On to what he would sculpt. Was it possible that if he made something neat enough the Professor would be distracted from the fact he didn't have a wand to cast later on?

Actually. That was exactly what he was going to do. Why hadn't he thought of it the moment she displayed the modelling clay? Blaise Bellaire you absolute genius!

The boy got up from his seat and went to grab a bit more of the clay. Having no intention of making a sacrifice to this one, he immediately began rolling it into a long, vertical rod/stick of sorts. With the basic shape sorted, he began refining the details. Sharpened the ends, added detailing near the base and before long, it could pass for something straight out of Ollivanders.

That done, he turned to his original piece. For a long moment the boy seemed to be at a loss as to what to make it but finally he took hold of it and began molding it between his fingers. Smoothing out here...fixing there.........maybe a bit more emphasis on this side here....almost.....done.....

THERE.

A ball.

Creative as heck. Boom.

Slowly Esme felt herself calm down again, though she knew that she would have to be careful or she might start feeling this way again. Best to try and not think of what the hag had done because otherwise she felt so upset. Juno should be safe if she avoided Hogsmeade. That thought made her feel better because it meant that nothing bad would happen and the old bat was wrong.

Smiling at the thought, she began to sculpt the clay.

It took a little while for her to work out what she wanted to create, but she had eventually settled on a Unicorn. Badgers were nice because they represented her house, but she wanted to do something a little different. Something less cliche.

Carefully she began forming the head while making sure to leave a nice horn for the creature because otherwise it would be a plain horse - nothing wrong with that, but they weren't magical. Once that was done, she moved on to shaping the animal's torso and tail making sure not to make the body chubby because she had never seen a fat unicorn in her life. Lastly, she created four legs.

It might not have been anything spectacular, but she was pleased with her work regardless. It would do.

Tia may have been quiet thus far during the lesson, but it was only because this seemed like a challenging lesson and the Head Girl was diligently writing down everything the Professor was saying. NEWTs and all. She had one thing she was thinking all through the extensive dialogue this woman was speaking which was that Professor Ichihara was brilliant.

But it was time now to discover their familiar. Intriguing. Setting her notebook and quill into her bag, because last thing she needed was her notes being ruined by the activity, Tia stood up and selected a lump of clay and walked it back to her desk as she deliberated about what shape she might mold it into.

The first step was to imbue a bit of herself in it. Spit - no way - because it was a nasty habit for one and two, like Ichihara said, it was the weakest bond. Heartfelt tears, probably a challenge because unless she was in pain, she rarely cried. Not even when Zander went with Soph, she didn't cry. She didn't really want to take a lock of hair, but she also knew it would create the strongest of bonds for her familiar. There was the emotional sacrifice involved with her hair. Definite sacrifice there.

Scissors were available. No running with them. Well really, what were they? Five? Even the youngest in the room were eleven and should know better.

Closing her eyes, she decided to just pull a hair from her head. She reached up to segregate just one hair strand and inhaled and exhaled. It's only hair; it will grow back and one strand will barely be noticeable from her thick head of hair.

With comforting thoughts in mind, she yanked the strand from her head and tucked it into the clay, as she began working it with her hands and deliberating on the shape...

Kitty grabbed a large pile of clay and made her way back to her desk. She didn't know what she was going to make, but better be sure she had enough clay to make it in case it was something big.


What method should she use? No way was she going to spit on it. Spitting in front of everyone was disgusting and besides - it was the weakest of the three options. She wanted her familiar to be the best it could be - and that meant tears. But could she cry real tears?


Kitty had never felt happier in her life than she did in the past few months. If this class had taken place in Romania then it would have been easy. In Romania she had been scared, shy, and friendless - dropped off at boarding school when she was only ten. Her mom had always bossed her around at home, and Kitty did not know what to do when she had just been dropped off. She had been too shy to speak, and her voice had trembled whenever a teacher asked her a question. A terrible girl named Lilly several years older than her had bullied her savagely for her insecurity and later for her Gothic style. Lilly made her life a living hell. She invented storied about Kitty being an evil vampire, and had turned potential friends against her. Why she did this Kitty never learned. But why didn't matter, all that mattered was that she did and Kitty's happiness and grades suffered because of it. Several times teachers called her into their office to talk to her about her failures. Kitty begged her mother to take her home, but of course that didn't happen. Her mother wanted her to be a successful journalist, and she couldn't understand the terrors Kitty was going through. Often Kitty would stay up in her bed when all the other girls had gone to sleep. She would stay up and cry, true tears of sorrow and longing - longing to be with her parents.


