Will the future be chaos? on Transfiguration

Professor Skies

August 09, 2013 4:55 PM

Intermediates - The Butterfly Effect by Professor Skies

Ten past nine meant the intermediates were beginning to file into her class, ready for the nine fifteen start. Same as yesterday, same as tomorrow would be, unless it was a Saturday... Whilst she appreciated that her schedule was easy to grasp, and she definitely appreciated finishing her teaching by two thirty every day, it did make the days rather blur into one. None of the 'Ah, well the Intermediates appear to be coming in and it's after lunch, so it must be a Thursday.'

“Good morning class,” she greeted, as the clock hands made a one hundred and eighty degree angle across the face.

“Today, we will be continuing our work on invertebrates.” They had been working since the start of term on this topic, although Aria had been given the choice of working on plants, with the understanding that it was nearing the most complicated it was possible to make it. “We will be working on leaves and butterflies today. Now, I know that butterflies are pretty and everybody loves them but I don't expect that to cause unnecessary fuss and a lack of commitment to your spell work. I don't see why the attractiveness of the animal in question should affect your feelings towards casting a spell on it, and expect you to take a mature approach,” she informed them sternly, looked decidedly at everyone except Aria. This was, in fact, pretty much the opposite of her problem. Aria was, at least, an equal opportunities fruit loop; she didn't believe in hurting any living creature, and also at least had some kind of belief system to hang it on. It was a belief system dreamt up by hippies the generation before she was born but it was still something. It irked Selina when students who had had no qualms about pointing their wand at any number of living things started getting whiny once a cute animal was concerned.

“As usual, we have a split level class and your projects are the inverse of each other. So, the Level A project is to turn butterflies to leaves, whilst the level B project is to turn leaves to butterflies. In an exam situation, the task would be further differentiated by the complexity of the wing pattern you produce. I have provided several nature books for you to look up butterflies and plants in if you wish to have a clear picture of a real animal or real leaf, which is usually helpful. Forth years are still welcome to choose but by the mid point of the term, I would advise you to start pushing yourselves onto the harder tasks in order to have mastered them sufficiently to pass your examinations next year.

“The spell for the Level B task is Lepidopteria - make the 'ter' nice and long,” she explained, “with a gentle downwards motion of your wand – making the movement light is especially important,” she demonstrated the spell fully, the leaf that had been on her desk twisting momentarily in and darkening, as if forming a cocoon and then bursting out as a fine Peacock Butterfly.

“The Level A spell is Laubis, and, in contrast, you need a highly defined short flick,” she demonstrated, the butterfly falling back to earth as a leaf.

“Support each other and use the resources available, but call on me if you have any concerns.”

OOC – points will be awarded based on length, relevance, creativity and quality. Impress me.

Subthreads:

A leafy-butterfly...thats kind of cool right? by Carter Browning, Teppenpaw

Ineffectual butterfly by Clara Abernathy, Pecari

This isn't completely abhorrent. by Cepheus Princeton, Crotalus with Henny B-F-R, Aladren, Cepheus

Sort of a girly lesson. by Jorge Garcia, Pecari with Jade Owen, Jorge

Will the future be chaos? by Aria Yale, Teppenpaw with Melanie Lennox, Teppenpaw, Aria Yale

Do I dare disturb the universe? by Alicia Bauer, Aladren

0 Professor Skies Intermediates - The Butterfly Effect 26 Professor Skies 1 5

Carter Browning, Teppenpaw

August 12, 2013 6:50 PM

A leafy-butterfly...thats kind of cool right? by Carter Browning, Teppenpaw

Carter grabbed his book bag as he hurried out of the Common room towards his Transfig class. He knew he was running late for class and that annoyed him greatly. He couldn’t believe that he had slept past his alarm. He had been up the night before studying for Transfig class and had fallen asleep holding his textbook. He had found it on the floor by his bed where he had dropped it. He managed to stuff it into his bag before heading to class. He made it through the door just before Professor Skies closed it for the start of class. He tried finding a seat next to Wendy, but since he had arrived kind-of late to class he couldn’t spot her right away and found a seat that was still open and took it before Professor Skies began her lecture. He pulled out his notebook and began taking notes for their assignment. Still on invertebrates huh? he wondered to himself as Professor Skies gave them more details. “Level A will be turning the butterflies into leaves while Level B will be turning the leaves into butterflies. The Level A spell is Laubis, and, in contrast, you need a highly defined short flick” she explained to them. Carter sighed. Since he was only a third year that put him in the Level A category. Oh Joy! That meant he had to turn a butterfly into a leaf instead of the other way around. “I can do this,” he told himself softly as he wrote down the spell they were to use to do it. Laubis. He glanced at the word curiously before trying to say it to himself. He had no idea if he was pronouncing it right, but he kept doing it anyway.

Once the professor set them to their tasks Carter got himself a butterfly to work with and took it back to his desk. He stared at the specimen in the jar and grinned when Professor Skies told them she wanted them to behave maturely about using spells on cute cuddly things. Cute, cuddly, ugly, whatever…Carter had no qualms with casting spells on them for the most part. If he was to believe what he’d been told about them not feeling any pain then he didn’t see the harm in it really. If he knew for a fact that they did indeed feel pain due to the spell casting than he might have thought twice about using them. Since he really had no proof that it did harm them in any way, who was he to say that it did or not? Carter shrugged at his own thoughts and studied the butterfly. It appeared to be just a garden variety butterfly, nothing special, about the size of a half dollar if he had to take a guess. Carter wondered if he should open the jar and let it out on his desk or if he should leave it inside. The butterfly didn’t appear to be in any hurry to go anywhere so he went ahead and opened the lid. The butterfly flew out and went as far as Carter’s desk and then stopped. It sat on the edge of the desk and lifted its wings up and down very slowly as though it were waiting for something, but it didn’t fly away.

Carter gave the butterfly a thoughtful glance before taking a few deep, cleansing breaths and letting them out slowly. This isn’t going to hurt it, he told himself as he raised his wand , preparing to perform the charm. “Laubis,” he cast giving his wand the described short defined flick. He watched curiously as the butterfly stilled its movements and began to turn a green-ish brown. He waited for it to continue its transformation, but it stopped right where it began. The butterfly had turned green like a leaf and had stopped moving, but for some reason that’s where it stopped. He frowned slightly at the development and curiously scratched his head. Just to satisfy his own curiosity he gave the butterfly/leaf a small blow of air. The butterfly/leaf fell off the edge of his desk and fluttered like a fallen leaf to the floor. He watched it curiously trying to figure out how the spell only seemed to work about half way. He scratched his head lightly again. “Hmm…maybe I didn’t flick it just right or something,” he mused aloud. “Or maybe I didn’t say the spell just right.” He gently reached down and picked up the butterfly/leaf off the floor, being careful not to damage it if possible. He laid it gently back on his desktop and grinned towards his neighbor. “Well…it would appear that I seem to have done something right,” he joked slightly. “Although I can’t figure out for the life of me what that might be.” He laughed slightly. “Do you have any guesses?” he asked politely.

