Jenny looked up as the Professor taught the class another spell. Great. She hadn't even managed to turn her worm into a nail properly yet. Quickly grabbing her wand with her now-gloved hands (she quickly turned a hankerchief in her pocket into leather gloves), she turned to the only worm that was still squirming. "Tacque!" The worm quickly turned into a long, bent nail. Hm, she'll practice again later.

Jenny quickly went up to the front of the class to take a board. How was she going to perform the hammer spell? Her clumsiness makes it horrible for her to concentrate.

Noting the way the Professor hammered the nail, Dianna fixed on her gloves and took a worm and with a flick of her wand while saying "Tacque." turned it into a nail. It was quite straight looking.

Dianna proceeded in the front of the class to get a board. Hopefully things will turn out well.

Alex heared the professor carefully. She was good with her nail.
Yet again she tried one more time.
"Tacque" and yes she was perfect.
She had a question what could be the other use of the spell "Malleus".
She need to ask this.
"Excuse me professor. What could be any other use of this spell? Is it just to use the wand as a hammer?" Alex questioned professor.
She was little nervous as she had a bad encounter with the professor for the last lesson as she was late. Still she dared to ask. She need to know.

Salander returned to his desk, his immobilized worm still looking very much like a worm. Ok, concentrate-- a good solid nail. A nail that can go through bricks. Yeah! he repeated to himself as he gripped his wand tightly then gave it a flick "Tacque!" he cast. The worm changed into the nail-- without a head, and it still kinda looked like a worm, being all rusty brown and bent and totally dull. But the lad was over the moon. His successfully transfigured something into something else! He cackled and looked around, wanting to show of his work.

But then the Professor brought something out. Boards. Huh. He listened as the Professor instructed that they are to test their transfigured nails onto them, and watched as the spell for hammering was demonstrated. Huh.... speaking of hammers and nails, wonder if the Professor ever heard of the nail gun? It only takes one finger to drive a nail in.

Shrugging, he grabbed a board and brought it to his desk. Picking up his (pathetically) transfigured nail, he set the end against the board surface and cast the hammering charm with his wand "Malleus". It hit the nail right on the head (if it had one) and promptly broke the nail in two. It didnt even dent the board. Sheesh."Professor, dont we have a nail gun spell? You know something that just shoots nails out of the wand?"

Preston smiiled. "Well, there was the suggestion Mister Lockhart made, to beat trolls about the head." Pausing a beat, he continued. "But for the most part, yes, it's a spell designed to have the effect of hitting something with a hammer. That not always need be nails, however. But we'll talk about that for homework."

Preston pursed his lips in thought before responding. "Yes, and no. There's not a simple spell that will just shot nails out of your wand like arrows and have them immediately sink into their target accurately. It's actually practically two spells simultaneously as you need to conjure nails and direct them, and far too difficult for a mixed age class. Plus, the hammering charm is useful if you need to drive tent stakes into the ground or other things that are more permanent than conjured nails."

He paused. "If you're interested in that spell, however, come by the practice room after class."


----

"As for the rest of you," he said, returning his attention to the class, "I want to see you hammering your nails in before we can get to the last spell."

Placing her nail on top of the board Di concentrated on it. She didn't want her fingers to be squished nor did she want to fail the class.
Gripping her wand tightly, she muttered, "Malleus.". She felt something. Opening her eyes she noticed the nail was still the same (Thank Merlin) but nothing had happened. She swore sh felt something and the board might as well have a small dent in it. She focused and tried again.

Yes! He was getting there, getting there, getting there...and getting his piece of wood, wood, wood. Though, really, couldn't they have just conjured the board with the spell from the last class?

Er, well, Treyen already had his wooden board on his desk, so, yeah, he wasn't trying that. All he wanted to do was place the nails on that wooden thing. With his wand. Ha! Awesome!

It was a good thing they'd worked with muggle tools back in Muggle Studies, otherwise, he wouldn't know how to work a hammer, much less a hammer-wand. "Malleus!" he said, after placing the nail carefully on a spot there on the wooden board, and then as he was about to hit the nail he noticed his fingers. There had to be a way (magical) for the nail to remain standing without the need to support it, yes? Ack, what the hell, he'll do it the muggle way.

And then...a tick, tick, tick...the nail was working just fine, thank you very much...until...crack...the wooden board. It didn't get broken, but close enough. Thank Gilderoy that the wooden board was rather large, so he won't have to go on looking for another one. But it was great though, hammering with a wand, because it was pretty much weightless, and the strength you needed for it was certainly less.

