A good team? Heh. Abra smiled a little; he was a little self-conscious, as he was in all things, about his skills so far in being captain, if indeed he was showing any skills at all. Picking the team was the first major hurdle in all that, of course. He managed a nod in response to Professor Grimsbane's sort of question in the end, and a, "You bet, Professor," but his mind was more on the big stack of essays up there, and just how well his own had done.

He gave another nod at Grimsbane's assurances, and kept quiet after that, trying to decide if his own essay was okay enough to be classed as 'done fairly well', or if it was that she simply hadn't seen it yet. In the end, he decided it was probably best not to think about it at all.

When the lesson started, fully and properly, Abra was sure to sit up a little more in his seat. Struggling so much in school had made him hyperaware of himself in his classes, so when he was actually in a lesson he was decent in (one he maybe actually considered his best, at least in the practical side), he tried to look as engaged as he could, to show that he did at least want to try. Stating the difference between a charm and a transfiguration spell was simple enough to start with that plenty of others had given an answer before Abra had even managed to get his words in order, but that didn't really matter so much. He was more interested in the second question, and raised his hand to answer it.

"I've found Reparifarge technically the most useful. It's probably the one I use most, because of when learning new Transfiguration spells in classes, something usually needs to be undone and fixed at one point. But when I master the Vanishing Spell, I bet I'll use that one a lot, like outside of the classroom."

Well, Nettie certainly didn't have a favorite transfiguration spell - she had only been in school a month, after all. BUT she was really enjoying this class. More than she had originally thought she would! She raised her hand when the professor asked a question, waiting for her turn before answering.

"Charms change the way objects behave, whereas transfiguration changes the shape of an object," she explained. A short, simple, to the point explanation if she did say so herself.

And with that the fifth year settled down and turned her focus to the transfiguration Professor. Two of her favorite and best subjects out of all of them. Transfiguration and Charms and there were differences and similarities in both them. She raised her hand and waited for her turn to be called on. ”Transfiguration is actually altering an object such as turning a hedgehog into a pin cushion, charms typically make things…. easier like accio. Transfiguration however does have limitations because of Gamp's Law, you can’t conjure money or food from nothing, but you can use accio to get your sandwich.”

As for the other question, well that was actually a hard question for her. She honestly had so many that she found quite useful but she had to admit that Gemino was the most useful for her. ” Gemino. I think it comes in handy sometimes, but being about to conjure bluebell flames is cool too.” Also now she was even more curious about what they were going to be doing for today’s lesson.

Oh, oh! Chloe's hand shot up into the air, and she wiggled excitedly in her seat. She was more than sure that her classmates had suitably described the difference between Charms and Transfiguration, and Chloe was more interested in talking about spells she liked. Hers was a Charm-ing family (hehe) but she liked all kinds of spells.

"I agree with Bel, Professor. I think that a switching spell will be so interesting. And useful." Although changing her own clothes... Merlin, Bel was a bold dreamer. That sounded cool.

Thank Merlin for her older students. Celestia sipped a cup of tea that was conveniently placed near the edge of her desk as she listened to the class’s answers. Many of the students had given a good explanation of the key difference between a charm and a Transfiguration spell, which she hoped the younger ones (and those who were a bit confused) found useful. She didn’t feel much need to rehash what the students had already said out of the context of today’s lesson. She would simply get straight to the reason that she’d brought this matter up in the first place.

”The spell that we’ll be covering today is often referred to as the Hardening Charm. However, this is one of those spells that, like the Water Making Spell, can be classified as both a charm and a Transfiguration spell in different contexts. Miss Macindoe described how the Water Making Spell can be classified as both types of magic already. Although a feeble version of the Hardening Charm can be used to simply add roughness to the texture of an object -- that is to say, to add a certain property to an object as charms do -- there can be a bit more to this spell than that. This particular spell is meant to be used to turn an object completely into stone. Rather than simply altering an object’s characteristics as charms do, this spell therefore alters what an object actually is on a molecular level. Since it changes the essential nature of an object, it should be classified as a Transfiguration spell when used to turn an object into stone, despite the fact that it is most commonly referred to by wizards on the street only as a charm by name. Any wizard with a working wand and a brain can use this spell as a charm if they have learned it before, but it takes far more concentration and will power to use it for its intended purpose -- to turn objects to stone.” Celestia paused here to make sure that she was being clear. She felt that it was important that students understood the slight overlap here and the relevance of this spell to her class. Memories of her own Transfiguration classes at Hogwarts and at university where these spells with sometimes murky classifications had flashed through her head as she was planning this lesson. She felt that this entire discussion would be helpful for the younger students, and would hopefully quel any objections from the older students to studying a spell called the Hardening Charm in Transfiguration class.