0 Carter Browning, Teppenpaw A leafy-butterfly...thats kind of cool right? 0 Carter Browning, Teppenpaw 0 5

Clara Abernathy, Pecari

August 12, 2013 6:53 PM

Ineffectual butterfly by Clara Abernathy, Pecari

Clara walked from the Pecari common room and dorms towards the Transfig classroom with slight trepidation. They had been working on invertebrates and she still wasn‘t all that comfortable with it. It just felt incredibly weird to her. She tried to keep telling herself that it wasn‘t really hurting them to be changing them, but she couldn‘t completely shake that feeling away. She shook her head slightly trying to shake off the feeling as she made her way to class. She opened the door of the Transfig room and tried to spot a seat close to Lucian. When she didn’t spot him right away she took a seat somewhere close so he would be sure to spot her and sat down. Once everyone was assembled into the room, Professor Skies went about telling them about their assignment for the day. She explained that they would be working with invertebrates again and Clara sighed. She glanced towards her classmate and smiled patiently. She nodded slightly figuring it was going to be something along those lines and listened as Professor Skies continued her lecture. “You will be working today with leaves and butterflies” she told them. She also continued on about how she was expecting them to be mature about the assignment and not suddenly get all emotional about the fact that they were working with pretty butterflies. Clara grimaced at that part a bit, but she was going to give her all to the spell casting and try to put aside the fact that they were working with live specimens (so to speak). “Level A will be turning the butterflies into leaves while Level B will be turning the leaves into butterflies. The Level A spell is Laubis, and, in contrast, you need a highly defined short flick, while the spell for the Level B task is Lepidopteria - make the 'ter' nice and long,” she explained, “with a gentle downwards motion of your wand – making the movement light is especially important,” she told them. Clara pulled out a quill and notebook and took notes. She glanced back at her classmate and said softly, “I’m a little surprised we’re not turning them into drinking cups or something,” she whispered jokingly.

She wasn’t entirely sure how well she was going to do with the whole mess, but she was willing to give it the old college try. Once Professor Skies set them to their task, Clara got up and went over to one of the butterfly books bringing it back to her desk to study it before she tried her luck. She flipped slowly through the pages trying to get a good idea of what she was comfortable with trying. She was about to give up on that particular book when she found a picture of a butterfly she had seen almost a thousand times outside her own house in Napa. Monarch Butterflies are probably the most highly recognizable butterflies throughout the United States. She had seen them all the time hanging on the Oak tree outside the barn at her house in Napa back in California. She had actually caught one once and kept it in a jar with holes in the lid on a shelf in her bedroom. Her father had talked her into letting it go and though she liked being able to look at it whenever she liked, she had to admit that he was right. It didn’t deserve to be trapped in a glass jar. She had taken the jar out to the wild flower garden near the oak tree and unscrewed the lid. She set the jar on the ground and sat down on the ground in front of it to watch the butterfly fly away. It made its way towards the opening in the top and before flying away it landed on her knee. It spread out its wings and fluttered them a bit very slowly up and down. Clara sat as still as possible just watching it before it fluttered up away from her knee and took off into the air. She giggled a little as she watched it fly because it kind of looked like it was drunk as it flew. It fluttered up and down, left and right as though it didn’t know which way it wanted to go.

Clara smiled at the picture in the book and told herself that would be the butterfly she tried to make. She stared at the leaf on her desk and after steeling herself for the task at hand, she raised her wand and made her first attempt. “Lepidopteria,” she cast, making sure to make the “ter” part nice and long as the professor had instructed. She tried to make the movement of her wand nice and light and gentle as possible. She watched the leaf carefully waiting for any sign that the spell worked. She frowned slightly as the leaf just sat there still a leaf. “Hmm…” she mused to herself. “I wonder what I did to booger that up.” She gave her neighbor a curious look and then shrugged. “Okay…leaf to butterfly…take two,” she joked a bit before making her next attempt. She raised her wand and tried the spell again, trying to make her wand movements lighter than before. “Lepidopteria,” she cast again. She watched excitedly as the leaf began to shake slightly before it began to curl itself into a cocoon. She began to silently clap her hands as the cocoon twitched a bit as if there were something inside trying to get out. She glanced towards her neighbor her face aglow with excitement as she waited for her butterfly to emerge from the cocoon. Her excitement began to wan, however, when the cocoon quit twitching and just lay there still on her desk. She stared at it frowning slightly and felt her mouth twitch in confusion. “Ahh pooh…mine’s a dud,” she complained jokingly. She turned towards her neighbor and sighed slightly. “Do you have any idea what I might have done wrong here because I’m stumped,” she asked curiously, placing her chin in her palm and resting her elbow on her desk. “Do you want to take a stab at it and see if you can get it to work better for you?” she asked encouragingly. “I’m willing to bet you’ll have better luck than I did.”

0 Clara Abernathy, Pecari Ineffectual butterfly 232 Clara Abernathy, Pecari 0 5

Cepheus Princeton, Crotalus

August 15, 2013 4:02 PM

This isn't completely abhorrent. by Cepheus Princeton, Crotalus

There were several reasons why Cepheus Princeton did not enjoy Transfiguration. Firstly, he could never get his spells right on the first attempt. Secondly, he hated turning live animals into inanimate objects. Thirdly, he was simply not great at it. After a hard Quidditch loss from the term before, he needed some encouragement and going to Transfiguration class was not helping his self-esteem. Since the beginning of term, however, things had slowly been looking up. Spending time away from his disinterested family who really had no investment in his Quidditch career anymore had helped. Cepheus had also avoided Megan Brownbriar like the plague since the returning feast. She represented, really, everything he wanted to run away from.

The lesson for today did not seem completely terrible as others had been in the past. As a fifth year, he would be expected to turn a leaf into a butterfly. That he would be more willing to do than the Level A project. The black mulberry leaf he had was green and vibrant, a rarity in the winter. It was difficult for Cepheus to imagine a butterfly emerging out of a leaf instead of a natural cocoon, but he did not question it. One simply did not question magic.

Cepheus flattened the leaf to prolong his inevitable research, but flattening did not take long. He reluctantly picked up a nature book and flipped through it for a bright image of a butterfly. He saw butterflies regularly in East Horsley during the summers, but he had never had to study such an insect before. He was at the age now where his professors no longer impressed him with their mastery of spells. Professors were supposed to be talented; that’s why they were hired to teach. They were in a level far beyond his current capabilities and so Cepheus really had no motivation to even try a spell he would never use if he had no hopes of mastering it. However, these courses required him to practise spells he didn’t like and his parents required him to receive high marks so he did his best to convince himself he was interested.

Butterflies were lovely to look at. It made the search go a bit quicker and, after a bit of deliberation, he decided on the White-barred Emperor. The wing design was complicated and looked difficult to create flawlessly, but if he was going to turn a leaf into a butterfly, he was going to make it a beautiful one. He could not do things in halves no matter how difficult it was. Now that he was finished with the book and he did not want to get up to put it back himself, he looked at his desk-mate. “Would you like to have a look?” he asked politely. “I’m finished with it.”

After handing the nature book, Cepheus cleared his throat, feeling slightly nervous at having to perform under the scrutiny of his desk-mate. On any other occasion he wouldn’t have minded, but with his current record of failing in front of his peers, Cepheus did not want to add onto it. He would acknowledge his peer’s endeavour after attempting the spell first. “Lepidopteria,” he said, dragging out the ‘ter’ a bit longer than perhaps was necessary. Cepheus’s magical skill had improved greatly since his first year and he no longer had nothing happen on his first attempts. However, perhaps nothing would have been better than a slightly red-tinged leaf with six legs and antennas. The leaf, to both Cepheus’s relief and disgust, did not move on said legs, but the leaf did flutter once or twice before lying still completely. With a wave of his wand, he returned the leaf back to its original form to try the spell again. “Having any more success than I?” he asked his desk-mate conversationally, hoping his partner would have some tips to share.

