Tufts of Red

[Charles Abberline]

Sleeves already rolled up, Charles waited patiently for his instructor to arrive at their usual spot at the library. After weeks and weeks of meditating in the hope that his visions would become clearer, he had finally achieved what he sought after. His visions showed him a squirrel, a greyish-red squirrel. In hindsight, he thought it incredibly stupid of himself that he couldn't figure out what kind of animal he would turn into for weeks, as it should have been clear from the moment he saw his first vision. After all, a squirrel wasn't that difficult to discern from other small animals. Well, maybe that wasn't entirely true, at times they only showed him a bushy tail or the more greyish colours of the rodent. But that didn't stop him from thinking that he should have known it from the start, even without the full image in his head. Alas, he knew he shouldn't worry about that anymore, as now he had a whole different thing to worry about. For it was time to fully commit himself to transfiguring body parts now that he finally knew which animal he'd turn into. And if he had struggled with the first step, the second probably wouldn't be a walk in the park either.

 

[Harper Alston]

When Harper had graduated, she'd secretly worried that she wouldn't be able to keep up Professor Abberline's animagus lessons as effectively now that she no longer lived in the castle. That turned out to be a needless worry, however. It hadn't taken her long to settle into post-grad life, and the magical world was always an apparition spell away. Sure, she had to communicate with Professor Abberline a little more proactively to schedule lessons and keep track of his progress, but that wasn't a big deal. She was quite used to trading letters after seven years at Hogwarts.

Harper quickly made her way to the library, smiling when she saw Professor Abberline. "Hey Professor Abberline!" Even though he hadn't been her teacher for more than a year now, she still thought of him as a professor. "Hope you haven't been waiting too long," she said with an apologetic smile. Harper usually tried to arrive early to meetings, but it seemed he'd beaten her here. "How've you been? How's the meditation going?" She had noticed that his sleeves were rolled up, and she wondered if this meant he was ready for the next step in the process.

 

[Charles Abberline]

Charles was flipping through the library's copy of A Guide to Medieval Sorcery when a familiar voice called out his name. As someone who had the tendency to forget the time whenever he was busy working on something, it surprised him that he had arrived at their usual meeting spot before she did. Perhaps he had gotten here early because he was excited about finally being able to tell which animal he'd turn into. Yeah, that was probably it, he was practically dying to tell her about it. ''Please, do call me Charles,'' he said with a smile. ''You're not in school anymore and 'Professor' makes me feel awfully old.'' He closed the book and put it back on the shelf. ''Meditation's going well, though I reckon we've got something else to worry about from now on. Anyway, before we get to that, how are you? How's life post-Hogwarts treating you?''

 

[Harper Alston]

Harper nodded. "Okay," she said, though she couldn't quite bring herself to call him Charles just yet. It just sounded weird. But she could also understand what he meant by the title making him feel old. Harper always felt a little strange getting called "Coach Alston" by the kids she worked with at her football club. It didn't help that she wasn't a coach so much as an assistant responsible for lugging around equipment and passing out orange slices during halftimes. She knitted her brows when Professor Abberline Charles mentioned worrying about something related to his training, but before she could inquire further, he was asking about post-Hogwarts life.

"It's been really nice," Harper said with a smile. "A lot more relaxed, low-key." Harper had never been one to stress much over school, but she had still taken her studies seriously. Between NEWTs and animagus training, her seventh year had been a little hectic. Life now was a lot slower-paced by comparison. "I'm taking a gap year before I apply to the Ministry's auror progam," she explained, knowing that he might be wondering about her career plans, especially after they'd spent so much time talking about the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. "I want to travel a bit, so I've been working odd jobs to save up for that. It's been pretty fun, actually." She paused. "What about you? How've you been? How's Hogwarts?" It hadn't been that long since her graduation, but she wondered if there was anything new happening at the school. Charles aside, she wasn't really in touch with anyone who was still there.

 

[Charles Abberline]

Charles waved Harper's worried look away with a wide smile. They didn't really have something to worry about, it was just that he was going to focus solely on small transfigurations from now on. Well, that itself was something one could worry about a lot, but he didn't feel the need to do so. With their combined knowledge of how to best handle these transfigurations and what to do if something would go wrong, he didn't think that they had much to worry about at all. In fact, Charles felt quite safe. And so he listened quietly but eagerly to what Harper said about her life after Hogwarts. He grinned and nodded when she said that her life was more relaxed now that she was out of school, finding it funny how applicable that was for every student once they had finished their seven-year-long education at Hogwarts. ''That reminds me, you should have received your NEWT results by now, right?'' Ever since Charles knew of Harper's ambition to join Magical Law Enforcement as an Auror, he'd been keen to help her out in any way he could. So naturally, he was curious to know how well she'd done on her final exams. He smiled when she mentioned travelling and said, ''If you're going to travel to the United Kingdom, be sure to visit the Three Broomsticks in Hogsmeade or the Leaky Cauldron in London. Loads of Aurors and Hit Wizards come there after their shifts are over, they might teach you a thing or two.''

