Hopefully I don't screw this one up. on Transfiguration

Professor Lilac Brockert

May 05, 2012 12:58 AM

Slithery spinners! [Third, fourth, fifth years] by Professor Lilac Brockert

Though not entirely sure if it was actively noticeable to others yet, Lilac felt her clothes beginning to grow tight around her middle. Normally, a woman wouldn’t think that was a good thing, but she was thrilled for her expanding waist-line. That meant the baby was getting bigger and stronger. For that, she was grateful, even if it meant having to give up a few pairs of pants every so often.

As far as she knew, none of her students were as of yet aware of her condition. This, of course, excluded the ones related to her or Seth, and that was actually a fair number. A good few of the third through fifth years that would soon be arriving would know just due to their relations. This group included her nephew Ryan, her some-kind-of-cousin Hope, and her niece Sally.

Said age-group poured in slowly, and when she figured everyone who was coming had arrived, a flick of her wrist shut the classroom door. “Welcome, ladies and gentlemen,” she smiled kindly. “Glad to see you all made it.” She gestured to the white boxes, all of which had small holes in them, on each desk. “Ladies, fair warning now: if you don’t want to handle a snake, partner up with a gentleman.”

“Now, there’s no need to be afraid of the snakes—they’re not venomous. I only warn because some still may not enjoy bearing near them.” Snakes were a common phobia, and she did not want to induce any kind of panic attack. “Our snakes will be turning into pretty pinwheels, and this is how.”

From the box on her own desk, she carefully revealed a small serpent. “Rota Serpens.” The previously grey creature turned to a bright pink pinwheel, and she gently blew on the blades to make it spin. “Notice the wand movement isn’t entirely complex. You basically just point. Also note the yellow spark that came from my wand. If that’s any other color, something is off.” On the board behind her, notes appeared, abridged summaries of what she’d said.

“Unless anyone has a question or comment worth sharing, go ahead and get started. You know where to find me.” After addressing any concerns, she took her seat at her desk and graded the tests her Advanced students had recently taken. She figured she might as well work to improve her multi-tasking abilities. It seemed to be a big part of her newest-approaching job.

OOC: We all know the rules. Let’s see 200 words, nice and descriptive, without godmodding or breaking any other rules. Feel free to tag Lilac if she’s needed. No, the snakes won’t try to bite you, and the longest of them would only be about ten inches. On the note of being reassured you won’t be eaten, happy posting!

Subthreads:

Hopefully I don't screw this one up. by Maximilian Joshua McLachlan, Aladren with Sullivan Quincy, Pecari, Josh McLachlan

I'm a snaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaake! by Regina Parker, Teppenpaw with Derry Four, Teppenpaw

...I think I need a gentleman by Hope Brockert, Teppenpaw with Russell Layne, Aladren

And I will name you fluffy by Katrina (Kitty) McLevy - Aladren

Merlin, I'm going to die! by Fae Sinclair, Crotalus

0 Professor Lilac Brockert Slithery spinners! [Third, fourth, fifth years] 0 Professor Lilac Brockert 1 5

Maximilian Joshua McLachlan, Aladren

May 06, 2012 2:11 AM

Hopefully I don't screw this one up. by Maximilian Joshua McLachlan, Aladren

Guilt. It was a strange feeling. One that he wasn't a stranger to, but it didn't usually cause such a desire within him to do something about it. His pride wouldn't let him, of course, so he'd allow it to eat him up inside. At least that's what it felt like.

Since the incident with Regina in DADA class, he'd been feeling strange. Not infatuated with her, he knew what that would feel like. No, something more...detrimental to his pride. He wasn't sure what it was, but he didn't like it. But he had to deal with it soon. At the moment, he was in Transfiguration, five minutes early as always. He was sitting in the back, things out, thinking hard about what he was supposed to do now. Obviously being a prick didn't do much good for wanting to avoid causing a scene. It had proved to do the exact opposite and built up a strange feeling inside his gut. Acting aloof would work better, probably. He had to rethink his strategy.

Someone sat beside him, surprising him. He didn't think anyone would want to sit next to him now that he'd built up a reputation as the rude fourth-year transfer. He looked at his desk partner out of his peripheral, his face falling into its default blank, unfriendly-looking expression. Unfortunately, he was unable to appraise the person any more with sharp grey eyes because class began. The white boxes with holes in them clearly held some kind of creature. Otherwise the holes would be pointlessly misleading.

