I am a beginner... on Transfiguration

Janette Wolfe

April 16, 2010 5:11 PM

Beginners Transfiguration (Ist and 2nd years) by Janette Wolfe

Janette entered her very own classroom, a bubble of excitement lifting her spirits. She couldn't wait to meet her students. Teaching has always been something she had wanted to do, and now that she was here, she felt wonderful.

Her bright blue robes swept the floor as she approached her desk, sitting behind it. Her eyes skimmed over the roster, though she had probably looked over it fifteen times already. She was nervous, she had to admit. How would they react to her? Would they be bothered by her tattoo's? Or would they be in awe? Were they behaved? Would she have to deduct points?

She shook her head, hoping for a bit of clarity. Everything would be fine. As the students began entering the room, a sudden calmness and serenity enveloped her. She stood and grinned, her arms wide open. her eyes friendly and inviting. She watched the students sit down, and as every murmur was silenced, she began.

"Welcome to Transfiguration! My name is Janette Wolfe, and I am your professor. You may call me Professor Wolfe, Professor Janette, or even Professor Jane. I'm not particularly picky." As she said this, she walked out from behind her desk so she could see them better.

"Transfiguration is a rather dangerous art- fooling around during the lessons won't be tolerated, I'm afraid. As some of you may know, Transfiguration has different branches. Some of these are Animagus, which is significantly dangerous, Animate to inanimate, vice versa, Cross-species, and Conjuration- to name a few. Now, this assignment will be relatively new for the first years. But for the second years, it will act like as a review." Janette finished with a smile. She skimmed over the student's reactions, whether they were pleased or annoyed mattered little to her. What did matter was that they got this right.

"Let's begin." Janette began. "You will notice three randomized objects your desk. They have different qualities about them that I want you to take note of. Examine them and jot down all the details you can think of. For example, write if it is smooth or rough, soft or not, light or heavy, and so one. Pay particular note of the colors.

"When you are finished taking your notes, point your wand at the object and imagine it changing into something similar. I don't want you to change it into anything alive, simplicity is best at the present moment. However, the changed object must have some similar qualities of the original object. For example, I am going to change this button," she held up a red button, slightly transparent and with swirls of white, "into a pebble. Like so."

Holding her palm out for all to see, she made the elaborate wand movements, slightly exaggerated for the benefits of the first years, and tapped the button and said, "Mutatio."

Janette held it between her fingers so that the students could see the difference of the button. It was now a pebble, slightly red in color. It was the same color as the button as well.

"You pronounce it Moo-tay-shio. Before you cast the spell, it is crucial that you keep in mind the item you have, and the item you want it to be. If you do not, something will go wrong, and it will likely seem disfigured. When you are finished, turn them in as well as your notes. Do not worry about transfiguring them back- your magic won't sustain the transfiguration for long."

Janette smiled comfortingly. "I realize it may seem like a huge task, but relax. Everything will be fine. Don't be afraid to ask me anything if you need it. Be creative, and good luck!"

OOC: Usual rules apply, ten sentences minimum. Don't worry about the notes, I'm not expecting an essay. Use details, your imagination, and have lots of fun!

Subthreads:

Brainstorming by Marian Parker with Starbuck Gregory, Marian

So. Very. Frustrated. by Rachel Bauer with Nadi Roth

I am a beginner... by Sophia Randolph with Tobar Brishen, Sophia

Riddle me this by Neal Padrig, Pecari with Mariana "Ray" Ravenmore, Aladren, Neal

Attempting a good grade and friendly conversation by Dani Adair with Nicodemus Sawyer, Dani

Just like... magic! by Ellie with Cosette Miller

Taking notes by Dmitri Petrovskii with Tristan Volkmann, Professor Janette Wolfe

Low Expectations Bring Greater Reward by Charlotte Waverly with Samantha Hamilton

Back in my natural habitat by Jane Carey with Autumn Collins, Jane

This is called "ignoring things I don't like." by Raines Bradley with Demelza Eagle

First classroom experience by Kirstenna Melcher with Brian Moore

Making a mess of things.... by Jessica Zeworth [Pecari 1st Year] with Brad Hayman (Aladren)

0 Janette Wolfe Beginners Transfiguration (Ist and 2nd years) 0 Janette Wolfe 1 5

Marian Parker

April 17, 2010 10:12 AM

Brainstorming by Marian Parker

Reading and simple spell work had taken up the majority of Marian Parker’s first few days at Sonora. She wanted to do well in her classes and figured that, being a muggleborn, she’d have to work extra hard to catch-up to the level she thought purebloods would be at. They had, she reasoned, been closer to magic longer and might have an upper hand. Always one to worry about grades, she wanted to even the playing field and thus studied her butt off.

Still, she hadn’t socialized as much as she had wanted to. Coming to a magic school had her excited to meet new people. So far she’d only really talked to two people: Ellie and Dani. Dani didn’t seem like she was interested in friends, though she reminded Marian strongly of her strict parents so she had Marian’s respect still. Ellie thought was by far a more outgoing person, like how Marian wanted to be. She was so kind, but was hard to find. Marian sighed, wishing her first friend would appear and make this lesson more fun.

Then the professor started to speak. The first year smiled at Professor Wolfe. While the teacher’s tattoos were a bit unorthodox and her parents certainly wouldn’t like to know their daughter’s teacher had so many, she thought the professor seemed to care as much about the subject as she did the students.

When she was finished speaking, she looked down at her objects. Having already practiced the spell on her own in the library since it was one of the ‘need-to-know’ ones in her text book’s first chapter, she was prepared to change some things. She looked at her objects and tried to think about what they could become.

She had a mirror, a small pile of sand, and a small cloth. She pointed to the mirror and said, “Mutatio,” in a firm voice. The mirror started to bend and it became a clear glass goblet. She pointed her wand to the next object and said the spell, making the pile of sand into a slab of rough bark since the sand had been coarse. She looked at her towel and frowned, not being too sure what to do with it.

She looked to the person next to her, but was too shy to ask them for their opinion. So she stared at her object and willed for an idea to come to her. She’d never been all that creative.

41 Marian Parker Brainstorming 1402 Marian Parker 0 5

Starbuck Gregory

April 17, 2010 2:04 PM

Sponges by Starbuck Gregory

Starbuck breezed into Transfiguration with a grin on her face. She was not going to miss Professor Carter and hoped that Professor Wolfe would be a bit nicer. The now self assured muggleborn sat down and pulled out her books. Last year at this time she had been nervous about the subjects, at the time she thought the wizarding students would have the upper hand and that proved to be false. She had done just as good as the others, in some areas she had done better. She tossed her red hair behind her ear and grinned.

She listened to Professor Wolfe and sighed it seems they would be repeating the same lessons from last year. She sighed and looked over at the girl next to her who was already Transfiguring her items. Starbuck herself has a cleaning sponge, a green plastic cap, and a small ball of yarn. She rubbed her head and before picking up her wand and saying. “Mutatio.” The sponge turned into a hard coral. She grinned at it glad that Ishmael had shown her the corals he collected this summer.

When she looked over at the girl next to her she grinned. “You need help?” She asked.

0 Starbuck Gregory Sponges 0 Starbuck Gregory 0 5

Rachel Bauer

April 17, 2010 10:58 PM

So. Very. Frustrated. by Rachel Bauer

At the beginning of her first year, Rachel had been one of the front row students in any class with rows to be in. As the year had worn on, though, she had become less and less inclined to repeat that behavior. When she sat in the very middle of the room, it was easier to hide unseemly things, like boredom and irritation and a book under the table.

She had one of those out almost as soon as she got into the Transfiguration room, having spared only a cursory and not-very-approving glance for the professor. Between the little culture Momma had adopted and the one Dad had been born to, Rachel found tattoos distasteful at best, though she'd have no problem with forgiving the teacher that if it turned out that the woman rebellious enough to come to class like that was also rebellious enough to let the students who were far ahead of the game do something interesting instead of doing what most classes did and going with what their new firstie group could handle. When that hope was betrayed a short way into the class period, Rachel was one of those who looked a little annoyed for the moment before she looked back at her novel in disgust.

Everyone had the right to learn, and to learn as much as it was within their power to. Rachel really believed that. She just didn't see why she couldn't have work that wasn't on a level with that of people who couldn't learn as much as she could. She didn't need a review. How much time would it have taken for Professor Informality to whip up just one more assignment for the second years?

When they were dismissed to work, Rachel decided to rebel. She would do the notes because they were for a grade and a host of angry relatives would send her Howlers if she just refused, but she was going to write them after, and only after, she had performed the spell on all three items in front of her. She knew that it was pathetically tame in rebellion terms, but it made her feel better.

She picked up the Christmas-themed porcelain trinket box on her desk, studied it carefully for a moment, and turned it into a green plastic bowl on her second try. Turning a pair of safety scissors into a knife went even more smoothly; it had occurred to her that her choice of a Point Two might be controversial, but they handled scalpels that were going to stay scalpels in Potions all the time, so she left it as it was. She was contemplating what to do with a candle end, a thought of turning it into something totally different just to show off floating around the back of her mind but which she didn't quite yet have the nerve to work with, when she noticed her neighbor speaking to her. "Hm?" she asked, her eyes leaving the candle.

16 Rachel Bauer So. Very. Frustrated. 154 Rachel Bauer 0 5

Marian

April 17, 2010 11:50 PM

Not anymore by Marian

Marian almost fell over. The girl beside her had asked her if she needed help! Did she look lost? Could she lose points for looking confused and attracting attention? Did she really need anyone’s help? Marian shook her head as she look at the towel and no ideas came. Unless she wanted to hang out in the Transfiguration room all day, asking for help might not be such a bad idea. It wasn’t like she didn’t know the spell, just the whole ‘be creative’ thing flew right over her head.

She blushed when she made eye contact with the red head and looked away quickly. “U-um… uh, well, you see…” she rubbed her hands on her wand, feeling suddenly nervous. This would be the third magical person she ever talked to in her life. It was somehow more nerve-wracking then the thought of talking to a muggle, which bothered her back when she thought she was one. To make it all more stressful, the girl looked older than Marian did – she had to be an upperclassman! Why would she talk to a lowly first year?

Noticing the towel again, she decided to swallow her fear. She wasn’t about to fail an assignment for struggling with ideas.

“U-uh-umm… well, you see, I just c-can’t think of anything to make the towel.” She pointed to the baby blue cloth on her table, the only thing not transformed. She tried to give the girl a friendly smile. “Do you think… is it alright…” she summoned her courage and asked, “D-do you mind helping me think of something?” If the redhead had no suggestions, she figured her towel would be made into another towel, and she couldn’t picture Professor Wolfe appreciating that.

0 Marian Not anymore 0 Marian 0 5

Starbuck

April 18, 2010 1:36 PM

Well that's good. by Starbuck

Starbuck smiled at the girl as she spoke she seemed a bit nervous. “Well a towel could be turned a piece of carpet.” She said with a smile. “But besides that maybe a blanket?” She was glad she hadn’t gotten the towel the yarn would be hard enough.

She pushed back her red hair and smiled again as she went back to focusing on her own items. What could the green cap be turned into? She closed her eyes and pictured the green cap turning into a small army man. ‘That will work.’ She thought as she opened her eyes.

“Mutatio.” She said and the cap turned into a perfect replica of the army man. She giggled a bit thank god Ahab still had a bunch of Army Men around his room. She would have to write her brothers a letter as soon as she got out of class. She was starting to miss her brothers.

She looked over at the other girl. “I’m Starbuck Gregory, second year Pecari.” She said holding out her hand. “And you are?” She hoped that girl wouldn’t be too nervous about talking to her still it wasn’t like Starbuck was going to bite her or anything.

0 Starbuck Well that's good. 0 Starbuck 0 5

Nadi Roth

April 18, 2010 3:55 PM

So. Very. Cool!! by Nadi Roth

Nadi Roth entered the Transfiguration room with a vague look of interest. She had seen plenty of Transfigurations before in the caravan and she had no interest in them though she should at least try to be good at them she guessed. She frowned for a moment as she sat down as far from Tobar as she could. The insufferable boy would be in most of her classes and she didn’t want anything to do with him until the summer.

Her blond hair was braided back as she looked around the room. It was a tidy room and Professor had tattoos. Nadi looked closely but none seemed to be Romani inspired that was even more surprising. She shrugged at the idea as then looked at the three objects in front of her. One was a glass pop bottle, a cardboard box, and small clay pot used for planting. She sighed for a moment before during her attention to the glass pop bottle. “Mutatio.” She said and nothing happened. She frowned a bit then watched the girl next to her perform the spell. Mimicking the girls motions and the way she said the spell Nadi preformed it again. This time the glass pop bottle transformed before her eyes into a small flat mirror. “Well that wasn’t half bad.” She said to the girl with a smile.

“Hm?” The girl said causing Nadi to frown. She was used to people paying attention to her but it seemed that here it was different. “Oh I just said it wasn’t half bad.” She held up the mirror and smiled. “I’m Nadi Roth.” She said extending her hand.

0 Nadi Roth So. Very. Cool!! 0 Nadi Roth 0 5

Sophia Randolph

April 18, 2010 5:19 PM

I am a beginner... by Sophia Randolph

Transfiguration classes seemed to be very difficult but Sophia was willing to make the effort to fully understand it and master it. She knew it would probably be difficult but it was worth the effort.

She dutifully made her way to where the class was being held fully prepared to what she was sure would be a difficult class. Her hair was tied up in a neat ponytail and it bounced with every step she took. She smiled remembering the letter she had gotten from home, her parents were curious to know how well she had been adapting to her new life…they were just worriers. In fact, they had nothing to worry about…she was doing excellent!

Sophia started humming and was still doing it when she entered the classroom. Her face was constantly adorned with a smile these days. She sat down at the front row and waited for the class to begin. She looked at the Professor and became wide-eyed at her appearance…it was the first time Sophia saw tattoos on a Professor but her eyes were friendly and that helped her ease her nervousness.

She introduced herself as Prof. Janet Wolfe, and Sophia decided she actually liked the goofy looking woman. She paid attention to everything she was saying and nodded to every part she thought was important. She grinned when Prof. Janet gave them their first task, it sounded super fun! Sophia looked over at some items that were scattered on her desk…a pencil, a button and piece of paper.

She decided to transfigure the pencil. She took the necessary notes (the pencil was long, yellow, pointy and slim). She was concentrating on the task at hand. She pointed her wand at the pencil and said the spell…the pencil slightly changed its color.

She sighed and tried again.

This time the pencil became longer and leaner! This was fun! She smiled at her mild success and took a deep breath before attempting it again. This time nothing happened and Sophia frowned.

Concentrate harder! she began telling herself. Her blue eyes were looking at the pencil…

Success! The pencil was transfigured in a white feather. She began clapping enthusiastically at the completed task. She grabbed her feather and notes and skipped to the Professor’s desk to hand in her class work.

