The Hufflepuff in Gryffindor [Harry Potter]

An Animagus

Lowri sat up, immediately bringing her wrist to her face, her watch read 7:00am. Good.
She quickly got out of bed, washed and dressed all in twenty minutes. As she came to her tie Hermione woke up, seemingly amused by the frustrated look on Lowris face.

"I can't do this blasted thing!" She huffed.

"Here, I'll show you. My mum taught me a few days before term started, didn't your parents show you?" Hermione finally did the tie after a minute of figuring it out backwards.

"My dad didn't really take up those types of responsibilities and my mums been ill since I was 8, I haven't seen her in years..." Lowri explained. Hermione noticed the girls sad tone and decided not to ask about her mother.

"Oh... I'm sorry, if you want to talk I'm here." She smiled then left to wash her face.

Lowri went down to the common room, which was empty except for the students leaving for breakfast. She could tell which students were in which year by how they looked. First years looked slightly nervous or excited, second years looked like first years but with less care, third years seemed to have the most messy uniforms, most fourth years looked as thought they didn't know what was going on, fifth years seemed very stressed but neat in uniform, the majority did anyway. Then there was the sixth years which had the smallest range of people as there was the ones who were bothered about their grades and were hastily carrying their books to breakfast to get a head start on studying and then there were the ones who couldn't care less as they strutted out of the common room to enjoy their free period.

After 10 minutes of Lowri examining Gryffindor upon Gryffindor come and go, Hermione joined her and they left for breakfast. The Gryffindor table was only half full, the emptiest of all the houses and the girls sat down next to the only other first year they could spot, Neville, who was quietly eating some bacon sandwiches.

"Morning Nev." Lowri smiled as they sat down.

"Hi Neville." Hermione began to fill her plate with the healthiest choices.

"M-morning. Do you know what class we have first?" He seemed nervous. Probably scared he's the only one to not know... Lowri felt sympathy for the boy.

"No, I think Mcgonagalls bringing our timetables now..." Hermione pointed to the far end of the table where they'd sat the night before. Lowri was filling a bowl with some cheeri owls, it was either them or pixie puffs.

Mcgonagall finally reached them and handed them their timetables with a smile.

"Is that all you're having for breakfast Lowri?" Pavarti had joined them now, just in time for her timetable.

"Yeah, Im not one for a big meal at breakfast, a bowl of cereals enough for me." She answer honestly. All the other students had grabbed the bacon first, shoving the cereal box out of the way but Lowri enjoyed them, as long as the milk was added last.

Hermione, Pavarti, Lowri and Neville arrived at transfiguration, they had it with the Slytherins today. The only other people there was Lavender, Monica and Blaise Zabini, a Slytherin boy.

A short five minutes later, the rest of the class had arrived and Mcgonagall instructed them to begin copying from the board, they did this with no problems. Hermione was sat next to Pavarti and Lowri was next to Neville. Neville was looking at the desk just in front of theirs.

"Where's Ron and Harry?" He whispered.

"I dunno..." Lowri answered quietly but earned a look from Mcgonagall.

For a whole minute the room was filled with an uncomfortable silence and the scribbling of quills. Lowri found it a bit challenging to get a correct hold on the quill, she had used one before but not much. Mcgonagall noticed and placed her hands in a more comfortable position, before Lowri could thank her the professor had morphed into a cat.

"W... what!" Squealed Neville.

"She's an animagus Neville, she can turn into a cat." Hermione explained. The cat jumped on the desk and looked at all the faces staring back at her, the cat still held a stern look which made the class resume copying.

A few minutes later the door bursted open and everyone turned round to see a panting Harry and Ron.

"Phew... we made it!" Ron dumped his bag on the floor by the empty desk.

"Ron..." Lowri said in a hushed voice. Too quiet... she thought when he continued talking. You idiot!

"Could to imagine the look on old Mcgonagall's face if we were late!" He said too happily. The cat jumped from the desk, changing into 'old Mcgonagall' before the gingers very own eyes.

"That was wicked!" He said. Not a thinker... Lowri hid a grin.

"Thank you for that assessment Mr Weasley but I think it would be better for me to transfigured yourself and Mr Potter into a pocket watch?" Lowri felt as though she was holding back a smile. She didn't hear what else the professor said as Draco Malfoy was laughing behind her.

The boys sat down and began to copy down, Lowri had finished by now, along with Hermione, Pavarti, Draco and a Slytherin girl called Pansy. Lowri looked up at Mcgonagall and smiled at her when they had eye contact which Much to Lowri's delight, was returned.

It was the end of class and everyone was walking out of the door for their next class, Lowri told Hermione to go without her, she wanted to ask Mcgonagall a question.
Just as the door closed, the professor looked up to see Lowri walking up to her desk.

"Yes Miss... Harrison?" She asked.

"Oh, yes... I was wondering about how you turned into a cat before... Hermione said that you were an animagus, meaning you can switch into a cat... can any witch or wizard do this?" She was pulling her tie though her fingers as she spoke.

"Yes, while it does require a great deal of power and determination, I believe anybody can eventually become an animagus."

"How do you do it?"

"Well you would normally need to be taught by an animagus, it can be dangerous if not done right. Meaning you could end up with a tail for the rest of your life. Also it's illegal if you become an animagus without registering with the ministry, obviously. However, I'm sorry to say that a child of eleven does not possess enough power to harness this ability. If you were wishing to become one, I would suggest coming to me in your fourth of fifth year." The professor explained with a smile and a look of pride in her eyes, proud to have a student wishing to learn so much.

"Oh... thank you professor!" Lowri returned the smile and ran quickly down to the dungeons, having heard Professor Snape was not the forgiving type.