ooooh that sounded fun! Lyra got excited when the professor had told them what to do and turned to Kiri to face her, her eyes twinkeling a bit.
"well, my favorite animal is a fox" she said, holding the piece of parchment in front of her nose too see. "what animal did you choose?" Lyra asked curiously and already started to think of some animals Kiri might have wrote down on the piece of parchment.

Jack high fived Cela back with a grin, listening to the professor explain what they were supposed to be doing. Hmmmm, was there anything he really wanted from a koala? He didn't think so--hopefully Cela had an animal with something cool, like wings. That would be SO fun! He'd be the unstoppable Seeker! Hehe.

"Shall we sit here?" Jack asked, pointing to a spot on the floor and sitting down, cross legged, and pulling out his list. "Well, erm, my favorite animal is a koala bear, and I picked it because they're different from a lot of other animals, and they aren't REALLY bears. Although, now that I think about it, I wouldn't really want any characteristics of a koala," he said with a chuckle. "I think having a pouch on my stomach would be incredibly weird and unnatural."

He tapped his chin in thought. "Maybe their claws? Or perhaps their ears," he suggested. After all, he had a slight feeling that he knew where this lesson was going. "What about you? What animal did you pick?" he asked Cela.

"A fox? I see!" Kiri pulled out her own parchment. She peered at it. Her own selection already looked stupid to her. Should have gone for cat, she thought. "Er, well... Our animals have one thing in common: Their fur is red." She held out her parchment for the girl to read. "I chose the orangutan. Because, er... it's massively intelligent. I'm reading a book about the great apes at the moment," she explained. "What about your fox?"

Nia shool her head. "Nope, and that's definitely a good thing. Especially since I don't have a clue what we might be up to - or for that matter, if I'll be any good." She chuckled, hoping she hadn't put Elizabeth off being her partner. "I'll try my best though," she added quickly. She glanced at her writing on the parchment. For some reason it almost seemed silly. She wondered what others might have as their favourtie animal, hoping there were other more obscure ones like her own.

As the seventh year spoke about practice, Nia winced. "Intentionally flung? Oh dear! You're not exactly enticing me back there..." She laughed. "I'll be back soon enough," Nia said with a twinkle in her eye. Even though she liked to gracious and wouldn't admit it, Nia hated being on the sidelines. She wanted to play properly again.

"I hadn't realised it was that obvious," Nia said with a slight blush. "But I guess it would make sense you noticing if it was the opposite of what you were hoping." She brushed her hair back lightly. "To be honest, you could probably guess who I'm avoiding. The cry baby who severely dislikes me, yet always ends up working with me..."

Nia looked up to the Professor as he spoke. Oooh, they had to discuss their animals. The part she wanted to have was easy, and quite possibly obvious from what she'd written about why she liked it.

And then she smiled as she thought over the possibilities of the lesson - would they get to have a go at giving themselves these characteristics? Surely that was really difficult, animal transfiguration? Nia was even more glad she was working with Elizabeth, she was sure the older girl could help her. "What's your favourite animal, then?" she asked her partner, taking her own parchment into her hands.

orangutan huh? wow Lyra had not expected that animal when she was guessing what animal Kiri must have written down but still found it was a cool animal....Lyra loved all animals, even the dangerous killer ones "orang's are cute!" she said like a small girl that just got a icecream from her parents. "their fur are both red, yes." Lyra repeated after the girl and scratched the back of her head. "and i choose this animal because, well my uncle had always told me i had some of the traits a fox has" she said reading her parchment again. "Er those are..observational skills, ability to observe unseen, , courage, gentleness, and reliable friend." Lyra said quoting her own writing and looked up at Kiri again. "wow that sounded selfish didn't it?" she laughed.

