Finally something close to useful on Transfiguration

Professor Lilac Crosby

September 03, 2010 4:28 PM

Button those trousers! [First and second years!] by Professor Lilac Crosby

Lilac was particularly excited for this lesson. Firstly, it was first and second years. At eleven and twelve, kids were so innocent and pure! It made her wish she had her own children. But, she decided, her having children would seem weird, considering she wasn’t married. She wasn’t even seeing any one, as her mother liked to point out, and she pointed it out often. The twenty-six year old could only return that she would find someone when she found someone, and her mother had to stop pushing so hard.

But now was not the time to go off on a tangent and reminisce memories of her numerous discussions with her mother. Now was the time to prepare her lesson for the first and second years. The boys in particular would enjoy this class, and she hoped those girlish ladies that were bound to be in the class wouldn’t object too terribly much. Perhaps if they could give the brunette professor a good reason as to why they could not to perform the task, they could be excused. Maybe.

Realizing the time, Lilac quickly stood up, tripped, and pulled herself back up ungracefully. “Stupid big feet,” she blamed in a mumble, despite her feet being not that large at all, only size seven. Pulling open a drawer, she grabbed the “secret boxes” and, placing on some desks blue boxes and others pink, sighed.. With a swish of her wand, a piece of chalk began to scribble feverishly across the chalk board, drawing an illustration of the classroom from aerial view. The students would find out what was happening when they came in.

Finally, it was class time, and Lilac smiled in a friendly way to all the students who were to be coming in. Once it seemed they were all seated, she began to speak. “Good morning, students,” Lilac began, pausing to leave room for a returning hello. She wasn’t sure whether or not it was coming. “First thing is, do you see this seating chart on the board? It has places on each desk to allow room for a name. Please, in turns, come up and sign your name on the drawing of your desk. These will be your permanent seats, so I hope you didn’t sit by anyone you dislike!”

Lilac paused again for enough time to allow all of the students to walk up, grab the chalk, scribble their names down, and return to their seats. Her full lips forming a smile, she continued. “Hopefully, on your desk is a box?” When she didn’t think anyone would raise a hand to ask where their box was, she went on. “Prepare yourselves and open the boxes! Do not look inside, just put your hand in and pull out one of the little things inside.” Inside the boxes, of course, were beetles, and Lilac couldn’t help grinning internally. She thought heard a couple disgusted screams, and the grin became external.

“Please note,” she added quickly to erase her smile. “These are live beetles, and if left unattended, they will escape. Today, you will be turning them these beetles into shiny buttons. The incantation is Boapyga. Pulling a beetle out of the box on her own desk while she spoke, Lilac tapped her wand on the black beetle when she stated the incantation. In no time at all, the beetle transfigured into a sparkling black button. Holding up the button for the class to see, she added, “Your result should be something like this.”

“Be aware,” Lilac continued after a couple seconds of pausing, “These beetles will not be left as beetles. After class, I’ll untransfigure them and release them. Just thought you animal rights people might want to know. Ooh,” she quickly continued after a moment of thought. “Please, feel free to work in pairs or groups --no more than three to a group, please-- and help each other improve!”

“I’ll be walking around, making sure everything is going okay,” the gray-eyed woman began wrapping up. “If anyone has questions, raise your hand, and I’ll be there momentarily.” With a warm smile, she finished with those three words: “You may begin.”

OOC: I'd be super impressed with fifteen or twenty sentences from you children than a bare minimum post. Push yourselves, people! Standard posting rules apply, and be creative!

Subthreads:

Wrinkling nose. by Jordan Adair, Crotalus with Sara Raines, Pecari, Jordan

*Is paranoid and checks trousers* by Ryan O'Malley,Crotalus with Neal Padrig, Pecari

Getting back to work. by Sam Bauer, Crotalus with Valentina Bentancourt

Finally something close to useful by Nova Wynn {Aladren} with Marcus Williams (Pecari), Nova, Professor Crosby, Prof. C.

Yes, more off-the-wall theories by Kirstenna Melcher,Teppenpaw with Luke Valerio, Pecari

Steaming up the place. by Jessica Zeworth [Pecari] with Dani Adair, Pecari

Fortunately, I am wearing robes. by Autumn Collins, Crotalus

0 Professor Lilac Crosby Button those trousers! [First and second years!] 0 Professor Lilac Crosby 1 5

Jordan Adair, Crotalus

September 03, 2010 10:56 PM

Wrinkling nose. by Jordan Adair, Crotalus

As soon as Jordan entered the Transfiguration classroom, she went directly to the middle of the room. It had nothing to do with impressing the professor, as those that sat in the front of the classroom seemed to be trying for, or attempting to keep the attention away from her, as those that sat in the back of the classroom might have been wanting to do. No, it was merely because this provided the most coverage area for getting to know people. There were those that were sitting in front of her, those to the sides, and those behinds. All in all, in her immediate area there were eight people and those could all be extended out to those surrounding them.

Yes, it really was the most ideal spot. And it was made better when the professor stated that where they were sitting would be their permanent seat. Now, only if they could do something about these pesky robes. That was the only highlight to flying lessons with Amelia Pierce was that she allowed them to discard them. Oh, well. She crossed her legs and waved her free foot while waiting for her turn. If wearing robes were the worse thing about this class she would take it. After all, there were far worse things like a biased professor. When her turn finally came, she bounded up with a bounce and added her name to the chart and hoped that the professor was right and she wasn’t sitting by anyone she disliked.

Once all that was done, Jordan sat waiting for the lesson when all she really wanted to do was find out about the people sitting next to her. Though, when the professor got around to it, she frowned. She did not like the idea of putting her hand in a box without knowing what was in there. It just went against her nature to do something like that. No, she was not about to do that. She didn’t care if the professor threatened her with detention of worse. She was absolutely, positively not going to stick her hand in the box until she knew what was in it. Instead, she took to looking around to see how her classmates were reacting.

Beetles! Ew! The brunette folded her arms. Now that she knew what was in the box, there was no way she was sticking her hand in it. Oh, it wasn’t that she had a problem with bugs so much as she had a problem with them touching her. The way their legs stuck to skin and the way their beady eyes seemed to stare. It was quite unnerving! Tapping the toe of her shoe against the floor, she pondered if someone would be willing to do the work for her. She wouldn’t normally ask, or expect, someone to, except beetles were just really, really gross. She might have asked Dani, but her sister would have just told her to do it herself. So, that was a no go. Giving her award-winning smile to a nearby person, she asked, “Do you want to work on this with me?”

0 Jordan Adair, Crotalus Wrinkling nose. 0 Jordan Adair, Crotalus 0 5

Sara Raines, Pecari

September 04, 2010 11:54 PM

Disobeying orders by Sara Raines, Pecari

Flats were more appropriate for her age, but after giving some additional consideration to her size, Sara's mother had decided it would be all right for her shoes to have a bit of a heel to them. She was still smaller than most of the first year girls even so, as they didn't give really give her a full inch more than nature had, but it was enough for her not to feel like a little girl playing dress-up in her older sister's robes. With those robes fitted exactly to her and her dark brown hair straight except for the curled ends, she thought she might even look her actual age.

Unfortunately, adding a little to her height meant taking away a little from her speed, and since it wasn't ladylike to hurry anyway, she missed out on a seat near the front. Her dismay only deepened at the mention of permanent seats, and she automatically, despite the reasonable voice in the back of her head telling her that one thing was a stupid reason to make a decision, felt that she disliked Professor Crosby. She did not fancy spending the rest of her school career perching on top of a book just to see the board clearly, but unless the academically detrimental staff turnover rate she'd heard about continued, that was what she was going to have to do.

She would do it, of course. Dignity had a place, but it was not necessarily before learning; she'd try it out sitting on the actual seat, but if that didn't work, then she would bring along her thick Potions textbook - or perhaps that copy of the standard genealogies Aunt Ellie had, for some reason best known to herself, thought would be a good gift for someone without a death wish at a multicultural school - and use it to increase her seated height during class. And if anyone laughed at her, well, she'd get back at them in good time, though she hoped it wouldn't come to that. She didn't want enemies, and her parents would be disappointed if she were caught. Her conduct reflected even more on Mother and Father's parenting than Alan's would once he was old enough to enter society.

She flatly drew the rule-following line, though, at putting her hand into a box without looking; if Professor Crosby would make her sit behind taller people in the middle of the crowd, then Professor Crosby would have to accept that Sara was not going to be a moron when all those people gave her adequate camouflage to act like a sensible person. Taking out her gloves - Mother said that the three things no lady was ever without were her wand, her handkerchief, and her gloves - she put one on, lifted the lid a little, and looked in long enough to recognize a beetle before she put the gloved hand in to remove it.

Her eyebrows lifted very slightly at the note they were given. She would never have guessed that a scuttling thing with disgusting underparts and thin, tickling legs and a hard, shiny shell that made her skin crawl was a live beetle, or that a live beetle would run around the desk or even fly away if she did not keep a finger or two on it. Sara really disliked adults who thought she was stupid just because she was younger than they were, and so made her own note to bring a little box to this class from now on. If this was really the best the older witch could do, and if doing it made her think - as that smile had suggested before she wiped it away - she was very clever compared to eleven-year-olds, then it shouldn't be very difficult to foil her.

As for the spell word...the syllables meant nothing to her, but she pressed them into her memory anyway. Since no other instruction was being offered, she had to assume that those syllables, with a wand movement, were all she needed to do to perform the spell.

