Transfiguration Lesson I
 

The door is ajar, just waiting for you to open it and enter the classroom. When you do you notice that nothing is out of the ordinary. All the desks are lined up in the usual manner, each with a single piece of large paper resting on top, Professor Magnus' desk is still at the far end of the room, and the blackboard is to the side.

There is a message on the blackboard, however.

Professor Magnus herself is sat on the edge of her desk waiting to greet you.



OOC: I'm opening a little earlier to allow people time to enter. The actual lesson won't start for another couple of hours or so. Please have your character enter, but DON'T chat excessively or points will be taken. ;P

Class has started - Please do not announce your late arrival.

HELPFUL LINKS:
[*] First question
[*] Practice instructions - new spell and wand movement
[*] Second question
[*] Come up to the front, kiddies. Professor Magnus wants you to see something....
[*] Second demonstration
[*] Go forth and practice

Louisa slipped her satchel off her shoulder the second she walked into the classroom. This study-ahead thing was draining most of her energy out. And all of her fingernails. The fifteen years old smiled at Professor Magnus and nodded, "Good day, professor." And ooon to the first desk she saw. She didn't have enough energy to pick seats so this one would do.

Looking down at the paper, her eyebrows were raised in surprise. And then the note on the board drew her attention. Hmm. No touching then. Louisa could do that.

Elise stumbled into the classroom, after an unsuccessful attempt at twirling. She would never master that, she beamed. She loved being clumsy, it was who she was. Nticing Professor Magnus sitting... where Professor Magnus always sat, she grinned widely at her.

"Hi, Professor!" she grinned, before running off to find a seat. Paper? Aww... they couldn't write on it. Pulling out a piece of scrap parchment, Elise pulled out a quill and started doodling.

Kurumi rushed to the Transfiguration classroom eager for her other favorite subject to begin. Ever since Professor Magnus had come back, Kurumi's love and appreciation for the subject had been renewed. Shaw had frightened her and it was nice knowing that there was no chance of chainsaws being used in the classroom. At least, she hoped so.

"Good day, Professor Magnus," Kurumi greeted as she made her way to her seat in the front and set her things down. She looked at the piece of paper on her desk and picked it up, holding it up to the light to see if there was any sort of hidden message on it. No such luck. Maybe they were going to do some origami? Kurumi was very good at it, especially making cranes and frogs. Perhaps they could transfigure their paper creatures into real ones? They had done the opposite last term, meaning they had transfigured a living thing into an inanimate object.

Zhenya walked in to the Transfiguration class. She was really looking forward to this one because she wasn't able to take it last year. She walked in and said "Hello Professor Magnus, how was your summer?"

She then took a seat in the middle of the room, and her eyes scanned the room.

Transfiguration is one of the classes that Hannah was looking forward to the most. She walked in and looked around the room only to see no faces that looked familiar so she changed her view to the professor and gave her a warm smile. "Good day Professor Magnus. Nice to meet you." She hoped it was nice to meet her anyways. Only time would tell. She was hoping for a fun class.

TRANSFIGURATION! It was one of Raven's favorite subject. She ran quickly to the classroom, she didn't want to be late and she was very enthusiast for this lesson. Professor Magnus was a great teacher. Last term, they did some fun with clowning around, the snake, and the dummy. What would she do this term? Ah, Hopefully it'll be more fun!

Running from the great hall to the classroom where it is on the sixth floor was not a good idea. She was very exhausted. Thank Merlin she was not late. She entered the classroom and greeted the Professor.

"Professor Magnus, Good Day! Glad to see you again this term. I'm really looking forward for transfiguration." she said happily. Noticed that Zhenya was already there too, she decided to join her.

"Hello." Then she sat and arrange her breathe.

Yawn. And a bit adjustment to the striped blue and bronze neck tie.

She was still a bit sleepy from all the star gazing she had done the other night. But it was almost time for Transfiguration Class--and since she had fallen in love with that class because of last term's turn your walking stick into a snake and having a real snake in a class--Beezus hurriedly headed over to the Transfiguration Classroom.

And of course, first to appear in sight was inside was the Professor for Transfiguration herself. "Good day Professor Magnus!" Beezus greeted brightly as her eyes roamed the classroom but mostly focused on the Professor's desk. There was no sign of Jasper the snake. "Jasper's not here, Professor?" the young eaglet asked as she walked over to the second desk on the far left side that was nearest to the blackboard.

She also saw the message on board. And sure enough, there was a piece of paper on where she chose to sit.

Quentin followed a few other students into the transfiguration class, on the edge of the desk sat a woman she assumed was Professor Magnus. Not being the bravest lion she decided to just pick a seat and sit down without attracting to much attention. She chose a seat near the back- she hated sitting up front, it always felt like people were watching her.

Next lesson was Transfiguration. Its one of the class that Messer was looking forward for because in that class he has a chance to practice with his wand. He entered the classroom with a grin in his face. "Good day, Professor. I'm Edvard Messer, first year Hufflepuff." he said intoducing himself before he took a seat in the middle of the room.

Pam was excited to start transfiguration. She had her wand with her, as always, and was ready to start changing things. She sat down at a seat that was around the middle. She was about to write on the paper that was on her desk, but she looked up at the blackboard, and stopped herself. She was really curious as to what they would be using the paper for, ab let her mind wander.

