This is rather dreadful on Transfiguration

Professor Sutekh

September 25, 2007 9:55 AM

Third & Fourth Years. Lesson One by Professor Sutekh

Sanaa brushed her brown hair out of her face and pulled out her wand. After some careful consideration of the cages hanging from the ceiling she levitated a medium sized cage down onto her desk. Inside the square cage was a large collection of multi-coloured mice tumbling and crawling all over each other. Sanaa then stepped down off the raised platform where her desk was situated and walked around the students’ desks, which were in two rows in a half circle facing her desk. With her wand she tapped the tops of the desks as she passed. The tops of the desks morphed, turning from flat surfaces into deep wells.

Once all of the student’s desks had been transfigured Sanaa returned to her desk, picked up the cage and made her way around the room where she placed a mouse inside each well. After she had finished she placed the cage back on her desk and pulled a pale yellow robe off the back off her chair and put it on, just as she heard the students arriving outside of her classroom.

Sanaa finished fastening her robe with a yellow gold clasp depicting a rose, which had been a wedding present to her from her late husband. Once her robe was straight, she waved her wand at the door at the back of the classroom and opened it to her third and fourth year class. She allowed them to look around the classroom as they entered, admiring the moving pictures on two walls of transfigurations and to realise there were two walls full of windows with animals underneath, before she called them to order.

“Please sit down and I can begin your first lesson.” She told them. She waited until everybody had seated themselves with careful looks into the wells in front of them. “My name is Professor Sutekh. I will hopefully be your Transfiguration Professor for many years to come. I can see you have already noticed the mice sitting in the wells in front of you. These are for our practical lesson today. You will be turning these mice into teapots.”

Professor Sutekh twitched her robe and sat on the edge of her desk where she took the remaining mouse out of the cage and held it in her hand.

“The basis for all Transfigurations is imagination. You have to be able to imagine what you wish to happen before you can begin to change anything. For example a very popular design of pottery is the Willow Pattern.” Professor Sutekh tapped the mouse in her hand with her wand and immediately it shifts into a teapot with a pretty blue pattern. Another tap of her wand and it was back to being a mouse. “You have to be able to imagine the pattern you wish the teapot to take. It is no good wanting a teapot with a pattern of roses if you have never seen a rose before. For today most of you will only be able to transfigure a plain white teapot and that is excellent, but with more practise you should be able to do any design you wish to.”

Professor Sutekh tapped the mouse in her hand with her wand turning it into a plain white teapot. She placed it on her desk where everybody could see it.

“The incantation is ‘changer de théière’ and is said as you tap your mouse.” Noticing some pulled faces she smiled and continued. “You do not have to touch the mice and can leave them in the wells if you wish. Just be careful if you do hold them not to let them go in case they escape onto the floor. If they do escape a simple Summoning Charm will call them back. Anybody who is seen throwing or using the mice to scare other students will be sent out immediately and will loose house points.” Professor Sutekh paused a moment for these orders to be assimilated before she continued.

“The reason this type of transfiguration is not done below third year is that a teapot has a removable part.” Professor Sutekh demonstrated by bulling the small lid off her white teapot before she replaced it. “Again you have to use your imagination. You need to imagine a separate lid. This is why we start with a teapot as it is an object all of you will be familiar with, therefore easy to imagine.”

“As in all my other classes you may work in pairs, but you will each transfigure your own mouse. Any problems please ask and I will be happy to help. Please begin.”

OOC: Try to write at least the minimum amount of writing and use your imagaination.\r\n\r\n

Subthreads:

This is rather dreadful by Briony O'Leary with Elly Eriksson, Briony, Professor Sutekh

I feel like Alice in Wonderland by Eavan Valentine with Nikki, Eavan

I'm with Briony on this one (wotw) by Saul with Professor Sutekh

Meh, I don't like tea by Paul Tarwater

Of course, I can do this by Devian Dupree

Tea for two, and two for tea... by Allie and Lila St. Martin

0 Professor Sutekh Third & Fourth Years. Lesson One 0 Professor Sutekh 1 5

Briony O'Leary

September 25, 2007 11:45 PM

This is rather dreadful by Briony O'Leary

Walking into Transfiguration, Briony gave an unhappy sigh. She wasn’t a fan of this class, merely because they used live animals. She didn’t want to be transfigured into something else, so why would the animal? Taking a spot, she looked into the well, and saw the most adorably cute mouse. She made soft clicking noises to the mouse. “Hi, there, mousie.”

