Didymus had not had the best of days. His first day as Transfiguration Professor had coincided with his first class with First Years. He had expected the class to be easy...without incident. However he couldn't of been more in the wrong. Firstly one student called another a bint. Then two Gryffindors started a first fight. One of the Gryffindors left his class and then a young Hufflepuff boy, accidently, sent him flying across the room knocking him unconscious in the process. Luckily one of the Ravenclaws preformed a very skilled spell that brought the Professor around. But it did have a side effect. He couldn't move his left arm. But more importantly his wand was broken.

His arm was easy sorted after he bumped into a fellow Professor in the hall who offered to help him. However the loss of his wand was not something he was please about. Firstly it made the rest of his classes that day incredibly difficult. He had to explain that he was unable to demonstrate the spell he was attempting to teach his students so each lesson became a boring theory. He had owled Olivanders and requested they stay open a little latter. He was planning to leave Hogwarts soon to get a new wand. He didn't want to, his wand was like an old friend, but he had no choice.

Didymus was sitting at his desk, quill in hand, and writing in a small leather book. It was his diary and he was recording the days events. Since his stressful lesson he had been drinking even more tea than usual, the cup he was currently on was some where in the mid 60s. Well at least today wasn't boring; boring is usually worse than dangerous.

He picked up a book on his favourite quiditch team, the Prides of Portee, and began to read, his reading glasses visible above the book. His door, as usual, was wide open allowing any one to enter freely; he had already told many students that there was no need to knock if his door was open.

At first, Peter had been relieved. He'd broken a professor's wand and possibly injured him too, but apparently Tawse hadn't known exactly who had cast the faulty spell. As soon as class was dismissed, Peter had made a beeline for the door and gone straight to his study break. But he'd spent the entire time feeling the increasing weight of guilt pressing on him, and lunch had been no better. He'd hardly touched his food, which just left him feeling guilty and hungry for the rest of the day.

After dinner, he was at least able to take care of one of those problems. But even with a full stomach, he couldn't take the guilt anymore. His belly churned as he trudged towards the Transfiguration classroom door. How many points would Tawse deduct? MacFusty and Collins had each lost 10 for hitting another student. Attacking a professor probably counted for at least 25. Maybe more, since the wand had been broken. He'd probably get a detention too—his first one ever.

With a gulp, Peter stuck his head through the open door. "Um, professor... do you have a moment?"

As he heard the voice of a young boy he closed his diary. Before addressing the young man he picked up the small book and turned around. Behind his desk was his book shelf and he placed the small book at the very bottom shelf, third from the left. He then stood back up, as he had to crouch to place the book where it was meant to be, and turned around. At the door was one of his earlier students. Didymus attempted to remember the boys name from the piece of paper he had given him at the end of the lesson. Something Marcolf. Marcolf was a rather rare surname and easy enough to remember; but his first name was likely something quite forgettable. And Didymus had a knack for forgetting things.

"Um, professor... do you have a moment?"

He walked around his desk to welcome the Hufflepuff. "Absolutely! Come, take a seat." He smiled at the boy. He knew who had thrown him across the room. But he also knew that it had been an accident. He pulled on of the seats from under the desks and sat on it himself. He waited for the young Wizard to pick a seat. As he did he waited for his tea to boil.

His eyes followed Tawse as the tiny professor put the journal away. Peter couldn't help but wonder what he'd been writing about. The fiasco in class seemed a likely candidate. As the professor stood back up, he was reminded of just how small the man was. Even though the first year was a full foot taller than his professor, that didn't really seem to help the situation. If anything, that somehow made it worse.

And the professor was being so nice. Maybe he shouldn't have said anything. It's not like the professor needed to know who had shot him across the room. There was still time to pretend he was here for something else. He hadn't actually said anything yet.

He slid into the offered seat across the desk from Tawse, feeling his heart beating like a drum. "Yeah, I was wondering... about your exam? I didn't know if it was going to be, y'know, more theory or practical... wand stuff." Despite the incident in class, Peter wasn't terrible with his wand, but he excelled more in theoretical areas, although he wasn't bad in Charms. The question had been on his mind, when he wasn't feeling crushed with guilt. It seemed as good a cover as any. He was almost proud of himself for coming up with it so quickly.

Didymus had already decided he wouldn't say anything on the matter. If the boy didn't want to tell him he had accidentally thrown him across the room then he would lay it to rest. However he would be a little disappointed in the First Year Hufflepuff as he had always believed Hufflepuffs were the most honest of the four houses. When ever the Professor was at his home in Scotland he would always offer someone a cup of tea if they entered his home; he thought it would be a good tradition to start as Transfiguration Professor as well. So when a loud whistle, to indicate his tea had boiled he decided to ask Mr.Marclof if he wanted some.

"That's my tea; you don't mind if I go and make it do you?" He added a smile at the end of the sentence and moved towards the fire at the end of the room. Above the fire hung a metal kettle with boiled water inside. He used both of his hands to lift the kettle and proceeded to make himself a cup of tea, pouring a second for Peter and offering him it, "Would you like one?" Unsure of how he took his tea Didymus guessed; milk and two sugars.

"Well the exam will be in two parts. The first will be a paper, so theory, and the second will be a practical examination where you will be asked to demonstrate three or four spells infront of me while I mark your efforts. But don't worry! I would never say your exams aren't important but compared to 5th and 7th years you have it easy."

At the sudden high-pitched whistle of the tea kettle, Peter twitched with alarm. Then, realizing what it was, breathed a sigh of relief. Even though the professor was so nice, the Hufflepuff boy kept waiting to be caught.

"That's my tea; you don't mind if I go and make it do you?"

