Harry Potter and the Lost Half-Bloods. *1*

Frank

I have a totally, *cough* rhetorical question

FRANK: I had a slight, slight problem.

By slight, of course, I mean gargantuan. Possibly elephant-sized, but who knows, I hadn't tried that yet.

The second the feast was over, I cut Will off during one of his long-winded rants about the ignorance of Friar Laurence, whoever that was, and I rushed straight to McGonagall's office. I assumed the door was locked, she was probably still on her way back from the feast. You see, you should never, ever doubt the power of Minerva McGonagall. For as I was standing outside of her office, awaiting her return from the feast, a stern voice called from inside.

"Please, come in!" Nervously, I opened the door. She greeted me with a look of surprise.

"Mr. Zhang! I assume you haven't lost your way to the Hufflepuff common room? Prefects are supposed to be leading first years up to their dormitories!"

She picked up her teacup from the desk, which looked scorching hot, and sipped from it like it was nothing.

"No, actually professor, I needed to speak with you for a moment. And don't worry about the students! The other prefects are helping out with the students. Just in case my absence was a burden, I asked Will Solace to help as well, though he isn't a prefect, he's trustable." That wasn't a lie, though my request to Will probably went right over his head. He was a distracted lad. One minute you could be talking about a potions essay, and the next he was totally geeking out about something. The good thing about Will is that he found interest in something new nearly every day.

"Brilliant. Do sit down, you're making me dizzy with your fidgeting." It was a nervous tick many of my housemates had pointed out on countless occasions. I was always pacing, tapping my feet, or shifting my weight from foot to foot. I was never standing perfectly still. Will always joked around and said it was my, "battle instinct."

"Sorry, professor." I took a seat across her desk. She pulled out an extra tea set from under the desk, she was always prepared.

"Care for a cup of tea?" She offered.

"No, thanks." Call it a strange fear, but hot things made me nervous. Hot drinks, hot water, hot girls, (ignore that previous comment), and especially fire.

She set down the cup back under her desk.

"Well, speak son! What's on your mind? I have timetables to proofread and only one night to do so!"

Okay, so this bit was a lie. I felt guilty about lying to Professor McGonagall. Especially because she was my favorite teacher in this school. But what was I supposed to tell her?

"I was in a bit of a dispute with a classmate of mine over something that is actually quite silly, and I thought you may know the answer to this dispute."

"And why could this dispute not have waited until tomorrow morning, during our scheduled class, Mr. Zhang?"

I felt my face redden.

"I-I dunno, I just-"

"Alright, you're already here. Let's not get worked up. What was this dispute about?"

I had gone over how to word this in my head one hundred times now. No, two hundred times! I had to ask.

"Can a child be born an Animagus?" She stared at me for a long moment, with a blank stare. Suddenly, she laughed. That was something I hadn't seen McGonagall do very often.

"A child can't be born an Animagus! Just the thought of it is ridiculous. To be an Animagus requires years of training, perseverance, and a lot of unnecessary paperwork!"

"I understand that, professor. But rhetorically, say this Animagus just naturally developed the abilities over time? Maybe it could be possible. I mean, it is a big, magical world with infinite possibilities!"

"The day it is announced somebody was born an Animagus is the day I will permanently live the rest of my life out as a feline! You see, the idea is ridiculous." She chuckled to herself. "Though, I do appreciate you asking me my view. To whomever, this friend is, do tell them my answer: it is illogical! And if that were to ever happen, it would be a phenomenon! A miracle, in this world, lacking one." She shook her head, then looked back at the stack of timetables on her desk.

"I must get back to work, and you should be getting back to your house very soon."

"Thank you, professor. Sorry to bother you." I opened the door to her office, hiding my disappointment.

"I'll see you in class, Mr. Zhang."

"Goodnight, professor."

***

The rest of my dorm mates had already been long asleep by the time I even felt a slight hint of fatigue settling in. I was too stressed to even think about sleep, and the thing I was stressing about was completely ridiculous!

Now, it all seemed like a big joke. Maybe, just maybe my eyes were playing tricks on me this morning.

Yeah, yeah! It was a dream. It was a strange, unique dream I must've had. I mean, there's no possible way I could've...

I couldn't even say it, it was just that ridiculous!

Like McGonagall said, it was completely illogical.

Maybe...Maybe I could rest easy. There's no way I'd have that stupid dream again. I mean, what kind of person has a reoccurring dream about turning into an iguana? There's no philosophical meaning behind that, no siree!