It turned out the inherently Scottish boy was right. He was beginning to focus on the lesson now and was intrigued. Turning snakes into pinwheels. That sounded challenging. It couldn't be too difficult, of course, just challenging. If Josh was good at anything, it was magic and schoolwork. Having moved around from relative to relative his entire life, that was the only constant he had and he had gotten to know it well. As a quick learner, he had devoured his textbooks and the magic he could do in order to drown other feelings and thoughts. Sonora was more difficult than the New Zealand Academy, his previous school, and he loved it. He opened the box and held out the serpent. It wasn't dangerous, the professor had assured them of that much, but he hoped his partner didn't suffer from ophidiophobia. That would make things difficult and would slow him down. He disliked being slowed down.

Be nice, he thought to himself, and looked hesitatingly over at his inevitable partner. "You're not afraid of snakes, are you?" he asked, his accent dominantly Scottish with a hint of Australian. The Australian part came from living in that country for six years. Not something that he would be bragging about. After all, his uncle was currently under government scrutiny there. Ridiculous, his family. The McLachlans, pure-bloods with nothing better to do than to make other peoples' lives miserable for their own gain. Josh had tried his hardest to not be like them, but it seemed like he was inadvertently doing so by trying not to. Ironic.

"If you'd like, you can try it first." He nodded his head at the small white box in front of his partner. He wasn't exactly sure how to change the serpent, in pinwheel form, back into a serpent, but he'd look it up in his book once he was successful with this spell. He looked at the snake which was coiled comfortable around his wrist, its small head on the skin between his thumb and forefinger. Josh was in a calm state, his guard in place because it was always there, but he didn't have to constantly worry about keeping his face blank and cautious. This was one reason why he was glad he transferred; one of the few, though he was mucking it up nicely already. Wasn't that the point, though? Josh didn't want to think about what the real "point" was, so instead his eyes glanced over at his partner to watch their progress.

0 Maximilian Joshua McLachlan, Aladren Hopefully I don't screw this one up. 0 Maximilian Joshua McLachlan, Aladren 0 5

Regina Parker, Teppenpaw

May 06, 2012 1:23 PM

I'm a snaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaake! by Regina Parker, Teppenpaw

When Reggie stepped into the Transfiguration classroom, she paused just long enough to determine where that idiotic McLachlan was sitting and then went to the complete other side of the classroom so that she was certain she would not be forced to partner with him. She had learned her lesson while sitting with him in Defense and she was not going to make that mistake ever again.

In fact, he had made her so righteous with indignation that when she had sat there later that day with Derry and Maddie telling them everything that had happened that she had begun to cry. The crying had embarrassed her, Reggie hardly ever cried, but she had just been so upset she couldn’t help it. Her mother had told her that during this time in her life, she was going to be more emotional than she ever had before. For one, she was growing up and going through the normal motions of such a thing, but she was also developing her ‘gift’ and with that came an overwhelming sense of things that could interfere with life as she knew it. Reggie could only assume that the tears of anger and emotion she felt while retelling the story was due to these factors more so than the story itself, but she could not be so positive in that.

But, after that emotional mess, Reggie wanted even less to do with the Transfer than she had after the initial confrontation. For now on, any lesson she had with him (which was every lesson), Reggie made sure to sit on the opposite side of the room and with one of her ‘many’ friends that he seemed to find revolting.

Sitting there, Reggie listened as Professor Brockert began the lesson. She didn’t mind snakes too much, after camping with her Pops for so long and working on potions together, snakes and bugs were just another part of life. The only thing that Reggie was honestly terrified of was what lurked in the dark. That was why she kept her small crystal ball with her at all times. The ball emitted light when there was only darkness. Sort of like a flash light or night light. She might not have necessarily liked other things like snakes or bugs, but she wasn’t terrified of them either.

Although she didn’t necessarily understand the point of the lesson (they will, someday, learn some transfiguration that will be useful to them, she hoped), she opened the box and peered inside at the snake. “Such a cute little guy.” Reggie said, smiling to her partner. “Would you like to try first?”

6 Regina Parker, Teppenpaw I'm a snaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaake! 187 Regina Parker, Teppenpaw 0 5

Hope Brockert, Teppenpaw

May 07, 2012 9:34 AM

...I think I need a gentleman by Hope Brockert, Teppenpaw

Over the summer there had been some changes in Hope. She'd dropped the pigtails and was dressing more maturely. Though, not in a tasteless way. Her family would never allow her to dress that way, but the fourth year really didn't want to look like a little girl anymore. How would Hope ever ~~be noticed by Russell~~
Though there awfully slim pickings in the Intermediate group for what her great-grandfather considered acceptable. Basically, there were just the Aladren boys,excluding Russell, now that Derry was not really in good standing. Plus, Hope had heard something about Preston Stratford seeing Sara Raines so that left him out. The new transfer was a pureblood, but he didn't seem very nice and anyway, her family was reluctant to betroth her to someone from such a dark family.

