Transfigure This (Richard and Senium)

Senium hummed softly as she walked slowly through the woodland path, she had managed to escape for a small while from her home in the small village nearby to go for a walk here. It wasn't often that she managed to get out and about when she was at home, even when she wanted to and was able to, her grandfather stopped her, telling her that she needed to get her strength up.

Of course she listened to him because...well he was her guardian and she loved him. Despite being at odds with his judgement sometimes Senium was happy to do what he asked of her because in the end he knew what was best and what she shouldn't be doing.

Wisdom was something that came with age not youth.

Today however she didn't need to have his permission to go for a walk, now that she was in Hogwarts she could do whatever she pleased, so long as it wasn't against the rules. It was splendid weather, she could almost taste the dew on her lips as she ventured forth through the moss covered tree roots and muddy patches of undergrowth.

Senium didn't expect anything extraordinary to happen, to be attacked by giant spiders like Harry Potter and Ron Weasley but she would be content to simply meet someone she could call 'friend'.

Richard really freaking hated the spiders of the forest.

Staggering into a clearing with quite a bit of his clothing torn and ripped, Richard grinned a little bit at the retreating dark figures of the spiders. He waved a fist of stone at them,

"Ja! Dat ist right! You vill run!" he laughed a little bit before leaning against a nearby tree to catch his breath, "Freaking spiders..."

Groaning a little bit, he sniffed the air and immediately he could tell something was wrong. There was blood and decay in the air and that just wasn't right. Morphing his hand into a blade made out of stone instead of a fist of stone, Richard lowered himself into a crouch before rushing through the brushes, trying to locate the smell.

Bursting out of the bushes nearest the smell, Richard skidded to a halt in front of a student who seemed to have wanted to go for a walk. He blinked a few times, having to shut the supply of magic off to his nose to focus against the smell of decay,

"Er... hallo?" he waved a little awkwardly, a lot more awkwardly when he realised he'd waved with the hand that was currently a stone knife. He chuckled a little bit nervously as he changed it back, "Sorry... I've seen you in the castle but I don't know names very vell yet... Senium?"

Senium couldn't help but squeak in fright when she heard something rushing towards her through the bushes, holding up her wand she waited until it would appear to try and cast any spell at all its way to give herself some time. After all, she didn't think she would even get a letter for Hogwarts this year because she was unable, obviously so, to do any magic apart from Transfiguration and her families genetic magic.

Maybe she could have transfigured it into something?

The thought was a little too late though as the thing came through the bushes, and Senium found out that it was in fact...one of the professors. She didn't know his name however so she didn't know what he taught, maybe it would be one of the lessons that she was actually taking. Would she want that though, given he had almost tried to attack her with his...hand stone...knife thing.

"Bozhe moy! (Oh my God)" Senium gasped, stepping back a little bit before gulping and waving nervously back "Uh...hello professor, I am Senium Nex yes. I am sorry but I have not been introduced to you yet, I am unaware of your name."

Looking back at the hand that he had changed from a stone knife, into a normal human hand, Senium blinked a little bit. Such a feat of magic! It must mean that he was some sort of transfiguration expert, maybe he would be teaching her then? She must remember to be respectful so that she wouldn't upset him.

Richard had to admit that the girl kind of had a right to be jumpy considering he'd been dashing through the undergrowth expecting something big and nasty. Only a few things stank of decay to his magical nose. A werewolf that had just fed and Inferi. And neither of those things was something to be allowed to continue existing around children.

But it was, in fact, a child.

He chuckled a little bit weakly,

"Hallo... my name is Richard Romain." he greeted her with a bright smile, "I teach transfiguration and there's talk of me becoming a head of House but I'm not sure yet..."

He looked around the clearing in interest for a few moments, looking for the source of the decay smell. Nothing at the moment but that didn't mean there wasn't anything there. He smiled at Senium,

"Say Senium... how have you valked in the forest?" he asked her, "Noticed things are strange? Blurred shapes? Maybe... ein bad smell?"

