Only if there's room after I shield me. on Transfiguration

Professor Lilac Crosby

November 18, 2011 5:43 PM

Shield me with your... pipe? [First and second years!] by Professor Lilac Crosby

“…Wrimlet, Morana.” With that final name, Lilac finished the attendance for her beginners’ class. She still didn’t have the names down quite yet (although she knew Miss Wrimlet, a member of her own House). She’d gotten pretty adjusted to seeing the faces of the new first years by this point, but it continually seemed somewhat strange walking into her intermediate class and seeing now-third years like Hope Brockert and Addison Thorton. Even odder still was the fourth-year class; she’d started at Sonora when that particular class was mere first years themselves.

Students, just like she herself, grew up ever so quickly. Her very own niece, while still in the beginners’ class, was a second year already. In all honesty, she enjoyed the first and second years a great deal because they were so young still and so rapidly changing. However, she was probably the least free with herself in that class: she tried very, very hard not to be a complete dork and embarrass Sally.

To the considerably newly-christened first and second years she spoke. ‘Now that that’s all in order, I bet you’re wondering why there’s a metal pipe on each of your desks.” The tubes were about two feet long and not as heavy as they looked at all, easy to lift for most students. She’d taken every precaution she could think of for special cases; when Valerie Lennox had come in, for example, the twenty-nine year old had been sure to guide her to a desk where the pipe was smaller and even lighter. Any other students with similar medical concerns were addressed in such fashion as well. She always did her best for such students.

The grey-eyed witch grabbed the pipe off of her own desk, proportionately longer as she was larger than the students and could likely hold more. “Imagine this, if you will: you’re all grown up. You’re an Auror. Someone chases you into a dark alley. Something’s happened that you can’t escape. What do you do then?” Lilac paused briefly to glance across the students. The usual variety of opinionated faces seemed true. “You need a shield, but all the only thing available is a metal pipe from one of the buildings.”

Wand directed decisively at the pipe, she incanted, “Paerdecto!” In the blink of an eye, the pipe was a shield. “Now, note that the composition of the pipe has not changed. Strengthened a little, maybe, but not changed. Most of this is just a shift in form. It is, however, now more resistant to magical damage, as it ought to be.” Otherwise, there really was no point to the spell in itself.

While she had spoken the incantation, it and its pronunciation had appeared on the board behind her. PAIR-deck-toe. “Be sure to realize that this may not do terribly much against stronger spells, but obviously it’s better than nothing.” Just as the pipe and its weight, the spell was not as challenging as it would have appeared. “Any questions? If not, go ahead and begin. Feel free to help each other out. Talking’s fine as long as it’s at a manageable level. I’ll be here if you need me for any reason.” On that note, the class was let loose. The brunette sat at her desk, straightening her ankle-length brown skirt a little as she did so. She absolutely abhorred such a tremendous amount of wrinkles, but she’d overslept a bit that morning.

OOC: Welcome to Transfig, first and second years! Let’s see some nice, creative, detailed posts. That makes me happy, plus you get points, which make you happy too! Everybody wins! Yay! Have fun, but don’t do bad things like writing for other people’s characters. Happy posting!

Subthreads:

It would work better to use a shield that used to be a pipe by Theresa Carey, Pecari with Gareth Whitebriar - Crotalus, Theresa

I'll...try? by Mellie Goodwin, Pecari with Katrina (Kitty) McLevy - Aladren

Only if there's room after I shield me. by Alicia Bauer, Aladren with Angel Shield - Teppenpaw

I don't think it will do me any good (Professor) by Valerie Lennox, Crotalus with Prof. C.

All right, if you insist by Alexandra Devereux, Crotalus with Elijah Errant {Pecari}, Alexandra

Not what I'd have in mind. by Evan Brockert, Aladren with Andrina Thornton

Sorry, I'm too busy running the other way by Paul Bennett, Crotalus

Class closed (nm) by Prof. C.

0 Professor Lilac Crosby Shield me with your... pipe? [First and second years!] 0 Professor Lilac Crosby 1 5

Theresa Carey, Pecari

November 19, 2011 11:56 PM

It would work better to use a shield that used to be a pipe by Theresa Carey, Pecari

She had been taking classes for a little while, now, but Theresa still felt a certain amount of excitement every time she came to one, particularly ones where she got to use her wand. That was easily the thing she’d been most excited, from the beginning, about coming to school for: coming to school meant being old enough to have the right to own and use a real wand of her own, even if she could only legally use it while she was at school. That was just for a few years. Six years wasn’t long at all; she’d have siblings still not in school then, if only because the gaps between them had been growing longer and longer since Henry was born.

The pipes on all the desks in Transfiguration did get a look of confusion from her when she came in, and she felt a moment of concern when she saw that some students were being directed to desks instead of picking their own as usual, but she mostly just decided it was one of those ‘school’ things and waited for an explanation. It was hard to wait when she wanted to know at once, and her foot was jiggling a little by the time the last of her sometimes very slow classmates finally arrived, but other than that, she thought she managed to look patient.

Well, that and maybe the way she was leaning forward in her desk a little too far, but oh, well. It wasn’t like that horrible woman was here to see her and correct her. Another good thing about being at school was being away from those tutors hired to make sure she and her first two brothers knew proper etiquette, especially her. She did think she smelled just a little awful perfume, though.

She stopped thinking about that, though, and started thinking about the lesson as it began, her dark eyebrows coming together for a second when she realized what they were being taught to make. A shield? She’d heard all the tales about how the Muggles would come kill them all if they ever broke the Statute of Secrecy and all just like everyone else had, Grandmother liked those sorts of tales, but really, was it so bad that they really needed to learn a shield right now? Mother had never said a word about it, and surely she’d know; she had so many relatives in the Cabinet….

Then Professor Crosby said ‘resistant to magical damage.’ Well. That ruled out Muggles, anyway. Theresa supposed she could understand that, too; her history lessons had been full of wizards fighting each other for one stupid reason or another. She was a South Carolina Carey because of that, actually, though she didn’t expect she would ever have to do any fighting. That was why she had brothers and a father and would eventually have a husband.

When they were asked about questions, she didn’t have any, and was soon examining her length of pipe more carefully in anticipation of turning it into a shield. When she thought she had the picture of it in her head pretty well, she took out her wand, smiled at it for a second, and then tried the spell.

The pipe rattled on the desk, but then lay still. Theresa frowned, looking at it with her head tilted a little to the side. She thought it looked a little…dull, maybe a little flatter, but she wasn’t sure. “Silly thing,” she said, then thought back what she’d just tried to do, trying to figure out where she had gone wrong, the idea that the person sitting beside her might be able to help or think she was talking to them and be offended not even occurring to her as she studied the challenge.

0 Theresa Carey, Pecari It would work better to use a shield that used to be a pipe 0 Theresa Carey, Pecari 0 5

Gareth Whitebriar - Crotalus

November 20, 2011 2:34 PM

Than a pipe that had once been a shield by Gareth Whitebriar - Crotalus

Classes hadn’t been as difficult to adjust to as Gareth first expected them to be. The idea of so many children being taught by a single Professor had sounded like a rather chaotic system to the Pureblood but it was far more orderly than his imagination had painted it. There was less one on one attention between Professor and student, but there was the use of teamwork which while not always as good, still interesting.

Taking a seat Gareth picked up the length of pipe sitting on his desk. What shall you be at the end of the lesson? Gareth mused as he ran his long fingers over the metal. Transfiguration was one of the more difficult branches of magic, but it was an area that held numerous uses for an Auror, and it was important for him to learn all he could.

His quill scratched cramped notes over the parchment as the lecture began. A smile lingered on his lips at the lesson. Yes, he could see how being able to create a shield would be useful in his desired profession. An adequate shield could be used in place of defensive spells so that a wizard could focus on offence if they were outnumbered and unable to retreat. “Paerdecto!” Gareth frowned at the now flat pipe, it wasn’t exactly a shield. No, it was still far from the finished product. But, he knew that transfiguration was difficult, so getting it right on the first try was perhaps asking a lot.

“Silly thing.” The girl next to him said. Gareth frowned. He hadn’t done all that bad. “Pardon?” He said, unsure of what else to say to the comment.

0 Gareth Whitebriar - Crotalus Than a pipe that had once been a shield 0 Gareth Whitebriar - Crotalus 0 5

Mellie Goodwin, Pecari

November 21, 2011 1:47 AM

I'll...try? by Mellie Goodwin, Pecari

Mellie wasn’t much good at Transfiguration – she didn’t have ‘the knack,’ as Alison used to call it – but she enjoyed the class anyway, just because she never knew completely what was going to happen. Professor Crosby came up with some interesting things sometimes, and some of Mellie’s failures had been spectacular enough to be interesting all by themselves during first year. She expected second year to go about the same way – lots of moments of interest, but it’d all work out so she passed in the end.

Though really, it was still exciting enough that it was second year. Yeah, there wasn’t a huge difference, she was still in beginner classes and all, but she wasn’t new here anymore. She was one of the second years she’d spent last year looking up to in those beginner classes, one of the endlessly confident people who knew all about the school and the teachers and wasn’t just making everything up as she went along.

Well, okay, she really still was making it up as she went along and certainly wouldn’t call herself endlessly confident, but maybe some of the first years would think that she was. And she was a lot more confident than she was last year, at least when it came to going around the school without getting lost. She had only made one (maybe two) wrong turns since she’d been back, and hadn’t been late for anything important at all.

She was playing with the end of one of the two more or less together braids she’d put her hair into when Professor Crosby started the lesson. She had indeed been wondering why there was a pipe on her desk – well, she’d guessed they were going to be transfiguring it into something, she’d just wondered what that something was going to be; she hadn’t come in under the impression that they were going to start working on the plumbing or hitting each other with lengths of pipe or having Charms class – and wasn’t too sure what to think about the explanation, except that it sounded a bit like Defense class as well as a Transfiguration lesson.

She shrugged, though, when they were set to work and got out her wand. “Think you’re going to have any luck?” she asked her neighbor. “It didn’t sound, you know, too bad, did it?”

16 Mellie Goodwin, Pecari I'll...try? 206 Mellie Goodwin, Pecari 0 5

Alicia Bauer, Aladren

November 21, 2011 2:10 AM

Only if there's room after I shield me. by Alicia Bauer, Aladren

Alicia was in a bad mood as she took a seat in the Transfiguration classroom, enough that it was hard to smile cheerfully at Professor Crosby and respond to the roll call with a bright, happy, enthusiastic “Here!” instead of snapping the “present” she would have preferred anyway. She kept her eyes on a spot just below the professor’s rather than meeting them when she said it, too, and thought determinedly about how everyone she’d met so far had liked her because she was the best of the Bauer girls so the professor would be less likely to catch any irritation in her large brown eyes. She couldn’t be seen to be upset about something as stupid as this.