But even in the bleakest of situations there is often a bright light offering hope. For Kitty that light came in the form of two married house elves - workers at the Romanian Institute. They were an elderly couple and sensed that Kitty needed a friend. After dark they would stop by her dormitory and comfort her, listening to her problems and trying to distract her. They were Kitty's first true friends outside of home. Leaving them was the only sad thing about leaving school for her. She loved them as much as she loved her own parents.



But then everything changed. Her mother got a new job and so they had moved back to Scotland. Over the summer Kitty got to hang out with her easygoing Muggle dad at the Thrift store. Then she had been enrolled at Hogwarts. During her first term her shyness had prevented her from making any student friends, but there were no bullies. No one tried to humiliate her just because she was shy, and no one attacked her for being Gothic. Her grades got better. And at the end of the term she had befriended the Grey Lady - who in Kitty's opinion was the coolest and most beautiful ghost there ever was.


And things had gotten even better in her second term. Her shyness began to wear off, allowing her to talk to other students and even to befriend some of them. There was Haddie, the awesome prankster who she had gotten into a food fight with. Then there was the friendly Garreth and the wickedly brilliant Mason, who were her partners in solving a Hogwarts mystery. There was Julia, the scathingly brilliant Ravenclaw who helped her to see that her true middle name was actually pretty cool and NOTHING to be ashamed of. There was Hady, the kind Slytherin who helped her in DADA and who unfroze her and Haddie at the Hag's place. And then there was Augustus Flume, the kindly and eccentric portrait who invited her to visit him whenever she wanted.



Only one bad thing had happened to her this term. Okay, almost being eaten by the Hag was technically much worse than being bullied in Romania - but it was not something that compelled her to cry tears of sorrow into her clay right now. If the Hag burst into the classroom right now, Kitty wouldn't cry - she'd run for her life! Besides, the Hag was hiding somewhere in the Forbidden Forest and would hopefully be captured soon.



Sometimes Kitty was afraid that her mother would move back to Romania, but that was not reality.



Kitty turned to see how her fellow students were coming along. It disturbed her to see that Haddie, Hady, and Mason were all crying. Olivia was also crying. She realized then that she had been foolish to assume that she was the only one who had deep pains and secrets. She had always assumed that she suffered more than they did, that they were happy and independent while she was shy and dependent on THEM for her happiness. Imagining that there were people who did not suffer and who were truly independent had given her hope and comfort - hope to aspire to be just like them. Seeing her friends cry now before even she could cry suddenly shattered that myth.



Then it happened. Tears rolled from her eyes and hit the clay, true tears of sorrow. The revelation brought sadness and freedom to her. She began to cry.

Chloe thought all of this was kind of hoke-y. Magic that they theorised, magic that they really didn't understand? It didn't sound like magic to her at all. More like folk lore. She liked her magic to be something tangible. It was 2089, for merlin's sake.

But she didn't argue. Didn't even mention it.

Instead she went to work trying making whatever shape her heart's desire was. Whatever THAT meant. She was twelve. She didn't have a heart's desire. At best she maybe had a heart's lowkey want.

The blonde brought the clay back to her seat and grabbed a pair of scissors no the way back. A bit of hair from her mop wouldn't be much of a sacrifice.

She chopped off a bit of hair underneath and shoved it in the clay. Gross hair clay. Ugh.

Wait, Professor Nana Whatever wanted them to CUT THEIR HAIR? Forget that... the threat alone was enough to make Dot cry very real tears at the thought. She wouldn't need the scissors at all. Spit was totally out of the question, though, since Dot was sure it was the simplest... and most unsanitary of the options presented to them. No deal.

Once they were released, Dot retrieved her block of clay and warmed it in her hands until it was pliable enough to work with. It took a few minutes, but once the squish factor was there, Dot smashed her block flat and leaned in to squeeze out a heartfelt tear.

Come on, tear. Get a move on. CRY ALREADY.

