She seemed surprised, and Ford's stomach sank slightly — there was a correct response here, and this apparently wasn't it — but then she laughed, and he relaxed. It was clear that she was at least amused by the turn of the discussion. Maybe his diversion from the well-trod path would play out in his favor; if she was smiling at him, that earned him another internal tally mark, didn't it?
Anything involving advanced transfiguration was bound to go straight over his head. Ford had hardly thought about the subject in years, having dropped the class immediately after failing to achieve an OWL in it. He hadn't been overtly terrible at Transfiguration, but he'd gotten flustered during the practical examination and performed quite poorly, and in all honesty he hadn't been disappointed to see it drop from his course list as he approached sixth year. Animagi in particular he had slightly more recent exposure to, since he'd done some reading into the subject once he'd realized Tycho was serious about trying to do it, but he hadn't been reading the actual magical theory behind it. His scope had been limited to how many ways could this go wrong and is there anything I could do to prevent it from going wrong. The answers, as far as he could tell, were many and no, which had been demoralizing enough that he'd stopped looking into it. Fortunately, in the end Ty had been perfectly up to the task without Ford standing by to apparate him to the hospital.
Thinking about Ty while trying to bluff his way through an engaging conversation with a girl was complicated. He focused his attention back on Miss Chang, and since there was no chance at all that he would understand the academic drive behind what she was saying, he instead found himself noticing her body language and her expressions while she spoke. She was more animated now than she had been a moment ago, clearly enjoying the opportunity to talk about something she was passionate about. Ford smiled at that, though wondered if he was genuinely pleased by her reaction or instead considering how this would look from across the room. Was Noble even watching? It would be a shame if he went through this whole performative song and dance and his brother happened to be out on the patio for the duration.
Miss Chang's mood changed abruptly; Ford guessed she had said something she didn't mean to, but he was oblivious to the subtleties of the argument and wasn't sure what her misstep had been. He did not want anyone who might have been watching to think that he had said something amiss, though, so he was quick to jump in to distract her. "So you'll create a new magical curriculum, oust the Transfiguration professor, and have every student turning into animals by the end of third year," he joked. "What a difficulty you'll create for the etiquette instructor."
Anything involving advanced transfiguration was bound to go straight over his head. Ford had hardly thought about the subject in years, having dropped the class immediately after failing to achieve an OWL in it. He hadn't been overtly terrible at Transfiguration, but he'd gotten flustered during the practical examination and performed quite poorly, and in all honesty he hadn't been disappointed to see it drop from his course list as he approached sixth year. Animagi in particular he had slightly more recent exposure to, since he'd done some reading into the subject once he'd realized Tycho was serious about trying to do it, but he hadn't been reading the actual magical theory behind it. His scope had been limited to how many ways could this go wrong and is there anything I could do to prevent it from going wrong. The answers, as far as he could tell, were many and no, which had been demoralizing enough that he'd stopped looking into it. Fortunately, in the end Ty had been perfectly up to the task without Ford standing by to apparate him to the hospital.
Thinking about Ty while trying to bluff his way through an engaging conversation with a girl was complicated. He focused his attention back on Miss Chang, and since there was no chance at all that he would understand the academic drive behind what she was saying, he instead found himself noticing her body language and her expressions while she spoke. She was more animated now than she had been a moment ago, clearly enjoying the opportunity to talk about something she was passionate about. Ford smiled at that, though wondered if he was genuinely pleased by her reaction or instead considering how this would look from across the room. Was Noble even watching? It would be a shame if he went through this whole performative song and dance and his brother happened to be out on the patio for the duration.
Miss Chang's mood changed abruptly; Ford guessed she had said something she didn't mean to, but he was oblivious to the subtleties of the argument and wasn't sure what her misstep had been. He did not want anyone who might have been watching to think that he had said something amiss, though, so he was quick to jump in to distract her. "So you'll create a new magical curriculum, oust the Transfiguration professor, and have every student turning into animals by the end of third year," he joked. "What a difficulty you'll create for the etiquette instructor."
Set by Lady!