Professor Skies
October 18, 2013 5:13 PM
Beginners Transfiguration - Like a rubber ball by Professor Skies
“Good morning class. Welcome to Beginners Transfiguration, or welcome back to our second years. I am Deputy Headmistress Skies but please address as me as Professor, as that's much easier,” she smiled. She didn't want any of her new students to feel intimidated by the fact that they were being taught by The Deputy Headmistress. Yes, she wanted their respect, but fear was not the way to earn that.“The magic you will learn in this classroom is very complex. It can take time to get results, and thus I do not want you to be disheartened if you do not see results as quickly in here as you do in other classes. You will achieve results at different rates - I will be happy so long as I am convinced that you are working to your full potential, be that an A or an O,” the grading system of the wizarding world would have been included in the preliminary information they had been sent about the school, so hopefully that made sense to everyone. “That said, I will not tolerate slacking, nor messing about. Transfiguration can still be very dangerous if misapplied. The desks are spell-proofed against transformation and fire but that is a reassurance not a challenge.
“The process of Transfiguration involves a large amount of visualisation. You have to be able to picture your source object becoming the target. The more detailed your mental picture, the easier it will be. To this end, when you are new to my class, I ask you to use Transfiguration tables,” she waved her wand and a stack of papers began making their way around the class, handing themselves out to the first years, “Second years should now be familiar enough to write these from scratch, or simply make their own notes. The table, as you will see, lists aspects of the object – its form, its size, its colour and so on. Note the differences and similarities between the object you are transforming and the one for which you are aiming. This will help you to add all the relevant detail to your mental image, as well as saving you energy on those aspects which you have identified as being the same. For example, if I was turning this pebble into a bouncy ball, I can see that they're already a similar size and have some characteristics of shape in common – this is roundish, though the ball would need to be perfectly spherical. If I had a ball made of a different material, it would be easier, as that would be all I would be changing, but if I had a very jagged, square rock, that would be much harder than using this nice smooth pebble.
“You are all going to be undertaking such a project today. First years, please take a pebble. Second years may choose a pebble or a more uneven rock,” she instructed. With another wave of her wand, she sent a cardboard box hovering around the room. As the term went on she would let the first years choose the level at which they wished to work but for now they all needed to cover the basics. Those who got through them faster might want to move on earlier.
“The spell is Hevea regardless of which object you are starting out with. This means it is a target spell. For homework, I would like you to look up the definition of this term, its opposite and find three examples of each. You will need a circular wand motion, like so,” she explained, demonstrating slowly. “When you put it all together, it should look like this... Hevea,” she cast, twirling her wand faster than she had previously. The stone in her hand smoothly slid into a small, bright red ball. She demonstrated its new properties by bouncing it off her desk.
“You may talk quietly amongst yourselves. If you are stuck, ask your peers or raise your hand. You may begin.”
OOC – welcome to Transfiguration. Posts will be marked on length, creativity, realism and relevance, and must be a minimum of 200 words. Please remember that your character is a beginner – they will not be perfect straight away, and the points you earn for this class will be based on the quality of your writing, rather than how well you claim your character did.
If you need Professor Skies, please tag her in the subject line (write 'Tag Professor Skies) and do not allow a situation to get out of control before giving me a chance to intervene (she is a competent professional and would not, for example, allow you to bleed to death having blown your own leg off before she noticed and lifted a finger to help. That said, please don't blow your own leg off. That might be a tad melodramatic).
If you have any questions as an author about how classes work, please ask them on the OOC board.
Subthreads: I wish things bounced easily away... by Emery Kijewski-Jareau, Aladren with Emrys Lucan, Aladren, Dimitri Porter, Teppenpaw
Bouncing high to the sky. by Leo Princeton, Crotalus with Ji-Eun Park, Pecari, Leo Princeton
Feeling more surly than bouncy by Ariel Thornton, Crotalus with Isaac Douglas, Crotalus
Back to this school stuff... by Liliana Bannister, Pecari with Atlas Primred, Pecari
Bouncing around by Brandon Carey, Pecari with Ava Fletcher, Aladren
Failure by Serena Brockert, Teppenpaw
A too small one unfortunately. by Duncan Brockert, Teppenpaw
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Professor Skies
Beginners Transfiguration - Like a rubber ball
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Professor Skies
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Emery Kijewski-Jareau, Aladren
October 21, 2013 6:59 PM
I wish things bounced easily away... by Emery Kijewski-Jareau, Aladren
Emery was exhausted. He hadn’t been sleeping very well and the dark circles under his eyes showed it. Summers were meant to be relaxing. They were meant to wind the children down after a tough year at school and let them have some fun with friends and family. But that didn’t really happen for Emery and his family. He had been able to see some of his friends, but he didn’t get to spend that much time with them. His brother had gotten sick, really sick. His parents were struggling to keep everything together. Emery didn’t understand how they managed without breaking down, but they seemed steady.His green eyes flickered over to where his sister was seated. She was taking it very hard. Chloe had taken to Angel and Ayita much faster than Emery had. She was close to both of them and so Angel getting sick and Ayita going to college and not being here was putting a very dark cloud over his usually chipper sister. It was a strange thing to see. Over the summer, Emery took it upon himself to get Chloe and Harper out of their parents’ hair as much as possible. Harper loved Angel and being as small as she was, she was often upset that she couldn’t be around him. She also became upset when Chloe was upset, so keeping the both of them away from their sick brother was the only way that Emery thought was the most helpful to his parents.
The thing with being back though, it hasn’t helped lesson his worry. He didn’t have friends here. Even his own roommate hadn’t even bothered to ask how things were with his brother. Emery really wasn’t sure what he had said or done to have his roommate completely disregard him after the feast last year but he couldn’t deny that it stung a little. Plus, it wasn’t like anyone else was jumping at the chance to be his friend either. Emery really believed that it was the fact that he was the Headmistress’s son that had people avoiding him. The summer had been hard enough trying to keep everything together, but the school year will just make it all worse having to keep it up only this time without his friends.
Having tried to keep the household together during the summer had worn him out. Chloe cried too much, Harper cried too much, Ayita was busying helping out mom and Jeff, it was all so overwhelming. He hardly had any time to keep up with his summer readings for school and now… now he was back in school lost with everyone else.
Emery sat quietly in his seat, taking notes on the lesson. So much had changed since last year and he knew after this year it would change even more once his mom had left to care for Angel full time. It was strange to him that Professor Skies was the new Deputy. Coach Pierce had seemed a little more laid back than their Transfiguration Professor, so now Emery had the idea that things would just become more complicated. He didn’t even want to think about the Concert.
He took a random pebble from the box, not paying much attention to it. He filled out the box as he was supposed to, but his heart wasn’t into it. Emery worked hard for his grades, but the year was still new and he was still tired. Emery stared at his pebble, realizing for the first time that it was not a smooth, round one, but one that had edges, and he sighed. “I missed the pronunciation of the spell, do you remember it?” Emery asked the person seated beside him.
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Emery Kijewski-Jareau, Aladren
I wish things bounced easily away...
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Emery Kijewski-Jareau, Aladren
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Emrys Lucan, Aladren
October 22, 2013 2:17 AM
Sometimes they just stick, don't they? by Emrys Lucan, Aladren
Emrys had felt awkward talking to his roommate since their last conversation at the Welcoming Feast a whole year ago. But he knew what it was like to have a sick family member- his aunt on his mother's side had scummed to a muggle disease a few years back and though he didn't remember it much, he still felt the impact that it took on their family. At first, while he hadn't known that Emery was the Headmistress' son, he'd soon found out afterwards but when the Headmistress made that announcement he hadn't really connected the dots until just then when he walked into Transfiguration and saw Emery looking so tired. Perhaps he ought to ease his life a little, give him someone to talk to. He hadn't seen Emery talk to anyone in the past year and he himself had only talked to Charlotte and now that his cousin was making fantastic connections and all sorts of friends at Hogwarts Emrys figured he should have a few of his own.He slipped into the seat beside Emery and took notes diligently- this year he was taking his studies extra seriously. He wasn't sure how to start a conversation with Emery though so he decided he'd wait for his roommate to speak. He went up with the rest of the class taking a pebble, filled out the sheet just like them and then proceeded to start practicing the spell.
"I missed the pronunciation of the spell, do you remember it?"
It was the opening he'd been waiting for. "Yeah, hold on," Emrys flipped back a page in his notebook and showed his roommate what he had written down in case he wanted to copy it into his own notes. "Hevea," he pronounced slowly as he pointed to the part of his notebook that he'd written down the pronunciation. He'd meant not to say anything about it but now that he was talking to Emery he really noticed the toll the sickness of Angel was taking on Emery. "You look awful, how do you feel?" He scrunched up his eyebrows in concern.
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Emrys Lucan, Aladren
Sometimes they just stick, don't they?
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Emrys Lucan, Aladren
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Some things do...don't they? by Dimitri Porter, Teppenpaw
Dimitri rushed partially towards his first official class of the term. The curly haired Teppenpaw grumbled to himself as he made his way up to class. He silently prayed that thanks to his cruddy alarm clock and vanishing clothing (his shirt decided to play hide and seek on him) he was running a tad late for class. Since Transfig was one of his better classes he didn't want to mess it up. He had gotten his marks for the year by owl and was relatively pleased with his overall marks. His parents hadn't grounded him for them so he figured he must not be doing too badly. He had no idea what grades his sister got and he figured if Darina wanted him to know she would tell him.Dimitri slipped into class just before Professor Skies began greeting everyone. He politely waved hello to her as he took the empty seat beside Emery. He had enjoyed talking to the other boy the last time they worked together and was glad he may be working with him again. It felt a tad weird to be coming back as a second year, but it didn't feel that weird. At least he had made it through his first year without bombing it. Dimitri listened to Professor Skies greet the class and explain their first assignment. He reached into the box and pulled out an odd shaped pebble. He didn't think it should be that hard turning it into a round red rubber ball. He decided he'd give it a try after he said a proper hello to Emery.