Chloe didn't consider herself very artistic. This project to find her inner heart whatever was not gong to turn out to be something beautiful. More like a glob of clay with a smiley face. That seemed to line up with her artistic talent of which there was very, very little.

She kept smacking the clay on the table like she was doing something. It was just buying her time until she thought of something, anything, to do.

It was a little loud but no one was going to be looking her way. Everyone else was trying to cry genuine tears or something else equally nauseating.

So much for heartfelt tears. Dot rose slowly from her seat and headed to the scissors as if she was moving in slow motion towards her own doom. This was bad. What if she cut a strategic strand and gave herself a lopsided look? What if she accidentally gave herself bangs? It would ruin her life. Ruin.

She brought the scissors back to her desk and placed them against a curl tugged up and over from the back of her head, trusting that if it was behind her, she couldn't tell how bad it was. And now THERE was the tear, but it was too late. Too late, since it was obvious that a cut strand was way more of a sacrifice than a tear could be. Dot snipped less than a few centimeters from the curl and buried them all deep within her lump of clay.

And now? The clay was balled and rolled and balled and rolled until there was no sign of her hair. What should she make? Dot slid the clay in her hands, keeping malleable as it took an oblong shape that deepened and lengthened as she worked. Within a few minutes, it was obviously a shoe. A slipper for dancing. Was that okay, or did it have to be a creature? The professor HAD said to make a shape.

By the time Chloe had figured out what shape she wanted to make she had spent several long minutes just slamming clay against her desk. Warming it up to be used would be her excuse if anyone asked. Did clay warm up? She didn't know. The good thing about going to Hogwarts nearly guaranteed that no one else knew either.

Her shape very slowly became a snowman. It felt the easiest and she knew she could do it without very little skill. It also meant that she got to draw on her special smiley face.

Which looked lopsided and silly once she was done with it.

Oh well. It was the best she could do. She hoped the snowman liked her hair. After all, she had to CUT IT OFF for him. Or her. It was 2089. She wasn't going to make it identify if it didn't want to.

She sat and put the shoebox carefully on the centre of the desk, aware that she had an audience. GOOD. THEY WOULD ALL KNOW THE GREAT TRAGEDY THAT HAD JUST OCCURRED IN THEIR MIDST.

She took the lid off the shoebox with a big lip-wibbly air-gaspy breath to reveal three snails. Dead. Deaaaad snails.

It was TERRIBLE.

"Mr. Mistoffelees, Winona, and Albuquerque are DEAD." HER BABIES. THREE OF HER BABIES WERE DEAD. "I went to my dorm andand*sniff*and the lid was knocked off their terrarium and I *sniffle* followed the trails and I found The Captain and Marvin and Fester and Glen, and Agnes was the only one in the terrarium, and I can't find Herman at ALL, and Mr Mistoffelees was CRUSHED on the GROUND," As could be seen, crushed snail in the box, its shell formerly painted pink with blue spirals on it, "and I followed three more trails and it was Winona and Albuquerque , and probably Herman but I didn't find him and they were OUT THE WINDOW, Professor! THEY WENT OUT THE WINDOW! So I went out the window!"

Charlotte dramatically spread her arms wide. "I went out the window around the ledge and followed the trails and I found Albuquerque FROZEN to the stones!" Char pointed at the very still, very dead shell (green, with something that looked like a sailboat in red on its side). "It was windy and cold and I couldn't properly even see and my hair was all like this," She made whippy gestures with her hands, as if her fingers were her locks of hair, "And then I found WINONA. HER SHELL WAS UPSIDE DOWN on the next window ledge and she was GONE. A BIRD ATE HER, PROFESSOR! RIGHT FROM HER SHELL!" Snail on ice!

And AND she STILL COULDN'T FIND HERMAN! It was TERRIBLE.

DID THE PROFESSOR UNDERSTAND? THESE WERE HER FAMILIARS. Her snails! Wahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

.... he was far too familiar with the names of Char's snails and her affections for them to be surprised by his little cousin's pain at the death of her pets. What WAS slightly shocking was the fact that they'd all met such untimely demises. Maybe Dima would bug her after class?

But for now, he was planning to focus on the activity at hand. Weird.... clay figure things. Animals? He would have cried on cue if he could, but Dmitriy hadn't spilled a tear in Merlin knew how long and doubted it would be happening any time soon. He also thought the spit thing was sort of gross.

