Professor Lilac Brockert
June 30, 2012 12:35 AM
MORE Conjuring! [Sixth and seventh years] by Professor Lilac Brockert
“Conjuring,” Lilac said, scribbling the word on the board by hand. She released the chalk, but it stayed in the air, tip pressed against the board, waiting for its key words. “We’ve talked about it quite a bit this year, but this is going to get a bit more difficult today.”“As we know, conjuring is the art of bringing things into being.” At least, they had best all know that by now. They’d gone over it quite a few times—they had conjured things like dolls, stones, and jewelry. The brunette professor stood in the center of the room, and she was admittedly eager for her lecture/instructions to end so she could take a seat. Standing wasn’t exactly her favorite thing.
“Conjuring is commonly thought of as the most difficult branch of Transfiguration, but we’ve only just stuck our toes in the water, class. We need to jump in.” Professor Brockert glanced between her students. By the time they reached the Advanced level, she imagined they were generally all interested in their lessons. “You’ve thus far successfully conjured inanimate objects, but it gets a hair more complicated when you’re conjuring living, breathing organisms.”
With steady hand, Lilac directed her wand to the open space beside her. “Pareo Colletis.” On the floor appeared a small rose bush, potted and blooming. “Plants are fairly difficult to conjure, but if it goes wrong, little happens other than a small or non-blossoming appearance.” With conjuring animals, mistakes were much more… graphic.
“As with any other conjuring, remember you have to imagine the plant very clearly in your mind. A blurry mental imagine will result in a weak product.” Though again, it wouldn’t be too bad unless someone in the class happened to be an avid tree-hugger. “If there are no questions, go ahead and get started. Things you want to write down are on the board.” This included the incantation and its pronounciation—PAY-ree-oh cohl-EH-tiss.
The professor seated herself at her desk. Her legs were practically burning, and after all, the class knew where to find her.
OOC: Welcome to Transfiguration! Let’s see some nice posts, full of descriptions and respect for the rules. Two hundred words, no godmodding, and stay realistic. Tag Lilac if she’s needed, and most importantly, have fun! Happy posting!
Subthreads: Oh, fiddlesticks by Jane Carey, Teppenpaw with Autumn Collins, Crotalus, Jane
This is not how it is supposed to be. by Raines Bradley, Crotalus
Prickly by Nina Brockert, Pecari
Will this keep you from transfiguring me? by Kirstenna Melcher, Teppenpaw
Again? by Alessa Hinckley, Aladren
Class closed! (nm) by Prof. B.
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Professor Lilac Brockert
MORE Conjuring! [Sixth and seventh years]
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Professor Lilac Brockert
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Jane Carey, Teppenpaw
July 03, 2012 8:20 PM
Oh, fiddlesticks by Jane Carey, Teppenpaw
As she looked at Professor Brockert with her chin propped on one hand, Jane was thinking more about whether or not the older witch was nervous about her clearly impending motherhood than she was about the Transfiguration lesson the woman was telling the class about. After – thanks to her brother – having no trouble with a conjuring lesson all year, as she already knew the concepts behind it, Jane did not really expect the subject to become overwhelming for her now.If she had more than one child, Jane decided – something she fully intended to do, but no one knew really what was in the future – she was going to discourage the older ones from teaching the younger ones all their school material ahead of time. There were some benefits to having been as completely close as she and Edmond had been, but having the feeling that her entire last two years of education were just sort of a long break before she entered the real world was not among them. Jane was not the kind of person who thrived on semi-blank time, she supposed because she had never had any of it. She was hanging out with a fourth year at this point just because he brought up things she hadn’t heard already, for Merlin’s sake. If Edmond’s new situation didn’t result in interesting lessons he could send to her soon, she thought she might start getting lazy before the end of next year.
What was he doing right now, she wondered? When he had been at home, worrying himself sick about their father’s health and what on earth was going to happen to him and her and so on and so forth, he had written to her nearly every other day, but it had been two weeks since his last letter, in which he had been…evasive, somehow; she couldn’t put her finger on quite how, but she knew him well enough to know that he had been.
She didn’t think he was very fond of Thailand, or the professor friend of Father’s he was working with, but she thought it was for the best that he had gone. For one thing, she had been worrying for months that he was on his way to another breakdown, and most likely one worse than what had happened to him in his fifth year, while he was cooped up in the house all the time, and for another thing, though no one would say a word about it directly to her, she knew that he was far safer in a far away city where he didn’t even speak the dominant language than he could be in Virginia right now. Nothing had actually happened, the flare-up of tension after Thomas died had died down again without anyone getting hurt that she knew about or any real drama happening except for George essentially electing Anthony as the new head of the family proper on his own, but…well, it hadn’t been that long yet.