She was now discovering the eternal truth that, sooner or later, all girls accustomed to a certain lifestyle learned at school: that her closet here was not as spacious as her closet at home. She had been noticing such things for a few days, but had ignored it and abruptly found herself with only a very few weather-appropriate outfits left, none of which she really wanted to wear.

It was, she knew, a stupid thing. Being mildly annoyed about it would have been all right, but she had been so upset while she was getting dressed that she’d nearly started crying. She couldn’t even remember the last time she’d really wanted to cry about something.

That time, she’d done it, alone in her room. Here, though, she was living with three other girls and had needed to move along to get a good seat in her first class, so she’d decided to forget about tears and try to avoid introspection – something that wasn’t very hard for her – in favor of getting dressed out of what she had, the green robes going over a straight, knee-length gray dress with large beads that looked like pearls sewn around the round neckline and matching gray low heels. Her bangs were tied back again, today with ribbons of green, cream, and silver to match the rest of the outfit. The amount of time it had taken to get all the ribbons tied so they would stay together the way she wanted them to hadn’t done anything for her temper, but she had gritted her teeth and put up with it. The rest of her hair hung straight to her shoulders, tucked back to show off her princess-cut diamond earrings, the only jewelry she wore besides a narrow silver bracelet on her right wrist.

Once she was done, she had looked at herself in the mirror and admitted, grudgingly, that she did think she looked good. That was the only reason she wasn’t still nearly sick with temper. It wasn’t quite how she wanted to look to the professors, thought, and that, along with just not having her way, was why she was still in a bad mood anyway, or so she thought. It was the best she could do until the wash came back, though, so she’d forced herself to smile at the mirror until it looked real, just the way Gramma Alma had taught her, and then she’d cheerfully said good morning to her roommates and gone to breakfast.

Now, in Transfiguration, she really could not care less why there was a pipe on her desk, but she smiled widely when Professor Crosby said she was sure they were all interested in that, looking up but again at the point just below the professor’s eyes. She’d read about shy people doing that because it looked like making eye contact, but she didn’t mind stealing it despite not having the problem it was to correct. She didn’t think she had much use for a shield, but the idea amused her anyway, so she smiled a little to herself for a moment before she got back to business.

“This is a little unusual, isn’t it?” she remarked to her neighbor. “I wonder what made her think of teaching us it today."

16 Alicia Bauer, Aladren Only if there's room after I shield me. 210 Alicia Bauer, Aladren 0 5

Angel Shield - Teppenpaw

November 21, 2011 9:29 PM

... by Angel Shield - Teppenpaw

Breakfast had gone well today. Normally Angel would eat plain oatmeal, but the prairie elves idea of plain and his were a bit different. He couldn’t just ask them to remake it so Angel decided to try something different. Two pieces of plain white toast actually agreed more readily with his touchy stomach than even the blandest oatmeal. So it was with a small smile brushing his pale lips that Angel made his way to Transfiguration.

He took a seat and though he knew it was pointless took out a blank sheet of parchment and one of his poor ragged quills. Lady Cynthia had supplied him with exactly one quill for each week he would be attending school. And this week’s quill was a pitiful sight. The feather was completely tattered by Angel’s restless paper white fingers. At the moment the quill lay abandoned next to the parchment as his pale hands explored the length of metal on the table. What it was he didn’t know, but in the end it didn’t matter. The class was transfiguration after all, so the thing would become something else entirely when the class was finished.

His ruby gaze rose fully for the brief moment the professor demonstrated the spell. Soft pink lips shaped the words after her as his intense stare captured the wand movements. In an instant the Professor’s pipe was a shield, and with the casting finished Angel’s eyes dropped once more to the tabletop and the waiting pipe.

“Yes.” Angel agreed quietly, his crimson gaze remaining downcast, but he watched the girl next to him from the corner of his eye. The assignment didn’t seem any more or less usual that anything else they had been asked to do in their classes, but if she said it was unusual then it must be so. Even if it wasn’t he would have agreed. What she said next didn’t appear to be a question so Angel remained silent.

0 Angel Shield - Teppenpaw ... 0 Angel Shield - Teppenpaw 0 5

Alicia

November 25, 2011 2:30 AM

Indeed. by Alicia

Alicia had not really looked at who she was speaking to, but the lack of response made her glance up a little quicker than she would have and immediately tense slightly in her seat and twitch the one side of her robes a little closer to her without even thinking about it, though she flushed as soon as she noticed. She had noticed the very…unusual boy the first night, of course, and had noticed that he was unusual even beyond the albinism since then, but this was the first time she’d found herself in direct contact with him. Normally, she was sure she would have more control of herself, but he had taken her off-guard.

She looked at him without much expression for a moment. There could have been more of a contrast in their looks, but not, she thought, too much, with her shining brown hair and brown eyes versus his very pale hair and unfortunate eyes and a pallor almost enough to make Rachel – whose golden hair and blue eyes and skin to match had been a source of envy for her for as long as she could remember – look dark. Even their clothes were at odds, his all in black and white while she was in gray. If she’d wanted to, she could have thought that was Symbolism, like Anne always tried to point out in books to her, both when she was being a tutor and more argumentatively when she remembered there were barely a dozen years between them and forgot a few of those to boot and treated Alicia almost like a person.

She didn’t want to, though. She rather wanted to move seats. She ignored that, though. She wouldn’t marry him unless he were more fabulously wealthy than anyone she had ever met before in her life, she thought, as much because he just seemed odd as because of him having a weirder genetic quirk than the one which had resulted in her mother somehow sharing a parent with an idiot like Aunt Lavinia, but the professor might well disapprove if she moved. That annoyed her more, but there was nothing she could do about it. The professors, Jeremy had told her, were oddly liberal for the institution most known in the country as a place full of purebloods – and besides, he might have a fortune. Very rich people, very familied people, very secure people could do and say much more of what they liked than people like her and hers, the best of whom were still going up in the world.

Alicia was going to further than any of them had so far. Granddad’s second marriage had been reasonable, Momma’s brilliant for her station, and Aunt Helena’s impending one was supposed to be even better in some ways, but she would top them all. It had been getting better and better steadily for them, and she was the youngest Layne girl, the only true Layne-Douglas girl, whatever her surname was or who had technically grown up in the same household as her. Her sisters might or might not amount to much, but even her mother and her aunt and her step-grandmothers would someday have to smile politely while they curtsied to her whenever they met. But only if she didn’t do something stupid now, in school, like have a temper tantrum because the professor who would soon be a Mrs. Brockert might not like something even if it did turn out he was just a weirdo and not a useful weirdo.

“I wonder if the professor thought of your name when she was planning the lesson,” she said finally, with a slight smile for the pun, not thinking that he might think it was strange that she knew his last name. She thought she knew the names of most of the normal people in their classes now, never mind his. “We’re making shields, and someone in the class is named Shield. Isn’t that funny?” She frowned a little - not very much; it caused wrinkles - and added, "That is your name, isn't it? I haven't gotten it mixed up? I'm not always very good with names." She was, though, usually a very good liar, she thought. Momma never realized anything, as far as she could tell, though it was true Momma just thought of her as a stupid baby.

16 Alicia Indeed. 210 Alicia 0 5

Theresa

November 26, 2011 8:32 PM

I would think so by Theresa

In her concentration on her work, Theresa didn’t immediately catch on that she was being spoken to, but when the word the boy beside her had just said finally got through her ears far enough to connect with her mind, she looked up immediately, her dark eyes momentarily wide with surprise before she flushed with embarrassment.

“I’m sorry,” she said weakly, feeling a complete idiot. This was not the first time that she had seen that her complete focus on her work needed to be broken in these classes, that she had to be a social being and not a stooped scholar or else they would pull her out of this school and pack her off to some girls’ institution before she could blink and then she’d never get out again, if they didn’t just bring her up at home the way they had most of the Louisiana Careys and then marry her off to whatever nobody with a barely-extant family they wanted to absorb they could blackmail into having her. “Did I say something? I was…” she gestured to her pipe. “My first try with the spell didn’t work very well.”

The worst that could happen was that she’d muttered some phrase that a young lady, however completely surrounded by persons of the male persuasion she might be in her life usually, should not know. The best was that she’d just muttered something innocuous under her breath and he hadn’t heard it clearly and wondered what she’d said – or even that she hadn’t said anything and he’d heard someone else and thought it was her. She wasn’t sure which it was, though, and supposed she wouldn’t until he responded, one way or the other, and then she’d have to hope he wasn’t like Arnold or Brandon, to tell her she’d said something awful just to tease her and watch her jump whenever an adult came into the room until she realized they had done it and then she got in trouble anyway for smacking whichever one it was, or both, upside the head.

She glanced at his work, hoping for something that would give her a reprieve from her social lapse and finding it. “You did much better,” she complimented him. “See?” she pointed out her own barely changed pipe, which she almost thought, in her embarrassment, might not have changed at all but just tricked her overly-determined to succeed mind.

She also realized they hadn’t been properly introduced yet, one way or another. “I am Theresa Carey, of the South Carolina Careys,” she said. She might not want him to know her name if she’d said something she shouldn’t, but he was bound to figure it out at some point in the next seven years, so it was better to own it now. Besides, she was proud of her family, proud to be a South Carolina Carey; it was a good name to have, however unworthy of it she might feel sometimes. It was something bigger than just her.

0 Theresa I would think so 0 Theresa 0 5

Valerie Lennox, Crotalus

November 27, 2011 3:04 PM

I don't think it will do me any good (Professor) by Valerie Lennox, Crotalus

Unsurprisingly, Valerie was sick again. It never took very long after getting to Sonora after a break for her to feel bad again. Well, okay, truthfully she never felt that good to start with but she felt especially awful right now. The Crotalus was of course over the cold she'd had due to Pepper-up potion-she probably went through more of that in a year than the rest of her classmates combined-but her throat was incredibly sore again.

It felt like it was on fire. It was so bad that Valerie had been able to eat anything today because she hadn't been able to swallow and she felt like it was painful to even talk. How would she ever be able to say the spell in order to do the lesson? Valerie probably shouldn't even be here. Not only was her throat bothering her a lot, but she could practically feel the lymph nodes in her neck swell up and she felt feverish again as well.

But she did not want to go to the hospital wing. Valerie did not want get behind in her classes again right off the bat. She knew if she'd gone to the medic, she would not only miss Transfiguration, which Ryan could help her with, but all her other classes as well. So, she went to class, and when Professor Crosby led her to one of the smaller, lighter pipes, Valerie just followed her complacently and sat down.