He shook his head, though Professor Tawse had already gone to make the tea. Squirming uncomfortably in his seat, his hands needed something to do. The something they found was his wand. Of course. They just had to use quills at Hogwarts, didn't they, so he couldn't have had something like a biro in his pocket to fiddle with instead. His fingers traced the spirals; by now he knew every twist and carving, and he hadn't even had this wand a year.

When Tawse placed the tea on the desk, Peter was glad for the distraction. He placed his wand back in his pocket and sipped the tea while the professor explained about the exams. The entire time the diminutive wizard spoke, Peter's stared into his teacup.

Clink.

"Professor I'm the one that broke your wand." The words came out in a flood the very moment Tawse had finished talking. He had set his teacup down abruptly, not knowing exactly when or why he'd decided to tell the truth but there it was, out in the open now. "It was an accident, I wasn't focusing on the spell and I know you need to concentrate and I swear I won't do it again, I mean I've screwed up before but never like that--you can check Professor Ramsay's notes if you don't believe me."

There was hardly a pause or breath in the cascade of Peter's words. When he stopped to breathe, he finally glanced up over the top of his glasses to see Tawse's reaction.

Didymus took a sip of his tea after Peter had finished speaking. "I know," he said simply. "Thank you for coming and telling me the truth; most students would of simply lied in an attempt to avoid punishment. Oooh you won't be punished by the way." He smirked before he continued. "Though if you had done it on purpose I would of turned you into an Otter," obviously he was joking, but he liked to joke, "being an Otter isn't to bad though. I quite like my Animagus form really."

"And I already have an appointment to visit Olivanders later tonight. I'll have a new wand in the morning. No harm done really." Didymus forced a smile. The truth was he missed his wand and he doubted his new wand would never be right for him. However he didn't need to burden a First Year with his own problems and feelings. As the Professor had Peter in his class room he decided to find out how his year was going. He wasn't the Head of Hufflepuff House but he felt closer to them than students from other houses.

He also felt that Peter would like to change the subject.

"So how has your First Year been so far? I remember my First Year, a mix of amazement and a feeling of being overwhelmed. Luckily I already knew about Magic before hand." The Professor took another sip of tea as he waited for Peter's reply. As he starred up at the boy he realised how strange the situation would look to an onlooker. One very small teacher, with rather eye scarring colours, sharing a cup of tea with a boy who was obviously older but considerably taller.

He had often wondered if students would respect him or not, wether they would ignore him as they were larger than he was.

He... he knew? And he wasn't going to punish him? Peter wasn't sure if he was more relieved, or angry at all the stress he'd gone through for nothing. Fortunately intellectual curiosity managed to win out over both for the moment. "Animagus form?" The word sounded vaguely familiar; he'd probably skimmed it in one of his books somewhere, but he was quite sure they hadn't covered it in class yet. And what did the professor mean about being an otter? He was so engrossed in wondering what an Animagus form was that he almost forgot to answer he professor's question.

"So how has your First Year been so far?"

"The year's been very... exciting." That was a good, neutral word for it. Honestly he had never had a more exciting year, running the gamut from everyday things (for wizards at least) like owls delivering mail, to the far more serious and dangerous, like werewolf attacks and a teacher being splinched. "A mix of amazement and a feeling of being overwhelmed" was a very apt description.

"Animagus form?"

"Hmm yes. An Animagus is a wizard or witch who is able to turn into an animal that best represents their inner traits and personality.  We don't usually cover animagi for a few years as we don't want younger students running around attempting to transform into animals; it can be extremely dangerous, I was taught the art while working at the Ministry. And subsequently I have been able to transform into an Otter at will." The Professor made a fist from his small hand and yawned into it. "Please forgive me Mr. Marclof, long day and everything." The room was getting rather heated for the Professor's tastes. He was used to the cool breezes and Ice Waters of his Island home. If his wand was working he would open the windows and turn down the fire from where he was sitting. Unfortunately he was a bit...well short to open the windows without his wand. So he decided to roll his sleeves up to allow his forearms to breath.

"It gets...I was going to say normal but that just isn't true. You do aclimatise though. By the end of the year you won't want to go home and won't be able to get back for your second. Forgive me for prying, and if you would rather not answer this question then that is fine, but do you have any younger siblings? Perhaps they will join you one day."

As the professor explained what an Animagus was, Peter had to work harder and harder to suppress a grin of giddy excitement. That sounded awesome. Remembering his tea sitting on the desk, he started sipping it again so he'd have something to hide behind if he started grinning uncontrollably. He'd already lost his cool in front of the professor; he couldn't have it happening again. One had to maintain some measure of decorum after all.

"It gets...I was going to say normal but that just isn't true. You do aclimatise though. By the end of the year you won't want to go home and won't be able to get back for your second." Peter had to agree to that. Hogwarts ever seeming normal just didn't seem possible. And it was also true that, while he missed his parents and his friends at home, he was starting to feel very comfortable at Hogwarts. And sometimes he had the odd fear that when he went home, all of his would turn out to be a dream, or that they wouldn't let him come back. "I'm already excited for next year, professor." He allowed himself a demure smile, rather than the ridiculous grin he'd fought back earlier.

"Forgive me for prying, and if you would rather not answer this question then that is fine, but do you have any younger siblings? Perhaps they will join you one day."

Though a professor asking after his personal life wasn't something he was terribly used to, what with teachers like professor Austerlitz, the boy couldn't imagine why he wouldn't want to answer. There was nothing embarrassing about the question. "No sir," he shook his head. "I'm an only child." He briefly wondered if the professor had any siblings himself, but a student asking a professor a personal question was another beast entirely.