Release the Quackin'! SOLO fin

Normally, Ami would never be caught dead doing "extra credit" or participating in little activities like Operation Fowl Play, but there were a few things that were different about this mission. First and foremost was the fact that Ami had matured- albeit, not by much, but she had, and she no longer frowned upon the idea of a little extra learning to enforce the concepts she learned in class. On top of that, this little mission actually sounded fun. Like many kids her age, Ami had already gone through an animal phase, and she had always had a soft spot for ducks. Something about their demeanor, their clueless smiles, and even the way they waddled made her heart melt. Plus, Professor Cy was the one who had organized this giant prank, so obviously, Ami had to show up and show some support for the Transfiguration professor.

The idea of transfiguring the lighting in the corridors into something totally absurd was absolutely genius, and Ami loved it. Of course, the primary reason was that she loved Transfiguration- part of it was entirely Cy's doing, but she still loved the idea of being able to alter appearances into anything you wanted, whenever you wanted. She was no metamorph, but color-changing charms and the like could still be put on par with the natural abilities of a metamorph. The whole thing felt like a secret mission, and she felt like James Bond (but gay and not as hot). Her target? To turn as many light fixtures in the corridor into ducks. How cool was that?

Ami felt a massive grin creep onto her face as Cy explained the mission to the group of students in front of her. She held a special place right next to her heart for the Transfiguration professor who had helped her with her self-identity so much the past year. When someone had that big of an impact on your life, it was hard not to idolize them. At this point, if Cy asked nicely enough, Ami would probably even go as far as to throw herself in front of a Killing Curse to protect the professor. Of course, she hoped nothing like that would ever happen, but nonetheless, the sentiment remained. As Cy told them to scatter, to go cause some duck-related madness, Ami made a show of winking broadly at Cy before heading directly towards Equinox's office door. After all, it was go big or go home, right? She had a bad feeling that if she got caught, she'd end up back at home: Ami Charity Procoppio, expelled for trying to pull the coolest prank ever.

She had to admit, though, Alaric Equinox sort of scared her. Really, most professors scared her. She regarded Cy as her best friend, therapist, and older-sister figure all in one, of course, but she never seemed to be able to get on the good side of any of the other professors. Lear was something of an idol and role model, but Ami hadn't seen him in a hot minute. She'd liked Cazarez, and enjoyed his classes (for the most part), but it seemed that most of the figures of authority in her life she trusted were disappearing, one by one. Everyone else... well, she hadn't really been doing the best in class before this year, so she figured that not many professors looked all too favorably upon her.

Idly, Ami's mind wandered to Cecily and Amadea... well, okay, maybe it wasn't idly, per se, as Ami had spotted Amadea was just down the corridor from her. She'd have to stop by and turn some more things into ducks with her Hufflepuff buddy when she was finished with her bit... and she wondered where Cecily was. Between the three of them, they had a pretty solid squad that was pretty well-balanced. Cecily was incredibly smart, if a bit shy, Amadea could always be counted on to have a level head, and Ami forced the two of them to do things they'd never do on their own. What fun, the three of them were! Perhaps they rivaled the original Golden Trio... okay, that was a lie. The Golden Trio had skills and unique roles and Tragic backstories. Amadea, Cecily, and Ami were just three third years who sometimes spilled ink all over one another.

Her wistful expression was wiped off her face, however, as she realized that she should've been doing this with Scott. If everything was normal and perfectly fine between the two of them, she would've been turning torches into fowl with her best friend. It was just like one of those adventures that Ami had insisted they go on at the beginning of the year- something to spice up their lives, an event that would become a story they'd tell at every dinner party they went to when they were adults. But... he wasn't here. They hadn't said a word to each other since April, since that stupid Blossom Ball, and Ami just- she just couldn't. There was no doubt that she was the one at fault, and not him, but she still couldn't come to terms with it. Throughout their friendship, Ami had always been the one to charge ahead and drag Scott along with her. All along, she had merely assumed that Scott was fine with this, and he'd support whatever it was that she wanted to do, but she was obviously extremely wrong. It was selfish of her to assume that in the first place, but her 14-year-old brain still couldn't wrap her head around the fact that the entire universe didn't revolve around her. Still, there was an empty cavity in her chest where Scott should've been, and an empty seat next to her wherever she went that even Leo couldn't fill. No one could. She loved Scott like a brother, and now that he wasn't in her life... how was she supposed to do anything, anymore?

