BREATHE.

Are they going to attempt things today? Will they try to find out their animal form? Jace held his breath for a moment as questions came to mind. The Ravenclaw however, was successful in masking his excitement. Professor Riveroll seems to have zero tolerance with over enthusiastic students.

Calmly raising his hand, Jace waited for his turn to answer. “An Animagus is a witch or wizard who has learned the skill to transform into an animal form unique to them. They do not fully become the animal assigned to them however, but simply morph into it.” He was obviously not being clear with his words, but Jace continued on. “Animagus in their animal form adapt certain marks from their human form…such as a mole on the face…or a missing limb. That separates them from real animals.”

As Jace wrote the date on his parchment, the thirteen year old cannot help but think about his animal form.

And…why was the professor looking at Denaker? Can she transform already?

It was the first time that he had watched a person transfigure themselves from an animal into a person again and it was super, super cool! Jasper couldn't help grinning, imagining being able to do something like that. But... then again he'd probably end up half human half animal if he ever tried...

Jasper cringed at the thought.

Maybe he'd just watch if they were going to try to do that today?

They surely wouldn't though would they???

At the question Jasper hesitantly raised a hand. "Um... an animagus is a wizard that can use transfiguration to turn into an animal..." at that moment he realised that he'd forgotten what distinguished the animagus from a regular animal though.

Flushing in slight embarrassment at having drawn attention to himself now he looked down, hoping someone else would take over and his lack of answer to the second question wouldn't matter too much.

Why was he in Ravenclaw again?

Ooh. Hattie knew a lot about animagus. It helped that her brother was training to be one. So she knew quite a lot about it. But there was always time to learn more. So Hattie was excited. She thought about her answer for a few minutes, wanting to have a nice unique one. Smiling, the second year eventually put her hand up into the air.

"It's a learnt skill, not hereditary, meaning just because your parents are one, you won't necessarily be one." Which was different to other things in the wizarding world. "And an animagus can transform into their chosen animal when they want, and sometimes without a wand, which non-animagus cannot"

It honestly wasn't all that hard to tell that the raccoon was their professor. The only ones that shouldn't have been able to guess were maybe those that had no clue with an animagi was. Otherwise it was pretty much a given.

Having all her materials for the lesson laid out before Hadleigh watched the rest of her peers enter the room and find their seats. It was only a few minutes later that Professor Riveroll leaped off her desk changing into her human form. This got a small grin from Hady as she watched. It had been expected. What hadn't been expected was the days topic. Animagi. Well alright then. This was right up her lane. Something she knew backwards and forwards. Therefore she had a strong feeling that she was expected to answer the questions asked today.

Hazel eyes shifted once around the room. Where was Frankie? If he was here they could've each answered part of the question. Each of those that answered before her got a warm smile. Nicely done. Hady nodded towards Hattie knowing the younger girl would know quite a lot seeing as her brother was one. Raising her hand she gave her answer when it was her turn. "Everything Jace, Jasper and Hattie said is true. The process is typically very long and can take many years to achieve. If the transformation doesn't go correctly you can be stuck as both part human and part animal until the time of your passing, there is no magical way to correct it." There was much much more that the seventh year could have went on to say but didn't. There were others that still deserved a chance to answer.

Okay but it had been totally obvious that the raccoon was the professor but the thing was, Char wasn't very impressed OR excited by animagi. Whyyy would you want to be an animal? It didn't make sense to her as a thing to actually desire enough to work toward. Other transfiguration things were more exciting, ESPECIALLY if you could use it in duels.

So she knew a bit about animagus stuff, but only what had been said already. Ohhhh she hoped they were going to do some fun spells though. Had to be something, right? Cos it wasn't like a bunch of kids could suddenly learn to be animagi? Especially if anyone else was like her with zero desire to do so.

.... it would be cool to learn to give yourself feathers or something though. Immediately distracted by this idea, Char began looking through her textbook to see if she could find something.

