Closed O.W.L to Study For PV

Howard was dragging his feet as he approached the agreed upon classroom. It wasn't who was going to tutor him necessarily that darkened his spirits, but the subject in which they would be studying. Transfiguration. Merlin have mercy on this poor Dhampir's soul. It was by far his worst subject, not to mention the countless embarrassment during that class as his casting failed repeatedly. Howard was more than happy to drop the subject all together as he had no intention of pursuing it any further after this year. He couldn't wait to get the OWLS over with so he could focus exclusively on the subjects he actually wanted to learn, but sure enough some brainiac had come along to burst that bubble. If it were up to him he would just flunk the course and move on, but no, Transfiguration was a compulsory subject and that required at least an A if he ever wanted to have a career outside of Quidditch. The young man was an adept player, however even he was smart enough to know it would be a long shot. So, against every fiber of his being that screamed for him to just pass the classroom door and go do something enjoyable, he turned the knob and entered.

Late.

Howard closed his eyes and let a long exhale escape his nostrils. Serenity now! As his red eyes reopened they would spot Aurelia in her weird little get up that she wore from time to time. The tight bun, the wide framed glasses, an off-putting pink colored shirt. He shrugged it off. "Whatever, Aurelia." Howard grumbled as she scolded him before he joined her at the table. With a thud his Transfiguration book would plop down. Her continued comments and questioning if he still carried a wand threatened to fire up his once famous temper, but with another deep breath he would let it slide away. He had to remind himself that she had offered to give up her own time to help him, regardless of how she may try to push his buttons.

"Yeah, I got it." Howard pulled his wand from his left robe pocket in a cross draw manner. The cedar wood and unicorn hair instrument would fall into place next to the book. "Yes, Aurelia." He said in a tired tone. It was assumed that her questioning his knowledge of his own magical potential was meant as a dig, but perhaps he shouldn't blame her for inquiring. Ever since his turn to Dhampirism he had lost that special connection he had once had with his wand. Where it had once hummed with power within his grasp it now just felt like holding any other stick. Sure, if he focused and followed paper technique he could still cast, but the power behind his casting had long since faded. With another long exhale he again brushed the frustration aside and took a seat near her position.

A keen eye may notice that as Howard sat he would favor his right side. Not in a way that may suggest injury, but he would gently tug the right side of his robe away from his body as he let his weight shift into a sitting position. "No, not really." He answered truthfully in a hope that she would focus on the task at hand and leave the digging remarks behind. "I've lost my touch with the wand ever since my turn. I was never good at it anyways so..." Howard let his words slip away. What he should have said was another truth. That he had just given up. As determined and motivated he could be sometimes he was ofter quick to give up when he struggled with something. Just as he opened his mouth to continue he would pause again as Aurelia suddenly sneezed.

"Bless you." It felt and sounded odd coming out of his mouth as he attempted to keep things more civil. It also marked him a a Muggleborn as it was a manner of speak that was not often heard in the magical community. "Are you alright?" Howard asked as she again sneezed into her arm. He shifted in his chair as he gently adjusted the right side of his robe again as the sudden noise caused a slight stir in his pocket.

It was during the young woman's third year that she had begun studying and researching the topic of creatures. Books containing vast knowledge albeit sources with credibility best left questionable. Then, she had thought herself great with the knowledge she divulged in keen to use it someday, but looking back, it was a mere hobby and remained so even now. On the other hand, what she learned might prove to be of use today.

Upon hearing Howard speak, she would, unfortunately, let words that were not too carefully chosen, slip. Once a pureblood, always a pureblood. No amount of soap could fully scrub down the scum of aristocratic old age stigma on muggles she grew up hearing. "Fair enough, Muggleborns aren't as gifted in the arcane with the natural lack of magical potency in their blood." This statement, however, was far from the truth given a few in the ministry of magic were muggle-born. Aurelia knew better.

About a minute into her sneezes, Aurelia knew she was not alright. "Bless me?" she mumbled, unsure what Howard had meant by that. Why had he the need to bless her? Allergies. It was definitely certain that the trigger of her sneezes were her allergies. Once more, she sneezed, this time, twice in a row. Her eyes showed signs of irritation, red and glossy with tears. "Reckon it must be from outside... unless you hear - or smell any cats in the room?" She would ask the Dhampir. He would have better senses than she would... at least while she was in her human form.

