Almost There || Solo Para
TAGGING → Elliott Gilbert
TIMELINE→ Sunday, March 22nd, 2023- Evening
SETTING → The Room of Requirement
SUMMARY → With a little down time availible, Elliott spends their time after dinner in the Room of Requirement trying to complete their animagus transformation. They fail, but the progress is a nice change of face anyways.
Life was never really simple. It was something Elliott had learned time and time again, and something that Elliott had grown to loathe about as much as they appreciated it. It was exhausting, and stressful and a part of Elliott wished they could just pretend that they didn’t have any responsibilities.
But with NEWTS looming ever closer, with Umbra very slowly growing, Elliott’s stress levels just kept rising. They knew that it probably was only going to get worse and worse, so they’d opted to take a step back from it all for the rest of the day.
A few hours spent curled up by the fire, rereading a book and snacking had been a nice start to the day, but now Elliott was back to work, if only in a different way. Too much slacking couldn’t be done, after all. And it was rare that Elliott got time alone to work on their own projects, outside of school work. The one they had their mind on now was the one they needed it the most for, admittedly but still. Alone time was always appreciated.
Admittedly, normally Elliott had James somewhere in their general vicinity during this, but once in a while it was good to mix things up, right?
That was what had Elliott in the Room of Requirement after dinner, having made an excuse that they were going to go off to write and practice in private. Everyone knew not to bother them when they were busy, after all. And the room could easily enough be asked not to let anyone in, to be sure no one knew that Elliott was lying.
The room was small. Small and dimly lit, with little in the way of things of comfort. Elliott wasn’t much for chairs and luxury, when it came to time to practice. Instead they opted for the little things, a radio in the corner filling the room with the sound of wind through the trees, of creatures moving through the woods. Candles were lit on a shelf high on the wall, filling the room with the scent of trees and fresh air as Elliott knelt on the ground.
None of this was necessary, not by any means. But it kept Elliott in the mood to work, especially moments like this.
An hour of attempted Self Transfiguration was exhausting more so when it was this. Becoming an Animagus was hard work, even with James there most days to coach Elliott through it, to remind them that it was very much possible, and to do most of the research for them. But there was so much that wasn’t research and theory, that wasn’t just knowing what to do but instead actually doing it. There were a great many details to keep in mind, but they had to be handled as one, it had to be fluid
The body had to transform without the mind. The body had to change forms, but Elliott had to keep their mind. It wasn’t a spell, but an ability, and that was made it different and so much better.
This was why most wizards didn’t bother with it, because it took practice and patience, because there were so many better things to do with their time. But Transfiguration was something that Elliott loved, something that they thrived on. It was something that they’d always fully planned on doing -admittedly, by doing so legally- but that had been spurred along by James’s own talents.
Someone had to watch his back, after all. And there was no better way for Elliott to do that than to join him by doing something they’d already planned on anyways.
The thought steadied Elliott as they shifted slowly, straitening up where they knelt on the ground and running a hand through their hair. In a way this was for James, yes, but in so many more ways it was for Elliott too.
So they shook their head to clear it, bracing themself more mentally than physically as they blew out a sigh. They weren’t almost there, but they were closer, at least. Close enough that Elliott could feel the Transfiguration beginning when they tried, bones beginning to morph and change shape in a way that was uncomfortable, yes, but right. Earlier, Elliott thought they’d gotten a glimpse of silver gray fur before they’d lost focus.
It wasn’t enough, but it was progress.
One more time. One more time and then they really would focus on their music, because it had been too long since they had, and because the last thing they needed was to make more progress....And then have to get James to cover because Elliott had ended up with a tail they had to figure out how to remove.
Deep breaths. Focus, but don’t think.
The change would come. It had only been three months, Elliott was ahead of the curve, thanks to James and natural talent at the art. The rest would come in time- it had to.
The transformation began as it always did, the little things that Elliott had gotten the hang of fairly quickly once they’d reached this part. The shape of bones beginning to morph, not snapping or breaking, not reordering themselves, but changing -transforming. It was working yes, but wasn’t nearly progress enough. It wasn’t right or complete. And that was why it hurt as Elliott focused, knowing they couldn’t push too hard without risking botching everything, but not wanting to stop.
Still, when Elliott opened their eyes, mind scrambling to focus on what they saw as the transformation began to reverse with the loss of concentration, they saw their progress clearly enough in a mirror the room had provided.
Normally blue eyes were amber, set differently in Elliott’s face than usual. The shape of their jaw was a little different, as was the set of their shoulders. Their hands looked different and once more there was fur on their skin. Was the shape of their nose and ears a little different too, this time around? And were they imagining that the bones in the lower half of their body had begun to change that time too?
Elliott blinked, laughed a little in shock and when they looked up it was gone. Elliott Gilbert was staring at themself in the mirror, face completely back to normal, without a scrap of evidence that the transformation had even begun in the first place.
But it had been something. More than usual at least, and a part of Elliott couldn’t wait to go back to the dorm, to grab James, drag him where no one could hear them, and tell him the good news.
But first, Elliott wanted to rest, relax and maybe spend a bit trying to get the rid of the tension building at the base of their neck from so many attempted transformations in so little time. Then they could get back to the responsibilities of the real world.
