Transfiguration ((Beginners))

[Professor Minerva McGonagall]

((In the first place I got the idea for this class from Melody Bang-Bala G2. So I give all the credit for this idea to her.))

A rather rare lips was displayed on Minerva’s lips. Transfiguration was not an easy branch of magic as it required a lot of work and concentration and practice. But after seeing a young girl from her own house flying air-planes Minerva had gotten an idea how she could make the class a bit more amusing to her students. So after a bit of wondering she had went to consult with a colleague of hers to see if she could perhaps broaden the idea she had received at watching such a display. This looked like a class that might be amusing for herself as well. Reading the instructions through carefully once more Minerva turned to look at the box she had borrowed from Amaryllis Hardy. Picking up a parchment and recalling how to fold it from her own youth Minerva started to practice. She would have to modify some of the transfiguration spells for this class but on the third try Minerva succeeded in perfecting the transmutation she would be teaching to her youngest students today.

Being satisfied Minerva tried the spell a couple of more times to make sure it would most certainly work before returning all the parchments she had been practicing on back into their original shape. Carefully packing the couple of muggle devices she had loaned from Amaryllis back into the box they came within Minerva deposited the box into one of drawers of her desk knowing she would not need it to demonstrate the class what they were expected to accomlish today. She would have to demonstrate the correct course of the spell step-by-step anyway. Hearing a distant sound of the bell Minerva turned to look at the clock no the wall of her classroom and nodded with satisfaction. Her timing had been impeccable. Her students should be starting to arrive for the first class of the day very soon.

Minerva opened the windows and made sure the classroom was light before returning to her table. Standing in front of her table Minerva concentrated and pointed her wand at each of the windows in the classroom one by one adding some strengthening spells to them to make sure the fragile glass would not be broken in the course of class by some not very observant students.

[Rosaliz Hernandez G6]

Rosaliz laid in bed. She didn’t sleep much last night. She had been prevented from her terrible cold she had got from the school’s grounds. Her skin was a lot paler, and her nose was a bright pink than usual. Every part of her body had been sore, and weak, from lack of rest. She got out of bed and put on her school robes. She didn’t want to go to class and but go straight to the hospital wing instead. She knew that the professor would understand but she didn’t want to miss the first class of the day. She grabbed her head tightly from pain, while a tear rolled down her check. She made it out of her dorm, and out of the common room. Walking down the stairs she gripped her bag from not letting it slip from her shoulders. She made it to the Great hall, but she barely ate anything. She yawned halfway threw her breakfast. She didn’t want to be late but yet again she had been sore. As she walked into the class it brought her back memories of her first year. Not to mention with all the glass breaking she had done. She knew that if she had to pay for them she'd probably have a fine over 100 dollars. This class wasn't the easiest thing in the world for her.

Rosaliz sat there taking a small yawn, pulling her blonde trends behind her hair. After another sneeze, Rosaliz weakly raised her hand in the air. She was hoping that the professor would call on her. She wanted to go the hospital wing hoping that professor would allow her considering her bad, pale skin, rosy nosed appearance on the outside, with a weak slight tendered voice.

[rowen]

He was turning into a good student and even the thought of it was sickening. He was hardly more than half way through his first year of Hogwarts and he had yet to be late to class. He had yet to miss a class. He had yet to even ignored an assigment. If it had been a year earlier he would have beat himself up. The thoughts traveled through his mind steadily as he made his way to transfiguration; thoughts whick were even more confirmed as He was turning into a good student and even the thought of it was sickening. He was hardly more than half way through his first year of Hogwarts and he had yet to be late to class. He had yet to miss a class. He had yet to even ignored an assignment. If it had been a year earlier he would have beat himself up. The thoughts traveled through his mind steadily as he made his way to transfiguration; thoughts which were even more confirmed as he stepped inside only to find that he was the second one to class. He deserved to have his nose broken for this. Shaking his head at his own behavior he found a seat as far back in the room as he could and dropped his book heavily onto the floor beside it, the noise echoing in the rather empty room as he let his own weight fall into the chair to wait for class to begin.

[Flo Murvac H4]

Flo chewed on a few strands of her hair. She knew she shouldn't do it, but it was stopping her from bitting her nails, and they were starting to grow longer than they had before. Sighing, Flo took the strands, and tucked them behind her ear. She was in the Hufflepuff common room, just having a rest before she had to go to Transfiguration class. Flo swung her legs to the side of the chair, and hung them over the arms. She looked at the ceiling and noticed that here were a few stains on there. Flo giggled and swung her legs back over, to climb onto the chair, to get a closer look. Sure enough, there were little spot of color, that didn't match the original color of the roof. Flo wondered how somebody could stain the roof. You stain the carpet on the floor, not the roof.