As the lesson began, the second year struggled desperately to pay attention, but she found herself completely unable to concentrate. Her throat was bothering her way too much and that was all Valerie could think about. It was often like that for her, when she didn't feel well, when something hurt, she couldn't think about anything else. Plus, it was hard to pay attention to much of anything when she had a fever. Valerie began to drift, she wasn't falling asleep but everything was starting to take on a surreal tone. The only thing that felt real was the burning in her throat.

Startled, the fragile second year realized that Professor Crosby had stopped talking and that her classmates were working all around her. Valerie felt flushed though she wasn't sure if it was from the fever or from being slightly embarrassed. Possibly both. Slowly, she got up from her seat, gripping on the desk for help and walked towards Professor Crosby as if she was in a dream, the room seeming to sway a bit. "Professor Crosby," Valerie began, her voice barely above a whisper. "My throat really hurts, may I please go see the medic?"

11 Valerie Lennox, Crotalus I don't think it will do me any good (Professor) 204 Valerie Lennox, Crotalus 0 5

Katrina (Kitty) McLevy - Aladren

November 27, 2011 6:15 PM

I’ll help! by Katrina (Kitty) McLevy - Aladren

This term wasn’t quite as bad as last term when it came to finding her way around. Unlike normal school where each year they had different teachers in different classrooms in different parts of the school, it appeared that the teachers and classrooms remained the same at magic school. Two gold stars for Sonora. That really was the way it should be. At least this way she wouldn’t spent the first two weeks completely lost. Okay, so she still used David to guide her around for the first few days but she was getting better! Well, not really. But it was nice to think so.

She’d lost David a turn or two ago and was hopelessly turned around. It was a breathless Kitty, her cheeks flushed from running around half frantic trying to find the classroom before she ended up being late, that barged into the room. It had been a close thing, but Kitty managed to make it on time. Still slightly out of breath, her long black curls tangled from the run Kitty flopped into her seat. Her foot bumped the desk and the pipe decided to roll off the edge, landing on the floor with a loud CLANG!

“Oops!” Kitty chirped as she ducked under the desk to retrieve it. THUMP! “Ouch!” Kitty yelped as her head banged against the bottom of the desk. Grumbling about having woken up on the wrong side of the bed she climbed back into her chair, waving the pipe to show that she’d retrieved it successfully in one hand while rubbing the back of her head with the other. “Well my luck can’t get much worse today!” Kitty said and laughed, obviously not too upset with how things were going. “Anyway, at least a shield won’t be able to roll away.” She gave the pipe a withering look, as if it had rolled away on purpose just to make her bump her head.

0 Katrina (Kitty) McLevy - Aladren I’ll help! 0 Katrina (Kitty) McLevy - Aladren 0 5

Alexandra Devereux, Crotalus

November 28, 2011 9:13 PM

All right, if you insist by Alexandra Devereux, Crotalus

Transfiguration was a class Alex had entered with the expectation of doing well. Last year, studying theory and practicing spells with Lissy’s wand, it was one of the subjects which had somehow made the most sense to her, coming together in her head in a way that some of the other things the family was having her study – like German; she didn’t even want to think of that language – didn’t. Also, the professor was engaged to a Brockert – one who dug the garden here, admittedly, and he had more brothers and sisters than Theresa did so he couldn’t hope to rise in his family unless he was secretly cultivating an intensive knowledge of deadly plants out there in preparation for poisoning a good portion of it, but a Brockert – so she was most likely at least somewhat like the people Alex was used to, which had made her think that the professor might be someone she wouldn’t have much trouble getting used to. She’d expected it to be strange to see someone who might be at one of Mother’s parties someday teaching, but that was the least of the oddities of Sonora, so she’d ignored that.

So far, she hadn’t been really wrong, she thought. She hadn’t shone as brightly as she’d expected to, Professor Crosby hadn’t been quite everything she was expecting, but she hadn’t been really wrong. As she took her seat and wondered about the item on her desk, she did it in the expectation of another pretty good day in class.

The lesson catching her interest helped with the perception. It wasn’t a very ladylike topic, but she had been the only child, spending a lot of her time with nothing better to do than read on the estate, and she had picked up a number of things. Mother and Father and Grandfather all indulged her until they caught themselves, or each other, doing it, by which time it was too late and she’d already followed some interest, such as a bit of knowledge about magically-reinforced weapons. Was it her fault that Grandfather kept them around the house like some old warlord, and that made her wonder what about the dagger in the drawing room cabinet was different from the knives in the kitchen drawer? No, she didn’t think it was. She had thought that was mostly Charmswork, though.

Some of it, she decided as she frowned slightly over her pipe, probably was, but now that she thought about it, she could see how some of it was Transfiguration as well. If, say, metal were changed into stronger metal, metal imbued with some trait that made it more resistant to magical damage, that would make sense, and she thought it would be a sort of Transfiguration.

She realized what she was thinking and shook her head slightly, the small crease between her eyebrows deepening for a moment before it vanished. Well, obviously some of it was Transfiguration or the professor wouldn’t be teaching it in the Transfiguration class. There had been no need for her to reason through it like that.

She looked at her neighbor, her expression mostly polite, with a touch of curiosity, and found that neighbor already in conversation. Unfazed by this, since she hadn’t been here long enough to find much difference in partners or work with enough people to know which would be average or very good or bad, she looked at the other and found a lack of existing conversation.

“Shall we work together?” she asked. “I suppose we could try a little spell against each other’s shields when we’re done, to see if they work.” It was the only way she could see that they could really work together, and they knew enough magic, she thought, to try something without knowing enough to hurt anyone even if their shield was so ineffective it crumpled like paper and the spell got through to them.

Of course, a lot of partner assignments really seemed more designed to create socialization, which she supposed made sense considering the kinds of people who usually sent their children to Sonora. Maybe this had been meant to be mostly one of that kind. They would see.

0 Alexandra Devereux, Crotalus All right, if you insist 0 Alexandra Devereux, Crotalus 0 5

Angel

November 29, 2011 10:26 PM

... by Angel

Angel noticed the girl next to him stiffen and shift slightly away from him when she glanced up. The pale Teppenpaw offered no reaction to the movement as it was familiar to him. Any time Lady Cynthia’s eyes fell on him she had a similar reaction, though her face often reflected the revulsion she felt for the Shield child. Unless they had company, then the woman offered pleasant features to the guest, and on the rare occasions that he wasn’t banished to his room, sharp glares at him when the guest wasn’t paying attention.

The fact that she continued to speak to him was unexpected when coupled with her initial reaction. He gave a slight shrug in response to her question about the lesson. What the Professor chose to teach was unlikely to be based on the name of one student, but Angel kept this observation to himself. “Yes, Angel Shield.” Angel confirmed in his near whispering tone. That she knew his name without him offering an introduction was somewhat startling, but then again his looks coupled with his family name were bound to draw attention. No matter how unwanted said attention might be.

Taking a slow breath Angel drew his wand. Even though he would be the last person to understand irony, even he could appreciate the inherent irony his wand represented. 10 and a half inches of Ebony wood, with unicorn hair core, the pitch black wood clashed harshly with his white skin, but seemed perfectly at home in his normally loose grip. Unlike a quill, which Angel held like it might turn and bite him at any moment, the wand was almost an extension of him, like shadows given solid form.

”Paerdecto” Angel incanted, and instantly, as swiftly as the Professor’s had a moment before, the pipe became a shield. It was a simple affair, lacking in any ornamentation but clearly a shield. This was something Lady Cynthia had been perplexed about, the boy could hardly scratch out his own name, and if he were given a book of spells to perform he was as helpless as a muggle. But, if he saw a spell performed, it was his. Considering how terrible his written work was turning out to be, Angel thought that his ability to mimic spells would hopefully be enough to keep him from being a complete failure.

0 Angel ... 0 Angel 0 5

Gareth

November 29, 2011 11:41 PM

And I would agree by Gareth

If her reaction was anything to go by, the prior comment hadn’t been directed at him. “Er…Its nothing.” Gareth reassured her. Now that he knew she wasn’t insulting him, he was perfectly willing to let the odd utterance go. While he’d never known someone who talked to themselves he had read about those who did, so it wasn’t too terribly odd. Well, maybe a little, but it wasn’t as bad as some of the quarks he’d heard of.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you Miss Carey. I am Gareth Whitebriar of House Blackbriar.” Gareth returned the introduction with a friendly smile. His Welsh accent flavored the words as he gave her pipe a studious glance. “Hm, it does look a bit shinier than it did.” He offered helpfully, not wanting her to feel too bad about the pipe not making much progress on its way to becoming a shield. “Transfiguration is a difficult subject in any case, not really something we’re expected to master on our first attempt.” He added.

The branch designation showed that the Carey’s were a big enough family to have multiple branches in different areas of this overly large country. He wondered how important of a family they were. It wasn’t a name he was familiar with, then again Gareth didn’t know many of the American lines as well as he knew the European ones. Lifting his wand he attempted to cast the spell again, this time the pipe flattened entirely but it didn’t spread out to form the shape of a shield, it just looked like a squished pipe. Gareth gave the pipe a frown, annoyed that it wasn’t becoming a shield, forgetting his earlier words.

0 Gareth And I would agree 0 Gareth 0 5

Elijah Errant {Pecari}

November 30, 2011 1:13 PM

I'm wounded - shield me first! by Elijah Errant {Pecari}

Frowning up at Professor Crosby, Elijah allowed himself to be led to a pipe that the woman picked out for him, settling down in his seat and then promptly stood up as she turned away, speeding over toward another desk, refusing to be singled out for his temporarily broken arm. 'I am not weak!' The thought burned briefly in his mind, he could feel the message seared across his forehead, for the world to see. As soon as Professor Croby continued on with the lesson, however, Elijah's rage melted away, departing just as quickly as it had arrived, and he did his best to focus on the lesson. While he enjoyed relaxing, spread out on the grass, the Arizona sun flooding the Canyon, his vision one of orange no matter if his eyes were squinting open or tightly closed against the onslaught of heat, Elijah still had yet to fully master the art of sitting still for class. In the pureblood parties he was sometimes dragged to (not kicking and screaming, but there was pouting going on, and a more than a few dramatic sighs) he was always under the constant watch of his father, or a young man working in the diplomatic office that had naively volunteered to watch Elijah in order to get in good with Ambassador Errantez. But here he was out of his father's power, and Sonora, while filled with apparently rigid characters (a certain over-dramatic, tightly wound female came to mind) it still had a looseness to it that Elijah was unused to most of the time. A freedom whose boundaries he couldn't see, and so he had to push and push and push harder until he found them.

