So why am I not amazing? on Transfiguration

Professor Sutekh

June 07, 2008 2:45 PM

Years 1 & 2 by Professor Sutekh

Sanaa surveyed her classroom and smiled. She had enjoyed a short holiday to Egypt to visit her deceased husband’s family and now felt ready to continue teaching. It had been difficult to concentrate as the anniversary of his death neared, hence the holiday. But now Sanaa felt refreshed and ready to carry on teaching. She had changed some of the posters on the walls and restocked some of the animals hanging in cages from the ceiling; her cat had gotten into some of the cages she had taken home over the summer holidays.

Sanaa glanced over her class notes and then turned back to the classroom. She waved her wand and made the chairs stack themselves on top of each other against one wall. Another wave of her wand and the remaining desks spaced themselves equally around the room. Satisfied, Sanaa perched on the edge of her desk, tugged her cream embroidered robes back over her legs and opened the classroom door with a wave of her wand. The first and second years trudged in. Sanaa couldn’t blame them; it was the last lesson of the day.

“Please stand each to a desk today,” Sanaa said, and waited for the students to comply. “Those in their second year will remember me as this is my second year here. For those who are new my name is Professor Sanaa Sutekh. Last year I started the first and second years with learning how to transfigure rocks into cups. This year I am going to start with transfiguring rocks, wood and metal into chairs. I’m sure by the time I am finished you’ll be able to transfigure an entire set of dining room furniture and table ware.”

Sanaa waved her wand over a large box at her feet and then waved it over the class. Wooden blocks flew from the box and landed on the desks in front of every student.

“We will start with wood today as it is by far the easiest substance to transfigure.” Sanaa picked up a wooden block from beside her. “The second years will remember I believe imagination to be a large part of transfiguring any object. Therefore you start by imagining the shape of the chair you want to transfigure your block of wood into, then tap the wood twice and say ‘Sellae’ pronounced ‘Sell-ay’” Sanaa placed her block of wood on the floor, tapped the block of wood twice and said the incantation. The block of wood shot upwards and formed a wooden chair complete with an ornate pattern of roses and vine leaves on the seat back.

“This matches a set of dining room chairs I have at home. To begin with you chairs will probably range from something the size of the block of wood you are transfiguring to a chair fit for a giant. Practise always makes perfect. Once you have managed to transfigure a chair from the wood and can safely repeat the task you can fetch a stone and then a piece of metal from this box.” Sanaa tapped the box on the floor in front of her with a foot. “You may work in pairs but transfigure your own objects. Please begin.”

Subthreads:

Taking a seat by Jera Valson with Delany, Jera

Sigh...(Tag-One of my friends) by Chelsea Brockert with Cecily Smythe, Cecily

So why am I not amazing? by Seamus McFarlan with Holly Greer

0 Professor Sutekh Years 1 & 2 0 Professor Sutekh 1 5

Jera Valson

June 08, 2008 8:56 AM

Taking a seat by Jera Valson

Rumour had it that transfiguration was supposed to be one of the hardest subjects taught at Sonora. Jera didn't believe that, though; not yet. She was very conscientious about discovering things for herself, rather than replying on secondary sources, particularly opinions. Jera was as ready for this class as she had been for any other. She smiled at the professor as she entered the classroom, and selected a seat near the front. She laid her quill, ink, textbook, parchment, and wand out neatly on her desk in front of her and waited for the class to begin.

Once Professor Sutekh began talking, Jera diligently took notes, occasionally tuckig her straight, dark hair back behind her ear when it fell forward and got in her way. She made a mental note to always carry around a hair tie ith her in the future - she couldn't be doing with loose hair when they were supposed to be practising spells.

Before she set her students to work, Professor Sutekh told the class they could work in pairs. Even after the first couple of days at Sonra, Jera had discovered the many benefits of working in pairs. Academic input aside, right no paired work was a really good way for the usually shy girl to make friends. So Jera took a breath and turned to the person seated next to her. With a small smile, she asked, "Would you like to work as partners with me?"