It was more likely that Hope would marry someone that didn't attend Sonora but in truth, she wasn't sure how much she wanted to be betrothed in the first place. Oh, sure, it was better than being a spinster but what Hope really wanted to do was marry for love. Kaylie had, Marshall had and even Chelsea had, even if she'd ended up stealing Fallon's betrothed. Adam certainly would too. The best she could have hoped for was to befriend someone at school that she could later marry. That was much better than marrying someone that she didn't know.

She looked up at the professor, someone who Hope knew also married someone that she loved from everything the fourth year understood.Hope thought it was all very romantic, much more so than Nora getting betrothed to Nye Brownbriar. Of course, the third year wasn't as sentimental about such things as Hope was. Nora seemed to be just pleased that her betrothed was intelligent and not like her grandfather. No woman really wanted to be married to someone like Uncle Liam.

As Professor Brockert announced the assignment, all the blood drained from the Teppenpaw's face. Despite growing up with an anxious, over protective mother who didn't even allow her sons to play Quidditch after what happened to Kaylie, Hope was not a terribly fearful person. She was a proper lady for the most part but could handle most things, bugs, flying, blood. However, there were two things that she couldn't. One was losing someone that she cared about-Autumn's whole hospitalization had sort of shaken her up a bit, in that respect, never mind Harmony-and the other....was snakes.

The fourth year could not stand snakes. She was genuinely terrified of them. As a child, Hope had nearly gotten bit by one before Adam picked her up and got her out of the way just in time. She'd developed a huge admiration of her older brother that day-and a huge fear of anything serpentine in nature.

She got up, and as suggested by her...cousin, looked around for a male student-it didn't have to be Russell, any guy would do-spotted one and made her way over. "Maybe I please work with you?" Hope asked. Normally, she would be such a wimp about things, but snakes were something that just really got to her.

11 Hope Brockert, Teppenpaw ...I think I need a gentleman 186 Hope Brockert, Teppenpaw 0 5

Sullivan Quincy, Pecari

May 07, 2012 10:17 PM

You'll look amazing next to me by Sullivan Quincy, Pecari

Sullivan slipped into the room just before the class began. He looked around for a good seat, giving the strongest preferences for one near the back and next to an Aladren. The only one like that was next to the transfer. Sully hadn't interacted with him much personally, but he'd heard the guy was kind of stand-offish.

As long as he was smart enough to coach Sully through his worst class, though, Sullivan thought it was worth dealing with a little rudeness. Taking the seat, Sully hurried to get his notebook out (a spiral wide-ruled deal that proclaimed him a muggleborn nearly as loudly as the sneakers on his feet and the ballpoint pen he took out along side it). He fought with his robe for a moment when his wand got caught in it as he try to draw it out of the little sleeve pouch he kept it in (he'd broken one wand already by carrying it around in his backpack and the wandmaker had recommended the reinforced sleeve instead), but he managed to get it free and put it down on his desk shortly after Professor Brockert began talking.

He dropped his pen trying to uncap it, recovered it, and copied the words on the board down without hearing much of the actual lecture beyond the important one: snake. There were worse things in the world than snakes, of course. There were bees, for example. There were . . . whatever those things in CoMC were called that they'd studied a few weeks ago. But snakes were not his favorite critters ever, either. They were all . . . snake-y.

He grimaced a little as the transfer asked whether he was afraid of them or not. "Not afraid," he promised, and it was even an honest answer, not just a macho one. Because it wasn't the whole story and he didn't want anybody thinking he wanted to spend any more time with the slithering serpent than he had to, however, he added, "But I don't like them, either."

He reluctantly opened his own box, not eager to release his own snake but seeing little point in delaying it. The snake slithered over his notebook and Sully picked up his wand and tried to get the thing turned into a pinwheel before it could make it into Sullivan's lap. He pointed the wand, opened his mouth, and forgot the spell word. He closed his mouth, put the wand down, and grabbed hold of his snake to keep it on his desk.

"Nah, you go first," he offered generously.

0 Sullivan Quincy, Pecari You'll look amazing next to me 0 Sullivan Quincy, Pecari 0 5

Derry Four, Teppenpaw

May 08, 2012 10:30 PM

All this time I thought you were a prairie dog by Derry Four, Teppenpaw

Derry arrived in Transfiguration in good spirits. The baking club was going well. No girlfriend yet, but it was still early in the year, and he'd come out of it with chocolate chip cookies that were not only edible but delicious. He was carrying around a small bag of them today to combat the hunger that rarely left him entirely anymore. He'd be fifteen in a few weeks and his stomach had to be growing even faster than rest of him was, given how hard it was to fill it up lately.

