Professor Lilac Crosby
February 11, 2011 2:59 PM
Mad-Hatter theory! [Third, fourth, and fifth years!] by Professor Lilac Crosby
A single question had been ravaging Lilac’s thoughts. She had gained the question from a book she read recently for the first time. Being that it was Muggle literature, she knew very little about it, and though it was a child’s story, she enjoyed it very much. Maybe because she was a bit childish at heart.As her intermediate students--third, forth, and fifth years--began to enter the room, Lilac was not in her typical greeting position by the door. Instead, the brunette sat at her desk, her head resting in her hand, propped up by her elbow, and her grey eyes scanning what seemed to be the ceiling. She wore a particularly quizzical look on her face.
Lilac waited until it seemed like all of the students were sitting before she even stirred. Looking to one student in the front row in particular, she inquired, “Why’s a raven like a writing desk?” After a pause, her head dropped curiously to a small degree, her child-like tilt to further show her puzzled feeling. To another student, she added, “Do you know?”
Addressing the full class now, the twenty-seven year old said, “Does anyone know? Why is a raven like a writing desk?” She assumed all of the minds of those who had read the novel of which she was thinking were at ease, but those who didn’t--probably purebloods--were possibly dizzy with confusion.
“There is no answer to the riddle, or at least none Lewis Caroll has provided for us.” His work was the origin of the question, of course, but he never penned an solution. “This question has possibly puzzled minds of readers since his book, Alice in Wonderland, was written. Today, we’re going to make our own solution.”
The professor made her way across the front of the classroom, sashaying somewhat as her bright orange robes flowed around her, reaching just down to her orange leopard-print slippers. She had taken to wearing them to class last term; they were just so comfortable! She hurried to a desk, smiled at the student there, and whipped the cover off the top, knocking down the Please Do Not Remove The Cover sign, identical to the one on each desk in the classroom. “Behold!” she exclaimed.
In the cage was a raven, which, startled by the quickly removed cover, began to squawk. “Shh, quiet now,” she soothed. Turning her attention back to the class, she announced, “We’re going to turn ravens into writing desks!” Gentle enough to not harm the bird but firm enough to keep a hold, Lilac withdrew the raven from its cage with her left hand as her right positioned her wand. “It’s okay to sit them on the desks to Transfigure them; the new writing desks will be miniature, only about the same size as the raven was.”
Carefully, she allowed the bird to sit on the desk by itself. She had taken the precaution of eliminating the birds’ ability to fly; another simple spell would return their flight after the lesson was done. “The incantation is this, so listen clearly: Corvus Scrinium!” Lilac demonstrated the proper wand movement--a swift flick left, and then up--and the bird was replaced by a small desk. She held it up for the class to see. “This should be the final result.”
Lowering the desk, Lilac uttered a non-verbal spell, reversed her wand movement, and a squawking raven returned. She handed it back to the student in the (actual-sized) desk. “That’s all you need to know,” the half-Russian grinned. “If you have any questions, you know where I’ll be. Also, feel free to partner up! Other than that, begin!”
OOC: I would think at this point, you all know the rules. Lots of words, lots of creativity, lots of good children. No exploding, no god-modding, and no other bad things. Also, please do not injure the ravens. It would make Lilac so very sad! Other than that, happy posting!
Subthreads: I'm falling through the looking glass. by Raines Bradley, Crotalus with Delilah Kerrigan, Pecari, Raines
I'll ask Alice, when she's ten feet tall? by Jose Hernandez, Pecari with Jethro Smythe, Jose, Jose Hernandez, Andrew Duell, Teppenpaw, Andrew Duell
And now though we're all here, we're not all there! by Nicodemus Sawyer, Crotalus with Cooper Abramson
You need to be as mad as a hatter by Dulce Garcia (Teppenpaw) with Samantha Hamilton, Dulce
0
Professor Lilac Crosby
Mad-Hatter theory! [Third, fourth, and fifth years!]
0
Professor Lilac Crosby
1
5
Raines Bradley, Crotalus
February 12, 2011 10:55 PM
I'm falling through the looking glass. by Raines Bradley, Crotalus
There was at least one advantage to Anna’s disownment that Raines could think of, and while it was a meager thing indeed since he really had loved his sister even if he didn’t like her most of the time, he had grown up in the household of David and Ellen Bradley, which meant learning to take whatever advantages he could find that his family offered. The advantage here was that he could now say with certainty that there was one place he would be less happy to visit than the Transfiguration classroom, and it was his house. He had never been able to decide which was less pleasant and more dangerous before, and it was good to have these things settled.Still, he refused to hide at the back of the room. For one thing, he didn’t want to look cowardly in front of Miss Veronica. For another, he didn’t wear them often, but he did have reading glasses for a reason, and the best way to stay safe in any situation was to pay attention to every little detail. That was true whether he was here, in other classes, in Illinois with his sane relatives, or even at home. So he took a seat reasonably near the front and tried not to look as worried as he was about the professor staring off into space as though she had taken too much of Mother’s nerve potion.
He couldn’t help but look slightly chagrined, though, when she began asking questions that had no logical answer. Was she taking something inappropriately, or been injured recently and not received treatment? Raines had gotten a concussion, once, when he’d crashed a broom, and Anna swore to this – would have sworn to this day, if she’d still been alive, that he had looked straight at their father and said ‘I love you, Father,’ before the Healer patched him up, and Mother had verified the story, so he knew injuries and pain potions and that kind of thing could make someone say a strange, nonsensical thing. But if that was the case, why were they letting her teach?
Raines blinked when she told them it was a riddle, and one the author, whoever he was, had not provided the answer to. What was the point of that? Plus, a riddle was only a riddle if it had a solution. To offer a riddle without a solution was to break the rules of the game. Only a dirty cheat would do that. And Transfiguring a raven into a writing desk did not provide a solution, because it wasn’t a similarity between a raven and a writing desk, it was turning a raven into a writing desk. A thing was itself, not something similar to itself; that was quibbling, and now how the argument worked.