Freya eyed her worm "Let's get this over with, worm." she said and grabbed a worm to retry the spell once again. She pictured a nail in her mind and then pointed her wand to the grossy worm "Tacque!" and the worm changed into a nail she waited a moment hoping that the nail stayed as nail not returned to worm. It stayed still. Yaaayyyy..She did it. Okay next spell..! She grabbed the board and returned to her work desk. She placed her (now transfigured) nail on top the board. "Malleus!" she tapped her wand like Professor Kingsley said. Unfortunately her nail was not strong enough or she was tapping her wand to hard the nail smashed into a couple of pieces. She had to try again from the beginning then.

Rae had a bit of a late start with the worms/nails and whatnot. Nonetheless she strode her way over to the bucket and totally shoved her hand in the worms pulling out a handful. Yes, you crawly critters will be metal soon. She made her way over to her desk and slopped the worms down, it made a gross squishy sound when they hit the desk. Rae was confident in her transfiguration so when she got her wand out she said a simple mutter, "Taque" and the motion of her wand, the worms turned to nails easily. No bent nails, no soft or squishy ones. Awesome. Then quickly grabbing a board Rae got a few nails in with the nonverbal Malleous. Simple

She continued to work with the worms. She took one of the worms out and pointed her wand "Tacque" the worm transformed into a nail but when she picked it up it was really squishy like a worm "Reverto". The worm reappeared and She tried again "Tacque" the worm transformed into a nail and was alittle harder but still not in good quality. "Reverto" the woem formed back. "Tacque" the worm formed to very hard nail. She was ready to move on.

SPOILER!!: proffie

Picking up a board, he placed it on his desk, before levitating a worm from the bucket. "Tacque," he said softly, turning the worm into a nail. "I'm going to teach you a spell now that utilizes your wand like a hammer. The incantation is malleus and the movement is just as you would tap with a hammer."

Picking up the nail, he held it against the wooden board before intoning, "Malleus," and repeating the motion several times, as if he were hammering the nail. Between his fingers, the metal slid into the wood smoothly, though the wand did not touch it.

"Please take care with this spell. I don't want to send anyone to the hospital with smushed fingers. Gesture lightly as if you were tapping lightly. The force you use with your wand would be like the force of the hammer."

Holstering his wand, he gestured to them. "When you think you have the nail right, come and get a board and see. If you focused too much on appearance but not on structure, your nail will smush when you try to hammer it."

She was ready to turn her wand into a hammer. She went up to recieve a board and returned to her seat. Holding the the nail carefully in one hand and her wand in the other she said the cantation "Malleus"The nail slid into the wood but with some difficulty.




She continued to hammer the nails one by one and practice so that she was ready for the next spell

Amy picked up another worm and set it on the table "Tacque!" it was now a somewhat straighter and less rusty nail than the last time. she set it on the table and walked off toward the front of the class to get a board. once she returned to the seat and placed nail on board "Malleus!" she moved her wand like a hammer, the nail sunk into the board but bent slightly as it entered the wood. oh well... she thought as she stared at the bent nail sticking out of the wood, at least i got the spell to work

Preston made his way around the room, nodding encouragingly.

"To save your fingers so, using the fixate charm that Professor Carlton has taught would hold the nail in place."

He continued to look around the room, watching each student's progress. He noticed split boards and bent nails. "You'll want to practice enough on your own so that the nails are sturdy and that you are more confident with how much force malleus requires."

Returning to the board, he added a new spell. Cordage Creatus.

"If you all could pause for a moment, you can return to practice in a moment." Pausing to wait for the noise in the room to die down, Professor Kingsley clasped his hands behind his back.

"Hammer and nails is one way to bind things together, but another is rope. If you can transfigure a shoelace or a piece of string into sturdy, thick rope, you can manage any number of things, including creating shelter with nothing more than a blanket and some trees to tie the rope between."

Flicking his wand at the board, a list of items appeared under the incantation. Shoelaces, string, ribbon, wire, vines, snakes, eels

"There are other things, as well. Obviously, living creatures are more difficult."

Pausing, he looked around. "The incantation - Cordage Creatus - is pronounced cor-dahge crey-ah-toos, accompanied by two loose circles with your wand. I will be right back with your <ahem> subjects."

Preston disappeared behind the curtain and rummaged around before returning with a crate.

A crate that slithered.

"When you are ready to try this last spell, come and get a snake. They are defanged and not poisonous at all. You are quite safe."

