The Beginning of Training (Finley)

Guest

Veronika woke up early that morning, pressed a kiss to a sleeping Jake's head and made breakfast for the two of them. Well breakfast for her was just toast and strawberry yogurt with sweet tea. It was totally unnecessary for her to get him food, but she'd gotten into the rhythm of preparing breakfast for two. Plus breakfast was super easy to make and she could do it lickety-split. So for Jake she made eggs and toast with some sausage and bacon, brought him up a coffee, and laid in bed with him for a few minutes after. Well more like she made out with him for a bit before pulling away to floo back to Hogwarts to finish grading some papers.

Once she got into her office in her classroom, it was a weekend so she didn't need to be there at the crack of dawn but she needed to be there early to help some struggling Sixth Years. However once she arrived she slapped her forehead as she realized she forgot that the sweet Third Year Ravenclaw, Finley was coming in to talk to her about becoming an Animagus. Quickly she started to clean her desk area up until everything was in neat piles that looked organized before she pulled out a notebook detailing the Animagus process and notes from her training seminar that she'd attended in order to be a licensed Animagi trainer.

She had a pot of English Breakfast tea on the little stove she had in the office and her tea set out when there was a knock on the door. She smiled.

"Come on in," Veronika called out.

Guest

Finley had written to Professor Hollands the moment he'd explained to Naomi and she told him he wasn't going mad. In his letter he had said please more than twenty times, and told the professor that if she didn't want to help him then she didn't have to.

Professor Hollands had instantly agreed to help him, which put her up in joint first place with Professor Ellingston as his favourite professor.

The Friday night before their meeting, Finley had tossed and turned with excitement, only falling asleep when he was completely exhausted. He'd woken up early, and showered, before dressing presentably. Why he'd decided for a shirt, tie and trousers, Finley couldn't say, but he wanted to show the professor he was serious.

After a small breakfast, Finley had crossed the hall and knocked on the professor's door. After hearing her call out, Finley had opened the door and gave the professor a small smile. "G-good morning, P-professor." Finley greeted the witch, closing the door carefully and standing awkwardly just inside the room. He wasn't sure what to say now he was here, and he didn't know how this was going to work. But after a moment, he remembered himself. "T-thank you for a-agreeing to see m-me." He added, waiting for the professor to progress this meeting how she wanted to.

Guest

Veronika found that she could never hate a student ever since she began teaching. She only ever held the deepest endearments for all of her students, and so she was always receptive to helping others. She liked that there weren’t many failing students in her class, rather a majority of them were doing good in her class (she accepted an ‘Acceptable’ as good). With that in mind she was fascinated by Finley’s letter. It was awfully adorable that he was so cordial, but she was awfully nervous to take this on with Finley. Something an Animagi needed was confidence and to be quite frank, of all his skills he was lacking in that department. She pushed those thoughts of her head; Finley would grow into his confidence. She had planned to prolong his training more than a full adult wizard in the hopes that in doing so she could properly prepare him for the process and whatnot.

She could only hope that she did right by Finley.

“Good morning Finley,” she greeted him smiling brightly, “please take a seat. And if you so please considering the fact that I’ll be mentoring you throughout the process for the next few months, if you wish you could also call me Veronika.” She added, but also knew that growing up she had issues not referring to teachers by their proper title.

“Would you like some tea by the way? It's English Breakfast. Before I begin prepping you and informing you of all the facets of training and being an Animagi, I want you comfortable.” She added seating herself after grabbing the pot of tea and the tea set.

Guest

Moving to the front of the room when the professor instructed him too, Finley took off his bag and set it down next to him. He was very nervous, but also very excited about today's lesson, and his eyes showed that completely. He wanted to show the professor that he could do this, but he also wanted to do this for himself, to be good at just one thing in his life.

The comment on calling the professor by her first name made Finley feel a little uneasy, but he decided to try his best. "O-okay, p- Veronika." He replied, trying the name out for the first time. He hadn't know her first name until now, and it was quite a nice one. He took a moment to try to work out whether he should say this to the older witch, but (thankfully) decided against it.

Looking towards the tea pot when he was offered a drink, Finley paused for a moment, thinking about it, and then shook his head. "I j-just ate. And h-had juice." He told the witch, hoping that this was okay, because he hadn't been sure as to whether he should be eating before these lessons or not. The comment on being comfortable was one that made Finley think for a moment, looking towards the professor and wondering if she knew about his inner turmoil.

She couldn't... could she?

"I'm o-okay. I'm just n-nervous, and e-excited." Finley told the professor, giving her a small smile to show he was okay.