I think I must be ill or something... on Transfiguration

Selina Skies, Substitue

June 09, 2009 4:37 PM

Advanced Transfiguration - Suspend by Selina Skies, Substitue

It felt a little odd to be gliding down the halls of Sonora Academy, linked so closely as it was with her own former school. Indeed, many of her students had transferred here, and she saw the odd familiar face as she made her way to the odd, unfamiliar classroom. Although the lack of familiarity with the rooms she taught in was now become a familiar feeling – such being the lot of a substitute teacher. It was a role that suited her well. She had enjoyed being a headmistress far less than she had enjoyed teaching, perhaps in part the closure of Salem, which made her question whether she'd been cut out for the role, was responsible, but she enjoyed shaping children's education by teaching them over and above deciding on the policies by which they were taught. And although being a sub had its downsides, such as not getting to know one class and see them through to their exams, it was sort of fun to see a new place every working day, and it allowed her to spend more time with her husband and their daughters, of whom she set a photograph on what would be her desk for the time being. Often it had to share with pictures of the regular professor's family, on those occasions where she was called in to cover sick leave. However, as the date and lack of personality in the room attested, this job was filling up a vacancy that hadn't been taken.

As she waited for the class to file in, she checked over her notes and materials and wrote her name on the board, along with the word 'substitute.' The class had had a variety of professors over the years and, as she wasn't covering for a specific person's absence, that had left her a lot freer with her lesson plan. When she covered sick leave or when a particular professor had been teaching the class for decades, she was usually left a lesson plan. One that, by this level, the kids could probably be trusted to simply read and get on with. She much preferred jobs like this one, where she had the opportunity to actually teach her own class, rather than just deliver someone else's.

“Good morning,” she smiled, once a number of people approximate to that of the class list she had been given had entered the room and taken their seats. “My name is Professor Skies, and I am currently covering this Transfiguration class. I am specifically a Transfiguration substitute and specialist, so you need not worry that your RATS will suffer, nor that I will be simply reading to you from your set text.” These were important sub-myths that she had quickly learnt it was important to dispel early on. Not that this was always effective, as she still frequently encountered 'Are you sure you know what you're on about, Miss?' 'That's not the way Professor Fancypants waves her wand' and, most memorably, 'Professor Cantankerous Oldgit taught us never to trust women teachers.' “I see from the notes I've been given that you've been covering vanishing and conjuring, so I thought we'd expand upon that today and continue with some other things that people don't commonly associate with being Transfigurations.” Even if she wasn't planning to follow a previous teacher's lead, she found that it helped to give the class at least the illusion that they were getting some sort of continuity. On this occasion, however, it happened to be true. They were into their RATS now, and expected to know a set of magics called 'Odds and Ends That Were Argued Over For Years, Still Are, But For Extremely Complex and Highly Debatable Theoretical Reasons Currently Remaind Classified as Transfigurations.'

“When faced with these types of Transfigurations, or any theory questions on them, I find it helps to think of Transfiguation not as the turning of one thing into another, but as altering the plane of existence which something is occupying. That in itself is a big topic and not something we have time to go into great detail on today, but anyone who is interested is welcome to come and discuss it with me during the class.

“Today we will be undertaking the topic of Motion as Transfiguration,” she informed them, “Don't let the title intimidate you – you will have come across many examples in your day to day life, possibly without realising that they are Transfigurations, as opposed to the Charms that offer a similar effect. Vanishing and Conjuring are seen as types of Transfigurations of Motion, as in a sense you are changing the location of that object,” this was a point that could be contended, and she dearly hoped Professor Such-and-Such hadn't biasedly drilled the opposite point of view into them. It was a topic she could give an entire lecture on quite happily, but the Quantum Physics of Transfiguration was more suited to University. These students, although they would need some theory, were mostly here to learn how not why.

“Today we will be looking at suspension. That is, holding something in the air by Transfiguration. As with many of these outside-the-box Transfigurations, particularly those of Motion, there are Charms which will have a similar effect,” she waved her wand and a short table appeared on the blackboard.

