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Transfiguration Lesson 2: How to Train Your Dragon It may be a chilly January day outside, but Professor Carton has kept the transfiguration classroom nice and toasty with a few well-placed warming charms. The desks are arranged around the perimeter of the room with a large wooden maze taking up the space in the middle. While the maze itself is expansive, the walls and passages are much too small for a human to navigate. Perhaps it’s meant for an animal instead. Perhaps it’ll be transfigured into something else. Only time will tell! If the maze isn’t enough to pique the students’ curiosity, hopefully the objects on the desks will. Three small objects sit atop each desk: a stone, a leaf, and an ice cube. No need to worry about the ice melting! It’s been charmed to hold its shape. Professor Carton stands in his usual place at the front of the room, waiting to greet the students as they arrive. On the chalkboard behind his is the following message: Quote:
OOC: Welcome to the 2nd transfiguration of the term! Class Lesson Progression Q1: What kind of transformation spell is more useful: one meant for use on a specific object or one useable on a variety of things? Q2: What, if any, effect do you think the type of material used has on the transformation? How so? Mini Activity part 1: Guess which material wil be hardest to transfigure/which will be easiest Main Activity: Dragon obstacle course maze Obstacles #1 Obstacles #2 |
Fiona entered the warm classroom and flashed Professor Carton a smile. "Good afternoon, Professor." The layout of the classroom had certainly sparked some curiosity within her. As she sat down at one of the desks, Fiona observed the three items on the desk as she waited for more students to arrive and the lesson to officially begin. |
Ash did not like how toasty it was in here. She was fine with the cold. But whatever. Ash did not like what she thought was going to happen. Making animals run mazes was mean. But whatever. Ash did not like Hogwarts very much. She wished she could just go home. But whatever. She took her seat, not next to Fiona. "Hi- Professor Carton." Look at how respectful she was. She even remembered to call him professor. Respect. |
Dahlia entered the Transfiguration classroom and noticed two things right away. One the very large wooden maze sat in the middle of the room. Cause well.. seriously. How could she NOT see that? The second thing she realized right away was how nice and warm it was in the room. It was so comfortable that she didn't even need the warming charms she had placed upon herself. "Good afternoon, Professor Carton," she greeted him with a warm smile as she took a seat at an empty desk. Seeing the items on the desk, she looked at the board and sighed. Of course they weren't supposed to touch anything. Didn't the professors know that telling the NOT to touch things only made them want to touch the items even more? |
Did Professor Carton know that warm classrooms made Kinsay James all sorts of sleepy? Because they did and she would be yawning for the entire duration of class. Not on purpose, but- Entering the classroom, she maneuvered her way around the maze to sit at a desk near Lia. "Hi," she turned, greeting the second year, before looking back up at the front of the classroom. Despite all the exhaustion, she sat leaning forward with her feet on her chair. Sitting improperly was the Kinsay way. As was asking about things that made her all sorts of curious. This time, the maze wasn't one of those things. "Hi, Professor. Where's the bread?" Healer Poppy said classes would have bread, so Kiz made sure to save extra room even though they had just come from lunch. |
Darius walked into the Transfiguration classroom, "Good day, Professor." He greeted before noticing immediately the change in the room. It was practically a maze here, but he couldn't imagine himself fitting through it.... unless, he had to be shrunk down to the appropriate size. That wouldn't be it, would it? His eyes remained on the leaf, stone, and ice cube after reading the board that forbid him from touching it. |
Well, Nem was here. Present and correct. Ready and willing to learn from the Milk Monitor. Or something. As was now their tendency, in all lessons, with all professors, Nem didn't say a word when they entered the classroom, in greeting or otherwise. They stepped inside, dropped into the first desk available at the edge of the room - right by the door - and just sat there, still and silent, looking across the room at nothing in particular while they waited. If the items, or the maze, or the message on the board elicited any kind of reaction, it wasn't a discernible one. |
Nice maze. They were the first words in Claudine’s mind the moment she stepped into the classroom. Naturally her curiosity was at its highest. And what exactly did a maze have to do with those three items? The girl could think of anything linking them at the moment. Carton would tell them eventually anyway. “Hi, Professor,’’ she greeted, and giving the man a smile. Moving into the room further, the Snakette sent a wave to Fiona and Ashley. “Try to resist temptation, Darius.” Yes, she saw you eyeing those items. |