Flo jumped down from the chair, and looked around, seeing if anyone else had noticed this tiny stain on the roof. After a while, Flo had gathered that nobody had. Flo shrugged and grabbed her bag. She walked out of the portrait door and headed to wards the classroom. She knew that she had Transfiguration, Otherwise, Flo might still have been staring at the roof, and chewing her hair. She bounced down the corridors and reached the class. She walked in and noticed that the only people that were there, were the Professor, Rosaliz and a Hufflepuff Flo had seen around. Flo made her way over to Rosaliz and sat down next to her. She noticed her friend had her hand raised in the air, and that she was looking tired and pale. "Rosaliz, you've got to get more sleep!" Flo whispered, with a concerned look on her face.

[ariana]

Ninety-seven… ninety-eight… ninety-nine… one hundred. Ariane finished brushing her hair and picked up to silver hair-clips with small emeralds on them. Attaching the clips with quick and practiced movements into her hair to keep her long hair back and to display her high and smooth forehead she managed with her hair quickly. Ariane glanced closer into the mirror not making any move to pick up any make-up though. She was still young enough to not wear a lot of it daily and quite frankly unlike the bigger art of the rest of the school Ariane didn’t need it. Her clothing was also impeccable as always. A black skirt without any wrinkles on it that stopped an inch above her knees, a white blouse with discrete silvery buttons and shining black shoes with slightly raised heel-parts. Throwing her robe over her shoulders, but not pushing her hands into the sleeves nor closing it in the front Ariane took the black bag with the small dark-green trees-theme embroided onto it and glanced into it once more to make sure all the things she would need were in it before leaving her dormitory without a backwards glance.

Ariane stopped briefly at the Great Hall. She had never had an overly big appetite so a glass of cold mineral water, a toast and a boiled egg to the side of that and a small muffin to finish her breakfast. Quick, efficient and she heard all the required news as she greeted those worthy of it and ignored those who weren’t. Even the standards of SLytherin seemed to have gone down as time passed. Not that it would stay this way for ever. At one point that foolish Potter would be taken down and the real Lord would rule. To hide the thoughts circling her head Ariane smiled angelically and soot to head towards her first classroom. Transfiguration. An easy subject for her. Even if the teacher was a blood-traitor and the Head of Gryffindor. While McGonagall lacked inspiration and a sense of style her subject on it’s own was at least interesting.

Ariane headed the most direct route towards her classroom her head held proudly high as she walked in the middle of the hallway. Maybe it was the way she carried herself with pride that made other people move out of her way so that she never had any problems among the pushy students that sometimes seemed to bother others. Transfiguration classroom was still relatively empty despite everything else thought. “Good morning, professor,” Ariane greeted McGonagall politely. While she wasn’t fan of the professor personally, she did prefer to stay on the good sides of her professors. It made your life all the more easier. Araine’s eyes swept over the room and she felt her lip curl a little. Three Hufflepuffs. She just had to be cursed with such brainless bunch here, didn’t she? Ariane moved to the front desk of the left-hand row and took a seat there without acknowledging any of the other students. Taking out her Transfiguration book and her spotless wand Ariane placed her things neatly onto the table and then waited for the class to start.

[cooliogrl]

Waking up to a cold breeze Brook silently cursed her room mates for leaving the window open, again, even though they had practically swore that they wouldn't do it again. Sighing she got up, only an ounce of happiness in her and it was there only because she was happy she had gotten up early enough to take a shower, because she hadn't bothered to last night. Shrugging the covers off her body she quickly and neatly made her bed up laying the pillows on top. Leaving the bedside she headed toward the door and locked it. After locking the door and checking it twice she went to the bathroom, locking that one as well. Turning on the shower she stepped into it, leaving her clothes on the floor she took a shower.

Fifteen minutes later she was wrapping her robe around her and twirling her hair up into a towel. Picking her clothes up the floor she put them into a dirty clothes basket, leaving the shower door wide open, hoping to annoy the next person who tried to use it. Walking into the room she headed over to her dressers and looked for something to wear. Spotting her favorite skirt she slipped it on, the hem stopping a little bit lower than mid thigh. Pulling on a pair of skin colored tights she looked for a shirt. Spotting a navy blue one,with white stripes on the bottom and at the neck and on the edge of each sleeve. Slipping on a pair of Adidas she grabbed her pure white hoodie, deciding it didn't really matter if the clothes were appropriate for class or not. Then deciding she might get into to much trouble she pulled on her Ravenclaw cloak tieing it around her, only letting her shoes and the neck of her shirt show, making it look like a umiform Again deciding sh edidn't want to go through the hassle of keeping the cloak on all day she swiftly changed and headed out the door


Working her way through more clothes on the floor she headed to the second dresser, which held all of her make-up. Deciding on black eye-liner, but not because of her mood more because of the way it made her eyes look (really dark, but still glowing). Applying some black mascara she decided it wouldn't look very good with eye shadow, at least not the color Brook had planned on using. Putting on some clear gloss she grabbed her book bag and headed out the door flinging herself around as she remembered she still hadn’t fixed hair. Taking it out of the towel she began brushing it. After drying her hair she looked in the mirror. Seeing her glossy brown, almost black, hair she smiled liking the natural glow in it. Running her fingers through it, once more she grabbed her book bag, this time with her hoodie and hair done well.