After taking a snake from the crate and naming it Subla, Eino hesitated into turn it into a rope. "Er... Professor?" Eino said nervously as he raised his hand. "What happens to the animals when they are transfigured into an inanimate object? Do they die?" Eino suddenly felt bad for turning all the worms into nails, and other things, and he didn't want to kill snakes for the sake of practice. He thought the snakes were a lot more valuable than ropes, and he felt bad enough for them being defanged. He looked at the helpless snake as it slithered across the table, away and then back to him. He felt like he could keep it as a pet, he had always wanted a pet snake, or a dragon, but those were illegal. He watched it as it slithered up his arm, curled around it then tried to bite his hand. "Coordayge Creetous! Cordagee Creatis! Cordaejay Creatas!" He shouted as he waved his arm in the air trying to get Subla off. He wasn't even holding his wand. The bloody creature! It didn't hurt, but for a split second he had forgotten it was defanged and poisonous, and his initial reaction was to get it off of him any way he could, which certainly wasn't by transforming it into a rope. "Ahem..." He cleared his throat as he picked up his wand and pointed at the snake. With his hand shaking uncontrollably he said "Cordage Creatus!" and Sablu was now a rope, which he uncurled and placed it on the table. On the bright side, that was the quickest he had ever mastered a spell, and it only took him a few tries and possibly eternal embarrassment.

Bleeeehhh. Worms?

Now, even though Destiny may be thrilled about the prospect of working with worms, Evelyn was less than happy about it. Worms were disgusting and should be fed to chickens. Which, surprisingly, she’d be more than happy to welcome into the classroom at the moment once her sight caught those two bucket full of worms. Dis-gust-ing!

Mmmhmm…moving over to the two buckets, the Slytherin brought her pencil up to the bucket and got ONE of the worms, using the pencil as some sort of hook for it. Soooo gross! Quickly making her way back to the table, Evelyn plopped it down on her desk away from her notebook and sat down, leaning back in her seat slightly. It was wiggling! And making a huge actually rather tiny mess on her desk! Pffft!

Grimacing, she picked up her wand and STARED at the worm. It…shall turn into a nail. NOW! "Tacque." She said with a simple flick of her wand. Hmmm. It wasn’t moving. No wait, it twitched. Pffft. "Tacque!" Nail! Worm! TURN INTO A NAIL!

Well, it looked like it was half worm, half nail.

Preston smiled. "Animals that you transfigure are just fine. It's a long explanation and if you want, we can talk about it more in my office, but for now, just rest assured that the snake and the worms aren't hurt by the transfiguration."

No sooner had he walked away, though, than the snake began to curl around the boy's arm.

As he flailed, Preston swung back around. "Do relax!" But it seemed that the panic had induced a successful spell.

"Some calm is warranted." He looked at the boy before addressing the rest of the class.

"Do come get your snakes. There isn't much class left."

Kurumi took a look at her nail worms and then at her wand. Well, no time like the present is there? Kurumi took hold of one of th former worms and tapped her wand. "Malleus," she said but kept thinking about the poor worms and hoping that they were OK. When she brought her wand down, instead of a nice thumping sound that a hammer makes against nails...she heard a low SQUISH instead. Too afraid to look, Kurumi quickly put her wand down before moving on to any of the other wormy nails. She had just squished a worm...and she felt like she was going to burst into tears.

Staring at the worm, half of it's end looking like a nail (though still pink and wormy) and the other half the actual worm, Evelyn scowled at it before trying once more. "Tacque!" NAIL! Turn into...a NAIL!

Staring at the Pink worm colored nail, Evelyn narrowed her eyes and poked it with her wand. It rolled like a nail would, or like she'd seen happen in Muggle Studies class the year before, but it didn't look like a nail should. Does this count as being successful? It technically, was a nail. Mmhmm, she knew because she secretly poked it with her finger...which would need to be washed a million times after class.

Raising a brow, the Slytherin sat up straight, glancing around the area. Hmm, no one would notice if she reversed it and...well no. She didn't want to try this again. It was a worm! And when did she ever need to transfigure something into a nail in the future? Really now.



With a quick flick of her wand, the PINK nail was then turned silver like metal, though she prayed to Merlin that no one would eat it. Less they want to be severely sick for the next hour or so. Her colored charm, not so edible apparently.

Clearing her throat, the Slytherin stood up and went to get a board, feeling like she was more in muggle studies class then anything. Nails, boards, and now hammering the nails? Yup. Deja vu!

Deciding that she'd rather not squish her fingers, again, Evelyn quickly used 'fixate' on the fake nail so it stood in place on the board. HA! Stay! Now, what was the spell? Malleus? Chewing on the inside of her lip, her gaze once more circled around the room before trying to spell herself. Pfft. Hammering a worm nail.