Violet was in a fairly good mood today--she'd enjoyed the holidays this year, for a change, and she liked the cold winter weather. She'd also come to enjoy Transfiguration the past year, and no one had tried to make her eat any bread so far today (Violet wasn't against bread per se, but anytime anyone tried to pressure her into do doing anything, that just made her resist doing it, on principle.) "Good morning, Professor Carton," she said as she entered and looked for a seat. She saw some students she knew there already--Claudine, Ashley, and some others, so she smiled and nodded to them (there, that wasn't so hard, was it?) Upon sitting down, she took note of the three objects on the desk--she pushed down a sudden and strong desire to touch the ice cube (which was obviously magical, since it wasn't melting)--and also the maze. Look at the size of that thing--either the students or the maze were going to get some transfiguring done on them before the class was done, Violet was pretty certain. |
Transfiguration wasn't her favorite of all subjects, but she was here. Serena eyed the classroom as she entered and wondered about the maze. For a slight moment she wondered if they were going to shrink themselves and solve the maze, but that was mostly a potions thing, no? Or was shrinking someone's size considered transfiguration? Eh. Making her way deeper into the classroom, she greeted the professor with a polite nod and then claimed the seat beside Ashley, the free one. Ashley was cool. "Hi," she greeted. Were they friends yet? |
You know that test where you left a kid in a room with a single marshmallow and told them if they did not eat it they could get two? The Stanford marshmallow experiment. Atlas always passed that with flying colors. Know what test he did not pass? Anything that involved pushing a button, whether figuratively or literally and even then it was not always intention. The items on his desk were really just all giant buttons ASKING to be pushed. Idly taking a spot beside Dahlia, Atlas smiled up at the Transfiguration professor and offered a chipper kind of 'hello' before settling into his seat. And then he was staring at the three buttons on the desk. "Now...when he says not to touch..." he muttered under his breath to the Ravenclaw while wiggling his fingers. "Do you think that also includes licking?" Technically, the answer was yes. It was physical contact with another object and therefore constituted as touching. But Atlas really wanted to lick the ice cube. Did enchanted ice taste the same as regular ice? If he licked it...would it still melt against his tongue? These were clearly pressing questions that required answers...and so Atlas folded his arms over the surface of the desk and set his chin on the back of his hands. Inching closer and closer, enough so that his eyes crossed while looking at the ice cube, the Gryffindor...uh...Gryffindor'd and sloooooooowly began to creep his tongue out towards it to give it just the sliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiightest of little pokes. Really, the only way to ensure a room full of magical teenagers were not going to touch a thing was to not give them the things. |
Question 1! *phone post Sorry for typos/weird formatting* SPOILER!!: Individual replies ^_^ Norman checked his watch. At exactly 1:00 on the dot, he closed the door with a flick of his wand and addressed the class, "Good afternoon, everyone!" He was about to launch straight into the lesson, but the wafting smell of baked goods reminded him of the basket of bread on his desk and Healer Poppy's ridiculous rule. "If anyone wants bread, come up and get it now before we begin. And please don't make a mess with it!"* Poppy may have undermined his "no eating in class" rule, but he would not have his lessons disrupted by students coming and going from the front while he was teaching! Anyway… After allowing a few minutes for the students to take their fill of the bread, he continued, "Right, let's get started then. Transformation spells - some of them are meant to be used only on a specific object. For example, the Bowling Ball to Balloon spell wouldn't have the same results if you tried to use it on a baseball instead. Other transformation spells can be used on a variety of objects, like Vera Verto. That spell turns small animals into water goblets, but there's room for variation in the type of animal. You could use that same spell on a mouse, a frog, and a canary, and you'd wind up with a goblet each time, provided you've cast it correctly." He paused to allow time for the students to absorb that information before he asked the first question, "So which do you think is more useful: a transformation spell meant for a specific object or one that works on a variety of things? Why?" OOC: Class has officially started! Feel free to join in any time. Just post as if your charrie has been here the whole time, unless you want IC consequences for a late arrival. We'll move on in 24-28 hours. ^_^ |