Easiest to part with a lock of hair, no? He reached up and tugged a single strand off his head, then went to go fetch some clay. After returning back to his seat with his mold blob, Dmitriy carefully rolled his hair into the stuff.

And then the fun stuff? The ART? Yeees.

Ava noticed that there were so many students were crying in this class. See? That's why she didn't want to use her tears. And now this class turned into a sad ones and this wasn't a sad heartbreaking clas.

Eh, whatever.

Now she already had her hair cut and then... What's next?

Oh yeah, she needed to put her hair on her clay. After she put the hair, she knead the clay and thought what shape she should make. This kinda reminded her of her art class back in primary school. Hmmmm... Maybe she should make a snake one since it was easier. Hehehe... She rolled the clay until it became long. Then the young lioness added a small piece of red clay as the tongue and... VOILA! The clay snake A-la Burton.

She should be proud of herself now.

And she paid attention to Charlotte again when she mentioned about her pet snails. Oh, poor her. Didn't she love them very much?

As he warmed up his clay by rolling it into a ball between his palms, Dima considered what he wanted to make. As a kid, he'd been extremely fond of toads, but they barely felt like familiar material. Frankly, he felt absolutely no connection to any particular creature whatsoever.

Looked like Chloe Newman wasn't the only one with a heart's lowkey want.

Eventually, the molding clay became soft and supple, and Dmitriy let his fingers take him where they wanted. They were an artist's hands, and he wasn't quite sure what they were forming until the paws and muzzle and pointed ears began to take shape. When his fingernail had traced out the small, beady eyes and whiskers, there was no mistaking that he'd sculpted a very specific snob of a kneazle.

Heh. Maybe he was a tiny bit partial to some.

Some.

“No, Mister Salander. Though I can understand your reasoning, in this case, more is less. The point is to put your heart figuratively into the clay. You cannot cheat the process by adding two materials at once.” Nana said, her tone level, but not unkind.

Once again taking up her habit of walking through the desks, Nana was pleased to see the class was hard at work, molding their clay, cutting their hair, and pushing themselves to tears. It was strange to say the least that she was pleased about students tearing up during her lesson, but Nana took it as a sign of the student’s dedication.

To think she’d been worried.

Professor.
The little voice was so stuffed as it called out, Nan’s first thought was of a cold, but as she turned to face the voice that thought was quickly put to rest. Alarm shot through her like an electric current at the sight of blood slipping from Miss Borzekowski-Thomas’ nose. “Lift your head back,” She called out, making her way to the Gryffindor in a few quick strides. “What were you doing?” Nana coolly asked, as she noticed the pink of the student’s cheek and the watery eyes. She pursed her lips. “Perhaps you ought to see the nurse, Miss Borzekowski-Thomas.” Nana added, making up her mind that the young girl would not finish class with a bloody nose. She gestured for the young girl to raise up from her seat.


Though this was the class did require tears, Nana had not expected or wanted tears of this kind…. Or the Snails…

Snails.

Nana glanced from the very dead creatures to Kettleburn’s tearstreaked and windblown face as she poke, her tail getting wilder and wilder as it went on. Now, Nana had had her fair share of losing pets when she was younger, and though she recalled the pain of the loss, she could not in this moment empathize as she might usually.

Because dead snails or not, the rules of the class still stood.

Clucking her tongue, Nana stood and adjusted her robes. “Miss Kettleburn, while I.. Empathize with your… Losses, I must insist that you see me about it after class.” Nana softened, her gaze warming a hint. “Please take your leave of the classroom and wait for me in the waiting room outside of my office.” It was not easy being considerate, and fair all at once.



=============



Activity Deaux:



Now that those two incidents had been handled, Nana was keen to move forward with the class, but before that she wanted to allow the class a bit more time in their efforts (and to calm them down from these loud and slightly unsettling incidents).

“Make sure to take care in your work. This is a labour of the spirit and as such, must be done carefully and not be rushed.” Nana took a deep breath, eyes washing over the class. “The next part of our lesson is animating your clay familiar. The spellwork, though simple is easy to get wrong if you do not put your full focus into it.” Taking out her wand, Nana gave it a flick toward the blackboard which erased itself and re-wrote it’s message,

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blackboard

Piertotum Locomotor.
Piertotum Locomotor Annexus - point and flourish.