0 Jera Valson Taking a seat 112 Jera Valson 0 5

Delany

June 10, 2008 2:07 PM

Also taking a seat...Or standing. by Delany

Delany walked into the class and looked around. There were alot of desks. And no chairs. She noticed that they were all stacked against the wall. She quickly walked up the isle to the middle she looked around and decided to go to the front incase the teacher showed anything to the class. She set her book down on the desk and looked around. Jera was sitting a few desks away. She smiled her way and looked back towards the front of the class. Mostly everyone had filed in now and were standing near a desk.

Professor Sutekh began the lesson. She indicated the missing chairs and explained why they wern't at the desks. apparantly they were transfiguring wood, rocks, and metal into chairs. Professor Sutekh waved her wand and blocks of wood floated to everyones desks. She talked a little bit more, introduced hte incantation, and dismissed them to try for theirselves. She also said they could have partners.

Delany grabbed her book, block of wood, wand, and quill and parchment nad walked over to Jera's desk. She stood next to Jera and smiled.

"Hey Jera." She said when she got up to her.

With a small smile, she asked, "Would you like to work as partners with me?"

"Sure. I was gonna ask the same thing." Delany said as she set her stuff down.

0 Delany Also taking a seat...Or standing. 0 Delany 0 5

Jera

June 11, 2008 7:19 AM

Making a seat by Jera

OOC: Ignore any references made to sitting on a chair - I seemed to have missed that thre weren't any!

BIC:

Delany agreed to work with Jera and set her stuff down. Jera smiled; she liked Delany, and now they were starting to get to know each other a bit better, Jera didn't feel so nervous around here, either. "Okay, good," she said.

Once Dealny had put her things down, Jera picked up her wand any eyed the block of wood on her desk. Professor Sutekh had put her wood on the floor before she did the spell. Jera wondered if she should do the same - she didn't think she'd manage a full size chair on her first go, but maybe it was better not to take the risk. "I think I'll try putting it on the floor, like the professor did," Jera said to Delany. She put the small block of wood (which looked like it might be pine) on the floor in front of her desk, and took a couple of steps back, just in case she did make a big chair.

"Shall we try it together?" Jera asked Delany. She waited for her friend to get ready. "On the count of three, okay? One... Two... Three! Sellae!" Jera tapped the block twice with her wand, as instructed, then hurriedly stood back again. She watch her block grow a little in size, but not much. Then its middle hollowed out, and four stumps grew from the bottom. It looked less like a chair and more like some oddly shaped driftwood. "Huh," Jera said, and she looked to Delany to see if her friend had done any better.

0 Jera Making a seat 0 Jera 0 5

Delany

June 11, 2008 12:32 PM

Definatly! Easiest thing ever. by Delany

OOC: It's ok. Just gives us stuff to talk about. :-)

BIC:

Delany watched as Jera set up for the spell. She followed her example and put her wood on the floor. She looked at her piece of wood and imagined a chair. Four legs. A back. A sitting place. And of course some fancy design. She focused on the design and was about to say the incantation when Jera stopped her.

"Shall we try it together?" Jera asked Delany. She waited for her friend to get ready. "On the count of three, okay? One... Two... Three! Sellae!"

Delany waved her wand and tapped the block twice with her wand. She watched as her piece of wood slowly grew. It stopped at about six inches and continued to grow four little stumps that curved slightly at the end. One side of hte wood rose about one inch, and then the wood stopped completly. The finished product looked like a chair that a preschooler tried to draw and failed.

Delany peeked over at Jera's chair. It had gone as well as hers had. Delany couldn't stop herself as she started to laugh.

"It looks like we both need to try again." Delany said through her laughter.

OOC: No Offense.