Now they could move past the theory, yes? ”So today, we will be emulating many ancient creatures of legend and fact to turn objects to stone. Now, I want you to begin by practicing the wand movement and the incantation. Remember that intention, will, and focus are absolutely essential to a successful Transformation spell, and these can be improved by visualizing the changes and the desired result in your minds before and during your casting of the spell. Watch me, please.” Celestia gave the first and second years significant looks as she doled out this reminder. A lack of will or proper visualization was one of the main causes of failed Transformation spells -- and, indeed, was often the reason that this spell failed to turn its target to stone completely and simply hardened the object’s surface instead.

Without further ado, Celestia moved over to the table pushed against the wall and selected one of the smallest pumpkins. She carried this to her desk and placed it in the center, where all of the students could hopefully see it. ”There will be a bit more to your task for the day than this, but to give you an idea… Yes, this will work. Duro!”, she exclaimed as she traced an almost-complete letter “D” with her wand, aiming for the pumpkin (of course). There was no impressive burst of light or sound from the end of her wand, and the change was immediate. One moment a bright orange pumpkin sat plainly on her desk, and the next it had become a grey, stone pumpkin. Celestia barely spared it a further glance before she turned to the blackboard and tapped it with her wand. The incantation and and a picture of the wand movement appeared on the board and she turned back to face the class. ”Let’s get started, please! Take a few minutes to practice the wand movement and incantation. If you feel comfortable enough after that, you may proceed to attempt to turn your quill or another small object into stone using this spell. N.E.W.T. students should attempt this nonverbally, of course.”



OOC: Thanks for participating, guys! Celestia and I really appreciate it .
This is your mini activity, and you have 48 hours before class moves on.
Your student just needs to practice the wand movement and incantation on the board for this activity, and they have the option of turning a small object on their desk to stone if they’re comfortable with the spell. Sixth and seventh years should do this nonverbally. We’ll move on at 12 AM CDT on May 17. You can catch up on the mini activity at any time if you’d like after the class moves on as usual . Please put “professor” or something similar in the subject line of your post if you’re trying to catch Celestia’s attention during the activity. Feel free to join in if you haven’t posted yet; just pretend that your student has been here the whole time if you want to avoid IC consequences.

Maddie smiled at the sound of the professor's response to her greeting. She hadn't expected such a nice reply, but she was pleasantly surprised. Not that she thought the professor was a rude woman or anything like that, because she wasn't. Maddie just thought the lady might be too busy for longer greetings. Well, that certainly sparked her spirit about the class!

She could have called that first question. Wasn't it tradition or something to ask that at least once toward the beginning of the year? Maddie seemed to remember it a lot, but at least there was always something new to discuss. She raised her hand to attempt an answer. "Hmm...I think a charm is more of something we would use to change what something does, like shrinking or growing...or catching on fire or freezing. Transfiguration is more of something we would use to change what something is, though."

She hoped that made sense. It was all up there in her brain, and she'd tried to relay it as best as possible.

Daisy wrote down on her parchment her Transfiguration notes.

She then grabbed her wand and practised the wand movement a few times, making sure that she didn't close the "D" at the bottom. She put her wand back down on her desk and then practised the incantation under her breath. "Duro, Duro, Duro," she repeated until she felt confident to put it to work.

Looking at the assortment of objects, Daisy got up from her desk and selected a teacup to attempt the spell on. She returned to her seat, placing the cup on the desk in front of her. She aimed her wand at the object and moved it in the not completed "D" action as she firmly said, "Duro!"

Within a few seconds, the cup had become a stony, grey object.

Oh, he'd been close... kind of.

As he focused his entire attention on professor Grimsbane's explanations, a frown set in between Daehyun's brows. Maybe he gave the impression that he didn't understand what she was telling him, but he did, so he nodded happily when she asked for a confirmation that her explanations did, indeed, make sense to him.

