Minerva was so excited she about jumped out of her seat. Even though she really wanted to try to worm spell she was happy to get to turn the snake into a walking stick. Minerva put up her hand "Well changing an animals species is not just making it into something simple your changing it's anatomy on top of its shape so for a younger student this would be very complicated."

Oh ew ew ew ew ew and eww. Tori was smart for sitting all the way in the back of the classroom today, and she wasn't even peeved that she wouldn't be turning the snake into a worm. Less ewww that way. Walking sticks - the animal ones, anyway - were ewwwwwww enough.

Regardless, the girl WOULD try to participate in the non-ewwwww part of the lesson by answering questions. "Um because when you turn an animal into an object, it just has to look and act like the object. You don't have to worry about animal organs and brains and stuff being transfigured correctly. Objects aren't living things and therefore aren't as complex to transfigure as are living creatures."

Yup. Still kind of an ewwww question. Did I really just say organs in a class? Ewwwwwwwwwwww.

Kennedy smiled at the Professor's response. So, he wasn't going to pet that snake, but they were going to get to pet something. This sparked his interest more than it already was. Hmm, he would have to ask his godfather for a snake.

He listened and took notes of what Professor Magnus and his classmates were discussing. At the next question he took a moment to think about it and then raised his hand. "It's harder to do cross-species because you are combining two different species that may have different qualities or in the wizarding world may have different abilities," he said, a bit unsure. "As in where you transform and animal into an object its properties aren't being changed to fit another creature's but an inanimate object." Gosh, that sounded less complicated in his head.

Raising her hand Angelina spoke out, "Professor, its hard to transform an animal into an object because the things an animal needs to life are not inside an object, nothing is inside an object. Also the other way around, an object can't be turned into an animal, because in the first place it is not living. Therefore its hard to transform a living thing into a nonliving thing."

Ashley had an idea of why it would be different, but every way he tried to put it into words just sounded complicated. Still, he raised his hand, deciding to give it a shot anyway. "Is it because if you turn a living thing into another one you have to worry about anatomical stuff, and if it's a different species, you have to make sure everything gets put in the right way or else it will die? Or... its head will be on its leg or something... Which would probably also cause it to die... I guess.." he paused for a second, then decided to just let it go and move on. "But if it's an inanimate object, you don't have to worry about any of that," he finished, trying not to think about it too much more so that he didn't start rambling and trying to fix what he'd said.

For a moment, Evelyn had no clue why they were even learning this spell. What was the point? The snake was so much cooler than a worm...yet Professor Magnus did have a point. A worm was much easier to handle than a snake. Then again, why was the Professor in a sleeping bag? Seriously? What happened to her bed?!

Woah...woah woah...

Look at all the snakes!

Sitting up a little straighter so she could see them, there maaaay have been a smile on her face. Kind of hard to see though. Working with animals in class was fun; as long as they weren't chickens. "Animals have a bunch of different parts, from the outside and inside, that you'd have to take into consideration whereas an object, you'd only have three or four main parts you'd need to concentrate on." she said after raising her hand, still staring at the snakes.

She wanted one! In fact, they reminded her of her own snake from awhile back. Tiki. Still alive? She had nooo clue.

Selina smiled at the Professor when she commented on her translation. She felt like her answer was sort of ambiguous so she was not going to answer her. After all the Professor's response was more of one to get Selina thinking. She really liked Professor Magnus. Every class Selina felt like she was trying to get them to think a little and not just answer for the sake of answering. Most teachers just took the answers and moved forward.

Her attention was diverted a little when Eino answered. He was not exactly right in what he was saying, but she decided to keep her mouth shut on account of her opinions. After all her mother would have a stern talking with her if she ever corrected anyone on their Latin or Hebrew. It was not her place.

Her ears tuned into the Professor and her question until she decided she had a somewhat conscience answer, "Well Professor, maybe its because objects deal with very simple structure and mechanics. Nothing on them consistently have to work like a heart, lungs, etc. Species have different working parts so they have to be correct or you could kill the animal... maybe?"

