Second Lesson in Change

Richard sat behind his desk, idly twirling his wand as he thought about what it was that he was doing here. He was going to be trying to teach a second year something that was widely considered to be one of the hardest branches that transfiguration had to offer. He was going to be teaching Tess how to become an animagus.

Tess couldn't believe that Professor Romain had remembered to teach her the next portion of her lesson. She had managed to reach the points where she could meditate and she found herself wanting to excel more towards the process. She needed to ask what it meant to see flashes of nature in her meditation, and so as she reached the door, she knocked on it softly.

Richard waved his hand and the door opened to admit Tess. He gestured to the chair in front of his desk, the chair moving out so that someone could sit down at it. He smiled at the second year,

"Ah Tess..." he smiled a little bit more, "How goes the meditation? See any surroundings yet?"

Tess let out a smile as she entered. She was no longer scared like she had been last year when she went to ask for help. In the year she had grown to be more confident and she no longer feared speaking out. Following his gesture, she sat down and nodded at his question.

"Yes...the previous time I tried meditation, I found myself surrounded by a forest. It was dark but the smells were more vivid than I could ever remember them being." she responded.

Happy to see that Tess wasn't afraid of him as she had been last year, Richard closed the door with the same dismissive hand gesture that had opened the door in the first place,

"A forest you say? Do you have any idea of what kind of forest?" he questioned happily before grinning, "Well it sounds like you're ready for the next stage. And I'm rather excited about that because it means I get to test something out..."

He rummaged around inside one of his desk drawers before taking out a small lump of clay and handing it to Tess,

"Close your fist around the clay and push some magic into it while you attempt to meditate." he grinned, "It'll take the shape of your animal."

Tess bit her bottom lip in excitement as she heard him say that she was stepping towards the next level.

"It was a dark forest, the only light was allowed  in came from tiny slits of light that the trees allowed. The ground was wet, and it smelled fresh...there was a river and it smelled divine. I was so disoriented by the smells....and my sight....I noticed little things I'd never perceived before."

Once satisfied with her response, she tilted her head in curiosity as to why he was rummaging for something. He was sure odd sometimes but somehow approachable. 

Seeing the clay before her, she took it and closed her eyes. She began to pour out magic from her core. It helped that she was excited because magic was flowing faster than she expected.  

Good thing it's not anger she thought remembering how she had broken bookshelves in her dorm. 

She cleared her mind and only concentrated on the clay pushing magic as it began to mold slowly. She didn't dare open her eyes too frightened of the outcome, and yet she felt the ball of clay  moving an no longer being in its original state.

Richard nodded and thought as she described what she had experienced. If he was honest, he didn't actually need to hear this bit. It wasn't important to the helper, only to the worker. But in describing what she had experienced, Tess would gain a greater understanding of what she needed to do.

He watched as she began to push some of her magic into the clay. Thankfully he'd thought to make the threshold high because he wandless control was nowhere near his level, as was expected. At the same time he could feel her magic pulsing irregularly. Seemed she was rather excited about this. He smiled when it finished forming,

"A fox. A white fox."

Tess bit her bottom lip tight waiting, for anything, she had been happy enough wondering what she'd be. She figured that there was nothing for her to change. The previous year she had worried about what she was going to be, but after everything that had occurred, she decided that she would be satisfied. She was happy with herself and her choices and there was nothing else for her to do.

Hearing his comment, she opened her eyes wide and looked down at her hands. In her hands was the tiny animal that she yearned for. Looking down at it for a bit she took in every detail, the tail length, the shape, the muzzle and then turned to look at him.

"I'm...I'm...." she couldn't finish her comment in shock.

Richard chuckled a little bit at the girl's obvious nervousness. She was really nervous about her animal but he didn't really see why. After all, the animal you turned into was supposed to best represent your inner most self so if you disliked the animal what that meant was that you disliked yourself. Probably why Richard had never tried to do the training himself, beyond seeing what animal he would become,

"You have the potential to be a white fox." he poked the tail of the clay fox with a smirk, "A very fluffy one apparently."

Tess looked away from the little clay fox and felt herself flush a bit at the comment about the fluffiness. She absentmindedly touched her hair, as any child would in this case.

"I...what do I do next" she said softly.

She had become what she always wanted. She had finally accepted herself and in this way, she was more like a Slytherin that it had ever been.