Transfiguration Lesson I, Part One : Staying Warm
 

Today, the desks and chairs are lined up along the perimeter of the room, leaving the center wide open. Professor Kingsley stands at the front of the room next to the chalkboard.

The board reads as follows:

Quote:

On a piece of parchment please write the following: Name House and Year An example of a practical use of transfiguration Please note: The announcement on your noticeboard asked you to bring a scarf. If you forgot, not to worry. If you did bring it, please leave it on your desk.

Lesson spell summary:

Vestis - transfigures item into blanket/shawl/square piece of fabric. Use Vestis Vellus for wool, cotone for cotton or letrom for leather.

Wand movement: curly-q

Escarpa - transfigures item into scarf, same modifiers apply

Wand movement: draw a simple line, top to bottom

Caput - transfigures item into hat, same modifiers apply

Wand movement: small circular flick

Manus - transfigures item into mittens/gloves, same modifiers apply

Wand movement: small circular flick

Focalia - conjure firewood

Wand movement: 'x'

Bonnie walked in and scowled as she saw she was the first there. It was always nerdy, but she was kinda glad...being the Ravenclaw that she was. She smiled and walked up to the professor and smiled. "Hello Professor."

She pulled out a piece of parchment and scribbled;
Name; Bonnie Campbell
House/Year; Ravenclaw/5th
PUT; Changing mouldy bread into freshly baked bread.

She played with the stripy scarf that she'd brought absentmindly.

Jim had simply brought along his Ravenclaw scarf, having no interest in doing something to bespell any of his regular scarves without knowing what exactly they'd be doing. He wandered into the classroom and examined the layout suspiciously. A cursory glance at the professor and then Jimmy had found a seat and put his clean and booted feet up on the desk. With the parchment resting against his thigh, he filled out the details required after checking out the instructions on the chalkboard, taking his sweet time about it and occasionally eyeing the door to see who was coming in.

He was only early because he happened to be in the area. Not because he wanted to be early. Or anything.

Cheerfully walking in the class Josh looked around to see what the place was like. Hmmmm...hmmm. It looked like a common classroom. Hehehe. What else could it be?

Whatever.

Saluting the professor, ''Good day Professor!'' he chose a seat, dropped his Gryffindor scarf of the desk and began writing the information on a piece of parchment.

Name Joshua Carter
House and Year Gryffindor,4th
An example of a practical use of transfiguration Changing one's facial features so one can pull any prank without being recognised later on

Eeeep!

Transfiguration. Seeing as this was Destiny's FAVORITE class ever, she practically ran all the way to the classroom. Having Evelyn stay at her house over the summer helped her in the running department. She didn't wheeze as much anymore.

Stopping just outside the classroom, she made sure her scarf was snuggly wrapped around her neck before entering. She didn't know what they were going to need a scarf for, she just figured it would be cold in the classroom.

She should have wore her hat, too!

"Hello Professor Kingsley!" she greeted, as she walked past him and took a seat closest to him. She had to resist the urge to poke the man with the point end of her pencil scarf; he probably wouldn't have liked that much. Noticing the chalkboard, she wished she would have used the eraser end of her scarf to wipe off the instructions. Pffft.

Emmaleigh made the long trek up to the sixth floor. She was super excited to be having a Transfiguration lesson. It was one of the classes she had thought she would enjoy. When she entered the classroom, she was shocked to see that she was one of the first to arrive. She found herself a seat close to the front of the classroom,and Greeted the professor. "Good m-morning Professor" She then pulled her scarf off from around her neck, and read the board. Well, the first two were easy, but what was a practical use for Transfiguration? She thought for a while until an idea hit her. It should be possible so, why not?

"Hello Professor, I vas told I could join your lesson" Yes, Danika couldn't just miss Transfiguration. Especially considering this was the first lesson, and her favorite class in Durmstrang. She'll just have to wait and see how this one went on.

She'd read something in the notice board about a scarf, that's why she was coming with one of Sandra's scarves. Danika didn't bring one to Hogwarts, she decided against it because the weather was never truly cold.

She placed it on a desk, after she made her way to one that was close to Fletcher.

Fee stepped into the classroom. She was really excited for that lesson she had heard soo much about it.
"Good morning Professor", she smiled.
Walking to one of the tables she sat down and wrote the informations on her parchment.

"Professor Kingsley! Good day, Sir!" the boy exclaimed, venturing into the classroom, scarf at hand, his purple/blue striped scarf, he should've brought the Hufflepuff one, he didn't mind losing that one.

Everyone was placing their scarves on their desks, eh, he wouldn't do that just yet. He did placed his bag on it, though.

Hugo walked in and greeted the professor. Ooh, Transfiguration. That would be fun.
He layed his scarf on his desk. It was a Ravenclaw scarf!

Marie wasn't very excited to go to transfiguration class. She was not in the mood to be changed into an animal or anything crazy today. Hopefully though that's not what class would be about since they had to bring a scarf with them. Walking into the class the first person she seen was the professor. "Hello Professor Kingsley." Next she seen Jimmy... looking rather comfy sitting there and Destiny sitting just a couple seats away from him. "Well you look pretty comfy there." She said to Jimmy as she sat at the desk between him and Destiny. She then looked over to Destiny. "Nice scarf. You must have gotten it at the same place you got mine." Leave it to Destiny to find the cute scarves they both had.

Putting her things down she grabbed her quill out of her bag and filled out the parchment on her desk.

She then took her scarf out of her bag and put it on her desk. This seemed a lot like one of the lessons they had last term. Hmm, was the professor going to change her scarf into something else?

Mwahaha! Transfiguration class!

The one class where...

She did horribly in. No matter though! Professor Ruffles far made up for the lack of skill she had in the class. All his ruffle-y ruffles were too funny. Sometimes. Unless she was annoyed during that particular day, then they just irritated her.

