Transfiguration ((OWL years))

[cleo]

No one bothered Cleo in her little “day-dreaming session” about Kris for which she was oddly grateful. The date they had for later tonight would require some thinking. Cleo wasn’t exactly sure what the place they were going to was like so picking up something to wear might be quite difficult. Maybe she could negotiate with Dana to get some insight of how other people would interpret such words. Dana knew Kris for far longer than Cleo after all. But Cleo never doubted the fact that she would rise to the occasion and in the end find something suitable to go in.
Cleo looked up and grinned at Ryan as he took a seat over the table from her: “Morning, Ryan, and I’m afraid you have to pay a sickle before I reveal my thoughts. Then again at such a low price I will choose which thought passing through my head I will share.” Cleo grinned widely at her friend at the mention of the pumpkin juice incident but refrained from commenting. She and Kris had had a rather curious conversation about it and Kris most certainly had gotten her revenge. Cleo merely nodded briefly and smirked lazily: “All is nice. Very fine.”

McGonagall started the lesson and Cleo leaned back in her seat turning her head a little to gain a better view at the professor as she listened to professors question. Some Gryffindor girlie was picked to answer the question and Cleo’s eye-brows arched at the rant of laws and rules that flowed out during the answer. Clicking her tongue as the girl finally stopped to breath Cleo threw her hand up somehow having managed to follow the speech as Transfiguration was her best subject.

“A question professor! Or rather an argument,” Cleo stated loudly over the classroom as she tried to catch the professors eye while waving her hand in the air a little. Receiving a slight nod form the professor Cleo lowered her arm and took a breath as she formulated her words: “First of all I would like to point out that when the mouse’s tail gets stuck in the shape of the form of the handle, then the person retransfiguring the cup is doing a VERY lousy job. However it’s not only the outer shape that has to be molded when we transfigure something, even if I have only my own sane logic to lean on, when I argue my point.
Taking the same mouse-example once again, however unfulfilling it is for the purpose right now. We have to stop the blood-flow among other things, because who would want the cup you are trying to drink from pulsate at the speed of the heart? And we can’t even stop the heart, because that would be killing the animal – ergo it couldn’t be transfigured back into a living animal. And we would kill the poor animal when it suddenly finds itself unable to move it’s limbs or see when it’s turned into a cup, so it would hardly be counted ‘harmless’ to the animal, would it? While the mass might stay the same, it’s mostly the mind we have to work upon to make sure the brain of the mouse itself wouldn’t be familiar with the concept that it’s body is being changed. It think lines of similiarity could be drawn from this to the muglge sciences – psychology, psychiatricy even genetics. If you are arrogant, think very well of yourself and are good at manipulating others – then transfiguration is easier too, because you know how to manipulate the mind and thoughts of others better already. So isn’t the classification that transfiguration is mundane changing of the outer form a bit too loose?”

Cleo frowned thoughtfully. She had rather approached the subject from rather a psychological point of view than only wishing to shape whatever she was transfiguring. Sure, a rock didn’t really think, but at some cases the concept stayed the same. It was all really-really-really confusing so Cleo just stared at McGonagall expectantly hoping for an answer that would satisfy her.



((Hope you don't mind me saying you nodded your head. But it was a lot easier this way than to wait for you to tell Cleo to speak and then having to write again, so I just used the easier way. I can modify if you wish.))

[Professor Minerva McGonagall]

((The way you left it is quite alright, Cleo. I don’t mind as right now there weren’t any other people wishing to answer the question.))

Minerva looked at miss Blackfire as she replied to the question. Minerva was pleased to note that she seemed to have done some thorough research in the matter. Most students would not be able to argument their talk with certain transfiguration laws. But Minerva didn’t force most of the laws onto everyone either. Everyone had their own special strengths and interests. Only those who would after graduating follow a career in Transfiguration and start studying it more thoroughly would have to learn those. A moment after miss Blackfire had finished her answer miss Hardwick threw her arm up. Minerva looked at the Ravenclaw and nodded her head in encouragement: “And what is your counter-argument to the answer we just heard, miss Hardwick?” Not that the Ravenclaw appeared to need it as she was already speaking again.