Dimitri was just getting ready to speak when Emery asked him a question. Dimitri smiled pleasantly at him before replying. "Hey Emery," he greeted cheerfully. "Its good to see you again," he told the other boy before answering him. "I believe the correct pronunciation was Hevea," he replied pretty confident about his answer. "I hope it helped." Dimitri gave Emery a thoughtful look before he spoke again. "I'm sorry about your brother," he told Emery . "That had to be really rough. I'd never met Angel, but my cousin Clara told me he was a really nice guy. Well...she thought so anyway."Dimitri offered Emery a friendly smile before reaching into his book bag and pulling out a folded sheet of paper. "Before I forget again, I meant to give this to you before we left for the summer. Unfortunately I completely forgot because I'm terrible at remembering this stuff," he grinned apologetically at Emery. On the folded piece of paper was Dimitri's address. "Feel free to write anytime," he told the other boy. "I look forward to hearing from you over the break. If you feel like writing," he pleasantly told the other boy. Dimitri had been so caught up in his own thoughts he actually forgot what he was supposed to be doing.
"This is going to sound odd, but what were we doing again?" he asked curiously. "I've seem to have forgotten." He actually laughed slightly at his own foolishness.
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Dimitri Porter, Teppenpaw
Some things do...don't they?
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Dimitri Porter, Teppenpaw
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Bouncing high to the sky. by Leo Princeton, Crotalus
Transfiguration was Leo's worst class. It was difficult for him to understand and difficult for him to successfully transfigure anything notable. The last year he had only passed with an A because of his brother and Nellie. He knew he could rely on them again, but Leo hated feeling stupid. Besides, what good was Transfiguration for when one was rich and living in leisure? Leo walked into class, sure not to be late or face the wrath of the new Deputy Headmistress. Professor Skies had more power now meaning Leo needed to get on her good side.He pretended to listen attentively, eyes at the front and slightly glassy. A box of rocks came around and Leo picked out a pebble. With his lack of skill in this subject, Leo thought he ought to play it safe for the first couple weeks to reintroduce himself to this. He let the pebble distract him for a bit, keeping an ear open for Professor Skies's lecture. He looked up at her demonstration and watched her transfigure her rock into a small, bright red ball. It looked like the sort of toy that would entertain children for hours.
Homework was something Leo had not missed in the slightest. He sighed, but he wrote it down. He had to be more intentional with his homework. Last year he had simply forgotten about it until the night before one too many times. It did not make a happy Leo and he had more than once forced Rupert to stay up with him to help him in the library. Rupert was a good brother, but Leo was quite sure he would not tolerate late nights doing someone else's homework for much longer.
The practical lesson was always going to be more fun than the essays and homework even if Leo was not great at it. Leo brought out his wand and brandished it as he looked at the pebble. It looked intimidating, that tiny thing, but Leo refused to let it get to him. He could do anything he wanted to and if he didn't want to make a pebble into a ball he didn't have to. Still, he couldn't just leave it like that.
Leo raised his wand, determined to do something. "Hevea," he said quietly following the wand movements. It wasn't successful, as expected. It had turned red at least; that was a promising start. "How are you doing?" he asked, looking over at his neighbour, expecting to burn in jealousy or be comforted that he was better than his desk-mate.
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Leo Princeton, Crotalus
Bouncing high to the sky.
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Leo Princeton, Crotalus
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Emery Kijewski-Jareau
October 22, 2013 8:33 PM
Combining the two posts. by Emery Kijewski-Jareau
Somehow, Emery always seemed to be in the middle with Dimitri and someone else. This time around, it was his own roommate, Emrys. He wasn’t sure how he continued to have such great luck with all of this, but this was how it was. He would have to learn to sit in a corner seat instead of in the middle. That way, he wasn’t trying to play referee to two conversations. “Hi Dimitri.” Emery responded automatically to Dimitri’s greeting. He didn’t think it was actually good to see him, Emery only worked with him once and Ava and Dimitri were clearly good friends, so Emery only felt like a third wheel.Emery looked down at Emrys’s notebook to review how it was said and nodded in agreement with both Dimitri and his roommate when they each pronounced it. Emery frowned at his roommate when he commented on his appearance. “Gee thanks.” He commented without much emotion behind his words. “I’m fine, just tired.” He told his roommate. This, for the most part, was the truth. He felt a little numb about it all having gone through it for the last two months. He knew it would either get better or get much worse, but at current time, he was just sort of there.
His green eyes narrowed as Dimitri spoke of his brother. Emery did not like the words that his year mate was using while talking about Angel. It just said all of it so casually as though it really meant nothing to him about the topic of choice. That was really frustrating. Just because he didn’t have to live with it, didn’t mean he could just shrug it off as though it were nothing. “Is.” Emery corrected him, looking annoyed. “Angel is a nice guy. He’s not dead and I don’t appreciate you talking about him as if he was.” Emery stated firmly, looking to his sister to make sure she had no way of hearing. She was far enough away though for their conversation to not be heard over the others in the room. If she heard someone thought Angel was dead, she’d become upset. “He’s just …sick.” Very sick, but they were looking at it with hope. They would find something, anything, to save him.
Dimitri turned the conversation back around by handing Emery a piece of paper. Opening it, he found it to be an address. Emery didn’t really know what to do with it. It was the start of term, so any writing wouldn’t happen for another ten months. Why didn’t he just wait until the end of this term? “Um, okay.” He said lamely, putting the piece of paper into his book bag. He was honestly surprised that Dimitri would want him to write. The guy never spoke to him. Never. Except for the random class pairings. Emery was shocked that Dimitri even remembered his name if he were being honest. He supposed it was a nice gesture though.
Emery just looked at Dimitri like he had gone crazy. How could he have forgotten their entire lesson in just a couple of minutes that they had been talking? Or of the fact that he had given Emery the incantation to do the spell for their lesson? Did he fall at some point and hit his head and lose his short term memory? Emery knew that there were people who had attention span issues, but this seemed to be an extreme case of it. “Uh… we’re changing the pebbles to rubber balls.” He said, still very confused by this whole conversation. He looked at Emrys briefly before deciding to try the spell for himself. There was a chance that Emrys had worked with Dimitri before and knew what this was all about.
Deciding to move on, Emery looked at his chart again and took a moment to really envision the rock becoming a bouncing ball. “Hevea” He said with some confidence and watched as his pebble lost some of the edging and turned bright red. It was hallow now, but not quite round and it didn’t have a bounce in it. Still, he felt that it was a pretty good start. “Did you guys do any better?”
OOC: Since Emrys technically posted before Dimitri, we'll have the order by Emery, Emrys, and then Dimitri. Sound okay?
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Emery Kijewski-Jareau
Combining the two posts.
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Emery Kijewski-Jareau
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Feeling more surly than bouncy by Ariel Thornton, Crotalus
Ariel glared angrily at her alarm clock as it chimed, waking her up. She grumbled aloud as she shoved off the covers and placed her bare feet on the cold floor. She continued to grumble under her breath as she walked past her roommate's bed on her way towards the bathroom. Despite her best efforts to loathe everything and everyone around her, Ariel actually kind of liked her roommate Morgana. Morgana reminded Ariel of her sister Airylee who had been born blind. Ariel found that despite her hatred of everything else magical she couldn't bring herself to hate her youngest sisters who had been born deaf and blind. Life had already been cruel enough to them without her adding to it with her issues.Ariel showered quickly before drying off and getting dressed. She checked her clock and cursed mentally as she realized she had very little time to grab her bookbag and head to class. This is ridiculous she thought to herself as she hurried to "class". Ariel might detest magic, but she detested tardiness more. Ariel felt it was just rude to be late for things, magical or not. Ariel found the Transfiguration room easily enough, but hesitated to step inside. If she willingly entered that room and participated, she would be no better than the rest of the freaks who were forced to perform in this freakshow. Ariel had participated in the flying class only because it gave her the chance to be miserable away from prying eyes. If she participated in this she was accepting that she was a magical reject like her family and Ariel was beyond angry at that realization. The unfair reality was that regardless of how much she wanted to be normal, thanks to her mother and freak genes Ariel was trapped in an unending nightmare.
Ariel sighed angrily and entered the room. She barely acknowledged Professor Skies as the surly eleven year old passed her desk in search of an empty seat. She dropped her bag onto the floor by her chair. Ariel reached into her bag pulling out a pen and paper. Ariel dropped the notebook onto her desk and resting her chin on her open palm, she leaned her elbow on her desk and found that she couldn't fake true interest if she had wanted to. She tapped her pen softly on the paper still resting her chin on her palm as she vaguely listened to the lesson from Professor Skies.
