Er--a bit complicated if you ask me... on Transfiguration

Professor Bastian Reiner

January 21, 2005 8:23 PM

Lesson One (with me): Solido Urna by Professor Bastian Reiner

Ah.
So it seemed his eager first years, albeit halfway through term first years, were capable of entering the classroom in some semblance of order. Good. It would make life easier, even more so when they had learned to do so with complete composure. He really wasn't interested in seeing hand reenactments of the lastest pro Quodpot match.

Sitting at the desk facing the desks the students were now weaving in and out of in order to find their seats, Bastian Reiner only spent a moment or two lifting his eyes, not his head, to watch their progression, before returning to his notes. The text which sat open before him was worn to the point of disintegration, but were it not for its being in the possession of a wizard, it would have met its demise decades past. Having one last note to scrawl before he risked forgetting it by starting class, Bastian adjusted his wire rim glasses and put the final period down with a distinct thunk, his ears noting the pleasant silence overtaking the class as it was quickly followed by the even more distinct thud of the text being closed.

Carefully setting his quill to rest just to the right of his inkwell, nib away from him, as he stood, Bastian finally lifted his eyes to take in those of his students, taking just long enough with each to make sure they had no doubt he was indeed meeting their gaze. Even as he do so, his hands shifted the book and parchment to sit perfectly on the desk's surface.

"I am Professor Reiner," he finally broke the silence, his voice even, confident, and leaving no mistake as to how seriously he took... well... everything. "And this is Transfiguration." He slowly stepped back from the desk, making his way over to stand in front of it, only the light fall of his heels punctuating his steps. "Here, a missed movement, a slurred anunciation, can mean the difference between success," he slowly crossed his arms over his tan tweed waistcoated chest, "and a nightmarish garble of what once was."

Coming to rest, leaning against the front of his desk, Bastian's open cut sleeves of his brown wool robes pooled slightly beside him. "Therefore, there will be no horseplay in this class, you will, however, conduct yourselves approproately at all times." Eyeing a few who looked to be potential troublemakers, he added, "And if the term is unfamiliar with you, I assure you I have ways of teaching you exactly what it means."

Pleased with the introductions, purposely lacking any salutations as they tended to lower the tone of the class, he suddenly stood to his full height, pointing to the chalk board behind him with the wand he had slipped out of his sleeve. "Today we will begin with inanimate to inanimate tranfiguration. Until I feel you have successfully mastered such a simple level of change, we will not go on to animate and risk endangering any lives outside of your own."

AS the chalk began to draw a diagram of the phases of change they would be covering that day, he pulled a fresh piece of parchment from his desk. "Solido Urna. A rather handy spell at times, and relatively simple. I say relatively because even the simplest spells can go wrong. So, the basics...

Solido Urna... turning a sheet of parchment into an inkwell. Due to the close relationship between paper and ink, the movement is simple, a single tap in the center of the paper, like so," he demonstrated the movement, "afterwards, with the tip still pointing at the center, a clear Solido Urna," at which the paper first began to fold up at the sides, slightly twisting as it began to resemble an inkwell similiar to the pewter one already on his desk, the paper darkening until it appeared to be bronze. "The tricky part in this is the aim. It is common to forget to be precise in it, but even the slightest lean on way or another can greatly affect the change. As can your intonation, anunciation, and of course..." he grinned slightly and eyed a student closest to him, "conviction."

"So," he suddenly said loudly, causing a few to jump in their seats, "considering all we'll have to overcome, there is no time to waste. Get out a sheet of parchment and begin."

OOC: Hello! I (the author) am much nicer than Bastian. Even I approach him much like one would a pitbull. Anyways, points. Here's how I like to award.

IC points: Impress Bastian and he may award a few. That in itself is a feat. Course, he also has a tendency to take them away too.

OOC points: Get detailed people! Posts less than three paragraphs, three complete sentences each won't get points. The longer, more detailed, and descriptive, the more points. Keep the thread going, and I'll give more. No one likes a thread that dies after two replies. *L*
Also... the more creative, the better! I always leave room for mishaps and whatnot. Rarely does anyone get it perfect the first time, so please, show me how you deal with it, Okay? Make me laugh myself to tears and I guarantee points!!!
Any questions, just ask.
BTW, for my 'office', post here and put [office] in the subject.
*toodles*\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Subthreads:

That's like that origami thing, dude!! by Stephen Baxter with Jenna F, Stephen, Professor Reiner

That didn by Mia with Professor Reiner

Transfiguration by Elizabeth with Professor Reiner

no troublemakers here... or not by Jenna H with Professor Reiner, Jake Santoro (Teppenpaw)

Solido Urna, got it. by Tally (Teppenpaw) with Professor Reiner, Tally

An inkwell of sorts... by Chrissy Mathers (Crotalus)

We think not, Jenna... by Sorrel and Ash Craven (Pecari, both) with Professor Reiner, Ash and Sorrel, Stephen

I think I smell something burning by Zack Dill (Alderaan, er, Aladren) with Professor Reiner

0 Professor Bastian Reiner Lesson One (with me): Solido Urna 0 Professor Bastian Reiner 1 5

Stephen Baxter

January 21, 2005 9:45 PM

That's like that origami thing, dude!! by Stephen Baxter

Stephen sat in his chair, rocking it onto the back two legs and seeing how long he could balance it without having to grab his desk for balance. By leaning this way with his head, and that way with his shoulder, he could keep it there, wobbling dangerously for nearly twenty seconds. Grinning and feeling satisfied with the new record, he looked up as the Professor started in on the lesson.

Then he prompty slumped down into his seat. Not again! What was with all the boring professors who really needed get themselves an IV full of fun? This guy even put more effort into the dull and stuffy image by wearing a weird kind of shirt thing over his shirt, under his brown robes. And his voice was weird... not quite normal.

Blah, blah, Professor Reiner. Blah, blah, Transfiguration. Blah blah, do it right... Nightmarish garble? That sounded interesting enough... at least until the Professor descended into vague threats. Losing interest again, Stephen pulled open his book and flipped through it having a look at all the cool things that they were supposed to be learning at some point.

Unconsciously catching the name of the spell, he stopped when he came across the page that related to it. Bit dull, changing a piece of paper into and inkwell. But maybe it looked better than it sounded. Glancing back up, he caught sight of the parchment on the professor's desk moving around of its own accord. It looked like that Japanese paper thing that Alan's old girlfriend had liked... except that as it folded, it changed colour as well. Sitting up straighter for a better look, Stephen saw it change to the same colour as the school robes, and started to idly wonder what colour the ink was.

"So," Stephen jumped in his seat, the directed a very cross look the Professor's way, "considering all we'll have to overcome, there is no time to waste. Get out a sheet of parchment and begin."

Pulling a face again, Stephen pulled a piece of parchment out, then his wand. Doing as Reiner had instructed, he pointed his wand at the parchment, spoke the incantation, and then, before any effects could be noticeable, he recalled that reference to 'nightmarish garble'. He had already seen what happened when the spell was cast right, but this other option sounded much more interesting - and the book made no mention of it. With a quick glance under his eyebrows at the professor, he twitched his wand and waited to see what would happen...\n\n

39 Stephen Baxter That's like that origami thing, dude!! 49 Stephen Baxter 0 5

Mia

January 21, 2005 10:53 PM

That didn by Mia

Mia sat in silence as she watched Professor Reiner stare at the class before beginning the lesson. He seemed to want to intimidate. Mia raised an eyebrow from behind her small glasses as she pulled out her wand and continued to listen to the professor. She covered her mouth quickly to stop from saying something that could get her in a world of trouble as the professor stated the obvious.

'I'm Professor Reiner, and this is transfiguration'

'You don't say! No fooling?' Mia thought sarcastically to herself with a quite giggle. The fun was shortlived as Reiner began with intimaidating precausions. Mia had yet to be in any serious danger from the magic she did.

As expected, her mind began to wander a bit as she twirled her wand through her dainty fingers and her bronze nail polish on her long nails sparkled under the light of the classroom. She blinked and brought her attention back to the professor for a little while but then it slipped again. In the time that she got her attention where it needed to be, she got the important information that she needed to do the spell.

Mia's attention was forcefully pulled back to the professor as he turned the parchment before him into a perfect pewter inkwell. She gaped at it and prayed that she'd be able to do that too. She threaded the wand through her fingers even faster.

Mia wanted to hit herself for, no doubt looking, like a two year old in a candy store as she looked at the pewter that was once parchment. Months had gone by and still Mia was amazed by magic. She didn't think she'd get over this even after she left school.

'Get out a sheet of parchment and begin'

Mia stopped twirling her wand and put it down to get the parchment. She grabbed some parchment and placed it infront of her. After taking one sheet from the top of the small pile she made, she pushed the few others to the side. Mia had a feeling that she would need those before long.

"Okay, Solido Urna turns parchment into an inkwell. Got it. Tap the parchment in the middle. Got that too.' Mia confirmed with herself.

Mia took up her wand again and looked at the parchment before her. She took a deep breath and pointed her wand. The wand tapped what Mia hoped was center enough and spoke the incantation clearly.

"Solido Urna."