*Charm*				*Transfiguration*
Levitate				Suspend
Imobilise				Arrest
Banish				Vanish
Summon				Conjure

“As you can see, in some there are clear differences – banishing and vanishing do not perform exactly the same function. And, if we are being picky, nor do levitate and suspend, however they do have the appearance of doing so. This lesson will be divided into a theory and a practical. It is up to you which you tackle first, however, I expect you to have attempted both to a reasonable standard before you leave. Indeed, as this lesson backs onto lunch, you will have attempted each to a reasonable standard before you do leave,” she warned, “The theory questions are as follows:

Summarise the theory of the 'Suspend' charm and explain why it is classed as a Transfiguration
What different functions might be served by Levitate and Suspend?
What advantages does each have in its own areas, or how is it specialised to these functions?
Someone is falling. They are not unpleasant and you have no wish to see them splattered on the ground below. Which would you use and why? (Please show arguments for each side).”

The questions appeared to write themselves on the board next to the table, in the same elegant, looping hand.

“Page 42 of your textbooks should help, but not provide you with answers. That's what your brains are for. If you are stuck, please either raise your hand or discuss your ideas with a partner. Again, partners are not their to give you the answers, but rather to help you sort through your ideas, which can seem a confusing tangle if left solely in the realm of your own head.

“As for the practical, you each have a small wooden cube in front of you. Your task is to suspend it – I warn you now, I will be able to tell if you have taken a short cut and levitated it instead. Observe,” she said crisply, to regain the attention of anyone whose focus had wandered. The spell, originally enough, is 'Suspendi,'” it appeared, along with the pronunciation guide 'soo-spon-dee' on the board. “The wand motion consists of two horizontal slashes, one at approximately the object's level, and another at the height at which you wish to suspend it. Try not to flow from one line to the next – the more sharply distinct you can make them, the better. Thus not,” she demonstrated a poor version of the wand movement, “but rather,” she sharply sliced the air. “Suspendi,” she commanded, causing an empty stool between to students to place itself above their heads with a clear 'pop'.

“Unless there are any questions, you may begin.”

OOC – I know some people find theory really hard to write, hence me allowing you to choose which area to tackle first. I love it, and have gone into Transfiguation geek overdrive writing this – if it's not clear, please ask, IC or OOC. Obviously, I have no power to force you to continue writing on this board into your RL lunch break, so if you want to write in more detail about one part or the other, or you get drawn into a conversation which takes days/weeks to complete, then that's fine, although it would be nice to see people write a post for each. And just cos I'm a sub, don't think you can mess around – I know the rules, so give me long, detailed posts. Enjoy!

Subthreads:

Suspension of Disbelief by Saul Pierce with Alexandra St. Martin

Practical Problems by Helena Layne

Theoretical Thorns-In-My-Side by Helena Layne

I think I must be ill or something... by Morgaine Carey

13 Selina Skies, Substitue Advanced Transfiguration - Suspend 26 Selina Skies, Substitue 1 5

Saul Pierce

June 09, 2009 11:04 PM

Suspension of Disbelief by Saul Pierce

Saul's saving grace in Transfigurations was that he liked it and wanted to learn it. He was not a particularly good student, nor was he particularly talented without a great deal of practice behind him. What transfigurations he had mastered came through sheer brute force of will and perserverence rather than any innate gift or understanding of the subject.

Theory work, especially at the RATS level, was entirely over his head and even new practical stuff was unlikely to be mastered or even flubbed recognizably during the class period.

He listened to the lecture, more or less, but he only understood about half of what the woman was saying and that made it hard for him to pay attention. Simon would have to explain it in smaller words later.

At least the assignment was written on the board. That made things easier. He copied it down, trying to keep the spelling the same, so Simon would be able to figure out what he was supposed to be teaching Saul because Saul certainly had no idea.