With a wave of her wand, followed by an incantation, she would cast the locking charm on the windows, causing them to slam shut. A mistake - but Aurelia would not know that. Until the dreaded tickle of her nose returned. An inhale of a forthcoming sneeze she would take. This she could feel would be dreadfully loud. But instead, the unexpected would happen. Not a sneeze, but with a sudden puff, a sound akin to a thwack of pillows, Aurelia would morph involuntarily Lose brown feathers splaying around above. In front of Howard, would no longer be the Gryffindor girl but a rather majestic Eurasian Eagle-owl. Cover blown.

transforming involuntarily into owl animagi

@Aurelia Notresvace

Howard gave Aurelia a knowing look as she made her biased remark. Once upon a time he would have lashed back in anger, but he could hardly blame her these days. He had seen the world in which she was raised. The ancient manor she called home came with an ideology as old as the stone walls in which it was built. They both knew that her remark carried no truth to it. Magical potential had very little to do with heritage and almost all to do with study and practice. The very reason he was here today. Howard had barely done either of the two. Aurelia may be wrong in her old and tired views of Muggleborns, but she was not entirely off when it came to some lacking in ability. It would seem that as a Dhampir, Howard now lacked in the casting department. His spells seemed to miss their mark and they failed more frequently than they had before his turn. He had never reached out to any of the others like him to see if they too struggled with magic, but that was a regret saved for another time. "Mhm." Howard let his eyes roll away as he dismissed her remark with sarcastic agreement.

The pair would take their places now that the hellos and pleasantries were over with, but it wouldn't take long before her sneezes began. It soon became clear that she was suffering from some kind of allergic reaction. His eyes would betray him when she asked about any animals in the room. With a quickness they would shoot towards his pocket. Why he had decided to often keep Gary a secret was something he even questioned from time to time. Was it a masculinity thing? No tough guy would ever bond with something to fluffy and cute, but he knew all that macho stuff was a bunch of BS. There was just something about the little Puff that felt private. Like he existed just for Howard and Howard just for him. In a place with so little privacy it felt nice to just have something he didn't have to share. Perhaps it had to do with his upbringing as well? In stark contrast to the young woman before him he had come up with just the necessities. The White household had never had any pets besides a few strays the dug through the rubbish from time to time. Any ridicule for his bond to the Puff threatened to stoke something within him that he was desperately trying to avoid. "No cats, but with so many of the damn things running around you know their dander gets everywhere." Howard tried to play it off.

With a quick wave of Aurelia's hand the windows would shut, but it would be the next action that would escalate things to a much different level. AH CHOO! THWACK! The sudden noises could throw anyone off their guard but it would be the sight of his long time frenemy morphing from human to owl that shook the boy. "Whoa!!" Howard shouted in surprise as he involuntarily kicked back in a gut reaction and a little too strong of one at that. The chair he sat in would tilt back, its back legs unable to support the weight. With a mighty crash the chair would topple backwards and both furniture and Dhampir would smack against the floor, but they were not alone. A series of squeaks filled the room as a panicked Pygmy Puff escaped his robe pockets and began to run circles around the scene. "Gary!" Howard called out as he scurried to his feet. Red eyes would bounce between what had once been Aurelia and his little pet.

Oblivious Aurelia was to the critter hiding within Howard's cloak. But he did not act any less sus in response to her questions. Until she morphed with a sneeze did the cat fall out of the bag, and Howard with it. The dhampir had seen this form before, whether he'd recall didn't quite matter, at the ball with Serena, rat and vampire slugs. A scuffle of purple across the room and the call of a name, 'Gary'. Now with a beak instead of a nose, the allergies were no longer prominent but that did not make Aurelia any less annoyed. Howard lied. Technically, there were no cats... still.

The presence she carried constantly, was no longer unsettling in the air. In fact, one could find it rather settling without the constant discomfort lingering around. Aurelia, without her ability of human speech in her animagi form, she would simply glare at Howard with the large pair of near-golden eyes, displeased. She'd taken her time to meet him for a tuition session, yet he brought a distraction. A pygmy puff of all things. He wasn't a child.

