Closed I Push to the Limits

[Harper Alston]

Harper had known from the start that animagus training would be a long, difficult process. It had been over a year since Professor Summers had given the lectures on animagi, yet she still remembered every detail. Training could take years, if not decades. Some people never made it. Some people even got stuck. Harper had known all this and yet she still found herself getting antsy. Though she had been training for a couple months now, she still hadn't so much as transfigured a hair. While she could have an abundance of patience for others, she sometimes had very little of it for herself.

Nevertheless, Harper was optimistic that this semester she'd make some actual, visible progress. She had both Care of Magical Creatures and Transfiguration this term, which would hopefully accelerate her training. She held onto this hope even now as she knocked on Professor Summers' door and entered his office. "Hi Professor Summers! How are you?" she greeted cheerfully. At least the person guiding her through all this was nice. She couldn't imagine trying to get animagus lessons — or extra lessons of any kind — from Professor Crabapple or Professor West.

 

[Aeon Summers]

The semester had been a busy one, with some of the added workloads, though Aeon had to say he didn't mind it. Tutoring Jordan had been rewarding in a sense, if not eye-opening. It was astounding how well some students hid how behind they were in their studies until it was almost too late to recover. Had he not made himself seem accessible to the students? Transfiguration was a difficult subject as it was for those who got it.

Harper was one of those students who got Transfiguration. Summers greeted her with a smile as she came in, and motioned for her to close the door. "Morning, Harper! I'm well, thank you." He said. He wandered to the desk, and hefted up a pile of books he'd left sitting on his chair. Not the lightest of reading material, made evident by the heavy sound it produced when it made contact with the desks surface. He gave the top book a quick rap on the cover with his knuckles. "I've got you some extra study material to take with you after today's session. How are we feeling today? Confident?" He asked. The whole animagus process was long, and gruelling, and not nearly as fun as most people imagined it to be. At least, to start with.​

 

[Harper Alston]

Harper shut the door before following Professor Summers over to the desk. Her eyes widened slightly as he brought up an enormous pile of books. It was probably the the most extensive reading assignment yet — and her past assignments had already been pretty comprehensive. She was rapidly accumulating a mini-Transfiguration library in her dorm. It was a good thing she found the material interesting.

At Professor Summers' question, Harper nodded. "Yup! I found last week's reading a bit abstract, but I think I've finally wrapped my mind around it." The theory they covered in these lessons was much more complex than the stuff from class. She usually had to reread sections several times over, which could be mentally exhausting, but it made the moment when everything clicked a lot more rewarding. "Are we doing more theory today?" she asked curiously.