The easy button on Transfiguration

Professor Skies

September 06, 2012 7:39 PM

Beginners Lesson I by Professor Skies

It felt good to be back in a proper school. Not so good that she wouldn't go home most nights but she definitely preferred it to private tutoring. Most tutees were from rich families who thought of her as a governess – an image she loathed for the matronly Victorian air of the word, as much as the implied inferiority. There were bound to be a few pupils of that type here but here she was in charge. If they backchatted or put down any of the other bloodtypes, she could do her best to bring them into line. That was less of an option when said little brat's parents paid your wages directly. Now that both of her daughters were away at boarding school, it made sense for her to come back to working a proper job. It had been advertised as subbing but there was a chance of taking it permanently, assuming that both she and the school liked each other well enough.

“Good morning,” she greeted the assembled first and second years. “I am Professor Skies and I will be taking you for Transfiguration this term. We will be focussing on non-animate to non-animate Transfigurations– that is objects into other objects as this is the simplest branch of Transfiguration. That said, it can still be very difficult, and you must not get disheartened if you do not get big results immediately,” she felt that it was easy for her subject to slip down students' lists as they enjoyed the big flashy results of beginner Charms. Even making mistakes in other subjects tended to have dramatic consequences, whereas in Tranfiguration you just tended to not fully achieve what you had wanted. “Today will be pebbles into buttons,” she informed them, “Take one and pass it on,” she instructed, handing a box of pebbles to the student on the end of the front row, Each was smooth and shiny and relatively flat, although they varied a little in size and colour.

“I also have a handout for you. It is a template for a Transfiguration Table. I would like all of the first years to take one. Second years, I would prefer you to try to do your table from scratch but if you are unfamiliar with this teaching method, please help yourself to a handout, although there are plenty of notes to help you in the textbook,” the sheet that was being passed around was a simple table of common object characteristics, such as size, shape and function with an empty box next to each one. “The table is designed to help you focus on the similarities and differences between your current object and the target object. This is a process that you will learn to internalise as you become more experienced but it is helpful to actively work through it when the subject is new to you. Every two objects, however different they seem, have something in common. Even if it's the tiniest little thing it is useful for you. Changing everything about an object is a monumental task and usually one that it's difficult to wrap your head around. By focussing only on those things which you need to change, you can channel your energy more effectively, and hopefully make bigger changes where they are needed.

“When you are ready to move onto the spell, the incantation is Pangolus and you will want to make a single circle with your wand,” the chalk behind her scribbled key pieces of information onto the board as she spoke, “For those of you who are righthanded, the circle should be clockwise. For those of you who are left handed, a counter-clockwise circle also works on this spell. It is generally less effective but it is likely to be more effective if it feels more comfortable or natural for you.

“If you are stuck, chapter 2 of the textbook has a section on writing Transfiguration Tables, whilst chapter 3 introduces inanimate transfigurations. You may also discuss your problems quietly with your neighbours, or call on me if you require any assistance. You may begin.” Selina hoped to enjoy at least a good few minutes of nothing more than quills scratching on parchment before the casting began. Transfiguration was usually a safe profession. It was very difficult to produce results and therefore definitely difficult to overdo things. Of course, that didn't prevent utterly unrelated catastrophes but she definitely felt she sent students to the hospital wing less often than her Charms colleagues, and far, far less often than those in Defence.

OOC - you know the rules. Long (min. 200 words), interesting but realistic posts. No blowing up my classroom or each other. Tag me in the subject line and please state your house in the author line of your first post.

Subthreads:

Let's be partners! by Wendy Canterbury - Pecari with Alexandra D'Alesandro, Wendy, Alex, Crotalus

Pebbles, Buttons; What's the Difference? by Rupert Princeton, Pecari with Lucian D'Alesandro, Aladren, Rupert

Some are more beginner than others... by Effie Arbon with Alan Raines, Teppenpaw

My first frown (if only for a moment) by Marcus Crosby, Teppenpaw with Lucrezia Renaldi, Crotalus

The easy button by Liam Ammon, Pecari with Melanie Lennox, Teppenpaw

Without effort. (Wotw) by Amity Brockert, Aladren with Annette Pierce, Pecari

I didn't think pebbles could do that! by Carter Browning, Teppenpaw with Carrie O'Malley, Crotalus, Carter

You wanted buttons, right? by Clara Abernathy, Pecari with Annabelle Pierce, Pecari

This will work, this will work, this will work.... by Henry Carey, Crotalus

Starting off a little cleaner by McKinley Andrews, Crotalus

0 Professor Skies Beginners Lesson I 26 Professor Skies 1 5

Wendy Canterbury - Pecari

September 06, 2012 11:43 PM

Let's be partners! by Wendy Canterbury - Pecari

Wendy had heard a lot about transfiguration from Waverly and wasn’t sure if she would do as well as her older sister. Her sister’s favorite teacher was the Transfiguration professor, or at least had been. Apparently the Transfig. professor was new which meant this was uncharted territory for both girls. But Wendy was going to be in the beginner’s class by herself while Waverly was in the intermediate. That part was kind of scary.

She sat down in the second row, wanting to get a good feel of what was going on. It was weird being new to all of this, but kind of nice at the same time. In a way, she was living in the fairy tales she had always dreamed of. In her imagination, she lived with magic. When her sister had turned out to be magical first, that had only shaped Wendy’s imaginary world more. And now she was living in it. Though she had been looking forward to most of her classes, the one she was really looking forward to was COMC.

Transfiguration would be good too, though. Hopefully, even if it was hard. The professor talked about turning pebbles into buttons, and Wendy was already entranced. Turning an object into something else like that? Doing that would so come in handy! Wendy could already imagine turning chairs into pianos, desks into fishbowls, umbrellas into castles…

But apparently it didn’t work that way. She took the Transfiguration Table curiously and examined it carefully. The things they were transfiguring had to be similar in some ways in order to successfully turn it into something else. Well, that was kind of disappointing.

Wendy sighed and put her chin into her hand, leaning her elbow against the desk. Still she rubbed the pebble in her hand like a worry stone. One thing she had learned to do a couple summers ago was skip rocks in the lake. She wasn’t that good at it, but she could skip it at least twice. This would be a great pebble to skip because it was flat. She sighed again. They would be turning it into a button instead. She thought about slipping it into her pocket and asking for another one, but then she realized that there was no lake nearby. Poop.

There wasn’t much else to do except look at the textbook and start filling out the Transfiguration Table. She read the textbook, found it a little confusing, and then started filling hers out anyway. Finding similarities between a pebble and a button shouldn’t be too hard. A few seconds later, she had “round; flat; hard” on her Table. She tapped her temple with her pen, trying to think of something else, but she was out of answers.

Wendy turned to her desk partner and said quietly, “Hey, can I ask you something? What else did you put for similarities between the button and the pebble? All I got was round, flat, and hard.” The teacher had said they could talk to their neighbors. It was very convenient that the desks weren’t all separated like they had been in her fifth grade class.

0 Wendy Canterbury - Pecari Let's be partners! 0 Wendy Canterbury - Pecari 0 5

Alexandra D'Alesandro

September 07, 2012 1:09 AM

If you insist. by Alexandra D'Alesandro

Alexandra did not have the most pleasant experiences in her classes thus far, and was looking forward to the relative calmness of her Transfiguration class. Even though she had a rough first day in each class, she did seem to make some new friends, which she figured couldn’t be too bad of a thing at all. She still couldn’t get the grass stains out of her pink dress after her new friend Honey ran into her during her flying lesson, but she wasn’t letting herself get too bent out of shape about it.

She made her way into class and took a seat next to a girl she didn’t know. Alex carefully listened to the instructions and scanned the Transfiguration Table she was to fill out. Turning a pebble into a button seemed to be the calm work that she needed. She was working on filling out the table when the girl next to her spoke, and asked what Alex wrote to describe the similarities between the button and the pebble. “Hmm…shiny? Light?” Alex began, “I tend to notice the differences more quickly than I do the similarities, so this is a bit hard.” She had been taught to look at things from a snooty perspective, which often meant finding what is different about someone or something, and finding reasons as to why they were not worthy, became a second nature. Alex, while still upholding most of her pureblood etiquette, decided she didn’t want to be as seemingly anti-social as her brother. This led her to keep her nose out of the air for the most part and treat others as human beings.

“What is your favorite class so far?” Alex asked the girl, “Mine will probably be Care of Magical Creatures."

0 Alexandra D'Alesandro If you insist. 240 Alexandra D'Alesandro 0 5

Rupert Princeton, Pecari

September 07, 2012 1:25 PM

Pebbles, Buttons; What's the Difference? by Rupert Princeton, Pecari

Another wonderful class where intense magic was used. Transfiguration. This was just another class for Rupert to learn to control his magic and to add to his ‘reasons why I dislike school’ list. He had learnt loads about the art of Transfiguration. He’d seen it done in his own house by his family members. And yet, strangely enough, Rupert had never felt the need to turn a stick into a needle or a piece of parchment into a piece of cloth. Charms was the sort of class he’d been looking forward to. Not Transfiguration.

The professor seemed friendly enough. Much too serious, in his opinion, but then again professors were always quite serious. He listened to the professor drone on about the subject and then handed out pebbles. The pebble Rup chose was small and more oval than round. It was also a very tan brown, a colour he hadn’t expected a pebble to be. He was looking at his pebble in feigned interest when the professor then handed out Transfiguration Tables. He looked at these with genuine interest, and then realised they were ways to organise the similar traits between the pebble and the button. Both being, of course, very invigorating objects.

Rup suppressed a groan, but a sound erupted from his throat anyway that was quiet enough that only his neighbour would hear. He wanted to start straight away on the spell, but he knew he’d most likely muck it up. And then he would get into trouble for being too impatient while his brother would take the Mickey out of him if—most likely when—he found out. Rup was also left-handed which meant he would be doing it counter-clockwise. It also meant, according to the professor, that his pebble-turn-button would look worse than his right-handed classmates. Bugger. Another reason to despise being left-handed. There were several reasons to be glad to be left-handed, such as being unique, but the downfalls were quite numerous.

He turned to the second chapter in his textbook and wondered how hard it would be to do a Transfiguration Table. It would go much faster with a smarter classmate. Rup turned to his partner and nudged them gently. “Do you want to work on this together?” he asked, indicating his Transfiguration Table. “I’ve got a hunch we’ll be able to get to the good part of actually turning our pebble into a button in this lifetime if we do it together. I don’t know about you, but I certainly want to start transfiguring right away.”

0 Rupert Princeton, Pecari Pebbles, Buttons; What's the Difference? 0 Rupert Princeton, Pecari 0 5

Effie Arbon

September 07, 2012 2:38 PM

Some are more beginner than others... by Effie Arbon

Transfiguration took a close second place to Charms in Effie’s list of priorities. It was proper magic, had a decent number of applications in her life and was one of the subjects that had received more extensive coverage in her home curriculum. As was her habit, she settled amongst people she recognised. Even where paired working was not explicitly stated, she had noticed that people tended to share their experiences with their neighbours. Therefore, she ensured that her neighbours were people whose opinions that she cared to hear. The Professor did not meet with her immediate approval after making the patronising suggestion that all first years would need a table template and all second years would be experienced enough not to. Surely, the more obvious line was those who had grown up with magic versus those who had not. Her tutors had done similar exercises with her, although they had never given her silly pieces of parchment to fill in. The principle was the same though – the idea of finding similarities. They had called it training her eye for the subject. She decided that the Professor was one of those liberal, Muggle-hugging types and was simply trying to protect the feelings of those from non-magical backgrounds by suggesting it was just a first year – second year difference. She had also said that second years who were not experienced – i.e the Muggleborns – could take a table if they wished. Effie assumed the inverse to also be true; those who were experienced need not. She would write it down, as clearly that was part of the asinine requirements of the class and she did not want to be put down nor deemed intellectually inferior for failing to complete the assignment but she would do it from scratch. She made subheadings on a blank sheet of parchment, putting notes under each heading in her elegant, looping writing.

Materials: stone versus bone, metal, wood, shell etc for buttons. All natural.
Shape: broadly round, although pebble likely to be less symmetrical or perfect.
Color: Both variable though may have colors in common. The pebble I have chosen is gray – a color in which you may find buttons although they should be rather unattractive were that the case.
Size: The specific pebble which I have chosen is larger than the average button, although the spectrum of sizes of both objects is likely to have considerable overlap.
Function: Button: fastening.

Effie hesitated. A stone wasn’t really for anything. In its primary function, it simply existed, although she supposed one could do things with it, such as putting it in a flower arrangement, or using it to weigh papers. In a flower arrangement, it was somewhat decorative, which a button also could be. She added to her sheet:

Pebble: natural object. Both items have a secondary function as decorative objects.
Other: button man made, pebble natural.

Looking it over, she tried to decide which features to discount and which to keep the same. A decorative button was unlikely to look like a prototypical button and therefore if she failed to complete the task, her aim and achievement might not be so obvious. Function was an area to focus on changing, in that case. The holes of a button were part of its functionality, as they allowed it to be sewn onto a garment, and therefore focussing on the ways in which a button was attached should affect its appearance. The colour could stay the same, although she wasn’t sure that a grey button was the most appealing object. The size should also change in order to make it a fairly normal looking button. Initially though, she would focus on function as that should produce the most notable changes. She practised the wand movement until she was confident that the circle was as neat and precise as she could get it.

“Pangolus,” she cast, twirling her wand clockwise, as she was righthanded. Her pebble remained the same size, which was unsurprising as she had not focussed her attentions on altering this. It was also still clearly made of stone. However, it had a definite rim around the outside and four small indents, although they did not go the entire way through.

13 Effie Arbon Some are more beginner than others... 238 Effie Arbon 0 5

Wendy

September 07, 2012 5:33 PM

I do insist. And then we can be best friends! by Wendy

Wendy's desk partner's comment was definitely true for her too. "It's always easier to tell the differences than similarities," she agreed. Especially because they were comparing a pebble and a button. Wendy's clothes didn't have any buttons on them this time, and there were so many different kinds of buttons too like there were so many different kinds of pebbles. Maybe. It was hard to think of a standard button and compare a pebble to that.