Walking through the common room she headed toward the Transfiguration class room, her second best subject, her first being charms. Arriving she saw two Hufflepuffs, one a third year and one a first, a Gryffindor second year, and a Slytherin first year. Wishing that someone in Ravenclaw was there she took the seat the farthest in the back, away from the other students and teachers. Pulling out some ink, a quill, and some parchment she wondered when class was going to begin. Seeing it wouldn’t be anytime soon she pulled out one of her books. Happy that it was her favorite one, a muggle book by R.L. Stine. Flipping it open she started to read, not stopping until she was halfway through the first chapter she looked up to see no one else had arrived sighing she put the book up and waited for class to begin.

[Myn Katrenya R2]

Myn looked up from her book to check her watch and groaned silently. Time for Transfiguration. She didn't hate it...she just didn't like it, mostly because she wasn't very good at it. She sighed and stood up to make her way to class.

Myn stopped just outside the classroom and looked in cautiously. Two Hufflepuffs, a Gryffindor, a Slytherin and a Ravenclaw were already there. She sidled in soundlessly, walking to a seat near the back of the class. She lay her head on her arms, letting her thoughts drift into memories of the past. Memories of when she was surrounded by friends that she could rely on. A small sigh escaped and she frowned slightly, disgusted with herself for dwelling on the past.

She lifted her head up to look around the classroom again. No new arrivals. Myn dropped her head back onto her arms, keeping one eye open, wary of anyone trying to play a prank on her. She knew it wasn't likely since Professor McGonagall was already there but it was always a possibility.

[cooliogrl]

Reaching page fifty Brook looked up to see one new arrival. Sighing she looked down, wondering why the book was starting to get boring she marked her spot and sat it down in her bag, leaving the rest of the book as boring suspension. Picking up her quill she placed on the opposite side i was on and took out a muggle pencil. Using it she started drawing, taking her mind off of waiting for the class, seeing what she had started she didn't want to have to put it up, quickly deciding that if the class got boring, like it had the last time she was heir she was going to draw some more and borrow notes from one of her friends if she got the chance. Finishing the contour she began drawing the details, getting bored again. "Ah!" she silently screamed inside of her body, wishing class was already over with, even though it hadn't even begun yet. Angry she wished she had risked getting into trouble, hating what she was wearing she almost ripped the hem of the skirt, ugly as it was she tried to fix it, successful she left her clothes alone, still waiting. \Giving up she placed her head on the desk figuring if she fell asleep she would be woken up very soon.

[Maryn Livley]

Maryn brushed her hair calmly in her dorm room. It fell silky to her shoulders as usual. She watched her newly washed hair sort of glimmer in her mirror. She smiled at her reflection. Maryn suddenly realized she had no time to watch herself in the mirror. She had already put on the small amount of make-up she needed and now just needed to get dressed. Maryn struggled to pull her robes out of her trunk. She had lost track of time now and didn't want to be late for breakfast. After all, breakfast was supposed to be the most important meal of the day, right? Maryn threw on her Gryffindor robes and jumper quickly and then looked herself in the mirror. She seemed to have everything she needed. Wait! Maryn screamed to herself. She then ran back over to her bed and pulled her creme color bag over her shoulder with her wand inside it. With that, Maryn knew she was completely ready and she hurried out the door to the Great Hall.

It had been a normal breakfast as usual. Nothing too fancy, but Maryn did enjoy Hogwarts food. It beat the bland food she was used to in Liverpool. It all seemed so tasteless to her. Her parents usually just fixed oatmeal and toast for breakfast. No, Maryn much enjoyed pumpkin juice and eggs with salt and pepper on them. Maryn stuffed her egg in her mouth and smiled feeling the flavors go down her throat. She wasn't really that hungry. This was odd for her as Maryn loved to eat Hogwarts food. It wasn't that she had lost her appetite, she had just eaten too much the night before. Maryn took a few more sips of her pumpkin juice as she realized that she wasn't going to be late. Maryn took a deep comical breath and pushed herself from the bench and calmly went off to the first class of the day.