He turned to page twenty-four in the text - that was the page she said to look at for help right? - but didn't see anything relevant, so he closed it again and put it away.

He did have the answer to one question though. In the space left after 'Someone is falling. They are not unpleasant and you have no wish to see them splattered on the ground below. Which would you use and why? (Please show arguments for each side).' Saul wrote:

I wood use the charm levitait becuz I can do that one every time. I havint tryed doing the soospend spel yet so that won probly woodn't work and I woodn't want to drop them.

The rest, he left for later, after he'd talked with a partner who might be able to give him a clue about what the answers were supposed to be. Or at least what the questions meant.

In the meantime, there was the spell to practice. He was good at levitation, so he hoped that might help with suspension a little bit, but doubted it. He took out his wand, practiced saying the word a few times, and then cast, "Soo-spon-dee," with a sharp cut at the level of his parchment and another sharp cut at the level of his eyes.

The wand motions were precise and exactly as the substitute had shown, but . . . nothing happened.

He sighed heavily. This was why he liked Charms so much and found Transfigurations just a little maddening. He could always get the mechanics of the spell just right, and that gave him a natural gift for charms, but for transfigurations, you needed to think it right, and his thinking part always needed the practice until he figured out just how it was supposed to get thought. Once that clicked, he could do it right every time, but it was getting to that point that was hard.

Well, staring at the parchment that still rested on his desk wasn't going to get it suspended any faster. "Soo-spon-dee," Saul tried again, with the two sharp horizontal cuts. And he tried it again, and again, with no more success than the time before.

After what seemed like the twentieth try (but was actually only the ninth), he sat back in his chair and sighed at the parchment with his name at the top and the three blank questions and one answered one below that. "I'll get you suspended up there yet," he told it, before looking to the side to check the progress of the person sitting beside him. "You having any better luck than me?"

1 Saul Pierce Suspension of Disbelief 82 Saul Pierce 0 5

Alexandra St. Martin

June 20, 2009 11:28 PM

Usually a necessary thing. by Alexandra St. Martin

A new professor, however temporary she might be, was always someone to be regarded with a certain level of caution. The material might not change, but grading methods were often a different story. As far as Allie knew, there were no formal rules about grading everyday assignments handed down from a higher power in the Council.

It was something of a relief to hear that the lady sub - a Professor Skies; she would have to write to Daddy to learn more about her if her tenure proved extended - specialized in Transfiguration. Passing her RATS didn't really matter, but Allie still wanted to, just to say she had. Since that would have been hard enough under ideal circumstances that didn't exist, having a specialist take the class while the hunt for a new professor was on was a very nice gesture of the new administration to make. Allie was half-inclined to send Headmistress Powell a thank-you note.

She copied down the line about altering planes of existence instead of turning one thing into another, thinking it made a level of sense she would grasp better once she had longer to think about it. Transfiguration had always been her best subject, but she still frequently had to think through most things at length to fully grasp them.

It was for this reason that she decided to tackle the set of theoretical questions first. Thinking about reasonable answers for them would give the lesson a little more time to sink in with her. The first one went slightly over her head, but she decided to give it a try and think it out a little more thoroughly later. She wanted to get to lunch, which was her second-favorite meal of the day, on time.

The Suspend spell moves an object from a starting point to a desired midair finishing point. It appears to do this instantaneously, suggesting temporary movement between two planes of being - it originates in 'our' plane, moves to a second where its movement is almost too quick for us to be able to discern, and then returns to its original plane in a higher position, where it will presumably remain until a cancellation spell is cast or the power behind the Suspend spell runs out. It is classified as Transfiguration because of the momentary separation from our plane, which alters its nature enough for it to be at least temporarily held up independent of any direct force.

Allie bit her lip as she studied the paragraph, not sure of her own logic. Finally, she added, I am still not wholly clear on this, but will have thought about it all much more thoroughly by our next class. Satisfied that supplement would get her a pass, she moved on to the second question.