Shifting a little in his seat, rocking his chair back a little, a quick grin flashing across his face as the front legs of his chair rose so that he was balanced only on the hind legs, Elijah restrained a laugh, tipping forward again to land with a slight thump back onto the floor. It was the simple things in life that pleased him most. He looked up to see that the professor was done talking, and relaxed in his seat, pulling out his wand from his robes pocket, sliding it out carefully with his non-wand arm, doing his best not to disturb Suzuki, his pet fancy rat. "Pair - day - doe!" With a hard rap of his rosewood wand against the pipe, Elijah waited for magic to occur. 'Aw, come on. Transfigurate for me!' Beside him, on his left, Alexandra, a fellow first year, turned and asked to work together. Elijah looked up, smiling at her, before turning back to the pipe and rapping it again with his wand. “Per - deck - low!” Nothing again. Elijah glared at his right hand before returning his attention to Alexandra.

“Sure, let’s work together.” He shifted a little, careful not to brush his arm against the seat, turning to face her a little better. “I’m just trying to get my wand to obey my stupid hand. I’m a lefty,” He stated this with exuberant pride, but his beaming face fell as his words continued. “But I think I’m gonna have to be... what do you call ‘em? When you use both hands? I’m trying to be both-handed because I seriously think I’m gonna be half-broken forever.” His dark brown eyes glared down at his hand once more before he smiled once again at Alexandra. “So, how’s the spell going for you? I like the idea. Although I doubt,” He grinned, gazing around the room at the stiff students occupying the space. “many people here will ever dare get into a situation where they would have to use this.” As for himself, Elijah couldn’t wait.

0 Elijah Errant {Pecari} I'm wounded - shield me first! 0 Elijah Errant {Pecari} 0 5

Alicia

November 30, 2011 6:27 PM

What? I am to be beaten by this... by Alicia

Alicia wished he would speak up, because while she could hear him, the way he whispered made her feel as though she were in a novel scene by a deathbed or like they were doing something furtive. They were sitting in class and working on a spell. There was nothing remotely secretive about that, nothing they’d need to sneak and whisper to do. Alicia was very clear on what was and was not worthy of that kind of behavior, and this was not even on the list. They were expected to speak to each other on this occasion.

“Mine’s Alicia Bauer,” she said, a little louder than usual. She grimaced slightly and reminded herself not to try to compensate for him. That was just the wrong way to go about it. She didn’t need or want to do that. Not least because it would draw too much attention to her, and she didn’t want too much attention right now. Only when she was doing absolutely perfectly, better than anyone else in the class, did she want everyone looking at her in class. Right now, she was not, she was just here, and that was that.

A moment later, the desire not to be looked at too much at the moment grew exponentially when he got the spell right, first time, perfect to the last. Her dark eyes narrowed as she looked at the shield on his desk and lowered her lashes to conceal it, her hand tightening slightly on her wand as she did. He had set a standard, and now she had to surpass it. First time, only time, simply perfection. That was what she had to accomplish. His shield existed; hers had to be gilded.

“Very nice,” she said levelly, then tried the spell herself, focusing all her will on that elaborate shield. “Paerdecto.”

There was a clatter, a ring of metal on wood, as the pipe leapt from her desk and was pulled down again by gravity. It was now a flat piece, rather than a round one, but it was warped, bent in the middle as though it had been curved. A battered shield, its thin layer of gilt coming away in patches, its shape irregular. Poor craftsmanship. “Very nice indeed,” she remarked again to Angel. “You did better than me. What did you do while you were saying the spell?” Since she couldn't see a way to benefit from being his inferior right now, she had to beat him, and if she had to use him in order to get to the place where she could beat him, then she'd do that happily.

16 Alicia What? I am to be beaten by this... 210 Alicia 0 5

Theresa

November 30, 2011 9:53 PM

Shields deflect bigger things than pipes, usually by Theresa

Theresa was still worried about what on earth she’d said, but she smiled a little when she was called Miss Carey. Miss Carey seemed, to her, like the sign that she had really gotten out into the world and was a person in her own right now, a person to be reckoned with, instead of just Miss Theresa, or Miss Terry, or just Terry, Donnie Carey’s eldest child, who’d enjoyed the privilege of what little inheritance he could scrape together for anyone for barely a year before she’d been supplanted by her first brother.

She didn’t really begrudge Jay that. Their father only got by so well as he did because Careys looked out for each other, and Uncle Anthony and Grandfather and even her aunts, her father’s sisters and even Uncle Anthony’s wife, looked after him and Mother. When Theresa needed a new dress for a formal occasion, it was often Aunt Emma who paid for it; when one of her brothers outgrew a broom, Grandfather bought it, when Mother couldn’t get out of bed half of them would go stay with Uncle Anthony and Aunt Lorraine while the other half went to Grandmother. They had to switch, though, on which half went where; it was usually very merry at Uncle Anthony’s, everyone had a very good time with their cousins and Aunt Lorraine would play with them like a boy herself, but it wasn’t much fun at all to go to Grandmother’s and be made to hear lectures about propriety all day and, in her case, made to sew while she heard them, or else, since she had more or less proven herself during the twins’ first year, made to stand in a corner during one of Grandmother’s parties. That was all better than the alternative, though, which was for them all to be utterly humiliated, as Mother often grimly predicted they would someday be.

No, he didn’t grudge her brother his inheritance, but she had spent two years grudging her two older cousins every minute they got to spend at school. When you were at school, you weren’t so much an eldest sister and eldest daughter and general helper, you were…well, whatever you could make yourself, really, and on your way to being like Grandmother, or Aunt Emma, or even Great-Great-Grandmother: a person to be reckoned with, a person who was part of society. That was what she wanted.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, too, Mr. Blackbriar,” she said, feeling very grown up and gracious.

She felt a little irritated, though, with his attempt to be comforting about how her shield wasn’t going very well. It just felt insincere to her, somehow, that he should say that, almost the way she’d heard Aunt Lorraine say something to Mother about how boys could be unruly when Brandon would act up, all of them knowing perfectly well that Aunt Lorraine had as many boys as Mother did and kept them in order, at least in her presence when there wasn’t a power on earth that could make one twin stop taking insane risks or the other…taking insane risks of a different type when they were outside their mother’s presence, her cousins really weren’t very sensible. Boys in general weren’t, she thought. “I’ll get it in the end,” she said cheerfully. “I always do.”

She noticed his pipe wasn’t cooperating, either, though. Well, then! “My cousins say sometimes you have to try a few times before it works,” she offered generously. Well, Arnold did. Arthur was still apparently of the opinion that the rest of the world just didn’t try hard enough. “They’re third years, now, so I suppose they should know.” She decided to try it out again herself to see if she could have any luck this time, suspecting she would. “Paerdecto!”

Her pipe remained hollow, but spread into something like what she thought a shield should look like. A hollow, too-tall shield. “There,” she said, feeling pleased with herself and her wandwork, or at least more pleased than she’d been a minute before, as she looked at it. “Progess. It went much better that time.” She often had the peculiar feeling that she was almost readjusting to her wand when she tried a new spell, so they only worked together on the second try. She didn’t know much about wandlore, just the basics she’d seen in some lessons last year, but it seemed to make sense to her that it might work that way.

0 Theresa Shields deflect bigger things than pipes, usually 0 Theresa 0 5

Alexandra

November 30, 2011 10:30 PM

And have you in my debt? by Alexandra

Alexandra was an only child, and indulged, but she had always known exactly what her place in the family was. They had made sure she knew, from the very day she was old enough to know anything at all, that she might be Alexander’s only grandchild, but she was only that from a girl, and a girl married to a near-nobody to ensure he didn’t become a grand somebody and push the Careys out of the place they had clawed and scratched to earn in Louisiana over the past century and a bit at that, and she was by no means his heir. The moment Uncle Jack had a child, even if it was another girl, she would have to curtsy to it, and even her cousin Lissy – the child of the patriarch’s half-brother – would be preferred to her for inheritance because, quite bluntly, she wasn’t even really a Carey. If Uncle Jack didn’t have a son, it would most likely go to one of Great-Uncle Stephen’s sons.

Because of this, Alex was used to being spoken over, and closing her mouth when someone did speak over her, of pretending not to notice when they didn’t apologize or even acknowledge she had been saying something. She didn’t like it, but she did it. She was a half-Carey, she was a girl, and she was a child, that was as good a reason as any to learn to hold her tongue. Elijah Errant was not even Lissy, another girl, but sheer force of habit kept her from saying anything except the spell word herself, producing what looked a bit like a misshapen, over-long platter, when Elijah took his own time in answering her except for a sarcastic thought about how if he was sure he didn’t mind too much when he agreed to the proposition.

“You want to be dextrasinistrous,” she proclaimed when he said he wanted to learn to use both hands because he didn’t think his wand arm would ever heal, making the word up from ‘dexter’ and ‘sinister’ meaning, she thought, ‘right’ and ‘left’ in Latin. She thought being able to speak English and read French and maybe a little Spanish ought to be enough for anyone, she did not like languages very much, but Grandfather insisted she study at least some Latin. She might not be his heir, really, but she was his namesake, and she thought sometimes, as more years went by without Aunt Priscilla presenting his heir with an heir, that he just forgot. Or wanted to forget. She looked at his arm curiously. “What did you do to that, anyway? Could you not get to a Healer quickly enough?” She had heard that could cause complications with an injury, was the reason, along with it happening in the eighteen-hundreds when things weren’t very civilized, Thomas had his limp.

She wasn’t sure what he meant by speaking about how ‘most’ of the class would never get into a situation where they might need to use a shield, as though the two of them were the same and might well be that kind of person. Alex could almost see the appeal of a wild life of adventure, like in the stories, but she was a girl and not an idiot anyway. If she attempted that, she’d probably die horribly, and if she didn’t, then there wouldn’t be a warm welcome for her at the end of it, she’d be unceremoniously disowned and become another example whispered between girls of what not to do with your life, just like the last Carey girl to reside in Crotalus House.

“None of us knows where we’re going to end up,” she said, thinking of that. Gwenhwyfar had been – still was, if she wasn’t dead yet – very beautiful, a patriarch’s daughter, at one time his heir, she should have had everything fall into her lap, and instead she had been in complete disgrace since she was their age, she was probably dead, and if she wasn’t then she was stuck living in some unnatural relationship with some Muggleborn she was not married to, and who she’d heard some people say had kidnapped her and brainwashed her into liking him at all, in order to have any protection at all, not to mention food to eat and a dress to put on her back. “But I think the spell’s going well for me. We should both try it again, though.”

