Preston nodded at the young girl. "You're quite welcome, Miss Malfoy. Have a good day."

He nodded, pushing away from the desk and drawing nearer to where she sat. "Intent, Miss Toussaint, is everything." And not just when it came to spells.

"You're quite right that there are other spells, most for rather specific purposes when a simple reverto will not suffice. Forcing an animagus back into human form, for example, is a spell we wouldn't cover in class beyond theory, if at all, both for reasons of difficulty and reasons of practicality. There are others, as well."

Standing next to her desk, he placed the stuffed monkey on it. "If you're interested in exploring those, I'm sure the library would satisfy that curiosity."

He considered the stuffed animal a moment. She was capable of the spell, already. A complex creature would probably be more of a challenge, though he didn't anticipate she would have difficulty even with that.

Yes. Stuffed monkey to actual monkey seemed a good choice.

Hopefully she'd turn it back before it started making a mess.

Cela examined the stuffed Monkey , gave it a thoughtful prod with her wand and then, when that wasn't enough, her finger. Hum. So untransfiguration. Re-ver-TOE. Okay. She thought about it, feeling quite comfortable with the idea of doing it non-verbally. She had a good look at the toy, picked it up, sniffed it thoughtfully. There was a certain... odor to it? Not stinky. But. Something. Not nice but not bad. Just an... odor.

In Cela's experience often the odors of an original thing tended to linger. She noted her thoughts down and then sat up straight, expression intent. Wand in her hand again she gave the stuffed monkey a little nod, flicked her wand neatly, concentrating, almost as if she were enunciating the incantation in her head, (which she kind of was) and then she blinked a few times as the stuffed monkey nodded back.

What?

Except it wasn't stuffed.

And it was off.

Cela ducked as the monkey flung itself over her head, scrambling towards the nearest curtain. She straightened, apparently not at all astonished (this WAS Hogwarts) and then launched herself out of her chair, wand in hand, monkey fetching mission.

It started climbing the curtain and Celandine stopped not too far away, thinking. She peeked over her shoulder at the professor, seeking instruction.

Preston was about to transfigure the stuffed monkey into a real one for her to untransfigure when he saw her perform the spell...

and the stuffed monkey became a real one.

But that meant... O____O

Preston stood there a moment, watching as the monkey flung itself up the curtains, his eyebrows pulled together, lips pursed. "I bought that at a toy store," he mused. "You cast reverto?" He half-asked, half-confirmed as he looked at the Head Girl. He knew she had. Which only meant one thing.

Someone had transfigured a monkey into a toy and left it at a muggle toy store. "I'm going to have to owl the Ministry, I think," he mused as he walked to her side and looked up at the monkey. "And test everything else." He'd bought a few things there. The thought of the snapping alligator toy suddenly loose in the school didn't seem terribly appealing.

With a quick flick of his wrist, much as he hated to do it, he transfigured the monkey back into a stuffed animal, quickly levitating it as it fell. Releasing the spell he caught the toy in one hand before looking back at Miss Toussaint.

"Well, I think that's enough practice with reverto. Well done, particularly without knowing what the original form was. Let's..." he eyed the toy in his hand. "move on to the next spell?"

He nodded with his head back to the desk.

Cela did a bit of staring and nodded a bit uncertainly. She returned to her desk trying to figure out what those looks the professor was giving actually meant.

She held her wand lightly as she sat down and nommed her bottom lip, giving the professor a nod. Yes something else would be good. And then she had questions.

Preston eyed the stuffed toy some more, before setting it back on the desk. Princess, for her part, crawled out of her box on the desk and made her way over, pawing at it curiously.

A contemplative look on his face, Preston turned back to the Head Girl. "We also covered a spell that will transfigure an item into a watch or a clock, depending on the caster's intentions and focus. We practiced on combination locks." Preston held up the one that had been sitting on the desk.

"The incantation is horolos and the wand movement," Preston put down the lock and held up his wand, "is like so." Preston made three tight clockwise circles and flicked his wand at the end.

"That's three clockwise circles with a flick at the end. I don't imagine you'll have much difficulty if you want to skip over trying it now."

His gaze found the stuffed monkey again, and Princess licking happily at its foot.

"Locks into Clocks." Celandine repeated, interested. "Horolos?" She picked up her wand again and copied the wand movement a few times. Roundandroundandroundandflick. She smiled softly. She liked trying things out.

"Okay. I'm ready." She told the professor.

Turning back to face her, Preston took a step forward and rested a lock on her desk.

"And that was the extent of the lesson," he said with a nod.

Turning away again, he began to gather his things while she practiced, assuming that she, of all his students, didn't need supervision.

Obligingly Celandine cast the spell at the lock. RoundandroundandroundandFLICK. She pictured a pocket watch, the kind that would hang on a long and heavy gold chain.

"Horolos!" Start out loud. Celandine picked up the transfigured lock-that-was-now-a-pocket-watch and examined it. Hmmm. It wasn't ticking. She untransfigured it and tried again, this time picturing in her minds eye the actual mechanism involved in a working pocket watch.

"Horolos!" She held it up to her ear listening for the ticks. After a moment she put it down again, expression satisfied. She untransfigured it and did it again silently this time.

Horolos! Pleased, Celandine checked the pocket watch. She was about an hour and a half off the actual time though. Once more then. She changed it back into a lock and stroked the metal thoughtfully.

Horolos! She focused and this time, in response to the roundandroundandroundandflick movement the pocket watch was working and showed the correct time.