“Last Term Professor York taught the returning students about the Piertotum Locomotor spell and it’s effects and uses. Though it is also a spell linked on occasion with familiars, it’s main use in simply animating an inanimate object and though that effect is similar to the one we seek to create today, it is not exactly what we are looking for.” she paused, tucked back her hair and took out her own, pre-made clay Fox model from the drawer in her desk and set it on the wooden surface.

“Piertotum Locomotor Annexus, though a mouthful, not only animates the object, but binds it to the caster as well, tying the tether that is so very crucial in insentient Familiar Creation. The binding is only complete when it is combined with the DNA sacrifice. Watch me closely.” Nana said, clearing her throat as she stood back to execute the spell. “Pier-TO-tum Lo-CO-motor An-NEXus.” Nana clearly enunciated, pointing her wand at the little clay fox and adding a flourish. The model glowed a soft blue only to settle back into it’s ordinary color a moment later. “Leap off the desk and follow my lead.” Nana said, smiling with satisfaction as the little clay fox shivered and did just as she had said, leaping off the desk and following into step behind her as she took up her walk about the class.

“The spell must be meant, there must be conviction behind it. if not, your Familiar may yet still be brought to “life”, but it will not do your bidding. Remember. You are gifting the familiar a small portion of your life force to borrow, you can not do this half-heartedly.” She returned back to her desk, taking her seat. “Come on up.” She said to the Fox model. It did just as she said without a moment’s hesitation. Leaping right back onto the desk.

“The motion of the spell is a point in the direction of the thing you wish you to animate and bind, and a flourish. Take your time practicing the motion if you feel you need it.” Nana leaned forward and pet the little fox with a smile that widened as it leaned into her touch.







OOC: Hey Guys. This is the final step in our activity. I do not expect all the students to be able to get this right in one go, as it does take quite a bit of focus. Points will be given for creativity as well as getting it right, and if your student cannot accomplish this that’s okay to! Play it as your character would have you play it, be true to them. If this isn’t something they’d get right, that’s okay, you will still receive posts based on your creativity. Two long, detailed posts to get this right or three mini posts. If you have a question please PM me or have your character ask Nana in class. Have Fun, Guys!

Next post will be in 24 hours.

She still paid attention to Charlotte. Well, losing a pet was such a heartbreaking moment, let alone three. But glad that Professor Ichihara didn't take any points off from Gryffindor because her fellow lioness was late and making a dramatic entrance.

Okay, now back to the lesson.

Ava listened to the Professor's explanation about animating spell. Gah, it was sooooooooooooooo difficult and she barely managed to animate a statue last term. And now they're gonna animate the familiar clay with their DNA on? Sounds cool and complicated at the same time. She dipped her quill and wrote on her notebook the spell that they're gonna use: Piertotum Locomotor Annexus. "I think this is probably the longest spell that I've ever learned." She blurted out.

Time to practice the spell. The young lioness muttered the incantation. "Pier-TO-tum Lo-CO-motor An-NEXus!" ASDFGJHTRNE!!! It's so mouthful.

He was still uncertain what to make of his clay, because:

1) he wasn't very craftsy
2) what the hell could HE make from clay?
3) it had to be something decent, yeah? Like an actual thing... not abstract?
4) because he just couldn't SEE anything in the blob in his hands.

SO...

That left him with very few options, yes?

A worm?... no, maybe a snake!... but that was too... Slytherin-ish.

He couldn't do anything elaborate though, because, fail.

In the end he tried for a snidget, but ended up struggling with the wings and gave up with the beak... which wasn't such a bad thing, because it ended up looking more like a snitch. He even went to the extent of engraving the little lines of the design in the body, and etched in lines to give the clay more of the illusion that it was a snitch. Minus the lack of gold and proper finesse to pull it off. It was decent. It would do.

All the while though, he was listening to the following instructions... he'd been too slow, so yes, he would have to catch up. Sigh.

How did someone end up with a nosebleed? Had she fallen or something like that? Poor kid not she had to leave class and head to the healer. That had to be a total bummer.

