Transfiguration ((NEWTs))

[Ivy Tunstall]

Ivy glanced across at Charlie from her seat next to one of her Hufflepuff dorm-mates. He wasn't looking, seeing as he was facing the front; she was probably intruding on his privacy. She sighed a little, tugging at her hair and looking down at her book, unwilling to contribute verbally in the class today. She often did contribute - even though Transfiguration wasn't her very best subject, with only an E at OWL level, she did find it interesting. But today she felt more reticent than usual, her thoughts more on the boy she still couldn't help thinking of as her best friend, even if they'd not really been talking since she chucked him off the Quidditch team. Hufflepuff's next game was coming up very soon, and against Gryffindor of all teams, who Ivy rated very highly as flyers... and Charlie wouldn't be playing in the game. She would very much have liked to have him there, actually. She would have liked to have been able to quake in her slippers at the thought the night before and, silly as it was, to be reassured so that the next day she could reassure the team herself that they were definitely the best. As it was, the approaching date of the match was just making her think of Charlie more and more, and bringing up all sorts of memories and regrets.

Anyhow, the obvious answers to Professor Granger's question had been given and now they could get on with practising a task. With some effort, Ivy focused her thoughts away from their gloomy preoccupation and onto what Professor (Hermione) Granger was saying. As she opened her insect-containing box, she found the invertebrate already crawling out, which was rather the problem with animal transfiguration. With a quick flick of her wand, she placed it under a partial Body Bind jinx so that it stopped moving. There. Now it would be easier to concentrate. Next, she tapped it gently with the tip of her wand, muttering 'Engorgio'; it grew to a rather monstrously sized insect. It wasn't the order that had been suggested, but she wasn't almost certain it didn't matter in this case, and now she could see the insect's features more clearly. She stared at it, imagining the legs receding, the slightly spiky sting at the back curving into the softer edge of a loaf of bread and the hard, shiny black skin turning into a crunchy brown crust, trying to get the image firmly fixed in her mind, before at last using the spell, "Crustumus," calmy and determinedly.

Rather to her surprise, it worked. It was quite satisfying that it had worked the first time round, in fact, especially since Charlie had just looked round - it was nice to not seem to be completely falling apart. She gave him a shy smile and quickly looked down at her 'bread'. It was somewhat segmented, but other than that seemed fairly convincing. First she smoothed out the segments and instead gave the crust a rougher, more crumbly texture. Next came the tricky bit, making it taste like bread. She decided that she'd try to turn it into (or at least imitate) rye bread. That meant that the crust would need to be a little darker brown that it was at present: she quickly sorted that out. Next she pulled it in half and attended to the texture, trying to imagine the taste on her tongue as she did so. She looked at the result dubiously, hoping that it wouldn't be poisonous. At least she would be in good company if it did turn out to be poisonous. She transfigured her quill into a bread knife, something that took little thought by this stage of her learning, and cut into the bread. It did cut like bread, which was promising. She tasted it tentatively; it tasted like rye bread, but it was possibly a little less dense than the authentic stuff. She quickly adjusted that and put her hand up, a question having occurred to her.

"Professor Granger, how does this fit in with Gamp's Principle Exception of Food?" she asked. "I know that the insect isn't exactly thin air... and is technically food already, but is it possible to change the type of food? Will the loaf of bread still actually be protein rather than carbohydrate, even if it tastes like bread?"

[Hermione Granger]

Hermione watched from the front of the classroom as her students got to work, the Sixth Years on wands and the Seventh Years on insects. Five minutes since she had demonstrated Crustumus had passed, ten since the Sixth Years had begun their task, and Hermione was walking towards the Sixth Years to assess their progress. She first peered over the shoulder of a Slytherin redhead, Damara Hemingway, who had successfully transfigured her wand into an ocean-blue mouse. Granting the girl a small smile, Hermione nodded. "Ten points to Slytherin." She moved onto another Slytherin sitting at the front of the classroom, by the name of India Nightingale. Hermione was sure she had an identical twin sister in Gryffindor; it was uncanny, how similar they looked, like two peas in a pod. "Ten points to Slytherin," Hermione repeated firmly, feeling rather annoyed that her least favourite house was steadily climbing up the house points in comparison to Gryffindor. Not that she begrudged Damara or India their ability and hard work, but it was hard to let go of the house prejudices from Hermione's school days; those times when Malfoy used to treat her like a piece of dirt, calling her 'mudblood'. It used to make her burn with anger and resentment.

