Skyler sighed, taking a deep breath. "Okay," she said ans went to go get some more pins. She came back.
"What's your name by the way? I wasn't really paying attention," she frowned.

It was time! She looked to Skylar, since she was the oldest of the group, and tried to gauge her abilities. She really hoped that Skylar or Daisy would be able to preform the spell and turn the hedgehog into a pincushion. "So, Skylar, since you are the eldest of our little group, would you like to get the hedgehog?"

Looking back at Night and Daisy she continued "I can grab a pile of pins from the professors desk if they two of you want to start brainstorming what our theme should be. I guess we shouldn't pick Hufflepuff since, well, you know" she used her thumb to gesture towards Skylar and smiled.

She jotted down some quick notes before making her way to the front to grab more pins. Ten sounded like a good number. They didn't need to use all of them, but it would save her the extra trip if they did want more than a few each. Plus, she knew that Night and she would be responsible for making most of the pins and she'd yet to successfully make a good one.

Uh.....groups? When there seemed to be enough 'hedgehogs' for everyone? Wouldn't it be quicker just to let everyone do it alone, then the older years help anyone who needed it?

That's what he was going to do, anyway. Much less pain for his brain. Ronan slipped on his dragonhide gloves and retrieved a 'hedgehog', returning to his seat quickly.

Okay. Nonverbal. He could do this. Almost every spell he did outside of class was done nonverbally. 'Ericiusfors,' he thought the spell first, just to get a slight feel for it. Once he was sure he had the incantation committed to memory, he swept his wand downward, thinking the spell as he did so. The hedgehog started to turn, but then popped back into the form of a hedgehog with a squeak. Darn it.

Huh?

If all she was supposed to be doing was creating little decorative pins then why did she have to get into a group? Rylee had nothing at all against groups, honestly she LOVED working with others but the reasoning today confused her. She wouldn't focus on that right yet though. First came all the notes she had to take down. ALL of it. Even the part about the hedgehog being transfigured into a pincushion. Whatever was being said by the professor was therefore important and worth being written down.

Once she had finished and lifted her head enough to take a look around she noticed that most were already in groups. Oops. Hopping up onto her feet she rushed up to the front once more to grab some more pins to transform. Pausing mid-step on the way back to her own desk her blue eyes landed on an older house mate. "Hi! We're supposed to work in groups... can I come work with you please?" He didn't HAVE to work WITH her... just so they were in a group. Rylee gave him her most sweet friendly smile, he couldn't say no to that.

Max had sat awkwardly when everyone figured out their groups, too shy to speak up as usual. Hopefully, there were enough hedgehogs for him to work alone. He pulled on his dragon hide gloves and moved to the front of the classroom to collect one of the conjured critters.

He set the hedgehog down on his desk and frowned when it tried to scuttle towards the edge. Noooo. Maybe working without a group was going to be trickier than he'd thought. Grateful for the gloves, Max held onto the hedgehog and glanced around the classroom.

Hmm.

SPOILER!!: Ronan and Rylee

Quote:

Originally Posted by lazykitty

Uh.....groups? When there seemed to be enough 'hedgehogs' for everyone? Wouldn't it be quicker just to let everyone do it alone, then the older years help anyone who needed it?

That's what he was going to do, anyway. Much less pain for his brain. Ronan slipped on his dragonhide gloves and retrieved a 'hedgehog', returning to his seat quickly.

Okay. Nonverbal. He could do this. Almost every spell he did outside of class was done nonverbally. 'Ericiusfors,' he thought the spell first, just to get a slight feel for it. Once he was sure he had the incantation committed to memory, he swept his wand downward, thinking the spell as he did so. The hedgehog started to turn, but then popped back into the form of a hedgehog with a squeak. Darn it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kolyander

Huh?

If all she was supposed to be doing was creating little decorative pins then why did she have to get into a group? Rylee had nothing at all against groups, honestly she LOVED working with others but the reasoning today confused her. She wouldn't focus on that right yet though. First came all the notes she had to take down. ALL of it. Even the part about the hedgehog being transfigured into a pincushion. Whatever was being said by the professor was therefore important and worth being written down.