Transfiguration was hard but extremely rewarding!

0 Sophia Randolph I am a beginner... 167 Sophia Randolph 0 5

Neal Padrig, Pecari

April 18, 2010 8:40 PM

Riddle me this by Neal Padrig, Pecari

A riddle: how are a toothbrush, tweezers, and a small bottle of dish soap all similar to each other? An answer: besides the fact they all have to do with personal hygiene, they were all also targets for today’s Transfiguration lesson. According to Professor Wolfe, who looked as happy to be there as the most excitable first year, was smiling through all the instructions. Though, or course, Neal struggled to pay attention a bit seeing how he was more fascinated by what her tattoos were instead of the assignment. So much for paying attention.

Neal was lucky to have caught the important bits of the lesson, so he ignored the pictures he already started to doodle on his parchment and took note of what the items were and their physical qualities and their colors. He left enough room to write what he was about to change each one into it.

Hmm… well, the red toothbrush would do just as well becoming a red hairbrush. Neal performed the spell a few times before getting it right on his forth. The tweezers became scissors, which took even longer, probably because they were given edges and were enlarged quite a bit. The blue soap, he decided, would become shampoo. But changing the labels and contents were a lot more difficult than he originally anticipated – instead of taking a couple of minutes and mounting frustration, the transformation took at least ten minutes. He was sure, with his messy robes and hair, the bags under his eyes, and the bloodshot veins in around his pupils that instead of looking like he needed sleep he probably looked like a deranged workaholic or something.

Once his notes and items were finished, Neal decided to go turn them in quick so he could get back to drawing or something until the period was over. He was ready to go gather his items (they all fit his new theme: hair care, he thought with a smirk) when someone transformed his hairbrush right under his nose. He stared at it, not believing someone had just done that.

“Excuse me,” he said in his flat tone to the person beside him, “but you just transformed one of the objects I already transfigured and was about to turn in.” He raised a brow at them, waiting for their excuse.

0 Neal Padrig, Pecari Riddle me this 0 Neal Padrig, Pecari 0 5

Dani Adair

April 18, 2010 9:04 PM

Attempting a good grade and friendly conversation by Dani Adair

Looking bored, Dani entered the Transfiguration room. Most kids were probably excited to be here, but the way she saw it school was school whether she was here or at home. Though, even she would admit that attending classes with students that weren’t her sisters was more than a little pleasant, especially Alice. That girl was just too smart for own good sometimes and could get annoying when the tutor would compare her and Jordan to Alice as if they should all be geniuses just because they had the same parents. At least, here, she would be able to be graded on her own merits without any other interfering influences.

Even so, she opted to take a seat towards the back of the room, feeling this gave her the best observation point. After taking out her supplies, Dani turned her attention to the professor and was a bit surprised at the tattoos. Wasn’t that unprofessional? Her tutor would never have considered such a thing. He had always come dressed in the finest teaching robes armed with a mountain of books and his wand, which was also a convenient pointer/switch. So, she really couldn’t decide if she agreed or found it incredibly cool. She was hesitant to say the latter, because, well, from Dani’s standpoint the professor was old, but then anyone above eighteen was.

Rather than worry about it, Dani focused on the lesson itself. The theory was one that had been touched on briefly over the summer, only because she was attending Sonora this year. Simplicity and similarity, the double S of Beginning Transfiguration, was easy enough to remember, but doing could prove more difficult. She looked at the objects on her desk – a rounded, blue candle, a small, stuffed bear, and a pair of glasses. She quickly wrote down the details, but that still didn’t help her think of what to change each thing into except the first. That one was easy. A rounded candle could become a ball. Similar shape.

Dani pointed her wand at the object. Her brows knitted in concentration as she thought about what the candle was and what she wanted it to become. Moving the wand as the professor had done, she stated the magic word and was pleased to find that it half worked. She picked up the blue rubber ball with a wick sticking out of it. Well, it would certainly make for some interesting Quidditch play if the balls they played with were lit on fire, but she didn’t think the school would want to make the game any more dangerous than it already was. Feeling elated over her success, she decided to play friendly and asked the person next to her, “Did you get anything to change yet?”

0 Dani Adair Attempting a good grade and friendly conversation 166 Dani Adair 0 5

Tobar Brishen

April 18, 2010 9:44 PM

I'm no expert either. by Tobar Brishen

Tobar dislike Transfiguration and he was nervous about having a new Professor. Carter had been tough and he was sure Wolfe would be to. He saw Nadi and groaned trying to stay far away from that girl was harder then he thought it would be. They had all the same classes, ate at the same time, and even walked the same way every day. Thankfully, they were in separate houses or Tobar would have had to stay in his dorm when he wanted to study or even relax. The new professor seemed very laid back and put Tobar at ease a bit.

He looked over his three items and sighed, one a feather, a metal toy car, a toothpick. What the heck was he going to do with this? He ran a hand through his shoulder length black hair and sighed. This was a waste of time he was never going to turn any of these objects into something useful. He began to copy the notes and sighed. Notes did nothing for him and didn’t understand why they had to copy them to turn them in. Finally he was done and set them to the side as he pulled out his want and looked at the feather.

He saw that the first year girl next to him was done so he tapped her shoulder. “Since you seem so creative over there Miss. Perfect would you help me figure out what to do with a feather?” He asked with a smile hoping she could tell that he was only joking with her.

0 Tobar Brishen I'm no expert either. 152 Tobar Brishen 0 5

Nicodemus Sawyer

April 19, 2010 2:35 PM

Attempting a mediocre grade and a competent conversation by Nicodemus Sawyer

As a half-blood, Nic did not view any of the classes taught at Sonora to be particularly amazing. Sure, they were neat, and almost certainly beat the math and history he'd be doing if he was still attending the muggle school in Miami that he'd gone to until now, but what he was more thrilled about was that a fair number of his peers at Sonora had names equally as strange as his own. He was beginning to think that even if the Transfiguration teacher called attendance (the Coach in Flying Lessons hadn't, so there was even a slim hope this wouldn't happen), nobody would even blink at someone being named 'Nicodemus' - the playground bullies of Miami hadn't been nearly as forgiving.

Not that he planned to advertise that Nic was short for anything other than Nicholas if he had the choice. It was still a horrible name even if he was surrounded by Cosettes and Autumns and Talons now instead of Billies and Betties and Bobbies.

And then Professor Wolfe made his day again by not calling roll, and he sat back in his seat at the back of the room and smiled. He could continue to be just Nic Sawyer for another class period.

He took a few notes as she explained the basics, but Nic wasn't too worried about it. His textbook would make a much better study tool than anything he jotted down during class, and too many notes just made a person look like a teacher's pet. He didn't want anything more than a perfectly average grade. An 80% ought to continue to be a good place to aim for. He didn't want anyone thinking he was a nerd here anymore than he had at home.

At home, it was because he had a reputation to maintain, but he kind of liked that reputation, so he figured he may as well try to get it here, too. Besides an 80% was a good place to sit at. You got enough right that the teacher didn't bug you to study more, but you got enough wrong that you weren't in the cut-throat competition and bitter rivalry for top grades.

Plus, people underestimated you if you only ever got Bs, and he liked to make the teachers scratch their heads by getting exactly every fifth question wrong. See how long it took them to figure out he was throwing his scores. It was way more of a challenge to get a perfect 80% than it was to actually ace a test, especially once essays and partial credit came into the equation.

Graded class assignments were hard, too. He frowned at the three objects. Three was not a good number for getting an 80. He was going to have to work on getting each one transfigured 80%. Or some combination where it looked like he was getting better at it, but the average was still 80%. Sixty, eighty, one hundred ought to do it.

He picked up the first item. It was a silver sickle. He could see if he could turn it into a dime. That was similar and simple. Transfigure the one face to Roosevelt's. Leave the tails side the same. Get it to the right size and put the little ridges on the rim. That was about 60%, right?

Nic took out a dime from his pocket for comparison purposes, bit his lip as he studied how the facial structure of the wizard stamped onto the sickle had to change, noted the words that would need to be changed and added and removed, and then took a deep breath and drew his wand.

"Mutatio," he cast, and frowned when it didn't work at all. He reviewed his notes on the spell, re-examined the sickle and the dime, and gave it another go. "Mutatio,", and this time tapped his wand to the sickle.

He sat back in satisfaction. It had shrunk to the size of a dime and had the little ridges and Roosevelt sat there in profile, trusting in God and Liberty, and wondering how his face got on a coin minted in Philly in 1994. He turned it over and faked looking dismayed as he saw that it still said 'One Sickle' on the tails side.

Showing it to the girl next to him, Heads side first, then Tails side, he lamented, "I almost got it, but I didn't get the back side to change." He flipped over the dime, "It's supposed to look like this."

1 Nicodemus Sawyer Attempting a mediocre grade and a competent conversation 165 Nicodemus Sawyer 0 5

Ellie

April 19, 2010 4:04 PM

Just like... magic! by Ellie

Ellie had been excited for transfiguration ever since she and Marian had discussed favorite classes. Transfiguration sounded equally challenging and useful, and maybe even fun if the right circumstance presented itself. She walked into the classroom on time, while many other classmates were also coming in. She picked a seat towards the middle, more to the front than the back, for she didn't want to draw attention to herself by sitting in the front, but sitting in the back would make her appear a slacker. Finding an empty desk, she plopped down and settled her things.

She wasn't a neat freak, no, but she was organized. At least, she tried to be for the beginning of the school year. After the winter holidays, though, she didn't really mind where her things were so long as she could find them. So as she pulled out a notebook lined with fresh, white paper, a quill, and her wand, she organized them in a neat row in order of height on her desk, with the three items that were already on it (a sample of sandpaper, a white feather, and an oyster shell making a line of defense at the top. Pleased with the arrangement, she focussed upon the teacher, who looked friendly enough. She certainly smiled a lot. Ellie, at first glance, thought the tattoos were a bit distracting and d, but who was she to judge, with her obviously dyed orange hair? Though she had to admit, she sort of liked it.

Transfiguration. The word sent shivers down her spine. As more people sat down, Ellie was vaguely aware of another student sitting next to her, but was too transfixed upon Professor Wolfe's/Janette's/Jane's words to notice who. "When you are finished taking your notes, point your wand at the object and imagine it changing into something similar. " Ellie began plotting what each object could be in her head.

After her professor (she wasn't sure what to call her; too many options) finished giving directions, Ellie set to work writing down notes on her objects. Sandpaper, brown, rough, light and so on. Then she took a deep breath of anticipation, picked up the sandpaper first, and pointed her wand at it. "Mutatio!" she said quietly, not wanting to disturb her neighbor. The sandpaper twitched a little, but nothing happened. Ellie's eyes wrinkled together in frustration. "Mutatio!" she said, a little louder. Nothing. The sandpaper remained stationary, and didn't look the slightest bit more like a slice of bread than before. "Mutatio!" she repeated, with a flick of her wand similar to that of the professor. Again, no results occurred. Now Ellie was really frazzled. She pursed her lips for a moment, before focussing her mind on sandpaper and bread. "Mutatio." And before her laid a single slice of whole wheat bread!

"Yes!" she cried loudly, jumping a bit in her seat. She caught her breath, worried she had disrupted the class. But with a quick scan around the room, she noticed that nobody was looking at her... except for the person who sat beside her. "Sorry," she said, smiling apologetically. "I'm Ellie, by the way."

0 Ellie Just like... magic! 0 Ellie 0 5

Marian

April 19, 2010 4:22 PM

I really hope it is by Marian

After Starbuck introduced herself, Marian didn’t get the feeling she was hassling the second year as much as she first thought. Leaning her hand out carefully, she met Starbuck’s hand and shook. “Hi, my name is Marian Parker. I’m a f-first year.” She took her hand back and quickly added, “An Aladren first year, since you said your house… um, well that’s mine.”

Her parents had given her private lessons with more instruments than she needed to know, private tutors with foreign names, and lessons on things that won’t matter ever, and yet they never thought to have her work on her social skills. As proud as Marian had been of her grades, she didn’t think that she’d be very happy here if she focused only on school. She wanted to have friends like Ellie and Starbuck, but she was just so darn self-conscious! How do you break out of that?

“Um, and thanks a lot, for the suggestion, you know. I think, if it’s alright with you, I’ll take the carpet idea.” She bowed her head and performed the spell perfectly as practiced, smiling again at Starbuck for her help. “And you seem to be doing well, too… those are good figurines.”

She tried to let Starbuck focus on her work. Marian was probably just being a distraction. No one liked to be bothered when they were trying to concentrate. She finished up her notes and gathered her things before she noticed the ball of yarn still in front of Starbuck. She pursed her lips and wondered aloud, “I wonder if the yarn could be made into something like Twizzlers…?” Hopefully the girl wouldn’t laugh at her suggestion, she wanted to make a good impression after all.

0 Marian I really hope it is 0 Marian 0 5

Cosette Miller

April 19, 2010 4:59 PM

Someone's fascinated by Cosette Miller

When Cosette climbed out of bed that morning, she didn’t think she’d ever make it to class. Not paying any attention to the Head of House speech really messed her up. She was about two seconds away from being late to class and had literally collapsed into the first open seat she could find. She wished she could’ve sat further in the back so she could get a decent nap without being bothered, but they were all taken. Drats, maybe next time she’d have to plan ahead and come… early.

She listened to what Professor Jane said. She had a feeling, if the Professor was going to be as laidback as she seemed, that Cosette would really like her. Cosette looked at the items in front of her and, like Prof. Jane said, she took notes. First was a blanket. Soft, and pink Cosette wrote. She struggled longer than she would’ve liked before it finally transformed into a blanket. Nice.

She had just turned her attention over to the next objects, a small porcelain cup and a silver ring, when a flash of orange cried out and leapt up beside her. While very used to outbursts considering her mother’s mental issues, she usually associated loud noises with trouble. That and bold, fluorescent orange hair. One look at the girl had Cosette saying, “Oh my.”

The girl seemed to have noticed that Cosette was the only person looking at her, so she apologized with a smile like she didn’t usually jump up for joy at random times during the day. How reassuring. “I’m Ellie, by the way.”

Cosette nodded to her, letting her know the outburst was fine. “I’m Cosette. Nice to see you really into this whole… project.” Maybe Ellie could rub off on her before she decided to sleep on the pillow she made – who knew?

0 Cosette Miller Someone's fascinated 0 Cosette Miller 0 5

Ellie

April 19, 2010 5:38 PM

And someone's certainly not! by Ellie

“I’m Cosette. Nice to see you really into this whole… project.” Ellie suddenly felt a bit stupid for being so happy with her results; her father had, after all, shown her the trick many times when she was little. But perhaps it was because it was her very first spell ever, for that seemed to be ringing in Ellie's head the rest of the class. It gave her quite a thrill, she had to admit. She smiled at Cosette. Maybe they would be friends in the days to come, because Ellie was looking forward to meeting more kids. She had looked around the class for Marian and Neal, her two acquaintances at the Academy, and saw Marian's fair hair, and hopefully they could talk after class.