He looked around, spotted Reggie, and dropped down into the chair next to hers, saying hello to most of the people he passed along the way. "Hey," he greeted warmly. He took out his parchment for taking notes, his quill, his wand, and his bag of cookies. Holding the open bag toward Reggie, he offered, "Want one?" Taking one of the remaining ones himself, he popped it into his mouth, chewed, swallowed, and said, "You should really come to the baking club. Waverly teaches you to make good stuff."

Grinning, he tilted his tri-corner to a jaunty angle and added, "It's good I'm growing up and not out, though. Whaddu think?" he asked, straightening up in his seat to look as tall as possible, "Think I'll make six feet?" He wasn't yet five and a half feet tall, but he was hopeful that he might at least pass Father's 5'8" before he was done growing. Mom was 5'5" herself, which was taller than Grandmother had been by a three inch margin.

He settled down as Professor Brockert started talking. He copied down the notes in a way that might jog his memory when he studied for the CATS later but probably wouldn't. That was equally as much because the chances of him studying from them were low as because they were incomplete. Still, he wrote down the key words like snake and pinwheel and Rota Serpens.

Derry had no fear of snakes, especially not ones billed as non-poisonous. He didn't have any plans to adopt one as a pet in the near or distant future, but he didn't have a problem with them either. It was the Nothing that scared him most, and snakes had nothing on the Nothing.

"Oh, no," Derry shook his head as Reggie offered to let him go first. "Ladies first." Hamlet would do something (Derry wasn't sure what but it would be terrible) far worse than mere disownment if he disobeyed that simple tenet of chivalry. "I'm sure with a cute snake like that you can make in to an absolutely adorable pinwheel," he added with a grin. With anybody else, the remark might have sounded sarcastic, but Derry actually meant it exactly as he said it.

1 Derry Four, Teppenpaw All this time I thought you were a prairie dog 189 Derry Four, Teppenpaw 0 5

Katrina (Kitty) McLevy - Aladren

May 09, 2012 5:36 PM

And I will name you fluffy by Katrina (Kitty) McLevy - Aladren

Kitty sat on her foot to give her a bit more height as she studied the box, a gleeful smile curved her lips. The white box had holes in it, which meant that what ever was in it was probably alive. Usually they would only deal with creatures in the Care of Magical Creatures class, so Kitty was terribly curious about what the holey boxes were doing on their desks. Bending forward until her face was close to the box, the short girl’s blue eyes tried to peek into one of the holes but it was too dark to get a good idea of what awaited their attention.

Not opening the box to find out what lay inside was difficult for the curious girl, but the fact that she was pretty sure it was alive managed to keep her from pulling off the lid. After all, it might be a flying creature and if it escaped that would be a problem that Kitty didn’t want to have to explain. Instead, she let the curiosity build as she fidgeted with impatience for the class to start. It was only a few minutes, but it still seemed so much longer with the box sitting there taunting her to open it up and find out what secret it held.

When the mystery was solved, Kitty’s grin bloomed over her face like a rose turning its face to the sun. The young Aladren simply loved serpents of all kinds unlike most girls her age, or any age really. Sky blue eyes widened in shock as her lips formed a surprised O when the Professor turned the small grey snake into a bright pink pinwheel. Turning wide worried eyes to the person next to her Kitty said “Oh my gosh! Doesn’t that hurt the snakes?”

0 Katrina (Kitty) McLevy - Aladren And I will name you fluffy 0 Katrina (Kitty) McLevy - Aladren 0 5

Reggie

May 09, 2012 9:56 PM

Can I be both? by Reggie

Reggie smiled happily to Derry when he sat beside her and offered her some of the cookies he had recently baked. Taking one, Reggie gave a small bite to test it and upon discovering that it didn’t taste half bad, took a larger bite. Reggie loved to eat, if she and Derry were in a contest, she was sure she could take his money and run (or, at least, give him one hell of a fight), but lately she hadn’t been so inclined to eat as often or as much as she did. This year was different for her and even though she had never worried about it before, Reggie was now self-conscious with how she looked. It was one of the reasons she agreed to the dresses and skirts, new hair style and little makeup. She didn’t want to suddenly balloon out now that she was, well, developing into a lady.

“I already know how to bake, Der.” She commented, leaning in as though about to share a secret. “I can make a pretty mean chocolate chip cookie. Grams taught me how to bake all kinds of things. I’ve perfected chocolate chip cookies, snickerdoodles, sugar cookies, ginger snaps, peanut butter cookies, and oatmeal raisin cookies. I can bake cakes of any flavor from scratch, apple pie, cherry pie, pumpkin pie… most fruit pies really. I’m getting better about tarts too.” Reggie gave a little laugh. She never realized how much she and her grandmother baked. But, thinking about it, her grandmother liked to have lots of choices during holidays and she liked to keep the house smelling wonderful during the summers. “If she decides to teach you all baklava, you come and get me because I would love to learn that one!” Reggie told him before straightening back up in her seat.