Ariel jotted down occasional notes and reached blindly into the box full of pebbles. Ariel pulled out a roundish pebble and dropped it distastefully on her notebook. She stared at the pebble sitting on her notebook as if it were going to speak to her or something refusing to touch it. If she touched it that would mean she would actually have to use magic and Ariel was not at all happy about that prospect. If she was able to merely write papers and NOT cast spells she might not be as miserable about this whole deal...MIGHT being the operative word. Ariel continued to stare at the sparse notes she had taken during Professor Skies lecture and her neglected pebble. "Isn't there some way I could do this without using magic?" she grumbled at her desk still holding the offending pebble. She had no idea whether or not anyone heard her grumbling to herself.
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Ariel Thornton, Crotalus
Feeling more surly than bouncy
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Ariel Thornton, Crotalus
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Emrys Lucan, Aladren
October 23, 2013 11:25 PM
Hey, that meshed well! by Emrys Lucan, Aladren
Emrys felt awkward the second that both he and Dimitri Porter from Teppenpaw started to speak. He didn’t really know the other boy well. Come to think of it he didn’t know of any of his classmates well other than Charlotte. He’d really have to start working on that while he enjoyed Charlotte’s company greatly he knew that it would benefit him to have some guy friends which was why he was going to force himself to talk to the two of them as long as he could no matter how nervous it was making him.“Gee thanks,” said Emery. “I’m fine, just tired.”
Emrys blanched. He hadn’t meant to offend his roommate but kept going hoping to make things better. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it in a bad way,” he started. “It’s just that…” He started and then stopped again but didn’t really know how to phrase what he wanted to say. “Well, I…” He stopped again and frowned. He was just stuttering and he had no idea how to get what he wanted to say across without offending Emery. He didn’t want to make him feel worse, as if he was marginalizing Angel’s sickness or like her thought Angle was dead. There was a big difference between sickness and death, he knew that all too well but at the same time, that difference could disappear quickly without a cure and by the sound of the Headmistress’ speech they didn’t have one yet.
Emrys also didn’t know how much of his family business his family would want getting out. Technically it was his mother’s sister and as that side wouldn’t mind as much it was still a tender subject for them and he didn’t want to arouse any old feelings. The way they had dealt with it was to erase all memory they had of Aunt Guinevere without actually obliviating themselves. Any picture, card, item of clothing, or childhood toy of hers was kept locked up in a room set up to look like her childhood bedroom as if she had just gone away to school and hadn’t come back yet. All pictures of the family were copied, the copies kept in a photo album in the desk of Aunt Guinevere’s bedroom and she was removed from the photos on display. It hurt his mother and her parents too much to look at her but it hurt him to look at them try and forget her. What little memory he had of her was fond and he thought that it would have made her sad that her family would be unable to get over her untimely death.
Unable to decide what to say, Emrys just shrugged. “Never mind,” he said turning back to his work. “I’ll be in our dorm or the library if you ever want to study or something.” He didn’t mention the MARS room with Charlotte because though he felt mean depriving her of new friends he also didn’t really want to share his time with her with anyone else. She was his best friend here and he didn’t know what he’d do if she found someone else more interesting than he. He nodded to Emery and Dimitri and concentrated on the Hevea spell and his transfiguration table only looking up to shrug again when he felt Emery’s eyes on him after something Dimitri said about forgetting what the class activity was.
OOC: Hey, so since Emrys is a less social being I figured that I’ll just let Emery and Dimitri carry out the conversation so it’s less confusing! Besides, Emrys likes working by himself a lot.
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Emrys Lucan, Aladren
Hey, that meshed well!
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Emrys Lucan, Aladren
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Liliana Bannister, Pecari
October 25, 2013 11:36 PM
Back to this school stuff... by Liliana Bannister, Pecari
It was mid-way through Monday morning on her first day of school and Liliana was still feeling pretty pouty. She didn’t like that she was here not home, and she was feeling kind of left out of the loop of the all the fun her cousins were having together. Due to her bad mood, breakfast hadn’t tasted well, and her past two classes hadn’t been particularly enjoyable either. Transfiguration, no doubt, would go just like the other two had. She had kept to herself and refused to conversate with her neighbors as all the other first and second years had been doing. To be honest, all the pouting was starting to tire her out, and her facial muscles were aching from the frowning she was forcing herself to do. Liliana was a naturally happy person and this was the longest grudge she’d ever held before so she didn’t really know how to keep it up. Looking around the classroom she saw that another girl seemed to be pretty unhappy, she had sort of stomped into the room, hair wet, with a grumpy look about her. She looked unhappier than Liliana felt and she contemplated moving seats so that she could sit in misery with the other witch when Professor Skies started the lesson. Like the good student her family wanted her to be, Liliana took out a quill and parchment but unlike her cousins and the rest of her family, she was not naturally gifted with the learning gene. Studying was difficult and she couldn’t keep herself confined to a chair for that long of a period. In the past she had learned best when the tutors had made the lessons interactive or allowed her to play with small, conjured up figurines to re-enact major wars or events in history.She filled out the table that had been handed out to her and the other first-years in class and took a pebble out of the box that was floating around the room. She made sure to grab one that was roundish and smooth to the touch, knowing that if she picked one too dissimilar to a ball then she’d have a very hard time performing the exercise. For some reason her brain just didn’t work the same way as the rest of her family’s did. From the brochure that had been given to her with her acceptance letter, Liliana had realized that Aladren was the counterpart to Ravenclaw and had been sad when she hadn’t gotten that house. Even though she was sure she wouldn’t have fit in quite well, she also knew that Aladren was the house her family would have expected and wanted her to be in. But, Pecari was just as good, she told herself. I am not subpar! Even if I don’t want to be here I wouldn’t get into an insuperior house, of course I wouldn’t! Besides, if she were to believe what Waverly had told her at the Feast the night before, then she would fit right into Pecari and once she got over whatever stint it was that she was in now, she would actually start to enjoy it.
“Hevea,” she pronounced carefully. “Hevea.” She twirled her wand at the stone she had placed on the desk, worried that if she held it like the professor had she would instead transfigure her hand- an accident she’d surely commit should she attempt to be fancy, she was that inept. But there was nothing to worry about- nothing happened when she cast the spell. She tried again, still nothing. She tried again, again, still nothing. She was getting really frustrated. She was going to fail, she was sure of it. She had tried it many times and nothing had happened. The stone had turned a little bit redder but not by much. It was more of a clay color than the bright red ball the professor had produced. She felt like crying. She was a failure it seemed, unable to get into her family’s preferred house, unable to even complete the first spell taught in her Transfiguration class on the first day of school. She was about to give up when she heard a soft voice saying things that seemed to be directed to her. She lifted her head and turned towards the voice. “What was that?” She asked.
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Liliana Bannister, Pecari
Back to this school stuff...
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Liliana Bannister, Pecari
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Atlas Primred, Pecari
October 25, 2013 11:43 PM
Seems pretty fun to me. by Atlas Primred, Pecari
Atlas was able to get through his first few classes that morning without too many problems, however he also got through them without really talking to anyone either. He kept dazing off thinking about his little sister Katie’s first day of school and how much he missed her, wondering if she had gotten through her first few days ok. Although it wasn't exactly typical of most boys, he was upset because he wasn't able to help her get ready, he knew his sister loved it when he did her hair and made her a cute japanese style bento. He would have to figure out how to write a letter home to her, although she wouldn't be able to read it very well, just being 4 years old. Without much enthusiasm, Atlas walked into his transfiguration class, looking around, he picked a random seat next to a blondish-brown haired girl with a large scowl on her face. Atlas listened tentatively to the teacher begin the lesson, he was happy that transfiguration involved visualization, one of his fortes, besides sports of course.Atlas looked at the chart on the paper that had magically made its way to him. It reminded him a lot of drawing comic characters. Whenever he drew one, he had to think clearly about it, often making lists of characteristics, and color palettes. The process made him feel a little at nostalgic, but lonely too. Atlas couldn't help but smile slightly when Professor Skies said the spell, “well that is appropriate for a rubber ball” he thought to himself, referring to the rubber tree’s other name, Hevea brasiliensis. He was surprised how much of his dad’s botany textbooks came in handy at Sonora. Despite his knowledge of plants, Atlas wasn't the best at academics, he had a hard time recalling difficult facts that didn't interest him, so he took precautions, and made sure to write down “Hevea” on his paper along with a drawing of how his wand was supposed to move.
When the professor gave them the “ok”. Atlas picked up a small grey pebble from the box. Looking over the notes in the chart he had made earlier, he turned his attention to the pebble, “Hevea” he said softly, remembering his dad showing him the sap from the tree during one of his many visits to his lab at the university. Suddenly the pebble began to change, however instead of turning into a red rubber ball, it formed itself into a small white puddle of what looked like rubber tree sap. “Hmm.. gotta concentrate more,” he told himself taking a deep breath before attempting to cast the spell again. “Hevea,” he said twirling his wand, eyes closed trying to see the ball clearly in his mind. Opening his eyes he saw a small pebble sized white ball. Atlas touched it to make sure it wasn't still tree sap, surprised at how heavy it was. “I guess thinking about just what it looks like isn't good enough either, and its a little too small, and the wrong color,” he said critiquing himself. Atlas decided to look and see how everyone else was doing.