"Um... thanks," Ellie said some-what sheepishly, for she wasn't sure if being "into" the assignment was a good thing in Cosette's book. "Nice to meet you, Cosette." She turned back in her seat to turn the white feather into a long white scarf. This time, it only took her two tries. She bit her lip to refrain from repeating her former reaction. Hopefully, Cosette didn't notice her toe-tapping as she transfigured her oyster shell into an opal pendant (and in one try! she thought.) Class was going smoothly for her, and she decided to try talking to this Cosette girl again. "I'm in Teppenpaw, how about you?" Hopefully, the girl wasn't annoyed by her chatter.

0 Ellie And someone's certainly not! 0 Ellie 0 5

Mariana "Ray" Ravenmore, Aladren

April 19, 2010 5:55 PM

Riddles are fun. by Mariana "Ray" Ravenmore, Aladren

Trying to find her way to the Transfiguration classroom hadn't been difficult. She had listened to the Head of House's introduction and payed attention to every detail. She just didn't want to get lost. If there was one thing she hated, it was getting lost- because that meant she would be late, and that meant her parents would be disappointed in her and scold her for her unladylike behavior. Mariana sighed as she sat down in one of the empty seats.

As the professor introduced herself, Mariana could feel her eyes widen. She was covered in tattoos! It wasn't that she thought they were bad, the colors and the inking was a strange form of art. Writing was apart of art too, and besides, the teacher seemed nice enough. She was grinning and smiling and she was just so.. nice, and friendly. She didn't look like what her mother would call a heathen...

Professor Wolfe began explaining the assignment and Mariana listened carefully so she wouldn't be confused. She took out some parchment and a quill, along with her wand, as she looked down at her three items. A hair brush, a small baby doll, and a little wooden puppet. She took notes of them, their texture, the colors, and how large or small they were.

What could she change the hair brush? Maybe she could turn it into a wooden horse... Yes, the bristles could be the mane... With a clear image in mind, Mariana closed her eyes had a clear image of the wooden horse in mind. She then pointed her wand at the brush and said, "Mutatio."

When she opened her eyes, she grinned with absolute glee, finding the hair brush fully transformed into a wooden horse. She couldn't believe she had gotten it on the first try! But her glee was turned to horror when the person sitting next to her said the hair brush had been his. And already transfigured.

"Oh Merlin, I'm so sorry!" Mariana whispered. She wasn't crying, but she was close to tears. She turned away. She was fully expecting a scolding, or being hit. She couldn't be locked inside her room, but... Mariana nibbled on her lip, rubbing the falling tears away.

"I really am sorry, I thought it was mine..."

0 Mariana "Ray" Ravenmore, Aladren Riddles are fun. 0 Mariana "Ray" Ravenmore, Aladren 0 5

Cosette

April 19, 2010 6:50 PM

Can't argue with that by Cosette

OOC: Just want to get this out of the way, I accidently said that I made the blanket into a blanket XD I meant to say I made the blanket into a pillow. Sorry for the confusion!

IC: Cosette watched as Ellie sat back down and went back to work, not before letting Cosette know it was nice to meet her. Though Cosette had the feeling the girl didn’t really feel that way, not that Cosette blamed her. She seemed like she cared about all that social stuff and making friends and whatnot. Cosette was probably one of the worse possible people that could’ve sat down beside her if she was looking for a BFF.

Ellie seemed pretty good at the spell already though, changing her feather into a nice looking scarf in no time. It reminded Cosette to do her own work. Geeze, Cosette would have the luck of sitting next to an Aladren since they have all the luck with getting spells figured out quick.

It took awhile, but eventually the small, white, smooth porcelain cup became a large bowl (she didn’t want to overachieve, just achieve). It took even longer yet to make her silver ring into a silver bracelet (yup, definitely not an overachiever). She was getting up to turn her things in when Ellie spoke up.

Cosette was stumped. So, she wasn’t a smarty-pants Aladren? Well the Teppenpaw thing fit too. “I’m a Crotalus,” she answered. “And I could’ve sworn you were an Aladren since you seemed to know what you were doing, but whatever.” She looked at the girls notes and asked, “If you’re done with your stuff, I’ll take them down for you since I’m turning my things in. Consider it an apology for being bad company.”

0 Cosette Can't argue with that 0 Cosette 0 5

Neal

April 19, 2010 8:25 PM

I couldn't agree more by Neal

The toothbrush-turned-hairbrush made a beautiful wooden horse, but the fact of the matter was that Neal hadn’t been responsible for the change. The girl next to him was behind that transformation, and she seemed quite proud of herself as far as Neal could tell. Not that he wasn’t glad to see her perform the spell so well – it was a more detailed and difficult object to mold something into than his hairbrush had been to make – he just wanted to turn his things in and go onto drawing or making up riddles or something more entertaining now that his work was finished up.

Once Neal had pointed the girl’s error in taking his object, he almost felt her mood change for himself. She whispered that she was sorry and looked to be close to tears as she turned away from him. He rubbed the back of his neck, wondering why he had to keep making girls cry. If it wasn’t his looks that had girls upset, then it was… well, he wasn’t too sure why the girl next to him was crying. Maybe she thought he was ugly or weird enough to sob at, too? He never thought he was ugly – just his bloodshot eyes and the bags under them with everything on him being in disarray – but he could be missing something.

Or maybe… maybe this time it had nothing to do with his looks. Was she upset about something else? He probably sounded a little mean, he thought. His flat voice did have a way of coming out with more attitude sometimes then he meant to portray.

"I really am sorry, I thought it was mine..." she repeated, her voice sounding so disheartened that Neal stopped rubbing the back of his neck and reached into his tan knapsack.

“Eh, don’t worry about it, alright? I need more practice anyway. If anything, you’re helping me, so thanks.” He gave her a reassuring smile as he took out a spare quill and laid it on his desk. “Mutatio,” he said while concentrating hard. The quill had transformed much more smoothly into a hairnet then the other items had. Neal went back to fix his notes, flashing her one more smile to let her know it was alright.

0 Neal I couldn't agree more 0 Neal 0 5

Dmitri Petrovskii

April 19, 2010 8:58 PM

Taking notes by Dmitri Petrovskii

The mere idea of Transfiguration was enough to interest Dmitri. It was all about the rearrangement of molecules, something he had learned in muggle education. It was sort of like chemistry except instead of Bunsen burners and chemicals they used magic and objects. He could completely deal with that. It made sense, one of the few things in the magical world that did. He still had a hard time believing he had flown, well, hovered on a broom. He expected to find that cables had been holding him up, as the entire thing, going to a magical school, was some elaborate prank for a new television series. But still no one had come rushing out and screaming ‘Gotcha!’ so he figured so far so good.

Being the good student that he was, Dmitri took a seat in the front row, and being the organized person that he was, he took out one of his many new notebooks. All of which had a hard cover and a pocket in them to include additional materials. He also took out a feather quill and ink. These he had seen at the store and wanted to attempt to look like a real wizard, but he took out a black pen just in case. That said he was ready for the lesson and just in time too as the lesson began. For someone as prim and proper as he was, he took little note of the tattoos. Having travelled around, he had learned early that there was no one standard of beauty and in fact, tattoos could symbolize many things. He wondered if this were the case or not.

But no matter for the moment as he wrote detailed notes of exactly what they would be doing. He liked having exact information at his fingertips should he ever want to look back on what he did. At the end of term, he would end up filing this information away as he was prone to do. This continued to writing down everything he could about his three objects even though they were rather mundane objects. There was the pop can, the bracelet, and the salt grinder. He supposed that the pop can would be best served as something similar sounding and decided on a pan. After figuring out that, he wrote down as much detail about a pan as he could without actually seeing one.

Startled, Dmitri glanced up in confusion to what had caused the dot of his last i to turn into a slash. No one else seemed to be bothered, but him. He concluded that the source must be a location nearby and concluded the problem had come from whoever was closest to him. “Is everything all right?” Dmitri asked concerned that perhaps the person was frustrated, but maybe they were overjoyed at having gotten it perfect right away.

0 Dmitri Petrovskii Taking notes 162 Dmitri Petrovskii 0 5

Tristan Volkmann

April 19, 2010 10:12 PM

Should've probably taken notes by Tristan Volkmann

School was such a waste of time. Why did Tristan even bother with showing up for lessons? He already knew he was going to be a professional Quidditch player when he grew up. The hours spent rotting his brain in a classroom should be dedicated to practices and getting better. He was officially a Chaser for the Pecari Quidditch Team, for Sugar Quill’s sake! That came with a responsibility he needed to exceed!

Not to mention the fact that he needed to get faster than his team’s Keeper, whatever her name had been. That was a war he needed to prepare for in itself. He simply didn’t have time to waste changing stuff.

Besides, this boring work was easy. Anyone should be able to do this spell if they weren’t a Squib or muggle on their first try. Tristan tapped his wand above his first object, a small black purse, and muttered the spell to make it into a dark brown wooded basket. He smirked and wondered if he should’ve been in Aladren instead – he was such a natural. He jotted down sloppy notes he hoped the teacher (whatever her name had been) could figure it out.

His eyes slid over to the last two objects: a nail and leather shoe. He wondered if he could change them both at the same time and get this over with faster. The nail would be a needle, the shoe could turn into a leather satchel. With both objects clear in his mind, Tristan leaned back and pointed at both objects as he said, “Mutatio,” the same way he had before.

Only the results were different this time around.

Tristan reeled back as he looked at the disaster he had made: a bag made of needles that were somehow all sticking out and wedged into the desk. Tristan tried to separate it with a few spells he remembered his mom and dad using at random points in time when in panic, but all that did was set the desk on fire. Wait…

“OH CRAP!” Tristan tried to put the fire out by blowing on it, but that only made it worse. He couldn’t think of any water spells or ways to put it out. He remembered hearing how some people stomped flames out, so he took his shoe and started to pound as lightly as he could so no one would notice the sound sounds at the fire. He frowned at the smoke and started to hit the fire a bit faster. This was not looking good for him.

”Is everything all right?” Tristan nodded a bit too innocently at the curious boy beside him, giving the fire on his desk one final twack before letting his shoe cover the fire to hide the evidence of a spell gone wrong from his sights. “Yes, everything’s great, why wouldn’t it be?” His face fell when he noticed smoke coming from the inside of his shoe. “… Hmm, well, besides that, everything’s fine, thanks.” In case his partner was worried, he waved him off nonchalantly and went to hit his burning shoe with his other shoe. “Don’t worry, I’ve got this covered.”

0 Tristan Volkmann Should've probably taken notes 0 Tristan Volkmann 0 5

Rachel

April 20, 2010 9:28 AM

I am, aren't I? by Rachel

Rachel glanced at the objects in front of the other girl, and since they all looked fairly normal, she decided that it would be safe to assume at least one of them wasn't in its normal shape. "Apparently not," she agreed, trying to not think of her first day in Transfiguration. She had gotten it right in the end, but her first attempt had turned the soda can to ice. "I'm Rachel." For less than a second, she contemplated leaving it at that, but then her common sense kicked her pride somewhere painful very hard and brought her back to the real world. "Rachel Bauer, of the Arizona Bauers."

She was proud to notice that she wasn't flushing, or didn't feel as though she was. That was something. Genetics hadn't equipped her to be a liar, not when they'd given her Gramma Claire's fair skin to go with Claire's blonde hair and blue eyes, and it was worse when it felt like lying.

It was kind of funny, really. She had spent her first year being paranoid that someone was going to realize she was a half-blood. She had deliberately gone out of her way to be nice to Veronica and Alessa just so they wouldn't look for reasons to take her down, and would have done the same for Raines if his very presence hadn't made her start thinking about all the myriad ways to dismember someone and not get caught. And now, in her second year, getting proof that it had all worked made her so mad she was sure that, if she'd had no more self-control than Kate seemed to, she would've already climbed up on a table to announce her dirty secret to the world at large.

Well, if she’d lacked self-control and an awareness of exactly what her mother would do to her for telling family secrets. There was that.

She tried to blank it all out. It was making her situation more difficult. “You’re one of the new Crotali, right?” she said, the face clicking vaguely. “How are you liking it here so far? And do you have any ideas for a candle end?” She had her own ideas, but figured it was polite to show at least some interest in her conversation partner.

16 Rachel I am, aren't I? 154 Rachel 0 5

Ellie

April 20, 2010 4:01 PM

Logic is logic, you see :P by Ellie

“If you’re done with your stuff, I’ll take them down for you since I’m turning my things in. Consider it an apology for being bad company.” Ellie smiled again, looking up through her bangs as Cosette stood to take their things to the professor. "Thanks," she answered, "and no company is bad company in my book." Ellie took out a clean piece of parchment and began to doodle as Cosette walked to the desk.

Aladren? Cosette thought she had been in Aladren? Ellie wasn't sure if she should be insulted or gratuitous. Ah, well, at least she had managed to transfigure her objects. Her parents would be proud of her... if they had been there. But Ellie didn't want to think of the responsibility her dad was resting upon her; being the best witch out of her and her sister (who happened to not be witch at all) was not exactly what she wanted right now. Right now, actually, she just wanted to meet some people in her house who she could spend time with, and apparently, she hadn't met them yet. She desperately wished she could pull out one of her glossy magazines (TeenWitch was just calling her name from inside her bag) but perhaps then Prof. Jane would have taken off points from her House. And Ellie didn't want to be the first in her Transfiguration class to lose points! So, tapping her fingers, she continued to doodle and quietly hum to herself.

0 Ellie Logic is logic, you see :P 0 Ellie 0 5

Mariana

April 20, 2010 5:32 PM

Peices to the Puzzle by Mariana

Mariana smiled as he did- she felt stupid, though. She couldn't help but be reduced to tears whenever she made a mistake. Her parents were strict purebloods, and well... shaking her head, Mariana looked for another object to transfigure, since the hairbrush obviously hadn't been hers. Looking aside, she found that there was a small crystal, blue in color. It was as hard as a rock, and cold, too. Mariana scratched out her notes on the hair brush before turning to her three items.

"I'm sorry about crying and everything," she told him, her voice soft. She didn't speak often, so it came out soft and raspy. "I hadn't meant to startle you.. It's just... never mind. Thank you, though, for not being angry with me."

Blushing slightly, she turned away from him and envisioned her doll turning into a raven- a raven with startling blue eyes, like the doll. The hair were as black as the feathers of a raven, and though the eyes tended to be black as well, she was sure the teacher wouldn't mind. After all, Professor Wolfe did say to be creative. So, she waved her wand as instructed and whispered the words 'Mutatio' once more, watching the baby doll turn into a small inanimate raven. It's feathers were slicked back and shiny, and it's blue eyes open, observing the alive world around it.