Once she had finished and lifted her head enough to take a look around she noticed that most were already in groups. Oops. Hopping up onto her feet she rushed up to the front once more to grab some more pins to transform. Pausing mid-step on the way back to her own desk her blue eyes landed on an older house mate. "Hi! We're supposed to work in groups... can I come work with you please?" He didn't HAVE to work WITH her... just so they were in a group. Rylee gave him her most sweet friendly smile, he couldn't say no to that.

It was popularly known that Juniper was not a fan of having to group up during lessons. In fact the loathed it. She would much prefer to working alone or with a partner, one person. One certain person maybe…. As for the question that the professor asked ”A variable could be a a lack of energy in the caster. That will have a lot of effect on the outcome of casting a spell.” Anyway this grouping up thing, she really wasn’t into it. Not today. She was busy sulking in the corner while the others were grouping up. Why could she not just work alone?

Bleh.

She missed the chance to group with people captain Skylar being one of them. Whelp maybe next time. She would just have to jump at the next chance to partner or group up with her. So she was just going to grin (not-so-much) and bear it. Her brown eyes glanced around at the groups she could join. Within to spread of the years, she wouldn’t have minded joining Nat and Jessa’s group, but that really was a close in year group already and the last thing she wanted was for the professor to put her in a group or to take her out of one. There was an other group of three that she could join, but she heard Rylee the first her Gryffindor say something to the effect of needing a group and trying to get Ronan to join. ”I’ll join you Rylee and if Ronan wants to he can join us. What was she getting into working with two Gryffindors. Merlin help her. Wait was Maxton working alone? Oh no he wasn't. "Hey Maxton you want to join us too?" She turned in his direction and smiled at him. If she couldn't work alone either could he. Plus one Slytherin totally canceled out having to work with two Gryffindors.

She scribbled down some notes from the board and some small things that the professor had said. The Ravenclaw grabbed her dragon hide gloves put them on and got a hedgehog. Just because she was in a group didn’t mean that she couldn’t do her own thing on the side right? Now what did she even want her pincushion to look like. Maybe she would stick with the quidditch theme. Maybe a blue bludger, would that look weird? She would just have to see.

There was no way she was going to attempt to try a transfiguration spell nonverbally not yet any way. She had just started practicing nonverbal on a few simple charms. Nothing to brag about yet. Not that she would. Okay so back to the hedgehog. ”Ericiusfors.” With a downward sweeping motion that ended with her wand pointing at hedgehog. She waited to see if it had worked…. Mmm. The only thing that had changed was she now had a blue hedgehog. She give a silent ‘finite’ and the creature turned back to it’s original color. She’d have to try this again.

She didn't doubt that the girl would refuse her grouping with them; if there was one thing Skylar knew about Hufflepuffs it was that they were very accepting and forgiving. Not that she'd wronged any of the young girls, considering she barely knew them, but just that they would accept her. And of course, the fact that she was a sixth year would only prove to be an advantage, especially as Professor Grimsbane explained the activity.

She shook her head at Emmalyn's question. "Not like this. I mean I've transfigured animals into inanimate objects before, but not ... hedgehogs to pincushions. This is a new one." Oh and it was a good thing she HAD joined some younger students, since it seemed it was the older students responsible for attempting this spell. But furthermore, she had to attempt it non-verbally. Uhhhh.... while she'd mastered a couple spells non-verbally, she was lacking confidence in her ability to do this one as such, because it was more complicated than what she'd done before.

And yet, she had to try. For the sake of the Hufflepuffs in her group, right? Wait, Emmalyn wanted her to get the hedgehog ... and transfigure it? Well, she was assuming about her doing the transfiguration portion, since other than Daisy, she was the only one in the third year and up category. "Very well," she nodded, slipping her dragon hide gloves on and heading up to retrieve one of the hedgehogs. Returning, she set it carefully on the desk, holding it in place, as she visualized the incantation. Ericiusfors, she said in her head, mentally working out its pronunciation. The one thing about non-verbal is that pronunciations were less .... picky. Because it was being said in ones head, it could sound completely different from saying it aloud.

Sweeping downward motion.

"One of you want to hold the hedgehog while I attempt it?" Did she mention how nervous she was about attempting this non-verbally?

Daisy was nervous at such a complicated spell as she wrote down her notes.



Daisy then practiced the wand movement that was required in order to achieve the spell. When she had performed the wand movent a few times, Daisy put her wand back on her desk and said the incantation gently under breath a few times. Normally, she would attempt it non-verbally but due to its complicity, she wasn't going to try her normal method.

