Carpe Izepic-Nece
Jun 7 2012, 09:46 PM
This part of learning how to become an animagus made Carpe nervous. He supposed it was like when his Defense class stopped learning from a textbook and started learning from their wands. This was the start of actual, practical magic. And some time in the hopefully near future, he'd be so used to this kind of magic that he could do it in the blink of an eye. A lot of other people had done this before. Not a vast amount, but...maybe over twenty since the age of, well, forever. Carpe had sat himself on the bench at the park, nearly ten minutes early than the designated time.
A sudden, but not unexpected, pop sounded from next to him and Carpe looked up. "Mr. Weserstein," he greeted grimly. The tall man was a nightmare. He wasn't an animagus himself, but he was a trainer. The idea of sending someone that wasn't an animagus to train an animagus was almost a comic relief for the ministry, it really was. But the man still got things done and he was a master at the switching spell, which helped.
"Sitting down already?" the man gruffly replied, "Are you training to be a couch potato?" Why Carpe ever thought he'd get nicer since the last session was beyond him. "No, I'm ready," the shopkeeper replied, jumping up from the bench to follow after the instructor. "Where are we going?"
"Into the forest area of the park again," was the reply, "You know, so no one sees the embarrassment of you failing."
Post 001
WC: 258
Carpe Izepic-Nece
Jun 7 2012, 10:57 PM
He should have known that'd be his trainers response, or something like it anyway. It was a little cloudy today, and somewhere deep deep down, Carpe was hoping that it'd rain so that this session ended early. He still kept his head up though and followed his instructor. The forest was on the back side of the park, by the large water fountain. The new PreHogwarts Preschool was somewhere nearby.
They entered the shaded trees where they followed a long concrete path. It was peaceful were it not for the impending doom of the next lesson. Mr. Weserstein stopped in the middle of an opening in the forest and sat down on a nearby rusted bench. "Okay," he sighed heavily, "here's what's going to happen. You're going to have to learn to transform your arms. Remember last time when you wore that ridiculous outfit?" Carpe shook his head. "You have to do it. For real."
Carpe nodded again and absentmindedly looked at his hands while listening. He had been told that this was nothing like the switching spell. Instead of actually thinking of an incatation or another animal to switch into, he had to mentally keep thinking of transforming into a panda. This was going to be a LOT of work. Carpe nodded to himself and closed his eyes. Prepare for the mentality of AWESOMENESS.
Post 002
WC:227
Carpe Izepic-Nece
Jun 8 2012, 06:46 AM
Panda bear...Animagus...Ministry...paperwork...old smelly people...Grandpa...Dad....summer barbeques...
Carpe scrunched his eyes tight as useless memories were running through his mind a million miles a second. What exactly was he supposed to be thinking? Why did he have an instructor when the most he did was burn holes into Carpe's head with his eyes, while he was TRYING to concentrate.
Alright, back to Animagus. He had to think about his own skin becoming black with patches of thick fur running down his arms. Some how, this made him imagine of that Iron Man part where the machinery just covers his body. Unfortunately, it wasn't working. Carpe peeked out from under a heavy eyelid and saw just pale pink skin, dotted with sunlight streaming through the canopy of trees. At least it wasn't bamboo this time.
He sighed heavily and opened his eyes. "A little help here?" he called out to his instructor. The burly man just shook his head. "It's KIND of like the switching spell, but all mental and NOT thinking of switching anything with anything." Carpe pinched the bridge of his nose. "Why is it that you make everything sound easy? If it's that easy, why aren't there more than a handful of animagi?"
This time, his instructor was the one that sighed loudly. Why could Carpe just tell that this was going to be the worst lesson yet?
Post 003
WC: 235
Carpe Izepic-Nece
Jun 8 2012, 07:41 AM
His instructor just cleared his throat and gruffly said "Do it again." Carpe wanted to scream. He wanted to pick up a tree from its roots and whack it against the side of his head. Unfortunately, the instructor's arm was as thick as a tree. And probably more hairy. Carpe scrunched his nose and chose to close his eyes again, half hoping that happy thoughts would make the image of his instructor in his head disappear.
He wiggled his fingers before he held out his hand, parallel to the floor. Concentrate--that's what he learned the first time. Concentrate. His brows furrowed in concentration. "Concentrate..." He thought about all the times when he was young that he wished he could change into any animal he wanted. He had spent his entire childhood believing that if he tried hard enough, he could. And then his stockbroker of a father had to bring him back to what he thought was reality.
Now he was trying to go BACK to believing that. Man, his imagination was SO much stronger when he was a kid. Carpe kept his eyes closed and breathed in deeply. He concentrated on what a panda looks like. Large, bulky, with black fur. He tried to imagine what it'd be like to be a panda and looking down at his own furry arms. Soft, short fur.
Post 004
WC: 228
Carpe Izepic-Nece
Jun 22 2012, 01:06 AM
Maybe one day, in the hopefully near future, Carpe would be able to turn into a Panda without really thinking too much about it. He would be able to snap, and he'd be a completely different animal. And it was his hope that the transformation would land him in Auror Academy, and not in a circus or at birthday parties. Boy, his father would be so disappointed in him if that was where his career ended; he was already annoyed that Carpe was mostly a shopkeeper in a magical town.
His mind as wandering off again, and Carpe scolded himself for not staying on track. This was back to his transfigurations classes where he imagined how his skin would change and be replaced with something else, except that he was really concentrating on being a panda. Black fur on his arm was all he wanted! Breath held in, he wracked his brain, trying to make things happen. A small tickling along his wrist made him twitch, but alas, his eyes were clamped shut. The tickling raced up the outside of his arm, nearly up to the elbow. It was getting itchy now, and Carpe wasn't sure if it was because he was just imagining it or because maybe it was actually working. But he was scared that if he opened his eyes, it'd stop from transforming.
Tickling was going all over his arm and when it started to stop, Carpe finally managed to peek through his eyelids. Black..fur! Carpe's eyes flew open and he excitedly held up his arm. Black, soft fur was covering his skin, no longer visible under the thickness. Amazed, he touched his arm with his other hand, the fur ruffling under his fingertips. He heard a clearing of the throat, and he suddenly remembered that his instructor was right there.
Post 005
WC: 305
Carpe Izepic-Nece
Jul 5 2012, 03:59 PM
Carpe wasn't sure what his instructor would think. He had achieved the lessons so far, wasn't that something to at least get a small compliment on? His instructor was a burly man though, his lips always sealed tight. The shopkeeper glanced up expecting the worst and saw that the man's thin lips were creepily turned up on the corners. Perhaps it was the creepiest, most weirdest-looking smile in the history of smiles.
But it was still a smile.
Carpe grinned to himself and looked back down at his arm, more excited than he was before. "Does this mean I can start on my next lesson?" hurried the question.
"Whoa, calm down boy," chided the instructor, "you're a newbie, not a professional. You need to go home and practice it. By next lesson, I expect you to be able to perform it right on the beat." So much for a couple minutes on congratulations. His shoulders sagged and the heat was weighing down on him. His arm was getting hot, under thick patches of black fur. With his arm raised in front of his face, Carpe examined his own work and upon hearing a crack, looked up to see his instructor gone. That man always had few words to say. Carpe let out a heavy sigh and decided to stay in the park to work on his transformations. "Holy Hufflecow, this is hard," huffed the boy, and plopped down on the nearby benches. It was going to be a long, exhausting day.
Post 006
WC: 253
This is a "lo-fi" version of our main content. To view the full version with more information, formatting and images, please
click here.