When the professor began her lecture, Briony’s face reacted with horror. She was supposed to turn this poor mouse into a teapot? If she wanted a teapot, she could just buy one. Really, what was the point of a teapot? What were the chances that turning a defenseless mouse into a ceramic pot were going to result in saving her life in a dire situation? And what if someone transfigured a mouse and then did use it as a teapot and it changed back while it was being heated. That was just a horrible thought!

She bit on her nail, as she thought about all the terrible things that this spell meant. She didn’t want to do this at all, but if she didn’t, it would affect her grade. Why couldn’t they have made something else into a teapot or at least, made the scared little mouse into something that wouldn’t potentially get hurt. She reached her other hand in to pet the mouse, feeling the soft fur. She wondered if she could convince the professor to let her have this mouse. She was already falling in love with the intelligent creature, and yes, she fully believed they were. With this, her decision was made; she was not going to turn this mouse into a teapot. Looking around, she wondered if anyone else felt the same way.

Turning to the person beside her, she asked, “Are you going to do the lesson?”

0 Briony O'Leary This is rather dreadful 75 Briony O'Leary 0 5

Elly Eriksson

September 26, 2007 6:35 AM

There are worse things by Elly Eriksson

Transfiguration lessons were always torture, in a most ghastly form. No matter how hard she tried, no matter how much effort she out in, Elly could never seem to get new spells to work. She’d always mastered them eventually, but only after several hours – sometimes even days – of practice. It didn’t seem fair to her that some students could just pick up their wand and do the spell first go, and she had to look like an idiot whilst everyone else progressed and she remained utterly useless as far as spell casting was concerned. They had a new transfiguration professor this year – Professor Sutekh. Elly could only help that the new teacher would be understanding, and not penalise Elly for her slow progress in mastering the spells.

As she found her way to a desk, dragging her feet across the classroom floor, Elly found herself wishing the lesson was already over. She took a seat next to Briony, with whom she’d worked in lessons last year, and had already sat down before she noticed the unusual shape of her desk. Another second passed before Elly found the rodent contained within. It was a white mouse with very long whiskers. Elly had little time to pet it, though, as soon the professor started talking and Elly dutifully made notes in her notebook with her pink feather quill.

Turning mice into teapots sounded awfully difficult. Elly didn’t like the idea of using animals for transfigurations anyway. She knew that it was fairly common practice, but she still thought it was a bit cruel, not to mention usually rather pointless. Professor Sutekh had said they could work in pairs – Elly wasn’t sure whether this was a good thing or not. If she worked with a friend, she wouldn’t have to worry about her terrible magic, and she might even persuade them to transfigure her mouse for her. If she ended up working with someone she didn’t know so well, though, she would undoubtedly make an embarrassed fool out of herself.

The decision made to work with a friend, Elly turned to Briony, only to find that the older girl had already begun to speak to her. “Are you going to do the lesson?” Briony asked.

Elly paused before replying, a puzzled expression on her face. Of course she would attempt the lesson; there wasn’t any point in just not doing the work, particularly as it was likely to irritate the teacher, or lower her grade, or both. There still remained the fact that no matter how hard Elly tried, she was unlikely to succeed with the lesson. “Yes, I’m going to try,” Elly replied, uncertainly. “Aren’t you?”

0 Elly Eriksson There are worse things 92 Elly Eriksson 0 5

Briony

September 26, 2007 5:37 PM

Such as? (Tag: Professor) by Briony

Briony gave a tight smile when she saw that Elly was next to her. Not because she didn’t like Elly, because she did. Elly was carefree and fun, something she wished she could be more. Sometimes, she was, but it took others to bring it out. No, it was because of her emotions that her face was drawn.

She leaned back, arms folded across. Her mouth now in a tight line, chin in a determined position, “No, I think it’s wrong. We could learn to transfigure the mouse into something of more value. Or we could transfigure something else. Would you ever use transfigure a mouse in order to have tea?”

She wasn’t stating the question in an aggressive manner towards Elly. It was more of a passionate argument for the rights of animals. Last term, she had refused to use the Glacius spell in DADA on the spiders. Of course, she knew she wasn’t going to get in trouble either. One, her father was the professor of the class, and two, they had been given the alternative choice of the water.

She glanced at the mouse, then the professor, and back. She was probably going to get in trouble for this, but Mousie was worth it. She gave the mouse another quick pet, before asking, as the professor had said they could, “What if we have moral objections to turning the mouse into a teapot?”

