July 10th, 1890 - Beauregard Home
Ama Zabini c/o Bragi Holm

In an effort to keep herself out of more trouble, Elsie had picked up her animagus studies once more and had most fortunately found herself a tutor in the matter to boot! Mrs. Zabini had frequented the library enough for Elsie to get to know her and get familiar enough with her to feel comfortable asking her about the last phases of the process.

Theory was something Elsie always excelled at. It was the practical part in this process she not only found harder but downright terrifying. Even in school she studied and studied and studied the theories behind the magic until she felt comfortable enough to perform the magic, practicing by herself so she could get it right without anyone watching. This time though, she didn't feel comfortable without having someone else there, so fortunately Mrs. Zabini had agreed to supervise.

"I don't think I can do it!" She squeaked, looking at her tutor in mild terror. The pair stood in her back garden and Elsie was not feeling her inner Gryffindor at the moment, not one iota!

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MJ always makes her so pretty

Ama was delighted to find a young mentee who either hadn't heard of the Zabini scandal or didn't much care. Ama made her circle of friends from the latter, but didn't often venture outside that circle. So there was a satisfying sense of rarity about her association with Miss Beauregard, a young librarian who sought tutelage in the ways of the Animagus.

"You can do it my dear, because you are your animal, and your animal is you; not some foreign entity to be feared."

Ama smiled encouragingly, but there was a hard determination in her red-brown eyes. Her confidence was earnest.

"I could shown you first, if you'd like", Ama offered brightly, taking a couple of steps back to gaze widely around the Beauregard garden, sizing it up. She'd never shown Miss Beauregard her Animagus form before... for one reason in particular.

  

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Elsie was not so confident as Mrs. Zabini was. Not at all actually. She knew the theories backwards and forwards- seven years of research and reading would do that for a girl, especially one like Elsie, but this was entirely different! Things could go so drastically wrong! She hadn't even been this nervous when going for her apparating license.

"Oh, yes, please." She breathed out, trying to regain control of her nervous breathing. It would be a good distraction. Come to think of it, Els wasn't even sure that she had ever even heard Mrs. Zabini mention what hers was. It was so personal, like your patronus, that she'd never even thought to ask.

Oh! What if hers was something terribly embarrassing! All of that hard work for nothing!

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MJ always makes her so pretty

It felt ever so slightly risky to be doing this in an unknown arena; for lovely though the Beauregard garden was, this was the first time she'd set foot in it. Normally Ama transformed in the fields and forests around Hogsmeade, her own back garden, and even her own unusually high drawing room from time to time.

But she wished very much to inspire the young woman, and so Ama would gladly take the slight risk for that reason. So first she stood right in the middle of the grass, taking one last look around before turning a slight smile to Miss Beauregard. Normally she would not narrate her mental process, and indeed it was quite difficult to put into words, but she explained what she was about to do; "putting oneself in the mindset of an Animagus is not about visualising the animal itself", she began, once more recalling her schooling at Uagadou, "but about visualising what one aspires to be. What you truly are inside when left to your own devices. Like so many women like me, I was always taught to be small, unassuming, cautious... but inside, oh, I was always a good deal greater than that", she revealed with a twinkle. "I was always destined to take up space..."

And she did, suddenly seeming to sprout dramatically from the ground, upwards and outwards — in every direction! — until what stood there in Ama's place was a magnificent golden giraffe with a treelike neck and huge wise eyes.

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   Elsie Kirke

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It was in awe that Elsie watched Mrs. Zabini transform into a full-sized giraffe in her back garden. She automatically stepped back, but with wide blue eyes, mouth agape in the most unladylike fashion; Elsie kept track of everything that was said and done. Elsie was certain she'd only see images of giraffes, never one in person, maybe at the zoo, but this was another thing entirely! It took all of her self restraint not to reach out and pet her mentor awkwardly.

