Professor Sutekh
June 07, 2008 2:46 PM
Years 3 & 4 by Professor Sutekh
Sanaa was rushing around her classroom. She had mixed up her lesson plans and had set up the classroom for the 5th year layer spell session and not the third and fourth years’ lesson on switching spells. Standing at the front of the class Sanaa waved her wand frantically as tables and chairs flew around the classroom, knocking a few cages on the ceiling and disturbing their occupants. Loud angry screeches, squarks and ruffling of feathers echoed around the room.“Sorry,” Sanaa said as the last desks landed. Sighing, Sanaa glanced around the room noting the tables spaced out and no chairs. On each table was a cactus and a bronze statue of a wizard; wand out ready to duel. Sanaa had bought them on her last visit to her late husbands’ family in Egypt; they sold five statues for a sickle. Therefore if they got broken it didn’t really matter and the class could even keep their statues for later practice if they wished.
Hearing loud voices outside of her door, Sanaa opened it and let the class trudge in.
“Two students to a set of desks please.” Sanaa waited until the students had sorted themselves out. “Right, today you will be learning switching spells. This is extremely important and you will be expected to perform this on your CATS, as it comes up every year without fail. In front of you are the two types of objects you will be given. One will be a live object, either a plant or an animal, the plant option started a few years ago as too many students were complaining about performing spells on animals. The second object will be either metal or stone. Today I wish for you to switch two arms of the cactus with the two arms of the statue.”
Sanaa stood behind her desk and stood a cactus and a statue in front of her.
“The most important rule of the switching spell is to only touch your wand to the parts you are switching. I accidently touched my husbands’s hand when he was demonstrating an advanced technique for switching spells and it took us an hour to switch it back with the table leg I had already spelled. He wasn’t pleased.” Sanaa hoped the class understood how dangerous the spell could be. “I will be taking points off any students I catch using this spell to purposefully harm another student or a student’s familiar.”
“Now, it doesn’t matter which object you start with first, the results will be the same. Begin by tapping the two arms of the cactus or statue and say ‘Primitus’, then tap the two arms of the statue and say ‘Secundus’ and finally place your left hand over the right object and your right hand over the left object and say ‘Transit’ as you uncross your arms. The two sets of arms will switch over. I know this sounds complicated but this is the beginning of the multi-cast spells you are going to learn.”
Sanaa quickly demonstrated with her own statue and cactus.
“You can work in pairs but please practice on your own sets of objects. Please begin.”
Subthreads: Why are classes so hard? by Elly Eriksson
The right to bear cactus arms by Eavan Valentine
Endangered Species are not to be messed with (TAG PROFESSOR) by Talitha Cumni with Professor Sutekh
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Elly Eriksson
June 11, 2008 7:31 AM
Why are classes so hard? by Elly Eriksson
Elly loathed tranfiguration. It had always been her worse class, closely followed by charms and DADA. The problem was that it took her so long to pick up new spells her professors rarely saw her doing them correctly, and it took her hours of homework practise to get them right. Somehow she always got them in the end, but the amount of effort it took was frustrating. Still, she was much better now than she'd been in her first year, when it had taken her weeks to get a spell right, so things were looking up. It was still annoying, though.At least the professor was okay. Actually, Elly liked most of the professors at Sonora. Professor Taylor could be a bit dull sometimes, and Professor Flatt was usually grumpy, but they both let Elly mess around in class, so no harm done. Professor Sutekh was nice, but she hadn't seemed very impressed last year when she and Briony had complained about using animals in their transfiguration classes. Thir arguig had paid off though; the class were now using plants, instead.
Elly looked down at her little cactus. There were some cacti in the gardens, but they didn't look much like this one. The one on the desk had little arms, like the cacti you saw in cartoons. It soon transpired that the arms were necessary for the lesson. Switching spells? No way. Elly had read about switching spells for a homework last year, and they were supposed to be difficult.
Sighing, Elly tried the spell anyway. She crossed her hands over like she was supposed to, but when she finished th spell by incanting transit, nothing happened. Noth that she was surprised. "I don't know why I bother," she said light-heartedly.
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Eavan Valentine
June 21, 2008 2:56 PM
The right to bear cactus arms by Eavan Valentine
Transfiguration was interesting in Eavan's eyes. It wasn't the easiest class at Sonora by a long shot, but somehow Eavan liked it. Maybe because it was so useful. Just the other day she had managed to transfigure some water into a passable ink so she could finish her potions essay. The pot had turned back into water after a while, but the ink on the paper stayed visible until she had turned it in. Very useful indeed.When she arrived, there still many empty desks, though it looked like they were going to be partnering up. Eavan took an empty desk, noticing that the only other person in the room was Elly, and although she didn't want to admit it to anyone, she was still slightly intimidated by the more popular girl. So she took a desk nearby and hoped Danae, or someone she got along with would choose to sit next to her.
