch but I wasn't any good at flying, for example.  You might find you excel at charms, even though your interest pushes you towards transfigurations."

Discovering you weren't great at something you loved was a difficult lesson.  Many students had had their dreams squashed by their own lack of talent in the area they wanted to go into.  He'd seen it before.  He had no doubt he would see it again.

"I'm not too worried about that... starting further back only means that later on you understand the basics better from studying them more, right?" Noah responded as he lowered his cup for a moment. "Though... there was a bit of meaning to one of the things I asked you earlier... asking about understanding spells. Do you think that it would be possible to understand how a spell works better and then understand how to cast it better by having it cast on oneself?"

The tea seemed to work a bit of calming magic now and he had achieved a very comfortable position. It had been awhile since he had been able to talk so freely to someone before, and some of the appreciation seemed to spill into his voice.