It was all wrong. Why couldn’t people do things right? Was that really too much to ask from the world, that they not screw everything up and make it difficult and –
He saw that one of his hands, thankfully hidden beneath his desk where it had been resting on his knee, was clenched into a fist, and he was sure he was starting to look red in the face. That wasn’t good. That wasn’t right. He had to calm down. It was all right. One old maid who had to teach because no family would take her because she was too much of an eccentric to function in society was not a reason for him to lose his temper and do something regrettable. Very few things were a reason to do that; he couldn’t think of one, actually, short of someone insulting his mother very badly that would justify such a thing. He had to be reasonable, or he would be no better than Father.
He was reasonable. He was all right. It was all right.
He still felt a little reluctant to pick up his wand, thereby handling a weapon when the part of him that was like Father had so recently reared its unwelcome head, but he did it anyway. He could not show hesitation or irresolution.
“Corvus scrinium,” he said, ignoring the slight shake of his voice. He felt strange for a moment, almost lightheaded, like he couldn’t breathe – and then, there was a miniature writing desk.
He was all right. Everything was all right. He’d done the assignment, pointless and grounded in the nonsensical as it was, and now it was all right. It would help, though, to act it out instead of just telling himself the line, so he turned to his neighbor and, once he confirmed that he hadn’t taken a seat near someone completely intolerable in his mild concern about the professor’s absent expression, smiled. “How are you doing?” he asked politely.
0
Raines Bradley, Crotalus
I'm falling through the looking glass.
0
Raines Bradley, Crotalus
0
5
Jose Hernandez, Pecari
February 14, 2011 2:42 PM
I'll ask Alice, when she's ten feet tall? by Jose Hernandez, Pecari
Jose arrived at Transfiguration with a slight wariness, but the chairs were not arranged in an arch around the door or anything else like that, so he relaxed and took a seat near the middle of the room. Only after he was seated did he realize that just because the professor had not done something obvious did not mean she did not do something, but she seemed to be absently staring off into space instead of watching for them to stumble upon a prank, so he relaxed for the second time.He got his notebook ready, and his quill, and found his wand (he'd put it in his robe pocket instead of its notch in his bag, so that took a little longer than normal, but he still had it all set to go by the time Professor Crosby asked someone in the front row why a raven was like a writing desk.
He tried to come up with a funny punchline, but the joke's answer escaped him. When it turned out there was no horrible pun associated with the question, he decided they had to have something in common, and he spent far too much of the class determining that they had a lot of things in contrast and far too little of the class taking notes or listening to the lecture.
He'd reached the conclusion that their similarities included Being Made of Atoms (both generically and Carbon in particular since a desk was made out of wood which was once alive and Earth's living things were carbon-based), Being Found in America (other locations were also possible, but Jose was not entirely sure what the migratory patterns or homelands of ravens were, but he was nearly certain they could both be found in the United States), Being Smaller Than a House (and other similar size comparisons to things larger or smaller than both desks and ravens), and Being Mentioned By Lewis Carrol. There were more, he was sure, but those were what he'd come up with so far.
He had also established that the did NOT have the following things in common: Living vs Non-Living, Color, Shape, Actual Size, Flying/Moving vs Stationary, Free Will, Feathers vs No Feathers, Good Writing Surface vs Soft Squishy and Unwilling to Let You Use It To Write On, Location on the Food Chain, and Jose was sure there were more of those, too, but those were the obvious ones.
Unfortunately, his lists did not help him discover what it was precisely that he was supposed to be doing when Professor Crosby said, “That’s all you need to know. If you have any questions, you know where I’ll be. Also, feel free to partner up! Other than that, begin!”
Quite certain he did not have everything he needed to know, but unwilling to get a reputation for being Saul-like when Professor Crosby didn't even know Saul, he turned sheepishly toward his neighbor and showed off his two lists (labeled quite clearly as WHY A RAVEN IS NOT LIKE A WRITING DESK on the left side and WHY A RAVEN IS LIKE A WRITING DESK on the right side) while admitting in moderate embarrassment, "Sorry, excuse me, I was kind of distracted during the lesson - what are we supposed to be doing?"
0
Jose Hernandez, Pecari
I'll ask Alice, when she's ten feet tall?
0
Jose Hernandez, Pecari
0
5
Nicodemus Sawyer, Crotalus
February 15, 2011 12:34 PM
And now though we're all here, we're not all there! by Nicodemus Sawyer, Crotalus
Nic Sawyer, as he always did, chose a seat in the back of the classroom. This was less an indication of his interest in the class material (which was, honestly, much greater than he tried to let on) and more a courtesy to the other students who might have otherwise gotten stuck sitting behind him.Now part of the intermediate class, this wasn't as nearly necessary as it had been in the beginner class last year, but Nic Sawyer was quickly approaching six feet tall and he wasn't even fourteen yet. The growth was all vertical, so if he turned sideways he was in danger of disappearing entirely, but he still made a better door than a window to people unfortunate enough to get stuck behind him. So it was just better for everyone if he sat in the back where that wasn't an issue.
As class began, he was sort of glad he was somewhat out of range of Professor Crosby's inquisition. He had no answer for her question beyond that the desk would probably enjoy eating all of his class notes while the raven would love to eat anything else he had.
He frowned warningly down at his own classroom desk and took incomplete notes on the things Professor Crosby discussed (incomplete because if anybody looked at them, he didn't want them to think he was a nerd so he purposely left key points out) and drew sketches of Rachel in the margins (he'd selected his seat so that he could see her in at least partial profile).
When they were invited to begin practicing the lesson's transfiguration, he put down his pencil down beside his wand, pen, and quill (he had the pencil for drawing with, the pen for taking notes, and the quill so it looked like he at least knew how to use one but he tended to leave ink blotches all over the place so he preferred the pen) and picked up the wand instead.
He removed the cage's cover and regarded his raven with a look of distrust (as he did every living creature on Earth, since he was quite positive they all either wanted to eat him or eat something that belonged to him). Fortunately, he was pretty sure the raven fell into the later category, so after taking the precaution of putting away all of his books, writing implements, and spare paper, he released the bird from its cage and set it on his desk.
Wasting no time in case its beady eyes were sizing up his robe sleeves to assess their tastiness, Nic pointed his wand at the raven and cast, "Corvus Scrinium!" He wasn't really expecting a lot from the first try, since he was a third year in a 3-5 class, so he just pictured a writing desk straight up with no left over bird parts. He still planned for an eighty-percent success rate, but he felt fairly confident his transfiguration skill was not so advanced at this level that he had to try to fail.
