Sophia rubbed her temples. Ok if she went ahead and told them how to do that some students wouldn't get it and she would have to teach it and this lesson really wasn't about shooting sparks so she changed it...right then and there.

"Actually for those unable to do the sparks test,just use lumos. You should all be comfortable with that spell but if you can't perform it, make your way to the classroom. I'd rather not have anyone's blood on my hands. Right then...anymore questions?"

Testing sparks?

She could do that. It wasn't that hard. What got her was the fact they had to be doing it in the first place. Sparks were usually set off when they were dispersed and one got in some kind of serious trouble, putting their safety at risk. A part of her was completely stoked for this, what with it promising danger and all but the other more feeble part of her was cringing inside. It just seemed like a way of killing them off faster.

Don't think about it Lex.

The Gryffindor would focus on the promise of adventure. So what if this school had proven time and time again that people DO die. This year wouldn't be one of those times. It'd be fine.

Her wand had sparks flying from it like they were meant to. Least she knew if something went wrong her wand was still cooperating. In all this she would pretend the Professor did NOT just mention having their blood on her heads. Not a good image, not right when half of them could be toppled over by the wind right now.

Spark test...

Um, Benny wasn't sure what the professor meant by that and it seemed many other students both already around and adding to the gathering were just as lost as he was. And given as many of them were roughly his age, the second year didn't feel bad. It obviously wasn't something taught to them. Instead he waited quietly and patiently as the question was raised to Professor Bentley on how to do it. Instead she switched spells.

THAT spell he knew.

"Lumos..." Ben cast simply, the tip of his wand alighting in response. So he and his wand were all set but the Gryffindor was brought up a little short by what else had been said.

Wait blood on her hands?!...Just what were they doing?

No. No, no, NO. That wouldn't do. Bev wanted to know how to cast sparks and the professor wasn't teaching them how. Sure, there was Lumos, but she had asked for sparks and Bev WANTED sparks.

Glancing around, she hobbled her way toward a familiar face. He'd cast sparks, and she wanted to learn how. "Psst, Sander." There was no need whisper having stood beside him. "Could you teach me how to cast sparks? I don't want to die." Bev gazed up at him with wide eyes. Would he help a tiny, old woman-child? Hmm, hmmm?

What were they doing? She had no idea, but upon arriving, the captain could hear others being quietly instructed to cast sparks or a Wand-Lighting Charm. Why? Not quite sure.

Er... checking wands? Had they been tampered with? Were the elderly incapable of performing adequate and up-to-par magic? Alice both conjured up red sparks and cast a near silent Lumos with her wand just to be sure. Merlin knew that if anyone had messed with her stuff, they were getting it.

Sander glanced to his right when someone approached and then he recognized who it was. It was Bev, the girl he had worked with before. "Hi Bev. Uh...what? Teach you? Here? Now? Um...the Professor said that if you didn't know how to do it, that you could use Lumos. That's a whole lot safer, I assure you," Sander tried to convince Bev that the Professor was right.

Looking at the younger girl, Sander felt bad for her. He so wanted to teach her. "The incantation I used is Firsitan. Pronounced Fir-See-Tan and the wand movement is a jab preferably upwards. If you want the sparks to be green, you need to include the color as well. So the incantation is Firsitan Green. But please don't try it now. You need to first practice both incantation and wand movement and how to control the intensity of the sparks. I don't want you burning the ceiling down," Sander whispered to Bev.

"Maybe if we're going outdoors later, you can try casting it then. It'll be lots safer. For now just use Lumos. You know how to cast it right?" Sander hoped Bev did or else she'd be staying behind in the classroom today.

Lumos?

If this class was what Lux thought it was, being able to send sparks from her wand was definitely better than being able to do Lumos. There was no doubt she could light her wand if needed, but if trouble should come up, what would happen then? Lux would end up as Acromantula food is what.

She needed to be able to send sparks if something happened to her.

Looking around at the older students, she saw that Bev had headed over to Sander and was asking him to teach it to her. Perfect. Joining the two, she caught the incantation and wand movement that was needed. Seemed simple enough.

Smiling, Lux jabbed her wand and said, "Firsitan." Nothing happened. Hmmm, she must be saying it wrong. Time to try again. "Firsitan." Aha, sparks! "Look, Sander."

Okay, so it had been more sparks than she wanted, but whatever. hehe.

Pretty.

A... sparks test?

Alec blinked at Bellaire before glancing around at the others. Did anyone else find these instructions... weird? What were they going to be doing that could require them to shoot out sparks from their wands? Nothing dangerous that would make them shoot out sparks to show Bellaire that they were in trouble, right? Unless... there was no meaning behind them. ... Yeah. Yeah, the boy liked that idea much better.