And it was all because of that stupid Anastasia Eighteen-Unnecessary-Middle-Names Beckett. If she hadn't stepped in and tried to hit on a boy who was too old for her, none of this would've happened. It was probably a little unfair to place the blame solely on Ana, but there was no way in hell Ami would admit that her falling out with Scott was her fault. No, she needed to blame someone, and the most convenient scapegoat was Ana. The second year obviously didn't deserve even a little bit of that blame, but every ounce of Ami's body now hated Ana. During her first year it was Dorian, her second year it was Cel, and now it was Ana. She was getting a track record, and it wasn't a very good one.

But whatever, she didn't have time to worry about that now. She was a girl on a mission- a mission regarding ducks; AKA, the most important type of mission. As she reached Equinox's office door, Ami's wand appeared in her hand as she idly reviewed the Avifors spell in her head. Throughout her various Sessions of Maximum Learning in Minimum Time, or her SMLIMTs, with Cypresse last year, Ami had figured out two very important things about herself that were absolutely key to her improving in school. First and most importantly was that she had ADHD- a fact that she had refused to come to terms with before, but had pretty much accepted with a sigh by now. Focus and concentration were skills that did not come naturally to her, but what did seem to come naturally to her were movements. Wand movements. She was as much of a tactile learner as anyone could be, and that was one of her greatest advantages. Reaching up to touch the sconce on the wall just outside of Professor Equinox's office, Ami's eyes closed briefly as she imagined the cold, dark metal turning into a pale, yellow little duckling.

While she was tempted to make a full-grown duck, or maybe even a swan, she figured that keeping them as tiny little ducklings would be funnier. She tried to imagine the full-grown Head of Ravenclaw running through the corridors, realizing that every single source of light was now a glowing, yellow duckling. It was a hilarious sight that she'd simply have to see, she knew, but she didn't know just how possible it would be to hang around without getting caught by the professor. Ami wondered, in the back of her mind, on the off chance that she did get caught, if Cy would step in before she got into too much trouble.

Speaking of trouble, the Hufflepuff realized, with a small jump, that if she ended up in detention anyways, it would be her first one of the year. Surprisingly, for the most part, she'd actually kept out of trouble this year. In correlation to that, her grades had started to improve, as well, and she was even participating in extracurricular activities... like turning sconces into ducks to keep herself in Cy's good books. Ami had never seen herself as a "good" student, but a small smile started to creep across her face as she realized that she'd really started to improve.

"Please, please, please don't kill me," Ami whispered under her breath, praying that Equinox wouldn't come out of his office anytime soon. Cy had sworn up and down that the students would have roughly half an hour until the professor resurfaced from his eagle's nest, which should theoretically be enough time for her to wreak havoc on the lighting in the corridor. Thankfully, the powers that be had decided the Head of Ravenclaw would remain completely oblivious to the shenanigans occurring outside his office, so Ami would escape detention, expellation, and certain death this time. And considering the weight and importance of stealth on this mission, Ami had elected to leave Leo behind in the dorms; a decision he hadn't been all too pleased about. However, she knew from experience that Leo had a tendency to go absolutely batshit crazy around birds, of any kind, and knew that if she tried to bring her furry little friend along, it would only end in disaster, and her getting caught. Glancing up and down the corridors one last time before she readied her wand, Ami took a deep breath to steel her nerves. If this went wrong... well, she'd be caught, for sure. After all, she was right outside the professor's office. Taking a deep breath, she waited until all the competing thoughts in her mind were quieted and only the visualization of a soft, fluffy yellow duckling remained. Rolling her wrist in the shape of an infinity sign, she chanted softly, "Avifors!" There was a small flash of blue light, and to Ami's satisfaction, she'd done the spell correctly.