"I think a pebble could be a button too if it really wanted to. I don't know how someone would sew it on and it would probably be really heavy..." She giggled, imagining a really heavy button-up with the buttons made of pebbles. "Never mind."

Wendy didn't even have to think twice about what her favorite class would be. "Mine too!" she exclaimed. "I love animals and meeting magical creatures will be really fun. My mom won't let me even get a cat because she runs a bakery and doesn't want animal hairs getting into the cakes and stuff." Wendy really hoped that they would meet a unicorn or something. What she really wanted to do was keep a magical creature, but that wasn't very probable.

"I think I'll really like Charms too," she added as an afterthought. "It's really fun." Transfiguration was so far slow-going and not exactly Wendy's favorite. She thought for a moment about other similarities between a pebble and a button. "I guess a button is also hard like a pebble." She shrugged and wrote it down. "That's all I can think of. You can look at my paper if you can't think of anything more. I want to get started on the spell!" Wendy couldn't wait to start using her brand new wand. It was so exciting that she could actually do magic with it. It wasn't like using a twig or a branch, pretending to be magical. This was real.

Her hazel eyes were bright when she thought about doing magic. "Okay, here goes. Pangolus!" She pressed the tip of her wand against the pebble as she said it, and instead of her pebble turning into a nice, round button, a loud "bang!" happened and a puff of white smoke blew into her face. She coughed and waved the smoke away. "Ugh, that didn't work. Sorry if that scared you." She looked down at her pebble hopefully, but it looked exactly the same.

It was a little embarrassing to mess up, but she knew why. In her excitement, she hadn't even looked at the chapter. She turned to the page and read all about the things she should have done. There was even a picture of the pebble turning into a button. "Sorry," Wendy apologized again. "I was just really excited to try it." It was hard to keep in her excitement to do real magic for the first time. Wendy decided to read a little bit more before trying it again, this time going through the chapter carefully.

0 Wendy I do insist. And then we can be best friends! 0 Wendy 0 5

Alex, Crotalus

September 08, 2012 12:47 AM

As long as you don't turn me into a button by accident :) by Alex, Crotalus

Alex listened to the girl ramble on about clothing with buttons that were actually pebbles and wondered how she kept meeting these people who got excited and amused about such simple things. She just smiled as the girl talked. At least they were nice to her. Alex had thought about her predicament of who she should be associated with and came to the conclusion that she would be different and stand on a line between both extremes. She would still be a proper pureblood, but she would also have various types of friends that were different from her. Deep down Alex wanted to be liked and popular, and having various friends meant that she would know someone everywhere she went.

She would never admit to it, but she often became lonely at home because she did not have time for friends. Her mother was always scheduling her for some sort of lesson and didn’t allow her to mingle with the half-bloods or muggles that lived nearby. Alex also felt a strange urge to protect the innocent. That was part of the reason she connected with animals so easily. They were innocent beings and needed someone to stand up for them. She viewed many of her new non-pureblood friends in the same manner. It wasn’t their fault they weren’t purebloods. Alex also decided she wasn’t afraid of any of the purebloods or anyone for that matter, even though some of them seemed intimidating.

When they started talking about their favorite class Alex added, “I couldn’t imagine not having a pet. I have a cat at home named Penelope. She is a white, fluffy ball of fur.” Alex smiled. “She acts like a little princess. She even has a little pink bed that looks like a throne.” In a way she regretted not bringing her cat to school with her, but Penelope was a bit skiddish around people she did not know well. Perhaps next year Alex would try introducing her to life at school.

Alex was just about to suggest reading the book to find out how to perform the spell correctly, when the girl attempted to change the pebble into a button. A long bang occurred and white smoke went into the girls face. Alex tried to contain her amusement, but she ended up laughing a bit. “No worries”, she said afterwards, “I am used to loud noises. I have an older brother who plays drums.” She then realized she hadn’t gotten the girls name yet. “Perhaps you weren’t concentrating hard enough?...Oh, and I am Alex D’Alesandro by the way. I am from Boston. Nice to meet you.”

0 Alex, Crotalus As long as you don't turn me into a button by accident :) 0 Alex, Crotalus 0 5

Lucian D'Alesandro, Aladren

September 08, 2012 1:22 AM

One holds our clothes on. by Lucian D'Alesandro, Aladren

Lucian didn’t mind Transfiguration. It wasn’t his favorite class, but it wasn’t boring either. In fact, he didn’t really find any of his classes to be boring. Learning was always a top priority for him, and he wanted to absorb as much new information as possible. After listening to the instructions, Lucian made sure the professor wasn’t looking at him and kicked his feet up on the table. He then placed his notebook on his lap and began filling out the Transfiguration Table with ease. Turning pebbles into buttons is not exactly the most exciting thing in the world, but it could be useful. Afterall, who knows when you will need another button.

Lucian’s concentration was interrupted when the boy sitting next to him nudged him and asked if he wanted to work together. “Sure,” Lucian replied. “I had this class last year, so I would be happy to help.” He then set his almost complete table on the desk next to the boy. “I found this class enjoyable. Most of what we learn can be used for practical things. I don’t know about you, but I lose a lot of buttons.” Lucian then gave his signature amused smirk. “My name is Lucian,” he said outstretching his hand. “Nice to meet you.”

Lucian then set the pebble on the desk. He closed his eyes and imagined a button for a few moments, then lifted his wand and said “Pangolus!” while turning it in a clockwise motion. The pebble shook in place for a few moments, but still remained a pebble. Lucian pushed his wavy hair back with his hand and shrugged. “Probably needed to concentrate more. Want to give it a try?”

0 Lucian D'Alesandro, Aladren One holds our clothes on. 0 Lucian D'Alesandro, Aladren 0 5

Rupert

September 08, 2012 2:17 PM

And the other? by Rupert

Rupert was glad his partner was a boy. Lately, he had been surrounded by females. In fact, most of the Pecaris in his year were witches and, as much as he liked girls, sometimes it was a bit overwhelming. His companion seemed very laid-back which Rupert appreciated immensely. He had never liked the stuffy pure-bloods he had grown up with and was surrounded by constantly at home. He was certain Sonora had a few too, perhaps more than a few, but Rupert would try his best not to deal with them.

His companion offered him his table and Rup almost hugged him. Instead, he smiled and said, "Thanks," and copied it down quickly. It was very helpful having a second year seated next to him. It was interesting that he found the class enjoyable. Rupert didn't exactly find turning pebbles into buttons very helpful at all, but that was his opinion. Whenever he lost buttons, his house-elf usually appeared to put it back on with a permanent sticking charm or something. "I think Charms is more fun, but that's just me. I'm Rupert," said Rupert as he shook Lucian's hand. "But you can call me 'Rup'. I don't like my full name much." He saved the explanation that he'd enjoy his full name when he was thirty or so. He was a bit tired of relaying that message to everyone he met.

The English bloke watched his older desk-mate try the spell first curiously. And then the spell didn't work well. Whenever Rupert had failed in his lessons back home with tutors, he had been punished in one way or another. It felt so freeing not to have to expect discipline after a failed exam or such. At least not right away.

"Sure, I'll give it a go." Rupert looked at his pebble and his brows furrowed as he tried to imagine it turning into a button on its own. Concentration wasn't his strongest suit, but he could certainly try it. "Pangolus!" he said, making a counter-clockwise circle with his wand, and the edges of the pebble seemed to shape. But that was all. When he felt the edges, they were smooth as if nothing had even happened.

"I think it's unfair that left-handed people can't make buttons as well as right-handed people," he said, feeling slightly discriminated against. "There's got to be at least one spell that a left-handed wizard made." Rup turned to Lucian and gestured to his partner's pebble. "You try again."

0 Rupert And the other? 0 Rupert 0 5

Marcus Crosby, Teppenpaw

September 08, 2012 4:58 PM

My first frown (if only for a moment) by Marcus Crosby, Teppenpaw

“Hi, Aun-…” Marcus started to say, his typical cheerfulness bubbling out before his mind could think. This was Aunt Lilac’s class, and he always liked to say hello to her. Sometimes he forgot to call her Professor like he was supposed to in class or around other people, and this would have been one such time.

Then he looked at the professor, and he remembered.

His usual smile flipped into a pout. It was supposed to be okay with him that Aunt Lilac was gone—she had a baby after all!—but seeing it, letting it be real… something made it wrong. He did not like it. The Teppenpaw really did like his new baby cousin Ivy Jane, but he missed his aunt.

He glanced around to his classmates. As a second year now, he was on the upper side of the class. The first years wouldn’t even know who his aunt was! They were the first class that couldn’t say that Professor Crosby—then Professor Brockert—was their Transfigurations professor. They only knew this Professor Skies lady. That made him sadder.

Still, he knew he had a lot to be happy about. He was at Sonora, where he got to learn about magic. Some people didn’t have anywhere safe like Sonora, and others didn’t get to learn magic. Marcus was very grateful for what he did have, and that cheered him up a bit. He felt his smile begin to return, and that familiar feeling spread into the full-blown thing.

Marcus didn’t understand why Professor Skies thought they needed to write stuff down to magic. He supposed it might have been helpful to some people, but personally, to him it seemed like the wrong way to approach the concept of any kind of spell. Magic was about feeling, not documents. He figured the writing thing was more about those who needed it doing it, so he decided not to bother.

”Pangolus!” He incanted, being sure to move his wand-hand clockwise. The pebble he’d taken looked different—a plastic-y orange in color, button-shaped—but, on careful inspection, still seemed to be actually made of rock. At least, it felt heavier than he thought a plastic or wood button might. “How are you doing?” he asked of a neighbor. “I got pretty close.”

12 Marcus Crosby, Teppenpaw My first frown (if only for a moment) 225 Marcus Crosby, Teppenpaw 0 5

Wendy

September 08, 2012 9:23 PM

I'll try my best! It would be awkward having a button-friend by Wendy

When Wendy's partner mentioned her cat, her voice went up a couple octaves. "Aww! That's so cute! Penelope sounds like a royal name. Eee, I love cats! They're just so cute and cuddly." Wendy's enthusiasm for cats would have been pretty much the same for any animal. They were all just so cute even if they weren't the friendliest creatures. "Horses are my favorite," Wendy told her, "but there's no way my parents would ever get me a horse. I've ridden them, though, a bunch of times." She smiled just thinking about it.

It was a relief that Wendy's embarrassing mishap didn't shock Alex too much. She wasn't sure if drums and random "bangs" were the same thing, but she took it as it was. The girls in her immediate family sang and played the piano, so there was nothing really shocking about that especially since no one sang opera.

So far Wendy had found the introductions of some people kind of odd. She knew there were things called "purebloods" and that she was technically a "muggle-born", but she had no idea how important that was in the magical community. Waverly didn't seem to have too much of a problem with it, so Wendy didn't think anyone really had a problem with it. Her older sister had just warned her that it would be something she'd have to get used to.

When Wendy had first heard the introduction, she thought it was a joke. But now, as she heard it more and more often, she realized that these people were serious. It was a good way to get the "where are you from" question out of the way, apparently. Back in elementary school, kids always just introduced themselves by first name only. It didn't really matter what your last name was. But Wendy had to constantly remind herself that this wasn't elementary school anymore.

"It's nice to meet you too! I'm Wendy Canterbury. I live in here in Arizona." It was amazing how many people came from different states. Wendy couldn't imagine going out of state for school. She was only eleven! It was far enough away from home that it made her a tiny bit homesick, but it helped that Waverly was here. She couldn't imagine how Waverly must've felt coming here all by herself. The best part was that they were in the same house!

Wendy, now satisfied with the knowledge she had obtained from her textbook, turned to her pebble with new vigor. "Okay, let's try this again." She thought really hard of a button, trying to imagine it in her mind like the textbook said and think of all the details she would be changing. She pointed her wand at the pebble as she thought about it and turned her wand clockwise as she said, "Pangolus."

Sadly, the pebble didn't change a lot, but it did round out and four teeny tiny shades of circles appeared on one side of the pebble. She smiled brightly. "I got somewhere! Yay!" She turned to Alex, still smiling. "That's good, right? Okay, do you want to try?"

0 Wendy I'll try my best! It would be awkward having a button-friend 0 Wendy 0 5

Lucrezia Renaldi, Crotalus

September 08, 2012 10:14 PM

No frowns! by Lucrezia Renaldi, Crotalus

Lucrezia had arrived back at Sonora with a new bounce to her step. The little Italian was excited to be back to school. In a rather weird of events, she actually liked learning and seeing her friends on a daily basis. There was nothing better in life, she was sure. Her summer had passed away in a blur of happy little moments. Both of her sisters had been betrothed and Heaven had come to for a visit. It had been magically splendid in the best way possible. It had been a rather nice summer all around.

Playing host to Heaven during the summer had been very fun, especially since her mother had practically let them do whatever they had wanted with the appropriate supervision from house-elves and her old nanny. It had been super fun, but sad when she had to go back home. The Crotalus had felt lost for the next few days, but recovered quite quickly when her brother Carlo came home from Quidditch Camp with a few of his friends. And OMM! They were completely gorgeous and nice and beautiful, and the second-year had a hard time not stalking them through the whole state.

The brunette had discovered during the summer that boys were super interesting to look at.

But now it was time to concentrate on Transfiguration class. She couldn’t daydream about her summer all day long. Unfortunately she had missed most of what the new professor had said. Her eyes were filled with confusion at what was happening when a box with pebbles reached her desk. The Crotalus took one because the rest of the class had done so.

Lucrezia looked around at everyone already working on the assignment, but she was al clueless as ever. She blinked fully embarrassed about her lack of attention and subsequently blushed when Marcus asked her how she was doing.

“I…,” she said while her blush deepened. “I wasn’t really paying attention,” she finished with a bright smile. Marcus was in her year and he was rather cute in his twelve-year old way. Not like Carlo’s friends, but cute.

