"Ha! Beat you!" Blake said triumphantly from one of the seats in the Transfiguration classroom as Lilleth and Piper walked in.

"Aww, nuts." Piper groaned.

"What is happening?" asked Dennis, who was sat next to Blake.

"Don't ask." said Lilleth, grinning. "It's a sibling thing."

"Every single day in primary school, Blake was late to class." said Piper, folding her arms across her chest. "So we made a bet that he would be late today."

"Why would you make that bet with him?" asked Lilleth. She took a seat on the other side of Dennis and placed her bag down on the floor while Piper took a seat next to her brother. "The reason he's here is because he knows that he'll win. You should have made it with someone else, then you'd know you'd win."

"See, Lilly understands my smartness." said Blake smugly, elbowing his sister playfully. "Now come on, pay up."

"I'll give it to you when I go back up to the dorm." said Piper, rolling her eyes.

"Changing the subject ever so slightly." said Dennis. "Is it just me who still feels kind of cold after last night?"

"Actually, a little bit." Lilleth agreed. "You're lucky though, you got rescued by the giant squid."

"Colin was so impressed." Dennis bragged. "And he introduced me to Harry Potter after dinner."

"I wish I'd met him." said Blake, sighing. "Didn't he kill a massive snake last year?"

Lilleth stayed quiet.

"You know, I heard he's a bit of a tosser really." said Piper casually.

A small smirk crossed Lilleth's face.

"I heard he lets spiders live in his socks because he's made friends with them." she said, trying to stop herself from blushing. "And he's a really bad swimmer."

"Where did you hear that?" asked Dennis curiously.

"Oh, you know, just around." said Lilleth, shrugging.

Luckily, they were saved from continuing the debate about Harry by something suddenly appearing on the teacher's desk, and Lilleth realised with horror that it was Mourka. But it wasn't only him. There was also another cat sat there, a tabby, with rectangular markings around her eyes, and Lilleth knew instantly from stories Harry had told her that this was in fact, Professor McGonagall. Mourka padded across the desk and sat down next to the tabby cat, who looked thoroughly unimpressed.

The students who had gathered in the room watched as the two cats appeared to have a conversation, sat on the desk, and some of them couldn't help a snort of laughter as they watched.

After a few minutes, Mourka hopped down off the desk and stalked over to Lilleth's desk, jumping up and taking a seat straight in front of her. She rolled her eyes and picked him up, placing him on her lap and stroking his fur gently.

It was then that Professor McGonagall hopped down from the desk and transformed back into a person, looking around at their awestruck faces with something that seemed to be a mixture of exasperation and boredom.

"Welcome to Transfiguration." she said in a snippy voice. "Before we begin, Miss Black-Lupin, your little friend has instructed me to inform you that he is in fact eight months old and hasn't been adopted because he didn't like the look of anyone else."

Lilleth went bright red, but she still smiled slightly down at her cat and scratched him between the ears, much to his pleasure.

"Now, if you don't mind, I would rather your friend vacate my classroom while I am teaching." said Professor McGonagall, eyeing her sternly.

"Yes, sorry Professor." said Lilleth, and she hastily got to her feet, still holding Mourka, and walked to the back of the classroom. She opened the door and placed him down on the ground, waving him away, and then went back to sit in her seat, still blushing furiously.

"Transfiguration is one of the hardest branches of magic you will learn whilst at Hogwarts." said Professor McGonagall, continuing as if nothing had happened. "You must focus, pay very close attention, and not allow your studies to be overridden by anything else. Not only is Transfiguration difficult, it is also very dangerous should it go wrong. Anything caught messing around in my class will leave and not come back. Is that understood?"

There were a few odd mumbles of 'yes Professor' from the Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors gathered in the classroom.

"Today, you will get a taste of the difficulty of Transfiguration with one of the simplest of spells. Turning a match into a sewing needle."

Matches suddenly appeared in front of all of them on their desks, simple wooden ones like the ones that Aunt Petunia had taught Lilleth how to use to light the candles in the dining room for formal occasions.

"Now, can anyone tell me the incantation for this spell?" asked Professor McGonagall, folding her hands in front of her. Her stern gaze roved around the room, picking out each and every one of them in turn, until they finally settled on one of the Hufflepuff boys – the one who had questioned the vinegar at the Hufflepuff common room entrance. "Mr Parker. Perhaps you could tell me?"

The boy blushed bright red and shook his head.

"Sorry Professor. I don't know it." he admitted.

"Well, thank you for being honest." said Professor McGonagall, and her lips twitched in what might have even been a small smile. "The incantation is 'par acus'. The next time I ask this of any of you, I expect you to know. And the movement is a simple tap onto the matchstick. Again, this is not an easy spell as it requires an exact movement, but I expect you to be able to accomplish it by the end of the lesson."

The class all got out their wands and began pointing them at the matches, and shouts of the incantation quickly filled the room.

"Par acus." said Lilleth, gently tapping the matchstick with her wand.

It appeared to be a very different method to some of those around her: Piper was poking it carefully with her wand; Blake was trying to stab it forcefully whilst saying the incantation rather loudly; Dennis was... Lilleth wasn't entirely sure what Dennis was doing. He was whacking the tiny little match with his wand with such force that it almost broke in half several times.

Suddenly, there was a loud bang, and everyone in the classroom jumped. Lilleth turned around to see Ella staring at her desk, covered in soot and looking very shocked at the scorch mark on her desk. Her hair had blown out around her and appeared to be standing on end from the very force of the explosion. She was completely frozen still, her wand still held up by her head, her eyes wide. Small giggles erupted throughout the classroom and McGonagall pursed her lips disapprovingly.

Mira, who was sat next to her, slowly raised her hand into the air.

"Professor, I think we might need a new match over here."