Hermione walked towards a pair of boys at the back of the classroom, Theo Darke and Oscar Flynn, who had answered her question at the beginning of the lesson. Hermione smiled at the pair, who were hard at work transfiguring their wands. She was pleased to see both boys were extremely enthusiasic, as well as adept at transfiguration. After Theo had successfully completed the task, Hermione said, "Ten points to Ravenclaw, Mr Darke." Then she looked expectantly at Oscar, envisaging a similar result, only to see not a mouse on the Gryffindor boy's desk, but a hamster. "That's not a mouse, Mr Flynn," Hermione told him sternly. "But nonetheless, that makes the transfiguration more difficult to be cast successfully." She was impressed with his talent, and she was sure he was aware of it. Oscar reminded her of Harry's skill and Ron's determination. "Ten points to Gryffindor."

Afterwards, Hermione moved away from the boys to assess a pair of Slytherin fraternal twins, the Lehanes. She watched Ruby first, who changed her mouse into a similar blue to that of Damara Hemingway's. Then she assessed Wynd's performance, and appraised both siblings with a nod. Her inner thoughts calculated the forty points she would be handing to Slytherin today as she said, "Ten points each, Mr and Miss Lehane." After she had moved away from the twins, Hermione made sure all of the Sixth Years had completed their task, before deciding to move them on to the next and final part of today's class.

((SIXTH YEARS))

"The next part of this lesson will be spent learning Defluo. This is a more advanced version of Evanesco, which you learnt for OWL." Evanesco was the incantation to vanish objects and, as Hermione began to explain, it was more difficult than Evanesco as it could vanish bigger or more more complicated objects. "Evanesco can vanish most objects, but when you want to vanish much larger objects or live creatures, Defluo is required." Hermione gestured towards the mice sitting on each students' desk. "For example, mice. Mice are small, but vanishing a lion, for instance, in a dangerous situation would require Defluo. Your task is to use it successfully on the mice you have transfigured." Hermione levelled her wand at the creatures in the room and said, "Engorgio!" Immediately, they began to grow to the size of a large dog, immobilised by the Impedimenta spell. Some girls shrieked with fear and Hermione quickly said in an cross voice, "There is no need to be scared. They can't move or hurt you." The irony was, of course, that Hermione had never been a fan of mice herself - especially after Wormtail; like every other teenage girl, Hermione had once been extremely afraid of mice and rats.

Once the class had calmed down a little, Hermione turned to her own enlarged mouse, which was still bright pink, and pointed her wand at it. "I will now demonstrate Defluo, so watch carefully," she instructed strictly, before saying the spell loudly and clearly. One moment the overly large mouse was there, the next minute it had vanished into thin air. The Sixth Years burst into impressed muttering. "Your turn," Hermione said, looking at them expectantly after writing 'Defluo' on the board.

---

After finishing her demonstration of Defluo, Hermione moved across to assess the Seventh Years' attempts at Crustumus. First, she went to Ariane Chan, the sombre and stoic prefect in Gryffindor; so far, Hermione had been impressed with her performances, and today she was not disappointed. After tasting her bread carefully, she nodded. "Ten points to Gryffindor, Miss Chan," Hermione was pleased that Gryffindor were not completely losing to Slytherin. Ariane was doing a good job of earning what the rest of her house mates could not. However, the next student Hermione arrived at was equally determined to do well for Gryffindor - Julius Lionheart. "This tastes like... chicken," Hermione muttered as she chewed, a little suspicious of his transfiguration; nevertheless, the texture was no doubt that of bread. "Ten points, Mr Lionheart."

Having skipped Aurora Chan since she had not yet completed the task at the same pace as Ariane, Hermione wandered back to her to taste her finished result. Both the Chans had resisted tasting their transfigurations, though Hermione could not blame them; but as their professor, she had to ensure they had completed the task properly. "Ten points to Hufflepuff," Hermione said after appraising Aurora's work. Everyone, from the Sixth to the Seventh Years, were doing exceptionally well today. Finally, Hermione was by Ivy Tunstall's side, who had successfully transfigured her insect also. Before Hermione could award Hufflepuff more points, Ivy was asking her a question on Gamp's Theory. "It's possible to change the type of food," she told her student briskly, though she was addressing the entire class. "But that would require a different incantation. Crustumus, as the name suggests, can only transfigure an insect into bread. Although it seems like a complex transfiguration for you right now, for those of you who will go on to study Transfiguration at a higher level, you will discover there are much more complex spells to transfigure not only the physical features of an object, but the make-up of it too. Miss Tunstall, you mentioned protein and carbohydrate. Crustumus is not sufficient to alter that, but there are spells that can. Does that answer your question?" Hermione was impressed with the initiative and insight Ivy had shown towards the activity. "Ten points to Hufflepuff," Hermione said after tasting a little of Ivy's bread.