0 Cepheus Princeton, Crotalus This isn't completely abhorrent. 0 Cepheus Princeton, Crotalus 0 5

Henny B-F-R, Aladren

August 17, 2013 4:01 PM

Always a plus by Henny B-F-R, Aladren

Christmas had been a typical family Christmas. Lots of lights, lots of slightly wonky home-made touches, visits to family and snipy homophobic remarks from their Grandfather. The only real difference was the awareness Charlie seemed to show of this. He'd cottoned on and seemed thoroughly miserable about it. It wasn't a nice realisation, she supposed, having thought that they'd managed, in spite of their early misfortune in life, to land with a perfectly lovely family. And she supposed he'd get his head around it the way she had. She just wished he would talk to her about it.

She took a seat next to Cepheus in Transfiguration, trying not to think too much about it. Throwing her grades wasn't exactly going to help the situation. If anything, it would make it worse. She was sure grandfather would find a way to attribute that to Dad's evil influence over them. Obviously gay people were more prone to failure (in spite of the fact that Dad ran a successful business) and engendered such tendencies in others. She scoffed ever so slightly as she sat down. The lesson was far from beginning, and so it was clear it was not directed at that.

She took meticulous notes. As she was heading towards her CATS at the end of the year, it was clear which task she would be attempting. Animal transfiguration had never really bothered her, beyond the worry that the animal itself might creep her out. She'd grown up with the concept of this being a part of ordinary life. It had never really occurred to her that it should bother her. And luckily so far the animals had been pretty low level and un-terrifying too.

“Thanks,” she smiled, accepting the book off Cepheus. He was sort of like Thad only less familiar, in that he was someone whose world she didn't really fit into, but with whom she got on well at school. He was a considerate person and always polite, thus she felt comfortable around him.

She decided to start with a simple butterfly. She was currently working on perfecting spells quickly. She would move onto embellishments in the latter half of the term. A Cabbage White was about as simple as they came. She visualised the leaf transforming. Butterflies were somehow easy in that one knew they came from a shrivelled up little mess and burst into something beautiful.

“Lepidopteria,” she cast, trying to make her wand movement light and fluttering. The leaf turned in on itself, turning brown until it looked rather like a chrysalis (or at least, like the illustration of one and how she imagined it to look). From it, a small white butterfly emerged. It flapped a few times, though moved as if in slow motion.

“I'm not sure...” she replied, as Cepheus had turned his project back to a leaf. The book, if she remembered, seemed to have been open on some fairly fancy butterflies, suggesting he'd been shooting higher than her. “It looks right, but it's simple and it doesn't move well. I figured I'd aim for doing something less fancy and try to do it perfectly. I seem to remember seeing fancier illustrations on the page the book was open to when you had it...” she prompted questioningly.

13 Henny B-F-R, Aladren Always a plus 211 Henny B-F-R, Aladren 0 5

Jorge Garcia, Pecari

August 17, 2013 4:44 PM

Sort of a girly lesson. by Jorge Garcia, Pecari

Jorge’s midterm was spent with his family. His ever growing and extremely large family. This year, due to Lita’s marriage, their Christmas was spent with Juri’s family as well. That didn’t bother Jorge too much. He liked Juri well enough and he made his sister happy. Even his sister seemed to get along well with Dulce. Jorge was pretty sure they had at one time been friends, but he wasn’t sure if they were considered that anymore. Either way, there was no hostility there and Dulce seemed in a better mood than she might have usually. Not that she was ever in a bad mood, Dulce didn’t really have moods. It was complicated to explain, but she wasn’t her usual blank self with Juri’s family there.

They spent New Year’s with the entire family down in Mexico. Tio Jose brought his baby daughter with him. She was sitting up and chattering away being half a year old. She was just a newborn at Lita’s wedding. It was strange to know how much could change a person in only a handful of months. Jorge, being so family oriented, had no problem admitting that babies were cute. He enjoyed holding his baby cousin when they were together. His other cousins were his age, so they had all been babies together. His midterm had been fun. Packed full of family, but fun.

But now that he was in Sonora, everything was the same. He spent his free time in the music room or swimming. The rest of the time, he was either in the library studying or in his dorm room studying. People in the school might think of him to be a slacker since he didn’t get involved in things or speak up much. Maybe they had even seen him being lazy around the school. He didn’t really care of the image they bestowed upon him. Jorge was a hard worker. He practiced his music for long hours and sometimes swam for even longer. His grades reflected the amount of studying time he did on a daily basis. They were grades that made his family proud. If the Aladrens wanted to believe they were the Top Markers of their class and think Pecaris like him were useless, that was on them. If his classmates wanted to believe he was a punk and good for nothing that was on them. The professors knew he worked hard based on the contents of the work he handed in and so did his parents. That was good enough for him.

Being a Fifth year now, CATS were coming up quickly and the lessons were getting more complex. It was fun and challenging, but that wasn’t something he’d readily admit to. He took his leaf and stared at it for a moment, picturing a butterfly. There were so many different species of butterfly, he wasn’t sure what one to pick. There was the usual well known one, the Monarch. Jorge figured most people will think of that one though. After looking through the book, he decided that he’ll start with a Spangle Butterfly. They were simple but not completely plain. From there, he’ll try for something with more of a complicated design.

He placed the leaf on the desk and reviewed his notes for the correct spell and wand movement. Feeling good about the spell, Jorge raised his wand, “Lepidopteria” He made sure the ‘ter’ was long and he moved his wand in a downward motion. He did it slowly, but he wasn’t sure if that was necessarily ‘lightly’ as the Professor indicated. The leaf curled into itself and turned a light brown color. It took a second longer than he would have liked, but a butterfly did finally emerge from the shell. It wasn’t the dark black base color with a deep blue glimmer shine as the one in the book that he had hoped for. Instead, it was more of a light gray with an even lighter blue top layer without the glimmer. He knew that his first attempt wouldn’t be perfect, but he had held up some hope for it all the same.

6 Jorge Garcia, Pecari Sort of a girly lesson. 0 Jorge Garcia, Pecari 0 5

Aria Yale, Teppenpaw

August 18, 2013 2:35 AM

Will the future be chaos? by Aria Yale, Teppenpaw

Aria had the feeling that Professor Skies was not too fond of her because of her beliefs and the fact that Aria might have been forcing her to do more work than she wanted because of them. Aria wasn’t trying to be a troublemaker or put anyone out because of her beliefs and that she was not comfortable with animal, she really wasn’t. She always felt bad (but appreciative) whenever Professor Fawcett provided a different list of ingredients for her during Potions and the steps to which Professor Skies went to to help her continue on with her education without her being forced to go against something she did not agree with.

It was also because of Professor Skies that Aria had taken up Mechanical Transfiguration. Aria had never really thought about how things worked, probably because most of the items she used at home were already hand made by people in the community that she never needed to know the interworking of it. Mechanical Transfiguration was completely different. When she was home, she studied it as often as her parents let her. They even went garage sale shopping in the Muggle world to find old technology that her mother knew. Her father, who did not know the Muggle world at all, would sit with her as she took the machines apart to figure them out and helped her put them all back together. He did it so often with her that he also began to learn about Mechanical Transfiguration. Together, they had managed to turn what her mother called a ‘toaster’ into that of a ‘toaster oven’ and a pocket watch into that of a grandfather clock. Her father did more of the clock than Aria, but she at least grasped the concept of it. She hoped that when she was able to do independent studies, she could continue on with this one.