She blinked when the plant appeared after Professor Brockert’s spell, moving her thoughts aside in favor of working – or trying to. She found, as she looked at the board, that it was hard to concentrate at the moment; she learned the spell, only to find that she couldn’t remember it when she went to write it down and then try it and had to look again, and she looked at her paper for a long moment after she did get it on the page before blinking and not even remembering what she had been thinking about for a few seconds there.
Jane shook her head, trying to clear it, and then tried the spell, but she wasn’t surprised when it didn’t work perfectly. Instead, she just had a pot at her feet, about the same size as the one Professor Brockert had produced, but empty. That did catch her interest, a little; she would have expected a very small pot, as she’d been aiming for a very small pot and pansy.
Interesting. “Evanesco,” she said, Vanishing the empty pot, and then she raised her wand to try again. When she did, she ended up with loose dirt, which the scrap of plant root fell out of as it crumbled almost as soon as it came into being – it was very dry, and with no pot around it, it wasn’t able to hold its shape. Jane clucked her tongue, beginning to grow annoyed with herself. This was not how she demonstrated that her own thoughts about her classes were accurate. “Goodness gracious,” she said crossly, looking over the nearly-dead bit of plant she had managed to produce before she Vanished that, too, in order to start on a third attempt. She accepted that she couldn’t be perfect, but that didn't mean she really liked seeing the evidence in classes, anyway.
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Jane Carey, Teppenpaw
Oh, fiddlesticks
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Jane Carey, Teppenpaw
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Autumn Collins, Crotalus
July 04, 2012 2:34 AM
Violin twigs by Autumn Collins, Crotalus
Ever since the Returning Feast and the news about the concert being mandatory, Autumn had been a total wreck. She was more stressed out than ever-which was saying something.The Crotalus had exactly zero idea for what she could do. She hated being in front of people.Especially now that she'd been forced to gain weight. Her body was repulsive and the last thing Autumn wanted was people to be focused on it. When she had stepped on the scale after midterm, the sixth year had not liked what she saw. It had been even worse than Autumn had feared, and she could practically hear people snickering about the fatso on stage.
She'd had to start dieting again. Her weight was unacceptable to her, even if she would probably do something backstage since she had to participate in the first place. Even though Autumn sincerely did not want to. She had enough to do with making sure her grades were perfect and it was never too soon to start studying for RATS.
Fortunately, the Crotalus had lost five pounds already. Still, it wasn't enough. She needed to lose at least ten more. Maybe even fifteen. The lower the number, the better. Even if Autumn wasn't onstage, it was better for her not to look so repulsive. Easier to get a husband and not shame her family. A fat daughter would reflect poorly on them as would her being a spinster.
Besides, her stomach was so tied in knots from nerves that Autumn seriously did not have an appetite anyway.
She sat down by Jane and turned her attention to the professor. It was, however, hard to concentrate on what she was saying with her protruding stomach. Professor Brockert's, Autumn meant, not her own this time. The sixth year didn't have a problem with other people's weight, though admittedly the grotesquely obese made her uncomfortable, and she knew the difference between pregnant and just plain fat like herself, but still it was almost mesmerizing.
Autumn tried to force herself to pay attention to the actual lesson. She had to know what she had to do for it. If she didn't, she couldn't get it perfect and that was as unacceptable to her as being overweight. Besides, not knowing exactly what to do was extremely stressful to Autumn.
The Crotalus sighed. More conjuring. That was difficult. Challenges tended to stress Autumn out greatly, because she couldn't stand to fail at them. At anything. She tried to picture a simple plant in a simple pot in her head. Honestly, Autumn was feeling a bit tired and weak, having not actually eaten today, so it was pretty hard to hold the image and she didn't feel she could handle anything more complex. Eventually the sixth year decided her picture was clear enough to try. She drew her wand "Pareo Colletis ".
Nothing happened, and Autumn couldn't help but frown. What she really wanted to do was burst into tears and run out of the room but that would not be a good thing. She'd be mortified then. Everyone would laugh at her and her family would be more embarrassed by her than they had to be already. The mere thought made her feel ill, which cancelled out the hunger pains, thankfully. Autumn would be glad when those went away again.