0 Alexandra And have you in my debt? 0 Alexandra 0 5

Mellie

December 01, 2011 10:21 AM

Thanks! by Mellie

Mellie winced, her hands fluttering uselessly as she wanted to help but couldn’t figure out how, as an already-disheveled Kitty McLevy dropped her pipe and cracked her head coming back up from retrieving it. She guessed, in light of this, that the other girl’s windswept look came more from some kind of similar incident before class than the lack of neatness seen in Mellie’s own two braids did. Her problem was just that she didn’t know how to fix her hair, not that she was prone to doing or getting caught up in things that would destroy it once it somehow, through processes as secret and complex as those of the great alchemists, came together.

Well, not overly prone to it, anyway.

She laughed, too, though, when Kitty laughed the incident off with the observation that shields at least didn’t roll. She thought of some remark of reply that she could imagine Alison making – something about Kitty must work with shields all the time, then – but she was sure that for her it would come out all wrong, sound like she was being nasty or just lame, so she just said, “Yeah, that’s true,” with a smile. And put out a hand to hold her pipe in place before it could decide to roll away, too.

“Okay, spell time.” This was the uncomfortable part of working in class, with everyone around and able to see: the first spell attempt. After that, with most everybody trying for a second or third time and having entertaining screw-ups, it wasn’t so bad, there could even be a sort of fun camaraderie element involved depending on who she was sitting with, but the first time…She took a breath, then tried the incantation. “Peerdecto,” she said.

Her pipe bent itself, with much complaining of metal which made her clap her hands over her ears before she remembered her wand was still in one of them and she snatched that hand back down before her hair could catch fire, into a rough U-shape.

“Okay, not what I was going for,” she said quietly, looking at the thing and wondering if the professor would have another she could use if this one got stuck that way or if the new shape was actually a transition point to the shield shape, then looked back at Kitty. “But on the bright side, it still can’t roll like this now. Having – Are you having any better luck with yours? I’m not sure where I went wrong with this one.”

16 Mellie Thanks! 206 Mellie 0 5

Evan Brockert, Aladren

December 06, 2011 2:52 AM

Not what I'd have in mind. by Evan Brockert, Aladren

Prior to class, Evan's thoughts were leaping all over the place, like usual. Such the fact that he'd probably be good at the subject-it was genetic, apparently and he couldn't think of a Brockert or someone who was related to the Brockerts through a female line-who wasn't at least above average at the subject. He doubted he'd be as good as Marshall, of course, who was a prodigy, but he expected to do fairly well.

Then there was that Professor Crosby was engaged to one of Evan's cousins. Which meant he'd have to go to another wedding. It seemed that someone in his extended family was always getting married. He wondered how long it would be before his brother did. Evan thought Adam might be afraid of Serenity saying no, just like Ian had been anxious about asking Kaylie for a long time.

However, when Evan entered the Transfiguration classroom all these thoughts flew out of his head as he noticed the metal pipes on the desks. The Aladren didn't quite know what the professor wanted them to do with the pipes, but Evan was already envisioning sticking them together, making interesting sculptures out of them. He could do so much with them. Like he could glue them into geometric shapes. Then he could...suspend items from the middle of them! And wrap colored thread around them as well, after he tied beads or buttons in the middle of them of course. The possibilities were endless .

Unfortunately, that was not to be. Evan should have known that would be the case. This was Transfiguration, the pipes were not to stay pipes and the way they were supposed to be changed was not the way that the Aladren wanted to change them. Evan couldn't help but be just a tiny bit disappointed, but perhaps he could ask Professor Crosby if he could have the pipes when they were done using them for this class.

Instead they had to make a shield. Sure, that was more practical, but certainly not as much fun. Evan had no desire to be an Auror, it sounded awfully dangerous. Lily was one, but the Aladren was certain if he or his siblings ever considered such a career, his mother would have a stroke and he'd rather not kill his mother. Or anyone else for that matter.

He looked down at the pipe again, sighing and trying not to picture all the different sculptures he could do with it. Instead Evan tried to envision a shield. Imagination was an important part of Transfiguration, and he certainly had the ability to see things different than they were. He pointed his wand at the pipe and said “Paerdecto!” . Instantly, the pipe shifted into a flat bit of metal that wasn't quite the right size as a shield.

Evan looked from the flat metal bit to the person next to him. "Well, at least I got it to do something." He said, smiling. Of course,if the first year didn't complete the spell in the end, he was going to be imagining what else he could do with that flat bit of metal.

11 Evan Brockert, Aladren Not what I'd have in mind. 212 Evan Brockert, Aladren 0 5

Prof. C.

December 06, 2011 7:53 PM

Oh no! by Prof. C.

Humming quietly to herself, Lilac addressed paperwork on her desk. While full of preteens, her classroom seemed to be managing itself rather well. No one was, in her hearing range, bursting into tears or shouting at someone else. Grey eyes scanned over the paperwork, jotting down thoughts and plans.

Her serene planning was interrupted when a student, Valerie Lennox, approached her desk. The girl seemed weak and perhaps shaky. “Professor Crosby,” said the girl weakly. “My throat really hurts, may I please go see the medic?” The look in her eye said even more than her barely-there voice.

“Of course, dear,” Lilac replied caringly, “but hold on just a moment, won’t you?” Rising from behind her desk, she gestured to the chair in which she had been sitting. “You just sit down for a minute while I grab someone to accompany you.” She didn’t want Valerie to walk alone and, say, pass out or something along the way.

Expecting Valerie to be fine on her own for a moment, the twenty-nine year old hurried over to where Sally was sitting. She was sure her niece wouldn’t mind accompanying Valerie, and if she was to be confused--which, albeit, she hardly ever was with academic things--because of missing, it would be easiest to catch her up. “Sally, could I borrow you for a moment?” The brown-haired Aladren nodded and followed ~~her aunt~~ the professor to the front of the classroom.

“All right, Valerie,” said Lilac gently. “You know Sally, don’t you?” The two girls were year mates, so it seemed a safe bet that they were at least acquainted. “Sally’s going to take you to the see the medic.” Valerie didn’t look well, but she was by no means about to rush her to get out of the chair. “Go ahead now, and we’ll catch you up later.” She was confident both girls would have no trouble, in any case. She only hoped that Miss Lennox would feel better soon.

OOC: Godmodding of Sally… well, Sally is written by me, so it’s not really godmodding. In any case, Sally (I) will post a continuation in the Hospital Wing shortly.

0 Prof. C. Oh no! 0 Prof. C. 0 5

Angel

December 07, 2011 12:55 AM

... by Angel

Angel gave a slight nod at the loudly spoken name, fixing it in his mind along with her features observed from the corner of his red gaze. It was difficult, going from only a hand full of people he interacted with to an entire school full. Every introduction Angel gave the person his full attention so he could fix their name and face in his mind. It wouldn’t do to address someone by the wrong name.

He could almost taste the annoyance in her words after he performed the spell. Why other students had difficulties with something so easy. Maybe it’s like reading? Angel mused as he watched her attempt without appearing to do so. As in other wandwork classes, with other students, her first attempt was less than perfect. Why? It made no sense to the young albino, that he should be able to accomplish the task so easily while they struggled. Again, he thought of reading, and writing, and how easily the other students could do both. Just as he was born to casting perhaps they were born to reading?

Fidgeting uncomfortably in his seat, Angel continued looking at the table in front of him as her words hung unanswered between them. It was a question he’d been asked before, Lady Cynthia’s waspish voice demanding to know how he could perform the heating and shielding charms to protect his feet so easily, his lack luster response that had her throwing her hands in the air and deciding he must just be an idiot savant. How to find the words to describe breathing to a fish? A bird would have an easier time explaining how it flew. “Did...as shown.” He offered weakly, knowing it wasn’t what she wished to know but having nothing else to give.

0 Angel ... 0 Angel 0 5

Kitty

December 07, 2011 8:05 PM

No problems…well maybe little ones by Kitty

“Yup.” Kitty agreed, there was always a moment of exquisite anticipation when attempting a new spell. It didn’t matter so much that they almost never worked right the first time, just the fact that they were working magic all new and sparkly that Kitty couldn’t get enough of. Second only to flying, Kitty missed using her wand. It was totally lame that they weren’t allowed to practice at home. A summer without flying and magic, it had been the worst summer she’d ever had.

Kitty jumped, and almost toppled off her chair when a horrible screech sounded next to her. Wide blue eyes stared at the now bent out of shape pipe and Kitty couldn’t help but giggle. “I bet you scared a lot of people with that.” Kitty said with another chuckle. Turning her attention back to the pipe on her desk she commanded “Peerdecto! There was a loud POP and a clatter, and…something sat on Kitty’s desk.

The bottom half was quite shield-like in appearance and if she squinted and tilted her head a little to the left she could see a lioness rampant engraved into the metal. Well, that or a really fat annoyed pony. But, the top part of the pipe hadn’t joined in on the shield goodness and remained a pipe, giving the whole construct a very short ornate shovel-like appearance. Kitty fluffed her hair absently as she stared at the sort of shield. “Well…not half bad really!” She snickered at her pun.

0 Kitty No problems…well maybe little ones 0 Kitty 0 5

Gareth

December 07, 2011 9:01 PM

That is preferable by Gareth

Being called Mr. Blackbriar was both thrilling and uncomfortable. “Whitebriar, Blackbrair is the main branch, we’re one of four lesser branches.” He corrected, while it might feel pleasant in a vaguely forbidden sort of way to be referred to as a Blackbriar it wasn’t something he should permit to continue. Last generation, in an attempt to keep his sons from the sort of massacre that had devastated the generation prior Alwyn Blackbriar broke the family into five supposedly equal portions: The Blackbriars, the Redbriars, the Whitebriars, the Greenbriars, and the Brownbriars. Each line was headed by one son and while this did keep the male offspring from killing each other, it still created a hierarchy of power that couldn’t be denied. Blackbriar was still the highest branch and the four lesser lines still differed to their power.

“My elder cousins are all attending Hogwarts, but I’m the eldest of the Whitebriars and along with one of my Brownbriar cousins we’re the first to attend Sonora. It must be nice having relatives at the school to go to if you need help.” Gareth said, it was still something of a sore spot that he hadn’t been able to attend Hogwarts, but Sonora wasn’t terrible and he was growing use to being so far away from his friends and family. I just need to make new friends, and in a few years there would be more family than just me and Meggs. Gareth thought as he attempted the spell again.

“I suppose your cousin is correct.” Gareth sighed at the circular metal that while no longer pipe looking was still rather far from being a shield.