Levitate is more suited to objects which the caster wants to keep in a state of active motion, such as when one floats a piece of furniture or heavy stack of books down a hallway. Suspend would appear to be more appropriate when a witch or wizard needs something to remained in one elevated spot for a period of time while the witch or wizard focuses on something else; Levitation requires continual focus to hold the -

Her focus was broken by the sound of someone speaking to her. Her quill slipped, sending a short, jagged trail of ink up through the 'n' of 'continual'. She thought it would still do to read, though. Putting the instrument down, Allie looked up at Saul.

"I'm about half-done with the questions," she said. "I was going to move on to the practical after this one, though, because I have no idea what to put for question three." She glanced as surreptitiously as possible at Saul's desk, noting the near-blankness of his questions. "Were you working on the spell?"

16 Alexandra St. Martin Usually a necessary thing. 76 Alexandra St. Martin 0 5

Helena Layne

June 24, 2009 12:04 AM

Practical Problems by Helena Layne

Helena had chosen to continue with Transfiguration because she was good at it. Or at least not bad at it. She had, by some miracle, scraped an 'E' in it on her CATS, which made it the one subject she'd ever bested her brother in. Since her need for stability was much greater than his and their Transfiguration training had been sporadic at best, Helena thought that was quite an accomplishment.

Now, she had an even greater accomplishment to acquire: she had to make an E on her Transfiguration RATS. Helena expected it to be an epic battle, and she intended to bring all the effort and determination she had to the fray.

Since she was not brilliant and was also committed to doing an adequate job in Defense, History, Potions, and with the team, Helena thought there was a very good chance she would collapse at the end of next year, but she could accept that as a reasonable consequence of her actions. Her parents had agreed that she could stay home and rest after she finished her RATS until time to go to college in the fall, and she'd every intention of holding them to that. She felt she could recover from anything short of a complete nervous breakdown in two months.

In light of the haste in which Professor Baer had left, she was surprised to find an adult witch in the Transfiguration room when she arrived for class. Having been in his Potions group a few hours before, Helena couldn't figure out why on Earth she'd expected to find Professor Fawcett here in this class. Probably a sign that she'd had way too many subjects with him over the past two years. She took a chair near the end of the first row, which put her close enough to see the board and professor clearly without looking like a complete suck-up.

This seat also allowed her a good look at the board, which proved her initial thought - that they already had a shiny new professor - wrong. Just another substitute. Even so, a bit of time was spent neatly laying out her desk and note-taking materials just as she would have for a professor of permanence; there was no telling how long Professor Skies, as she was apparently named, would be with them, so Helena still needed to make a good impression on her.

Her preparations turned out to be a good thing; Professor Skies was a specialist, and she knew how to cram a lot of information into a relatively short lecture. Helena wrote it all down, but thought she understood less than half of it. No doubt about it: she would spend so much of the two years she had left at Sonora in the library that the Aladrens would probably get confused when they saw her in red on the Quidditch Pitch. They might even make her some kind of honorary member of the House.

The seriousness of Advanced classes was, once more, brought home by the announcement that they'd be kept here after the bell if they hadn't made a decent effort at the theoretical questions and the practical assignment, but Helena decided, on balance, that she wasn't going to think about that quite yet. Instead, she was just going to attempt the spell. That was undertaking enough; it was her favorite, but there was no denying that Transfiguration was hard. If she put all her effort into complex theoretical questions involving multiple planes of existence right now, her brain would be mush long before she got to the practical.

Picking up her wand, she studied the block on her desk. Got the picture of it just so in her mind. Imagined it slipping through an invisible hole in the air, entering another sort of dimension, and then popping back into hers just two feet above her desk. Better not to try Suspending it up near the ceiling or anything dramatic like that until she had a firm grasp on the basic spell. Finally, once she was felt it was all organized in her head, she slashed her wand at the same level as the block, cut off sharply, and slashed it again a foot above the desk while saying, "Suspendi."