She didn't, therefore, really understand why they would need to work in groups, but when a girl - Crotalus, but that could mean anything from Uncle Charles to Father to Catherine to Raines and maybe more sub-personalities, by her robes, and Sara thought she had seen her at flying lessons, which made her a first year as well - asked her to work together, she smiled back. Making friends would likely make the whole school experience more enjoyable, and one thing everyone had impressed on her about going to school was that she should seek to get the other girls on her side. "If you don't mind," she said. "I'm Sara Raines. Of the Illinois Raines'."

The last was almost an afterthought; there weren't really any other Raines' that she knew of, so it couldn't be as important as it would be if she were a Carey or a Pierce, but it was hard to tell how particular someone not from her immediate area would be about it. She noticed that the other girl didn't seem to have gotten a beetle yet. "Would you like to borrow my other glove to get your beetle?" she asked. Her hands were probably smaller than the other girl's, but maybe not much, and she had other gloves if it was actually put on and then stretched instead of just being used to retrieve the insect. "Or did yours escape?"

0 Sara Raines, Pecari Disobeying orders 0 Sara Raines, Pecari 0 5

Jordan

September 05, 2010 10:57 AM

Considering alternatives by Jordan

Pureblood. Or at least, Jordan thought the girl was by the introduction. Her mother had taught her to do that, but she tended not to. It wasn’t that she was ashamed that she was a pureblood. She wasn’t. She just found that the entire archaic ritual was silly. It was like if one was from or not from a certain family, another person either liked or disliked them. What was wrong with liking a person just because you liked a person? Besides, it was just another way for her to feel insecure about herself and she already gave herself plenty of reasons, real or not. And it factored into her desire to please everyone, except her parents, whom she was currently rebelling against. It was all very complex.

However, since Sara Raines, had given her a proper introduction, she gave one in turn, “Jordan Adair of the Arizona Adairs.” She waited with baited breath to whether the girl would think her family was acceptable or not. Oh, in most ways, they undoubtedly were, but there were a couple reasons that could swing the pendulum the other way such as being from the southwest region of the country. Some families, more on the northeast coast, might be inclined to look down their noses at them, thinking that they couldn’t possibly be as refined or that perhaps they were more politically free. They were asinine notions placed into the heads of the young to grow up and be that way, but there they were.

Of course, it could just stem from having already met one member of her family. Sara could have already met Dani and therefore, judge her on her sister, which would have been very unfair. She and Dani were complete opposites with really the only exception to commonality being that they didn’t adhere to what their mother wanted. She made a mental note to speak to Dani about being more social. There was no way that she was going to spend the next seven years of her life being unpopular due to her already unpopular sister. Though, she reminded herself that so far she had gotten along well with her roommates and with Marcus. Though, getting along with males was always easier than females since they tended to lack the cattiness of their counterparts.

But maybe Sara wasn’t so catty since she offered Jordan a glove. She still didn’t want to do the lesson, but she supposed that if she absolutely had to, something between her skin and a disgusting beetle was better than nothing. “Yes, a glove would be great,” Jordan stated with relief. The girl was smaller than her, but she had always had petite features, so in theory, her hand shouldn’t do much damage to the glove. Though, Sara’s hands might have been very petite in portion to her frame, and then Jordan might be in trouble, but she could always buy Sara a new glove. She wasn’t the type not to own up to something that she had done. Well, most of the time, anyhow. It just depended on what the possible outcomes were.

“Honestly, I wasn’t going to do this lesson at all,” she started, deciding to tell Sara. “I find it vindictive to make someone put their hand in a box without knowing what it is. Okay, granted, it was a professor doing the asking, but I barely know the woman, let alone trust her. What if she were some escaped convict that somehow faked her way into a teaching position here and was out to get us all?” Jordan knew that the story was a bit farfetched, but it wasn’t like things like that never happened. Her mother’s magazines told about weird stuff happening all the time. When she read them, she always took them with a grain of salt, but it didn’t mean that there wasn’t some kernel of truth in them. After all, most lies had some truth in them, whether people liked to admit it or not.

0 Jordan Considering alternatives 0 Jordan 0 5

Ryan O'Malley,Crotalus

September 05, 2010 4:05 PM

Is paranoid and checks trousers by Ryan O'Malley,Crotalus

Ryan made sure to leave for Transfiguration early. If he was late, he'd probably get in trouble and the Crotalus did not want that. The professors here couldn't possibly be crueler than his mother-Ryan didn't think that was humanly possible though his sister came close-but he still did not want to give Professor Crosby reason to hate him and single him out.

Plus, there was always, of course the fear that if Ryan did badly at school or got in trouble, his mom would use it as an excuse to torture him further at home. Unless Ryan could somehow avoid going home all summer and stay at his grandparents then. But that would require his dad to be on business trips all summer and Ryan would feel bad about wishing for that. Besides he liked seeing his dad.

Another benefit of being there early was Ryan would get his pick of seats. Granted, he felt he should generally let others get first pick, but there were certain places Ryan did not like to sit, like up front. The Crotalus did not want to be right where everyone would see him and could watch if Professor Crosby did decide to take a dislike him and enjoy him getting in trouble the way Carrie did. Plus, if the professor did take a dislike to him, Ryan wanted to be far away from her. Also, he was more likely to be within the professor's notice sitting up front.

So Ryan opted for the side further from the door,in the middle seat. This way he was out of the way, in a seat unlikely wanted by most people, in case they would resent him for taking the seat they wanted. Which was why he didn't take the back seat. What if there was some extremely shy person who wanted to sit there because they hated to be noticed even more than Ryan did? The Crotalus would hate to put someone else in a position that he himself wanted to avoid.

Ryan listened carefully to everything the professor said. So far, she seemed nice enough. However, the seating chart thing made him a little nervous. So far, Ryan had only spoken to Jordan, Miya and David, what if he was sitting next to someone right now that ended up being mean and didn't like him? He was not sure he could endure a year of sitting next to someone who hated him. Ryan could barely stand to be around people like that. Hence why he never wanted to go home.

The lesson didn't sound too terrible. Ryan wasn't really afraid of beetles but he didn't love them either. Even though he was a boy and boys were supposed to like bugs. This tended to be another situation where Ryan couldn't do right, worse than Quidditch, for his mom would tell him to be more like a boy and then yell at him for being just an icky boy. Besides, Ryan really disliked the feeling of bugs crawling on him, like when his mother didn't put a cooling charm on his room in the middle of the summer and he got all sweaty.

But if touching beetles and turning them into a button was what Professor Crosby asked, it was what Ryan would do. Consequences could be far worse than dealing a single beetle if he didn't. Furthermore, Ryan wanted to be good at Transfiguration, for yet another reason. His distant cousin, Marshall, who had defended Ryan when his mom was yelling at him at a family function was said to be good at it and the Crotalus wanted to be like him.

He turned to the person sitting next to him and asked "Do you want to work with me on this?"

11 Ryan O'Malley,Crotalus *Is paranoid and checks trousers* 176 Ryan O'Malley,Crotalus 0 5

Sam Bauer, Crotalus

September 05, 2010 10:39 PM

Getting back to work. by Sam Bauer, Crotalus

Sam had only been at Sonora a year, but he had already come to two conclusions:

1) Teaching was an unstable profession, given to a high level of turnover, and

2) This was probably at least partially because the people attracted to it were often so weird that they had to be at least a little unstable themselves. It wasn't just that it seemed to be widely accepted that no one sane would take a position working with people between the age of eleven and eighteen if they had any other options that made him think that. It was that half the professors, while they could be entertaining or irritating in equal measure, acted in ways that made Sam doubt their ability to interact with adults, who were under fewer compulsions to be civil to them for a long period of time.

The new professor did nothing to make Sam think she was any different from the standard model, especially when, had she not been brand new, he would have thought she stole the bit where they stuck their hands in a box from Dakin straight except for the part where they didn't know what was in it first. Sam had been able to accept getting high in class when he knew what to expect, but he wasn't about to try it without knowing that crucial bit of information first, so he waited until at least two of the people whose desks he had a clear view of had done it first, making it very likely that all the boxes contained some kind of bug without a stinger - he was city boy enough to define anything small with too many legs as either 'bug' or 'spider,' and differentiate the first category only by its ability to cause him harm - before trying it himself.

While the room settled down from the girls' - and perhaps some of the boys' - reactions to the beetles, Sam thought about what this meant about the professor. That little bit of drama had been completely unnecessary, put in only to create suspense and possibly disturb and disgust people. It could mean a weird sense of humor, or a sadistic streak. Either way, he expected this to be a class that kept him on his toes. Might not be a completely bad thing. He liked a bit of a challenge. Or at least couldn't back down from one easily once it had been presented to him.

That was all his mother's doing. She was determined that he was going to make something of himself, and while neither one of them seemed to really know what that meant, they did know that part of it was always doing well in school, and her voice talking about it stayed in his head. Didn't matter what he thought of the professors, didn't matter what he thought of the people he had to work with, or the pieces of work he was given, or anything else.

Not that it actually worked that way most of the time. He couldn't feel that intense focus he associated with the Aladrens - it was hard to feel intensely, without some part of him remaining objective, without an equally focused threat to one of a few things - but he could pull out the work. That was the important thing. His mother wanted him to do even better this year, though, so he was going to have to work on that focus thing.

Once they were set to work, he looked between his beetle, his wand, and a person on one side of him. "You got any idea how we're supposed to help each other with this?" he asked. "Looks like we're all equally clueless to me." He performed the spell over the insect, repeating the spell word, and was greeted with the unappetizing sight of a flatter, rounder, smoother-backed beetle with little legs still wriggling, only now uselessly out of its sides instead of from the bottom. "If not equally skilled," he added graciously.