So, rather than doing it, Autumn raised her wand and tried again. This time, she got a white flower-not just the blossom like she intended, but the entire thing, pot too. After a moment, it flickered out and it was all she could do not to break down. The Crotalus bit her lip and was about to try a third time-if she didn't get it this time, she might not be able to control herself-when she heard Jane exclaim next to her,
“Goodness gracious.” Autumn tensed more than she already was. She felt hot all over and a little dizzy. Her best friend had seen what she'd done, and was being critical. The Crotalus felt very ashamed. Or perhaps it was her weight Jane was shocked at. That was worse.
That's when Autumn noticed her friend's work. "Oh." The other sixth year wouldn't have been happy about it either. "Don't feel too bad, at least it didn't vanish right away." She gave her friend a weak, but hopefully encouraging smile.
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Autumn Collins, Crotalus
Violin twigs
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Autumn Collins, Crotalus
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Jane
July 04, 2012 3:26 PM
Cello branches? by Jane
Jane returned Autumn’s smile, noticing that the other girl looked a bit…tired, or something. She worked too hard; Jane was, when she thought of it, actually worried about how Autumn was going to hold up next year. She wasn’t worried about RATS, but she knew this was not normal and that her friend was a perfectionist. She would most likely worry about them to a degree which was nearly as abnormal as Jane’s lack of concern.Still, that was still far in the future. Right now had enough things in it for her to be concerned about without dwelling on what might happen. “I don’t,” she said, running through some prime numbers in her head to try to bury the irritation she felt with herself for struggling to concentrate. The exercise seemed to work a little, but not as much as she might have liked; it had been getting less effective over the past few years. She had read about it and concluded it probably had nothing to do with anything, was nothing that would make anyone suspect anything untoward about her, but was just something that happened to teenagers. That didn’t make lapses in her self-control excusable, but it did make them less alarming for her.
It did, though, worry her a little that it amused her to wonder sometimes just how many people in this school were secretly messes in dresses because of things they had to pretend had never happened. If she and Autumn were more typical than they seemed, then she thought that her school would make a wonderful recruiting ground for spies.
“I’m just having some difficulty concentrating today,” she continued calmly. “I don’t know why. I suppose I lost my temper with it for a moment.” She liked Autumn well enough to not mind her seeing the lapse very much. She Vanished the mess and tried the spell a third time, this time not getting anything. “Ugh,” she added, shaking her head again. Why couldn’t she focus? This was unusual, even in context.
“I think I’m getting tired of conjuring,” she conjectured. “Mother always did say I lacked consistency.” The only thing Jane had consistently liked was mathematics, though she had come close to consistently disliking French prose composition. At best, she had never really liked that. She hadn’t, as far as she could remember, had nightmares last night, so she probably wasn’t tired.
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Jane
Cello branches?
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Jane
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Raines Bradley, Crotalus
July 06, 2012 7:50 PM
This is not how it is supposed to be. by Raines Bradley, Crotalus
As Professor Brockert began speaking, Raines Bradley, as he had gotten very used to doing in recent months, kept his eyes firmly just above her head, so it would look as though he were looking at her without him actually having to look at her. He was perfectly aware that certain things had to happen to ensure that wizards did not die out and Muggles rule the earth, but that did not make it any better to think about what she and the groundskeeper must have been doing, and possibly, as it was where they spent most of their time, doing on campus. It was all just, to his mind, very awful.I will kill myself before I ever sink so low that I cannot support my wife, he swore to himself, not for the first time, as he assumed this was why Professor Brockert was still teaching. The idea that a married woman who belonged to a well-known family might continue on in her job for any reason other than her husband’s inability to provide for her was not one which had ever occurred to him; he thought the Brockerts must have refused their help because Seth had first become a groundskeeper, of all things, and then married a woman who should have already had children nearing school age instead of being single, but mostly because he had become a groundskeeper, because who else would marry a man who could say he did no better for himself than that? Raines knew his family had a special lack of affection for people who worked in gardens, but he thought his reaction to the prestige of the position was still reflective of general ideas.
He tried not to be impressed by the attempt to build up the lesson into something fearful, and was pleased to note that he almost succeeded in being completely dismissive about the idea that they were jumping into the deep waters of conjuring with today’s lesson. The fact that he had only been able, under most conditions, to bring smaller versions of the trinkets they worked toward before was irrelevant. He was Raines Bradley, he was Head Boy, he could not find a lesson intimidating. It helped to focus on the fact that as far as he knew, there were not many plants with lungs, so he could argue that she had over-hyped the subject. Plants? Basically inanimate. He’d be all right.