0 Briony Such as? (Tag: Professor) 0 Briony 0 5

Eavan Valentine

September 27, 2007 12:52 AM

I feel like Alice in Wonderland by Eavan Valentine

Eavan sat down at her desk and stared at the deep impression that used to be flat surface. Inside was a mouse scurrying about. Eavan stared at the scuffling mouse until the new Professor began the class. Mice into Teapots? Eavan stared down at the mouse again. She would definitely need a lot of imagination for this one.

Taking out her wand, she pointed it at the mouse and, taking a deep breath, imagined her aunt's silver teapot with the pretty pattern on it.

"Changer de théière!" The mouse squeaked and morphed before her eyes; but not into a teapot. Eavan stared in horror as th mouse turned silver with the same engraving as her aunt's teapot.

"Oops." Eavan bit her lips and tried again. This time the mouse didn't squeak (she didn't know if it could anymore), but it began getting large and its legs and lower body changed into something that resembled the bottom of a teapot. Sighing, Eavan turned to the person next to her.

"So, you doing any better than me?"

0 Eavan Valentine I feel like Alice in Wonderland 86 Eavan Valentine 0 5

Professor Sutekh

September 30, 2007 11:52 AM

Living Animals. by Professor Sutekh

"What if we have moral objections to turning the mouse into a teapot?"

Professor Sutekh had already been warned by friends, family and a few well meaning Professor's that this could come up. Unfortunately in Transfiguration animals were used as the basis for most spells as they were complex creatures, and it was always easier to transfigure a complex object into a less complex object.

Professor Sutekh had already planned an alternative, unfortunately it was a lot harder to accomplish, but she felt the students deserved to have some say in how they learnt a new spell. Therefore, she squatted down next to the students desk and lowered her voice.

"I understand your objections. I may not agree with them, but they are your objections and you are entitled to your own opinion. However, this spell is required on the CATS and every year this it comes up. You have two options. The first is that you continue to use your mouse and transfigure it into a teapot. You transfigurations at this point will not hold longer then a few minutes, and trust me, any animals used are not harmed in the process. I would not have finished first year Transfiguration at school if I thought any animals were harmed let alone recieved my masters."

Professor Sutekh paused long enough for the first option to register.

"Your second option is to use a stone. This is actually harder then trying to transfigure your mouse into a teapot. The reason why is that, at the moment you are always transfiguring things into less complex or equally complex objects. I would never ask a third or fourth year to transfigure a needle into a cat as the two objects are greatly divided by complexity."

Professor Sutekh hoped that her student could understand this.

"The only problem with the second option is that even though you may master transfiguring a stone into a teapot on your exam you will be expected to use the mouse, and if you do not, you will lose all marks related to that part of the exam. So at some point you will be using an animal."

Professor Sutekh used her wand and summoned a stone from a box in the corner. It was about the size of a childs fist. She placed it into the well of the desk.

"You may use this, although I do want you to consider, once you have managed to transfigure the stone, just transfiguring your mouse a few times so on the exam, you are not caught off guard by never using animals before." She smiled. "If you have any other problems please do ask questions again."

Professor Sutekh left the student to her transfiguring, hoping she had been understood.

0 Professor Sutekh Living Animals. 0 Professor Sutekh 0 5

Nikki

September 30, 2007 8:23 PM

Happy Unbirthday by Nikki

Upon entering the Transfiguration classroom, Nikki looked around at the decor the new professor had chosen. There were pictures of Transfigurations taking place, two walls made up of windows, and cages with live animals. But what really caught Nikki's attention was that instead of desk tops, there were deep wells*.

She took a seat in the chair still attached to one of them and listened as the professor explained the lesson. She was a little unsure as to how she would get the mouse out of the well when she heard the professor mention Summoning Charms. Nikki mentally smacked herself; it was an obvious answer. Professor Sutekh set them to work.

"Accio" Nikki said, pointing her wand at the mouse in the well. It flew up and she caught it in her left hand. She petted the mouse for a few seconds and then attempted the spell, visualising one of Abuela's teapots.

"Changer de théière," the mouse squirmed, but nothing happened beyond that.

"Changer de théière," this time Nikki could feel the mouse growing in her hand, and a faint outline of the family crest appeared.

"Changer de théière," Just as the words left her mouth the third time, the person next to her asked, 'So, you doing any better than me?' Nikki looked over and saw that Eavan had asked the question.

"Well," Nikki said finally looking down at her mouse-teapot. She laughed and held it up for Eavan to see. The body of the mouse was now in the shape of a teapot, complete with lid, but instead of a handle and a spout, it had a tail and a mouse nose. "Nope, not really."

