Figgie Time

Ursula carries the bouquet of flowers down the aisle of her classroom and stashes them almost neatly in the cupboard full of broken plates and mice. There's no way that she's leaving these buggers lying around. What's everyone going to think? That she's got some dashing hunk from- er, Norway and he won't stop pestering her? A likely story, but Ursula doesn't like the hunkish type. Which would probably add more sense to her hiding this assortment of flowers: mostly purple lilliums with a few flowers she couldn't tell from a distance. Not a flower fan.

Before the class starts, she summons over the presents for today and starts to cut them with her wand as she places parchment on each desk. They'll be needing it today. She hoped they had pencil-quills on them.

She sighs happily. These lessons are her favourite.

"Come in, come in!"

Cass bows to the Transfiguration teacher and grins as she sits down two tables from the front. It's quite a large room, she gathers. A lot bigger than she expected. Most of the lessons seem to be, actually.

She pats Bradley who is eating a cluster of lacewing flies in the bag that is now on her lap as she searches through for a pencil or quill. She prefers pencils. Not that many teachers ask to write in pencils, but she finds it easier. Oh well.

The classroom is empty, but the teacher is swanning about looking like she's ready for a class. She can't be in the wrong lesson, can she?

Cass decides it's best to just wait and see.

Hester slipped into the classroom. Only one other person was in there, besides the teacher.

She found herself an empty desk since she didn't know the hufflepuff who was already there. She wasn't really in the mood to make new friends. She was tired out from a late night and an early morning.

She pulled her equipment out of her bag and placed it on the table next to the parchment already there.

She wondered if Lavender had chosen this class. She wasn't sure, and part of her didn't think she had. She wondered if there would be anyone else she knew.

She pulled out her wand and made sure that it was in a pocket where she could reach it easily. Looking at the parchment, she didn't think it would be a practical lesson, but it didn't hurt to be prepared.

She stroked Atlas's tiny head, liking the feel of the mouse up her sleeve. She wondered where the other one had got to, but she was sure that he would be around somewhere.

Lavender strolled into the classroom, yawning loudly, but covering her mouth so the noise didn't travel. Two students were already in the room, one being Hester. Lavender beamed and hurried over, she was sure Hester didn't know she'd taken this class.

"Boo!" She said in the red head's ear. Lavender took the place beside Hester, squeezing the girls knee with a smile. "You look tired," Lavender studied the girls face, they both hadn't slept much by the looks of it.

Liz grinned as she walked in, for once utterly confident. She loved this class. She had, she thought, done well with it last year, and even if not all of the lessons were practical, she loved it anyways. The teacher herself was entertaining, and after standing at the door for a second--watching her flounce through the room--she entered and slipped into the first seat she saw. There were quite a few; only three other students were in the room. She took out her quill and, beaming at...well, everything, waited for the lesson to start.

Transfiguration . . . . the class Jenn Black was looking forward to most this year. Along with the Professor. She's incredibly nice, Professor Ursula Sparrow, lover of cheesecake. Jenn walks into the class, totally prepared, book, extra parchment, quills, and ink. She decided to be a little different today and take the empty seat next to a first year Hufflepuff from what she could tell.

Pierre entered the classroom, groaning as he noticed that, once again, it was pure girls. Even the professor was female! What it did to his pride.... Sitting down in the front, the tall third year took out his book, ink well and quill, placing the book on top of his bag and the writing utensils next to the prepared parchment on his desk. Bracing his head on his propped up hand, he waited for class to begin.

"Afternoon everyone, or if you're like someone in here who I caught up late last night, good morning," Ursula passes her eyes over the culprit and grins. "I'll wait just a tad longer to see if there's anyone else willing to turn up to today's lesson, and we'll get started. Apparently this is the best fun you can get from a Transfiguration lesson. Which is great to hear!" Ursula cheers heartily, before ticking everyone's names off the list.

"Won't be long now...and in the meantime, would anyone care to tell me what you think all the teachers of Hogwarts have as their potential animagus form?"

Leighton walked into the Transfiguration classroom, her face set in a stoic expression. Leighton noticed that the there was already people in the class. Hm, Leighton thought, maybe I was later than I thought. Leighton hated being late to class. That was her biggest pet peeve. It was highly annoying that she managed to almost be late.

Nodding at the professor with a smile, remembering how much she enjoyed this class, Leighton took a seat toward the middle back. Hopefully someone she knew would sit by her. Leighton wasn't the most keen on meeting new people. She would meet people if she had to, but she would like it better if her best friend would sit by her. It would be much better in Leighton's opinion.