"Professor, can you control the size and mass of the final result too? Is that a result of your intent I mean? Could I hypothetically turn the lock into a grandfather clock with the same spell?"

The pocket watch ticked, punctuating her questions.

Preston listened as she attempted the spell numerous times while he regathered his things. Picking up the stuffed toy with a sour look, he placed it back in the box for dealing with later.

Following that, he scooped up Princess and set her back in her box-bed, before turning around at the question.

"Hypothetically, yes, though it would be much easier to select a larger item to transfigure into a piece of that size. The similarity of a combination lock in size and shape to a small watch or clock aids in the casting. To transfigure something that small into something much larger would take much more work and would likely be a less satisfying result than selecting a more suitable starting object. For example, a desk into a grandfather clock would probably be a better choice."

With a nod, Preston picked up his boxes, Princess mewing in protest, in anticipation of departure.

"I believe that is all, then, Miss Toussaint?"

"Can I keep the lock to practice on?" She asked, distracting herself briefly by making cutesy faces at Princess.

"There was something else I... wanted to ask about professor." Celandine ventured, a small note of hesitation in her voice. "About something that happened in the detention."

Preston smiled. "You may, though you may also wish to try the spell on other objects. Something seemingly dissimilar to a clock may help your concentration."

Shifting the boxes, he tilted his head slightly at the hesitation. "Of course, Miss Toussaint. Although, you will not receive my opinion on another professor's methods."

He set the boxes down, again, waiting for her response.

Cela untransfigured the watch, put the lock in her pocket and holstered her wand quietly.

"Yes sir." She agreed and then began, "Professor Lafay took our wands before the detention began, and during the detention she conjured poop everywhere. Really sticky gross stuff. It only got on our legs though, because I cast a shield over me and Raiden and Miles... over our heads and upper bodies..." She trailed off and chewed her lip.

Preston leaned against the large desk at the front, crossing his arms over his chest as he watched her. The corners of his mouth twitched into a small smile. She'd shielded them without her wand.

"That was more a statement," he said lightly. "But I believe there may be a question in there about wandless magic?"

"Yes sir." Cela answered quietly. "I'm not sure how I did it. But... I know everyone can to some degree right? Since thats how magic manifests itself for most of us, by doing magic as children when our emotions get the best of us? I wanted to protect my hair mostly. And Raiden and Miles." She frowned. "It wasn't a very strong shield and it went away as soon as the poop hit it." But it was big enough to cover all of them.

Celandine rubbed at the silvery scar on her left wrist idly, a distracted frown on her face.

"You seem... almost troubled by it, Miss Toussaint," he said as he watched her. Crossing one ankle over the other, he furrowed his brow.

"Unintentional wandless magic is generally observed in children, yes, but it is certainly not exclusive to them. Wands help us channel and focus our magic, that's all."

He watched her some more, trying to puzzle out why exactly she seemed, to him at least, uncomfortable about it.

"Well, I want to be able to do it on purpose, professor." Celandine answered, still rubbing her wrist, "Is it a skill that can be built on? Or is it always sort of instinct and emotion based?"

And ... could she have done it earlier? Last term? To protect people and stop them from hurting?

On purpose? Preston's face did not register his surprise, though his own frown dissipated.

Uncrossing his arms, he rested his hands on the edge of his desk. "For all practical purposes, focused, controlled, intentional spell-casting will necessitate a wand. Wandless magic in children is the result of a lack of control, while intentional wandless magic is the height of control and a skill only a very few of the most powerful wizards and witches in our history had at their command." He paused. "But there is still a middle ground for otherwise in-control adults. Instinctual wandless magic. While it might even be intentional, you are likely not in control."

He was distracted, then, by her rubbing at her wrist. Gesturing to it, his tone took on a note of concern. "Is there something the matter?"

Celandine listened to this thoughtfully. It all boiled down to intent really then, and more than that, to desperation. You had to want something badly enough. Like when you didn't have your wand and you managed to accio it. At least when she thought about it, she'd always been able to do that.

"My wrist... my scar? It sort of... not hurt. I felt it. Like really felt it when that shield came up." She frowned a bit and held her left hand out palm up, fingers extended so that the shiny silvery line from the tip of her index finger all the way across the palm and down to the wrist was visible. Magical injury, obviously, with the lack of complete healing.

Preston's eyes drifted to the scar on the girl's wrist and he quirked an eyebrow. It was quite obviously a scar from a magical injury and it was of significant size.

He wasn't entirely sure what to make of it.

"I regret that I don't have much to offer on the question of spell damage, Miss Toussaint. Obviously, scars from magical damage often react to magic in ways that are difficult to explain. My best hypothesis would be that it was related to channeling your magic if you raised that hand to physically shield yourself."

He picked up the boxes again. "I'm afraid I don't have more to offer than that, at the moment. And I'm afraid that I need to close up the classroom. We could perhaps continue this conversation elsewhere, if you'd like?"

"Alright." Celandine nodded once after thinking over this explanation. It made her feel better about it for some reason. She stood up, bag over her shoulder. "Thank you sir." A little smile and she added, "I'll go get started on my homework. Thanks." She smiled again and then left the room, leaving the professor to do what he needed.

Preston nodded. "Keep your eye on the noticeboards for a Club announcement as well," he said as she walked out.

Casting a final glance around the room, Preston balanced his boxes and his kitten in his arms before leaving the classroom and locking the door behind him.