*OOC: OK, so the wells were probably meant to be more like wash basins, but it wasn't specified and I think this way is more interesting.

0 Nikki Happy Unbirthday 0 Nikki 0 5

Elly

October 03, 2007 5:36 PM

They have feelings too by Elly

Following Briony’s explanation of her reasoning for not wanting to do the work set, Elly understood her frustration. As a vegetarian, Elly had often thought about the evils of using animals in magic, but it was true that the creatures rarely seemed harmed by the spells cast upon them, and Elly was gradually learning to develop immunity to that particular complaint. It wasn’t a particularly happy truth, but it nonetheless made classes less of a trial. She did respect Briony’s refusal, though, and tried her best not to look like she was eavesdropping as the professor came over at Briony’s request. Professor Sutekh was surprisingly understanding and compliant; Elly thought she could get to like this professor (as long as she didn’t mind her students being awful at practical work, obviously).

As she left, Elly looked at Briony, then at the stone, then at her own mouse, still happily running around the well in her desk.

“I’d prefer to transfigure a stone,” Elly conceded, hoping that her friend would feel more comfortable now she could use an inanimate object, even though everyone else in the class still had to use mice. “It won’t matter either way for me, of course,” she added, sighing resignedly. “I can’t do transfigurations. I’ll make polite comments about your teapot, though,” she said, grinning at Briony.

0 Elly They have feelings too 0 Elly 0 5

Briony

October 04, 2007 1:58 AM

Indeed, they do. by Briony

Briony listened while the professor explained her options. She really couldn’t blame Professor Sutekh for teaching the spell to them, especially if it was required for CATS, however, she just couldn’t get past her advocacy for animal rights. She just didn’t see the point of transfiguring some poor creature, which deserved to be here as much as she did.

She certainly wouldn’t ever want to be transfigured, so why should an animal that had no say whatsoever? And while it was claimed that none were harmed in the process, how could one honestly state that it didn’t hurt unless they had ever been transfigured into an object? She briefly wondered if there was a group to support not using animals in transfiguration and made a mental note to look into it.

Besides, it wasn’t like Potions, where the parts were used in making potions, some of which were life saving. Then, while she felt sorry for the creature, at least it was for the greater good. It wasn’t as though her not knowing how to turn a mouse into a teapot was going to result in someone’s death. Her decision made that she would be using the stone and would probably be only receiving an A in CATS when she got there, if she passed at all, because the professor was certainly mistaken if she thought she would ever be using an animal. Hopefully, nothing she went into in the future would require this skill.

’I’d prefer to transfigure a stone.’

Briony gave a grin of gratitude towards Elly, glad that someone else understood how she felt. “Thanks.” She gave a giggle at her friend’s humor. Then, added her input, “If it becomes anything more than a rock.”

With a sigh, avoiding looking at others trying to change their mice, and focused on her stone. She tried to imagine a teapot with a pattern of bluebells. She glanced at the mouse with a thought of ‘wish me luck,’ closed her eyes, and tapped the stone. “Changer de théière.” Opening her blue eyes, she gave a wry grin. The object hadn’t turned to a teapot, but it had turned blue.

0 Briony Indeed, they do. 0 Briony 0 5

Saul

October 04, 2007 12:42 PM

I'm with Briony on this one (wotw) by Saul

As Saul picked a seat and sat down, his keen observational skills drew his attention to the hole in the middle of his desk. Kneeling up on his chair and leaning over the hole he looked down into the well to find a mouse running around in circles at the bottom of it. "Hey, buddy," Saul greeted the colorful little guy and reached down to pet the tan and white fur on its back with two fingers, "Whatcha doin down there?"

The mouse didn't answer, but the professor began her lesson and Saul sighed heavily when he managed to catch the part where they'd been turning mice into tea cups (his attention kept drifting to his mouse, so this was a feat of some magnitude). As the other students began attempting their transfigurations, Saul reached down into the well with both hands and picked up the little mouse so he could look it in the eye. "I'm supposed to turn you into a tea pot," he told it. "You don't want that, right?"

He used his hands to make the mouse give a full body shake of its head, while also shaking his own.

"No, I didn't think so," Saul agreed. "I guess I get to fail this lesson as a statement in civil disobedience, don't I?" He made the mouse nod. "Uncle Harvey will be so proud, won't he?" The mouse nodded again, with Saul's assistance. "Maybe the folks will even stop giving me dirty looks for passing potions." He turned the mouse sideways in a half-shake and made a dubious expression on his own face. "No, you're right, probably not."

