He may or may not have been sitting there staring at his little dragon. Wow. Just wow, it was a rock then it became.. wooow. More staring. But the sounds of people around him had him snap out of his state. It was just like the people to distract him by being loud. Although it was a bit appreciated since he needed to finish his task.

And now that he got to this point, he had no idea how to get the dragon to enter the cage. Couldn't they just pick it up, put it inside and call it a day? Apparently not. They had to communicate, something he couldn't see the point of.

"Okay, mate, in you go," Nothing. What did he really expect, though. It wasn't a puppy. Its mind is literally made of stone. Not a very positive thing to think about. "Look, it might look bad but there isn't really a huge difference between outside and inside." The cages looked poorly structured. Good thing the dragons were tiny.

And the creature tilted its head and looked at Dante who took the chance to point his finger at the cage and give the dragon the slightest nudge. Which seemed to have worked because a minute later the dragon was inside. Mission accomplished.

The dragon moved, taking his sweet time and Janelle wasn't exactly sure where he would end up. "Come on my dragon. Let's go into the cage. In the cage now." As she spoke, Janelle continued to point and gesture toward the cage. Finally, the Welsh Green made up his mind and walked into its new home.

"You did it. Good job. Now I can keep you.". Janelle was very relieved. She closed the latch on the cage and made sure it was secure. "You had me worried there for a minute", she told her dragon. Looking at her new friend, Janelle decided that he needed a name. "Hmmm, what should I call you?", she asked. "How about Mike? Do you like that?". She looked at the dragon. "Yes, I think you look like a Mike so that's what I'll call you." So it was settled. Now that her dragon had a home and a name. Janelle was ready to see what came next.

He had to get this right. He just HAD to. There was no way Austin Alexander Moore, the son of a magnificent healer, was going to leave this classroom until he had a dragon on his desk. At least until class was over. Never. He was determined to get this. He paused and looked around the room at what the other students were doing. Some already had dragons on their desks, but others still had stones. Thankfully I'm not the only one. It gave him some relief to know that he wasn't the only one with a stone still. But time was ticking, and there was no way he was going to be the last one left with a stone. It was now or never.

Taking a deep breath, he pointed his wand at the stone, determination on his face. This was it. He could feel it. "Draconifers!!" He imagined his Short-snout. But not just a picture of it. He imagined small version of the dragon running around on the desk, breathing tiny flames, and flying around. All of a sudden sparks puffed out of the stone, and in it's place was a silvery dragon. "WHOOOOO HOOOOO!" Austin was beyond excited. He had successfully accomplished Transfiguration. He was confident that anything after this would be easy. But that was because he hadn't tried putting the dragon into the cage yet.

Awww, her little dragon was so cute.

Lux felt like a proud mama right now. BEAMING, she petted her new baby on the head. "Hey there, little guy." Was it a boy? Or was it a girl? She had no idea and it didn't matter because she loved her baby dragon regardless.

Gently she picked up her little dragon, letting it rest on her arm while she cooed at it and kept petting its head. "I think I will call you Khaleesi." Because why not. "Time for you to go into your cage, Khaleesi."

Setting the little guy down again, Lux tried to figure out how to communicate in a way that the dragon would understand. Did gestures work? Or would food? Hmmm, did they eat Chocolate Frogs? Probably not but that would make dragons even more awesome.

Looking around, she saw some people pointing to the cage with success so why not try that as well. "Into the cage you go," she said while pointing to it. At first it didn't seem to work but then Khaleesi decided to listen and walked inside. Yessss. "Good little dragon!" she said happily as she closed the door and secured the latch.

Stare stare stare. Toby tilted his head and squinted at the rock, as though observing the 'dragon' from a different angle, really trying to get into the whole task but finding that it was harder than ever to really concentrate on imagining the thing changing into an actual dragon.

He stopped death-glaring at the rock for a moment and looked around the room at those nearby. A lot of kids already had little dragons, some in cages, some not. Toby wasn't sure he could see any Opaleyes around, but it was kinda helpful to see how everyone else was getting on. He could take in the behaviours of the dragons and actually picture his own as being like that. Yeah.