She then began to think of designs and one kept coming to mind. "How about broomstick models such as the one we use?" she asked her fellow group members. She then thought of another idea. "Maybe we could do magical creatures such as dragons."

Daisy carefully put on her dragon-hide gloves as Skylar went and grabbed a hedgehog. When she returned, Daisy spoke. "I'll hold it while you attempt the spell and then after you've achieved the spell I'll have a go if you all don't mind."

Rylee turned to look over her shoulder when someone spoke to her and smiled at the offer. "Hi, Juni! Sure!" They would have a real group going on now if Ronan agreed to work with them too... oh and the other older boy also.

Still sporting that typical smile of hers she headed back to her own desk to set the pins down on it. Shoving her desk over she set it side-by-side with Juni's. Plopping her little tush down onto her chair she looked at what the older girl was doing. That hedgehog was A-dor-a-ble! "I don't think I'm ready to try transforming the hedgehog into a pincushion just yet.. so what should I do? I can make pin for it?" They were supposed to be working together as a group.

"What type of pins do you want me to make?" What was their theme going to be? Rylee picked up the pin she had made before, the Gryffindor one with the little lion cub on it wearing her Quidditch jersey. "See, I'm good at it."

Jessa's hand rose almost immediately after the Professor's warning. She'd take it as a warning, those were far more effective and level headed than threats tended to be but it got the Ravenclaw curious all the same. "What's the "worse", Professor?" She asked. Detention, as far as she knew was the most severe punishment available--unless of course you counted suspensions and expulsions. Could one get expelled for poking a hedgehog?

Rather than organically find out the answer, the young girl opted to ask, thinking this the.....more practical of the two routes. Having never been a particularly willful child, she'd never have gone on to poke the creature after being told not to, but that didn't leave her any less curious of the outcome of such an action.

While she waited on a response, Jessa slipped on her glove then went to retrieve a hedgehog.

"I guess I'll go first." She said to the pair. "Just to get it out of the way."

She drew her wand, motioning it in a downward movement as the spell dictated. "Ericiusfors." This wasn't the hardest part for her, not at all. By now, Jessa'd already gotten the spell under her repertoire--just another week and she'd be starting the 7th year syllabus afterall--so she gave no real reaction when the little guy shifted and changed into a pin cushion of basic design. What was the point of making something fancy when she was just going to end up doing this?

"Reverto." Aaaaaaannndddd back to being a hedgehog he went. The challenge for her was getting it non-verbally....challenge being used rather loosely here. Over time, her non-verbals had gotten to the point where sometimes she didn't even know she was using them. A second nature type deal that came from exorbitant, nearly abominable levels of practice. It was much the same with anything else she took an interest in learning. Some things were just worth the sacrifice.

This time, you could tell the Ravenclaw was far more focused. Her brows crinkled and her body as a whole seemed to be just a little tenser than a moment ago. Jessa took a small breath, visualizing the cushion she intended to make. Included in that focus, was her intent. She needed her wand to understand exactly what she expected of it.

Again, she cast the downward motion, all her focus and intent paying off as again the hedgehog began to shift and change into the form of a pincushion. There was a subtle sigh of relief, one that had everything to do with being glad today wasn't the day her skills decided to regress and leave her forced to make several embarrassing attempts.

"Reverto." Now they could try.

Celestia was rather pleased with how quickly and efficiently her students had formed groups and gathered their hedgehogs, particularly since she knew that many of them detested group work. She had been the same when she was in school here, but university had soon taught her to get used to working with other people. Teamwork was a necessary skill in the workforce as well, and she felt that it was never too early to start getting kids used to working together.

The students hadn't been working for long when Miss Cambridge asked a question about the punishments she'd mentioned. Celestia suppressed a smile with difficulty; Miss Cambridge's avid curiosity was well known to her by now, and she doubted the girl would actually attempt to bother the hedgehogs. She replied honestly, "Most likely a series of particularly unpleasant detentions, Miss Cambridge." The professor was not a fan of lying to her students, and she could hardly suspend or expel them for a relatively minor infraction like bothering hedgehogs.