Senium was a little bit shocked when the professor told her his first name, she didn't expect that. She wasn't going to call him by it because that would be simply too strange, she wanted to observe the proper respect for her elders. It was always nice to know though, it made her feel special that she knew something personal about a professor.

The fact that he was German made her a little bit on edge though, she thought that he was going to be involved in the war and she wasn't sure if he was going to be on the side of Hogwarts. Maybe he was a spy or something? If Headmistress Blake thought it was okay then...it probably was and she was worrying for nothing.

"Pleasure to meet you Professor Romain." she smiled softly with a gentle bow, the pulling of her muscles made her wince softly - like a very bad sprain "I shall be taking Transfiguration! It is my favourite type of magic...I hope to be able to become very adept in it by the time I finish my seventh year."

Shaking her head with a small pout of confusion on her lips, Senium thought that perhaps Professor Romain was actually tracking something harmful! Maybe that was why he had appeared as he had done to herself.

"No I am sorry Professor I have not seen anything at all like that. The only thing I have seen since being here is you. Are you tracking something dangerous sir?" she asked, her interest piqued.

Richard could tell that his appearance, his mannerisms and his accent had surprised her to some extent or another. Chuckling a little bit to himself, he looked around the clearing once again. There had to be something in this clearing that was making that god-damn smell! It was too strong to have been something further away.

He bowed his head slightly but was still not blind enough to miss the wince of pain she gave or how stiffly she was moving,

"Pleasure ist mine Senium. Are you okay? You seem to be in pain." he commented with a soft frown, "You can tell me... I am a teacher ja?"

When she showed enthusiasm in his subject her grinned,

"Ah! Vunderbar! I had hoped to run into a student who enjoys my subject." he admitted with a grin, "I am sure you vill be magnificent by the end of the first year Senium."

He frowned a little bit. She really hadn't seen or heard of anything? Well this was going to leave him with a mystery. Shaking his head a little bit, Richard smiled,

"I do not know." he admitted, "I vas led here by the smell of decaying flesh... ist a smell that is most often nich so gutt if you understand. Haste vas of the essence."

Senium couldn't help but think that she had been caught out a little bit here, she had hoped that she would have kept her condition from everyone here for as long as she could. Here she wanted to be just a normal girl who could do normal things without having to worry about pulling muscles, or getting rips and tears in her from doing every day simple things.

Maybe it would be good to have one person know though...it would be nice to know someone could look out for her if something went wrong. Then again, if she told Professor Romain he would surely then tell Headmistress Blake...maybe it would be best to keep herself to herself.

"Ah I actually think I have pulled a muscle in my back, it hurts when I bend down like that. I am certain that it will get better if I rest up." she stated with a small smile on her lips "My apologies if I worried you Professor."

She almost went down for another bow before she realised that was not a good idea. Running her hand through her hair, Senium felt her excitement for Transfiguration running through her body - her mind cast back to the active transfiguration that Professor Romain had done when she had saw him a few minutes ago! It was amazing, she'd never seen it in person before.

"I am ecstatic to see that my new Professor is so good at Active Transfiguration, I hope one day to be able to do this too." Senium shared with a bright smile on her lips.

Nodding her head Senium looked around for something that could be making that smell, before sniffing slightly and frowning a little bit; "I do not smell anything at all Professor, are you sure that you smelt it around this area?" she asked, looking around a little bit puzzled.

She seemed to be a very nice girl but at the same time, Richard had hung around Cobalt enough to be able to tell when someone was lying. If they were a bad liar that is. So that was how he immediately knew that she was lying to him when she said that she had sprained her back. It wasn't far from the truth, he'd bet, but it was enough to still be a lie.

He frowned ever so slightly before waving it off with a slight smile,

"Ah vell you know professors vorry about their students." he grinned a little bit, "I have to make sure you are okay after all. Not like my last job at all!"

He smirked a little bit. Not only did she had a thirst for transfiguration magics but she had heard of Active Alchemy too? She was going to be a transfiguration powerhouse that much was for damn sure! He grinned a little bit,

"Vell if you play your card right und vork vell in transfiguration..." he smirked a little bit, "Let us just say that Headmistress Blake is looking into Apprenticeship programs for students und I have yet to have von."