Toby looked back at his rock again and held up his wand. After clearing his throat, the Hufflepuff tried again, trying so so so hard to picture his rock turning into an actual dragon.

"Draconifors," he said, as confidently as possible, and slashed his wand from left to right.

At once, the rock started to change, and Toby's eyes widened a little in surprise; he'd not been expecting it to really work, though he wouldn't have admitted it out loud. But, never mind, it HADN'T actually worked. Well... it half worked. Instead of a shapeless rock, or a miniature dragon that was basically alive, Toby was left with... a rock shaped dragon. It was clearly meant to be an Opaleye, but missing a lot of details. Though he had the colouring spot on - even the eyes were as accurate as far as Toby was able to determine from books and descriptions. But... still technically just a rock. A dragon shaped rock.

Hm. Maybe his earlier 'failed' attempt had actually been a rock-shaped dragon. That seemed like a better way to look at things.

Though his stone dragon was a pretty sort of figurine, it wasn't what he was supposed to be left with, so Toby undid the spell in order to try again. Quickly, though, because he was running out of time.

Dante did not really know how to bring his dragon into the cage. Should he poke it and herd it there like some sheep or should he talk to it and command it to. He liked the sound of the second one a little better. Plus Dragon were not really sheep at all and it could get weird if Doom takes offense to it.

So commanding it is.

"Come On Doom, into the cage"

And would you look at that Doom actually listened. Thigs was shocking and Dante watched him go into the cage.

Well now Dante felt like a Dragon Master. Whatever that is

Next step: get the dragon in the cage. Yes, Austin did manage to get the stone to turn into a dragon. But the professor said that if done wrong, the dragon wouldn't listen to you. He wished he knew what Swedish Short-Snouts ate. If he had small portions of that, he could put the food in the cage, and surely the dragon would follow. But alas he had no food, and would have to do with what he had. Which really wasn't anything but a cage.

He got down on his knees, and got down to the same level as the dragon. "I say we should name you." The dragon looked back at Austin and tilted his head. "You're a dragon, and dragons need cool names... how about...Thrasher?" The winged creature hopped up and down on the desk. "I am going to take that as a yes." He took one finger, and stroked the top of little Thrasher's head. The third year really didn't know how well that would have worked, but the creature seemed to like it. Which was a good sign for Austin.

"Okay Thrasher, it's time to go into the cage." At first the dragon seemed confused. It tilted it's head, but continued to look at the third year. This scared Austin. He was afraid he hadn't done something right. Maybe he didn't slash hard enough when he did the spell. Or maybe he said the spell wrong. But to further help the dragon, he pointed at the open cage. The creature turned around and followed his finger into the cage. Austin's eyes lit up. "There's a good Thrasher!" Happily, Austin closed the cage. Hopefully he was allowed to keep the little guy.

That demonstration was FREAKING AWESOME. Dude was practically entranced by the fiery redness and the way it kinda looked like flames. Brilliant. Simply brilliant.

And there was no sarcasm involved this time.

Intent? Focus? PSH. He was good at that. Determination ran through his blood and whatnot, even if he needed a different kind of confidence for this stuff. Transfiguration wasn't his strong point but if he wanted a dragon, he was gonna freaking make one or Merlin help him.

First, practice. Of course. "Draconifors........ draconifors..... draconifors........ draconifors......." On and on and on the chant went for a minute or so. Which was a long time to be chanting something and it did mean that the incantation was starting to sound weird to him.

And he definitely knew which kinda dragon he wanted to transfigure this stone into. Uh huh. Chinese Fireballs were the best, mkay?

Okay. Closer, he had been getting closer. A dragon-shaped rock had been a definite improvement, after all. Hopefully that meant that this time he'd be left with an actual dragon.

"Draconifors," Toby spoke, his voice as confident as he could make it as he imagined the dragon he'd just created except ALIVE this time. Animated. He slashed his wand from left to right once more and suddenly the rock was alive with light before it turned into a dragon, an actual dragon, right before his very eyes. Toby sat completely still and watched it for a moment, prowling around his desk.