Evelyn walked into the room, a rather bored look on her face, though she was really slightly excited about that class. Shhh! No one knows that though.

She stopped for a moment, smiling at Destiny and was about to take her seat near her, but then Josh was there too. OMG JOSH! He was not...sitting near Destiny though. Ugh, fail! No, she wanted to sit near Josh this time. "Good day Professor." she said quietly, taking her seat next to her favorite Gryffindor.

Slytherin scarf on the desk, bag on the ground, quill out, and awesome parchment ready for the class! Wooooooot!

Jim grinned and flicked his fingers in greeting at Ivory but didn't say anything.

He was SO well behaved.

Jimmy winked at Marie but yep, you guessed it. Stayed ever so politely quiet.

Tralala.

Oh finally! Transfiguration... The one class that Rae could actually be good at! She could seriously skip into class she was so happy, but she didn't. Rae did not skip... ever. Smiley nonetheless, she looked over to her two friends Evelyn and Destiny... Yes, it's a good idea to sit with them. She slung her bag down and pulled out some parchment and started writing the following.
Yeah, that was a good day alright.

"Good day, Miss Campbell," Professor Kingsley said with a nod. He was not yet checking parchments to notice the girl's response, and instead moved closer to the door.

That would not do. That would not do at all.

"Young man, you will remove your feet from that desk, this instant!" His tone was snappish as he marched over to the Ravenclaw, and looked down at the parchment.

"Mister Wilkes," he intoned sternly, "that is inappropriate behavior in a classroom and will not be tolerated.

"Mister Fletcher, good day," he said with a nod, as he departed from the rude Ravenclaw and made his way back to where students were entering.

"Mister Carter, hello." Preston watched the boy a moment, recalling the shenanigans from the previous term.

New start, perhaps. But glancing at the parchment, he thought perhaps not.

"Miss Shepard," he said with a small smile. "What a... unique scarf."

Preston nodded at girl in response to her wave.

"Welcome to class," he replied, with a small smile.

"Ah, yes, Miss Malik, please do join us." Preston gestured to the desks.

"My classroom is open to all of the Champions."

He was happy to see her up and about, particularly given the injuries nearly all champions had endured in the first task.

"Good morning," he said with a slight nod.

"Good day to you, Mister Lockhart," he responded.

Preston watched the Ravenclaw make her way over to a desk before turning and surveying the room, some.

Preston watched others enter, walking around the room to glance at parchments. Some would need some addressing, for sure.

"Hello, Miss Salazar," he said as he passed by. Glancing at her parchment, he nodded. That was certainly more practical that some of the others he'd seen.

"Good day," he said passing by and catching the different name on her parchment.

Pausing, he returned. Bending over slightly, he whispered. "Would you like to be addressed as Miss Flores-Shepard, or just Shepard?"

Emma Malfoy walked into the Transfiguration classroom holding her green scarf in her right hand. "Good Morning Professor!" she exclaimed as she entered. Reading the board, she took out a piece of parchment and wrote:
After she had finished with the piece of parchment. She handed it to the Professor, smiling. She went back to a desk and put her scarf on it. Emma also pulled out some more parchment, ink, and a quill. She was so ready!

This instant?

Jimmy looked up from his parchment and paused.

This very instant?

"Alright... sir."

He did swing his feet down and to his credit didn't point out that the Headmaster didn't seem to mind it in his classroom.

He smiled up at the professor. Not his usual heyyyy-ladies-I'm-so-charming grin, but his look-how-much-respect-I-have-for-authority smile. Just a bit different.

He barely used it, really.

... he wondered if it was worth asking if he could transfigure himself a footrest.

Lara was so excited about this lesson she always thinks that this subject is one of akind ,transifugrate things that was awesome!! So she chosed a desk and sat down and put her scarf on the desk.

On a piece of parchment please write the following:

Name: Lara Black
House and Year: Slytherin, first year.
An example of a practical use of transfiguration: Turning a rat to a glass of water.

Hmm wha?

Oh right, Flores-Shepard...last name thingy. Well it certainly was a mouthful. She didn't know why she just didn't use Shepard. However, keeping her last original last name was just something she needed to do.

But, not anymore. She was passed the whole family thing. "I think, Shepard is good." she said quietly back. "Flores-Shepard is a bit long."

Mmhmm, yup.

Finally. She had been looking forward to this class ever since she had spoken to the professor over the summer. Skipping into the classroom, Hufflepuff scarf wrapped snug around her neck. "Hello, Professor Kingsley." Cheerful mood she was in today, not that she was never cheerful, but she was excited about the lesson.

Taking a seat beside Ivory, she gave the girl a light, playful nudge as she read the board. Loosening the scarf, she pulled out a parchment, and wrote down what was instructed.

When finished, she let her legs swing idly under the desk, waiting for the lesson to begin.

Freya was so excited. She always loved Transfiguration. She took off her scarf and put it on her desk. She read the instruction on the board and pulled out a small piece of parchment and quill from her bag.

Alice was excited for Transfiguration. She had no idea if she'd be very good at it, but she was looking forward to it anyway.

"Hi Professor Kingsley. How are you?" Alice hadn't gotten a chance to meet him yet, so she was looking forward to introducing herself.

Taking out a piece of parchment Alice wrote down her name and year for the professor:

Alice Page
First Year Gryffindor
Example of practical use: transforming a bigger object (like a book) into something smaller (a rock or pebble) in order to save space, or hide if you need to

Renesemee walked into class "Good Day Professor. How are you?" She aske as she took her seat. She took off her bag and pulled out her scarf. It was her favoirte and it looked like a little brown dog.

Iris walked into the Transfiguration classroom feeling less than happy and stinking of Hot Chocolate. Normally, she'd be able to enjoy her hot chocolate in the morning without getting it all down her front.