Presley danced into Transfiguration, and noticed randomly huge peices of paper on all of the desks. But a quick glance up at the board revealed that they were there for a specific purpose. Presley skipped over to her typical seat, to see that it was occupied...by a first year. "Oh, er," she stared awkwardly for a half-second, not knowing what to do. She'd sat in that specific seat every Tansfig class for two years now. However, she quickly processed that it wasn't the kid's fault, and moved the next seat over. Dropping her bag on the floor, she tossed the kid a smile. "Hello. Mind if I sit here?"

Jezzabelle walked in and smiled, "Hello Professor..." She needed to learn the names. She went and sat at the front and looked at the blackboard. Well she wasn't going to do anything to the paper in front her then. She waited for class to start feeling a little nervous yet again.

Minerva couldn't help but smile walking into class. All the bad stuff that had been going on was at the back of her mind since she was headed into her favorite class. She smiled big and greeted Professor Magnus. "Hello Professor, hope you are doing well today." then Minerva found and empty seat and sat down taking out her parchment and quill waiting for class to begin.

Gwen came in, a little tired, but smiling, as usual.
"Hello Professor!" she said, and took a seat to the side of the room. She was starting to wonder what they would use the paper on their desks for, when she noticed and read the message on the blackboard.

charlotte walked into the classroom looking nervous choose a desk and waited for ella

Cass entered the room and looked around, there weren't a lot of people there yet, aren't there? Or, well, maybe she arrived just in time? She wasn't quite sure, it was better to be safe than sorry anyway. She was terrible in Transfiguration and she didn't want being late to add to it.

"Good day, Professor Magnus!" The Slytherin greeted with a bright smile as she made her way further into the room, heading over to a vacant seat "I hope you had a good summer."

Then she sat down and glanced up at the board before looking back down on the sheet of paper on her table. What could they be possibly be doing with paper?

"Hey, Professor Magnus!" Arya grinned at the woman as she made her way up to the front of class, wiggling her fingers at a few younger students as she did. She was looking forward to this lesson, when did she not? Heh.

Tossing her things by her desk, she took a seat and waited for the lesson to begin, not unpacking cause there was paper on her desk. What were they turning this into, huh?

Messer was staring at the blank paper on his desk when he heard a girl voice. His eyes went from the paper to the girl who was sitting next to him. "No. Not at all." Its good having an older student sitting next to you, right? She might come in handy you know like helping him with the class and all.

Then he saw his female prefect entering the classroom, he waved his hand towards Arya.

Tranfiguration! This was a quite a fun subject, and it had to be one of Nessie's favorites. It was pretty exciting and it was one of the only lessons where they actually used their wands a lot.

With her bag on her shoulder, and her unframed picture in her hand, Nessie walked into the classroom ad smiled at the Professor as she did so. "Morning Professor Mangus." she said with a wide grin on her face. She then looked around until she spotted Kurumi, she bit her lip and hestitated.

On the one hand she sort of wanted to go sit next to the Gryffindor prefect, as she knew how clever Kurumi was and she sort of needed help, but then on the other hand she felt like a nuisance if she did. Kurumi wouldn't mind..or would she? Ness walked over to where the Gryffindor was and put on a small smile. "Um..Hey Kurumi, mind if I join you?" she asked biting her lip again.

Silvia walked into the classroom, glad to be there a bit early. Maybe finding my way around the castle isn't as hard as I thought it would be, she thought, as she took a seat close to the front of the classroom but not quite in the first row.

Silvia had heard that Transfiguration tended to be one of the more difficult subjects, but she was excited nonetheless. She pulled out some parchment and quill in preparation for notes, then proceeded to open and skim through her Transfiguration textbook while she waited for class to start.

Alyssa quickly walked into the classroom and was glad that the class hadn't started yet. She walked up to Professor Magnus and greeted her,"Hello Professor, it is good to be back here in your class." Then Alyssa looked around and when she spotted Minerva she walked over to her and asked, "Hi Minnie, I hope you don't mind if I sit next to you?" Alyssa smiled at her friend, before Alyssa sat down and pulled out her journal and writing materials. She noticed a piece of white paper in front of her but after reading the instructions on the board, let it alone and waited for class to start.

Justin entered the Transfiguration classroom with a smile on his face and a sack of cookies in his hand. " Good morning, Professor Magnus. These are for you. I do hope you like chocolate chip." He said as he placed the sack of cookies on her desk as he bowed to her slightly. Then he found a desk next to Minerva and gave her a meek smile. and put his bag on the back of his chair. As he did he saw Alyssa and gave her a smile and a wave. Hopefully she wouldn't think less of him for what had happened.

Tennesse entered the room and greeted Professor Magnus along with her bright smile. "Good day, Professor," she said. As she went to choose her seat she glanced at the board and read what was written on it. Hokay! She took a seat and stared at the room. She wondered what will they be doing today in transfiguration.

LuLu entered the transfigureation classroom and smiled at the Proffeser ''Hello, Proffeser Magnus,'' she'd have a chit-chat and everything but she didn't praticularly feel like it today she felt... tired it was quite hard to sleep at night, knowing that there IS a rat in your room it wasn't a very pleasant feeling from the thought of it running or what ever rats do on your face or somthing the thought was vital! Really anyways hopfully transfigration would take her mind off that

LuLu wandered over to any empty seat really and sat down placing all her notes and quills and books at the side of the table she stared at the piece of parchment that just happened to be on her table and every other table by the looks of it she sighed and looked at the board! Practical work ehh.. Right.....

I'll start soon, we'll wait to see if there are any more people
 

Isabelle nodded and greeted everyone as they entered with a cheery "Hello!" Quite a few of them seemed young and in their first year. But equally there were a few she recognised.