Elizabeth smiled at Nia as she worried about if she'd be any good. "I'm sure Professor Svensson understands if some people are better at Transfiguration than others. And look at it this way. Worst case scenario, one of us ends up in the hospital wing temporarily. Not that big a deal. really." And then she laughed a little as Nia flinched at the bludger comment. "That may just have been me and Robert. I think everyone else has just gotten the usual yelling." No reason to scare her away from coming back to the team. Besides, her and Robert were leaving after this term, so maybe Willow wouldn't be as violent.

She nodded as the younger girl spoke in response to the avoidance concept, then smiled. "Your brother?" She understood that, even though she was free of them at Hogwarts, since her siblings were all back in California. Butthen they were told to start discussing their animals, and she shrugged again. "I said my favorite animal was the eagle. Probably not the most enlightened choice, given our house and all. But it's true." And there was no way she was going to end up with a beak. She was going to make that decision right now.

"Observational skills, the ability to observe the unseen, courage, gentleness and being a reliable friend," Kiri said, counting with her fingers. She smiled. "I didn't know foxes were as good as that. I definitely want some of their skills." She folded up her piece of parchment and shoved it into the pocket of her robes. "We'll use your animal, what do you think? I... don't really know too much about orangutans yet, to be honest. And they don't hold a candle to foxes." She giggled.

Lowering her voice a little, she said, "Do you think we'll learn how to transform parts of ourselves into animal parts? Is that what we're doing this lesson? Because that's what it sounds like. Sounds exciting, doesn't it? In that case," Kiri continued, speaking up, "which part of the fox would you, or we, rather, like to have? Tail? Nose? Tail and nose?"

Satine looked around still distraught...she still needed a partner...she stood up quickly and announced nicely, "If anyone is still needing a partner, I'm free!" she said with a smile and a little wave trying to hide the disappointment that once again she was partnerless I mean did she have something wrong with her...she pushed that thought out of mind. While she waited hoping that someone still needed a partner, she started the assignment by herself.

Melanie looked over as she heard a familiar voice asking to be her partner.

A very very familiar voice, that sadly she hadn't heard in a while. "Nat!!" she squealed excitedly, resisting the urge to hug her. "Chyea, do I!" Melanie replied, with an eager grin. Sweetness, now not only did she have a partner, she had Natasha as a partner, which was, umm... if she said so herself SPECTACULARLY awesome.

They were the in the same year, but...hopefully that could be worked around. After all, they were both pretty smaaaaart, riiiight?

Ermmm if intelligence even had anything to do with it. She just hoped it was alright by the professor that they were partners...since neither of them were too old...

She listened to the professor speak about what they were to do, getting more giddy with anticipation with each word he spoke.

Ohhh, discussion. That was definitely something she was good at. Talking something she liked doing too. But, truly it was the second part of his assignment that really excited her...

They were supposed to come up with a characteristic of the animal they'd like to actually have!! That sounded like...Like they'd actually be able to take on one of the characteristics. Which was of course very VERY exciting. Melanie beamed at the thought, already coming up with possibilities of the characteristic's she could take on. The second year smiled to herself at the thought and as the professor finished speaking she looked back over at Natasha, excitement obvious on her face. "So," she began. "What animal's your favorite?" she asked curiously, picking up her piece of parchment, her green eyes peering at Natasha from over the top of it.

Nia looked at Elizabeth, eyebrows raised. She seemed very calm at the idea that she might be temporarily hospitalised. It had alleviated some of Nia's worries though. The healer would be able to sort any wrongdoings, right? "If you're sure," Nia said, still slightly weary. Though admittedly anything could happen without a bit of confidence. She took a deep breath, and decided she would tackle whatever they were doing full on. Nia chuckled at the quidditch comment. "Something tells me I'd perhaps prefer the bludgers to the yelling," she replied, wondering what Elizabeth and Robert had done for bludgers to be flung at them. Oh, how she'd missed being able to practice.

"Indeed," NIa said with a knowing smile. "Luckily nowhere in sight." She glanced round the room, just to check. Maybe she should have checked that he had actually made it out of the flooded dungeons. Thinking about it now, she wasn't exactly sure he could swim. Nah, he had to be okay - the Professors would have helped him get out, and he may well have been elsewhere anyway. That settled in her mind, Nia turned to their task.