But nutcase owls don't usually fly RIGHT into her, thus knocking her mug over.

She didn't have time to go and change though, so she had to just use a cleaning charm to get rid of the hot chocolate. The smell wouldn't go away though. GAHH. The prefect gave a smile to the Professor, "G'mornin' Professor!" She said, as she went to find her usual seat.

Then, she took her quill, ink and parchment out of her bag. Following the professors instructions, Iris began to scribble down the needed information on her parchment.

Name: Iris Beaumont
House and Year: Slytherin, 5th Year
An example of a practical use of transfiguration: Turning a hedgehog into a pin cushion.

Setting her quill down, Iris opened her bag and pulled her scarf out. No, she didn't have a Slytherin scarf with her. It was just a plain, white scarf. very fluffy and wooly. Hehe. Iris put the scarf down on her desk, and then polded her arms, waiting for the class to start.

Amy walked into the classroom "Hello Professor" she said cheerfully as she made her way to a desk
She pulled out some parchment and wrote

She placed her Emerald colored striped scarf onto her desk and waited for class to start

Salander entered the classroom slightly huffing. Sixth floor class.... huh. Why arent they all on the ground floor again? he mused as he exhaustively took a seat.

He looked at the board and started to fill in the answers, pausing at the last note and scribbling in a response....

Rubiey bounced into the Transfiguration classroom. She couldn't wait to start transfiguring stuffs. "Gooooooood morning, Professor Kingsley." She said brightly, taking a seat. She pulled out some neatly rolled parchment, her quill and began to write.

"I have an extra scar if you want to borrow it.'' She pulled out the scarf "Its black and its got bats on it"

Adelyn walked into the classroom. MEEP! She was so excited! She signed on a piece of parchment--



She set down her scarf and said to the proffesor- she didn't know his name.. "Hi proffesor! How are you today?" she asked grining.

"Good morning," he said kindly.

The kind look did not remain as he dealt with the Ravenclaw. One more stern look, and no response, though he registered the hesitance before the 'sir.'

Honestly, who taught these children manners?

Preston smiled at the first year, before moving on.

"Very well," he said, making mental note about the name.

Two Miss Shepards, then. And almost always together.

Interesting.

"Hello, Miss Lovegoods!" Preston took note of her enthusiasm as he moved by.

Preston watched another student make her way in.

And another.

The class was filling up nicely.

"And good morning to you," he replied.

[B]"Ah, Mister Kururugi. Welcome."

"I'm quite well, thank you for asking. And you?"

"I am well. And you?"

"Good day, Miss Beaumont," he said as he passed by.

"Good morning. We'll be starting soon."

Preston continued greeting students as they came in. "I am doing well. And you? How is 'it going,' to use the youthful colloquial?

Preston took note of the huffing Slytherin. Quite a haul from the dungeons, though if you left enough time, one could take it leisurely.

"Hello," he said, raising an eyebrow at her bouncing.

Preston gave a nod before moving back to the front of the room.

Preston smiled. "I'm quite well. Go take your seat and we can begin."


-------------

"Welcome to Transfiguration! Let's begin!"

Preston Kingsley clapped his hands sharply once, to draw attention to the front of the room.

"I am Professor Kingsley and I will be your instructor. Some of you have written rather interesting things on your parchments, and, returning students, I must remind you that Gamp's Laws have not ceased to exist since last term. Please remember that when you are hypothesizing about possible transfigurations."

Clasping his hands behind his back, he continued. "New students, some of you have great imagination, but unfortunately some of what you suggested is not possible. I won't lecture today on Gamp or the Principle Exceptions, but do remember than you cannot create food. You can only multiply it once you have some. You cannot create or duplicate money. You cannot create love. You cannot create life or reverse death. You cannot create items with magical properties."

Flicking his wand at the board, the list of things you cannot do with Transfiguration wrote themselves on the board.

"That said, today we will be focusing on what you can do." He began to pace. "I had a different series of courses planned over the summer, but the events of the Triwizard Tournament have altered my plans some."

Stopping at the top of the circle of desks, he crossed his arms in front of his chest. "It was suggested to me that Transfiguration was not a practical discipline mostly. After all, why would you need to turn a matchstick into a needle? Or a rat into a water goblet? Or a chicken into a pillow?"

"What might be some everyday useful applications of transfiguration? How can transfiguration make your life easier?"

Raising his hand, he replies "Well, sir if you needed for instance a needle and didn't have one, but had a match, or a small stick, or whatever was close, you could transfigure the item into what you need."

"It's not necessarily just because you want to transfigure something for fun. Most likely it's because we'll need to use transfiguration for something we need."

Alice smiled back at the Professor. "I'm doing well also."


Alice took out her notebook and copied down the list that appeared on the board.



"Well Professor, I read somewhere that some statues can be transfigured into actual creatures. Perhaps if you had a rabbit statue and there was a small space in your house you couldn't get through or you needed to get under, you could just transfigure the statue, and have it go under and get it for you. For example a rabbit statue?"

Hand up in the air, with scarf and everything. "But what if you only had a chicken and wanted to sleep, but didn't want anyone to steal that chicken, huh? The best you could do is turn it into a pillow...no one will steal the chicken, then" for some odd reason his eyes were to that Slytherin girl, the one friends with the Giraffe.

Chicken. Ha.

The hand was still in the air, one may want to tell Treyen that it isn't necessary to stay up the whole time he answered, "It depends on what you need at the moment and what you have...like the chicken example, though I'm not sure how many people will be under such circumstances" hand down.

Kurumi was bubbling on the inside as the professor began class. She had been waiting all year for Transfiguration and the day was finally here. Adjusting her name plate an moving her scarf a little more to the right, Kurumi raised her hand to answer the professor's question.

"Kurumi Hollingberry, Professor," she said as a brief introduction. "Use of a Switching Spell could be very useful. Being able to switch the intended target with another item of the caster's choice could perhaps even save your life."

