Our Choices Define Us

A/N:Sorry this took so long! I totally didn't have time! This is the last prewritten chapter =(.

Chapter Seven

“Ugh, we have Transfiguration next, don’t we?” Emily whined to no one in particular.

“Yep!” Harry said cheerfully.

“Why are you so happy to be going to McGonagall’s class?” Draco asked. He was walking alongside Emily, who was next to Harry. Blaise was on the other side of Harry. Theo and Pansy were nowhere to be found.

“I finally get to see the Amazing Emily in action,” Harry smirked and looked over at his friend. She happened to be too busy glaring him to death and didn’t reply. “You see, lovely little Emily can’t do Transfiguration to save her life.”

“Then how did you get pass your O.W.L.s?” Blaise questioned.

Emily froze for a moment. She recovered and lied through her teeth. “I work well under pressure.”

“Oh,”

They had arrived at the Transfiguration classroom and fell silent. They entered the room and took seats near the back. There was no ‘Slytherin side’ as they had this class with the Ravenclaws and got along fine with them. Before they could pick up their previous conversation, McGonagall entered.

“Today we will be starting a project.” McGonagall began class without preamble. She went to her desk and stood in front of it, facing the class. “You will turn a random object into an animal of your choice. This object that you Transfigure will have nothing to do with the animal you will be turning it into.

“For the past years we have been turning things from what it was into something similar. It is much harder to transfigure something into a totally unrelated object, let alone a complex, live one. I would like to see how you handle this.

“You will research the process of changing something into another thing that is unrelated, as well as researching how to turn something into a live creature. I will have random objects in here for you to practice either method on. I would suggest that you practice transfiguring unrelated objects.” She paused and surveyed the classroom. “Why haven’t any of you started taking notes on this?” Noise erupted as the students took out their parchment and quills.

“Now this project is a very large portion of your grade, so it would be in your best interest to take this very seriously. The animal that you will be creating has to be complex, not just a brainless, breathing thing. You will be expected to teach your animal tricks or commands, like a pet of sorts.

“The bulk of your grade will come from how well the animal is transfigured, how detailed it is, and if it has any type of cognition.” McGonagall finished and turned to her desk and reviewed a sheet of paper. She turned back to the class and began speaking again. “There will be absolutely no dangerous or overly large creatures created. I trust that you will use your best judgment when deciding your animal. Magical creatures are allowed. I have books in the far corner of the room, all about the types of Transfiguration you will need to learn for this assignment. It will be due shortly before you leave for the winter holidays.” She sat at her desk and began grading papers.

Noise once again exploded as students conversed about their projects and went to the books.

“Holy shit! I’m totally fucked.” Emily was still staring at McGonagall in wonder. How the hell did this lady expect them to do all that?!

“Why would McGonagall just throw this at us? This isn’t usually how she teaches.” Blaise commented.

“Who the fuck cares? We just got stuck with a huge ass project that I will never be able to get done! I’m going to fail this stupid ass class all because the fuck-head that we have as a teacher is too god damn lazy to actually teach the fucking class. I mean, really! How fucking stupid is this shit! I don’t need a fucking pet!” Emily moaned and put her head in her arms, which were resting on the desk.

“You complain a lot.” Draco spoke up. He was staring at her in a little bit of awe. He didn’t think there was anyone who could bitch about something better than he could.

“And swear,” added Blaise.

Emily looked up at him from the circle of her arms. “Do you possess a dilemma with my utilization of vulgarities?”

Harry chuckled. Whenever people (mostly strangers) commented on how much she swears, she would always say something that contained a few words that showed that her vocabulary didn’t just consist of shit, fuck, damn, ect.

“Yes, as a matter of fact, I do.” Blaise retorted.

“That’s nice,” Emily replied. She got out of her seat and went over to the pile of books that would (hopefully) help her not blow this project.

“Honestly! No one should have to swear that much! How crude!” Blaise said, shaking his head.

“Well it’s not like all she says are swear words. She showed that when she replied to your question. Back off.” Harry defended his friend.

Blaise looked him up and down, debating if he should answer. He settled for turning to his Transfiguration textbook.

Emily came bounding back and jumped into her chair. She had a huge smile on her face and was bouncing in her seat.

“Who gave you sugar?” Harry asked with a raised brow.

“I came up with the perfect way to get back at McGonagall.” Emily replied. She began to merrily flipping through the book in front of her, not even bothering to pay attention.

Harry just shook his head. It didn’t really surprise him that Emily was going to prank a teacher for giving an assignment that she didn’t quite like. “When do you plan on extracting your ‘revenge’?” Harry asked, putting air quotations around revenge.

“Sometime next week,”

“Why would you do something to a teacher because she gave a project that you don’t want to do?” Draco spoke up from the seat next to Harry.

“’Cause that’s how I roll. Besides, with Moldywart being all gay about it and killing people, I think the school could use a laugh.” Emily said and began swaying in her chair. She was beating her index fingers on her desk like drumsticks and mouthing a song.

“Moldywart?” came from Blaise.

“Voldemort,” Harry answered for Emily. She was so wrapped up in her ‘drumming’ that she didn’t hear what Blaise had said. Harry ignored Blaise and Draco’s flinch at the Dark Lord’s name.

Twenty minutes into the class, the group of Slytherins had settled down and was discussing some of the animals they were thinking about creating.

“I think I’m going to make a snake,” Draco pondered out loud.

“Surprise, surprise,” Emily said. She was still bopping in her chair. Draco just glared at her, but it held no malice. “Well, I’m creating a baby snow leopard and I’m going to name her Buggy!” Emily said like she was announcing that she had found a cure to some big disease.

“Buggy? Why would you condemn a poor animal to life of being called Buggy?” Harry teased. Leave it to Emily to name something that couldn’t be farther from a bug, Buggy.

“Yeah, and she’s going to have ice blue eyes, and three rings around her tail, and a streak on her nose, and-”

“Emily?” Harry interrupted. He was slightly confused. “If you can’t do Transfiguration for your life, how do you expect to make an animal that detailed?”

“Hey! Don’t rain on my parade, you jerk!” Emily said. Harry knew that she didn’t mean jerk nastily and didn’t take offense.

Harry didn’t really know what animal to make. He wanted to think on it more as he would be keeping the animal after the project was over. He had heard some kids talking about banishing it once their project grade was in. Harry didn’t see how someone could bring a living thing into the world and then just kill it, which is what they’re doing, creating living, breathing, thinking things. He was going to take care in choosing the type of animal. Besides, he had other things to worry about, like how to get that spell off the Sorting Hat.

A/N: Please, please, please, please review! Every single one brings a smile to my face, the mouse to the Mirosoft Word button, and the fingers to the keyboard! Lol Thank you to all my reviewers, you guys rock!