Alright. This seemed fairly simple.

Holding her wand, Nora kept staring at the photo-frame-to-be for a few moments, but then decided to put it on the desk and practice first. You know, to be sure that she won't turn the desk or something else.

"Stat-ua Hab-itum," she mumbled. "Statua Habitum... Statua Habitum..." Okay, that worked well enough. Holding her wand again, she said "Statua Habitum," tracing a square above the paper, watching as it slowly turned into a... frame made of paper. Great.

"Reverto," she said, this time watching as the paper turned back to its original state. She'll just have to practice more and it will work, right?

Eventually.

Ness needs help xD
 

Wait? So they weren't going to do any spells on the photos they had brought? Ness pouted a little so what was the point of bringing the photo, couldn't they just put the photo in the frame once they got back to their dorms. Whatever, it didn't really matter, Nessie put her photo back into her bag and then she took her wand out of her pocket.

She knew she'd mess up already, she wasn't so good with these sort of things. "'Stat-UA HAB-itum'" she said just practicing the incarnation so she'd get it right, because that was usually where she went wrong. She then practiced the wand movement and she traced a square in the air. With these things it was always good to do one step at a time. She said the incarnation in her head a few more times and then she picked up the paper.

Tracing a sqaure shape over the paper she got began performing the spell."'Stat-UA HAB...HA..HA" she said, but got interrupted by a sneeze. "HACHOO!" She had totally messed up and there was no picture frame, instead the paper shot into the air and came to life. It looked scary, well for a paper that was. She looked at the paper once more and noticed how it had folded itself so it looked like it had a mouth...within a few seconds the paper started opening and closing its mouth as though it wanted to eat her. She stood still for a few seconds, but then she started taking a few steps back. "Um...somebody help?" she said a little ashamed this was very embarrassing after all.

Gwen listened to the Professor talk and then waited a few minutes, letting the information sink in. The girl grabbed her wand, but, noticing that her hand was shaking, she placed it down again. If I don’t draw a perfect sqare, that means the frame will come out… wavy? ‘Professor?’, the Ravenclaw began saying, raising her hand. ‘Umm… will the shape of the frame be exactly the way we draw it? And, if we…err… I make a mistake, it will come out asymmetrical?’ Gah, stupid hand, Gwen thought and glimpsed back at her shaking hand. 'And what about the design of the frame? And color? How can we control that?'

‘Stat-UA HAB-itum… Stat-UA HAB-itum.... Statua Habitum’, the third year practiced the incantation a few times and then decided it was time to actually start transfiguring the piece of paper. Hopefully I won’t screw anything up…

Looking back at the piece of paper, Gwendolyn decided to give it a try. ‘Stat-UA HAB-itum!’, she said loud and clear and was surprised to see that it changed into a frame. I DID IT!!!, the third year felt the need to congratulate herself. Taking a deep breath, Gwen pointed her wand back at the frame, and said: ‘Reverto!’

*blink- blink*

The frame was still almost the same. It just looked as if the top part would tear apart easily, just like a piece of paper. Nice going…, she told herself and decided to try using the last spell again. ‘Reverto!!!’ Come oooon- why won’t you turn back?! Grr. ‘ReVERtoo’, Gwen said once again, actually starting to get upset. ‘Reverto!’, she said and was relieved to see that it worked. YES!

Thank you James Gaisford for being awesome. xD
 

Lewis had simply been taking notes for last couple of minutes, trying to keep up with what the others were saying. Not that he hadn't already known most of it but still. Maybe Professor Magnus would want to know EXACTLY what each of the students had said in her class for the exam. Who knew?

Placing the picture he had brought onto the desk next to the piece of paper, Lewis looked at it for a moment. Was it weird that he had brought a picture of himself? But he hadn't known what exactly they would be doing with it - this was TRANSFIGURATION class after all - so he hadn't wanted to bring one that meant something to him. And he didn't exactly have a multitude of photos with him in the first place. So this one it was going to be.

Aw. They were going to make a picture frame? That was pretty cool. He watched closely as Professor Magnus performed the spell and nodded slowly to himself. Right. Once she was done, he started off by muttering the incantation a couple of times to get a feeling for how it was pronounced. "StatUA HABitum. StatUA HABitum. StatUA HABitum." It was pretty long. But not that hard to say.

