Professor Marlowe

February 11, 2006 11:10 PM
Well, Lina, this is it, she thought as the bell rang, beginning the class, and she looked around the assembled first years. Merlin, they looked small. Her two eldest nieces, Christine and Ophelia, were ten and nine, and they looked considerably bigger in memory than any of these eleven-year-olds. It was probably a question of familiarity. They'd start looking more in-proportion when she was used to them. With that in mind, she gave the class a brief, businesslike smile and began the opening statements she had spent most of the previous night preparing.

"Good morning," she said, long since past noticing any but the most drastic reactions to an accent that was half Boston and half Britain. "I am Professor Marlowe, and, as should be apparent, your instructor in the field of Transfiguration." Using her wand as a pointer, she indicated the name written to the left of the board behind her. She'd never manage Tabitha Newton's easygoing charm, but she had never aspired to be her old Arithmancy teacher. "This isn't a subject to be taken lightly. The smallest error has the potential to cause large amounts of damage." She rounded the desk to face them more directly. "I would advise you to discard anything you think you already know about this subject now. I can tell you from experience that it'll save you time and effort." Enough in that vein. It was time to move on to the lesson.

"Today's spell is a relatively simple one involving objects similar in size and, though less closely, appearance. You'll each be issued a match - I've charmed them not to ignite, so be kind enough to not try to set my room on fire - and will attempt to Transfigure it into a needle." She tried not to remember the day she had been taught this particular spell and had been scolded by the teacher, one Professor Writworth, when she argued that a needle looked absolutely nothing like a match. "The incantation for this is Myxanti Nere. Watch, please." She lifted a match from the small box of them resting on her desk and held it up for their inspection, then pointed her wand directly at it. As she pronounced the incantation, she moved her wand in a straight downward diagonal motion finished with a flick that returned it to the original position. She didn't attempt to deny being internally relieved when it worked correctly. Having a beginner's spell go wrong because of nerves would be the exact opposite of the start she hoped to make.

"Focus and precision of pronunciation and wand movement are essential to success with this spell," she told the class, carefully placing the needle beside the container holding the matches. "Your instructions are written to the right of the board, as I'm sure some of you have noticed. I'd strongly advise copying them into your notes for future reference. We'll practice the wand movement and then the pronunciation of the spell before you attempt the Transfiguration." A few minutes later, everyone seemed to have gotten first the motion and then the spell, each performed without the other to prevent any accidents, and she deemed it safe to send out the matches.

"Try not to become impatient if the spell doesn't come easily at first," she said, making her tone a little softer than it had been. Newton had always done that, and it was effective in causing fractional lowering of anxiety levels in most cases. Selina's had never been one such case - she had been known as a perfectionist and all-around geek by midterm of her first year - but others had said that it worked. "Don't hesitate to ask for help if you need it. You may begin." \n\n
Subthreads:
0 Professor Marlowe Lesson One, First Years 0 Professor Marlowe 1 5


Guenther Heindrich

February 20, 2006 3:14 PM
The tension in the room was unbearable as Guenter walked into the Transfiguration classroom. It seem that the only available seat was inhabited by the large bag of a girl with short spiky red hair. He was glad that the only seat wasn't on the other side of the classroom because some oil spill seemed to have migrated from the ocean and into the classroom onto a classmate's desk.

He moved to the side of the room that the girl with spiky hair and stood next to the chair. "Move your bag, please."
he said dully really too tired to think.

Between how late he had stayed up the night before, the incident in the library that morning, and the horrible endin to his book, he wasn't in the mood to deal with people. \n\n
0 Guenther Heindrich R-E-S-P-E-C-T! 0 Guenther Heindrich 0 5


Melanie Rose

February 20, 2006 11:54 PM
Melanie looked up at the sound of a voice. It belonged to a tall kid with what she took as a half aggravated look. He had asked if he could sit next to her. She just sat there looking at him. Him being tall wasn't the reason. It was just her way of saying 'I really would like you to find a different place,' without actually saying so. After a minute of nothing happening, she glanced around the room. There were no spots unless you counted the ink spots that would wind up on the floor from the one who announced herself as a Carey girl had spilt. Quietly, Melanie looked back to him and then the seat. Turning, she closed up her large bag and moved it to the other side of her.
"Sit. Do you need any catching up on or do you think you can decipher it all on your own?" She said in with a small bit of 'Hi there, Giant! Do you want a goose?' Tone. She didn't catch it until it was too late.\n\n
0 Melanie Rose Find out what it means to me: 0 Melanie Rose 0 5


Guenter Heindrich

February 21, 2006 7:40 PM
(ooc: Just so people know, putting ue instead of an umlaut is just easier but it means the same thing...)