Transfiguration. Maryn really liked the subject. It was very interesting and fun to learn how to transform things. Maryn much enjoyed anything that had to do with her wand. Being the simple muggleborn she was, Maryn found deep pleasure in any wand work. Her favorite subject was Charms, but Transfiguration had to be a good second. Actually, Maryn didn't mind Potions too much. Of course, she could do without Professor Snape. Maryn finally reached the classroom and stepped inside. She looked around for anyone she knew to sit by. She spotted Rosaliz and Flo. Rosaliz had her hand in the air and didn't look too well. Maryn walked over and sat by Flo. "Morning Rosaliz, Flo." She said some what cheerfully. "Rosaliz are you feeling okay? You look sick." She said knowing Rosa had to be feeling bad. But, Maryn just tried to act normal with a hint of her everlasting concern for her friends.

[Myn Katrenya R2]

Myn lifted her head up with interest as another person entered the room but soon lost interest as the girl crossed the room to sit by one of her friends. She sighed quietly, having hoped that something interesting might have happened. She laughed quietly at that thought, what was she expecting? A duel in the middle of the room?

Myn was briefly entertained by imagining random people jumping up to duel but that ceased to amuse her after a few minutes. She reached down for her bag and rummaged through it. "Ahah!" she whispered in triumph, pulling out a notebook and a quill. She scanned the room again, checking for new arrivals but turned to her book when she found none. She flicked to an empty page and started to write but looked up again after only a word.

Myn's gaze swung to the girl with her head on the desk, looking much like she herself had before ((Brook)). She ripped a page from her notebook and wrote on it quickly, inquiring if the girl was alright. A childish action, she knew, but it was the easiest way to find out if the girl was awake without disturbing her if she was asleep. She threw the note onto the girls desk and waited for a reply.

[Melody Bang-Bala G6]

First class of the day! What even was that to be arousing such enthusiasm? To be quite honest it was her usual optimism rather than anything else - a new day, a chance to do new exciting things! Melody checked on her timetable her finger running down each day until she came to the correct one. Transfiguration... oh, not bad then. Not Potions after all... did she have an encounter with Snoopus today anyway? No, better not to know, she decided and stuffed the book containing the neatly drawn out and coloured in timetable back into her bag. It might dampen her spirits. They were high this morning and she wanted to keep them like that. It was more fun.

Melody had risen bright and early that morning and she could still remember the toast she'd breakfasted on. It had looked an extra good colour this morning, just nicely browned. And it had tasted great too, along with strawberry jam she'd spread on it. Then she'd taken a little skip outside with her skipping rope. The cool, fresh morning air had woken her up properly and the exercise had left her bouncy and lively. Now she balanced everything she needed on top of her head (along with a little help from magic to make them just a little more stable) and walked down the stairs from the Gryffindor girls' dormitory and out of the portrait hole carefully to give her a bit of practice at keeping it there. She put her inkpot in her pocket for safekeeping because it wouldn't do to be foolhardy with things that were breakable and would furthermore cause a lot of embarrassing mess if they were to shatter.

A first year Gryffindor boy was going the same way along the corridor as she was headed. Melody hastened to catch up with him and grabbed hold of both his hands before rotating herself round and round along the corridor. The stunned first year came along with her, partly through her dragging him and partly under his own steam, whilst Melody whistled the tune she was dancing to for his benefit. It worked quite well for a while actually and was really very fun, but eventually she felt her load starting to slip from her head and let go of his hands as she hastened to catch the things falling off from both sides of her head. She had to bend down low to catch them all but nothing went on the floor. An achievement as far as she was concerned.

Melody looked back at the boy who was staring at her. Actually he was blushing too. About as red as the strawberry jam she'd had on her toast this morning! "Oh, fer goodness sake," Melody muttered before saying to him, "Aye, aye, Ah'm aware Ah'm a little nutters. A lot more fun this way, thoo'll find soon enough. Thanks fer bearin' wit' me though." She gave him a friendly smile - poor guy, she supposed, couldn't have been expected to understand her slightly mad livliness; he probably didn't know what it was to have music in your head every minute of the day - before placing her books back on top of her head and setting off at a fair pace towards the Transfiguration classroom once again. She didn't want to be late - she doubted Professor McGonagall would be very pleased if she were either. And Melody was probably riding it a bit fine with the Head of Gryffindor House recently anyway having been discovered aiming a paper aeroplane up the ethereal nostril of Professor Binns in a History of Magic class. She made it well on time in the end and took a seat just in front of Rosaliz. The other girl still wasn't looking too buoyant. She deposited her pile of books on the desk in front of her and also retrieved her inkpot from her cloak pocket before leaning round with her elbow resting on the other girl's desk. "Thoo're still not lookin' so fightin' fit, Rosaliz," she stated sympathetically. "Thoo've to look after thyself, thoo knows. Get a Sleepin' Potion from Madam Pomfrey per'aps? She'll 'ave thoo out like a light." Melody smiled at her fellow Gryffindor and the two third years who were sitting next to Rosaliz before turning back to the front as she waited for the lesson to begin.