Reggie gave him a long, hard look as she studied him per his request. Giving him the proper study, she could see him clearly. She wouldn’t be surprised if girls started to notice him. His personality alone would having girls fetching after him. Derry was Derry after all and Reggie always found herself content and happy whenever they were together. But she noticed now how nice his dark eyes were and his smile could charm just about anyone if they let it. “You have a better shot at it than me.” Reggie finally said. This was true, Reggie was just barely over 5 feet and her Healer had said she wouldn’t gain more than an inch or two more. If she managed any taller than 5’4, it would be a miracle.

She felt a little weird thinking about Derry in any other way than ‘friend’, but lately Reggie was resigning herself into admitting he was ‘male’. She just didn’t know how she felt about it. This term was turning out to be a rough one for her with everything that’s happened and she didn’t want to worry about things with Derry too.

“How kind of you, Good Sir.” Reggie said with a mock accent and bow of the head. “You think so?” Reggie asked him, amused at the idea of a snake being ‘cute’ enough to make a decent pinwheel out of. Still, she did enjoy a pinwheel from time to time. “Hold please!” She asked, giving her snake to Derry so that she could cast the spell properly. Transfiguration was difficult for her, so she knew she wasn’t going to get it on the first try, so she didn’t know if she should just try for not only the physical form change, but color changes as well… Shrugging to herself, Reggie pointed her wand at her little snake in Derry’s hands and watched as the snake began to curl, widen, and twist until it formed just the wheel, the same green color as the snake, and no pin. “Huh…not bad at all. You’re turn!” Reggie exclaimed, handing out her hands to take his snake for him.

6 Reggie Can I be both? 187 Reggie 0 5

Josh McLachlan

May 11, 2012 7:52 PM

I don't doubt it...I mean, no way! by Josh McLachlan

It was humorous watching the younger boy stumble through the lesson. He was clearly a muggle-born, evident from his muggle things. She, back in New Zealand, had had things like that. He remembered her pens and notebooks most vividly. Of course, she was a girl so her notebooks had been covered with stickers and her doodles.

Getting his mind off of her, Josh watched the boy, amused. He'd dropped his pen, fumbled with his wand, and didn't seem a fan of snakes. Josh tried not to judge him too hard. Not everyone was like him, and that was probably a good thing. He eyed Regina from across the room discreetly, and then nodded, making eye contact with the boy before looking down at the snake wrapped around his wrist. He pried the animal off and held it at arms length. He took a moment to focus his mind, to concentrate on the details of a pinwheel. He imagined the pinwheel the professor had at the front of her desk and stared at the snake squirming in his grasp. It wouldn't be squirming for long. "Rota Serpens," he said, focusing completely on the snake.

The serpent grew in length, straightening not of its own accord and it began to take the shape of a pinwheel. Only the color wasn't quite right. Josh frowned and ran his tongue along the inside of his cheek in annoyance. Failure was not a strong suit of his. His grey pinwheel most certainly did not look like the kind of toy that would attract the eyes of children, but it was a pinwheel nonetheless. He glanced at his partner, remembering him again, and thought he'd better interact. Somehow.

"Fancy a grey pinwheel?" he asked. He uncharacteristically blew the pinwheel to set its top part spinning. It was quite dreary, like Josh's current life. It matched. If Josh wasn't so anti-materialistic, he'd have kept it. Instead, he turned to his partner. "I'm Joshua McLachlan," he added. "Just so you don't have to wonder what to call me." He felt strange, initiating this..."conversation," but he tried not to think too hard about it. "Go on. Take a stab."

0 Josh McLachlan I don't doubt it...I mean, no way! 0 Josh McLachlan 0 5

Fae Sinclair, Crotalus

May 22, 2012 10:13 PM

Merlin, I'm going to die! by Fae Sinclair, Crotalus

Fae wasn’t quite sure what to think of Professor Brockert any longer. When Fae had first begin, her Transfiguration Professor had been completely out there. Her lessons were far more difficult than their level of skill had been, her hair and clothes were wild and crazy (she even wore slippers to class!), and she never seemed to be truly aware of what was going on around her. Fae had had a real dislike for the woman only because Fae felt that the woman had no real understanding as to how to teach teenagers. Over the last few terms, when Professor Brockert began a rather open and possibly borderline inappropriate relationship with the groundskeeper, the professor had changed. Her style had grown simpler, her hair became tamed, and she had even gotten rid of those hideous slippers. But her lessons were still weird as ever. Fae had to wonder when they were going to learn how to transfigure awful tasting food into delicious cuisines or something equally as necessary (Fae was learning how to bake after all).