For now though, she still had to figure out what she was comfortable with doing in animate transfiguration. Today, by the look of the jars, they would be working on butterflies. Aria sat watching the insects flutter around in their jars. They reminded her of butterfly catching back home. Although she and her friends never actually caught the butterflies, they would run around the fields chasing after them and pretending. Butterflies were beautiful creatures, but she also understood that they were probably the simplest of forms to transfigure. Did she feel comfortable doing that? She knew that Professor Skies had given her the open to change the leaf into a plant that had similar characteristics of a vertebrae insect, but she held off for a moment to see how everyone faired.

Taking in her surroundings, it seemed that everyone was able to at least produce a butterfly without any issue. Taking this to mean that the spell itself was not difficult, but only the patterns and strength of the spell were, Aria was going to attempt to change a leaf to a butterfly instead of a leaf to a flower. Taking the leaf and setting it down onto her desk, Aria took some time to look through one of the books to see the various types of butterflies. There was one butterfly in particular that caught her attention. It might have been because of the size of the butterfly but more so than that, it was the metallic sheen of royal blue on the wings of the creature that had her pause.

Believing that the Blue Morpho was the butterfly she wanted to create, she set aside the book and took out her wand. She remembered the spell easily enough, but she reviewed her notes just in case there was something important she didn’t recall off the top of her head. There was. She needed to be gentle with her wand as she lowered it. Although she wasn’t completely comfortable with the idea of harming the butterfly, she would at least be producing one instead of transfiguring one. She could only hope that the butterfly was not affected, it was only the final product of the transfiguration.

Taking a long, slow breath, Aria pointed her wand, “Lepidopteria” She said firmly, with a soft downward motion of her wand. She watched as the leaf folded in onto itself and turned a lovely shade of green. She expected the butterfly to pop out, but nothing happened. She just had a lump of green… that was moving. Startled and upset that she was suffocating the butterfly, Aria quickly removed the spell and found herself staring at the leaf once more.

Her knuckles were white as she gripped her wand tightly. She had nearly killed a butterfly due to her lack of commitment to the spell. She knew that a death of a butterfly would not really affect much of anything, but the guilt that would carry with her for the rest of the day, or even next few days, would unbalance her and throw her into a dark place.

Aria was too nervous to start over again. She knew she just had to concentrate better and find the step that she must have missed, but she didn’t want to mess up again and put the butterfly back into turmoil. She just… she just didn’t know what to do.

6 Aria Yale, Teppenpaw Will the future be chaos? 0 Aria Yale, Teppenpaw 0 5

Melanie Lennox, Teppenpaw

August 18, 2013 10:10 PM

There will be concern. by Melanie Lennox, Teppenpaw

Melanie liked Transfiguration, just like she enjoyed most of her classes. She was good at both practical and theory and found both interesting. She didn't even have a reason to be ahead in most of her classes now that Valerie had taken CATS and was only still in Charms and Transfiguration. Plus, the sixth year was well more often so between that and only being in two classes, she didn't even need Melanie to help her as much. Still, the brunette continued to read ahead, because she'd come to realize over the years that she enjoyed doing so.

The one thing that she really didn't like about this class though, was that at the intermediate level, they had to do simple non-living to living (or vice versa) transfigurations. That often involved making bugs. Melanie had a mild phobia of insects and would prefer not to work with them. And she certainly didn't want to create more! Insects-or possibly bacteria, which was actually worse- were the most prolific living creature on the planet, they certainly didn't need to increase in numbers. Of course, if the Teppenpaw was turning a bug into something non-living, it did inspire her to work harder and try and get results faster.

She sighed with relief when Professor Skies said they were going to be using butterflies. The one insect that Melanie didn't have a problem with. In fact, she felt them to be beautiful and fragile. They actually sort of reminded of her of her sister, and not in the 'keep them away from her' way that most insects did. More because the fourth year noticed those similarities. Not that she'd turn Valerie into a butterfly of course, even if she would have had the skill at this point, which of course, she did not.

Come to think of it, Melanie wasn't sure that she could ethically transfigure a human being against it's will. Animal transfiguration was all right, it didn't hurt them, and she'd always been raised with it as a part of life. A human, however, well, they were...sentient. She was sure that being turned into something else wouldn't hurt a person either but it felt more like messing with them. Plus, people were more complex mentally than a butterfly was and if someone wasn't skilled enough, they could cause real damage to a person's mind. It was why Melanie was vehemently against mental magic. She didn't like anything that could harm a person mentally any more than she did things that could physically harm them. This was why she was going to drop Defense. She knew she'd never be able to stand up for what she believed in and get in trouble and instead would end up going along with the lesson and compromise her morals. In some ways, Melanie really admired Aria who seemed to have issues with a few of their classes, for standing up for what she believed in.

However, she had been taught to be a good girl and not fight back. To not cause a scene that would embarrass her family and reflect poorly on their name. It was bad enough when Melanie had refused to do things with her mother because Valerie hadn't been well enough to be able to go too. At least that was never in public, but it still wasn't right to talk back to one's parents. Still, if she had to pick something that was important enough for her to stand up for what she felt was right, that was it. Melanie had never felt right going off and having a good time when her sister was ill, both because it seemed insensitive and because she preferred to spend time with Valerie anyway, even if she wasn't feeling great. The Teppenpaw had liked to be there and cheer her sister up and help the nurse take care of her.

Melanie decided to go right on and try the harder task. This was a subject that came fairly easily to her. She took one of the nature books and paged through it, eventually selecting the Eastern Tailed Blue butterfly. It wasn't an especially fancy one and there was no need to try to be a show off. Not that she necessarily expected that her results would perfect anyway, though she did sort of expect the spell to at least do something. That had been Melanie's usual experience with most spells, especially in Transfiguration.

After making sure to perfect the wand motion and spell pronounciation, she chose a leaf and looked at the picture of the butterfly she wanted to create. Doing so might make her more successful than just trying to imagine it. "Lepidopteria"

The leaf shriveled up and became the cocoon. So far, so good. Melanie watched as it unfolded, presenting her butterfly. Which wasn't really the right color, more that of the leaf than that of an Eastern Tailed Blue butterfly. It was, at least, a start. She was about to try again when she noticed her roommate. Aria was staring down at her leaf and she looked a little...off. "Aria?"" Melanie asked, her voice full of concern. "Are you okay?" Perhaps the other Teppenpaw was ill or something. That would be awful. "Do you want me to get Professor Skies? Do you need to go to the Medic?"

11 Melanie Lennox, Teppenpaw There will be concern. 226 Melanie Lennox, Teppenpaw 0 5

Cepheus

August 19, 2013 5:43 PM

Your motivational presence is another. by Cepheus

Cepheus had always thought Henny was more intelligent than he, or at least that she was better at academics than he was. She was an Aladren, first of all, and she had started the Book Club. If that wasn’t enough, she was also a Prefect this year. He respected her in that regard, though he did not know her nearly as well as he knew her room-mate. He had tried to make more of an effort to approach her and talk to her in classes last year, but he had not had much of a chance to do so the term before. Cepheus wasn’t certain why he was so distant from his own house-mates besides Alex and Gareth, but it helped him in other aspects. Ceph had looked over at Henny’s notes during Professor Skies’s lecture and found her note-taking meticulous and neat. It reminded him of their exam at the end of this year. Cepheus needed to take his CATS and studying a bit more seriously if he was planning to do well.

Her attempt at Transfiguration turned out quite well and he nodded, impressed. “Brava.” The advice he had asked for was readily given and he kept his eyes on her butterfly, noting the colour and design of its wings. “You’re probably right,” he said before sighing. “And I was hoping to be impressive and jump ahead of everyone else.” Ceph was aware that one did not hop, skip and jump through life, but it would have made life so much easier. He smiled at Henny. “Thank you for the tips. Would you mind if I took another look at the book?” As much as Cepheus disliked a few of the students in Henny’s house, he was grateful for the few he was friends with. They made for good company. He flipped through the book again, looking for something simple to begin with. There was a feeling of frustration at not being at the top of the class, but he had accepted years ago that he was simply terrible at Transfiguration and had no hope of improving.