0 Delany Definatly! Easiest thing ever. 0 Delany 0 5

Chelsea Brockert

June 11, 2008 3:33 PM

Sigh...(Tag-One of my friends) by Chelsea Brockert

Transfiguration was actually Chelsea's favorite class, albeit perhaps by process of elimination. It was reasonably useful and she had no real objections to the professor. Professor Sutekh focused on imagination alot and Chelsea's was actually fairly decent. Nor did the second year have to touch anything disgusting like in Potions.

However, when she heard what they were going to do for the lesson today, Chelsea frowned. Eleven and twelve year olds making furniture . Was Professor Sutekh insane ? Maybe her cousin Marshall could have done it at that age, but he was a prodigy. Chelsea, brilliant though she was,wasn't. She was a bit more well-rounded than her cousin. Transfiguration, while her favorite class, was widely regarded as one of the hardest subject. (Which was Chelsea's only objection to it in general.) And if anything was difficult for her, it had to be that much harder for the slower people in class. Not that she actually cared about the vast majority of them. Still, it was an awful lot of effort and Chelsea personally didn't feel like putting it in. She felt her talents could be better used in other ways.

She also didn't understand the point of working in pairs if they had to transfigure their own block of wood, but if it meant Chelsea could spend the class period talking to one of her friends while half-heartedly doing the assignment, it suited her fine. She walked over to her nearest friend and asked "Do you want to work together?"

11 Chelsea Brockert Sigh...(Tag-One of my friends) 108 Chelsea Brockert 0 5

Jera

June 13, 2008 6:33 AM

Easier than falling off a log! by Jera

Delany didn't seem to have had any more luck than Jera; her 'chair' left a lot t be desired, too. "It looks like we both need to try again," Delany said, and she was laughing.

Jera saw the funny side, and she laughed a little, too. "Yes, back to the drawing bord!" she exclaimed. "I don't think you'd know it was supposed to be a chair if you'd missed the start of the lesson," she mused, looking down at the oddly shapd lump of wood. "I'm going to try again, real hard this time."

Jera's expression morphed into one of determination. She imagined a straight-backed dining chair with long legs and a flat seat. It would come up to her shulders at its fullest height, and be nicely smooth all over. "Here goes." With the ideal chair in her mind, Jera cast the spell again and watched as four legs shot out the bttom of her lump of wood. Jera burst out laughing - her 'chair' was now a round lump of wood balanced on four very long, thin legs. It looked like an unfinished giraffe. "Well that's not quite right," she said, still chuckling.

0 Jera Easier than falling off a log! 0 Jera 0 5

Cecily Smythe

June 14, 2008 3:15 PM

One friend, present and accounted for by Cecily Smythe

Cecily idly doodled on her parchment as Professor Sutekh introduced herself and the lesson. She didn't really like transfiguration classes, but at least they usually had some sort of tangible point to them. For instance, this week they would be making furniture from blocks of wood. Not that Cecily ever expected to find herself anywhere with no furniture, but if she did, it would undoubtedly be useful to be able to provide some. It looked like quite a tricky spell. True, they were just changing the shape of something, rather than transfiguring it completely, so that might make it easier, but a chair was a pretty big object for first and second years to produce.

As she was preparing herself for the spell - wand out, books away - Cecily looked up as Chelsea approached her. "Do you want to work together?"

"Yes, okay," Cecily replied. She wasn't as close to Chelsea as she was to Anabel or Holly, but she liked her a great deal and was content to get to know her a little better. Having finished moving her books aside, Cecily looked back to Chelsea. "Do you think next week we'll have to make tables and crockery?" she said with an ironic smile.

0 Cecily Smythe One friend, present and accounted for 122 Cecily Smythe 0 5

Seamus McFarlan

June 22, 2008 9:26 AM

So why am I not amazing? by Seamus McFarlan

Seamus hoped that transfiguration would go a bit better than Charms. He had eventually been able to get the severing charm, but he was very disappointed. He’d thought that the moment he could finally wave his wand and utter a spell, he would do marvelous things right off. All of his older sisters could do practically anything they wanted to with a flick of the wrist. Betty was especially good at aiming a stringing hex to his backside any time their mother’s back was turned.