Kimi thought and said "Well all animagus need to get registered with the ministry but there are a lot of people who don't bother, an animagus takes a long time to learn and perfect the changing process" Kimi knew a lot about this subject seeing as his aunt on his dad's side of the family was an animagus

Hadley spun when she heard her name. Oh, that girl...what was her name again...Tyler? No. Skylar! Nodding appreciatively, Hadley took her seat next to the girl. "Hey, Skylar. Did you have a nice summer?"

Before they could really get into the discussion, the class started with the raccoon shifting into Professor Riveroll. Knew it! Not only was she right, she was actually going to be trained by someone who was an animagus. This was so exciting! And, and the lesson was on animagi!

Hadley grinned at Skylar and raised her hand. Jace had already covered most of it. The jerk. "Animagi can transform at will, without the need of wands or spells to do so, once the initial transformation takes place. It's an extremely difficult and time consuming process to become one. Unlike with human transfiguration into animals, the animagi retains full awareness and control even in their animal forms. And...it's a really cool trick to wow people at party...or in a classroom." She gave Professor Riverroll a wink. The last part, she was kidding though, mostly.

"Hello Professor," said Kitty with a smile as the raccoon transformed into Professor Felicity. She hadn't greeted her before because she wasn't 100 percent certain it was her. "Cool animal pick." And she also liked her stylish white shoes and dress. Professor Felity sure had style.

She began scribbling the answers other students were writing out of habit. Then she raised her hand. "An Animagus doesn't need to utter a spell word to transform or wave her wand or anything like that, she can transform at will. If you're an Animagus you also have to register with the Ministry. And..." She paused before saying the next thing because she wasn't 100 percent certain. "An Animagus can't transform into more than one thing. When your form is set you can't change it."

Smiling at the older girl, Skylar nodded appreciatively about her summer. Yes, her summer was lovely but she was kind of glad to be back and continuing her learning. But no time to elaborate on that, as the raccoon very obviously transformed into their professor. Sure Sky knew of the transformation process, but seeing it take place before her very eyes was just awe-inspiring that it took the second year a good minute or two to recollect her thoughts. And yes, she knew Hady had trained to become one, because she recalled last year when the older girl couldn't talk during one of their lessons and well she had to give her instructions without any verbal feedback from the older snake.

"Aren't there maybe some sort of distinct feature that humans are present with, that might show up on your animal form? And like vice versa. For instance, if you wear glasses, having that reflective spectacle look around your eyes when in animal form might be common?" It seemed to make sense to her. But wait, what? Party trick? Sky raised an eyebrow skeptically at the Ravenclaw. Well then, she supposed that was true.... technically.

Az was happy to see Tenacius and Henry and Hady and there was Jace as well.. but none of them were sitting next to her.. apparently her seat mate had decided to not show up..

All alone party of one!

But then..was that.. Jasper? Az's purple eyes nearly fell out of their sockets! He was here? The urge to run over and tackle him was real.. but instead she just sat there and waved at him..

Her eyes turned to the Professor as she spoke and she bit her lip a little..she didn't know much, and what she did know had already been said.. so..

She was quiet and only taking notes as everyone else spoke.

Miranda's hand shot straight into the air.. She had just finished reading the chapter on Anamagi a few nights prior to this lesson.
" Professor, and animagus is a person who chooses the form of an animal and can at will change themselves into that animal. Many witches and wizards have been known to use this tachnique to avoid being found or in some super messed up cases... Caught by the authorities... The second reason being the purpose for all persons able to change themselves have to be registered with the Ministry..."
She sat back all proud she actually knew something about the subject...Too often she was drawing a blank in class this term... Perhaps an upswing in smarts was due for delivery... Who knew..

Silas didn't mind anyone sitting by him today because ...really he only knew a few students in school and most of them were girls. So it was a nice change to see Henry again! Silas waved back at the boy but only to be dismayed again when their seats weren't assigned next to each other. Aww sad. Oh well, maybe next lesson perhaps?

