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Once every year Morrigan sat on her chair, not in the form of the feisty, red headed professor the students knew, but perched in her Raven form on the back of her chair.  Today she was taking a page from Isaac’s book and using discussion instead of the more hands on approach.  Today’s topic was the most dangerous form of Transfiguration and only a handful of witches and wizards mastered the technique.  The students would not be attempting the Animagus Transfiguration, merely discussing it.

There were a few who seemed aware that she was actually at her usual spot at her desk, perhaps tipped off by older siblings or friends.  Others, however, seemed to think they had miraculously earned themselves a free pass for the day and took to acting out foolishly with their friends.  At precisely three o’clock she flew from the seat transforming back into her normal form, hands crossed over her chest as she looked around the room.

“Take your seats at once,” she ordered to those not already there.

Taking out her wand she flicked it out the board and across it appeared the words ‘Ethics of Animagus Transfiguration.’  A ripple effect seemed to happen as the students quickly realized that today was a note taking day.  Parchments and quills were prepared and she smirked at how well trained the seventh years seemed to be.

“By now you all know the definition of Animagus Transfiguration,” she began.  “You should also all be aware of the fact that the Ministry of Magic keeps a registry of all known Animagi and it available for public perusal.  To start I’d like to know your opinions on this.  Why is it so important that we keep track of Animagi?”

Directions: Please begin by Rping coming into class and your character’s reaction to Morrigan’s transformation.  Were they aware of her Animagus form or were they caught off guard?  Also, please feel free to start a debate, but please keep it civil.  I won’t be around too much to referee until the new year.  You will have until 1/8.

Leon was, of course, the first one in class. The first person to sit up front. And the first person to notice there was a bird in the classroom that wasn't in a cage. He stared at it for a bit before glancing around the room. People were starting to file in, joking with friends. The Professor wasn't there, after all. Luckily, Leon wasn't the type of fool to mess around before the Professor arrived. She would walk in, and then kill everyone with her fiery breathe and pages and pages of research. Professor Ramsay wasn't THAT bad, she was just... Stern.

Then the bird flew up. Leon was thinking it was startled by the noise and was going to fly around, cawing and pecking at people's hair. He began to slowly put his hands on top of his head when the bird had transformed itself into the Professor. Ahh. She was an Animagus. Leon put his hands back down and grinned at Ramsay. "That was marvelous, Professor," Not that he was a suck-up, he just never saw anyone transform before.

"Why is it so important that we keep track of Animagi?”

Leon eyed the room once more before clearing his throat, "The Ministry keeps track of Animagi and their markings in case the Ministry needs to find them... Or capture them." He bit his lip, hating how silent the class was, "If they're not recorded, no one will know they're an Animagus and they could run off or escape without getting caught." Then he became quiet and sort of shrunk down into his robes. Though Leon should be used to answering questions in front of a class, he just couldn't stand that feeling of everyone listening to him... And watching him.

Beth was cutting it a little close as she slipped into the Transfiguration classroom, and she knew it. Last she checked she had four minutes to spare – four minutes that dwindled down to three as she dawdled through the corridors unconcerned. When she passed through the doorway only to note the absence of Professor Ramsay she decided it would be the perfect time for a ten-second celebration and danced all the way to her seat at the back of the classroom, taking her time getting her things unpacked. She was relatively prepared for class for a change, which most likely had something to do with the rather pleasing fact that Transfiguration met late enough in the day that sleeping in and missing it was only a problem on very rare occasions – the sort of occasions that made the docking of house points worth it.

She had both her quill and her wand – a new record. Her wand was shoved in its usual holster, her ponytail, and her quill was set on the desk. In theory she was ready for anything. In reality, however, she was standing next to her seat shaking her hips to the sound of the celebratory music in her head. It was only the professor’s voice, seeming to have come out of nowhere, that prompted her to jump into her chair, her eyes wide. Considering she didn’t even notice the bird to begin with and had her back turned when she’d transformed, Ramsay’s sudden appearance in the room had Beth questioning her sanity. It was only the hushed chatter of others in the room that clued her in. Even the fact that the professor had been there the whole time wasn’t enough to wipe the stupid smile off of Beth’s face. She was on time and prepared… and frankly, quite proud of herself. Had the professor been sitting there plain as day she just might have danced anyway.

She listened to the professor’s little introduction with legitimate interest. Who wasn’t interested in animagi? Who didn’t dream of becoming one somewhere in the deepest recesses of their hearts and minds? Bethan liked to think that it was possible that one day she might – concealment and disguise was necessary for fieldwork as an auror after all, and as Beth had her fair share of difficulty when it came to being subtle, knowing how to transform into an animal at will just might have come in handy.