He didn't think he was going to practice the wand movement so instead he reached for the piece of paper, holding it up a little. Right. Now. Just say the incantation and draw a square. Directing his full attention and concentration at the task ahead of him, Lewis drew a square on the piece of paper with his wand while at the same time saying, "StatUA HABitum!" And it had worked!

Or at least mostly. The picture frame he was now holding wasn't the black normal one he had wanted but it was close enough. Well, it was a picture frame so there. Hoping nobody had seen him holding it, Lewis quickly pointed his wand at it again and started to say "Rever-". He was however interrupted by a loud sneeze and then a voice asking for help. Huh?!

Turning in his seat to see what had happened, Lewis' eyes fell on a Hufflepuff girl backing away from a piece of paper, flying in the air. Now that he took a closer look at it it looked a lot like...mouth?! His eyes flickering to the professor for a moment, Lewis got up from his seat and pointed his wand at the strange flying paper. "Finite!" Hopefully that would work.

If not it seemed they were all going to be eaten up by a piece of paper today. NOT the way he wanted to die.

Kurumi hovered her wand over her piece of paper. Now that Jezz seemed to be situated with her spell work, there was less chance of a bouncing ball to come bounding across the table and knocked it off the desk again. Nothing Reparo couldn't fix of course, but Kurumi would rather not have to deal with the sound of shattering glass if it could be avoided. Kurumi traced a square in the air again, repeated the incantation, and her glass frame was back. THIS time, she set it on its side, flat, on the desk so that it couldn't get knocked over. You know, just in case.

Breathing a sigh of relief that the melting of objects was becoming less and less of a thing, Kurumi glance to her right.
o________________O

Since when had Howlers been white?! Not to mention when in Merlin's name had an owl been in the classroom to deliver it? Unless...was that her piece of paper? She had heard a rather loud sneeze earlier that very well could have been Nessie...and would certainly explain why her paper was chomping at the bit to get to know the Puff now. Hehe.

Leaning over her seat, Kurumi took careful aim with her wand. "Revert---" But Lewis was already on the move. Badger loyalty right there.

"'Stat-ua WHATTA?'' Daichi failed to hear incantation precisely and he now had to look around to here the students say it. "Stat-ua-babba.." no that didn't sound right. "Stat-ua Habilum!" oooh that was right , right? Daichi''s eyes twinkled with excidement when he thought he had the incantation right and grabbed his wand.

"StatuaHabilum!" he shouted while tracing a squar around the piece of paper. Of course , nothing happened. Nothing even exploded which was a compliment for him. Pouting and running a hand through his hair , he tried again. "Statuahabilum!" fail again. "StatuahabiLum...statuahabiLum!"" the Slytherin was now moving his wand so frantically due to nerves that sparks erupted from the wand and it weren''t the sparks he saw from the other students. He closed his eyes tightly shut and was ready for an explosion when...

nothing happened.

Sighing loudly, Daichi dropped his wand back on the table and leaned against the chair. What was he doing wrong?! Still pouting, the third year listened and listened and that''s when he noticed where he had done wrong. He had used an L in the incantation instead of a T!

"'Statuahabitum~" he said without touching the wand. "Statuahabitum...statuahabitum..." NOW it was right, right?

Pulling up his sleeve, Daichi grabbed his wand again and traced the piece of paper in a square. "Statuahabitum!" He saw something glowing but then it vanished and the paper hadn't transformed...or whatever it was suppose to do. "Statuahabitum!" nothing. "Statuahabitum!" ..... Why was it that a THIRD year couldn't even do this?! It was so unfair to see younger students than him succeed.

Maybe he wasn't magical at all and there had been a mistake in his first year? O__o
''P-Professor?" he stuttered as he raised his hand in the air. ''It's..it's not working...'' he felt sad now.

It was comming closer and closer, and Ness kept on taking steps back, but it wasn't exactly helping as she couldn't go back much further. She was at the verge of wantingto scream, but she knew that it wouldn't be necassary as it would just attract more attention and it would embarrass her even more. She bit her lip and stood still afraid of what would happen.

Then it hit her, she had a wand and she could of used it, she attempted to lift up her wand,but she was sort of frozen and she couldn't move, so instead she continued looking at the piece of paper in horror.This was it, this was..the..end...or maybe it wasn't.