She sat at her desk looking at the box in apprehension. Boxes were never a good sign. Usually they were filled with bugs or birds or any number of things that Fae just hated. She just hated nature so much! She didn’t understand why they always had to use animals of any kind instead of just inanimate objects. How likely was it that she would need to turn a spider into a saucer? She highly doubted that she would ever need to do that. In fact, what she was likely to do was blow the spider to smithereens or run away screaming. She was hoping for the formal because that would be less embarrassing, but Fae knew she was likely to do the latter or holler for a boy to kill it (most likely Arnold if he were close enough).

Immediately, whatever friendly feelings she had towards the professor went away when she mentioned snakes. Fae’s blue eyes widened in fear and she quickly looked around for Arnold or Topher or any male she was on semi-good terms with to come and take the snake far away from her. Perhaps she was being too much of a girl at the moment, but she honestly felt as though her heart was going to leap from her chest. Whether or not the snake would harm her was not really on her mind at the moment. She was going to have an anxiety attack, she could feel it!

“Please, please…” Fae said, her eyes locked on the box, but her voice trying to convey her need for the person beside her to hear her. “Can you remove the box from my desk? I can’t… snakes….” Her breath was shaking and shallow. If she fainted, she would never forgive herself.

0 Fae Sinclair, Crotalus Merlin, I'm going to die! 0 Fae Sinclair, Crotalus 0 5

Russell Layne, Aladren

May 25, 2012 2:26 PM

...I'm not sure I count, but hey, who's counting? by Russell Layne, Aladren

Russell had no idea what was in the white box with the holes in the lid, but though he was curious, he carefully avoided touching it or leaning over it in any way in an attempt to find out what was in it. Obviously it was relevant to the lesson, so he’d know soon enough anyway, and poking it the wrong way might make something he wouldn’t want, or at least wouldn’t expect, to happen occur. It was better to wait and find out when the time was right, rather than just let his curiosity get the better of him. Russell thought this might well be the beginning of what was called wisdom.

So he sat back in his chair, his hands resting on the edge of his desk and looked between the box and the room from time to time until Professor Brockert started the lesson and told them what was in the box. He raised his eyebrows slightly, impressed by her daring. Snakes? Even non-venomous ones. People got weird about that; he couldn’t say he was exactly thrilled by the prospect himself, but some people might run screaming from the room. And if they had the wrong parents….

He made a few careful notes, wondering if it would work still if he Stunned the snake, or put it into a trance, or something before attempting to use it, just as a precaution. Sure, it wasn’t venomous, but that didn’t mean it wouldn’t hurt if it got irritated somehow and decided to sink its fangs into his hand.

He was still thinking of that when they were put to work and, almost immediately, Hope came over to where he was sitting. Russell smiled, since he certainly hadn’t been avoiding her. Had he? He didn’t know. Lately, he had noticed that his brains seemed scrambled when it came to girls, which was definitely not a good thing, when there were so many of them in the school; with Hope, it was especially weird, because he had never really noticed her…looking girl-like, in that way rather than just in the sense of her not looking like another guy, before this year, which was something he attributed to the general madness. Like how he ended up having a friendly conversation with one girl about books (admittedly, noticing exactly what she looked like from minute one, but then, he was a guy who wasn’t into other guys, so he guessed this had been normal behavior) and then ended up…more than friendly by the end of it all.

He and Hope had always gotten along, hung out last year when they went to the town and all that, but it was different than it had been with Caroline because she had a bunch of relatives who weren’t Topher around who might…object, if things got out of hand with her. Plus, he was still doing something through the mail with Caroline, too, which meant he might just be being a real jerk if he got too far into it with another girl. So he’d kind of been steering clear of them this year, he guessed, when he could without it being obvious and therefore making him kind of a jerk, anyway. That would be rude and a bad idea, he thought, whether he were ambitious or not.

“Sure,” he said amiably, gesturing slightly to the seat next to his. “So, do you think it’ll affect the spell if the snake’s awake or not?” He figured the best way was always to be as normal as possible, so that was what he set out to do.

16 Russell Layne, Aladren ...I'm not sure I count, but hey, who's counting? 183 Russell Layne, Aladren 0 5

Hope

May 28, 2012 12:39 AM

It depends on your perspective. by Hope

She grinned at Russell as she sat down. It turned out that he'd been the male she'd spotted first after all. Hope hadn't been especially paying attention, she was just freaked out by the snake and wanted to find a guy, any guy as fast as possible. However, now that it happened to be her friend, she was glad.