She turned next to the wooden puppet. The puppet was simply made out of oak wood with shapes for the hands, arms, head, feet and torso, and balls making up the joints. Maybe she could turn it into a doll? Or a marionette with strings? No, they didn't have similar qualities, not really. She bit her lip, afraid of failing. What would her mother say if she failed? Mariana whimpered at the thought. It wasn't pleasant. Well, she would think of it later. She needed to think on what to change the crystal.

Looking over to the crystal, she wondered if she could simply change it into a button. Professor Wolfe had never said anything about it, but she did say something about being creative. Maybe a glass eye? The thought was random, but she recalled reading a poem by Poe, with a blue eye. Yes, she would do it. Closing her eyes and imagining the electric blue eye, Mariana whispered the words as she pointed her wand at the crystal. When she opened them, she was proud to know that crystal had turned to a blue eye made of glass. She picked it up, turning it in her hands.

"My name is Mariana, by the way," she said, introducing herself. Her father and mother had taught her manners, and in her fright she had forgotten them. "I.. could you help me with this? I've no idea what to change the puppet into..."

0 Mariana Peices to the Puzzle 0 Mariana 0 5

Charlotte Waverly

April 20, 2010 7:11 PM

Low Expectations Bring Greater Reward by Charlotte Waverly

Charlotte was extremely nervous for her first class. She had spent the better part of the night up and worrying about today. She wasn't specifically bothered by what the otheer students could possibly think about her but she did want to have an okay reputation. She refused to be known as the know it all nerd in the front.

Due to her unecessary worry she had bags under her eyes that no amount of muggle make up could hide. Charlotte sighed and hoped they weren't noticable. She was quite excited for her first transfiguation class, she had always been intrigued by the subject. Plus the teacher seemed like a kind and relaxed woman.

When she received her three objects she saw they were a cup, a thimble, and a plate. She grabbed the cup first and attempted to change it into a vase. "Mutatio" she said dully. The cup remained unchanged. Rolling her eyes, she decided she would actually have to try if she wanted to do this right. She thought of the clear, slim glass becoming a clear and shapely vase. Then she said it this time with feeling and in a demanding tone, all the while moving her wand in the movements that Professor Janette had done. "Mutatio", she replied again. Though unlike last time it changed into its desired shape.

Charlotte was not a teacher's pet in fact she was quite a slacker, but this didn't stop the feeling of triumph washing over her. She'd done it right on the second try! In her excitement she had accidentally hit her notebook to the floor. She went to grab it when one of her fellow classmates picked it up and handed it to her. Looking at the person she said "Thank you. I'm Charlotte Waverly. I don't believe we've met."

0 Charlotte Waverly Low Expectations Bring Greater Reward 0 Charlotte Waverly 0 5

Professor Janette Wolfe

April 20, 2010 9:21 PM

It probably would have been a good idea. by Professor Janette Wolfe

The day was good, she decided, watching over her class. She had noticed that some were not too excited about the assignment, and others were a bit fascinated with her tattoos. Some were struggling, some her achieving, and some were stuck in between.Still, she was happy with the assignment she provided as it seemed a rather easy one and hard to fail. She thought about having two different assignments for the second years, but then it would have been less likely of them to help the first years. Not that she didn't want to help them, she was their Professor of course, but it wouldn't hurt to encourage friendliness.

As her gaze roamed around the room, she noticed a fire in one of the rows. Sighing, Janette moved quickly over to the table with her wand in hand. Waving her wand over the fire she said,

"Aquamenti."

A stream of water flowed from her wand, dousing the fire, including the one on the student's robes and shoe. With another wave of her hand, the water disappeared, and she cast a warming charm on her student so he wouldn't get cold from the water. A flick of her wrist- and the charm was canceled.

"Mind telling me what went wrong?" Janette asked with a smile. She nodded to the other boy with laughing eyes, dancing in amusement. She wasn't angry. Accidents happened. If this had been a serious one, Not that a fire wasn't serious, Janette thought, amused, she would have probably been a little more angry. No one was harmed though, and that was all that mattered. Still, he probably should have called for her, so it wouldn't have lasted as long as it did.

0 Professor Janette Wolfe It probably would have been a good idea. 0 Professor Janette Wolfe 0 5

Samantha Hamilton

April 21, 2010 3:32 PM

How about no expectations? by Samantha Hamilton

Going to class had never bothered Samntha the same way it seemed to bother a lot of other kids. She figured the reason for this was that she happened to be smart. If she could just show up and learn stuff, whereas other kids had to work hard at it, then yeah, she could understand why that made them hate going to class. Samantha could usually get stuff sorted pretty quick. It the Muggle world at least. She had been to three different Muggle schools before starting Sonora. Here - well, it was so far difficult to tell. The first class was transfiguration, which, as far as Samantha understood it, meant you changed on thing into something else.

Once she had taken her seat, Samantha wrote her name, the date, and the title of the class (she decided it would be 'Transfiguration:Lesson One') at the top of some parchment. She didn't really like writing on parchment because the ink from her Parker pen didn't flow very well, but it was apparently what witches and wizards used. She also wrote the professor's name on the paper, just in case she forgot it before next class. There were a lot of new classes, each with a professor, so it seemed entirely possible Samantha would forget one name this week.

When the spell was demonstrated, Samantha's eyes went wide with amazement. She had seen a very little magic before, like the sorting potion and the waterfalls in the Hall, but this was the first spell she had really seen. It was unbelievable! She was so stunned she almost forgot she had to do the work herself. Hastily copying down the name of the spell, Samantha the put down her pen and picked up her wand. That was another thing that took some getting used to. Samantha had her very own magic wand, and not just one she'd picked up from the garden to play pretend with her cousins when she was about five. This one worked, and it could do magic!

Well, that was the theory, anyway. Samantha tried the spell out on a glass ball sitting on her desk. It looked a bit like a small crystal ball; Samantha was trying to turn it into a tennis ball, but nothing had happened yet. Maybe magic was harder than it looked. Maybe she was going to find magic school hardwork. That thought alone was enough to panic the first year, so it was luckily the person next to her dropped their notebook. It was enough to distract Samantha as she picked it up to hand it back.

"You dropped this," she said. Then, the other girl introduced herself, and Samantha smiled easily back. "I'm Sam. Samantha," she part-corrected herself. She didn't mind what people called her, really, as long as it was polite. "No, I don't think we've met either. Are you in first year, too?"

0 Samantha Hamilton How about no expectations? 159 Samantha Hamilton 0 5

Neal

April 21, 2010 4:42 PM

Answer to a question by Neal

With all his transformed items and notes dealt with, Neal took out an orange notebook (something considered very ‘muggle’ at this school, even though he thought it was more useful than toting parchments around) and started to sketch in whatever came to his mind. He noticed the horse was still between himself and the girl beside him, noting how she seemed to have found another object to work with instead of claiming the horse she’d made. He couldn’t help but wonder what the Professor would do with it once everyone left the class. Keep it? Use it for another class? Transfigure it into something else?

The girl beside him spoke up, and he gave her his attention as best he could. She spoke so softly, yet her voice had a rough quality to it like she’d been screaming all morning. Neal’s brows furrowed when she apologized for crying and startling him and they furrowed even more when she thanked him for not being angry with her. He wanted to tell her that she had nothing to be sorry for and certainly no reason to thank him, but he was worried he might offend her. De decided to simply nod his head and bit and played along. “It’s fine,” he told her delicately.

He watched her face flush as she started to shift her attention to her doll. He sighed and went back to his own mindless drawings. His attention only diverted two more times: once when he noticed, with another sigh, that Tristan’s desk was on fire and again when the girl next to him whimpered to herself. Was she having a miserable day, he wondered, or was she always so morose?

"My name is Mariana, by the way." Neal blinked at his drawings before turning to look at her. Hmm, well, she didn’t seem to be on the verge of tears anymore, but that didn’t mean she was in good spirits yet and wanted to make full blown conversation. That meant that she wanted either advice or to apologize again. "I.. could you help me with this? I've no idea what to change the puppet into..."

Aha, so advice was what she was after. His eyes roved over to take the wooden puppet in. He compared it to the raven and blue eye she’d made – both very well done for someone’s first go at a spell. Always one to appreciate a good theme, he brainstormed for a brief second before tapping the table to get her attention. “How about you make it into a wooden cage, like the ones birds are kept in?” An eye could be in a raven, a raven could be in a cage – it was a new theme, a new riddle, he was glad to rise to the challenge. He had no doubt in his mind she could do it – he’d seen what she could do first hand, after all.

Before she performed the spell, he turned back to his notebook and told her, “Oh, and I’m Neal.” He kept his head bent over the pictures he was drawing as he gave her a friendly smile. “Nice to meet you, Mariana.”

0 Neal Answer to a question 0 Neal 0 5

Mariana

April 21, 2010 6:38 PM

But more questions have yet to be answered. by Mariana

“How about you make it into a wooden cage, like the ones birds are kept in?" Neal had said. A cage, she thought. Mariana glanced from him to the puppet. Yes, a cage would do beautifully. She could just imagine it. The bars wouldn't be wooden, but the bottom would be. An inky black... chipped... Closing her eyes, with a clear image in mind, Mariana whispered the word and opened her eyes to find an inky black cage. The bottom was made of wood, slightly chipped as if clawed at. The bars itself were actually wide enough for a bird to enter, however, there was barbwire, weaving itself along the cage so the bird couldn't get out.

She smiled. Yes, a cage. It fit so perfectly. Inspiration struck her, and she decided to give the bird, they eye, and the cage a back story. It would only be for her to read, but she liked writing stories for different things. Or perhaps a poem. Poetry did always suit her, except, there were already poems written about ravens, even stories about blue eyes. Still, she wanted to write, and write she would.

There once was a raven who longed for freedom. It sat in a cage, dangling from an oak tree as it gazed longingly at the open sky. It yearned to fly through the air, to stretch it's wings. But the poor raven couldn't. The little raven was trapped inside the cage, tormented since birth for being an ugly, imperfect little thing.

The bird was trapped by two humans- one man and one woman, who believed the little raven imperfect. So they trapped the raven inside a special cage. The cage's bars were far enough apart so that the little bird would be able to fly away, but the tiny thing couldn't. There was harmful, spiked wire that weaved in and out of the bars so the bird couldn't escape.

The bird knew it could break away one day, the day it turned beautiful. But the raven was scared. The raven wanted to break out now, so it could fly high in the sky as birds were meant to. But what if the raven was caught? What if the raven was hurt? So the little bird stayed inside it's cage, awaiting the day someone might free her.

She finished writing and pushed it aside. She was here, in Sonora, yet she was still sad. She was so tired of being sad and helpless. She wanted to be free of the burden her parents had placed on her shoulders.

"Um, if you're finished," she said to Neal, "I can take your items and notes for you... It wouldn't be a bother, I mean... as a thank you, for helping me."

0 Mariana But more questions have yet to be answered. 0 Mariana 0 5

Sophia

April 21, 2010 8:10 PM

Then we shall learn together by Sophia

Since Sophia was finished with her assingment she had nothing else to do. She eyed the remaing items on her desk and debated between attempting to transfigure them too. The truth was that she was tired, her first attempts had drained her out of energy…she was a little eleven year-old girl but she was sure that with time her body would get accustomed to it all.

She grabbed her parchment and began doodling on it with her quill. She had already drawn a sun, a broom, and a bunny when a black-haired boy tapped her on the shoulder and asked for her help. She was taken a back at first by his statement but she quickly caught on the joke of it all.

She smiled at him, “I’ll be glad to!” she furrowed her brow trying to come up with something to transfigure a feather into, “how about a drum stick? Or a pencil? I transfigured a pencil into a feather!” she suddenly stopped talking and looked down at the floor. She was proud of her accomplishment but she didn’t want to be seen as a stuck up know-it-all, because she really wasn’t one.

Remembering she hadn’t introduced herself she offered him her hand, “You know, Miss Perfect has a name,” she gave him a friendly at him, “I am Sophia.”

0 Sophia Then we shall learn together 0 Sophia 0 5

Neal

April 21, 2010 8:14 PM

Some puzzles don't have solutions by Neal

Neal watched Mariana get all caught up in what looked like a daydream. She went back to ignoring him and transfigured her cage. The transformation itself was definitely not something a first year should be able to pull off, though. Changing wood into barbed wire is unheard of for their level – at least, Neal had thought that before this class. Now he wasn’t so sure. People, whether magical or not, always had a way of surprising him somehow. She was reminding him of that.

She went back to writing so Neal went back to his drawings. He was so bored of sitting around doing nothing, he contemplated asking Professor Wolfe for extra work. But then he’d run the risk of it being busy work and leaving him more bored than he already was starting to feel. No point wasting his time on obligations, he thought with an eye roll.

Neal caught a glimpse of Ellie, who he noticed earlier. She had been upset when she first met Neal too. It was a bit unnerving to keep meeting people when they’re not feeling so great. Neal only hoped that he hadn’t lost his ability to make others feel better, since he seemed to be able to do okay with that. He’d never thought of himself as a comforting person but he did try to fit the role when it’d pop up best he could.

Mariana spoke to him when she was done writing. "Um, if you're finished, I can take your items and notes for you...” Neal tilted his head a bit and studied her. He hadn’t been expecting that. She continued, ”It wouldn't be a bother, I mean... as a thank you, for helping me."

Neal gathered his things and passed them over to her, making sure she had everything organized and wouldn’t trip and fall on her way down or something. “Hey, thanks, that’s real cool of you.” He sat back down and tapped his quill to his notebook paper, watching to make sure she was okay with all that stuff. When she sat back down, an idea came to mind. He flipped to a blank sheet of paper and smiled at her mischievously. “Mariana,” he began, drawing lines for a game of Hangman on his clean notebook paper, “how familiar are you with the muggle game called ‘Hangman?’”

0 Neal Some puzzles don't have solutions 0 Neal 0 5

Charlotte Waverly

April 21, 2010 9:20 PM

Whatever flys your broomstick by Charlotte Waverly

When Charlotte had changed her object in little amount of time it had hardly surprised her. Sure, she had never done magic before and had not expected it to be easy but she had grown up seeing magic. She recalled the many times her mother had used the same spell, they were using now, to make her flowers more elegant, or create a larger dining room table. It was all fairly simple seeming and if all magic was like this she felt it would be quite easy to pass her classes. These thoughts

She'd just introdced herself to the girl who had picked up her notebook. "I'm Sam. Samantha" the girl stated. The girl seemed nice and hopefully she was in her head of house. She was hoping for a new friend and it would be perfect if they could see each other whenever.

"Hi Sam. You can call me Charlie if you want or Charlotte. Whatever." she stated. She had seemed to stumble over her words when she told Sam to call her Charlie, she just hoped she didn't notice. What was up with her, Charlotte Waverly did not stutter. Others stuttered around her but not the other way around! How embarrassing she thought.