"I had a lovely summer, thank you. I hope you both did as well." Isabelle smiled at the two girls as they sat down.

Laughing, Issy shook her head. "No, not today. He's at home I'm afraid."

"Very nice to meet you, Mister Messer," Isabelle grinned as he introduced himself and went off to his seat.

Cookies? Well that was an unexpected surprise. Isabelle hadn't been aware that anyone other than Kurumi baked. "Uhh, thank you Justin. I do." And there seemed to be a few of them, so hopefully the other professors did as well, because she'd be sharing them in the staff room later.

Oh. Well..that was too bad. She kinda expected that the snake would be there. It would add excitement for the lesson, she was sure of that. "I see..Well, can you tell him I said hello Professor?" she replied with a chuckle. Seriously?

Running on her way to the Transfiguration classroom, Nora froze when she noticed that professor Magnus was already there. Was she... late? She's never been late. Never never. But... no, she didn't seem to be teaching already, did she?

"Hello, professor," she said nervously and occupied the nearest empty desk, while all she could think about was to pray that she was not late. She wouldn't want to lose more points for Slytherin, now that they were so cool, already in the negatives. Huh.

Selina walked inside the Transfiguration classroom with her hands in her robe pocket. It was nice to not be rushing to class. She always liked this class because Professor Mangus never scheduled class for upsurd hours in the morning. Out of all of her Professor this class always seemed to calm Selina's pulse; she was a fan of transfiguration.

As she stepped inside the door she smiled at her Professor and said, "Hello Professor Mangus. How was your summer holiday?"

Asher practical ran all the all the way to the transfiguration classroom. It was another one of those lessons that he couldn't wait for. He walked into the classroom, in front of the room. "Good Morning, Professor!" He said Happily. Then he went over to the middle of the room and found a seat. He waited for class to start.

Kimalia was a little hesitant about entering, but as soon as she walked in she put her game face on. She will conquer Transfiguration this year! Yep, yep, smiling brightly as she passed by, "Good day, Professor." before taking her seat.

Eliza entered the classroom. She was still not used to getting up early and as a result was hungry from skipping breakfast, in favour of being on time. She saw other students greet the Professor and decided not to do so herself, after all she didn't even know her name! She smiled and tilted her head in the Professors direction, before taking her seat.

I'm not late, am I?!?! Nonono- I can't be late! I've never been late!, the third year thought while rushing along the corridor, hoping she would get in time in class. Argh! It is already quite late!, she told herself as she approached the classroom. After waiting a moment to catch her breath, Gwen opened the door.

'Good day Professor', the Ravenclaw said as she walked in the classroom. Looking around, Gwen hoped to see some familiar faces. Well, there was Nora, the girl I met at the mirror..., she thought and walked towards her desk. 'Mind if I sit here?', Gwendolyn smirked.

Laura walked into the classroom and stood there shocked, what was going on here everything seemed so normal this was like one of her classes at Primary School, Hogwarts was suppost to be fun, trust a Professor to make the lesson boring, well she would have to do her best anyway. "Good day Professor." Laura smiled, well there was one good thing about a normal lesson, she would know what to do, she could do normal well.

Noticing that more students were arriving made Nora feel much better, figuring out that she wasn't late after all. Good. She has never been late, and she wanted to keep it that way.

As she read the instruction telling them not to use the piece of paper that was on the desk, she grabbed her bag and took out other pieces of paper and her pink flamingo feather quill she bought last summer. It was still her favourite. Hehe.

Buuut someone caught her attention while she was still rummaging in her bag. Looking up, she recognized Gwen, the one she had met not a long time ago. "Not at all," she smiled, holding one hand towards the empty seat next to her.

"Goodmorning professer!" Maddy grinned as she walked through the door. She took a seat, taking out her want after reading the board."So were going to be transforming this", she said refurring to the papper.

Class has started! Please don't post arriving after this post.
 

"Okay, yes, I'll be sure to do that." Although Isabelle doubted that Jasper would take much notice. He was always too caught up with slithering around on the grass in the back garden.

"It was very nice, thank you for asking, Selina," Isabelle smiled at the girl and got up from her position perched on her desk.




Stepping forward a couple of places, she waved her wand lazily in the direction of the board, making the chalk shoot in the air and write her name. "Good morning everyone! For those of you that don't know me, my name is Professor Magnus, and welcome to the first Transfiguration lesson of the term."

Placing her wand back in her pocket, her hands followed and she stood, relaxed, and smiling at the assembled group. "Now, I hope you have all brought a photo with you, as I requested in the lesson notice. If you want to get them out of your bags and place them ready on your desk for when we practice a little later." She eyed them all and gave them some time to do as she asked.

"Okay then. As we have quite a few new students with us this lesson, I'd like to start by asking you all to tell me the definition of Transfiguration, as you understand it, and the most important things you need to remember when performing this branch of magic."




OOC: You can all answer this one, then I'll move on later to the practical part.

Laura looked at the Professor and took the photo the Professor had ask for out of her bag and place it on the table, she then looked scared as the Professor asked her what she thought transfiguration was. "Tran...fig...ur...at...ion." Laura said the word slowly so she didn't make any mistake. "I think it means you transport something from somewhere to somewhere else, like the train brought us here."

Kourtney removed the photo from her bag and set it in the middle of her desk, tuning in quickly to the professor's next words. The definition of Transfiguration....Her hand rose quickly. "Professor, Transfiguration is basically the changing the appearance of an object, person or animal. It can also deal with spells that vanish or conjures things."