And the other little one. The incredibly perky happy go-lucky girl was in TEARS! Hady shifted her attention to the little one enough to find out why and just what was in the box. Her familiars. Snails. Dead snails were one thing, sad yes. Dead PET snails were another matter entirely. And to boot one of the girls pets were missing. No wonder she was soooo sad and all full of tears. Poor girl probably needed a large hug or something. At least she wasn't in trouble for her late arrival.

When both younger girls were sorted and Professor Ichihara moved on with her lesson Hady made sure to pay full attention. Like ALL of her attention. Every single ounce of it was on Nana and what was being said. This was her familiar and she wasn't going to mess things up. She did have a question though. It wasn't the most important one but she was curious about it. "Professor there's just something I'm wandering. If your familiar is like a connection of yourself would it be at all similar to the form of your patronus or animagus? Or won't any of those creatures be connected in anyway?" Her patronus was a Fennec Fox yet when she began modeling her clay and let her hands do all the work she ended up with a Hedgehog. What was up with that?

Moving onwards luckily for her she already knew the 'Piertotum Locomotor' spell and was good with it. There was more though now. Another word, clear focus and intent. She HAD to mean this or it wouldn't work. Perfection is what was needed right now.

Ooohhhhh! Nana's familiar was a fox! That was so cool! The snakette watched in awe as the fox was animated and followed every command. It was just like a little pet that knew how to do tricks! Adorable but yet so special. Now she was even more determined to make this spell work.

“Pier-TO-tum Lo-CO-motor An-NEXus. Pier-TO-tum Lo-CO-motor An-NEXus.” She practiced slowly and carefully fully breaking down everything to make sure she had it down. This part was important and getting it wrong would cause a problem.

Had that girl (Charlotte) lost something? Rachel listened to her and realised that her own recent problems shrank in comparison to the girl's. She couldn't ever imagine loosing Barkley and the Gryffindor loosing her... whatever it was that had been kept in that box... was simply horrible. Rachel felt sad for her and wanted to give her a hug but Professor Ichihara seemed to be handling things.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Rachel copied down the spell's incantation and wand movement. This was a new spell to her and it sounded quite complicated. As such, she decided she would need all the practice with the incantation first. Without her wand for now, she began.

"Piertotum Locomotor Annexus,'' the Eagle pronunced very clearly and deliberately. ''Pairtotum- that's not it. Pier...totum Locomotor Annexus. Piertotum Locomotor Annexus. Pier-TO-tum Lo-CO-motor An-NEXus. Pier-TO-tum Lo-CO-motor An-NEXus.'' She practiced this a few more times until she was satisfied. She then took her wand to begin practicing without the incantation. It was pointed at the clay eagle before her and then flourished. Point and flourish. Point and flourish.

It might be cool-ish to have a familiar of this nature.. but his wanna-be snitch wasn't really something he could be proud of. He only hoped his actual spell work would be infinitely better.

The wand movement was simple enough... point and flourish.

Point and flourish.

Point and flourish.

Though he was now safely confident with Piertotum Locomotor... he was new to the ANNEXUS part... and so that was what he opted to rehearse before trying his luck. "An-NEXus... An-NEXus... Annexus... Piertotum Locomotor Annexus..."

Okaaaaayyyyyyy.

There was little point in him repeating it any more, or practicing the wand movement, really now it was all about his intent. He had to mean it, and give meaning to it... and all of that stuff. Yes. Sacrificial hair.

The tears stopped coming and now it was time for Kitty to pick a shape to mold her clay into. A very, very weird idea popped into her head - making a camera. But no, she didn't really want that. So...what could she make? The other students were mostly making animals, though she saw one making a snowman and another a slipper.

Then it hit her. She would make worms! Kitty had a whole collection of pet worms back at home, they were one of her favorite animals and she just loved them. Why now have worm familiars? Kitty rolled up her sleeves and excitedly formed three very large worms. Each worm was about the size of a ruler. They were so cool!

Jace began to roll, stretch, and roll his clay until it became soft enough to mold into a basic sphere. No animal form came to mind yet, so the Ravenclaw left the clay on the table, crossed his arms, leaned back on his chair and stared at it for a good moment. Instead of coming up with an idea, his mind produced another string of questions. The little half-Japanese sighed, and thought that he wasn’t actually helping himself if he kept his mind dwell into such thoughts. They were good questions though, but for now, he needed to get on to moulding an actual animal figure.

