Transfiguration OWL's ((4 and 5 year students))

[xadrian]

As Professor McGonagall began class, Xadrian took out his book and turned to the first chapter where he began skimming to refresh his mind. Just then, she asked three questions that were review from their past classes. Xadrian tried answering each to himself, making sure he remembered the concepts she brought up. He thought he a had a good idea of each answer, and so he raised his hand.

Unfortunately, three others had already beat him to it, and Professor had called on them. He listened as Celia gave her response. She did very well, and he didn't think she missed a single thing. At least she was representing Ravenclaw well. Xadrian didn't always try to be the center of attention, as long as the Professors knew he was serious about his work. And that, he could usually demonstrate in class assignments as well as homework.

[Ivy Tunstall]

Ivy smiled at her friend Nokomis as she saw her entering the classroom. She knew Noko well enough to be able to tell her best friend had been in the middle of something that having to go to class had interrupted. She didn't find that her friend multi-tasked thinking about two things at once very well without getting all flustered - and she did looked slightly strained at the moment.

Anyway, no need to analyse her friends. She should be concentrating on the lesson anyway. McGonagall had asked her to answer one of the questions - Ivy smiled slightly. The Ravenclaw in her year who had volunteered was in mid-flow; Ivy looked at her in slight alarm. It sounded like a recital. Perhaps you could put it at top speed, then you'd get absolute certainty that no one would understand. Ivy was glad she had a solid understanding of the material - otherwise by now she'd be thoroughly confused! It probably meant an awful lot more to McGonagall, the cleverer students, and hopefully the person giving the answer too though.

It was her turn to answer. Ivy took a breath before she started answering so she wouldn't have any awkward pauses; just the ones she wanted. For breathing, but not in the middle of sentences. That didn't really help other people to understand what you were saying. "Right, well Similar Transfigurations are where what you're Transfiguring shares at least one of the main characteristics - that's the size, shape, colour and so on stuff that Celia was talking about - of the thing you're Transfiguring it into. So like transfiguring... oh, a red candle into a red quill holder. That would be a Similar Transfiguration because they both share the characteristic of being red. A Dissimilar Transfiguration is where what you're Transfiguring shares absolutely no main characteristics with what you're trying to turn it into."

[Cassandra Blackfire G7]

Cassandra put her hand and waited for the other two girls to answer. Cass scowered her memory for the best answer she could for the teacher. This was her favorite class, and out of all the teachers, Professor McGonogall was the one she wanted to impress the most. Cass had always wanted to become an animagus, and after two years, she was still afraid that McGonogall would stop teaching her if she didn't perform beyond expectations in all her classes.

Cass grimaced to herself as the other girls gave their spectacular answers. All eyes rested on her now. A little bit of tension drew up in her chest as she began to open her mouth. This type of thing always bothered her. " Simple transfigurations are where the two or less of the main characteristics between the exordium and eventium are changed. Complex transfigurations are where three of those main characteristics have to be changed." Cass paused a moment and let this sink in the class before she continued." However, not all transfigurations can be put in a category. For example, the Portus and Vivictem", Cass stopped for a moment and looked at the teacher to see if she pronounced the last spell correctly," spells are not classified into any category whatsoever."

[Professor Minerva McGonagall]

Minerva listened to the three young ladies as they provided answers for each of her questions. First Ms. Richmond, Ms. Tunstall, and finally, Ms. Blackfire. Each answer was correct, and much more detailed than Minerva expected. "Wonderful, wonderful answers. Ten points to each Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Gryffindor." She took her copy of Practical Transfiguration and flipped back to the chapter with OWL level spells.

"Since it appears that at least a few of you have retained the information that we covered in years previous, I feel confident that the majority of the class will have no trouble with what we are going to learn today. If you would, please join me in chapter five. Now, if you haven't guessed by now, today we will be working with the Aquincedo spell. You can see in chapter five that this spell turns any unknown liquid into water. In a moment, each of you will take the random liquid that is in front of you in glass viles, and attempt to cast the Aquincedo with the goal of turning the liquid into water."