After the delight and surprise simmered, Elsie took to examining Mrs. Zabini's words. Everything she said was true for herself, Elsie was the complete opposite. She liked to hide off to the side, to be discreet and keep to herself, she never took up room if unnecessary and frankly she was a terrible Gryffindor, all things considered. There was no way she'd transform into something as magnificent as a giraffe!

The demonstration did its job however, Elsie could feel the swell of determination overcoming the hesitation slowly but surely. She'd wait for Mrs. Zabini to return to her normal form before asking one last question and attempt the the transformation herself.

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MJ always makes her so pretty

Ama always enjoyed seeing the response to her transformation, even (and perhaps especially) when that response was astonishment that a woman would dare take up so much space in the world. She imagined young Miss Beauregard's response would be awe and perhaps gentle alarm, but most of what the giraffe could see at the moment was... the top of the apple tree.

Showing human delicacy for such a gigantic form, Ama carefully picked a small branch from the tree, on which one shiny red apple was hanging, and moved her long neck slow-mo back down to the ground, offering the young woman the apple.

Then, after righting herself once again, Ama transformed herself back into a smiling fiftysomething, dusting down her dress as the flattened grass beneath them rustled a little. A blackbird cawed.

"So then! What do we think? I hope the concept of your own transformation is no longer such a... tall order", she quipped, unashamedly throwing in a mum joke.

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   Claudius Lestrange

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Elsie accepted the apple with a fond smile. Elsie was sure that she would not be something quite so grand as a giraffe. She had an inkling, based on what her patronus was, but it was not always necessarily the same. Setting the apple aside on the nearby table, Elsie tried to calm the nerves she was feeling, knowing they would not make the process go any easier.

She had been studying for this for several years, done all of the prep work she needed to. She knew the theories inside and out, but it had always been the practical side of things she worried about. It was why classes like Defense had never really been her strong suit, though she had excelled in Charms.

"Alright, please don't laugh?" She worried, based on her assumptions. She didn't wait for an answer however, before refocusing and centering her thoughts around the transformation itself. Going through the checklist mentally, she could feel the tingling sensation start and before she knew it, the world was getting a lot bigger.

What she had expected however, did not happen. The mouse that had been her patronus was not in fact the form she took, instead, Elsie could feel and experimentally flapped her wings, suddenly looking up at Mrs. Zabini through what appeared to be a heightened sense of sight.

Oh!

The small grey dove hopped around for a moment, Elsie getting used to her new form, before she tried her wings again, fluttering up to the nearby apple tree experimentally.

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Ama smiled reassuringly. There was nothing Miss Beauregard could do in earnest that would make Ama laugh. The only sort of Animagus that would bring amusement to her expression was one of poetic justice — such as an arrogant, oafish bully discovering his Animagus was a nice juicy slug. But Ama had more confidence than Miss Beauregard that the young woman's Animagus would be something that suited her in a charming and positive way.

Her guess was either a small mammal — a dormouse, vole or little hare — or a nimble bird, such as a wren, robin or gold finch. Well, her guess proved reasonable! Ama clasped her hands together and exclaimed in delight as Miss Beauregard shrank down into a sweet little dove. "Well done, young lady!" It seemed Ama's evident desire to rebelliously take up space was matched by the young woman's instinct to be subtle, peaceful and investigative.

She beamed as she watched the grey bird flutter up into the apple tree. "Oh — do be careful of Panyin", she noticed, nodding over to the green parakeet eyeing Miss Beauregard with tremendous suspicion.

  

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The kaleidoscope of vision of the dove was what took the most getting used to, but after another moment it settled in, sharp and focused. Elsie was already comfortable with the lightness, the freedom of her new form and she heard both Mrs. Zabini's gentle reminder and delighted praise. She noticed the mentioned parakeet straight away, it's feathers nearly blinding in her new world, but she wasn't about to stick around and get herself in some sort of feathery squabble.

Experimentally, she flapped her wings, stretched them and with only a short moment of hesitation, leaned forward off the branch. With her wings out wide, she caught the current easily, gliding upward, then down, one short lap around the garden before touching back down before her mentor. Flight was something she would explore more on her own, but for now she rather thought she should transform back, just to make sure there were not problems there.