Isabelle was a little excited. She was happy they all got what she was hoping they would say. A beaming smile spread across her face as she walked over to the board and updated with what the spells did.

"You are all correct, of course. Changing the anatomy and structure of one animal, into that of a completely different one, requires much more focus, skill and concentration. The slightest lapse and you could end up killing it, or splinching it in some very bad way - like Ashley said - a head for a leg." She gave the Slytherin a grin and carried on.

"Turning it into an inanimate object still requires you to be focussed as usual, but you are having to worry less about getting the molecular structure of another animal correct for it to work." With a flourish of her wand, Isabelle produced a little twig like stand that she carefully wound Jasper around.

"Actually it's harder to make an animal into another one, because you have more parts and it's life to take into consideration. Just as your classmates have said." Isabelle gave the girl a smile and moved back to her desk.


---------------------------------------------
"I would like you all to practice the wand movement and incantations before coming to collect your snake. It will be easier, believe me," she chuckled, taking a quick glance at the slithering beasties. "I shall demonstrate them without the aid of Jasper for now, and then draw them on the board for you all to have a visual reference."

Picking up the chalk she drew some lines next to the incantations to signal which way they needed to put their wands.



"As you can see they are fairly simple - but PLEASE just stick to the one I have assigned your age group." Issy looked around at all of them. She knew that a couple of them had tried to do the older students spell in the last lesson, and truthfully she hadn't been happy. "Now, you do the wand movement and say the incantation afterwards. Those of you in 4th year and above copy me - left to right, from the bottom to the top, in a diagonal line, then straight down. Amp-lus Verm-is Verto. Make sure you say it just like that, or you could eventually have problems when we move on." She wanted to make sure they all got it right.

"Those of you that are 3rd year and younger have the easiest wand movement," Isabelle grinned. Although really they were both quite simple. "It's a straight line from north to south. And once more, you say the spell after doing the movement - Suc-cur-ro PED-es."

"Everyone go ahead and practice that for now, I'll move on to letting you handle the snakes when I feel you are all comfortable with it."





OOC: I'm going to bed soon, so for now just practice into thin air, with no snakes. PLEASE DO NOT DO ANYTHING YOU HAVE NOT BEEN ASKED TO DO. ONLY PRACTICE THE SPELL FOR YOUR CHARACTERS AGE GROUP. Thank you! And no excessive chatter, if you please, Issy won't be happy about that.

Straight line north to south, that was easy. Tori practiced the wand movement a few times and then, eying the professor and her snake, raised her hand nervously.

"Professor, is there any way we can do the spell... NOT on a snake? Please?"

Minerva was excited to get started. She pulled out her wand and started moving it from North to South. Once she felt like she had the movement down she decided to practice the words. "Suc-curpro PED-es" Minerva said over and over again.

"I'm afraid I don't have anything else for you to practice on, Victoria," Isabelle shrugged, looking over towards the Slytherin girl when she spoke. "I did say that legless creatures would be involved today when I put up the lesson notice."

The only thing she could think of was - "Maybe you could work with someone else who doesn't mind handling them for you?" Although pairings were not going to be compulsory.

Kennedy wrote down what he had said because his answer had been right. That was Biology kicking in, hehe. He listened to what Professor Magnus had to say and listened extra hard when she mentioned what the fourth years and up where going to be doing. Just like in the last class, they were going to be doing a different spell than the younger students.

THEY WERE GOING TO HANDLE SNAKES!!!

Taking out his wand from its holster, he prepared to practice the wand movement and incantation. First would be the wand movement. It was left to right, beginning at the bottom then up, in a diagonal line, then down in a straight line. That was easy. Now for the incantation. "Amp-lus Verm-is Verto," he said.

Can he hold a snake now, pretty please?

Keefer took his wand out of his holster. Holding it at chest level, he first moved it diagonally upwards from left to right, then straight downwards. After a few repetitions, he moved on to the incantation. He thought it in his head first, just to make sure he could time it correctly with the wand movement and yet not have the spell occur. Nonverbal spells weren't discussed until NEWT level.