16 Sam Bauer, Crotalus Getting back to work. 163 Sam Bauer, Crotalus 0 5

Nova Wynn {Aladren}

September 05, 2010 11:17 PM

Finally something close to useful by Nova Wynn {Aladren}

Nova was quite satisfied with herself. She had stayed up almost all night and had finished that brick of a book "The Tale of Two Cities." She smirked. That will show mother and father. Never underestimate me. Picking up the next book from the bookcase she had just had to bring along, she left her room and shut the door with a flourish.

Walking into the Transfiguration classroom was the (in hindsight) the stupidest thing she had ever done. "Good morning students." the much too peppy teacher began. Rolling her eyes, Nova signed her name on the seating chart as instructed, sat as far away from the freak/professor as possible, and opened up her new book, "The Prince."

“Hopefully, on your desk is a box?” What does she mean hopefully? Mostly to prevent this inept teacher from causing her any bodily harm, Nova quickly put her book down next to her. Putting her hand into the box, she nearly squeaked. It was obviously filled with something creepy and gross. Looking cautiously into the box, she found it to be crawling with ugly beetles. "So gross!" she squealed. Turnign to the student next to her, she made a face. "I thought this was Transfiguration, not Insects 101," she said.

“These are live beetles, and if left unattended, they will escape. Today, you will be turning them these beetles into shiny buttons. The incantation is Boapyga" Well atleast I can get rid of you! Nova thought evily. Using the end of her wand (as to not touch the slimy little thing) she picked out her victim. "Time for you to die," she whispered to the beetle. "Boapyga!" Laughing as her beetle easily turned into a button, she proceeded to "practice" on as many beetles as possible, to rid herself of the horrible little creatures.

0 Nova Wynn {Aladren} Finally something close to useful 0 Nova Wynn {Aladren} 0 5

Neal Padrig, Pecari

September 05, 2010 11:21 PM

Might as well double-check that zipper, too by Neal Padrig, Pecari

The joys of getting back into the swing of things had yet to occur as Neal had hoped. Mariana hadn’t popped up anywhere, and she was his closest friend. This left him feeling more of an ache in his chest than the boredom did, and he didn’t like it one bit. He had his hopes high that maybe she’d be in class that day though, so he made sure to come early. But he hadn’t even seen her wander in. Hoping that he’d simply missed her somehow, he tried to tone down his disappointment and focus on the lesson as the new professor began to introduce herself.

Neal very much liked last year’s Transfiguration professor, but change was always welcomed to the second year brunette. Besides, Professor Crosby seemed like a nice person too, so hopefully class would be just as much fun with her. Though he honestly didn’t so much like the permanent seating idea she had. He usually got bored being in the same place all the time and was quite used to the freedom of getting to pick where he sat.

Neal, being curious as always, immediately wanted to look in the box when it was brought to his attention. He barely got the lid tilted up when he was ordered to feel, not look. Sighing irritably, he followed the directions and felt little legs swarm his hand. Hm, strange, kinda felt like –

“Please note, these are live beetles, and if left unattended, they will escape.”

- yup, they kind of felt like bugs. That was pretty cool, bugs were neat. Even cooler was how he was going to get to make one into something. They hadn’t done anything like that last year. It was like the curriculum was taking a huge step up. Remembering how awful he was at Transfiguration last year (not nearly as bad as Tristan, but still pretty unlucky) he hoped he magically got better at it over the summer.

Still, when the guy next to him asked to be partners, Neal felt his blood chill with anxiety. “Sounds like a plan,” he agreed with a smile, his monotone mismatching his excitement to perform the spell correctly. He never really saw his flat tone as an issue, but then again he also never saw his discontent for being neat as an issue. Or the red veins in his eyes from being colorblind. Or a lot of other things. “I’m Neal Padrig,” the second year Pecari greeted in what he felt was a friendly manner. Though he hadn’t been in a social mood as of late (having issues did this to people) it certainly didn’t make him any less confident in himself when it came to meeting new people. And this kid seemed like he’d make a good partner, which was definitely a plus, even though he was an unfamiliar first year.

He looked at the box and frowned. “I guess the only way we can really help each other is if one person gets the beetle and keeps it still, so that the other person can do the spell? So maybe it’d be easier for the other person to perform the spell since they don’t have a moving target?” While the ideas Neal was getting to be helpful seemed risky, he hadn’t had any fun as of late. Risky would be more exciting than playing it safe. Taking a beetle from the box and holding it delicately between the forefinger and thumb, he held it out so his partner could start his wand work. “Try not to aim at my hand,” he joked.

0 Neal Padrig, Pecari Might as well double-check that zipper, too 0 Neal Padrig, Pecari 0 5

Marcus Williams (Pecari)

September 06, 2010 12:56 PM

How is this useful? by Marcus Williams (Pecari)

Marcus was a little bit excited about the actually classes that he would be taking while at Sonora. But he was also really nervous too. He was used to English lessons, Math lessons, and Science lessons. He didn’t know what exactly Charms or Transfiguration were. Or what he would need Defense Against the Dark Arts. And he was a little nervous that he would even have to take a class against whatever Dark Arts were. He knew there were self defense classes outside of his old school that were available to people, but they were just classes that people chose to take in their spare time. It wasn’t a class that was taught in school. Was there so many dark wizards/witches in the magical world that even the kids needed to be prepared? That was actually a scary thought and Marcus wasn’t about to let his mother know any of that.

Although Marcus would never admit it, he had actually read through some of the books that they were required to have in order to have some understanding about what they would be doing. Charms seemed like what they would need to get through every day things. Okay, he could understand that. Transfiguration he was having a little bit more of a difficulty understanding the purpose of it. They take objects and change them into something else. Alright, that he could get. There were times when he wished he had something when he needed it. What he didn’t understand was why he would have to change living things into non-living things or vice versa. Why? Wasn’t that jut cruel? And were the non-living objects that were suddenly living actually living or where they just like weird Scifi stuff?

He walked into the classroom with a slight moment of hesitation. Reading what they would be doing was way different than actually being able to do it. Marcus had been good at math. Math and sports. Those were what he was good at. Although, his teacher said most adolescent boys were good at math. So, really, Marcus was probably average in math, but happened to get As on his assignments. Math was easy to him. He was fairly certain that Transfiguration would be nothing like Math for him and he really didn’t want to fail at this magic stuff. He wasn’t expecting As, but he would at least like to pass.

Marcus signed his name at a desk in the back of the room. He wasn’t trying to avoid anyone or anything. He was on the taller end of the scale when it came to height and years of being told he needed to sit in the back made him automatically assume that was where he would have to sit. Once seated, Marcus waited for the lesson to begin. He wondered what they would be doing. From what he gathered in the books, they would start out small. A pencil to a feather sort of deal. Okay, that seemed like a good place to start. Especially since he wasn’t sure how good he would be at this. He had never used his wand before.

The Professor began the lesson by indicating the box on the desk. Marcus had noticed it but only because he was going to put his book on his desk, but couldn’t because of the box. He had been able to hear something scurrying around in it, which confused him, but didn’t really disturb him. As directed, Marcus opened the top of it and hesitatingly put his hand into it without looking. When something hard brushed up against his hand, Marcus jumped but didn’t back away. Pulling the bug out, Marcus held fast to it in his hands. He listened intently to the lesson, but any confidence that he had waivered and disappeared almost entirely.

His first lesson was going to be a living thing to a non-living thing. In the books, that was like a fourth year lesson, not a first year lesson. Seriously? Was he put into the overachieving school for the magical and not the ‘never knew magic existed’ school? This wasn’t going to work. He was totally going to fail without even really being given the chance at all. That didn’t seem very fair. Even his old school worked with those who needed it to be sure that everyone was successful.

Marcus only glanced at the girl beside him when she commented about the bugs, but otherwise said nothing. He had read enough to know that they will be working on various creatures for all the lessons, so it didn’t really bother him. He just hadn’t been expecting it for another couple of years. Oh well. There was no point in dwelling on it. His mother said that he needed to at least try and if by Christmas he doubted this was the right fit for him, she would take him out and transfer him back to his old school. His mother, however, really wanted this to work out for him. She wanted him away from bad influences.

”Time for you to die”

That was the creepiest thing he had ever heard a girl ever say in his whole life. Even his mother, who absolutely despised bugs, never said anything like that. She just wanted them out of her home. Marcus looked at the girl as though she had two heads and watched her change the bug into a button without any trouble at all. Marcus held back a sigh. They had placed him in the overachievers school. “I don’t think you’re actually killing it.” Marcus told the girl. “Professor Whatsherface said she’d be turning them back to beetles after class. I’m assuming turning them into buttons can’t actually hurt them, though I don’t see how it doesn’t.” Marcus mumbled that last part more to himself than to her.

Having tried the incantation on his own beetle with little success, Marcus looked over at the girl again. “How come you can do it without even blinking? Mine doesn’t even look scared at the idea of being changed.”

6 Marcus Williams (Pecari) How is this useful? 180 Marcus Williams (Pecari) 0 5

Kirstenna Melcher,Teppenpaw

September 06, 2010 9:18 PM

Yes, more off-the-wall theories by Kirstenna Melcher,Teppenpaw

Kirstenna entered the Transfiguration classroom right before the lesson started and sat down in the closest available seat which was the second row, by the wall by the door. She slumped against the wall, the normally peppy Kirstenna did not really want to be here today. Yes, Transfig was more interesting than Potions and not as often made into a competition as Defense, (which Kirstenna did give the Impostor credit for.)

Still, it brought make too many memories that made the second year feel sad and a little guilty. This was the class where she'd first talked to Brian and formed her theories and now he was gone.

She eyed Professor Crosby-who Quentin might think was not actually a professor depending on the lesson, but Kirstenna didn't know how else to classify her-suspciously. The last professor had been an impostor, a kleptomaniac and possibly a kidnapper and a murderer. Kirstenna was pretty sure Brian was now residing in the same hotel room in Gallup, New Mexico as the real Janette Wolfe. She just hoped her friend wasn't also stashed under the floor boards, rotting beside the woman.