It suddenly seemed to notice him then, and looked up at him with a curious head tilt. Toby lowered his wand and reached out a hand for it to climb onto, trying to remember if Bellaire or Quigley had mentioned anything about them breathing fire. He'd not been paying a whole lot of attention today, so... who knew what had been covered.

The little dragon stepped briefly into the palm of Toby's hand, but when Toby tried to hold it up to have a look it immediately hopped back off again, apparently not too keen on the idea. Instead Toby settled with offering it his fingers again and carefully stroking the dragon down its spine.

"Ella," he said simply, thereby naming the dragon with the most important name he could think of at that moment.

He needed to get it in the cage though, even though Toby would have preferred to let it roam free. "C'mon Ella. You need to go in there." The Hufflepuff tried for a few minutes to sort of shepherd it towards the cage, but the dragon understandably wasn't too keen. Toby remembered what Bellaire had said about that meaning it was a botched spell, and something about the dragon being taken away so they can start again, and bit his lip. He didn't want Ella taken away. She was perfect.

So he gave her a little help. Carefully half-scooping her up in his hand, he sort of guided the tiny Antipodean Opaleye across the desk and into the cage. This method was slightly more successful; she didn't seem to be resisting. As Toby guided her along, he found himself wishing he had a camera so he could take a picture and send it to the human Ella. Still, he'd write and tell her all about dragon!Ella instead.

The wand movement was what was practised next and the dude had no problem practising that little bit. It was a wonder what a bit of love for a topic could do to someone like him. And not Transfiguration or Charms, either. No no no, he was talking about DRAGONS.

And if they got to keep their own dragons, he was gonna be dead happy.

So, Grayson pulled out his wand and started practising the wand movement. A simple slash from left to right was all it was, really. Nothing fancy. This particular wand movement reminded him heavily of a knight fighting using a sword and trying to slay a dragon. Which was unacceptable, by the way. Just no.

The boy continued making slashing wand movements until he was confident enough with it to continue. Which, let's face it, didn't take that long of a time. Not really. Closing his eyes, the sixteen year old kept the dragon he wanted to turn the stone into in mind. He had a miniature toy version of the Chinese Fireball so it wasn't too hard to keep that one in mind.

"Draconifors!" Slaaaaaaaaaaaash from left to right.

And the result?

Nothing. Freaking NOTHING.

Angel watched as the dragon went towards the cage. "Come on Firestorm, you can do it." Angel decided that was a great name for a dragon, she watched as it went into the cage after Angel pointed it too. "That was amazing." Angel beamed as she closed the cage door, this was just great, now all she had to do was think about a few things and see how her sister and friends were doing, they seemed to be doing okay.

Maddox might have gotten through his fourth apple by now just watching the students work at dragon making and question asking. Of course he left the Transfiguration related questions to Bellaire because in all honesty, he probably wouldn't have been able to definitively give a response.

That question though, that one he could answer without proper research. "Er...no. Not unless you want to." He wasn't a dragon expert but it couldn't have been that difficult noting the difference...could it?

Did the gender really matter? DID they have genders, them having been animated from stone and all? Probably should have let Bellaire answer that too.



In any case it was time to move on with the lesson. "Right then." Maddox vanished the core of the fourth apple he'd crunched his way through then cleared his throat. "Excellent work everyone. I like the detailing." Some real fancy looking dragons if he did say so himself. Could he have pulled that spell off back when he was some of their ages? Hah, probably not. Transfiguration was just a NO.

"For those of you who haven't already, please coax the dragon into the cage then we'll take a little trip out onto the grounds." The classroom was hardly conducive to his part of this lesson and he didn't fancy having to pull off a fixer upper job on his classroom just for trying.

Maddox waited a moment for those who had any last minute things to work on while he helped himself to a fifth apple. Crunch. Finally, when he thought they were nice and ready he launched off his desk and grabbed a rock. It was a quick 'draconifors' later that he had a Hebridean Black crawling up his hand on onto his shoulder. "If you'll all follow me," He said, heading for the exit, "we have a charm to learn." And some fun to be had. "Take your things."

