Closed These Clouds in My Head

[Harper Alston]

Harper still couldn't believe Professor Summers was gone. Even with everything that had happened last semester, she had just assumed he would always be at Hogwarts, surprising first years with his transformations and guiding younger students through the basics of Transfiguration. It was under Professor Summers' instruction that Harper had learned to love Transfiguration and decided to pursue animagus training. He had overseen the beginning of that training, and she had taken it for granted that he would also oversee the end of it.

For a couple weeks, Harper had been worried that he had in fact overseen the end of her training and that she wouldn't be able to find another instructor. Thankfully, Professor Styx had agreed to continue her lessons. Harper had liked the professor well enough last year, but she was still a little nervous. There was so much that could go wrong with animagus training. Two years of working with Professor Summers had led her to eventually trust that he could safely see her through the process, and she just didn't have that level of trust and familiarity with Professor Styx yet. Hopefully that would change soon. Trying to push down her nerves, Harper knocked on the professor's door. "Professor Styx? It's Harper."

 

[Jacqueline Styx]

Jacqueline looked at her watch briefly before signing her name to the letter she was writing. Her husband had decided to move some distance away for his retirement. Despite this, Jacqueline had decided to keep teaching at Hogwarts New Zealand and to visit him whenever she had breaks. She sealed the letter and handed it to her owl as she heard the knock on the door. The woman closed the window before flicking her wand at the door. "Please come in, Harper." she said with a tight smile.

 

[Harper Alston]

The door swung open on its own, startling Harper, but she quickly pasted on a bright smile. "Hi professor, how are you?" she greeted conversationally as she took a seat at a chair across from Professor Styx's desk. It was then that she noticed the tension in the woman's smile, which was so different from Professor Summers' reassuring demeanor. Harper knew there was a good chance she was just overthinking things, but she couldn't help but feel a little daunted. Did Professor Styx not want to be here?

"I, um, really appreciate you agreeing to give me animagi lessons." Harper said a little awkwardly. She wasn't just saying that to placate Professor Styx; she really did mean it. The one-on-one lessons were a pretty big time commitment, and she was grateful Professor Styx had agreed to take her on as a student. "I can tell you where Professor Summers and I left off, if that helps...?" She didn't know when Professor Summers had left or whether he was still in touch with Professor Styx. She didn't know anything about his abrupt departure, and it still hurt a little that he hadn't warned her about it even though she knew he didn't owe her that. "We've finished a lot of the basic theory." She went on to briefly describe the concepts they had covered. "I just started practicing partial transformations last semester. My form is some kind of bird, so I've been focusing on my arms and I can fully transfigure them into wings. I can also transform other parts of my skin into feathers, but I'm not as consistent with that."