Five failed attempts later, he was still telling himself that, but it was beginning to wear thin as he tried again. This time, though, he turned his wrist just far enough the wrong way that the spell bounced off the leg of the next desk before fizzling out. “For Merlin’s sake,” he said through gritted teeth, trying to keep his face immobile so no one would see he was angry. He just hoped his light skin didn’t flush and give him away that way. Self-control was all-important, but that was something very hard to control.
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Raines Bradley, Crotalus
This is not how it is supposed to be.
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Raines Bradley, Crotalus
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Autumn
July 08, 2012 9:36 PM
Viola boughs by Autumn
Autumn nodded. She often had difficulty concentrating too, which was a very bad thing. Even though, aside from forcing her to eat far more than she wanted, her family treated her very delicately now-sort of like an invalid, more the way Harmony would be treated-but Autumn would be a disappointment to herself . Besides, she still didn't believe that deep down inside, they weren't ashamed of her.If she couldn't focus, her grades would suffer. It was difficult though because it seemed that all the Crotalus could think about was food and dieting. She was obsessed, fixated. It pervaded Autumn's every thought. However, she was also obsessed with her schoolwork and making sure that was perfect too. She'd been disappointed when her CATS hadn't been, though her mistakes had been in subjects she wasn't planning to take. It had still been devastating for her and she counted it as a failure.
The society that Autumn lived in was tough. Pureblood girls, it seemed, needed to be flawless in every way and the sixth year felt that she wasn't. Her family had told anyone who asked that she was suffering from a serious medical problem and that the Healers were still trying to find the exact diagnosis. It was still a flaw but at least it was something that Autumn wouldn't have been able to help. Her weight was something that she could control.
At least in theory. People sure seemed to try and the Crotalus hated it. It was her body and nobody should have been able to tell her what to do with it. Sometimes, Autumn just wanted scream and yell at them. She often felt on edge and anxious, which made her kind of irritable, but she couldn't show it. People would get mad at her then and she didn't like conflict.
Plus, she had to remain composed and not let others see how weak she was. That was another reason that she needed to stay on her diet and lose the weight again. It took strength to not be tempted by food. Even though Autumn felt weak often. Physically, like she was going to faint. That had happened a bunch of times last year including at CATS. It hadn't happened yet this year, but she'd felt a bit dizzy yesterday and again just now. Autumn was certain that the latter, at least, was from the tension that she'd felt when she thought that Jane had been horrified or something over how bad the Crotalus had done.
"I suppose I am a bit too." Autumn replied. Or perhaps she was just plain tired . She hadn't slept well the last few nights, waking up a few times. Last night she hadn't been able to get back to sleep so she'd gotten up and worked on Potions.
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Autumn
Viola boughs
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Autumn
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Nina Brockert, Pecari
July 15, 2012 9:23 PM
Prickly by Nina Brockert, Pecari
As her professor spoke, Nina's mind drifted. She had a lot on it these days such as the Concert, RATS, the fact that she was graduating, and the fact that her great-grandfather was trying to find her a betrothal. The Pecari didn't feel ready for it. Admittedly, school hadn't been the greatest for her, Nina had felt left out from day one. The situation was different now with her roommates, with Starbuck gone and Delilah not playing Quidditch anymore, but the feelings still remained.There hadn't been really anyone else to befriend either with Raines, Veronica and Rachel not being people she had much in common with at all, Tawny adopting Alessa as a side kick and Dulce seemingly content on her own. The sixth years all had their own friends and Nina was lonely.
School had changed the Pecari. Just like it had changed Kaylie and Adam, though Chelsea, unfortunately had remained much the same, selfish, running off with their cousin's betrothed. Of course, Nina couldn't say she entirely blamed Julian. Chelsea might have been horrid but Fallon was worse. However, Kaylie-well, the seventh year supposed her eldest sister was more like herself, just not so exuberant but the back injury was probably a large part of that-but more insecure now when it came to Ian. Which worked out, because Ian seemed insecure and anxious most of the time too.
And Adam was just so angry and bitter.
As for Nina, well, she was no longer the spunky girl she'd once been either. Whereas once she'd been talkative, boisterous, now she was quiet and subdued. She hated it, she felt like she'd completely lost herself. Theoretically, it bettered the chances of her being betrothed, but Nina was just so awkward in those situations, that sort of party. The Pecari wasn't that sort of girl either, not like Chelsea or Veronica Kerrigan. She felt out of place.