Neil's potions grades at Salem were abysmal since he refused to even attempt any potion with animal parts in them. Saul's grades, though not good, were above failing, which his family, who were all about the advocacy of animal rights and environmentalism and veganism and socially aware consumerism and whatever other causes brewing potions in school violated, saw as a Very Bad Thing.

But Professor Connell was his Head of House as well as his potions professor and the animals were already dead and Saul loved pepperoni too much to really get into the anti-potions campaign. Not turning Tan-tan (Saul had named the mouse while he should have been listening to the teacher's introduction) into a tea pot, however, was a cause he could put his support behind.

Teachers could go on all they liked about how it didn't hurt them, but Saul had faith in his ability to truly muck up an assignment. Even if a person who was good at transfiguration could turn a mouse into a tea pot without harming it, Saul doing the same thing would no doubt be torture for the little guy.

"Don't worry, Tan-tan, there's no tea pot in your future." The mouse squirmed so Saul put him back down into his hole. Looking around, he saw the teacher giving a rock to Briony. She promptly turned it blue, though Saul guessed her intent was rather different. He raised his hand and when he had the teacher's attention, he asked, "Can I have a rock, too?"

While he knew he'd never classify as a good student, he really didn't want to fail, either, no matter that his family would support it under the right conditions.

Besides, he wanted to impress Briony by doing the same alternate assignment she had.

1 Saul I'm with Briony on this one (wotw) 82 Saul 0 5

Paul Tarwater

October 05, 2007 5:08 PM

Meh, I don't like tea by Paul Tarwater

So, Transfiguration. Yeah, Paul was good at that, not that it was really hard. Transfiguration used to be his punishment whenever he was bad as a child. For some reason that was why he liked this class. It was memories of when punishment didn't mean you're little sister testing surses on you, rather being afraid of your mother transfiguring your hands into hooves so you had to eat with your face.

Now Paul got to do that to some animal. Granted, Paul preferred being transfigured and having a baby sister to transfiguring and having an evil sister. Somehow it seemed much more pleasant. Paul stroked the mouse's fur gently and looked at it. It reminded him of Lussni up in the Aladren dorms. Though this was odd, since Lussni didn't eat mice. He didn't play with them either, almost developing a human concious for torturing something since Cissy tortured him. Or this was what Paul believed. Lussni could just be a meek cat.

The teacher began her lesson, and Paul held the mouse still so he could listen. He'd promised his mother he would listen more and get better grades, so here he was. Being a good boy. His mother's good boy. Paul looked down at the mouse and shook his black hair from his eyes. "I'll turn you back," he muttered, knowing how annoying it was to be Transfigured. Not that the mouse has thoughts and feelings about being Transfigured like Paul had.

Pointing his wand at the mouse, Paul imagined his mother's china. Little faeries dancing around the cups, really moving. Paul didn't care what people thought of him having faeries on his pot, so this was what he thought of doing. "Changer de théière," Paul said clearly (odd, it sounded French, not Latin like most spells), and Paul watched as the mouse turned into a teapot. With one moving faerie dancing around it. "Dang," he muttered. He had wanted a bunch of faeries dancing.

0 Paul Tarwater Meh, I don't like tea 0 Paul Tarwater 0 5

Elly

October 06, 2007 4:58 PM

Do teapots? by Elly

It was true; no matter how hard Elly tried at transfigurations, she just couldn’t get them to work. She’d long ago resigned herself to the fact that partial transfigurations were all she was ever going to manage, and to make up for her practical failing she compensated by trying extra hard with her theoretical work. The Professor’s previous mention of the exams Elly would have to take in her fifth year was enough to concern her that she might not even pass the subject. She vaguely wondered how much that would matter in the wizarding society. Would it be always regarded as a failure, or did people drop unsuccessful subjects all the time? Elly didn’t know, but if passing the CATS depended on her demonstrating a successful transfiguration then she was done for.

Briony’s attempts, though far from perfect, were distinctly better than anything Elly could ever produce. “Pretty colour,” Elly said, nodding towards Briony’s now blue stone. “Hey, do you think you could do that to clothes and things? It would be fun to be able to change my t-shirts or something – it’d be like having new clothes every week.” She laughed.