Unless, of course, the Impostor had now polyjuiced herself into Brian and was leading life as him. Kirstenna shuddered. That would be truly terrible, as if Brian came back, she wouldn't even know if it was really him.

Kirstenna wrote her name onto the seating chart, not really worried about who was sitting around her, as the Teppenpaw liked most people and most of her classmates seemed really friendly. One of the few that wasn't had an excuse too, because he was a robot built for Quidditch and robots didn't have emotions.

Actually, she hadn't seen him either but that was probably because he had malfunctioned, not been robot-napped.

She listlessly put her hand into the box as instructed than pulled it back out quickly. Inside was some kind of beetle. Well, Kirstenna had to admit, at least that wasn't something Professor Crosby would be stealing. Though the thought that she was out catching beetles was kind of creepy. Or maybe she raised them and Professor Crosby had some sort of beetle farm going in her quarters. Kind of gross but not illegal.

Unless, of course, Professor Crosby was breeding them to be some sort of unholy army that she was going to use to take over Sonora.

Or what if Professor Crosby and the Impostor were really the same person? The Impostor knew Headmistress Powell was onto her so she would have to change her identity. She could have come back here to kidnap Sophia and Quentin. Or keep an eye on Kirstenna.

Or she was just some other crazy lady, who wanted to turn the students into beetles, or feed them to her beetles. Or turn them into giant beetles so she could turn them into giant buttons. Or maybe Professor Crosby/Maybe the Impostor was just a huge fan of the musical group, the Beatles and loved them so much she wanted a collection of the insects that were their namesakes.

"So want to work with me on this?" Kirstenna asked, turning to the person next to her. Coming up with all those theories about the professor had suddenly energized her.

11 Kirstenna Melcher,Teppenpaw Yes, more off-the-wall theories 161 Kirstenna Melcher,Teppenpaw 0 5

Valentina Bentancourt

September 07, 2010 11:33 PM

Just getting the hang of this by Valentina Bentancourt

Valentina was excited about her first year at Sonora Academy, as far as she could see the place was highly interesting, and she just was beginning knowing it. Granted, she still had 6 more years to fully grasp the amazingness that was Sonora, but she was curious about it. Though, deep down she wished she had been sent to the same school as Alejandro. After the few couple of weeks, the Spaniard had begun to miss her older brother like crazy, not to mention her mother too. Deep down all the eleven-year old wanted was to go back to Madrid, and continue living her normal care-free life. Unfortunately, there was no turning back because her father had made all the decisions, they had just followed him to where he was or more like where he wanted them to be. It was not easy having a dad like the one she had. Yes, she loved him but he was cold and detached, and rarely saw them. The new sorted Teppenpaw sighed before heading towards her Transfiguration class. It had been kind of awesome that the school managed to procure a new Professor so fast! Though it sucked that they didn’t have that free-time period anymore, well, you won some and lost others. Such was life.

Entering the classroom she sat down besides a boy she didn’t know. Nothing shocking or unexpected, she was new after-all. With a grin grazing her face she diligently listened to the Professor, she seemed off in some way, but the blue-eyed eleven-year old found it funny, and relaxing in a way. Valentina hated uptight Professors, like her old tutor. Since she didn’t know anyone, the girl merrily went and scribbled her name on the current seat she had taken. She just hoped her desk-neighbours would be nice, and hopefully Pureblooded. Her father would have a coronary if he knew she was consorting with the wrong kind, though, she actually didn’t minded it. Her mother, Emiliana, had taught her children all about equality and comprehension of other cultures.

The next set of instructions resulted in having a beetle running around her desk. The little girl tilted her head to a side and just watched the bug try to escape; she had a neutral position about this assignment, since she didn’t mind the bug unlike some other people in the classroom. Valentina stifled a giggle when she heard the groans or screams from her peers. Why would someone be afraid of a little bug? Granted there were pretty dangerous bugs, but it was unlikely to find one of those bugs inside a Transfiguration classroom…maybe the CoMC one, but certainly not during this class.

She accidentally crushed the running beetle with her elbow. Now that was gross! She shuddered at the thought of the slime on her elbow. Valentina then proceeded to get a new one from her box. This time she would be more careful to not accidentally murder the thing that was basic to her assignment.

Eagerly she performed the spell just to have as a result a beetle with no legs…gross. Her blue eyes widened at the form of the beetle, a round thingy with no means to escape. Sad. In times like this it was better to get the help of an adult instead of just trying to make things better - which half of the time didn’t work – when her desk-neighbour talked to her. The Spaniard gave him a friendly smile and answered in her accented English, “I wouldn’t know I am a first-year.” She chuckled and looked at his work, “Though you seem to have a better grasp of the spell than I do,” the Teppenpaw pointed at her legless beetle.

0 Valentina Bentancourt Just getting the hang of this 171 Valentina Bentancourt 0 5

Luke Valerio, Pecari

September 09, 2010 10:16 AM

Care to share? by Luke Valerio, Pecari

Luke still couldn’t believe that magic existed. How had he gone his entire life and not know that it existed? How did anyone? It seemed the sort of thing that would be noticeable, but he guessed that it was possible since here he was. Unless, it was some extraordinarily vivid dream, which would explain how it was possible it existed without existing. Yet, it would have had to be a really long dream for that to be the case. Not to mention, there was really nothing disorderly about the dream as dreams tended to be, so he decided that it more than likely wasn’t a dream.

As such, it was best not to be late to class cause who knew what would happen if he was? When he was in fifth grade, if they misbehaved, they had to stand in front of the room and sing whatever song the teacher had picked. He had ended up singing all the songs she had in her drawer. Twice. He felt more sorry for the class than he did for himself since he had an awful singing voice, but it otherwise wasn’t much of a punishment as he enjoyed performing. He had definitely hammed it up, which the teacher hadn’t been too pleased with. Too bad for her, he hadn’t been here a year sooner.

Arriving to class, he took the nearest seat. It didn’t really matter to him if he sat in the front, the back, or in the middle. It didn’t matter to him if he was on the left or right. Wherever he ended up, Luke was sure he would end up being liked or hated by the person. There was very little in between, but he was fine with either. He was a fairly easygoing guy. He had to be in order to take the fact that magic existed as well as he was. Besides, learning magic would definitely have its advantages, especially when he was doing things that he shouldn’t be doing. He wondered if he would be allowed to use it outside of school. That would be cool!

The blonde groaned when he heard that they were to put their name on a seating chart. Lame! So far magical class seemed just like regular class. All of the teachers always put them into a seating chart. Though, most had put them in alphabetical order first. He had usually ended up next to his cousin, Shannon, who was one of the meanest girls he knew and one of the few people he didn’t like. Sure, he liked to play jokes once in a while and he was never one to turn down a dare, but he was never downright nasty to people. She had even beaten up a middle school kid when they were in fourth grade. That was definitely a plus to going here. She wasn’t.

Oooh, maybe the class wasn’t so bad! She wanted them to put their hand in a box of the unknown. They did things like this around Halloween when it would be things like spaghetti and grapes, which would be said to be worms and eyeballs. It was awesome! He couldn’t wait to see what she had in store for them and slipped his hand eagerly into the box. He jumped a little when he felt whatever it was crawling on him, but he pulled it out all the same. Sweet! It was a beetle. He studied the way the beetle moved across his open hand. He wasn’t worried that it would fly away. He always had a way with animals, insects included. But if it did, no problem. He would just pull out another one. And she had said they would be released after class anyhow.

“Sure,” Luke said to the girl next to him who had asked to partner. He didn’t know her, but then he didn’t know anyone yet. So, one person was just as good as another to start getting to know people. “I’m Luke Valerio. Isn’t this class so cool? I would never be allowed to play with beetles back home. My teacher was pretty upset when I brought a frog into the classroom once, but it was for show and tell. Was it really my fault if the frog jumped out of my hand and people started freaking out?” He didn’t mention that it had been mostly girlie girls that had started shrieking in case she was one of those kinds of girls. He didn’t really want to offend someone his partner since that wouldn’t have really been very funny.

0 Luke Valerio, Pecari Care to share? 0 Luke Valerio, Pecari 0 5

Nova

September 09, 2010 4:06 PM

It's funner then bug repelant, to say the least by Nova

After transforming yet another vile little creature into a button, she heard the boy next to her speak. “I don’t think you’re actually killing it.” She turned and resisted the urge to yell at him. Instead, she put on a false smile and said, her voice dripping with sarcasm, "Oh thank heavens! I would never want to hurt one of these precious creatures!" Adding her new button to the her pile, she rolled her eyes. Of course somebody just had to ruin her fun.

“How come you can do it without even blinking? Mine doesn’t even look scared at the idea of being changed.” Nova smirked at the clueless child. "It's easy for an excellent student cest moi" She chuckled. "Still, only an incopetent mudblood wouldn't be able to comprehend the simplest of Transfiguration." Gingerly taking another victim to test her skills on, she wondered aloud, "Maybe I could try some other spells on this stupid insect..."

Flipping the helpless beetle on it's back so it couldn't get away, Nova thought of a spell to use that would be much more effective then the stupid button charm. Going back through her memory, she thought of a book she had read that summer. Magic and Destruction; Spells never to use on a person. It had struck her as insane to write a very detailed book on how to cast spells that were you were, supposedly, not allowed to use at her age. Whatever. Nova pointed her wand deliberatley at the squirming creature and said, "Diffindo!" To her delight, the creature was sliced neatly in half and shot off the desk. Grinning to herself, she turned to the student next to her and said, "Now that is a real spell!"