Amplus. Up and to the right. Vermis. Straight down. Verto.

Amplus. Up and to the right. Vermis. Straight down. Verto.

Amplus. Up and to the right. Vermis. Straight down. Verto.

Lather. Rinse. Repeat.

Not only had he actually come up with a good answer, Ashley had made a point so good, the professor mentioned it specifically. He felt ridiculous for being so happy about that, but honestly, he usually barely got a right answer in the first place, so you know what? He was pretty proud of that.
Bright light blue eyes shining with glee, he wrote down a few notes, just to make sure he had it all down, then looked up at the board as the next thing was explained. The wand movement wasn't hard at all. It was the incantation he was almost afraid of.
So he started with that, taking a deep breath before repeating to himself, "succurro pedes," making sure to pronounce all of the syllables, emphasis on the "ped". That was going to be hard to remember. He really wanted to say the whole thing in an almost completely different way. So he continued practicing, saying it several more times before he felt confident enough to take out his wand and try it with the movement. That was easy enough. Up, to down, straight line. THEN say the words. Movement, THEN words. North to south, THEN "succurro pedes!" over and over, just to make sure it settled into his head properly.

Simple enough, at least the wand movement and incantation, that is. She wasn't sure how simple it was going to be turning that snake into a walking stick though. But she would worry about that later.

For a few minutes, Kourt repeated the incantation in her head. Suc-cur-ro PED-es. Succurro Pedes. This actually seemed like it would be a very useful spell if you were out in the wilderness and needed support of some kind.

Feeling confident in the incantation, she practiced the wand movement a few times. North to south movement straight down.

Now to the wand movement and incantation.

Downward movement and..."Succurro Pedes" Remember to say the spell AFTER the movement; not before or during.

And repeat.

Alyssa quickly jotted down in her journal what the professor had mentioned in class and then quickly drew the wand movements for both incantations, concentrating more on the second one since that would be the one they would be practicing on.

Then without a wand, she practiced the wand movements and the pronunciation of the incantation. She decided to do it that way, for fear that she might accidentally point her wand at some inanimate object and turn it into a walking stick. So just using her index finger to represent the wand, Alyssa moved it in the air, from top straight down to bottom. She practiced the wand movements a couple of times before moving on to practicing the words to the Incantation.

Looking at the words Professor Magnus had written on the board, Alyssa said the words to the incantation,"Suc-cur-ro PED-es".

She kept repeating the words over again and again until she was familiar with the incantation,"Suc-cur-ro PED-es". "Suc-cur-ro PED-es"."Suc-cur-ro PED-es".

Once she was familiar with the incantation, she practiced both the wand movement and the incantation together. She drew a line from top to bottom with her wand (finger) in the air and then said the incantation, "Suc-cur-ro PED-es". She practiced both wand movements and incantations until she was familiar with it.

She couldn't wait to try out the next part of the lesson, even if it meant holding onto a snake. But for now practice, practice, practice.

At least it seemed like he was in fact correct in his answer, both by what his classmates had also answered as well as the professor accepting their answers. And now they were moving on to the incantation and wand movement. Having already copied down the words as they appeared on the board into his notes, Gideon updated them as the descriptions were added as well as the movement that was to accompany it.

Amp-lus Verm-is Verto
Amp-lus Verm-is Verto
"Amp-lus Verm-is Verto"

Left to right diagonally and then down.
Left to right diagonally and then down.
"Left to right diagonally and then down."

Gideon repeated both the spell and movement over and over again to practice them, first in his head and then quietly aloud so as not to disturb others who might be focusing as well. As he repeated the incantations a few more times, he moved his hand this time in the direction taught, careful for it to be devoid of wand to avoid any possible misfirings.