Sparks. Right. To check to see if his wand was working.

He pulled out his wand and held it up. Any colour sparks? Silently, he shot out some green sparks from his wand... and then some red sparks too. There. That was all in good order, yeah? Good. Then he could head into the classroom and face whatever Bellaire had in store for them with the knowledge that his wand worked properly. Speaking of, the Hufflepuff clutched onto his wand a little tighter than normal as he glanced over at the door to the Irie Room. He had questions. He wasn't going to voice them but he had questions.

Sander wanted to hide then and there when Lux actually performed the spell...that he hadn't taught her...but that she had overheard him whispering the instructions to Bev. He looked around hoping Professor Bellaire hadn't seen her doing it.

"uh yes..that's good, Lux. Shall we head into class now?" Sander suggested, quickly heading into the classroom.

Sparks? Sure, whatever... although Mo was a little concerned about the implication. Were they going to be put in some sort of life or death situation? Or did Bellaire think their wands were all broken?

WHY WOULD THEIR WANDS BE BROKEN?

Hm. Mo shot blue sparks from the end of his wand before shuffling forward into the classroom as indicated. Everything was working as expected.

Ooooh!

Beverly watched Sander intently, from the way he said the enchantment to the wand movement. So THAT'S how you did it. Great. Glancing up at the older student, she sent him grateful grin. "Thanks, that should be better than Lumos." Just FYI. And she didn't want to die, so the extent of the sparks wasn't a problem.

When Lux joined them, Beverly shot her a wave. Hi. Back to Sander, she nodded at him. "I'll use it if I really have to. Thanks."

Now it was time to move into the Erie Room. She felt more prepared, but out of precaution, she followed in after the taller students.

Adi had been waiting for Bellaire to tell them just how to cast the sparks but he was fine with Lumos. That spell he could do.

"Lumos!'' A light appear at the tip of his wand. Yep, his wand was good to go. However, Adi was sort of distracted by the Professor's last statement. Blood on her hands? Er...just exactly what were they going to be doing?

Marigold gave the Professor a quick grin as she entered the room, as she actually wasn't aching from the walk. Poor old!students. She hadn't really thought much about the whole closer to dying thing until recently, and figured that she could give them an excuse for all their whining.

... And then there was the implication that their wands wouldn't be working. What was that about? Marigold took her wand out and performed a quick Lumos. Right-o, everything working fine. Just as one would expect it to be in a normal class.

Hi shouty!Zahra.

Lily had the odd sensation of possibly being the most awake out of at least half of the other students who had lined up outside the Irie Room for Transfiguration. If anything, it was weird looking at all the old!young fellow students when she was still her normal almost seventeen-year-old self. Especially given her original suspicion that people had just been being dramatic when the symptoms had first started to appear. She had sent a smile over toward the professor, noting both that the woman had seemed older than normal as well and that she looked almost exasperated. That wasn’t a good sign, but then, neither had been the little comment about not wanting to have anyone’s blood on her hands. That had definitely made her curious about what was to come, or if it had just been a comment brought about by irritation at questions that were unnecessary.

That had been why she’d stayed silent, anyway. She wasn’t about to speak and cause any more of a headache, no matter how curious she was now. She’d get her answers eventually, or just get distracted by the lesson. She’d quickly murmured the spell to conjure sparks, though, watching as a few bluish-green sparks had emitted from the tip of her wand. Hopefully that had been a good enough test. She hadn’t wanted to risk setting anything on fire with an errant spark, which was why she’d stayed quiet. That was the easiest way for her to control her casting. She’d known her wand was working properly anyhow. The inference that it may not be had only added to her curiosity.

Wile Alex was waiting in line, Sander whispered that everyone was supposed to do the sparks test with their wands. "Thanks twin", she whispered back. From the looks of things, it seemed like a lot of her classmates weren't sure how to perform he test. Professor Bellaire announced that it was OK to try the Lumos spell instead. Then she added the part about not wanting blood on her hands. Whaaaat? What in the world were they going to do today that would call for that statement?

Feeling apprehensive, Alex proceeded to carry out her sparks test. When she was able to create sparks from the tip of her wand, she felt some relief. Not much though. Just to be safe, Alex said, "Lumos". Good. Her wand seemed to be in working order. Now she just had to worry about why these precautions were necessary in the first place.

Ella was confused. Of course her wand was working. Why wouldn't it be, yeah? She kept it on her at all times and unless someone had snuck in to mess with it while she slept, granted that was a lot lately, she couldn't see why it'd need to be tested. She did it anyway though. Concentrated and produced sparks from the tip of her wand, careful not to be too close to anyone else in the line just in case. See, Professor? All good here.

