Open Better Things To Do Than Dance

[Audrey Beauchamp]

It wasn't like Audrey was deliberately avoiding the ball or anything. Well, maybe she was, but she had her reasons. She wasn't in any sort of mood to dance or be around people who were happy. She had far more important things to worry about, and it just happened that she had a fresh bout of inspiration to work on her project at the same time as the ball. That was all. The fact that she had been too busy to get an outfit together had nothing to do with it either, obviously. At least a swimsuit was easy.

It was a beautiful night, and the reflection of the moon on the lake was only disturbed by the ripples of Audrey herself slipping into the water. The more she had meditated on it, the more certain she was that her animagus form was some sort of sea creature. The vision that kept coming back to her was of the sun through the water, as though looking up from below. But there was a problem with that she needed to work on - and that may have been part of the reason she picked now, when everyone was busy. Some animagus forms weren't as complex. Professor Pirrip was a dog, which yes, transforming into an animal was extremely difficult. Dogs and humans, however, were both mammals and both breathed air in the same way. Sea creatures were a different story. Therefore, once she mastered this, she would be a far superior animagus to him. That was only logical.

Each time she felt she could relax, meditating as she tread water, letting herself fall into a trance...she'd pull back, suddenly short of breath. The reflection of the moon was disturbed again by a splash, of Audrey flailing where she was and taking in air with a loud gasp. At least everyone was in the hall...

 

[Professor Edward Pirrip]

Edward much preferred patrolling outside on Yule Ball night in his animagus form. His dog nose told him far more than his human senses, too much sometimes, but he was learning to hone in and recognise all the different scents. Tonight something a little different had caught his nose, he had picked up the scent of a sweet perfume. He couldn’t be certain who it belonged to, but he had a hunch so he followed it. The trail led him all the way to the lake. And then nothing. The water stole the scent just as it always did, and Edward had to switch to rely on his other senses like hearing splashing water or seeing ripples until he saw Audrey. Of course it was Audrey. That hunch had been right all along.

Audrey was floating, meditating and no doubt trying to visualise her animagus form. That wasn’t the issue. The issue was that they had talked about safeguards like no unsupervised attempts, especially not in open water. And certainly not at night while the entire school was at the Yule Ball. It was dangerous and reckless. And Edward was not impressed with her decision not to have informed him of her intentions before this evening. He padded to the water’s edge and sat on his haunches where he kept his eyes on Audrey, making sure she was safe first and foremost. He didn't think she would have seen him yet, not in this light. But she would when she eventually came back to shore.