Nia raised her hand. "You can transfigure yourself, right?" she partly asked. She thought one could, but since she'd never actually done it yet...

"So then, if you lost an earring down the back of a sofa and you couldn't reach it, you could transfigure yourself so you could reach it. Either into a small creature, or just make your arm thinner so you could fit it down the gap."

Seeing movement at the corner of his eye, the lad turned his head to face a young Puff then smiled at the rather amusing scarf design "Oh hey thanks for this kiddo! Whats your name?" he mumbled quietly.


Everyday applications? Salander thought about a usual predicament he seems to find himself when he eats "Well, when you have so many spoons and you need to cut into a nice piece of steak, we can just transfigure one of those spoons into a knife. "

"Good, sir" she said " Some everyday use of transfiguration might be to turn a spoon to a fork"

"Your welcome" she said as she handed the scarf to the Slytherin, "My name is Renesmee but everyone calls be Nessa. Whats your name?"

Danika raised her hand, gracefully, for she wanted to address some of the things the Professor just said.

"I do not know vhether you think it true..." the Transfiguration being not a practical discipline stuff, "...vut I disagree, for as much as theory can be over helpful, ve get novhere if practice does not take part in it, and I find that practice allovs less mistakes vhen dealing vith Transfiguration" especially the human part, it was much more successful if one practiced, otherwise it could turn out to be a rather chaotic experiment.

And now, Transfguration making life easier. "I do not think it makes it easier...it is more, like, current" yes, the explanation is coming, "Vy transfiguring an object into something ve need now, it saves time. It saves present time, vut not for long. That is why is current, vecause the effects eventually go avay" the hand was down, she'll leave the examples for the Hogwartians.

As Professor Kingsley began class, Emmaleigh gave him her attention. So, there were thing you couldn't do with Transfiguration? well, her example seemed to fall into the acceptable end of the spectrum. As the information appeared on the board, Emmaleigh began taking careful notes.



So, how was transfiguration useful? She tried to think about where she might be able to use it in her every day life. "Transfiguration would be practical if you're on holiday and realize you forgot something at home. You wouldn't be able to summon it because then in would fly through the air over muggle towns right?" She was pretty sure she had read that some where. "So you could just transfigure something into your favorite sweater, or a pair of boots or what ever it was you forgot. But, as long as its not magical." she added quickly.


Then, she heard one of the older students answer, and chose to add to it. "You could just transfigure a pebble or something into an earring. It would probably be easier than turning yourself into an animal. Although, not as cool." she admitted. "But then, you could just preform the summoning spell too."

Kellen put his hand up, "Transfiguration can also make your life easier by turning something that is bothering you into an item that is either inconsequential or beneficial. If your lawn is covered in weeds, for example, you could use transfiguration spells to change those weeds to flowers, or to water."

Amy raised her hand "well if your shirt got all ripped you could transfigure it into a brand new shirt I suppose"

Jim put his hand up slowly before answering. "Well, vanishing spells are transfiguration spells, and there are always things to get rid of, like rubbish or whatever. Sometimes vanishing something is the safest way to dispose of a thing." He suggested casually.

Patroclus was stroking his scarf as he listened to Professor Kingsley......the Lion really like this teacher and subject!

Moving his head from person to person, as student's answered, Patroclus wondered about an answer from himself. "Professor, transfiguration can also help with the movement of objects, for exmaple you could transfigure a large solid rock chest, into a mtach box and move it with ease!" Patroclus had seen this before, Pollux had moved the sarcophagus of a death Wizard to reveal the magic texts that were buried beneath!

Patroclus had never thought till now, I wonder if Kingsley know's my Mother......he made a plan to ask after class.

Rae quickly shot up her hand. Oh, she strongly disagreed with what the professor had said about the chicken/pillow not being for daily use. "Giant chicken means entertainment. I would definitely use that daily! Who wouldn't?" Because Rae was being so reasonable, she didn't see how she could possibly be wrong. Yeah Rae, you got this.

(ooc post: I have not forgotten about you, my dears. My internet is misbehaving wildly and will not let me quote you / respond to you more than a few lines. *Scolds it* I shall work it out but it might be morning my time before I can reply.

Continue class discussion, but please, no wild chattiness, etc, and no OOC posts from you all.)

Hmm.. everyday benefit? Well Louisa could do without Transfiguration at all but let's see if she could use it wisely. She listened to her classmates answers and eyes the board that had the stuff she can't transfigure or create. Hmm money would've been awesome.

"Can we use it to change leaves of trees into books? Not written... just empty books..?" Might be weird but the girl was a bookworm and she'd use some empty books to fill them out. Heh. Louisa waited in her seat and a weary smile on her face, she didn't want the Professor to remember her from the food fight trouble. Better to have that memory erased and prove herself as a good girl ^__^

Or..

She could cling to that memory and prove herself as a good girl who learnt from her mistakes. Yeah. That sounded mature and better. A big smile now was drawn upon the girl's face.

Jenny pondered. When is transfiguration good for everyday life? She never thought of it before; her parents must have done a lot right in front of her face and she never even knew what spell it would be.

Speaking of her parents, Jenny's thoughts went back to her dad and how he would constantly turn anything nearby into something else to help him with his cooking.

"Maybe you could turn a cutting board into a mixing bowl if you need to mix ingredients you just cut up." Then her stomach grumbled.

Darn, Jenny shouldn't have mentioned that. Now all she could think of was food.

Kurumi giggled at Jenny's growling stomach. "Or, maybe you could transfigure your cooking untensils into whatever it is you needed. I mean, if you start with a spoon, but then need something else, you could just do it right there on the spot with no dirty dishes to wash!"