"Malleus." she said, using her wand more like a hammer then flicking it. Meep! It sounded like something was hit, though it wasn't the nail, that's for sure. It was in the exact same spot as it was before. Maybe her aim was dreadfully off? Or...it hit someone else? Eyes wide, the Slytherin slumped in her seat slightly before trying again. "Malleus."

Tap.

O____O!!! She hit the nail? And it didn't squish! Wooooooooooooot!

Sitting somewhere near the back of the room, quiet and observant even as he slipped a bit farther down in his seat, Raiden watched the professor went about class. The prefect took notes every so often, scribbling down random thoughts in the margins along the parchment and generally filling any empty area with musings.

When they got to doing practical stuff, he kept right along with the class, retrieving worms and practising the spell. The first time around, he said it aloud, watching the worm intently as it turned into a nail. He gave it a few more tries, lapsing into silence and then picking up each to see just how well it had worked.

He was dubious about the idea of letting the younger students hammer the nails in themselves; after all, they had all seen what had happened last class. Let people do something, and they'll get ridiculous. But the prefect collected a board and went to work on his own. A quick Fixate, a smart suggestion by the professor, held each of the few nails in place, and with a muttered 'Malleus', and a few sharp taps, each was driven in.

He experimented a bit, to see exactly how the spell worked. Gentler tapping motions, sharper, more intention, and all that. Hmm.

...and then there were snakes.

Looking up, noting down the new spell that Kingsley had just explained, Raiden's eyes followed the crate of snakes, and he felt a familiar twist in the pit of his stomach.

This was not going to go well. Because he was pretty sure there was probably at least one person in this class who was afraid of snakes. Hoping to Merlin that whoever it ended up being wouldn't cause a scene, he dropped his quill and went to the front once more. This time for... a snake.

Picking out one, noting that it was rather... er... violent with its squirming, he looked at the professor before heading back to his seat. Hopefully the man was prepared for someone to lose their head over there being snakes around.

The thing was looking at him. The snake in his hands had turned its head to stare at him, and Raiden raised an eyebrow at the bluff that was the 'threatening' snake glare. Odd creature. The young man set it on the desk, one hand still firmly wrapped around it to prevent its escape, and he held his wand up.

"Don't look at me like that, you'll live," he muttered to the thing, before tracing two loose circles in the air. "Cordage Creatus."

The snake jerked its tail to the side, but the spell still managed to knick it, and a knick was apparently enough. An amused smile lingered on the prefect's face as the snake's surprised little eyes disappeared, and his hand was clenched around a length of rope.

Eino was relieved to know the animals weren't in danger. The Professor's explanation also led him to believe that he would be able to turn Subla back into a snake, which tempted him to secretly drop the rope into his bag and find some way to do so later, but that required a certain amount of gut he didn't possess. Finally, he decided to spend the last few moments of class to go over the notes he had gathered, and practice the hammering spell a few more times.

Now having a hard time seeing due to the tears, she felt really bad for squishing wormy number 1. She made a mental note to have a funeral later for the poor thing. This time, she made double sure that the worm had properly turned into a nail and used fixate to keep it in place. "M-M-M-Malleus," she whimpered as she came down again on the board, this time hearing a nice solid THUD. Oh?! That sounded good. Looking down, she saw that the nail had been properly nailed into the board but...oh dear...she had now nailed the board to her desk. Maybe no one would notice?

Kurumi looked at the front of the room and the giant container that contained a bunch of snakes. Well, turning it into a rope wasn't going to smush it like she had done to Mr. Worm...Slowly, she made her way to the front of the room, picked up a snake that she then named Hebi, and returned to her station.

OK...deep breath...think about rope and not squishing Hebi...

"Thank you Professor" Alex thanked professor.

Alex was pleased that professor Kingsley smiled at her. No more grudges.
She begin with her "Malleus" before going to the snake.
Her greatest fear was Basilisk as seen in the charms class, but rite now she need to concentrate on fixing the nail into the wooden block.
Alex had lost concentration as she was thinking about the Big Snake.
"M-Mal-Mallus" "Ouch!!" It hurt her.
Never mind. Alex decided to try again with more concentration and this time she used "Fixate" and then "Mallus" as said by the professor and yes she was done.
"I should try my hands at Aurour." Alex had a thought.
She tried three more times and now she was ready to go to the snake.

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


Alex took a snake out from the crate trembling.
She was sweating like hell.
"Focus Focus" Alex was warning herself. She was not sure if she can do it.
"Come on Alex you can do it you are good" Alex continued to encourage herself in her mind.
"Cordage Creatus " with a flick of a wand....
Yes its done.. Snake was turned into a rope. By looking at the rope it looks very sturdy to grab any heavy item.
Alex was very happy, but yet she did not dare to touch the rope as she still was scared of the snake.