0 Nova It's funner then bug repelant, to say the least 0 Nova 0 5

Marcus

September 09, 2010 8:24 PM

Only if you like torture. by Marcus

Marcus was an easy going kid. He had always been. He had always needed to be. With the life that he had with his mother, Marcus had to learn to just go with whatever was thrown at him. But that didn’t mean that was had to like it. The girl’s attitude and tone of voice was completely and unnecessarily rude. Marcus didn’t grow up with a silver spoon in his mouth, but his mother had taught him manners. This girl, no matter what her background was, had none of the teachings of etiquette that he had been given. She was definitely not someone that Marcus will be spending the time to get to know. She wasn’t worth the time he would waste getting to know her.

He was pretty sure she was insulting him and probably a handful of others in the classroom with her next comment. Although, Marcus had no idea what ‘Mudblood’ meant and assumed that it was some magical term he had yet to learn. Of course, how she was currently using the phrase, Marcus assumed it was a negative term. He would have to ask Sara or Jordan some time. They would explain it to him.

The fact that this girl could easily transfigure the beetle meant that she had probably had been practicing these things for a long time. He didn’t find that fair, but then, lately, nothing really seemed to be playing fair when it came to him and magic. As awesome as magic was, the representative who had spoken to him and his mother had left a lot out. In this world, he was very confused.

Marcus decided to just not talk to the girl after that. She obviously didn’t want to talk to him, so, he’d just leave it at what it was. Marcus knew that there would be people he wouldn’t get along with or like. She happened to be one of them. Great.

He had managed to actually turn his beetle into a button, but it didn’t look quite right and moved a little. Although it wasn’t perfect, it was a start and he was rather proud of himself. He was going to try again when the beetle the girl next to him suddenly flew and the girl spoke to him once again. Surprise registered first when he saw the beetle that should have been a button but instead looked as though she had tortured it. “What the heck is wrong with you?” Marcus asked, still looking at the bug. “Are you a Sadist or something? Love to torture things that have no defense?” Marcus finally looked at her. He really regretted putting his name on this desk. For all he knew, she would do the same to him.

“Seriously, you ain’t right.” Marcus shook his head and nudged his desk a little away from her in case she was offended and wanted to use her wand on him just to prove his point.

6 Marcus Only if you like torture. 180 Marcus 0 5

Ryan

September 10, 2010 4:12 PM

Does so by Ryan

"I'm Ryan O'Malley." The younger boy introduced himself, making sure to commit Neal's name to memory. Ryan hoped they would get along since they had to sit next to each other all year. It was very important to him that Neal not hate him as they were stuck with each other. Ryan could live with not talking to someone but being in close proximity to someone who hated him was a different story. That had a tendency to make Ryan very nervous. If someone hated you they would go out of their way to make you miserable unless they were afraid you'd retaliate and Ryan would never be able to retaliate.

He felt relieved, however, that Neal was willing to work with him today at least. Though Ryan had to admit, the older boy had a point. There wasn't much they could do to help each other. Which was too bad but then Ryan kind of hoped he wouldn't need Neal's help.He was already a failure in flying, he didn't want to be in Transfiguration too.

Maybe his mom was right and he was mentally deficient. Though flying was really more an athletic skill and Ryan was clearly not meant to be an athlete. But if he couldn't do his academic subjects, then she was right and he really was stupid and worthless. She was already going to pick on him about being bad at flying, because he was a boy and in Pearl O'Malley's world, boys were good at and interesting in sports. His mother also considered boys to be icky, dirty,disgusting, loud and inferior to girls. Sometimes, Ryan wondered if she even liked his father or if she just liked the money he made. They did fight an awful lot.

But then, that was Ryan's fault too. His mom certainly thought so and Carrie certainly thought so and he could see why. Most of their fights were about his mother's treatment of him . Sometimes, Ryan thought that his mother and sister were right and it would be better for all if he wasn't part of their family.

Of course, if his mom wasn't his mom, then he wouldn't be related to his grandparents or aunts and uncles or cousins, and Ryan really did like all of them. He didn't even know his father's family that well. All he remembered about that side of the family besides his grandparents and his great-grandparents who ran a pub was an older girl, quite a bit older than Ryan with pretty hair and cold eyes. She hadn't done anything to the Crotalus, hadn't even acknowledged him, but she scared him nonetheless.

Ryan looked at the beetle Neal was holding between his fingers with trepidation. He wasn't worried about hurting it, he was worried about hurting Neal . What if he accidently turned Neal's hand into a button or worse, set it on fire?

But the Crotalus couldn't tell Neal that. If Ryan confessed to be afraid of something, anything, the older boy would think he was a wimp, another thing his mother called him. If it was just her-and Carrie-who said those things about him, then Aunt Jana could be right, and his mom was insane and cruel but if others believed it than what if it was true?

"Okay." Ryan pointed his wand at the beetle and said the spell. The beetle flickered to a button for just a split second and it didn't even seem to be a complete button. Ryan could have sworn that it still had legs but at least he didn't injure Neal and something had happened, unlike in Flying.

11 Ryan *Does so* 176 Ryan 0 5

Sara

September 10, 2010 10:38 PM

Have you made any decisions yet? by Sara

She didn't know the western families more than well enough to know who she needed, if they happened to meet, to drop a curtsy to, but since she did know that much, the other girl's introduction let her know that she wasn't going to be faced with the dilemma interacting with Marcus put to her. Sara smiled as much from relief as propriety. "I'm pleased to meet you," she said.

Though they were geographically closer to Canada than any of the American population centers, and were usually far more connected to the New York and New Hampshire families than to any of the California ones, Sara had grown up with the impression that people thought of her state as somehow in the middle of the country. Their families generally had old bloodlines - her own could be traced, roughly, to tenth century France, or so her parents would have her believe - but just as generally had rather new money, making them not quite fit in with either of the two major pureblood groups politically or socially. It was enough to make insularity a bit more attractive.

Since there were only so many other midwestern families of similar circumstances to work with, though, and everyone knew the northwest was a bit odd at times, they found ways to work with just about everyone, which was why Sara had to know who just about everyone was. The midwest and northeast were the only areas she had to know in detail, but she could still recite more of some family trees from the west and southeast than she thought was really healthy. She was, though, able to comfort herself that she could only do so because she'd been unable to understand all the lists of names and had drawn the family trees herself to make it make sense. That was proven to make memories last longer. It wasn't like she was one of those odd people who become obsessive about genealogy.

Jordan's family wasn't one she could do that for, but she thought, if she somehow met her partner's mother, that she would curtsy, but more as a courtesy to someone who was roughly her mother's equal, not her mother's superior, even though that was only because of her father’s family. Caroline Raines was from that odd northwest region, and while her father's mother was eastern, she was also from a family that had never made it very far. Her own branch of the Raines family was not terribly influential outside of the medical field and, since Father had turned out to be good at what he did, Illinois politics, but they had much more powerful cousins living a stone's throw from them, which balanced out a great many things.

When the offer of her glove was accepted, she passed over the item at once, noting with a hint of relief that their hands were not all that far from being of a size. "One of Mother's lessons paying off," she said, a little amused by the way the thought struck her. "I don't think she ever thought of a situation like this, though."

Right on the heels of that, though, came the thought that her mother had come to school once. Things didn't change much in the magical world, at least not in less than two generations. Maybe an experience with a bug had been exactly what made Mother so militant about always having nice gloves in addition to those awful stiff dragonhide things she had to have for Care of Magical Creatures and the occasional Potions lesson. She knew she wouldn't ask, but it was an interesting thought.

"Stranger things have happened at this school," Sara said, without irony, when Jordan explained her reluctance to go along with the professor. "Or so I've heard. I think that everyone in my family had a horror story to share after I got my letter." Even Catherine, who had also told her that she'd liked Sonora far more than she liked being married, had shared a tale which somehow ended with her finding dust in her hair. "I didn't trust her either, though, so I looked first." A confidence for a confidence; she'd have to see how Jordan took it.

0 Sara Have you made any decisions yet? 0 Sara 0 5

Jessica Zeworth [Pecari]

September 11, 2010 5:04 PM

Steaming up the place. by Jessica Zeworth [Pecari]

Jessica was having a self conscious day.

For some reason, her immune system had decided it would be super fun and fantastic to get a cold. Well, it was wrong. Having a cold was anything but fun. This meant that Jessica had to force herself out of bed and to the Hospital Wing to get a potion that she just didn’t want.

She hated the Pepperup Potion. It was cool that it’d get rid of her cold and everything, but what really sucked about it was the steam that would come out of her ears after taking the darn thing. Jessica already thought she had big ears, like they weren’t proportional to her head or something. Steam coming out of them didn’t make her feel much better. She totally needed to draw more attention to her head, too. Not.

After taking the potion, Jessica scurried back up to her room. She didn’t have any hair to hide her ears, but she had one of those snow hats that doubled as earmuffs and covered her ears. It was white with pink snowflakes all over it, but it’d have to do. After pulling on jeans and a sweatshirt, Jessica made her miserable way to Transfiguration.

She was late, too, so she didn’t have her name on the seating chart. Great. She quickly sat down, giving her professor an apologetic look, and glanced around the classroom. It looked like everyone was playing with beetles. Jessica pouted and adjusted her hat. Oh, she so didn’t want to do this today! When adjusting her hat, one of her ears popped out, blowing steam everywhere, and caught another student’s attention. Jessica gasped and pulled her hat down way over her ears.

“Don’t you dare laugh at me. It isn’t funny,” she mumbled. “I took Pepperup Potion for my cold.”