((If thoo're wondering what could possibly induce me Melody to dance crazily along t'corridor, it's this. )

[leon]

Transfiguration was one of Leon’s favourite classes. So he woke that morning happily early, welcoming the light rays pouring merrily through the window of his dorm. A few people had already left the room- a few hadn’t. Although there weren’t any lights on Leon could see everything clearly, unusual for the usually dim room. The bright light lit a clear path in and out of the bags and clothes strewn across the floor. The items weren’t from the day before- those had already been cleared away neatly and carefully by the house elves which looked after the untidy boys’ room. They were from this morning and it surprised Leon to see how many things were sprinkled everywhere. Boys really were messier than girls! The thought came to Leon with a chuckle. Today, he’d try to be clean and tidy, neat and pristine. A shower next helped him wake up for his class, and dressing in his smart Ravenclaw robes made him feel neater and better groomed than ever. The robes had that effect- they could make a beggar look sophisticated. They made Leon’s little sister, Katie-May, look taller! Which was something special, Leon thought with a harmless smirk.

At that moment May too was looking at her short, slim reflection in the mirror. Her white blonde hair, similar colour to her brother’s, was loose and long against her shoulder. She didn’t bother with make-up- she was only eleven! Sometimes, though not often, May wore a little mascara. But she knew she didn’t need it. An eleven year old wearing tons of make-up was just silly, she giggled. May slipped her tiny feet into her smart black shoes, just as Leon was doing the same with his rather larger feet. The two seemed to be moving at the same time as they seized their bags, slung them over their shoulders (May a little more graceful than Leon in the process of course) and left the dorms.

They were moving so symmetrically that they ended up together beside the portrait hole, much to their amazement. Leon smiled at his little sister as May did the same. The two hardly ever fought- they had quite a bit in common and Leon always felt that big-brother role coming up when he was with May. He held the portrait open for her silently as she scrambled through, following himself not long after. “Transfiguration?” May asked her brother. He gave a simple nod and they fell in step, walking together. On the quiet way Leon took two small blueberry muffins from his bag, handed one to May and began to pick at his own. “Thanks.” The one word came back to him. The silence wasn’t awkward- the two often walked and enjoyed their company together in silence.

The quiet pair arrived a few minutes later in front of the door, licking the last few crumbs from their fingers. “Morning Professor!” May chirruped as they entered the bright room. The words were echoed in Leon’s deeper tone straight after. In unspoken goodbyes they both went to sit with others from their house or year. Leon went to Maryn, Flo and Rosaliz with a friendly smile on his face. He threw a concerned look at Rosaliz but didn’t ask what was wrong. He would probably only make it worse, whatever ‘it’ was. He just smiled softly at Rosaliz, knowing Maryn and Flo would probably be the ones who helped their friend, not Leon. He sat beside Maryn and threw a cheerful grin at her, said a soft hi to Flo, then waited for class to begin. May did the same, going to sit silently beside Myn. She didn’t know the girl much but gave the fellow first year Ravenclaw a friendly, happy smile as she fell gracefully into the chair beside her and waited for the Professor to begin.

[Myn Katrenya R2]

Myn blinked and looked up in surprise when somebody sat next to her. Her head tilted as she tried to remember the girl sitting next to her, she knew that she knew the girl from somewhere but didn't remember her name. A smile appeared on her face when she finally remembered. "Hello May." She greeted, mentally dancing at realising who the girl was.

Her eyes flicked to the boy that May had entered with, guessing that the two were brother and sister due to the similarities in their looks. She slipped her notebook into her bag, deciding to talk rather than write. Myn turned to May again, smiling warmly. "Looking forward to the lesson? I'm not really good at transfiguration so this class is equal to torture for me." She joked, wincing at the ring of truth in the words. The class may not be up to par with torture but she still thought it horrible.

[Professor Minerva McGonagall]

Minerva replied to the greetings of her students as they entered the classroom observing all of the students paying special attention to the first years. She knew the first years, the very beginners in the art of transfiguration, yet. But transfiguration was a very personal subject in very many aspects so Minerva didn’t have any doubt that soon enough she would know her students. And she would quickly discover who were talented in the subject she taught and who were not.

As the time ticked by and it came to the time to start the lesson Minerva stood and walked around her table closing the classroom door with a flick of her wand. “Good morning, settle down now everybody. We are going to have a bit extraordinary lesson today as you will soon see with a little help I received from your muggle studies professor. We are going to learn how to transfigure materials. To be more precise how to transfigure paper to a muggle product called plastic. But before we get to that part you will all have to do a little bit more work. Miss Bang-Bala, would you please come to the front of the classroom?”