She cleared her throat, “Would you mind giving me the quick version of what we are supposed to do?” she asked still blushing, but with a sheepish smile adorning her features. Her accent had dwindled during the term, but three months back home had accentuated it once again.

0 Lucrezia Renaldi, Crotalus No frowns! 0 Lucrezia Renaldi, Crotalus 0 5

Lucian

September 10, 2012 1:42 AM

Hmm. For skipping across a lake? by Lucian

Lucian picked up his wand again with more determination and concentration. He squinted at the pebble with his green eyes as if sizing it up. “Alright,” he started, “Let’s try this again. Pangolus!” This time the pebble changed its shape into the roundness of a button and had two holes that went through to the other side, with the other two appearing as only indentations. Not bad. Not perfect, but he was getting better. He turned to Rup and smiled. “See? It gets easier.” He then nodded towards his desk-mate’s pebble. “Keep on trying. You will get the hang of it eventually. Just make sure to concentrate.”

“I don’t really know if there are spells that left-handed wizards made.” Lucian said after a moment while thinking about the various books he had read, “I would assume so. Right-handed wizards can’t be the only ones with good ideas.” He smiled again while carrying on the conversation. “So how do you like Senora?” he began, “This is your first year right? Hopefully you didn’t have a bad run in with my sister Alex.” Lucian could just imagine his prissy sister talking down to the poor boy. He seemed nice and didn’t deserve that. “A lot of pureblood girls here are a bit…vicious.” Lucian continued while thinking of his recent run in with Heaven Baird. “Other than that, I like the school a lot. Where are you from Rup?”

Lucian paused for a moment, waiting for him to respond to all of his questions.

0 Lucian Hmm. For skipping across a lake? 0 Lucian 0 5

Liam Ammon, Pecari

September 13, 2012 12:27 PM

The easy button by Liam Ammon, Pecari

Transfiguration was not Liam's forte. This wasn't for lack of trying either; he just didn't have the intense focus it required to force the physical characteristics from one object onto another. Last year, during their first lesson, the young Pecari was so fascinated by the progress of his peers that he barely managed a spark within his own bubble. Plus, the only frame of reference he'd had for how to properly hold a wand came from Hollywood, so that obviously was of no help. Had it not been for the odd book assignment and sheer luck, Liam would have failed for sure. Unsurprisingly, he discovered his talents were better suited for more practical applications--potions, for example.

Over the summer, since they weren't allowed to practice magic, the boy spent a lot of time studying, and even more time getting used to wand. After all, he wasn't a boy awkwardly waving about a stick pretending to hex his brothers, he was a young wizard with real power--he needed to get used to this new extension of himself. Being a muggleborn was a social handicap already, Liam wasn't willing to add "inept at wandwork" to his ever growing list of flaws.

Soon the summer had come and gone, and here he was, back at Sonora, ready to show the purebloods that muggleborns could be great at magic too--hopefully, anyway.

Liam was a little late entering the classroom, and quickly chose a seat near the front of the room. He removed a quill and some parchment from his bag, and listened intently as the professor introduced herself and began the lesson. The second year was glad that they weren’t moving on to animate object just yet, and couldn’t help the small sigh of relief that escaped him as a the pebbles began to circulate through the classroom.

“This shouldn’t be too hard.” Liam thought to himself as he selected his pebble and passing the box on to his neighbor. His pebble was flat enough, and about the size of a muggle dollar coin. He turned it over in his hand a few times, examining it with intense blue eyes as the professor’s instructions about transfiguration tables vaguely registered with the boy. He considered taking the first year hand out, but instead pulled out his transfiguration text book and flipped to chapter two.

He began by writing down the obvious similarities between pebbles and buttons; small, round, flat. Some had holes in them, some didn’t. Liam was pretty sure that at some point in history rocks were even used as buttons. He examined the small stone in his hand again, noting the brownish hue and not quite circular shape of it. He squeezed it tightly in the palm of his hand before turning his attention back to his parchment. Liam was itching to try the spell, but he had to make sure he had done all of the appropriate prep work first. He was going to make a button. A glorious, brass button, with two—no, four holes.

With his transfiguration table as complete as it was going to get, the young Pecari placed pebble on the table before him and reached inside his robes to retrieve his wand. His heart was racing, and his ice blue gaze was fixed on the pebble.

“Please work, please work…” He whispered as he tried to picture the pebble as a button, recalling all of the similarities and differences he’d listed. Liam took a deep breath and steadied his slightly shaking wand hand before making the instructed single circle wand movement and reciting, in a more determined voice than usual—

“Pangolus!”

When Liam opened his eyes, his pebble looked mostly unchanged. The only exception was that now, instead of being smooth, the brown pebble had a series of four dents in the center. His heart sank when he realized what he’d done.

“Why did I close my eyes?!” He groaned, shaking his head in dismay before turning his attention away from his failure to see how his neighbor was doing.

“Any luck?”

5 Liam Ammon, Pecari The easy button 37 Liam Ammon, Pecari 0 5

Rupert

September 15, 2012 3:01 PM

Throwing them? Piling them? Carrying them? by Rupert

Rupert's partner was quite adept at this spell, if his second try at it was of any indication. Or perhaps no one was as terrible at Transfiguration at Rup. He nodded. Rup wasn't sure if it would really get easier for him, but it was worth a shot. "Thanks, mate," he said, responding to his partner's encouragement, and he frowned at his pebble, trying to concentrate. He wasn't sure exactly how to concentrate on turning a pebble into a button. Pebbles and buttons were two entirely different objects in his mind. Rup tried to imagine the physical process happen in his head.

"Pangolus!" The pebble wriggled a bit, as if it were going through something rather painful. When he looked closer after the pebble stopped wriggling, there were the tiniest indentations in the pebble. At least there were four of them. He grinned. Perhaps it was going to get a bit better the more he practised.

Lucian couldn't seem to think of any left-handed spell inventors, and Rupert was a bit disappointed. If he really cared enough, he would have gone searching through the library to find one. But alas, he had hardly stepped into the library and he didn't fancy going all the way to the place full of books and the like to research.

His partner continued on and Rupert realised he hadn't thought of meeting vicious pure-blood girls. He'd been so excited just to be coming here he hadn't thought of how many there'd be and how awful they would be too. Rup sighed. "According to my brother, they're not too terrible. Of course, I don't exactly believe everything he tells me." He and Cepheus had two very different perspectives on life. Cepheus was the heir to the Princeton patriarchy; Rupert was the second son.

Rupert decided to answer the question for himself, however, and not rely on what his brother had told him about Sonora. "I like this school a lot," he told Lucian. "It's been really interesting so far, but it's not like I've really got any other school to compare it to. My relatives have all gone to other schools in Europe, so it's been nice not having to live up to some professor's expectation or something." Well, he did have to live up to Cepheus's reputation, but he hadn't met a professor who expected much from him yet.

"I'm from England, from a county called Surrey, if you know where that is. Southwest of London." Rupert had had geography lessons with numerous tutors, but all he had really taken from it was knowing where his manor was on a map in relation to the rest of England. It was relaxing knowing that his fellow classmates didn't expect him to relay his family origins. Or he'd just been partnered with the more relaxed pure-bloods. "Where are you from, Lucian? Oh, I think it's your turn now, too."

0 Rupert Throwing them? Piling them? Carrying them? 0 Rupert 0 5

Melanie Lennox, Teppenpaw

September 16, 2012 3:25 AM

And the hard pebble by Melanie Lennox, Teppenpaw

One of Melanie's best subjects was Transfiguration. She wasn't just good at the spell casting but all the written work too. As a matter of fact, the Teppenpaw was two years ahead in terms of most of the theoretical work. Not due to any special love of studying and learning, but because Melanie would often help her sister when she needed. The second year was always assisting Valerie in researching and whatnot and the Crotalus had to write more essays and papers than most, given that there were lessons that she just couldn't do. Melanie learned an awful lot that way.

Transfiguration though, well it was to be expected that she would be good at the practical part too. Her grandmother had been a Brockert and the gift of transfiguration ability seemed to be quite resilient. Fortunately, the Teppenpaw possessed it. Melanie had even gotten O in this class, but then she'd gotten Os in Charms and Potions too, the latter of which she'd worked especially hard in, because she wanted to learn all about anything that she could to help her sister feel better even though the second year would never be a Healer or anything. Pureblood girls didn't work.

It was an awfully good thing that school came so easily to Melanie too, she would hate to have it added to her worries. She often felt that she had too many for someone her age. Granted, they were mostly about Valerie but she worried about Valerie a lot . Plus, if she wasn't able to learn things fairly quickly and understand them, the Teppenpaw might not have been doing that well in school at all because she was distracted.

As she was right now. Her sister's bronchitis was back and very bad. Melanie was just glad that Valerie had gotten to the medic before it became pneumonia. She still remembered what happened the last time that the Crotalus had caught that. The second year had been so scared that her older sister was going to die-and still blamed herself for the whole thing. If the worst had happened, well, Melanie didn't know how she would have been able to live with herself.

But that hadn't happened, thank Merlin and though she was quite concerned about Valerie now, at least this time around she knew that it wasn't her fault. The only times she ever thought it was was when she'd been sick first. Melanie did everything that she could not to and if she did catch something, she went straight to the medic to get it taken care of.

However,she had to focus on the lesson at hand. Pebbles into buttons. Fill out a Transfiguration Table. Got it. The Teppenpaw quickly wrote down a few things. Both pebbles and buttons were small objects which made it easier to change one into the other because one didn't have to worry about size too much in addition to the shape. They were both hard objects, not soft ones. The texture of a pebble was closer to that of a button than that of a pillow. A pillow that was literally as hard as a rock wasn't a good one at all. Pebbles and buttons were both often round. The main difference that Melanie could think of was that pebbles were natural and buttons were man-made.

Her pebble was white and a bit misshapen. Not perfectly round. Melanie envisioned it flattened and more of a circle than a sphere but the same color, at least to start with. There wasn't any reason to look like a show off if she succeeded in perfect transfiguration or to set herself up for disappointment if she couldn't do it. " Pangolus "

The result was basically a flat rock. Maybe it wasn't perfect but at least Melanie had done something. She'd do even better the next time, especially if it held its shape. In fact, maybe it would even be easier that way because it was already closer to the button then it was when it was completely a pebble. Of course, someday Melanie expected to be able to do this all at once, but for now progress was progress.

The Teppenpaw looked up when she heard her neighbor speak. She recognized him as one of the Pecaris in her year, Liam. "Oh, yes." She replied. "You're Liam, right? I am Melanie Lennox of the St. Louis Lennoxes." She wasn't completely sure he knew hers. It would be far too arrogant to just automatically assume everyone knew who she was. Well, she supposed they'd been in class together last year, even if they hadn't spoken but it was only what was proper to introduce oneself formally. "What about you?" Melanie asked, giving Liam a friendly smile. She didn't want show how down she really was especially to someone she didn't know. She had to maintain her veneer.

11 Melanie Lennox, Teppenpaw And the hard pebble 226 Melanie Lennox, Teppenpaw 0 5

Alex

September 19, 2012 12:56 AM

And probably quite boring. by Alex

Alex watched as Wendy practically squealed at the mention of a cat, and smiled at the mention of horses. “Really?” Alex began, “I used to ride horses all the time. When we lived in France I would spend a lot of time at my family’s Equestrian center. They ran it, so I could basically do whatever I wanted to.” She thought for a moment, realizing that riding horses is probably what she missed the most in the states. She could probably go riding somewhere here, but it just wouldn’t be the same.

“Have you lived in Arizona your whole life?” Alex asked with curiosity. Her family was always moving around somewhere; so she found it hard to imagine what it would be like to spend her whole life in one place. There were so many things to see and do. Alex also gathered from the introduction that Wendy was probably not a pureblood. She scanned the room to see if any of the pureblood girls were looking her way, and seeing that most of them were trying to perfect the lesson, she turned back to Wendy as she tried to change her pebble into a button once more.

“That is better.” Alex said, “My turn!” She wasn’t exactly the most patient person in the world, and she wanted to prove that she could do this. Having her brother in most of her classes was annoying, because if she messed up her would be there to see it and taunt her about it endlessly. However, it also served as motivation to do well, for then she could show him up. Alex concentrated hard and closed her green eyes for a second as though she was meditating. “Pangolus!” she finally said after opening them and watched as absolutely nothing happened to her pebble. “Well, that wasn’t very exciting was it?”

0 Alex And probably quite boring. 0 Alex 0 5

Liam

September 19, 2012 9:42 PM

It can't be that hard, right? by Liam

Liam was a little surprised that Melanie knew his name. He’d learned last year that when someone introduced themselves as being a member of a family from a certain city, that it usually meant they were pureblooded, and usually meant that their family tree consisted of someone important. He didn’t know about the St. Louis Lennoxes, he’d never even been to Missouri; but he knew that his classmate was being kind to him, and he needed to return the favor.

“Yep, I’m Liam. Liam Ammon. It’s nice to officially meet you, Melanie of the St. Louis Lennoxes.” He said with a smile. He let his gaze wander over to the Teppenpaw girl’s pebble. It was definitely closer to being a button than his was in some way, but he couldn’t help but feel slightly relieved that he wasn’t the only one that didn’t get it on the first try.

“Mine,” He started, picking up the small brown pebble and flipping it over in his hand, “is getting there. I’d hoped to get it the first time, but I guess I still have a lot to learn.” Liam returned the stone to its resting spot on the table before turning back to his classmate.
“I closed my eyes last time, I think I over thought it.” He admitted. “I kind of suck at wand work, but I suppose that’s to be expected.” Liam shrugged and picked up his transfiguration table, his cerulean eyes searching the piece of parchment for error. As far as the young Pecari was concerned, everything looked right--it was just lost in translation.

He wasn’t quite ready to try again. If he couldn’t get it the second time it’d be more embarrassing—particularly considering he was sitting beside a pureblood who was also a girl.