"And if you need to clean up some spills on yourself, you can transfigure whatever you're holding into a handkerchief." Jenny nodded. Then she heard another small grumble. Stupid stomach. Hopefully Kurumi didn't hear that one.

Now Kurumi was starting to get hungry hearing how much Jenny's stomach was growling...and the kitchen was just next door where all her cooking supplies and friendly house elves were. *frown*

"If you were good at Conjuration, perhaps you could make a trash can appear to put all your dirty handkerchiefs in!" or...a telephone to order some food...

"uh...I'm sure transfiguring statues into ducks could be of use to someone..." Cass said uncertainly as she played with the end of her scarf.

Then she ducked (ooc: no pun intended) her head down and remembered to write on the parchment on her table.

Name: Ara Cassandra Prewett
House and Year: First Year Slytherin
An example of a practical use of transfiguration:Turning rats into water goblets.

Dianna raised her hand, "If you need to change something into a useful item or defend yourself by means of transfiguring the person into a stone or something, that's were transfiguration comes in use. I guess in life..Ermm.I can change let's say my sock into a stuff teddy bear instead.." she said with a smile as she lowered her hand. Sock to Teddy bear? Really?

Jaxon raised his hand and said, "If one person is well versed in the art of Transfiguration, he or she can make use of a single object and transform it to different things. Like for example you are traveling, you can carry a small amount of stuff you have and just transform some regular things into things that you really need." he said with a smile

Preston smiled. "Well, those first questions were rhetorical - about the match sticks and chickens. Examples of questions individuals have raised. But I'll address your comments in turn."

"Quite true," Preston said in response. "Though, some times for convenience, and not absolute necessity?"

Preston stroked his chin thoughtfully. "Perhaps. You could certainly animate a rabbit statue or create a rabbit, but controlling it would require other spellwork."

Preston nodded appreciatively. "Indeed. If you found yourself wanting a nap in a hen house, you would be well equipped."

"Yes, thank you Miss Hollingberry. Transfiguration, when creatively applied can save your life." Preston paused and surveyed the room. "We'll be getting to that shortly."

Professor Kingsley crossed his arms in front of his chest. "While it is true you can transfigure yourself, if you are not an animagus, transforming yourself into an animal will leave you stuck until someone else transfigures you back. Risky business, that."

"Yes, good example."

"Yes, thank you. But please, socialize after my class and not during." Preston looked at her pointedly.

"Excellent exposition, Miss Malik, thank you. I do think I may have been vague, though, in my request. I wasn't looking for practical versus theoretical, though your answer was correct. I was more looking for practical versus impractical. Meaning, what is useful and not superfluous about the field."

"Creative, thank you."

"Excellent, thank you. With regards to the summoning spell, sometimes, the spell that makes the most sense eludes our memory when we need it."

"Perhaps not the most efficient weed removal, but yes, thank you."


"Yes, Mister Wilkes, thank you. Vanishing is indeed included and occasionally overlooked when considering applicable transfiguration spells."

"Wonderful, yes. Ease of transportation. Moving house is certainly simpler when you can fit the majority of your belongings in a trunk."

"Yes, though, you'll want to be careful not to do so unless you're certain the spell won't wear off in the meantime. Delicate work, that."

Preston smiled. "While I appreciate your enthusiasm, that is much of what the criticism is. Such folly is seen as impractical and superficial, however entertaining."

"I appreciate your enthusiasm as well, Mister Fletcher, though having worked at the Ministry in my youth, I'd hesitate to try that unless I were keen on being fired."

"Perhaps. I'd have to think on that some. There's not reason it shouldn't be possible, though potentially time-consuming."

"Good, though you'll want to be careful not to hit the food with the spell."

"Again, yes, rather convenient, though not necessary. After all, you might not need to worry about dishes if you manage a good cleaning spell."

Preston did not hear the rumbling stomachs, and if he had, wouldn't have cared. There was a no food rule in the classroom and he was sticking to that.

"You could also conjure a handkerchief. Remembering, conjuration is a form of transfiguration as well."

"Yes, thank you."

Preston nodded before continuing on.

"Human to inanimate object is tricky and can be dangerous, but yes, possible. If you're defending yourself against an attacker and not just an annoying sibling, it could be quite useful."

"Yes, indeed. It's quite helpful in that manner. By way of an example, I traveled abroad with my sister this summer and through a combination of charms and transfiguration, managed to bring most of my library with me."

----

Preston walked to the chalkboard and turned to face the class once more.

"Most of what you've named is convenience. Not wanting to carry things or fixing the fact that you mismatched your socks that morning - though pattern changing or color changing would be more charm work than anything else. Are their situations, like was mentioned with switching spells, where transfiguration isn't just convenient but a means of survival?"

Preston paused and looked over the class.

"The events of the Triwizard Tournament have troubled me, because the tournament itself demands the creative applications of all disciplines. It is that application we will study this term."

Haha. Hen house. That was something Treyen thought would never happen, but it should apply to any house, no? Like...the Abraxan stables, and the animal collective, all of those things that Saylen now owned. Haha. Awesome!

Then his eyes got a bit more wide. He'd have to ask Professor Kingsley how he managed to get almost his entire library along with him, and where exactly did he go to that required most of his books.

Aha! Thinking time. Eaaasy!

Treyen's hand was up in the air again, and he didn't set it down until he was done speaking. It was odd that this was the only class he felt the need to keep his hand up. Very odd. "But that is easy, let's say you have a cookie, but you want no one to eat it... yes, people here liked to eat other people's food, or at least ask if they could eat it, "...then you could just transfigure it into something else until you want to eat it, therefore, you're stretching the survival time of the cookie" it could also be applied to one's survival, but the cookie seemed more important at the moment.

Danika nodded. This must be, if not the only one, the most brilliant Professor at Hogwarts. Well, the second one if one took Lafay into account. Then again, weren't all Transfiguration Professors brilliant?