Mini field trip time!! Post your charrie packing up their things and taking their dragons with them (lol obvz) from the room THEN you can go ahead and post in this thread here waiting for further instructions. I'll be moving the class at some point tomorrow ^^ For those of you who would like to finish up this first activity I will leave this thread open for a little while longer.

Awwww. Wasn't her little dragon like the cutest thing ever? She knew a particular animal that would have been even cuter, but that was a lost cause with this professor. At least Quigley had pretty much promised her to show AJ how to turn into a unicorn. That was what she got out of his answer anyways.

AJ could totally just love and squeeze her dragon forever, but it was time for it to go into its little dragon cage. "On you go." I know, I know. He wanted to stay with her, and who could blame him really?

The lion picked him up and placed him gently into his cage. He needed a name. What was a good name for her own personal tiny dragon? Harley was already taken, and hardly thought that was a good enough name for a dragon anyways.

She tapped her chin as she tried to think of a fitting name. "Zelda!" she whispered to her dragon. That's it. That's his name. It was perfect.

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

Her dragon was already in its cage so she was all set on that part. This was getting exciting and fast. AJ quickly gathered up all of her junk and headed after the professor. Her friends would just have to keep up because dragons and the grounds. EEEEP!

FIELD TRIP FIELD TRIP FIIIIEEEELD TRIP! Norah leaned down to the cage and said, "C'mon King Phillip it's time for an ADVENTURE," before picking up her parchment and slipping it in her bag. Quill? Check. Ink? Check. Wand? Uh, where had that gotten off to? The third year ducked under her desk and came back again just to find her wand sitting on the table in plain sight. Heh. Nobody saw that.

She picked the cage up in one hand, after adjusting King Phillips crown of course, and held her bag in the other, maneuvering awkwardly towards the door. LET'S GOOO. Adventure time, aw yeah

Grayson scowled. He just wanted a dragon already, c'moooooon spell. Give him this chance!

"Draconifors!" Nothing. "Draconifors!" Still nothing. This was getting ridiculous, you know. He even took a moment to look at his wand but OBVIOUSLY, the wand wasn't at fault here. No. It was all down to this spell and how he was executing it off. Probably. All his Potions spells worked out well enough so what was wrong with this one? HMMM????

They had to usher their dragon into their cages already? LOL what dragon?

Stressed and panicking slightly, Grayson tried the spell out a couple more times. "Draconifors! Draconifors! Draconifors!" The last one seemed to have done the trick because, before he knew it, there was a burst of red flame that had him staring in awe at the sight in front of him. To be honest he even forgot where he was because he was so intent on staring at the flame.

And then?

THEN HE HAD A FREAKING CHINESE FIREBALL.

Smiling wide, the boy bent down to take a closer look at it. MAN. How awesome was THIS? Ushering the creature into the cage didn't take nearly as long as it did to cast the actual spell. Maybe the dude was tired and wanted somewhere to rest. Shrug.

Yeah. Yeah alright, he was gonna follow the others into the grounds but THIS WAS FREAKING BRILLIANT, MKAY? BEST. DAY. EVER.

BAHAHAHA... Ezra was thinking the same thing he was, and it was for this reason that he hadn't yet named his dragon. OH WELL.

When Professor Quigley started talking, he sat up a little straighter, the man was all sorts of awesome, ALL SORTS. This theory of awesomeness was only confirmed because they were going outside!!!! He LOVED being outside, even in this weather, so... WEE!

Packing his things up, he slung his bag onto his back and grabbed his caged dragon. "C'mon little one," he said to it as they moved off.

Oh, they were moving.

Well Benny supposed then he could get his little buddy into the cage for transport down to the grounds from here. Just in case the dragon got antsy and tried to wiggle or hop or even fly out of his grasp while he followed the professor out of the classroom and down the stairs towards their new destination.

" Come on, little one," he coaxed, slowly moving his hand towards the cage. The dragon responded by flapping his wings as if trying to steady itself in the movement he found himself in. It even hopped a little and Benny almost though his charge was going to try and fly but it just landed back on the desk. With a little more guidance, the dragon was soon scooped into the cage with the Gryffindor securing it carefully.