When prompted, Eino took the picture he had brought, one of him standing next to a dead dragon, and placed it on top of the desk. He left it there while he listened to Professor Magnus' brief introduction and her first question. Naturally, he raised his hand when she was done speaking. "Transfiguration is the branch of magic that changes the target's nature, which differs from Charms, which only modifies the targeted object's behavior." To put it simple, transfiguration caused one thing to become a whole other different thing.

Gwen raised her hand, tugging nervously on her robes.
"Transfiguration is magic that changes an object, animal or person fundamentally," she said, remembering this from her Charms notes.

Yay!

His first transfiguration lesson had officially started. Right, he had nearly forgotten to get the picture of himself in his dorm. And now he had nearly forgotten to get in out of his bag.

He placed the picture on his desk. Now to the question that Professor Magus had asked. "It's taking an item and changing it into something different." Or that's the best he could understand it or explain it.

Hannah took out her photo and placed it on the desk as she was asked. She was really excited for this lesson and thought about what transfiguration meant. "Professor I think Transfiguration is when you change the appearance of an object. Also I think it will be really important to focus and speak clearly while reciting an incantation as well as controlled wand movement." She was sure that was crucial. Transfiguration could go really wrong with just a simple mistake...she was sure of that much.

Ariana sat at her desk and took out her photo.. it was of Joseph last year on her birthday, she became bored and began to simply fold her piece of parchment.. origami? maybe.. who know's she was just hoping the professor didnt flip out.

Photo.. yea she had it she then placed it on the table

LuLu looked up at the transfirguration teacher once again, then to the first year huffie for her answer this was totally getting out of hand.. Poor girl if she did that in Potion she had to be warned she'd get slaughtered! She glanced at her ever so slightly

Her hand raised up

"Transfiguration is a type of magic that focuses on the alteration of the form or appearance of an object, via the alteration of the object's molecular structure, Basically, Transfiguration is magic which changes one object into another. It is possible to change inanimate objects into animate ones and vice versa ,"

She knew it wasn't wrong so there was no point worrying about that LuLu just looked around for the other students answers

Alyssa made sure that she wrote down what she thought Transfiguration was before she raised her hand and answered,"Professor, Transfiguration is one of the 7 types of spells and it focuses on altering the form or appearance of an object by altering the molecular structure of the object, like for example changing a snake into a walking stick, like we learnt last term. When performing the spell, it is important to really concentrate when we are casting the spell. We need to focus on the incantation and the object that we are going to be transfiguring. We also need to pronounce the words clearly and be aware of the molecular structure of the object so that we don't end up creating a whole new species or worse yet, splinching it."

Photo? Yup, Sierra had remembered to bring along one of those. She'd been dashing out of the common room, at the last minute mind you, and glanced at the bulletin board just in time to see the notice. She'd had just enough time to rummage through her trunk, find a decent photo, and then head to class. She pulled the photo out, slid it onto her desktop, then raised her hand.

"Transfiguration changes the shape or appearance of an object," she said. "You can do several things in Transfiguration, like...transforming, vanishing, conjuring, and untransfiguring." Hmm. What else was there? Oh, right...important things you need to remember. "One important thing to remember is Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration, which gives us rules like...you can't conjure food."

Photo? Check.

Now... what was Transfiguration? "It means changing something into... somthing else," Nora said after raising her hand. Well... yes, a very smart definition. "We can also conjure things." And that was also Transfiguration.

Oh- the photo!, Gwen finally remembered and searched for it in her bag, finding it pretty soon. I haven't lost it!, the Ravenclaw felt the need to congratulate herself. Placing the picture on her desk, Gwendolyn turned back to the Professor. Hmm... how should I answer this?, the third year asked herself. She could never explain the difference between Transfiguration and Charms.

'Transfiguration is a branch of magic...', she began saying. Duh. That was obvious. '... that changes the appearance of an object. And umm... it is either transformation, vanishment, conjuration or untransfiguration' Somewhat.

Minerva pulled out her picture and sat it on her desk then she raised her hand. "Professor Transfiguration is the changing of an object into something else. For example we changed our hair color and style last term." that was her favorite lesson of all time so of course she used it.

Kimalia dug around in her bag for her photo, yep it was there, and placed it in front as requested. Then she rose her hand to answer, "Transfiguration deals with transforming, and it is important to.. never use transfigure a Professor?" Right? That had to be right, or at least what she was hoping to hear.

Jezzabelle raised her hand, "The Five Principal Exceptions to Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration is something that everyone should be aware of." She wasn't sure if she should list them off or just leave it be. leave it be would be best so she decided to take notes.

Autumn had just got settled in her seat when she heard the professor speak, She got out her photo of her ex-boyfriend. Hoping they'd do something horrible to it, btu anyway it would be going in the bin later.
"Umm professor is transfiguration trnasforming something, as it hints in the name of the subject, msot of the time it requires an incartation and wand movment" Autumn said after raising her hand.

Oh, right. The picture. Ellie did have a picture of her and Dallin. But she changed it last minute due to certain circumstances that she would rather forget and shove in the back of her mind. Anyway. Ellie reached into her bag and grabbed out a photo of her mum and dad and placed it in the middle of her desk.

Now, what was transfiguration? Ellie raised her hand. "Transfiguration is basically just altering the physical appearance of an object. And... I think it's done through changing the... molecular structure... Right?" She had read it somewhere. One of her dad's old books, maybe.