Much to her excitement, the parchment definitely began to change. Though it didn't turn out much like the professor's. Instead of folding nicely like the origami that Mia's friend Hannah from Jersey made, the parchment more crumpled into a heap rather than folded. Mia couldn't even uncrumple it and go again because the parchent did change to a harder substance somewhere in between parchment and pewter. She tried to pry it apart but it ended up breaking in to pieces in her hands.

Mia sighed and really hoped the teacher didn't take points for the sad attempt as she readied another piece of parchment.

\n\n

0 Mia That didn 0 Mia 0 5

Mia

January 21, 2005 10:56 PM

OOC: Title is wrong, just had to say so by Mia

OOC: Really sorry to bother anyone but that title should say:

"That didn't turn out like a I hoped"

Sorry but that would have bothered me from now 'til forever.

~Ciao for now! ^_~\n\n

0 Mia OOC: Title is wrong, just had to say so 0 Mia 0 5

Jenna F

January 22, 2005 3:21 PM

My big mouth by Jenna F

Jenna stared idly at the professor, professor...something. She couldn't even remember his name. Great. Not only was this whole speech slowly lulling her to sleep, if she had a question she wouldn't even be able to say his name. And that would probably annoy him. This guy came across really clear. No fooling around in class, Transfiguration is a dangerous subject, who knows what could happen, be careful, be respectful, no horse play, no trouble makers, no talking except the incantation, no breathing, no having fun...yeah, he came across clear. Slumping in her cahir, she closed hr eyes. Her mother had given her this speech before, only she had examples. Yeah, she had some uncle who was doing tansfiguration and turned himself into half unicorn, half mandrake, though how she wasn't all to sure. Apparently, he was hunted by crazed people and killed. Jenna didn't really think this was true, but she hadn't told her mother that. Her mother thought she was always right, and anyone who contradicted her was punished.

Jenna sighed and leaned over to the person next to her.

"Hey! What's this guys name?" She asked, but immediatly straightened up again as she saw Professor No-name lock eyes with her. Whispering out of the corner of her mouth, she whispered, "Never mind." Before slumping back onto her desk and fighting the urge to either fall asleep, start laughing, or tell this guy that he really needed to shut up. Suddenly, a stroke of genius (so to speak) came upon her, and his name came to her head. Just as he finished his speech, something about a spell and turning parchment to the bottles that held ink, she couldn't remember their names either, she absentmindeldy blurted out the name "Reiner!" And rather loudly too. She covered her mouth and sunk so low in her chair you could barely see her. Then she straightened up. That would be way to obvious. She quickly got out a piece of parchment and took out her wand, trying to look normal.

She then realised she didn't know the spell. That was what she got for not paying any attention. Great. Simply wonderful.

I am so dead. Okay, it's okay, don't freak out, he probably didn't notice. She thought franticly, though the class was rather silent, and she was rather loud. Perfect. She couldn't wait to see where this was going. She sat up and stared at the piece of paper, wondering what the spell was. Then, cursing herself for being stupd, she opened the text book, looking for the spell.

She couldn't help but chuckle though. "Reiner..." Rather funny name. Although, Foster wasn't exactly the best name in the world.

"My stupid big mouth..." She muttered, finally looking up to see if the Professor noticed she had disrupted his class.\n\n

0 Jenna F My big mouth 0 Jenna F 0 5

Elizabeth

January 22, 2005 6:41 PM

Transfiguration by Elizabeth

Elizabeth stopped twirling her wand aimlessly when Professor Reiner began speaking. In her mind, the infuriated voice of her tutor, Charles Bastille, rang out. He would always lecture Elizabeth on everything, even though he was only her latin instructor. Back at home in the study, he'd told her countless times:
Respect to your educators means paying absolute attention and always completing the task set before you in the most thourough way.

So in accordance with Mr. Bastille's constant mantra, Elizabeth listened carefully, and then upon the Professor's finish to the little speech, she pointed her wand firmly at the center of the paper, her confident and experienced voice saying: "Solido Urna"

At once, Elizabeth's plain piece of paper crinkled itself up, as the Professor's had. She watched with a satisfied grin, seeing that the paper was almost finished forming itself into an inkwell. Ha, she thought, I bet Mr. Falcon would be extremely proud to see me now. Her transfiguration tutor at home had grinded the basic functions and fundamentals of Transfiguration. To see Elizabeth retaining the subject matter of his lessons would have been enough for him to jump for joy. Elizabeth didn't pay much attention to him, especially for the kind of money her Aunt and Uncle paid for him to teach her. \n\n

0 Elizabeth Transfiguration 0 Elizabeth 0 5

Stephen

January 23, 2005 5:51 AM

No, no, no... I'm the loudmouth! by Stephen

Even as he awaited the 'Nightmarish garble' there was a whisper from beside him. Before he could answer 'Professor Jeeves' - that was what the guy reminded him of! One of those British blokes. The Butler ones. Only slightly more... boring - she had told him not to mind, and shrugging he had turned back to his parchment which was starting to change.

It was gradual... actually, it was much too slow for Stephen's liking. Giving the darkening parchment a sharp prod with his wand to see if it would make it change faster, he started as the girl next to him yelled.

"Reiner."

"No," Stephen corrected her absently, already turning back to his own work, "Jeeves."

There was something new happening now. It looked to have started to liquify. Giving it an experimental poke with his finger he pulled it back and had a closer look at his fingertip. The liquifying paper was sticky, and the tip of his finger was now the same colour and, like the rest, still changing. It seemed to be... ink.

Trying to wipe it off on his desk, he was pleased to find his fingerprints recreated on the surface in a dull brown colour. Grinning widely, he pulled on the sleeve of the girl and pointed at it.

"Check it out - it's the same colour as my hair!"

But it wasn't anymore. It had gained a greenish tinge.

And, he noticed, there was still some of the ink on his finger as well as the girl's sleeve.

He looked down at where the parchment had been. There was no shape left to show what it had once been. Even more obviously green ink was starting to ooze everywhere, running across his desk onto the girls. Dripping off the sides onto the floor in three directions and onto his lap and robes in the other.

But it was really the most brilliant shade... Stephen, not at all worried about the mess, leaned down to start searching though his bag for his spare inkwell.\n\n

39 Stephen No, no, no... I'm the loudmouth! 0 Stephen 0 5

Jenna

January 23, 2005 10:30 AM

Eww! by Jenna

Jenna looked at the...whatever it was, that the guy was showing her. She looked at his hair, then back at the ink colour. It was a startling shade of green. She looked back at him.

"Unless I'm seeing things, that is NOT the colour of your hair." She told him. Having found the spell, she turned back to her parchment and started to say the spell. Quite annoyed that the parchment had turned more into a puddle of ink then an actual inkwell, she bent down to get another peice of parchment from her bag.

Just as she bent down, however, green ink started to ooze out of the boys...shape. Running along the desk, a whole lot of it spilled onto her hair. Sitting up and screaming, it then procceeded to spill onto her skirt.

Jenna jumped from her seat, green ink running down her face. She closed her eyes and tightly shut her mouth, but not before she let out a scream.

Not being able to see, seeing as her eyes were closed, she simply waited there, hoping someone would be nice enough to maybe CLEAN HER OFF!\n\n

0 Jenna Eww! 0 Jenna 0 5

Jenna H

January 23, 2005 11:59 AM

no troublemakers here... or not by Jenna H

Jenna was just listening to the professor's speech, and actually paying attention, unlike some other students around her. And she thought this might turn out to be a good class. That is, until the teacher looked at her when he mentioned 'troublemakers'.

Now, that was just uncalled for! How could he possibly think of her as a potential troublemaker? Sure, she had skipped part of flying, and went searching for the Headmistress's office based on a ghost's riddle, and beat up a wall and broke a window when practicing her Defense Against the Dark Arts spells. But he didn't know about that... did he?

She folded her arms and narrowed her eyes, glaring at the professor. Oh, she would show him- she would be the best transfiguration student he ever had! Of course, the fact that she wasn't doing so well in her other spell casting classes didn't really back her up. But hey, the effort should count for something, right?

She couldn't wait for him to finish, and by the time he did, the parchment was already on her desk and her wand was ready.

"Solido urna," she tapped the cent of the parchment, and pointed it to the center. It began to fold into an inkwell, but halfway through the process it stopped.

"A inkwell made up entirely of paper," she said examining it and turning to the person next to her, "well, that's got to count for something, right?"\n\n

0 Jenna H no troublemakers here... or not 46 Jenna H 0 5

Professor Reiner

January 23, 2005 6:44 PM

Did I not warn you? by Professor Reiner

There was something about the one boy, a Stephen Baxter, if his roll parchment was anything to go by, that just screamed keep your eyes on me. Perhaps it was the boys glazey eyed look, or the way his lips formed a bored line, but it did, and Bastian wasn't about to let the ripplings of instinct go past him. He'd make sure to keep a watch on him.

Walking amongst the desks, looking over the student's shoulders as they worked, he always made it a point to look up periodically at the boy. One time his attention was drawn to the girl beside him. Having his surname practically broadcast across the classroom wasn't the done thing. Noone was bleeding to death, after all.