0 Gareth That is preferable 0 Gareth 0 5

Theresa

December 08, 2011 1:56 AM

I think so by Theresa

Theresa felt herself turning bright red, which led to silently bemoaning the way she had to wear hats whenever she went outdoors to shield her face from the sun which might have given her more color to help hide things like this, as Gareth pointed out her error. It would have been bad enough as just a silly, brainless slip of the tongue, but as he explained...Goodness gracious, that was like someone calling her - er, not a Virginia Carey, they were supposed to be friends now. That would be cause for a wince, but it wouldn't be an insult. If she was right, it was almost like someone saying she was from Georgia!

'Almost,' because he freely called his line a subordinate one. How very strange. No Carey branch, she was sure, would ever admit to such a thing. In theory, they were all equal, and in practice, everyone wanted to be the best. The idea of being okay with being less than someone else was completely alien to her, almost threatening; she couldn't really understand it. The official line was that she was slightly inferior to her brothers and cousins, but if she ever willingly acknowledged that before they were all too old and sleep-deprived from handling their own brats to care about anything anymore, or maybe ever at all, then the boys would eat her alive. That was one of the last things she ever wanted to happen.

But his family wasn't hers, and she had misspoken. "I'm sorry," she apologized, looking at the edge of his desk rather than at him. She hated apologizing. "I hope I didn't offend you. I wasn't familiar with your family, I misspoke." She smiled slightly, hoping to deflect the topic as her dark brown eyes made it almost to his face. "I can understand, though. My family has five branches, too, only we're all Careys, just Careys from South Carolina or North Carolina or Virginia or Louisiana or Georgia. No one would like it if their branch was mistaken, either."

She smiled, too, at the remark about it being nice to have family here. "It is," she confessed. "I like having Arthur and Arnold here. But," she added, "I'd never tell them, they're insufferable enough anyway. I think Arnold thinks he's my older brother already, now that he's a few years ahead and it's not like it is at home, it's awful. I already have three brothers at home." She passed the conversation back to him. "Do you have siblings?" she asked.

Arnold being right was a little strange, but she ignored that. "He is an Aladren," she said, and tried the spell again. The shield was maybe a little thinner, but not much. "Though I was hoping he'd be more wrong about this."

0 Theresa I think so 0 Theresa 0 5

Elijah

December 08, 2011 2:18 AM

Nah, it's your duty to save me. So no debts necessary. by Elijah

“Dextra... dextrasinistrous.” He tasted the word, letting his tongue play around with it, enjoying the sound. “Yes, right. That.” He had a list of words in his head that he liked to unravel and go through. New words felt the same way for him as singing did. As flying did. There was a rush, a thrill. A little bit dizzying, but he couldn’t stop pushing forward or soaring higher. It was too exciting to turn away from. Before she asked the question, Elijah sensed Alexandra’s attention settle onto his arm. A new story popped into his head, spilling from between his lips before he was fully aware of the plot. “It was a Healer who did it to me, actually. One of the Tamers on the ranch is studying to be a Magical Creatures Healer so my grandfather can hire him for that instead of just flying the thestrals out and back around the mountains every day. Well, neither of us like the idea of him practicing on one of the animals because that’s cruel, you know? So naturally I didn’t mind letting him break my arm and practicing fixing it up.” He shrugged his left shoulder, raising the arm slightly as if it independently wanted to greet Alexandra. “So it’s healing, but slowly. I promised Ambrose I wouldn’t let another Healer touch it and ruin his work by speeding it up.” More than a little pleased with how easily the words came to him, how the story, simple as it was, was weaved by him, Elijah smiled brightly at Alexandra before making another attempt at his pipe.

His right hand adjusted its hold several times around the rosewood wand, his tongue wetting his lips, and when he spoke his command was every bit as simple and clear as his story had been. “Pear - decktoe!” There was a slight tremor that ran through the metal, and with delight Elijah watched his pipe change. “This class is great.” It didn’t come out looking like a shield, but the pipe had melted, a nice curved platter of tarnished silver. He looked at Alexandra at her comment, surprised that she had responded in that way. Dark brown eyes blinked, gazing directly at her face. “Yes we do.” He was slightly confused by her words. “That’s what our parents are for. To tell us what we’re going to be. Haven’t they told you?” He was to follow in his father’s footsteps and Julio’s father’s footsteps, and Salvador’s father’s footsteps and go into foreign diplomacy. It wasn’t anything Elijah was particularly interested in but it was a comfort to know that his future was assured. Everybody’s was. There was nothing Elijah or anyone else could do to ruin his future, or their own.

“Yeah, let’s give it another try. I think I am becoming a little more dextra... dextrasinistrous.” It was still a word he had to ease into. “I think I just had to know what it was called before I got it.” All words were magic, in that way. ‘Maybe I couldn’t have been happy, until I knew the word.’ He tapped the pipe with his wand again. “Paerdecto! Oh, that’s great!” His grin widened at the defined edges around his bent looking object that, perhaps if explained to an audience that it was dropped from a very high height and trampled for a day under an elephant stampede, could pass for a shield. He gazed proudly at it for awhile, before he turned again to Alexandra. “Oh, wait, I apologize. I don’t think I fully understood you before.” His thoughts began to readjust themselves and he cleared his throat, silently asking for her shared gaze once more. “I think we’re all given paths and deep down, if we think about it, we can realize what those paths are and I think even realize other peoples'. Partly because our families tell us. And, you know, I can just tell that I’m gonna have to use this spell one day. But most people here just won’t.” He shrugged, then turned back to the shield. “Just felt like - ah, what’s that word? Clearifying? I wanted to clearify that.” He looked from his own shield to Alexandra’s and then back again. “Test it out now, or do you wanna continue trying to make them stronger?”

ooc: Sorry I took long in replying.

0 Elijah Nah, it's your duty to save me. So no debts necessary. 0 Elijah 0 5

Alex

December 08, 2011 6:40 PM

...Hm, I think I prefer the version where you owe me by Alex

Alex raised an eyebrow at the story she heard about a Healer being the one who put his arm in its unusual device. “My grandfather would expect me to tell him if any of the hired help was that incompetent,” she remarked. Of course, any hired help who mangled her arm might not live to tell the tale, since another thing she’d always known about her place in the family was that just not being his heir didn’t mean Grandfather didn’t love her, but that was not something you talked about in public, and it wouldn’t happen, anyway. They had two family Healers, and besides, it was not that complicated to fix a bone. She’d seen Grandfather fix a broken wrist and a broken ankle both in moments, and Grandfather definitely wasn’t a Healer. “After he finished breaking my other arm if I let someone do that to me,” she added.

Her family loved her, but it wasn’t soft. She didn’t doubt for one second that she would be punished for being so foolish as to just give someone permission to break her arm. If anyone ever tried to assault her, she was to scream for help, and at the same time she was to kick, hit, bite, stab, and do whatever else she could think of for all she was worth. If anyone ever offered to assault her, she was to report it if she could, so they could be dealt with. Everyone had told her that sort of thing at least once. Had his family not?

She looked back at him without blinking when he spoke about how they knew exactly where they were going to end up. “Of course,” she said. “I’m going to get married and run a household. But my husband might be from Illinois or Boston, or he might die and I might end up marrying twice, or I might have a son who gets disowned or killed somehow, or…anything.” And that was all assuming she was good. She usually did assume this only a little uneasily, but since her Sorting, she thought about it more.

When he claimed that knowing the word ‘dextrasinistrous’ was why he could now work better with his left hand, Alexandra had to bite her bottom lip and turn her head slightly for just a second to hide a smile, since she was completely sure she had just made that word up the moment she said it to him. “I’m sure,” she said, composed again, mostly. She nodded agreement that his shield was coming along well. It was not very good, but it was shield-like, anyway. She tried the spell again, too, and her shield-pipe widened a bit further.

She was surprised when he came back to the issue of what they were to do with their lives. Alex kept her expression somber, her brown eyes meeting his even though she was feeling a little uneasy with the direction of what he was saying. For one thing, that sounded almost like Seer talk, like Great-Aunt Delphine, and for another…there was just something about it that made her uneasy. “That makes a little more sense,” she said when he was done ‘clearifying.’ Somehow, it didn’t surprise her that he and Theresa were in the same House; she could see the other girl brazening it out with a word like ‘clearifying,’ too, or even ‘dextrasinistrous.’

“Maybe we should try it a few more times,” she said, she hoped tactfully, when he proposed testing. Neither shield was very good yet. “Paerdecto,” she tried again, and this time the bottom of it came to a point. “A little more and we’ll have it right.”

OOC: No problem!

0 Alex ...Hm, I think I prefer the version where you owe me 0 Alex 0 5

Alicia

December 09, 2011 2:46 PM

Very well. by Alicia

Alicia found herself faced with a decision, one which didn’t suit her: she had to decide if she believed him.

Well, sort of. Clearly he was quite powerful, otherwise he wouldn’t have been able to do it, and obviously he had done as they were shown. She believed all of that without having to think about it. The question was if she believed in his manner, which suggested he probably really did have no idea how he’d done it.

Not, she’d realized early in her life, being a pretty girl, she had learned to work against that by being unstoppably perfect, from how she dressed to how she did her hair to how she presented herself to each individual she came across, but she was just normal-looking. Angel Shield was not normal-looking, didn’t even have a normal name, really, and while maybe it would be possible to be so good at everything, so charming and well-dressed and smart and everything that all this would be overlookable, in a trashy millionaire kind of way…maybe it wouldn’t be, too, she wasn’t sure. So maybe he’d gone the other way, and decided to pretend to be mentally strange as well as a physical oddity, and was really quite rational and was inwardly having a good laugh at her expense.

She’d read one of the books that came with one of her tutors, one which asserted children her age were supposed to be open and trusting. Alicia’s suspicion was that the author of that book – well, pamphlet, really; that had been bad enough that she hadn’t touched the books – had been played, and the kid he had interviewed had won game, set, and match. Raised to constantly think twice and, when in doubt, lie as boldly as necessary to make herself look better, she’d come to the conclusion that everyone was like that, only some people were just too bad at it to have any success in life, with honest people being those that realized this about themselves, or they were good at it but found it hard not to lie even to themselves. Her mother was that second kind; she openly advocated all Alicia’s double-dealings – well, all the ones she knew about – but would cry and whine if she were called out on doing the exact same things, being the exact same things. It was a helpful trait when Alicia was stuck being her daughter, that way her mother had of wanting to be a bad person but think of herself as one of the mythical good ones, but sometimes – often – Alicia despised her for it.

If this guy was either kind, he was very good at it – unorthodox, but good at it. She wasn’t sure if she’d have any respect for his method or not, since she couldn’t see what it would get him that wouldn’t make her want to literally scratch someone’s eyes out, but she wouldn’t be able to fault his craftsmanship too much. She decided to probe a little more before she made up her mind about anything.