After a few seconds of looking, he decided on the Rusty-tipped Page. Its wings were only three colours; it seemed simple enough. He put the book in the centre of the table in case Henny wanted to look at the book again and then looked at his leaf. The leaf looked as flat as it had been before and Cepheus imagined it curling into a chrysalis and unfurling as a black, white and orange butterfly. “Lepidopteria,” he said. This time he pronounced the incantation carefully and paid a little more attention to his wand movement. The leaf curled into a chrysalis, going from a dark brown to translucent and butterfly emerged. It was not exactly as Cepheus had pictured it. It seemed to missing a couple legs and the wings were too thin to be of much use. Even the colour of the wings seemed dull. But it seemed to be alive and could move, though it could not fly or walk very far. Cepheus’s pity for animals was nearly non-existent when it came to insects, butterflies included, so he watched it struggle for a bit. He wanted to know where he needed to pay closer attention instead of simply cancelling the spell to put the creature out of its misery as he would have done with a hedgehog.

“At least I got the colours right,” he said, proud at the very least of that achievement. “Has your second attempt improved it at all? You’re catching on much faster than I. Is Transfiguration your best class?” Everyone had a best class, or at least a favourite subject. Cepheus, though he was not always very good at potions, enjoyed the class itself. DADA was a close second, but he had the highest marks in DADA. If there had been a literature class Cepheus would have immediately assumed that to be Henny’s favourite. However, as that was not the case, he waited for her answer curiously. One of the reasons why Cepheus enjoyed practical lessons so much was because of the conversations he was able to have with his desk-mates.

0 Cepheus Your motivational presence is another. 0 Cepheus 0 5

Jade Owen

August 21, 2013 3:36 PM

Should suit you, then. by Jade Owen

Midterm had been more or less the same of every midterm preceding it, and while Jade had enjoyed the break, she wasn't completely sorry to be back at school, throwing herself half-heartedly into its many diversion and distractions. She could take or leave most of her classes, CoMC being the obvious and wonderful exception, although she was appreciative of the constant reminders her professors offered concerning the fifth years' upcoming examinations. Jade was actually trying marginally harder than usual, because she didn't actually want to fail anything, but average grades were her aim, so she wasn't breaking a sweat. It was fun, however, to watch her classmates do the same.

Unfortunately, professor Skies seemed inclined to make Jade uncomfortable in an entirely different fashion. Why on earth would they ever need to transfigure a butterfly? The concept was bewildering. The Pecari tuned in and out throughout the opening lecture, focusing the larger part of her attention on playing with the frayed ends of a strip of black fabric that she had wrapped a couple of times around her wrist and knotted tightly; she liked to think of it as anti-jewellery. In truth, it was a replacement for her previous fidget aid, as she had taken to wearing her hair tied up all the time, instead of just for Quidditch, rather than leaving it to curl and knot itself around her shoulders all day, as had been her previous practise. Since she'd started brushing it with some regularity, she found it tangled less if it spent all day being secured in some fashion, with less chance of it getting caught in her clothes, bag straps, and the like. With the ends of her tresses inaccessible to idle hands, Jade fussed with ribbons, instead.

Adamant that she was not going to participate in the required assignment, Jade faked an interest in admiring pictures of leaves and butterflies while her classmates set to work. She was only compelled to raise her wand when Jorge managed a reasonably successful first attempt at the spell. "Laubis," she cast with the requisite flick, reverting her companion's insect back to its original state.

0 Jade Owen Should suit you, then. 221 Jade Owen 0 5

Aria Yale

August 21, 2013 8:24 PM

That's something, I guess by Aria Yale

Aria was having trouble breathing. All she could think about was the little butterfly that she had locked away in a cocoon because she was not capable of doing the spell properly. She had allowed her emotions to get the better of her and because of that, an innocent creature had to suffer. The Professor and everyone kept saying that the living things couldn’t feel any pain but she knew different. How could they not? Something terrible would go wrong, if a person could feel it, then a creature could too. The butterfly probably felt panic and confusion, possibly even worse. She had done that to the butterfly. It was her fault. She hadn’t been able to do the spell correctly and that had caused a terrible thing to a living creature.

Aria fought the urge to storm out of the room and cleanse herself of her errors. It was like her soul was filled with black tar and she felt nauseated over what she had done. She knew she was over-reacting in some way. She had watched several others over the course of the last year or so when they started with the animate transfiguration and none of them seemed at all perturbed whenever they did not adequately transfigure an animal. Aria was also aware that her anguish over something that everyone else didn’t blink an eye over was probably putting her on the ‘least favorite student’ list that Professor Skies had. It wasn’t that Aria meant to be like that, it was something that should could not simply brush aside. Her whole life, she was taught to believe that animals and creatures alike, were all equals. Animals could not voice their rights and so, Humans forcing their ways onto them was not within the their rights to do so. It was like slavery to humans. That was how Aria equated it. They were using animals as slaves. The idea unbalanced her. She didn’t even like the thought of the school using Prairie Elves, but there was little she could do about it. From what she understood of them, freedom scared them. They took it as utter dishonor to be freed. She didn’t understand it, but she had yet to see a Prairie Elf mistreated during her time here, so she prayed that they were happy.

Aria wanted to continue with Transfiguration, she did, but she was not inane enough to believe that this would get any better for her. Perhaps Professor Skies could work with her independently with Mechanical transfiguration after her CATS examinations, but Aria thought that was asking too much of the professor who disliked her. It saddened her to have to acknowledge that. She had hoped that she could overcome this problem for her, but it just seemed too difficult to forget 14 years of teachings. She hated the idea of being a disappoint to an authority figure, but she knew that was what she was to Professor Skies.

Words returned to her ears and she realized that her roommate, Melanie, was talking with her. Aria’s blue eyes turned slowly from the leaf to rest on her classmate. “I do not need the Medic or Professor Skies.” She answered, her own voice sounded thick to her. “I just… don’t want to do the assignment anymore.” She advised. “Professor Skies will be upset with me, but I tried, I did. I just wasn’t able to complete it.”

6 Aria Yale That's something, I guess 228 Aria Yale 0 5

Jorge

August 24, 2013 3:17 PM

Always so sweet with the compliments. by Jorge

Jorge hadn’t had enough time to really assess the situation for the butterfly when it was suddenly transfigured back into a leaf. At first, Jorge had thought this spell had been too weak to hold the Transfiguration properly, but then turned to find Jade’s wand pointed in his direction leaving him to conclude that she had released the spell on the leaf.

Jorge took a breath. He knew that Jade was just being Jade. He totally could support that. She knew who she was and that she didn’t give a crap about other people’s thoughts or whatever. That was fine. He didn’t mind her pranks on him (well, he did mind but not enough to really be bothered by it) or when she interrupted him for her whatever schemes she needed to do, but when it came to his schoolwork, he did mind. If Jade didn’t care about her grades, that was fine, but Jorge did care about his and he didn’t want her to intrude upon his schoolwork when he was trying to work the spell out correctly. It impeded him and he did not appreciate it.

He didn’t say any of that though because Jorge did not anger easily and he felt that being angry dispelled too much energy for him to really be worked up enough to do. Instead, he took a moment to review the leaf that was now lying on his desk. He was just going to have to do the spell again anyway because it hadn’t been perfect the first time around, so really, Jade was doing him a favor, but it didn’t mean that he really had to like it all that much.

