Aud was running late. She'd had a difficult time extracting herself from Fi. Not that her girlfriend (that phrase still made her smile) didn't want her to go, once she'd understood about the meeting (that in and of itself took some doing), she had encouraged Aud to go, but she'd felt so guilty leaving her there, in the dorm, bleary and confused.
In the end, she'd left, obviously, rushing up towards the seventh floor, her mind occupied with thoughts of Fi. Everyone else was there when she entered, moving instinctively beside Sam and watching in awe as Seamus demonstrated his news.
She worried as she made her way into the stall Seamus had pointed her towards, setting her clothes down and biting her lip. He'd said it was about confidence, about clearing your mind, but how could she do that when Fiona hadn't slept in days?
Peering at herself in the mirror, she wondered what would happen if she couldn't change. If she just walked out and everyone else was little and furry and she couldn't -
She stopped herself. That wouldn't help anything. She could do this. It wasn't any harder than any other spell she'd ever done before. Tugging the stopper out of the flask, she downed the pain potion Seamus had handed out and concentrated.
Or tried to, at any rate. Her mind kept slipping back to Fi, trembly and unfocused and her heart ached with worry. In a desperate attempt, she closed her eyes and tried, feeling her ears grow, her nose start to elongate, but that was it.
"Damnit," she cursed, under her breath, kicking at the wall. Seamus had said he'd seen his family and friends hurt and that was what had pushed him to transform, so she tried to use the image of Fi. Focussing on her girlfriend, she closed her eyes and concentrated, pushing past the pain and the decidedly uncomfortable feeling of her bones reshaping and then, all of a sudden she blinked and was face to face with the bottom of the mirror.
She'd done it! She'd changed! She gave an excited little hop and scurried up to the mirror. It took her a moment to acclimate to having four legs instead of two and her first few steps were wobbly and windy but she quickly got the hang of it, clambering up the frame and hanging over the side in an attempt to see herself. The shock of seeing her new face tumbled her back off the frame and she instinctively curled, rolling along the floor before she gathered herself and scurried out into the room.
The first person (animal, now!) that she saw was Sam, bounding over to her and flipping around. Aud grinned, but wasn't sure if it translated to her tiny face and gave a little hop in response to Sam's flip, giddy beyond belief.