0 Jessica Zeworth [Pecari] Steaming up the place. 0 Jessica Zeworth [Pecari] 0 5

Dani Adair, Pecari

September 11, 2010 10:13 PM

It was a little chilly. by Dani Adair, Pecari

Dani hated the fact that the first and second years had classes together. Last year had been awesome, because it had been just her at the school. Now, she had to deal with her little sister. Jordan was an attention seeker whereas Dani was not. She had done a pretty good job last year keeping a low profile, only using proper greeting when necessary. Now, everyone was sure to know the weight the Adair name carried. She worried that people would except her to act like other elite pureblood snobs. If that were the case, they were sure to be disappointed, because she wasn’t like that all.

The other problem to having her sister in the same classes was that it reminded her of being back home where the three of them had taken lessons together. Of course, Alice had been the one to always show them up while Jordan did the worst, but what if the professor compared them? Or what if Jordan expected her to help her with her homework? Dani spent enough time on her schoolwork. She didn’t want to have to help Jordan muddle through. Or worse yet, what if Jordan wanted to partner with her all the time? Oh, that so wasn’t happening. Seeing Jordan, Dani opted for the furthest open spot away from the brunette and grinned with relief when the professor said this would be there assigned seat for the rest of term.

Dealing with her sister out of the way put Dani in a much better mood. She didn’t even mind sticking her hand into the unknown box. Of course, she didn’t plan on having something crawling on her skin and ended up giving an uncharacteristic shriek. Sinking down into her seat a bit, she hoped that no one had noticed it too much, but glancing around, it seemed no one had. She always tried to present the not caring about anything attitude and it would have been terrible to have a little beetle ruin the whole thing, especially since now that it was out of the box, it didn’t seem that bad.

She was playing with the beetle rather than transfiguring it into a button when she heard an odd noise. Looking over, she saw steam coming out of her roommate’s ear. Dani stifled a giggle when she saw how upset Jessica was. She offered her a small smile. “Yes, it is. It’s hilarious, but I promise not to laugh.” She figured that if Jessica had to take Pepperup potion, she was probably in a grumpy mood to start with. She always was whenever she wasn’t feeling so well. “Here, why don’t you work with me on the lesson? When did you get here? I didn’t even see you come in.” It was true. She hadn’t. The last time she had paid any mind to the seat next to her, it had been empty.

0 Dani Adair, Pecari It was a little chilly. 0 Dani Adair, Pecari 0 5

Neal

September 11, 2010 10:37 PM

You take advice extremely well by Neal

There was a considerable amount of anxiety building up around Ryan that touched Neal enough for the Pecari boy to look away from the beetle and at the expression of his partner. Neal smiled encouragingly at him, hoping it’d do something to help the younger boy feel encouraged. After all, Neal wouldn’t mind if it was his whole hand that turned into a button. He was starting to get more accustomed to the negative-sort-of change that anymore of it wouldn’t be so awful. He just wanted something exciting to happen, and if this was how things got interesting for him than so be it. He couldn’t say he wasn’t asking for it then.

Ryan didn’t turn Neal’s hand into a button, though. He hadn’t even been off on his aim enough for Neal to feel any sort of impact. The beetle was the only thing undergoing any sorts of extreme alterations. Save for what looked like legs from his angle, Neal thought it turned out well. “Hey, great job,” he complimented Ryan, hoping his monotone didn’t totally kill the joy he felt for his partner’s performance. “I think if you tried it one more time, it’d turn out even better. That is, if you want to try again. I know I’ll need at least twenty thousand tries to get any sort of real progress.”

Hoping he wasn’t sounding like a complete idiot and freaking out the guy he’d be working with a lot this semester, Neal shut his mouth on that topic. Still, Ryan had a chill sort of vibe to him, so maybe he wouldn’t be too bummed over something like that.

Testing his luck, Neal deciding to just go ahead and open up a bit. “I’m not a complete failure in this class, it’s just not my best one. For some reason, it takes me a while to make any sort of progress with any of the spells I do in here. At least that was true last year, maybe I magically got better over the summer.”

Hoping he didn’t kill any sort of positive thoughts Ryan had of him, Neal put the beetle in the same position he had it in when Ryan first performed the spell. “Anyways, you want to give it another shot?”

0 Neal You take advice extremely well 0 Neal 0 5

Kirstenna

September 12, 2010 6:35 PM

Always! by Kirstenna

Kirstenna nodded. "I'm Kirstenna Melcher. Transfiguration is awesome! The subject anyway, I'm not so sure about any of the teachers. Of course, my cousin says one has to be suspicious of who is and isn't a teacher anyway. He thinks if they don't really teach us anything, they aren't really teachers." Kirstenna, however, was more worried about the part where the teacher might really be a teacher but lying about everything else. Like whether or not this woman was really Professor Crosby.

She wasn't sure. After all, the last professor had not really been Janette Wolfe, though she had been a professor. Kirstenna was however, not so sure about this woman. She could have really been Professor Crosby, and not The Impostor again.After all, the Impostor would have to be pretty stupid to come back here after kidnapping Brian and poisoning the Headmistress.

But then, the Impostor had to come back and get Sophia and Quentin. Of course, if she kidnapped Quentin then there would likely be real repercussions for her, as the Melcher family was not going to stand for anyone kidnapping their heir. She couldn't be that stupid.

Kirstenna wondered though, if it might be the best thing for the Impostor to try taking him though. Because all the victims could be returned then-the Teppenpaw was certain there were others besides Brian and the real Janette Wolfe-and she could have her friend back. She was certain that it was too late for the woman however.

But then Kirstenna did not want to risk her cousin. Besides, knowing how cold-hearted her aunt and uncle were, they'd probably just try to have another son and forget Quentin anyway. She didn't want to chance that because she cared about Quentin.

Besides, the Impostor might not be the immediate threat anyway. The immediate threat was possibly something quite different. The Beetle Lady...or perhaps she was the Button Lady.

No, it had to be beetles. If she was the Button Lady, she would just transfigure them all into buttons and beetles wouldn't be involved at all. Unless she wanted them to only half transfigure the beetles into buttons, and that was what the Beetle-Button Lady wanted, the students to become buttons but with beetle legs.

Kirstenna considered what her new partner, Luke said about the frog. "It really isn't your fault. I mean you brought in the frog, yes, but its not like you used mind control or anything to make it jump out at people." Or wait, maybe..."Did you?" Kirstenna asked.

Maybe if Luke had special telepathic powers, they could be harnessed for good and he could read the Beetle Lady's mind to find out exactly what she was planning. On the other hand, maybe he'd use it for evil, to control Kirstenna's mind! That would be awful.

11 Kirstenna Always! 161 Kirstenna 0 5

Autumn Collins, Crotalus

September 13, 2010 4:03 AM

Fortunately, I am wearing robes. by Autumn Collins, Crotalus

Generally speaking, Autumn liked her classes and tended to do well at them. That was, when they didn't involve competitions where someone had to depend on her. When she could work on her own, and was not rushed in any way, the Crotalus tended to get very good grades, especially on written work that she could do without anyone watching her. Fortunately, Autumn was also not too bad at wandwork and most of her classmates were not watching her during class because they were busy doing their own.

However, the thought of a new professor filled her with trepidation. She never knew what to expect when faced with something new and that terrified Autumn. She was not the kind of person who liked change and trying new things. The Crotalus preferred to what was safe and comfortable. What if the new professor was mean? Or difficult? Or she turned the class into exactly what Autumn was the worst at dealing with, a high pressured competitive environment. No matter how good she may be at Transfiguration, she could not think in high pressure environment.

Autumn listened carefully as the professor told them they would be having assigned seats. This could either be good or bad, depending on who was sitting next to her. If Jane or Brad was sitting by her,then it was a very good thing. If someone mean-and there were a few people in her own class who were not very nice and Autumn did not know the first years at all- was near her it would be a very bad thing. Especially having to sit by said person all year.

So with some anxiety, Autumn placed her name on the seating chart and listened for further instructions, which turned out to be to reach into the box on the desk without looking. This placed the second year in quite a conundrum. She could not disobey her teacher, as that could lead to her getting in trouble. On the other hand, whatever was in the box could be dangerous or at least unpleasant. Autumn was not a risk taker and she had no intention of ever being one.

She placed her hand in the box and quickly withdrew it. Autumn was pleased with herself for not crying out, that would be just too embarassing, though others did. Still, what was in the box appeared to be some sort of bug. This was quickly confirmed by the professor who mentioned that they were going to be working with live beetles .

Yuck. Autumn didn't consider herself a girly girl, like Chelsea or her aunts, Layla and Ariella, but she definitely did not like bugs. She wasn't afraid of them quite the same as she was heights or being made fun of or getting lost in a blizzard or making a fool of herself but she still thought they were absolutely nasty.

To make matters worse, living to non-living transfigurations were hard and Autumn was only a second year. She only knew of one person who could have done this at her age and that was Marshall, who was a prodigy at Transfiguration. Autumn was good enough at the subject but not... that good.

How could she do this? It was like she was being set up to fail! Autumn felt under pressure again and that just made matters worse. She could feel the anxiety growing in the pit of her stomach and she felt kind of sick.

That's when the person next to her spoke. "I'm sorry, what?" Autumn asked, feeling a bit stupid that she hadn't been paying attention. Hopefully the person wouldn't think her rude.

11 Autumn Collins, Crotalus Fortunately, I am wearing robes. 164 Autumn Collins, Crotalus 0 5

Ryan

September 13, 2010 7:08 PM

Thanks by Ryan

As Neal complimented him, Ryan beamed. "Thanks!" He wasn't used to compliments so much, he was far more used to insults but when someone did say something nice to him, the first year just soaked it up. It made him feel good about himself, something Ryan got to feel so rarely.

