Holly Rating: Is this weird? on Transfiguration

Professor Lilac Crosby

November 19, 2010 4:03 PM

Ridiculously intense human transfiguration! [Advance lesson! by Professor Lilac Crosby

Lilac had been thrilled all since midterm. She had experienced a pleasant vacation, traveling home to Mother Russia to visit her family. Really, the twenty-six year old had just enjoyed the chance to see her beloved Moscow again, so beautiful covered in frost as white as an angel’s wings and softer than silk. Longing for her home the first half of the year had been odd, and she had fantasized about returning for the break. Now that the break was over, she was looking forward to summer.

However, the brunette professor was also looking forward to her classes, which she would have to prepare and teach before she could find her way home again. She was particularly eager on this morning for her class with her advanced class. The concept of the lesson excited her, and she couldn’t wait to see the faces of the children --or rather, young adults-- when they experienced it with her.

The typically clumsy woman was careful when she leapt out of bed, making sure not to snag her bedclothes on anything. She was anxious for the day, as she always was, and excited to live out her life, which was nothing new, either. Lilac squirmed out of her nightgown and pulled on a white blouse, silver skirt, and, most importantly, large gray-ish robes that had been her broad-chested brother Johnny’s until she had discovered it matched her skirt, at which time she had ~~stolen~~ borrowed them indefinitely. (Yea, that was it.)

After slipping into some leopard-print slippers --because shoes were over-rated-- she headed off to her class, deciding that she wasn’t very hungry, and the slight hunger she felt could wait until lunch. Even though her class wouldn’t start for a while, she felt she ought to go anyway to prepare.

Once she had arrived at her beautiful classroom, Lilac decided to do some re-decorating. With a flick of her wand and a nonverbal spell, her furniture danced out of the way. When she finished, the desks were all stacked on top of each other in the back of the room, leaving an open space in the middle of the room that made her realize she hadn’t taken into account the exact largeness of the room; it was huge! Even better than intended! the half-Russian thought giddily.

She seated herself in the middle of the classroom floor, regarding her desk as less pleasurable, and crossed her legs up underneath her, as if she was about to do yoga. Her eyes closed, and she meditated silently, not a true meditation ceremony but enough to calm her to some extent, or, rather, to the extend the excitable woman could be calmed.

One eyelid snapped open when her ears, hidden underneath the messy brown hair, detected the arrival of students. After seeing that they were indeed entering, she stood up with more grace than she herself had expected and smiled to her advanced class. “Welcome, welcome! Just take a seat on the floor for the time being!” she urged them, standing near the door now and bidding the stream of students entrance, greeting them individually.

When the stream ended and she gathered that everyone who intended to show was sitting on her floor, she shut the door manually, seeing no point in whipping out her wand when she was three inches from the frame, and turned to the expectant faces of her class. At least, some were expectant. Others looked bored. Well, that will soon change, Lilac decided.

“Good day, class!” she bellowed happily. “Hate to say I made you sit on the floor just to make you get back up again, but that’s the reality of the situation, I’m afraid, so hop up, everybody!” She beamed brightly as the students, some reluctantly and a few eagerly, came to their feet. “Good, good!”

“Today, kids, we’re doing some very advanced stuff. I guess that’s why you’re the advanced class, right?” the brunette twenty-six year old smiled. “Prepare yourselves!” she added, increasing in both volume and intensity. “Today, we shall explore magic you may or may not have even fathomed, let alone attempted! You will push yourselves to your maximum in my classroom! Today, we tackle animagi transformations!”

“Now, I know, many of you may not want to become animagi,” Lilac continued, “But it’s a handy thing to know, and I’d like you to at least try it, okay?”

“Now, becoming an animagus is not an easy thing for any witch or wizard,” Lilac elaborated. “For one thing, there is no incantation. You sort of have to let it happen, and focus hard. Some people have a natural talent for it, and others don’t. I, personally, am still working on full transformation, with intent to master it in my lifetime.” There, saying that ought to make those who wouldn’t do well feel better, she reasoned.

“Also, you cannot choice the animal you transform into.” She continued to her class, “It’s often the same shape as the first patronus you produce, but unlike the patronus, it is unchanging. Emotions or events can alter one’s patronus, but the animagus state is forever one form, the animal that best represents the wizard or witch.”