The paper had almost reached her and she could feel it barely touching her face. That was when she heard them, her rescuers. With their counter spells they both attempted to fix the paper that was very much alive. . and just before the piece of paper could reach her, it stopped moving and it fell to the ground as though it was dead. Ness looked at the paper and then at her rescuers.

"Um..um..thank you." she said to them both, still a little shakey. She turned her eyes back to the piece of paper that was on the floor. It looked scary even though it was back to normal now, she was afraid of it and she took a few steps away from it. She didn't want it to come back to life again that would have been terrifying. To be honest, she had become a little traumatized now.

After practicing with his twig, Nate felt fully confident with the spell. Time to take things up a notch. Carefully, he drew a square on the paper before him, about an inch from each edge. That part had to be just about perfect, or Nate would have started over. He liked things working out on his part...

Picking up his wand from the desk, Nate traced over the square he had drawn and focused hard, saying, "Statua Habitum!" Sure enough, his focus payed off, as it usually did in magic. Before him lay not a piece of paper with a square on it, but a blue and bronze frame, decorated like the Ravenclaw common room and adorned with the house crest on the left and the motto, "Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure" on the right, written in engraved calligraphy in the metal of the frame. As if Nate wasn't impressed enough by how the spell's results had outdone his imagination, the frame was also the perfect size for his picture, and he hadn't even thought of that much!

Satisfied, Nate sat back a little in his chair and admired the frame. He was careful to leave the picture itself alone, though. One could lose house points if one wasn't careful, and it wouldn't help a House with negative twenty-two points if he were to lose more.

"OK", Alex thought. I'll take this one step at a time. She decided to practice the incantation alone first. "Stat-UA HAB-itum, Stat-UA HAB-itum". She concentrated on visualizing the picture frame. "Now I'll try the movement", Alex whispered to herself. She moved her wand silently tracing a square. Then combining both parts she repeated, "Stat-UA HAB-itum". The paper gave a little rustle and then.....nothing. "I guess I have lot of practicing to do", Alex said a little dejectedly.

Please proffesor charlotte raised her hand transfigaration is when you change an excisting object into sometihng else

charlotte read the instructions and began to try to transfigure her picture

Beezus was marveling at her new transfigured piece of paper which was now a sequined picture frame. It would surely suit the picture that she brought with her. If Professor Magnus would allow them to bring it then she'd place it on the table beside her bed. Erin would be delighted for sure.

Just then, she heard someone gawking and squacking behind her. When she turned around, she saw that it was Daichi. Honestly, she hadn't taken note of those people around her, she was too engrossed on doing the activity. He seems so stressed. Whatever the reason, she was still to find out. "Daichi, what's the matter?" Beezus asked.

As the answers from everyone started pouring in, her notes started to multiply, one piece of information at a time until she moved on to the next page, and the page behind that. Soon enough, Professor Magnus finished explaining everything and all that was left was the actual spell casting.

Oh dear, Merlin. Here goes nothing.

She watched as Professor Magnus demonstrated the spell, drawing a perfect rectangle with her wand and watched as the piece of paper turned into a picture frame right before her eyes. Oh dear, would she be able to pull that off? Hopefully, she wouldn't set anything on fire or something.

"Stat-UA HAB-itum" She said, it sounded right. She decided to repeat it, you know...just in case. "Stat-UA HAB-itum....Stat-UA HAB-itum"

The Slytherin looked around and watched as the others drew rectangles over their paper while holding it in front of them. Alright, she could do this! The blonde held her paper in front of her and drew a rectangle over it with end of her wand while saying "Statua Habitum!"

But...nothing happened. Well, wasn't that awesome?

She tried again, one more time, twice, thrice...until what seemed like the fifth time, she watched as the paper transformed into a frame...but, it was still paper. Just with a perfectly cut rectangular space in the middle...big enough for her picture. Not bad...not what she had in mind, but not bad.

"Reverto" The fifth year muttered as the paper reverted back to it's previous form. Then she sighed and drew the rectangle over the sheet one more time while saying "Statua Habitum!" concentrating as much as she could. Then, as if by some miracle it had transformed into a frame! Although, it did look kind of square though.