Minerva gave the young girl from her own house a brief smile as she took a step aside pointing for the young girl to stand before her table. Picking up a blank sheet of paper from her table Minerva handed it to miss Bang-Bala. “Transfiguration is a tricky subject often enough. Sometimes we need to have to alter the whole shape and appearance of the object we are working on, sometimes we have to start the transfiguration form the inside of the object. To make sure everyone knows how to prepare the object we will be transfiguring today, would you please demonstrate how to fold a paper air-plane to everyone just in case, miss Bang-Bala? I have noticed that you are quite the expert on the subject of paper airplanes.” Minerva nodded to the young girl and took one more step back as she waited for miss Bang-Bala to finish her demonstration.

[Melody Bang-Bala G6]

Melody had been admiring the view out of the window but as Professor McGonagall closed the door to the classroom she tuned her attention onto the Transfiguration teacher and listened to what she was saying. Melody was familiar with plastic products since she'd been brought up in the Muggle world but she wasn't sure everyone in the classroom would know what it was. Things at Hogwarts weren't made of plastic - they were real wood, stone and metal. Melody liked that. It made them seem more natural. She looked up with enquiry in her eyes as she heard the teacher say her name, not aware that she'd been doing anything wrong, but came to the front of the classroom as requested. She returned the Professor's smile uncertainly and stared at the piece of paper she'd been given curiously, wondering exactly where this was leading.

So that was it! All had been revealed. Melody smiled a little mischieviously to herself as she blushed just slightly. It wasn't the worst comeuppance possible. She liked making paper aeroplanes. Melody put the piece of paper down on Professor McGonagall's desk and set about transforming it into a paper aeroplane.
"Well, thoo fold thy paper in 'alf lengthways first, see, like this," she said as she did so with her newly acquired piece, "an' then make two wee flaps at the top. Fold t'top corners down until they line up wit' t'middle thoo've just folded, then fold t'top o' the line that's still vertical over to t'middle on both sides so thoo've a flat aeroplane shape. Fold it up in t'middle so thoo've a dart shape an' then thoo've just to fold it over on either side from t'middle o' t'point. That's t'tricky bit," she confided to the class as she folded it over carefully. "Thoo've to keep a proper hold on everything so it don't fall apart on thoo." Melody regarded her finished product for a second before shrugging a little. "Some people call it a paper dart," she admitted as she held up the aeroplane for all to see and waited for McGonagall to dismiss her. "But it looks enough like a Concorde fer me."

[Professor Minerva McGonagall]

Minerva watched and listened to the explanations of how to fold an paper airplane after having floated a blank page to every student in the classroom with a wave of her wand. Folding one her own quickly too from the memory she could still recall from her own school-days. Minerva looked up and inspect the one miss Bang-Bala was holding and smiled a little. The young second year was most certainly more skilled in the art of making a paper airplanes because Minerva’s folded plane was looking much shabbier. “Good work, miss Bang-Bala. Five points to Gryffindor. You may now return to your seat.” Minerva nodded to the young girl to show this was all and while waiting for the girl to return to her seat looked over the class to make sure everyone had managed to create a better or worse looking airplane.

Picking up a muggle toy airplane that had so many little gadgets on it that it was almost silly Minerva showed it to the class. “Today you are all going to transfigure the paper airplanes you just folded. When you have finished the transfiguration I want your airplane to look like a real airplane. For this I brought this toy from your muggle studies professor to show it to those who might not have seen a plane in their life. During your transfigurating process add windows, door, tail, cockpit, wheels and most naturally wings and anything else you can think of onto your small version of the plane. Do not change the size of your aircraft. You may also add a little motor to your aircraft like this toy version here has.”

Minerva picked up the toy and pulled on the string before letting the plane go as it’s small motor rumbled as the plane floated over to the third desk from the front of the classroom. Smiling at the third year who sat at the table and brought back the plane to her Minerva looked sternly at the anxious faces before her. “I do not want any bigger motors. Those who wish may come to the front of the class to race their transfigured plane against others. The person who wins the so-called race will earn Honeydukes finest chocolate and as a reward also a number of house-points in addition for the grade for their transfiguration. Observe now. The incantation is Ferrumeverta!” [Fer-ru-ME-vert-a] Minerva tapped the paper airplane she had folded with her wand and watched it change color to metallic blue with windows a high tail, wide wings at the back of the airplane and there was even a hint of curious faces showing from some of the windows of the plane. Minerva let the students look at the work for a moment before tapping the plane once more with her wand and casting “Navitanima” [NA-vit-AANI-ma] and by this creating a small motor inside the airplane. Pulling at the string that had came with the motor Minerva let her transfigured toy and was pleased to watch if fly half of the way to the other side of the classroom.
Minerva nodded to the classroom floating her plane back to her table: “You may begin your work now.”