"But first," she said, before the students began practicing the spell, "If you recall the very first idea that we covered in chapter one, the basics of Transfiguration include identifying what your exordium is. The most common error when trying to preform the Aquincedo spell is because the spell-caster cannot identify the unknown liquid. When you can identify the liquid, the chances of your spell being successful are much greater. The liquid in front of each of you came from Professor Snape. Thus, I have brought a few copies of some of my own potions books for you to take a look at if you do not have a potion book with you."

"With that, I leave you to try the spell. Remember all of the basic Transfiguration principles that we have discussed. If you need a Potions book, feel free to grab one of mine from the bookshelf. Good luck. I will be coming around to see what progress you have made. Once you have attempted the spell, please raise your hand so that I may come and check to see if it was successful."

((Note: When posting, please indicate the original color of your liquid, identify what you think the liquid is, and then mention any color changes, as well as the final color.))

[xadrian]

As Professor McGonagall gave the instructions, Xadrian listened carefully. He wanted to be sure that he did everything just right. When she said that they would have to identify the potion in front of them, Xad was surprised. He never expected to have to use his knowledge of potions in Transfiguration class.

He starred at his vile of liquid in front of him. The contents swirled around inside. The color wasn't a particular color, but rather the liquid had a silvery pearl-like hue. He thought hard, trying to remember if he had ever seen the potion before. None of the potions classes that he could remember ever used a potion this color. Xad frowned. If he couldn't identify the potion, he might not transfigure it correctly.

As he sat, a bit discouraged, he suddenly began to smell orchids. The scent was one of Xad's favorites, and he was quite puzzled as to why he would be smelling it now. It finally hit him. The potion sitting in front of him was a love potion! He remembered reading that the Amortentia potion had a pearl sheen to it, and that it smelled distinct to the person, according to what they were attracted to. Smiling now, Xad prepared to cast the spell.

Love potion to water, he thought to himself as he raised his wand. "Aquincedo!" he said loudly, tapping his wand against the surface of the liquid. It began to swirl faster. It changed to a darker lavender color just before clearing up. It looked like water at least. Pleased with his work, Xad raised his hand and waited for Professor McGonagall to come and check his progress.

[alexandra]

The questions were answered right away and each one was perfect. Alexandra glared at Cassandra's perfect answer. Gryffindor teacher's pet, her thoughts sneered. Living in such close proximity of Cassandra over the summer had started a slight enmity between the two. Alexandra didn't mind having an enemy. It just bothered her having to share a room with that same person. She shook her head, sneezing a bit. She moaned quietly. Her head was aching. She sighed and listened to the professor's instructions. She frowned. How was she supposed to identify a liquid when she couldn't taste or smell? She moaned again, just as quiet as the first.

Professor McGonagall sent them to their assignments and Alexandra regarded her small, glass beaker. The liquid was a deep purple, but when she turned it and the light caught the liquid, the color turned a lighter shade. She tried to smell it once again, which worked only slightly. She caught a stale odor, something like stale crackers. She bit her lip. It was obvious that her cold would change the smell around a bit, so she knew that if she wasn't sick that it would smell differently. Probably milder than the bitterness she smelled. A soft "humm" came from her lips as she concentrated hard. What was purple, bitter, and had a softly stale smell?

She thought long and hard, well not exactly long, but she did think very hard! Her eyebrows furrowed in thought and her teeth tightly clamped to her bottom lip. She coughed a few times with a sneeze in between. Finally she smiled triumphantly. It was sleeping drought! She knew it was, but just to be sure, she pulled out her Potions book and looked it up. She smiled again, her suspicion confirmed.