Across the classroom, Elly saw Saul raise his hand, and thought she heard him ask for a non-animal replacement subject, too. Obviously transfiguring animals was not a popular choice for the students of this class. Elly didn’t think Mere would be overly pleased about it either; she had a pet mouse and so probably wasn’t keen on the idea of changing a similar beast into a teapot. Saul’s family were vegetarian, he’d said (although Elly had definitely seen Saul eat meat before), so maybe his objections were along the same moral lines as Briony’s.

“Transfiguring mice is unpopular it seems,” Elly said to Briony, and nodded in Saul’s direction to emphasise her point. The she carefully looked back at Briony to see if she could notice any obvious signs of attraction; Elly had been sure last year that there was something going on between those too.

0 Elly Do teapots? 0 Elly 0 5

Devian Dupree

October 06, 2007 4:59 PM

Of course, I can do this by Devian Dupree

Devian raised a single eyebrow when he entered the Transfiguration room. Replacing the tops of the desks were wells, each containing a mouse. While he prided himself on having a high intellect, even if he hadn’t destroyed Chris yet, it didn’t take a genius to figure out that they would be transfiguring the mouse. Picking one of the desks, he took a seat, not bothering to pull out parchment, as this lesson was going to be more practical application. Besides, he would be spending hours in the library later with the intent of knowing more than his cousin.

He glanced at the mouse while the professor talked. It scratched at the sides of the well, wanting out. He gave a light snort of air. The mouse obviously lacked any real intelligence for if it had any, it would know that it wasn’t going to escape and its efforts were useless, worse still would that it would soon be a teapot.

According to the professor it took imagination to create what you wanted. That really wasn’t that hard. He imagined things all the time. Mostly of which involved that he accomplished his goal, Chris had nothing, he had everything. He was Head of the family. He had all the power. He had all eyes upon him in envy. But for now, he had to use his creative devices to make a teapot.

Picking up the squirming mouse, he stated very clearly, “Changer de théière.” Then, tapped the creature. He gave a frown at what appeared. It was a black teapot minus the lid and spout. In place of the spout was a tail. Obviously, he hadn’t been focused enough. Tapping it again, he concentrated on exactly what should appear. This time, it was the same black teapot complete with spout and lid. He gave a smug smile. He knew that he could do it. After all, he was better than Chris at everything.

0 Devian Dupree Of course, I can do this 70 Devian Dupree 0 5

Briony

October 06, 2007 5:28 PM

I hope not by Briony

Briony thought about it for a moment, and then gave a grin. “I bet there is a charm or something for clothes. I’d love to have a whole new wardrobe.” She glanced over at Saul when she said this. She didn’t think he cared about such material things, but new clothes always looked nice and made one more attractive. Shifting back to Elly, she added, “Plus, you wouldn’t have to worry about mismatching.”

Trying again with the stone, Briony said the incantation, tapping it once more. The stone had turned distinctly into the lid of a teapot. She gave a small frown. Maybe if she had a whole bunch of stones she could make the entire teapot. She was about to make another go at it when what Elly said grabbed her attention. Her eyes automatically shifted in the direction that her friend was nodding.

Saul didn’t want to transfigure a mouse either? It was so sweet that she just wanted to kiss him for it. At the thought, a light pink came to her face and she quickly looked away. She didn’t want him to catch her staring. They were friends and she was afraid that if he knew how she felt, he wouldn’t want to be friends anymore, because it would to awkward. Trying to recover, she managed to get out, “Um, yeah, it seems so.”

0 Briony I hope not 0 Briony 0 5

Professor Sutekh

October 07, 2007 7:41 AM

More rocks by Professor Sutekh

Professor Sutekh was not surprised when more than one student asked for a rock to practise on instead of the mouse. She hoped though that this would not turn into a large problem with every student asking for alernatives as unfortunately even if you could transfigure a rock into a teapot on the exam for CATS it was not accepted.

Professor Sutekh smiled as the student who was asking for a rock. She quickly passed him a small grey rock as she noted he was holding the mouse and had apparently been talking to it.

"Please attempt the spell on the mouse once you have master the transfiguration from rock to teapot as it will be the required spell for the CATS." Professor Sutekh explained.

0 Professor Sutekh More rocks 0 Professor Sutekh 0 5

Eavan

October 08, 2007 1:39 AM

An very happy unbirthday to you as well by Eavan

OOC: Sorry this took so long

IC:
Eavan took one look at Nikki's transfiguration and busted out laughing. She picked up her own silver mouse and held it up for Nikki to see. The mouse tried to squeak, but along with the squeaky noise, a little burst of steam came out.