Nate pulled out his picture and his wand, setting both on the desk. He was careful not to disturb the paper that already lay there as he moved it to the side so it wasn't in his way, or accidentally destroyed by him.

Ah, yes, the first, basic, intro question. Each subject had to have at least one of them, right? His hand rising above his head, Nate said, "Transfiguration is the changing of one thing into another. In our case, by magical means." Simple, sufficient answer.

Good thing Daichi had *read* the annoucement on the notice board before class started because normally he just checked the day and time. He had already forgotten his gloves at the Herbology lesson so he didn't want to make that mistake again. The Slytherin opened his school bag and looked inside. His picture was a family picture and the only picture he had with him, so he hoped nothing bad was going to happen with it..Meaning, he hoped HE did nothing bad to it. His father, holding his older brother Aedan in the hand next to his wife and a little Daichi, no older than 4 years old was clutching his mothers leg as he shyly looked at the camera.

His eyes watered a bit at the sight of his mother's smile but he controlled himself. Now was not the time. He placed the picture on the desk, upside down and leaned back in his chair.

"Professor, Transfiguration is changing the appearance from the outside..." he answered while holding his arm in the air. He didn't really know an answer for the last part so he lowered his arm and waited for the others to answer.

August had always really enjoyed his Transfiguration lessons last term and he was very excited for the first of them this term to begin. Watching with a smile as Professor Magnus wrote her name on the board and then introduced herself to the class he sat at his desk waiting to be asked to do something.

Now they were getting out their pictures which was what Auggie had been really curious about for this lesson. Oh and now he was going to have to wait until later to see what they were doing with it.

Definition of Transfiguration? He thought he knew something of the sort. "Professor Transfiguration is the branch of magic that is foucussed on changing the 'state', for lack of a better word, of an object. Some of it's spells are easily confused with Charms and and one of the most important things to remember while casting Transfiguration spells is Concentration." You couldn't let your brain wonder or you could mess up or stop what you wanted to do.

[spoiler= Mangus] Selina rumagged of through her bag to grab her photograph. She had been hard pressed to find a photo that she wanted to use, but now she had one that was absolutely perfect. Or at least it was perfect for her. She was curious as to why they needed the photo exactly, then again she was not going to argue.

At her Professor's question she said, "Transfiguration is a branch of magic that transforms one previous object into another. This is different than most magic because it takes already established things and changes them, while most magic creates new things."

Why is it that everytime they start a lesson, the professor has to ask the definition of something. It’s starting to annoy Victoria a bit.

“Transfiguration is simply transforming an object or thing…no…it should be a body of matter into another.” Victoria replied, hoping that she had used the correct words in her answer. Because when they are transforming an animal to another, then it really wouldn’t be an object or a thing, right?

Melanie raised her hand hesitantly. She was getting bolder, lesson by lesson.
"I would say transfiguration is magic that alters an object more significantly than a charm, transforming it somehow." That seemed like a pretty safe definition.

She then answered the second part of the question. "I think the most important thing to remembering when using transfiguration is to pronounce the spell correctly and to not lose focus. When you're trying to transfigure something, I imagine there could be pretty serious consequences if you made a mistake, even a small one like incorrect wand movement."

Alex sat at the back of the class by the window listening to all the answers. "Transfiguration can change the appearance of an object into another or simply give it an extra feature or deduct one." Alex hoped that her answer made sense in one way... they never usualy really did to her even though it was the words SHE spoke.

Selena fiddled with the photo in her hand - one of her and Emma, of course - and listened to the answers from the students around her. What was transfiguration? "Transfiguration is the process of changing the appearance of an object or person so that it will have a different function," Selena said, volunteering her own answer as she continued to play with her picture. Maybe she should fold it into a paper airplane... were they going to be transfiguring their pictures into planes? Could they even do that? Naaah, it probably had something to do with the big paper... hmm...

Alyssa was so busy answering the question, that she totally forgot to take out the unframed photo that they were all instructed to bring along. So Alyssa pulled out the photo from her bag and placed it in front of her on the desk.

Flattening out her photograph on the table, Thea raised a hand. 'Transfiguration is turning one object, into another.' Or something like that. Thea understood it, but just couldn't explain it too well.
Averting her eyes back down to the photograph she had chosen, Thea smiled. It was her and her six brothers, a few months after their Mother had had Seth. It was a nice photo. Thea herself, was only about 4 at the time. Her brothers still towered over her even them. On her lap, sat little Seth, totally beaming at their Mother who had taken the photo.

Sighing, Thea looked up and waited silently for the next part of the lesson.

Justin went into his school bag and pulled out the picture of him self and placed it on his desk when Prof. Magnus instructed them all to do so. then thought for a moment about what he thought the definition of transfiguration was. It hit him and up shot his hand.
" Professor, the word transfiguration as used with magic is the ability to to change or distort one's appearance or even an object. "

Definiton of Transfiguration. That one was easy! Louisa raised the hand that held her quill and replied, "Transfiguration is about learning how to change the subject's shape or properties." Short, simple and somewhat enough.

Ella looked at Charlotte with a quizzical expression. She wasn't sure how she was supposed to define the term but she did her best. "Professor Magnus, transfiguration is when you turn one thing into something else." She looked at the professor hoping this was correct.

This was the class that Lily really looked forward to. Lily pulled out her picture and placed it on her desk. Lily heard a bunch of people answering the question that this really laid back professor had asked, so Lily decided not to answer the question, since her answer had basically been answered already. Instead, Lily pulled out her notebook and quill and took notes as to what her peers were saying about transfiguration.