And she wasn't going to say anything else, but there was a thought in her mind, "If you vere in the middle of a duel, and someone casts...let's say, arrows at you, then you simply transfigure them into something softer if you do not mean to deflect the spell" like cotton balls, or something else. She should've done that when dueling with Sabel and his arrows, no idea as to why she didn't think of that at the moment.

The arrows will eventually have to be vanished, because the spell wouldn't last forever.

Amy raised her hand "An example of when you'd need transfiguration for survival is that, if you were camping in the woods and you wanted to protect your food from wild animals or something you could turn them into something else, like a tree or a rock, then when you were hungry you could change it back." She played with the end of her scarf

"Well, this is a very muggle-like example, but if there's a time bomb of some sort... You could transform it into a rock or something," Hugo nodded. But maybe the rock would then explode. That wouldn't be good.

"Yes professor, my apoligies" She said she was only trying to help another student who hadn't bought a scarf for said reasons

"Some survival situations might be if you were being attacked you could transform your surroundings as a wall to protect yourself." She said

Hmmm, what?

The Slytherin had been too busy fixing her name tag, what with the last name and everything, that she now finally registered that they were talking. Right. Survival. Spells to help with survival? Or Transfiguration stuff to help with it. Uh huuuhh...

"I suppose if you're falling from a million feet in the air, you could transfigure something into one of those parasheet things." That's what it was called right?

catching up...
 

Lara was listening to the thoughts of her classmates then she raised her hand and said “Maybe if a person was in a dangerous situation and needs a weapon other than the wand , and he found something that can be transfigure to a weapon so it could save his life” Lara finished ”Erm.. could it be Professor…?” , she added as she was thinking that she has said so much , so she smiled at the professor and hoped that he won’t think her an idiot.

Fee listened to her classmates as she thoight of an own example.

"Couldnt a transfiguration spell be used if a wizard or witch was in handcuffs for example", she suggested,"he or she could change them into something soft, to get out."

Alice thought for a moment. "Well could you transform yourself into something? For example if you are trying to hide from someone coming after you or a dangerous situation, you could transform yourself into an animal or something smaller to hide." Alice wasn't sure if only animagis could do that or if anyone could do it. Perhaps it was only animagis. "Or you could transfer an object into something that could be used to help defend yourself if dueling spells are not enough."

Kurumi gulped. There was going to be another maze, wasn't there? They were going to have to use Transfiguration to get through it. At least she had found Jenny - they were a great duo for these sorts of things. Kurumi thought about the Triwizard Tournament for a moment and what possible use of Transfiguration could be possible - despite those possibilities being endless. "If you were facing a creature that had dangerous claws, you could change them into something fluffy like marshmallows..."

Jaxon smirked when he heard a fellow student gave an example about prolonging the life of a cookie. He thought to himself. Put the cookie in a tight lid sealed container and hid it so it wont get eaten prolongs its freshness.

He then raised his hands and said, "When people heard of survival, they often think of a fight, a duel or something that involves a dangerous situation, but everyday living is survival." he said pausing for a bit and then continuing. "Like transfiguring a simple tree branch into a floaty when you see someone is drowning or transfiguring a plate into a kettle when you want to boil water for coffee." he said with a smirk.

Preston nodded as students shared their answers. "Some of you certainly have a flair for the dramatic, but you make some good points. I'll address some of them, and then we'll move on to some spellwork."

Preston stepped in front of his desk and leaned against it.

"Dueling applications, certainly," he responded with a nod. "To select an appropriate transfiguration spell in the moment requires great familiarity and practice. Reaction time is key."

"Creating barriers, yes," Preston said, crossing his arms across his chest.

Preston cracked a smile. "A parachute, Miss Shepard, yes."

Preston nodded. "Indeed. Creating items or changing items to ease passage can be tremendously helpful."

Preston reached up and stroked his chin. "I suppose. But wielding a wand while restrained and actually targeting the cuffs woudl be quite difficult."

He paused. "But someone else could do that for you."

Preston frowned. "But remember, if you transfigure yourself, you cannot change yourself back. That puts you at tremendous risk."

"Good, switching spells can be tremendously useful."

Preston frowned again. Having only seen the results of the first task, and not the events itself, it was hard to believe that it wan'st that bad.

"Provided that you could move your arms at all and that your wand was unbroken, sure."

Preston smiled. "Excellent point, thank you. Simple things are sometimes the most helpful."

He stood and made his way to the board.

"Thank you for mentioning presence of mind, Mister Kururugi. Realizing a spell's potential in the moment is incredibly difficult, and so, we'll be thinking about those sorts of situations this term."

--------------

Flicking his wand at the board, the writing there vanished, replaced by two words: vestis vellus

"Vestis vellus. No particular emphases in speech, but the intention is key here. What we'll be doing today with this is transfiguring your scarfs into large, woolen blankets. Vestis can be used to transfigure items into blankets, cloaks, curtains, and other large, flat pieces of cloth. Vellus gives us the material type - woolen. Concentrating on blanket as opposed to a wrap will make the difference."

Preston paused to let everyone absorb what he had said. Pulling his own scarf out from behind his desk, he rested it on the desk. Black, with dark grey stripes, he folded it into thirds.

"The movement is a simple flourish sort of curly-q," he added, demonstrating as he looped his wand in the air.

"Vestis vellus," he intoned, transforming his scarf into a large, blanket with fringe, folded neatly on his desk. Setting down his wand, he shook out his blanket. It was large enough to wrap around his entire body, and warm enough to provide protection from the cold outdoors.

"I don't expect you to be able to produce a folded blanket, necessarily. You may want to spread out around the room as some of them may be quite large as you get the hang of it."

"You may begin practicing. Recall the reversion spell from last term -- new students, please ask an older student -- and practice several times, altering size and weight with your focus."