In fact, Hope was probably better friends with Russell than with any one else in her class. She'd never really felt like part of the group with the other Teppenpaws in her year. They'd all met at the Opening Feast the first night and bonded and the fourth year hadn't. Addison hadn't either but she seemed to primarily spend time with her sisters. Hope supposed that she had a brother and sister and cousins here too, some of whom were more distant than others, but she really preferred to have friends aside from only her relatives.

Sometimes, though, the Teppenpaw wished that she had a close female friend that she could have girl talk with. She couldn't talk about guys with Russell, especially not if she wanted to talk about Russell himself. That would just plain be awkward. Hope supposed there was Sophie and Sophie didn't seem to have someone she could have girl talk with since the fourth year usually only saw her with Ryan. Less this year, but then, now that Hope thought about it, she really hadn't seen much of the fifth year boy outside of class to begin with. Not that she was really keeping track of him.

She focused her attention on Russell, which was admittedly not entirely difficult or unusual for Hope, even if she was occasionally unable to avoid looking at Phoenix Lucore for some weird reason. She barely knew the Crotalus after all, as opposed to Russell whom she genuinely liked for himself. Hope supposed it was just part of being a teenager, even if she wasn't really supposed to act on those feelings. Though the Teppenpaw didn't have feelings for Phoenix actually besides the fact that he was magnetically attractive. Reggie had noticed it too, she remembered, thinking to the conversation she'd had with her roommates about boys. Hope was just glad nobody had said anything about Russell at the time, or since.

"I...honestly don't know." The fourth year admitted about stunning the snake. "But I really hope so. I really really do." She didn't want to even look at the snake or be in the same room with it as well as all the other snakes, let alone handle it. The Teppenpaw was certain that she was going to have nightmares now, especially given that the professor was her Head of House. What if the snakes got loose, escaped from the professor's office and invaded the whole house?

Hope was, however, eager to transfigure the creature-or have her friend do so-because then it would be a pinwheel instead and she had no fear of those . Having the snake stunned first might make it marginally less scary and she thought Russell was very clever for thinking of it. "It would probably make the snake be more still so it was easier to hit with the spell." Hope suggested.

11 Hope It depends on your perspective. 186 Hope 0 5

Russell

May 28, 2012 9:54 PM

What's yours? by Russell

“That’s true,” Russell agreed about how a knocked-out snake would be easier to hit than an alert one. “I’m just not sure if the pinwheel would still work – if it’s not something to do with motion.” He knew, to his perpetual embarrassment when he thought about his House and the interests and educations of his roommates, little Latin, and Transfiguration theory wasn’t his very strongest area in his magical education, but it was easy enough to see that correlations were often strange, or rather to say, almost too straightforward to think of normally. Casting a spell on a stunned snake might make a pinwheel that simply didn’t spin, no matter what he did to it.

“It might kill the snake, too, for all I know,” he added. He knew that a person who got hit with multiple Stunners at once could die – there had been a case in the papers last year, he thought, about whether or not this had been done to someone on purpose while they were resisting arrest – and a snake was a lot less formidable-looking than a grown person. Plus, he thought that snakes just fundamentally worked differently than people did; he wasn’t going to mention it to Hope, but trying to knock it out with his wand might just make it mad. Der.

That, though, still didn’t solve the problem of how to hit a snake with a spell without making it sink its teeth into his arm, which he figured would hurt like the devil whether it was poisonous or not, and probably require a trip to the medic. There had to be a way, or they wouldn’t have been given the assignment, he was sure, but he couldn’t see it – unless Professor Brockert had drugged the snakes somehow beforehand, or they had been bred to be non-aggressive, the way some of the more expensive kind of pet rat had been. That seemed like going a little far for a single class, but maybe they were going to share them with the Charms classes or something, get their investment’s worth that way.

That, he thought, made more sense. “Or they’re just not going to hurt us,” he suggested, having been almost more talking to himself than Hope as he worked through this. There was always an answer, if he thought long enough for it. He might not have as much information in his head as some of the others, due to their different educations before they ever came here, but he thought his reasoning abilities were as good as anyone else’s. “Still – let’s not open the box all the way for the first try.” If they were ever going to make the snake spitting mad, he thought it would be the first time it was hit with a spell. “I’ll go first,” he volunteered, figuring she had come over in the first place because of the suggestion about what ladies with an aversion to the snakes should do.

He barely lifted the lid, making a slight face at the rustling sounds that came from within, and held his wand so the tip was only just barely within it, hoping this would reduce the chance of it being broken by a snake biting it. It would be inconvenient, to put it very mildly, to either get by with a damaged one or get a new one sent from home; he could use one like that, but not as well as one he was suited to, if what he’d read about that was anything to go by.