"Nice choice," she said, as Elizabeth said her favourite animal with the eagle. It seemed discussing thier animals wouldn't be too difficult, given their similarities. "Not far off mine actually, I chose the merlin. For its majesty in the air. Though I guess that could be almost any bird of prey..."

Natasha beamed at Melanie. "Hi!" She said, and as she said yes, she took a seat next to Melanie. It had been so long since she had talked to Melanie, way, way, waaaaay too long. But now probably wasn't the best time to talk about stuff that wasn't related to what they were supposed to be doing, right? She'd just have to talk to her out of class sometime... Soon. It was pure awesomeness to be partners with Melanie, though.

"Mine is a Cheetah," she answered, grinning. "Cause they're just like, so cool, and fast, and cool, and have cool patterns, and..." Natasha smiled. She was kind of rambling on now, wasn't she? It was probably just all the excitement and stuff. "What about you? What's your cool animal?" She really needed to stop saying cool so much...

William walked with her and stood in the proper place, waiting until Svensson told them what to do next. Smiling at Lucy he blinked at the next set of instructions. "Well, this should be interesting." he said, turning to her with a grin on his face. "What's your favorite animal? Mines a dolphin." he asked.

Melanie couldn't help but grin as Natasha sat down, hoping that when they got out of class they could talk. After all they hadn't spoken in a while and she was eager to catch up with her... Especially since she was one of the first people she ever meant in the wizarding world. Melanie hadn't forgotten that and she probably wasn't going to any time soon.

The second year smiled as Natasha talked about her favorite animal. Melanie had seen them on TV before...they were so fast and pretty... She wished Momo could be more like a cheetah. He was always so lazy. Hmpf. But weren't most house cats cats...? Maybe she'd find some pepper up potion or something for him, or make some soon...

"They sound wonderful," she replied. "Very...cool." Melanie said, repeating the other girl's word for her animal.

Oohh! And finally her own turn to talk! "I like Kangaroos best...Because they are good at hopping and swimming and have big feet for the hopping and swimming. And they have a big tail for balance so they don't fall over so much. Oh, Kangaroos have good swivel-ly ears too and good hearing. Plus they're really fuzzy...And look cute. I wanna hug one. I'm not so sure what of of those are my absolute favorite part about them though..." she explained thoughtfully, practically beaming as she spoke about the animal.

She brought her voice down to a whisper as she continued on... "Do you think that by what he said we'll get to take on one of the animal's attributes?" she asked her solemnly. "Because if so...I think I'd want the kangaroos feet so I could hop as high as they can. Wouldn't that be fun? Or maybe their ears to hear really well...Or-or maybe their tail so I could balance a bit better... It's really hard to decided. What would you pick?" she babbled on, sounding absolutely thrilled at the idea of trying out any of the of the body parts of her favorite animal, but in the end looking to Natasha for her input. "What about you? What part of a Cheetah would you want to take on?" she asked her curiously.

Elizabeth laughed at the look on Nia's face after she had talked about the hospital wing. "Oh, don't get me wrong. I don't want to go there, and I know of a few people who might get upset if I did. But on the off chance I'm unlucky, I trust Healer Avalon to do what she needs to to fix it," she explained, sensing the younger girl's uncertainty. But then she seemed to decide to just go for it, and Elizabeth grinned. Especially at the bludger comment. "At least with yelling you don't end up in the hospital wing with a broken nose and possible concussion," she pointed out. Willow was fierce, but her words didn't hurt half as much as her arm. And technically she'd never actually come out on the wrong end of that aspect of their captain's personality.

She watched Nia look around with a half-smile on her face, before speaking. "It seems more people are missing classes after the floods. But I look at classes as a way to think about something other than that, so . . ." She shrugged. "And it's not like the floods have done more than just damage things. People haven't really gotten hurt." She let the subject drop as the discussion turned to class, and smiled as Nia said she'd made a good choice. "At least we're not dealing with anmials that are too far apart, species-wise," she commented after hearing the younger girl's animal. Now to figure out the other half of the assignment. What aspect they wanted from their creature, temporarily of course.