Jenny sighed. Whew! They were just practicing transforming scarves into blankets! Not transforming things into dragons and mermaids...

Her stomach no longer grumbling, Jenny placed her blue scarf on her desk and began practicing the wand movement when she realized the professor said something. Reversion spell? What was that?

Fee listened to what the professor was saying,while she ruffled her curls a little.
What? Ask an older stundent?! Why didnt he explain?
Hopefully turning her scarf into a blanked was as easy as it sounded.

"Could someone help me", she asked no one in particular.

Huh??They are supposed to transfigure a scarf to blanket?Freya let a small sighed. "Umm..Could someone help me with this?" she asked hoping that there's an older student willing to show her how to transfigure the scarf to blanket.

Kurumi took out her wand and looked at her white scarf. OK...just do the same wand movement that the professor and say the proper words. She pointed her wand, waved it around, and said, "Vestis vellus."

Nothing happened. Hmmm...she tried again and this time it began to move in a wave-like motion before shooting straight up into the air and falling back down on the table. Kurumi, being very surprised by this, feel over backwards in her chair.

She picked herself back up and looked at her scraf with determined violet eyes. "You, Mr. Scarf, are going to turn into a nice folded blanket," she scolded the scarf. She took out her wand and tried again, this time producing a very very loooooooong scarf that covered her entire table and becan rolling across the floor towards the professor.


Oops...

Ah...here came the awful part. Treyen immediately frowned. He totally disliked the practical part, mainly because he sucked. And also because of the 'focus' time it required in order for a spell to be successful. It was too much concentration. Concentration he didn't have.

Nevertheless, he wasn't going to give up, ever.

What was the spell from last term? Eek! Wait...it was Reverto, was it not? Well, he didn't have to focus on that just yet, all he had to do was focus on the Vestis vellus. Yeah.

He eyed his scarf for a moment, and then sighed, he should've brought along the Hufflepuff scarf, not this one. Anyway, what was the wand movement? Flourish and curly-Q?! Why were they always so complicated?

The boy pretty much squinted as the Professor did the movement, yeah, it always appeared easier when he did it. Now, flourish and curly-q. "Vestis vellus!" he said, aiming to the scarf.

Haha. Fail. The scarf was still there.

He could always try it over and over again.

Alice hadn't thought about that...I guess there would be no way to transfigure yourself back.

Alice reached down and took her red and gold striped Gryffindor scarf out of her bag and set it on her desk, before removing her wand from its holster. She made a quick note of the incantation and the wand movement in her notebook before closing it and distancing herself from the other kids in the class. In case this ended up going terribly wrong, she didn't want any other students (or their scarfs) to be effected.

Alice laid her scarf out completely flat, figuring that would be easier than trying it folded like the Professor had. She cleared her throat before saying, "Vestis Vellus," moving her wand in the same curly q motion the Professor had.

Once she was done Alice looked down at her scarf. Hmm...

It was still the scarf but instead of being the cotton material it was before now it was a wool red and gold striped scarf. Something went askew.

A simple, flourish sort of curly-q? Well, that was a description that definitely required him to pay attention, though after Kingsley demonstrated it Kellen couldn't help but think of it as anything but. In fact, he might have described it in a similar fashion.

After practicing the wand motion a few times, Kellen took out his scarf -- standard Ravenclaw colours -- and took the professor's advice in spreading out around the room. Once he'd found a spot with what he believed to be enough space, he set his scarf on the desk and proceeded to curly-q his wand at it, "Vestis vellus."

He blinked at the blanket, rumpled as it was from where he'd casually (and somewhat carelessly) dropped the scarf. Kingsley definitely was on to something with folding it beforehand.

Lesson!!!
 

Alex entered the class..
was She late?
Professor was already in the class..
little scares Alex greeted professor Kingsley
"H- Hello Professor!!"
The instructions were given..
Oh my goodness!!!!!!!!
Alex forgot the scarf..
How could she do that.. She is becoming a dumb..
She took out her parchment and begin to right..

Quote:

Name: Alexis E.Granger House and Year: Ravenclaw - 1st year Example: Animals can be transfigured into Goblets...

Quote:

"Welcome to Transfiguration! Let's begin!" Preston Kingsley clapped his hands sharply once, to draw attention to the front of the room. "I am Professor Kingsley and I will be your instructor. Some of you have written rather interesting things on your parchments, and, returning students, I must remind you that Gamp's Laws have not ceased to exist since last term. Please remember that when you are hypothesizing about possible transfigurations." Clasping his hands behind his back, he continued. "New students, some of you have great imagination, but unfortunately some of what you suggested is not possible. I won't lecture today on Gamp or the Principle Exceptions, but do remember than you cannot create food. You can only multiply it once you have some. You cannot create or duplicate money. You cannot create love. You cannot create life or reverse death. You cannot create items with magical properties." Flicking his wand at the board, the list of things you cannot do with Transfiguration wrote themselves on the board. "That said, today we will be focusing on what you can do." He began to pace. "I had a different series of courses planned over the summer, but the events of the Triwizard Tournament have altered my plans some." Stopping at the top of the circle of desks, he crossed his arms in front of his chest. "It was suggested to me that Transfiguration was not a practical discipline mostly. After all, why would you need to turn a matchstick into a needle? Or a rat into a water goblet? Or a chicken into a pillow?" "What might be some everyday useful applications of transfiguration? How can transfiguration make your life easier?"

"Professor" Alex raised her hand..
"Transfiguration makes life easy by transfiguring the things that are necessary at times but not present at the instant"..

firstie oogles
 

Kurumi looked over just in time to see an upperclassmen transform their scarf into a blanket and back again with ease. How did he do that?! Kurumi scooted her seat over, dragging her ridiculously long white scarf with her as she did. Clearly, she needed some help because the next time she tried...well...perhaps the entire room was going to be covered in white scratchy fabric.