Pulling out her things, Leighton looked at the teacher, hoping she hadn't missed anything.

Sami rushed into the Transfiguration classroom, wondering what they had in store. She was running a little late (blasted shoe kept disappearing) and hoped that she wasn't the only one. She sighed upon seeing that maybe only half the class was there, probably. She spotted a desk next to the Slytherin girl she had met at Alyssa's house over the summer. She nodded to Leighton and gave her a small smile, before taking out her wand, parchment, and some quills. She listened closely to Professor Sparrow's question and smirked, having brushed up a bit on Animagus' over the break.

"Professor?" the Ravenclaw raised her hand, brushing her hair with the other. "I don't think I know exactly what they would be, but I can say that each teacher's animagus would depend on their personality and inner self." Sami hoped she had hit the nail, somewhat, on the head. After all, it would have been a waste of all that studying to not know the answer to a question like that.

Hester couldn't remember what an animagus was. She was sure they had covered it in a previous lesson but it was one of the many things that she just hadn't been able to hold onto.

She carefully copied down what Sami had said, in case it came in useful later. She was determined that she would be able to get some questions right this lesson.

Gwen rushed in and sat down,
"Sorry Professor, I overslept." she apologized. Seeing as she had not heard the question she simply smiled and got out her note book and quill.
She heard A girl say animagus so she guessed tat was the topic.
oh cool.
She loved animagi and couldnt wait to start trying to be one. Her mom had been a sea turtle which made her wonder what she would be..
A lion! Or..or..a PANTHER! Or...Or a giant duck!
Yeah.
A giant duck.
Chuckling a it she drew a large cartoon duck in a small cartoon city and wrote *Duckzilla!! Rawr!!!* in a speech bubble next to it before drawing a large sparrow with a cape that said *SuperSparrow to the rescue* and then there was a toad in the corner with the bubble *The Evil Dr.AlliWalker CROAK!*

She did that a lot. The whole, Comics thing. Normally she didnt even notice. Like now.

Lavender grabbed a quill ready to write any notes she may need. Animagus, she knew quite a bit about them as her brother was one. A Dalmation to be exact. When she was younger he would transform and play with her in animal form, it was having a brother and a pet all rolled into one.

"I think, perhaps you would be a bird, Professor. Free and indepentdant, sort of thing..." Lavender shrugged a little, very unsure of herself.

Fiona walked into Transfiguration only a minute after the teacher had asked the question. Seeing as how she hadn't exactly heard any such question, she just took a seat next to one of the other two Ravenclaws in the room, the one with black hair and looked older. Like a third year or something along those lines. Fiona took out what she may need (parchment, ink, quill, textbook), and made sure her hair was still in a twisted bun that she had used her wand to pin up with. She had found it was an excellent place to put one's wand, and she thought it also the smartest.

After all, placing one's wand into your pocket would be uncomfortable if you sat down, and you may even break it. Leaving it in your bag would prove stupid if you ever had immediate need of it, and every other option had some flaw or something. Fiona looked up at the teacher, hoping she hadn't missed anything. She had been looking forward to transfiguration ever since she had read up on it in Diagon Alley. She silently hoped the teacher wasn't mad about her being a minute or so late, but these hopes didn't show on her face as she waited for the class to continue.

Emily rushed to transfiguration as always she was late and knowing her luck the lesson had already started. At least it was Professor Sparrow, who was unliekely to give her detention or anything. She enetered the room quietly not wanting to interupt the lesson. It looked lile the professor had just had asked a question she mouthed a quick sorry at proffesor Sparrow before taking a seat at the back and taking out her things. Hopefully she hadn't missed too much, she waited for someone to speak so she could tell what they were talking about.

Ursula looks and grins behind Gwen's shoulder. So promising. It interested her to see that she had decided to illustrate rather than say. An interesting skill. She nods to Sami as she answers somewhat.
"I'm not asking for the definitions, Ms Criss. Don't overcomplicate this lesson. I merely am curious as to how you would go about such an answer."

The transfiguration folds her arm and smiles wryly at Ms Parkinson's answer and decides to challenge it. "Do you suppose that your assumption has been made by my last name, Ms Parkinson?"
It's an interesting question after all. Do you get animal forms from your name? Is it from something from birth?

"What do all of you class think? Do you think an animagus form is something that is with you from the day you are born or do you think it is something that is affected as you grow by the environment around you?" Ursula poses this question to the class as she goes to the front.