"Professor, my frame looks a bit...square, is that alright?" She asked, oh. She hoped it was fine. It was a rather pretty one and yeah..

Wait, what if she wanted a circular frame? What was she going to do?

+a bit of Kurumi. <3
 

Lewis watched as his spell seemed to have a) hit target and b) actually seemed to stop the rogue piece of paper too. It had fallen to the floor and was now just lying there like, well, like a piece of paper. Which it was. He still hadn't quite got how in the world the girl had managed to make the paper do that in the first place.

"What did you DO?!" He voiced his thoughts before he could stop himself, his eyes still fixated on the paper. Finally looking up he glanced at the girl who was saying her thanks, still looking slightly shakey. But she wasn't only looking at him. Huh. Turning around Lewis followed her gaze and found himself looking at Kurumi who was also watching them with her wand pointed at the girl.

With a quick smile for the Prefect, he turned back and was already on his way back to his seat - trying to hide the picture frame behind his back - when his eyes fell on the Hufflepuff girl again. "You okay?" Lewis inquired softly, his brow slightly furrowed. She WAS in his house after all.

Minerva decided to practice again. She traced a square on her paper "Statua Habitum" she made a made face.. Not square again grrrrrrrrrr she thought to her self Minerva pointed her wand "Reverto" the bad frame goes back to a piece of paper. You did this once just concentrate Minerva told herself.

Daichi had tried to use the spell one more time and when nothing happened he gave up. He looked around to find others having already gotten a frame and a hint of jealousy rushed through him. Sighing, the Slytherin turned back to look at his still normal piece of paper and it was then that he heard his name.

Looking back up, his first reaction was to look at the Professor, thinking that it had been her. But found out that it was Beezus. He frowned and a little pout formed on his lips as he leaned forward. "It's not working" he said. "I just want to perform a spell without messing it up!" uhoh he was getting emotional... "Why is it that every time i try i fail?" it was so unfair.. especially seeing the frame laying on Beezus's table! She was a year younger right?

He knew it, he was a failure in magic.
Controlling his tears because he was ONE a big boy! and TWO cool guys don't cry.

It's not working? Well..he wasn't the only one who had trouble doing it because she also had issues a while ago. That piece of paper even turned into a banana peel! A BANANA PEEL!

Sighing, she rested her right arm on Daichi's desk. She wanted to help the Slytherin because well.. it was the first time she had seen a snake act like this way and she just felt sorry for him. Not to mention that he looked so cute with that pout. "Why?" She absolutely asked the obvious. "I mean..have you err--practiced already the wand movement?" Because that was pretty important. "Or the incantation?" That was her usual problem, incantation.

Ella looked around as several students had already turned their paper into picture frames. She glanced at the picture she had brought to class with her, it was a family photo. One where her grandfather was still alive. Pops, this one is for you. Ella was determined to get this spell right. First she needed to know how to say it correctly. "Stat-UA HAB-itum...Stat-UA HAB-itum....Stat-UA HAB-itum...Stat-UA HAB-itum!" That last one had sounded the most like the professor's spell so she decided to put it to use. She held her wand and focused on the paper. She slowly traced her square above it and with a wince said "Statua Habitum!"
The paper had moved a little but nothing had changed. "Humph." Ella was disappointed but not discouraged. She looked around. She wasn't the only one struggling and she figured it was normal not to get it on the first try. She smiled at Charlotte who was working next to her and then focused once more on the paper. She took a deep breath and tried again. She traced the square more calmly this time and then in a controlled voice, "Statua Habitum" What was this?! The paper was no longer there and in its place was a lovely picture frame. "Merlin's beard..." Ella whispered. She had done it, she had actually done it.

D:
 

Right. So, Sierra pretty much had the incantation down now. There was really no point in continuing to say it over and over when there were other parts of the spell she hadn't moved on to yet--like that square formation she was meant to do above the piece of paper. She wasn't exactly sure how her tracing skills were, especially in such an odd formation for wand movements, but the professor made it look easy enough.

Sierra pointed her wand toward the piece of paper and practiced moving her wand around and around in the same formation the paper made. She got outside the lines sometimes, so her square wasn't exactly four straight lines and four square corners, but it was getting close enough. There were so many distractions around the room, though. Sierra's gaze traveled over to Kurumi Hollingberry. Why did the girl always have to play the hero?! Couldn't she ever just mind her own business?