Many of the students were talking to each other and not necessarily about the project at hand. He was grateful the girl next to him seemed to be concentrating on the spell, so he wouldn't have to try to socialize, he was determined to get the spell correct. However, he was distracted by the girls constant muttering that was progressively getting angrier and angrier. Looking over he could see why, she had made no progress in changing the pebble with the exception of its color, and even then only slightly, despite her numerous tries. “She isn't even really trying to change it,” he thought to himself. He felt himself getting annoyed, yet he felt bad for her at the same time, similar to how he was with Katie. He had seen the look of defeat in Katie’s face countless times when her frail body’s limitations held her back from doing something, a look that was spreading across the unknown girl’s face. Instinctively he spoke up in a soft voice.
“Close your eyes.”
0
Atlas Primred, Pecari
Seems pretty fun to me.
276
Atlas Primred, Pecari
0
5
Ji-Eun Park, Pecari
October 26, 2013 1:16 PM
That sounds fun by Ji-Eun Park, Pecari
Ji-Eun had had a satisfactory first year, as far as her parents were concerned, and that was without any creative translation of her report cards and the yearbook. Not that she would have really dared to do that anyway – she was a scrupulously honest person and hoped that she would have been, owing to natural integrity, even if she hadn't suspected that her brother, Ji-Won, would rat her out if she tried that trick. Her grades were excellent, her yearbook awards spoke well of her and she had joined an appropriate number of extra-curriculars (even if only book club was of any real value – what was the point of baking?). She was pleased that her parents were pleased, and many of the same things mattered to her, being the diligent daughter that she was, but she would have liked to have made more friends. She trusted that it would come, with time. She knew she wasn't the most outgoing person, and people here were so different to her that it was bound to slow things down. She got on well with her room mate, for all that they were very different people, and she was pleased to have Chloe's constant enthusiasm to keep her company. She got on well with Emrys too, and indeed with most people to whom she had spoken last year, so hoped that was potential in him at the very least. He'd even shown a lot of interest in Korean when they'd been writing messages to each other in Charms, which endeared him to her.However, the seats either side of Emrys were already occupied (one by Chloe's brother, who she had yet to get to know very well), so she took a seat with someone else. Leo, in fact, whom she thought of as Nellie's friend. She had got on well with the other girl when they'd chatted in flying but she was usually with Leo which might have explained why she hadn't got to know either of them much better. She smiled at him as she took her seat, not really sure what he would think of her. Leo came from the world of prescribed manners and strict ways of behaving. She supposed she did, in a certain sense, her parents expectations being rather strict, and her life being full of little rituals and ways of showing politeness which were completely alien to those at Sonora. However, she didn't find that that was mutually exclusive with being bright and colourful. Her hair was tied up in a bun today with a green ribbon around it, the wispy front strands pinned back with clips bearing little plastic lollipops, and clearly showing her ears which each bore a little green star in each lobe. In the spirit of being studious without having to be dull, she dug a pastel purple quill from her bag, preparing to take notes.
She took detailed notes from the lecture in her small, printed writing, adding pronunciation notes in hangul, the Korean alphabet. She noted the homework task. She was fairly sure she knew the definitions – source spells related to the object you were starting with, whilst target ones pertained to the object you were aiming for. She might need a little research to come up with examples, though she thought she could do a couple without. She tried not to let her mind wander down that avenue during class, as she had other things to concentrate on. She took a rougher stone, always keen to push herself, before turning her attention to the notes. She could see very little that the objects had in common, although one you excluded the differences produced by shape, the size wasn't dissimilar, especially not in the grand scheme of things – both fitted easily in the palm of one's hand. They were both natural materials too, even though they were very different. So, shape and material were the main things to focus on, perhaps along with colour. There was nothing to say that a bouncy ball couldn't be the slate grey colour of the rock in front of her, it just wasn't what came to mind first. She decided to picture it as red, like Professor Skies' had been. Thinking about it in grey, even if it meant fewer changes, just made it seem less bouncy ball like, which she was sure wasn't helpful.
“Hevea,” she cast, twirling her wand as Professor Skies had demonstrated. The edges of the rock blended inwards, making it rounder, though it was more of a two dimensional circle than a ball. The surface bubbled as if it was transforming but stopped in that state, looking as if it had been badly burned. It was faintly red.
“Not so well,” she confessed, when her neighbour asked how it was going. She knew she wasn't really expected to get perfect results first time but anything more than a little short of that always seemed disappointing. “How about you?” she enquired. A quick, covert glance at his work revealed that he had either made more progress than her if he'd started with a rough rock, or a little less if he'd had a pebble. She felt a little mean for hoping that he was working on the simpler task but she hated feeling like she was lagging behind.
13
Ji-Eun Park, Pecari
That sounds fun
268
Ji-Eun Park, Pecari
0
5
Leo Princeton
October 27, 2013 3:51 PM
If you enjoy heights. by Leo Princeton
It was rare for Leo to forget anyone's name. He was very good with names and faces so he recognised the witch next to him well from having every class with her all last year. He found it odd that her name escaped him, but he assumed it was because she had an unusual name. He pressed his lips together in an attempt to respond to her unspoken greeting, but said nothing. Leo had heard a bit about the witch before from Eleanor. He knew she was Korean and spoke Korean as well. He also knew she had spoken to her broom in Korean which struck Leo as odd. He would have to try doing magic and commanding objects in French or Italian. Languages came easily to Leo, but he had never thought of learning an Asian language. Korean could potentially be useful in the future and if he played his cards right perhaps this witch would be willing to teach him.Luckily for him her name was called during roll call and Leo only had the job of committing it to memory. Ji-Eun. It was not a familiar name and Leo could only assume she wasn’t from around here, ‘here’ being America. On any other occasion he would be interested in finding out more about her heritage and culture, but she was a witch and all witches were obnoxiously the same no matter where they were from. Her bright hairpins and purple quill told him as much.
During the lecture he stole glances at her parchment to see if she wrote in Korean as well. She did and he raised an eyebrow in interest. She really was foreign. That made her slightly more interesting than the other idiotic pure-blood witches who only needed a mirror, clothes and someone to tell them they looked pretty. Leo turned his eyes back to his empty parchment and began writing in Italian. He had started Italian language lessons over the summer and he had learnt quite a bit in his intensive course. A trip to Cannes had allowed him to practise a bit, though in the winter Leo wanted to convince his mum to take him on holiday to Rome. Doodles accompanied his discursive notes and satisfied his parchment. He needed to practise writing in Italian more often.
The practical bit was always more entertaining than the lecture, but Transfiguration was the only exception. He was terrible at it and he hated being visibly terrible at anything. It was during the practical portion he decided to approach Ji-Eun regardless of her sex. He had seen her take the rougher rock which told him immediately she was an overachiever. Still, he supposed making the right sort of friends that could be persuaded to do his homework or give him the answers after a bit of prodding would help. He had also decided to ask her to teach him Korean sometime in the future when he knew her better. He was sure she would be pleased by his interest if she was as foreign as she seemed. “Well enough,” he said, then looked at his unchanged stone. “Awful, actually. Would you mind if I watch you do it once?”
40
Leo Princeton
If you enjoy heights.
263
Leo Princeton
0
5
It seems to work out well by Dimitri Porter
Dimitri was a tad confused over what had just transpired between him, Emery and Emyrs. Somehow something he said or didn't mean got all mixed up somehow. Ahh nutbunnies...not again! he groaned in his own head. Ever do often Dimitri had a problem with being able to say things he meant properly. He wasn't entirely certain why it happened, he just knew that it happened. Up until now it usually only happened around his family. Now it seemed to be rearing its ugly head here at school. Dimitri sighed inwardly. He really hated when it happened. He held his hands up in surrender for a second. "Whoa...time out there. Lets just take a breath and try starting over again," he suggested calmly lowering his hands. He glanced towards Emery first when he spoke. "I never meant to imply or infer that your brother was dead. Forgive me if that's the impression you got. I had merely repeated my cousin's words on the matter since she knows him and I do not. I could have sworn I said that in the proper way, but judging by your reaction I see now that I was mistaken. I apologize if I mispoke. I really meant no offense," he assured Emery sincerely. He frowned slightly as he thought of Clara's words. "I don't believe my cousin meant what she said in that manner either. I think she only meant that she thought he was a nice guy from meeting him...not that he had died or anything," he continued. "I'm sorry...sometimes I'm complete rubbish when it comes to using wording the right way," he apologized again. Dimitri then glanced in Emyrs direction giving him a friendly grin before glancing back towards Emery. "Just for the record I really don't think your friend was trying to insult you at all," Dimitri said diplomatically. "It sounded more like an observation than an insult." He gave them both a friendly grin.Dimitri turned back to Emery when he heard Emery's answer to a clearly queer question. Emery was kind enough to remind him of their assignment to which Dimitri was grateful. He had been soo focused on Emery's reaction to his blunderous statement that he had momentarily forgotten what they were supposed to be doing. As lame as it sounded it was the truth. He blinked slightly at the reply and nodded appreciatively. "Right...the pebble to ball thing," he confirmed. He had completely forgotten he had already selected a pebble for that purpose. Before he made an attempt with the spell he glanced back towards Emrys. If Dimitri had heard him correctly, Emrys had decided not to work with them. "I can't speak for Emery, but I wouldn't mind it if you stayed to work with us," Dimitri told him encouragingly. Dimitri knew that he and Emrys had never officially been introduced. Dimitri enjoyed meeting new people even though he wasn't always the most sociable person all the time. Dimitri checked his notes for the spell and looked down at the pebble. He heard Emery casting the spell beside him as he began to make his attempt with it. Dimitri raised his wand at the pebble and made his casting. "Hevea!" He cast it as instructed (he thought) and waited. He watched curiously as his pebble rounded out a bit like a rubber ball, but it didn't change color. Well...not completely anyway. The pebble turned a very pale red, like it had washed out or watered down. It looked more like a rock that had food coloring spilled on it and then washed off. Dimitri held up his "ball" to examine it and heard Emery's question.