... but later on, she'd lost him somewhere along the way.

Biting his lower lip in concentration, one distressed hand pushing his hair out of his eyes, he did his best to write down the important things that professor Grimsbane mentioned - and by important, he meant everything - to have plenty of notes to look over later. It was a lot to take in, but he likely won't be sleeping until he understood all those things completely. For the moment, his thoughts were one huge mess.

He unconsciously massaged his hand as she demonstrated the spell for them, his eyes widening in awe. That was something he thought only Medusa could do! And then it struck him... what if this was only practice, only to turn one another to stone later...? He wasn't sure he wanted an answer to that.

Shaking that thought away, he'd settled for practicing the wand movement first. He went up in a straight line, followed by a curve to almost complete the D shape, but needed to leave it open at the end, and repeat. A few more times, and then he repeated the incantation under his breath, mumbling Doo-roh over and over again until it sounded similar to the way professor Grimsbane explained.

Now, on to the actual practice.

The birthday greeting from Professor Grimsbane had been slightly surprising. At least, given the fact she hadn’t known if the professor knew, but Stasya had given the woman another smile in response. Although, she’d also been a bit distracted by the card that had been dropped off on her desk by Derf, plus the greeting from Bel and the smile from Rylee. Mostly the card, though, and she’d had to hold back the giggle that had wanted to come out at the sentiment. Especially since the lesson had begun and she’d needed to pay attention.

Or maybe not as much, as the initial question had obviously been more for the benefit of the younger students. Either way, she’d stayed quiet. Considering the most useful transfiguration spell wasn’t something she’d actually learned yet. Plus, she hadn’t decided if she wanted to bring up her research on how to become an Animagus to the professor yet. Therefore, she’d just resolved to take notes quietly, slipping her card from Derf into her bag so it would stay safe. Especially as the topic had turned to a specific spell. She definitely didn’t want to accidentally turn her card into stone. Definitely not. Special goat birthday cards weren’t objects to be experimented on.

However, she did take her wand out to practice, after scribbling down the information on the board. The shape of the wand movement was easy enough. An almost-finished capital D shape. She did wander what might happen if she completed the letter, if the spell just wouldn’t work at all or if something else would happen. Luckily she wasn’t actually casting the spell yet. Instead, she set her wand down for a moment. Time for the incantation, but at least she felt like that was easy. “Duro. DOO-ro. Duro, duro, duro.” She could decide what to try the spell on in a minute.

Turning something into stone? Now, that might be useful. Especially if it worked on people too. Not that he would use the spell on anyone at Hogwarts (ha, ha yeah right).

Of course, by now Ronan was incredibly comfortable with non-verbal magic, so he didn't even blink at being expected to try this one silently. Though he did say the incantation a few times, just to commit it to memory. "Duro, duro, duro." There. Then, he practiced the wand movement a few times.

Once he was ready to actually practice the spell, he balled up a spare piece of parchment to use, just so that he didn't ruin anything if he messed up. Placing the parchment on his desk, he aimed and made an almost complete 'D' with his wand. And it worked! He had a stone on his desk where the parchment once was.

Ah, duro. She remembered when she'd first learned the spell. She'd wanted to know its effects on living things and had tried it on a few rats she'd found in the basement corridors. Didn't go too well at first but with a little tweaking the experiment began to show more promise and she wasn't losing test subjects every other day. It'd been an interesting third year--quite eventful actually.

Admittedly, it'd been a while since she needed to cast the spell but it wasn't exactly one she'd forgotten either, not when there was a time when she cast it for hours a day.

Opting out of the practice, but deciding to have some form of participation in the lesson, Jessa reached into her bag and pulled for a textbook. Didn't matter which, the spell wouldn't go wrong and on the off chance it did, she'd already learned all she needed from these ones and was fine with not having them around anymore--but it was unlikely.

Rather than go the regular route of verbal casting, the Ravenclaw thought it best to try it non-verbally. It only made sense to. Jessa seldom used incantations with her wand anymore and even though she wasn't a 7th year onto the NEWT syllabus yet, she'd already finished learning that too. Might as well go to the upper limit of her abilities.

Wandless was next on the agenda...but with her current schedule of things that needed to be done, she didn't think she'd start making any real headway there yet.