His hazel eyes narrowing behind his glasses, he swiftly made his way behind the pair, his gaze taking in the green ink suddenly dripping from the left edge of his desk. Oh for the love of all things holy! One could have assumed this lot would at least be able to get somewhere close to the center of the parchment, not a edge!

His face hardening, his brow furrowed, he stepped up behind the two as the girl leapt to her feet, screaming. "Sit down, Miss Foster! Acting a fool will not rectify your condition." Placing a hand on her shoulder, Bastian pushed her to take her seat as he slid his wand from his sleeve. A few whispered spells and the damage was repaired, save perhaps, the girl's dignity, but then one had to actually have it to begin with to lose it. So, no real loss. Still, he couldn't let that outburst go unnoticed, "Five points from Crotalus for that display."

Having put the girl back to right, he turned his gaze back to the boy. "Mister Baxter, would you care to explain why your aim of your wand is so poor, or do you not know the difference between the directional terms center and edge?" A wave of his wand and a dictionary flew into his hand from the bookshelves to the right of his desk. Another wave and the desk of free of ink, save a permenant green stain.

Setting the book on the desk he tapped the cover, whispered inaudiably, and the book opened itself to the c's... namely, the word center. "Since I am loath to think someone your age would be incapable of gripping your wand, you shall copy the definitions of 'center' and 'edge', in proper cursive, then continue the lesson. I expect both the defintions and your transfigured inkwell on my desk by the end of class." He slipped his wand back in his sleeve, "Oh, and Mister Baxter, ten points from Pecari."

With that he crossed his arms behind his back and returned to walking about the room.
\n\n

0 Professor Reiner Did I not warn you? 0 Professor Reiner 0 5

Professor Reiner

January 23, 2005 6:52 PM

I didn't expect much more... yet by Professor Reiner

Walking about the room, he paused at a girl's desk, a Miss Mia Kerova, as she went to get a new sheet of parchment. As she did, he reached down and examined the pieces of dark, hard substance on her desk. Choosing the largest piece, he picked it up and brought it up to his face, his other hand adjusting his glasses. Turning it over in front of him as he scurtinized it, he made no more than a few barely audible indescriminate sounds before placing back on the desk.

"A good first attempt, Miss Kerova. A solid state, correct coloring, though still fragile like paper fiber and lacking any recognizable form. Still... a good start." Looking down, he caught her gaze and gave the closest to a smile he was ever known for. "Few start of so well. You were, I would figure, only a little off center, but it was your delivery was fairly good. A bit more confidence on your part. Ten points to Pecari."

With a short nod, he continued his turn about the room.\n\n

0 Professor Reiner I didn't expect much more... yet 0 Professor Reiner 0 5

Professor Reiner

January 23, 2005 7:02 PM

Nicely done. by Professor Reiner

Hmmm.... perhaps now wouldn't be too soon.

Seeing Miss Lavine sitting at her desk, a wonderfully transfigured inkwell before, Bastian quickly made his way over, a noticable grin on his face. It had been a good five years since he last came across a student with a predilection for Transfiguration. This showed promise...

"Miss Lavine," he addressed her once he reached her desk and had placed himself beside her, his hand taking hold of the inkwell to inspect it further. "I see you've succeeded." He turned the piece around in his hand. "A fairly good grade of pewter, no ornamentation, but then I didn't expect that refined of an example at this juncture. Still, you've satisfied the task on your first attempt. Fifteen points to Pecari."

Setting the inkwell back on her desk, he pointed his wand at a sheet of parchment on her desk, words forming on it. "I beleive you can move on to the counter, Explico Urna." Then with a thin smile aand nod of his head, he continued on to his monitoring, leaving her the incantation and notes on wand movement...

Explico Urna
As you speak the incantation, suspend your wand over the inkwell, tip down and circle it around the outside dimensions for one rotation.

OOC: Few get things right the first time, but I also know how students will excel in one area and struggle in another. Tell me, is Transfiguration going to be a strong point for her?\n\n

0 Professor Reiner Nicely done. 0 Professor Reiner 0 5

Professor Reiner

January 23, 2005 7:09 PM

snorts naturally by Professor Reiner

As a whole, the class was doing well, save Mister Baxters bad aim, and so it came as no surprise when the mistake he had expected to see most often appeared just as he reached the student's desk. "Ah, the infamous paper inkwell," he intoned as he lifted the specimen.

"Wonderful form, your aim was fairly accurate, but judging by this lack of liquid withstanding material, I'd say your anunciation was off." A wave of his wand around the inkwell caused it to unfold and he placed the sheet of parchment back on the desk. "SolIdo... emphasize the eeee sound a bit more."

Crossing his arms, he looked at her and gave a short impatient wave, "Go on."\n\n

0 Professor Reiner *snorts* naturally 0 Professor Reiner 0 5

Jake Santoro (Teppenpaw)

January 23, 2005 7:14 PM

Er--a bit complicated if you ask me... by Jake Santoro (Teppenpaw)

Jake sat between two girls, which didn't surprise him any as there was an abundance of girls at this school than there were of boys. His black hair cropped short and spikey matched the color of his black eyes as he watched the professor walk around the classroom while lecturing them. Why did they always have to lecture? Couldn't they make learning more fun? Maybe then more people will actually want to learn. Have they ever thought of that? Jake thought as he only half listened to what the professor was saying.

They were turning paper into inkwells with ink...Okay. Now the question is why. Why would you need to do that? Jake nearly laughed outloud as a thought crossed his mind, What if you only have one piece of paper left and no ink but it's absolutly necessary to write some message to someone but you have no ink...what is one to do in such a perdicament?

When the professor had finished his speech, Jake silently got out his parchment and wand. He placed the parchment flat on the table and spread it out smooth. He looked around for a moment to see how everyone else was doing, but didn't see anything of interest and so, he returned his eyes to his blank parchment. He glanced at it for a moment to figure out where exactly the center was and placed his wand there. Tapping it lightly, Jake said,

"Solido urna" Jake watched for a moment as nothing happened. He didn't even move. He had watched the Professor's crinkle into itself, but Jake's did nothing. And then quite suddenly, something did happen. The paper began to darken and crumple. He watched in fascination as it turned a weird green color, almost black, but not quite and fold within itself. The only problem was that when it finished, it didn't look like an inkwell. It didn't look like one at all. Instead it looked like a medium sized round ball with that greenish black ink locked inside it. He frowned as he tapped it and looked it over, only coming out of his state of fascination with the sound of a girl's voice.

"A inkwell made up entirely of paper. Well, that's got to count for something, right?"

He turned to his left to face the girl,

"I have no idea. In fact, I find it rather amusing." He said while smiling lopsidedly at the girl. "Even if I can't seem to get this thing to work." He mumbled as he once again poked his ball of ink.\n\n

6 Jake Santoro (Teppenpaw) Er--a bit complicated if you ask me... 42 Jake Santoro (Teppenpaw) 0 5

Tally (Teppenpaw)

January 23, 2005 8:51 PM

Solido Urna, got it. by Tally (Teppenpaw)

Tally sat next to Chrissy, as she usually did during lessons. They were best friends after all. Tally had her long brown hair down, as usually and her green eyes watched the Professor infront of her with curious eyes. She vaguely wondered what had happened to Professor Wood as they had never had a proper lesson with her and then she just disappeared. But her mind came back into focus as the Professor started sprouting out rules and threats. Tally reframed from rolling her eyes because those were obvious rules and if anyone didn't know them then they deserved to get detention for being such a dimwit.

Tally sighed and looked around when the Professor spoke about trouble makers. Tally's eyes fell on Stephen. She remembered him in Care of Magical Creatures and his stunt with the kneazle, and she remembered his eagerness to find the maniac with the knife. A smile formed as she looked at him amusedly. Well, troublemaker or not, he was cool and Tally respected his guts.

She watched with interest as the paper transformed into an inkwell with ink in it at her Professor's command. Though magic had always been apart of her life, she hadn't really paid much attention to every detail and aspect of it. Infact, she was rather impressed that a piece of paper could turn into an inkwell. She's seen things like her father transfigure a chair or her brother turn a cat into a lamp and such, but never something like that.

Tally took out her parchment and placed it infront of her. She measured the parchment with her eyes to find the exact center of the paper. Math wasn't her thing, so she was almost positive that whatever spot she chose, it wouldn't be the exact center.

She was about to start the tranformation of her paper when a girl's scream rang out. Tally turned to see what was happening, she didn't know the girl, but she noticed that green gunk was all over her and Stephen was beside her with green all over him and their desks. Go figure... Tally thought with amusement before noticing the Professor walk up to them and take points away from the girl. Tally was surprised by this. The girl screamed because stuff was all over her, anyone would do that, it's instinct, a uncontrollable response. Taking away points won't help that. Tally frowned as she watched them, but turned away as soon as they were done.

Now she faced her paper, her wand still marking the center, or what she thought was the center, of the paper. Taking a deep breath Tally sat tall in her desk and voiced the incantation loudly.