That's why she wasn't necessarily looking forward to graduating, it was just going to be attending party after party looking for a suitable husband, pretending to be something she wasn't just to be more attractive to pureblood men. Why couldn't they just like Nina for herself? Even though she wasn't entirely sure who that was anymore.
Then, there was the concert. The seventh year wasn't sure what to do. As a prefect, was she supposed to put a specific act together? Furthermore, Nina wasn't especially accomplished in the arts, performing or otherwise. Her eyes strayed briefly towards Alessa. Her cousin had set up some sort of consultant thing,maybe Nina would have to take her up on it.
Suddenly, she realized that the professor was no longer talking and that everyone was working. The Pecari sighed to herself, she really should have been paying attention rather than sitting around being angsty. Nina looked around at her classmates who appeared to be conjuring plants. She decided to envision a cactus. "“Pareo Colletis." The result was well, something missing the two...well, arms, of the plant, leaving something that looked more like a pickle with prickly things coating it. In fact more of those than a cactus was supposed to have.
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Nina Brockert, Pecari
Prickly
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Nina Brockert, Pecari
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Kirstenna Melcher, Teppenpaw
July 16, 2012 12:25 PM
Will this keep you from transfiguring me? by Kirstenna Melcher, Teppenpaw
Kirstenna stared at her professor's bulging stomach, not really concentrating so much on her words. The fact that the Beetle Lady was spawning was exceedingly scary. What if she'd found a way to make her offspring part beetle? Worse, what if the Teppenpaw's cousin was involved? Kirstenna hadn't ever been sure whether to be suspicious of Seth Brockert or to think of him as hapless victim in the Beetle Lady's thrall.The whole thing made the sixth year feel slightly ill, the idea of half beetle, half human creature. Or maybe the Beetle Lady wasn't just some woman with a beetle fetish, but half beetle herself , which would make the child in question one-fourth beetle actually. The fact that such a creature would be even remotely related to Kirstenna was rather nauseating, even if the last common ancestor between the Beetle Baby and the Teppenpaw was their great-great-grandparents.
Of course, the Imposter had...reproduced as well and the creature, the spawn of Kirstenna's nemesis and a ghost was here at school-and in her house too. How the embodiment of evil-which was what the second year was if American Horror Story was anything to go by- could be a Teppenpaw was beyond her, but it was likely some trick of his mother's. The Imposter was a sneaky one. How else could one explain Nic Sawyer's sudden ability to catch every Quaffle that Tepp had thrown at the goals? Or Pecari's ability to win the final last year? Kirstenna was sure that the Imposter was behind that, because she'd figured out that the Teppenpaw was on to her.
Not to mention the other evil the Imposter had unleashed upon Sonora in the form of Renee Errant. The Crotalus wasn't even human, but some dark creature. An evil being who'd stolen Kirstenna's friend away. She'd tried to save her friendship with Sophia, but no such luck, Renee had interrupted, gave the other now sixth year a kiss, and the Pecari had run away. Really, Kirstenna didn't care if Sophia was into girls, but Renee was no girl, she was a monster.
It was hopeless, there was nobody left. Quentin graduated, Brian kidnapped, Tobar boiled alive, Sophia in Renee's dark thrall. Kirstenna only had Sam now and Merlin only knew how the Imposter would ruin that . The Teppenpaw needed him, needed a friend, needed to be close to someone, but she was a bit afraid as well. She didn't want him to get hurt too.
Right now, she had to listen to what the Beetle Lady was saying rather than focusing on her enemies and the fact that they were reproducing. Always best to know what villains were up to, so she didn't miss something. Apparently, this was about conjuring plants. A food source for the Beetle Baby perhaps? Kirstenna wondered what it would like to eat. She'd never been one for eating plants herself, she was more of a nachos and popcorn sort of girl,so she wouldn't know what flowers tasted best, maybe she should try a fruit? An apple tree was too big, maybe a small blueberry bush?
The sixth year pictured one in her mind, inside a simple pot, even though blueberries grew wild, she thought. “Pareo Colletis.”. The result was nothing but a pile of blueberries in a pot, with no dirt in it.
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Kirstenna Melcher, Teppenpaw
Will this keep you from transfiguring me?