But he didn't have to wait long for a new partner. A pretty girl by the name 'Natalia' came and sat next to him. She seemed...so dark in comparison to the other girls he met so far. Silas chuckled at her comment, "I believed so. It be interesting though." Imagine a talking animal teaching them in their cute animal voices. What if Obiwan could talk?! He beamed.

Okay question time.

Of course he knew what an animagus was, he just preferred not to answer this time and simply listened to his classmates answers with mild interest. He must rather glanced over at this 'Natalia' girl and wondered if she knew the answer too.

Admittedly, Junia wasn't the best at Transfiguration. It was extremely interesting and all but when it came to actually performing the spells, well, she wasn't exactly skilled. Lucky she'd inherited those need to succeed genes, yeah? It meant she'd be working particularly hard to keep up with her classmates, especially if it meant doing something as awesome as learning to be an animagus some day.

The fact that the Ravenclaw boy seated next to her seemed knowledgeable on the subject was promising. The second year nodded seriously while he gave his answer, agreeing with everything he said, obviously. Yes, exactly, she definitely knew all those things, too.

...Well most of them, anyway.

"Your animagus isn't necessarily an animal you'd pick for yourself, but one that represents aspects of who you are as a person." Yes, that. "Like, maybe I'd want to be a hummingbird, but am more likely to be a cat because of my personality."

Juno thought for a few moments before raising her hand and waiting to be called on. "Well, Animagi learn through years of practice how to morph into...basically their spirit animal, which of course you can't chose what animal...or insect, even, that could be. Unlike Metamorphmagus, which are born with their morphing skills and can change their appearance into basically anything." She paused for a moment of thought, "Don't people learning to become Animagi have to keep a mandrake leaf in their mouths for an entire month?" She thought she had read that somewhere but couldn't quite remember where.

This was an exciting topic to talk about. Juno wondered if she learned to become an Animagi what animal she would be.

Oh, the raccoon was their professor. Or rather, their professor could turn into a raccoon. That was pretty cool. Olly was sure some people had known that already but he was not the best at paying attention so this was the first he had known about this. But he knew what an animagus was so he was not all that surprised by the information. He remembered that they once had a professor who was a cat. And he knew that Hady was an animagus. He glanced at her as the professor asked them questions. She should know all about it then.

Olly didn't bother answering because everyone else had gotten there first and pretty much covered it. He was a little bit confused on whether or not the animal form could be chosen. Some people seemed to think so, even though he thought not. He was about to ask when several other people said the animal form could not be chosen. That sounded pretty good to him. They were probably right.

As much as Henry liked animals, he certainly didn't want to be one. He was perfectly fine as a person. So when the class topic of discussion turned to animagi, the fourth year tuned out a little. He had no desire to learn how to be an animagus and he figured this would be primarily a theory based lesson since what he knew of it was a long and difficult process.

He shifted in his seat, trying to get comfortable, as others answered the question. He really didn't know more than what others already said as his animagus knowledge was limited to what most people knew. He had the vague notion of turning to his book to find something useful or new to contribute. And he almost did that until he heard someone say something about animagus transformations gone horribly wrong, like being stuck as part human and part animal F O R E V E R !

"Wow, that would suck," Henry murmured to himself as he stared out the window, his mind immediately fixating on animagus mutations. It was like something out of a horror movie, really. Imagine being stuck with frog legs for the rest of your life, or something even worse, like a fly's face. No thanks. Sufficiently distracted, he began doodling half-man/half animal creatures on his parchment.

An animagus?! Wow! That Leesha didn’t knew and it was cool that her professor was one. Why didn’t she knew it? This wasn’t her first lesson! With her eyes big she looked at the professor and remembered the animal she had seen in the classroom while entering. Ha! It had been the professor all along. She wasn’t a expert on the subject but she had read something about it so she raised her hand slowly. “A animagus is a witch or wizard who can transform into a animal but... That is all i know” She wasn’t sure about the last one so she didn't answered the last question but she had tried to give at last one answer because she wanted to learn more about this subject simply because it was cool!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Holmesian Feline

Transfiguration…one of subjects that most caught her fancy.

