Transfigurations Help

Theresa skipped into the library. Instead of going to the magical beast section that she always did, she was a little disapointed that she had to look at Transfigurations books. She looked over the books and chose a few that looked promising. After putting her bag on an empty table, she sat down and opened one of the books. She sighed, she didn't understand why this was so hard. It was official, she hated Transfiguration and will never be able to do good in it.

Alex was in the library, looking forward to completing her research that a certain....incident had disrupted. She got a lot more of a few books, she found another Hufflepuff.

"Hi! I was searching for that book, um, do you mind if I take it? Just for a while." she asked the girl wondering who she was as Alex shifted the weight of the books to her other arm.

Theresa looked up when she heard a voice and saw another Hufflepuff. She looked at the book the girl had mentioned and picked it up. "Sure, I won't be needing it now" she said as she smiled at her. She was about to give it to her when she saw all the books she was carrying. "Would you like some help?" she asked, gesturing to the books she was holding.

"thanks for asking! I need loads!" Alex said brightly as she dumped her load on the table and sat. Then she bit her lip as she looked sheepishly at the other girl.

"I hope you do not mind if I sit here! Not that I have given you much of a choice, but, courtesy demands?" she said as she shrugged, sorting out her books.

Theresa laughed slightly "go right ahead, it's nice to have company, stops you from going crazy" she said as she looked at all the books that were now on the table. "What is it your looking for? She asked. Remembering her manners, she held out her hand "my name is Theresa Cotgrave by they way" she said.

"Alex." Alex stated simply as she shook Theresa's hand. "Oh just general stuff, I need to research animal transfiguration, then charms, all that dancing crap, because I do not know how to dance, Rowena Ravenclaw and then if I get the time, I want to check out the Black family. And you?"

"That's a lot, I am only reading about Transfigurations myself" Theresa said. "Is there a reason your doing it all at once or are you just hoping to get it all done with?" she asked curiously. She thought about the dancing from charms and inwardly winced "I heard about that, not easy" she said.

"I am doing all this to hopefully manage to pass." Alex replied in voice full of horror. "Well, except for the last two, which I am doing for general knowledge stuff." she added thoughtfully.

"Truth be told, even I cannot believe I will be doing all this, but the key word remains 'would' I have not actually done any of these till now, that is." she said, opening a book on transfiguration to its Table of Contents.

"By the way, I heard you were some sort of an animal rights activist, true?"

Theresa nodded as she looked at the books. She couldn't help but think of how proud Shelby would have been if she was here to see this. She looked up when she heard Alex ask something and thought about what she said. She wondered what she meant but remembered the petition for the lake animals. "Yeah, I guess so" she said, she had not really thought of it like that before.

Alex noticed the slight hesitation of Theresa before she answered, and taking it as offence, she hurriedly added,

"I mean no offence! Its just...well...thats my dad calls all the people who lead strikes for rights of animals and stuff! Not that you have done a strike! I like animals! I mean to say, I do not think you are some hippie tree hugger, n-n-n-n-no." she said, dragging out her 'no'.

"By the way, do you like Transfiguration?" she asked as she started taking notes.

Theresa listened to the girl calmly, realising that she thought she thought she was being offended. "It's alright, I just never heard that word before but a strike to help give the animals the respect they deserve, sounds interesting" she said thoughtfully. "I've been called a lot worse so no worries" she said as she made a mental note to look up more on strikes. She nodded "sometimes but other times Transfigurations is a pain, do you like it?" she asked.

"its really cool! And sometimes when the strike is too severe/violent/ plain annoying, we even get a holiday from school!" Alex said with a twinkle in her eye, remembering the latest strike, right on her birthday and on the first day of exam. What a life saver that had been!

"When I do good in something, theres no reason to hate it but....when it is not going so smooth, you figure out plenty of annoying stuff." Alex said with a shrug, regarding her Transfiguration books darkly.

"Cool, I will have to look about this strike thing, thanks" Theresa said. She looked at the Transfigurations book and smiled, someone else seemed to hate the subect at the moment just as much as she did. she looked back up at Alex, "must have been fun getting out of school work because of a protest" she said. She knew that any protests she did wouldn't go that far though.