Creativity wasn’t on his side that morning, so instead of thinking of a unique animal, he went for the classic dog. Not just any other dog though, but a canine that he wanted all his life; a corgi! Jace got his clay, and started to mould the body...the head...the snout...the ears...the short legs, he even got his muggle pencil out and marked the body so it can have a nice, fur texture.

It took him at least seven tries to come up with the perfect form, and when he was done, he placed it on his table and grinned at his work. It wasn’t perfect, of course, but he was satisfied with it nonetheless.

Just like any other kid, he got distracted by the late comer, and the professor. Did she...oh. Well, that was really sad news. Jace kept quiet though, but observed the two from where he was sat. Losing a pet is a serious matter, so even if this Gryffindor was acting a bit over the top, Jace understood her feelings.

But wait! Those tears! Jace got up from his seat, took a good lump of clay from the supply table and made his way to the Gryffindor. “Ohayo.” He said in greeting, and bowed his head. “Here’s some clay for you. Do you need help moulding your Familiar?” he asked, thinking about the tears that were rolling down her face. Definitely not crocodile tears...if she only knew how powerful her Familiar will be though.

---

When the professor started talking again, Jace immediately sat right next to Charlotte, and just...stared at the woman for a good while. He'd love to animate his Corgi Familiar, but the thought of using his wand for the next step made him nervous. Will he mess up again this time?

SPOILER!!: Nana and Lesson

Activity Deaux:



Now that those two incidents had been handled, Nana was keen to move forward with the class, but before that she wanted to allow the class a bit more time in their efforts (and to calm them down from these loud and slightly unsettling incidents).

“Make sure to take care in your work. This is a labour of the spirit and as such, must be done carefully and not be rushed.” Nana took a deep breath, eyes washing over the class. “The next part of our lesson is animating your clay familiar. The spellwork, though simple is easy to get wrong if you do not put your full focus into it.” Taking out her wand, Nana gave it a flick toward the blackboard which erased itself and re-wrote it’s message,


“Last Term Professor York taught the returning students about the Piertotum Locomotor spell and it’s effects and uses. Though it is also a spell linked on occasion with familiars, it’s main use in simply animating an inanimate object and though that effect is similar to the one we seek to create today, it is not exactly what we are looking for.” she paused, tucked back her hair and took out her own, pre-made clay Fox model from the drawer in her desk and set it on the wooden surface.

“Piertotum Locomotor Annexus, though a mouthful, not only animates the object, but binds it to the caster as well, tying the tether that is so very crucial in insentient Familiar Creation. The binding is only complete when it is combined with the DNA sacrifice. Watch me closely.” Nana said, clearing her throat as she stood back to execute the spell. “Pier-TO-tum Lo-CO-motor An-NEXus.” Nana clearly enunciated, pointing her wand at the little clay fox and adding a flourish. The model glowed a soft blue only to settle back into it’s ordinary color a moment later. “Leap off the desk and follow my lead.” Nana said, smiling with satisfaction as the little clay fox shivered and did just as she had said, leaping off the desk and following into step behind her as she took up her walk about the class.

“The spell must be meant, there must be conviction behind it. if not, your Familiar may yet still be brought to “life”, but it will not do your bidding. Remember. You are gifting the familiar a small portion of your life force to borrow, you can not do this half-heartedly.” She returned back to her desk, taking her seat. “Come on up.” She said to the Fox model. It did just as she said without a moment’s hesitation. Leaping right back onto the desk.

“The motion of the spell is a point in the direction of the thing you wish you to animate and bind, and a flourish. Take your time practicing the motion if you feel you need it.” Nana leaned forward and pet the little fox with a smile that widened as it leaned into her touch.

Animating? As like in bringing it to live?

Just when Mason thought this class couldn't get any cooler (well apart from the whole crying thing)

Her crow had gotten along nicely. Mason was no artist, so the little clay-figurine was a great accomplishment to her.

Piertotum Locomotor Anne-what-is?

Mason looked at her little figure and whispered the words, practising the foreign sounds, "Pier-TO-tum Lo-CO-motor An-NEXus."

Pier-TO-tum Lo-CO-motor An-NEXus.

Pier-TO-tum Lo-CO-motor An-NEXus.

Pier-TO-tum Lo-CO-motor An-NEXus.