((SEVENTH YEARS))

Once all the Seventh Years had completed Crustumus to some degree of success, Hermione moved back to the front of the classroom to dictate the final spell she would be teaching in today's class. "Finally, you will be learning Reverto Maximus, which is a more advanced version of Reverto; it can reverse nearly all transfigurations. We will practise this on the bread you have transfigured today." After writing the words on the board next to 'Defluo', Hermione pointed her wand at her own bread lying on her desk and said, "Reverto Maximus." The bread began to change and, after a few moments, before the class was a fully-formed insect, twitching its legs. "Neither Reverto Maximus or Defluo are difficult to master," Hermione informed the class, sitting down at her desk to watch the class attempt their new activities. "You may begin, Seventh Years."


((As was meant to be happen last time, students have two weeks to post. This will be extended if necessary.))

[Ariane Chan]

After gaining ten points for her successful transfiguration, Ariane was forced to wait ten minutes for Professor Granger to further the class. She watched boredly as the professor taught the Sixth Years Defluo, which Ariane had learnt the year previous. It was a simple spell, not as hard as transfiguration incantations. Aurora was soon finished after Ariane, and the two discussed vacation plans until Professor Granger addressed the Seventh Years again. Ariane was unsurprised when the professor wrote 'Reverto Maximus' on the blackboard. She had already read about this spell a long time ago, when they had first learnt Reverto in their Fifth Year. Bracing herself to attempt it today, Ariane watched as Professor Granger successfully reversed her own loaf of bread back to its original form - an insect. Transfiguration was truly a fascinating subject, especially for a girl like Ariane, who had lived most of her life as a muggle, ignorant to magic.

At Professor Granger's instruction, Ariane's wand pointed at the loaf of bread and she murmured, "Reverto Maximus." Immediately it began to change shape. Seconds later, it had become an insect again; no more bread. However, Professor Granger having eaten a tidbit of the loaf, the insect seemed a little... deformed. Blinking, Ariane shrugged. She had completed the task in one go, and now all she could do was wait. She glanced across at Aurora, who, after a few more attempts, had successfully managed it. If only Lorraine had lived to see the day Ariane could have demonstrated such a transfiguration before her disbelieving eyes. Her mother would have been ecstatic with envy and amazement. Ariane smiled sadly to herself and fingered her wand. That time was past.

[Aurora Chan]

Aurora beamed when Professor Granger awarded her ten points for her work. Hufflepuff were currently in the lead for house points, but Slytherin were hot on their tails and even Aurora would hate to lose to them, which was why she was working hard in class to ensure Hufflepuff kept their crucial lead. With both herself and Ariane finished, though, they had nothing to do but chat until Professor Granger stopped the Seventh Years. "Mum and Dad was thinking of a world tour this summer," Aurora told Ariane excitedly. "Since we're graduating. It would mean we could visit America, Europe, China, Japan... all places. Harmony would love it." Before Ariane could say anything, shrieks from girls in the Sixth Years attracted their attention. Professor Granger had cast Engorgio on the mice they had been working with. Aurora giggled to herself, for it was truly an amusing sight - the mice were as big as dogs!

Once Professor Granger had finished explaining to the Sixth Years their task, she turned to the Seventh Years. Aurora was keen to watch her teacher carefully, and soon she had her own wand turned on her loaf of bread. She was dubious to whether or not it would work, since Professor Granger had eaten some of it. Shrugging, Aurora cast her doubts away and murmured the spell. It took a few gos to get it right, and finally the same black insect sat before her eyes. Looking closer upon further inspection, though, Aurora could see it was missing an antennae. She put her hand up worriedly. "Professor, my insect has changed a bit. Is it because some of the bread was eaten?"

[Theo Darke]

Theo watched Oscar's distasteful reaction to his mouse with confusion, but understanding soon dawned on him, along with a highly amused grin. "You're scared of mice?" he murmured, holding his gently between his hands and stroking its soft, small head. "I would never have known." Laughing quietly, Theo put his mouse onto the table and used a spell to make it stay still. "Look, it's harmless." His eyes noted the hamster in Oscar's arms and his smile widened. "He's pretty cute too, though," he commented, leaning forward and stroking the hamster's fur. As he pressed against Oscar's side, he whispered, "I love learning things about you. Especially your weaknesses..." His teasing tone of voice was soon gone when Professor Granger approached to appraise their transfigurations. Theo moved away from Oscar to give him more space and to lower any suspicions anyone may start to have.