Sure enough, he succeeded in achieving a writing desk that stood on two raven legs instead of four wooden ones. It continued to walk around the desktop, but it had no mouth anymore so Nic felt his clothing was now safe from its insatiable appetite.
1
Nicodemus Sawyer, Crotalus
And now though we're all here, we're not all there!
165
Nicodemus Sawyer, Crotalus
0
5
Delilah Kerrigan, Pecari
February 16, 2011 11:43 AM
Off with her head! by Delilah Kerrigan, Pecari
Delilah had not been herself lately and if anyone knew why, they wouldn’t have been able to blame her. Confusion tormented her on a daily basis. It wasn’t supposed to be like this. How could it have happened? Since she and her sisters were younger, the plan, which Veronica talked about most, had been simple. It had been society’s plan, the world’s plan, and there was no Plan B, especially in a world of purebloods, especially not to her sister. She was supposed to become interested in boys. She was supposed to pick a proper boy. She was supposed to be courted by the boy. She was supposed to marry the boy. She was supposed to have children with the boy. She was then supposed to send her children to school to repeat the things that she did in school.But a wrench had been thrown into the works. She didn’t want the things that she was supposed to want. So, how did she fix it? Could she fix it? She chewed on her fingernails, a bad habit that she had begun in correlation to her anxiety. Veronica would hate her forever if she knew and she couldn’t fathom that. No, she had to make every effort to become the sister that Veronica wanted her to be. Yes, she would try very, very hard. She would become like Veronica. Her sister had everything lined up in a neat little row. She knew exactly what she wanted and how to get what she wanted. There was no Plan B. There was only Plan A. She would be like that. She would only focus on Plan A. There were no other options, but oh, how her mind couldn’t seem to stop thinking about the Teppenpaw.
Pulling herself back into the world, the brunette looked around in a panic. Everyone was working on an assignment. Oh, no! She had completely missed what they were doing today. Not good. Not good at all. She couldn’t let her grades get any worse than they already were. She wasn’t sure what would happen if they did, but she certainly didn’t want to find out. What if they pulled her out of school and made her finish at home? Then, she would never ever see…no, better not to think about it. She wouldn’t think about it. She would just figure out what they were doing and she would get it right. She had to get it right. It wasn’t an option. Looking over to her neighbor, which happened to be The Raines Bradley, she was able to deduce that they were turning ravens into writing desks. Ravens into writing desks? What?
Never mind. There had to be a spell for it. She looked around for a spell. Where was the spell? Why wasn’t it written up on the board? Panic clutched at her chest. No, this wasn’t happening! This wasn’t happening at all. She had to do well this term. She had to start working within Plan A. Everything had to click. Everything had to work. No other option. No other option. Her mantra was interrupted by the sound of a voice. Looking she saw that Raines Bradley was talking to her. She took a breath in. It was fine. She would just ask about the assignment. It would be fine. And in the meantime, she could try to figure out one very important thing. Why her sister liked him. If she could figure that out, maybe she could figure everything else out.
“Um, actually not so well. Could you help me? I think I have the spell wrong,” she answered. She figured that this was better than admitting that she didn’t know what the spell was at all and it seemed helpless. Veronica would be so proud of her. It also lent itself to the opportunity that having a somewhat conversation with him would give her the chance to look at him without it seeming creepy. Why did Veronica like him so much? His hair coloring certainly left something to be desired. His features seemed all wrong. And he was lanky. She didn’t like any of it. She didn’t understand why Veronica liked him. Okay, she sort of understood small parts like that he came from a good family and that he was intelligent, but should that be enough? She wasn’t sure and really wished she had someone to talk to about the feelings that were swarming inside of her. Maybe she was just mistaking something being there that wasn’t there at all.
0
Delilah Kerrigan, Pecari
Off with her head!
0
Delilah Kerrigan, Pecari
0
5
Cooper Abramson
February 16, 2011 2:35 PM
I am the walrus? by Cooper Abramson
Cooper had absolutely no inclination to be sitting in Transfig right now. Firstly, the professor was so stupid she didn’t even know how to match her freaking clothes. Secondly, she acted like she had some sort of weird mental problem that made her think that she was a toddler or a bird or something. Thirdly, how the hell was this stupid professor’s introduction related to the actual lesson? They were going to turn a raven into a desk. That was dumb. If you had a raven around, why would you want to make a desk out of it? Fine, okay, if you didn’t have a glass handy and you wanted to have a drink then Cooper could see the use of turning one into a glass and filling it with water.But the point was, this lesson was completely and utterly trite and a waste of his time. Transfig was always blah blah blah turn this into that okay done, when about half the time (like in this case) it was so much easier to just have the that than turn the this into it.
Still, his—the people fostering him would presumably be displeased if he actually started failing classes, and then he’d have to deal with his social worker asking him questions again and trying to get him to see a shrink. Cooper was totally well-adjusted and didn’t need any of that garbage, he just thought it was stupid to have an entire seven years of a class that apparently spent its entire time teaching you to turn things into other things. But of course, the social worker wouldn’t understand it and blah blah blah. Euegh.
Tapping his fingers, nails longer than they really needed to be, on his desk, Cooper contemplated actually doing the assignment. After a moment, the brown-haired, dark-complected boy decided that he probably should, if only to avoid someone ratting on him to one of his foster dads. The one that worked here. So Cooper revealed his raven and waved his wand and turned it into what sort of looked like a wooden board with a pair of wings, a beak, and two beady, irritable eyes. The hybrid desk-bird didn’t bother sticking around for another transformation, instead flapping its wings quickly to try to escape.
Grabbing for it, Cooper swore creatively under his breath. The deskbird evaded his fingertips by centimeters and made its ungainly way to the desk of the boy next to him, where it immediately began to investigate the much-more-desk-like birddesk there. The Aladren growled irritably before reaching over to grab it, glaring at Nic Sawyer as he did so. The two boys had never really talked, but neither one of them was particularly inclined to talk apparently. Besides, Crotali were just stupid. Cooper didn’t like them.
Then again, he didn’t like the denizens of any other house either, so that was that.
0
Cooper Abramson
I am the walrus?