Maybe it even meant Neal liked him. The Crotalus so wanted to be liked. A person could only take so much hatred. Granted, it was only two people who hated Ryan but that was enough, especially considering the excessive amounts of hatred he was getting from those two people.

Plus it meant Ryan was maybe pretty good at Transfiguration. Maybe that meant he wasn't as...mentally challenged as his mom claimed. (Well, that wasn't the word she used, but the word she used was as bad as the M word was to describe muggleborns. It was one Ryan wouldn't say. Though Carrie did. They used the M word too.)

He nodded sympathetically as Neal mentioned Transfiguration wasn't his subject. "It's okay, I don't think I'm good at everything either." Ryan told the older boy. He didn't mention that what he wasn't good at was flying because he was certain that any positive feelings Neal had about him would be diminished if he told the Pecari boy that he couldn't even get his broom up. Ryan was positive Coach Pierce hated him because of that.

"But so far, I've only had this class and flying lessons." He sincerely hoped that Neal would not guess that Ryan was saying he was bad at flying, Ryan was a boy and boys were supposed to be good at flying and sports but the Crotalus never would be.

"Well, all right." Ryan tried again and this time half the beetle's legs disappeared. The younger boy smiled nervously. He was glad he'd made progress but at the same time, Neal had said he wasn't very good at this subject and Ryan hoped the older boy would not resent him.

11 Ryan Thanks 176 Ryan 0 5

Nova

September 14, 2010 10:39 PM

Well if it's deserved... by Nova

“What the heck is wrong with you?” Nova looked up from the half-a-beetle on the table in front of her with a stunned look on her face. Did he just say what she thought he said? "Excuse me?" She could barely stop herself from slapping him. "What is wrong with you? How dare you insult a daughter of the Wynn family? I bet you're a stupid Mudblood. Anyone with any real magic in them knows never to mess with someone from a true Pure family!"

“Are you a Sadist or something? Love to torture things that have no defense?” Nova's eyebrows were knit tightly togethor. This kid was seriously asking for it. "That insect served no purpose. It's miserable excuse for a life only got in the way of important people like myself."

Thinking of a way to punish this imbicile for his actions, Nova looked down, only to see the handiwork of her Diffindo-split beetle. An idea popped into her head. "I'll teach you to mess with a Pureblood! Diffindo!" She laughed menacingly when the boy's pantleg was sliced neatly off. "How's that for a spell?"

0 Nova Well if it's deserved... 0 Nova 0 5

Marcus

September 15, 2010 9:11 PM

You really are a sadist (TAG PROFESSOR) by Marcus

There she went again with this Mudblood business. Like that hurt him. He was sure it was an insult in the magical world, but to him, it was just a strange word. It meant nothing. And even when he did find out the meaning, he doubted it would hurt him even then. Beyond that, why she mentioned her family and say that he insulted her was a little confusing.

Why should he care and who the heck is the Wynn family? He didn’t care if she had money or status or whatever it was that the magical world run on. She was behaving like a psychopath. What was it that his mother said this girl would be? The sort of person who didn’t care for others and found pleasure in tormenting them? Sociopath? A person who lacks a sense of moral responsibility. Yes, that was it. She was torturing a beetle because she felt the bug was worthless. She also clearly felt she had some sort of superiority over everyone else just because she might have some money or had magical ancestors or whatever made the heart pump wildly amongst this crowd of beings.

He wanted to tell her that he had never heard of her and so, she couldn’t really be all that important, but he figured that there was no point to even try to reason with her. His mother said, when he met a person who cared very little for the lives of others that he should quickly walk away. The only thing they would do was hurt him and the people he cared about, especially if it meant that they gained something for themselves.

Marcus was prepared to go back to trying to spell when he heard and felt the leg of his pants rip open and the girl start laughing in a very ‘witchy’ way. Marcus shot up from out of his seat. “What did you do?” Marcus yelled. “These were a good pair of jeans! You are seriously messed in the head, you know that?” Marcus spit out at her.

He turned towards the professor, his hand high in the air. “Professor, I’m not sitting hear this chick anymore. She’s crazy!” Marcus told her. If the professor didn’t let him change seats, he’ll go to the Headmistress. Marcus never told on anyone, never needed to, but he wasn’t going to just sit around and let the girl throw spells at him that he didn’t know how to protect himself against. “She split the beetle almost completely in half and then uses the spell on me. What kind of place is this? My mom sent me here to get me out of the violence, but now I’m even closer to it cos this girl thinks she’s a God who can do whatever she wants.”

Marcus didn’t care if he sounded dumb to the other students nor did he care if they were listening to him. He now had a ripped pair of good jeans. His mother would be furious. Plus, he now had a crazy girl out to get him because he didn’t think she was okay in the head. “Look,” Marcus said still talking to the professor. “I never make trouble and I usually just take it as it is, but look at what she did to my pants! And she’s laughing about it. I need a new seat.”

6 Marcus You really are a sadist (TAG PROFESSOR) 180 Marcus 0 5

Professor Crosby

September 16, 2010 4:28 PM

Can't you two be good children and play with your insects? by Professor Crosby

Lilac was enjoying circling the kids, watching them either succeed or fail. Each failure, Lilac mentally reassured them, would only lead to more success later on. After all, if someone is perfect from the beginning, then life would be rather boring, since they would have no improvement later on. Their progress would be a flat line, horizontal and straight, whereas the averages, struggling student would have many ups and downs, resulting in a neatly crooked line of progress, something much more significant.

And so, Lilac was a bit disgruntled when she discovered a student was addressing her. Good gracious, what happened to his pants? the brunette professor wondered. “Professor, I’m not sitting hear this chick anymore. She’s crazy!” What a horrible thing to say! That poor girl couldn’t be that bad at all! She looked so nice and intelligent! How on Earth could she be responsible for such dreadful things? This girl who, after attempting to memorize all the faces and names of her students, Lilac recalled to be Nova Something, seemed so innocent, but then again… maybe too innocent.

“She split the beetle almost completely in half and then uses the spell on me. What kind of place is this? My mom sent me here to get me out of the violence, but now I’m even closer to it cos this girl thinks she’s a God who can do whatever she wants.” Lilac gasped in surprise, and her eyes fell hard upon Nova. How could this boy --was his name Max? Martin? She was sure it was a M. Williams -- accuse her of such things? It didn’t seem like something he could just make up, and Lilac really wished she knew how to discipline anyone. All of her nieces, nephews, and even cousins knew that she was a push-over, especially Yelizaveta, with her big hazel eyes. Not sure how to reply, Lilac was slightly relieved when he continued ranting, but mostly, she was nervous.

Look, I never make trouble and I usually just take it as it is, but lookat what she did to my pants! And she’s laughing about it. I need a new seat.” Lilac finally took in everything the boy --Melvin?-- was saying. Nova Something hurt one of her beetles?! No! she thought dramatically. Why must the good die young?! The poor beetle had barely experienced life yet, and Lilac couldn’t help but wonder if it even got to experience button-dom.

Setting her eyes on the boy --Muriel? Wait, that’s a girl’s name-- Lilac began to speak. “Is that what happened? The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?” Ah, the half-Russian loved American phrases. Turning to Miss Something, she added, “Do you agree with Mr. Williams’s version of said events? Please note that I have a little cousin your exact age, so I know all of the eleven-year-old tricks, so I’ll know if you‘re lying.”

OOC: Posting order Lilac-Nova-Marcus, thanks!

0 Professor Crosby Can't you two be good children and play with your insects? 0 Professor Crosby 0 5

Nova

September 17, 2010 6:35 PM

Can't you go mind your own buisness? by Nova

Oh no. That inept child had called the teacher?! Nova had been perfectly capable of teaching a lesson that needed to be learned, so why was she being thrown under the bus? Nova put on her best 'innocent little girl' face, bated her eyelashes at the Professor, and said "Hello Professor Crosby. What do you think of my button collection?" She pointed delacately with her wand to the neat stack on the table next to her. "I think I've got the spell down!"

“Do you agree with Mr. Williams’s version of said events? Please note that I have a little cousin your exact age, so I know all of the eleven-year-old tricks, so I’ll know if you‘re lying.” Nova did her best to seem hurt/shocked. "Of course not! I simply didn't know what that spell did! I read about it in a book, you see." She stuck her bottom lip out. "I would never intentionally hurt a living creature..." Nova giggled in her head and crossed her fingers behind her back.

Trying to gain the Professor's pity, Nova welled up some fake tears and whimpered, "But Professor, this boy did hurt my feelings. He c-called me a sa-sadist!" She put her head in her hands and "cried." "And he's complaining about wanting to sit with me? I didn't come to school to be emotionally abused in class!"

As Nova was crying on the outside, she was laughing so hard on the inside. Some people will believe anything she thought.

OOC: I'm sooo sorry!! I godmodded a little bit in the last post... I should have waited to see if Marcus stopped the Difindo spell or not. Again, Sorry and happy posting!

0 Nova Can't you go mind your own buisness? 0 Nova 0 5

Sam

September 17, 2010 11:18 PM

Looks like a promising start to me. by Sam

Sam looked at the first year's de-legged beetle. "We can call it even," he said. "I've got a button with legs, you've got a beetle without. It's half the assignment either way."

That was, he'd heard, how it usually went the first few days of each year. It was pretty impressive that a new first year could get that far on a first try. He had fumbled around for half a week before he managed to get anything to look even a little vaguely transfigured. Charms hadn't been much easier. Watching Rachel seem to glide through lessons had not been a good thing for his self-esteem.

Of course, with his luck, he'd cause the same effect with Kate. Sam knew he wasn't as smart as her sister, but he'd been uniquely gifted with an ability to figure out how to look smarter than he really was. Rich and/or tough, those two traits that might have bought him levels of safety he had never enjoyed at home, still eluded him, but he could act very smart. It was just a matter of knowing some bits and pieces of trivia about weird topics and being able to bluff with confidence and authority.