"This is not turning out very well," Eavan managed to say after the laughter subsided. "I guess I'm not concentrating hard enough or something." Shrugging, Eavan put down her mouse and turned to Nikki.

"We don't talk very much, do we? Why do you think that is?" Eavan asked, truly curious. They were in the same year and were both friends with Iyoda twins, though Nikki tended towards Leo and Eavan towards Gil. She had very few friends at Sonora, despite her eagerness to have friends and decided that it was gonig to change.

0 Eavan An very happy unbirthday to you as well 0 Eavan 0 5

Saul

October 08, 2007 12:10 PM

school house rock by Saul

"Thanks," Saul grinned up at the teacher as she gave him his own stone to transfigure. His smile, however, faded when she told him to try the spell on Tan-tan after he'd mastered it on the rock. Since he had never in his life gotten a transfiguration to reach a level that could remotely be described as 'mastering' (he could occasionally reach 'close enough' on his very best days), the point was probably moot, but he found himself shaking his head anyway.

Figuring words ought to go along with his non-verbal refusal, he tried to explain, "Even if this does happen to be the day a miracle happens and I do get the rock to change into a recognizable teapot," he put the appropriate amount doubt into the words as that extremely remote possibility warranted, "Tan-tan doesn't want to be a teapot." He looked at the mouse and held it so the professor could get a good look at his whiskered face. "Do you, buddy?" Saul turned the mouse in a 'no' motion.

He looked back at the teacher with a miserable look on his own face, "I can take a T for the lesson if I have to." He preferred getting Ps and As, but if a Troll was the price for keeping Tan-tan in the shape of a mouse, he'd pay it. His hopes for pulling an A average, though, were pretty much toast, if living to non-living transfigurations were going to be common this year.

1 Saul school house rock 82 Saul 0 5

Elly

October 14, 2007 1:32 PM

It would be awful by Elly

Ha! As Briony looked over to Saul, her cheeks definitely went pink. Having seen Saul at the end of the summer, there was no doubt in Elly’s mind that he had a thing for Teppenpaws of the redheaded variety. The colouring of Briony’s cheeks to clash with her hair persuaded Elly to think that the attraction was probably reciprocal. She couldn’t help but grin at Briony, even as her stomach was doing some strange clenching, which Elly attributed to excitement on the prospective couple’s behalf. She wouldn’t say anything, though – it wasn’t her place to start interfering in her friends’ relationships. She might mention later to Saul that she thought Briony was interested, though. It would undoubtedly raise his spirits even if he didn’t act on it; boys could be funny about things like that sometimes.

Briony’s blue stone was now a blue teapot lid, though the rest of the teapot was conspicuous only by its absence. Elly couldn’t fault her, especially as she hadn’t even attempted the spell herself. Instead, she tried to recollect what they had been talking about, so she could continue the conversation. Something about using animals not being popular…

“It sucks that we have to use animals in the exam, even if we can use rocks in class,” she said glumly, considering what Professor Sutekh had said before. “Maybe we could start a campaign to get them to change the rules on the exams?” Elly said, getting that mischievous sparkle in her big brown eyes.

0 Elly It would be awful 0 Elly 0 5

Briony

October 16, 2007 3:11 PM

But this is quite the opposite by Briony

’Maybe we could start a campaign to get them to change the rules on the exams?’

Turning to her friend, blue eyes shining with excitement, Briony exclaimed, “Elly, that is an absolutely brilliant idea!” Realizing she was a little loud, she continued in a hushed voice, “The professor said that turning a stone into a teapot was harder than a mouse, so if you were able to do it on an exam, then obviously you know how to transfigure items, which is the point, right?”

Putting her mouse back in the well, she pulled a notebook and quill from her bag. She balanced it in her lap, ready to jot down the idea. “I bet we could get a lot of support for a rule change since it seems a lot of people don’t like transfiguring animals, but how do we get it going?”

Briony was more of an organizer than she was a campaigner. She really had no idea how to get something like this started. Maybe Saul would help? If not, she had no doubt that Elly could do it as well, or maybe she and Saul could even together. They were both really popular and were well liked. People would be lining up to follow their lead.

Musing, she said, “We probably are going to have to talk to the Headmaster too. He might know if there is anything special we would need to do in order to start a petition.” Of course, that brought up other questions. Had anyone ever tried this before? If they had, it meant they had failed, and if that was the case, then why did they fail? She made a note to look into it. Otherwise, they may be doomed to repeat history.
\r\n\r\n

0 Briony But this is quite the opposite 0 Briony 0 5

Elly

October 24, 2007 3:27 PM

Just as well, really by Elly

Briony jumped with enthusiasm at Elly’s campaign proposal, and even got out her notebook in preparation. She mentioned some excellent points, about talking to the Headmaster, and getting a petition started. Elly was excited too, but she was also aware that she was in a lesson where she hadn’t done the set work, and was unlikely to do so successfully in any lesson in the future.