"Um...excuse me..."she half wispered. "H-h-How did you do that?" Her cheeks flushed as sne tried to roll up her scarf so it wasn't all over the floor for someone to trip on.

Jenny relaxed after hearing the Professor talk about the Reversion spell. Whew! All she had to worry about was to turn her "blanket" back into a scarf...okay.

After training her hand to go in some kind of fancy way, Jenny pointed her wand at her blue scarf and murmured, "Vestis vellus."

Her blue scarf somehow stretched into a tiny blue wool blanket...fit enough to snug a baby with. Okay, at least there's progress.

Dianna started the practice. She spread the scarf and made sure it was fixed before she muttered, "Vestis vellus." with the correct wand movement.
Her once green scarf was now HUGE! "Rrrrrrrrrmsndgd.." she muttered as she tried to get the blanket that was covering her away.
Finally. "I mean.. Reverto." she said and back came her scarf.

Aaaanyone?
 

Warm in her thick clothes beneath the robes, the room started to feel too cozy for being a classroom. Louisa's head rested on her folded arms while the Professor talked and talked…and talked. She followed most of his explanation of this spell they should use… to transform a scarf into a- what? A blanket? Her head snapped up and she was reallyexcited at the idea of more warmth.

The little girl wrote the spell on her parchment careful to spell it right. "Vestis vellus." She murmured while checking it from the board. Oh! The movement is a simple flourish sort of curly-q. One last look down at her parchment, the girl smiled widely satisfied.



Louisa put the parchment aside and loosened her scarf from around her neck. Ooo! A slight shiver ran through her body but no matter in a few seconds she would wear a big thick blanket instead.

Grinning to herself, she held her wand and pointed it at the scarf lying on her desk. Cough cough. "Vestis..vellus." She said quietly….almost instantly the lights went out. Louisa blinked once…twice..thrice. Okay the lights were definitely out! "HELP ME!" The girl –under the huge blanket- screamed terrified. Who knew Louisa, the know-it-all, feared the dark?

As he walked around the room, Professor Kingsley noticed the scarf rolling across the floor. He'd check back on her to see if she needed help again in a moment.

Preston's studder-stepped when he heard a rather shrill rendition of the spell, turning around toward the sound of it. Raising an eyebrow, he located the source, pursing his lips before moving on.

"Give it another try, Mister Lockhart," he said as he passed by. "Take somet ime to visualize the results."

Approaching the first year, Preston smiled. "That's a good start. Now, really focus and imagine in your mind what the finished blanket looks like. Don't try for a folded one yet, or you'll likely end up with a hole in the middle, but visualize the end result."

He tapped the scarf with his wand. "Reverto." And it was back to it's original form.

"That's the reversion spell. It's simple enough. Just give a quick flick with your wand and re-ver-TO, and it should go right back."

Approaching the Ravenclaw, Kingsley nodded approvingly. "Well done, Mister Stern. I imagined the older students would find this easier. Do try several? Different sizes, and all that."

Preston nodded as he moved around. "Good, Mister Fletcher. Just a little more concentration on the size."

He was about to say more when someone entered the room...

Late.

"Two points for tardiness, Miss Granger. Do try to be on time." His voice was clipped.

(ooc: If you're just coming in to a lesson after it starts, just play as if your character has been there the whole time.)

How fortunate that Professor Kingsley was standing right by Mister Fletcher.

"It's all about concentration, my dear," he said. "You need to picture the end result and, if it helps, focus on how your object will change. You've gotten the longer. Now for the wider and heavier."

He smiled before turning to the Hufflepuff. "Mister Fletcher, could you show Miss Hollingberry the reversion spell?"

He was a firm believer that teaching others reinforced concepts for the student doing the teaching.

"Good!" Preston walked over to the girl, wand out. "Now, to change it back into a scarf and try again, simply flick your wand and say re-ver-TO while imagining the scarf going back to its original. Then you can try again with the blanket."

Preston stood back so that, if she needed any help, he was still right there. "When you try the blanket again, take a moment to really think about what it looks like, feels like. How heavy is it? What size is it? It might look good, but it might be thin and not warm at all if you don't."

Turning back, he noticed that the tardy Miss Granger also lacked a scarf. Sighing, he walked over to her.

"Escarpa," he intoned, drawing a line in the air with his wand. Fluttering down to her desk, a thin cotton scarf piled itself on the surface.

"You can use that. Please return it to me when you are done."

Alice looked up from her scarf at the sound of footsteps approached. Ah, it was Professor Kingsley. She listened carefully as the Professor spoke.

Hmm...visualize more clearly. Alice took a glance at the wool blanket Professor Kingsley had on his desk. That would be a nice visual to have in mind in her next attempt. She watched as he cast Reverto, changing her scarf back to the material it was before.

"Thanks Professor Kingsley," Alice said with a smile.

She closed her eyes and pictured the same blanket on Professor Dodson's desk, except it being red and gold striped. Alice cleared her throat firmly before pointing her wand at the scarf.

"Vestis Vellus," Alice said clearly, moving her wand in the curly q motion.

Alice watched excitedly as the scarf changed into a blanket....well not quite. She could help but chuckle at her result. Half of it was still her Gryffindor scarf, but the other half was now a wool blanket with red and gold tie-dye as opposed to stripes.

Okay Professor said that the first year can do it by themselves. Freya pulled out her wand, she took a few breath before transfiguring the scarf into a blanket. She pointed her wand to her Slytherin scarf. Okay now the movement flourish and curly-q "Vestis Vellus!"

Once she was done she looked at her scarf. Nothing happened. Hmm..She took another breath before trying for the second time. She repeated the wand movement before saying the incantation "Vestis Vellus!" She saw her scarf turning into a really tiny blanket. "Well. At least it was turned into a blanket, right?" she said to herself.