Deciding to change the subject she asked her the question plaguing her mind "What house are you in?".

0 Charlotte Waverly Whatever flys your broomstick 0 Charlotte Waverly 0 5

Jane Carey

April 21, 2010 11:12 PM

Back in my natural habitat by Jane Carey

There were far too many desks, a natural consequence of the class containing more than the two students Jane thought of as the natural number for learning, but Jane was still very glad to get inside a classroom. It was the first time since she had arrived that she'd felt like she had any idea about what was going on and what she ought to do about it.

School was nothing like her books had told her it would be. Nothing. Edmond wasn't hovering. Mother wasn't being hysterical in letters. The professors weren't taking a very irrational dislike to her, which she could then turn into a fervent admiration by year's end. There seemed to be not one Evil Older Student in the entire place. Jane saw an array of faces she knew were older than hers, but she'd yet to meet one, much less one who did something to her so that Edmond had to call them out. What kind of school didn't get bullies for her sort-of brother to beat up on her first day at the place?

But now Jane was back in the classroom, where she had spent most of her life. There was something comforting about just how regular and predictable and solid knowledge was; if she could get him to stand still long enough to talk to, it was occurring to her to tell Edmond that she was developing new understanding of his interests and lifestyle and felt a bit bad about all the times she'd called him boring.

The professor was much more informal than any of those she had learned from at home, but Jane thought she would still call her Professor Wolfe. Calling her Professor Jane would make Edmond cross, and both Jane and Janette were too much when her name was Jane, too. Besides, Janette would make Edmond just as cross as another Jane. He wanted her - Jane Carey, not Jane Wolfe - to be her best, and he really did mean well by trying to help her with her manners. Jane wanted to not embarrass him because he was the only person who didn't have him to compare her to.

The lecture over, she examined the three objects in front of her curiously. There seemed to be a hairbrush, made of some hard material she didn't recognize, a thimble (she'd enjoy turning that into something else; Mother had taught her to sew, but she wasn't very good at it and didn't see the point), and a picture frame. She decided to start her work on the thimble.

Turning it into a needle (not something she liked a lot better, but it was related) went well, but it proved a little harder to get the hairbrush to become a hat. As she contemplated the problem, Jane felt someone looking at her and looked back with a smile. "I think coming up with what to turn things into is harder than the spell," she said to the looker. "I'm Jane Carey, of the Virginia Careys. First year." The idea that some people associated the name Carey with very bad things never crossed her mind; her brother's technical position (and, for that matter, technical degree of relation to her) might be different, but Father was one of those cousins so distantly related to the main lines of the Carey family that he would most likely have never been one psychologically if Thomas hadn't given them Edmond. He had been a lawyer before. "How do you do?"

0 Jane Carey Back in my natural habitat 160 Jane Carey 0 5

Mariana

April 22, 2010 7:59 AM

That is when it is difficult to understand. by Mariana

OOC: Sorry I didn't make it clear, but there are wires in the puppet. I used that for the barbwire and bars. I just wanted to clear that up. ;)

Mariana placed her raven inside the cage, and then the glass eye next to it. She then took Neal's own items, smiling slightly at the rather odd theme, and both of their notes. Handling the items with care, she walked to the teacher's desk and placed them on her desk. She was currently helping another student, who apparently caught their desk on fire. Secretly, Mariana wondered how someone could manage that, but then anything was possible. Quickly returning to her seat, Mariana took her small story and stared at it, analyzing it for mistakes. Seeing that there was none, she placed it in her bag delicately. She would write that in her leather journal later.

She watched as Neal turned to a white sheet of paper in his muggle notebook. If her mother and father knew she was associating with a halfblood, or muggleborn, she wasn't sure, they would lock her in her room for a week with little to nothing to eat. But she didn't care. Neal was nice, and she never cared for the pureblood supremacy that her mother and father dedicated their entire lives too. She believed in equality for all- not just purebloods.

“Mariana,” he said as he drew some strange lines on the paper, “how familiar are you with the muggle game called ‘Hangman?’”

"Hangman?" She murmured. We aren't trying to hang a man, are we?" He drew lines underneath the strange object. What sort of game was this? She had never heard of it before. Of course, she knew witches had been hanged by Muggles in the Middle Ages, and those had been dark times. Her great-great-great-great-great-great-great aunt had been hanged. But this wasn't anything like it, she supposed.

"I know nothing of it. How do you play?"

0 Mariana That is when it is difficult to understand. 0 Mariana 0 5

Autumn Collins

April 22, 2010 10:23 AM

Let's see if it's mine. by Autumn Collins

As far as classes went, Transfiguration was much more appealing to Autumn than flying had been. Almost any class imaginable was more appealing than having to be up high. The idea of flying through the air with the wind rushing around her wasn't exciting, it was terrifying.

Transfiguration sounded much, much better. Safer.

That didn't mean, however, that Autumn would be good at it. Or that she wasn't a bit worried about screwing up in front of everyone. That would have been humiliating. Autumn didn't know if she could handle being laughed at or picked on.

Autumn listed to the lecture, noticing the professor's tatoos. She would never ever want any herself, for they attracted way too much attention, and would probably even more on a young pureblood girl than on the professor, but Autumn did appreciate their artistry.

She looked down at the three objects on her desk. There was a tin can, an ordinary pen, and a tiny stuffed turkey. What on earth could Autumn turn these things into? She knew was fully capable of creativity but right now, she felt under pressure. When she painted or drew, she did that only for herself and could simply do something abstract if she wanted, this was for a grade.

Autumn thought maybe she could turn the pen into a paintbrush but she didn't know about the other two things. She looked over at the girl next to her to see what she'd done.

"I think coming up with what to turn things into is harder than the spell,"

Autumn blushed, having been caught looking. It always made her feel weird when someone looked at her. Like at the feast when she'd noticed Chelsea pointing her out to the girls she'd been sitting with. What could have that been about? She knew Chelsea wasn't always the nicest person. Had she said something bad about Autumn to her friends?

But this girl seemed nice enough. At least she was smiling. "Agreed." Autumn said, smiling back nervously. "I'm Autumn Collins." She replied, introducing herself. Autumn didn't usually add her family branch. The Collins family was an old pureblood Pennsylvania family, but she lived in Wisconsin. The Wisconsin Collinses consisted of herself, her parents and her two sisters. Autumn was sure she'd get asked questions if she introduced herself that way.

The name Carey was familiar to her as well. Not only were they a fairly infamous pureblood family, Lily had spoken of a girl with that last name. They'd been Beaters together."It's nice to meet you, Jane." Autumn wondered if she should ask her if she was related to Gwen. She'd heard some rumors about the elder Carey, and none of them pleasant. Lily had always seemed to like her but Autumn was worried that she might embarass Jane by asking and lose a chance to make a friend.

11 Autumn Collins Let's see if it's mine. 164 Autumn Collins 0 5

Dani

April 22, 2010 1:54 PM

How about a compromise? by Dani

Muggle money. She had seen it occasionally. Sometimes there would be some lying in the street and other times she had seen some of the older boys that loitered downtown with it. She had never actually gotten up the nerve to talk to any though. Unlike Jordan, she had the good sense not to talk to boys she didn’t know. She didn’t know how Jordan could be like that. She would chat up and flirt with any guy that had two legs to walk on. The worst part was she was only ten! Dani didn’t understand it at all. She was older. She was eleven and she didn’t have any interest in boys yet.

But she did have an interest in the money. “Why does it look like that?” She never understood why there were people on it or why it said the things it did. She figured the rest was some form of denominations, because that was a fairly universal thing in money. Otherwise, everything would cost the same, which would make absolutely no sense. “I mean why does money muggle have people on it? And it always seems to be men. Do any have women on them?” Women and men were supposed to be equal, regardless of what groups like WAIL said, so where were the women? Or were muggle women like house elves? She didn’t think that was very fair. Muggle culture was confusing.

Of course, she was assuming that he knew something about muggle culture given that he had muggle money. It seemed likely that he was muggleborn or at the most, a halfblood. Though, it was plausible that he just picked it up off the street. Thinking about his heritage, however, she realized she didn’t even know his name. “What’s your name?” She asked. Then not to be too incredibly rude, though, Merlin knew, she could be at times, she added, “I’m Dani Adair.” Here’s where she was supposed to put of the Arizona Adairs to show that she was a pureblood from one of the longer lines, but never did. She hated the formality of it.

Looking at her, one would probably mistake her for a muggleborn or halfblood with her painted black nails and the jeans she wore. Sure, her mother bought her fancy dresses, but she never wore them. There was nothing worse than the feel of a dress. The way one couldn’t breath and the constant worry that somehow your behind would end up being shown off. It was an embarrassment just waiting to happen and you were asking for it by wearing one. How her sisters could stand them she had no idea. They even liked wearing them and for Jordan, the shorter the better.

Introduction made, she showed him what she had done, “I didn’t get mine one hundred percent right either.” She showed him the blue ball. “It was a candle. You can tell cause the wick is still on it. I was thinking what would happen if it was transfigured into a bludger like this. Can you imagine them lit on fire and used in Quidditch?” Dani asked, the thought still amused her. “No one ever go for it, of course, since it’d be much too dangerous.” She supposed it could always be used in a circus. It would make a good act and they were always doing death defying sorts of things like flying through the air and just hoping to grab that bar on the other side.

0 Dani How about a compromise? 0 Dani 0 5

Nic

April 22, 2010 5:08 PM

So mediocre grades and friendly conversations, then? by Nic

"I'm Nic Sawyer," Nic got the easy introduction out of the way before he got into the more complicated explanation of who Roosevelt was, why US coins had mostly men on them, and offer Canada up as a feminist alternative. He briefly toyed with the idea of lying about his full first name, but decided to just leave it at 'Nic'. It was too likely she'd learn otherwise and he wasn't really much of a liar anyway. It was best to just let her assume it was Nicholas, then it wouldn't be his fault when she found out it wasn't.

"And they put faces on the money to honor past leaders - or current leaders in some countries. There's a dollar coin with an Indian lady, and there's one with Susan B. Anthony on it, but the US mostly uses past presidents, and all those have been guys so far, since girls only started being able to vote and hold office in the early 1900s, like the twenties or something. Canada's money has Queen Elizabeth the Second, though, so all of theirs has a woman on it."

He pushed the real dime over in front of Dani so she could examine it more closely. "That guy is Franklin Roosevelt, the president during a really important part of muggle history, and I think the most recent guy on a US coin, and he was from like the thirties, or something." It would be way too nerdy to know his exact years in office, so Nic kept it vague and made it sound like he was guessing.

While he gave her the opportunity to look over the coin, he examined her ex-candle, and tilted his his head as he considered it. "If the ball was the size, shape and color of a bludger, and the wick was burning, it would look like a bomb," he decided. "The old kind, like from pirate cartoons."

Though since Dani had apparently never seen a dime before, he figured his conclusion was completely incomprehensible to her. "Which, in wizarding language, means it looks like a muggle weapon that blows up like a potion gone very very wrong. It would look really really scary to any muggleborn or half-blood if they saw it flying at them. It would be awesome."

He looked at his remaining items and picked up what he assumed was a wax apple, but as his hand closed around it, he changed his mind and decided it was a rubber apple. Or something else that was a little squishier than wax. "Here, I'll show you what the kind of bomb I'm talking about looks like."

He decided his bomb was going to look pretty good, but it was still going to be squishy - that was probably the hardest part to change anyway. And the fuse would still look like an apple stem. That was probably close to eighty percent right.

He studied the apple's current appearance from every side (he wasn't going to have the same problem this time as he'd purposely done last time), and then imagined what a bomb with the same apple stem would look like. He was a very visually and spatially attuned person, so it wasn't hard to sort of spin the mental image around like a 3-D model and then compare it to the apple. Once he had a solid grasp on the differences between the current form and his intended form, he held his wand over the apple and cast, "Mutatio!" and tapped his wand down on it.

He nodded in satisfaction as it transformed perfectly, then remembered that his idea of 'perfect' was not going to be the same as the teacher's, so he let his smile fade as if just noticing the problems. "Oh, except this would be a thin rope, not an apple stem," he qualified, touching the stem-fuse, and frowning a little more when the whole bomb squished a little against the desk at the pressure. "And it's supposed to be made of metal. But otherwise, that's what a cartoon bomb looks like."

1 Nic So mediocre grades and friendly conversations, then? 165 Nic 0 5

Jane

April 22, 2010 6:59 PM

It isn't everyone's? by Jane

Autumn Collins. That was a nice name. At least it was more interesting than Jane. She had always felt that Mother and Father were just a little too lacking in creativity in the area of names; they hadn't even given Jane three, and that was practically a requirement. Even Edmond had three names, even if one of them was his unwell real father's.

But so. Jane was good at remembering names in books, so she thought she ought to be good at remembering names here. She hoped she was, anyway, because mixing people up wasn't very well thought of, and Father said it was very important that people make themselves well-liked. He had been talking more to Edmond at the time, but Jane tended to think that things that were Edmond's were hers anyway, including lessons.

"It's nice to meet you, too," Jane said. The name Collins sounded familiar from her geography lessons, but she knew little about it. Just memorizing things wasn't one of the things Jane was best at, so Mother had finally decided it was enough for Jane to know who the families were, so she didn't make a series of terrible mistakes and die the way Edmond's real sister had. Gwenhwyfar had been used as one of the cautionary tales for the younger Careys for years, now, but now that she'd been killed, Jane was fairly sure she would have a much more lasting place in family mythos than Edmond ever would.

She looked at the little turkey on Autumn's desk. "What is that transfigured from?" she asked, not realizing that was the shape it had come in and that it wasn't trasfigured at all. "I never would have thought of that. It's a very nice turkey."

0 Jane It isn't everyone's? 0 Jane 0 5

Raines Bradley

April 23, 2010 6:59 PM

This is called "ignoring things I don't like." by Raines Bradley

None of his first year professors had quite met Raines' standards, but Professor Carter had been all right. He had kept order in the class, had proper seating for the students, and seemed to know his subject well. Raines had only gotten, thanks to his height and low position at the Crotalus table, a glimpse of Carter's replacement at the Feast, but that and a second look as he came into class let him know she was going to prove unsatisfactory.

Presentation was important. How a person dressed, how he carried himself, how he spoke - these were how he showed his good, or poor, breeding. Raines, for instance, was in neat, pressed robes, his auburn hair brushed over severely and his posture impeccable. His teacher, on the other hand, was in a color not at all suitable for this time of day, had tattoos, and soon compounded her sins by telling them they could call her Professor Jane. How, exactly, was he supposed to respect someone who went so far out of her way to be unrespectable?