0
Cooper Abramson
0
5
Raines
February 17, 2011 1:00 AM
And then we may have tea, just never today. by Raines
On her own, Delilah was not someone Raines would have noticed except in passing, and at Pecari-Crotalus Quidditch games - someone to shake his head at in disinterested disapproval, maybe with a thought about how there had to be one bad apple in every batch but it was still a shame that she would be what she was when her twin was a perfect lady and their older sister seemed well on her way to landing one of the better matches Sonora had to offer, but not someone he thought of when she didn't happen to be right in his line of sight.To their no doubt mutual displeasure, though, she wasn't on her own. Her twin sister, the only one of those Kerrigan girls to turn out quite right, was Miss Veronica, which meant Raines had no choice but to register Delilah's existence. She played Quidditch, she did odd things to her shoes, she did not dress particularly well, just generally did not behave in a way reflective of the fine upbringing her sisters' conditions suggested she must have had, and there was a decent chance, if she were not disowned by her grandmother, that she might be his sister-in-law. That option had seemed closed when her father - did what he did, but Miss Veronica had very wisely distanced herself from all that, and the Anna situation made it unlikely that his parents would be able to arrange anything higher for him when it had always been a slim chance at best. Besides, the next best option was Jane Carey, and while he thought his family wouldn't suit hers now, Raines planned to do all he could to discredit her if Father decided she was the best option over Miss Veronica. Not only was that family strange, so that Delilah Kerrigan was a better bet for a direct in-law than Jane's brother and his biological sister, but Jane didn't suit him. He couldn't put his finger on what it was, but something about her struck him as more than half boy.
So not only did he have to acknowledge and routinely remember that Miss Delilah existed, he also had to be somewhat polite to her without appearing so friendly that his good pureblood status was threatened. It was a delicate balance, but the year before Prefect selections, he was sure he could get away with helping her in class. So he smiled magnanimously as she explained that she wasn't doing so well.
"Animate to inanimate transfigurations can be difficult," he sympathized. Raines himself had been known to dedicate extra private practice time to them so he could look quicker on the uptake than he really was in class. It was important that his classmates see him as serious, intelligent, powerful, and talented. "The wand movement is like this - " he demonstrated, slowly and precisely, with a quill for safety's sake - "and the incantation is corvis scrinium." Again, he was very careful with his pronunciation, so she would get it right and so not blow them both up. "Do you think you have it now, Miss Delilah?"
0
Raines
And then we may have tea, just never today.
0
Raines
0
5
Nic
February 17, 2011 11:43 AM
They are the Eggmen? by Nic
The first Nic became aware of Cooper Abramson's proximity was when his desk-raven wandered over onto the territory Nic deemed his own. As the desk-raven was currently a half-transfigured beast construction, he was willing to forgive the trespass and let it stumble back into its own area without molestation. (Not to mention, that one still had a beak and eyes, so he wasn't letting his arm get anywhere near it.)He just eyed the thing with distrust and gripped his wand, hoping he would not be called upon to defend his own blind desk-raven from assault. Bad enough he felt obligated to keep it from walking off the edge of the tabletop. He did block it from doing so as it staggered away from Abramson swooping in and snagging his own desk-raven back.
Nic glared right back at the other boy, not impressed by the guy's own glare - Nic hadn't done anything to him; Cooper was the one who invaded Nic's space. Nic waved his wand and put up a barrier between their work areas. "Keep your bird and yourself on your side."
1
Nic
They are the Eggmen?
165
Nic
0
5
Dulce Garcia (Teppenpaw)
February 19, 2011 7:58 PM
You need to be as mad as a hatter by Dulce Garcia (Teppenpaw)
Dulce’s light eyes narrowed at the sight of the professor when she walked into the classroom. This woman was the least professional person Dulce had ever laid eyes on. It was like she was still a child and did not know how to handle herself in an adult situation. Considering she was currently staring off like an absolute idiot made Dulce believe that this woman had little to know real knowledge with pretty much anything. She clearly didn’t understand how adolescents work and the fact that they all need to start small before throwing them into the burning cauldron. As a third year, Dulce had already performed human transfigurations, which was probably something normally taught to those in their CAT years. Of course, who knew what they would be doing this year. Maybe she’d be crazy enough to get them to do apparation. It certainly wasn’t something that Dulce would put past her.Glancing around, Dulce spotted the people she intended to not be around, namely, Raines, and headed off in the opposite direction from them. She sat on the far side of the room so that she only had one person beside her. Dulce did not feel comfortable with her classmates, so the less that were around her, the better it would be for all. She was awkward enough as it was, she didn’t need to put herself out there any more than necessary.
The professor finally got up and then acted as though she had gone and lost her mind. To make it worse, she wasn’t even joking. The woman was completely serious with her inquiry. Had the woman actually read the literature? Did she understand that you had to be completely under the influence of drugs to actually have any sort of connection to the words that the Mad Hatter said? The character was meant to be confusing and eccentric. His words were not supposed to be taken as literal as she seemed to take them. It was just a silly children’s story. It was meant to give them imagination and nothing more.
If the Transfiguration professor actually wanted an answer, the best that Dulce could give was that ravens were often symbolic in writings. And since most authors have a writing desk, that would be the connection. Specifically, think of the poem, The Raven, by Edgar Allan Poe. Birds, in general, were symbolic in poems and stories. So, although a raven didn’t physically have anything in common with a writing desk, they shared inspirations for artists of the written word.
Finally, the lesson. Actually, it was a bit of a let down. Last year she had done human transfiguration and this year she was back to animals. Sigh. There was definitely no balance in this classroom. Dulce sat quietly, watching the movement of the wand and the spell she cast. Having read straight through the fifth year lessons, Dulce wasn’t worried at all about this. And, having changed Rachel’s face into that of a pig, Dulce really wasn’t worried about turning a raven into a small desk. At least it would be the same size and she wouldn’t have to enlarge it while transforming it.
Dulce opened the cage door and gentle ushered the bird onto the desk. She was aware that Ravens were considered one of the smartest birds in the world. They were quite clever. Dulce respected that of them. She was sure, if the bird could, it would escape to safety. But, aware that charms were made for a reason, her bird remained where it was, looking gloomily at her. Dulce felt a bit like the bird. Misunderstood. Stuck. Lonely.