“Wouldn’t have minded perusing those records before she bloody scared me half to death,” she hissed to the unfortunate soul sitting next to her with a snicker, still not completely over the fact that she’d been caught so far off guard. And then came the all important discussion question. She had some idea why the registry was a good idea, but before she could push herself to put it into words, there was a Ravenclaw answering at the front of the room. There was always a Ravenclaw answering at the front of the room, wasn’t there? Beth didn’t mind foregoing this one. Monroe was a lot more eloquent than she’d ever be, anyway.

“Makes sense, I think,” Beth piped up from the back of the room once he’d finished speaking, unable to keep her trap shut in this situation, as in all others. “If someone’s going to teach themselves that sort of tricky magic – the human transfiguration, I mean, you know…animagus transfiguration, yeah – then they’re probably a damn powerful wizard, like,” she explained with a nod. “You’d probably want to know who they are if they’re doing that sort of magic. Who’s to say they’re not dabbling in black magic, too? Even the legit stuff is nasty in the wrong hands. I don’t want any dumb bird to pop out and kill me. I’d want to know who they are.”  There was a bit of an edge to her voice, as though she actually believed there was some unregistered animagus somewhere who planned to take a hit out on her. Having already been scared out of her wits by an animagus moments before may also have had a tiny bit to do with it.

As usual Astrid had arrived to class promptly. She was neither the first nor the last student to arrive, but was around with enough time to linger at her desk, talk with her friends and observe the strange bird on the seat. How it could sit so still, so unnaturally still for a wild animal in a classroom of so much chatter. Her things were out on her desk prepared for the lesson many thought was never going to start. For the moment Astrid’s conversations were left without answers or input, many of those talking to her shrugged it off or looked at her strangely, but it was not the first time Astrid left a conversation mid-sentence. Her focus was on the strange bird. Her mind filled with questions about how it sat so unnaturally. Her head tilted to one side, the blond bush of curls fell into her face. She kind of missed her dreads but Neely had done a good job. She brushed it away so as not to distract from the thought pattern.

Since she was so focused on the bird she jumped, dropping her pot of ink on the floor hearing it shatter as she transformed into her Professor. “BLIMEY!” She said loudly and looked around to make sure everyone else saw it and she had not fallen asleep and dreamed it or was seeing things. It was not the first time she had seen things others hadn’t. Being a seer as Professor Grimlish said often made her question the reality of what she saw from time to time. At least the loud shatter of the inkpot made her realise that she indeed was awake and not in a trance of sorts.

“Bugger,” she said as she looked down at the mess. She fumbled for her wand to clean up the mess, but that was not half the problem now she had no ink to take notes. Leaning over to her neighbour, “Can I borrow some ink?” She asked without embarrassment or emotion, she just had an even tone as if it was like nothing had just happened.

Meanwhile the class had settled down and the lesson had started. Many students had some interesting comments. She nodded her head as she listened. “I also assume it would be best to know what forms people took so that if perhaps a mistake had taken place and someone got stuck like that we might have an idea of what happened to them if they say went missing. You know, look for the cat or bird with certain markings and so forth.” Astrid said this feeling at tad silly. “Of course I do suppose having to register is a bit of a pain and having someone know what you are kind of defeats the purpose of why many have that form to go unnoticed.” Astrid shrugged her shoulders. She was talking loudly but the way she sounded was as if she was only talking to herself. “And how would the Ministry know if you didn’t register? It isn’t like when we were young and we had that magical trace on us. So wouldn’t it be easy to keep the fact you can become an animal under wraps? And not all unregister animagus are dangerous are they?"

The other students definitely made some good points, good comments. Though, Ms. Ellis was usually not the type to be right, she had something interesting to say. Perhaps this year she will rise to her full potential-- Then again, Leon always had hopes for people. Insisting on tutoring them, only for them to say no and fail their whole life. Leon bit his lip. This has happened numerous times. Leon didn't understand why they wouldn't want a little help. Especially from someone who knew what they were doing.

“And how would the Ministry know if you didn’t register? It isn’t like when we were young and we had that magical trace on us. So wouldn’t it be easy to keep the fact you can become an animal under wraps? And not all unregister animagus are dangerous are they?"

"... There's plenty of people who haven't." Leon spoke up again, turning slightly to look at the strange girl. Ms. O'Malley and Leon didn't talk very often. But that didn't stop Leon from observing her quirks. "Registered, I mean... There's a spell one can say if they happen to fall upon a suspicious animal... It would transform them into their human form. Other than that, I really don't know..." He paused, he was talking way too much, "How one could... Be... Caught." Leon turned back to the front of the room.

Not that Leon didn't like talking, it just made him nervous. Leon wasn't sure why this was, he had a perfectly fine childhood. One of Leon's voices echoed in his head "You did very good, Leon..." whilst the other murmured that he could have at least told them the spell, or demonstrated it in a full explaining report of how it works and how it would relate to muggle science and the proper chemical formula of how to recreate the spell with that science... And what screams of terror a muggle would make if they witnessed this act would sound like. Leon's bottom lip pushed out in a pout and he ignored that comment.