Now it was time for the spell. She sighed, raising her wand. Her eyebrows furrowed yet again as she concentrated. She almost said the spell, but a cough interrupted her. She sniffled and was ready yet again. With her nasally, sick-sounding voice Alexandra said the incantation, "Aquincedo."

The potion turned a pale purple, which turned into an almost pinkish blue and finally mystified until it turned clear. Alexandra's expression had been changing along with the color of the potion. Her eyes had widened and then a confused expression came over her at the light pink and blue. Then, with the misty pink color, she had raised on eyebrow until finally she smiled with satisfaction. She took a deep breath, ending in a loud sniffle, and raised her hand, awaiting the Professor's say in her enchantment.

[todd]

Todd smiled at the Professor rather blandly. "No, we wouldn't want that," he agreed, glad when she moved on. He didn't like teacher's questioning him, accusing him, or just plain staring at him. It made him feel so very uncomfortable. He tapped his fingers against the cover of the book absently as class began with a few close calls by students appearing just in time. Todd often found it amusing to see these students appear all nervous and frightened, hurrying to their seats with such a rush they nearly knocked into someone or tripped, and then seeing their relief afterward. Todd had been in that place many times before, but it was still funny watching how differently others dealt with it.

He didn't really pay attention as the Professor dished out questions and students answered. Todd wasn't one to commit anything to memory, unless it was of the utmost importance, and this most certainly was not. In fact, it was boring and tiring. That's what the first day of classes did to Todd. It made him yawn and look like a complete imbecile if you will. He sometimes wondered if the teachers were hurt when they saw him yawning and shuffling toward the work unenthusiastically, but McGonagall had known him for four years. Obviously she would know by now how he struggled the first day. Every single year was the same, except for the first day in his first year. He had been very tense and aware that day, even with the dark bags under his eyes.

When the Professor stopped talking, Todd looked up in surprise. So they were done with the review already? Ah. He stared at the beaker in front of him, filled to the top with a very light blue color. It didn't swirl about but was rather watery, making the blue color hardly distinguishable from water. Frowning, Todd brought his quill to his cheek and rubbed the feather against his skin thoughtfully. This was tough. Shrugging, he stood and meandered over to where the Professor had indicated Potion books. He didn't have his own with him presently and he thought that either McGonagall or his fellow students or both were amused that he was one of the people who had to resort to using a Potions book. After all, he had already forgotten his Transfiguration book. Making a mental note to stop by his dorm and get that damn book, Todd slid back into his seat and flipped through the pages.

At first nothing came to mind, as he didn't know where to look. He tried to think back on all the other Potions he had made in the past years, but honestly, who can remember that much? They'd explode! Todd became increasingly desperate and frustrated as no answer was forthcoming and everyone else around him were making progress. Grinding his teeth, Todd started going through the pages so fast he hardly recognized what was printed on the faded paper. Only when he spotted a very light blue color - similar to his potion color - did he stop and turn back until he found that particular page. The Babbling Beverage, it said, was a pale blue color that is very thin. Aha. Grinning to himself with success, he cast a sideways glance to his neighbors, Lexis and Ciaran, wondering how far they had gotten, before shrugging and returning back to his own business. Gathering himself, Todd ran through all he remembered from McGonagall's instructions and raised the piece of wood over his head; "Aquincedo."

He watched with horror as the liquid turned a nasty shade of bogey green, then it got increasingly lighter until it turned yellow, and that in turn went white. White?! Todd bent his head, wondering if he could see through it. Nope, it was too solid to be see-through. Meaning it wasn't clear, so that meant it wasn't water. Crap. Taking a deep breath to calm his rattling nerves, Todd raised his hand full of anticipation at what critical observations McGonagall might make on his lame handy-work.

[Sophia Hallington H7]

Sophia was pleased to see Ivy again, after the long holidays. The older girl had been extremely kind in her time of need...she couldn't have faced another minute of that oaf Crabbe's torment. How was she supposed to know that she was in 'his' compartment?? Yup, Ivy came to the rescue at just the right time. "Um, it was much better, thanks. Pretty boring, but still-anything would be much better thanbeing tormented by a big bully like...Crabbe, was it? Anyway, how was your summer?"