Theo was pleased he had earnt some points for Ravenclaw. After all the Sixth Years had completed the task, Professor Granger moved on to the last part of the lesson, which was to involve learning Delfuo. The demonstration was progressing as usual, until the professor cast Engorgio on the mice and they grew ten times their original size before their very eyes. Theo's eyes grew wide but laughter bubbled in his chest - which was only worsened at the sight of the over-sized hamster beside him on Oscar's desk, and the obvious fear his boyfriend would have for these thoroughly enlarged mice. Seeing the look on Oscar's face amused Theo, but he also felt sorry for him. With the big fat mice in the way, Theo was sure no one could see as his hand moved towards Oscar's lap, brushing it soothingly before taking his hand and squeezing it for reassurance. "Hey, breathe. Don't worry, they won't hurt you. They can't move. I'm here to protect you anyway." Theo flashed Oscar a grin; he had to resist his instinct to lean across and kiss him.

Once the activity began, though, Theo was forced to let go of Oscar. Withdrawing reluctantly, he faced his motionless mouse with sympathy; he did not want to make it disappear. "Sorry, little one," he murmured apologetically, before aiming his wand at it. Taking a deep breath, he cast Defluo - or rather, he tried to. Nothing happened. Furrowing his brows in puzzlement, Theo waved his wand and tried again. Still nothing. Evidently he was doing something wrong. Theo tried to recall how Professor Granger had performed the spell and realised his wand-flick was completely wrong. Once he rectified this, another mutter of 'Defluo' caused the mouse before him to disappear. Theo put his wand down, feeling a wave of triumph but also a sense of regret. He wondered if this meant he had killed the mouse - even though it had been a wand in the first place.

[Damara Hemingway S6]

Damara received her house points for changing the mouse. She nodded. Easy enough. Transfigurations was one of Damara’s best subjects. She wasn’t keen on rodents, but Damara wouldn’t be afraid of a disgusting little rat. Being afraid of them would be beneath her. Besides, this frozen little mouse could do her no harm. He was frozen in front of her. The mouse watched Damara was wide, panicked. “What? You’re not in pain.” She whispered to the little thing. Damara then turned her attention back to the professor. Defluo? Damara knew of the spell. She was pretty sure she had attempted in before, probably in the dungeons. Damara liked to practice spells in the old rooms there. This couldn’t be too difficult. Damara then watched as her cute little ocean-blue mouse turned into a larger, bluer mouse that still sat on her desk. She didn’t move a muscle but did raise an eye-brow as girls shrieked around her. Seriously, Hogwart’s Students could be so annoying.

Now Damara simply had to make this thing disappear. Where it would go, Damara wasn’t sure. Would it die? Well, alls well that ends well. Life came to an end for everything. Damara picked up her wand and concentrated on the creature in front of her. “Bye mouse.” She said stiffly. She muttered the spell under her breath for practice and then prepared to try it for real. “Defluo.” She commanded soundly. The large rat disappeared in front of her and Damara nodded. Easy enough. She then put her wand down and waited for any further instruction.

[Ruby Lehane]

Ruby quirked a brow up at Professor Granger as she told them to vanish their mice. She raised her hand. “Professor, would inanimatus conjurus still be the counter-charm as with evanesco or would it be animatus conjurus? And is defluo ever used on humans?” Ruby asked, her hand slipping back down to pet her small mouse one last time. “And isn’t it a bit traumatic for a small creature to suddenly be brought to life to suddenly have that whole existence torn from them?” Icy blue orbs found that of her professors as she slipped her finger under the chin of the small creature and scratched lightly. She felt her questions were valid and as such she wanted answers…as many as possible before she had to disappear her little friend she’d created. Not that Ruby had much connection with anything, but animals never deserved her wrath, at least she didn’t feel they did.