When she had practised the words enough, Mason pulled out her Yew wand and pointed it directly at the little crow. "Pier-TO-tum Lo-CO-motor An-NEXus!" Mason said the spell as loudly and as clearly as she could. She even did the little flourish-thingy with her wand.

Nothing. Silence. Nada. Zippo.

Um, what?

And then she saw it. Her desk turning blue before settling back to the original wooden form. Oh sweet baby Merlin, some of her tears had fallen onto the desk while she was crying.

NO! NO! NO! HELL NO!

Oh Merlin. . . had she just animated her desk?!

0______0

"PROFESSOR!!!!!"

Rachel decided she had made satisfactory progress with her practice so she would move on to actually doing the spell. She took a deep breath and focused on the clay Eagle before her. She would need every ounce of concentration she could muster to do this.

''Piertotum Locomotor Annexus.'' Once again, she slowly pronunced the incantation as she pointed and flourished her wand. "Please stretch your wings,'' Rachel told the eagle. The clay object remained flat on the desk. "Piertotum Locomotor Annexus.'' The wand movement was repeated and another instruction given. But it proved futile as the eagle remained stationary as possible.

Ilia's words during a Charms class kept coming back to her. What had the Slytherin girl said? To command the spell? No, to cast the spell as though she were commanding it. Yes, that was what Ilia had said.

Rachel pulled all her focus and commanding attitude into play. ''Piertotum Locomotor Annexus.'' Point and flourish then give a command. Unfortunately for her, the bird didn't budge even the tiniest. She sighed but was not dejected. These was just another one of those spells that was challenging. On and on went these action for quite sometime and with each failure, Rachel would end up either biting her lower lip or tugging on one of her plaits. Would she not ever get this?

Finally, just as she was about to take a mini break, something happened. She gave the eagle the command to stand on one talon and it responded by doing exactly that! Rachel was astounded. After all that hard work, she had done it! She hardly dared to believe her eyes. She blinked but there it was, a pink clay eagle balancing on it's right talon.

"Can you hover in the air, slightly above the table please?'' The eleven year old watched excitedly as the eagle obeyed.

Azura looked up as the professor started to speak and she smiled a bit as she watched the little clay fox come to life and do what the Professor asked it to do! Goodness! That was adorable!

She listened carefully as she told them the spell, and then looked down at her little clay Red Panda! She was excited to see it come to life! But she knew she would have to focus!

Giving something part of your own life force, wasn't to be taken lightly.So she needed to concentrate! She also remembered back to what Professor Primeaux had told her when she had leaned the cushioning charm, that confidence was key!

So confidence and concentration!

Also pronunciation! You needed to get the spell exactly! She had learned that from Austin and Garreth!

She had been doing very well with her charms and spells lately.. So she wasn't worried about the spell working! She just wanted to make sure that she got everything right before she tried it! She didn't want to give her life force to..

Oh Merlin! Someone had already animated a desk! Yes! She didn't want to do that! Knowing her, she would give it to her desk, and then it would bounce up and break her nose.. Again! not that she ever had a desk break her nose..she just didn't want it to break for the 6th time!

So concentration was a must!

She cleared every thought from her mind..

Innnerrrr peace!

Now she let spell and the motion of the wand into her mind and she closed her purple eyes and said the spell in her head, making sure to repeat the correct emphasis as well. Piertotum Locomotor Annexus, Piertotum Locomotor Annexus, Piertotum Locomotor Annexus!

She waved her wand just like the Professor had told her how! Okay.. She was ready to try!

Had she ever said that this spell was so long and mouthful? Yes, but she really wanted to say this again because IT WAS SOOOOOO LONG AND GAVE HER TONGUE-TWISTER, OKAY???

Breathe, Ava... Just breathe...

And let's just try the incantation once more.

"Pier-TO-tum Lo-CO-motor An-NEXus!" Point and flourish.

"Pier-TO-tum Lo-CO-motor An-NEXus!" Point and flourish.

"Pier-TO-tum Lo-CO-motor An-NEXus!" Point and flourish.

"Pier-TO-tum Lo-CO-motor An-NEXus!" Point and flourish.

The wand movement was not that difficult though, but since the spell incantation was quite complicated and not to mention that she had to do this spell from her heart. Could she do it? Well, she could.... try now.