"I suppose it worked alright," he replied uncertainly. He tested to see if it actually bounced. The ball bounced against the floor and came back as any actual rubber ball would have. The only thing queer about his was the color. "It certainly bounces like a real ball," he commented lightly. "The coloring seems a bit off though, I would think," he grinned slightly amused. "How did your spell go?" He asked Emery, still holding up his ball/pebble.
0
Dimitri Porter
It seems to work out well
0
Dimitri Porter
0
5
Ji-Eun Park
October 28, 2013 3:29 PM
I'm fairly indifferent to them... by Ji-Eun Park
“Um, ok,” Ji-Eun said, when Leo asked if he could watch her having a go at the spell. Mostly, she accepted because she felt it would be rude not to and because, even if she said 'no,' what was she actually going to be able to do to stop him? It felt a little strange though. Of course people were always around you in class and people saw what you were doing but that was really rather different to being watched. She knew that it was a rather silly contradiction, and one that most people might not understand, that a girl whose secret ambition was to be a pop star disliked the thought of others watching her. But, if she was a pop star, she would know that she was good at what she was doing – you had to be, to get anywhere. If she had an audience of hundreds of people coming to see her it would be because they liked what she was doing and that, to her, seemed very different to having someone observe her attempting a spell which she had no idea whether she'd show improvement on or not.She tried to block Leo's presence out, to a degree. At the fair last year, she had talked to people about K-Pop and shown them some of the moves from her favourite dances. She had done so a little shyly, a little hesitantly but that was because it had had the same characteristics as this situation – she could not be sure of the results, and of people's reactions. But she had done it and it had been a success, and so she tried to channel how she'd felt afterwards now. Confidence was definitely something she was going to have to learn from positive experiences, not something of which she was naturally possessed.
She studied the rock, wondering where to try to take it next. She still felt that shape was important, and probably the easiest concept to work with – she had a more definite idea of what a sphere was than what rubber was. Not that she didn't know the latter but spheres were... well, far more visual an element to start with, and far more.. definite somehow. She could see what had to be done to make this item round whereas what had to happen to rock to turn it into rubber? That was far more mysterious.
“Hevea,” she cast, visualising the change in form in her head, although also trying to hold on to the other elements that required change. The edges of the rock began to arch towards the middle in the start of a curve. She wasn't sure that it was particularly impressive progress but at least it had done something. Her face felt hot and she was fairly sure that she was blushing.
“Does that help at all?” she asked, sounding slightly doubtful. She didn't really know what Leo was going to get from seeing her do the spell, as so much of Transfiguration was in one's head. “What did you put in your notes?” she asked, fairly sure comparing these was more likely to lead to success.
13
Ji-Eun Park
I'm fairly indifferent to them...
268
Ji-Eun Park
0
5
Isaac Douglas, Crotalus
October 29, 2013 12:53 AM
I can see that. by Isaac Douglas, Crotalus
The trouble, Isaac thought, with classes was that each and every one of them was in some way tainted by his older sister. Care of Magical Creatures was the cleanest, since Alicia had never seemed to care much one way or the other about that, but Transfiguration, Potions, and Defense Against the Dark Arts were topics which could only bring to mind images of her, either working diligently or else being praised for the end results. It left him with a vague feeling of resentment toward his whole curriculum, because no matter what he did, he wouldn’t really be doing it, he would just be using it to try to show her up, or at least keep her at bay.Transfiguration was not the one he most associated with her, but it was the one he most associated with a recurring nightmare which had her in it. Ever since he first glanced at a book which mentioned human transfiguration as a possibility (a very difficult one, but a possibility), he had dreamed about Alicia turning him into a piece of abstract sculpture someday and putting him on her shelf. It made no sense, since for one thing Alicia would never be that stupid and for another the same footnote had mentioned that anything turned into something else had the same capacity to think as whatever it had been turned into, so he would not be aware of anything as a statue, and he didn’t even know if a human transfiguration that permanent could work after reading the introduction of his textbook, but it was a nightmare. It didn’t have to make sense. He just didn’t like it, and knowing that the subject was very difficult did nothing to make him any happier about having to take it and so occasionally think about it.
He still set his face into an expression of bland, pleasant attentiveness as the professor began to speak. She was the deputy headmistress and an authority figure anyway and, beyond even that, he had to do what he had to do, so doing it without giving the adults a reason to make his life harder was just the smart thing. Annoying, sometimes, but less annoying than putting up with retaliation; even his sister acknowledged that, though it was one of the things which could, in private, make her actually tremble with rage. He guessed everyone had their hang-ups.
When a copy of the Transfiguration table arrived in front of him, Isaac looked it over and decided it was going to be tedious, but probably actually useful in spite of that. Accordingly, once he wrote down the incantation and practiced the wand movement a few times until he thought he could recreate it with his wrist even after taking the time to fill in the chart, he took out his quill and began to work on it.
He was just specifying the colors when the girl next to him made what might have been the strangest comment he’d heard…in a while, anyway. This was even considering that his second half-sister was Kate Bauer, who thought that Muggles had intrinsic worth and was more than a little proud to be related - entirely through her father; their mother’s family had its issues, but there were no Muggles in it – to the scum, and that Momma still allowed the filthy little traitor in her home in spite of these flaws and views. He thought about it for a second, but no, there really was no way that comment made sense.
“No,” he said flatly, looking at her pebble, then at her, his expression becoming both more confused and more contemptuous when he noted that she was in his House. True, Aladren was the House specifically noted for only letting smart people in, but Crotalus wasn’t really known for having the sort of idiot who thought a rock could be transfigured without actually performing Transfiguration. He really hoped there was some kind of misunderstanding going on here and that his Housemate was not actually really, really stupid. “Probably not period, and definitely not in a way that’ll make Professor Skies pass you, I’m pretty sure,” he added, covering his bases just to be safe. "Since this is, you know, Transfiguration class."
OOC: Isaac’s generalization about consciousness of transfigured humans is from Quidditch Through the Ages, where it’s noted that a human turned into a bat can fly, but will have a bat’s brain and thus forget where he or she wants to fly to (Chapter One, "Evolution of the Flying Broomstick"). The extrapolation about what an abstract sculpture’s brain would be like is his own.
16
Isaac Douglas, Crotalus
I can see that.
273
Isaac Douglas, Crotalus
0
5
Leo Princeton
October 29, 2013 10:31 AM
It's the bouncing I'd like to avoid. by Leo Princeton
There were questions that Leo had learnt were very difficult for people to refuse without sounding rude. Asking to watch one perform a spell was one of them and Leo had fixed his eyes on her stone before she had replied in the affirmative. She seemed nervous, but Leo could understand that. It was unnerving to be watched with such a degree of focus. Her reaction to undivided attention intrigued him and he watched as she thought about the spell beforehand. He could never quite understand how much one was supposed to think Transfiguration and how much of that thought was to go into one’s spell. Perhaps his casual attendance and attention to his courses had caused him to miss many of the basic principles. He would have to re-learn much of it this year before moving into the intermediate courses.Her eyes were fixed on the rock and Leo grew bored watching. He looked at his fingernails for a moment, wondering how he was supposed to trim his nails now that his house-elf wasn’t here to do it. Leo looked up when his eye caught some movement and Ji-Eun uttered the spell. The rock was on its way to becoming circular and Leo could not understand the process for the life of him. What was one supposed to think of when looking at a stupid pebble? He felt incompetent and Leo hated feeling so. The exertion seemed to have taken a toll on Ji-Eun; her face was pink. Either that or she was embarrassed, but Leo couldn’t understand what there was to be embarrassed about. Witches were so silly.
“A bit, thank you,” he replied. “You took your time thinking beforehand, didn’t you? What did you think about when you looked at the rock, if you don’t mind me asking?” Most of the trouble Leo had concerned his notes and his lack of attention in class; it wouldn’t do for Ji-Eun to know that. He was thankful he had written his thoughts in Italian instead of English this time. This required some quick thinking on his feet to explain what was not actually on his parchment. “I wrote down some of what Skies said,” he told her. “And I wrote down some of the aspects of the rock and the ball. I just don’t know how to put that and the wand-work together.” That was the partial truth, anyhow, and unless Ji-Eun could read Italian as well, Leo fancied himself safe. “Don’t mind the doodles; I listen well when my hand is occupied doing something mindless.” That was also a partial truth. He was always listening no matter what he was doing, but he had worked quite devotedly on the dragon in the margin.
Leo had never thought of it before, but writing his notes or doodles in another language would save him from explaining his lack of attention in class. Rupert was always scolding him for being completely useless when it came to his studies. It would only get worse when he and Rup were in the same class and his brother could check to see if Leo was actually paying attention as he claimed he was. Sometimes pretending to be completely lost worked in his favour particularly with his more naïve family members. It was just when the ignorance was real that Leo grew frustrated with everyone and himself, ergo why he disliked school. Perhaps Ji-Eun could help if she was willing; for once Leo genuinely needed someone else’s help without an immediate ulterior motive.