It was still on the backburner for now.

Silently, Jessa made the shape of the incomplete "D" and watched the book turn to a solid block of gray stone.

Much less nerve wracking than the rats had been.

Duro. Derf knew OF this particular spell and it made him think about the one and only Valerie Gray. Specifically the Wampus in the final task when ALL she had needed to do was cast this particular spell and she would have WON the final task and then maybe the whole tournament too. But alas...third place had been hers.

He wondered how that not-a-Veela-Veela was doing now...


Oh. Right. He had...things to do. Incantations to practice and such.

Smiling over at Stasya first, Derf rummaged his pockets for a spare piece of parchment. Reckoned that he could turned that crumbled up thing into a rock by the end of this, yeah? "DOO-roh," he said as clearly as possibly. At least the days of stumbling over certain sounds was long behind him, yeah? "DOO-roh...DOO-roh...DOO-roh..."

Simple enough. Though as he traced the air with his wand to practice the D-not-really-a-D wand movement, his thoughts started to wander a bit.

"Wonder what happens when you trace a full D in the air," he wondered aloud, though his bright blues did glance over at Stasya idly. Not that he had any real intention of testing that out. At least...not consciously. But his subconscious had other things in mind. Eyes not focused on the waded up ball of parchment, Derf made his first attempt at the spell. "DOO-roh!" he chirped, completing the D with his wand.

And then he need not wonder what may happen and his inkwell a casualty of war as it were. Expanding a bit at first, it almost SEEMED as though the parchment were hardening since the color had darkened a little, but then it softened and began SUCKING his inkwell in...tipping it over in the process and sending black ink all across his and Stasya's desk while also dripping over the sides a little.

"SORRY! SORRY SORRY!"

Kye watched with a raised eyebrow as Professor Grimsbane grabbed a pumpkin. With a wave of her wand, the pumpkin had been ‘Medusa’d, which was actually kind of cool. Kye made a face and started practicing her wand movement. Doo-roh. DOO-roh. Kye looked for a moment to see what she should practice on, and decided on her quill. She did the movement and cast the spell nonverbally. It was… well, it was going a bit slower than Professor Grimsbane’s had. BUT the fact was that it WAS changing. Hm. Okay. Let’s try that again. Kye cast Reparifarge, almost giggling as if to say, ‘See? It IS most useful.’ She practiced the movement a couple more times, and then she tried again.

Duro!

Oh MUCH better. Kye shook her head a little, since clearly she was still feeling sleepy. She was working on waking up, but it was still a few minutes away. She transfigured the quill back, and practiced it again. There we go. Okay, she felt better thinking that the first try was a fluke.

Lydia watched with amazement as Professor Grimsbane transfigured the pumpkin into stone. Concentrating fiercely, she watched the professor's wand movement. She could do this. What did the professor say? Focus. Lydia had plenty of that. Focus and imagine the effect in your mind.

Lydia withdrew her wand from her pocket and practiced the wand movement the professor had shown them. Draw a D but not a complete D. Don't close it at the end. Lydia worked hard to get her movement just right. Then she laid her wand down on the table and began saying "Duro" out loud several times. At the moment she had forgotten to feel self-conscious about her magic in front of other students, so caught up in what she was doing, determined to impress Professor Grimsbane.

When she felt she had practiced enough, she took a deep breath. Glancing around the room she saw a few students practicing on balled up parchment. That was a good idea. She didn't want to ruin her favorite purple quill if she messed up. Lydia took a piece of parchment from her bag and wadded it up into a ball.

Lydia moved her wand precisely as the professor had shown them, and then, concentrating fiercely, she exclaimed, "Duro!"

Nothing happened. Lydia sighed. Wait, that wasn't quite right. She picked up the piece of parchment. It was hard! It just wasn't a stone. Well, guess she'd need more practice. Magic was a lot more difficult than she had expected.

On to the practical part.

Since professor Grimsbane said they could practice on smaller objects, Daehyun decided to try to turn his quill to stone. Clearing his throat, his entire focus on his task, he pointed his wand at his quill, swiftly traced the upwards line, followed by the curve that almost closed the D shape, and said, "Duro!"