He frowned a little bit and added some magic to his nose. Almost immediately he had to shut it off and had to swallow some bile in his throat. He paused before looking at Senium with a small frown,

"My nose ist... ist sehr gutt... very sensitive ven magic ist added." he told her quietly, "Und ven I add magic to my nose... the smell... Senium, vat is vrong vith you? Und please don't tell me it's a sprain..."

Senium was happy that the professor was worrying about her, it was nice to know that the professors here cared. Perhaps if she ever had a problem she could come to Professor Romain, it would be good to have someone she could talk to while she was away from her Grandfather. She was sure that he would want her to confide in someone as well if she had a problem and he was unable to be here with her to help.

"What did you do for your last job, professor?" Senium asked with a small smile, tilting her head to one side to regard him in curiosity "I think you would have done something very dangerous, something thrilling...you, you do not have to say of course. You can leave me to my guessing." she added with a soft grin.

The news that there were transfiguration apprenticeship places going for older years made Senium feel on top of the world. It gave her something to strive for. Grinning happily she felt herself becoming more motivated by the second.

"I would enjoy very much being an apprentice of yours Professor Romain, if you believe that I can do it. I know I can though. I will make sure that I am good enough to be the apprentice for someone as talented as you!" Senium gushed a little bit, almost hugging herself in glee with the idea that she could be like Richard one day.

Unable to do anything but open her mouth in shock, Senium's eyes turned soft with dis-pair. That was that dream of being normal gone for the school year.

"I don't know what it is...we think it might be a curse or something...I would really rather you didn't mention it, please Professor." Senium implored.

Richard chuckled a little bit when Senium asked about his last job. Well that was this budding little friendship down the drain now! No one in England had liked the answer yet. Even Briony had been a tad apprehensive about it in the interview and she already read up about what he did. But in the end more harm would come of it if someone else told her. So he just shrugged a little bit and grinned,

"Vell before I vas a teacher I vas in the military." he told her with a small shrug, "In the special forces of the German army... me und a small team vere sent in to be the scalpel und the hammer... cause as much damage und sometimes as little. It vas fun at times, challenging und..."

He paused as he looked at his hands,

"Und it vas nich so gutt fir die soul."

He smirked a little bit when she seemed so happy to know about the apprenticeship program. Grinning a little bit, he ruffled her hair a little bit with his hand,

"If you ver to be my apprentice I vould be a lucky man." he assured her with a grin before nodding, "But ve vould also not limit ourselves to Transfiguration... If you vere villing to try I vould teach you active alchemy."

He frowned a little bit when she spoke about what was wrong with her. Looking at her, he reached out and pulled her into a gentle hug,

"Hey hey, no apprentice of mine vill be begging like that." he told her, poking her nose with a grin, "Ve vill find out together und vork to fix it okay?"

Senium looked at Richard in confusion and she couldn't help but think that he shouldn't be allowed to teach at Hogwarts if that was what he had done in the past - it could be really easy to spy on them now if he was still working for the German Government. Like a triple agent. In the end though Senium realised that she didn't much care about what nationality her new professor was, she was Russian after all.

"I am glad that you have gotten another job then Professor Romain, we should take good care of our souls, they exist long after we cease to do so." Senium stated with a small smile on her lips before widening it cheekily "Besides, I am Russian, I tend not to care so much that you are from Germany, you are not at war with my country."

The affectionate ruffling of her hair made Senium blush softly and she looked up from under her fringe at him with a goofy grin;

"You would be willing to teach me active alchemy?" Senium asked, her eyes bright and sparkling "Why it would be an honour to be able to learn that art, I look forwards to being able to do it myself. I hope that I can impress you enough to become your apprentice sir!"

Of course when Richard pulled her into a gentle hug, Senium felt a twinge of pain run through her anyway as she wasn't quite ready for it, and her muscles had tensed slightly to accommodate the hug. It was...nice though. Gently and very slowly she wrapped her arms around Richard's chest and she hugged him in return.

"W-well...okay. G-great." Senium blinked, smiling brightly at the realisation that Richard might just be able to help her here.