Honestly, Ash wasn't a fan of transfiguration. Turning small animals into objects and vice versa was mean, and turning an object into another object was unnecessary in most cases. Bowling ball to a balloon? Why not just buy a balloon? Why not turn a balloon into a bowling ball and then sell it? Where did they get the bowling ball from??? Ash was glad that Serena was here though. The arrival cheered her up a bit. She smiled. "Hey Serena." And yes, they were friends. Ash felt like they were often on the same wavelength(?), and Serena hadn't hated her when they met. So they were friends. In case anyone was wondering. As people came and took bread, Ash pulled up a piece of robe to cover her nose. She knew the bread smelled good, but it was overpowering. No thanks. Mmm she wanted some... no no NO. Absolutely NOT. "I think spells that can use a variety of things is more useful." Slightly muffled voice. "Because you might not have the specific objects required. If I wanted to cast the Bowling Ball to Balloon spell-" which she didn't, because it was dumb "- I wouldn't have any bowling balls to use." A variety spell would be more useful in emergencies. Emergencies were the only times when Ash thought transfiguration was helpful. She seemed to be in emergencies a lot. Was there a variety spell to make a broom to catch her as she fell from the sky? That would be helpful. |
Getting out her materials for the lesson, Claudine occasionally cast a gaze towards the door of the classroom to check out who was arriving. That’s how she caught Violet’s nod. Claudine smiled back. Yes, she was indeed in a bit of a social mood. Not too much though, so don’t be surprised if you caught signs that her social battery was running out. Oooh, bread. The tantalising aroma dared Claudine to head to the front to collect a few pieces but as she had just eaten lunch… well, she wasn’t hungry just yet. Moving on. Transformation spells… she let Carton’s words sink in before raising her hand. “I agree with Ashley. I mean, it’s unlikely that we may walk around with a handy object at a time when we mostly need it. Random objects in our environs would be easier and more convenient to use." |
Dahlia hadn't taken notice or Professor Carton's eyebrow raise pertaining to her sigh as she was busy getting herself prepared for the lesson. It was nothing to worry about though. She could handle not touching the items on her desk as long as she was kept busy. The sleeping eyed looking Kinsay that sat down at the desk beside her got a soft smile in greeting. "Hiya," she answered back to the slightly older Ravenclaw. Hearing her mention bread made her turn her blue eyes towards the professor. Yes, was there any? Preferably strawberry bread or maybe cinnamon raisin or.. or any sweet yummy warm bread would do! When someone sat down on the other side of her, Lia looked over expecting to see Tadhg like usual. There was a slight look of surprise on her face when it wasn't but it was quickly replaced with a smile. "Erm.." Lia paused thoughtfully hoping he really wasn't going to lick the stone or leaf and returning the finger wiggles, "I think licking would count as touching." She nodded her in as if agreeing with herself on this thought. Now she couldn't help but watch Atlas as he leaned on his desk closer and closer to lick the ice cube. Only the ice cube. Which was good because she didn't have a bottle of water to offer him today so he could rinse his mouth out. Oh! The lesson was starting. And the first thing mentioned was.. bread! Sweet sweet bread! Now somewhere in the back of her mind, Dahlia knew that someone had told her not to eat the bread. The problem with that was, she couldn't currently remember who or why. Not with the way the scent of it wafted through the room and made her feel so calm and hungry. Lunch was hardly an hour ago and yet.. she wanted bread. So without any further ado, she got up and headed to the front of the room to get herself a piece of strawberry bread before returning to her seat. It was a good thing that she could multi-task. Taking notes, listening to professor Carton talk about the lesson and nibbling at strawberry bread. Lia made sure to finish the small bit of bread that was in her mouth before raising her hand. "It's definitely much easier if a spell can used on a wide variety of of different things. Sure I might be able to conjure what I need to a very specific spell but why do that when I might already have something else laying around that could be used? Sometimes it should be all about convenience and making things easier." |
Here all along With a hello to Professor Carton Tadhg seen that the seats by Lia were taking, not at all happy he doesn't get to sit by his girlfriend he sat down behind her. Bedsides she had friends, he can't be expected to sit there all the time. Getting his stuff out he listened to the first question taking notes and getting the rest of his stuff quietly out. Waiting his turn, he raised his hand waiting his turn and to be called on. "I think a variety of things would be better sir, for example if you were to be attack by people, a spell that does varieties of things would be useful then a spell that does one thing if you were being attacked by them. " Going back to his notes he pushed his glasses up a bit and wrote down what he said in his notes. Although he hopes what he said was okay, it was how he felt on the issue, last term was a firm reminder of it. He wanted to learn as much as he could and advance himself. Taking a bite of his banana bread he took before class, he was quickly finishing it off before he was chewing too loud or so. Mmm... so good and yummy as well as warm, how does Healer Poppy do it? Quickly making the crumbs disappear from his desk and his notes he was happy and satisfied now. |