After her questions were answered Ruby watched Professor Granger immobilize the mice and suddenly they were growing to the size of dogs. Ruby wasn’t one of the girls that screamed instead she was one that rolled her eyes at them as she picked up her wand from her desk as she watched her ‘great mudblood professor’ get rid of her own mouse. How wonderful for you, she thought to herself as she turned her attention back to her own mouse. “Defluo,” she said with a flick of her wand. Her mind lacked the concentration the first time with the spell and Ruby realized this as her mouse was still sitting in front of her. She huffed for a second in annoyance. She knew the spell well enough, she was great with evanesco she should be great with this one too. For a minute Ruby just sat there, concentrating on exactly what she was supposed to be doing before she raised her wand again and said the spell. Again she thought she’d screwed the spell up as the large paw of her overgrown mouse still remained for a few seconds longer before it finally disappeared, leaving her desktop empty. “Second times the charm,” she smirked as she looked over at her brother.

[Wynd Lehane]

Wynd listened dully as Professor Granger told them what their next task was going to be. Vanishing? Wynd's mind raced back to last year when he and the other fifth years had tried to make that dumb snail disappear. No one had been successful as first and even Ruby had just made her snail a little fainter by the end of class. Now, Professor Granger wanted them to do the same thing. She must be running low on imagination if she wanted them to do the same thing as they did last year. If only Wynd had been listening he would have realised that she was talking about bigger and more complicated objects than snails and small mice. He looked down at the mouse in his hand, sniffing the air for food or danger. Why would any one want to make them disappear? Care of Magical Creatures was one of his favourite classes and he valued all animal life.

Wynd was a little impressed that Professor Granger could make the mice of all the sixth years grow at once. A little. And he didn't show it. She might have been bright and good at charms but she was still a mudblood. Nothing would change that. He watched as his little mouse grew and stood frozen. It was a little disheartening knowing that something he had just given life to was about to be sent to who knows where. Oh well. The blood of these mice was on the Professor's hands not the students. They were doing what they were told to do. With wand in hand he gave a flick and swish, "Defluo." The enlarged mouse just watched him with blank eyes. But it still was on his desk. Wynd glance over to his sister and saw that her first attempt was just as successful as he had been. On the second try she got it and gave him a smirk. If she can do it, so can he. Concentrating on his own mouse he spoke, "Defluo!" It disappeared slowly but surely. He returned his sister's smirk. "Agreed."

[Hermione Granger]

Hermione raised a concerned eyebrow, frowning. "Is everything all right, Mr Flynn?" she asked the uneasy Gryffindor as she approached his seat at the back of the classroom. Seeing as he had obviously not completed the task yet, Hermione turned to his friend, Theo Darke, who had successfully cast the spell and made his giant mouse disappear. "Brilliant," Hermione nodded her approval. "Ten points to Ravenclaw." Moving swiftly onto Damara Hemingway, Hermione noted her similar success. "Ten points to Slytherin," she recited a little distastefully, though only a handful of individuals in this world would have recognised it in her carefully disguised tone of voice. It did not change when Hermione came to two similar faces; she knew before she assessed their progress, that she would soon dish out several more points to a certain unlikeable house. "Ten points each to Slytherin," she nodded to Ruby and Wynd Lehane. The Slytherins were certainly on a roll today.

The Seventh Years seemed to make up somewhat for this, though. Hermione was pleased to see Ariane Chan had, as usual, pulled off a splendid version of Reverto Maximus, Aurora Chan not far behind her. "Ten points to Gryffindor and Hufflepuff," Hermione said. At Aurora's question, she did not show even a shade of concern. "Yes. Since you changed the transfiguration, it is bound to change when it is reversed. Remember Gamp's Law. If you had eaten half of the bread, the insect would probably be dead." Once all the Seventh Years had finished their task, Hermione gave a flick of her wand and all the insects disappeared from their desks. "A good attempt," she nodded. "But many of you need much more practice. That will be the first homework and we will repeat the same spells next lesson."

((HOMEWORK))

Turning to the blackboard, Hermione began to write the second part of the homework for the students. "Sixth Years, you are to research and list the different incantations for NEWTs. Refer to the textbook, it's there to be used," she added dryly, having read many a homework that evidently lacked additional research and knowledge besides that which she provided in her lessons. "Seventh Years, you are to experiment and invent two different types of transfigurations, one inanimate and one animate. This isn't easy, so if you need help you can find me in my office." Once the students had copied down the homework, Hermione gave a conclusive nod. "I expect the homework by next week's lesson. Class dismissed."


((Sixth Years: Refer to the online textbook, Chapter 7.
Seventh Years: Please give the incantations and objects involved; your homework can be completely made up!

Homework should be sent to me by PM by next week, Wednesday, 13th May. Thank you for attending!))