"Solida Urna!" Tally watched as her paper began to fold within itself and darken as it went. She amused by this because she still didn't understand how all of this worked, even with the knowledge of magic in her long life of eleven year, her muggle side still tried her understand it. Her inkwell formed under five minutes, but it wasn't anything like the professors. The ink was a blue black color, much like a bruise, and the inkwell was weak. As soon as the paper had formed into an inkwell, it began to spring leaks. Tally's frown deepened and she looked around for something to clean up the ink that was leaking from her tranfigured paper.\n\n

6 Tally (Teppenpaw) Solido Urna, got it. 0 Tally (Teppenpaw) 0 5

Stephen

January 24, 2005 10:43 AM

Well... I might have missed that bit... by Stephen

Having spent several seconds looking at the girl in surprise - what was wrong? He couldn't see anything particularly out of the ordinary going on - Stephen was glad to see Jeeves appear apparently from nowhere (just like a good butler) and stop her making the racket. It was taking attention from more important things. Like his awesome new green ink.

It did seem a pity when the professor followed up with cleaning her robes though. The bright green was a definite improvement on the darker shade of their uniform robes.

That thought in mind, he pulled his chair in closer to the desk to prevent a similar fate ridding his robes of character. Stephen also hurridly started to get as much of the ink into his inkwell as possible. It seemed that Jeeves had some kind of vendetta against his ink, and indeed, before he even managed to secure enough to half fill the inkwell the prof was at it again, talking at him and waving his wand. Working quickly, he still managed to pay attention to the professor - a much easier task when he wasn't sounding entirely boring.

"I know," Stephen told Jeeves easily, "if you point at the centre you get a neat little japanese paper... I mean parchment inkwell. The centre," he continued as though imparting a great secret, "is that bit in the middle where the bullseye should be. The edge is where you get papercuts. Or parchment cuts..." he looked momentarily puzzled and paused in his efforts to collect the ink. "Can you get parchment cuts?"

The professor apparently wanted more out of him though than simple answers. Happy at the attention and the interesting things that were now happening - a book flew over, but sadly the ink (other than a brilliant stain that made his desk look really fantastic) was removed - Stephen complied.

Pulling a fresh piece of parchment out, Stephen grabbed his quill and tickled his nose with the feathery end while thinking. Obviously 'cursive' meant some kind of language that magical people were supposed to know. The only problem with that was that Stephen spoke American... and a little Spanish from elementry school, but not much. Just 'hello', 'goodbye' and 'get lost'. Actually, he hadn't learnt that last one from school. He'd heard it on Sesame Street when he'd been a little kid...

This cursive probably had something to do with curses, but Stephen didn't know much about those yet either. But, he realised, he did know about the muggle version of curses - Alan could be very vocal when he was working on his bikes and jammed a thumb or did some other damage to himself.

Yes, Stephen thought to himself. That should make Jeeves happy. He dipped his quill in his new ink and began writing:

Centre - ~~middle~~ effin' middle point, especially of a useless circle, sphere or line damn it; pivot or ~~axis~~ stupid axis of revolution; point of concentration or dispersion, nucleus or flippin' source; region about ...Stephen looked at the odd symbol a second, then, after reading ahead a little decided that it must mean 'centre', wondered for a couple of moments why the writers of the dictionary couldn't have just written 'centre' and be done with it, before copying it down and continuing the translation... ~, middle part, or cruddy interior.

Edge - blasted cutting edge of the goddamn blade; ~-shaped thing or stupid part, e.g. crest of the darn ridge, meeting-line of surfaces, brink of precipice, boundary-line of surface. Screw it.

There. That was the first bit done. Stephen pulled yet another piece of parchment out and looked at it. Glancing at his almost empty inkwell he was tempted to just do the spell the same way again.

But Jeeves seemed to be spending an awful lot of time staring at him... and there was really no point in making more cool ink for it just to be magicked away again. And also... he had never worked out whether there was ink in the inkwell that the professor made... and if there was, what colour it was...

Pointing at the direct centre of the parchment, Stephen gave the spell a proper go.
\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

39 Stephen Well... I might have missed that bit... 0 Stephen 0 5

Jenna

January 24, 2005 2:38 PM

Well, excuse me! by Jenna

Jenna was sat back down into her seat, which, she might have added, was govered in green in. After, apparently, her bad display that was inappropriate (really though, she had ink spilling on her hair, down her face and on her clothing, who wouldn't freak out?) she watched in anger as the Professor cleaned up all the ink, from the desk, the chair, her...everything. She smoothed out her skirt and got out another piece of parchment, glaring at the boy who had started this whole thing, since he obviously looked rather annoyed that all of his ink had been cleaned up. She shot the Professor a rather angry look when he took 5 points away from her house.

She silently tsked at him, trying very hard to get back to the spell, but it couldn't be done. She was dang curious. Espicially when Reiner started lecturing the guy, Mister Baxter according to him, about center and edge. She watched as a large book flew to him and opened to the c's.

She watched as he pulled out a pice of parchment and started tickling his nose with his quill. As he began to write, Jenna stared up at the Professor. He did not look like a very happy man.

She quietly leaned over and stared disgustedly at his robes, which still had a trace of that horrible green ink on it. She looked at his parchment, wanting to see exactly how he was writing his definitions. She leaned over to see, and had to bite her lip to stop from laughing and losing more points.

She obviously wasn't the only one ticked off at Reiner.

She sat back in her seat, afraid of falling and getting more of that awful ink all over her now clean robes. She got out a pice of parchment, shooting the spell at the parchment. Watching as it turned into an inkwell, despite the fact that it was bright green. She must have gotten some of that ink in her brain.

She glared at the Professor. See, she cold do it, no matter how many points he took away.

\n\n

0 Jenna Well, excuse me! 0 Jenna 0 5

Chrissy Mathers (Crotalus)

January 24, 2005 6:42 PM

An inkwell of sorts... by Chrissy Mathers (Crotalus)

Chrissy sat in silence beside her best mate, Tally. Normally the two of them would be goofing off, but this professor was unknown territory to them, so they were being good little students.

She sat listening to him with only half the interest as some of the other students seemed to be. When Professor Reiner informed them that this class was Trangsfiguration, Chrissy snorted so quietly that she was sure only Tally had heard. Nightmarish garble? Was he serious? Bit on the dramatic side if anyone asked her. Chrissy thought with amusement as her attention was drawn back to him. And of course, the threats! Chrissy thought again with amusement. She glanced over at Tally to share her amusement, but Tally seemed to be interested in whatever the Professor had to say. Like a good little Auror's girl. Chrissy thought with a roll of her eyes.

Apparantly they were turning parchment into inkwells. Didn't seem all that bad, though the Professor certainly made it sound as though they were far to inferior and dumbwitted to even mutter the incantation correctly rather than actually do it properly.

When it was finally time for them to get started, Chrissy had her wand out and a piece of parchment ready. She tapped the wand and said the incantation rather proudly.

"Solido Urna! Just as Chrissy finished the incantation, a girl's scream rang out for a brief moment, but it was enough to jar Chrissy and make her jump. The result was that her wand was no longer at the center of her paper, but the corner. She watched as her paper turned an ugly yellow and began to look as though it was on fire, though there were no flames. A weird smell emitted from it and Chrissy wrinkled her nose and waved her hand over it to get rid of it.

Chrissy turned to shoot a glare at Jenna, who had been the one to scream. It wasn't her fault, really, but Chrissy didn't think she should be blamed for someone screaming during a pivital moment. Chrissy pushed the gross yellow smelling thing away and took out another piece of parchement. This time, she was careful to keep her mind on the task and not allow another mishap like that to happen.\n\n

6 Chrissy Mathers (Crotalus) An inkwell of sorts... 47 Chrissy Mathers (Crotalus) 0 5

Elizabeth

January 24, 2005 11:07 PM

Thank-You by Elizabeth

(ooc: yep, Transfiguration is Elizabeth's natural strong point, even if she didn't like listening to her tutors at home.)
IC:

"Thank you professor," she said, upon his awarding of house points. Elizabeth grinned slightly as he allowed her to proceed with the counter spell.

Her bright blue eyes scanned the brief directions listed on the piece of parchment, quickly absorbing the information. If Elizabeth truly wanted to get something done, she could do it *snap*. If she was uninterested, however, that something could never get done. Fortunately for Elizabeth's transfiguration grades, she was interested in the subject, especially because she was naturally able to complete transfigurations.

Flicking a stray raven piece of hair from obstructing her eyesight, Elizabeth followed the directions, dipping her wand in the inkwell, the rippling black ink inside swishing. A full rotation later, Elizabeth sat back in her desk, watching, yet again with satisfaction as the inkwell transfigured, flattening and whitening until it looked exactly like the parchment she'd transfigured not long ago.

Excellent, another think to make sure that Mr. Falcon hears. Elizabeth thought. The stubborn old man had been one of many tutors she'd had over her lifetime, and something about him and the way he taught made her want to prove to him her worth. No, prove wasn't the right word, Elizabeth was out to impress people. Transfiguration was probably the only academic area were she'd be able to do that, seeing as quidditch, and not schoolwork was really her forte. \n\n

0 Elizabeth Thank-You 0 Elizabeth 0 5

Jenna H

January 25, 2005 3:13 PM

ink beam by Jenna H

Jenna closed her eyes tight in frusteration. Why did it always have to be the pronounciation she had trouble with? In Charms, Defense Against the Dark Arts, and now Transifiguration, her pronounciation wouldn't come out right. Heck, even the broom wouldn't listen to her! What was so wrong about her voice anyway? Jenna rather liked her voice, but her spellwork didn't seem to agree with her.