And she looked forward to today’s lesson just as she had the others. Cassie stepped into the room and took in the semicircle of desks that faced the one belonging to the professor. A woman that wasn’t there in the classroom herself. Or maybe she was. There was a raccoon sitting on the desk and the Ravenclaw wasn’t exactly unused to being around an animangus. After all, her very father was one…a great dane. So an animangus professor, especially a transfiguration one, seemed to make perfect sense.

“Hello Professor,” she greeted, hoping she was right, as she moved to find her seat among the desks. Not her…not her…not her…BINGO. Cass took her seat and readied herself for the lesson, taking in who else was there so far. “Hey…” she said to Olivia as she noticed her Gryffindor partner.

OH, Hai, Divination buddy!

Beaming at Cassie, who OF COURSE she remembered from one of the previous lessons, Liv reached out to give the girl a one-armed hug. "Hey, friend... How are you doing?"

She could only focus on the Ravenclaw for a moment because... her attention was being violently torn away...

Quote:

Originally Posted by griffin

It was time for class to start. Felicity leaped off of her desk, transforming back into a human as she jumped. Now Felicity was standing before the class, ready to begin the lesson. ”Good morning. As I am sure you are aware of by now, I am an animagus. Today we’ll start with a class discussion. What do you know about animagi, and what sets them apart from other forms of human transfiguration? How can an animagus be distinguished from ordinary animals?” Looking at you, Miss Lynch. The head girl should be an expert on this topic. Felicity was well aware of Hadleigh’s status as an animagus, and fully expected to hear from her. The professor also glanced at Hadley Denaker, expecting to hear from her as well.

A C K!

RACCOON PROFESSOR!

For just a moment, Olivia could've wept. How....FREAKING....COOL....had THAT been? DID EVERYONE ELSE SEE? Merlin, halp. How could she go from 'Pathetic transfiguration student' to 'I'm a human AND an animal!'?!?! Because that was LEVELING UP 2.0.

"Professor, transfiguration is a branch of magic I have so much trouble with. I suppose having said that, it's a safe bet becoming an animagus would be extremely difficult." She paused, shifting her gaze around the room. Why didn't more people look impressed?! "How many years did it take for you to learn to do that?"

Colt was in Transfigurartion and thought he might as well give it a try. As he made his way to his seat, he didn't see the teacher but he saw a Racoon? He tilted his head and thought, "Huhh..this is weeiirddd." I guess the professor was playing a prank on them. He doodled in his notebook and waited for the class to start. When he heard a sudden gasp from his neighbor, he looked up and expected the Professor to walk in but he noticed the professor changed into human form. Woah....so she was an animagus. That was pretty wicked. He was still getting over the fact she changed right before his eyes when she asked the question. He shook his head and got back to the present.

He knew about these types of animals. He thought he might as well contribute a little bit, "Well Professor I know some famous animagus were Sirius Black, Minvera McGonagall, Rita Skeeter, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew. I know some of them did it illegally without a license and some are recorded in the ministry." He knew you needed a license for this sort of magic.

She had caught the raccoon nod in response to her greeting which made her more certain her guess had been right. Milo and other animals for that matter might react but not quite as human as a nod. Cassie couldn’t dwell on it too much as she was taken mildly by surprise as Olivia returned her greeting with a half-hug. “I’m doing well,” the Ravenclaw answered before it was the Gryffindor’s turn to be surprised, the lesson beginning with a leap…of the raccoon off the desk and into the form of one Professor Riveroll.

Apparently her friend from divination WASN’T aware the professor was an animangus.

Cass did her best not to chuckle at the other girl’s reaction, since it wasn’t her fault she didn’t know, but it was amusing nevertheless. Unfortunately, in her amusement, the question posed by the woman was answered by other students and what she knew about animangus was quickly spoken if. So the Ravenclaw remained quiet instead of repeating answers. That didn’t mean she wasn’t curious as to just where this topic was going to go today. Or maybe across the term.