He listened to Professor Sutekh’s introduction and began to feel more and more dejected. Turn a little block of wood into a chair? With his luck, he would set the bloody thing on fire again. Sighing, he retreated to his one sure refuge, his textbook. He already read the assigned chapter twice, but going over it again wouldn’t hurt and it let him procrastinate actually trying the spell for a few minutes.

There it was, in purple and white, with animated illustrations demonstrating the wand movements. It seemed simple enough. The professor said that imagination was the key to a successful transformation. Well, Seamus had plenty of that. He could imagine the ancient High Kings battling it out over the fields until the Stone of Destiny cried out the victor. He could imagine capturing his aunt’s good friend, Ri Brian, and not leaving his eyes off of him until he forced the little leprechaun to give all the faerie gold in his enchanted mountain. He could imagine taming a wild abraxon and taming it single handedly then flying it over the sea to lands far away where legends and stories became real. If he could imagine all that, he could envision a lousy chair.

Screwing his brows in concentration, he glared at the block of wood. He thought of the simple wooden chairs in his Gram’s kitchen. They were simple and sturdy. Some ancestor had carved them decades ago. Being wood themselves, it would save Seamus from trying to conjure brocade all stuffed and tufted. He raised his wand and aimed.

Sell-aye

Long strands of golden curly locks sprouted from the wood. It glinted beautifully in the sun streaming in through the window of the classroom.

“NO!” Seamus wailed angrily at the offending block of wood. “I thought chair not hair!”

Glowering at his mishap, he sunk down in his seat. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw his neighbor making an attempt.

“Now what do I do?” he asked sullenly.
\n

0 Seamus McFarlan So why am I not amazing? 111 Seamus McFarlan 0 5

Holly Greer

June 24, 2008 12:04 PM

Obviously, it's your shoes. They're so ... blah. by Holly Greer

Holly usually enjoyed Transfiguration. Last year, she'd initially had some trouble ignoring the cages of mice and other nasty animals that had been around the room, but when class after class did not require her to acknowledge them, they became easier and easier to disregard. Not to mention, it was kind of fun turning things from one thing into something else. This year, though, she stopped short as she entered the room.

If the cages of animals were still about, they were hidden behind the chairs that were stacked up against the wall. The desks arranged in the middle of the classroom were all chair-less. She looked to the sides of the room again and wondered if they were supposed to get their own chairs, but everybody else seemed to just be standing.

Holly moved to a desk and put down her book bag (which was pink and glittery and impossible to miss) beside one of its legs. She left her notebook and pen inside it because, if they didn't have chairs, they couldn't possibly be expected to take notes.

She stood up straight behind her desk, using the opportunity to practice holding her posture as Professor Sutekh gave a thankfully brief lecture about turning the block of wood that just landed on her empty desk into a chair. Holly failed to understand what was wrong with the ones against the wall, but didn't question the assignment.

She took out her wand and considered the different chairs she normally came across, trying to find one that wasn't too complicated or ornate. She eventually decided the ones easiest to picture in her mind were lined up against the wall less than ten feet away. For better clarity, she spend a few minutes just staring at them, taking a detailed inventory of their design. She even walked over next to them to get a look at them from every angle.

Once she was sure she had a good idea of what they looked like, she returned to her desk and block of wood, wand still in hand. Before she could do anything though, the kid standing next to her had a melt-down and she politely waited until he was finished before focusing on her own block. She tapped her wand twice on the wooden lump and then carefully enunciated, "Sell-ay."

Slowly, the block morphed, shrinking and collapsing into itself until she had a doll-sized replica of one of the classroom chairs sitting on her desk. She huffed in annoyance. It wasn't even big enough for Barbie to sit on, nevermind Holly. It was better suited for Barbie's little sister, Kelly.