And blood on her hands? Was this something she should worry about? Ella wasn't down for a near-death experience, just saying. Actually, strike that. Ella was probably going to die from this stupid aging thing anyway so she really shouldn't be too scared. She just needed to suck it up and head inside, no questions asked. And as soon as Bellaire gave the okay and the line moved in, she would do just that.

So sparks...or light. Same thing in a sense, although they were used for very different purposes when it came to the wizarding world. Sophie wondered what they needed to test their wands for. What was...in there? She looked around as a few others tried the spell. Sander had given them a brief explanation of what they were meant to do, but the professor had also said a simple illuminating spell would do, too.

For now, it'd be the illuminating spell. Still, Sophie nodded toward Sander then looked back to her wand. "Lumos!" she said. It lit up and therefore proved it was at least in working condition. So with that done, Sophie looked forward to see what would happen next.

Merlin. The comely Transfiguration Professor had really let herself be overtaken by old age. The oldmanboy wasn't about to say anything on it, though. He'd simply remember this lesson for later use in life. Quing up and drawing out his wand, he did as instructed and conjured the sparks.

Boredly, he tapped his wand against the wrinkly surface of his free-hand's palm and watched as the sparks gently erupted in the pattern in which he'd been tapping.

"Lumos!" Caleb muttered, deciding to just do the easy spell instead of trying to do something more complicated. His motivation was basically zero lately.

Questions? Nope. He was good.

Bay smiled at his friend that were ever so helpful "thanks Sander" so he was supposed to have sparks shoot from his wand.. okie dokie… lets see if Bay could remember what his mother taught him…

errrr… what was that spell again.. oh and then it popped into his head.. YES


point his wand up so it didn't hit anyone he said "Vermillious" seeing orange sparks with reddish smoke come from the tip.. after making sure it was alright he ended the spell "Finite" seeing that it was safe to put down his wand he looked over at the rest of the group.. "hey Lux… and others" he didn't meet the other people yet but he didn't want to be rude.

"Sander… are we supposed to still wait?? or like can we go in?" he asked his older mate.. leaning against the wall he started to get real tired.. he wondered if he would get into trouble for sitting on the floor?

Schuyler waited outside Bellaire's room with the rest of the class gang people. She curled her fingers and checked to make sure that the fresh coat of lilac nail polish had not been nicked. She examined the other hand.

Yes. All was fine.

Sparks? Her head lifted so she could look to Bellaire. Why did she want them to test their wands? They never needed to check them before class any other time. Supposing they would find out soon enough, she shot a few sparks out from the tip of her wand - all just fine and normal - and then made her way into the classroom.

Oh! So they just had to test out Lumos? That wasn't so bad. Why didn't he think of that at first. He got his wand out and said, "Lumos!" and then his wand lit up and it seemed to be working fine. He nodded and looked up at the professor for more instructions.

Then she mentioned the part about blood on their hands? Ermm....were they gonna be do something very gruesome today? Now Kace's interest was peaked.

Oichi had heard of the spell to create sparks but had done it in quite a while. Still she was a young full fledged witch despite the aging thing. She thought for a moment to remember the incantation and wand movement to create sparks. When it popped into her head she pointed her wand above her, "Purikoolum(periculum)", and with that red sparks came from her wand and she grinned as the door opened before her. She walked into the wild green yonder of learning wondering what she would end up doing here for a Transfigurations fitness test.

Sparks? Toby could do that. It was one of the first spells he'd mastered when working his way through the earlier textbooks. The Hufflepuff brushed a whispy lock of white hair out of his face and retrieved his wand from the pocket he now always kept it in. He quickly produced some bright blue sparks from the end of his wand and waited, ready to see what they'd be working on today.

Sophia stepped in front of the door and further blocked the entrance when a few students tried to enter without her permission. She had specifically instructed those who COULD NOT even produce the Lumos spell to sit out the lesson in the actual transfiguration classroom instead of staying in the line and since they all were able to at least produce light, they could stay.

It really wasn't anymore complicated than that, and she was far too old and too tired to deal with complications.

"Alright, I just wanted to be certain that all wands were working properly because I will not slow down or stop to help anyone who's wand isn't working because you will definitely be relying on wand usage to get through this class. Everything from this point on will be graded, from your attire down to how you walk while you are in the room. While this is an individually graded 'obstacle course'.." and she put that in quotes.." you are allowed to partner up from time to time and get help..on occasions where you really can't do it yourself, though I will deduct points for this. You will be using your common sense as well as any general knowledge about spell you may remember. The trick is only transfiguration spells are allowed." She stepped aside and opened the door. "You may all enter now, and the first person to recap the lesson from last class get's five points."