"Don't worry....it'll be okay," Benny assured the dragon as it explored the cage while the fifth year packed up the rest of his belongings. And then he finally slipped his bag on his shoulder and grabbed hold of the cage. Off to wherever they were going.

Maybe he would think of a proper name on the way.

Mike was just chilling in his cage and Janelle was watching him when the teaching tag team turned back to Professor Quigley. It seemed that they were going on a little trip. Janelle grabbed her things and stuffed them into her backpack. She was ready.

"OK Mikey, We're going outside now. You'll like it out there.......I think. I'll take good care of you, so it will be fine." Janelle carefully picked up Mike's cage and threw her bag over her shoulder. Then they headed for the door and then out onto the grounds. What could be in store for them, Janelle could not imagine.

Outside? They were going outside? Dragons plus outdoors?

Ooooh this just got more exciting by the minute! Amur quickly tucked her wand away, slid off her backpack pillow and gathered it and the cage up by their respective handles. "Maybe you'll get to learn how to fly?"

She offered to the dragon, who seemed more focussed on trying to keep its balance on the bottom of the cage than what she was saying. After a few steps, Amur elected to put her hand under the cage to try and steady it. By that time however, Rocky Felix had already clambered up the sides and wrapped his legs and tail around the bars. His head poked out, bobbing this way and that with her steps as she followed her classmates out.

Would they get to help the dragons fly? ...Would they make rocks fly?

Field trip! Outside! And Klaus got to come!

Hady was ready. So very ready to head on outside with her bestest little dragon baby. Checking on said dragon she grinned seeing he had attempted to climb the side of the cage pressing his face to it looking about. Klaus was just the coolest thing ever.

Carefully but quickly Hady began packing all her things away. Textbook, parchment, quill all went into her bag which she zipped up and slung over her shoulder while getting to her feet. Holding the strap of her bag with one hand she picked up the cage with the other firmly holding it to her chest. "Ready for a little tour and some fresh air Klaus?" She whispered earning herself a head tilt from her dragon which made her laugh.

"I'll take that as a yes." She grinned brightly making her way to the door following everyone else through the castle outside.

As Kace was waiting to hear for more instructions, he heard they were going outside with their dragons. Aahh so the cages made sense. He nodded and was glad his dragon was still asleep. He packed up all his books, quills and such into his backpack and slung it over his shoulder. Then he took his cage and began to go with the other students to outside. He wondered what they were gonna do with them? Were they gonna let them roam free or feel the grass?

Ah well adventure awaits. He went through the doors and went to the grounds eagerly awaiting what was gonna happen next.

She liked the outdoors, yes she did. With one exception. This was the middle of winter, so she was a little less excited. Because cold. But Heather gathered her things anyway, grabbing Snoopy's cage last. "All right, we're going outside now, Snoopy." The little Welsh Green seemed excited by that bit of news. Or that's what she took his little hop for.

She followed Professor Quigley out, carrying her stuff and her caged dragon.

They were going outside? Great.

Shouldering her strap of her satchel, Beverly carefully picked up the cage. The last thing she needed was to arrive at their new destination with Opal missing a leg or wing. Not only would she probably get points docked for carelessness, but she'd have wounded her own dragon and even it wasn't real, it'd be awful.

So, holding the cage in both arms, as if it was some delicate crystal box, the Slytherin strode out of the class and toward the halls.

What were they going to do now?

Oooh, field trip! Lux liked those especially if they involved going outside. Too bad it was cold, but you couldn't have everything in life and this was still going to be loads of fun. The only thing that would make this better would be Bay, but he made everything so much better.

After packing all her stuff up, Lux grabbed her. dragon's cage. "Time to go Khaleesi!" Skipping off after Professor Quigley, Lux left the room. Wooooo.

Hmmm so he didn't have to check? That was fine with him. Ezra wasn't sure if magical creatures like dragons knew if you had asked their gender but he has read that merpeople didn't like that. He would assume that his dragon was a boy though like he tended to assume all dogs were boys and all cats were girls unless told otherwise. "Works for me Professor."

Field trip though so Ezra grabbed his dragon cage up and took off to head down with Zeke to see what gender he picked for his dragon.