Grace had entered the classroom with plenty of time to spare after having admonished her friend and roommate to make an effort to be on time as well. Grace had chosen to sit close to the front, not far from where Ravenclaw Leon Monroe was sitting. Knowing him from Quidditch, she decided to make some small talk before class began by saying, "Hey Leon. Congrats on becoming captain of your team and the new Keeper." As a reserve, Grace had loved to watch the Keepers in action and it was safe to say that that she was drawn to anyone who played that particular position. She would probably always cheer for George over anyone else, but even the tomboy in Grace had to admit that Leon was easy on the eyes. If it wasn't for the fact that she would be playing a lot more this year with a specific task in mind (catching the Golden Snitch), she might be content to watch him bat quaffles away.

To him, she said, "I know your team is made finals last year, but just be prepared for us to beat you this season." She flashed him a smile before getting her notebook ready for the class. Grace was well aware that she did flirt with guys. But it usually wasn't a planned thing and if she thought about it too much, she became self conscious and terrible at it. The awkwardness that usually ensued was enough to send her running in the other direction.

Grace sat up a little straighter as more students proceeded to arrive (including Beth who slipped into a seat in the back of the room), which seemed to indicate that the class would start soon. Then, when Professor Ramsey transformed from the bird into her human form, Grace cursed herself under her breath for not even noticing or remembering that she had been told by someone about her ability to do so.

But the teacher had achieved her goal in gaining her attention and Grace's eyes remained rivited on the redheaded professor and what she had to say about Anamagus Transformation. This class had been one that Grace had excelled at from the very beginning and her interest had continued to the present. She had always had great command of her wand in getting it to do what she wanted, save the limitations it presented with certain DADA related endeavors.

After some of her classmates offered their input on the topic, Grace cleared her throat and added, "To piggy back on some of what Leon, Astrid and Beth said, I will add a notable quote that seems to fit. With great power, comes great responsibility. Mastering Anamagus Transformation is symbolic of one's great power over their magical abilities. Some people choose to use their great powers for good. And some do not." She paused and let her words hang in the air, as surely most of the class was aware of those in magical history who fell into each category. Then she continued, addressing Leon's most recent points. "To me, registering with the ministry is a means of credibility. It means a person has nothing to hide. I agree that many unregistered Anamagi may not be dangerous or be involved in the most severe criminal activity. But being an Anamagi shouldn't make a person beyond the laws of the rest of our world. The ability to become something else should not excuse or be able to completely disguise who and what someone really is. " Even as the words left Grace's mouth, she was well aware that the sentiment was all well and good in theory. Pointing to the board where Professor Ramsey had their topic for the day written out, Grace mildly said, "Of course, the standards we all hold ourselves to, for good or for bad, is relative."

Morrigan listened closely as a few students took turns stating their views and opinions.  Moving around her desk she sat on a nearby stool, letting the students have their say.  She wasn't surprised the Leon was the first to speak up.  He was a bright young man, and was well placed in Ravenclaw. 

Good points were brought up.  However, they were the usual statements about the form of Transfiguration.  Grace's response caused her to smirk slightly.  The quote was well applied in this case and she nodded slightly encouraging her to continue.  She seemed to hit the proverbial nail on the head with her assessment.  After all, what seemed wrong to one person might not be so bad in the eyes of someone else.

"A great deal of it does indeed have to do with the standards one holds themselves too," she commented.  "After all, if a dark witch or wizards learns the skill they might not be so concerned about jail time and 'doing the right thing.'  Does anyone think more should be done by the Ministry or should they simply continue on as they've been doing for years?"

George had arrived just when the conversation started to get good. And he checked his watch, suddenly worried he was late. Not too much… Slipping into a seat, he set his blank piece of parchment on the table (that was more than he was used to bringing to class!), unrolled from his back pocket, and slipped the quill out from behind his ear. He winked towards Beth before glancing to the chalkboard. Ethics? He was fairly certain he was getting that out of it. He’d missed the little performance Professor Ramsay had given, which was too bad, really.

He wouldn’t have minded watching her switch into her… self. Scratching the side of his head, he tried not to yawn. This class was well spaced from his lunch that he wasn’t so tired after… And it seemed that he came in at just the right time; they were all debating Animagi. If he’d thought ahead… perhaps he would have brought his book. Nevertheless… he thought Waker would be proud of him, he scribbled down the topic at the top of the page. In fact… he glanced around to look for her.

“-Does anyone think more should be done by the Ministry or should they simply continue on as they’ve been doing for years?”