Her attention soon wandered to other groups. Miss Queen, Miss Atwater, and Mr. Yoon seemed to be getting to a bit of a slow start. She wandered over to their cluster of desks and told them briskly, "Miss Atwater, you had best work on your hedgehog -- if the nonverbal aspect of the spell is not working, then please try the spell verbally. Class is almost over." She wasn't as concerned with the younger students. Mr. Yoon had successfully changed a pin earlier in the class, so she gave him and Miss Queen what she hoped was an encouraging smile. She wasn't sure if Miss Queen had successfully completed the spell or not yet -- there were simply too many students to know exactly who had managed what, particularly when other students had been so upset during that part of the lesson. She told the first years simply, "Keep trying, please. I'd like to see one or two more pins from you two before the class period ends. It's alright if it doesn't happen for you today." She flashed a smile in Miss Queen's direction. They would have time to practice the spell for homework after all.

The next group had Miss Dixon, Miss Swann, Miss Walsh, and Miss Diggory. Celestia was pleased to see that by the time she wandered over to their group that Miss Diggory was clearly preparing to attempt the spell nonverbally. She offered the Slytherin a smile as she approached and told her, "You can do this, Skylar. If the spell is too challenging to complete nonverbally today, you can show the younger students how to cast it verbally first. There's no pressure." She thought she detected some nerves in the girl's body language -- though perhaps she was imagining it. In any case, she certainly didn't want to put undue pressure on the sixth years in her class. They had until the end of 7th year before they had to take their N.E.W.T.s after all. She gave the young Hufflepuffs a smile before moving on to the next group.

She approached Mr. Carter, Miss Prichard, Miss Primeaux, and Mr. Carden just as the Ravenclaw turned her hedgehog blue. Stifling another smile, Celestia told her, "Good effort, Miss Primeaux. Perhaps focus more on the other aspects of your pincushion next time -- its shape, how its weight will change, and so forth." The boys in the group didn't seem to have started their spell casting yet, though perhaps that was because Mr. Carden's hedgehog seemed to be making a run for it. They had time to sort it out. She noticed that Miss Prichard had a couple of changed pins on her desk and beamed at the first year before saying, "Well done, Miss Prichard!" Then it was time to move on.

Miss Cambridge, Miss McKinley, and Miss McNally seemed to be the furthest along in their group. Celestia approached them just as Miss Cambridge returned her newly formed pincushion back into its hedgehog state for the other girls to give the spell a try. She gave the girls a cheerful smile and said simply, "Keep up the good work, girls!" Since at least one member of their group had successfully Transfigured their hedgehog, they were the furthest along.

Celestia made her way back to the front of the room and called, "Those of you who haven't made an attempt on the spell might need to get another hedgehog for your group. We have about ten minutes left in the period!" She was surprised that the lesson had flown by so quickly, really, and sighed softly at herself. Perhaps the next time she would simply combine the two activities to give the students more time with their hedgehogs...

OOC:Good job, guys! Y'all have until 12 AM CST January 26 to finish up. I added in a few hours because I know you have a lot to post in with the job fair and other lessons going on. Thanks so much for participating so far!

If it wasn't for the wandering hedgehog, Max would've been quite happy to work alone. He just needed it to keep STILL. Maybe he could cast a freezing charm on it before attempting the transfiguration element? Or would that mess with the magic? He didn't get to find out because Juni had ushered him over to her group.

The Slytherin scooped up his hedgehog and moved to the table with Juniper and a couple of Gryffindor's whose names he didn't know.

He sat down just in time to see Juni turn her hedgehog blue and his lips twitched in amusement. "I think it looked cooler blue anyway," he smiled as he set his own hedgehog back down. There, now their group had two to practice on.

"Maybe we can stick with the Quidditch theme," he suggested out loud. He'd rather NOT have a Quidditch theme it made things easier seeing as the pins were already Quidditch related. "I wonder if we can get the pincushion kind of ... Quaffle shaped?" Or was that too advanced?

He decided to give it a shot.

Max closed his eyes and tried to envision a quaffle. The size, the colour, the shape...

He made a downward sweeping motion with his wand, pointing it directly at one of the hedgehogs as he said "Ericiusfors!" The hedgehog's appearance shifted until it somewhat resembled the quaffle he had been envisioning. Problem was, it was still moving.

Thankful beyond words that Daisy had offered to hold the hedgehog for Skylar, she focused her attention on the pins. "Dragons pins! Yes, dragon pins would be awesome." She looked to Night “How’s that sound to you? You want to help get some dragon flags made?”