... and it actually worked. He watched in awe as it turned to stone, spectacularly so. No sparks or anything, but he was easily impressed and excited, even more so when he hesitantly poked the quill to make sure it was stone. And, sure enough, it was! But only then did it strike him that he would still need that quill. "Err-professor?" he asked, feeling the familiar burning sensation in his cheeks. "Is there a counter spell for this?"

Should've thought things through before he turned personal possessions to stone.

Skylar watched as Professor Grimsbane explained the next portion of the lesson and it seemed they were diving right into an activity of the hardening spell. Not very useful, in the Slytherin's opinion, but that was only in her limited magical experience. Before she could dive into her practicing of the spell (non-verbally of course, which she'd already been working on and successful most of the time in the last year), she heard a question....


Sure the small second year had directed it at the professor, but she could offer insight, right?? As an older student, sometimes it was better to hear things from your peers.

"Reparifarge or Reverto are useful spells to reverse transfiguration spells. I can show you, if you'd like?" Or she could just undo it for him, but that wouldn't be much help to him.

Listening intently to the professors answer now, he couldn’t help but notice that the Professor seemed slightly relieved by the older children’s answers. He couldn’t help but feel slightly bad for not answering now. "Sorry Professor".

With a new focus, he looked at the Professor, ready to begin. So, he’d only have to practice the wand movement and then possibly change something on his desk to stone? Should be easy enough...hopefully. Taking out his wand now, he looked at the board carefully, reading and re-reading so that he did not make a mistake.

With a deep breath, he closed his eyes and focused on his breathing. Sometimes, he found that it hard to concentrate as his mind would often wonder without him saying so. Sometimes, it was just the noise in the classroom. Opening his eyes after a minute, he started to practice the pronunciation of the word
“Dooo-roh!”.

Okay, that didn’t sound right. Or at least, it didn’t sound the same as what the other children were saying. Listening to the other children now, he heard the subtle differences to what they were saying and what he was saying. After a few minutes he was ready to try again, and hopefully this time, he wouldn’t make a fool of himself.

“DoO-roh...DOroh...Doo-ro... DOO-roh!”

Much better! With a big smile spreading over his face, he moved onto the wand movement. Sort of a D shape but not complete? Okay, he could do it! Okay, so maybe not right away. Sitting there now, his cheeks slightly flushed, he couldn’t help but notice how some of the other children were already changing their objects to stone! “Rushing wouldn’t help”, he whispered to himself, as he looked around at Rylee and Dorian, hoping they wouldn’t notice. Taking his time now, he continued to practice, not quite confident yet to try on a small object.

Her notes were filling the page as she tried to keep up with all the professor was explaining. Sure, she knew that she should already know the information from her studies last year, but transfiguration and charms were not coming as easily as she thought they would. Yet another disadvantage of being muggle born.

After listening to the very specific instructions, Emmalyn held up her finger first, no need to risk using the wand, to practice the movement. Over and over she made the almost closed letter D. Then she decided to step it up a bit. She practiced saying the incantation. “Duro” she whispered, then cleared her throat “Duro” she said again, a little more forcefully. After glancing around the room to see how the others were fairing, she worked up the courage to pick up her wand, for a little more practice.

Wand in hand she made the D, being sure to not close the bottom, then said “Duro”. It seemed like there was a slight possibility she could actually pull this one off. She reached down into her bag and pulled out an old quill, no need to practice on a nice one, and got ready.

Visualize. Visualize. She chanted the word over and over in her mind while looking at her quill, picturing it as stone. Her wand was up and pointed at the quill, her mind was focused, her body ready, and she started. She moved her wand and commanded “Duro!” at her quill. Just like the professor’s example, nothing seemed to happen from her wand. She quickly looked down at her quill and it was hard, but not fully stone. “Hmm. I’m not sure what I did wrong.” She went back through the steps in her mind, trying to pinpoint where she had gone off course.

Shaking off her initial blunder, she pulled out a small muffin she had wrapped up in her bag. It was worth losing her snack if she was able to master the spell. Her wand was firmly held in her left hand and pointed at the mini-muffin. She made the D shape, making extra sure to not close the bottom of the D and commanded “Duro!” She closed her eyes right after, then slowly opened them to find a little stone mini-muffin on the desk before her. She let out a big sigh of relief before scribbling down notes on her progress.

Daehyun jumped in his seat.

... like the bravest lion that he was.