She looked back up at the teacher, and back at the boy next to her. At least he (unlike their teacher) appreciated the art that is the paper inkwell. She had a pretty good feeling she and this teacher weren't going to get along very well. He sounded to much like her mother. And that was far from any type of compliment. At least, it wasn't a compliment when it was coming from her.

Back to the spell. She had to get it right, to prove to Professor Reiner that she was actually a good student. Then he couldn't possibly think of her as a bad student.

"Solido Urna!" she tried again, tapping the parchment. This time seemed to have better effects. Notice the word "seemed".

The parchment began to transform, and Jenna watched with a satisfied smile as it became a stone inkwell, no malformations whatsoever. But that was the good part.

Maybe she had put too much emotion in the spell. Maybe it was because no matter what, spells just didn't like her voice. Whatever the case was, Jenna was just as suprised when the ink came in way too fast, shooting out of the inkwell and straight up at the ceiling.

On instinct, she pointed her wand at the beam of ink and yelled, "Evanesco!" The ink disappeared, all traces of it seemed to be gone. Jenna smiled in relief, all those years of practicing with Potions had forced her to learn that spell when things got out of hand. Besides, Evanesco was sort of like transfiguration, wasn't it? It made things disappear, maybe that would impress the teacher.

"Well, I'd definitely say A for effort," said Jenna nervously, turning back to the teacher.\n\n

0 Jenna H ink beam 46 Jenna H 0 5

Mia

January 25, 2005 10:02 PM

well, third time's a charm...I hope by Mia

Mia looked up at Professor Reiner as he examined a large chunk of her 'used to be' parchment and 'not quite' inkwell. She bit her lower lip wondering if he'd reprimand her and take away points for making a mess or something. He seemed like the type of person that might do that. Mia was pleasantly surprised when he praised her but inwardly cringe as he said 'Miss Kerova'. She knew the profesors might do that but it didn't change the fact that she hated it.

'Gag me with a spoon!' Mia thought to her self in an annoyed tone.

Mia forced a smile as he awarded her house ten points for her attempt. She slightly blushed when Profesor Reiner said that few start off so well. Mia felt kind of good to be part of that minority. She realized that she was capable of a lot more than she thought. Her smile was still there as the Professor left her desk. Mia let out a low whistle and turned back to her second piece of parchment. She took a deep breath, promising not to let this one good attempt get to her head.

Mia flattened her parchment out and did a semi measurement of it using her wand as somewhat of a ruler. She stuck out her tongue in concentration until she was pretty sure she had the middle marked down right. Mia cleared her throat and readied her wand again, tapping the point where she calculated was pretty darn close to the middle if not exactly so.

"Solida Urna!"

Mia clenched her teeth in anticipation but stayed confident like Professor Reiner said. She smiled with relief as a shape actualy formed. The parchment began to fold sort of like the professor's and it was definitely rising from the table. The parchment rounded out and darkened as it took the shape of an inkwell. Mia could've jumped for joy but stopped herself for two reasons. One was because she didn't want to risk losing the points she was awarded and two, the inkwell was once again not what she wanted, though it was better than her first attempt.

Mia lifted her 'parchment/inkwell or whatever it was now'. The final product this time was the shape of an inkwell made of something very close to the pewter it should be. The only problem was that it was about half the size it should be. Mia's inkwell looked like someone stepped on it.

Mia shook her head and sighed. She decided to look on the bright side.

"It really IS better than the other one." Mia said with a smile and twirled her wand through her fingers again. She reached over to ready a third piece of parchment with her other hand.

"Third time's a charm."
\n\n

0 Mia well, third time's a charm...I hope 0 Mia 0 5

Stephen

January 26, 2005 8:08 AM

What have you done this time? by Stephen

OOC: Just a little question to satisfy the old curiousity. Isn't this the Jenna who went away for a bit as stated on the OOC board? I got the impression you wouldn't be posting... which brings the question - who is this? The usual author, or someone else? Oh, and you might want to try a spell check - there were a few major mistakes in that last post. BIC:

Stephen moved his seat a little further back from the desk, satisfied that Jeeves had moved back far enough to make it a safe move. Grinning fondly, he admired his newly decorated robes - they went so well with his newly decorated desk! It was a nice shade of green, he decided. One that should be recreated everywhere. It might be an interesting project for after the midterm break.

But to do that, he would have to master this spell. Taking a speculative look at his parchment and then his wand, he moved his arm to hold the wand perfectly poised and pointing down over the centre of the paper - there was no point in taking risks by having it anywhere else. Letting it descend a moment, he tapped the parchment, then brought it back up, still keeping it pointing directly down.

"Solido Urna," he said, thinking fiercely about green ink... an inkwell full of green ink. Bright green ink, not dark ink or a light colour, a nice even bright green.

His arm, not liking the position it was in protested and shook a little, losing his place in the middle of the circle momentarily. Frowning, Stephen quickly moved it back into place, and for good measure used his other hand to try and hold it steady. Taking his attention from his protesting arm for a moment, he glanced down, taking satisfaction - and grinning to prove it - in the fact that the parchment seemed to be busy folding itself vigorously.

The grin faltered as his arm did, and his attention went back to it instantly. Obviously there had been a reason that Professor Jeeves hadn't held his arm like this. Stephen tried to work out if he could move his arm and keep the wand still trained on the centre of the parchment, but with the parchment moving busily - and, he noticed as he tried to compare the tip of his wand's position against it, looking rather like a paper hat...

No! That was wrong. Inkwell. Inkwell. Inkwell! With green ink. Bright green ink. In an inkwell.

Knowing that it shouldn't make to big a difference at this stage, he lowered his arm into a more comfortable position, doing his best to keep the tip of his wand concentrated on the centre... on where the centre probably was.

The paper continued to move, folding this way and that, subtly changing shape and darkening into a green - whoo-hooo!!- then past it into a dark green, then an almost-black green and finally into a glossy black finish. The shape still was more hat than inkwell shaped, and Stephen just looked at it for a moment when it definitely looked to have finished changing.

"Inkwell?" he said hopefully, poking it with his wand. It proved resistant to his efforts.

Scrunching his nose and chewing on the inside of his cheek, Stephen continued to regard it for a little while. A glance to his side revealed that screaming-girl had something that looked like an inkwell - and in a well chosen colour too. He gave her a thumbs up of approval and turned back to his own.

It still looked like a black hat. A small black hat. Frowning, he reached over and pulled it closer, so he could peer down on it with more ease. Unlike usual paper hats, this one had a bit more detail to it - a band had appeared around it, with a tiny black feather in the side. But the dent in the middle...

Curious, Stephen picked up his quill. Holding the hat stationary with one hand, he poked the end into the dent. It had been hard to tell due to the dark colour, but apparently it was hollow. The quill hit bottom. Pausing to scratch his nose and attempt to exchange a glance with the girl beside him (thwarted as she seemed rather taken with glaring at Jeeves), he shrugged and withdrew the quill again.

It was glistening. Unfortunately, it wasn't glistening greenly, but rather blackly. Rolling his eyes, Stephen guessed that this would have to do (and anyhow, was there a rule against novelty inkwells? He hadn't heard anything!). Gathering up the hat-inkwell and his written definitions, he trotted up to the front and deposited them on the Professor's desk.

Having done that, he turned back around and looked at the classroom. His desk stood out like a sore thumb. A satisfied grin spread across his face as he looked at it. His desk. His lovely green desk... which matched his robes...

With a nervous glance at the anti-awesome green ink Jeeves, he dashed back to his seat, pulling it back up to the desk and doing his level best to look like he wasn't wearing ink-splattered robes.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

39 Stephen What have you done this time? 0 Stephen 0 5

Jenna

January 27, 2005 1:04 PM

OOC by Jenna

Well, you see, my grandmother actually got over her thing about modern technology, and bought a computer! Everybody be happy for me!! Yay! Anyway, she thinks everything is going to go all wacky one day, but my father and uncle talked her into buying a tv and a computer, so my sister and I are no longer bored to death! And yes, I'm sorry, bad spelling! I hate spelling, so yeah...sorry, once again!

\n\n

0 Jenna OOC 0 Jenna 0 5

Professor Reiner

January 29, 2005 2:40 PM

Great balls of... ink? by Professor Reiner

While giving the girl a moment to pull her thoughts together and try the spell again, Bastian turned to the boy beside her just in time to see him prodding a ball of ink. Great Merlin, he had better see to this before the boy's curiosity poked a hole in the blasted side!

"Mister Santoro, you too have a bit of practicing to do in regards to the incantations delivery." Aiming his wand at the ink with lack of a proper inkwell to contain it, and with a wave of his hand, it silently dried up inside before returning to its former state... a piece of parchment. "Urna, from the latin for a pot, a jar, container capable of holding liquids. A short two syllables, not to be enlongated into three."