The defition of transfiguaration, I learned this a long time ago. This is simple, "Transfiguaration is is changing something into something totally different in its entire makeup", Nathan responded raising his hand.

I read EVERY post, but just quoting a few or I'll be here forever. :P lol
 

Isabelle narrowed her eyes at this one. She wasn't sure if the girl was being serious, or just a naive firstie. "Urrr, no. You seem to be getting confused with transportation. Not the same thing." But you know, she was young. She could excused just this once.

"Exactly right, on both counts. Well done. A controlled wand movement, clear speaking and above all focus are extremely important." Isabelle was mighty impressed that a young one had picked up on such an important point. She gave the girl a broad grin for that.

Again with the eye narrowing. This time for someone that wasn't paying attention.

Walking over to the girl, Isabelle took the folded piece of paper out of her hand and placed it down on the table. Smoothing it out in a rather pointed manner, she cleared her throat. "The parchment is to be used for practice, not for you to distract yourself with when you should be paying attention to the lesson. Five points from Slytherin."

"Yes, understanding the physical traits of an animal, or person, you are going to transfigure is paramount so not to cause injury." Isabelle nodded approval towards Alyssa.

"Exactly. It's not just changing the appearance of something, but also being able to produce something seemingly from thin air." Oh yes, and Gamp's Law's, one of the very important things they all needed to remember.

"Gamp's Law's, as Sierra mentioned will all be listed in your textbooks, so please make sure you read that before attempting to do any spells outside of the classroom," Isabelle said, raising her voice to address the whole class.

Never use it on a professor? Did she hear that right? "Considering the professor is likely to be more skilled than you, it isn't a good idea to try and use transfiguration on them, no." Not that they were allowed to use it as a punishment.

"Concentration is a major thing to remember, yes. Good, August." Smiling as she passed towards the front of the class, Isabelle patted him on the shoulder lightly.

"Absolutely! If you drop focus and concentration for a second with this type of magic things you turn out in a manner that you don't want."





Getting back to the front of the class, Issy turned to face the kids and sum up what had been said. "You are all correct, well done. Transfiguration is, put simply, changing one thing into another. Although, as Sierra and a couple of you pointed out, you can also conjure, vanish and untransfigure things."

Picking up the piece of paper she had left on her desk for the demonstration, Isabelle held it in front of her. "Now the paper you have all been given will, hopefully, by the end of the lesson become a brand new picture frame for the photo's you all brought with you." She hadn't just asked them to bring them for her amusement. Although you never knew, some of them might be funny. Issy hadn't actually seen them yet.

Taking her wand out of her pocket again Isabelle placed it against the paper and drew a square around all four sides. With almost a pop the paper changed into a gold picture frame that was slightly ornate. "The incantation is 'Stat-UA HAB-itum' (Statua Habitum)....and you trace a square above the object you are changing. Because this is a new spell you're trying I've given you something square to use, in the paper, but it can work on any object no matter the shape. I'll explain where your photo's come into the practice a little later when you have all got used to the spell. For now you don't need them."

Putting the frame down on her desk, Isabelle spread her arms wide and smiled. "Now I don't want you all to launch into changing things yet, please do refine each element of the spell before you try it for real. And don't be worried if it doesn't work first time. No one is perfect. Just revert it back to it's original state, using 'Reverto', and try again. And please, don't be afraid to ask for help!"




OOC: You can begiiiiiin! PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU HAVE READ EVERYTHING ISABELLE HAS ASKED YOU TO DO. No excessive chatter, and please don't blow anything up. lol This is my last post before bed, but Issy will be here the whole time. Remember that. ;)

Anakin watched the Professor as carefully as she could as she demonstrated how to properly transfigure the piece of paper that had been supplied, into a neat frame. Looking down at his own paper, and then back up at the Professor, once she'd released them to begin.

The 7th year couldn't resist taking a glance around at all the other students who were beginning to practice, and was perhaps a little astounded by how quickly some were getting it. Focusing in on his own paper once more, Ani concentrated on his paper and lifted his wand in the air. "Stat-UA HAB-itum" He certainly hoped his bit of a brogue wouldn't do anything to the spell.

Drawing the figure in the air, the piece of paper was suddenly transformed into a frame! Well...sort of...At least he'd managed to get ONE part of the practice done...the shape however...Well, it was more oval then square he'd say...And it certainly wasn't as NICE of a frame as most others were transfiguring...

Obviously. He'd need to practice it a bit more. "Reverto."

Alyssa quickly jotted down the instructions to changing the piece into a photo frame and then read them over again, until she was sure about what she was supposed to do. Before picking up the paper, she practised the incantation ''Stat-UA HAB-itum'....Stat-UA HAB-itum...Stat-UA HAB-itum". Once she was sure of the pronunciation. Alyssa re-read her notes before picking up the piece of paper that the Professor had earlier placed on their desks. She then picked up her wand and raising the paper in the air, she traced her wand over it, drawing a square above the paper and at the same time saying the incantation "Stat-UA HAB-itum"

The paper that she was holding in her hand, changed to a square photo frame. 'Cool' Alyssa thought to herself. Now to change it back. She picked up the wand and repeating the spell and wand movements she learnt in Transfiguration class last year, she pointed the wand at the photo frame and said "RE-VER-TO" immediately changing the frame back into the paper that she had originally held in her hand.