[Sita Mehadi H7]

Sita hummed the simple tune of a Disney song to herself as she plaited yet another three strands of hair. Most of her hair was already in narrow plaits and now as she finished the last one and secured it in a bright orange bobble she took a pink scrunchie to tie them all up in a different sort of ponytail. She fastened her standard black cloak about her shoulders and picked up her shoulder bag. The strap was plain black leather but she really liked the patterned part, silky squares in all sorts of different colours. Yellow, burnished red, orange and pink. Sita checked she had the books she would need for Transfiguration in there. There wasn't so long to go till the first lesson of the day and she still needed to eat breakfast so she wouldn't be returning to the Common Room to retrieve any extra books.

Sita smiled as she walked into the Great Hall and sat down at the Hufflepuff table to eat breakfast. There weren't so many people here since it was fairly late already and the majority of the populace of Hogwarts had already breakfasted, but the enchanted ceiling told her that the weather outside was sunny with cotton wool clouds, perhaps a little breezy considering the pace those were scurrying across the background of powder blue. She imagined the different things the clouds were taking the shape of as she dipped another toast soldier into her boiled egg. That one was a giant cat; the break in it with the blue sky showing through its eye. And that one was a see-saw with two children on it. The children couldn't be having a very good time though; one of them had just fallen off.

Imagination time was over since she needed to be getting to her class now. Transfiguration wasn't her strongest subject. Sita gulped down the glass of orange juice and made her way to the classroom, arriving with only a little time to spare. The only other Hufflepuff first year she could see in the room was Rowen Kerr. Him again? Still, she'd rather have even his comments than have to struggle on with her work alone. Sita put her bag on the desk next to him and took her seat, tucking it in gently as she took her textbook, pencilcase and wand out of her bag before depositing that on the floor under her desk. "Hello again," was all she said to him, leaving it up to him to make whatever derogatory comment he felt was worth the effort. Words didn't usually have too much effect on her anyway; occasionally they just made her all the more determined. If she was going to do something, she was going to do it.

Sita bit her lip, giving her face a slightly lopsided look as she watched Professor McGonagall anxiously. The class started with a demonstration of how to fold paper aeroplanes from a Gryffindor with a Yorkshire accent. Sita's attempts to do so had never met with much success in the past and she had to unfold it the first time and refold it using the now already crumpled piece of paper before she'd made anything vaguely resembling an aircraft. She examined her rather mediocre attempt before watching what Professor McGonagall was doing, trying to take all the details in. It was all a bit too complicated. Sita looked at her folded plane doubtfully as they were told to start work.

Well, she wasn't going to get anything done just staring at it, she decided after a moment and set to with a sudden bustle of activity and a glance at Rowen which contained a glimmer of amusement. She would probably be annoying him just by sitting next to him. Ah well. She looked at the creases in the paper and wondered whether they would be prominent in her toy aeroplane just as she cast "Ferrumeverta", concentrating on the fact she wanted it to be fairly light. It changed first time, much to her surprise, but what now lay in front of her was a rather battered aeroplane made out of tin which played host to a rather large number of dents. Evidently thinking about that just as she'd cast the spell hadn't been such a good idea. Sita looked at the windows ruefully for a moment. They were merely oval-shaped holes, rather roughly shaped around the edges.

She tilted her head and regarded it for a moment longer before casting the next spell, "Navitanima". She added a propellor onto the plane for it to drive as well and then turned on the little switch on her motor tentatively to test it out, holding on to her plane firmly so it didn't fly off anywhere if it did turn out to be capable of doing that. It made a grinding noise and a lot of smoke with a not particularly pleasant smell came out of the small exhaust pipe on the motor. Sita turned it off again hurriedly. It had been driving the propellor though and she had felt the plane trying to lift out of her hand so evidently it worked, even if not with the smoothest motor. Sita stood up from her seat and approached Professor McGonagall tentatively, offering the plane to the teacher for inspection. "I'm not sure about this, but I don't know how to improve it after I've already Transfigured it once," she said slightly nervously as an attempt to explain it.

[Sophia Hallington H7]

Sophia was still eating her breakfast when she heard the bell ring for the first lesson of the day, which for her happened to be Transfiguration. She quite liked Transfiguration, although sometimes it was hard and slightly confusing, but she found McGonagall to be very encouraging.

Sophia quickly stuffed the rest of the piece of toast she was eating into her mouth, left the Great Hall, went to the Hufflepuff common room, picked up her bag, and went up to the Transfiguration room. When she got there, she found that there were a lot of students there already, but none that she knew there.