Freya looked at the worm once again "I have to success this time." she said and pointing her wand to the worm "Tacque!" she said with a simple flick of her wand. Once again the worm changed to a nail. "Fixate" and the nail stayed in the place so she didn't has to use her finger to hold it. "Okay now the hammering part." she pointed her wand to her (now transfigured) nail "Malleus!" the Slytherin using her wand like a hammer. The nail was now nailed perfectly to the board. Finally!

Okay move on to the next spell. The blonde Slytherin looked up to the board and saw the next spell was Cordage Creatus and they gonna use it to a SNAKE?! Well. At least it's not a worm, Prof. Kingsley said that the snakes not poisonous so it won't do any harm to her, right? She walked towards the crate to pick up a snake.

"Malleus!" Aha! Success! After practicing the incantation and wand movement, Di concentrated so much that she thought her wand will snap into two because of her tight grip. But it was worth it. The nail went right through the board (plus she still had her fingers..)

Di now went towards the crate to face her worst nightmare..

WORMS!?

Say whaaaaaat?

Destiny, once having a rather bad experience with a worm, grew to accept the fact that she almost ate one and even went as far as having a flobberworm as a pet. Hehe, how funny was it that she was going to dig into a bucket at earthworms in the class who was taught by the very Professor that gave her the inspiration to name her pet flobberworm 'Ruffles'?

It was a good thing she didn't bring that pet of hers to class. She did not want a pet nail! How BORING would he be then? More boring than what he already was.

Practically skipping to the front of the class, she shot Professor Kingsley with a rather cheesy grin before wiggling her fingers over the pail of worms. Hehe, WORMS! She didn't even need gloves, and finally sticking her hand inside, she pulled out a few and cradled them as she made her way back to her seat. She would have to name them. All three. Yes, there was Evelyn, Marie who was head butting Evelyn and Destiny. The She-Worms. BAHAHA!! Well, they weren't going to be worms when she got done with them, nope. They would be nails. The She-Nails, but that just sounded stupid, so yeah. She wouldn't mention that to anyone.

Pulling out her wand, she gave a quick flick in the direction of the Marie worm. "Tacque."

Nothing.

Flick and "Tacque!"

Slowly but surely, the worm changed into a nail. And now she needed the others nails, too!



As Kingsley went to fetch the next part of the lesson, which turned out to be wooden boards, Destiny busied herself with turning the other worms into nails. It took longer than she had expected but she finally managed and was quite proud of herself. Another cheesy grin in the Professor's direction, she watched and listened. A hammerwand? Wasn't that a bit..dangerous?

Not that Destiny Shepard would use this spell outside of class!

Nodding as the demonstration was over, she realised..they were hammering WORMS into the board. Worms that had feelings and..inhumane this class was! But she really wanted to learn the hammerwand spell, so she would do it. For the sake of learning she would hammer that worm into that board!

Lucky that Lawson taught them how to use muggle tools last term or she would have definitely banged her fingers. Holding the worm!nail up towards the board that she had quickly skipped up to get, she held her wand and moved it like she would a hammer. "Malleus!" she said, and was quite surprised that she had done it on her first try. Removing her hand from the nail, she continued to tap it until the nail head was lying flat on the board.

Awesome!



With her nail!worms now hammered into the board, Destiny decided it was time to move on. She also heard Kingsley say it was time, so she just had to agree.

Watching as he disappeared behind a curtain, a loud and long gasp escaped her mouth as he came back with a crate of SNAKES! Oh Sweet Merlin, she was not going near them. No way, no way NO WAY! She would just sit there and annoying Professor Ruffles with questions, yeah. It would be easier than touching that slithery demon they call the Slytherin mascot. "Professor!" she called, her hand waving wildly in the air, "What is the point of this spell exactly? I mean, I know the Incarcerous spell. I don't have to touch that snake."

RIGHT!?

Right.

Preston drew his lips into a thin line as he raised an eyebrow at the girl. "Firstly, incarcerous conjures ropes that constrict something. The intention there is to tie a target up, not create rope that you can use for any number of other things, though if you miss your target, you'll just get a pile of rope. But secondly, and more importantly, is that you should learn multiple ways to manage similar tasks. What if you forget incarcerous? Or are having difficultly conjuring? Conjuring is much more difficult than animate-to-inanimate transfiguration and this spell gives you more flexibility in type of rope. He paused, narrowing his eyes. "Your argument is like saying you won't learn to tie your shoes because you already have some that have velcro instead."

As he finished, he leveled his gaze against her and nodded to the crate of snakes.

"No more talk back. Go."