Closed Steady On, With No Sense of Navigation

[Harper Alston]

Harper had known that teaching herself to be an animagus would be difficult. But she hadn't anticipated that it would be this difficult.

For weeks now, Harper had locked herself away in secluded areas of the castle, spending hours at a time practicing her self-transfigurations. Though she was devoting more of her time to training than ever before, her progress had slowed incredibly. That wasn't entirely a surprise since she no longer had an instructor. But with Professor Styx gone, it was unlikely she'd find a new one anytime soon. She had no choice but to try and forge on by herself.

Today Harper had chosen a spot in the North Tower next to a row of windows. The Owlery probably would have been a better location for this, but she didn't want to startle the birds already there. Taking a deep breath, she raised her wand. "Avis!" There was a loud bang, followed by smoke, and then Harper found herself surrounded by a dozen spotted owls. As she'd expected, half of them immediately flew out of the windows she'd left open. A couple darted down the hallway, and she cried out, "Hey! Come back!" but they were gone in a flash. She sighed. At least they weren't real; they would likely disappear in a few hours if they didn't find their way out sooner.

Harper decided to focus on the owls that had stuck around. She stared into the eyes of the one closest to her, searching — for what, she didn't know. Understanding, maybe. A connection. When she'd gone to Niklaus with a fistful of her own feathers, he'd identified them as belonging to a spotted owl. Harper didn't know if he was right, but it was the best lead she had. Keeping her gaze on the owl, she tried to imagine herself turning into a bird just like it. As she concentrated, a familiar prickling came over her arm, and she didn't have to look down to know that feathers were sprouting along her shoulder and down to her fingertips.

 

[Ryan Fisk]

Ryan was sure the painting he was looking for was around here somewhere. He distinctly remembered it being across from some sort of statue, but so far he'd only found a few suits of armor and without much else to go on, the few portraits up here hadn't been able to offer much in regards to directions beyond some shrugging and the polite suggestion he look somewhere else after he'd worn out his welcome pacing in front of their frames for too long.

He was shaken out of his hunt by a bang and the fluttering of wings, the memory (and a few of the deeper scratches) of having the avis charm turned on him still fresh after Ryan's duel with Linden. Curiosity piqued, Ryan turned the corner, ducking as a pair of owls shot overhead with an indignant hoot, causing Ryan to pull his arms over his head defensively.

The source of the owls quickly became fairly apparent though, Ryan spotting a girl under a bay of windows staring intently at a few straggling owls. "Smaller birds are easier to control. I think," he commented, stilling as he got closer, squinting at the line of feathers that seemed to be erupting from the girls arm. Had the conjuring spell gone awry? Ryan had never seen that side-effect before. "You've got feathers on you," he pointed out, jabbing a finger in the air towards the girls arm as she stepped closer. Just in case she hadn't noticed.

 

[Harper Alston]

Harper had slipped into the hazy state halfway between vision and reality, so she didn't notice the newcomer until he spoke. His voice pierced her concentration, and she started violently, causing the owl she had been staring at to take off for the window. With a sigh, Harper shook her head to clear her thoughts and looked up at the boy. "I don't want to control them," she said, frowning slightly. Harper knew her concern for the owls was a little silly since they weren't real, but she still hadn't wanted to trap or otherwise restrict them, hence why she was doing this by the windows.

At the boy's pointing, Harper looked down, suddenly remembering that she hadn't had a chance to reverse the transformation. "Oh. Right." She wasn't sure why, but lately, she'd become easily distracted. It was like a permanent fog had settled in her mind. "You might want to look away if you get queasy easily," she warned. Partial animagus transformations were never pretty, and while Harper had gotten used to seeing them, she didn't want to freak out the boy. She waited a beat before turning her concentration towards her arm, making the feathers recede into her skin.

 

[Ryan Fisk]

Ryan scrunched his face in confusion as the girl mentioned not wanting to control the conjured owl, glancing out the window at the retreating shape of the owl. "Good I guess, cause you weren't doing a very good job," he said with a shrug. He'd ask why she'd bother if she didn't want to try and control them but he'd definitely conjured things before just to see if he could. Something he probably shouldn't have if his roommates reactions could be anything to go off at times. Especially when he'd been struggling with vanishing spells lately.

His interest was already piqued by the feathers in the first place, but it was doubled now when the girl warned him to look away, leaning a little closer to watch in fascination as she seemed to will the feathers back under her skin. "Oh cool, are you working on human transfiguration? Or maybe you're a metamophmagus?" He asked, barely resisting the urge to reach out and touch her arm where the feathers had been, hand hanging in the air for a moment, eyes wide with interest.

 

[Harper Alston]

The bluntness of the boy's statement surprised Harper, and she gave him a curious look. She wasn't offended. In fact, she might have even laughed if she wasn't currently so in her head. However, Harper did bristle a little when she looked up after getting rid of the feathers and noticed that the boy had come closer, his hand hovering in the air as if to touch her. It was one thing for a first or second year to have that reaction, but she was pretty sure he was a seventh year.

Giving his hand a slightly pointed look, Harper shifted so that her arm was tucked closer to her side. "Yeah, I'm trying to become an animagus," she explained. "I think my form might be an owl of some sort." Her gaze drifted to the owls that had stuck around. Thankfully, they seemed fairly calm. "I don't think metamophmagi can grow animal parts...?" Harper said, though her statement was more of a question. She wasn't very familiar with the ability since they hadn't talked about it in any of her classes so far, and she wondered if the boy had more information.