A little overdue on Transfiguration

Professor Baer

December 15, 2008 2:34 PM

Lesson One: First and Second years by Professor Baer

Pale blue eyes scanned the classroom. It was under-decorated at the moment because of his late arrival, but that wasn't his prime concern. Everything was set. Right? Right. Or was he forgetting...? No. But there was also the...no. He remembered that too. Texts describing everything from basic theory to advanced practice in Transfiguration lined the shelves. The syllabus was written up for the month. Each of the students' desks bore a leaf for the day's lesson. Pictures of his beautiful eight-year-old girl were positioned just so on his desk. Everything was ready to go for his first class.

Or so he prayed.

Caleb took a calming breath and fell back into his chair, running his fingers through his sandy hair. If he had been vocalizing the numerous concerns running through his mind and how his heart hammered against his rib cage, Terry would have clamped his mouth shut a long time ago and told him what a pitiful excuse for a New Yorker he was. The thought brought a humored smile to his lips. He had to be the luckiest man in the world to have found Terrance. He was the one who finally convinced Caleb to take the teaching job. They needed the money and teaching was what Caleb was born to do. If ever there was an open door of opportunity, taking this position at Sonora Academy was it.

So when his first group of students began arriving, the younger years that continued to remind him of his little angel at home, Caleb swallowed his nerves, stood and nodded at them with genial greetings that revealed his origins from Staten Island to those who could place the accent. Once he was sure any last minute stragglers showed up, Caleb walked around to the front of his desk and addressed the students.

"Good morning everyone. I'm Professor Baer and welcome to Transfiguration. As I'm sure the second years have been told in the past and I will inform you again as well as telling the first years who are new to this subject, Transfiguration can be exciting, intriguing and satisfying to see one object turn into another. However, it is not to be taken lightly. This is a class that involves a great deal of concentration, practice and not goofing around when you should be working." His smile never disappeared, but the sincerity in his warning was clear through his expression. "Now, I'm not overly strict. I don't assign essays everyday, I don't give terribly hard homework and the classroom setting will be pretty casual, but safety is something I take quite seriously. It's very easy to hurt yourself or others by fooling around. I don't want that and you don't want that. So if we can agree on that we'll all get along just fine."

"We're going to start off with a relatively simple spell. Simple, but I've found it to come in handy on more than one occasion. This," he lifted a green leaf from the plastic container on his desk that was filled with them, "is a leaf. And this," he reached into his desk and retrieved a feather quill, "is a quill. Have I lost anyone yet? No? Good, good." He grinned and returned the quill.

"By the end of this lesson, I don't want a box filled with leaves. I want a box filled with quills and I'll show you how we'll end up with such a result. The incantation for this transfiguration is Penlo Stilis. The emphasis favors the second syllables. Repeat it please. Penlo Stilis." He waited for the class to follow and nodded. "Very good. The wand motion goes like this. Penlo Stilis." He waved his wand over the leaf in his other palm. The motion was a rapid, clockwise circle and a tap of the object. In an instant, a white feather quill took the leaf's place. He showed the class before placing the quill on his desk. "Once more a little slower." He repeated the motion. "But note that the movement is fast. Now, you all have a leaf to practice with and there are plenty more for any botched attempts. If you have questions, I'm always available, but feel free to try and help each other out if you can. The information is in your text on page 6. When you've created your quill, bring it up and grab another leaf. Practice makes perfect. Let's get to it then, folks."

Caleb sat in his chair watching the students get to work with silent congratulations to himself for not stumbling on his words or looking like a total fool. Not bad for a first lesson, he thought to himself. A little of his wit shone through to hopefully make him seem more relaxed than he was. Not bad at all. But the day was young and there was time for surprises.

Subthreads:

Transfiguring it out by Daniel Nash II with Charlotte Abbott

A little overdue by Jera Valson

0 Professor Baer Lesson One: First and Second years 0 Professor Baer 1 5

Daniel Nash II

December 22, 2008 4:44 PM

Transfiguring it out by Daniel Nash II

After several weeks of being taught transfiguration by Professor Fawcett, it came as something of a surprise to find someone other than the substitute at the front of the room. Daniel only let his step falter for a moment though before he continued crossing the room to his usual seat just to the left of center.

When everyone had arrived and the lesson began, Daniel was a little irritated about the review of the dangers of the subject that they'd already been learning for a couple weeks. Still, this guy was a real transfiguration professor, not just somebody filling in, so Daniel tamped down on his impatience and listened politely.

He would have been offended by being told what a leaf and quill were, but after a moment, it became clear it had been a joke, so Daniel chuckled.

Once the lecture finished, Daniel finished taking down his notes (he'd been delayed by practicing the wand motion with his pen as it had been demonstrated) then pulled out his wand.

Over the last few weeks, Daniel had decided Transfiguration might be his favorite class. The text was more specific about the mechanics behind the spells, so despite the higher complexity, Daniel felt he understood what was going on better than he did in any of his other classes. Having read ahead, he already had a theoretical grasp on how to turn a leaf into a quill, so it was with confidence that he made a swift circle and tap onto his leaf and said, "Penlo Stilis."

