Hard work for little progress on Transfiguration

Professor Skies

February 08, 2013 6:25 PM

Beginners Transfiguration - light as a feather by Professor Skies

“Hello and welcome, or welcome back, to beginner Transfiguration,” Selina smiled at the class. She ran through the register, looking up to see which faces matched the new names. In front of her, a seating plan filled itself in as they answered, lest she needed some extra help with the new students. Lots had family members in the school. Sometimes that was a help, for example Boxton-Fox-Reynoldses were few and far between and thus distinctive, a ginger girl was likely to be a Thornton. However, keeping track of which Thornton was which – and which Carey, or which was a Carey and which a Raines – could be a headache. With the size of the years though, it wouldn't take her long to get them memorised.

“Transfiguration is very complex magic. I do not want anyone to be disappointed if they do not achieve results straight away. That, however, is not an excuse for slacking off – far from it in fact - I expect everyone to try their hardest.

“Today we will be turning knives into feathers,” she explained, handing around a box from which student would be able to take a knife – the standard, not especially sharp variety that one ate with at dinner.

“I am also passing around Transfiguration tables for first years. Second years, I expect you to be able to make your own from scratch now,” last year, she had given them the possibility of taking the handout in case they had been unfamiliar with the method – she hadn't been entirely sure how her predecessor had taught – but she knew the current second years had covered this method thoroughly; after all, she had taught them. The tables listed common object features, such as size, function and material and each had an empty box next to it for them to make notes in. “The purpose of the tables is to help you find similarities as well as differences between the objects. If you feel that you have to change everything, it is a monumental task to overcome. However, if you identify things that you do not need to change, or do not need to change a great deal, then you will conserve energy and be able to channel more into those aspects which need larger changes.

“The incantation is pennata and you will need to make a delicate zig-zag motion with your wand – imagine you are tracing along the fronds of a feather,” behind her, the chalk scribbled the relevant details on the board.

“I expect you to take notes as you work detailing your attempts. Try to identify the things you do well and any areas where you need to improve, noting any mistakes you make and the effect this has on your work. That goes for every lesson – these notes will not be marked but keeping this sort of diary will be beneficial to your progress, and may provide a useful resource when writing assignments

“You may discuss the lesson quietly with your neighbour but I do not expect the noise level to get disruptive. Raise your hand or call me over if you require help. You may begin.”

OOC – usually posting rules apply. Minimum 10 sentences, 200 words. Accurate spelling and grammar, as well as creativity, will be rewarded.

Subthreads:

Starting Simply by William Casey with Jude Butler

A comfortable environment for the practical minded by Francesca Wolseithcrafte

Hard work for little progress by Charlie B-F-R with Mal Carey, Pecari

Keeping up appearances by Effie Arbon

0 Professor Skies Beginners Transfiguration - light as a feather 26 Professor Skies 1 5

William Casey

February 16, 2013 1:22 PM

Starting Simply by William Casey

As Will walked into his first Transfiguration class, he noted as much as he could about the classroom, from it's wooden furniture to the people sitting in the desks. Done with this evaluation, he took a sit in the middle of the class, eager to begin studying what he thought would be a fascinating branch of magic.

Soon, the teacher came in and explained the class and the lesson. Will grew more excited with each word. A knife to a feather? The idea just reminded him how exciting magic was. That excitement pounding in his veins, he set to work.

Pulling his chart toward him, he picked up his wand. After reading over the instructions on the board twice, he took a knife and concentrated. With a mutter of "Pennata" he waved his wand in a zig-zag pattern. Anxiously he watched and focused as his knife began to change. When it stopped, he was not looking at a feather, rather at an elongated piece of metal that looked something like a needle.

Slightly disappointed that he didn't get it on his first try, Will recorded this result and tried to imagine the things he needed to change more fully, like the teacher suggested. After conjuring the image of what he wanted in his mind, he set to work again.

After several failures later, Will performed the incantation and movements. Instead of a metal needle this time, it looked as if he had gotten a metal feather. He had finally gotten the shape down, but had still been unable to achieve the near weightlessness and fluffy feeling of a feather. Nevertheless he smiled at his improvement and recorded it dutifully before setting to work once again.

0 William Casey Starting Simply 0 William Casey 0 5

Jude Butler

February 17, 2013 12:38 AM

Simple sounds good.... by Jude Butler

Jude was still terribly nervous. She still felt seriously out of place as well. There was something different in the magical world than her own home. I want my Mommy... she thought, as she walked into her first Transfiguration Class. She knew that the title of the class showed that they'd be making something into something else, and that was nerve wracking enough without the magic factor... What would Luca do? she asked herself, answering with the fact that he would have fun with everything wherever he was.