Guenter sat down, suprised that the girl had acknowledged him. Of course, he would be hard to ignore with his height.
"It would be nice if you could fill me in. I don't know much about Transfiguration. So, what's been going on, Spike?"

He used the name to imply that he didn't know her name. Of course, many people would take offense to this type of particular name calling. Guenter hoped that she didn't though. She seemed like his type of girl.

He noticed that "Spike" had a match in front of her but what they were supposed to be Transfiguring, he had no idea. \n\n
0 Guenter Heindrich Re: Find out what it means to me: 0 Guenter Heindrich 0 5


Melanie Rose

February 21, 2006 10:09 PM
Melanie sighed and thought for a minute as she fixed half of her collar to the up right position but stopped midway hearing the tall kid call her 'Spike.' She couldn't do nothing but smirk. Today she would consider pick on people day. She picked on poor Saul, accidently of course, and then told that one kid to stay on topic and not on hand holding. Her mood was going sour by the minute.
"What ever is on the board you can either copy first or get from a class mate at what ever is convenient towards who ever and what not but I would first get caught up on the wand movements and incantation." She picked up her short cherry wood wand and moved the matches directly infront of her.
This would be the third attempt and they always say the third time is always the charm!
"Just watch and listen carefully. Although, It seems only a few are changing our matches. Oh, I don't think I told you that we are trying to change them into a needle."
Melanie looked back to the matches and spoke as clearly as possible as she moved her wand weilding hand in the straight downward diagonal that the teacher had shown and ended with the flick that returned it to the original location, "Myxanti Nere."
She waited there looking at the same old match that laid there before. Nothing happened.
"Vith dos! You dumb match!" She muttered as she slid it over to Guenther's side of the table, "Go for it, Mista' Alpine."
Her New Jersey accent hit her and all she could do was sit there and wait for Guenther to try the transfiguration.\n\n
0 Melanie Rose Re: Find out what it means to me: 0 Melanie Rose 0 5


Guenter Heindrich

February 23, 2006 7:42 AM
He took back about what he thought of the girl. She was extremely wierd. She was using strange words. What did Vith Dos mean anyway? Oh well, she really wasn't anything of his concern.

He pulled his wand out of his bag and started into the lesson. Would this match ever turn into a needle? Well he was about to find out. SHE certainly didn't do it right, so he looked around to find a person in the process of doing it right. But, all of the other kids had already found out how to do and were relaxing or they were having an unbelievable amout of trouble with it. He sighed. He guess that he would have to try it HER way. What was her name anyway?

Guenter tryed the wand movement and said the "magic" words.Something must not have been right about one of them because he didn't get the right result. Maybe it was because he was so skeptical that it would work. Of course he hadn't seen a match turn into a needle yet, so could it even work? He didn't know but he supposed that he should be seen by the teacher at least trying the spell. He had never done bad in school and he wasn't planning on starting. He might have been a little dense but he always tried hard to make up for it.

He said the words and used the wand movements again, this time focusing more. It didn't work, again. He was on the brink of giving up about the fifth time he tried it. If it weren't for the fact that he wanted to prove he wasn't his mother, he would have. But he wasn't going to flunk out like his mother did! He tried it again and again. Finally, after trying it for what seemed like a thousand times, he got it. It almost was like it was happening in slow motion. The tip of the match got very pointy and the entire match turn a silverous color. He felt the texture. Yep, it was metal all right. So, he was better than his mom. That was a relief.
\n\n
0 Guenter Heindrich Your name my pretty?! 0 Guenter Heindrich 0 5


Melanie Rose

February 23, 2006 3:32 PM
Melanie watched as Guenter had the match turn into a needle. He was lucky.
"How'd ya' do it?" She asked picking it up and playing with it. There was no way that it was a match anymore. She wondered how she would do it now fore there weren't any more matches on the table. This would be the first frustration in doing magic in her eyes. Getting it right. Although, she kept her mind on the present and was wondering on how to either get another match or turn the one Guenter had transfigured back to its original state.
Maybe he knew the trick in it. Or maybe he didn't. She'd have to find out.\n\n
0 Melanie Rose You'll never get it nor my dog or my shoes! 0 Melanie Rose 0 5