“It all sounds great,” Elly said to Briony, whilst nervously glancing at Professor Sutekh, “but I don’t think we should talk about it here. And you’re right, there’ll be a fair bit of researching to be done. We could do it though, right?” she grinned.

“Okay, let’s meet up about it some other time, you know, when the Professor isn’t right over there. We’ll definitely do this. We need to think of a snappy name or something to get people interested,” she added. “But not now – I don’t want to get into trouble,” Elly explained. “We’ll do this outside of class.”

OOC: Feel free to tag me when and wherever and we can continue this elsewhere :-)

0 Elly Just as well, really 0 Elly 0 5

Allie and Lila St. Martin

October 31, 2007 10:24 PM

Tea for two, and two for tea... by Allie and Lila St. Martin

The St. Martin twins entered the Transfiguration classroom together. As they passed through the door, Lila started to walk a little faster, pulling slightly ahead of her sister so that she could pick the seats. Once she had, Allie took the desk next to hers without comment. Lila accepted it in equal silence. She made no move to get anything out of her bookbag, as there was every chance it wouldn't be what she needed and getting it would be a waste of time. Her sister took out her wand and put it on her desk before taking out her book and putting it in her lap.

The two fourth years had been born identical, and it still showed. They were exactly the same height when Lila wasn't wearing heels, and they had the same combination of thick, straight dark hair, wide hazel eyes, and soft features. It was fairly easy for someone introduced to them to tell the girls apart, though. Allie, the elder by minutes, was also the heavier, the more simply dressed, and the one with the shorter hair. It was hanging neatly to her shoulders. Lila was noticeably thinner, and held herself straighter in her seat - the result of years of dance lessons. Her hair fell halfway down her back and had a side part.

"I think the teacher's confused," Lila whispered after she finsihed looking around the classroom. "She's in the wrong place. It looks like Magical Menagerie in here."

"Lila," Allie whispered back, doing a fair and unconscious replication of her father's warning tone. "Don't be mean."

Lila half-raised an eyebrow, but got no chance to make her retort; the lesson was being called to order.

The twins exchanged looks, Lila's derisive and Allie's more sorrily amused than anything, when Professor Sutekh let the class know she wanted to be teaching it for years. They had already had two Transfiguration professors, and they knew a teacher they'd never studied under had held the post in the year preceding theirs. Lila, at least, had also heard about there being another professor just the year before that. It was hard to deny the plain and simple fact that the job was cursed - a plain and simple fact they both expected the new professor to realize soon enough.

Apart from that comment, though, Allie found nothing about the lecture to object to. Lila, however, was another story entirely. She wasn't one to put much stock in imagination. This was not least because of her lack of it. Lila shifted the weight of her hair to the other shoulder and twirled a piece of it around her left ring finger. Mice and teapots. There was nothing even vaguely similar about a mouse and a teapot. Mice weren't even hard-surfaced like teapots were. Besides, who paid attention to the dishes? Maybe one would notice that Mrs. So-and-So's set wasn't as nice as the one at home, but to really notice a teapot to know what it looked like...

"I'll help you," she said to Allie the second the professor dismissed them to their work. "Merlin knows you're going to need it."

Allie looked up from her mouse and to her twin. Not for the first time, Lila found herself annoyed by her sister's eyes as compared to her own. Their eyes fit in Allie's face; the impression they gave was of faint wistfulness, but the size and setting were right. In Lila's face, which was less well filled-out than Allie's, they always looked the tiniest bit protuberant. Allie bit her lower lip, and Lila knew at once that they were thinking about the same thing: the fact that Allie had, in both the written and practical areas, scraped the higher score on their last Transfiguration final.

"Maybe we should both try it first," Allie suggested. "Just to see, you know - "

"Fine," Lila said, trying not to sound too miffed. Taking out her own wand, she started speaking as she lowered the tip of it toward the grey rodent in her desk. "Changer de théière," she said sharply. The mouse hurried away from the wand in mid-rap. Nothing happened.

Stupid mouse.

16 Allie and Lila St. Martin Tea for two, and two for tea... 76 Allie and Lila St. Martin 0 5