“Sorry bird.” Dulce said with a shrug of her shoulders. Picking up her wand, Dulce imitated the professor’s wand movement and said, “Corvus Scrinium” She watched as the bird transformed into that of a black writing desk. Miniature, but perfect in every way. Please with her work, Dulce propped her elbows onto her desk, placed her chin in her hands and waited, watching others and they attempted the spell.
0
Dulce Garcia (Teppenpaw)
You need to be as mad as a hatter
0
Dulce Garcia (Teppenpaw)
0
5
Samantha Hamilton
February 21, 2011 9:18 AM
Or a March Hare by Samantha Hamilton
She didn't feel at all certain about sharing classes with fourth and fifth years. Samantha wasn't even that good in class when she still shared lessons with the second years. There was absolutely no way she was going to be able to do the same spells as the fifth years, she was sure of it. The Aladren did manage to forget her concerns briefly while Professor Crosby talked a little bit about Alice in Wonderland. Samantha had read the book, just before she started Sonora, actually, but she didn't really understand all of it. She had watched the Disney cartoon a lot while she was growing up, though, and remembered the riddle the professor was referencing.When they inevitably got round to the content of the class, Samantha found herself frowning at nobody in particular. She'd always found transfiguration difficult, but at least they were turning the bird into the desk and not the other way round - she definitely didn't think she was up to trying to make a living creature like a raven. She had marginally more chance of producing a writing desk. With a sigh of resignation, knowing that if she did accomplish the spell it would be imperfect and most probably a fluke, Samantha picked up her wand. She worked on her own, as always. She didn't especially enjoy working on her own particularly, but she didn't really have any friends at school and she probably learned better without the distraction of talking to other people, anyway. Besides, they couldn't laugh at her failed attempts if they couldn't see.
Except that someone could see. Samantha had taken her raven out and managed to turn it into some sort of feathered table before she noticed that the girl on the next desk over was watching her. It was a fourth year, Samantha thought, and she couldn't think of her name right now. The only older students she really knew were those who played Quidditch, and most of them she only knew by name rather than as someone to talk to. Samantha just watched this older girl, who was watching her, until she noticed.
0
Samantha Hamilton
Or a March Hare
159
Samantha Hamilton
0
5
Jethro Smythe
February 21, 2011 10:02 AM
Who is Alice? by Jethro Smythe
Just one more year and then Jethro wouldn't have to keep taking transfiguration classes if he didn't want to. Not that transfiguration stuck out as being especially awful - he simply thought this at the start of most of his classes these days. He hoped that he would be able to pay more attention if he had fewer classes to focus on. For the time being, Jethro had somehow to get through his fifth year and the exams looming at the end of it without horribly disgracing himself or his family. That in itself was difficult enough for the time being.Upon entering the classroom, Jethro took a seat near to Jose Hernandez. Cynthia said it was okay that he talked to Jose so long as they didn't become friends. She said that Pierces were sometimes okay but not the Pierces that Jose lived with, but that if Jethro was stupid in front of anyone it had best be someone that wouldn't care, like Jose. Jethro wasn't sure how he felt about this. It was, he supposed, a relief to not worry about saying something that he shouldn't say in front of someone, and he liked working with Jose because the Pecari didn't tell Jethro he was stupid when he got things wrong. More to the point, if Jethro hadn't been paying attention in class, Jose was usually helpful enough to remind him what they were supposed to be doing.
Today, Jethro had somehow let his mind wander while Professor Crosby had been explaining the class, as somehow happened in most of his classes. Luckily she said, 'Behold' quite loudly, and caught Jethro's attention. He was then focused on her just long enough to see her turn her raven into a writing desk and say that this was what the students should be doing, too. Excellent, he didn't even need Jose's help on this one! This was perhaps just as well, because moments later Jose turned to Jethro and admitted that he had been distracted. Jethro only spared a moment to glance at Jose's listes before replying, "Professor Crosby turned her raven into a writing desk. I think we have to do it, too." Usually Jethro would sit back at watch others do the spell first, just to make sure, and he still intened to do that, but right now he was looking at Jose's lists in more detail. "Everything a writing desk has in common with a raven it has in common with us, too," he commented.
0
Jethro Smythe
Who is Alice?
146
Jethro Smythe
0
5
Jose
February 22, 2011 9:36 AM
She's a little blond girl who chased a rabbit by Jose
Jose realized the irony of asking Jethro Smythe about the lesson but it turned out he actually did know this time, which was good or they'd both be hopelessly lost, and Jethro probably wouldn't hold not paying attention against him. Not that he really needed people other than teachers to think he was a good student (it wasn't like he had much interest in Head Boy or anything despite Saul's claims that he was well positioned for it) but he did like that nobody ran screaming from him when it came time to partner up.There wasn't any screaming involved, but he wasn't convinced Jethro had quite the same range of options.
Jose didn't mind working with him, though. Jethro had a few self-confidence issues (something trained out of California Pierces at an early age) but was otherwise a good guy. Being the Guy In the Know would probably be good for him this class.
"Raven to Writing Desk, got it, check," Jose said, confirming his understanding of the lesson's purpose, which made sense, really, since there were ravens all over the class now that people were opening the covered cages and letting them out, and a writing desk was what he'd spent the whole lesson comparing to a raven.
As Jethro remarked on the vagueness of the similarities on said list, Jose nodded, grimaced, and shrugged, "Yeah, and pretty much every other living creature on Earth. Or, at least, in America. There really isn't a lot of overlap going on there. One's a bird, one's a piece of furniture."
Jose opened up the cage nearest him and let out his own raven. "So, how do we do this?"
0
Jose
She's a little blond girl who chased a rabbit
0
Jose
0
5
Dulce
February 23, 2011 10:30 PM
Or a Red Queen with a giant head by Dulce
Dulce had been staring off, not paying any attention. It happened from time to time when she lost focus because she was bored and waiting for something to happen. Dulce had been tempted after awhile of staring to just remove the transfiguration from the raven and try it all over again, but she felt that probably would have made the raven angry and she didn’t want to deal with an angry raven. They did have sharp beaks after all. Of course, perhaps making the raven angry would have been slightly fun just to see what the raven would do, but Dulce was neither cruel nor dumb enough to enrage an animal. So, instead, she zoned out as she observed people.In her unfocused moment of staring, Dulce failed to realize that she had stared directly at the person beside her. A girl. Dulce couldn’t remember her name. Not surprising. She hardly even thought about the people in her own year let alone in any other. But, since Dulce knew those in her class and the one above her, the girl beside her must have been a third year.