He had to at least try, though, before he wrote her off for good. His parents, to his dismay, had told him that blood and manners didn't matter when it came to teachers, and that dealing with such unsavory characters in a civil manner was good training for his political career anyway. He could use them by learning whatever it was they could teach, and then he could be done with them. School was, after all, supposed to be preparation for the real world, and that was his real world. Unless she did something truly shocking and out of line, his parents would not ruin Professor Jane's life for him.

Though he would staunchly deny it if anyone asked him, she did earn a tiny point for herself by having the first class be a review. Raines needed one of those. He could never do new things on the first try, and it was embarrassing for it to be seen, especially when some people could finish every assignment in five minutes and there were first years in the room. And certain girls....

He needed to impress. Feeling something like determination, Raines finished up his notes and surveyed the objects he had to do that with.

The first object was a bookmark. Raines thought it should have been simple to turn it into a book, but it wasn't. By the time it finally resembled one (he did not notice that the pages were still welded solidly together, and were of the same light purple as the ribbon at the top of the old bookmark), he was starting to look cross, and it was with irritation that he pointed his wand again at a simple watch. Maybe it sensed his mood, but it only took two tries to remove it from its portable state and turn into into an alarm clock.

Raines smiled a little to himself, pleased and not noticing that it wasn't ticking. This was much better. Feeling more in control, he turned his attention to his third object.

0 Raines Bradley This is called "ignoring things I don't like." 155 Raines Bradley 0 5

Kirstenna Melcher

April 24, 2010 10:49 PM

First classroom experience by Kirstenna Melcher

Kirstenna looked around the classroom in awe. She had never been taught in a formalized setting before. She had been homeschooled along with the other circus children, most of which had taken place right under the big top, in the seats the audience took during performances. They only learned a few hours a day, as most of the others were already in acts and needed to practice.

On the other hand, she had never been groomed for such a thing, she’d been set to go to magical school since she’d first displayed accidental magic as a child, an incident that had been unfortunately taken place in front of a bunch of muggles, but had fortunately been written off as a circus trick done by her father. Kirstenna was certain she could incorporate her magical training into a career with the circus, just like her father had. That was the story they’d given out, that she was going to the school where he’d learned to be such a great magician. It was dangerously close to the truth.

Kirstenna listened carefully to Professor Janette. She was unfazed by the tattoos, Ben the Sword Swallower was covered by them as were many of the people who set up the technical aspects of the shows were. She was used to dwarves and bearded ladies and giants so she didn't mind Professor Janette's tatoos one little bit.

Once the instructions were finished, Kirstenna turned her attention to her objects. There was what looked like a motel key with the number 10 on it, a plastic comb and a bus ticket to Gallup, New Mexico. Kirstenna frowned. What was similar to these objects? She supposed she could turn the comb into a plastic harmonica. Both were plastic, and a similar shape. Plus, one could put wax paper over a comb and play it like a harmonica so perhaps they had some similarities.

"Mutatio" Kirstenna performed the wand motions and nothing happened at all. She tried a few times more before the comb finally turned into a black harmonica that still had a few comb teeth.

She looked back at the other two objects. Kirstenna turned to her neighboor. "Hey, have any idea what I can do with these?" She smiled and introduced herself. "I'm Kirstenna."

11 Kirstenna Melcher First classroom experience 161 Kirstenna Melcher 0 5

Brian Moore

April 25, 2010 8:52 PM

Same here by Brian Moore

Brian liked the classroom, it reminded him of the classrooms he’d sat in back at his muggle school. Well, except this classroom was a heck of a lot nicer than his other ones had ever been, but that was a given. He half expected class to be on a magic carpet or something since he just kept getting surprised after surprise while he was here.

Brian listened to the Professor when she started to talk, only taking notes when he saw some others do it. He never had to take notes all that much beyond work sheets in his muggle school, so this was something he guessed he’d have to get good at and work on during his free time. Maybe even ask someone for help. The people here seemed really nice, he was sure they’d do it. Well, at least the people he’d met so far seemed really cool to be with. He couldn’t wait to tell his family all about them, and maybe he’d try to get his sister to give his friends a letter from him, though he’d have to be careful to keep his secret. He didn’t like secrets, but it’s just the way this whole magic-business worked…

He sighed and looked down at his objects when the teacher told him to. He had a small orange handbag, a paper plate, and a piece of yarn. He scratched his head, trying to think of what they could be made into.

The handbag… could be made into a box! That seemed like an okay tradeoff, since they were both bulky. He took some notes on his object before pointing his wand at it and carefully saying, “Mutatio.” He smiled wide when he saw his orange bag gradually transform into… wait, that wasn’t a cardboard box. It was now an orange leather bow with a zipper. He sighed and went to try the spell again when someone spoke to him.

"Hey, have any idea what I can do with these? I’m Kirstenna.” A girl talked to him, smiling. He smiled too, and politely introduced himself since manners meant a lot to the small town boy. “Nice to meet you, Kirstenna. I’m Brian Moore, a Teppenpaw first year.” He then looked at her objects and frowned. A key to a hotel room and a bus ticket? Man, and he thought he had weird objects. “You got tough stuff,” he said. “I guess the hotel key could be like a folder or something, since folders are thick, you know? And the ticket could be made into… a paper doll?” He laughed sheepishly. “I’m sorry, I’m not the most creative person. I’m still having issues with my stuff, too.”

0 Brian Moore Same here 0 Brian Moore 0 5

Neal

April 25, 2010 9:48 PM

The more impossible, the more fun by Neal

OOC: No, you were fine, I just missed that detail is all. I caught it then. If anything, I should be apologizing :) But it’s fine, we can just chalk it up as Neal having an out-of-character moment and missing a detail XD That seems like an alright way to handle that, I think.

It didn’t take long to finish setting up the game and thinking up a word on the spot. When he did get done drawing his lines in, Neal rubbed his quill on his wrist as he tried to do a quick summarization of the game in his head. He looked at her when he got his thoughts in order, glad she seemed willing to give the game a go even though it was new to her. This obviously meant she was pureblood, and Neal had met enough purebloods to know they didn’t typically enjoy anything muggle. She must be different then, he thought with a smile.

“Allow the half-blood to explain,” he said, with a flourish of his quill as he tapped his paper then. “As I said, it’s a muggle game used to pass time, and all you need is something to write with and something to write on. One person, which I guess is me to start out with, thinks of a word. I then make one separate, little line on the page per letter so you only know how many letters are in the word. You’re job is to guess, letter by letter, what my word is until the words spelled out.”

He pointed to the box he had set up to draw on. “There’s a catch, though. For every wrong letter you guess that isn’t in the word, I add on a piece of a stick figure, which is supposed to be the hanged man. So once every part of him – his head, legs, arms, and face – is drawn on, then you lose and I win. Nothing too gory, just enough to get the idea across.”

He bit his lip when he realized how this might not sound as exciting to a pureblood as it did to his muggle classmates when he went to school. “It’s not as gruesome and boring as it sounds, just a way to pass time if you’re still up for it.”

0 Neal The more impossible, the more fun 0 Neal 0 5

Mariana

April 27, 2010 9:56 AM

Riddle me this, then. Why is a Raven like a Writing Desk? by Mariana

"I see..." Mariana murmered. This game truly sounded strange, but she was eager to learn how to play. She was bored since she had turned in her assignments along with Neal's. The hairbrush turned horse still sat between them, so she could do something with that, but she'd rather play the muggle game. Besides, after that, what would she do?Possible write more, she mused.

The fact that her parents wouldn't find out probably had a hand in her eagerness, honestly. Who was there to tell them? The Professors did not know them, the Headmistress didn't, and not one student knew of them, either. She could be as wild as she wanted (which wouldn't be much) and her parents would never know. True, if she got too out of hand the Headmistress would probably alert her parents of her behavior, but she doubted it would go that far.

Her parents had sent her there to get them out of her hair, basically as far away from them as possible. Though the truth of it saddened her, it was just as much of a blessing. She was free from her parents. Free of their curses, free of their beatings, and free from their harmful words. She would do her best to make them proud... but at the same time, she would do what she wanted.

For once since arriving at Sonora, she smiled a true smile and nodded at Neal.

"I would love to play." She looked at the lines on the paper and asked, "Is there an 'E'?"

0 Mariana Riddle me this, then. Why is a Raven like a Writing Desk? 0 Mariana 0 5

Neal

April 27, 2010 3:25 PM

Simple: they both have legs by Neal

Mariana seemed to contemplate the game to herself, and Neal waited patiently (alright, impatiently, but he looked patient) for her to make up her mind. It was honestly too easy for him to get bored with things, and he didn’t feel up to working alone when an opportunity to be bored with someone else presented itself. Back at his muggle school, this was a popular game to pass time with. He figured it’d be fun for him to get to show some of the muggle world, even an insignificant part. He hadn’t gotten to really do it yet, and he had a feeling it’d be hard to do.

The girl sort of shocked him with how warm her smile was. It was completely not he what he was expecting, having thought she’d more or less just prepared himself for unease. He flicked back out of his stupor when she guessed a letter.

He looked down at the four lines he drew – he figured an easy word would be worth starting off with so she got the gist of the game – and marked the letter ‘e’ on the second line. “Lucky first guess,” he joked. “If you’ve got a knack for this, is it safe me for me to guess you were sorted into Aladren?”

0 Neal Simple: they both have legs 0 Neal 0 5

Autumn

April 28, 2010 1:28 PM

Not necessarily by Autumn

"Oh," Autumn replied, when Jane mentioned the turkey. "I actually haven't transfigured it from anything yet. I was trying to think of something." She looked down at the turkey. "It's kind of a shame that I have to." It was adorable and Autumn was afraid she'd mess it up. She would never admit the latter to anyone though. Well, maybe Lily or her parents, but not anyone here.

It was too bad it wasn't something she'd done though, as it seemed like Jane was complimenting her and that made Autumn feel kind of good. But she wasn't going to lie because it would be worse if the lie was found out. Then Jane might hate her.

"I suppose I could turn it into something else similar. Like a chicken or a peacock. I mean, a peacock's feathers are similar to a turkey's tail. What do you think?" Autumn asked. She hoped Jane liked the idea, even though the teacher was the one who had to grade her. Autumn really wanted people's friendship and she believed that people would like you better if they approved of what you did.

She was still worried of course that she wouldn't be able to change the turkey into another item correctly. It could get stuck between a turkey and a peacock and end up horridly disfigured. Of course, messed up looking stuffed animals could be adorable in their own way, but there was still Autumn's grade to consider.

But then, there was a boy who'd started a fire. Autumn couldn't possibly do worse than that.

11 Autumn Not necessarily 164 Autumn 0 5

Kirstenna

April 28, 2010 2:06 PM

Wild imagination by Kirstenna

"Hey, I'm a Teppenpaw first year too!" Kirstenna replied, grinning. "I know, these objects are really strange and random. Where did she even get a hotel key? I wonder if she stole it or if she used to own a hotel or something." She suggested. Either way, it would be interesting. If she didn't plan for a career in the circus like generations of her mother's family-Kirstenna may not have wanted to be a trapeze artist, but she'd never known any other life but a circus life until now-owning a hotel might be nice. One was certain to meet all kinds of interesting people that way.

The possibility of Professor Janette being a criminal was a fascinating prospect too. Kirstenna knew that a stealing a hotel key wasn't the most awful of crimes but that key meant she could get into that room and steal from the occupant at any time. Kirstenna was sure the professor could just apparate to this place at anytime and rob whomever was staying in that room blind. Though she could probably do that with alohamora anytime to any place.

Maybe all the objects were part of their teacher's crime or cover up. Maybe she wasn't Professor Janette Wolfe at all and she was faking an identity because she was on the run from the law. Maybe she was using polyjuice and the real Janette Wolfe was stuffed under the floor (or being held hostage) in room 10 of a hotel in Gallup, New Mexico!

The thought was amusing to Kirstenna. She couldn't imagine what her grandparents would think of a real live criminal teaching their grandchildren. Well, they probably wouldn't care about her but Quentin was another story.

She turned back to Brian. "I like the idea of a paper doll." Kirstenna had always enjoyed playing with them. "Or I could do a paper plate and you could turn your paper plate into a bus ticket." Kirstenna suggested giggling. "As for the yarn, well, it can normally be turned into a lot of things, if you have a bunch of it but one piece like that? Maybe a string or a spaghetti noodle."

Kirstenna looked back down at the key. "I have to admit, now I'm kind of wondering what's in room 10." She was more interested in finding out the stories behind the objects than actually transfiguring them into something else. Granted, it was unlikely that Brian's paper plate and piece of yarn and her comb had a story but the other ones might. " I wonder what other people got." Kirstenna pondered aloud.

11 Kirstenna Wild imagination 161 Kirstenna 0 5

Jane

April 28, 2010 11:06 PM

Well, I hope those from other habitats enjoy their stay by Jane

"Oh," Jane echoed when she realized Autumn had gotten the turkey in its present form, blushing slightly as she did. That, she could almost hear her mother telling her in her head, is what you get for making assumptions on insufficient evidence. "It does seem a shame."

Mother didn't think they were practical, and she was right about that, but Jane liked stuffed animals. She had, while everyone else was asleep, found space in her trunk for all of hers by leaving out a few practical things she felt she could get by without, and they were arranged neatly at the end of her bed. She kept the curtains so none of the other girls would see unless they were looking on purpose, since she thought they might make fun of her, but having them at Sonora with her made it seem a little less strange.

No, she quite liked the turkey the way it was. Sentiment wasn't important, though. It was important to do as they were told, like good girls. That was the only way they'd ever have a place in the world. That was what Mother had always said.

"I like chickens," she said mildly. "But you're right about the tail. A chicken would be much more challenging." Which, in Autumn's shoes, would have been why she tried it, but it wasn't proper for a lady to be that way, so she wouldn't be in much of a position to judge the other girl whichever way she went. She glanced back up at the professor. "I think it isn't supposed to be an exact alteration, though - we saw a rock turn into a button, didn't we? Maybe a wooden peacock, or a wooden chicken, would be better."

0 Jane Well, I hope those from other habitats enjoy their stay 0 Jane 0 5

Mariana

April 29, 2010 9:35 AM

That is one I haven't heard before. by Mariana

Mariana nodded. "And what are you?" she asked, "Pecari?" she guessed, glancing at his robes. Mariana turned back to the game. Four letters, and 'e' is the second letter. Dead? Mead? Perhaps it is lead? They all rhyme, sure, but she doubted that it was dead or lead. Well, he was a half-blood. Maybe it was lead? Then again, Neal liked themes, she had guessed as much with his items he transfigured and his own suggestion for her items. She wouldn't know for sure he was going with a theme until the next round, however.

"L?" she guessed.

This game was certainly interesting, she noted. It was simple, yet a fun way to pass the time. Of course, she could be reading right about now, but she didn't feel like it.