After her explanation, he looked down at his rock. “I’ll try it again.” Leo looked at the rock, trying to think of what he was supposed to be thinking. It was a pebble, meaning it was smooth and oval-shaped. He thought of a ball and tried to make the pebble into a ball in his head. “Hevea.” Perhaps the image was too vague or too grand because his pebble hardly changed. “I’m rotten at this, aren’t I?” he said, sounding defeated. His cherub-like face looked disappointed. He cast his eyes down at his feet and sighed before looking at her with his large blue eyes. “Sorry; I can try and figure it out myself if you want to work on yours. I don’t want to keep you any more than I already have.” If Ji-Eun was a witch like any other, Leo expected her to feel the need to help the poor lost soul despite his apparent thoughtfulness. All witches were the nurturing type, weren’t they? Except for the witches Cepheus seemed to come in contact with, but those were another category entirely.
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Leo Princeton
It's the bouncing I'd like to avoid.
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Leo Princeton
0
5
Bouncing around by Brandon Carey, Pecari
The Deputy Headmistress Professor Skies’ speech had been hard to get through, but with effort, Brandon thought he had gotten the gist of it – the same as the gist of everything everyone older than him was telling him about school, that everything was dangerous and going to kill him and that people were going to kill him for being stupid if being stupid didn’t do the job itself, though he thought she might have actually left that part out and he just filled in the blanks. Blah, blah, blah. He had heard this speech from his siblings and cousins so many times that it had no effect, not least because he had noticed that they had all lived, even though Henry lost his temper a lot and Arthur thought too much and Theresa wasn’t too smart and there was a joke about Arnold somehow bringing a stork into Professor Fawcett’s class in his first year. All this danger stuff, he had become convinced, was far overrated and like when Terry threatened to curse him inside-out or Mother said she was about to have a nervous breakdown, just an attempt to scare them. Not anything that really meant anything.When he got a piece of paper along with the rock he was supposed to turn, he had caught on, into a bouncy ball, though, and a glance to his right confirmed that Diana was not where she was supposed to be, Brandon knew that he might just be in trouble. Picturing things was easy; he had no problem looking at a rock and picturing it turning into a ball. Filling out papers was hard. At home, Diana or Jay wrote down what he said, or else wrote out a copy and then let him copy it to try to improve his penmanship and spelling. Here, Diana was far away and Jay was in the fifth year classes, and even Henry wasn’t around to fill in in a pinch, so he was on his own, and that meant he was doomed.
He had to do it, though. He’d get in trouble if he didn’t. So, carefully, he wrote out rownde in the shape boxes, then moved to ‘size’ and stopped, helplessly looking at the rock and wondering how in the name of Merlin or Anthony IV or anyone else he was supposed to figure out its dimensions, much less the dimensions of the ball that didn’t exist yet. It wasn’t here; he could show the Deputy Headmistress Professor Skies how big it should be with his hands, if she came over, but he couldn’t write it down on paper, because it wasn’t something he could measure with his brain. He’d need tools and number skills he didn’t have to do that, since he was pretty sure he didn’t know how to measure a sphere yet.
I don’t k-now, he wrote in those boxes, remembering the rules Jay had taught him about ‘no’ and ‘k-now.’ ‘No’ was what Mother said a lot, it meant “don’t do that,” where ‘k-now’ing what was best was why she said ‘no.’ That was easy, that he could remember.
The rock was brownish-gray, so the ball he pictured in his head was brownish-gray, too, just…bigger, and rounder, and not so shiny. He didn’t know how to write any of that, though; it was too long. So he wrote the same and then felt stupid for writing such vague answers to two questions in a row, when he was sure he had heard the word detail in the speech about this awful piece of paper.
He went back up to Size and began to draw, hoping to show her, as much as he could on a flat surface, what he had in mind. In the first box, he began to draw the rock as it was, smooth but not perfectly smooth, flattish but not flat, not quite the same color all around, a little longer on one side than the other – the hardest part was getting the shine on it, so he thought he just got the impression of it being dimensional in instead, but he thought it overall looked more or less like it did. He hoped to learn the spells to make things turn colors and be shiny as soon as he could; sometimes, he had turned things colors before, but he didn’t know what the formal way was, and it gave him a headache, too, when he consciously tried to do what he had sometimes done accidentally, so he preferred not to try to do it that way here, especially when he wasn’t even sure she would give him the points for it. Then, in the ball box, he drew a larger shape, as close to a perfect circle as he could and then shaped into a sphere, then started to draw it bouncing….
The next thing he knew, he had drawn more balls, bouncing out of the table frame, and as he pushed that part of the paper away to try to figure out what he was supposed to do next, it came into contact with his wand, and all the balls started bouncing all over the paper while the pebble skipped up and down, all catching his attention at once.
“Cool!” he exclaimed loudly, then winced as he remembered the rest of the room. “Sorry,” he added more quietly. The balls spun merrily around the page, ricocheting off each other and the edges of the paper and the lines in the table, completely distracting him, both in their motion and their habit of going right over words as he tried to make them out. Touching it with his wand again, he reluctantly said, “Stop?”
Nothing happened. He decided the paper was a lost cause and turned it over, only to realize that now he had a new problem: he had no idea what the incantation had been.
“Hey, do you remember how to do this?” he asked one of his neighbors, his voice now lower than it had been since he and Diana infiltrated their cousin David’s birthday party and blew up all the fireworks at once.
0
Brandon Carey, Pecari
Bouncing around
0
Brandon Carey, Pecari
0
5
Liliana Bannister, Pecari
November 01, 2013 12:30 AM
Yeah, maybe if you were good at concentrating... by Liliana Bannister, Pecari
The boy had a soft voice which explained, when coupled with the frustrated mood Liliana was in, why she hadn’t heard him the first time. “Close your eyes,” he had said.She frowned and nodded, taking a deep breath to calm herself down- this boy was calm and he seemed to be doing alright considering his previously grey pebble was now a small rubber ball that well, it wasn’t red, but that didn’t matter, he had still gotten the rubber ball part right. Liliana closed her eyes and raised her wand, preparing to cast the Hevea spell again. When she opened them again, she looked down to her desk to see that while the stone still hadn’t turned into a ball yet, the consistency did seem to be different and when she picked it up it was a decent bit lighter than it had been before. In addition, the clay color had turned the slightest bit redder. She smiled; perhaps she wasn’t a failure after all. “Thank you,” she said shyly. Normally she wasn’t shy, and normally she would have introduced herself by now, but school wasn’t her forte and she wasn’t entirely confident in it either. “That helped, a little bit.”
She looked towards his desk where again she saw the too small, wrong colored ball. She'd always had a problem concentrating and it seemed like this wasn't going to serve her well at all. She'd thought that once she attended Hogwarts (but apparently now, Sonora) it would have been easier, she wouldn't have to concentrate as much as she'd needed to while learning the proper manners for a young pureblood witch from her grandmother, or the history of Wizarding kind from her many tutors. It seemed that she was wrong and that her worst trait was about to wreck havoc on her grades- grades that were already going to be the lowest out of everyone in her family and didn't need the extra 'help'.
“How’d you get it to change shape? I just can’t do it, watch,” she lifted her wand again, saying the spell and doing the wand motions yet again, but this time just as she cast the spell she started thinking about her cousin Levi and how he had given her, her first Quaffle. “See?” Indeed, the rubber stone was now an oddly shaped Quaffle ball that had maintained the reddish-clay color. She frowned and said quietly to herself, “why can’t I do it?”
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Liliana Bannister, Pecari
Yeah, maybe if you were good at concentrating...
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Liliana Bannister, Pecari
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Ji-Eun Park, Pecari
November 06, 2013 5:20 PM
It's doing someone's assignment for them that I'd like to... by Ji-Eun Park, Pecari
“I was picturing what it needed to do to change, playing it through in my mind,” she replied, when Leo asked what she'd been thinking about before changing the rock. She wasn't sure whether this was stating the obvious, as she thought it was something of a given that that was what one did to Transfigure, but it was all there really was to say in answer to his question. He explained his thoughts further, though she noted he dropped the 'Professor' when referring to their teacher. Ji-Eun was respectful of all her teachers by default and would never have spoken of them in this way, so it stuck out very clearly to her when Leo did. It forced her to wonder whether Leo's lack of progress had more to do with his attitude than anything else. Her opinion was not improved by the doodles on the notes he pushed towards her, for all that he claimed they helped him to concentrate.“What language is this?” she queried, as her attention moved from the doodles to the actual words and she realised that she could not interpret them.
She swallowed as he mentioned being rotten, glad that she could write it off as a rhetorical question. In truth, the answer was yes, and she rather suspected that the explanation was that he really wasn't listening or trying as hard as he could have. The chances of her saying anything along those lines was slim to none though. She just didn't have it in her to be firm with people.
“No, it's ok,” when he asked if she wanted to return to her own work. She did, really. If Leo didn't want to do the work for himself she wasn't sure why he should expect her to be a kind of short cut, taking in the information and then giving him the summarised version. He reminded her a little of her brother.... Privileged by his position and therefore inclined to flit through life, protected by it and simply snapping his fingers to get others to keep him afloat if necessary. Knowing this and being riled by it though didn't make her any more able to stand up to it.