The pygmy puff was certainly unsettled with the predator in such close vicinity. But the noisy squeaks and running did not make the situation any easier. Owleia had the accuracy that came with her form, spreading her wings, she would jump from the table right onto the purple squirrel. Catching the critter between her dangerously sharp talons, ensuring that she did not grip too hard or hurt the tiny creature. Giving Howard a scare for sure.

Howard's crimson eyes still bulged with shock at the owl before him. The suddenness of it all left his brain one step step behind. The coloring of the feathers, the intenseness in those owl eyes were somewhere in his memories. Had he not been scrambling back to his feet he might have put two and two together. It was this very owl that had swooped down to aid him the night they saved Erin from the hag slugs, but in the moment he couldn't connect the dots. Howard's gaze still bounced around the room as if he expected Aurelia to pop up from behind a table or desk. It wasn't until Gary's squeak jumped an octave that his mind decided to start working again.

The shock in Howard's gaze would slip away as he watched the owl pounce, putting the Pygmy Puff within its lethal grasp. The fact that Aurelia was an animagus would don on him, as would the fact that this was not the act of an animal, but one of which still had all their human thoughts. For as long as he could remember the two of them had always had an unspoken rivalry. They would poke and prod at each other. Push the line just to see how far it went. A dark humor perhaps that they both could share, and in this moment he knew the owl would not hurt his little Gary. However, her little challenge would stoke that dark streak within him.

Like some noxious gas the dark aura would seep out of Howard. His once bulging gaze now narrowed to deadly slits as he crouched into his fighting stance. An empty threat of violence, but one that could still send chills up the spine. "Not nice, Aurelia." He spoke through a wicked smile. Next would come something Howard rarely did. He drew his wand! "Now puke slugs ya stupid bird! Slugulus Eructo!"

The traumatised little purple squirrel wriggled about dangerously between her claws, but its effort was only so futile. Such an action to pounce on Howard's pet was bound to have been taken with slightly sinister motives. Leaving the creature alone to scurry about and find refuge in a corner was an option then, instead Aurelia chose to take matters into her own hands - or more specifically, claws. Indeed, it was not very nice of her.

Knowing Howard, Aurelia expected some sort of violent reaction. However, what she didn't see coming was a spell, as quick as he drew his wand was the spell verbalised. A flash of green hit and dispersed into the pale chest feathers. This was followed by the horrid feeling in her oesophagus as the slugs were conjured. One by one, the slugs wriggled from her razor-sharp beak. This wasn't very nice of Howard either.

However, something twisted within her, perhaps it was some sort of violent animalistic tendencies that came with her form. Perhaps it was knowing that Howard attacked her again. Contrary to the brute force she'd experienced first hand, this time with arcane. Or maybe the possibility that the absence of the very presence which served as a form of security had given him the guts to finally go directly against her. One thing was for sure, the sick bird was not having it.

Ulterior motives. Although she would never admit it, she found some fascination at studying the dhampir psychologically. How he reacted when she drew her blood or when she intimidated the young Hufflepuff and even analysing how he acted with Falentra. Perhaps it was because Aurelia knew Howard as a human, yet there was also the possibility that Aurelia did not consider Howard anymore than half-human, not after what she had experienced. The thing about trauma was that it stuck around, stuffed in the burner until summoned by a sudden trigger. This was it.

If Howard thought for a second that she was defenceless in her animagi form, he would have to rethink again. Granted, she didn't have any use for a wand or her terribly unsettling presence, but her form came with its own natural defence mechanisms. With a hiss, Aurelia would spread her massive wings, propelling herself upwards, both her claws extended straight towards Howard. She didn't hold back.

@Aurelia Notresvace

The flash of green took Howard by surprise too. More often than not his spells had the tendency to fizzle out before they could take effect or if they did hit they lacked the power to actually do anything. Not this time though. Perhaps the gods of pranks smiled upon him this day. That was what is was right? A prank? The sight of an owl puking up slugs was definitely humorous one and Howard had chosen the spell as a non violent way to get back at her for scaring his precious Gary, but there was something between the two that always ended up this way.