Would it be a valid excuse that he hadn't expected this girl's voice from his side, instead of the professor's? It had taken him by surprise but, boy, was he grateful! His eyes widening, he quickly nodded at the girl's offer. "Yes, please! I'd appreciate that." He would probably settle for Reverto, since he didn't think he could repeat the Repari-something incantation, but any help was much appreciated, so he was beyond grateful for the Slytherin's help.

Quinn quickly copied down the incantation and wand movement on a sheet of parchment, before drawing her wand. She dug into her bag, searching for anything of little importance that she'd not mind turning to stone. Finding half of an old broken quill, Quinn positioned it at the edge of her desk and turned back to the incantation and wand movement on the board.

"Doo-roh. Doo-roh. Duro. Duro..." She practiced the incantation at a quiet whisper, until she had the feel of it in her mouth, then switched to silently repeating it in her head. This would help to ensure her mind went to the right pronunciation immediately whenever she set out to cast it.

While Quinn rehearsed the incantation silently to herself, she closed her eyes and diverted some of her attention to practicing the wand movement.

Dorian was immensely pleased that his answer had been right and to show it he sat a little more upright and he had a small smile on his face. He liked activities in classes but the theory part was where he shined in more 'case his spells did not work that often. So being praised for his knowledge was greatly appreciated.

He scribbled down notes as the Professor went to talk about a spell called Duro. He had read about it in his textbook but he had never thought of actually using it before. Or even trying it out. So like many of the other students, this would be the first time he would.

The Ravenclaw watched as the Professor took a small pumpkin from the table and transfigurated in to stone and he immediately got excited to try it out himself. After he was finished with taking notes, (it took him a bit longer because his hand writing was TERRIBLE and he had to write slower so that he could understand it later) the still twelve year old placed down his quill and looked around to see what the other students were doing.

His blue eyes caught Ewan looking at him but having no idea what was going on inside his mind, Dorian merely nodded at him and he was about to practise the spell himself when Derf's voice caught his attention. What was he sorry for? He leaned to the side to see what he had done and he had to bite his inner cheek not to laugh. Poor Stasya.

Shaking his head and feeling more confident now that he saw that even a Prefect had trouble with the spell, Dorian began to quietly say the incantation to practise first. "Duro...Duro...Duro..." well it wasn't the most difficult incantation to be honest. Next he practiced the wand movement but instead of using his wand, he used his finger. If there was one thing he had learned about himself during school it was that he was more capable of performing magic when he did not want to than when he wanted to. And he was definitely afraid the classroom would turn in to a winter wonderland if he tried to practise with wand.

He traced a not fully closed letter D in the air in front of him with his finger and once he got it he determinedly picked up his wand. 'Okay, concentrate, Dorian' he thought to himself as he cleared his mind. He took a deep breath and said "Duro!" as he made the D shape and pointed his wand at his quill.

Nothing happened. He wasn't surprised really. He just had to try again and again until he got it right. Practise makes perfect and like Professor Marchand had told him 'If everyone knew how to do a spell immediatly, us Professors would be out of jobs'

So he began to try and clear his mind and try again.

By closing her eyes and focusing attention on the feel of her hand movements, Quinn could tell the little micro-mistakes in her wand movement better. It even had a name. Prio...no. Proprioception. She'd read about it in a muggle psychology book once. It was the sense that let you tell where one part of your body was in relationship to the rest of your body. This included sensing the movements you make in relationship to the rest of you as well. Very handy, she'd found, in perfecting wand movements.

That was a good one. The next, however, she closed the D too much. The next she overcompensated and closed it too little. Over and over and over, Quinn practiced the wand movement, sensing every mistake, slowly correcting it and recorrecting the movements.

When she felt like she was getting it right more than half the time, Quinn started repeating the incantation silently to herself again, getting used to using the wand movement and incantation together.

Duro. Up and arcing back down. Duro. Up and arcing back down. Duro. Upu and arcing back down. Duro. Up and arcing back down...no that time it was a bit to far. Duro. Up and arcing back down.

And there was one last element left wasn't there? Intent. Imagining the goal. Seeing it clearly in your mind as you cast the spell. Seeing the broken half of the quill turn to stone each time she repeated the incantation in her head and practiced the wand movement. Quinn was almost ready to try it for real.