Liz, who had previously been wracking her brain for an original response to Ms. Sparrow's question, gave up when the next question asked. Well, consciously anyway, but if she began thinking about what her subconscious was thinking, she would completely zone out. Instead, she focused on the question--this one much easier. "I think it's a mixture, just like someone's personality--partly your genes and partly your environment. If you had a depressing childhood, it would probably be a lot darker than if you had a happy childhood." She shut up after that; she had spoken long enough.

Hester put up her hand.

"Could there be an element of necessity in it?" she asked. She was unsure of herself but the idea had came to her and she decided to give it a go. "Like, if when you're becoming one for the first time you need a certain purpose, like to escape quickly, or you plan to do something, I don't know, the animal you became might reflect that?"

She sank down slightly in her seat after she had finished speaking. She had no idea what the teacher would say to her answer.

Lavender almost laughed when she realized what the professor was talking about. What a coincidence.

"Oh yes, I didn't think about that," She spoke once Hester had finished. "Hester raises a good point. As does Liz. Though, I think the person also has some say in what animal they are. All depending on how strongly they feel about it, if a person hates..." Lavender thought for a second. "Spiders, let's say, then they wouldn't become one, surely?" She furrowed her brow in concentration.

Pierre raised his hand. "I think that it's nether, Professor. The animal you would change in to would reflect your personality; for example, someone sly and cunning would become a fox or a snake. But I partially agree with Liz- the darker your personality, the darker your animal."

Pierre was really unsure about his answer. Looking down at his desk quickly, he fiddled with his quill.

Leighton tensed up greatly when the professor mentioned an Anamigus. This was not a topic that Leighton felt comfortable with. Especially not with what her-- she stopped with that train of thought. She could not even risk thinking about it. No one knew about it, except for Lyss and her mother. Not even her favorite cousin knew about it. Leighton couldn't tell anyone.
Biting her lip, Leigh straightened up in her chair. Lyss was not in this class at the moment and Leighton was alone. She knew Sami from Lyss' house, but other than that Leighton was alone.
Leighton then felt the need to raise her hand. She needed to talk to get out her nerves. "I agree with Pierre and Liz." Leighton said, her voice not calm anymore. The nervousness was clear in her voice. Yet, no one would know why she was nervous. "Your Anamigus is based off who you are--" Leigh stopped and then sighed. She then tried to control her voice. Leighton had to seem calm. "At least, that's what I've heard."
Leigh then shut herself up and leaned back in her chair. This conversation was really uncomfortable for her.

Sami slounched back in her seat as Professor Sparrow told her off. She had tried her hardest not to go off in an angry rant about how Animagus' were horrible and a disgrace, but only managed a dictionary-worthy statement. Her face grew hotter as her other classmates gave their honest (and correct) answers about animagus'. At this point, she really wished that they were doing another lesson other than this painstaking one. She glanced at Leighton, notcing that her classmate looked as painfully uncomfortable with the topic, as she was.

But before she became secluded in the class, the witch tenderly raised her hand, again. Before she shunned the topic to never speak about again, she just had one thing she was itching to ask."Professor, if what they are saying is correct and your personality and the environment around you affect what your animagus is," Sami took a deep breath, needing to get the words out of her system. "Can your animagus change with your personality and environment?"

Ursula smiled widely at the variety of answers.
"Childhood, in my opinion- but not to some renowned Wizards specialising in Transfiguration, let me say- is one of the main contributing factors that make your animagus. Think of it as merely just another piece of your personality. It's not shaped at birth. There wasn't a Sirius Black the minute he was born, take that for example. He was cultured over years, and for him to kill all those people (including the Potter family by association) he needed to have had a deprived childhood, or a painful traumatic experience. But I digress...

Another professor to analyse before we go into our own activity. Erika Cooper and Tai Cooper: a married couple, in love. Do you think that their animaguses changed to reflect this? If so, would they be matching or complimenting animals?"

Lavender thought about this question, she was quite opinionated sometimes but tried to keep it under control. Love was a very strong emotion, loving someone is different to being in love with someone. It was someone she was sure would have an effect on anyone's Animagus. Sirius Black probably hadn't felt it, which would have been another factor behind his behavior.

"I believe they definitely would have changed, love is strong and would have had a profound effect on their Animagus'. Just like any other powerful emotion. I don't think their animals would be the same though, but complementing yes," Lavender finished, deciding she'd said enough.

Ursula grinned widely at the promising young Slytherin. "Thank you for your input there, Lavender. Intriguing."
She nods in Lavender's direction and fishing through her pockets, she throws a handful of chocolate galleons (and one errant silver sickle) her way. "Thank you for speaking up."

"Anyone else that would care to share?" she says with a sprite jog back to the front of the class.