At this George let out a scoff. His uncle had worked for the Ministry, he’d taken an intern there a couple summers ago, but he still wasn’t keen on so much Government regulations. Perhaps it was the rebel in him. “If they do more, doesn’t that just give them more free reign of what next they want to control and regulate in our lives? Look, if you can’t get someone to register like this, then you aren’t going to easily catch them by making more rules and regulations on the ones who have come forward and registered.”

Sighing, he doodled a little thing on his parchment as he glanced down at it, his free hand resting on his lap. “If anything, that would stop people from wanting to register, right? We haven’t seen a huge problem with unregistered Animagi, right? Or that we know of. It's not like the woodland creatures are coming alive and attacking us into the castle...”

((Since I'm enjoying this, I'm going to keep it going a bit.  If you haven't joined you may still do so.))

"Thank you for joining us, Mr. Carter," Morrigan quipped as the young man took a seat.

At least this time he had a piece of parchment and a quill...it was a step up.  Sometimes she didn't understand why the some of the students couldn't get through their heads all that was expected of them.  It's not like any of the professors asked for anything extreme.  Come to class prepared, participate, remember you manners, and turn in your homework.  That was all she really expected.  It wasn't really so much to ask for, was it?

“If anything, that would stop people from wanting to register, right? We haven’t seen a huge problem with unregistered Animagi, right? Or that we know of. It's not like the woodland creatures are coming alive and attacking us into the castle...”

"There hasn't been a huge reported problem with unregistered Animagi," she agreed.  "Does anyone think perhaps more should be done or are we all in agreement that policies should be left alone?"

She was curious to see if anyone could think outside the box enough to come up with anything feasable.  After all, it was easier to simply 'leave it be' and let the government worry about it.  She wanted to push them to think a bit for themselves and if that meant playing devils advocate or using herself as an example she'd do it.

"Take me, for example," she continued.  "While I am registered with the Ministry, I work at a school where my skills might come in handy for catching those of you who might seeing to test the boundries of our rules.  Should there be strict restrictions on me because of that?"

Maeve had arrived to class in enough time to find herself a seat at the back, pull her class materials out on the desk, and then turn her attention to her nails. She didn't sit in back because she despised participating or wanted to be overlooked. Although the latter was certainly not a bad idea. By sitting in the back, she could pick and choose her ability to jump into the conversation, as opposed to being readily seen and thus called on.

She listened to most of the discussion with half an ear. The laws of Anamagus Transformation were well known in her house, as her father worked with the Ministry of Magic. Maeve saw all the rules and regulations to be quite boring, and many superfluous. Which was why when George finally offered his opinion, she actually stopped filing her nails and sat up a bit straighter. With Ramsey's poignant question, Maeve pursed her lips and raised her hand up slightly with an extended finger to indicate she wished to speak. Not waiting to be called on though, she offered her opinion.

"I can't believe I am actually going to agree with a Mmm--" She was about to say "Mudblood" but stopped herself just in time and instead opted for the more politically correct term instead. "Muggleborn on this." She flashed her classmate a quick, sweet-as-honey smile before she turned her gaze to the professor and continued, "But I do tend to agree more with what he said than the others. There's no need for the Ministry to do anymore than it does now. I mean, really? Do we need them to micromanage everything in the magical world? My father works in the International Magical Law Office and there are so many rules and regulations it's amazing they can keep track of them all."

Maeve rolled her eyes and icily added, "But for all those who worry that it anything the Ministry or those in authority--" she flashed Ramsey a pointed look, "Might do could impinge on their rights, they should turn their attentions to finding ways to outwit them." With a shrug of her shoulders, she plainly stated, "If said obstacles are great, one just has to be greater."

Trent really didn't care for Transfiguration. But, he could still laze about whilst everyone else chatted about the stupid subject. He's even managed to nap for a bit in the class before. Trent wasn't really good at any classes besides Arithmancy, which was quite a shocker to everyone. Including Trent. But he was at least showing up to classes.

This particular class... He was showing up late. Because he was basically always late. With his birthday drawing nearer, the more and more Trent was slacking off. He was quite excited to grow older. Trent opened the door to class and quietly set his stuff down at a back table before sitting. Perhaps the Professor wouldn't notice him. Not that he really cared to get caught, it was that getting yelled at was totally bullocks.

"I can't believe I am actually going to agree with a Mmm-- Muggleborn on this."

As if that girl meant to say 'Muggleborn'. Trent's eyes snapped up and he looked around for the prissy swine who had spoken and he finally spotted her as she pretended to be smart by throwing in her opinion. Trent scowled. The Slytherin girls were all the same. Smug, fancy dressing, cows were what they were. "Stupid bit-" Trent let his voice drop before he said anything he regretted and pulled out the notebook full of emotional poems about how no one understood him. Trent was just a marvelous person.