Minerva listened to her question that was rather given in the form of a statement and nodded slowly. For a moment Minerva looked over the classroom having once again learned a little bit about her students. Having learned how opposite approaches to Transfiguration could prove to be successful.

“Two very excellent points were raised and then proved. Like miss Blackfire said when we transfigure something we don’t change the weight or the number of cells in the object. We only reshape the outer form and if needed force the mass closer together. But things get harder when we transfigure living animals, because then we really do have to alter the way the animals mind works too. WE must keep the animal from understanding that he doesn’t inhabit it’s own body anymore. For example we also transfigure a mouse’s mind into bleakness when we transfigure it into a cup, because a cup doesn’t think. The mouse in this way won’t think of moving either. Very good, both of you miss Blackfire and miss Hardwick. Ten points to both of your respective houses.” Minerva nodded at the two girls as she walked around her desk and sat down keeping a steady eye over the classroom.

“To make this class a bit easier for you all you will be partnered together as the position of the tables has already told you. You can see things on the table before you and you should recall how to transfigure all of these things: mice, quills, paper, rocks and cloth. Your assignment in this class is to transfigure each of these things into something. Put up a show with the things you transfigure them into, transfigure them into a doll and pieces of clothing for the doll to wear. Use your own imaginations as to what you can do, but you have to use everything placed on your tables. I will be circling the classroom in the end of the lesson to see the progress all of you have done. Agree with your partner on your plan and you may begin your work.”

((For reminder everyone has 3 mice, 4 quills, 2 rolls of parchment, 3 small rocks and a scarp of cloth to use as original materials. Let your imaginations fly.))

[Nokomis Astarra H5]

She listened to the other kids answer and tried her hardest to pay close attention. It was her new goal, to pay attention and learn things in class. Normally she would let her mind wander over to quidditch, or something related to quidditch. She normally sketched out new moves and plays for the team on her parchment instead of taking notes. Now though, she was going to try to be a good student. She had to if she was planning on getting passing marks in any of her classes.

After Professor McGonagall went over things with them again, she said that they were going to transfigure the objects that were in front of them. She bit her lip as she looked over them. She was never any good at transfiguration. The only saving news was that they could do them in partners. She quickly glanced over at Gary, and once the McGonagall was finished she reached a hand out to touch Gary's arm, surprised that she didn't hesitate as she did. "I know I'm not much for a partner, the best I can think of is just a miniature quidditch set, but want to work with me anyway?"

[cleo]

Cleo nodded as McGonagall gave an answer. Maybe not as satisfying as it could be… but it made sense to Cleo in her twisted way of thinking. And well, 10 points to Ravenclaw was always a good news. Gryffindor could get the points too as that house was shamefully behind anyway. Which was only fair. Gryffindors were much to rash in most of their actions. They would loose their points again soon enough. Cleo could bet quite much on that. Dana picked up the scrap of cloth touching the fabric as she stared at the things on the table. ‘Put up a show. Use your imagination’. It was intriguing idea. Something more creative than Cleo would have expected form the old prune. Maybe she had her flashes of brilliance too. But show… Cleo looked up and smirked at Ryan toying some more with the idea still left in her mind.

“Can you play with string dolls?” Cleo asked from Ryan with a tilt of her head as she pulled the sleeves of her clothes upwards a little as she prepared to start working. Transfiguration was an easy subject. At least it was easy for Cleo. Which was very good cause otherwise she would have found it just completely boring and wouldn’t have bothered too much with homework. After hearing an affirmative Cleo grinned and leaned forward to share her idea with Ryan who agreed with it happily as both set to work. Cleo grimaced with disgust as she looked at the white mouse on the table and using one of the quills and her wand as means to guide the scared mouse away from the other two maneuvered the small pest in front of her. Muttering the correct incantations Cleo transfigured the mouse into a doll made of cloth with moving limbs. Tearing up the scrap of cloth they had been given Cleo took one half of it and transfigured it into a red dress for the doll she had created.