“Why don’t you give it another shot? I’m sure you can get it this time Melanie!” Liam said with a smile. He meant it too; he wanted his classmate to be successful. However, if she was, for some reason, unsuccessful, he wouldn’t feel nearly as nervous about giving it another shot. Magic had been in her blood for centuries, he assumed—Liam had only known about it for a little over a year.

5 Liam It can't be that hard, right? 37 Liam 0 5

Amity Brockert, Aladren

September 21, 2012 1:16 AM

Without effort. (Wotw) by Amity Brockert, Aladren

Despite the fact that her aunt was no longer the professor, Amity had been looking forward to Transfiguration. It was the one class that she expected to be good at without too much effort. The easier something came, the better it was. The Aladren wouldn't have to work as hard to do well and that was always a plus-and if something did require more than Amity was willing put out, well, then, it just wasn't worth doing. She'd happily take an A if it meant she didn't have to study as hard and in this particular class, as she could no longer rely on the grand pureblood tradition of nepotism, she'd have to rely on the grand Brockert tradition of natural Transfiguration talent instead.

Of course, such talent was a double edged sword. Amity was expected to do better in this class than all others because of it. Of course, it was hard to do better than other classes when one was supposed to get Os in all of them. Sometimes the lack of logic Amity's mother possessed astounded the first year. Perhaps she was supposed to get a hundred percent in Transfiguration and it was okay for her to get a ninety-nine percent in everything else? Nah, Jillian Brockert would never accept a daughter of hers being so lackadaisical.

The thing was, Amity just Did Not Care. She'd burned out and stopped giving a flying hippogriff about achieving or being the best by the time she was eight years old. Given the choice between getting perfect grades and getting some time to relax, she would choose the latter every time. When someone didn't have something, it ended up being what they wanted most.

Amity's Sorting actually worked against her too. Being an Aladren meant Mother would have, if possible, expected her to be the top of the class even more than she would have otherwise. It was a thought that made her truly envy her cousins. If she were in a different house, she'd have fewer-though still an unreasonable amount of-expectations placed on her than she was going to now. Amity still didn't care.

Though if she thought about it, she was otherwise glad to be Sorted where she was. Teppenpaw would have been okay, she supposed, but in Pecari, judging by the ones in her year, lacked proper company aside from her own cousin and her other cousin's ~~girl~~friend and a few others, and in Crotalus she'd have had to share a common room with Carrie and room with a Thornton. Two things Amity did not want.

The first year sat, her posture perfect, in her seat and listened as Professor Skies began the lesson. She couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. The new professor didn't seem nearly as laid back as Aunt Lilac and in Amity's book, that was not a good thing. She would much prefer her professors to be like her aunt than like her mother. Though Professor Skies didn't seem nearly had bad as Mother of course.

She filled out her Transfiguration Table easily enough, thinking it was a total waste of time. What did all this stuff matter? It was just more work that Amity had to do and didn't want to do. What truly mattered was that she could do spells. That was the most integral part of being a witch or wizard. She took out her wand. "Pangolus" , Amity said, executing the wand movement in the exact way that she liked to do things-effortlessly. In her mind she pictured a simple button, that was essentially well, a button that was made from the pebble itself. The same size and color but round and with holes. Which is almost what she ended up with aside from that the holes were missing.

Amity grinned, pleased with her progress enough that she could start a conversation with the person next to her. "So, how are you doing so far?" The Aladren asked, before introducing herself. "I'm Amity Brockert, of the Colorado Brockerts."

11 Amity Brockert, Aladren Without effort. (Wotw) 233 Amity Brockert, Aladren 0 5

Annette Pierce, Pecari

September 21, 2012 11:35 AM

Effort, but no effect by Annette Pierce, Pecari

Annette entered the transfiguration classroom with her twin sister, but their arrival had been late enough that they couldn't find two empty seats together. They consulted briefly, then split up. Annette approached an empty seat near a girl Annabelle had pointed out as one of the proper girls she'd had flying lessons with. Amends had to be made on their reputation, so it would probably be wise to sit with people Mother would approve of.

She had not managed to do more than sit down before the Professor began talking. Annette couldn't shake the feeling that the woman's name sounded familiar, but she could not recall why. It might be best, she decided, to assume the teacher was a family associate until she could check with Thaddeus about it. Something about the name made her think of Melinda, so maybe the Skies were a family related to the Boyds. In the unlikely event that Thad didn't know, Annette might write to her older sister about it.

She accepted one of the handouts and a pebble as each collection was passed around. The handout only received a brief glance-over while the pebble was examined and selected with care before she relinquished the box to the next student. It was a greyish blue, oval in shape, smooth, and without obvious nicks or blemishes. It was, she thought, a very pretty pebble.

She thought she would like her button to look much the same, but with a more shimmery gleam and one of those tabs on the back of it for the threads fastening it to go through.

She drew forth her wand, circled it once around the stone, and cast, "Pangolus!"

To which, there was absolutely no effect at all. Deciding that she perhaps should not have skipped over the hand-out entirely, she turned that upside down in front of her (she was better at reading and writing upside down) and dutifully filled that out, marking, "Same" for the boxes corresponding to size, shape, and weight. For color, she wrote down, "Same, but more polished." Under function, she recorded that the button, "Needs tab for fastening things."

Certain now that she had not skipped any corners, she again circled her wand around the pebble and cast, "Pangolus!"

To which, there was, again, absolutely no effect.

Beside her, the girl Annabelle had pointed out addressed her with an introduction and a question. "Pleasure to meet you again, Miss Brockert," she greeted, believing absolutely that anyone her sister had met counted as someone she had met, "I am Annette Pierce of the New Hampshire Pierces."

She frowned down at her stone and answered, "I seem to have a very pretty but very stubborn pebble today. Though I suppose that makes sense. Rock is not known for its yielding nature."

1 Annette Pierce, Pecari Effort, but no effect 247 Annette Pierce, Pecari 0 5

Carter Browning, Teppenpaw

September 22, 2012 2:38 PM

I didn't think pebbles could do that! by Carter Browning, Teppenpaw

Carter walked slowly to what would essentially be his second class for the day having gone to flying class earlier that morning. He had enjoyed that class despite the mishap one of his fellow students seemed to have with her broom. If he remembered correctly, she had practically sent it careening into the goal post on the Quidditch pitch causing Coach Pierce to intervene before the girl had seriously hurt herself or anyone else. What confused Carter the most was why Coach Pierce would allow the girl to continue trying to fly when clearly she had no aptitude for it. He shrugged off that thought as he walked in the Transfiguration classroom. This had always been one of his favorite subjects and he had found early on what seemed to be something of a natural talent for it. He wasn't Merlin by any stretch of the imagination, but he felt he could hold his own if he had to. Besides its not like he didn't get a whole lot of practice with it back home. He was notorious for changing one of his cousin's stuffed animals into something that was completely out of place in what his cousin considered to be “a proper ladies' bedroom”. Last time he had done it he changed one of the toys into a pair of tube socks and left them on her pillow. Her deafening scream put him into a laughing fit that lasted almost a week.

He followed a few of the other students towards the desks and politely smiled at the teacher as he sat down. He waited somewhat patiently for the rest of the class to file in noting that among them was the red-haired girl from his flying class (which he was surprised to see out of the hospital wing already) and his cousin Kinley. He waved to her from his seat and waited for everyone to sit down. Once everyone appeared to be accounted for the Professor introduced herself and their lesson for the day. Carter was excited at first and then felt a little disappointed when he discovered that they would be turning pebbles into buttons. “Pebbles to buttons, huh?” he said to no one in particular and shrugged. “I guess we have to start somewhere,” he mumbled mostly to himself. He stared at the pebble in front of him before raising his wand and made his attempt. “Pangolus!” he cast,waving the wand in a clockwise circle as instructed. The pebble continued to stare at him from the desk. He frowned at it for a second before making a second attempt. He raised the wand to try again only this time he envisioned the pebble as one of Kinley's toys instead of the pebble. A small sly smile passed his lips as he attempted the spell again, concentrating on the task at hand. “Pangolus!” he commanded again waving the wand in a clockwise circle as before. He managed to change the pebble this time, however, not exactly into what he had hoped. There were worse things to change it into besides a small stuffed spider. Carter stared at the spider before grinning and deciding that he just had to share what he had done with Kinley.

He scanned the room for his cousin's seat and held up his treasure. “Hey Kinley! Check it out!” He showed her his handiwork before returning it to his desk. He contemplated momentarily whether or not to just change it into the button as their lesson had dictated or to ask Professor Skies if he could get some credit for managing to change it into something completely different. He finally decided it would be more prudent to stick to the lesson plan and did the spell a final time changing the pebble into the originally mandated shape. Once he had a button in his possession he placed it upon his desk and waited for the rest of his classmates to complete their tasks. Despite the seemed simplicity of this task, he hoped that Professor Skies' next lesson was a tad more challenging. He grinned to himself and realized he couldn't wait to find out. Once class was over with he collected his belongings and slowly headed out the door onto his next class.

0 Carter Browning, Teppenpaw I didn't think pebbles could do that! 0 Carter Browning, Teppenpaw 0 5

Clara Abernathy, Pecari

September 22, 2012 5:11 PM

You wanted buttons, right? by Clara Abernathy, Pecari

After seeing Medic Bailey in the Hospital Wing earlier that morning due to yet another wonderful lesson in gravity from her broomstick, Clara headed towards her next class which she hoped would pan out better than her last one. Transfig really wasn't all that hard if you watched what you were doing which clearly she and Bri had not been the last time she had attended the class. At that point in time she and her goofy cousin had managed to not only botch their assignment, but change the nature of it by changing each other fun colors instead of the bears they had been given. A minor error to be sure, but one the plucky little Pecari was sure not to repeat. After all, she was a year older now. That meant she should also be a year smarter too, right? She wasn't so sure about that last part given where she was headed to her next class from. I suppose there are worse places to be coming from she told herself as she entered the Transfig class. She waved and smiled at Professor Skies as she walked past her towards a desk. She also saw one of the boys from flying class that morning whom she almost took out with her broomstick. She grinned sheepishly to herself as she reminded herself she really needed to apologize to him for almost “running” him down. Once in her seat she waited until everyone had arrived for class. She listened carefully as Professor Skies introduced herself and then went over their lesson for the day. Clara stared at the pebble in her hand and wondered what exactly would happen if she flubbed this one up. She was hoping she wouldn't have to find out.

She set it back down on the desk and after carefully reading over what the book said about changing it into a button, she felt was ready to at least give it a try. At least its not flying she told herself before letting out the deep breath she had been holding. She pointed her wand at the pebble and uttered the spell “Pangolus!” as she waved the wand around in a clockwise circle. She watched with trepidation as the pebble seemed to change. However, instead of a whole button the pebble seemed to flatten slightly and sprouted holes like a button. Grimacing at her handiwork she opted to try again this time putting more focus into it. “Okay Pebble,” she said to herself. “Its button time!” She concentrated on the shape for the button as she tried the spell again. “Pangolus!” she stated loudly, again circling her wand around clockwise. She watched in delight as the pebble changed the rest of the way into something that at least looked more like a button. Okay, so Merlin I am not she told herself as she studied her “button-like” object, But at least I'm not a total lost cause She felt rather proud of that factor. She set the “button” down on her desk and turned to see if anyone else had done what she did. She was a little surprised to see that the kid from flying class was holding up a stuffed spider and showing it to someone across the room. She wondered how he had managed to turn his pebble into that and not a button. Hes either really good at this or he has a worse attention span than I do she told herself halfway admiring his handiwork. She then watched him change the stuffed spider into a button. “WOW!” she whispered in admiration. “He really is good.”

She worried slightly about her own skills momentarily and then shrugged it off. So she wasn't a wiz at spells yet or changing things....she had time to get better. The Pecari smiled to herself at that thought and left class when the lesson was over. She wouldn't let something like a deformed button get her down. Besides, deformed or not it was still a button right? Isn't that what mattered?

0 Clara Abernathy, Pecari You wanted buttons, right? 232 Clara Abernathy, Pecari 0 5

Annabelle Pierce, Pecari

September 22, 2012 10:12 PM

That's what she said by Annabelle Pierce, Pecari

Annabelle arrived at the Transfiguration classroom with her twin sister. Unfortunately, they were two of the last people to sneak in just below class began and the seating options remaining were poor; no two were next to each other. Annabelle pointed out one empty one beside Miss Brockert and suggested Annette get to know her a little better.

Annabelle herself took a random seat in the middle of the room, chosen for its proximity to Annette's seat rather than the people nearest it. They might not be near enough to work together, or even eavesdrop on each other's conversations, but at least she was only a short train of people away to pass notes if necessary.

She had only barely gotten her note paper out in time to copy down the professor's name. She did that, as well as taking down notes on the rest of the lesson. When the box of pebbles came around, she took a moment to pick a cute little speckled green one with an interesting raindrop type of shape, then passed it on. She also accepted one of the first year hand-outs.

She filled in each box on what needed to change on the pebble - size, shape, and color, she thought could stay the same for this first transfiguration. No sense in making it more difficult than it had to be. However, it did need a little loop on the top pointy end of the drop for sewing it to whatever purse or shirt or whatever other item it would be used upon.

Drawing her wand in her right hand, she circled it clockwise around her pebble, casting, "Pangolus."

There was, absolutely and totally, no perceivable effect on the stone.

Annabelle frowned at it, already irritated by her total failure to get her broom to rise to her hand during flying lessons earlier. "Not again," she whined, and only then remembered that proper young ladies did not whine. She glanced to the side, worried about who might have heard. Fortunately, the girl beside her seemed more interested by some boy with a spider.

"Excuse me," she said, trying to gain the girl's attention. The girl had at least partially transformed her own pebble, so she'd had better luck than Annabelle had so far. "Would you mind telling me what I am doing wrong? I believe I did everything Professor Skies said, but no magic happened."