Her light eyes went from the girl’s person to her work on the desk. Well, it certainly was interesting. If Dulce was into art, it could certainly be pushed in that direction. And… Dulce as sort of amused because it completely went with the whole theme of the day’s lesson. A raven feathered writing desk. “Was that your first try?” Dulce asked the girl, sitting up as she addressed her. Dulce was helping a second year with her transfiguration work. She sometimes forgot that others weren’t as experienced. Not to say she was better or anything. She just had more practice. “It’s a very good start.”
0
Dulce
Or a Red Queen with a giant head
0
Dulce
0
5
Jethro
February 28, 2011 10:24 AM
Why would she do that? by Jethro
Jose confirmed he'd understood the class assignment, and he didn't try to argue, and he didn't look unsure about trusting Jethro (which was a common response, the fifth year had discovered), and he hadn't called Jethro stupid, so thus far it was a good lesson.Jose agreed that there were few unique similarities to ravens and writing desks, and Jethro wondered what had prompted his list making. It couldn't have been that he was trying to compile similarities already existing to render the transfiguration easier - which would have made good sense - because Jose hadn't known that transfiguring one into the other was the assignment. Rather than asking, however, Jethro simply accepted that Jose had made lists, and, like he said, all that writing desks had in common with ravens, they had in common with every other living creature. Jethro thought it might be interesting to think of some exceptions, but now wasn't the time or the place for that.
"So, how do we do this?" Jose asked. Jethro was stumped. he blinked a couple of times and tried to remember if the professor had said a spell. He looked at the blackboard but found nothing helpful written there.
"I don't know," he eventually had to reply to his partner. "I saw her do the spell and change her raven into a writing desk, but I didn't write down how she did it." He looked briefly at the work of some of his surrounding classmates. "Sometimes I just listen to other people say the spell so I know how it goes," Jethro admitted, "and watch for the wand movement." He couldn't say it worked especially well, because although it allowed him to know what he was supposed to be doing, his success rate was so low when performing new spells that he couldn't really vouch for the effectiveness of his method of learning.
0
Jethro
Why would she do that?
0
Jethro
0
5
Samantha
February 28, 2011 10:36 AM
Or a caterpillar smoking suspect substances by Samantha
Once Samantha noticed the other girl watching her, and the other girl noticed that Samantha had noticed, she starting speaking. "Was that your first try?" The older girl asked. "It's a very good start.""My second, actually," Samantha replied. She noticed the perfect little writing desk on the older girl's actual desk, and decided she wouldn't mind it too much if she offered to help. "My first go nothing happened." Though sometimes it did take her a couple of tries to get the pronunciation right. Either way, the older girl seemed to think Samantha had made a good start, which was better than nothing.
"I'm Samantha," she introduced herself. She'd noticed over the past couple of years that a lot of people at Sonora used their last names for introductions, and some of them even added where they were from. At first she'd thought this was really weird, but as she'd come to understand that it was a way for magic people to identify each other she'd sort of gotten used to it. As a Muggleborn, Samantha had no interest whatsoever in sharing her surname or where she came from - it was completely irrelevant, especially as she'd got her surname from her father, who barely spoke to her. Her mother, being married to her step-dad, had taken her new husband's name, and Samantha's older brother had a different father from the two younger siblings, so he had a different last name, anyway. It didn't mean they were any less of a family, so last names meant nothing at all to Samantha.
Considering the feathery desk, Samantha sighed and cast finite, returning it to a raven. That was the one spell she seemed to be able to get right just about every time. "Sorry," she said to the bird, "but I'm going to have to try that again." The raven simply ruffled its feathers a bit and tilted its head. Aiming her wand at the bird (who didn't seem at all bothered by this) Samantha cast the spell again, this time producing a wooden raven on four spindly legs. "Now I have the opposite problem," she mused aloud.
0
Samantha
Or a caterpillar smoking suspect substances
0
Samantha
0
5
Jose Hernandez
February 28, 2011 1:06 PM
Because she got curiouser and curiouser by Jose Hernandez
Jethro blinked at him a few times after Jose asked a fairly simple and - he thought - pretty obvious question. Jose hadn't been paying attention and Jethro said they had to turn ravens into writing desks; sooner or later, Jose was going to ask how to do that. As Jethro described his normal method of watching classmates to pick up the spell details, Jose realized this wasn't going to be class where Jethro got to shine as the brilliant guy who knew everything."Right," he said, and really wished he had been paying attention today.
Still, he turned his attention to some of the other students to watch them cast the spell and tried to pick up the correct spell word and wand motion from people who weren't even necessarily doing it right. He decided to succumb to some House prejudices and focus mostly on Aladrens.
After observing a few relatively successful attempts, Jose turned back to Jethro to consult and see if he'd made the same discoveries. "So the incantation is something like 'Corvus Scry Numb' and you do something like this," he demonstrated a swish left, and then flicked up. "Is that what you got, too?"
1
Jose Hernandez
Because she got curiouser and curiouser
149
Jose Hernandez
0
5
Jethro
March 02, 2011 10:03 AM
She ran out of adjectives so had to repeat? by Jethro
Jose didn't argue when Jethro suggested his usual means of identifying the class assignment. He began to watch people, some of them were getting the hang of the spell better than others. he'd learned who to watch and who not to - there were some students in the class that seemed consistently to get incorrect results, or incomplete transfigurations. On the other hand, there were sometimes those who got the spell right on their first or second try in just about every class - not many of them were in the lowers years, thought, which was whom Jethro and Jose happened to be in class with on this occasion. nevertheless, Jethro thought he'd got a good idea of what they were supposed to be doing, and when Jose returned with his data, Jethro's wasn't far off a match. "That's what I got, too," he replied with a nod. Admittedly he thought the incantation was more like Corva-scrine-um but he doubted the little difference in pronunciation would make an overwhelming difference; the wand movement he agreed with completely.Now it was time for them to test their findings. Gingerly, Jethro removed the cover from the raven in front of him, and frowned at it as if he already had done the transfiguration and found it to be unsuccessful. "Okay, I'll give it a go," he said to Jose. He didn't mind going first. Raising his wand, Jethro aimed at the ravne, and incanted "Corvus Scry-num," completed with the wand movement they had agreed upon. Following the spell, the ravne transformed itself not into a writing desk, but into a oversized black shiny tea cup. "Oh," Jethro said, sounding disappointed. he reached out and picked the tea cup up. It felt lighter than it looked, which was probably due to its being made mostly of feathers (even if it didn't look as such any more), and was in no way a writing desk. "Well how do you suppose that happened?" he asked loudly, directing the question to nobody in particular but assuming Jose would suggest an answer.