See, this was what made Gryffindors so annoying...

Sierra sighed and turned back to her paper. She made the square formation above it a few more times before deciding she was ready to start putting it all together.

Vlimia was quite excited, since she loved the idea of Transfiguration. Upon hearing the instructions, she dug her unframed photo of her little sister out of her bag, and put it on the desk. The definition of Transfiguration... she had read something somewhere... Vlimia raised her hand, and said "Well proffesor, Transfiguration is a branch of magic that focuses on the alteration of the form or appearance of an object, via the alteration of the object's molecular structure. Transfiguration can be done to most, if not all, objects. Currently, transfiguration is divided into four branches. They are: Transformation, Vanishment, Untransfiguration and Conjuration." Vlim replied confidently. She had memorized a few passages from quite a few books, and had found that it helped her a great deal in classes.

Gwen glanced at the photograph she'd brought with her. In it were her mother and father, standing side by side with their arms around each other's waists, occasionally looking at one another and smiling. Her older brother Henry was to his mother's right, holding his beloved broomstick, a Firebolt, and running his hand through his dark hair from time to time. Gwen's younger sister Jasmine was in the middle, both hands pushed deep in to the pockets of her dress and staring directly at the camera with wide, angry eyes, her usual glare. She hardly moved, and when she did, it was only to glower up at her parents in a way that said, "Why are you making me do this?". Gwen was to her father's left, holding her cat Pickles in her arms and beaming. Pickles was squirming impatiently in her arms and once in a while Gwen gave him a kiss on top of his fluffy head.

Tearing her eyes away from the photograph, Gwen took out her wand and practiced the wand movement. Then she put down her wand and practiced saying the incantation.
Finally, she picked up her wand again, pulled the piece of paper to her and tried the spell.

"Statua Habitum," said Gwen as clearly as possible, tracing a square on the paper. Before her eyes, it transformed in to a frame. However, it was still made of paper, kind of like an elaborate origami frame. Really? she thought, a little disappointed. Oh well, it had only been her first try. "Reverto." And once again it was a sheet of paper.

Gwen tried the spell again. "Statua Habitum." This time the piece of paper actually transfigured itself in to a frame! Gwen couldn't help smiling as she picked up the frame. It was a square and made of wood, with some lines carved in to it. It was simple, but hey, it was still a frame.

practicing a bit
 

Louisa was scribbling down what the professor had to say about the paper and... what? They were doing a picture frame? COOL! SO much better than the clowning thing last term, that put Louisa's self-esteem on the edge for full two hours... which felt like a couple of decades considering WHO she'd spent them with. HOWEVER, no more bittersad memories, she was going to enjoy Professor Magnus lesson today.

Looking down at her picture in Brazil that was stuffed in her bag, the fifteen years old was beyond glad that she didn't bring some pathetic family photo. Her picture this summer was worth the framing more. Especially magical framing, that was epic cool. Yep. She was loving Magnus so much.

Clearing her throat and putting down her wand, she started reciting, "Statua Habitum..Statua Habitum..Statua Habitum...Statua Habitum...Statua Habitum..Statua Habitum.." over and over and over again... the wand movement should be easy, tracing a square. They made sure to teach her how to do that back in nursery, thank you.

Sierra took a deep sigh and let it out slowly, preparing herself for putting together everything they'd learned and, hopefully, creating a picture frame. She guided her wand back above the piece of paper then started to make the same square formation she'd been working on. "Statua Habitum!" she said, just as she finished the square.

She heard that same popping sound she'd heard when the professor had done the demonstration. Only, the result of Sierra's casting didn't exactly turn out the same as the professor's. She peered down and saw one straight piece of a picture frame and three very uneven pieces with parts of paper jammed in between them. Had she really been that far off on her tracing?

With a sigh, she pointed her wand toward the mess. "Reverto!" she said, and the mess of a frame changed back to a piece of paper.

Looooong post. xD
 

Isabelle had been walking around the room, making sure everyone was doing as she had asked and not just launching themselves into trying the spell. It was important to make sure you could say the incantation properly first, but some of the younger ones seemed intent on rushing things.