"I like the dolphin too. But my favorite animal is the tiger." Lucy said grinning. "What do you love most about dolphins William?" Lucy asked looking at the boy. This was going to be interesting What trait would she want for a while? Maybe the tigers roar? Or maybe a tigers vision in the dark? Lucy had read somewhere that tigers could see six to seven times better than humans at night.

UGGGHHH.

Why was it that... he wasn't chosen?! Were they scared of him?? HMPH! He walked about, wondering if somebody needed a partner. Now, he didn't even care if it was a student older than him or a student around his year. All he really needed was a partner really, and he had a hard time finding one. Sigh. "Who still needs a partner?"

"Thanks," Natasha smiled. "I wish I could see one, though. I've only ever seen pictures of them and read about them." She said with a slight frown. But she smiled again, thinking about Cheetah's again.

"Ooh, Kangaroos! That's a really cool animal." She said with a nod. "I agree..." Melanie's animal really was a cool one. She was right. And they could jump really high, and stuff! Along with all the other cool stuff that Mel said about them.

"Hm," she thought for a moment at her question, also bringing her voice to a whisper. "That could be true..." She giggled at the idea. That would be so cool if it was true! "Just imagine it, jumping that high would be amazing," she said, in agreement. "I know, it would be so hard to decide." She said with a soft sigh. "I know what I'd want, though, definitely." Natasha grinned at Melanie now. "I'd want to be fast like a Cheetah."

William nodded, "The Tiger is pretty cool too I love how fast they can run. I love how dolphins able to communicate using a series of clicking sounds or whistles or even the burst-pulse sounds. I also like how they just play, they have no real cares in the world, just jumping through the water, flipping their tails or even floating above to breath. They're very intelligent mammals." He replied nodding hie head as he frowned a bit.

Satine heard the magic words and popped her head around to..."I still need a partner," she said with her best smile on her face. She walked over to meet the boy hoping this was a great partnership. She sat down beside him and laid her parchment out..."Howzit, I'm Satine." she said quickly and held her hand out for a shake.

Demetria smiled and showed Anna her paper. "My animal was a rabbit. How awesome would it be to be able to run as fast as they can. Sometimes they can run so fast, if you blink you miss them." she explained. Dem decided to leave out the fact that they were cute and cuddly and sooooooo fluffy. But she figured that wasn't one of the charcteristics the professor was looking for, but it would be really cool.

"So, Anna, what was your animal?" she asked.

Daniel looked at his parchment one last time.

He then raised his hand and said, "Professor, I don't have any partner." then he looked around to find one.

Eeep, partners! Thank God for Torin Kane, hehe.

Fyo looked around the classroom, realizing that most of the other students had already started pairing up - gosh, these people were quick - before turning to his best mate. "Any chance you want to partner up?" he asked, sticking his tongue out at Torin.

He looked at Fyo like he was mental. "Me? Partner up with a lame nerd? Are you joking?"

He shook his head and said, "I guess we should get to work then." He wasn't too fond of partner work, but he figured that it would be cool if it was with Fyo.

Fyo rolled his eyes at Torin's comment, holding back the desire to POKE! Tor in the chest. "Aren't you a nerd yourself?" he asked, before deciding they really did need to get down to work - A good part of the class was already a good way ahead of them, you know.

"So, partnah!" he said, grinning as he faced Tor. "You picked wolf, I picked scorpie!Man. Do you think we should both just borrow their ability to.. radiate sheer awesomeness?" Or maybe their talent of staying awake all night, and - errr - enjoying it?

"Yeah, but I'm not a lame nerd." He then became thoughtful. This was a toughie. It was awesome to be awesome. But being able to party during the night was awesome too.

"How about toughness? Aggressiveness?"