After a few moments had passed, Jorge gave a nod to Jade, “Saved me the trouble, thanks.” He commented, “But, you might want to actually try it on your own leaf first before you take care of mine.” Whether Jade did the spell herself or not didn’t really matter to Jorge, just as long as she left his alone until he had perfected the spell.

Jorge took another moment to return to the thoughts of butterflies. He still had the one he had originally picked firmly in his mind, he just needed better control over the spell. With better confidence than the first time around, Jorge pointed his wand at the leaf, spoke ’Lepidopteria’, making sure he emphasized the ‘ter’ part and moved his wand appropriately. He watched as the leaf curled once again into a nice cocoon and then burst into another butterfly. This time, the bottom layer was black in color and the top part was a lovely royal blue, although it didn’t have the right sort of shimmer that the butterflies tended to have. Still not perfect, but at least it was closer to it.

“Are you still deciding on a butterfly?” Jorge asked Jade.

6 Jorge Always so sweet with the compliments. 0 Jorge 0 5

Jade

August 24, 2013 3:41 PM

You know me by Jade

Spending time with Jorge over the past few years had alerted Jade to his laid back attitude, but still she always appreciated that he didn't ever go crazy at her for some of the stuff she pulled on him. On the one hand, it would sort of make her pranks more worth while if he did react to them, but on the other, she had never intended to seriously annoy him. She shrugged when he suggested she try the spell herself, and went back to scanning the colourful pictures, watching Jorge out of the corner of her eye.

It wasn't long before he made another butterfly, and Jade gave up pretense, openly turning her attention to the black and blue insect he had magically created. Her eye twitched when it flapped its wings, threatening to take flight from the table.

"Stop doing that," she hissed at him, completely oblivious to the question he had just asked her, the tips of her fingers turning white as she gripped the table top distinctly more firmly than was necessary. A movement to her left caused her head to jerk away from it in a ducking motion, and she raised her wand to perform the counter-spell, as she had just done with Jorge's first attempt, but the butterfly turned tail (did they have tails?) and flew back in the other direction. Jade turned back to back to Jorge's insect, still perched on the desk, and, sensitive to his academic requirements, cast "Impedimeta," freezing the beast in place.

"This is a stupid class," she said, sounding distracted. Her head was uncharacteristically shrunk into her shoulders, rather than being arrogantly held high, gloating over whoever happened to hear her. She resolutely did not lower her wand, and she was watching Jorge's butterfly with her wayward eyebrows creased into a frown.

0 Jade You know me 0 Jade 0 5

Jorge

August 24, 2013 7:33 PM

Too well, apparently. by Jorge

Jade’s sudden statement did not make sense to the question he posed to her and the underlining hostility towards him did not reflect anything that had just transpired between them. He was confused by her to say the least. On top of that, she looked either like she was about to throw a punch at him or like she was going to run for her life. Anger and fear sometimes looked way too similar to one another.

He watched Jade with trepidation since she did not know which of these two things she was going to do. Another butterfly came by and Jade seemed to freak out even more before finally deciding to just freeze his and prevent him from being able to continue on with the lesson. At least she didn’t return it to a leaf.

Jorge frowned at her while she sat looking grumpy in her seat. “Geez, Jade, what is your problem?” He asked her, slight irritation in his voice since she had, yet again, used her wand against his school work. “You need to stop messing with my leaf.” He advised, unfreezing the butterfly on his desk and returning it to the original state, which was the leaf. He didn’t know if he should make any sort of comment or joke regarding Jade’s behavior, he was a little concern about it and worried that she would use her wand against him instead of the butterfly.

Deciding that it might be a safe place to say something at all with the Professor around, Jorge leaned in closer to Jade to study her. “You’ve been wearing your hair up, I’ve noticed.” He commented. He remembered their conversation in the gardens and half wondered if she started this to prove a point. Either way, small talk might help her forget the flying insects for a moment and get her to relax somewhat.

“Does this mean that you might have actually listened to me when we talked?” He attempted to tease, but he was still aware of the wand in her hand and was not attempting to make her any angrier than she might have already been. “Anyway, if you are morally opposed to butterflies or whatever you are currently feeling for this lesson, not staring at the item in which you are having issues with might be your best option to make through the class period.” Jorge offered as a suggested and moral support.

6 Jorge Too well, apparently. 0 Jorge 0 5

Alicia Bauer, Aladren

August 26, 2013 10:46 PM

Do I dare disturb the universe? by Alicia Bauer, Aladren

Alicia grimaced as she leaned against the wall outside the Transfiguration classroom, hurriedly sipping the last of her jasmine tea. Finishing, she ran her hand over the side of her face, which felt flushed after the rapid consumption of the beverage, and then pointed her wand at the cup.

“Evanesco,” she said, and it vanished. Straightening up and shrugging, she tucked her hair back behind her ears and entered the classroom, hurrying toward the front in the hopes that all the good seats weren’t already gone and still annoyed with herself for deciding she had time for a drink after Defense. Now her schedule was all off and she had failed to be one of the first people in Transfiguration, making her forgettable for the day. Not to mention been seen drinking it in the hallway, which to her was a clear marker of someone who was not on top of her schedule. The sight of upper-level or near-upper-level students desperately gulping down one more coffee or tea or juice or Wit-Sharpening Potion or whatever they thought would get them through the next hour in the halls was hardly unusual, but Alicia liked to think she was better than that. No – she liked to be better than that.

Today, though, she hadn’t been. She’d just have to do better tomorrow.

She got settled and ready to take notes just as Professor Skies began the class, and smiled back brightly at the professor’s stern look when they were warned not to get too sentimental about the butterflies. The point was a good one – it was hypocritical, doing whatever to a caterpillar but refusing to do it to a butterfly, when they were essentially the same organism – but she couldn’t help being amused by the impossibility of the situation it created. If they were not squeamish at all, had no boundaries they couldn’t help discriminating along, they’d be marked as deviant, and for good reason; if they were squeamish about everything, they’d run into the territory of the girl who had to have special lessons in every other class. Either way, Skies would have a dreadful time teaching them all Transfiguration, between the one group refusing to lift their wands and the other group forgetting the actual assignment in favor of practicing the Cruciatus Curse on whatever non-humans they could get their loophole-loving hands on.

Her thought took a more serious turn as the professor went on and she continued taking notes without needing to pay an excess of attention to do so. Beauty had value, it required extraordinary quality to make up for a lack of it, but in people, it didn’t determine morality. Why, then, didn’t they assume the same about inanimate objects which were beautiful? There were, she thought, a number of poisonous creatures which were lovely to look at, but would kill with a touch. Was that part of the appeal? Beauty was - appeal was, that was better – appeal was in what could hurt them? Obviously the butterflies they might produce, or turn into leaves, today couldn’t hurt them, but for some people, it would be upsetting to damage it, so that was a different kind of pain – the attraction was in knowing something could hurt them, even if that was through them hurting it?

It sounded like nonsense, even to her, but it made sense to her at the same time, thinking of what mattered to her. What could hurt her, and what she could hurt….

The spell was demonstrated, and she shook her head slightly, hoping to clear it. Next time, she decided, she’d have mint as the secondary element in her tea, not jasmine. It would perk her up a little, clear her head a little more than the jasmine did. She ran her hand over the side of her hair, stopping just behind her ear, and then picked up her wand, deciding to get a basic grip on the spell before she started working toward the complicated wing patterns. She’d get there quickly enough.