With the pile of pins set out before her, Emmalyn focused her attention on the closest pin. She took a deep breath to settle her nerves, fiddled with her ponytail, no need to mess with hair getting in her face when she was trying to cast such a spell, then held out her wand.

”Mutatis Insigne!” she commanded while moving her wand downward in a backwards L shape and using all of her mental power to focus on the pin becoming a flag with a Romanian Longhorn upon it. The pin started to wobble, then spread. The top was flowing out into a flagish shaped object, then the colors were starting to change. It was working. Her eyes grew wide with anticipation and she tried to hold her focus on the pin. The image of the Romanian Longhorn slowly started to appear. She couldn’t believe her eyes.

She turned suddenly in her excitement and knocked into Skylar, almost tumbling onto the floor. “Sorry about that.” She said as she tried to catch her footing and stand upright again.

Gunnar wasn't completely sold on these mixed classes that they sometimes had with all of the years lumped together. Sure, it was great to have some of the older years around to help out as necessary, but he didn't always like to have to ask for help and feel discouraged when he couldn't get something that someone else could.

He was finding Transfiguration to be a difficult subject as it was and he was somewhat glad that he didn't have to attempt the spell on the hedgehog. He wasn't even sure why they would need to use this spell on a conjured hedgehog, even if it had been sort of explained. It just seemed like an extra step that could be cut out of the middle. Couldn't they just learn how to conjure a pin cushion? But it wasn't something that he needed to dwell on for long, at least right now, because he was going to simply practice the spell on the pins. He was already having enough trouble with that one.

The first year hadn't looked to join any of the groups that had already formed and no one had asked him to join any so he kept his focus on the greenish blob of a pin on his desk. After several attempts, at least he had gotten it to change color and shape, though it wasn't much of anything to look at. Trying to tune out all of the conversation around him, Gunnar closed his eyes again and tried to concentrate on a green flag. Once he opened his eyes, he looked down at the little pin and tried again, his wand moving down in a backwards L as he spoke the incantation, "Mutatis Insigne!"

Oh good, Daisy was going to hold the hedgehog still for her. Focusing on the hedgehog, the incantation, she heard the Professor speaking to her and ensuring her it was okay to show how to do the spell verbally first. But see, it was actually these words that made Skylar WANT to be able to cast it non-verbally even more, because the Professor seemed to sense her anxiousness with non-verbal spell casting in that Skylar wanted to prove that she could do it. It wasn't like she hadn't cast non-verbals before; last year was her first year doing so, but she wasn't as comfortable with doing them as maybe some of her peers.

She nodded at the professor all the same, "Maybe both, then." Because transfiguration was supposedly a strong subject for her.

She also gave a nod of approval as the younger Hufflepuffs worked out a theme for their pins. Honestly, she was okay with whatever they decided? And the dragons sounded lovely. She smiled when Emmalyn did a rather detailed one, as she readied her mind. But just as she was about to cast the spell on the hedgehog, Emmalyn knocked back into her out of excitement - she guessed - though fortunately her time spent playing quidditch had helped keep her balance but she was taken aback slightly.

"Woah there!" she laughed, motioning with her hands to help stabilize the first year.

Right, eyes back on the hedgehog.

'Ericiusfors,' she thought wistfully, focusing on the hedgehog, the pincushion that she desperately wanted it to transfigure into, the colours, shrinking the little pines off its backside. Forming that nice soft pillow to sink their dragon pins into. And somehow, there it started to shift shapes, leaving only one lone needle sticking up in the middle of a dark purple pincushion. "Er, close?" She smiled sheepishly, as she flicked her wand to reverse the transfiguration. "You care to try, Daisy? Or I can try again?" Because second attempts tended to work more successfully.

Ohh ok they had to get a hedgehog and turn it into a pin cushion. Nonverbally given his level. Sure thing no sweat. The nonverbals anyway since thats what he's already doing most of the time. Transfiguring animals into objects he's also had success in previous terms. So lets hop to it?

Ace took a hedgehog and crooned at it for a bit, he needed it to relax, earn its trust. Those are what he learned from his classes where he had a finicky creature and it was hard enough trying to make a spell land on it when it isnt moving. Just as he was calming the creature down it was also setting himself into the right mindset. Because just like his previous classes, if he had to cast a spell onto a creature, he gotta do it once and do it right; messy spellcasting wasnt just embarassing but it can be quite uncomfortable to the creature to put it mildly.

