Norman hadn’t been waiting long when the first student arrived. Someone was certainly cheerful this afternoon! “Hello, Mr. Anders,” he replied with a smile that matched the boy’s level of cheeriness.

Here was another cheerful student! Just the sort of attitude Norman liked to see… well, as much as he was capable of having any preference for emotions. “Good afternoon, Miss Archard,” he said, smiling slightly. “Yes, we are.” As to exactly what they were making, that would remain a mystery for now. He didn’t want to give too much away!

Norman noticed the contrast in Fox’s demeanor compared to the previous two students, but he wasn’t fussed about it. “Hello, Mr. Fox,” he greeted, giving a barely perceptible nod in response to the question. “We might.” That was the only answer he could give without revealing the lesson subject early on!

McLeod’s strutting did not go unnoticed. Norman was secretly amused, though he showed no outward sign of reaction. “Hello, Mr. McLeod,” he replied with a smile. Clearly someone was in a good mood today!

Atreyu-Rehman’s arrival received a polite nod of acknowledgement from the professor. “Good afternoon, Mr. Atreyu-Rehman,” Norman replied, his eyes following the boy as he gathered his materials.

“Hello, Miss Schultz,” Norman greeted the next arrival, returning the girl’s smile with a slight one of his own. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed her color choice of pipe cleaners and vaguely wondered if there was some reason behind it. He didn’t have the heart to tell her that the colors wouldn’t matter!

"Hello, Mr. Flamsteed,” Norman greeted, acknowledging the Gryffindor’s wave with a polite nod. There were two things about the boy’s arrival that caught his attention. One was the unusual sound that his bookbag made when dropped, to which the professor paid little mind. As long as it didn’t cause distraction, the bag’s contents didn’t matter. The other thing he noticed was the white… substance on the boy’s hair and robes. Did he know that was there? Better tell him, just in case.

Crossing the room to Flamsteed’s workstation, he whispered, “You have something in your hair and in your robes, just so you know.” What the boy did with that information was his choice.

Here was the other Anders, looking every bit as cheery as her brother! Norman returned her smile with one of his own, and the wiggly finger wave might have gotten a slight chuckle from him. “Good afternoon, Miss Anders,” he said.

Another cheerful Hufflepuff. Rasting’s arrival was likewise greeted with a smile from the professor. “Good afternoon, Miss Rasting,” Norman replied.

Norman acknowledged Durand’s arrival with a slight smile and polite nod. “Hello, Miss Durand,” he replied, watching as she gathered her materials. Interesting color choices!

As with all the hypothetical questions he asked in his classes, Norman expected some creative answers with this one. Right off the bat, he was not disappointed! Durand’s answer earned an approving nod. “Theoretically yes,” he replied, “though you’d need to be very careful with your aim since you’d be working with a smaller target than Incarcerous usually handles.”

For the record, Norman had no idea what game Valentine was talking about, but the girl was on to something with the idea of making objects fly into place. “You could,” he said with a nod. “A levitation charm could help you with that.” Not a spell they’d be learning in this class, though. This was transfiguration, not charms.

Every time Norman used a hypothetical question in class, there was always at least one answer that reminded him he should’ve been clearer with the scenario. Schultz’s answer had him stifling a chuckle. “Valid point, Miss Schultz,” he replied. Not exactly what he had in mind with this question, but it wasn’t wrong. “What if there was nobody around to see your sparks, and you had no choice but to build a shelter? What could you use then?”

For someone without a background in magic, Collins was on the right track. In fact, she had very nearly guessed one of the spells they would be using today. “Good idea,” Norman said with a slight smile. “What you’ve described is an example of a transformation spell. Transformation can be useful in a situation like that.” But he’d come back to that later.

Speaking of transformation spells, Rasting also provided a good example of one. The answer got an approving nod from Norman. “Yes, that spell can be useful for building,” he said. Assuming one was in an environment with vines, of course.

Norman half-expected the next student’s answer to continue the pattern of transformation spells, but that didn’t happen. McLeod went in a completely different, though still pertinent direction. “Sound reasoning,” he replied, nodding.

Between Botros’s pipe cleaner balancing act and answer to the question, Norman once again had to stifle a laugh. These kids and their loopholes! The faintest smile cracked his usual stoic expression as he replied, “Yes, that’s one way to go about it. What if you couldn’t grab your broom though? Say, you lost it and were too far away to summon it.”

When Fox mentioned building the non-magical way, Norman thought this was going to be another loophole answer. He was pleasantly surprised when the boy tied in a magical element at the end. “All good uses of magic in that scenario,” he replied.

Now here was a creative idea! Nam’s answer earned an approving nod from Norman. “There is,” he said. “Very useful in that situation.”

Here was an answer Norman hadn’t expected! No matter how many years he taught, he never ceased to be amazed by these kids’ outside-the-box thinking. “That could work, yes,” he said with a nod. It wasn’t technically building anything, but still a reasonable use of magic in that situation.

While all of the students’ answers had been more or less correct, only one had guessed the lesson’s subject. Norman nodded, giving the elder Anders a slight smile. “Yes, that’s a very useful spell for building,” he said.

Originally Posted by Chalkboard

Temran Madera
Use: turns objects into wooden boards or planks
Wand movement: horizontal line