“Lepidop - oh, hang it,” she muttered, stumbling over the word and nearly saying plain ‘Lepidoptera’ instead. The perils of a large vocabulary. "Lepidopteria," she repeated, and the leaf began to struggle to life, greenish wings beating, antennae tips trying to twitch, feet still attached to a stem. She quickly terminated the spell.

"Well," she added with a smile. If that happened in an exam situation, she was sure she would have a breakdown and never show her face again, but for a first attempt, she didn't think it was bad. Not bad at all. She considered looking at the butterfly book before trying again, in case a real picture helped, but then decided that would just make her picture something too complicated for a second attempt. She picked up her wand to try again and glanced at her neighbor.

"Would a luna moth count, you think?" she asked. She knew the word 'Lepidoptera,' but not much about the subject itself beyond recognizing monarchs.

16 Alicia Bauer, Aladren Do I dare disturb the universe? 210 Alicia Bauer, Aladren 0 5

Jade

August 29, 2013 4:30 PM

Well you're still clueless about some things. by Jade

"Geez, Jade, what is your problem?" Jorge said, doing nothing to improve Jade's mood. Then he went all Aladren about her messing with his precious butterfly. What was his issue? He'd made the butterfly already, he'd done the spell, what the hell did it matter if she froze it in place? She couldn't think of anything suitably scathing to retort, however, so settled for a stony silence; at least he had turned his leaf back into a butterfly again. Maybe he would just let it be, now.

In the beautiful, butterfly-void aftermath, Jade allowed her muscles to relax a little, feeling the tension leave her shoulders temporarily. Letting her guard down meant that when Jorge commented on her recent hairstyles, Jade was again lacking a witty reply. She simply shrugged in response, and chewed the inside of her lip as she contemplated whether or not she cared that someone had noticed she'd started wearing her hair up. "Does this mean that you might have actually listened to me when we talked?"

"Don't flatter yourself," she said easily, with a half-second laugh of derision. She wasn't about to give him the satisfaction of knowing that something he'd said had actually had an effect on her. If he'd noticed the hair, she definitely wasn't going to draw attention to the jeans she was wearing, which were loose-fitting with lots of pockets that she had chosen herself from a thrift store, nor to the white tee with red stars on it, also that she had chosen herself, both of which were mostly concealed by her robes at present. She was never going to spend hours in the bathroom primping each day, but she couldn't deny that she felt a lot more comfortable in clothes that she had selected, that perhaps reflected her personality a little better than just making do with whatever cast-offs happened to fit. Letting Jorge know that she had actually listened to his advice would be painful enough; indicating that he was right would be insufferable.

Then he went back onto butterflies again, but with some genuinely idiotic assumptions. "I am not morally opposed to butterflies," she said firmly, unsure whether to be more amused or affronted. "I have no objection whatsoever to staring at them. Or not - I don't care either way." Which was sort of true - so long as the butterflies were immobilised or pictures in a book, she could look at them no problem. It was when they were flying around her head that they gave her the creeps. Bats, small birds, moths and butterflies were all infernal creatures once they took flight. She knew it was a perfectly reasonable aversion, but that didn't mean that other people were going to understand, and Jade certainly wasn't keen to enlighten them. So, resuming some of her earlier grump, she added, "You keep on playing with your pretty little butterfly, if that's what makes you happy."

0 Jade Well you're still clueless about some things. 0 Jade 0 5

Jorge

August 31, 2013 4:03 PM

That's bound to happen by Jorge

Jorge smirked at her. He wouldn’t say anything again because she was already in a sour mood, but he was pretty sure she had listened to him, at least in some small way. He didn’t think much of her hair down or up other than when she left it down, she let it end up looking gross by the end of the day, but at least when it was up, she looked more put together than usual. And people could see her face more. When she wasn’t eating or talking nonsense that had him label her as Monster Mouth years ago, she was cute, so having her hair out of her face flattered her. Of course, he already commented on her looks once and was called a gargoyle in return, so he wasn’t likely to do so again any time in the near future.

He was glad though that she at least realized that her appearance could be more suitable for herself if she tried. Jorge was not a fashion expert in any sense of the terms. His clothing consisted of jeans and tee shirts, sometimes with band names or something on them, but usually just a solid color. Depending on the weather, these shirts would be either long sleeved or short sleeved. On occasion, he even dressed it up a bit with a plaid shirt or button down. And, of course, a nice pair of sneakers. This was what he knew as fashion. It was easy and comfortable but mostly it was him. He had better understanding of her financial life at home, but he felt that there were ways around not being able to purchase the clothes that they wanted. His sister, Lita, was not even 5 feet in height. Everything that she bought, their mother altered to fit her. Otherwise, she’d have to spend her entire life in children’s clothes. It could be done.

Jade confused him pretty much in every conversation that they were ever in together. She came off as this bad ass sort of girl. Someone who would never let anything get her down or get in her way. Someone who didn’t give a hoot as to how others thought of her. But then, she kept giving him glimpses of her vulnerable side. The side that reminded him she was still human, still had feelings, and still very much a girl. Not in a negative way that some people might take it, but just that she wasn’t a guy to joke around with some of the time. So, she had no issue with butterflies, but was having a fit with them in class…. That did not make any sense to him, which led him to believe that she was scared of them.

“My parents and the Professor would be happy if I continued to keep playing with my pretty little butterfly.” Jorge corrected her. “Believe it or not, I prefer to keep my parents happy by producing good grades. That way, I can still play my instruments.” He advised. He was looking forward to the saxophone this summer. He promised his mother he would practice the piano too. He wasn’t sure why she was so stuck on that one, but he would do as he was told.

“So, if you aren’t morally opposed to the butterflies then…” Jorge looked at her closely for a moment. She was grumpy and, if he saw correctly, agitated. “Are you scared of them?” Jorge asked curiously. He had never known anyone to be terrified of a butterfly. Most people thought they were wonderful things.

6 Jorge That's bound to happen 0 Jorge 0 5

Jade

September 01, 2013 4:17 PM

Own your failings. by Jade

"Believe it or not, I prefer to keep my parents happy by producing good grades," Jorge said, and Jade made a scoffing noise. She was starting to have grave doubts about him having been sorted into Pecari after all; he was sounding more like an Aladren every minute. She only with-held her teacher's pet and mamma's boy comments because he added the lame quantifier of his instruments.

A moment later, however, she wished she hadn't held her tongue, as he dared to suggest that she was scared of butterflies. "I'm not scared of them," she said quickly, and with so much derision that even she could hear it didn't sound honest. Jade closed her mouth again, and graced Jorge with a long, calculating look. Eventually, she sighed, and said, "I don't like things flying towards my face." She spoke levelly, truthfully, and looked at Jorge as if she were daring him to laugh. Of course she wasn't frightened of butterflies, that would be absurd, but she didn't like the sensation of something fluttering into her personal space and obscuring her vision and that, she felt, was perfectly reasonable. She had convinced herself, she could probably convince everyone else, too.

She really hoped that Jorge wouldn't make fun of her, because if he did, she would have to remind him that she had seen his boggart, and that is was a small, Hispanic woman, who Jade was relatively sure was his mother. That gem of information had been stowed away for future humiliation, and Jade would prefer to use it on her terms, not his. She was already on edge, being in a room full of fluttery, flittery fiends, and now she had admitted her dislike of them to the one person who might actually use it against her in the future... all in good humour, of course.