“I’ve moved the desks and stuff so you have more room, in case you transform completely and become gigantic creatures,” smiled the professor. “Please, go ahead and begin! Try an arm first; start slow. If you have any questions, please ask me! Thank you, you may begin.”

OOC: Please, please, kiddly-winks, do good for Aunt Lilac! Also, it’s super-convient for me if you could please put your house in the author slot. Please and thank you!

On a final note, I’d really like to not have to take anyone to the hospital wing, so being careful would be great. Please don’t have characters get seriously hurt/stuck half-changed. Be creative, and have fun!

Subthreads:

Ridiculous is the right word by Amelia Smythe with Prof. C., Amelia

Holly Rating: Is this weird? by Holly Greer-Thistle (Pecari)

0 Professor Lilac Crosby Ridiculously intense human transfiguration! [Advance lesson! 0 Professor Lilac Crosby 1 5

Amelia Smythe

November 21, 2010 2:54 PM

Ridiculous is the right word by Amelia Smythe

Arriving at transfiguration class to find the door closed didn't improve Amelia's mood. She was unhappy today, and she couldn't fully explain why. She hadn't even felt like eating breakfast, which was a sure sign there was something wrong with her. Maybe if she wasn't feeling better later she would ask the medic for some Pepper Up, but she hated to reply on potions to feel normal. Smythes were supposed to be stronger than that. She even tried talking herself out of her slump as the other seventh years started to arrive, but to no avail.

Soon there were enough of them gathered that Amelia tapped lightly on the door to alert Professor Crosby of their presence. She pushed open the door and peeked her head round, to be greeted by welcomes, and an instruction to sit on the floor. On the floor? Now, Amelia was more tolerant than most of her immediate relatives, but Smythes did not sit on the floor, particularly the dusty floor of an old classroom. She didn't want to cause a scene, though. So, frowning outwardly and sighing internally, Amelia conjured a small woven rug and sat on that as gracefully as she could, pulling her uniform robes around her. Moments later, and they were instructed just to stand up again. Her lethargy winning over, Amelia was resigned rather than frustrated, which would have just taken too much effort. Slowly, she stood up again, banished the rug and waited for Professor Crosby to get to the point.

Honestly, Amelia wasn't fussed about becoming an animagus. Her sister Cecily was the one into animals, not Amelia. She was strictly an indoors person, who enjoyed stimulating conversation, good food, and the occasional bout of political gossip. The ability to tranform into something else wasn't something she sought. She already considered herself to be near the top of the social ladder; why try any harder? Nonetheless, she couldn't deny a vague curiosity about what she would turn into. She hadn't yet mastered a patronus in DADA, so she didn't even have that to use as a clue. That wasn't the only thing she was clueless about - when Professor Crosby told them to begin, she missed one vital piece of information.

Amelia's hand shot into the air as she spoke loudly. "Professor? Excuse me, but you haven't told us how." Okay, so she'd said focus, but focus on what? Did they need to use their wands? Amelia was sure she'd seen someone transform using a wand. It wasn't the first time the absent-minded professor had neglected to tell them the core part of their class. Honestly, did just expect them to turn into creatures with no instruction?

0 Amelia Smythe Ridiculous is the right word 121 Amelia Smythe 0 5

Prof. C.

November 24, 2010 10:34 AM

I favor the "Intense" part, myself. by Prof. C.

Lilac was less than surprised when a hand shot into the air and stated that she had neglected to tell them how to perform the transformation. She scurried towards the girl who asked the question, Amelia Smythe, she knew her name to be by this time, so as she could answer without disrupting the other students who may have been beginning their attempts by now.

“I believe I gave that instruction earlier, Miss Smythe,” Lilac said sweetly, not meaning to be harsh in any way, shape, or form. “You may not have caught it, so I shall repeat it for you. I cannot really tell you how to change into an animagus form other than to focus and search within you.”

“I know,” she continued with a serene laugh, “I probably sound less than helpful, so allow me to elaborate. You see, animagi transformations must come naturally, from the heart. I can give you no further instructions other than to follow your heart into the form.”

The brunette professor smiled at her student. “You do not need your wand for the transformation, either. I may or may not have said that; I don’t recall. The magic has to come from within you. I sound awfully tacky, don’t I?” she posed the rhetorical question.

“So sorry I can’t be of any more help than that,” Lilac finished with sincerity. Her grey eyes dug into the student remorsefully. If only there was a way she could help her more. Unfortunately, there was no such way, which was the difficult part of teaching a lesson on the subject of animagi transfigurations.