He performed the spell, saw that the light at the end of his wand was at least…yellow-ish, and the rustling stopped. Tentatively, he lifted the lid a little further, then closed it again. “Well, that almost worked,” he said, his tone a bit overly-pleasant. The snake had not, as far as he could tell, been dead or mutilated, but the way it had ended up – head extended stiffly, tail wrapped into a sort of coil at the end, almost pinwheel-shaped, but he could only guess that because he knew what he had been trying to make – was still a little disturbing to look at, at least in his mind.

16 Russell What's yours? 183 Russell 0 5

Hope

May 31, 2012 4:23 PM

I think you are. by Hope

"Well, we don't entirely know that it would work anyway." Hope replied. "I mean, transfigurations don't always work perfectly. Most of them don't unless you are really super talented at them." Which she admittedly should have been and it was indeed one of the Teppenpaw's best subjects. Still, she didn't know much about the theories behind it, what made things work and not work. Just that Hope's family seemed to be especially inclined towards the subject.

Not that there were any Brockerts that were magically weak at all, it was just that being good at Transfiguration was well, pretty much a trademark of being one. Even though the two best-Marshall and Ryan O'Malley-did not bear the last name Brockert.

And truth be told, Hope honestly did not care if they killed the snake. She was not a violent hate filled person, but as far as she was concerned, that did not apply to snakes. Snakes were awful, and the world would be better off without them. Hope would even be a little put off by Crotali because they had them as their house animal if the ones in her family weren't pleasant people. Most of the ones in her age group seemed nice enough too. Besides, it wouldn't be fair to judge people on something so trivial. The Teppenpaw just really really really hated snakes.

So she still looked wary when Russell suggested that the snakes would not hurt them. Hope trusted him of course and she assumed that a professor would not want them to be hurt. Professor Brockert was her Head of House and she'd always seemed really nice, even if she was kind of strange. But then, so was Evan. Plus, Nora had said if a teacher harmed them, the school would probably get sued and/or the teacher would be fired. Especially if they hurt someone from one of the powerful pureblood families.

Russell barely lifted the lid and Hope was really grateful for that as well as him offering to go first. She smiled when he said he'd been somewhat successful. Not only because she wanted her friend to do well but because the snake had stopped moving and was less...snake like. "I suppose that I should wait until it turns back into a snake to try it myself." Hope replied, a bit more anxious and less enthusiastic than she usually would be.

11 Hope I think you are. 186 Hope 0 5

Russell

June 01, 2012 5:35 PM

I appreciate it. by Russell

“Practice, too,” Russell said, figuring this was also a part of Transfigurations working more reliably. Neither of his parents, he was pretty sure, had any kind of super-talent for the subject – Dad had even commiserated with him about a few iffy grades in his first month of school; he had apparently done even worse in his first year of Transfigurations classes – but they did seem able to make things work reliably in one try now as adults, where it took a lot more effort as a student. “Or else just getting older. I’m not sure which it is, but I think it applies to my parents, if they’ve told me the truth about what they were like in school.”

For his parents, magic itself was usually a matter of convenience, though sometimes it was a matter of safety and necessity, too – Russell thought he would be a lot older before he forgot about that time they ended up with a cursed tea set, if he ever forgot about it at all, that had been a nightmare of the sort Dad and Grandpa Layne still recounted over the table on family holidays or Sunday visits from time to time – but he wasn’t sure what he was going to do with it after school.

Learning appealed to him, he couldn’t deny that; the satisfaction of figuring something out, of having something happen before his eyes, was enormous. He could happily just keep doing that, but at some point, he’d have to shape it into some kind of career. Research, though, was a daunting prospect, and though he was reasonably sure he could scrape together the connections to get into something on some level, he wasn’t sure he would even be deemed suitable for it – or, if he got there anyway, prove suitable for it after the fact. He didn’t think it would be a good idea to try something and mess up; whatever he did, he needed to hit the mark on the first try, because while his parents and relations could easily get him through to one thing, they would probably find it harder to finance a second path if the first one didn’t work out. This was why the most prudent thing probably was to work for Uncle Philip at the apothecary until his parents decided to retire and then to take over the antiques shop, but he felt restless when he thought of that; he hoped his mother was telling the truth when she said that this was normal teenaged behavior, because he guessed he was in for some discomfort if she was wrong.

“Yeah, probably,” he agreed with Hope when she said she ought to wait for it to go back toward being a snake before making her try. “Still, it’s not that bad, see?” He felt sort of bad for her if she was bothered by the snake, but there wasn’t much that he could really do if this ever came up on an exam or something. She'd have to do it on her own.

16 Russell I appreciate it. 183 Russell 0 5