Again, she circled her wand clockwise around the pebble with her right hand, and cast, "Pangolus," trying her best to imitate the same pronunciation the professor had used for the incantation.

There was no change to the pebble this time, either.

1 Annabelle Pierce, Pecari That's what she said 246 Annabelle Pierce, Pecari 0 5

Melanie

September 23, 2012 5:30 PM

Right! by Melanie

The second year looked over at her classmate's button/pebble. (Bepple? Putton?) Liam seemed a bit disappointed in his progress so far. "It's not bad." Melanie reassured her classmate. "Transfiguration is a difficult subject and at least you got it to do something . You have four little indents where I assume you meant the holes to go and that's a beginning. I'm sure there are some that are doing far worse."

Melanie went on. "In fact, a lot of people don't get spells the first time. I didn't either." She gazed down at her own work, which wasn't perfect. The Teppenpaw wasn't and she never tried to be. All she ever did was try to do her best, it was just that things came fairly easily for her. Which sort of made her feel bad as far as Valerie went, because she struggled so much more than Melanie did. Not that her sister was stupid or useless, she was just unwell.

However, it wasn't as if the second year was perfect either. She made mistakes, like ruining her potion, she was given to distraction or sadness at times. Distracted by what was making her sad, which was always the same thing-and it was something that would always be there. In a way, that was good, if Melanie was worried about Valerie, that meant Valerie was still around to worry about.

She thought for a second. "I mean, it could be easier to focus if you close your eyes, I guess. Like to shut out external distractions." Or internal ones like Melanie had, but shutting her eyes didn't help with that. "But it would be kind of hard to see where you're pointing your wand. You could end up transfiguring the wrong thing. Though that would be more difficult because what you're pointing it at might not be as similar to a button as the pebble is. Does that make sense?"

"Either way, I doubt you really, er, suck." Melanie said comfortingly, a way she seemed to speak by instinct. She didn't quite understand the context of the word suck and doubted Liam was using it in the traditional way. However, his general demeanor suggested it meant he wasn't doing well at it.

She rose her wand at the Pecari's suggestion that she try again. "If you insist. Pangolus " This time the button gained two of the four holes that it needed and was the material she'd envisioned it to be. Melanie smiled, pleased at her progress. She felt a little guilty, she didn't want to gloat and make Liam feel bad, but she could help being glad that she'd improve. "Why don't you try again now? I'm sure you'll do even better this time."

11 Melanie Right! 226 Melanie 0 5

Clara Abernathy

September 23, 2012 6:31 PM

I know....sigh...oh well by Clara Abernathy

Clara heard the voice speak near her and turned away from the boy with the spider. She turned in her seat to see who the voice belonged to and was delightedly surprised to see that the voice belonged to one of the girls from her flying class earlier that morning. She almost groaned aloud when she realized that this girl may have been one of the few students she had almost run down with her haywire broomstick. She sincerely hoped that wasn’t the case. She thought about how best to answer the girl’s question. “I don’t think its so much what you’ve done wrong that’s the problem,” she began politely, hoping not to offend the girl. “It could just be that you might need to concentrate more on what you want the object to look like when you cast the spell.” She held up her own deformed button. “Case in point” she smiled at the first year. “I concentrated so hard on mine that I nearly made my brain explode from the pressure,” she joked. “I only got it to do this much on the second try.” She laughed slightly at her own folly and then a little more when she thought about her last Transfig attempt.

“You should have seen my last attempt at this stuff,” she told the girl, not really caring if the story made her look silly. “My last assignment was turning a teddy bear another color.” She grinned sheepishly. “My cousin and I somehow managed to change each other another color instead of our bears. My cousin Bri ended up booger green and I looked like a Smurf.” She smiled at how badly that lesson could have gone and was relieved that it had only changed them colors. “Spells are funny things…sometimes they do exactly what you want them to and sometimes they do nothing at all,” she said calmly. “Don’t let yourself get discouraged when they turn dud on you. I’ve had soo many nearly blow up in my face I lost count,” she told the girl laughing slightly. “Never once stopped me from trying. You probably saw my attempt at “flying” this morning. Would you believe that’s not the first time I’ve tried to fly and failed miserably? I keep telling my dad I stink at flying, but he doesn’t believe me.” Clara shrugged at that last part.

She nearly smacked herself for being soo rude. “I’m Clara, by the way,” she told the first year cheerfully. “Clara Abernathy, it’s a pleasure to meet you.” She gestured towards the girl’s pebble. “Why don’t you give the spell one more try and this time try to really focus on the shape you want the button when you cast it,” she suggested, hoping it helped the girl to cast the spell. She waited to see what happened twitching with anticipation

0 Clara Abernathy I know....sigh...oh well 232 Clara Abernathy 0 5

Henry Carey, Crotalus

September 23, 2012 8:38 PM

This will work, this will work, this will work.... by Henry Carey, Crotalus

Somehow, wherever Henry looked, he found himself looking a wand. He had not arrived to class early or late, and yet it seemed as though the room was completely full and that every single person in it had already taken out a wand. As though they were flaunting the things. It was extremely peculiar, though not as much as realizing that the one he least liked to look at was the ash and dragon heartstring one right in front of him.

That, he had to admit, was a scenario he had never considered before today. He had a wand; therefore, he was, once and for all, a wizard, and wizard enough to get into school. That was a good thing, something he had thought would shut Grandmother up, both in real life and in his head, forever, and for a while, over the summer, it had, even though he knew that she had been half-expecting to still be right about him even after that until he actually got a letter. He had known it was exactly the kind of ridiculous thing an eleven-year-old was expected to, but he hadn’t been able to help carrying the wand around after he got it, as though to prove to the family that he had really earned one, that he was like them, that he wasn’t broken after all.

He hadn’t, though, used it. He had pointed it at Brandon once, but his brother, probably remembering how many times Henry had sworn to learn the Entrail-Expelling Curse and use it on him, had run instead of calling his bluff, so he hadn’t used it. That was, after all, illegal, and he tried to follow the rules even when no one could see, because that was what was right. That was what he had told himself about that, anyway. Now, though, he would have to use understanding something in one of the books to make something happen with the wand, and though he was keeping his face blank about it, he was absolutely terrified about that. What if he couldn’t do it right? What if something went – all wrong? Or worse, just didn’t work at all and made the whole class think he was less than they were?

Shifting his feet against the floor beneath his desk, Henry tried not to think about it. It had to work all right. Everything just had to. He was not a Squib. No matter what else he was, now, he was not a Squib. He had magic. He could do magic just like anyone else here. There was nothing wrong with him. It was going to be fine.

He was so tense he jumped a little in his seat when the professor began to speak, then immediately felt his cheeks turning red when he realized what he had done. Wonderful start, Henry, he thought. Make them all think that you’re crazy as well as….

He scribbled down notes, focusing on that. He could do that. That was no problem. He was good at that. It was a cheering thought, when he didn’t think about it until it became depressing. All too soon, though, the time for notes was over, and there was only a little chart between him and having to pick up his wand.

He looked at the rock he had taken out of the box without looking when it came past him, his breathing shallow but still even enough. It was smoother under his fingers than most of the rocks at home, he thought, and had an almost greenish tint to it. He liked green. His buttons weren’t green, though. They could be – as it could be greener, it wasn’t exactly green, just…greenish – but they weren’t. He began to write in the chart, his hand moving mechanically across the boxes, his handwriting neat and old-fashioned.

The stone was bigger than the buttons making a neat path down the front of his shirt, which he noted. The buttons were white; the stone was not. The buttons were not stone. They had neat, perfectly round and evenly spaced holes in them, where a stone did not….

He kept going until he could not think of another thing, then stalled still longer before finally, he told himself he was being stupid and picked up the wand, trying to remember how it had felt warm in his fingers at the shop. When he spoke, his voice was barely above a whisper: “Pangolus.

A few bright sparks fell from the wand, and the stone shuddered for a moment before becoming still, with only the tiniest of visible changes. Henry wasn't even sure if those were really there, or if he was just imagining them. His stomach churned; he wasn't sure if he wanted to shout or be sick. He refused to do either. It could take time. She had said it was a hard class. Anyone could have trouble with it....

He was screwing up the nerve to make a second attempt, focusing on how angry he was with himself for going to pieces like this now that he had a chance to prove himself in an attempt to ignore the echoes of his grandmother's voice calling him a Squib, when a voice spoke, and Henry jumped, dropping his wand, which rolled across the desk, trailing gold and green sparks. "What?" he said.

0 Henry Carey, Crotalus This will work, this will work, this will work.... 0 Henry Carey, Crotalus 0 5

Liam

September 24, 2012 1:37 AM

Try, try again by Liam

Liam was grateful that Melanie was so supportive of his efforts. He half expected her to scoff at what he had managed to achieve with his spell, but she didn’t. He was used to that sort of thing from purebloods, but now and then there were those who’d surprise you. He tried not to stare at her as though she were some sort of mythical creature (though, in a way, to him she was), and turned his attention back to his pebble. What the girl had to say made sense. Your senses were often sharper when you did away with one; but senses and concentrating were two different things, and blocking out all external distractions seemed impossible to the young boy.

“That makes sense…I just don’t know if I could do it. I think I was mostly afraid of the outcome, so I didn’t look.” Liam said with a shrug. The boy laughed when Melanie said she doubted that he sucked. He wasn’t sure if she was trying to be funny or nice, but it made him laugh anyway. He was well aware of his abilities, and his weakness was still wand work.

“Thanks,” He replied as he watched the Teppenpaw girl take another crack at her pebble. “Good luck.” Liam added softly so as not to break the girls concentration. He was glad with his classmate’s outcome, and felt a small glimmer of hope for his own. Melanie had managed two of the four holes, and it was definitely more button and less pebble now.

“Nice job!” He said with a very sincere look towards his classmate. “I guess I’ll try it again. Maybe I’ll go for a wooden button though; brass seems like a pretty high goal for now.” Liam reasoned, adjusting his posture so he was sitting up as straight as possible. He pushed back his sleeves and gripped his wand firmly. Not too firmly, but just tight enough so that he was in charge. The boy the cleared his throat—twice—and with a circular wave of his wand bellowed,

“Pangolus!”

His pebble shook slightly and let out an odd creaking sound before spinning in a complete circle and coming to a stop.
“At least I know I hit it his time…” Liam said, with a hint of nervous laughter in his voice. He picked up his target and immediately noticed that it felt lighter. Upon further inspection, the four dents now went completely through the pebble/button hybrid. One hole was rather narrow, but he could see through it. It was still large by button standards, but it was passable.

“Look at that!” Liam said with a grin as he held his button up to his eye and looked at Melanie through it. “Not bad for a second try!”

5 Liam Try, try again 37 Liam 0 5

Lucian

September 26, 2012 12:09 AM

Sending them sailing across the room? by Lucian

“There you go.” Lucian said smiling as Rup managed to make indentations in his pebble. “Practice makes perfect. It took me a long time to be able to do much of anything in this class. Luckily I am very good at concentrating on one thing. “

Lucian laughed at Rup’s comment about the pureblood girls not seeming too vicious. “I must have all the luck then. I seem to meet all the vicious ones everywhere I go! I guess they aren’t all bad though.” He leaned back in his chair and kicked his feet up once more. “I am glad you like Sonora,” he continued, “I didn’t really know what to expect coming here. I have always had tutors and we just moved to the states a few years ago. I am originally from Paris, France. My father’s side of the family resides in Italy. We live in Boston now and have some family here.” Lucian looked through his belongings and found his old journal. “Here is where we used to live,” he said, holding up a page with a landscape sketch of his old house, “and here is a drawing of the Eiffel Tower. I used to love going past there.” All of this talk of where he used to live made him a little homesick. He closed the journal and looked down at his pebble once more.

“Okay, pebble” he said talking to it quietly, “It is time that you cooperate. Pangolus!” Apparently, he had not been concentrating as much as usual, for the pebble went sailing across the classroom and bounced off the wall. “Oops..” Lucian said with a laugh.

0 Lucian Sending them sailing across the room? 0 Lucian 0 5

Amity

September 26, 2012 3:47 AM

That usually means the effort was pointless. by Amity

She noted then, that the girl next to her was one of the Pierce twins though Amity couldn't have been sure which was which. However, this one responded by introducing herself as Annette-which meant that they did, indeed, have different names, which was something of a relief to her-and said it was nice to meet her again. So, this one must have been the one she'd met in Flying, the proper one. The one she could associate with. Amity doubted she'd have much in common with the other one.

"Nice to meet you again too, Miss Pierce." She wondered why this girl hadn't spoken up in flying. The Aladren would have sought to distance herself from even an identical twin who was behaving that way instead of allowing herself to get mixed up. Amity would have made it quite clear who she was. Maybe twins were different, but no amount of sibling loyalty would allow her to have her own reputation destroyed by something like that.

Granted, had she and Chaslyn been identical twins, the first year doubted her sister would have behaved the way that the other twin-Annabelle-had. Her sister was very much about doing what their mother wanted and making her happy, even when she inevitably didn't meet Mother's high expectations. Amity often felt so bad for Chaslyn, who was simply wasting her time putting forth so much effort. Mother would never be satisfied, no matter what.

Still, the seven year old was unlikely to ever disgrace herself, even less likely than Amity was and the Aladren wasn't about to do so either. She was more just the type who wasn't striving to achieve what her mother wanted her to. Of course, nobody could have achieved all that. People simply could not do it all and there was no real good reason to do so. What was the point of excelling at so many things? So you could go and rub it in people's faces that you were better than them? It wasn't as if it made one a better person and in fact, rubbing people's faces in it made you a worse one.

Another thing was, aside from the academic lessons to a certain degree, Amity didn't have a natural affinity for anything she had taken. Had it been up to her, she wouldn't have taken up any of them, let alone all of them. Which made it an even bigger waste of time especially given that she honestly didn't care. Besides, even if she had shone in a particular lesson, it wasn't as if Amity would have ever had time to really develop her completely hypothetical talent.