Sophia sat patiently as McGonnagall introduced the lesson, and 3 older girls answered the questions that she had asked. Finally, McGonnagall asked the class to identify and transfigure into water the liquid before them. She knew almost straight away what her mystery liquid was. Bright green...it could only mean one thing. The shrinking potion that they had to make in Potions the previous year. Sophia remembered hers vividly...how awfully wrong it had gone. She remembered how instead of turning the normal bright green, she had somehow added too much leech juice, and it had all gone bright orange. Needless to say, Snape had NOT been happy, at all. She had forgotten how many points he had deducted off Hufflepuff's score...

Well, she thought, it can't be too bad this time. I mean, it's only turning it into water, not makingit up again or anything. So she took a deep breath, and started. She drew her wand, and said"Aquincedo!", hoping for a result. TO start with, there was no visible change, but after a while, she noticed it going paler, after 5 minutes it was grass green, then apple green. But there was something wrong...she could tell...it just didn't look, well, right. Yes, it was still getting paler, and was still slightly green, but there was something wrong. She pondered for a while, then she realised-there were still specks of something in it...she racked her brains...what could it be? Well, the liquid was certainly clear-ish now, so she couldn't have made a complete disaster out of it? It was probably just some bits of daisy roots or something left from the potion...hopefully...

[Ivy Tunstall]

Ivy smiled happily at Professor McGonagall's praise. She did like it when teachers told her she had the right sort of idea - and what gave her an even warmer feeling was earning points for her house. Ivy was proud to be a Hufflepuff. She had only to think of who she shared the house with - all her friends - to be proud of the fact that they were people she shared traits with because they had been Sorted together. So she was always glad to be a credit to her house and earn points for it. Ivy didn't looked at Professor McGonagall as she was talking, although she was listening . As she stared down at the textbook though, Ivy found herself getting a little distracted by reading what was written there, so that she only got the general gist of what was being said. They were to turn the potion in front of them into water, and knowing what the potion in front of them would really help with doing that.

Ivy didn't join the rush to get a Potions textbook - she just disliked crazy rushes like that. Instead she pondered her potion rather dubiously. Potions was not her strong point and she doubted she would have an easy time identifying her potion. It was housed by a slightly translucent conical flask, so she peered over the top to see the colour of it. Much to her surprise, she recognised it. It appeared clear to start with, but on closer inspection revealed itself to have a yellowish tinge, which was definitely not due to the colouring of its container. Ivy knew this potion - Charlie had showed it to her not so long ago. It was one of the potions he used to develop his moving photographs. Ivy couldn't remember exactly which stage it was from, but she knew its general nature now anyway. She wasn't sure whether she needed to know exactly which stage it was from, or whether that would be important. Ivy wasn't even sure whether she went through the process of Transfiguring things properly - because she tended to focus on what was similar between the things she was Transfiguring as well as giving herself a clear image in her mind of what she wanted to Transfigure it to, but as far as she knew that might be completely wrong. It seemed to work okay the majority of the time, but that didn't mean it was right. Luckily, Professor McGonagall was undoubtedly not one of the more sadistic teachers that was likely to make you test the liquid you made, Ivy thought, reassuring herself.

Being the diligent pupil she was, Ivy still procured herself a Potions textbook and looked the potion up to confirm her suspicions. It wasn't particularly easy to find, but that might just have been her lack of proficiency at looking things up in textbooks. She was happy to find that she had indeed identified the potion correctly, and put the potions textbook down on one side of the desk. Once she felt thoroughly prepared, she pointed her wand at the liquid and cast the spell: "Aquincedo". Ivy waited patiently, and slowly the yellowish tinge disappeared. Barely able to believe that could be all it took, she carried on watching. All the concentration in the world would not have saved her from jumping at what she saw next though. After a little longer she saw fizzing at the surface. Ivy watched apprehensively, her eyes widening in alarm as suddenly it burst into orange flames, only just contained in the conical flask. The initial shock over, Ivy continued to watch rather dolefully as it turned clear again. There was no way she was going to be fooled into thinking that was water - she hadn't seen anyone else's potion Transfigure into water and in the process emit orange flames.