“Yeah, so did I,” she said chirpily, with a little laugh, slightly wanting to kill herself, “and you can see how that worked out.” She made herself laugh again as she gestured toward her work as it slowly made its way back toward being a pipe. “So…did you just have a really good mental picture of a shield, or do you see shields a lot, or did you concentrate really hard, or….” She had her eyes widened in question, her smile firmly in place. She couldn’t show any annoyance again. She had messed up like a fool too much in this class already. She had to sparkle.

16 Alicia Very well. 210 Alicia 0 5

Mellie

December 09, 2011 3:03 PM

Nothing to worry about, really. by Mellie

For a minute, Mellie didn’t get the pun, and started to say, “no, no it’s no – “ before she noticed Kitty was snickering and the pun hit her between the eyes like a big, engraved, too-short-handled shovel. “Not half – I get it,” she announced, smacking herself in the head for not getting the point a little more quickly than that. She loved to read about it in books and laugh when it was pointed out that someone had said something clever in this-or-that scene, but she had never mastered the art of picking up wordplay in real life. Often enough, she didn’t even get it when it happened on the page unless one of the characters, or the narrator voice, pointed it out for her.

It was, she guessed, an Aladren thing – maybe a little bit of a Crotalus one, too, since they were ladies and gentlemen and had to be witty at their elaborate parties, but Aladrens were clever by definition, so they probably sat around their common room being brilliant all the time, making puns and jokes that only the smartest of people would understand. She had wanted to be there, but she thought she’d known even when she was in that week before school, when she was so excited and thought anything could happen for her, that she wouldn’t be. If anything, she thought Mom had been expecting Teppenpaw.

Not that she would have minded being a Teppenpaw, any more than she minded being a Pecari. She liked her House, and the people on her Quidditch team, and her roommate, and the random people she said hi to in the common room. But she still wished she could have been clever as well as a Pecari. Alison had been a Pecari, too, and her cousin had never been as dull as she was.

“Guess it’s time for round two,” she commented as both their creations started to look a little wavery. One of the frustrating things about magic, at least beginner magic, was that it never lasted, really. She decided to do hers quickly, before it completely lost its shape again, so there would theoretically be less to do. “Paerdecto!”

This time, part of it did spread toward the middle, leaving it very thin there before the two ends didn’t manage to meet in the middle and still thick on the sides, where it was shaped like a pipe, but the end of the pipe-edge did meet up in a rough shield shape. It was progress. She wasn’t sure she could have done it if she’d let her first attempt go completely back to being just a normal pipe, but since she had done it, that was the good thing she was going to focus on. “Do you think it’s cheating to try again before it goes back?” she asked. Then another thought hit her. “Or that it would, I don’t know, make it explode or something?” The shield exploding would, after all, be really, really bad.

16 Mellie Nothing to worry about, really. 206 Mellie 0 5

Paul Bennett, Crotalus

December 10, 2011 8:37 PM

Sorry, I'm too busy running the other way by Paul Bennett, Crotalus

Paul followed Professor Crosby for about fifteen seconds of her speech before she broke suspension of disbelief so completely that he had to press his hand over his mouth hard to keep from laughing, and then he still had to fake a cough to cover it up. An Auror? Him? When flobberworms taught philosophy and his sister Eliza got caught planning to elope with Renée Errant. Paul had definite views on those who practiced dark magic and those who fought it, and a central feature of them was that he shouldn’t do either. He liked living, thanks very much to anyone who’d been concerned about that.

Though, from what he knew about it, if he got in a dark alley and was under an anti-Disapparition jinx and still had his wand on him, the thing he’d do would be collapse a wall on his enemies, but that was a fine point, and he had to admit a shield could be useful in that circumstance, even if it was one he would never be foolish enough to allow himself to get into. It was just a lesson, he’d learn it and move on and hope he remembered it if he was ever feeling stupid and reckless and was unlucky while he was feeling that way.

He looked at the pipe in front of him. When he thought of the word, he thought of something that was used for smoking; plumbing just wasn’t one of the topics that occupied his thoughts, ever. It was one of those things that happened in the background and there was a staff to make sure he never had to think about it. He wondered, then, if this was why the part of the pipe in front of him, right in the middle of it, which flattened out and began to look a bit shield-like around the edges had, where something like Medusa’s head or a unicorn or whatever else went on shields should have been, a pipe of the non-plumbing kind on it.

“I hope that doesn’t show up on the final one,” he remarked to the person sitting next to him, watching as Miss Manger took Miss Lennox out. He guessed Miss Lennox wasn’t well again. “Do you ever wonder if they’re using things like this to analyze us all? I do sometimes.”

0 Paul Bennett, Crotalus Sorry, I'm too busy running the other way 201 Paul Bennett, Crotalus 0 5

Angel

December 11, 2011 3:11 PM

... by Angel

He had been correct in thinking his response was not acceptable to Alicia. Even though she smiled, the demand for knowledge rang bell like under her words and Angel listened carefully. He knew that any explanation he could arrive at would be rejected, and Angel had found that most questions held the answer the questioner wanted to hear. As her words flew by Angel plucked out the important ones, the ones that would satisfy her curiosity.

She’d offered three answers that would work well enough and Angel chose the last “Concentrate hard.” The fact that concentration had nothing to do with his casting didn’t matter to Angel, only that he gave an answer that Alicia accepted. Stop lying Angel Lady Cynthia’s low angry hiss mocked his attempts to pacify Alicia. But, that response meant something different to him. He didn’t really grasp that it was not telling the truth that got the older woman so angry with him. For Angel, being caught in a lie simply meant he’d failed to find the answer the person had wanted to hear. Not that he’d lied about what he’d said.

Angel nudged the shield to the side of his desk indifferently. Having successfully completed the task, he lost interest in the end result. It was similar to his sketches, which came just as easily to him. Though, if he thought back on the past when he’d stumbled upon the chest of discarded art supplies as a tiny child in the attic he would have remembered how the first wavering lines had been as difficult as the first letters he’d attempted to write. Endless hours of sketching had given him an ease with a pencil that reflected his ease with a wand.

0 Angel ... 0 Angel 0 5

Kitty

December 13, 2011 2:36 PM

We can do it! by Kitty

Kitty nodded excitedly, clearly not put out by the fact that her first attempt hadn’t been perfect. Last term she learned that it often took a number of tries to get magic to work right and she still got a thrill when something began shifting into the correct form even if it didn’t make it all the way. She watched as the shape began to waver like a mirage in the desert.

Blue eyes watched avidly as the shape wavered further before snapping back into the pipe shape. That always looked so neat to the young muggle born and was one of the things she loved about messing up. It reminded Kitty of a video she’d seen once where a tea cup was pushed off the table and shattered into a million pieces, then the footage was rewound and the cup reassembled its self and leapt back onto the table of its own accord.

“Hm? Oh, no I don’t think it’s a problem. I just like to watch it snap back to its original shape before trying again. It shouldn’t explode, if that was something that could happen the Professor would have warned us of the danger.” Kitty reassured as she looked at Millie’s second attempt. It was getting closer to a shield and Kitty gave her a congratulatory grin.

“Kitty and the Pipe, round two!” Kitty said as she fixed the pipe with a mock fierce glare, but she couldn’t quite hide the smile that still played on her lips. ”Pardecto!” The pipe jolted and sort of spread out into an oddly triangular shape. While it was flat, it looked more like a piece of scrap metal than a shield and Kitty pouted at the unshildlike object.

0 Kitty We can do it! 0 Kitty 0 5

Alicia

December 13, 2011 11:24 PM

Even you may yet prove one day to be of use to me. by Alicia

Concentrating very hard. It had looked effortless enough when he did it, but then, she knew all about making things look easier than they were. There were days when she’d rather try to lift a tree out of the ground with her bare hands than smile cheerfully at one more person, but if that didn’t look easier than it was, then she was sure someone would have called her on it sometime. Momma or Gramma Alma would correct her as soon as they got her in private for seeming insincere; it was a failure. No matter what she did in life, be it marry above her station like her mother and aunt or become a businesswoman like her mother, she could not seem insincere.

“Thanks so much,” she said with enthusiasm, throwing in another bright smile for good effect. “I thought when I was doing it the first time that I wasn’t doing that well enough, that I wasn’t concentrating enough. I’ll try it again now.” Something about his manner, whether it was real or not, made her feel the need to state the obvious.

She tried the spell again, trying to clear her head completely of all thoughts about how to use him and whether she should bother and was anyone watching her right this second without her knowing and what did the professor think of her so far and everything else, trying to fix her mind completely on having a shield, her eyes even screwing up in concentration because she forgot to think that squinting and frowning were forbidden because they’d eventually cause wrinkles and were unattractive right now anyway. Nothing but the shield existed, nothing but the shield could exist, and the shield had to exist. It had to go right, it had to work this time, she had to get it right.

The metal shivered, twisted, and then formed into, more or less, a shield. It wasn’t as ornate as she would have liked, it wasn’t as thick as she would have liked, she had no idea if it would even work, but it was shield-shaped, and that was the important part for now. She gave Angel another smile, this one delighted.

“It worked,” she said, deciding not to actually clap her hands. “Thank you, again, that was the trick. I really appreciate it.”

She’d remember it another time. It was hard to just pay attention to one thing like that, but she’d deal with that and get used to it, at least until she built up enough strength of magic to not have to anymore. The key was just to not have to squint. She hated the thought of people seeing her do something and them all knowing that it wasn’t easy, that she wasn’t totally okay with it and everything around it. It felt like a failure all on its own, as much as seeming insincere would, and…she had never failed. She couldn’t start now. She couldn’t lose her perfect record just barely into her first year of formal schooling.

She'd go read some Transfiguration theory later, she decided, in the library, something beyond the textbook. That would help. She knew some already, but it clearly wasn't enough. Understanding would help, too.

16 Alicia Even you may yet prove one day to be of use to me. 210 Alicia 0 5

Mellie

December 13, 2011 11:40 PM

Go us! by Mellie

Mellie considered the prospect of the authority figure doing what authority figures did and warning them about potential dangers. “Yeah, that’s true,” she said after a second’s contemplation. She was pretty sure she was not nearly smart enough to come up with some concept that no one had ever come up with before, so Professor Crosby had to know that sometimes, people might get the bright idea to try turning something that was already Transfigured or partially Transfigured. “It feels kind of like cheating anyway, but…” she shrugged expressively, letting that finish the sentence in lieu of the words she couldn’t quite come up with.

"I'm being stupid," she concluded.