The first year looked at her companion's pebble, which hadn't progressed nearly as far as her own to put it mildly. Then again, it wasn't as if Miss Pierce could be faulted for not being a Brockert, especially given her own family's prominence. Still, Amity didn't want to be the sort of person who flaunted successes in the face of other failures. "That is true." She agreed. "That's one thing buttons and pebbles have in common though, neither is very yielding." Really, Amity didn't see much point in the Transfiguration Table but perhaps Annette could use that to help with her work.

11 Amity That usually means the effort was pointless. 233 Amity 0 5

Carrie O'Malley, Crotalus

September 26, 2012 6:38 PM

Become buttons? Of course they can. by Carrie O'Malley, Crotalus

Carrie didn't really mind that her aunt was no longer teaching Transfiguration. Good pureblood women were not supposed to work and while she had expected to get special treatment in Aunt Lilac's class more than she did in any other, it was something of an embarrassment that anyone remotely connected with Carrie would do such a thing. Of course, her aunt was also that wretched woman's sister, so what could one expect?

The best thing, though, about Aunt Lilac not teaching at Sonora was that it made Ryan miserable and that, of course, made Carrie very happy. There was nothing she delighted in more than his pain. She'd had a terrific time over the summer playing into his fears that the new professor would hate him,which the second year was sure that she would, as Ryan was completely unlikable and anyone who did like him had something wrong with themselves. That was another problem with her aunt and that horrid woman. They actually liked her brother. That showed nothing but poor taste and stupidity.

When the Transfiguration Tables were handed out, Carrie simply passed them on. She didn't need it. Those were for mudbloods and idiots and doing one was beneath someone like her. Not that anyone was quite as special and important as she was. The Crotalus was perfect and if she didn't do well on something it was someone else's fault. Usually because they were jealous of her or didn't get that Carrie deserved all Os just because she was her. The idiocy of the professors here was astonishing.

She took out her wand and did the motion in a perfect-of course-circle. At least, the second year assumed it was because everything she did was. "Pangolus " She said, envisioning a pearl button inlaid in gold. Only the best for her. Carrie had also taken care to pick out the roundest, prettiest pebble from the box. If one was going to deal with yucky nature stuff-which had hopefully been cleaned off-it had least had to be attractive. Ugly things offended the Crotalus and she would not handle them.

A look of displeasure graced her gorgeous face as the button was nothing but a white...bead set in some sort of yellow material. Yuck. It looked cheap and tacky not elegant and beautiful like Carrie deserved. Not to mention that it only held it's shape for about a minute before turning back to the pebble.

Furthermore, from where she was sitting, the second year could see Amity's work and her cousin had made a perfect button on her first try! It wasn't fair! Carrie was better than the Aladren girl in every way. When the Crotalus didn't put effort into class, it was because she was better than others and deserved to be treated as such, Amity was just lazy and here she was with a complete button already.

To make matters worse, the boy next to her had turned his into a stuffed spider, which was disgusting of course. The little show-off! Plus, he was yelling to someone by the utterly stupid name of Kinley. "Could you please conduct yourself with a little bit more decorum?" Carrie snapped at the inconsiderate first year. "It just shows a complete lack of breeding on your part and that is not something to advertise."

11 Carrie O'Malley, Crotalus Become buttons? Of course they can. 230 Carrie O'Malley, Crotalus 0 5

Carter Browning, Teppenpaw

September 26, 2012 10:19 PM

First impressions are not your strong suit...are they? by Carter Browning, Teppenpaw

"Could you please conduct yourself with a little bit more decorum?" Carrie snapped at the inconsiderate first year. "It just shows a complete lack of breeding on your part and that is not something to advertise."

Carter turned in his seat towards the sound of the disapproving voice beside him and grinned at the girl sitting nearby with sheer amusement. He didn’t know this girl from a hole in the wall and she seemed to have a lot of nerve scolding him for what she believed to be improper conduct. “I’m sorry…were you talking to me?” he asked coolly. It amused him slightly that this perfect stranger would actually have the nerve to be referring to him in such a manner, if that was indeed her intention. He truly didn’t feel that he was conducting himself in any fashion other than his own. Was this person really trying to suggest that he, Carter Monroe Browning, showed a lack of breeding? Seriously? Granted he was bit of an odd duck and acted a bit goofy at times, but that in no way was a sign of poor breeding. That merely meant that he actually had a sense of humor which this individual seemed to lack. If that were the case he felt sorry for this girl. He wondered if she even knew how to tell a joke, let alone laugh at one. Due to her comment, which he was fairly certain now was directed at him, he could assume that she indeed did not know how to tell a joke or laugh at one.

He continued to regard the girl seated next to him with bewildered curiosity. It confused him really that his first real interaction with another student here at Sonora had to be from this individual who decided that it was apparently her job to school him on the art of how to conduct oneself. He failed to see where that was in any way her job, let alone her responsibility. He didn’t even know this girl’s name and already she was behaving as if she were his mother and not a fellow classmate. Outside of trying to insult him (which had no effect) he found nothing about this person that interested him in the least. At least not by first impressions. “I must say I’m flattered by the sudden attention you feel I must need, but I assure you my decorum (or lack there of) is of no consequence to you. As you are not a member of my family, I fail to see where my conduct or breeding should be a concern to you,” he told her very calmly and coolly. “Furthermore, If you ask me I think it shows more of a lack of breeding on your part that you have had the nerve to scold me and never even bothered to tell me your name,” he scolded her back. He wagged his pointer finger at her, tsking her gently. “How rude….Miss?….” he prodded her. While he waited for her reply he introduced himself. “I’m Carter Browning of the Sussex/Dublin Brownings.” He inclined his head to her in mock politeness. “And you are?”

0 Carter Browning, Teppenpaw First impressions are not your strong suit...are they? 0 Carter Browning, Teppenpaw 0 5

Alan Raines, Teppenpaw

September 27, 2012 12:43 AM

Some always are by Alan Raines, Teppenpaw

Transfiguration was a subject Alan had been looking forward to for what felt like ages, now. It was supposed to be both the most difficult and most dangerous branch of magic, something that most wizards were supposed to struggle with – which had made it appealing enough from the beginning; Alan liked a challenge, at least certain kinds of challenge – and which the wandmaker, when he and Isabel had gone to town to do their school shopping, had told him that his wand was especially suited for. Now, seated in the classroom, he couldn’t stop running his fingers along it, eagerly waiting to see if the prediction was true. How impressive would that be?

Professor Skies’ speech, with its mention of how they might not get results right away, made him feel a little more wary than he had, but he still reminded himself that the wand was supposed to be very good for it. She hadn’t said that everyone would get poor results right away, just that they might. Might was a wonderful word; if something might go wrong, that meant it might just as readily go right. He wasn’t going to assume the worst until he had to, anyway, though he guessed it was good to hear again that not getting it perfect on the first try didn’t necessarily mean he needed to go have a word with the wandmaker over the holidays. He had known that already from reading the early chapters of his books, but hearing it out loud was a little different, somehow, a little harder to gloss over. This was an adult who, he was guessing, worked with people of his age and experience level every day.

He turned his wand nervously in his fingers as Professor Skies passed around handouts and pebbles, though he looked over the smallish red pebble he had taken out of the box and tried to reassure himself that it wasn’t that bad. It was close in size to a button – something he noted on the handout – and really, he had seen some buttons that didn’t look that dissimilar to pebbles, fancy ones on cloaks, or girls’ clothes….

Realizing what he was thinking, Alan shook his head, disgusted with himself. This was stupid. He was assuming that he could only technically complete the assignment, get by on as little ground as possible, before he even tried it. That wasn’t the right way to think. He filled out the rest of the chart quickly and without too much attention to detail, noting that shape wasn’t too far off but that a button was flatter and that pebbles went in the bottom of flower arrangements and fish tanks while buttons went on clothes, and then put the pebble flat on his desk and picked up his wand, which felt just a little too long for his hand now but which he’d been assured he would probably grow into before next year if not before the end of this one.

“Pangolus,” he incanted, performing the closest thing to the wand movement Professor Skies had used that he could come up with.

The pebble rattled on the desk for a moment, and the top of it began to sink in, as though it were going to grow wider and flatter, more like a button – but before he could get too excited, the action stopped, and it was definitely still more of a pebble than a button. Disappointed, he glanced over to see how his neighbor was doing.

The Crotalus girl in the next seat seemed to have gotten the beginnings of buttonholes in hers. Alan tried very hard not to be a little jealous. He'd made some progress, too, and besides, he knew it wasn't her fault. Also, if she was in Crotalus, there was a good chance she was someone respectable, someone he should try to be on good terms with instead of antagonizing. That was, after all, as he and Iz had been reminded ten times a day over the past month, why he was here. He smiled for a second before addressing the Crotalus girl in the spirit of being a good family member.

"That's very good," he said. "I'm Alan Raines. I believe you're one of my cousin's roommates. Isabel?"

0 Alan Raines, Teppenpaw Some always are 0 Alan Raines, Teppenpaw 0 5

McKinley Andrews, Crotalus

September 27, 2012 2:53 AM

Starting off a little cleaner by McKinley Andrews, Crotalus

McKinley wasn’t thrilled with classes thus far, nothing in her little mind would deny that fact. Things were dirty and unlady-like and that was not alright for her. Grandfather will know about all of this, I’m writing to him right after this class… she thought to herself.

Kinley walked into class and sat as close to Carter as she could seeing as the older girl, Carrie O’Malley had sat down next to him. She sulked a little bit, but then the Professor started talking bye welcoming them and introducing herself.

“We will be focussing on non-animate to non-animate Transfigurations– that is objects into other objects as this is the simplest branch of Transfiguration. That said, it can still be very difficult, and you must not get disheartened if you do not get big results immediately. Today will be pebbles into buttons,”

Turning a pebble into a button? I can do that… There’s no real dirt there… Except picking up the pebble… It’s not dirty, its not dirty… she repeated to herself as the box of pebbles was passed to her. She picked up the purest white of pebbles. There’s not a stitch of dirt on this one… she thought as she set her pebble down on her desk in front of her before passing the box down to her neighbor.

Professor Skies went on telling them about the template and handed those out. She looked at it curiously, unsure entirely what she was supposed to do with this. Thankfully Professor Skies explained what they were supposed to do and she listened patiently. Once explained, she knew exactly what was supposed to happen, she’d been taught this before, just not by that name.

“The incantation is Pangolus and you will want to make a single circle with your wand. For those of you who are right-handed, the circle should be clockwise. For those of you who are left handed, a counter-clockwise circle also works on this spell. It is generally less effective but it is likely to be more effective if it feels more comfortable or natural for you. If you are stuck, chapter 2 of the textbook has a section on writing Transfiguration Tables, whilst chapter 3 introduces inanimate transfigurations.”

McKinley nodded, to show the professor that she understood as she went on to tell the class that they can call her or talk quietly with their neighbors if there was a problem. She pulled out her quill and started to write down what the pebble looked like as she was asked. Thinking of how she wanted her button to look, she thought long and hard about a middle sized golden button, perhaps for one of her sweaters she wore with her skirts when she heard Carter from a few seats over.

“Hey Kinley! Check it out!”

She turned to him and her eyes flew open at the sight he held up. It was a spider… “EEEEW!” she squealed, then clapped her hands over her mouth hearing how loud she was. She actually blushed a little bit at her volume, knowing that it was very unlady-like and she didn’t like that herself. Her heart pounded inside her torso from what he’d shown her, but as fast as she had seen it, she turned away from him and towards her neighbor.

"Well, that was just gross…” she said to her neighbor, hoping they’d either seen it or had the guts to ask Kinley what she’d seen that was so gross.

As she waited for them to reply to her, if they decided to, she practiced her wand movement in a circle. She practised the wand movement until she was confident that the circle was as neat and precise as she could get it. "Pangolus." she said as she made her wand into that same circle.

Her white pebble was no longer on her desk. Instead it was now a white button, with a small gold inlay in it. She looked at it, then turned to her neighbor. "Not what I was thinking of, but it's pretty anyway... Let's see what you can do?" she added as an afterthought.

0 McKinley Andrews, Crotalus Starting off a little cleaner 0 McKinley Andrews, Crotalus 0 5

Effie Arbon

September 27, 2012 2:30 PM

Usually the same ones every class... by Effie Arbon

“Thank you, but I fear I still have a long way to go. Yours is coming on beautifully,” Effie smiled, as her neighbour complimented her work. It was reflexive. It had been drilled into her. When one was paid a compliment, one thanked the party offering it, showed modesty and then returned the favour. It was so habitual that she almost had not looked at the boy's work before speaking but had realised in time that she should check that he had actually started to work before telling him how well he was doing. It would have been an interesting psychological experiment to have presented the two pieces of work to Effie without her knowing who had made which. There was an argument for each of them having progressed further than the other. Her pebble had a rim but it was still entirely convex and pebble shaped in all other respects; the areas on which change had occurred were the smaller details. On the other hand, Alan had made a broad and general change to the pebble, however he had not completed this or begun to achieve any detailing. There were so very many changes to make, even in a small and simple Transfiguration, that it was often hard to rate who had achieved more. Perhaps she would have rated her own as having shown greater progress had she not known. But she did know. Clearly Alan's work had to have progressed further than hers as he was male and therefore stronger and superior. That only went for Purebloods, of course, and her work would clearly be superior to those from Muggle families, who were probably still struggling to figure out which end of a wand was which and that inserting it into the nares was neither sophisticated nor the right idea. Perhaps Muggleborn boys were stronger than Muggleborn girls. She neither knew nor cared. It was irrelevant.

“It is a pleasure to meet you,” Effie replied, her face lighting up with a genuine smile when he informed her that he was Isabel's cousin. She made the seated version of her curtsey which seemed to be becoming a staple skill for introductions at school – she would have to teach it to Araceli, if it was decided that she should be sent here. “I am Effie Arbon and I do, indeed, have the pleasure of taking a room with your charming cousin.” Isabel was, so far, the person who had presented Effie with the least confusion. She had been a little out of her depth the first time they spoke but in general she found Isabel a pleasant and easy person to talk to.