Also here all along Kayne sat patiently and quietly in his seat, as he watched and listened to what his classmates had as an answer in regards to the question that was brought up. Looking around for a brief second, everyone else in the room seemed to be in pretty much a collective agreement; spells that can be used on practically any object were better than the previous. While they brought up several good points as to why they thought so, Kayne's mind couldn't help but thinking of a different approach to the question. However, no matter how hard he thought, he just couldn't seem to find a way to fully be confident with answering about why a spell with a specific object would be better. After the last person had finished speaking, the 14 year old reluctantly raised his hand, nails currently painted to resemble a snake moving it's way across them, and waited for the Professor to give him his turn to speak. "While I think both kinds have their own individual uses that could be considered better for certain scenarios, I have to agree with the others on the fact that spells that can be used on multiple things are better." Taking a momentary pause before continuing, "My reasoning for agreeing is simply due to the fact that I wasn't able to find a reason as to why the other spells would be better. Also, as previously mentioned, it just saves more time for whoever is doing the casting, if they don't have the specific object needed." |
Ditto! Here all along Lisa was quieter than usual today. Upon entering the class, she had smiled and greeted her fellow friends, classmates, and the Professor too. However she didn’t particularly feel like taking too much today. She felt off and weird and strangely calm. Was this what happened when you grew older? Did you become less energetic with every solar rotation? Or perhaps it was all the bread that was available in classes that she had nibbled on. Carbs did make you feel tired. She had read that in the library the other day. She had been leaning her chin on her hand as she stared at the chalkboard. She didn’t even realize that she had spaced out until other students were answering the Professor’s question. She hadn’t even noticed Atlas trying to lick the ice cube or the objects. Oh yeah…. He had asked a question. “Well I suppose it depends on the quality of the transformation. Would a generic transformation used for multiple objects be as effective as one for a specific object? I doubt it because there had to be a reason for the specific transformation spell… right?” She eyed the bread and then glanced back at the Professor. She was really starting to get sick of the bread smell. It smelled great and mouthwatering but it made her tummy ache. “Specific spells for objects probably take into account all the intricate little details like the difference in their make up… their molecular makeup up and properties.” |
Kinsay grabbed as much bread as she could, even stuffing a piece into her mouth for the sake of carrying it all back to her desk. "Mffmkooo," she called back to Professor Carton (translation: thank you), before sitting down at her desk again and arranging the bread all proper. Mmmmm...... It smelled so good. It was also very fun to play with. Kiz took to rolling up doughy pieces into little bread balls, which she then used to make bread snowmen. Needless to say, she was proper distracted by the time class began. So no answers, but LOTS of bread snowmen and good vibes. They were so cute. Did Professor Carton want one? MMMMmmmm! So YUM! |
Fiona didn't bother grabbing herself some bread for three reasons. The first reason was that she simply wasn't hungry. The second reason was that she was used to the no eating/drinking in the classroom rule and the third was that she had an uneasy feeling about these baked goods. After Professor Carton asked his question to the class and hearing the students before her give their answers, Fiona raised her hand and provided her input. "There are so many occasions where you need to think quick on your feet when performing spellwork so I think a transformation spell that works on a variety of things is the better option." |
Question 2! SPOILER!!: Individual replies ^_^ Norman’s eyes swept the room, searching for more hands in the air. When he saw none, he addressed the class again, “Excellent answers! So the consensus is that transformation spells that work on a variety of objects are more useful because they better lend themselves to convenience and flexibility than those meant for use on one specific object. Now let’s build on that discussion, shall we?” He paused a few moments to allow time for the students to give him their full attention before continuing, “In the case of transformation spells that work on multiple types of objects, what role, if any, do you think the material used plays in the transformation process? Some things to consider: Do you think some materials would be harder to transfigure than others? Which materials do you think would be difficult? Which ones would be easy? What is it about those materials that you think would make them easier or harder to work with?” OOC: Question 2 is up! ^_^ For this one, Norman wants to know if your student thinks the type of material used can affect a transformation and if they do, how so? Feel free to use any/all of the example questions he gave as a jumping off point or draw your own conclusions. We’ll move on in 20-22 HOURS. |