Taking hold of one of the rocks and on quill Cleo transfigured both of those – the rock to be a cross that could be used to guide the doll and the quill into strings that connected the cross to the limbs of the doll. Cleo glanced at Ryan to see how he was faring and snickered with amusement looking at his display of transfiguration. He was currently transfiguring a piece of parchment into a chair and getting an idea out of it Cleo grabbed the other paper and transfigured it into a small bucket of flowers that she attached to the hand of her female doll. Trying out the skill of playing with string-dolls for a few moments before Ryan caught her attention. Looking up Cleo grinned and nodded with satisfaction as Ryan had finished his work as well. They agreed quietly on the last pieces of the show they would put on before Cleo nodded with content and settled down to wait for McGonagall to come over and grade their work while she continued to play with the creationg of transfiguration - her doll dressed in a scarlet-red evening-dress.

((I will post what the show entitles of itself with Ryan tomorrow, professor. Don’t grade Cleo’s work before that either, please.))

[crane]

Gary was glad when Noko sat down with him. Gary smiled brilliantly at nook and whispered a quick hey to her but didn’t have time to speak any more with her. Turning his head towards McGonagall Gary listened to all the speaking going on around himself trying to keep up with all the information that was thrown out for everyone to listen. Transfiguration wasn’t Gary’s best subject but she could handle it. To one extent. Gary smiled when McGonagall explained the task and the looked back at Noko when she touched his arm. Turning his own hand Gary slid it a little bit on the table so Noko’s palm was on top of his as Gary intertwined their fingers for a moment. “I couldn’t ask for a better partner. And you already have an idea too. A mini quidditch set sounds fantastic. And we have learned all of this before so we can do it.”

Gary let go of Noko’s hand feeling oddly sad about it. But Gary needed his hand to use his wand so they could get to work with transfiguring everything. “So how are we going to do this. Perhaps we can turn the quills into small brooms?” Gary took one of the quills and worked on it for a few moments before showing the little broom to Noko. It wasn’t the latest model but it was most certainly a quidditch broom. And maybe we can turn the rocks into the balls? What do you think?” Gary asked with a smile from Noko as he picked up on more quill and started to work on that one.

((Feel free to god-mode Gary in your next post, Noko, if you wish.))

[Nokomis Astarra H5]

She couldn’t help but smile when Gary said that he wouldn’t have asked for a better partner. He always said things that made her feel like she could do anything. She was also smiling because when he said their fingers intertwined. It wasn’t like she had never held his hand before, but it made her stomach feel all fuzzy anyway. It was strange really. Since when did her stomach feel fuzzy around her friends? When he leg to she tried to return her attention to the objects in front of her. Turning them into quidditch things should be hard, even if she wasn’t very good at Transfiguration. She was good at quidditch and knew everything about the equipment. That had to make it at least a little bit easier.

She looked over at Gary when he suggested turning the quills into brooms. “Brilliant.” She watched him change one of the quills before she picked up one of the quills too and pulling out her wand. She hesitated for a moment before she tried to change it and looked over at Gary who had suggested turning the rocks into balls. “Brilliant again. There are even the right number of rocks to be the quaffle and bludgers. She looked back down at the quill and took a breath. She could do this. Feeling a bit more determined, and even a bit stronger with Gary beside her, she raised her wand and a moment later the quill was changed into a clean sweep. She looked over at Gary again, smiling proudly. “Maybe we could make each broom a different model?” She watched Gary as he picked up another quill and changed it into another broom. This time it was a Nimbus 2000. She reached forward across the table and pulled the rocks towards them. Picking up one of them, and now feeling more confident that ever she changed it into a perfect little quaffle. She was just about to pick up one of the other rocks and change it into a bludger when she stopped. “Maybe we should save changing the bludgers for the end. Their not exactly the most agreeable of things.”