I can do this... I have to... for Mommy, for Daddy, for Luca... she thought as she walked into class. She picked a seat in the middle of the room, next to another first year. The professor spoke, welcoming them to class and as the woman spoke about Transfiguration, Jude took notes as fast as her hands would work.

Knives into feathers? she thought, as her heart thudded loudly. What if it doesn't work right and i hurt someone!? she thought, terrified that she would indeed hurt someone and she'd get kicked out of school. She didn't want to let her family down, but if she'd hurt someone she knew that she would...

It didn't matter to Jude what the knife looked like, she still didn't feel so comfortable with the prospect of it all. The professor passed around a Transfiguration table to the first years and she looked at it nervously as it was explained to them. Similarities and differences? she thought, just seeing the differences between herself and the others...

"Pennata?" she said softly, hoping she'd said it right. "Note mistakes and identify what I do well and what I need to improve?" she added, unsure if Will Casey had heard her or not.

When she told them to get started, Jude looked towards her neighbor and watched as he did the spell a few times. She didn't do anything but look from her own knife to Will, back to her own knife again.

"Uhm... Did you feel nervous about changing a knife into something else? I'm really worried I'll hurt someone..." she said, looking at him, hoping he didn't think she was nuts or anything like that. She was just a muggleborn and very much out of her element...

0 Jude Butler Simple sounds good.... 0 Jude Butler 0 5

William Casey

February 17, 2013 11:12 AM

No worries! by William Casey

WIll had just finished yet another attempt at his transfiguration when he heard a small voice beside him. He jumped slightly before registering his neighbor's question. He thought about it for a second, observing the girl, whose name he remembered to be Jude, before replying.

"It is a little odd, at first, the idea of being able to change something into something else," Will began, recognizing that she probably came from a similar no-magic background to his own," but after the first time you do it, you realize there is nothing to be afraid of. Even though you may think otherwise, you are very much in control of your magic."

Smiling, he continued," Just try to imagine the object and when you say the incantation, focus on what you want it to look like. It is a small object after all, so I don't think you'll hurt someone." He nudged his similarities and differences chart towards her so that she had somewhere to begin. "Don't worry about it Jude," He said with what he hoped was an encouraging smile," I'm fairly new to magic too, and if I can do it, you most certainly can too!"

0 William Casey No worries! 0 William Casey 0 5

Francesca Wolseithcrafte

February 23, 2013 5:47 PM

A comfortable environment for the practical minded by Francesca Wolseithcrafte

Francesca was... anticipatory over Transfiguration. The feeling did not quite extend to nervousness but there was definitely a slight tension in the run up to the lesson. Whilst she was bright, quick-thinking and well versed in theory, practical magic was proving a lot more difficult. She worried what others might think of her not making drastic leaps forward in this arena. Whilst magical power and intelligence were not really correlated, it worried her that some people might be too stupid to know that, and would thus assume that she was dim-witted, or question her placement in Aladren. Besides which, she simply disliked something not coming naturally to her. Everything else always had.

She listened intently as the Professor introduced the lesson, relieved that she seemed to be giving them more of an explanation. She accepted a Transfiguration table as the sheets were passed around. The idea was familiar although she had only done them a couple of times. She browsed it, considering the different columns. Under shape she noted that the length was similar but that the feather would be broader and also more symmetrical than the knife. The most striking difference would be the weight, although there was also the material to be considered. Metal, at least, was naturally occurring, even if it had been modified by man in this case.

Having noted all these features on the table, she practised the wand movement and, separately, the incantation. She also practised speaking the incantation in her head whilst making the wand movement, in order to perfect the co-ordination as best she could. Satisfied that she was as prepared as possible – which was rather a great comfort to someone so practical and theoretically orientated – she took a deep breath.

“Pennata,” she cast, zigzagging her wand above the knife. She focussed primarily on the light, airy qualities of the feather, trying to imagine the gentle way in which one floated if disturbed by the slightest of breezes. The knife distorted slightly as her wand moved along it, almost as if it was melting. It became broader and somewhat thinner. Interesting, as she had not focussed predominantly on shape. However, she supposed, in order to achieve the lightness on which she had focussed, the path of least resistance was a change to its form. She picked it up, weighing it in her hand. She was not sure that there was enough of a difference to be perceptible, if there was any at all, but she was satisfied with it as a start. Perhaps Transfiguration would be better for her. It was supposed to be harder, that was true, but there seemed to be more logic to it and more that she could bring under her own control by thinking it through or making notes.