So far the conversation had followed on logically and easily, as one formula had been followed by another. She had not really had to think about any of it, except to feel happy at discovering that she was speaking to Isabel's cousin. However, now that those little exchanges were complete, she had the space to realise that she was speaking to a boy and that she was not entirely sure how to do that. It was a little like being in a play and having forgotten one's line during the performance, where one could not halt proceedings and ask what it was that came next. At parties, one could enquire whether the other person had had a pleasant journey, or if they had sampled the food yet, but neither of these really seemed appropriate for class.

“I see you are in Teppenpaw,” she smiled, nodding at his robes and deciding that the theme of houses might be safe territory in which to continue, “How do you find it thus far?”

13 Effie Arbon Usually the same ones every class... 238 Effie Arbon 0 5

Wendy

September 27, 2012 7:32 PM

Can you imagine games with a button? by Wendy

"That's so cool!" was the first thing out of Wendy's mouth when she heard that Alex had lived in France and had ridden horses a lot. "I wish I could own a horse ranch or something," she sighed dreamily. "And being in France would be cool too." Wendy wasn't sure what France was like at all, having not traveled much except to Southern California. Her mom's business mostly kept them vacationless, but Wendy didn't really mind. Their vacations consisted of doing outdoor things which was a lot of fun.

To answer Alex's question, she nodded. "Yeah. I love Arizona a lot, and my parents do too. My mom has a bakery, so she can't move around all that much since she's the owner and the main worker. My dad works all the time too, so it's hard to find enough time to actually go to another country or something. But I've gone to California. I think...that's probably the farthest I've gone. I've only been out of the state once, then." She shrugged. "But I don't really think anything of it. I like the desert and hiking and moutain biking and stuff. There are fun things to do in Arizona." She smiled. She was glad that she was able to go to school close to home too.

Wendy watched as Alex took her turn, wondering how her older sister had fared with this class her first year. Wendy wasn't doing too horribly, but she wasn't sure how fast her spells were supposed improve. Waverly seemed pretty good and she was in her third year. Hopefully Wendy would get that good when she was in her third year too.

Alex didn't do much with her pebble which was disappointing. "I bet you'll do better if you try it again," she said. "Let me see if I can do it." Her pebble that looked like it wanted to be a pebble stared back at her as she stared at it. Wendy had a vivid imagination, so it wasn't hard for her to imagine the entire thing transforming in front of her eyes. She could almost see it in her mind's eye, turning from a pebble into a button. It was like watching a movie in her head, and with this "movie" going on, she said, "Pangolus!" And the pebble became magical.

The scene in front of her almost went exactly as the one in her head, and the pebble took shape of a button. The only thing was that the holes were only indents and it still had the texture of a pebble instead of a plastic button. But still, it was the same color and shape of a button, and Wendy almost jumped out of her seat with excitement. "I did it! Well, kind of." She beamed at Alex. "Okay, it's kind of hard, but you can totally do it. I don't really know how to explain it, but all you have to do is imagine it." She smiled encouragingly at Alex, hoping that her partner would get it even though Wendy was eager to try again and see if she could do it all the way.

0 Wendy Can you imagine games with a button? 0 Wendy 0 5

Melanie

September 28, 2012 5:41 PM

And again by Melanie

The Teppenpaw gave her classmate an encouraging smile. "There's nothing to be afraid of. Others don't do well in this subject either, it's considered one of the hardest." Not for her, but then, Melanie wasn't sure she had a hardest subject because none of them really were difficult for her at all. "And in Transfiguration, the only really scary outcomes don't happen until you're doing it with living objects and get things that are stuck between two forms-and some of those are actually kind of funny."

She hadn't always felt that way. When she was little, Melanie had been rather terrified by the idea. She'd been convinced that when the time came, she'd have to do animal transfigurations perfectly or she'd be faced with a horrifying, gruesome creature that was angry at her for being stuck the way it was. Her father had sat her down and showed her some pictures from a book called "Transfigurations Gone Wrong" and Melanie had seen that they were nothing to be afraid of.

"Thank you." The second year replied, at Liam's compliment. She always felt good when she made progress though she wasn't going to beat herself up about it if it wasn't instantaneous. That was only going to make things more difficult when she tried again. An upset witch only caused problems when she attempted magic. That was how accidental magic happened in the first place.

"It might be best not to overdo it." Melanie added. "I mean, if you're not comfortable with your Transfiguration abilities, you might find you make more progress if you don't set your expectations too high. Just do what you think you can manage." A belief she'd developed due to years of trying to make her sister feel better, at least emotionally. Melanie was completely incapable of helping Valerie physically and it really bothered her. Still, she did what she good to soothe her sister when she was feeling upset and inadequate and useless. The Teppenpaw hated for her sister to feel that way too.

She at least partially blamed her mother, of course, for being so completely distant from the Crotalus, writing her off completely. It felt as if Mother didn't care about Valerie at all and when she did express concern, it sounded phony and hollow. She also played the mother of a sick child well, always trying to get sympathy from others which Melanie found disgusting when it was so fake.

"I suppose it's my turn to go." Melanie executed the wand movement once more. "Pangolus". This time she had gotten it and she smiled, pleased. "Your turn." The second year told Liam. "I bet you'll get it this time too."

11 Melanie And again 226 Melanie 0 5

Alan

September 29, 2012 11:47 PM

That's probably true, too by Alan

Effie Arbon. Isabel had mentioned a roommate named Effie, he thought, when they had caught up and compared notes after Potions, but he hadn’t put a face to the name before now. Now, he had one. Alan assumed that eventually, it was going to become impossible to remember everyone that he was supposed to remember – when he was Head Boy, that would be nearly everyone in the school, after all – but for now, he could handle it. Her seated curtsy seemed like the kind of thing which would help his memory along. Alan bowed in response to it, glad to hear that she was, in fact, the first year he’d thought she was and so did know Isabel. It would have been embarrassing to find out he’d gotten it wrong.

That Isabel’s older sister was none too bright was accepted in the family as an indisputable fact, but Alan was starting to think that some of the things she had said to them in the long few weeks when everyone was offering Sonora advice were completely right. Sonora really was more complicated than society, because not only did they have to remember who was who, but they also had almost no control over which people of that group they were around most of the time, and that meant a whole lot more figuring out how to toe the line than was necessary at a pureblood party, where most people were of roughly the same social class. Knowing that everyone was sure to make a faux pas or three over their school years helped him with that, just a little, but it wasn’t enough. Alan wanted to give his share of social mistakes to someone else.

For the moment, it seemed he was succeeding in willing the heavens to hand out the errors that way. “Surprising,” he said when she asked about Teppenpaw. That was an understatement. When he and Isabel had so often discussed Houses last year, Teppenpaw had been the only one Alan had been sure he wouldn’t possibly be Sorted into. There was nothing wrong with the Teppenpaw ideal, but none of those traits were the ones he thought of as his most prominent. He guessed the potion knew best, though. “But nothing I can’t handle,” he continued with a smile. “And what about you? How is Crotalus besides my charming cousin?”

The House did, after all, have two reputations. One was for girls of the kind that Miss Arbon seemed to be – polite, proper, set to have very predictable and boring lives. The other was about girls like the Head of House – wild rejects, outsiders, those who, far from wanting to be respectable members of the society that was in place, instead wanted to completely change it. He was curious about how many of each kind tended to be around, and more curious since Isabel had been Sorted there; he didn’t think Charles would really disown her, but if Influences were there, maybe he could warn her away from them.

Of course, it was more likely that Miss Arbon was going to lie to him if there was anything less than totally satisfactory about Crotalus, but he'd tried, anyway.

0 Alan That's probably true, too 0 Alan 0 5

Effie Arbon

September 30, 2012 6:20 PM

Which makes me wonder why we're all mixed in together... by Effie Arbon

The face which Alan now had to match to the name of Effie was not likely to be forgotten quickly. It was not an unpleasant face by any means, particularly if one was fond of eyes, which were the dominant feature. Neither the mouth nor the nose drew unwarranted attention to themselves. These large eyes were grey and set against pale skin. Her hair, which fell a few inches below her shoulders, was so light that arguing whether it was very light brown or very light blonde seemed moot. Overall, she gave the impression of a picture that someone had got bored with after sketching and had neglected to colour in. She would not be everybody's cup of tea but she was of a certain type, and for those who liked startled, fragile looking creatures, she would be ideal.

Her mouth formed a small of 'oh' of anxious surprise as Alan expressed.... not exactly dissatisfaction with his sorting but it appeared not to necessarily be a positive topic. She tried to think of something pleasant to say – for example that she had heard nice things about Pecari – but she could not seem to think of anything that didn't seem to slightly contradict Alan's feelings, and it was not right for her to disagree with a man's point of view.

“So far, it is treating me kindly,” she smiled as he asked about Crotalus, glad that he had provided a way of moving past his feelings about his own house as she might have floundered somewhat had it been up to her. “The majority of those with whom I room seem to come from decent families,” she added, choosing her words carefully. She had not formed full opinions regarding McKinley Andrews, who seemed rather prissy, or Alexanda D'Alessandro, who seemed not to be particularly fussy over whom she befriended. She was, therefore, not willing to claim that she liked the majority of those with whom she shared, less this claim to friendship should come back to haunt her at a later date. Yet they had no behaved so badly as to warrant speaking against them. There was always the unfortunate fact of the Muggleborn girl, which meant that all statements needed to be qualified with terms such as 'mostly' or 'the majority.'

She tried to think of something further to ask Alan but her last attempt had failed so dreadfully and she really was drawing a blank for suitable classroom-based topics. She briefly considered returning to the Transfiguration work but it was scarcely that important compared to the opportunity currently presenting itself. Also, she could not return to it without announcing her intention to do so and then it could seem as if she was suggesting to Alan that he should be doing the same. It would not be at all appropriate for her to tell him how to direct his studies. They had both probably advanced further with it than most of the Muggleborns anyway. She could afford to take a few minutes out to ensure that she made a good impression on Alan Raines. If only he would think of something that would give her the opportunity to do so.

13 Effie Arbon Which makes me wonder why we're all mixed in together... 238 Effie Arbon 0 5

Carrie

October 01, 2012 12:06 AM

They certainly aren't yours. by Carrie

"Well, nobody else around here is yelling across the room." Carrie replied. Was he stupid or something? Who else could she possibly be talking to? He was probably a mudblood and a good deal with worse than some. Worse than Wendy who was merely rather dumb, which was to be expected from someone of her background, but could at least recognize true beauty, though not quite as bad as that bit of filth Sayre Light who had the nerve to throw bugs on Carrie. That girl was beyond a good charm school, she was a lost cause.

At his next words, the Crotalus got irate. How dare he suggest that she was the poorly bred one! Her mother was a member of the most prominent pureblood family this side of the Mississippi River. They pretty much owned this part of the country. "I am Carrie O'Malley of the Colorado O'Malleys." She stated coldly. He had better start showing her the proper respect and nobody from her family would appreciate in the least him suggesting that they were at all inferior.

"And excuse me, I was just trying to give you some advice." The Crotalus told him. "Do you honestly think your family would appreciate you disrupting class in such a way? I'd be dreadfully ashamed if any relative of mine acted like that. It won't help you get a good betrothal if any." Carrie was not at all impressed by Mr.Carter Browning of the Sussex/Dublin Brownings. She'd always thought people from that area of the world were supposed to be polite , like Cepheus.

Whom she still couldn't believe had been betrothed to that dreadful Megan Brownbriar. Honestly, that girl had acted with even less propriety than Mr. Browning had at the concert last year and she was being rewarded for it by being betrothed to such a catch. The girl wasn't even physically attractive. She wore glasses for Merlin's sake! Carrie wanted nothing more than to destroy her the first chance she got. Of course, the Teppenpaw would probably end up doing a good job doing so to herself.

"Oh, and here's a little bit more advice." The second year went on. "Your family is obviously new to the states, but you need to learn quite quickly who's important over here-and that's me, understand?" He probably didn't, but he very much needed to realize this fact. "See, not only am I an extremely important individual but my family is extremely prominent. Have you heard of the Colorado Brockerts? My mother is one." That should let him know his place, nobody was worth as much in the West as they were.

11 Carrie They certainly aren't yours. 230 Carrie 0 5

Rupert

October 01, 2012 1:55 PM

Not hitting people with them? by Rupert

Rupert wasn't sure if vicious pure-blooded girls were just attracted to Lucian's character or if Rup was just lucky. He hadn't met too many pure-blooded girls in his short lifetime besides his brother's friends and his relatives. Maybe Rupert was just lucky. It made life much less stressful in his opinion.

Meeting another person from Europe interested Rupert immensely. He wasn't sure what he was exactly looking for, but it was nice to know that he wasn't the only one not from the States. It was surprising how many Europeans attended this school. He leant over to look at Lucian's drawing. It was quite good, something Rupert could never do. Sketching, writing; all that was Leo's thing, not Rup's.

Rupert wasn't sure what the appropriate response was when Lucian closed his journal and turned to his pebble. He was speaking to it, otherwise indicating that he most likely didn't want to be disturbed, so Rup kept his mouth shut about visiting Paris all the time, taking French lessons, having tutors himself, and having family in Paris and all over Western and Northern Europe. It was all boring information anyway, unnecessary to share with acquaintances, at least in his father's opinion. Rup certainly didn't want to bore his new friends with his genealogy.

Talking about Paris seemed to unhinge Lucian just a bit because he sent his pebble sailing across the classroom. Rup burst into laughter. "Merlin, I hope that didn't hit anyone," he said, still chuckling. "That was brilliant, though." He nodded at his partner. "Let's see if I got any better." Rup stared at his pebble, trying to think of what it would look like without his stony skin. That was a strange way to think about it, but it made it easier to imagine it just coming off. "Pangolus!"

