After Hours Meeting (Amity)

Coming back to Hogwarts was hard, but she had promised herself that she was going to act normal. She was not going to let anyone know exactly how much she was hurting, or how much she was broken on the inside. She was mending, yes, but it still hurt event moment she was awake. Patrolling duties had been a good distraction, a reason for her to get out and about. Sitting idly around did nothing more than cause her to remember, and she had volunteered for more hours than she had been given.

It was past curfew, and Brooke was alone, walking around and around the empty halls. The silence was peaceful, although she couldn't help but wish for some interaction with people. But she couldn't afford any, not with the way things were going. It seemed everyone she met, everyone she made friends with got hurt. Maybe it was her, maybe it wasn't, but she couldn't help but wonder if it was her.

With a sigh, she checked her watch, realizing she still had an hour left for her duty. Reaching a dead end, she turned around, retracing her steps.

Amity scurried along quickly. Her face had begun changing again at nighttime and she ran out quickly before any of her dormmates could see. She hoped she didn't run into anyone before she reached a bathroom but, alas, luck was not on her side today.

She ran full force into a prefect who had just rounded the corner she was going to turn down and fell to the ground. Her hands had fallen from her mangled and twisted face for a single instant before she covered it again with her hands. She knew the damage had been done, though.

"I'm sorry for bumping into you," she mumbled with her porcelain hands muffling the sound even more than her suddenly quiet voice and she turned to run back the way she came.

Just as she was turning the corner, she felt someone slam into her. With a loud thud, she hit the ground, turning her head to try and see who was out. Catching sight of a mangled face, she instantly recognized it as one of a metamorphamagus who had not yet gotten full control over the abilities. Her parents had told her a few stories of her when she was younger, and had even showed her a picture of it while they were teaching her the importance of learning how to fully manage the changes.

"I'm sorry for bumping into you,"

"No, no, it's fine," Brooke said quickly, standing up. "There's no need to run away," she added. For now, she wouldn't bring up the fact that the girl was out of the common room after curfew. She did not recognize the Ravenclaw before her, and figured it was someone new. "What is your name?"

"What's your name?"

"A-Amity," the brunette squeaked, still covering her face. Her parents had warned her that she could stay away from unwanted attention if she hid her abilities. Metamorphmagus' didn't need to be registered until they were of age. "I'm really sorry for bumping into you! I wasn't watching where I was going. Sorry!"

She peaked her green eyes between her fingers at the prefect. She appeared to be a Gryffindor, judging by the lion on her robes, but her hair was dyed a bright green. This made Amity curious, wasn't green supposed to be Slytherin's colours? Maybe this girl defied the interhouse tensions as well.

"A-Amity,"

"Nice to meet you. I'm Brooke," she replied. At the apology. She shook her head with a small laugh. "No harm done, don't worry about it, Amity."

Watching the girl with some curiosity, Brooke wondered what she could do to help. She needed the Ravenclaw to know she wasn't going to make fun of her appearance, nor was she going to judge her.  Seeing the girl's eyes peeking out at her, she looked directly at them and gave the younger girl a small smile.

"Watch," Brooke said softly, before focusing on the colour of Amity's robe - a beautiful shade of blue - and willing her hair to change. A few moments later, she felt the completion of the changes and gave Amity a small wink. "There's no need to hide. You're in safe company," she continued, changing her hair back to the original green.

Amity's green eyes widened and her hands slid away from her face a little.

"Y-You're a metamorphmagus," she whispered. She was still a little scared of showing her face but that fear had lessened around the other metamorhmagus.

"You couldn't...you know...teach me how to get rid of this, could you?" Amity asked hopefully as she showed her whole disfigured face to Brooke.

"Y-You're a metamorphmagus,"

Without taking her eyes off of Amity's, Brooke nodded, confirming the girl's statement. Hopefully she would now realize that Brooke meant no harm, and would trust her.

When the Ravenclaw finally revealed her distorted face, Brooke smiled at her, not surprised or shocked at the disfiguration. "I'll try my best," she replied, knowing that she could give her the theory, but it would be up to the willpower of the girl to actually perform the changes.