“You need to think of all the differences, and turn that into one image in your head. But you also need to hold on to what's similar because it gives you something of a starting point – yours is already mostly round, for example, so you don't need to include it in your visualisation. But you still need to be... aware of it because then you're just targeting the things that need to be different, so you're not wasting energy.” These were all things Professor Skies had explained to them and thus that he should know. Short of listing all the similarities and differences for him there was not much more she could do. And she was determined not to do that. Leo might have been a bit lazy but she was fairly sure that he wasn't stupid. He could figure out the similarities between a rock and a ball. “Really, there's not much of a substitute for getting your thoughts down on paper. It might seem like a waste of time but really it saves it in the long run.” Technically, these were reproving marks. Or could have been, with the right tone of voice, calling Leo's attention to the fact that he had tried to cut corners that couldn't really be cut. The way Ji-Eun said them though, they sounded more like an apology.
Whilst she let Leo persevere, she returned her attention to her rock, trying to think about that and only that.
“Hevea,” she cast, thinking her roundest thoughts. It was still fundamentally rock (with slightly bobbled patches) but she was pleased that it now looked like a perfect sphere. Even if she couldn't speak her mind to Leo, at least her results spoke volumes about attending properly to one's work. And at least with practical magic, you really couldn't push someone else into actually doing it for you; however much undeserved help you wheedled out of them with the rest of it, the wand-strokes still had to be your own.
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Ji-Eun Park, Pecari
It's doing someone's assignment for them that I'd like to...
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Ji-Eun Park, Pecari
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Leo Princeton
November 12, 2013 4:19 PM
...do? Feel free to do mine. by Leo Princeton
Ji-Eun certainly had more imagination than Leo did if she could imagine what the rock needed to do in order to change. The rock was lifeless in Leo's eyes. If he couldn't imagine manipulating it, he had very little faith that anything else could. That was, perhaps, one reason why Transfiguration never seemed to work well for him. "It's Italian," he replied non-committally. "I started lessons this summer and thought it would be good practise to take notes in it." He looked over at hers. "I noticed you writing in characters. That's Korean, isn't it? It's very neat." Leo couldn't imagine how anyone could make Asian characters look messy. If a line was out of place, the character could mean something else. "I'd like to learn how to write Korean sometime. You speak it too, don't you? That's very cool."She predictably agreed to help him and Leo tried to understand what she was saying. If he hadn't understood it the first time Skies had said it, he doubted he would understand her abstract reasoning now. "Yeah, I did write it down, so that's a start," he said, looking at his parchment. Even if he actually hadn't written it down, he could see the similarities between the pebble and a ball. "Thanks, Ji-Eun," he said with a smile. "I'll give it a shot."
Ji-Eun turned to her own work and Leo turned to his. He tried to understand what a pebble turning into a ball would look like. There were too many variables in this process of transfiguration and it was all supposed to be in his head. Leo concentrated his thoughts on seeing his rock turn into a ball and cast the charm once more. "Hevea."
This time the pebble obeyed and Leo's doubt vanished. The pebble turned completely circular, a bit larger and the grey faded into a slightly rosier hue. The essence of the pebble was still the same as Leo caught it before it rolled off the table, but the physical appearance was more convincing. "It worked! Better than last time, anyway. Thank you for you help, Ji-Eun, really." Leo smiled genuinely, his smile conveying thanks as his mind gloated of his success. It was thanks to his own understanding that he finally succeeded, but Ji-Eun had put forth an effort to help him and Leo knew that genuine thankfulness was expected when her efforts towards his academics were proffered.
Leo turned to his stone again and looked over his parchment, pretending to read his notes. Now he needed to make it larger and bouncier. "Hevea." There couldn't be very many similarities between a pebble and a ball in that sense, but the pebble did get softer, though not any bouncier. "I think the way you explained it really helped," commented Leo. "I'm beginning to get the hang of this."
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Leo Princeton
...do? Feel free to do mine.
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Atlas Primred, Pecari
November 13, 2013 10:34 PM
But trial and error makes it more fun. by Atlas Primred, Pecari
Atlas saw that the girl was doing better than before, even though it was only a minor difference, so Atlas turned back to his project. He had given her his advice so it was up to her now. He knew he didn’t need to baby her like he did with Katie. However it was odd how much his classmate reminded him of his sister. Maybe it was because she had the same shy expressions that he had seen Katie give countless times when their parents introduced her to strangers, or even the way she seemed to get frustrated when she had trouble doing something. Whatever the reason, although Atlas would have never admitted it, just being next to someone who reminded him of his dear sister brought out his big brother character that usually only Katie had the privilege of witnessing. This gave him an overwhelming sense of clarity and confidence. Straitening himself, with his renewed assurance driving him, Atlas returned to the task at hand.Looking at the ball, he thought clearly, imagining in his head, like he was drawing a comic strip, the white hard ball on his desk growing larger, and turning redder. He knew he had to think deeper, to see beyond the visual attributes. He reflected more carefully, he saw the newly shaped ball bouncing. When he thought that he had the right pictures in his head, while waving his wand in the correct motion, he said confidently in his soft voice, “Hevea”.
Changing and morphing, the hard clay-like ball altered itself into the medium sized red ball that he had pictured in his mind. Although the ball wasn’t perfectly spherical, it was pretty close. A small glimmer of pride filled inside him. It was because of this pride and his humility that he decided against attempting to bounce the ball. He hated people staring at him, remembering the opening feast where the entire school looked on as he turned a brown color after drinking the potion. Despite his displease with any attention from most people, he surprisingly felt a small sense of satisfaction as he heard the girl ask him about his nearly perfect product.
Atlas looked at her, surprised that she had said so much. She had seemed so quiet before. Atlas chuckled a little, she was even more like his sister than he had thought. He quickly composed himself so she wouldn’t think he was laughing at her failed mutated sphere. Atlas rubbing his hand through his auburn hair, thought about how to explain how he had managed to transfigure his pebble. Atlas definitely wasn't a fan of giving long explanations or even having long conversations with random people, so he settled for an abbreviated version in order to answer her questions.
“Closing your eyes and willing it to change isn’t enough. You have to concentrate really hard on every aspect of the ball transforming before you change it…. well that’s what I did anyways,” Atlas said nonchalantly.
Then out of sheer habit, forgetting that he wasn’t talking with Katie, Atlas added in an irritated tone, “And stop feeling sorry for yourself, its annoying and not cute at all.”
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Atlas Primred, Pecari
But trial and error makes it more fun.
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Atlas Primred, Pecari
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Liliana Bannister, Pecari
November 14, 2013 3:24 AM
But not if you're working with someone like you. by Liliana Bannister, Pecari
After the boy turned back to his own work, Liliana paused in her wand movements and watched as he continued to improve his technique. She watched as the small ball became red and larger and she found herself envious at the ease at which this boy seemed to be able to perform these spells. She watched as he bounced the ball and emitted a little, inaudible sigh as she turned back to her own work in an attempt to improve further. It was now that she wished harder than ever that she was at Hogwarts that way Levi or one of the others might be able to help her after class with improving. As it was she was on her own and it would probably stay that way. She sighed and looked around the classroom noticing that another student, from what seemed to be the same house as she, was struggling as well. She wondered how he was doing and scolded herself silently, now was not the time for socializing, what she needed to do was concentrate on the task at hand and complete the spell.When Liliana asked him about the Quaffle she had managed to transfigure, she caught him laughing at her quietly and she blushed in response, feeling more than awkward now that she knew he knew she wasn't smart. Luckily, he stopped himself otherwise she knew she probably would have clammed up further, her brain clotting and not allowing her to think. She hated when it shut down like that, similar to how those Muggle garages closed, a lesson she had learned from a particular tutor who had enjoyed keeping her happy and teaching her things that she enjoyed which had somehow increased the ability to stick in her head. The boy ran his hands through his hair before responding. She was about to thank him again when he cut her off with a rude and rather snappy retort that really did cause the garage door to slam down.
Cute?? She wasn't trying to be cute! She just honest to goodness had a hard time concentrating, she'd much rather being doing something active and the seemingly nice attitude of the boy that suddenly changed into a deeming glower made Liliana feel as though she was going to cry. She had too much pride to actually let the boy see the tears fall though she knew that she would most likely be crying about it later that night when it came time for bed. She forced the tears to stay in, knowing from her lessons with her grandmother that she did have an uncanny ability to keep emotion from showing on her face should she really want it to. Her grandmother had taught her control and she had learnt it well despite the dislike of sitting still in one place for so long. Her eyes didn't even burn as they did sometimes if she wanted to cry while hurting herself doing something stupid like jumping out of a tree and breaking her leg. She simply just frowned and with a huff turned her back to the rude boy, shielding her distorted rubber ball from his view and proceeding to finish the rest of the class in silence.
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Liliana Bannister, Pecari
But not if you're working with someone like you.
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Liliana Bannister, Pecari
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Atlas Primred, Pecari
November 14, 2013 8:42 PM
Yea I can kinda be an idiot sometimes. by Atlas Primred, Pecari
Atlas regretted the insult the second the words came out of his mouth. “Crash,”! It was like a big rock was thrown into the facade of his big brother character, then with it gone, it left only shy Atlas to clean up the mess he had made. Atlas had just completely insulted a random person who was despite seeming like Katie, was not his sister, making the entire situation completely awkward.Atlas didn't know what to do. He had never been that social around a stranger, and had never insulted a person in that way, that is by mistake, either. He stood for a moment looking at the girl, only to see her turn back to her own work obviously offended, efficiently cutting him off from any further conversation.