Duro. Up and arcing back down. Duro. Up and arcing back down. Duro. Up and arcing back down. Duro. Up and arcing back down. Duro. Up and arcing back down.

And then it happened like a shock. Quinn felt the power flow down her arm and into the wand, felt its release. Her eyes snapped open in surprise and widened as they locked onto the now stone half of a quill at the edge of her desk. But that was....no....

Quinn glanced around, her brow knitted in confusion. It was someone else messing with her, right? She was barely a month into her first year. There was no way she had just casted non-verbally. There was no way. That was 6th and 7th year level. She hadn't even had her wand a year yet.

Maybe it wasn't stone? Maybe all she did was make it look like stone? Cautiously, Quinn prodded the quill, it was hard, like stone. Her mouth dropped open in an uncharacteristic show of surprise and shock and her wand slipped from her hand, clattering as it landed on her desk.

How....?

Beth looked up at Professor Grimsbane as she responded to everyone. Of course, the blonde snakeling couldn’t help but send a look over to her fellow Slytherins it was a look at me, I did it look, and of course. Still, she couldn’t help but feel pride in her answer and the fact she had already scored the house, her house some points! ”Thank you Professor Grimsbane,” she grinned, even if she wasn’t looking forward to using the equation today.

Still, she was more excited to practice the spell and wand movement…oh, this was great. She could feel it thrumming in her hand, her wand was singing for magic. It needed it like a plant needed the sun to live. Maybe, could this spell be used on creatures to make them into living stone? Beth wondered as she glanced over toward Reese, she should bring that idea to him.

He’d have fun with that…rock frogs – rock…creatures. Rockimals? What would the boy even call the creations? She wondered for a moment as she reached for her wand. She wasn’t casting. Yet, not really. For now she was simply trying to. master the wand movement first.

Vertical line and swoop down in an arch – it looked like she were trying to conduct an invisible orchestra. ”DOO-roh” she practiced the sound, ”doo-roh, do-ro – duro” there, she had done it, the sound. Now, pointing her wand toward a spare quill she had on her desk the blonde combined the two – intentions. Concentration, everything. ”Duro” the open ended D shape with her wand and – her eyes were closed. She didn’t see if it had worked – but she could feel it, magic, coursing through her wand.

Quinn continued to stare at the stone half a quill in shock. Finally, she recovered enough to close her mouth. Okay, this...she had to test this further. It was a fluke. Had to be, but she needed to know for sure.

Quinn reached into her bag, all the way to her shoulder, despite the bag not looking deep enough to reach her elbow and after a minute of digging around, pulled out the other half of the quill. She placed it next to the stone other half, before picking up her wand again.

She closed her eyes, imagining the other half turning to stone until she could see it clearly. Then she opened her eyes again, and still holding that image of the other half being stone as well, aimed her wand and traced an unclosed D in the air like before. Duro.

The quill half remained unpetrified. Quinn tried a second time to intentionally cast it non-verbally, but again it remained unchanged. She tried seven more times just to be sure.

It was a fluke then. That was all.

"Duro." This time she spoke it outloud as she brought the wand up, and arced it back down again. There was that familiar feel of magic flowing from her into her wand and out the tip. The second half of the quill turned to stone before her eyes.

So, a fluke. Assuming it had actually been her, and not someone messing with her, Quinn's eyes flashed briefly to Reese, then she had cast non-verbally as a fluke, that she was unable to replicate intentionally. And flukes weren't all that impressive, were they? Everyone here has cast magic before, wandlessly, through a fluke.

Ah, she hadn't meant to scare him. Also, wasn't he a lion? But then again, if she knew anything from seven years of interactions with all sorts of people, Gryffindors didn't necessarily have to be brave.

Oh good, he agreed!! She was just trying to be the helpful older student, because why not? "Okay, so it's mighty useful when it comes to undoing transfigurations, but the pronunciation is 're-ver-TOE' and it's a light wand flourish, like so," Skylar demonstrated, the quill returning to its previous form.

Except because she wanted to see him do it, Skylar almost wished she'd just shown but not acted on it. No matter though, because with an incomplete 'D' shape and a non-verbal 'Doo-roh', she had the quill back hardened again. Sure it wasn't the spell they were learning, but he should learn how to undo transfigurations. "You wanna give it a try?"