"Oh it was awesome! It seriously ROCKED!!!!!" Alex replied, with stars dancing in her eyes as she looked far away.

"Are you in charms?" she asked out of the blue, she personally hated the subject and not just randomly. She did not like the theory, theory, theory teaching method of Prof. Malfoy, it just reminded her of Professor Umbridge, about whom she had read. And whatever she had read, she definitely did not like.

Theresa guessed that it really was as good as the girl said, she looked like it was like christmas morning or something. she nodded when the girl asked about charms "sadly, it has really gone down hill since that git, so called Professor Malfoy though" she said as she remembered that horrible man who had replaced the old Professor.

"Joining up your group! Or join the group! Whatever you prefer. That person seriously DOES NOT rock! Or he sucks! I mean who gives a test on the first day of class? Tell me please! And then that stupid dancing hint!!!!!!! I DO NOT know how to dance! What the hell am I gonna do? FAIL?!" Alex asked, joining in the criticism with the utmost gusto. Before nervously glancing around.

"Maybe I said too much. That bat has a weird way of turning up everywhere and dishing out detentions. But I guess he is okay. His discussion was all right."

"Your right, I hate him" Theresa said as she glanced around the library. "I heard that he spends all his free time sneaking around in the shadows, just waiting to give out random detentions" she said quietly, just in case it was actually true and that he was near. "His detentions are just unfair though, he enjoys the pain of students" she said, remembering the detention she was told about. "In one, he told
the students to dress warmly then made them work in a boiling hot room with a fireplace burning" she said.

"Sadist!" Alex said as she clutched her heart in an over dramatic gesture. "Scumbag! Vile cut-throat creature!" she added, in an old English accented voice. "And in the other, he gave you detention too right? I think it was pretty awesome what you did!" Alex said as she did a bow and clap, accompanied by wolf whistling.

Theresa laughed as she watched Alex "A scallion too" she said, adding to the girl's list of old time insults that were classic. She blushed at what she said about the detention. "Yeah, a few friends and I got detention, I have no idea how everyone seems to know what hapened during it" she said, quite a few people mentioned it so she would just have to settle with the fact that nothing is secret in Hogwarts. "I just think that I should think before I open my big mouth next time, aren't you upset that I lost our House so many points?" she asked.

"Like I said, sadist." Alex said in a sing-song voice.

"Nah! The loss of points 'kay with me! Friends ROCK! Never let them go in fear! If I was in your place, he would not have had any of his teeth left. And that would be if he was lucky!" Alex said in a decisive tone as she crossed her arms over her chest.

Theresa's smile grew "exactly, friends are so worth ten points, I just didn't think other Hufflepuffs would feel the same way" she said. She laughed at the thought of Malfoy being in a fight with a student and having his teeth knocked out, it was a nice image. "Dont take this the wrong way but it might be fun if you had detention with him, just to see if he comes out alive" she said.

"What poor opinion do you have of your fellow house mates, gal! We ROCK!" Alex declared as she took out the next book from her pile.

"I mean why would we not think that friends are more important than points? I mean, we represent loyalty right? Correct loyalty!"

"I guess it would be fun.....but totally damaging for my record." Alex finished with a regretful sigh.

Theresa laughed as she nodded "yea, I just thought that some Hufflepuffs would be a little cold about it but I am glad you see the reasoning to it all" she said cheerfully. "And you are so right about the correct loyalty, go badgers" she said, laughing as she threw one of her hands into the air.
"It wouldn't look to good, someone asks you about a detention and you say you beat up the professor, I think it would scare your future boss too much" she said.

"And then I will get no job! No money!" Alex stated in a horror struck voice. "No way I am I doing that then! I will have to stop at verbal fights only!"she added, miserably.

"That gets us to a new topic. What do you want to be when you grow up? Like, what career?"

"Yeah, as much as I hate the guy, I don't think it would be worth it" Theresa said before thinking about the question. "I am thinking about being a dragon trainer and if I cant then a animal rescuer or something would be just as great, what about you?" she asked.