"Um," she began, suddenly shy, "What's it like? Being a half-blood?" She didn't mean the question in any derogatory way, she was just curious. All she knew was a world of hate and disappointment, ball gowns and wine. Would it be different, with a half-blood? Or was it the same? Plus, she honestly wanted to get to know Neal a little bit more. What about his parents? Were they like hers? Or were they kind, like the parents in some of the books she has read? Mariana took a deep breath, hoping he wasn't offended with her question.

0 Mariana That is one I haven't heard before. 0 Mariana 0 5

Samantha

May 02, 2010 4:49 AM

I don't own a broomstick by Samantha

The other girl introduced herself as Charlotte or Charlie, and asked what House Samantha was in. "I'm in Aladren," she replied. She knew Charlotte wasn't in her House because she wasn't in the dormitory with the other girls in Aladren. There were 3 of them altogether, and although Samantha knew their names, she didn't know the other two girls very well yet. So Charlotte had to be in one of the other three Houses, but Samantha couldn't really remember what they were yet. "What house are you in?" she asked. Aladren was supposed to be the smart House, so why hadn't Samantha managed to do the spell yet when her partner had?

"How come you've got that spell already?" she asked, sounding curious more than anything. "I can't get it to work." Honestly, Samantha wasn't having much luck at magic school yet. She couldn't get her broom to behave itself in their flying lesson, now in her transfiguration class she couldn't get a very simple spell to work. "I'm trying to turn it into a tennis ball," she said, gesturing at the mini crystal ball on her desk. "But it's not doing anything." As if to prove her point, Samantha lifted her wand and cast the spell again, making sure she said the word right. This time, the ball did look a little fuzzy and yellow, but it definitely wasn't a tennis ball.

"Is that better than nothing?" Samantha asked Charlie. "I mean, is it better to make a little change than no change at all?" This class was very confusing. She really hoped it would get easier with practise.

0 Samantha I don't own a broomstick 0 Samantha 0 5

Demelza Eagle

May 02, 2010 8:50 AM

Alright, I'll let you go ignore. I'll just watch. by Demelza Eagle

Demelza was a bit worried about transfiguration this year. True, it was nearly impossible to see Demelza actually spas out over something, but she was slightly anxious about transfiguration. She didn't understand it, and the only reason she was able to pass it was because she usually worked with Andrew Duell, who was a smart Teppenpaw a year ahead of herself. He had helped her in her first class, so she figured that she could keep pairing up with him because he certainly helped her grade most of the time. But now she was the second year, and he had moved on to the intermediate class. Somehow she would have to figure it all out herself. Ok, fat chance. She would have to find another transfiguration major.

Demelza was also a bit disappointed to find that Professor Carter had left. She rather liked him, but she was up for change! She could easily adapt to new surroundings, like Pecaris are supposed to. Plus, the new Professor looked cool. Although Demelza was positive that she didn't want tattoos, she thought that the transfiguration teacher's were really cool. Plus, her lesson seemed pretty cool. Just one problem. Hard, and Demeza doubted that she would get it without help. But she tried to, at first, by herself.

Her greenish-brown eyes stared at the object in front of her. The creativity aspect of it wasn't very hard. Demelza was extravagant enough to think of a creative object to change it into. It was just the actually doing the magic part of it. Demelza wasn't that bad at magic, it was he whole theory behind it that got her stuck. And the fact that she was supposed to take notes on what the object looked like. No thank you. She was going to just keep those notes in her head. She was tooooooo lazy.

She looked at one object on her desk. A quill. Ok, so she could try and change that into... a pencil! she pointed her wand at it, and said, "Mutatio!" She imagined a feather appearing in it's place, but that didn't quite happen. It was still a quill. A bit frustrated, she moved on to a pool ball. It was #12 ball. She pointed her wand at it again, and then repeated, "Mutatio!" She imagined it turning into a galleon, but still no result. She was getting very frustrated, so she turned to the person next to her. He didn't seem to be having much trouble! The chocolate brown haired Pecari spoke to him. "Hey, could you tell me how you do that?" His clock looked almost stellar!

0 Demelza Eagle Alright, I'll let you go ignore. I'll just watch. 157 Demelza Eagle 0 5

Dani

May 02, 2010 11:45 AM

That's workable. by Dani

“That sounds really weird,” Dani commented on Nic’s explanation of people on muggle money. “So, I’m guessing the US muggle society is a patriarchal one and that Canada’s is matriarchal? But what makes this Susan person stand out that she gets to be on money? And what happens when they want to honor someone else? Do they just make more money so they can do that or do they change the face? It would much easier if they were like wizarding cards. You know, just appearing as necessary, but instead they could honor multiple people on one piece of money. They could take turns.”

Turning the dime over in her fingers, she was fascinated by how different it was. Sure, it was fairly detailed for a coin, but it didn’t move or talk or really anything. Very strange. She looked at the guy some more. So, Nic had said the guy’s name was Franklin Roosevelt and was an important part of muggle history. “What did he do?” Oddly enough, the name rung some bell in her mind, but she couldn’t quite place her finger on it. Whatever it was, she felt it was something that had been significant enough to effect magical history. Her tutor would have been disappointed in her inability to remember.

Confusion touched on her features when Nic mentioned pirate cartoons. She knew what a pirate was, but no idea about the cartoon part. Though, Nic never explained that, he did at least clear up what he was referencing causing her to laugh when he finished that it would be awesome. Yes! Someone with a twisted sense of humor. So far she had only met her roommates. One was overly perky, but Jessica was pretty cool. Even so, she wasn’t sure if the other girl got that about her or not. Most people didn’t, but it wasn’t like Dani was trying to fit in.

She watched while Nic went on to try and transfigure his apple. There was no doubt that it would be utterly cool to watch. “I think yours is better. Instead of blowing up like a potion gone wrong, it could blow applesauce onto whoever was nearby. Can you picture it? The Chaser has the quaffle and is heading towards the goals when all of a sudden there’s applesauce everywhere!” Of course, that would take away the fun from some of the blood thirsty beaters, which she wasn’t sure would be a good thing as they might transfer it into other aspects of life.

Glancing over to her other items, Dani frowned. The candle had been easy, but the next two might not be so. Should she try the bear or the glasses? Hmm. She decided to go for the glasses. Maybe she could turn that into a glass? It wasn’t nearly the same shape, but the name was similar, super similar. Trying to concentrate, she said, “Mutatio!” Lines furrowed her brow. “Well, I guess it’s the perfect pair of glass for a Cyclops.” The arms were still in tact from the middle that had sort of formed into a glass, but was rounded, maybe more like the bottom of a glass.

0 Dani That's workable. 0 Dani 0 5

Neal

May 02, 2010 1:42 PM

I get that a lot by Neal

“And what are you? Pecari?”

Neal gave a curt nod. “Got me,” he said. Not that he ever thought he’d wind up in sorted in the House he was, but that’s where he was. He thought, with his nerdy hobbies and all into consideration, that he’d wind up in Aladren for sure on his first day. But he wasn’t disappointed, being in Pecari was still great. He couldn’t complain since everyone he lived with was interesting. At least, everyone he talked to so far in his House had been. And it wasn’t as surprising as if he’d been sorted into, say, Crotalus. That verdict would’ve just been too mystifying to even begin to grasp.

When he heard the letter ‘l’ suggested he laughed and shook his head. “Sorry, but that’d be your first letter wrong.” He marked it on the side of the paper so they wouldn’t forget she made the guess and he drew his first line. Neal wondered how long it’d take her to guess his word. After all, he came with the word after guessing something she’d do if he hadn’t asked to play with her.

The game must have left Mariana’s mind for a moment because she suddenly looked awkward. Strange, why was she so anxious all of a sudden? Just because of one wrong letter? "What's it like?” Neal tilted his head in confusion until she elaborated. “Being a half-blood?"

Oh. This was a talk he knew he’d be getting somewhere down the road. Actually he was surprised his roommates, both purebloods, hadn’t already asked him this question. Maybe it was because they didn’t care, what between Dorian’s happy-go-lucky attitude about the present and Tristan’s Quidditch obsession, asking about what he did back home must be a waste of time to them both. Not that he minded. Now he was on the spot, he tried to think of how to properly sum it up for her.

“It was okay, I guess. It’s not like I didn’t know what magic was until I got my letter, I grew up with it. My dad does magic all the time back home and my mom loves to watch him mess around with spells, so as long as it stayed in the house it was a good thing. I just couldn’t talk about it anywhere else.” He frowned. “I’ve got some problems, I guess, that make me look weird. Notice the red veins in my eyes or the bags under them yet? Well, it wasn’t too bad, since it kept people from really wanting to hang out after school at my house, so my dad’s secret was kept safe. And mine sort of, since I started to do some strange spells without realizing it when I was younger.”

He smiled at her. “I have been to the ‘magical’ places a few times to see some professional Quidditch matches or some of my dad’s friends. So I just had a taste of two completely different worlds, I used to both. I guess it makes my decision on what to do after Sonora a bit harder since I could go either way pretty easily.” Then it occurred to him that she lived a completely different life than he did. Curious as always, he had to press just slightly. “So what about you? What’s it like to be a pureblood?”

0 Neal I get that a lot 0 Neal 0 5

Autumn

May 02, 2010 4:09 PM

Me too. by Autumn

"It does." Autumn agreed. She supposed it really didn't matter, as she wasn't going to get to keep the cute little turkey anyway, she might as well turn it into something else. Autumn happened to like stuffed animals a bit as well, not that she'd ever tell Jane, just in case the other girl would think she was a baby. She even had a stuffed cow named Milkshakes that actually shook. Autumn had felt that it was a rather clever name for a cow-as real cows were full of milk- that actually shook.

Not that she would ever say so, as it would seem arrogant. Autumn didn't like to be so, it was something that her sister abhorred. She had heard Lily say on many occasions that what had bothered her about so many of her classmates was how full of themselves they were. However, Autumn actually had come up with the name Milkshakes on her own and Lily was the one who told her it was great. Milkshakes was currently on Autumn's bed up in her dorm room.

"I suppose I could make it into wood too." Autumn wasn't sure she could manage that and making it into a peacock and have it come out correctly. She didn't want to challenge herself too much and end up failing (or causing a fire) but she didn't want Jane to think she didn't like the idea either.

Autumn waved her wand over the stuffed turkey. " Mutatio " It transformed a bit, into a stuffed turkey with a wooden peacock tail. She tried not to look too disappointed as she turned back to Jane. "What do you have?"

11 Autumn Me too. 164 Autumn 0 5

Mariana

May 02, 2010 7:45 PM

Me too :) by Mariana

Mariana shrugged, looking down at the line. She killing a man. An imaginary man of course, one with no life. He was just a drawing. Nothing more, and nothing less. Still, if 'l' wasn't in there, it could still be mead. Mariana closed her eyes, ignoring his question for a moment. He liked themes. What contained themes? Poetry. And novels. They contained themes. Movies, as well, though she had only heard of movies recently because of a previous conversation. Movies often originated from books, and he was a half-blood. Maybe he liked books. Maybe he liked to read?

She perked for a moment. That wasn't something she had considered. Books had themes. When you read them, you would find them, if you examined it close enough.

"R?" She asked, just to be safe. She couldn't be sure, but it was a better guess than lead or mead.

Mariana wondered what she should say. She could tell him the truth. But he was a stranger. She didn't know him all that well, other than his name, his house, and that he liked themes. She wanted him to be her friend, but she wouldn't get that if she went and told him her life story.

"It's okay," she said. "Lonely, sometimes. My parents are..." she tapped her chin. "Strict, I suppose. Very. You're life sounds wonderful." She smiled at him. It was genuine, warm. "Your parents, too. It would be a convenient way of hiding your secret," she told him, referring to his eyes, "but weren't you ever lonely?"

That was something she would always and truly hate. Loneliness. Being alone for a moment bothered her, but she surrounded herself in it. It would be something she'd have to learn not to do, but it would take baby steps, she knew. She looked at Neal again. It was stupid, ignoring someone because of their looks. It was just as stupid as her parents hating muggleborns and halfbloods because of their parents. It wasn't their fault, and it wasn't like they hated their own parents. Besides, Mariana thought, they have no right to judge people.

0 Mariana Me too :) 0 Mariana 0 5

Neal

May 03, 2010 8:00 PM

We're just good at being different by Neal

Neal whistled out lowly as he made to add on to his hangman drawing, but moved his quill at the last second to go and write the letter ‘r’ on the first line in his cursive scribble. He had a feeling that Mariana had a good idea of what his word was. If she didn’t just guess his word all together in her next turn, then surely her next two letters would be right-on. Either she was lucky guesser or she had, as Neal gathered from the assignment, a quick mind. Whatever it was, at least it made what could’ve been boring time-wasting somewhat fun for him.

The Aladren kept quiet for a while, and Neal wondered if she was thinking about the game still or trying to figure out how she wanted to approach his question. Finally, she spoke. He couldn’t help but frown at her response. She didn’t seem to like talking about her life much, that much was obvious even from the few words she spoke about it. Although loneliness and strict authoritative parents were awful, Neal felt there had to be something else that was being left unsaid. Not that he’d point that out, but it made him wonder…

He blinked and stared back at her when she redirected the conversation at him. “Was I ever lonely?” he echoed, being taken off guard by the question. He hadn’t been expecting anyone to ask him that. He rubbed the feather of his quill and looked away from her and at his notebook. It was his turn to contemplate how to answer. “No one’s ever asked me that before,” he thought aloud, not really bothering to censor his thoughts. “I guess, in a sense, sure I was. I mean hanging out with your parents all the time and being somewhat of a social reject wasn’t always fun,” he said. He felt awkward talking about himself. He was so used to turning the spotlight on other people to try and figure them out, something about things he kept to himself were different to deal with. Not that he was ashamed or upset, just at a loss.

“I got used to being alone when I was lonely. That’s why I have so many solo-hobbies I guess. Drawing, reading, figuring out puzzles and riddles – you don’t need anyone to do those things.” He was worried he was coming off bratty or whiney, so he slipped into his flat typical flat, bored tone he took when speaking and put on his placid face. He smirked at her, very much ready to change topics. “And what kind of things do you get to do for fun, then?” He saw her writing something in her notebook earlier, so maybe she was writer, but he wanted to make sure.

0 Neal We're just good at being different 0 Neal 0 5

Mariana

May 03, 2010 10:06 PM

It's such a wonderful thing. by Mariana

Looking down at the paper, Mariana grinned. Of course, it was read. She didn't know much other words that started with 're' and were four letters. Of course, there could be some, but nothing came to mind at the moment. She smiled again, enjoying her time with Neal. It took away the boredom, and it was fun. She felt like she was making a friend. She didn't talk to people much, her parents forbade it from her. But they weren't here, not now.

