The faint voices Sinead could hear from Professor Stewart's office faded as she clicked the door carefully shut behind her, turning to face into the practice room. She always found it a bit of a sanctuary; quiet, well-lit from the tall windows which offered an expansive view over the grounds and lake, and perfectly equipped for Transfiguration practice or even just general study. She preferred it to the library for working- infinitely better than the common room or her dorm- just because it was empty almost as often as not. Solitude was near impossible to come by in Hogwarts- even if the library was quiet, it was still busy. Sometimes Sinead just needed time out to think, and to get some work done.

She stepped out lightly across the wooden floor, her footsteps echoing ever so slightly in the empty space, and set her bag down on the table under the windows. With an air of peaceful contentment, she began to tour the shelves, collecting several Transfiguration textbooks and an assortment of matchboxes, thimbles and the like, which she assembled on a small tray.

It had been about a week or so now since Professor Stewart had really checked on things inside the practice room. The students that frequented the area must be getting rather bored with the set up by now. Cami knew that bored students was never good which was why she liked to go into that room and change things up for the students every now and again. Keep things fresh for them, new learning opportunities.

With a thermos of hot peppermint tea in hand, her cat trailing along behind her, Cami made her way into the practice room. Only having taken a handful of steps into the room she noticed the first year gathering up some books and supplies. "Hello, Ms. Dance, doing some studying this afternoon?," she asked softly so as not to startle the young girl. Bonsai her cat was doing his usual tour of the room checking everything out.

The footsteps echoing down the corridor outside had Sinead annoyed as they stopped outside her door and then had the obnoxiousness to enter the practice room that she was already using. She was just turning to see who had entered as Professor Stewart spoke and her annoyance immediately ebbed away to be replaced with excitement. She wasn't sure what exactly brought the Professor here, but she was always happy to see one of her academic idols.

"Good afternoon, Professor!" With care, Sinead laid down her tray on the shelf, not wanting to drop everything she was holding while distracted. It might be a nice opportunity to practice, but reparo was not what she was here for. "I've been working on some new spells and I wanted to try them out. I find it easier to work here. Everyone's always noisy in the dorm." What could she say by way of small talk to a teacher? She was always looking to stay on Professor Stewart's good side; she knew she gave out special extra lessons to some of the older students working on their own Transfiguration projects, and she totally planned to be one of them some day.

"Are you having a good day?" she suggested, unsure if this was appropriate to ask a teacher. Well, people liked to talk about themselves, her mum always told her.

There was a warm smile on her face when Sinead seemed excited by her arrival in the room rather then annoyance or frustration. Cami knew that most of the time her students enjoyed studying and practicing on their own without their professor around. However she didn't like to seem as if she were ignoring or avoiding a student as that was never the case so she always made a point in at least saying hello!

"New spells? Anything you need help with at all or are you doing alright?" Sometimes a new spell was very tough to get on ones own when just starting out. Transfiguration was always a difficult subject to master for a lot of people as it took time, focus and lots of practice. Was there something special she was trying to learn or just some spells in general?

A student asking about her day was something Cami felt was sweet. In her mind there was nothing at all wrong with getting to know her students and them getting to know her a bit as well. "I am actually, I just thought I would come in here and see what I could change around. Keep the room fresh and ready for anyone that wanted to use it." She smiled glancing towards her cat who had leaped up onto an empty table and was looking out the window. "How is your day going?" She looked back to Sinead as she spoke.

Sinead may not have known Professor Stewart very well, but she always seemed friendly in classes; outside lessons seemed to be just the same, if her cheerful disposition now was anything to go by. She was almost unnerved to have a Professor talk to her like an actual person instead of a little kid, but then again, it was about time. Just because everyone else in her year was stupid and immature didn’t mean she had to be as well.

She was loath to ask for help- with anything, really- but they hadn’t covered her most recent area of interest in class yet and she had to admit, she could probably useful a little guidance. She was allowed to study things off the syllabus, right? Well- Professor Stewart couldn’t tell her off for having too much interest in her subject.
“Well- in class, we’ve only looked at animal to object transformations. So I thought I’d try the other way round. I already managed a pencil into a worm, but I want to get better, so I’m going to try insects now. And my worm was fine, but… well, it wasn’t very lively, I guess.” True, it may have just been expressing its bland and wormy nature, but given the exacting nature of transfigurations, it was probably more likely that there was some variable she’d overlooked. That was always the way with these things- and apparently even more so with animal transfigurations.