He smiled again when she asked how he was doing. ''I'm doing alright,'' he answered truthfully. ''Didn't do much over the break, which was actually quite nice for once. And nothing has changed at Hogwarts, except for the fact that no new staff members have joined the team this year.'' He didn't think he'd ever see the day when there was no rotation in teachers or other staff members.

 

[Harper Alston]

Harper nodded. "All O's," she said casually though she was secretly quite proud of her exam results. There were a few she'd known she would ace, like Transfiguration, but others had been unexpectedly challenging. "Which was kind of a surprise. They asked us to brew Polyjuice for Potions, which didn't really make sense...?" she said, giving Charles a questioning look in case he had better insight as to how one was supposed to brew a potion that typically took a month to make in the span of a few hours. It didn't really matter though. She'd passed, and now she had the minimum grades required to apply to be an auror. "Wait, the Three Broomsticks and the Leaky Cauldron are chains?" For some reason, the idea of large retail chains felt incongruous with the isolated nature of the magical world. "The U.K.'s on my list, so I'll be sure to visit both of those." It would be good to talk to other aurors before she submitted her application.

She smiled as Charles described his break. Harper remembered how busy he'd been during the winter holidays last year, and she was glad he had finally gotten a true break. "That's got to be a record," she said, raising her eyebrows slightly. "I think there were a couple years when there was a new lower levels History professor every semester." It had gotten to the point where she'd started to lose track of who held the position. "That's good, though, that there's less turnover," she said with a smile.

 

[Charles Abberline]

Charles smiled brightly when Harper answered his question, happy to hear that she'd gotten all O's on her final exams. ''Well done, congratulations!'' Getting all O's wasn't a particularly easy thing to accomplish but he reckoned that it didn't surprise him much, she wanted to join the very top of Magical Law Enforcement, after all. ''They still have you do that for the Potions exam? I've heard some from my year talk about that as well when they had to take their NEWT in Potions. Never quite understood why though.'' While the other Hogwarts had their students brew another potion for their final exam, those from New Zealand with whom he was still friendly with had indeed told him about this, and that was roughly ten years ago. Surely the Ministry of Magic should've seen by now how unrealistic it was to brew a potion that would normally take a month to brew? ''I wouldn't necessarily say that they are chains, they're only found in the U.K. and here. Lovely pubs, though. I spend several evenings there after my shifts were over. Never a dull moment.'' Talking about these places made him nostalgic. Perhaps he should visit friends and family again during the next break.

''History is a tricky subject to teach, so I'm not fully surprised to hear that.'' He couldn't even remember his own History of Magic teachers while studying at the New Zealand branch. What stood out most to him was that it was apparently rather easy to find replacements for those who would leave their posts. In that regard, Hogwarts definitely was a very popular school. ''But enough about school for now, I reckon the last thing you want to do is talk about Hogwarts all day long. Shall we shift our focus to transfigurations instead?'' The fact that he would be able to fully concentrate on transfigurations and transformations would certainly pique her interest. The last time they got together for this, he was still receiving blurry images of the animal he would turn into - that was very different this time around.

 

[Harper Alston]

Harper returned the smile. "Thanks!" She was surprised to hear that the students in Charles' year had also been asked to brew Polyjuice Potion during their NEWTs. "Maybe it's supposed to be a trick question?" she mused. She couldn't think of any other reason for keeping it on the exam for so long. She assumed someone would have brought it up to the Ministry by now. Charles' explanation about the pubs made sense though Harper still found it a little curious that the U.K. and New Zealand were the only two locations with those establishments. She assumed it had something to do with the locations of the two Hogwarts branches. "I can imagine," she said with a grin. Any place where aurors and hit wizards gathered was bound to be exciting. "Where do the aurors and hit wizards here usually hang out?" she asked curiously.

She had never thought about it that way, but Charles definitely had a point. History of Magic was an incredibly broad subject, encompassing thousands of years and cultures, and the material wasn't always grouped together in the most intuitive way. She could understand how some professors might have struggled to teach the subject. "Was there a lot of turnover when you were a student?" Harper asked, wondering how much (or how little) Hogwarts had changed since Charles' days as a student. His next question caught her off-guard, and her eyes widened. "Transfigurations?" she repeated, voice pitching up in excitement. The last time they'd met, he was still working on meditating. "Do you know what your form's going to be then?"

 

[Charles Abberline]

Charles didn't know what to think of this practical portion of the Potions exam. It was bad enough that it was asking the impossible of students, but the fact that it hadn't changed in nearly ten years' time, well, he could only hope that his own Defence Against the Dark Arts exams didn't face the same problems. Perhaps he should look things over once he was back at the school, as potentially having older students giving out answers wasn't really favourable. ''Anywhere and everywhere, really. I've found that, in my years as a hit wizard, it doesn't really matter where people hang out. As long as there are good people and plenty of...'' But Charles trailed off, not sure whether he should mention the consumption of alcoholic beverages as a reason for aurors and hit wizards to hang out at certain places, even though she was of age. ''I'm sure you'll even find them in the cafeteria at the Ministry of Magic - catching up with colleagues from other departments,'' he said with a smile.