Zhenya put her wand on the table and practised the incantation out loud. She didn't expect to change the paper into a frame for the first few tries, but she did want a new photo frame by the end of the lesson. She had a photo of herself with her grandparents.

She started saying "Stat-UA HAB-itum" just as the Professor had said. She thought it sounded okay, so she decided that she might give a try at the paper. She held her wand out and drew a square. Of course it might be nice to one day try to do a love heart frame! But she liked square frames more. The paper was merely shrunk to the size of the square she drew. Well, it didn't look like a frame at all. Even though she knew it probably wouldn't work the first time, she still hoped it would. She said "Reverto" and it stretched back to the initial size.She tried again and again and again, until eventually the paper turned brown. Well, that must be a good sign, right?

She tried to think clearly about her intent to transfigure the paper into a frame. She traced a square with her wand, and said "Stat-UA HAB-itum" and it transfigured into a frame! She smiled with delight!

Minerva got a big smile on her face it was time to transfigure something. She pulled her wand out and moved the paper in the middle of her on the desk. Making a square with her wand she said "Statua Habitum" a more of a lopsided rectangle happened. Hmmm that's not right she thought, maybe I moved my hand wrong. "Reverto" she said and the paper went back to normal.

Conrad lifted his piece of paper into the air and practiced tracing the square a few times. Then he set his wand on the table and practiced the words. "Statua Habitum..." he repeated to himself. Satisfied that he had the pronunciation down, he picked up his wand, lifted his paper into the air, and said it stronger now. "Statua Habitum" he said, moving his wand in the square way the professor had demonstrated.

The piece of paper did indeed transform, but not into a picture frame. An oddly misshapen hunk of wood appeared in his hand. He noticed sections of it had interesting engravings on it, that had to be a good sign. Figuring he just needed more practice, and perhaps a steadier hand drawing his square, he quickly muttered, "Reverto", and got ready to try again.

Ariella listened as the professor gave all the instructions. After copying down some notes on her parchment, she replayed them in her mind and repeated the incantation over and over again. "Stat-UA HAB-itum." It sounded right. Then, she practiced the wand movement. Okay. Here goes nothing, she thought to herself. She picked up the paper in her hand and held it in front of her. "Statua Habitum!" she said firmly, drawing out the syllables of UA and HAB while tracing the square near her paper.

She watched as the paper she was holding transformed into what looked like a picture frame. No, it was more like a deformed picture frame that was run over by a bus. "Reverto!" she said quickly as the frame transformed back into a piece of paper. Ariella supposed it was because of her square. Now that she thought about it, it was much more like a rectangle.

"Statua Habitum!" she said again, carefully tracing the square. A gold picture frame appeared in front of her. It had a few dents in it, but not nearly as bad as the last time. "Reverto!" she exclaimed. And now, she could try again.

Melanie was hoping she could at least get the paper to do something as she watched Conrad turn his into a lump of wood. He was sitting right next to her, he was bound to notice if she did something stupid, and then he'd think even less of half-bloods.

She held her paper up in front of her and practiced tracing the square with her wand, careful not to even think the incantation. When she was satisfied she could successfully form shapes, she set her wand down and began practicing the incantation.

"Statua Habitum...Statua Habitum..." She said it over and over, wanting to be absolutely sure she had it right. Finally, she felt like she was ready. As ready as she was gonna be anyway.

She picked up her piece of paper and her wand and concentrated on picture frames, something she never could have imagined she'd be doing. Specifically, she envisioned a gold one that her mother had hanging over the fireplace at home. Concentrating on the gold paint and swirled engravings, Melanie lifted her wand. "Statua Habitum," she said forcefully, drawing the square around the paper.

The edges of the paper turned gold, the color stretching a couple inches in on all four sides. Melanie sighed. 'Well, it's a start. And at least it didn't explode', she thought wryly. "Reverto" she said, and glanced at Conrad out of the corner of her eye, thankful she hadn't embarrassed herself.

Kennedy pulled out the picture he had decided to bring to class. He actually had to Owl his mom to send him one. He wasn't the type to be carrying pictures with him... and he had forgotten to pack them, but, to his defense Kennedy didn't know they were going to need pictures when he was packing at home.

He set the picture upside down on the desk and covered it with his notes parchment.

The snake looked down at the paper they were given and traced his wand in the air making a square. Now that he got that down, it was time to get familiar with the incantation. "Stat-UA HAB-itum, Stat-UA HAB-itum, Stat-UA HAB-itum," he repeated quietly to himself.

That...seemed simple enough. Kennedy readied his wand and traced a square above the paper and said, "Statua Habitum."

A grin spread on his lips when the paper was a golden frame, but there was something wrong with it. He picked it up and frowned when the frame was still paper-like.

Er...a paper frame. Yeah, that wasn't going to work. "Reverto," he said. Sure, magic sometimes didn't come easy to him, but that was the fun in all this. He got to try until he got it right.

Jezzabelle sighed and pulled her wad out of the pocket she had sown into her robes for it. She decided that instead of practicing the word she would practice the wand movement. She was never really good with drawing squares in the first place. She felt like she would do better standing up but didn't really feel like it so she practiced hit sitting down.....

Four attempts at a square later she groaned, "I am such a failure it isn't funny." How was she ever going to be good at magic if she could make a simple square with her wand? What was she doing wrong? Was she moving to fast in her haste to prove to someone other than herself that she wasn't going to mess up? Or we she just incapable of doing a simple square?

Kurumi was a little disappointed that they were not going to transfigure origami, but there really wasn't any connection with the art and bringing an unframed photograph to class. Oh well.