Taking the look on the boy's face, he decided to further clarify. "Urna. Short, crisp. What has resulted in your lack of a proper inkwell was the extension of the uurrrr sound. Try once again, but make the second part of the incantation shorter." Nodding, he motioned for the him to go ahead.
\n\n

0 Professor Reiner Great balls of... ink? 0 Professor Reiner 0 5

Professor Reiner

January 29, 2005 2:47 PM

Good save. by Professor Reiner

"Ah."

That was all the sound Bastian made, rather indifferently and void of any surprise at that, when a stream of ink shot up out of the newly transfigured inkwell. His position didn't change, nor did one of his amused eyebrows. Only his eyes followed the trajectory of the stream.

Waiting to see what she would make of the situation, he was quite pleased to see she had the quick wit enough to cast Evanesco before things could get out of hand. Bastian smiled despite himself.

"A decidedly solid inkwell, albeit more than what I asked for," he eyed the stone object with a quickly tempered grin. Smiling like that could give the wrong impression. "But what truly impressed me was your ability to rectify the ink problem; something I wasn't expecting from one your age. Fifteen additional points for you quick thinking."

\n\n

0 Professor Reiner Good save. 0 Professor Reiner 0 5

Professor Reiner

January 29, 2005 2:59 PM

Thoughts spilling over? by Professor Reiner

It seemed he had reached this part of the room just in time. There was yet another spill in progress...

Quickly making his way to the girl's desk as she seemed to be looking for a way to stop the leak, Bastian inwardly shook his head. That's what a wand was for. Blasted first years and their underestimation of the wood in their hands.

"Evanesco, Miss Adams," he announced sharply, casting the spell as he did, clearing ever trance of ink away. "In the time it would have taken you to find some muggle way of staving the flow, your desk and robes would have resembled a blue version of Mister Baxter's."

It had come out harsher than he intended, but his annoyance at the oversight was getting the better of him. Noting the look on her face, he forced himself to calm as much as possible, not that he would apologize for his admonishment. The girl had to learn.

"You are quite close Miss Adams. It was your delviery that left your inkwell at fault. Too much force and you can crack the object, just as you have done here. Don't shout the incantation next time and you should succeed." With a sigh he returned the inkwell back to its paper form and waited for her to cast again.
\n\n

0 Professor Reiner Thoughts spilling over? 0 Professor Reiner 0 5

Tally

January 29, 2005 5:03 PM

No, just my ink by Tally

Tally couldn't help but be surprised as the Professor scolded her. So she didn't know the vanishing spell, she wasn't perfect. Her green eyes briefly flickered over to Stephen and, sure enough, there were different shades of green on his robes. Tally turned back to the professor. She was trying her harded not to look angry and kept the scowl off her face. She didn't mind getting dirty. She knew scourgify, the cleaning spell. So, if it had gotten that far, she would have used it to clean the desk, and herself up.

Tally's angrer only increased as the Professor talked, but she didn't allow it to show on her face. Instead, she kept a blank look. She couldn't help the fact that she was surprised to have her inkwell leak, she wasn't used to just being able to use magic at will. They did have underage magic laws after all and they hadn't been taught the vanishing charm yet. She only knew scourgify because she had watched her father and brother do it constantly.

When the parchment was returned to normal, Tally sat straight again and found the center of the paper once more. This time a scowl did pass her face, but it was brief. She hadn't yelled the first time, she just had confidence in herself. Weren't they suppose to have such things? Her eyes glanced up at the Professor and then returned to the parchment

"Solido Urna" She said in a softer voice. She watched as her parchment folded up into itself once again. The end result wasn't perfect, but the ink was the same green as his had been and the inkwell was strong enough not to spring any leaks. Tally sat back in her chair, her eyes moved upward to the Professor's. Is he going to yell again? She wondered.\n\n

6 Tally No, just my ink 0 Tally 0 5

Sorrel and Ash Craven (Pecari, both)

January 30, 2005 10:24 AM

We think not, Jenna... by Sorrel and Ash Craven (Pecari, both)

'Uch! You're actually trusting them to go and learn magic? There must be a reason why... what is it you call us... ‘Muggies' have stories about witches turning people into frogs!'

The look on Mariella, the Craven twins' older, Muggle, pink-loving sister's face on finding out where her adorable little Hell-raiser siblings were off to had been priceless. Their mother had assured her that that was incredibly advanced magic. The twins had assured her that they would learn it. For someone in their twenties, it was pathetic, almost pitiable, how easily Mariella could be made to run off squealing. So, whilst it was neither of them's favourite subject (they had been told it was complicated and technical) the twins were approaching Transfiguration with an inkling of interest. Until the professor began speaking...

'I am blah and blah-de-blah, blah. Blah to the blah, with extra blah, and remember blah....'

*Is his voice naturally that dull,* wondered Sorrel idly, her glazed stare drifting out of the window, *Or is he actively trying to put us all into stupors?*

Ash slumped forward onto his crossed arms, which were resting on his desk. Uch. This was even more boring that Zephyrflame's lesson had been. At least Zephyrflame had more personality than a damp plank of wood (he chose damp, rather than rotting, because with rot came mould and mould was interesting). In Ash's opinion, Zephyrflame was capable of being interesting, well, as much as any teacher could be, he had just chosen to teach absolute crud.

"Hey," whispered Sorrel, brightening slightly, and digging Ash in the ribs harder than necessary. "He's stopped."

"Hooray!" muttered Ash. "Uh... What we doing?"

"Pff," shrugged Sorrel, "You think I was listening?" She lowered her voice even more, speaking conspiratorially, "I've met math teachers with more personality - I swear to you, honest-to-God math teachers."

"How is it possible to make something so potentially interesting that dull?" demanded Ash, under his breath, whilst staring at the board. "Ok.... Paper to ink well.... Why would anyone want to do that?" This was met by another non-committal noise from Sorrel. It was a mark of how far towards being put to sleep they had gone that the twins were not already viciously competing.

Each took a piece of parchment and laid it flat in front of them, sans enthusiasm.

"Solido Urna," said Sorrel, without any real emotion, tapping the parchment, and fortunately going for the centre on instinct. Nothing happened.

"Haha."

"Do better," she scoffed.

"Solido Urna," said Ash pompously, tapping the centre of his parchment with great poise and ceremony. It fluttered.

"Sheer genius, I bow down to you," said Sorrel sarcastically.

"Thanks," said Ash, stretching, "It was still better than yours."

"We'll see. Solido Urna!" A rustle.

"Solido Urna!"

"Solido Urna!"

The fierce fire of competition now pumping through their veins, each twin's paper seemed to twist with more violent animation at every cast. It wasn't as strong a force as genuine conviction, and self belief, but it brought with it an arrogance akin to that emotion that charged their spells.

"Ha!" crowed Sorrel triumphantly, as hers was the first to form into, and stay as, a paper, origami type inkwell.

"Yes, Sorrie, that looks so strong. Really useful."

"It's better than yours, Ash-bash" she observed, poking Ash's weakly folded boxy thing.

"So? I already know all the origami I need," he grinned, with a shrug, ripping his parchment into a square and beginning to fold. Sorrel knew what was coming. It was about to be time to put her inkwell to the test. Ash straightened up, the paper water bomb finished.

"Aquor," they said in unison, each filling their projectile. They sized each other up a second, then - without countdown - simultaneously launched their weapons. Ash'... Sorrel in the cheek, and exploded as it was supposed to. Her'... Ash in the chest, spilling its contents down his robes as it collapsed. They beamed at each other. Now this was fun. \n\n

0 Sorrel and Ash Craven (Pecari, both) We think not, Jenna... 0 Sorrel and Ash Craven (Pecari, both) 0 5

Jenna H

January 30, 2005 11:17 AM

I have triumphed! by Jenna H

Hah! He had given her a grin, even if it was a quick one. And he didn't seem like the kind of person who smiled too often. Take that Mr. I-Think-Jenna-is-a-trouble-maker-for-no-really-good-reason. Evil had been triumphed over! All was good in the world once more.

And the best part was that she had earned points for her house. She was more than ashamed to say how pitifully Crotalus was doing, they needed all the help they could get. She didn't understand it really, they hadn't been doing anything wrong.

"Thank you Professor," she said almost as an afterthought, "so, what do we do when we're done, anyway?"\n\n

0 Jenna H I have triumphed! 46 Jenna H 0 5

Professor Reiner

January 30, 2005 5:07 PM

And now I find the chimps amongst the children by Professor Reiner

Apparently, Bastian was not going to escape this class without a migraine. Honestly, throwing their pitiful excuses for tranfigured inkwells at each other! Did they expect him to NOT notice this?

"Miss Craven, Mister Craven," he bellowed from across the room, his wand at the ready as he reached the soaked twins. "What in Merlin's name possessed you to display such childich behavior? Have you both taken complete leave of your senses or are you merely as brainless as this act makes you appear?!"

His face turning red in anger, he snapped his wand and cleaned the spills from everything around them, even going so far as to incinerate their former parchments. The water on their clothes, however, he purposely left intact. Let the little beasts dry themselves off, if they the mental capacity to do so.