''Oh yes,'' Charles said with a chuckle. ''I think we had new teachers every semester or so.'' It had never really bothered him much but he could see how and why it would bother other students, especially first years. It was very difficult at times to remember all those new names. Thankfully not all subjects suffered so much. Professors Kingsley, Josephs, Carter, Harrington and Haden all taught their subjects when he was a student, and they still did so to this day. ''We also used to have a Deputy Headmaster in my time. I can only imagine how busy Professor Alcott-Ward must be with his work as Headmaster without one.'' He then smiled brightly when Harper repeated him. ''Yep!'' He answered gleefully, glad that he was finally at that stage of the animagus process. ''Turns out we actually guessed it correctly at some point: My form is that of a squirrel, a red squirrel to be exact''

 

[Harper Alston]

It didn't take a genius to guess what Charles had been about to say, and Harper had to suppress a smile as he trailed off. It was an impulse she could understand. Even though he insisted that she call him by his first name, Harper still definitely thought of him as her professor. She decided she probably shouldn't tell him that she was currently working part-time as a bartender. At least it was a muggle bar, so the chances of him (or any of her former professors) stumbling across it were basically non-existent. "Is that also true for professors?" Harper couldn't help asking with a bit of a grin. "That makes sense," she said with a nod as Charles explained that the Ministry cafeteria was a popular meeting spot. It all still felt a bit abstract, but hopefully that would change once she applied.

Harper couldn't say she was surprised to hear that turnover had also been an issue when Charles had been a student. The information about the Deputy Headmaster position was a little more unexpected. "I wonder why they got rid of that position," she mused. It seemed like that would only make things more difficult for the headmaster. All thought of Hogwarts and its staff flew out of her head, however, when Charles confirmed that he knew his form. "That's amazing, congrats! A squirrel, huh. I guess that should've been obvious after you saw the bushy tail." Some of their earlier guesses seemed almost laughable now. "That'll be a useful form," she noted. It was always a gamble as to what your form would be, and Harper was glad Charles had ended up with one that wasn't completely impractical. "Have you tried any transfigurations then?"

 

[Charles Abberline]

Charles was sure that Harper knew exactly what he had wanted to say. Even though she was of age, he couldn't help but want to pretend to be a responsible adult. And adults didn't necessarily encourage their former students to seek out pubs and other establishments that served alcoholic beverages. Thankfully, she didn't seem bothered by his attempt to be an adult ''It so happens that I tend to drop by whenever I'm in the area.'' Over the last few weeks, Charles had made several visits to the Ministry of Magic. And while some of them were work-related, he continued to help the Magical Law Enforcement Squad with arrests and such, most of these visits were used to catch up with former colleagues and other such pleasantries.

''I've been wondering that myself ever since the previous Deputy Headmaster left, but then again, Professor Alicastell always seemed capable enough the handle things on her own.'' And Charles was sure that Professor Alcott-Ward would also do a fantastic job running the school. At least one of their own was at the helm again. He couldn't help but smile at Harper's excitement over hearing that he had finally discovered which animal he would turn into. ''Well, it could have been anything small, really, but I'm rather pleased with my form.'' He couldn't say why but he was very happy with the form he would take as an animagus. It was a good animal and would have been extremely useful too had he been a Hit Wizard still. ''I have attempted to transfigure my arms but couldn't get it right just yet, though I did manage to transfigure little tufts of red on my ears. I wasn't trying to transfigure my ears, unfortunately.''

 

[Harper Alston]

"She did always seem really put together," Harper agreed. She hadn't known Professor Alicastell well, but the headmistress had always had an air of authority to her. It had made her resignation all the more surprising, although Harper supposed someone had to take the fall for the basilisk attack. She grinned when Charles said he was happy with his form. "It's a relief, isn't it? Now you know you won't be a skunk or a slug or something." Based on her readings, it seemed a lot of animagi found their forms fitting for their personalities, but she had to wonder if that was just selection bias. Though she had tried to keep an open mind during her training, Harper knew she would have been disappointed if she'd discovered her form was a coral.

Harper listened carefully as Charles described his previous transfiguration attempts. "Still, you managed to transfigure something," she said. "That's an accomplishment in and of itself. Most people don't get that far. " Harper was sure Charles already knew that, but she still wanted to reassure him. "As long as you're able to reverse the transfiguration, little mistakes like that aren't that big of a deal." She glanced at his ears quickly just to confirm they weren't still covered in red fur. "You'll be able to control it better with practice." During her own training, she had struggled a lot with controlling the extent of her transfigurations. "Do you want to give it a go now?" Harper asked, figuring she might be able to give actual advice once she had a better idea of the extent of his abilities.