"Now what do I do?"

Holly turned toward the boy again. He seemed mostly recovered from his emotional episode. Holly was impressed. Usually it took her much longer than that to get back to normal and he hadn't even seen a therapist or taken any pills (at least, she assumed he hadn't taken any pills - she hadn't been watching him too closely, though, so he may have, which would explain it - after today's History lesson, she planned to keep her anti-anxiety medication close to hand during classes from now on so maybe he did, too).

She looked at his block of . . . er . . . hair and fought to keep a straight face. Despite the acting genes on her mother's side, it didn't work. Holly just couldn't hold back a spate of giggling. "I don't know," she managed to get out between giggles. "But I have a brush in my bag if you need it, and the number a very fine stylist."

1 Holly Greer Obviously, it's your shoes. They're so ... blah. 123 Holly Greer 0 5

Chelsea

July 02, 2008 1:47 PM

Excellent by Chelsea

In a way, Chelsea was glad that it was Cecily who she'd asked. She hadn't really talked to her as much as Anabel and Holly whom she'd met on her very first day at Sonora. In fact, Chelsea hadn't even really spoken to her at all until they were getting ready for the ball the previous year, but Cecily seemed like a lovely person.

"Do you think next week we'll have to make tables and crockery?"

Chelsea smirked. "Possibly. Do you think we'll move on to bedrooms when we're done with kitchens?" She thought for a second when it suddenly dawned on her. "I think I know what can be done with this spell." This was a first for her, as Chelsea found most things she was learning utterly pointless. "You know how we have to be outside in Care of Magical Creatures? It's a giant pain to stand the whole class and certainly we're too good to sit on the filthy ground." Sitting in the dirt was for the lower classes and at least she and her friends should never have to. "Well, if we can make a chair out of this wood, we can then transfigure twigs or other things into chairs outside." Chelsea smiled, looking genuinely pleased with herself.

The trouble would be actually performing the spell. Chelsea pointed her wand at the block of wood and with much more determination than usual in class said the spell, picturing a rather fancy chair as she would sit on nothing less. Her block of wood began to wobble and sprouted three legs. This was not at all what she pictured but it was a start.

11 Chelsea Excellent 108 Chelsea 0 5

Cecily

July 03, 2008 2:55 PM

Now what? by Cecily

"Do you think we'll move on to bedrooms when we're done with kitchens?" Chelsea said, and Cecily mirrored her smirk.

Yet Chelsea was able to come up with a good use of this particular class. Chairs in Care of magical creatures would probably be useful. Cecily actually rather enjoyed that class - she loved animals (as anyone could tell from the veritable menagerie she kept at home), but she completely sympathised with Chelsea's concern for their options between sitting on the ground or standing up for the entire lesson.

"That's not a bad idea," she said as Chelsea attempted the spell. Unfortunately, it didn't work especially. well. "It might take some work, though," Cecily said, frowning.

Taking her own turn, Cecily concentrated on her block of wod. She imagined the chairs from their parlour: straight backed with thin slats. Nothing too fancy, but very elegant. With the chair at the forefront of her mind, Ceily cast the charm. It worked to an extent - the block of wood had developed four stubby legs, but that was about it. It would pass as a stool for Creatures class, but Cecily would have to improve in order to pass her transfigurations class.

"It might be quicker to just carve it," Cecily said with a dry smile.

0 Cecily Now what? 0 Cecily 0 5

Delany

July 03, 2008 5:32 PM

Maybe not that easy. by Delany

Delany watched as Jera tryed the spell another time. It ended up looking like a deformed giraffe.

Delany looked over at her piece of wood. Yes, it may be deformed, but she could try to fix that.

Delany focused and tried the spell one more time. Her "chair" grew another inch before it expanded and plumped. One of the legs did not grow with the others. When her artwork no longer moved she took a close look at it. It looked like a fat elephant. And it was slightly deformed.