Well, confidence, anyway. Sam was pretty sure he was not a figure that radiated authority. People who did that were - generally speaking - people who could hold all their limbs still while sitting, which he'd never been able to do; the best he could do was keeping either his foot bouncing or a pencil tapping instead of both going at once, as happened when he was actually concentrating on something else.

"But just give it a minute and it'll go back to being just a beetle," he recommended. The foreign accent meant that she was most likely from a magical family, since Muggles didn't usually know enough about magical schools to do more than hand their children over to whichever one wrote first in an attempt to meet ratio requirements, but there were always anomalies and exceptions. She might have never seen anyone transfigure things before in her life. "You don't learn to make it stick until sixth year or something. I'm Sam. Crotalus. How's Sonora treating you?"

16 Sam Looks like a promising start to me. 163 Sam 0 5

Marcus

September 20, 2010 4:46 PM

Wow, I wish I were back in Muggle school. by Marcus

The minute the girl opened her mouth, Marcus knew that he wouldn’t be listened to after this. Girls like her only had to smile and everything just fell into their laps. There were a lot of girls like her at his last school and boys like him always got the blame even if they hadn’t even been present at the time the incident had happened. It was always the same old. Magical school was no different. His mother’s hopes had been for nothing. Magical or not, people were still prejudice, the poor were still doormats, and girls with trust funds did whatever they wanted.

Marcus resisted the urge to roll his eyes, but his body reined resignation. He wouldn’t win this, but he could at least prevent himself from being further victim to her torment or twisted games. “Okay, so she says that she didn’t know what the spell did. That’s all well and good since she first tried it on a beetle and watched it split in half. So then, why would she then try the spell on me if she already knew the outcome would be splitting something?” Marcus demanded, angry that not only was she going to get away with what she had done and make him out to be the bad guy, but his pants were ruined.

“I do not want to sit next to a girl who laughs when she kills something viciously and then uses the same exact spell against me.” Marcus told both the professor and the girl. “And yeah, I did ask her if she was a Sadist. She got a lot of excitement out of the spell, what else would you call someone who likes to hurt others? But she keeps calling me a Mudblood. What the heck is that, some racial term you Magical people use against black people? Mud equals brown, right? But I’m the one who is emotionally abusing her, yeah, okay.” Marcus stated, his tone clearly not happy with any of this.

“If you decide to keep me here next to her, that’s fine, but you might as well fail me now because I will not be coming back to this class. I doubt after Christmas my mom would want me coming back to this school. All I have to tell her is that the Coach makes negative statements against a large group of her students, the magical world hates people like my mother, apparently they have a thing against black people too considering how often she-“ Marcus indicated the girl, “likes to say it. So you forcing me to sit next to her would only let my mother know that none of these professors really give two cents about us and I was better off in the Urban Suburban program back home. At least then she knows I would graduate and possibly get a scholarship in football.”

Marcus stopped talking, waiting for the professor to say something. He knew he was pretty much giving her an ultimatum and Marcus didn’t really dislike it here because so far only this girl had given him any sort of problem, but the professors were another story.

6 Marcus Wow, I wish I were back in Muggle school. 180 Marcus 0 5

Prof. C.

September 25, 2010 11:43 AM

Punishments are definitely due here. by Prof. C.

Great. There was nothing Lilac loved more than quarrelling children, except for maybe cacti, killer whales, and, oh, maybe the plague. Lilac couldn’t stand arguments. Firstly, she hated to witness them. Secondly, she hated to be involved with them. Finally, she never won hers with her siblings growing up. They were too good! As an adult, she just saw arguments as pointlessness. Seriously, what did they accomplish besides making everyone upset and irritable?

Her brain skipped Nova’s cutesy question about how her buttons worked, even though she had been slightly impressed. This girl had a knack for Transfiguration. However, now was not the time for admiration. Now was the time for discipline, something Lilac hated. She would have so much preferred to have been called over to admire the handiwork.

“Of course not! I simply didn't know what that spell did! I read about it in a book, you see. I would never intentionally hurt a living creature..." Lilac eyed the pouting girl wearily. There had to be more than what Nova was telling her; she was sure of it. Experiences with her own relatives --especially that deceitful nephew of hers, Martin-- told her that Nova wasn’t telling her everything. Before she could respond, however, Marcus did.

“Okay, so she says that she didn’t know what the spell did. That’s all well and good since she first tried it on a beetle and watched it split in half. So then, why would she then try the spell on me if she already knew the outcome would be splitting something?” Honestly, Lilac had been wondering the same thing. This girl was not telling the truth. Lilac opened her mouth to speak, but again Marcus was speaking, and Lilac was not liking what she heard.

So he didn’t want to sit by Nova. That was understandable, Lilac begrudgingly admit to herself; Nova didn’t exactly seem to be the nicest girl in the world. Lilac felt is was big of Marcus --that was it! Marcus!-- to admit that he called Nova a sadist and elaborate his reasons. Then he said Nova called him a Mudblood and ~~wanted~~ demanded to know what it meant, thinking it was a slam about his skin color. “But I’m the one who is emotionally abusing her, yeah, okay.” She pitied the poor boy, thinking it was about race. She parted her lips hesitantly to explain, but Marcus sure had a lot to say.

What did he mean he wouldn’t be coming back to class if she didn’t move him? Was he trying to boss her around? Who was the professor here?! She had half a mind to just leave him there now! Then he went on again about Mudblood being an insult about his race. …Wait, “Coach”? Was that her? This kid must’ve really been into sports. But seriously, how could he say that the professor don’t give “two cents” about the students after a mishap with another student? Lilac hadn’t done anything unfairly; she listened to both sides of the story, made her own judgment, and was about to deal punishment to the guilty party until Marcus had erupted.

After hearing something about scholarship and football --whatever that was-- Lilac began to speak. If Marcus was going to cut her off again, she would just push right through his words, but luckily, he didn’t. “Well, Mr. Williams,” she began sternly, “I agree with you on a few aspects.” She turned to Nova. “You, young lady, were most certainly aware of what it would do to his pants, and you’re lucky he didn’t get his leg cut off! Twenty points from Aladren!” She remembered seeing Nova’s name on the list of Aladrens, with her last name, which was Wynn. Aha! She remembered now!

“Mr. Williams, there was no need to erupt and challenge my authority in such a manner,” she said, returning her sights to Marcus. “I was indeed going to move your seat to the far side of the room, but now I am not sure. Of course your professors give ‘two cents’ about you. That’s why we’re here. I ought to deduct points for your impertinence, but I won’t.”

“You and Miss Wynn both will, however,” she continued addressing both students now, “be joining me for a detention Saturday morning. If you have some, I would advice you bring plastic gloves. If not, I will try to provide some for you, but I wouldn’t recommend relying on me. My gloves might just have holes in them.”

“As for now,” she concluded, “Mr. Williams, go sit over there.” Sharply she gestured to an empty seat on the other side of the room. “Miss Wynn, you stay right here and don’t move a muscle unless you’re practicing my spell, none of your own! Now, go.” Without a further word, Lilac walked away and continued circling the students. I suppose I’m done being a pushover, she thought, enjoying this authority within her. With an internal laugh, she added, Those cousins, nieces, and nephews of mine had better watch out!

0 Prof. C. Punishments are definitely due here. 0 Prof. C. 0 5

Professor Lilac Crosby

Button those trousers! [First and second years!] by Professor Lilac Crosby

Jordan Adair, Crotalus

Wrinkling nose. by Jordan Adair, Crotalus

Sara Raines, Pecari

Disobeying orders by Sara Raines, Pecari

Jordan

Considering alternatives by Jordan

Ryan O'Malley,Crotalus

*Is paranoid and checks trousers* by Ryan O'Malley,Crotalus

Sam Bauer, Crotalus

Getting back to work. by Sam Bauer, Crotalus

Nova Wynn {Aladren}

Finally something close to useful by Nova Wynn {Aladren}

Neal Padrig, Pecari

Might as well double-check that zipper, too by Neal Padrig, Pecari

Marcus Williams (Pecari)

How is this useful? by Marcus Williams (Pecari)

Kirstenna Melcher,Teppenpaw

Yes, more off-the-wall theories by Kirstenna Melcher,Teppenpaw

Valentina Bentancourt

Just getting the hang of this by Valentina Bentancourt

Luke Valerio, Pecari

Care to share? by Luke Valerio, Pecari

Nova

It's funner then bug repelant, to say the least by Nova

Marcus

Only if you like torture. by Marcus

Ryan

*Does so* by Ryan

Sara

Have you made any decisions yet? by Sara

Jessica Zeworth [Pecari]

Steaming up the place. by Jessica Zeworth [Pecari]

Dani Adair, Pecari

It was a little chilly. by Dani Adair, Pecari

Neal

You take advice extremely well by Neal

Kirstenna

Always! by Kirstenna

Autumn Collins, Crotalus

Fortunately, I am wearing robes. by Autumn Collins, Crotalus

Ryan

Thanks by Ryan

Nova

Well if it's deserved... by Nova

Marcus

You really are a sadist (TAG PROFESSOR) by Marcus

Professor Crosby

Can't you two be good children and play with your insects? by Professor Crosby

Nova

Can't you go mind your own buisness? by Nova

Sam

Looks like a promising start to me. by Sam

Marcus

Wow, I wish I were back in Muggle school. by Marcus

Prof. C.

Punishments are definitely due here. by Prof. C.

Is paranoid and checks trousers by Ryan O'Malley,Crotalus

Does so by Ryan