Chapter Sixteen

I looked at the crafts in front of me. The crafts looked back. Professor McGonagall looked at them, examined them carefully, and then gave a nod of her head.

"Quite the astounding work, Mister Umbrus," she grabbed hold of one of the objects, a large mug veined with shiny, glittering metal. The words N°1 Transfiguration Professor were etched on it. Her lips threatened to smile, but she quickly schooled her features. "You will need to write a note on them. Hogwarts' house elves will take care of the deliveries if they're within the castle, and if not, then you should notify your head of the House in time to have the owls sent."

"Thank you professor," I said. "Uhm..." I continued, fidgeting slightly. "About Transfiguration, could I perhaps know what the next practical will be?" I asked, "I don't want points if I get the transfiguration right on the first try," I quickly added before she could speak, "I just don't want to blow up the classroom and everyone in it." I rubbed the back of my head, looking sideways. "Even getting these right, the rocks blew more often than not."

Clearly, stones weren't made of a singular material, but of a multitude of them. With each different material, the transfiguration grew in complexity.

Even after getting the mug right, in order to get the words I had no choice but to further transfigure the object. This added another layer to it. It had taken me nearly a month to get the cup done, and the lack of stones near the lake were an indicator of it.

On the plus side, I had developed an odd penchant for picking the smoothest and shiniest rocks.

"I see," Professor McGonagall mused. "I suppose studying ahead would do you no harm, Mister Umbrus." Or rather, it would bring no harm to the rest of the class.

She flicked her wand, and the various gifts ended up wrapped, with magic, into brightly colored paper wrappings. There even was a golden ribbon for each of them.

"Thank you professor," I spoke. "You're the best."

"Mister Umbrus, if you do not have any further need of my assistance, do heed my counsel and have the gifts delivered," professor McGonagall said, trying to hold her stern, Scottish Matron-sternness. I simply smiled at her and stepped out of her office with a skip to my step, the knowledge that we'd use animals and turn them into matchboxes firmly safeguarded, and nearly ended up hitting against Professor Dumbledore, who seemed to be holding on to a smile of his own.

"Ah, Mister Umbrus," he smiled, "I dare say you have come from tea and scones with dear Minerva rather than a detention."

I looked up at the old, bearded man and grinned back. "Yes, professor. I managed to get the Christmas gifts transfigured in time," I held them up. The cup, which was now wrapped, and a few others formed quite the bundle of gifts. It had been literally decades since I had last made something to gift to someone else.

Nine times out of ten, buying it online and having it delivered was the easiest solution.

"I see," his eyes twinkled. "I suppose that it will be ten points to Ravenclaw, for such a wonderful idea for Christmas," he winked in my direction.

"Thank you professor," I answered, bidding him goodbye and then rushing to get the notes ready and the gifts finished.

The weather had taken a turn for the cold, and as I glanced out of the castle's windows, all that I saw was ice and frost. "The cold never bothered me anyway," I hummed as I slid past a few paintings, a couple of armors, and avoided going through some ghosts.

My winter boots crunched the snow below my feet as I stood outside, near the edge of Hogwarts' lake.

I patiently looked at the shimmering water, and at the bubbles that every now and then left the depths of it. "Miss Squid," I hazarded, "You don't have some live fish perchance, do you?"

I received no reply. Well, this was plan A for transfiguration practice. Plan B involved walking along the edge of the lake, trying to see if anything at all neared it for a drink. Apparently it did not, thus after an hour spent out in the cold, I ended up looking at the outskirts of the Forbidden Forest. Then my wisdom check succeeded on a DC minus ninety, and I swiftly traced my steps back to the large, wooden door of Hagrid's hut.

I knocked.

The bearded giant opened the door and I looked up, up, and even further up to try to get a look at his face. "What do ya need?" he asked, his voice gruff and rough.

"Do you perchance have any idea where I can find small animals?" I queried. "Like field mice, or mouses, or rats even..."

The giant stared at me briefly. I kept my look up. "Ya looking for a pet or sumthing?"

"It's for transfiguration practice," I replied.

The giant furrowed his large, bushy brows, and then rubbed his beard. "Wait a second, will ya?" he went inside, and then came out with a large dog by his side. The dog looked at me and lunged. I could have avoided it, but I knew better. I had had a large dog myself. The solution was to lunge back and hug the neck. That way, you didn't end up falling but merely blocked the momentum.

"Who's a cute doggo-woffo-wuffo?" I said excitedly, rubbing the large dog's back as it slobbered over my face. Deep down, the saliva disgusted me. Further deep down, I would need to wash myself thoroughly as soon as possible. Even deeper down, I didn't really care because the dog was the best doggo ever. It woofed back, and I chuckled as I rubbed its head.

"Well would ya look at that," Hagrid mused, "I normally haf'ta get him to let go." I used my robes' arms to remove the slobber from my face, and then looked up at the giant man.

"I had a big dog once," I quipped. "I don't see the point in small ones. You need dogs, not pret-a-porter."

"Whatever that is, I agree with ya," Hagrid laughed. "Name's Hagrid! The gamekeeper here at Hogwarts," he smiled, "You're a firstie, ain't ya?"

"That I am," I nodded back. "My name's Shade, it's a pleasure to meet you," I extended my hand up, and the giant looked briefly at it before shrugging, and engulfing my entire hand and most of my arm in the shake he then gave.

"Aw, ye'r an a'right sort," he said. "Now, Fang!" he looked at his dog, who in turn looked up with a woof. "Go fetch some mice, will ya?"

The dog barked some more, and then trotted off. He plunged his face into the snow, sniffed, and then whined as it pitifully sat down. Hagrid sighed by my side. "He doesn't like the cold very much," Hagrid muttered, "I need to keep him moving, ya know? What's the point of a dog if it gets fat? Come on, you lazy bum! Find some mice!" and with that said, the afternoon went by chilling in the snow, recovering half-frozen, half-dead mice.

I had a sack of those by the time I stepped into the Room of Requirements.

Thankfully, the Room provided a glass tank for them.

Unfortunately, it also provided cleaning tools, like pure alcohol and a few empty barrels that had previously been used by some torture-master, due to the dry blood within.

"Your faith in my abilities is...nonexistent, but then again I'm the one who asked for all this stuff so..." I muttered as I emptied the bag's contents into the tank, closing it firmly to avoid the mice from running away, "I'm sorry little guys." I grimaced at the sight of the field mice.

"It's like when they have you vivisection frogs at school, or owl feces," I muttered to myself. I grabbed hold of a mouse with my gloves on, put it inside a smaller glass tank, and then raised my wand. I closed my eyes, took deep breaths, and then pointed my wand down at the little creature.

I didn't want to make it explode. Anything but that was acceptable. Even a failure, even a-

There was a pop.

The barf-bag nearby proved, beyond a shred of doubt, that I might not have been the best wizard in existence...

...but at least I was the most prepared.