"Ten points each from Pecari and detention after dinner." Forcing himself to remain relatively calm, Bastian took several deep breaths before adding a clipped, "Back to your lesson."\n\n

0 Professor Reiner And now I find the chimps amongst the children 0 Professor Reiner 0 5

Ash and Sorrel

January 31, 2005 5:36 AM

Or the children among the pets... (Yo, Stephen!) by Ash and Sorrel

‘What in Merlin's name possessed you to display such childish behavior?’

“The fact that we’re both children?” suggested Ash, as the professor continued his tirade. He and Sorrel kept practised straight faces, although inside they were beaming. Not only had they got a mini water fight in, the results of which the professor was even leaving in tact (well, the results that most directly affected them) but they’d managed to get a reaction out of him too! Seeing a professor, who had laboured so hard to keep his voice monotone and uninspiring, completely lose it all in a fit of rage was one of the most satisfying things they could think of.

The loss of house point... them a little hard, sobering them up slightly. It was a punishment that hadn’t been applicable at their Muggle school; you misbehaved, your punishment screwed your day up, not all your classmates too. Still, if they worked hard enough to gain back as many points as they lost, no one could complain. The detentions didn’t bother them a jot. They were used to them, and it wasn’t like they had Quidditch practice to miss. If anything, this was good. They did have a record to maintain, after all, and had been slightly disappointed in the lack of Howler-inducing behaviour so far in the term.

Drawing out fresh sheets of parchment, Sorrel’s gaze drifted to the green desk in front of her. She’d vaguely heard the professor shouting at Stephen earlier. He now seemed to be suffering the guy’s wrath with a rather large book in front of him. Her eyes drifted around the room, taking in how far everyone had got. Mia was being practically patted on the head for having produced, as far as Sorrel could see, a mangled lump. What a teacher’s pet! And, she thought, as Mia’s nails glimmered, catching the light as she swished her wand, the reason Sorrel had woken to find fumes in the air thick and noxious enough to choke her.

‘Check out the Princess of Pecari,’ she scribbled onto her parchment, ‘Look closely at the nails. She tried to fumigate me this morning! And Professor Painer, more like… Are you in detention too?’

She carefully folded the paper into the only other bit of origami she knew (besides water bombs). Checking that Painer’s back was turned, she threw the paper plane so it swooped under Stephen’s desk, grazing against his knee lightly as it went, before she quickly poised her wand over a spare sheet of parchment she’d got out.

“Solido Urna!” she pronounced carefully, tapping the centre of the parchment. It folded again, her confidence at knowing she could do that much showing through. The paper turned a murky shade, as the small amount of ink she’d managed to get into it seeped up the paper. It was only enough to stain, not to leak. She screwed the attempt up, wiping her hands off on her robes and went to try again…

Ash, meanwhile, had been having mildly more success, having been practicing the spell whilst Sorrel scribbled her note. Three ‘Soldido Urna’s later, he had an inkwell that would hold ink (or water, as he’d had to conjure the contents up separately) but not if you dropped it, or even hit it fairly lightly. It seemed to have about as much resilience to shock as fine glass. He mopped the puddle on his desk up with his sleeve, as he and Sorrel prepared to try again… On the plus side, it looked like they’d have a good excuse for not taking notes in their next lesson. At this rate, they wouldn’t have any parchment left.
\n\n

0 Ash and Sorrel Or the children among the pets... (Yo, Stephen!) 0 Ash and Sorrel 0 5

Stephen

January 31, 2005 10:22 AM

Dude - you doubted I'd notice this? by Stephen

With nothing much to do except admire his desk, Stephen had quite naturally let his attention wander after a little while. Class had been dragging on. His work had been handed in, and the Professor didn't appear interested in looking at it - which was really too bad. He had worked hard on translating those definitions into cursive for Jeeves. Tapping his fingers against the wood, he stopped and pushed them hard against the surface, rubbing it, then lifted them up to look at them.

There was a faint green tinge.

Stephen glanced over at Jeeves who looked rather occupied with Ash and Sorrie. He wondered briefly whether they had managed to make some awesome green ink too and craned his neck to get a better view - with plans to rush over there with his inkwell if it were so; he didn't think they'd mind - but it looked more like they'd been taking a dip. While finding that mildly interesting, there was something marginally more interesting here.

He rubbed the palm of his hand against the desk for a few moments then lifted it to look. It too had turned a faint green. With a definite feeling of accomplishment, Stephen set to turning his entire right arm green.

A couple of minutes into this task he felt something brush past his knee. He remained there in his seat a second as he wanted to finish the bit of greenifying he was currently up to, then ducked swiftly under the table. The green had dripped down the edges leaving a cool wavy pattern of green and not-green desk. He grinned as he looked at it for a moment before remembering his mission.

What had it been?

Glancing around, Stephen spotted a paper airplane not far away. Seeing it as being the most likely source of the brushing - and really a cool bit of folding, had someone managed to make it with the spell like he had the novelty hat inkwell? - he crawled the short distance over and picked it up, before scurrying back to his desk and sitting back there again in an innocent manner while opening it in his lap and reading.

He glanced around at the girls he knew from Pecari, trying to work out which one Sorrie meant by 'princess'. He knew there was supposed to be a girl by that name (seriously weird name, he thought) but he hadn't seen her about in a while. Which meant it had to be a different girl. Unless she meant Ash - he glanced at Ash, then at Ash's nails and dismissed the notion... backed up by a quick glance back at the note where the word 'she' sprung out at him. Definitely a girl then.

He returned to looking around when a slight flash of light caught his eye. Following it, he spotted something glimmering on one of the girls - he though her name was Mia - nails, and gaped a moment. He pulled the parchment onto the desk turned it over and quickly wrote a reply.

Is that pink? Dude, that must suck having to live with that smell. I'm glad I'm not a girl. Jeeves took away ten points and made me write meanings. I don't even know cursive or whatever it's called is (are we supposed to be learning this magical language at some point?) No detention though. Where's it at? If I'm bored I might drop by.

Folding it back into a plane, he aimed carefully and sent it flying back across the room where it managed to land directly in Sorrel's lap.

With a whoop and a punch of the air, Stephen glanced over at Jeeves again and promptly sat down, pulling his seat in again. Scratching his head, he spotted his tinged green arm, and with his irrepressible grin reappearing, set to colouring his left arm to match his right.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

39 Stephen Dude - you doubted I'd notice this? 0 Stephen 0 5

Sorrel

January 31, 2005 1:09 PM

Was just checking you got to it before Painer by Sorrel

Sorrel bit down on her cuff to surpress a laugh at both Stephen's laughter and his complete lack of tact. Man, he had a lot to learn. Especially if he wanted to survive classes with her.

"Aquor," she muttered, being good enough at the charm now to control the flow of water. She dropped a couple of drips onto the page, before liberally spreading them with her finger, completely obscuring Stephen's message. She folded the ex-note and slipped it into her bag, between the pages of her Potions text. Painer was not going to catch them out for that one.

She normally would have replied, even though she could easily tell him the time and location just as easily after class - what was the point in risking more trouble? Fun, she normally would have justified it with, but now there were blooming 'house points' to be lost, and she felt she'd already lost enough already to make her severly unpopular. Not that she cared about popularity, especially in terms of what the other, poxy girls thought about her, not that it mattered if they started on her (she could whoop them all in a fight and didn't care if they put slimy things in her bed) but there were some ok people in Pecari and, until she knew where the likes of Stephen (and maybe Elizabeth) stood on house points, she wasn't going to risk losing any more. Bloody Painer.... She poked her ink well half heartedly, muttering 'Come on... Change you piece of crud'. It had absolutely no effect. \n\n

0 Sorrel Was just checking you got to it before Painer 0 Sorrel 0 5

Zack Dill (Alderaan, er, Aladren)

February 03, 2005 1:33 PM

I think I smell something burning by Zack Dill (Alderaan, er, Aladren)

As he had now spent half a year at Sonora, Zack was ready to admit that magic existed. He hadn't seen a whole lot of proof that he could do magic, but he was now willing to face the possibility that his Magic: The Gathering cards weren't the start and finish of his spell casting career. He had gotten a some water to drip from his wand, after all.

So it was with less distrust that he pulled out his ridiculously expensive wand (73 freakin' dollars for a piece of wood) and put it on the desk beside his notebook. His normal ballpoint pen (which as far as he could tell worked far better than those irritating quills some people around here affected) waited impatiently in his right hand, tapping the notebook because Zack found it amusing to bounce it off the metal spiral of the binding.

Once the lesson started, though, he set point to paper diligently. However, unlike a normal student (or even a magical student), the letters written out on his page did not spell out any words remotely like those the teacher was saying. In fact, the notes weren't even in English. Or french, or spanish, or russian, or latin.

They were in a very unique cross between Tolkien's Elvish Star Trek's Klingon, and some words Zack had made up himself to fill in the blanks of his vocabulary from the other two languages. To his knowledge, neither the elves nor Klingons had ever had to coin a word for things like 'inkwell'. (Well, the eleves might have, but he couldn't think of it.) He made a note of the new words on the inside back cover of his notebook.