0 Jade Own your failings. 0 Jade 0 5

Jorge

September 02, 2013 12:16 AM

Didn't I just do that? by Jorge

Jorge looked at Jade dubiously when she denied being scared of the flying creatures. Her hostility towards anything at the moment was suggesting otherwise and perhaps she didn’t like to admit such a thing to anyone. He wouldn’t have admitted to being scared of butterflies either. That seemed like a silly thing to be petrified of considering they were completely harmless. His mother was his worst fear, which he found completely logical and any sane person who had seen her on her ‘angry mom’ side would completely agree with that. Heck, he’d lump both his grandmothers and great grandmothers into that category too. Hispanic women were scary if you did something they did not agree with.

Her explanation, however, made him pause in his thoughts. He looked thoughtful for a moment while he took in her argument. So it wasn’t the butterfly that bothered her so much but the flying motion of it. That made more sense to him than being anxious over a butterfly. Summers must be very difficult for her if just the motion of a butterfly set her off into this agitated state of being. She enjoyed being outdoors, that much he had gathered, but he had to wonder how much she actually enjoyed of it. Where he was and where he often visited, butterflies and other flying bugs were pretty much unavoidable.

“So, you hate the flying aspect of them. Okay.” He said after a moment. “Is it restricted to butterflies or do you get this anxious around dragonflies and other flying bugs too?” He asked her. He was curious to know if it were only certain things that bothered her or if it were all things with wings.

It was clear that her mood was not going to get any better during the lesson and now Jorge was placed at a crossroads. He wanted to keep doing the lesson until he could perfect it after only one try. But he knew that if he did continue to turn his leaf into a butter fly, he would then be putting Jade in a spot of agitation, which would likely lead to her doing things to his butterfly and annoying him as a result. But if he didn’t continue to do the lesson, the Professor might notice and think he hadn’t bothered to try at all, which would lead to him getting a low mark and potentially keep him from being able to learn the saxophone. This did not at all play out well for him no matter what he chose to do.

“Would closing your eyes help at all so that you aren’t freaking out every three seconds?” Jorge asked her. He didn’t know if it was one of those ‘out of sight, out of mind’ things or if she’d freak out even more because she knew they were there and couldn’t see them.

6 Jorge Didn't I just do that? 0 Jorge 0 5

Jade

September 06, 2013 3:04 PM

What do you want, a medal? by Jade

To his credit, Jorge didn't laugh at her, and Jade went back to her earlier fidgeting with the straps of fabric tied around her wrists as her companion made further inquiries about this particular idiosyncrasy. "Mostly butterflies," she said, actually thinking critically about the creatures that made her nervous. Dragonflies didn't for some reason; neither did ladybugs, wasps, bees, or flying ants. "It must be the flapping," she concluded, making a sub-conscious flapping motion with her hand as she said so. "I don't like bats flying round me, either," that happened often at home if she went out after dark, "or small birds." Oddly enough, she wasn't overly comfortable with the Snitch, either, but seeing as her aim on the pitch was to catch the ball, not caring whether she crushed it into oblivion in the process because it wasn't a living creature, she managed to cope with that just fine.

Jade had noticed that Jorge had stopped attempting the spell for the time being. It was sweet of him... sort of chivalrous. She kind of wanted to pat him on the back for making an effort to put someone else before himself, but she was still marginally pissed at him for making her confess in the first place, instead of just quitting while he was ahead. "Nah, if I close my eyes my imagination makes it worse," she dismissed his suggestion. Jade glanced up at the door, as if contemplating just packing the lesson in altogether, but there were a number of flying insects between her and freedom; she was safer staying put and sucking it up.

"I'll survive," she said dryly, returning her concentration to her books, hoping that by reading the theory and looking at enough pictures of butterflies that if she did, by some unfortunate stroke of bad luck, have to perform this particular spell in her exams, she would have a fighting chance at pulling it off. "You go on ahead and make your pretty flutterby to keep your Mommy happy," she added, her grumpiness gone, replaced instead by a scathing mischief.

0 Jade What do you want, a medal? 0 Jade 0 5

Jorge

September 07, 2013 10:19 PM

It would be nice. by Jorge

Based on what she was saying, it seemed that anything with large enough wings to see was what bothered her so much. Jorge grinned when she mentioned bats, “I’m pretty sure most people would agree with that statement.” He commented. He remembered when a bat was caught in their house one summer night when he was about five or six. Something so easy as a flick of a wand would have solved the problem, but his mother and sisters still screamed like banshees until their father came home and took care of it. It had been a strange night for him as a small child, but now he liked to use that story against his sisters. Maybe he could learn to transfigure and apple into a bat and scare his sisters when he saw them in the summer… He’d probably get into lots of trouble, but sometimes it was worth it. He hadn’t done anything like that to them in a long time. He was sure they’d have a laugh about it afterwards.

Just as suddenly as Jade’s sour mood began, it returned in full force. Well, they were having an adult conversation for all of five minutes before she had to become snotty again and for some reason throw insult to his mother while she was at it. All he had done was ask her a question to see if it would help her with her displeasure of the assignment and she had to go all ‘Jade’ on him. He didn’t really understand why he put up with her insults for so long. Sometimes they were amusing and didn’t offend him in the least, other times he felt that she was just a mean person inside and out. Her insults went beyond those of a friend poking fun. He didn’t appreciate it.

“Mock my mom all you want, Jade, I don’t care what you think about her.” He was over his conversation with her. “I’m sorry for trying to find a way to help you through the lesson, I’ll be sure to not bother the next time we have flying objects to charm.” He stated; his annoyance with her clear. Jorge turned back to his leaf on his desk and tried to put Jade completely out of his mind. He had no idea how anyone handled her for a longer period of time and he suddenly had a lot of sympathy for her roommates.

6 Jorge It would be nice. 0 Jorge 0 5

Jade

September 08, 2013 3:59 PM

Keep dreaming. by Jade

So bats freaked most people out, but butterflies - which were essentially smaller bats, really - were considered beautiful. jade didn't get it. In fact, she was certain that there were people who didn't like moths, either, and nobody seemed to ridicule them. It's just because butterflies were pretty that they weren't considered a threat, and that was completely ridiculous. Not to mention prejudiced; what sort of society judged on looks alone... oh, wait, yeah that made sense. Unlike Jorge's sudden attitude problem.

"Take a chill pill," she instructed, wondering at what point he'd decided to take anything she said seriously and let it aggravate him into getting grumpy with her. It was sort of cool, as it showed he could actually get riled up if she pushed the right buttons. Was it his mother, maybe? Or he might just be in a grump anyway, he had been Aladren-keen on doing the assignment. "And I don't think anything particular about your mom, I've never met her," she pointed out. She didn't make it a habit to form opinions of complete strangers.

She was aware that Jorge was probably ignoring her, as he'd turned away from her and was regarding his leaf again. Jade sighed; she wished he wouldn't have got his knickers all in a twist. Now who was she supposed to talk to? Grumpily, she glared at her own leaf, and tentatively reached for her wand. Maybe she could give the spell a try. After all, she could turn it back again if she didn't like it. Besides, it wasn't like she could chat with a friend now he'd gone all moody on her, and Professor Skies might have noticed she wasn't doing any work. Sighing again, Jade raised her wand, braced herself, and cast the stupid spell.

She was sort of relieved that it didn't instantly work as it should. The leaf was now butterfly-shaped, and its wings twitched a little, but it still looked very much life a leaf in colour and texture. It was probably a seriously useful disguise, and would undoubtedly survive in the wild, but Jade wasn't certain it would get her a passing grade. It was a shape, because her butter-leaf was starting to grow on her. She didn't lower he wand, but she did sit looking at it for a short while, content for it to be in her presence so long as it didn't try moving.

0 Jade Keep dreaming. 0 Jade 0 5