Concentrating, she found the return easier than the original transformation and she was once again a blue-eyed brunette slip of a girl standing in the middle of her back garden with a huge grin across her features. "Oh my!" Was all she could think to say, too excited by the success to formulate anything else.

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MJ always makes her so pretty

Ama didn't think the parakeet would try and give the doved Miss Beauregard the old one-two — her concern was more that the new Animagus would be intimidated by Panyin, or otherwise become flustered and lose her focus. She stepped forward, prepared to give the girl some swift instruction if she panicked, but — to her tremendous credit — Miss Beauregard did not panic at all. In fact she rose to the challenge quite literally, hopping off the branch and following her instincts, which led her on a glorious little flight round the garden before landing.

And not only did she land, but she transformed back as she did so, quite as elegantly as if Ama had done it herself. "My dear, that was exemplary", she enthused with utmost honesty, hands still clasped together with unconstrained glee, beaming. "I didn't even have to talk you through your return transformation! How did it all feel?" Her wine-red eyes cast around Miss Beauregard's human form for any stray feathers or patches of grey, but she'd have been impressed even if the young lady had re-emerged with a beak.

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   Elsie Kirke

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"I can't believe I did it!" And so fluidly! There was something to be said about extensive studying after all! It had been a lot of work, some weird things to do in order to prepare for the transformation and everything else that went with it, but it was worth it! To transform into something that could fly no less. Elsie had been expecting the dormouse that had been her patronus for ages, but something must have shifted in her life to have it change. She couldn't wait to tell Tyb!

"It was quite exhilarating! I cannot thank you enough for your tutelage." Elsie was positively beaming now, wondering just when she could do it again, go for a nice long flight.  How thrilling it would be! Thanks to Mrs. Zabini's guidance through the last few stages, Elsie was now a proper animagus!

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MJ always makes her so pretty

Ama's instinct was to insist — and truthfully — that she, Ama, could believe it. Oh she certainly didn't know Miss Beauregard very well, but she did know that she possessed a worthy combination of willpower, know-how, and natural talent. It delighted Ama that she'd transformed there and back again so quickly, but it certainly didn't shock her. Still, this wasn't about the teacher's confidence, it was about the student's. So she made no comment, happy to let Miss Beauregard bask in what had clearly been a very pleasant surprise.

"It's a pleasure to have such a gifted student, I must say", she responded graciously. "Let's end the lesson on that high, shall we? But we can certainly meet again if agreeable — there's much yet to talk about." From transforming under pressure, to keeping one's mind clear in unfamiliar surroundings.

Panyin the parakeet, who had evidently followed Ama into the Beauregard garden, remained perched watchfully in the tree. Keeping oneself safe in animal form was something Ama could advise on, but not really from experience. Parakeets didn't normally eye up giraffes the way they eyed little doves, after all...

  

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Still elated with her success, it took a moment for register what Mrs. Zabini was saying. "Oh yes, of course!" There was quite a bit to talk about. Was this just beginner's luck? Certainly there had to be some things she needed to know. She needed to register with the Ministry of course. That couldn't be too hard.

"I look forward to it." Elsie wasn't so sure she would attempt the transformation again without supervision, so it would have to be soon. She couldn't wait to tell Tyb! Telling everyone would be so exciting! "Please let me know when would be a good time." She was still beaming and whirling from everything that she didn't know what else to do with herself!

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MJ always makes her so pretty

"You flatter me to presume I'm busy, my dear", she chuckled fondly. For while Ama did have a vibrant life for a divorcee, she was positively brimming with spare time compared to a young lady with her very own vocation. Ama found such things quite impressive.

"But yes, let's arrange something by owl soon; perhaps we could cross it with a little lunch at the tearoom", she proposed brightly.

After their conversation had reached a natural end and it was time to leave, Ama departed the residence in most positive spirits. It was uplifting indeed to witness a young person find themselves.

OOC: Wrap? <3

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   Elsie Kirke

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