0
Jethro
She ran out of adjectives so had to repeat?
0
Jethro
0
5
Dulce
March 02, 2011 8:36 PM
Or a Chesire cat with a creepy grin by Dulce
Dulce was already helping Sophie with her transfiguration and knew how difficult the younger students were having with the lessons. She didn’t really blame them. She had been lucky enough to begin her life here at Sonora with a professor that actually taught them the basics first before starting them on the more complicated transfigurations. The last couple of years that had joined Sonora were not so lucky and had to start off their school career with Transfiguration with doing animate to inanimate, which was very difficult if you hadn’t ever performed an inanimate to inanimate transfiguration first. It was like they were being set up for failure and the professor was completely oblivious to her actions. Seriously, Dulce hoped that the Headmaster actually took the time to look over his staff members and critique them when it was needed. She couldn’t imagine many people getting decent marks if they just can’t grasp it.“Still, even for your second, it’s not that bad.” Dulce commented. There were some that would probably not get any sort of transfiguration to occur even after the day’s lesson was over. “I’m Dulce.” She introduced with a polite but small smile. After going here for so long, Dulce was glad that she was old enough to not have to introduce herself to everyone or listen to the tyrant of introductions from purebloods who need to list their house and branch of the family. It got old real quick. She didn’t see the purpose of it, it wasn’t like eventually they wouldn’t know who they were as it was.
Dulce watched while Samantha tried the spell again. She was amused that she wasn’t the only one who had apologized to her bird for having to transfigure it against it’s will (well, Dulce assumed the bird did want to be transfigured). She watched as the third attempt failed even worse than the second attempt had. “It looks like a book holder.” Dulce commented. Her tone was neither impressed or displeased by this. “Did you imagine the bird turning into a writing desk?” Dulce asked her. “Sometimes that helps people complete their transfigurations.” Dulce suggested. “Although, don’t take it too hard. It seems like with Transfiguration, either you are good at it or you aren’t.”
0
Dulce
Or a Chesire cat with a creepy grin
0
Dulce
0
5
Jose
March 03, 2011 10:02 AM
She got increasingly curious, I think. (Alert: theft!) by Jose
Jethro agreed on Jose's eavesdropping conclusions and attempted the spell first. Jose stared at the black tea cup that was most definitely not a writing desk. In fact, aside from being inanimate, Jose thought an oversized black tea cup had even less in common with a writing desk than the original raven did.Ravens and writing desks both have legs. Ravens and writing desks both have complexity. Tea cups . . . don't.
"Okay," he said after a moment of dumbfounded silence. "I'm going to have to assume we got something wrong." Probably more than one something, for the result to be that different. "Hang on, I'm going to get us better information."
He turned around and borrowed the unguarded notebook belonging to one of the class's smarter members. "Sorry, I need this for a sec." The California Pierces had never instilled a strong sense of personal property in their children, and while Jose could usually keep the 'this-is-mine' and 'this-is-Jude's' claims straight, he still relapsed in moments of necessity (like, that morning, when he'd realized he was out of clean socks and he had to borrow a pair of Jude's). Right now, having that notebook was necessary.
He brought it back in front of them and scanned quickly through the day's notes. "The left and up motions, are both flicks," he told Jethro, "and the spell is 'corvus Scrinium' pronounced scrin - ee - um. That's what we were doing wrong." He turned around again and returned the notebook to its original position. He gave its creator a grateful grin and slightly guilty shrug, "Thanks. You were a big help."
0
Jose
She got increasingly curious, I think. (Alert: theft!)
0
Jose
0
5
Andrew Duell, Teppenpaw
March 05, 2011 11:24 AM
Sounds like she's not the only one. by Andrew Duell, Teppenpaw
'Excellent, Transifiguations', Andrew thought to himself. This was undoubtedly his favorite class, primarily because it was his best class. He had found from early on, this subject came easily to him. This was a very good thing, because not many of his other classes did. He settled down at his seat next to Jose and took out his notebook, textbook, writing implement and wand. He arranged them neatly on his desk and waited for the professor to begin.It was a quick, and quirky introduction to their task for the day. But he had come to expect this from his head of house. He scribbled down notes as Professor Crosby demonstrated, making sure to note down the exact phonetics of the words and diagrammed out the motions her wand took. Once she released them to try on their own, he looked over at Jose. Maybe he wanted to partner up, but Jose was already talking to Jethro. Oh well, maybe next time.
Andrew uncovered his raven and watched it in it's cage for a few moments. He was mentally noting it's attributes; size, color, motions, textures, smells, anything he could observe. This was critical, he had to know his subject, how else could you possibly know what and how to change it? Once he had a clear image of the bird in his mind, he began to picture the desk that it would become. Many, many things would have to change. This would be an interesting one. He started to figure what parts of the bird would change into what parts of the desk, this was relatively easy. He then stumbled upon the difficult part. The bird was alive, the desk was not. Where does one put the 'lifeforce' of the bird? The desk certainly doesn't use it, but it can't be discarded, changing it back would result in a dead bird. An idea struck him, and he figured it was as good as any other.
He raised his wand and concentrated, he tuned all else out. It was just him, the bird and the desk. Speaking the words and waving his wand, he felt the magic take shape and go to work on it's task. When he opened his eyes, the bird was gone, and the small desk sat in it's place. Andrew smiled. Hopefully his planned worked, he tried to open the desk, and found it sealed closed. Excellent, the lifeforce of the bird should be contained within the space of the desk, but not actually a part of it. He had to write this down. It was at this point that he noticed his notebook was missing.