The memories of that night would never fade, but Howard had pushed them back as far as they would go. It felt like ages ago now. He was different then, feral, wild even as he adjusted to his transformation. Just a drop of her blood was enough to set his predatory nature ablaze. However, though he had pushed those terrible memories away, perhaps they would never leave the forefront of Aurelia's mind. Was he doomed to be forever linked to that tragic night? The very sight of him enough to trigger the trauma he had placed upon her? It would seem that the answer was yes as the bird hissed and attacked.

The massive wing span that was now barreling towards Howard threw him off his guard and before he knew it sharp talons were tearing into his flesh. The sudden attack left him with deep scratches and a few lacerations across his forearms as he threw them up in self defense. One even found its way across his cheek leaving a trickle of darkened blood running down his face. Instinct would drive his next action as raised a claw of his own and lashed out at Owleia!

As a Eurasian eagle-owl, she wasn't small as an owl per se, but the feeling of vulnerability that the absence of a wand in her arsenal brought was enough of a motive to lash out. So effortlessly, the razor-sharp talons struck hard on the skin, piercing into the skin and tearing flesh. The dark viscosity seeped quickly from contrastingly deathly pale skin, trailing down his face. It was instinct that brought her to defend herself, but naturally, so was Howard to follow his.

The chaos to ensue shortly was more of an ordeal for the brown bird than the tank of a dhampir with only a few cuts on the skin. A hand with blunt nails wide in the open swung looking for vengeance. And sweet vengeance did it find. The force alone sent her flying backwards into the classroom wall. Humorously, a short but sharp screech sounded and soft brown feathers flailed around upon impact.

Initially, with the thickness of the layers of feathers, the sight of a distinguishing dark crimson colour had not yet appeared yet to greet the eye. The scent, however, was one the dhampir would remember distinctively from his first feed. Once again, she was in indescribable pain, but this was nothing short of new. An ugly tear on her side, one that caught a wing in the process. It was definitely broken again.

It took a moment to recover mentally to realise how dire of a situation this was. If she was in her larger human form, a wave of her wand could easily mend all her wounds and even cease the incessant outpour of slugs. That was just the problem, she wasn't and she couldn't transition back with such injuries sustained. Now, with the smaller form of an animal, she risked bleeding out. This form was strong for sure, but not hardy at all.

What made it worse was that Howard was the only one in the vicinity. Although he did cast a spell successfully, he was nowhere near competent. And who knew what he'd do with her now bleeding. Granted, the incident happened a long time ago but trust was not built so easily with time. But this was it, defenceless, she now had to trust him to do something. Glaring up at the dhampir's red eyes with her large golden one, she would simply wait. Because what else was she to do?

Howard knew as soon as his blow landed that he had done some serious damage. Before he could even see the seriousness of her wound his sensitive nose would be able to smell it. Blood. Even in her owl form the scent was so familiar, one that he would never forget as long as he lived. Forever connected to the first time he fed on human blood. A trauma to her for sure, but one that had marked him as well. The excitement, the fear, the guilt and the pleasure. Even to this day it was hard for him to think on it for it would always represent the two natures that grappled within. A peace and balance had since been struck between the two, but there would always be a part of him that was not human. A small part of him that took pleasure in the pain.

Howard's humanity would quickly take the wheel as the guilt washed over him. Why was it always this way between the two of them? She would poke and he would bite. Together they could probably accomplish many things, but both of their natures would propel them against each other. "Damnit Aurelia!" Howard vented his frustration as he began to pace. He knew that wound would need immediate attention, but was there enough time to fetch help? Did they really want to go to the hospital wing and involve staff? Admit what they had done to each other? Howard had tried so hard to work on himself and repair the bridges he had burnt during his time at Hogwarts. This would certainly be one strike too many in the eyes of staff.

He breathed deeply to calm himself as his crimson eyes reconnected with her golden. "I'm sorry. You just..." There was no point in trying to cast blame, they were both guilty. "I'll help you alright. Just hold still." Howard raised his wand again and did his best to concentrate. "Episkey."