He practiced the wandstroke, visualizing it, and then repeating the spell over and over in his head. By then the hedgehog was either napping or bored, or napping because it was bored. Now's the time he thought. Ericiusfors he cast onto the hedgehog with such certainty, visualizing the hedgehog in its pincushion form.

.... And pincushion it became. Like a cute hedgehog plushie.

Success!

...... Wait..... did it move? Ace peered closer at his work, blinking a few times. Maybe it was a trickery of sight-- no wait there it is again! Its.... breathing.

Gasp! Reverto he cast at the pincushion hastily, and the hedgehog returned to form, shifted a bit like it felt something happened but wasnt sure if it did happen. It looked at him as Ace stared back worriedly, turned around in its spot and went back to napping.

Whew!

Ok he has got to get this right, no screw ups, do it once do it right! Ericiusfors he cast again with confident ferocity, almost to the point where he didnt want the creature to ever come back. Almost.

Staaaaare...... hedgehog plushie...... sat silent and unmoving. No breathing, no nothing. Ace sat back in his seat relieved. He looked at the Professor indicating that he was done and can she check his work so that he could revert the hedgehog back into the land of the living pleasethankyou.

Work on more pins, right.

He'd been distracted by professor Grimsbane when she'd dropped by their table to have a look at their progress - or lack thereof - and then turned back to Skyler to answer her question. "Daniel," he said, preferring people to call him that unless they were Shera or Bartholomew.

Focusing back on the pins they had, he did the correct wand movement again, a backwards L shape, ended with a sharp flick towards the pin, said muttered, "Mutatis Insigne," to turn the pin into a Gryffindor flag this time. Smiling encouragingly at Skyler, he said, "Come on, give it a try, and I'll pay attention if you're doing anything wrong. Just focus on what you want your pin to turn into, and it'll work."

In the meantime, he would make a Slytherin and a Hufflepuff flag, too.

"It's Kye," she smiled at the younger girl, also taking note that the boy preferred Daniel. That was just about all she was able to say before they were approached by Professor Grimsbane. Oops... They had been dawdling hadn't they? "Yes, Professor," Kye responded guiltily, and went to get her hedgehog. She was just trying to be nice! She sat back down at the table and looked at the hedgehog.

Hmmm... how best to do this? Well, first thing was to just go for it... right? She let the hedgehog settle down in one spot, took a breath, and cast her spell. Er... Well she tried? Okay okay... no, she had this. She sat up straight, relaxed herself, concentrated on her goal...... and go. Ericiusfors. A smile and relieved sigh escaped her as the hedgehog began to transform. She should have been able to do it the first time, but it was okay. Where the hedgehog had been pacing only a minute before, there was now no movement. It looked good to her! She looked around for the Professor to see if she could inspect her work.

Daehyun had been focused on turning pins into a flag for each House, and because of that he failed to notice what Kye was up to. Having been told to cast the spell nonverbally, he only noticed what had happened when he could no longer hear the hedgehog move around. Looking up, he couldn't find the hedgehog anymore, but instead stood a pincushion.

"Whoa, you did it!" Well, of course she did. He stared at the pincushion in awe, but actually he was more impressed by the nonverbal part of the spell - he wondered when he'd be able to do the same.

... not anytime soon, with his concentration issues.

"I'm not sticking any pins in that," he grumbled, leaving the four pins he'd transfigured into House flags on the table before him. Yes, professor Grimsbane assured them it wouldn't hurt the conjured hedgehogs, but he still believed they were very much alive. So he wasn't doing it, even if it ended up costing him House points or whatever reward.

Kye smiled at Daniel, she was happy she had gotten it too! Since she was sure she'd be able to do it again, she noted the first year's unhappy remarks about hurting the 'hedgehog.' She didn't know if it would help or not, but she decided to revert the spell to show that the not-even-real hedgehog was okay.