Looking around, Brooke added, "Shall we move to a quieter location?" She led Amity to an empty classroom, closing the door quietly behind her and taking a seat at a random desk. Although the rules were clear about curfew times, she couldn't bring herself to send the girl back to her dorm looking like that. Besides, Scarlett had done the same for her, and she had been head girl! Kindness was something Brooke had been brought up to give, and it was something that could never be taken away from her, no matter how broken she was.

"Are there any questions you want to ask first?"

"Are there any questions to ask first?"

Amity shook her head, eager to learn how to control her powers. A question popped into her head.

"Actually, yes. What you're teaching me isn't the spell my parents used to use, is it?" She flinched at the thought. After using the spell she would be in excruciating pain and her mom would spread a little Paralysis Potion on her to freeze her face for the rest of the night.

At the mention of spells, Brooke frowned, noticing the girl flinch. She didn't know what her parents used, but she had never heard of any spell before, her parents merely having taught her how to control it. She shook her head a few times, still trying to figure it out. "Spells?" she asked bluntly, before she could stop herself. "What spells?"

Before Amity could answer, Brooke continued. "No, no spells." For some reason the younger girl looked terrified at the thought, and Brooke could only wonder at the type of 'training' she had undergone. "I'm going to try to teach you how to control your abilities so you have complete say over what changes occur. Is that okay?"

Amity was a bit worried about what her parents would say to what Brooke was teaching her. They always said to hide her abilities, that they were given to her by accident. But Amity couldn't control the excitement that came with being able to alter her appearance at will. She nodded to Brooke.

"I can live with that," she grinned. Then she immediately stilled, realising that her grotesque face probably looked even more disfigured with the grin.

"I can live with that,"

Brooke laughed, grinning back at her, before suddenly realizing she didn't know how to teach. She had always been good at learning, but could never really teach anyone anything. Thinking for a few moments, she finally decided how she would begin. "Let me start with the basics," she said slowly, going through what she knew in her head. "A metamorphmagus is rare. Not many people have this ability, and it makes people like us special, in a good way. Our abilities enable us to do things that other magical folks can only achieve with spells or potions. It is a gift, so never think otherwise."

She paused, letting the girl absorb this information before continuing. "All we need to learn is how to control it. That's the hard part, to be honest. It takes a lot of focus and concentration, but once you have that practised, you can do anything you want."

As a means of showing Amity exactly what she meant, Brooke started growing out her hair, changing it to a bright shade of yellow. A few moments later, she reduced it to a bob-style, this time, making it jet black. She returned it to her original style before focusing on her eyes, turning them to a greyish shade, blue, and then back to the brown. She would have shown her more, but the quick changes were giving her a headache, so she stopped to rest. "I can't do too many or I feel ill," she explained with a smile. "I'm still learning myself."

"Any other questions or shall I try to teach you?" She chuckled slightly, wondering how the girl was doing so far.

Amity gazed in awe at the prefect who made her appearance change. Oh, how she wanted to do that.

"I can't do too many or I feel ill."

Amity nodded, that seemed reasonable. After all, special powers such as these should have limitations as well.

"Any other questions or shall I try to teach you?"

Amity immediately shook her head, eager to learn what the prefect had to teach her.

"Thanks for doing this," Amity smiled. Her voice was still small but she didn't should shy or scared anymore, which she assumed was a step forward. "I really appreciate it."

At the word of thanks, Brooke just smiled. "Of course, anytime," she said softly. Motioning to the seat opposite her, she invited the girl to sit down. "It might take a while," she explained with another smile.

"Okay, let me see. Changing your appearance is actually easier than it may seem. All you need to do is focus really hard on a particular area you want to change," she paused, wondering which would be a good place to start.

Thinking back to her own lessons with her dad and mum, she figured she might as well just copy what they did with her. "Let's try your hair, then," she said. "I want you to close your eyes and picture it hanging just above your shoulders. Once you've got that image in your head, I want you to add a colour to that image. Let's start with a common colour, black. Imagine your hair at your shoulders, pitch black and hanging loose. Then will it for yourself. Want it, instruct your hair to follow the picture in your mind."

