I solemnly Swear That I Am Up to No Good

[alt_terry]

I have my finger back.

I've never been so happy to see my own finger.

I was dead lucky. the git never noticed a thing. Well, except for the Firewhiskey bottle i left out for him on the table.

The calming spell I put on myself helped. And with the notice-me-not spell, I actually had forgotten about it by the time I went to sleep! (Weird, huh?) It was back to normal this morning.

I think I have to be real careful about when I do this from now on. Sometime when I figure he's going to be gone for several hours. Just in case.

And of course, that assumes I'll ever get up the nerve to try it again. It was really really scary when I couldn't change it back.

Comments

[alt_ron]

Good show, mate.

Glad it's back to normal, but really, really well done you got that claw to

what's the right word for it?

that you got a claw to happen, y'know? You're going to figure out the whole transformation any day now!

[alt_terry]

The word I thought when it happened was 'erupt.' That claw just sprang out of my fingernail. I was so surprised I almost shrieked. It felt like...well, like nothing I've ever felt before. It started with a sort of tingling, and then another feeling I can't describe. Maybe a sort of...tickling--no. Not physical. I guess it's a sensation rippling through my magic.

The thing is, right when I looked down and saw the claw, that preliminary tingling was starting in my other fingers on that hand, too. So I guess I might have even gone further with the transformation if I hadn't sort of stopped everything dead when I saw the claw. Don't know how I did that either. I guess I just got distracted and lost it, whatever that power was.

Not sure that makes any sense.

[alt_luna]

We're relieved things are all right for you.

If it hadn't been for Carrow, perhaps it would have been rather interesting to have it stay that way. You could perhaps do things with a claw that you can't with a fingernail. Sharpen quill points, perhaps?

[alt_terry]

What an idea!

No. I think I prefer all or nothing.

[alt_neville]

What colour was the fur, Terry? I don't think you said. Was it curly, or straight?

[alt_terry]

It wasn't kinky, or curly. Short enough to be smooth by the toes, and then long enough to sort of, uh, flop in any direction. Sorta silky. Not particularly pretty, though. It was a mixture of colours: some sort of cream, and some strands were dark, almost charcoal, so altogether it looked like almost a dirty grey.

[alt_ron]

Toes?

I thought it was on your hands? Were you getting fur all over, then?

Ew. I mean, that just-

Yeah, mate, you need to get on with it so it's a real transformation, not just a bunch of hair all over and some claws, 'cause that's just- not a good look.

[alt_terry]

Oh, yeah. It WAS my hand, but when I saw the claw, I started thinking 'paw,' and I guess I think of animals with paws as having four feet, rather than two hands and two feet. If that makes any sense.

But I still have no idea what sort of animal I was turning into. It's kind of unnerving feeling, knowing that, well, I have the potential to be something else, something real different. But I just don't know what it is yet. Even if it's inside me.

[alt_terry]

And no, I was just sprouting fur on that one finger.

Maybe I'd better learn a depilatory charm. Just in case.

[alt_ron]

Hahahahaha!


Oops. Nearly got detention for that.

[alt_ron]

Sure it does. Magic's always like that: if you get surprised or you think, 'that can't happen', then you lose the spell and have to start over.

I mean, it happens to firsties all the time, and even now in Transfig it sometimes happens to me when something happens that I wasn't expecting.

In Charms and Defence and other subjects that use spells, it doesn't happen much now because I don't have to think about how casting works anymore, I just know.

Mind you, that doesn't mean spells don't go pear-shaped anymore, 'cause they definitely do. And sometimes it takes yonks to get a new Charm to work at all, but it's different now, and when they do finally go, they just pop like any other spell.

You'll get it to go soon, though. I'm dead sure of it.