*swish*
Nate felt like he could hear the air flowing around his wand. Perhaps, that was only hissing of the many, many snakes. He wasn't worried about the scaly, usually friendly creatures, though. Besides eagles, snakes were his favorite animal. "Succuro Pedes!" Nope. The air didn't turn into a walking stick. But, then again, it wasn't supposed to. So Nate continued his spellcasting. A swish from north to south, followed by the incantation. "Well, this is simple..." he said under his breath. Let's not appear arrogant... Again. he thought. He seemed to have a knack for being naive, cocky, arrogant, put it any way you like, Nate felt older than he was. And was trying, in vain, to fix that.
Another swish, north to south, and afterwards a repetition of "Succuro Pedes!" Nate decided to keep this up, if not to practice, simply to kill the time until they released the kraken! snakes.

Destiny was EXCITED!

Not only were they going to get to PLAY with a snake, they were going to turn that snake into a WORM. Another one of her favorite animals. Sure, she may not have liked Evelyn's snake when she had it, but that was different. Her's was a MONSTER compared to the ones Professor Magnus had, and it had also tried to strangle her ankles. She would never tell her friend this, but she was glad that thing wasn't around anymore.

Copying down both spells in her notebook, even though she was only supposed to practice the one, Destiny pulled out her wand and rolled up her sleeves. It was time to practice. Although, it was kind of difficult to concentrate. All those snakes up in the tanks. She was already trying to decide which one she wanted.

Shaking her head and averting her eyes, she moved her wand in the same way the Professor had. Left to right, from the bottom to the top, in a diagonal line, then straight down. "Amp-lus Verm-is Verto. Amp-lus Verm-is Verto." Well, that seemed pretty easy. Except for the needing to concentrate part. Couldn't Professor Magnus cover up the snakes? They were distracting!!

"Professor!" she called out, raising her hand while still making the movements with her wand. "What happens if we use this spell on a worm? Or..what happens if we use this spell on a flobberworm? Or a glow worm. Will they turn into regular worms?"

William hears Minerva do the spell. How can say she knows nothing about spells? She is way too smart for him. Minerva will get bored with William.
Willaim lloked at thee snakes. he does not even want to touch one. William moved it his wand from North to South as instructed. William practiced the words "Suc -curpo- PED-es".

Alyssa overheard Victoria asking the Professor whether she could do the spell without a snake and the Professor's response to that. Alyssa was more than happy to help Victoria hold the snake for her if she couldn't find anyone to help her. So Alyssa went up to Victoria and whispered to her,"I'll be happy to hold the snake for you if you can't find anybody else who will do it for you." Alyssa smiled encouragingly at Victoria.

Minerva noticed William being tense and looking at the snakes. She leaned over and whispered "Very good William you are so good at this. Don't worry about the snakes I'm hear to help if you need it." Minerva went back to practicing the spell.

Legless whatevers --- legless things could mean FISH! Of all creatures, Tori was not expecting SNAKES! She sniffled and hung her head as the professor gave her verdict, shrugging at the solution to work in pairs.

Whaaaaaaaateverrrrrrrr. And ewwww. Pairs. Ewwwwwwwwwwwww.

Oh, but maybe pairs weren't so bad after all, as long as the other one was holding the snake? Even if her partner was a puff.... Tori supposed she could survive.

"All right, all right," she agreed to the girl begrudgingly. "I guess that could workkk........"

Still. Snakes. Puffs. Ewwwwwwww.

William smiled at Minerva. He does not know if the pforssor would let Minerva help him.

Bwah haha! Truth be told, Sierra thought the older students ended up with the bad end of the deal. Having a walking stick was much more useful than a blasted worm! They were practically going to be dealing with flobberworms. Sierra just loved when things worked in her favor, and this was definitely in her favor.

She glanced up at the board as the wand movements were drawn out for them to see. The younger students were meant to have a less difficult spell? Geez. Was the other movement meant to be complicated then? Any easier, and each of them would be a simple point. Nevertheless, she watched the demonstration and then flicked her own wand out its holster.

Time to practice, then. She pointed her wand straight forward and then moved it from north to south. "Succurro Pedes!" she said, despite the fact that there was no animal involved and she was basically casting into thin air. She tried it again for good measure. After doing the correct wand movements, she said, "Succurro Pedes!"