The block shot off of her desk and landed on the floor with a clatter.

Blushing red, Helena got up to retrieve it, forcing herself to give Professor Skies an apologetic look as she did. This was not the first impression she had meant to make on their newest teacher.

Maybe she should have worked on the theoretical problems after all.

16 Helena Layne Practical Problems 88 Helena Layne 0 5

Helena Layne

June 24, 2009 12:48 AM

Theoretical Thorns-In-My-Side by Helena Layne

At the end of Professor Skies' lecture, Helena had thought it was a good idea to work on the practical assignment for the day first. The basic idea had been that if she did the theory questions first, her brain would reduce itself to a pile of useless mush before she could even start trying to actually suspend the block. That idea had seemed, at least at the time, very logical and therefore useful.

Maybe it still did. Helena wasn't quite sure. By the time she finally got the damn block in the air, her brains had all reduced themselves to almost-useless mush, making the analysis of her ideals kind of difficult. It was only the knowledge that she had been in this place before and done okay in the end that kept her from throwing down her wand and quitting on the spot rather than try to answer any of the questions on the board.

Because she did know that, though, Helena gritted her teeth and picked up her quill. She would get this. Maybe a day would pass before she got it, or maybe a week, but that was unimportant. She would get this, in the end. She would.

In her neat penmanship, she wrote her name, House, and year across the top of her parchment. She then followed all that with the professor's name, the date, and the course name. A guess said it was an even chance that Professor Skies would even know what Crotalus meant or care that she was in sixth year, but she was used to writing it down, so she did. Once that was complete, she copied down the first question.

1) Summarise the theory of the 'Suspend' charm and explain why it is classed as a Transfiguration.

For a moment, she contemplated just writing down I have no clue, but then some instincts for self-preservation kicked in. She decided to skip it and come back later.

2) What different functions might be served by Levitate and Suspend?

Okay. She knew this one. She was sure she did. They seemed to serve the same function, but didn't. She wrote that out and immediately thought it was stupid, but it was there in ink already. They made things go in the air, but not quite the same way. What did they do? She Levitated her trunk on campus sometimes...What could she do with Suspend? Make an empty stool float over someone's head in a few years? Yep, definitely better to give question three a shot.

3) What advantages does each have in its own areas, or how is it specialised to these functions?

Oh, Merlin.

4) Someone is falling. They are not unpleasant and you have no wish to see them splattered on the ground below. Which would you use and why? (Please show arguments for each side).

Finally! Something she thought she could start to answer. A complete answer was probably going to go poorly, but making a start would be better than anything she'd done yet, and a start might spark a thought that could lead her to a finish for this one. She began to write.

Levitate, because I can move something with that. As far as I can tell, this just holds something in place up in the air. Hanging in the air is better than being splattered all over the ground, but it's better to get back to solid land. For Suspend, there is the argument that

She stopped, unsure what that argument was. She'd hoped it would just come to her while she was writing, but no luck. Helena put down her quill and buried her hands in her hair in frustration and exhaustion. Maybe she could, eventually and with lots of practice, perform magic, but she was very clearly a mental Squib who should just quit school now. It was serving no purpose to muddle along like this.

Except that her parents weren't disowning her. There was that. If she dropped out of school, Daddy would probably throw her out, and Merlin only knew what would happen to her mother after that. She was doing better, now, but it seemed highly unlikely that her coping skills were quite what Nadia would need to deal with having to pretend her daughters were both dead. Besides, what would Helena, on her own, do? Go crash with Anne? That would be fun. Life with the psycho unrequited love of her ex-brother's life.

Helena rubbed her eyes. It wasn't even lunch, and she was already ready to go back to bed. Since she couldn't go to bed, she pushed that aside and turned to the student next to her. "Are you having any luck with the questions?" she asked. Maybe, if she got someone else's thoughts on them, she would resume thinking herself.