She went on slowly changing things, trying to try her hand ant everything and letting Gary do some of them all too. The rolls of parchment were changed into the goal hoops, which even stood up on their own. The cloth was rolled up a bit and with a bit of effort changed into a tiny snitch which she then had to cast a spell on to keep it still because it kept trying to fly away. “What do you think we should do with the mice. Most of the equipment is here now…maybe they could they could be players?” It seemed like a good idea, but defiantly a harder one to change. She tried to keep her mind focused as she pulled the first mouse forward. “I don’t know what color to make their uniforms? Maybe just….Hogwarts? Since were not from the same houses or anything. They could be black with the Hogwarts crest on the backs?” It seemed like a good idea, so trying to fend off her fear of make a mistake she lifted her wand, and turned the mouse into a little person, dressed in black quidditch robes bearing the Hogwarts crest. She grinned, amazed that it worked. She managed to change even the mouse into its proper thing.

[ryan]

Revise everything they had learned? Transfigure and put up a show? Ryan looked at everything on the tables with a little bit of alarm on his face but before he could fully give into his panic Cleo asked him something. Blinking at the sudden question that didn’t sound logical at all Ryan still nodded in affirmative to show that she could play with string dolls. Cleo gave a small satisfied smile and Ryan found himself leaning forward and a moment later Cleo did share her idea – which was quite brilliant in Ryan’s opinion – with him making Ryan work to hold down his laughter so as not to bother the other students. Following Cleo’s example Ryan took hold of one of the mice and holding it’s tail in his hand transfigured the mouse into a male doll. Taking the half of the cloth Cleo handed him Ryan placed it around the doll and transfigured it into a fancy black suit for his doll. Next came a quill that was transfigured into a string connecting the limbs of the doll to the cross that Ryan had transfigured from a rock.

Ryan created a chair from one the pieces of paper given to them and saw Cleo snatching up the second paper as Ryan put the dollie he had created to sit on the chair before transfiguring the remaining rock to a cross and one of the two quills was turned into strings. Having caught Ryan’s idea Cleo had transfigured the last mouse into a horse-doll and Ryan attached the strings to the horse as Cleo turned the last quill into a saddle for the horse and put it on the dollie. Ryan eyed everything they had created with a small satisfied grin on his face. Cleo had managed to transfigure her doll a lot better, but all together they had done quite well in Ryan’s personal opinion. He only hoped McGonagall would share it. Cleo grinned and picked up her own doll as Ryan also practiced handling the human-like doll in his right hand and the horse doll in his left hand. Picking the final scene from Shakespeare’s “Taming of the shrew” Cleo and Ryan used their voices for the dolls as they threw the lines back and forth between each other after Cleo had pulled out a copy of it from her bag. Ryan and Cleo added only one twist to the book as both human dollies sat onto the horse for the final scene and galloped off into the sunset in a truly Hollywood-ish style. At least that had been the original thought. Actually the strings of all dolls were messed up at this point so Ryan and Cleo had to stop the show-act with their dolls and try to distangle all the strings and separate the dolls once more.

[Professor Minerva McGonagall]

Minerva smiled and clapped as two Ravenclaws managed quickly with the transfiguration and showed a nice amount of imagination at the same time. “Very good, miss Hardwick, mr. Wilkinson. Excellent work.” Minerva inspected everything they had transfigured for a moment tapping one of the dolls with her wand before nodding and giving the pair a small smile. “10 points to you both.”
A pair that joined together a Hufflepuff and a Ravenclaw had done quite good progress too. A quidditch game, even if a miniature one. Miss Astarra was the captain of Hufflepuffs quidditch team so it could be easily guessed form where the idea came. Minerva smiled at this pair too and gave a nod. “Excellent you two. Miss Astarra, 10 points to you. Mr. Crane, I expected better, but 5 points for you too.”

Minerva returned to her desk and smiled at the students. “You are excused now. No homework will be given out in this class.”

((Thank you all for participating. This class is now officially closed.))