As she waited to see if the girl could manage it, she hoped she was explaining it well enough. "Don't worry if you can't get it your first try," she quickly added, remembering suddenly that it had taken her a few tries. But she had been young at that time, and she figured that Amity would be able to do it at that a be without too much trouble.

Amity closed her eyes and pictured her hair. She saw it receding back into her head, the dark brown darkening and becoming a pitch black. It stopped at her shoulders and the flick at the end straightened out as if there had been no curls there before. Amity opened her green eyes again and looked towards Brooke, hoping to judge from her reaction if she had doe it or not.

"Did it work?" she asked when she couldn't discern Brooke's facial expression.

Watching Amity, Brooke smiled as she saw the hair shrinking back, but it stopped before shoulder length, although the colour was perfect. "Almost, but the length is still a bit long." Brooke was not going to lie to Amity and tell her she had gotten it when she hadn't completely fulfilled everything. "But that was amazing! It took me ages to get it!"

With another smile, Brooke continued. "Now, let's try something more complex. I want you to try imagining your face exactly the way you want it. The eyes, the nose, the mouth, everything. But don't will the change just yet. Focus on the way you want your face to turn out and then will one part at a time. So, for example, I have my preferred face pictured in my mind, and I go step by step, starting with, let's say, my eyes. I'll will just my eyes - and nothing else - to change. After that, I'll move on to my nose, and so on."

"Can you try that for me?" Brooke encouraged, hoping she wasn't rushing into things too fast.

"Can you do that for me?"

Amity nodded with a determined look on her face. She closed her eyes and once again pictured herself. Her appearance had altered slightly, though. Her normally large nose was petite and her freckles had disappeared. Her eyes were stormy grey and her hair was a pixie cut and blonde, it was ruffled and stuck out towards the ends like someone had chopped the hair from a pony tail but it also looked like it was meant to be like that. Her face looked the way she always said she'd look if she could use her metamorphmagus abilities properly.

She opened her eyes, knowing that she hadn't changed her appearance yet.

"When should I start changing?" she asked Brooke excitedly.

Brooke waited patiently as Amity closed her eyes. She still couldn't help but wonder at what the girl had said earlier about spells, and the look of fear that passed over her as she mentioned it. Making a mental note to ask her parents about such spells, she pushed the thoughts aside for the time being when the Ravenclaw opened her eyes.

"When should I start changing?"

"Whenever you're ready," Brooke answered immediately. "There's no rush. Let the image fill your mind and then start the changes, one at a time." Again she emphasised on the importance of doing it step by step. "Don't rush it, take your time." She nodded encouragingly and smiled yet again, waiting for the girl to start.

"Don't rush it, take your time."

Amity nodded and closed her eyes again, this time she began to slowly will the changes to happen. She willed her eyes to change colour, when she felt that was finished, she willed her face to shift back to normal. Once that was over, she was already panting from the excursion and she began to feel the nagging headache she was so familiar with. She felt her nose becoming smaller and willed her freckles to disappear. Then she felt her hair receding again and imagined it a sunshine yellow colour. She opened her eyes and smiled at Brooke.

"How's that?" she asked hopefully.

The girl closed her eyes agin, and Brooke watched as the changes took place. After a few minutes, a beautiful girl was looking back at her, and Brooke grinned. "That was perfect," she exclaimed. "It took me forever to get that good. You have a real talent for it!"

Leaning back in the chair, she looked Amity over. "Your head might hurt for a while, but after some practice you'll be able to do more without the effects."

She paused, wondering if she should send the girl back to the dorm, but remembered how Scarlett had treated her, and decided against it. "So, tell me about you, Amity," she said, wanting to keep conversation going. Merlin knew she needed a reason to escape from her own thoughts.

"So, tell me about you, Amity."

"There isn't much to tell," Amity replied, much more relaxed around the older girl. "My life has pretty much been one big secret. I couldn't tell my dad's Muggle family about magic and I wasn't allowed tell my mom's Pureblood family about being a metamorphmagus. In all honesty, I rarely had contact with them. I've also never had a friend in my life," she smiled sadly but laughed, tried to cover it up. "That's pretty sad for an eleven year old, isn't it?"