16 Helena Layne Theoretical Thorns-In-My-Side 88 Helena Layne 0 5

Saul

June 30, 2009 2:54 PM

Very true by Saul

Allie, Saul saw a few moments after addressing her, had most of a page filled out with answers to the questions. Impressed, he nodded in answer to her assumption that he'd been working on the spell. No doubt she'd seen his page was the exact opposite of hers. "Yeah, I only did the last one of the questions. I'm not so good with theory."

He grimaced slightly and looked at the sheet of parchment that hadn't so much as wobbled in his attempts to suspend it in the air. "Not so good with practice today, either," he added with a sigh of minor frustration. "But I guess if it was intuitive, it'd be taught in Charms, not Transfiguration."

Nodding at her sheet of paper, he asked, "Mind if I look at your answers? I swear I won't copy them, but I don't even know what most of them are asking and we're supposed to turn this in before lunch, so I can't ask Simon - Mr. Tellerman, the groundskeeper, I mean - to explain it all to me before then."

It was hardly a secret that Saul was related to the groundskeeper, especially with Simon's obvious association with the California Pierces at the midsummer events, but Saul always felt a little awkward calling his cousin by an informal name around people who knew Simon primarily as a school staff member. Of course, it was even more awkward to just call him 'Mr. Tellerman', so Saul usually used both his informal and formal names when referring to him, so everyone could pick out the name they liked best.

Saul grinned a little sheepishly. "There is no way I could possibly pass this class at this level without Simon's tutoring. Everything she just said," he pointed his chin toward the substitute Professor Skies, then passed a hand swiftly over his head, "Whoosh. I was listening, too." Mostly. He'd tried, anyway.

1 Saul Very true 82 Saul 0 5

Allie

July 08, 2009 8:30 PM

Just call me Honest Allie. by Allie

Because she didn't know what else to do, Allie offered up a sympathetic wince when Saul confessed his difficulties with the subject. Of course, only extremely rare Transfiguration prodigies didn't have difficulty with the subject at some point, but that was seldom comforting when things went awry. Her own relationship with it wasn't so much love as love-frustration.

She was almost glad to have a request made of her. "You can see them if you want, but I wouldn't be too quick to assume that I got anything right," Allie warned as she slid all of her answers toward him. "I'm still not sure how much of the lecture went over my head, and it's my best class. I always have to do a ton of research before I do my homework to get it right."

Allie supposed there were a lot of things one could say for or about being a Teppenpaw, but one of the major advantages was that it was quiet and there were few crazy people and - as far as she knew - no bizarre rivalries. It was ideal for work, especially for the non-library-inclined. Allie always felt out of place in the library, and couldn't stay in that old-book atmosphere for too long without getting drowsy. It was nice to have a common room that was largely drama-free.

16 Allie Just call me Honest Allie. 76 Allie 0 5

Morgaine Carey

July 22, 2009 5:51 PM

I think I must be ill or something... by Morgaine Carey

Instead of chatting, napping, or eating a lot during a few last free moments before classes began, Morgaine had spent breakfast with a few slices of dry toast and a textbook. A new professor had showed up to take Baer's lessons, and an arrival like that meant only one thing:

Warfare.

Of everything she was taking, Transfiguration was the class she had the most trouble with. Potions would've been a snap if her determination to outscore Geoff Layne didn't have an annoying way of making her obsessive in the laboratory, and her closet door bore a silent, probably permanently charred at this point, witness to how therapeutic she found practice for Defense to be, but Transfiguration...There was a wholly different beast. In Transfiguration, Morgaine felt that she had only two options: dig her fingernails into it so deeply she could almost feel the splinters under them or fail. And failure wasn't an option.

She had done an acceptable job with Baer, but he was gone. She had no way of knowing how difficult or lax the New One was, but she did know a lot about how long-lasting a first impression could be. Therefore, a cramming session. If the New One had yet to hear the talk about her, Morgaine would exploit that by being the perfect Transfiguration student.