((Okay, I did actually think through this pretty carefully so I want to share my explanation of what happened. The developing agent is sodium thiosulphate solution (clear and colourless) and then it's yellow because of whatever wizards add into it. Ivy's spell managed to turn whatever the wizards add and the thiosulphate ions into water, but only succeeded in bringing the sodium ions out of solution to give solid sodium. So the sodium reacts with the water in the usual way (if you get a violent reaction, that is), producing the flames, and then leaves sodium hydroxide solution (clear and colourless). ;D So yah, that's what's in there now.))

[Maryn Livley]

Maryn turned to the girl now sitting beside her. She gave the girl a weak smile as she introduced herself as Kitty. “Hey.” Maryn said back. The girl seemed rather chatty and reminded Maryn a lot of herself in the old days. Maryn smiled at Kitty remembered her first name. “Yes.” She said nodding her head. Kitty tried to remember Maryn’s last name, but she couldn’t do it. “Starts with a L, Livley.” Maryn said leaning back a bit in her seat. “Your last name is umm, Jones, right?” Maryn asked pretty sure that was right. Maryn could recall Kitty’s face in some previous classes. After all, Kitty was only a year older than Maryn herself. “No, idea.” Maryn replied to Kitty as she looked into the glass containers of liquid. Maryn really didn’t know and was quite curious to it herself. Maryn looked at Professor McGonagall as class began. First, she began the class by asking some questions as usual. Maryn knew the answers and usually she would raise her hand, but she decided against it. Maryn just wasn’t quite in the mood. Three girls had raised their hands for the questions one of which was Cassandra. Maryn was glad of this because she did want to do better in the House Cup this year. The previous year, Gryffindor had been last and Maryn didn’t want to repeat that.

The Professor began speaking about the assignment for the day. The Aquincedo Spell. Maryn had heard of it before, but considering she was new to the OWL courses, she wasn’t too familiar of it. Maryn listened to the Professor’s words as she explained the spell and what the class would be doing. She looked at her liquid when the professor told the class to begin. Her liquid was dim shade of yellow. Maryn stared at it for a moment before grabbing one of the Potion Books. Maryn flipped through the pages and put her thumb on a page with a picture that matched her potion. She now recognized her Potion as Wound-Healing Potion. Something Maryn had heard of before maybe once before. It seemed like Snape to give her such a Potion. Maryn shrugged taking out her wand. She stared at the liquid. “Aquincedo.” Maryn ordered calmly. She watched as her liquid turned from a dark, misty purple to a shade of lavender and then it became nearly pink. After a moment, Maryn looked at the liquid. Well, it wasn’t exactly clear water. No, it was more like misty, foggy water, but Maryn was pretty sure it was water all the same. She smiled a tad raising her hand. It wasn’t perfect at all, but it was the best effort she could do for the moment.

[abril]

Lexis turned looked at the person now sitting on the other side of Ciaran. Todd Koley was his name. Alexis didn’t really know him personally, but he was a dorm mate of Ciaran. She gave the boy a brief smile as she glanced at Ciaran. Alexis looked down at Todd when he cursed suddenly. She sighed not really offended at all. “No problem.” Alexis said trying not to sounds cold. She didn’t know Todd to well of course, Alexis just became annoyed easily. She looked at the Professor for a moment as Todd explained he left his book in the dorm and asked for the use of her book. Alexis sighed again moving her gaze to the Professor McGonagall. She agreed and moments later the class began. Alexis listened to the questions and answers by the students, but she decided against raising her hand in response. No, for the moment she just wanted to listen to the class and nothing. Lexis opened her book and flipped through the pages trying to trigger the answers to the questions asked. She smiled at Celia who received ten points to Ravenclaw for her answer. Second place in the House Cup was decent, but first place would be better. Alexis sighed listening to the Professor call out the assignment. She took out her wand silently. Lexis stared over to Ciaran. “Get started mister.” She whispered in his ear before giving a small smirk and then looking at the liquid in front of her.