“Anything else I can help you with?” she inquired, not really expecting any sort of answer that would include Lilac giving out more information. There really was no more information.

0 Prof. C. I favor the "Intense" part, myself. 0 Prof. C. 0 5

Amelia

December 02, 2010 12:37 PM

It's apt, I'll agree by Amelia

"I believe I gave that instruction earlier, Miss Smythe," Professor Crosby replied. Amelia wanted to slap her. Luckily for the transfiguration professor, Amelia had gained better control over her emotions and subsequent reactions since her childhood, and settled for pursing her lips. The two of them obviously had very different ideas about what 'giving instructions' actually entailed. If she had been in a better mood Amelia might have been tempted to debate the matter, but she was grumpy enough to know not to attempt it; she knew she'd only end up having a teenaged tantrum. Professor Crosby was not making the situation any better. "You may not have caught it, so I shall repeat it for you."

Amelia took deep breaths. Calm, she must stay calm. Actually it was easier than she'd imagined; this class and this professor were so inconsequential to her in the grand scheme of her life and the universe more widely that Amelia found her surprisingly easy to ignore. If all there was to animagus transformations was to sit and think about it, then what was the point of even teaching it? Amelia could do this in her spare time - she thought of classes as a place for learning. If there was nothing to be taught, then what were they even doing here? Now that she thought about it, Amelia had a charms assignment she could be working on right at this moment.

Amelia's curiosity had long ago worn off. She'd just work harder at her patronus, and if that looked like an animal she might want to become herself, then she might bother with this 'magic has to come from within you' rubbish. So when Professor Crosby asked if there was anyway she could help Amelia further, the blonde stood and stared back at the woman who'd been staring at her for the duration of her limited explanation. "No thank you," the Crotalus student replied. "If there's nothing more I can learn in this class I'm going to use my time more wisely." She collected her unopened bag and headed towards the door, intent on completing that charms assignment.

0 Amelia It's apt, I'll agree 0 Amelia 0 5

Holly Greer-Thistle (Pecari)

December 16, 2010 10:54 AM

Holly Rating: Is this weird? by Holly Greer-Thistle (Pecari)

As a general rule, Holly liked her Transfiguration classes. This opinion had varied somewhat from professor to professor, but Professor Crosby was not the worst of them. Also as a general rule, Holly hadn't had much against most of the Transfiguration teachers, in all truth.

It was the DADA ones that scared her, the potions ones that disgusted her (though Fawcett was easily the least horrible of them), and Professor Flatt the Elder that traumatized her. Transfiguration was neither scary, disgusting, nor rife with tragedy, so there simply hadn't been as much that transfiguration teachers could do to give Holly nightmares. So, by comparison, Transfiguration became one of her favorite classes simply because it didn't horrify her. Only Charms beat it as a class for consistent non-horrible-ness.

As long as they weren't transfiguring anything into or out of insect or rodent forms, she was good.

So today's lesson was acceptable in that it started with her (a pleasant form if she did say so herself) to whatever animal she most identified with (which was probably a beautiful winged horse, or maybe one that resembled Wendy, her own personal white mare that she had loved and adored since she was seven).

It was less acceptable in that she wasn't entirely sure that she wanted to actually be a horse.

Still she was not one to disobey a teacher, so she settled herself to begin trying to transform. She had her wand in hand and was drawing her focus together when she realized she had no idea what the spell word was for this. Fortunately, Amelia Smythe asked first and Holly was close enough to eavesdrop so she didn't have to suffer the same lecture Amelia had.

She put her wand aside and looked at her arm. A nice human arm. Slender but not sickeningly bone-skinny. She liked her arms. Still. Focus. She started by willing it to turn into Wendy's leg (Wendy, because Holly knew what Wendy's legs looked like every bit as well as she knew her own arm).

That didn't work.

So she tried just closing her eyes and trying to find her inner animal foreleg in her arm.

That didn't work either. Well, she hadn't thought it did until she opened her eyes and looked at her arm again.

Then she shrieked. Because where her cleanly shaved skin had been a minute ago was now covered in fine white fur. It was still her own Holly-shaped arm but it was covered in white fur!

1 Holly Greer-Thistle (Pecari) Holly Rating: Is this weird? 123 Holly Greer-Thistle (Pecari) 0 5