She didn’t want to cheat. Her parents both worked in law enforcement, and after a lifetime of that influence, she didn’t know if she was even capable of really wanting to cheat. Mellie wanted to do things right, on her own, and it just…be right. But part of her just wanted to pass, to do well, and was willing to cut a few corners – not exactly break any rules, just skim the corners – in order to do that. She just didn’t know if that was wrong or not.

This wasn’t the kind of thing she mentioned, because she didn’t want to seem that serious, and knew she was probably making a mountain out of a molehill. A very small molehill. She smiled as Kitty announced she was starting on Round Two versus her pipe.

“Well, that’s doing pretty good, too,” she said encouragingly when Kitty got a big triangle of metal. “You could totally hold that up in front of you if you had to.” Well, she thought shields were supposed to have handles on the back – something hers didn’t; she’d have to do the spell again in a minute with that in mind – so… “Well, prop it up in front of you, anyway,” she amended her statement. “At least it’s flat and kinda shield-shaped now.” There had been before and would, Mellie was sure, be again lessons where she’d give a pretty to have whatever she was working on get that close to being the object it was supposed to be by the time she left class for the day. She found her ability with a wand to be a little unreliable, if anything, given to sometimes being about average, sometimes things were even easy, before she’d hit a phase where nothing went right.

16 Mellie Go us! 206 Mellie 0 5

Gareth

December 13, 2011 11:47 PM

Nods knowledgably by Gareth

The bright blush that painted Theresa’s face made Gareth feel bad about the correction, but there wasn’t much he could do about it. “I forgive you, I can see how it might be confusing seems the names of the branches are different.” Gareth said, hoping to make her feel a bit better. As far as he knew his grandfather was the only Pureblood to take that rout when the family branched off. Some of the other prominent families had gossiped about the unorthodox split, but the Blackbriar’s were influential enough that no one questioned the decision too publicly.

It was strange to think that his family wasn’t as well known (or really known at all) in America. It wouldn’t be as difficult for him to get accustomed to seems the branches were still new enough that they had no influence outside of their affiliation with the Blackbriars, but Gareth was sure his cousins would have a harder time accepting the fact that they were no longer one of the more important families when they started at the other American school.

“I have two siblings, a younger brother and a younger sister. They’ll be attending Sonora in their turn as well. It’ll be nice to help them along and see which houses they get. My Brownbriar cousins will also be attending.” Here Gareth paused, trying to figure out how many of said cousins actually would be attending. Of all the branches Brownbriar had the most children, and it was difficult to keep track of all of them. “I believe they have three more that will attend after Meggs, but aside from Nia the rest are all still toddlers. The Blackbriars, and Greenbriars will be attending…” He tried to think of the name of the other school “That other American school.” He finished lamely when he couldn’t come up with the name.

0 Gareth *Nods knowledgably* 0 Gareth 0 5

Theresa

December 15, 2011 9:41 PM

Hopefully we won't need to shield ourselves in class, though by Theresa

“Yes,” Theresa said, glad he understood how potentially confusing his family was. And she’d thought hers was bad! “I don’t think I’ve ever heard of a family that titled its branches that way before. Everyone I’ve ever known used states.”

They also generally had fewer branches than her family did. How interesting, she thought, that both their families should be the same size. Five branches each. It also made her wonder exactly how his family had come to be divided the way it was; hers had done it over the course of about a century, with lots of violence. Everyone had wanted to be head of the Virginia branch at the same time, and then they’d had to leave town when Thomas…objected. Thomas could object very, very loudly when he wanted to, if family history was anything to go by. Theresa counted it as a goal in life to never give him reason to notice her in an objectionable way.

She was familiar enough with the concept of the small immediate family, through her first cousins – an odd set when Anthony V and Anthony VI had each had five, but then, she guessed Father and Mother had more than made up for Uncle Anthony’s family even if they had slowed down a lot since Henry – to feel a twinge of envy at the description of his. The family of ‘Meggs,’ whoever she was, sounded a bit more like what she was used to, though it was still smaller than hers, and hers didn’t really have toddlers at present. Diana had finally outgrown that stage, which just meant she was even more trouble now.

She shrugged at the mention of another school. “You’re at the better one, anyway,” she said, then lowered her voice as if taking him into her confidence on something. “There aren’t any Careys there.” She turned her head to shift the weight of her hair back over her shoulder and spoke normally again. “Great-Great-Grandfather would only let us have the best. Our whole family only has the best.” Anything – or anyone – that wasn’t the best would have to go, everyone knew that. Otherwise, they were just any other people, any other family. “I’ve got five siblings now. Three brothers.”

Theresa still wasn’t sure what to think of another sister, except that she really hoped the baby wasn’t going to affect her prospects. She had enough trouble being really sisters with Diana, there was enough time between them, and she didn’t expect to be very close to Cecilia as they grew up, not when she was going to be away so much while Cecilia was little. Of course they’d be able to count on each other if they needed to, that was any Carey and another Carey, or so the formal teaching on that subject went, but she didn’t expect to be as close to this one as she was to the other four, and did expect to be more distant with any more, if there were more.

Please, Merlin, grant that there wouldn't be any more.

0 Theresa Hopefully we won't need to shield ourselves in class, though 0 Theresa 0 5

Andrina Thornton

December 28, 2011 8:52 PM

Not that I HAVE a mind... (with a little Amira) by Andrina Thornton

Andri was sitting in Transfiguration class after a long night sitting awake. She just couldn’t sleep. The first year Aladren had no idea why, but it had happened and now she was tired. The red head could have gone to sleep right then if she was allowed to. But, unfortunately that was not going to be something that the eleven year old could do. With a sigh, Professor Crosby (her oldest two sister’s head of house and favorite teacher) finished the attendance with one of the Teppenpaw first years and she looked around the room at them. It looked, to her, like their young teacher was being nostalgic or something but that thought only occupied her mind for a few short moments until something new caught her eye.

The pipe on the desk in front of her threw her off for a moment. What am I supposed to do with this? she looked across the room at Amira and looked quizzically at her. Amira looked back at her and shrugged. It seemed that she was asking herself the same question. Who knows Amira mouthed back at her and then turned back to Professor Crosby as did Andri and the pair got their answer.

Lilac explained what they were going to do in class that day and Andri looked mildly interested. With a short glance back at her older sister to see what she was thinking, spotted a smile so large on her face that it could have popped right off. Andri smiled back at Amira and turned back to the professor once more.

They were going to imagine that they were all grown up and Aurors. This was cool in itself. Though Andri wasn’t interested in any jobs just yet, this could be a nice little introduction to Aurors and she was thrilled about the chance to learn. They were going to pretend that they were in an alley and in trouble with nothing but their wand and a pipe from a building. Andri closed her eyes and tried to imagine all this. Her issue was that she was too practical. The imagination in the family did not go to her, that was for sure. Well, at least she tried to imagine it all as best as she could.

Lilac pointed her wand at the pipe and said, “Paerdecto“. Andri thought of the word and what the parts of it could mean. It was the Aladren in her, she guessed. Before she could think too far however, the pipe was no longer there. In its place was a beautiful shield. “Wow!” she said, eyes lighting up through her tiredness. “That’s really cool!” she said to the boy sitting next to her. She was on the edge of her seat now.

Then Professor Crosby told them they could start and went back over to her desk. She looked at her neighbor, Evan and smiled at him. He was a first year Aladren like she was, so she at least knew who he was. She hadn’t gotten to know him yet, but that didn’t mean that the redhead wouldn’t try to! He tried the spell first and she watched as his pipe changed into a flat bit of metal. He looked up at her and it was then that Andri realized that he had NO idea that she’d been talking to him this whole time! Oh well. she thought to herself as he spoke to her.

"Well, at least I got it to do something."

“That’s true!” she said happily. “I wonder what it’ll do for me?” she asked, pulling out her wand and taking in a deep breath said, “Paerdecto.” she looked at her pipe and smiled a small smile when she realized that hers did the same thing as Evan’s had done. “Well, I guess we’re in the same boat?” she said with a shrug. “Now what?” she asked him.

0 Andrina Thornton Not that I HAVE a mind... (with a little Amira) 214 Andrina Thornton 0 5

Prof. C.

December 30, 2011 12:50 PM

Class closed (nm) by Prof. C.

0 Prof. C. Class closed (nm) 0 Prof. C. 0 5

Professor Lilac Crosby

Shield me with your... pipe? [First and second years!] by Professor Lilac Crosby

Theresa Carey, Pecari

It would work better to use a shield that used to be a pipe by Theresa Carey, Pecari

Gareth Whitebriar - Crotalus

Than a pipe that had once been a shield by Gareth Whitebriar - Crotalus

Mellie Goodwin, Pecari

I'll...try? by Mellie Goodwin, Pecari

Alicia Bauer, Aladren

Only if there's room after I shield me. by Alicia Bauer, Aladren

Angel Shield - Teppenpaw

... by Angel Shield - Teppenpaw

Alicia

Indeed. by Alicia

Theresa

I would think so by Theresa

Valerie Lennox, Crotalus

I don't think it will do me any good (Professor) by Valerie Lennox, Crotalus

Katrina (Kitty) McLevy - Aladren

I’ll help! by Katrina (Kitty) McLevy - Aladren

Alexandra Devereux, Crotalus

All right, if you insist by Alexandra Devereux, Crotalus

Angel

... by Angel

Gareth

And I would agree by Gareth

Elijah Errant {Pecari}

I'm wounded - shield me first! by Elijah Errant {Pecari}

Alicia

What? I am to be beaten by this... by Alicia

Theresa

Shields deflect bigger things than pipes, usually by Theresa

Alexandra

And have you in my debt? by Alexandra

Mellie

Thanks! by Mellie

Evan Brockert, Aladren

Not what I'd have in mind. by Evan Brockert, Aladren

Prof. C.

Oh no! by Prof. C.

Angel

... by Angel

Kitty

No problems…well maybe little ones by Kitty

Gareth

That is preferable by Gareth

Theresa

I think so by Theresa

Elijah

Nah, it's your duty to save me. So no debts necessary. by Elijah

Alex

...Hm, I think I prefer the version where you owe me by Alex

Alicia

Very well. by Alicia

Mellie

Nothing to worry about, really. by Mellie

Paul Bennett, Crotalus

Sorry, I'm too busy running the other way by Paul Bennett, Crotalus

Angel

... by Angel

Kitty

We can do it! by Kitty

Alicia

Even you may yet prove one day to be of use to me. by Alicia

Mellie

Go us! by Mellie

Gareth

*Nods knowledgably* by Gareth

Theresa

Hopefully we won't need to shield ourselves in class, though by Theresa

Andrina Thornton

Not that I HAVE a mind... (with a little Amira) by Andrina Thornton

Prof. C.

Class closed (nm) by Prof. C.

Nods knowledgably by Gareth