It was good to see the prefects helping with that though. Issy smiled as Kurumi went about trying to convince a young first year that she could do it. Moving over to the two of them, she smiled at the young one as she tried to do it - and surveying the slightly chaotic scene of broken glass. Returning the nod the Gryffindor gave her as she cleared up, Isabelle crouched down by Jezzabelle. "You know, Kurumi is right. Just relax your muscles and your mind to start with. If you get too worked up about things it won't work as well as you want - as you found out just then," she vanished one of the balls that was still bouncing down by her foot. How on earth that happened she didn't know. "And please, don't be afraid to ask me for help if you need it. I won't bite your head off for not being able to do a spell."

Giving her another reassuring smile, Isabelle moved on to the question the prefect has asked her. "Well the lines themselves don't need to be perfectly straight, I mean most people's hands falter a little when trying to draw a straight line, but for the spell to work accurately the wand movement does need to be a square, yes. Otherwise the frame will be deformed, or......be something else entirely..." How DID that happen?

Ahh, good question young grasshopper.

Isabelle moved off towards the other side of the room when Hades asked his question. "The wand movement remains the same, it's your intent and focus that changes. The end result is dictated by the image you fix in your mind as to what you want it to be. By all means try and produce a circular frame, the result doesn't need to be square."

As she was talking to Hades a piece of paper suddenly flew past her head, making Isabelle jump. Snapping her head in the direction it had gone, she flicked her own wand to stop it in it's tracks. Summoning it to her she looked around for a desk that was missing a piece, or a frame, and noticed just one.

"I think this belongs to you," she smiled, placing it back on the Ravenclaw's desk.

What on earth was it with students sending things flying in this lesson? No sooner had the piece of paper been dealt with than Isabelle heard the word DUCK. She turned to see what was happening and saw a student diving for the wand that had shot across the room.

"Are you alright over there?" Issy called.

Oooh, another question. Good.

"When you transfigure something you need a clear image in your mind of what you want to turn your original item into. That's why everyone will have a different end product, because they are thinking of different things. You run the risk of getting something you don't want if your concentration wavers."

And more chaos. This lesson was certainly more...lively...than she had planned. So much for a nice easy start to the term.

As a piece of paper started attacking a Hufflepuff, Isabelle got her wand out ready to cast 'Finite' when another 'puff got there first. Nodding approval, she walked over to the girl who had cast the original spell. "Thank you," she said to the boy as she passed him, giving a a grateful smile. "Now, are you alright? You're more than welcome to take some time to compose yourself before carrying on."


After making sure the Hufflepuff was okay, Isabelle moved over to the next person who asked a question. Smiling she shook her head. "The wand movement doesn't impact on the outcome of the spell in that way. It has to be a square, yes, but that doesn't mean the frame does. How it looks is completely up to you. Your concentration and intention are what changes the look of it. As long as you keep a clear final image in your head, and perform the incantation and wand movement correctly, then it will turn out the way you want."

Isabelle coulndn't help but smile at Daichi as she watched him try, and try, and try to get the spell right.

"Daichi, just calm down. Now, the spell is in two part, not all one word. Repeat after me...'Statua Habitum'," she said the words clearly and enunciated. "Don't panic. You will get it eventually."

"Square, round, even triangle - it really doesn't matter. As long as you picture what you want in your mind, and do the required parts of the spell correctly, you will end up with what you want." Isabelle smiled at the Slytherin as she moved up to the front of the room.




Clapping her hands to get their attention, she waited a second to make sure all eyes were on her. Flicking her wand at the board the eraser removed the words already on it and replaced it with the spell they were learning.

"Now, as a few of you seem to be having trouble with the pronunciation of the incantation, I've placed it on the board for you. You need to remember to add emphasis on the UA and the HAB sections of the words." Perching herself back on the edge of her desk, Issy looked around at the various frames and bits of paper that were lying about.

"We'll just take a quick break from practice to look at the spell. Can anyone tell me what language they think it derives from and what it means?" With new kids around it was always worth asking these things, to make sure they understood the origin of spells. In Isabelle's opinion anyway.




OOC: We'll be moving on to a different sort of practice later, using the photo's. For now you can carry on a bit more if you haven't done much practice, but please try to answer the question as well. :)