The pebble rounded a bit more, the indents pushing completely through and turning white just as Rup had envisioned it. "I did it!" exclaimed Rupert, grinning madly at Lucian. "That was in record time too, wasn't it?" He smiled at his pebble-turned-button. It reminded him of his button-ups back in his room. He picked it up and held it out to examine it closely. There were a few marks that showed it wasn't a perfect transformation, but it looked enough like a button and could certainly act like a button. Rup put down the button and smiled at Lucian. "Brilliant. I may enjoy this class after all."

0 Rupert Not hitting people with them? 0 Rupert 0 5

Carter

October 02, 2012 12:36 AM

We seem to have that in common by Carter

"I am Carrie O'Malley of the Colorado O'Malleys." the girl sitting next to him finally got around to introducing herself. “See, was that really soo hard?” he asked Miss O‘Malley pleasantly. Carrie O’Malley, was it? he mused to himself as he curiously watched her reaction to his comments. It appeared by the coldness of her voice that she didn’t particularly care much for him which didn‘t seem to bother Carter in the least. He didn’t particularly care much for her either. She may have been correct in the fact that his family was fairly new the states, but that did not mean that they were uninformed by any means. His grandfather said something about the O’Malley family being a well-to-do family here in the states, but that part really didn’t matter much to Carter. Why should it? He was 11 years old for Merlin’s sake.

Carter was raised with plenty of manners. The problem he seemed to have sometimes wasn’t his lack of manners. He had them and very good ones too. It was whom he chose to use or not use them on that seemed to be the issue. Due to Miss O’Malley’s appalling attitude on their first encounter, Carter had pretty much determined which side of his manners she would be subjected to. Which was a shame really since he might have actually complimented on her pretty blue eyes had her attitude not been soo abysmal. Oh well.

He found it completely laughable that she actually considered the scolding she had attempted to administer as some form of friendly advice. Where he was from advice was given in a very different manner and told her as much. “While I appreciate the “friendly” advice Miss O’Malley, it was neither solicited nor needed,” he informed her calmly. “Were I to have asked your opinion on my dismal conduct (which I hadn’t), your “advice” would have been most welcome.” He even managed to smile at her as he said that last part. He was still smiling as he casually glanced around the room at the teacher and the other students to see if any of them seemed to take as much offense to his “yelling and disruptive” behavior as she had. No one appeared to even be looking in their general direction let alone displeased with him in any way.

“It would appear that the only person disturbed by my conduct Miss O’Malley is you,” he pointed out evenly, looking her square in the eye. He leaned forward in his seat so he was slightly closer to her. “Now is that because you truly feel I could benefit from your expertise in the manners department or is it because you secretly like me and don’t want me to embarrass you somehow?” he asked, trying to sound as serious as possible even though the very idea of that made him want to laugh aloud. Nothing made him want to laugh more than her next statement. You need to learn quite quickly who's important over here-and that's me, understand? See, not only am I an extremely important individual but my family is extremely prominent. Have you heard of the Colorado Brockerts? My mother is one." she seemed to inform him sounding snobbish. The self important tone to her voice made him want to laugh at how much she seemed to be posturing for him.

“Being part of the Brockert family must be great for your mother,” he replied politely enough. “But I can’t help being curious as to how that makes you an important person? You certainly don‘t behave like any important person I‘ve ever met,” he told her, still looking her square in the eye. “Unless insulting every person you meet is a sign of importance.” He shrugged. If Miss O’Malley thought to intimidate him with name dropping, she was sorely mistaken. A Browning was not the kind to intimidate easily. As for her stab at his future betrothal (or lack thereof) he still had a few years before he would have to worry about that. Besides, it wasn’t as if she was suggesting that the two of them would end up being betrothed…was she?

0 Carter We seem to have that in common 0 Carter 0 5

Alan

October 05, 2012 11:24 PM

Some mysteries are beyond our ability to comprehend by Alan

“That’s good,” Alan said when Miss Arbon declared her roommates mostly satisfactory. “One of my roommates is not from this country, and his family seems to be…structured very strangely, but I believe they’re from acceptable families as well.” Even if he was already half-sure that the three of them were not likely to be the kind of Sonora friends who stayed in touch and did each other favors for years to come. It was too early to say – rather as he wasn’t completely sure about their families and had therefore not actually said they were from acceptable ones, just that he thought they might be – and anything could happen in seven years, but that was his first impression, today, of how things might go.

A moment of silence fell, and Alan smiled, hoping to avert awkwardness. He didn’t have to be exactly like Sara because he wasn’t a girl, but they were both supposed to be able to hold a conversation, and he was sure his sister had never had an awkward pause in one. “I suppose I have to give this another try,” he said, gesturing toward his failed attempt at a button. “My wandmaker said that this is supposed to be particularly good for Transfiguration, so I’m hoping to get closer to a button by the end of class.”

He attempted the spell again, and this time the center of the pebble sank in further than it had the first time, though the buttonholes remained indistinct. Still, it had responded both times, and he had read that sometimes it didn’t at all, so he was determined to stay patient with it. And to try to keep his interaction with Effie Arbon from going downhill. Further than it already had, anyway; there was nothing exactly wrong, but they had hit a rough point after their roommates. He looked at her wand. “Did your wandmaker offer any opinions?” he asked, since that was the first thing that came to mind. He didn’t see a strength in Charms as better than a strength in Transfiguration or anything like that, or think it meant anything if the wand wasn’t supposed to be keyed to one subject, so that felt safe enough.

Alan had never thought too much about it before this year, but wands were interesting. Just from what he’d gathered when he got his, they were supposed to say things about their owners, and were more than just channels. He wondered if the same principle could be extended to other magical objects – crystal balls, if they were used by a real Seer, or goblin-made swords and tiaras, or maybe even cauldrons, though his idea of that was fuzzier than the others, he wasn’t too sure about how that would work, but he thought maybe it could. If they could use magic through one thing, then why not others, if maybe in a different way? He was guessing the answer had already been found out and was buried in a library book somewhere, but it was fun to speculate on his own right now anyway.

0 Alan Some mysteries are beyond our ability to comprehend 0 Alan 0 5

Effie Arbon

October 07, 2012 1:29 PM

It's all politics. by Effie Arbon

“One of those with whom I share is also from abroad. Miss Alexandra D'Alessandro comes from Europe, although she has cousins in this country – the Duprees,” Effie commented when Alan stated that one of the other Teppenpaw boys was foreign, “There was also an older boy that your cousin and I met at the feast who was from England.” She felt she wanted to say something further about this, such as how intriguing it was that people should choose to come all this way, or that it must show that America really was full of very fine people but anything she could think of sounded like far too strong a stand point to take. It was better for young ladies to comment, not to opine. Men opined and then one agreed with them. “From where does the young man in your dormitory originate?” she enquired.

Effie smiled back when Alan smiled at her. She still felt like the conversation had stumbled a little but smiling through the silence felt more comfortable and more like nobody really minded.

“Yes, that's a good idea,” Effie nodded, as Alan suggested they have another go at their buttons. She turned back to hers, trying to decide what exactly she wanted to focus on changing. She had made rough advances in the form. She could try to refine those – either generally or work on one specific aspect – or she could change to a different area. As she had form more clearly in her mind, she decided to stick with that. She looked at the small indents. They were incredibly characteristic of a button, so would be easy to focus upon. However, as her “button” was currently the thickness of a pebble, there was an awful lot of material to go through. Material which she would then be getting rid of as she brought the button down to its correct size and shape. She decided that she should flatten it out a little further before she attempted to put the holes in.

“Pangolus,” she cast again, making the neat circle with her wand and concentrating on the button become flatter. The button progressed. It was definitely a little thinner than it had been. However, it was also a little wider. She appeared to have succeeded in effectively rolling it out a little. She supposed that was the most logical way to visualise it. It was sometimes difficult to imagine material just ceasing. However, she should be perfectly used to the concept by now that something could change shape by its mass changing, rather than by that mass being redistributed. She felt somewhat abashed at making such a foolish mistake.

“I was not told anything very specific about mine,” she commented when Alan asked about her wand. That made her feel like she had answered the question inadequately so she tried to recall what exactly the wandmaker had said. “I was told that it was a very suitable wand for a young lady,” she added, “But I do not know that he meant anything more than it being fairly light and delicate,” she mused, holding up her wand for Alan to inspect, “Or he may merely have been being polite. Are you especially keen on Transfiguration?” she asked. It made sense to her that a wand that was suited to a particular subject would choose someone with a passion for it. She felt a little skip of joy inside as she realised she had managed to ask a school-appropriate small-talk question. One which, in the circumstances of a party, might be somewhat strange. Discussing favourite subjects might be a conversation unique to this setting. Perhaps she was beginning to get the hang of it!

13 Effie Arbon It's all politics. 238 Effie Arbon 0 5

Annabelle Pierce

October 07, 2012 2:29 PM

Here we go again by Annabelle Pierce

Annabelle frowned a little as Clara suggested that her actions were fine but her concentration was lacking. This really wasn't fair. She apparently had a psychological flying impediment that she couldn't understand that prevented the broom from leaving the ground even though her actions had been perfect. And now she had a concentration issue with transfiguration even though she thought she had done everything right.

Why couldn't magic just work if you did all the technical stuff right? She was already sure she didn't like all these tricky mental subjective requirements.

She felt a little better that Clara assured her that her forays into transfiguration and flying had never been smooth either, but it was still annoying. Especially since Clara had at least gotten results, even if they weren't the ones she wanted. Annabelle was starting to feel like she had somehow got accepted by mistake and she was really a squib but nobody had noticed. Maybe the little bits of pre-Sonora magic that had been attributed to her had really all just been Annette's.

A glance over to her sister's desk showed Annette's pebble wasn't changing any easier than her own. So maybe they just a genetic disinclination to Transfiguration. Nettie wasn't giving up yet, though, so neither would Annabelle.

"I'm Annabelle," she returned the introduction after Clara offered her name. "Annabelle Pierce, of the New Hampshire Pierces." It was so much easier, really, to introduce just herself when she wasn't worried about staying an anonymous Ann. "I'll also answer to Ann," she offered anyway, "if that's easier."

Turning back to her assignment, she drew in a deep breath and screwed up her focus. "Okay," she said, looking down at her stone with a look of determined intent to change it into a button. "Concentrate. Button." She pictured her button and the small changes she needed to make to complete the alteration. She then circled her wand and spoke the incantation.

This time, she thought she felt some magic try to stir, but the pebble remained exactly as it had been. Forgetting her manners once again, she sat back in her chair, crossed her arms across her chest, and scowled at the rock with obvious irritation and frustration. She didn't quite growl at it, but it was a near thing.

"I hate this class," she grumbled irritably.

1 Annabelle Pierce Here we go again 246 Annabelle Pierce 0 5

Clara Abernathy

October 07, 2012 4:04 PM

Don't give up by Clara Abernathy

Clara smiled reassuringly at Annabelle. She could see the frustration on the girl's face as she stared at her pebble. Clara could remember the first time she had tried a Transfig spell. It had gone horribly, horribly wrong. Almost as bad as the potion that turned her green for three days. She had been trying to change one of the rocks from her yard into a butterfly. After the first three dozen tries the rock still looked like a rock. SHe was about to toss it in the creek nearby when she decided to try it one last time. She found that when she was done she had a rock with deformed, ugly wings. It was nowhere close to a butterfly and it creeped her out greatly. She had nightmares for a week because of it. She had flat out refused to try any other transfig spells on account of her first goof up. She told Annabelle about it hoping that the story made her feel better.

"Don't worry too much if it doesn't work right the first time or the first 50,000 times," she told her cheerfully. "I can't begin to tell you how many times and in how many ways I have royally bombed at trying to do spells, potions or even the simpliest of magic tricks," she laughed at herself. She thought of flying class. "If I'm not mistaken you and your sister saw how well I handled a broom during flying class. Was that not talented or what?" she joked, winking at Annabelle. She watched Annabelle try to turn her pebble into a button again and silently rooted for her. She was sure she had done everything right, but frowned with Annabelle when it didn't work again. She sympathized with her when she grumbled that she hated the class. How many times had Clara herself said that about flying class? Too many.

Clara looked thoughtfully at Annabelle as she tried to think of something that would make her feel better. Suddenly an idea sprang to mind. "This is gonna sound a little weird, but hear me out," she told Annabelle smiling. "Maybe instead of trying to turn the pebble into a button...why not try to not turn it into something?" she suggested. "Try just waving the wand and saying the incantation and instead of concentrating on something to turn it into, instead let your mind wander and see what the spell comes up with on its own." She knew her suggestion sounded funny, but who knew? Maybe it would work for Annabelle. They wouldn't know if Annabelle wasn't willing to try. "What do you say? Give it one more shot?"

0 Clara Abernathy Don't give up 232 Clara Abernathy 0 5

Liam

October 07, 2012 6:29 PM

Once more, with feeling! by Liam

Liam's breath caught in his chest when Melanie mentioned animate object transfiguration. He definitely wasn't ready for that. The thought of all of the horribly deformed half transfigured creatures he'd meet in the next few years made his stomach hurt a little. He couldn't help but wonder how Aria would make it through that class. From what he understood, Aria was a vegan, how that would translate to animate object transfiguration was beyond him. He still had time before he'd have to face that topic, and decided to refocus his attention on his button.

Melanie had managed to fully change hers in just a few tries. And though she acted as if she knew more than he did, his progress wasn't too far behind. He felt more confident now, and didn't think it would take more than another shot to get it right. Liam took a deep breath, set his button down on the table and waved his wand in the now familiar motion.

"Pangolus!"

The button made the splintering sound again, and upon further inspection, the brown pebble had successfully completed it's transformation to a wooden button
"Awesome..." Liam said with a grin. He was happy with his success, and thought for a moment about high fiving Melanie. Liam hesitated, however, unsure if purebloods knew what that even meant. Instead, he just turned his button over in his hand.

“Nicely done, Lennox.” The Pecari student said, smiling at his classmate.

5 Liam Once more, with feeling! 37 Liam 0 5