“I think I could enjoy this class quite well,” she commented to the person next to her with a smile.

13 Francesca Wolseithcrafte A comfortable environment for the practical minded 250 Francesca Wolseithcrafte 0 5

Jude

February 24, 2013 9:24 PM

Thanks by Jude

Jude had spoken to Will, but what she hadn't realized was that he'd been concentrating and for sure she had startled him by speaking. He jumped a little bit and she blushed apologetically. Will paused a moment to think and what he told her made her smile. You think its odd also? She thought as he went on speaking to her. Is he muggleborn too? she wondered as he spoke more.

"I'm in control?" she asked, confused for sure. Nothing had worked for her so far, and most often when anyone did magic around her she'd ended up on the floor or ground in surprise.

Imagine the object? Focus on what it needs to look like she thought as he nudged his chart towards her.

Will sent an encouraging smiles and what he said next affirmed what she had thought originally. "You're fairly new to magic too? Are you a muggleborn, like me?" she asked, almost forgetting the fact that she was in class and had work to do in the wake of the possibility of finding another person just like her, there at Sonora.

0 Jude Thanks 0 Jude 0 5

Charlie B-F-R

March 03, 2013 5:47 PM

Hard work for little progress by Charlie B-F-R

Henny had said good things about the Transfiguration professor, which had the possibility of meaning she was very strict and set very complicated homework. However, it probably meant she was fair with it, as Henny didn't like mean people. The woman before him seemed perfectly nice. She appealed to Charlie due to the fact she co-ordinated her nails with her robes, as well as seeming generally smiley and welcome. Her speech reassured him, confirming his suspicions of what his sister saw in her; she wanted their hardest work, and hard work would be needed but she would be patient if they struggled.

He took a Transfiguration table and one of the dinner knives. When he thought of a feather, the first thing that came to mind was the beautiful Augurey feathers he'd been allowed to keep from Care of Magical Creatures. They had been set with care and pride on his bedside table, awaiting a suitable use. He would probably give one to Jeweliah for something, seeing as there weren't too many fantastic accessories he could make for himself. He just needed to keep an eye out for a suitable hat to perch one in... He started noting things down. Under size, he noted that feathers were bigger, still thinking of those on his bedside table, before thinking that they didn't really have to be, and adding 'or smaller. Or the same.' He noted that both were shiny before feeling that that wasn't quite the right word for feathers, and adding 'or glossy.' They sort of meant the same but it seemed odd to call feathers shiny. Their weight and their uses were very different. For feathers, he noted that they were used for fashion or for quills – which was something you held in your hand, kind of like a knife (the preliminary chapters he had read on Transfiguration had encouraged what they called 'lateral and subtle link-making' and what he called 'tenuous straw-clutching') but knives were used for cutting.

He practised the wand movement and the incantation, and then turned to his knife. He tried to think very hard about quill feathers, relying on that connection of it being something handled – it was not something wholly different, he had a connection, a bridge to cross between the objects – but also picturing the way the fronds of a feather moved, as that was a big difference that he needed to work on.

“Pennata,” he cast, zig-zagging his wand. The knife lay, shining silver and resolutely unaltered.

“Pennata!” he cast again, trying to feel in charge of things. He bent down to study the knife at close range. He thought the end might be slightly rounder. So very slightly that it was just as possible that he was either imagining it or going a little cross eyed looking at it.

“Does it look any rounder to you?” he asked the person next to him, holding it up. “Just there, on the end? I won't be upset if you say 'no,' cos I'm not really convinced...”

13 Charlie B-F-R Hard work for little progress 252 Charlie B-F-R 0 5

Effie Arbon

March 07, 2013 1:29 PM

Keeping up appearances by Effie Arbon

Effie respected Professor Skies and her subject. The professor herself was methodical and untyrannical. Transfiguration was a very old branch of magic, and a core subject for any student to get to grips with. That did not, however, mean she had to like it. Theoretically, it was complicated. Practically, it was difficult. Whilst she was neither stupid nor lazy, the effort required for the relative reward was just the wrong side of satisfactory for her. Not that she would whine, of course. She attended diligently and kept any grumbling inside her own head. Besides which, she had spent much of first year treading ground that was already familiar from her private tutoring.