Fiona thought for a good few moments about what her answer was going to be when it came to Professor Carton's second question. She then raised her hand and answered. "I think materials such as stone or brick would make it difficult because of the lack of flexibility in said materials. Maybe lighter materials such as I don't know.... a piece of cotton fabric might have the necessary flexibility needed." Yeah, that answer didn't sound too bad in Fiona's mind. |
Lia found it a little strange how Tadhg had literally walked right past her desk to get himself bread at the front of the room. Then past her again to sit at the desk behind her and not said one word to her. Not a hello, not a smile, a wave or anything. Nothing. Had she done something to upset him? He couldn't be that mad that he wasn't sitting beside her, could he? Unfortunately the lesson had already begun and there was no real time for her to ask him so she did the very next best thing that came to mind. She looked over her shoulder at him and gave him one of her brightest Lia smiles before turning back around to pay attention to professor Carton. Whatever the problem was, she would have to wait a bit longer to find out. While more responses were being given from her peers, Lia took that time to take notes. Some more of her bread was eaten as well. A bit of it offered over her shoulder to Tad as she normally always shared half of her bread with him out of habit. Her hand went straight up into the air when the next question was asked. "I think the material being used does matter. A moving item could pose to be a lot harder to transfigure then one that is still because you have really focus and make sure you don't miss when casting the spell. Or maybe the larger something is that could make it harder to transfigure to? I'm not really sure.. how difficult is it to freeze the water of a lake so everyone can ice skate on it?" The last part was meant as a serious question. Her papa had done this many times and her big sister as well and they made it look so very easy. |
Kayne had to think really hard about the Professor's specific question to him. His mind immediately had raced to some mischievous scenarios, however, he knew it was best not to say those examples out loud. So, when he thought of an answer that would actually suffice, the Slytherin boy raised his hand saying with confidence "Well, let's say theoretically, you're in your house during a powerful storm; all of a sudden a window by you breaks due to...let's say the wind in this instance. You could use the glass to sand spell to ensure that you wouldn't get injured by the shards." Though, you'd then most likely end up with sand in your eyes, but Kayne didn't add that part to his answer. Moving on to the other question posed, this answer came rather quickly. Still with his hand raised, just to make sure he didn't get called out for not doing so, Kayne mentioned "I believe that the material used in those kind of spells have a big part in the process to transmute it into something else." He took a moment before elaborating. "Things that could be considered ever-changing such as water, and other fluids would most likely be harder to work with, as you would then also have to be constantly shifting your focus to ensure the spell would work to it's fullest extent." The next part of what he had to say was a bit of a stretch, and most likely wrong, but that still didn't stop Kayne from also saying "I also think that, if you're including animals and people in this example, they could also be considered ever-changing due to the fact that: one, our bodies mostly consist of water, therefore, it could add that consistent movement pattern that would require more focus. And two: our bodies are more easily effected by the process of time, even though most of the time we can't actually physically see it. Like our hair and nails are constantly growing and changing while time moves forward." This answer was most certainly a stretch if he's ever seen one. But it was still at least something different than what his classmates were saying |
Claudine was pleased with her answer and was not at all surprised that there were most students who agreed with the use of a variety of objects. Really, that answer made a lot of sense as opposed to the other one. The Snakette sat back pondering on the other questions while listening to responses. From observations, it seemed that quite a few of her classmates thought that moving objects would be more difficult to change. That was possible but there was another {and possibly more}. She raised her hand and waited to be called upon. “Couldn’t bigger objects be more difficult? I mean, someone may be able to master changing a pebble into something else but let’s say… one of those dummies in the Dueling Arena... they could be a lot more difficult to manipulate into changing their forms.” |
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