Giggling softly, Ami smiled at the little duckling now in the palm of her hand, stroking its head gently with her thumb. She could feel the pride of casting the spell correctly flooding through her body, and the relief that she hadn't managed to explode anything just yet. "Oh, you're just precious, aren't you...?" she mumbled under her breath, letting her hand drop to her side and admiring her handiwork on the wall with a pleased expression. Instead of a boring, medieval-looking sconce on the wall, there was a yellow duckling clinging to the wall. With its golden yellow fur (feathers? did ducks have fur or feathers?), it was almost reminiscent of a child's nightlight. Hey! Maybe Ami could create a bunch of duckling nightlights for the Hufflepuff common room... well, that was a problem, an idea, for another day. She had more... pressing matters to focus on right now.

Going to the sconce on the other side of Equinox's office door, Ami pressed her hand against the metal again as she closed her eyes. Visualizing an identical duckling on the wall was much easier, now that she'd already remodeled one of the sconces. With another flick of her wrist and a quiet, "Avifors!", both sconces were now well-behaved, mild-mannered yellow ducklings- clearly, the perfect decor for a man as esteemed and regal as Equinox. Perfect. Obviously, it fit his aesthetic, right?

Ducks should be an essential part of everyone's aesthetic.

Rubbing her neck as her eyes clouded over in thought, Ami glanced up and down the corridors to see what else she could do to further contribute to Operation Fowl Play. Her nose wrinkled as she finally smelled the state of her clothes, though, and she was momentarily distracted by the overwhelming smell of black coffee and deodorant. Jeez, she stank. When was the last time she'd taken a proper shower...? Running her hand through her hair, she grimaced and made a face as she realized that it had been way more than a few days since the last time she'd indulged in the Hufflepuff dorm's sunflower-scented products. The cloud of coffee that seemed to follow her didn't help matters, either, as she now smelled like a sad college student who had student loans they didn't know how to pay off. Ami made a mental note to clean up her act, but she knew that her physical state was just an indicator of her mental state.

Until she swallowed her pride and apologized to Scott, there was no way in hell that she'd stop smelling like coffee anytime soon.

What was she supposed to be doing, again? Ami had gotten so distracted in smelling her armpits that she hadn't even realized she was standing right in front of Professor Equinox's door. Oh, crap... Turning promptly on her heel, Ami slid to the side, her back against the wall as she caught her breath. Standing there, lost in thought, right in front of the door... just how dumb was she? Did she want to get caught? No, of course not. Shaking her head slightly, Ami rolled her wand between her palms as she tried to think of other things to turn into ducks.

The sconces by Equinox's door were already taken care of, but what about the suits of armor? Cy had told them to stick to the lighting, but the thought of the Head of Ravenclaw stepping out of his office to see a giant duck was just too tempting to resist. Crossing the corridor to the other side, Ami crouched by the base of a suit of armor as quietly as she could. Placing her hand on the foot-metal-flap-thing, Ami imagined a giant yellow duck, like the rubber ducks she used to have as a child.

"Avifors!"

Another roll of her wrist, and the suit of armor was now a rather large duckling, sitting patiently on the little pedestal the suit of armor had been displayed upon just moments before. "Okay birdy, stay here until Equinox comes out, 'kay?" Ami whispered, although there was no way the bird actually understood what she was saying. Last time she'd checked, she didn't speak quack, and ducks didn't speak English. Patting the duck's head contentedly, she paused as she realized something was missing. Something... important.

Oh, right! Flowers! Leaving flowers was courteous, right? Her mom always brought flowers with her anytime she went to a dinner party, along with a bottle of wine... well, Ami didn't quite know how to turn water into wine, but she certainly knew how to conjure some simple flowers. With a circular flick of her wrist, Ami intoned, "Orchideous!" quietly. With a pink flash of light, a bouquet of flowers appeared in her hand, and Ami nodded her head in approval at the result. Unless Professor Equinox had some sort of intense, burning hatred towards sunflowers and baby's breath, the bouquet actually looked rather lovely. Placing it by the feet of the giant duck, Ami stepped back to survey her handiwork. Huh. Didn't look half bad!

With a pleased smile, Ami returned to glancing up and down the corridors to see if there was someone else she could join in duck-ifying the corridors. After all, there was still quite a bit of ground to cover until all of the light sources were turned into ducks. Ami vaguely remembered seeing Amadea earlier, and as she didn't see anyone else she was nearly as good of friends with, she headed over towards her lookalike's direction. With a backwards glance at the work she'd done to poor @Alaric Equinox's office, Ami traipsed off down the corridors to seek out Amadea.

ami exits the thread.