Though it was unlikely that anyone in the room besides him could read it, his notes were on-topic, precise, logical, and well-organized. Seated in the front row as he was, even if it was off to the far left, he risked the teacher looking down at his notes, so he was careful to keep them very neat.

After the lecture concluded, Zack put aside his pen and notebook (though the notebook was kept close enough for easy reference) and pulled out a piece of looseleaf from his bookbag. This he placed in front of him and picked up his wand.

He placed the tip of the wand in the middle of the college-ruled page, and screwed up his conviction (he figured that must be what was lacking in his spells so far since he didn't think his midwestern accent was messing up his ennunciation that badly).

"Solido Urna," he said, trying to believe that it would actually work this time. Because, really, paper turned into inkwells all the time, right? It was totally normal for something to turn into something else. Just like it was normal for there to be maze-like garden growing in the middle of the desert.

Some days, Zack really missed Detroit.

He wasn't really all that shocked when nothing happened. He pulled his wand away, then replaced it once more, trying again, "Solido Urna!"

And this time . . . this time something happened. But it definitely wasn't what was supposed to happen. At least, as far he knew, there weren't any inkwells that curled up into smouldering balls of smoking paper. He didn't think that was normal inkwell behavior even here.

He could hear a couple instances of 'Aquor' being cast behind him, however, so he might be wrong on that.\n\n

1 Zack Dill (Alderaan, er, Aladren) I think I smell something burning 40 Zack Dill (Alderaan, er, Aladren) 0 5

Professor Reiner

February 05, 2005 4:34 PM

Smokey the Prof by Professor Reiner

He had stood only a few feet away, watching as the boy pulled out... oh dear, notebook paper. Of all the ruddy things!

Quickly he closed the little distance between them and just in time to see the abomination start to smolder. "Efflo!" he said, pointing his ebony wand at the smoking lump, the smoldering flame being snuffed out as quickly as he spoke the word.

"Mister Dill, most transfiguration spells are very specific to magical items, and cannot be substituted with purely muggle ones. Using that sheet of notebook paper, you were quite lucky not to go up in flames instead of the embers." Though his voice was only slightly laced with an edge, his message was still clear. It was a mistake the boy couldn't afford to make again.

Looking down at his notes, Bastian grinned despite himself. The boy was thourgh that was for certain, probably more so than any other, even if he only recognized one third of the scrawl on the paper. "One of the greatest works of wizarding history, and one of the few that managed to make it into muggle knowledge. Tell me, Mister Dill, are you as fluent in the high elven Quenya, or only the grey elven Sindarin?"

With an eyebrow raised in amusement, he awaited the boy's response. And judging by the look on his face, perhaps he didn't know Tolkien was one of them?\n\n

0 Professor Reiner Smokey the Prof 0 Professor Reiner 0 5

Zack Dill

February 07, 2005 1:15 PM

I . . . what? by Zack Dill

Zack looked up at the teacher in surprise as he was told that 'most transfiguration spells are very specific to *magical* items'. Well, why hadn't he said so before now? How was he supposed to know that there were more fundamental differences between looseleaf and parchment than the fact that one of them had lines on it? How could he know bleach and ink would make that much of a difference?

Still, he was smart enough not to point out that he thought the shortcoming was in Reiner's lecture. He tried not to get professors angry with him.

As the man looked over at his open notebook, however, Zack resigned himself to a few minutes of translation, just to prove he was taking proper notes. His social studies teach last year had made him read two weeks worth before he believed that the notes were what Zack said they were.

"One of the greatest works of wizarding history, and one of the few that managed to make it into muggle knowledge. Tell me, Mister Dill, are you as fluent in the high elven Quenya, or only the grey elven Sindarin?"

Zack opened his mouth to start reading, but then his brain caught up to what had actually been said. Wait. What? Tolkien's histories of middle earth were real? He tried to open his mouth again, but found it already was, so he closed it and opened it again.

"I, yes, some, but," real eloquent, Zack, he mocked himself, you're fluent in English and no less than five fictional (or perhaps not so fictional) languages, but you can't string two consecutive words together. "Written anyway," he tried again, "and I don't know how great my grammar is, but yeah. I could probably pass for a two or three year old."

He looked down at his notes, the back up at the teacher. "It just didn't seem right to mix Quenya with Klingon." \n\n

1 Zack Dill I . . . what? 40 Zack Dill 0 5

Professor Reiner

February 07, 2005 4:06 PM

Well spoken.... kind of by Professor Reiner

"Klingon?" Bastian said, a look of complete confusion on his face before it quickly faded into one of understanding. "Ah...so that other garble has a name?" he laughed. "No, I suppose mixing Quenya with that would be sacralige."

"As far as the grammar, from the parts I can understand, considering one has to make judgement calls on translating the Klingon, that you've actually got a rather good grasp of it, that is, at least the Sindarin components. The Klingon I have no experience with so for all I know, that may be the part that is lacking."

Looking over the notes once again, he coudln't help but start examining the 'Klingon' as the boy called it. It was a harsh tongue, that much was clear, though not as throaty as German. Interesting, really. Wonder where the boy picked it up from? He himself, had read about most of the wizarding languages, dead or not. He couldn't recall seeing Klingon before. No matter, he told himself, forcing his attention back on class.

"Go on and try again," he instructed, his eyes still scrutinizing the odd language.\n\n

0 Professor Reiner Well spoken.... kind of 0 Professor Reiner 0 5

Zack Dill

February 08, 2005 3:23 PM

requesting verification by Zack Dill

He smiled to himself in self-satisfaction as he turned away from the professor to rummage through his bag. It was good to know that he'd taught himself Sindarin with the same success that he'd taught himself physics and chemistry, even though Tolkien didn't come with 'Test Yourself' appendices to confirm you actually did understand what you thought you understood.

He didn't really have a lot in the way of actual parchment, as he kept most of the blank stuff in his room, but he managed to find a rumpled sheet of it crushed down on the bottom of his bag. It had a early draft of one of his potions homework assignments written on it. Hopefully that wouldn't affect the transfiguration as much as the blue lines on the looseleaf. He'd used quill and bottled ink to write it, so it wasn't like there was any non-magical 'contamination'.

But, just in case, he looked up at the teacher and asked for verification, "Is it alright to use paper with writing on it? Or is the spell specific to blank pages?" It never hurt to check, and some teachers gave brownie points for it. After his first disasterous attempt today, he figured he couldn't be too careful.
\n\n

1 Zack Dill requesting verification 40 Zack Dill 0 5

Professor Bastian Reiner

Lesson One (with me): Solido Urna by Professor Bastian Reiner

Stephen Baxter

That's like that origami thing, dude!! by Stephen Baxter

Mia

That didn by Mia

Mia

OOC: Title is wrong, just had to say so by Mia

Jenna F

My big mouth by Jenna F

Elizabeth

Transfiguration by Elizabeth

Stephen

No, no, no... <i>I'm</i> the loudmouth! by Stephen

Jenna

Eww! by Jenna

Jenna H

no troublemakers here... or not by Jenna H

Professor Reiner

Did I not warn you? by Professor Reiner

Professor Reiner

I didn't expect much more... yet by Professor Reiner

Professor Reiner

Nicely done. by Professor Reiner

Professor Reiner

*snorts* naturally by Professor Reiner

Jake Santoro (Teppenpaw)

Er--a bit complicated if you ask me... by Jake Santoro (Teppenpaw)

Tally (Teppenpaw)

Solido Urna, got it. by Tally (Teppenpaw)

Stephen

Well... I <i>might</i> have missed that bit... by Stephen

Jenna

Well, excuse me! by Jenna

Chrissy Mathers (Crotalus)

An inkwell of sorts... by Chrissy Mathers (Crotalus)

Elizabeth

Thank-You by Elizabeth

Jenna H

ink beam by Jenna H

Mia

well, third time's a charm...I hope by Mia

Stephen

What have you done <i>this</i> time? by Stephen

Jenna

OOC by Jenna

Professor Reiner

Great balls of... ink? by Professor Reiner

Professor Reiner

Good save. by Professor Reiner

Professor Reiner

Thoughts spilling over? by Professor Reiner

Tally

No, just my ink by Tally

Sorrel and Ash Craven (Pecari, both)

We think not, Jenna... by Sorrel and Ash Craven (Pecari, both)

Jenna H

I have triumphed! by Jenna H

Professor Reiner

And now I find the chimps amongst the children by Professor Reiner

Ash and Sorrel

Or the children among the pets... (Yo, Stephen!) by Ash and Sorrel

Stephen

Dude - you doubted I'd notice this? by Stephen

Sorrel

Was just checking you got to it before Painer by Sorrel

Zack Dill (Alderaan, er, Aladren)

I think I smell something burning by Zack Dill (Alderaan, er, Aladren)

Professor Reiner

Smokey the Prof by Professor Reiner

Zack Dill

I . . . what? by Zack Dill

Professor Reiner

Well spoken.... kind of by Professor Reiner

Zack Dill

requesting verification by Zack Dill

snorts naturally by Professor Reiner