"Oh My God. My creation looks like a deformed elephant. Maybe we'd be better off making Zoo animals than chairs." Delany laughed. She looked over at her deformed piece of wood and smiled.

"Yes. It may be deformed...But it is mine. And I cannot fix it." she said as she realized she couldn't. "I think I'll just grab a new piece of wood."

0 Delany Maybe not that easy. 0 Delany 0 5

Jera

July 06, 2008 8:58 AM

We do seem to be having some trouble by Jera

With a bizarre giraffe and a deformed elephant between them, Jera thought Delany's comment about making zoo animals was valid, as well as funny. "Yes," she said, laughing. "We have quite the wooden menagerie."

Delany claimed that she couldn't fix her failed chair, and went in search of some more wood. "I'm going to see if I can work with what I've got," Jera told her. So, with a new resolve, Jera studied her giraffe-chair. The seat needed to be flatter, and it needed more of a back rest. The legs could do with being a bit thicker and not quite so long. Jera tried to imagine all these changes occuring in tandem. In her mind's eye she watched as her disfigured lump of wood turned into a nicely polished chair.

With a deep breath, Jera cast the spell a third time. For once, she was fairly pleased with her results. The legs were still too long and thin, but less so. There was a neat, curved back at the base of the seat, though it more resembled a stool than a chair, and the seat was mostly flat. If the legs were strengthened a bit, it might even be useable. "Hey, I think I'm making progress here," she said to Delany.

0 Jera We do seem to be having some trouble 0 Jera 0 5

Delany

July 09, 2008 11:08 AM

But that is what practice is for. by Delany

Delany walked over to the front of the room. Sitting on the techers desk was a cardboard box. She looked inside and pulled out a block of wood. It was a dark color and was slightly smooth. She smiled and turned around to head back over to Jera.

"Hey, I think I'm making progress here," she called.

Delany smiled and sped up her pace a bit until she was at Jera's side. Her giraffe was now not so giraffe looking. It was instead slightly shorter. The legs were still long, but they could pass as sturdy. the seat had flattened out some and the back had pulled out and up. It actually looked like a chair.

"Wow Jera! That looks great. Let me try again." she said as she set her wood down on the floor.

This time she wouldn't try to make it so fancy. Just the basics. Legs. She pictured slender legs about two feet tall. The were plain circles. no fancy designs in them. Seat. She immagined a circle with curved egdes that dipped slightly in the middle. Back. The back would be just four rods connecting to a curved piece of wood going to the seat. She smiled and pointed her wand at the wood. keeping the picture clear in her mind she cast the spell and kept her focus as she watched the wood begin to mold. First, little nubs grew out of the bottom slowly forming small rods. The base of what was the original wood circled out and flattened. Near the back of the circle base a small bump started to form and grew taller until it stopped six inches up. Little small holes formed in the back making four ovals vertically in it. In the next few minutes the wood stopped moving nad stood still. Delany released her focuse and looked at her chair. The legs were much to thin and the back hadn't even formed out completly. And the seat didn't slope downward.

"wow. It looks like a goop monster from those old movies. You know when they're like WRAAWRRREERED." Delany showed as she pointed to the back of her chair where the ovals were. It truly did look like the goop monsters mouth when it opened it to roar.

"Well Jera. Looks like were moving onto mosters. Just look at it!" She said as she threw her hands out to show her monster chair.

Delany smiled a bit before she started laughing. This truly was going to take work. Lots and lots of work. To make a simple chair! That was the funny part. She finnaly stopped her fit of laughter and pulled her hair back behind her shoulders. She combed her fingers through it and then looked back at Jera.

"I'm sure if we both try again our chairs will be the finest in the country!" Delany said as she motioned Jera to try hers one more time.

0 Delany But that is what practice is for. 0 Delany 0 5