Upon looking at her liquid, Alexis recognized it as a potion. In fact a potion that takes six months to brew. She stared at it with her head turned side ways. But, why in the world would Professor Snape send this Potion? Well, it was Snape. Alexis could imagine him sending such a Potion to an OWL student. Just to be cautious, Alexis picked up a copy of a Potions Book. With a couple of page turns, she determined what she already knew. In fact this potion was Felix Felicis. Felix Felicis was a powerful luck potion that Alexis had seen only a couple of times before. Some teachers liked to show it off rather often, actually. Alexis took out her wand and pointed it at the golden like colored potion. “Aquincedo.” She said calmly and firmly. Alexis remebered the spell from her reading and the previous year’s work. She watched the potion change to an odd burnt orange color. Finally, after a couple of minutes Alexis stared at her water. It looked like water, but with an orange tint to it. Lexis raised an eyebrow. Well, she had really tried. The liquid was less dense than it had been so she guessed she had managed to turn it into water. She just hadn’t done it completely. Alexis smirked at Ciaran before raising her hand waiting for Professor McGonagall to come see her work.

[ciaran]

“Hey, Todd.” Ciaran said cheerfully to his dorm mate. Ciaran really did like Transfiguration. Besides, to become an Unspeakable Ciaran was pretty sure he would have to take Transfiguration NEWTS. He wasn’t sure that Alexis was exactly as thrilled as Ciaran was about Transfiguration, but he was. Ciaran looked at Todd as he cursed. He just gave a small smile. Ciaran was actually kind of shocked that Lexis didn’t take it offensively. She was a friend of course, but Alexis was a bit over dramatic at times and she became irritated very, very easily. Ciaran just sighed and waited for Professor McGonagall to start the class. She did after allowing Todd to use one of her books. The Professor introduced the class shortly and then began straight away asking questions. Ciaran was going to raised his hand as he did remember a few of the answers, but three girls beat him too it. Ciaran really didn’t have a problem looking like a know it all. No, he wanted points for his house and Ciaran wanted to win the house cup.

Finally after the questions were all answered, the class was given their instructions. Ciaran listened calmly and then took his wand and placed it by his side. He looked at Alexis as she whispered in his ear. “I am, Lex.” He said calmly not really in the mood to talk to her and cause any trouble. No, Ciaran was really not like that at all. He stared at his liquid for a moment. Not really having a clue as what it was, Ciaran took Lexis’s Potion Book after she finished and he flipped through the pages. Ciaran smiled staring at the page. Yes, his potion was Elixir to Induce Euphoria. He then took out his wand. Ciaran looked at the bright, sun-shine potion. “Aquincedo.” He spoke firmly. Within moments, the potion turned from bright yellow to fuchsia pink. A minute later it was pale pink. Finally another minute later Ciaran stared at the Potion. It was pretty clear; he smiled tiredly at the potion. It looked pretty clear to him and certainly like water. Ciaran sighed raising his hand for Professor McGonagall to look at his work.

[Anastasia Castlerock R4]

The whole idea of Transfiguration was actually quite cool, but if you asked Stacey the magic was too complicated and too much of a bore before you got any results. It rather escaped her how it was supposed to help you – true, she had it seen used in the past Triwizard Tournament, but really, she could hardly see most wizards and witches managing to pull off that kind of magic in such stressful situations. Unfortunately, this class was given by Professor McGonagall, and you couldn’t get away with anything in her class. Not if you didn’t want your dignity shred into pieces or as horrible a detention as there was, anyway. If it was just a loss of points she wouldn’t have cared a bit. Whether her house lost or won didn’t matter in the least to Stacey.