This determination meant Morgaine was slightly hungry when she got to Transfiguration, but she was content. She felt, more strongly than she had in a while, that she had all of her concepts down, maybe even well enough to risk a little showing off if she had to give a demonstration. She'd been practicing Conjuring on her own, too, and had gotten a few good results.

Some of her contentment vanished when she saw the word that went with the name of the New One. Substitute. She had just endured Potions on an almost-empty stomach in the hopes she would impress a substitute. Morgaine felt herself beginning to frown as she took her seat in the front row, but had the thought that subs tended to last a really, really long time. Fawcett had been around for...what? Two, three years in the spring? Selina Skies, Substitute might well end up teaching her up to the day of her RATS.

Listening to the lecture, Morgaine thought that she might actually...like this woman, at least a little. She immediately began to scrutinize her more carefully, quite sure something offensive was about to be revealed. It was very rare for her to like anyone, which was because there were so few people worth liking. What were the odds their substitute, and a substitute for an apparently cursed job at that, would be one of them?

Pretty damn good, apparently. She was a good teacher, or at least knew how to sound like one. Morgaine was still fairly sure debating politics with her would turn very nasty very, very fast. You couldn't have everything.

She took notes in her small, sharp handwriting, taking up no unnecessary space or adding unnecessary flourishes. It would just make the notes harder to read, which wasn't in range of the point. She was composing a study aid, not an invitation to a ball. Morgaine wasn't sure she agreed the Vanishing and Conjuring spells changed the location of an object, but now didn't seem like quite the time to argue. Maybe later, once she had a better feel for the professor and her methods. Her current impression was probably just lightheadedness from a light breakfast.

Once the lecture was over, however, Morgaine had a decision to make. She could work on the practical assignment, do the problems, or go debate with the professor. She wanted to go with option three, but felt a flutter of uncertainty at the prospect of doing so. It might make the wrong impression on the first day, which was sort of what she was trying to not do here, and...Well, Morgaine didn't like to lose more than any other reasonable person, but there was a huge leap from losing to losing in front of an audience. If she was, as it was highly likely she would be, out-debated, it would go on the list of the most mortifying events of her school career thus far if it happened in front of the entire class.

Okay, definitely putting that off. Maybe, after class, she could catch the professor on her way to lunch and set up a meeting to go into it. Risky still, but Morgaine thought a lot of the reason she wasn't in Crotalus was that she just lacked the patience to figure out a mystery over time. The Crotali sometimes seemed to live for intrigue, but she had always found it annoying.

She decided to go for the practical first. It would, in all probability, be easier for her. The mechanics of the spell, she thought, would be fairly easy after Conjuring, and even if they weren't...She was just better with a wand than with a quill, and she couldn't even blame her father for it. His work tended to be more wand-oriented than anything, but the man could string together a good letter even now. Before it all went downhill, she thought he might have made a writer.

How different that would have made all their lives. She would most likely still have a mother and a sister and a name she could be proud of without complications, and it wouldn't be so odd with her and Edmond. Father wouldn't be obsessed with the idea that Thomas was out to get him (and would be right to not be so), and people wouldn't think it was only a matter of time before she made the history text for trying her hand at mass necromancy or something. For a moment, she let herself enjoy her little fantasy before it vanished and she turned her attention to the block sitting in front of her.

The wand movement was the hard thing. It was natural to let the movements flow together, and it was inevitable that the wand made a line between the end point of one line and then the beginning point of the higher one. She was beginning to mutter angrily under her breath about stupid spellmakers in their mother's basements before she finally got her wand to go up to the second line without bowing out halfway between the two.

After that, it went more smoothly. The block wobbled in the air, which the stool hadn't done with Professor Skies, but, at last, it was up. She'd made her pass...in that area. She couldn't resist practicing it again twice more, though, for appearance's sake and in the hopes of making it hold still. On the last try before she thought she really had to get to work on the questions, she thought it almost did.

Then, on the heels of her triumph, came the hard part. The part that made her want her pain potion as a precautionary measure. The part that made taking this class like digging her fingernails into rough wood and hanging there.