"Read," she said. "And that's the answer, along with what I do. I also write. I like writing poetry, or making up stories for the things I see. I observe people, study their habits. It's nothing that requires other people, too." She paused for a moment. Should she continue? Careful with her words, Mariana added,

"I know what you mean, being a social reject. My parents.. well, they didn't like me talking to others. I was locked inside my home most of the time, with no one but books and house elves for company." She smiled sadly. "It's sort of why I like Sonora so much. There are people, and you can choose if you talk to them, or if you dont. You can make friends, or you wont. It isn't demanded, or asked of you. You make the choice." She glanced at the paper.

"Is it my turn? Or are you going again?" Mariana asked him. That was the most she has ever told anyone about herself, and she wasn't sure of how he would react. Would he reject her, like her parents so often did?

0 Mariana It's such a wonderful thing. 0 Mariana 0 5

Brian

May 06, 2010 6:36 PM

Average imagination that's easily impressed by your wild one by Brian

A professor stealing something as silly as a hotel key for a lesson was laughable, especially a magical teacher of his. He chuckled at the idea, hoping that it was as unlikely as it was absurd. If she had stolen the hotel key, it probably meant she also stole other items, and Brian didn’t feel right about transforming someone else’s property into something else. That just had to be unethical.

He looked beside him to say something to Kirstenna about her being a Teppenpaw, since he liked to be getting to know another housemate of his, but she had a whimsical expression on her face, almost as if she was daydreaming. Then she abruptly stopped whatever she was envisioning and turned back to let him know she liked at least one of his ideas. “I’m glad I could help!” he said with a wide smiled. If there’s anything that made him happy, it was other people happy.

The ticket-plate swap idea was brilliant on her part as well. “Or maybe I could turn mine into a room key and you could turn the room key into a plate, so then both of our stranger objects are out of the way and you can still make the doll,” he said.

At her other suggestion he just shrugged. “I know what you mean, but I’m limited. I was thinking something like a pencil that’s the same color, but I don’t know if that’d be boring or not.” Besides, he never really liked spaghetti since it made him think he was eating worms. He didn’t want to say this and possibly offend her in case she liked it, so he just told her one of his own ideas.

Her attention zipped back to the room key. She was definitely had flighty thoughts, Brian was wondering how he was keeping up with her. “I bet that she stayed there while she was stealing other objects for this assignment,” he offered. “Then she figured she mine as well steal that, too.” Again, he hoped it wasn’t true, but only because he felt bad using someone’s things without permission. The thought of a professor having enough skill to steal all this stuff was kind of a neat thought, though, even he had to admit it.

Brian looked around to see what other people had on their desks. He put a hand over his eyes like a sailor and looked around. “I see a plastic cup, a bird cage, a pillow, a cloth – oh, hey, one boy set his desk on fire, so I don’t know what he got, and that’s all.” He looked back to her and smiled. “Compared to their stuff, I think ours is the most interesting. It supports the thief-theory anyway.”

0 Brian Average imagination that's easily impressed by your wild one 0 Brian 0 5

Jane

May 06, 2010 11:48 PM

It's nice to agree about things. by Jane

Jane looked back at her sewing item just in time for it to revert to its original shape. "Nothing at the moment," she said placidly, turning the thimble into a needle once more and looking at the remaining items again. "This one wasn't hard, but I'm having trouble with the others. I thought of turning the hairbrush into a hat, but it won't work, and I can't think of anything for the frame. I'm usually - well, other people say I'm usually more creative."

She was never quite sure how to take it when people called her creative. Some of her tutors seemed to think it was an acceptable, or even positive, trait, but her mother didn't seem in favor of it. Her mother didn't feel it was correct for girls, especially Carey girls, to move outside the box with questions and thoughts, at least not before marriage. That, Mother said, was the key - to be everything that was wanted before marriage, and then be everything that wasn't wanted but was needed after it. Having initiative was fine and well, but showing it at this point was not.

Jane liked to think of creativity as something that caused her inconveniences, but would do her good in the long run. Edmond was much smarter than she was, but he would have an awful time trying to get his head around an idea like that wants-and-needs theory of her mother's. She didn't like it much, but she could understand most of what it meant.

"You've begun very well, though," she said encouragingly to Autumn. "Edmond told me it took him a long time to learn to complete a complex transfiguration in one try, and Edmond's very good." She'd never, in fact, seen him demonstrate this in person, but he had an impressive grasp of the theory for it, and Jane knew Edmond. On the rare occasion that he felt he hadn't mastered something in a timely manner, such as an occasion when they were asked to look for symbolism instead of solid facts in a book, he would keep worrying it, bit by bit, until he had it down. Jane was more apt to fly off the handle and declare open war on it. "Another try or two, and I'm sure you'll have it down."

0 Jane It's nice to agree about things. 0 Jane 0 5

Jessica Zeworth [Pecari 1st Year]

May 07, 2010 11:01 AM

Making a mess of things.... by Jessica Zeworth [Pecari 1st Year]

Now this was a class Jessica was excited about. She was actually able to use her wand for Transfiguration. This was the part that was going to be so much cooler than Muggle school. Sure, the students at Sonora weren’t as awful as Muggle kids were, either. That was probably due to weird stuff going on all the time at school. It wasn’t as if a bald kid would be abnormal; this professor had tattoos! Jessica grinned, adjusted her plaid pink and green fedora, and sat down. At least no one had made fun of her to her face yet. That was all she asked for.

Professor Jane (her favorite suggested nickname) was really interesting. There were a lot of different branches of Transfiguration. There was the possibility of not being bored the whole year, then. Awesome. The lesson didn’t sound like it sucked, either. It sounded like a challenge, and Jessica liked those.

Since they were just supposed to change the random object on their desk into something similar, Jessica chose the stick on her desk and decided to try and make it into a pencil. The Pecari didn’t really like quills and ink and all that stuff witches and wizards seemed so fond of. Pencils were totally better.

And Jessica fully believed this fact when her elbow knocked over her ink, dripping onto the student next to her. Oh, great. Good job.

“Dude, I’m so sorry.” She said, picking up the ink bottle. “This is why wizards should use pens. Or mechanical pencils. They’re not as messy.”

0 Jessica Zeworth [Pecari 1st Year] Making a mess of things.... 0 Jessica Zeworth [Pecari 1st Year] 0 5

Charlotte Waverly

May 10, 2010 1:27 AM

Re: I don't own a broomstick by Charlotte Waverly

The girl, Samantha, said she was in Aladren. That was the house for the more intelligent students. Too bad she wasn't in her house, maybe they could still be friends? "I'm in Crotalus" she stated with pride. She felt that Crotalus was a respectable house to be in and was quite happy about her placement. "How come you've got that spell already?" she asked. 'Wow, what was she trying to say? Just because I'm not in Aladren doesn't mean I'm stupid', Charlie thought angrilly.

Biting back her anger Charlotte gave a polite reply "I've seen my mum do it loads of times. I'm used to the pronunciation and movements. I've also done a bit of magic before. More then anything though you have to want the crystal ball to be a tennis ball. You can't just hope to get it right". She hoped she hadn't sounded like a know-it-all. Sam might take it the wrong way, and she really didn't need an enemy already. "Is that better than nothing?" Samantha asked Charlie. "I mean, is it better to make a little change than no change at all?" She could tell that Sam was struggling and feeling down at not getting it. Charlie felt pitty for her, it must be quite frustrating. "I'm not sure. Don't worry about it. Just try again and this time try to want it more then anything"

0 Charlotte Waverly Re: I don't own a broomstick 0 Charlotte Waverly 0 5

Autumn

May 13, 2010 12:24 AM

Indeed by Autumn

Autumn nodded. She was often called creative as well, but it was always meant in a positive way, talking about her artwork. She often painted or sketched many things both realistic and abstract. Sometimes Autumn just painted designs. She rarely ever painted pictures of people though, for some reason. Possibly because Autumn didn't think that was as interesting or creative herself.

"Um, I really don't have any suggestions for the frame either." She admitted, hoping Jane wouldn't think she was stupid or something. "But maybe the hairbrush could be a toothbrush?" Autumn suggested. The items were quite similar with a handle and bristles.

Her cheeks colored a little when Jane said she had a good start. "Thank you." She replied, looking down at the turkey. This compliment actually was for something Autumn had really done and it still felt pretty good. Better, in fact.

Jane mentioned someone named Edmond then. "Is Edmond your brother?" Autumn asked. She considered what the Teppenpaw girl said about it being hard to get complex transfigurations. That went along with what everyone she knew had told her. Autumn only knew of one person who had got them quickly. "Does Edmond go to school here?"

Sometimes, Autumn wished she was closer in age to her sisters so she could have one of them here with her. It was kind of lonely. All she had was a bunch of distant cousins that she mostly didn't know aside from Nina and Chelsea a little bit.

11 Autumn Indeed 164 Autumn 0 5

Kirstenna

May 13, 2010 7:09 PM

I'll take that as a compliment by Kirstenna

"Yes, but room key to paper plate and vice versa would be more difficult than ticket and plate. Tickets and paper plates are both made of paper so they are more similar, especially for a first lesson." Kirstenna replied. She hoped Brian wouldn't feel hurt by her saying this but she wasn't quite sure she could pull off such a thing. Kirstenna had never transfigured anything in her life and her father had always told her to start off slow when learning something new. It was in direct opposition to what her grandparents had taught him.

"A pencil would work." She told Brian encouragingly. Kirstenna didn't care that much if he turned it into spaghetti or not. She was only trying to help. "Or a marker, maybe one that writes in the same color as the yarn. Of course, that might be hard too." Kirstenna also didn't know much of the theory behind transfigurations, what would work and what wouldn't and what would be especially difficult.

"Maybe she has that disease that makes you steal things." She suggested. "I mean, usually when people steal things, they steal things of value like money or jewelry, not hotel keys and handbags. Well, maybe expensive designer handbags." Naturally, Kirstenna wasn't able to discern a designer handbag from a non-designer one. Still, she couldn't imagine that someone would allow anything valuable to be transfigured by a first or second year student. Kirstenna hadn't spent much time with her grandmother,for example, but from what she knew of the woman, she couldn't fathom the thought of her allowing the students at their school to so much as look at one of her expensive belongings. This was a woman who seemed to act as if Kirstenna would break her antiques and that her mother would make off with the good china.

"Wow," Her eyes shifted towards the fire. Kirstenna had seen the boy in class but hadn't spoken to him, however, she did notice Dmitri sitting nearby. "I see Dmitri is over there with that boy. I hope he's okay...and that the other boy is too, of course." She assumed Brian and Dmitri had met as they were likely roommates, even though Kirstenna really hadn't talked to hers.

She looked back at her objects and Brian's. "I believe you're right. Though she could have just as easily stolen that stuff as well."

11 Kirstenna I'll take that as a compliment 161 Kirstenna 0 5

Brad Hayman (Aladren)

May 22, 2010 12:48 PM

It's all good! by Brad Hayman (Aladren)

Brad read issue #6 of “Superman: Man of Tomorrow” as he skipped through the halls to the Transfiguration classroom. He was so full of energy because his life was so exciting right now—new school, new people, and most importantly, magic! He still couldn’t get over the fact that he really was a wizard with superhuman abilities! He was just like Superman, Batman, The Flash, The Hulk, Mr. Fantastic, The Human Torch, The Thing…he could go on and on!

The redhead grinned from ear to ear as he entered the classroom. It was his first-ever magical lesson, and he’d never been more excited for anything in his life, not even when he’d completed his Superman comic collection!

He looked at the professor and then hurried over to the nearest seat, a grin continuing to light up his freckled face all the while. He looked around at all his fellow students eagerly, wondering if they felt the same way. He supposed some of them could come from magical families already, but surely there were some Muggleborns like himself in here somewhere.

Brad’s eyes were glued on the professor when she began to speak. When she walked out from behind her desk, he noticed she had a bunch of tattoos! Cool! When the first-year grew up, he was totally getting a superhero tattoo. He wasn’t sure which one yet, but it would definitely happen.

Not only were her tattoos awesome, but her name was epic, too. Janette Wolfe—she’d make an awesome superheroine! He listened in awe as she listed out the different types of Transfigurations. Since Animagus was the most dangerous, he had no doubt it was the coolest of them all. He’d better be able to learn that one day!

His jaw dropped to the floor when she changed the button into a pebble. “Whooooa…” He smiled, dumbfounded, at the new product. That was so, so cool!!!

Once Professor Wolfe was finished, he started on the assignment right away. It stunk that he had to take notes before he actually got to do the super-awesome magic spell, but he just jotted down a couple words about the silver whistle on his desk—there wasn’t a whole lot to say. He took out his wand and was totally ready to say the spell and do the coolest thing he’d ever, ever done and—

“Dude, I’m so sorry.” Brad stopped and looked down to see ink all over his jeans. He looked back up. “Huh?” He then saw the girl next to him pick up her ink bottle, and he put two and two together. “Oh, I see. It’s no prob.” He ignored the next thing she said and returned to his wandwork. Instead of picturing it in detail, he just thought about a silver spoon and said the spell right away, waving his wand in random directions. “Mutatio.” Nothing happened. “Mutatio. Mutatio…Mutatiomutatiomutatio!!!” The center of the whistle bent inward slightly, but that was it.

He frowned, turning to the girl who’d spilled ink on him. “This is really hard…Are you any good at magic?” He pointed at her, giving her a hopeful look. Maybe she was from a magical family and she could teach him all the tricks to becoming a world-class wizard!

“I’m Brad Hayman, by the way. First-year Aladren. What’s your name?” He noticed the pink and green checkered hat she was wearing. “Cool hat!”

0 Brad Hayman (Aladren) It's all good! 0 Brad Hayman (Aladren) 0 5

Jane

May 22, 2010 11:52 PM

And we agree again! by Jane

Autumn suggested the hairbrush could become a toothbrush, and Jane clapped her hands. "That's brilliant," she said brightly, picking her wand back up. "Thank you, Autumn."

She finished up that transition, buying herself a minute to think, before she answered the questions about Edmond. They understood how things were in their family, and no one even cared about the technicalities, but Mother was very sure it mattered outside. Home was a safe place, but outside, every little word could have dire consequences. It was the way of the world, and there was nothing they could do about it.

"He's a third year in Aladren," she said, "and we've been brought up together by my parents. His mother's dead, and his father is very ill." Jane had always wondered why, if her distant cousin was so ill as all that, Morgaine still lived with him while both her little brother and older sister had been sent away years ago, but had heard it was none of her business and that smart girls did not ask questions concerning the Savannah Careys. "We were rather surprised when we realized we weren't blood siblings."

Well, she had been. It had been hard to tell if Edmond had already worked that one out or not, but Jane had gotten in trouble for sulking because of a brief phase where she had asked if their guardians were sure they were really her parents. Sometimes she was too dramatic. It was one of the flaws she knew she needed to work on.

"I don't actually have blood siblings," she said. "Edmond has two sisters, but Gwenhwyfar died and Morgaine studies to be a Healer, so he might as well not. It's always just been us. Do you have any brothers or sisters?"

0 Jane And we agree again! 0 Jane 0 5