Setting her picture on her desk, Kurumi was momentarily distracted by it. It was a picture that she had taken over the summer after being given a make over by Jonathan's mother. Her first moments with her new look had been really awkward, but nothing had made her feel more awkward than when he had seen her for the first time. The picture was from a small dinner party his family had hosted, of her and Jonathan of course, and she smiled because for perhaps the first time she did not look plain standing next to him. She had another one with her as well, one of her and Selina smashing chocolate frogs with Beater's bats in the dorms. Horrid things.

When there was a discussion about what Transfiguration was, Kurumi opted to be an active listener and refresh her notes on the topic should anything new pop up that she didn't already have written down from previous terms.

Kurumi was pleasantly surprised when class then immediately moved on to an activity. So soon?! Excellent! First things first though, Kurumi needed to practice the incantation and wand movement before diving right in and trying it on her piece of paper. She flinched a bit when Professor Magnus subtly hinted at not blowing anything up. She hadn't said it, but it was all in her eyes. She didn't say anything about melting things. So, Kurumi was safe. Yep.

First, Kurumi picked up her wand and practiced drawing a square in the air. "Professor Magnus," she asked with her hand in the air. "How important is it to draw a perfect square? If we were to trace a rectangle in the air, for example, would the results be the same?" For now, Kurumi would stick with trying to perfect drawing air squares.

Once she felt confident enough with this, she set her wand down on the table and used her index finger in its place. "'Stat-UA HAB-itum....Stat-UA HAB-itum....Stat-UA HAB-itum...Stat-UA HAB-itum..." she repeated as she drew much smaller and confined air squares with her finger. That sounded just about right. Time to put everything together.

Kurumi picked up her wand again and traced a square above her paper. "Stat-UA HAB-itum," she said. The effects were instant and, well, the result was what she suspected they would be. Her paper now somewhat resembled a mushy rice cake that had been rolled with a rolling pin and was now a gooey mess all over the table. She couldn't help but laugh. Somethings just never changed. "Reverto," she commanded, and her paper was back to normal.

Good, now that THAT was out of the way, her second go should be much more fruitful.


Kurumi glanced over at Jezz who seemed to be struggling a bit and flashed her a smile. "It helps if you relax your shoulders," she suggested. Jezz looked very tense, probably from being nervous which was to be expected when practicing a new spell. "You'll get it and probably won't have to melt your paper to do it. Don't call yourself a failure. Remember, there are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure."

Such as always having to melt your object before doing things properly.

So this piece of paper... was supposed to turn into a picture frame... Huh. Alright. Ellie had done some minor transfiguration thingymabobs before. This couldn't be too difficult.
[/b]"Stat-UA HAB-itum"[/b] She repeated to herself, chunking the syllables of the word. It sounded kind of funny.

Ellie took out her wand and pointed it at the piece of paper. Statua Habitum, Statua Habitum, Statua Habitum... "Statua Habitum!"

....

Well that didn't work. The piece of paper looked like it was trying to turn into a picture frame, but then it just stopped halfway between a piece a paper and a picture frame. An odd sight, really. "Er... Reverto." And it was back to a piece of paper.

She would definitely have to practice more.

Sierra glanced down at the ordinary piece of paper right in front of her. It didn't look like much, but...maybe she could change it into something better by the end of class. After all, the picture she'd brought along was sort of special to her. She hadn't randomly had any funny or amusing pictures in her trunk, and there hadn't been enough time for her to owl her father.

Her eyebrows raised upward as she took in the sight of the changed paper, now a picture frame. Hmm...pretty useful spell, yup. Now it was time for them to practice things, which might be a bit of a challenge at first. At least for Sierra. What in the name of Merlin had the professor said for that incantation again?

She listened to the voices around her and picked up on what had been said. "Stat-UA HAB-itum..." ... That just sounded awkward. "Stat-UA HAB-itum," Sierra said again. Hmm... "Statua Habitum," she finally managed to say. There. That was it, yes? She guessed she'd see. If her piece of paper turned into a frame, she was saying the incantation correctly. If not, well... Okay, maybe there wouldn't be an 'if not'.

"stat-UA HAB-itum...Statua Habitum..." Silvia repeated to herself several times, trying to commit the incantation to memory. Transfiguration did look like it would require a lot of hardwork, but also imagination to make the frame look how you wanted it to look, and luckily Silvia had a good imagination.

After practicing the wand movements for a minute, Silvia closed her eyes for a moment and took a deep breath, focusing on an image of a picture frame in her mind. A dark wood with a leaf pattern along the edges. She pointed her wand at the paper and, as she traced a square with her wand, said "Statua Habitum!" The paper seemed to shiver slightly and the edges changed to a dark brown color. Well, that's a start, she thought happily. "Reverto," the paper turned back to normal.

She took another deep breath and concentrated as best as she could on the image of the frame. "Statua Habitum!" she tried again. This time not only did the paper turn brown, but it grew thicker and a bit heavier, though it wasn't quite wood yet. Maybe I'll have this mastered by the end of class, she thought excitedly, and continued to practice.

Alyssa decided that she didn't like the first frame that she had transfigured, so she decided to try the spell again. Picking up her wand in one hand and the paper in the other, she traced a square over the paper and said, "Stat-UA HAB-itum". Instantly the paper turned into another picture frame. Only this one was too fancy for her, so shaking her head, Alyssa pointed her wand back at the frame and said "Reverto" changing the frame back into the paper.