She had noticed the room changing a little every so often- which was good, it gave her new materials to practice with- but she’d never really thought about who took care of it before. Now, it seemed kind of obvious that it would be her Professor. Maybe she could request certain items if she ever needed them to work with? Or who knew what else- books from the Restricted Section? Okay, she couldn’t really think of why she would need them, but she was sure there was a whole lot of interesting magic in those locked- away shelves.
“My day is going well, thank you. I think it’s really good that you keep this room here. I find it really helpful.” Her gaze slid to the side, following Cami’s, as Bonsai explored the room. She was pretty sure her own cat was around here somewhere- and sure enough, a moment later he slinked in along the side of the room, his curiosity drawn by the presence of the other animal. Which reminded Sinead of a conversation she’d had the other day, making her whirl back to face Cami with wide eyes.
“Professor, are you an animagus?” she blurted, manners forgot in a spate of excitement. She’d never knowingly met one before; just imagine if her Transfiguration teacher had been one, all along!

Camilla smiled listening as Sinead explained about some of the new spells she was trying on her own. To hear that the young girl was accomplishing object to animal transformations already was a slight surprise. This process was a bit more difficult and not something she worked on until later in the term. "It sounds like you're getting a jump start on what we'll be doing in a few months time." There was never anything wrong with that. "Usually worms aren't all that lively to start with but remember to be fully focused and make sure you follow through with the intent you're seeking." This could very well help with a slightly more lively worm. Being a first year there was plenty of time to work on focus and intent with her if she liked.

Keeping the room fresh and ready to work in was something Cami enjoyed. She also had no problems with the students requesting items for the room should they want something more specific to work with. "You're welcome, Miss Dance. I do enjoy knowing that the students come in here to work safely on their transformations and other studies."

The girls sudden excitement took Cami by surprise making her laugh. She was asked this ALL the time. "Indeed I am, Miss Dance. Care to take a guess at what my form might be?" This was something she loved to ask kids when they asked her this. Hearing there answers was always fun and very interesting to her.

Seeing her professor apparently pleased with her work was satisfying, even if Sinead hadn't been doing it for the sake of lessons in and of themselves. Her eyes narrowed slightly at the teacher's advice, as she thought back to her previous experimentation with the spells. Well- she didn't usually have too much trouble focusing, although she was sure she could get even better at that with more practice. She nodded her thanks to the Professor, before her thoughts were quickly diverted onto the more interesting topic of Animagi.

What form? She really had no idea. She guessed that was something pretty personal and she was definitely nowhere near that kind of level of understanding of her teacher. Still, though, it was something she'd thought about a bit more generally, and read a little bit about- whether or not it was possible to predict what shape you'd take as an Animagus.
"A bird, maybe?" she hazarded, after an assessing look at her Professor. She could see that- kind of quick and cheerful. And some birds were really clever.
While she was distracted, Ptolemy had made his way back across the room to her, and now twined against her legs, obviously seeking attention. She bent down absently and scooped him into her arms, mindful of his propensity for finding things to break, or otherwise get himself into trouble. Where was the other cat? She hoped Ptolemy hadn't annoyed him; Bonsai did kind of live here, after all.

Seeing her students pushing themselves further then what they were being taught in their lessons made her smile. It pleased her to no end that they were enjoying what they were learning and were now testing themselves on things ahead of their level. This showed her that it might be time for some more difficult lessons to start taking place in the near future.

Hearing what form her students thought she took was always interesting. The fact that no one had ever guessed it right didn't bother her in the least and that was perfectly fine by her. "I think many that learn to become Animagi hope at some point that they will become a bird. Being able to fly is a wonderous feeling. However I do not take the form of a bird. I do take the form of a lovely Kangaroo when I so choose to do so." Cami smiled warmly as she let that sink in. A Kangaroo wasn't something many were able to see her as.

As a cat, that wasn't her own came over, Sinead picking up she smiled. "Well hello there," she whispered softly holding out a hand in offer to give the cat a pet. Her own cat currently asleep on a table near one of the windows soaking up the rays of sunshine that were spilling through into the room.