There was a brief pause, just long enough to make Daniel wonder if maybe he'd circled in the wrong direction and completely failed to get any reaction, when the leaf curled in, and paled to an off-white. The stem hollowed and grew stiffer and the leaf itself split into smooth, interlocking bristles.

There was still a faint greenish tint to it and the pattern on the plume was reminiscent of a leaf's veins, but it was very definitely a feather. Daniel nodded, pleased with his first effort. He reached for another leaf to hopefully improve the effect for his next rendition.

1 Daniel Nash II Transfiguring it out 130 Daniel Nash II 0 5

Charlotte Abbott

January 03, 2009 12:42 PM

Changing my mind by Charlotte Abbott

This whole deal of magic was still quite new, and unfathomably exiciting. Sonora Academy was a weird and wonderful place, and Charlotte was loving practically every minute of it. She had so much to tell her parents at midterm (she had only sent them a couple of owls, being sensitive to them hating the birds and the fact that they lived with Muggles) and had no doubt the excitement would not wear off until the summer, at the very earliest.

Even once they'd gotten into a routine some things would change. Like today, they had a new transfiguration professor. Oliver had mumbled something about a curse on the position of transfiguration professor but, as usual, Charlie had mostly ignored him. She didn't care if they had new teachers all the time, especially if they were going to be as nice as Professor Baer.

Charlotte was so far doing quite well at transfiguration. She didn't think she was top of the class, but her initial nervousness at being a poor witch had worn off, and some spells came rather easily to her. Potions was a true mystery and flying was a horrendous joke, but transfiguration made some sort of sense.

When given her assignment, Charlie hastened to collect the leaf and give the spell ago. Quills were another previously foreign item that Charlie was now delighted to use on a regular basis. It made her handwriting rather messy, but real witches didn't use biros.

With the leaf in front of her on the desk, Charlotte encanted clearly with a sweeping wand motion, and let out a squeak of delight as her leaf turned particularly pale, fuzzy and lightweight. It still held the shape and general resemblence of a leaf, but could probably be passed off for a feather if needed. Though in Charlie's mind, it had been longer, and pure white. The stem split near the bottom into a good representation of the pen end of a quill, but would only bend if used. Eager to make her second attempt more successful, Charlie reached for a new leaf, only to have her hand collide with another.

"Sorry," she giggled to the boy whose hand she'd hit. "Go on, you first." She took up a new leaf when it was safe to do so.

0 Charlotte Abbott Changing my mind 135 Charlotte Abbott 0 5

Jera Valson

January 03, 2009 12:55 PM

A little overdue by Jera Valson

There was quite a high staff turnover at Sonora, which meant that quite a lot of the subject teachers left after only a short period. This, in turn, meant that there were lots of new teachers, sometimes more than one per subject in a year. Jera had come to understand this, and so when Professor Baer ghreeted the class she gave him a big smile. He was probably much more nervous to be there than she was to be taught by a stranger. No teacher could be as scary as Professor Flatt, anyway.

Jera diligently took notes during the opening lecture, and found herself smiling at her new professor's easy-going attitude. She hoped he stayed longer than the last professor, because Jera really liked him. She had liked Professor Sutekh too, of course, but she had already gone; there was no point at all in hoping she would stay longer.

When they were allowed to begin class, Jera opened her textbook on the relevant pages, just in case. She took up a leaf for her first attempt. It was a maple leaf, slightly golden in patches around the middle, and the stem was long and firm. It didn't really look like any feather Jera had ever seen, so she would have to be imaginative. She could, of course, have just selected a new feather, but then she would be declining a challenge, and that just wasn't in her nature.

Raising her wand, Jera cast the spell Penlo Stilis. She has been aiming for something a long the lines of a peacock feather but with more strands near the bottom, to accomodate the peculiar shape of the maple leaf. It worked, more or less, but with a groan Jera realized she had completely forgotten to concentrate on the writing part of the quill. In her frustration, she returned her feather back to a leaf with a quick Finite incantatem. She knew there were other leaves to use, but she would move on to others when she'd conquered this one. Taking a steadying breath, Jera tried the spell once more.

0 Jera Valson A little overdue 112 Jera Valson 0 5

Daniel

January 05, 2009 2:16 PM

What are you changing your mind into? by Daniel

Daniel drew his hand back quickly when it collided with another one. Following the arm attached to the hand back to the girl sitting beside him, Danny half-smiled (he'd read on the Street Beat blogs that his one-sided smile was quite attractive, so he felt little inclination to force a full one when the half-smile came more easily and naturally to his face). "It's okay," he told her when tried to apologize.

Not wanting to get into a pointless you-take-it-no-you argument, he took the top leaf at her insistence and made an inviting gesture to let her take one of her own. As they'd bumped hands and exchanged words, he thought it would be the polite thing to do to introduce himself, so he added, "I'm Daniel."

1 Daniel What are you changing your mind into? 130 Daniel 0 5