She took a knife as they were passed around, drawing out parchment and quill for note-taking. She had been familiar with Transfiguration tables before starting at Sonora, although her tutor had not called them that. She had spent her first year doing them without the framework in defiance of Professor Skies' assumption that first years would need them. That, like many of the other staff, was the woman's chief fault; she persisted in the ridiculous mass delusion that everyone came into the school with the same amount of experience and knowledge. It was demonstrably not true but the staff seemed to insist on the pretence that it was, so as to not hurt the Muggleborns' feelings. She made her notes quickly. As the rest of the year was being forced to forgo the framework, she could at least set herself apart from the lower class students by completing the task promptly and without needing to sit around scratching at her head in puzzlement. Size could be comparable, as could colour, although it would be somewhat duller in the feather's case. Weight, material and function were all different, as well as the fact that the knife was wizard-made.

She weighed up her options. She could aim for a glossy grey feather with close fronds, about the size of the knife in order to minimise the changes she would have to effect. That had the appeal of being the easiest option and most likely to achieve success. However, when it came to marking, things like altering the colour would count for more. Whilst she was not keen to chase grades, she was keen to out do all the Muggleborn students. She doubted they posed a great deal of threat, and the gamble was that if she made less progress, no one would know that she had been aiming for something more complicated. She decided to keep the size of her feather the same, and stuck with the idea of closely packed fronds but chose to aim for blue. Grey shaded into blue, so it was a natural direction to take in order to only slightly increase her work load.

“Pennata!” she cast, her wand flowing through the zigzag motion as she spoke. The knife in front of her rippled, thinning out and reforming. It took on the shape of a large feather. It even had a blueish sheen to it. However, the material looked unaltered. She picked it up. Even accounting for it having become thinner, it was surprisingly light for something still made, apparently, of metal. She glanced surreptitiously at the work of the person beside her to see how much progress they were making.

13 Effie Arbon Keeping up appearances 238 Effie Arbon 0 5

Mal Carey, Pecari

March 08, 2013 1:09 AM

That's too bad by Mal Carey, Pecari

For two years, Mal had gotten a steady stream of letters from Sonora Academy. Why Lucille thought he cared about Miss Arbon and Miss Raines’ tea party or Mr. Brockert’s mannerisms or Miss Yale’s hair or any of the other dull things which seemed to occupy her every waking hour, he had no idea, but he had read them anyway out of a vague sense of this being a contribution to the alliance against Mother, and along the way, he had even managed to glean a few pieces of almost useful information.

One of them, he thought, was that the Transfiguration class was reasonably challenging but that the professor did her best to cut their meat for them so not too many members of the class actually choked on it. Lucille had not put it that way, of course; Lucille cried on her letters sometimes because of it, because she was not the best at theory and was always afraid of failing, but Lucille cried about everything sooner or later and did appreciate how the professor gave them little tables to fill in. Mal had looked at some of the ones in her notebooks over the summer, so while he knew that exactly aping Lucille was probably not the way to ever win any academic prizes – amazingly, for someone who could spend so much time being boring on papers she meant for him to read, she apparently hated writing things out – he was already a little familiar with the charts Professor Skies handed out to them and told them to fill in before they started working on the knives.

He found it helped less than he’d hoped as he looked down at the knife and tried to think of much original to say about it, and even softened a little in his opinion of his sister’s intelligence after he finished writing down ‘oblong,’ ‘can be gray,’ ‘thin,’ and ‘sharp?’ Knives could be used to sharpen quills, so he guessed it could make sense to just turn one into the other and skip a step that way, but he wasn’t sure how to fit that onto the chart and so left it off. Finally, he gave up on that and just picked up his wand.

Transfiguration, after all, was something he thought he was going to be good at. Most of the things he’d done by accident at home had involved turning one thing into another, and sometimes, when he stared very hard at things and willed them to change shape, he almost thought he had made some tiny change to them. Almost. It wasn’t much of a stretch, now that he had a wand, to assume he was going to not have a problem with it…though one repetition of the incantation made him think that assumptions weren’t necessarily all that accurate.

“Pennata,” he tried again, moving his wand a little more forcefully, and this time was rewarded with at least a series of what looked like cracks up both sides of the knife blade, as though it were trying to look like a child’s drawing of a feather. He pressed his lips together, reluctantly pleased with at least some progress.

Beside him, another boy started talking, and Mal looked up to find himself looking at someone he made a note of as a possible decoy if he ever had to run from something here at school. They looked, he thought, probably more alike than he and his half-brother did.

"Not really," he said about the knife. "How many times have you tried it?" This was important information when it came to measuring his achievements against those of others.

0 Mal Carey, Pecari That's too bad 0 Mal Carey, Pecari 0 5