Stacey arrived just before class started and sat down beside a Ravenclaw boy whom she had talked to before. She wondered if he was any good at Transfiguration – that might come in useful – he was sitting in the first row and acting very serious. Anything to get her out of working too hard. She let her mind to wander to other topics of more importance than the class till Professor McGonagall decided to start class.

[Charles Driscoll H7]

It was hard to believe how much his life had changed over the summer. The changes had been difficult to adapt to, and he still hadn't fully absorbed all that was happening, but Charles was happy. He was looking forward to this new year – and all of the "new" people in it. Samantha was becoming a new person, and he had a new father! Charles was still finding difficulty wrapping his head around the fact that he at fifteen years of age he had a father – a real one, for Charles had never felt nor identified himself as the son of Hector Driscoll. He'd kept his name though; Samantha was having enough trouble with her only brother being adopted as it was. But Charles was optimistic – she would pull through, and they had each other and their friends for support.

Transfiguration was complex magic, there was no denying that, but Charles wasn't a Hufflepuff without reason. He was going to do his best today and give it all the effort and perseverance it needed – and maybe get his house a few points. He arrived five minutes before class, sat down next to Sophia and Ivy after a brief smile of greeting in Professor McGonagall's direction. He didn’t have time to say anything though as he could see the Professor was just about to get down to business.

[Anastasia Castlerock R4]

Stacey almost snorted when the Professor said they must have done a lot reading and review over the summer. Yeah right – what did she take them for? She had a life, thank you very much. She did not even give herself a chance to consider whether or not she knew the answer to the Professor's questions – wasn't it enough already that they were probably going to have to do something to the liquid before them?

[Charles Driscoll H7]

Five main characteristics – that one was easy. After five years of learning the subject he was sure everyone in the class knew them – it was nice of McGonagall to start of class with something that wasn't difficult. He thought about the answers to the other two and thought he could remember the differences, and waited to see if he was right or not as the three students who had been called upon gave their responses to the Professor.

[Anastasia Castlerock R4]

Stacey sighed when she heard their assignment. She had never liked Potions much and it was her worst subject. She stared at the liquid before her, and then picked up a Potions book. She gave her potion another glance. It was completely clear and looked like water already! She flipped through the book without enthusiasm. She couldn’t see anything in the book that looked like what was right before her. She glanced beside her and realised that the boy – wait a minute, she knew his name – Xadrian, had already completed the task. "Oy! Xadrian?" she whispered. She wondered what the best way was to convince him to help her. "I'm having a little trouble identifying what this is, you wouldn’t know would you?" she said with an apologetic look on her face.

[Charles Driscoll H7]

Charles smiled at Ivy when she was praised by Professor McGonagall, not that it was rare for her to be praised by a teacher, but from Professor McGonagall praise to anyone was rare indeed! When he looked closely, well not even quite so closely really, the potion in front of him could hardly be called liquid. It was bubbling slightly but other than that it seemed almost solid, it was like liquid mud. Few potions he had ever made had looked like that, Charles was quite sure he'd remember brewing such a potion if not what it was, and so he decided to consult one of the Potions books McGonagall had provided. He flipped through the sections concerning the Potions he'd brewed in the past years and as he suspected he found nothing. Turning to the second section of the book which discussed important and strange magical potions Charles found one that looked like the one before him. A student had underlined and written notes next to it and once Charles read a bit about it he surmised that in all likelihood he was dealing with Polyjuice Potion – Professor Snape had brought it up in classes several times, if never had them actually brew it.