Reverto, she said in her head, and the hedgehog returned quite unaware of anything having happened. "See, he's okay... Aren't you?" Kye cooed at the little hedgehog who was sniffing curiously around the table. She pet his little head again which he seemed to like. Hehe, cute. After giving the little hedgehog a little break, she spoke to Skyler and Daniel again. "I'm going to transfigure him again, but I'll say it verbally this time." she smiled at them, hoping that they felt a little more comfortable. "Ericiusfors," she said clearly, an the hedgehog turned right back into a pin cushion. It seemed to do so even quicker this time, which was no surprise since her non-verbal magic wasn't quite as strong as she wanted yet. The point was that she could do it correctly, and she would be a pro by NEWTs... hopefully.

"

The older girls were doing a bang up job with their attempts to transfigure the hedgehog. She was enjoying learning from them and looked forward to being able to try such an advanced spell later in her Hogwarts years.

For the time being, she would focus on her task at hand. There were only four dragon flags made and she hoped for at least ten on their final project. Setting up another pin to be worked on, Emmalyn focused her mind on forming the flag with a bright red background and Chinese Fireball dragon in the center, mouth open and fierce looking.

Spell cast with proper wand movement, the image grew in her mind, just as it grew on the table. The pin was wobbly at first, then a more steady growth started. The pin was forming into a flag at the top, it was working. When the flag was complete, she took a step back to admire her magnificent creation. Sure, it was still slightly deformed and the dragon might have looked more like a dying t-rex, but she was thrilled with the outcome.

"How's it going, ladies?" She asked Daisy and Skylar "I've made a few more flags for our pincushion." She made a sweeping gesture across the now five flags before her. They too would most likely be impress with her display of awesomeness.

Hmm, guess maybe she could just go again. Maybe a verbal demonstration this time for how the spell works, considering they were all younger students and it would be easier to see how she was doing such an advanced spell. Even though it mostly worked before, save for the one lonely pin sticking up from the cushion, which only meant it would be stronger this time.

She turned to Emmalyn, when the girl asked how it was going. "Good, I think. I was initially thinking a dark purple for the cushion, but i think a black might be even more neutral and flow better with the design of the pins." She bit her lip, looking over the pins. "oh, those look good!" They were totally going to have the best designed pincushion, assuming Professor Grimsbane appreciated dragon themed.

"Ericiusfors," she said, confidently, feeling more comfortable. The hedgehog much quicker this time, shape-shifted from its moving form to inanimate. Black this time.

So now what? Did Daisy want to try? Because she can reverse it? Or they can just stick the pins in it and work on artfully arranging it, which was something she would trust to the younger girls to do, because her artistic talent was zero, maybe a one or two.

Daehyun watched Kye's work closely, wondering if he'd ever be able to focus enough to cast non-verbal spells. Concentration seemed to be his worst enemy, but when he was skilled enough, he'd work hard until he managed to do it, too. Now, another thing that kept him from passing such a thing was due to ethical issues.

He smiled at Kye's attempt at reassuring him, truly grateful for it. But he was still reluctant to stick anything in the pincushion. Sighing dejectedly, he looked down at his twined fingers, grumbling, "I'll fail my OWLs if I have to do this." With that, he looked longingly at the hedgehog that had once again been successfully turned into a pincushion, and lightly pushed the House flags towards Kye.

He was not sticking any pins in that.

Poor Daniel... He definitely wasn't enjoying this assignment, huh? Kye took the pins that had been made and organized them on the pin cushion in alphabetical order, lifting the cushion so that Daniel and Skyler didn't have to look at it if they didn't want to. She looked over to see how Skyler was doing with her pins and to see if she needed help. Kye had a feeling she wouldn't get to help them with the pin cushion part today, but at least they had the first part down. She smiled encouragingly at them... "You did great making these pins," she commented, looking at the edges, lines, and colors.

Blushing at the complement, she turned to Skylar "Thanks!" She had been trying very hard and hoped she wouldn't disappoint her new Slytherin friend. She picked up all the flags, ten in total, and and sorted through to see if she had missed any of the more dangerous looking dragons.

Just as she was about to see if Skylar and Daisy needed any help with transfiguring the hedgehog, Skylar made a perfectly black pincushion. "Wow! That's fantastic!" She hopped a little and clapped in her excitement. She was very impressed with the sixth year's skills. It had only taken a couple of tries before she had success.

"Should we go a head and decorate the pincushion with the flag pins?" She directed the question to all three of her partners. Figuring their time in class was running out, she didn't want their project to go unfinished. She held out the flag pins in her opened hands to let the girls grab and stick where they liked them.