Oh, I see. *doesn't but hopes that that will be the last he has to hear about it, and makes a mental note to look it up later* *notices that Q doesn't mention his father, and files that away for future pondering, too* *casts a reverse-translation charm around their table -- they can still continue to converse in English, but anybody listening in (deliberately or not) will be hearing them in speak in one of whatever languages they don't understand, and which works past Margate's weird language-ness* I don't know what happened to you. I know a little bit about what is believed to have happened to the person who shares your name where I come from, but that may not apply to you. If -- and only if -- you think it's relevant, you'll need to tell me.
Much easier to get when you're an adult, and even easier still if you're a potions apprentice, I should think. *shrugs* But if you don't want to see what your form is likely to be, then there's no need to discuss it.
*lost, but polite* Perhaps some other time.
Oh, I've read that. *grins* And no, the change only hurts if you try to resist it. But when you transform, you're the one inducing the change. You can't normally do that and resist it at the same time, so it doesn't hurt.
*thinks* Well, the first thing to practice is Transfiguring an animal into a different animal, but in a way that it retains the consciousness of the first animal. So... Transfiguring a kitten into a frog, say, but having it still behave as a kitten.
Hee! Sirius, on the other hand, is totally lost when it comes to Muggle popular culture. Or Muggle anything, really. He knows a handful of things (like Wizard of Oz) through being... friends... with Remus, but apart from that, he never really had the time or the inclination to get into it :D