Charles felt apprehensive dealing with a Potion he was seeing for the first time. From what was going on around him it seemed everyone's potions were undergoing some remarkable transformations, but the potion before him looked very solid and very dark. If there was anything less like water it was Polyjuice Potion, or at least it seemed that way to him. "Aquicendo!" he said, after staring at the liquid for a few moments. Nothing happened. Charles placed his wand a little closer to the brim of the bowl his potion was in visualising cold, clear water in its place. He tried to imagine seeing the bottom of the bowl. He chanted the incantation with a little more enthusiasm this time, and watched the mud - or at least what seemed like mud - before him disintegrate and its color started to fade. But then a few sparks flew out of it and started swirling quicker and quicker, and when it finally stopped moving Charles let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding. The potion was now definitely liquid, but there were things swimming on the surface that he couldn’t quite recognise. Oh well, at least it wasn't murky. He raised his hand, hoping for some advice from the Professor on how to proceed.

[Celia Richmond]

Celia glanced at the potion in front of her. It was purple and smoking...she had never encountered such a potion in her 4-year-long time at Hogwarts. She decided to wait until the mad rush had ended to grab a potions textbook...she figured it would help, and introduce her to a new potion. She sat for a while before she made her way to the front of the room to have a look at a book, wondering what it was.

She waited for about 5 minutes before she went to look. Glancing through the pages, she found something that looked just like it. Apparently it was a wound-cleaning potion, which she had luckily never had to encounter. She had heard students say that it stung quite a bit, and Celia wasn't very pain-tolerable. SO she now knew what the mystery liquid was, and made her way back to her desk.

She took out her wand, and said "Aquincedo" fairly loudly and strongly. After a while it began to turn paler, so it was a pinky-lilacy sort of colour, and ended up being a perfect colourless liquid. Perfect! She had apparently not lost any of her transfiguration talent over the long holidays! Although there were a number of colourless liquids in the world, so there was no certainty that it was water she had created, but she thought it was likely that it was.

[Kitty Swann]

Kitty looked at the beaker before her as McGonagall gave them their assignment. She wasn't really sure how she was going to work this out; especially since she didn't do too well with Transfiguration. Leaning over, she sniffed the contents of the beaker hopefully, but no distinct smell was there. The fluid was a dull green that was close to the color of dying grass. Tapping her chin thoughtfully, Kitty peered at the liquid as it swirled around in the beaker. It didn't look at all very enticing; in fact, it looked rather gross and thick. Frowning, Kitty reached into her bag and scrabbled around quite a bit before she produced her Potions book. The cover was a tad tattered already from the hasty packaging job she had done before the train ride to Hogwarts, but hopefully Snape wouldn't be a nit-picker and ask her to buy a new book. Opening it, she flipped through a few pages, sometimes so roughly a page made a ripping sound, but she didn't even flinch. She could fix it later if she felt like it.

It wasn't long until she had gone through the whole book with no success and she was beginning to become desperate. Others seemed to be making progress while she was stuck on identifying the stupid potion. Bending so close to the book her nose nearly touched the parchment, Kitty went through the book slowly, skimming each page. It turned out her potion happened to be detailed in some of the very first pages. It was called an Aging Potion, with thick light green contents. Kitty wasn't at all very ecstatic on finding that it was indeed Aging Potion; hopefully McGonagall wouldn't have them test it out to see if their spell had worked! She didn't want to be an old grandma already, because this was a lot of Aging Potion. Just one drop could transform you into a year or so older. What would nearly a half a beaker full do? Trying not to think of it, Kitty dropped her Potions book back into her bag with a dull thud and grasped her wand firmly.

"Aquincedo!" she murmured, watching as her water turned from green to a very pale blue. She was surprised that it had come so close; if she had concentrated just a tad more, perhaps, it would have turned clear. Bending down to try to see through it, Kitty could only make out shadows. Sighing, she leaned back in her seat and looked about to see how others were doing.