Not that Sam was a professor or anything, but like, Professor Riveroll was totally failing in his books. After all, she had REPLACED Professor Ichihara! The vastly intelligent, beautiful, graceful Professor Ichihara. His thirteen-year-old heart gave a heavy sigh.

Of course they would be talking about animagi. Probably only because Professor Riveroll was an animagi. How humble. Though he did find it an interesting topic nonetheless.

Sam had read plenty on Animagi, but he wasn't going to volunteer an answer right now. Maybe once his moodiness subsided slightly, that ought to change a bit.

Glancing at his name tag before looking back up front Nat nodded, "I guess, but really who would want the fleas of animals and all the smelling of butts and whatever else they weirdly do? I think I'm best staying a human." She really didn't see why people wanted to do this, but to each their own.

Speaking of their own the professor just jumped off the table and changed into her own form. They were going to talk about Animagi. Hmmm that was a bit advanced for some, but Nat wasn't going to complain. She really had no interest in changing to an animal, but figured some in here might think it was cool. Not really wanting to answer she just pulled out her quill to take any notes that seemed worth while.

How could you tell the difference, "An actual animal wouldn't be so interested in sitting at the headmasters seat every feast nor a classroom desk like you just did." Everyone seemed to be animals here even then head couple could scratch behind their furry ears.

The only positive note to the whole assigned seating situation was that it seemed as if more people were surprised or even annoyed with it than anything else. Even Brooklyn could see that. Could see that people wanted to sit with friends or, at least, people they were comfortable with. She doubted that Paige felt comfortable being in the class at all, if she read the fellow seventh year correctly. She might’ve heard things, or seen them even given the past six terms. She wasn’t about to worry about it, seeing as the Hufflepuff wasn’t near her. Except, as someone made their way over to the seat next to her, she fought back a sigh. Another Hufflepuff. Her track record with Hufflepuffs was hit and miss at the best. She’d still given the younger boy a nod, before she noticed the professor transform back and start the lesson. Thankfully.

Animagi. It wasn’t something she’d been particularly interested in, but given her dormmate had gone through the training and she knew of at least one other who had, a bit had filtered over to her. People had quickly offered their answers, Hady of course being one, but there was a little more that she hadn’t heard mentioned so she had raised her hand. “While commonly a witch’s Animagus form is the same as their Patronus, an Animagus form doesn’t change like a Patronus can. And also, a lot of Animagi can’t actually conjure a corporeal Patronus anyhow.” It didn’t particularly answer the questions, but it was still something she thought important enough to mention.

whoah wait STOP THE PRESSES!!

That Racoon was the Professor whaaaaat

Of course, its Transfiguration. Of course this wasnt his first Transfig Professor. Of course he was very aware of Animagi and their abilities-- heck his bestie was pulling all sorts to be one. But it just didnt occur to him that the furball was well-- not quite the cutesy sort you'd find out in the grounds. Note to self Gryffindor: when seeing an animal in a classroom thats not Marie Curie, not a COMC class and not with their handler, be suspicious, be very suspicious.

And right so its all about Animagi today. He looks at Hadley giving an enthusiastically expert response, yep thats his bestie right there. And given how she just owned that question, he be just sittin back, elbows up and just chiiiiilll....

Paige bit down a bit too hard on the inside of her cheek when someone mentioned Rita Skeeter. Yeah...part of the family legacy that didn't get passed down - along with any real transfiguration skill at all. Titling her parchment with the topic of the day, Paige elected to remain quiet. She really did not have anything else to offer up in terms of new information regarding animagi - although she was curious as to what form she would take were she ever to actually accomplish this bit of advanced magic - assuming it was not the same form as her patronus.

But even an optimist like herself knew that that was well beyond her skillset....

...which was why brewing Mutatio Animalia had its appeal. She could at least experience animal form to some degree.