Theory.

At least one of the questions served to mildly annoy her. A new teacher had no right to tell her how she felt about the possibility of a person who was not unpleasant going splat. She was an evil and sadistic Carey, wasn't she? Since she'd enough brains to know it was a theoretical example that had no association with her, and wasn't entirely sure Professor Skies even knew there was a Carey in the room, though, that bit of irritation didn't perk her up for long. There was no escaping the questions.

Summarise the theory of the 'Suspend' charm and explain why it is classed as a Transfiguration.

Somehow, she doubted 'because the book said so' was going to be good enough. She glanced at Allie at once, but that option was going nowhere; Allie was helping Saul, and her hopping on that bandwagon would just be wrong. She almost liked those two from time to time, but right now, she had considerable ill-will toward both of them.

Bah. She was skipping this. She didn't really know why the thing happened - just that it did.

What different functions might be served by Levitate and Suspend?

Okay...She began to write. Suspended things stay in one place, so if you want to keep something in one place, then use that. You can move things around with Levitate.

Not good. It needed more...spice. A lot more arcane and vaguely academic-sounding words. She wanted to impress Professor Skies, and a simple answer probably wasn't going to cut it. It betrayed simplicity of thought, which wasn't something Morgaine associated with herself. She was easily the strongest girl academically in seventh year, and never mind Rosalind Rabindra's Sorting. Rosalind didn'd have the spine to really achieve.

What advantages does each have in its own areas, or how is it specialised to these functions?

She was honestly stumped. Stupid uncreative Pecari brain. A real joke on her father, this. All of his children had some measure of his intelligence - to judge by the Sonora grades she had unearthed one day, he had been a borderline prodigy in his day, if one with unusually morbid interests - but of the three, it was Gwen, the one he refused to admit existed now, who was most like him in a lot of ways.

Merlin, but what a family. She decided to go back to work.

She'd given up on two out of four. This wasn't good. After she had a look at four, she was going to have to look over one again and come up with something. So much for being an exemplary Transfiguration student. She wasn't used to this much thinking in a lesson.

Her chin came up slightly as the import of that came to her all at once. The implication was that she actually couldn't do this. That she'd been licked by a set of questions on an old blackboard before she'd even really gotten into them.

That would be like backing down from a challenge.

Morgaine was a Carey. Careys didn't back down.

With renewed vigor, she turned her attention back to four. Someone is falling. They are not unpleasant and you have no wish to see them splattered on the ground below. Which would you use and why? (Please show arguments for each side).

She decided to pretend it was Allie falling. Allie was her friend. Or something like that. She wouldn't, at any rate, like to see Allie splattered on the ground. If Allie died, everyone would blame her, and there would be no buffer for those occasions where Lila became unbearable. Besides, the word splattering was so...graphic. Morgaine didn't want to see anyone die that way. Not even Amber, and that was more than she had even expected herself to say after what Amber had done to Gwen. There were a lot of things she'd happily see happen to the worthless little pixie, but not...that.

Morgaine wasn't sure she'd go out of her way to save Amber, though, so safer to leave her falling person as Allie.

Levitate is somewhat easier to cast than Suspend, which could make it useful if the falling person is close to the ground and has gained a lot of velocity. The wand movement isn't as difficult. However, Levitate may not be as strong as Suspend, so a combination of the two may be most effective: stop the falling person with Levitate, then keep them from falling any further with Suspend.

That worked. No need to add that it had better be a really short journey to solid land if she, Morgaine, was supposed to be doing it; it took energy from the witch to do things like that, and though she had her father's coloring, she'd completely missed the call for genes producing sturdiness. She'd never tried lifting a human body before and imagined she'd put off doing so as long as possible, but given what she knew about spellwork and had read about moving people, she'd probably collapse within ten minutes.

0 Morgaine Carey I think I must be ill or something... 81 Morgaine Carey 0 5