Sitting on the desk in front of her was a cactus and a statue. She stared at them intently wondering what they were going to be doing with them, and not realizing that someone had taken the desk next to her. Instead when she was done staring at the cactus and statue, she turned her attention to Professor Sutekh.
When the lecture had been given, Eavan pulled out her wand and tried the spell. Somehow, instead of transferring arms, she made the statue and the cactus switch places on her desk. She sighed and looked up at her partner, finally noticing that someone had sat down.
"Oh hey! Didn't even notice you. Have you gotten anywhere yet?"
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The right to bear cactus arms
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Talitha Cumni
June 22, 2008 10:17 AM
Endangered Species are not to be messed with (TAG PROFESSOR) by Talitha Cumni
Talitha enjoyed Transfiguration. She loved trying to turn the rock into a cup last year. The rock “felt” as though it enjoyed it too. She loved doing wand work. Charms and Transfig. Even DADA, held a fascination for her. She loved the way she could channel her magical energy from the center of her being into her arm and focus it out of her beloved wand to make things happens that she consciously wanted to instead of erupting erratically all over the place. Her years of trying to control her hyper-active accidental magic seemed to be over, but the memories still came back to haunt her from time to time.She choose a desk semi to the front of the classroom but not front row center. She loved learning, but she hated being labeled a “brain” or a “nerd”. Talitha took notes as she listened to Professor Suteck’s lecture. The switching spell sounded like fun. After the incident at the lake last summer, she would just love to be able to switch a few parts of Alexander’s anatomy with his nose. The jerk.
She greatly appreciated the fact that the professor encouraged imagination. Talitha was what NANA called a “picture thinker” meaning she envisioned what she was thinking and learning in her head. Some people learned the words of a story. Other’s how the writing looked on the page. Talitha incorporated what she was learning into a sort of running picture, much like a muggle movie. She picture the sights and sounds, even the smells and (if there was anything edible, tastes) as she made memories. It was really renascent to her study habits. She found that if she incorporated a Quick Quotes Quill to set down what was being said and done around her as she took the “hard” notes of the lectures, she was so able to recall and retain what the professors had said in class.
She did have a huge problem with the exercise. Saguaro Cacti were rare. Because of urban expansion and development the plant, sacred to the Navajo people for its life saving qualities and its strong, hollow quills were protected under the Endangered Species Act. In the wild, a Saguaro could take up to seventy five years to reach reproductive age. The “arms” that the professor were the key. They were the branches that bloomed. They were the reproductive “business” of this cactus. Talitha had worked with animals that gave permission to be studied or used for food or potions. She had worked with plants. She knew the Saguaro were among the “people” that offered themselves up to the animal and human “people” to aid in their survival but she still couldn’t bring herself to mutilate an endangered species.
She didn’t want to seem like a trouble maker. She also didn’t want to disrespect her heritage. She may have been a full blood Suquamish on her mother’s side, but her daddy, whom she adored, was half Navajo. She thought long and hard about her dilemma. She looked down at her poor little cactus, wondering if she might hurt it. She was sure that if she messed up, it could potentially render the plant neutered at best or in pain or kill it at worst. If she did the incantation perfectly, where was her guarantee that the plant wouldn’t be irrevocably harmed?
If they only had two different statues. Perhaps if she offered something of herself that wasn’t a living entity…
“Professor?” Talitha asked, raising her arm. “Can I go get a substitute for the cactus? I have a ceramic clown bank I really don’t care about.” \n
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Professor Sutekh
June 24, 2008 5:23 PM
Animals, now plants! by Professor Sutekh
Sanaa had put a lot of thought into this years Transfiguration lessons. She had purposefully left out the use of animals, as the previous year there were numerous compliants from the students about using animals in class.However, as soon as a hand went into the air, Sanaa knew that there was a problem. Luckily she had also planned for this eventuality. She reached into the top drawer of her desk and pulled out another statue, this time a female ballet dancer doing a Piroutte. Picking up the statue Sanaa left the security of her desk and walked over to the witch near the front who had raised her hand.
"I do not understand why using a cactus is a problem, however you may use this statue instead." Sanaa places the statue on the desk and picks up the cactus. "A switching spell during the CATs is done on whatever the examiner has to hand so I am happy to give you another statue in place of the cactus. During the exam though, if you wish to pass, you will need to transfigure whatever they give you. On my CATs I had to switch the legs of a passing beetle with two flowers of a plant." Sanaa smiles at the witch and then returns to her desk.
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