He glanced around as Jose handed it back to him. "Umm... glad I could help?" He looked at the bird and black tea cup, "That tea cup is pretty cool, how'd you do that?"
0
Andrew Duell, Teppenpaw
Sounds like she's not the only one.
0
Andrew Duell, Teppenpaw
0
5
Jethro
March 07, 2011 9:13 AM
Curiosity killed the kneazle. by Jethro
There was apparently another way to find out what had been happening whilst one drifted off in class, and Jose demonstrated by appropriating the notebook of a fellow student. That had not occurred to Jethro before, perhaps because his own notes were so unreliable that it hadn't crossed his mind that his peers might be more thorough. Apparently this was the case, as Jose was able to explain the wand movements and correct pronunciation of the spell. This, then, would explain why something other than a writing desk had been produced, as both the incantation and the wand movement had been performed incorrectly.As Jose returned the notebook, Jethro noticed that its ownder was Andrew Duell. He had no problems talking to Andrew because Cynthia hadn't forbidden it, and they had managed a reasonable conversation earlier in the year in a care of magical creatures class, during which Jethro was fairly sure he hadn't said anything especially stupid. "That tea cup is pretty cool, how'd you do that?" Andrew said.
"I cast the wrong spell," Jethro said in reply - he thought it was reasonably safe to answer as he had been the one who had cast the spell. He'd originally been intending to say that he'd cast the spell incorrectly, but he thought on this occasion that his mistake had gone further than that, and he had in fact cast a different spell altogther; one that might not have even been invented yet. Now they had the correct spell, however, it might be possible for him to create the desired writing desk. On the other hand, he wasn't often good at transfigurations, so it was reasonable to expect that he would make a mess even with the proper spell this time. in addition, Jose hadn't cast the spell yet, and Jethro didn't want to be the only one doing the spellwork in their partnership - it didn't seem fair to either of them. Therefore he looked back at Jose and said, "I think you should try this time."
0
Jethro
Curiosity killed the kneazle.
0
Jethro
0
5
Samantha
March 07, 2011 9:33 AM
Or... an animate pack of playing cards by Samantha
"Imagine it?" Samantha repeated. "I'll try that next time." Her imagination wasn't that good, to be honest. She'd tried making up stories before but even she had to admit that they were boring. Her characters were faceless figures with names but no personalities, and her plots were mundane or ridiculous. She wasn't any good at art because she couldn't imagine what she wanted to draw (she was marginally better if she had something in front of her to copy). She was, however, good at the written part of transfiguration. So when Dulce said that she thought people were either good at transfiguration or not, the third year shook her head in disagreement."I'm really good at the written work," she said. "I understand the theory, even the really complicated bits make sense if you really think about it. I just can't seem to get the spells to work the way I want them to all at once. I can get them bit by bit," she gestured towards her wooden raven to make a point. "Finite," she cast as an aide, "but I can't make it all work together very often."
Now her raven was back to being a raven again, it still seemed at all bothered by Samantha's continually botched transfiguration, for which the third year was glad. In fact it seemed a rather amicable bird by all counts, and probably wouldn't mind being stroked. As she had this thought, Samantha remembered her conversation in care of Magical Creatures with Autumn, about how neither of them had ever stroked a bird and felt its feathers. Wondering why she hadn't thought to take advantage of this opportunity until now, Samantha gingerly reached her hand towards the raven - it seemed friendly but that beak looked sharp - and gently stroked the feathers down the back of its neck. Then the bird twitched, so she sharply withdrew her hand again out of biting range. "Okay, bird, now we're better acquainted," Samantha said, as much to encourage Dulce that she wasn't crazy and there had been a good reason for stroking the raven as to encourage the raven they were friends, "let's see if we can give another go. Corvus Scrinium."
On this, the fourth attempt, Samantha did as Dulce suggested and imagined a writing desk prior to attempting the spell. It sort of worked, she thought. The object before them now definitely resembles a writing desk that was black in color, but the legs were uneven lengths and the top surface was still feathery. "I'm getting better," Samantha surmised aloud.
0
Samantha
Or... an animate pack of playing cards
0
Samantha
0
5
Jose
March 07, 2011 12:18 PM
*nods* Alice nearly lost her head, too by Jose
Jose grinned at Andrew, pleased that he was being a good sport about having his notebook borrowed without permission. This naturally put Andrew on the short list Jose had compiled of 'People it's okay to use their stuff' but since he was a Teppenpaw, he wasn't nearly in as much danger of having his things appropriated as, say, Jude was.Still, there was was a transfiguration to do, and Andrew's notebook had clarified some of the points they'd had wrong, and Jethro was encouraging him to give it a go, so he put aside his Welcome To Communism speech, he would need to give Andrew later as forewarning that personal property was a guideline at best around California Pierces, and drew out his wand.
After releasing his raven onto his desk, Jose flicked first left (not a swish), and then up, and cast, "corvus scrin - ee - um," with a perhaps a touch too much emphasis on the different syllables of the last word.
Still, his raven changed shape into a very odd looking two legged desk that promptly fell forward due to having poor balance.
0
Jose
*nods* Alice nearly lost her head, too
0
Jose
0
5
Andrew Duell
March 10, 2011 7:37 PM
There's a lesson to be learned in there... somewhere... by Andrew Duell
Andrew made a mental note that he'd have to ask Jethro exactly what spell he had cast for the raven teacup. It wasn't one that he'd seen before in the book (admittedly, he hadn't read it all though). He would however need to make a note of it and try it out on his own at some point. Turning a raven into a teacup probably wasn't the most common thing he'd have to do in the future, but it never hurt to have as large of a library as possible. Plus it might reveal some interesting underlying fundamentals.Anyway, he watched as Jose made his attempt at the class assignment. It was at this point that he noticed what Jose had scribbled down in his notebook. "That's a good start," he commented while gesturing toward his classmate's notes, "That's what I do to transfigure stuff. Figure out what is alike and what isn't between the two things." He examined Jose's odd looking desk and continued, "You may want to expand your lists though a little bit."
2
Andrew Duell
There's a lesson to be learned in there... somewhere...
145
Andrew Duell
0
5