She looked around for a seat where she could sit on her own, rather than sitting with some other student that she didn't know, and having found one, sat down and took some parchment, a purple quill and her Transfiguration textbook out of her bag, and put the bag under her seat out of the way.

When McGonagall started the lesson, Sophia started to write the date on the parchment, and then got on with the assignment-something to do with paper aeroplanes-which was fun, although she was on her own, and it was quite difficult-she had to make it like a normal, real aeroplane.

She got to work. Pointing her wand at the folded paper, she said Ferrumeverta, and it worked-the paper torned into metal before her eyes. Yes, the plane still looked a bit paper-y, and it was still white, but it was still a metal plane.

As this worked, she then called out Navitanima, and then she heard a kind of whirring noise, which meant that a motor had appeared in the plane...although it was very faint, and then after a while it started smoking a bit...

[Flo Murvac H4]

Flo said hello and waved to her friends that had just entered the classroom. She Half listened to the Professor as she chewed her nails. As One Girl got called up to the frount to show them somthing, Flo looked up.Flo had met the girl before. She showed them how to make paper airplanes. Flo liked to make them. They were a bit tricky, but she got the hang of it after a few tries.
Flo wondered why they were talking about Muggle airplanes. She didn’t know why they were talking about it in Transfiguration. Flo thought it would most likely to be Muggle Studies where they would do this sort of stuff.

It sounded fun what they were about to do, after Professor McGonagall explained it all to them. Flo liked he muggle Airplanes. They always smelt nice, and if you pushed a button on the roof, a lady would come up and ask if you wanted something. Talk about service Flo tried to remember what a plane looked like. The most important thing she could remember were the wings. Wings….butterflies After the Professor had given them the go to start, Flo knew exactly what she was going to do. She practiced saying Ferrumeverta under her breath, over and over until she was sure she had it memorized. She got out her wand and pointed it at her paper plane. “Ferrumeverta.”

Slowly, she watched it as it transformed. The plane stayed white. Just as Flo wanted. The nose and the wings were perfect. She was also happy that her idea had worked. Little pink butterflies were printed on the body of the plane, flying around. Flo smiled. Until she saw the planes tail. It had a pair of butterfly wings. Flo hoped that wasn’t a problem. If it was, Flo hoped it wasn’t a big one. If it was…well, She couldn’t think that far. Flo decided that she also wanted a motor on her plane. To make it fly like a realy butterfly would. She tapped her wand on the plane againand muttered “Navitanima” Pleased with herself, Flo looked around, to see if anyone else had finished. She saw Some students starting to go to the front of the room to race their planes. Flo also jumped up and looked for someone to race against.

[Melody Bang-Bala G6]

Melody smiled at Professor McGonagall and walked back to her seat with a little bounce in her step. She liked making paper aeroplanes and was quite amused to be asked to actually make one during the course of a lesson. But the Head of Gryffindor was now explaining what they were to do, so she watched carefully, repeating the pronunciation of each spell in her head as Professor McGonagall said each to memorise them. Melody grinned as McGonagall set them to work and closed her eyes, visualising everything she wanted on her plane. Once she had a clear picture of what it should be like, she opened them again and looked at her plane. Well, it wasn't too far off even now, she thought hopefully. "Ferrumeverta," she said, tapping the neatly folded plane sharply and keeping that image she'd conjured up sharp in her mind. It transformed right there and then, and she was left with a real mini Concorde in front of her. Maybe not quite as classy as the real ones, but it had the same shape of wings, the same sharp nose cone, the same streamlined shape and it carried the words 'Air France' on the side and the Air France insignia. She grinned. Nearly exactly as she'd wanted it. When she picked it up it was cool to the touch - metal - and as she peered in through the windows she could see little leather seats inside.

The motor was going to present her with a bit more of a problem. McGonagall had been quite emphatic about not making any bigger motors, but Concordes had four engines. Well, she'd just have to put one in the middle and diverge from the strict design of the aeroplanes in that case. "Navitanima," she said confidently, pronouncing the syllables as clearly as she could. She smiled as a motor materialised on the bottom of her aircraft. It had a little plastic handle and she wound this round and round as far as she could before letting go of both that and the aeroplane, which shot off to the other side of the classroom as the motor rumbled into life. Straight at two first year Ravenclaws, in fact.

"Ai!" Melody exclaimed, scrambling out of her seat and giving chase. She caught it just as it started gathering speed, but tripped over one of the desks nevertheless, leaving her sprawled in a slightly undignified manner over the floor. She picked herself up, her bunches bobbing either side of her head. The working Concorde model was undamaged, which was what mattered right now. She smiled, happy that for once they were having a fun lesson, and made her way to the front of the classroom to stand beside a first year asking Professor McGonagall something because she could fly it without it aiming straight for anyone from there. Which would be much more fun. Plus chocolate was always good if there was a chance of that.