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Kirstenna Melcher, Teppenpaw
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Alessa Hinckley, Aladren
July 22, 2012 4:08 AM
Again? by Alessa Hinckley, Aladren
As she took her seat in Transfiguration, Alessa sighed. Although she wasn't aware of the term, she had what the Muggles would call senioritis. She was simply sick of school and wanted out. It wasn't as if people were mean to her and there were specific people that Alessa wanted to get away from or any of the other reasons that Tawny had been eager to graduate, she was just bored .The seventh year just wanted something different and exciting. Oh, her idea of exciting wasn't what others would find so. Some people liked fancy parties, some liked pranks. Alessa didn't really enjoy either. The latter was dumb and the former had too many people talking about things that the Aladren couldn't care less about and she had to pretend to be interested which was irritating. Alessa wasn't especially good at it either. She'd always been a little too honest, though better since it had been trained out of her.
She supposed she'd always been the apathetic sort-and rather odd as well. The seventh year just didn't care about the things that others did and in turn, they weren't interested in the things that Alessa was. She was just...different. Possibly why she'd never bonded with her classmates, though she'd liked Theo and Tobar well enough when they'd been here-and aside from the fact the Mel Eagle sort of annoyed her, she didn't have a problem with anyone else, she just didn't have much in common with them.
Alessa wasn't like others, and it was a fact that she had come to accept a long time ago. Hopefully, Wally would too. He seemed pretty nice so far, and they seemed to get along all right. The Aladren assumed they'd be getting married once she graduated, something that couldn't come soon enough for her as school was getting dull, and Alessa was getting burned out on it. Being married would be better, she wouldn't be working, both because she'd have money and (most) pureblood women didn't do that. The seventh year could set her own schedule rather than being a slave to someone else's.
She groaned inwardly at the mention of more conjuring. Really? Couldn't they do something else? Anything else? Attempt human to animal transfiguration perhaps? It wasn't something Alessa would necessarily use, but at least it was different , but she took out her wand and imagined a plant, a poppy in a simple terracotta pot. It was very vibrant but when she performed the spell, the result was a little too much so. The red part was practically glowing , florescent. It was loud and gaudy, which Alessa hated normally, but it was oddly beautiful nonetheless.
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Alessa Hinckley, Aladren
Again?
150
Alessa Hinckley, Aladren
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Jane
July 22, 2012 7:41 PM
Guitar limbs by Jane
Jane smiled when Autumn said she might be tired of conjuring, too. “It’s easy to feel that way, I think,” she said, twirling her wand between her fingers for a moment and watching the golden sparks that trailed down toward her feet, fading out just before they could touch the floor. “But I think we’ll make it. It’s just a little while until the end of the year, and then we only have one more before we pick our own studies.”Well, hopefully. She knew that studying everything that caught her interest could never happen. At some point, she would run into an ethical wall, or just run out of time. Learning potential began to decrease with time, and even under ideal conditions, she would not live forever. Either she would no longer be able to learn everything she wanted to about a set number of things, much less advance them, or she would simply die before she ran out of curiosity. There were, after all, always more things; the world was a very large and complicated place. The world she was meant to inhabit – the life of a minor Carey turned minor Mrs. Smythe – was not large or complicated, it was designed to be as predictable and uneventful as possible, but that was why there were books, and perhaps travel.
She would have had more opportunities as a man, more chances to go and learn and so forth, but she still thought she was better off in her situation, and wouldn’t trade it for Edmond’s. He could learn openly and freely, was not strongly expected to tie himself down with a family at once, but the price he paid was a lack of safety. He wouldn’t be able to learn anything if he took the wrong curse in the back. She would have to make room for the things she wanted around the things she had to do, but so did everyone, and she was all but assured that no one was going to try to kill her ever again. That was worth a lot to her.
“It’s also very useful,” she added. “Conjuring, I mean. I’m sure we’ll be glad someday to know it.”
She raised her wand and tried yet again, and this time got an even smaller pot than she had meant to, one smaller than what the plant in it needed, to hold for a breathless three or four seconds before it, too, vanished again. “I think that was an improvement,” she said. “Why don’t you try again, Autumn?” They did, after all, have to complete the assignment sometime, and the closer they got to the end product they wanted by the end of class, the less homework they would have to do before the next class. Merlin knew that less to do was always, at the Advanced level, a good thing, no matter how good you were. Even when the work wasn’t hard, there was always more of it to do, coming from everywhere.
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Jane
Guitar limbs
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Jane
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5