"She's mad," he thought with a lump forming in his chest. Whenever he had scolded Katie and saw her cry, he could always be the gentle older brother for her to be upset at, or scoff at if necessary. However, this girl was completely foreign to him. He didn't know anything about her, and acting as the loving kind older brother character would probably make her more displeased. Atlas made a small sound in an effort to begin an apology, but stopped himself right away. He had no idea how to tell a classmate that she reminded him of a five-year-old girl without her being completely offended.
Atlas looked back and forth between his classmate and his project, unsure of what to do, he had never been in a situation like this. Although he didn’t want to be a hypocrite and act sorry for himself when he had just yelled at her for the same thing, so he pushed those thoughts aside and tried to calm himself.
With that, he gave up and returned to his own project, realizing that the conversation was a lost cause. Furthering any type of communication to the girl would only make things worse. Atlas accepted his defeat and decided to concentrate on perfecting his own project. Again he tried the spell, but all the confidence and clarity he had earlier had seeped out of his body the second his big brother character came crashing down. The only thing he managed to transfigure was a tiny, misshapen, black rock, equal in size to the lump he felt in his throat. To Atlas, it felt as if Katie herself had turned away in a huff as a result of his insult.
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Atlas Primred, Pecari
Yea I can kinda be an idiot sometimes.
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Atlas Primred, Pecari
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Better than falling! by Ava Fletcher, Aladren
Ava tried her hardest to walk carefully to Transfiguration. She'd tripped on her way from COMC and gotten her robes wet and muddy and had rushed back to the Aladren dorms in order to change in the small passing period. As it was, she was probably going to be a little late which was something that she did not want at all. She managed to slip into a desk in the nick of time- a few second later and Professor Skies began her welcoming speech. Ava was excited to be back at school, she had always loved learning and it meant that she would now be one step closer to achieving her primary goal of being a Healer like her mother. Granted, she didn't know how changing a rock into a bouncy ball would come in handy as a Healer, but perhaps if she traveled like her mother then while working on a case for a child she could at least give him something afterwards to cheer him up. Satisfied with the reasoning, Ava began to take diligent notes in her cramped scrawl.When the box came around, she chose a nice, lumpy rock for a challenge, not jagged so that it would be too hard, but smooth and just lumpy enough that it would provide some fun. She looked around the classroom to find Dimitri and saw him working with two of the Aladren boys in her year Emrys and Emery. She thought that was funny as the last time she had worked with Dimitri and Emery, Dimitri had expressed wanting to meet Emrys. She began to fill out her chart and soon set to work trying to transfigure the rock.
She was concentrating on imagining what she wanted her rock to look like when her thoughts were interrupted by a quiet voice asking her what they were supposed to be doing. She turned, a little peeved that they hadn't been paying attention, but when she saw that it was a first year, her wrinkled forehead relaxed and she smiled. "Sure, the incantation is Hevea. We imagine what we want the finished product to look like and when we twirl our wands like so," she carefully pronounced the spell and twirled her wand. "And the rock should transform." She looked down at the rock in her hand that had lost it's curves. It was the bright red color she had wanted but it wasn't quite a rubber ball yet- when she let it fall from her palm to the table it made a clunk sound and just lay there. "I haven't quite got it yet," she explained. "But when we do get it, the ball is supposed to be super bouncy like hers was at the beginning of class." She hoped that helped. "My name is Ava Fletcher, by the way. I'm in Aladren," she gestured to the house emblem on the front of her robes and held out her hand for the introduction. Her grandfather had always taught her that it was important to introduce yourself politely and nicely though she usually forgot to do so.
OOC: Sorry for the short post, I'm at work and I wanted to get this out before my laptop died!
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Ava Fletcher, Aladren
Better than falling!
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Ava Fletcher, Aladren
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Serena Brockert, Teppenpaw
December 02, 2013 5:34 AM
Failure by Serena Brockert, Teppenpaw
Unlike Flying, Serena was looking forward to Transfiguration. Here she expected to excel. Sure, she didn't expect to be Ryan but she definitely assumed that she'd do great. Be one of the best. Her family always was among the top in this class-not that others couldn't be good at it too-but it seemed to be in their genetics. She didn't expect to be any different. There might have been someone particularily special occasionally and she didn't expect that-her cousin deserved it more anyway-but she had to be better than normal good. The Teppenpaw had to be Brockert good.She sat in rapt attention to Professor Skies, and took in her every word. Serena would do this no matter what the subject, especially given that other subjects were bound to be more difficult for her. Here, however, it was important to pick up on every aspect of the subject. The first year was no perfectionist generally speaking but this was Transfiguration . If there was one subject where she needed and expected an O, this was it. All Brockerts got Os in it. Even Amity who was chronically lazy got Os in Transfig.
Serena thought about the visualization part, a little worried she might not be able to do that perfect. What if she was asked to visualize something that was unknown to her? Fortunately, as a first year, all she was being asked to do was to do was turn a pebble to a rubber bouncy ball. Those she could do. She decided to go with a blue one, since a look around seemed to show quite a few making them red.
The first year looked down at her pebble and then at the Transfiguration table. What were the similarities? Well they were both quite small and round. On the other hand, they differed in that Serena was imagining a blue bouncy ball and the pebble was not blue. And it was hard, like a rock (but smaller) instead of the rubber material that bouncy balls were made of.
In her mind, Serena envisioned a perfect blue bouncy ball taking the place of the pebble. It was round and just the right shade of bright blue, nothing fancy for her first attempt. She did the proper wand movement. " Hevea "
Nothing happened. At all. How could this possibly be? She was a Brockert for Merlin's sake! It didn't have to be perfect on her first try, but it was supposed to do something . What was wrong with her? She quickly looked from Tristan to Duncan, neither of whom seemed to be having issues. Serena felt like crying, but that would just make things worse, people would just make fun of her and Flying had been awkward enough. She wasn't supposed to be good at that though, this she was. The Teppenpaw tried again, picturing the same blue ball. " Hevea " She tried again to no avail. What was wrong with her? She had never felt so defective in her life. This wasn't like Chaslyn being better at the violin than her-that girl had no life-this was important . Transfig was their subject, they all excelled at it and Serena had more than one relative who'd become an animagus.
The Teppenpaw had to try again, both Professor Skies-the Deputy Headmistress - and her family would be disappointed in her if she didn't. They'd also be disappointed if she failed. In Flying things were as expected, and Mr. Brockert didn't seem to care much anyway, so long as they tried, didn't leave class before it was over and didn't kill each other. It was just awkward being the only proper girl riding side saddle. However, here she felt like...well a word that as a proper young lady should not even be in her vocabulary. " Hevea "
Finally, she got a result. Her ball was half blue and half pebble though it felt to be all pebble. It had finally done something. On the third try. As happy as Serena was with getting results finally, they should have happened on the first try and she felt like a discredit to her family name, like she was undeserving of being a Brockert . It made her want to cry and she just wanted to go hide in the ladies' room and let loose-in the crying sense of course.
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Serena Brockert, Teppenpaw
Failure
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Serena Brockert, Teppenpaw
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Duncan Brockert, Teppenpaw
December 06, 2013 11:58 PMDuncan Brockert, Teppenpaw
AlumnusHouse: Teppenpaw
Written by: Allegra Brockert
Age in Post: 11
Birthday: February 10
A too small one unfortunately. by Duncan Brockert, Teppenpaw
In the worst way possible, Duncan wanted to go ghost hunting at Sonora. He had yet to come across one here and it was bothering him. Sure, he was trying to get used to living people, some of which were cool and others he was less than impressed with. Leonidas-interesting name, that-seemed all right, and there was Serena of course. It was just that he was used to his friends being a little more...transparent.What was wrong with this school? Didn't anyone want to spend their afterlife here? Had the founders or Duncan's own ancestors chased them all away? Was it just that they preferred to be with their own families? This just didn't seem right to the young Teppenpaw.
And he couldn't even go looking right now. There were these pesky things called classes. Which he was sure would bring on that pesky thing called homework. Which would seriously cut into his chances to look for ghosts. For company. He might just have to give the solid people a try, but it seemed like such an odd concept to him.
At least this was Transfiguration, bound to be a class that went well for him. The first year hadn't read much about it yet, given it was the beginning of the year though his grandfather had made him read a little about each subject before going off to school. Grandfather had been an Aladren and valued education quite a bit. Plus, there was that old classic picture book, Transfigurations Gone Wrong which Duncan had always enjoyed. He took one of the Transfiguration tables and began to write down the differences and similarities between a pebble and a bouncy ball. Duncan was a fan of the latter quite honestly. Lots of halls around his house to bounce them around though it wasn't something his mother liked him to do either. Honestly, sometimes she seemed like she didn't want him to have any fun. Of course, sometimes it seemed she didn't want Juniper to have fun either. Juniper liked to be outside, in nature or riding their horses. Mother, of course, wanted Juniper to act like a proper young lady.
He tried to temporarily banish these thoughts from his head. It was time to focus on the task at hand, no matter what he'd rather be doing. So both the bouncy ball and the pebble were round but of course, Duncan wanted a bigger one than the size of a the pebble. One normal bouncy ball size, like the ones his mother didn't want him to break stuff with. (Honestly, that was what reparo was for.) His pebble was also white and he certainly didn't want it to be. Orange all the way! What he'd written down though was that some bouncy balls were different colors from some pebbles and he planned to make his orange. And they were made of different substances of course. Pebbles were natural, bouncy balls were made by (living) people.
Professor Skies had said that transfiguration was a subject built on imagination and visualization and Duncan was quite good at these things. He imagined his pebble growing to the proper size of a bouncy ball and turning a bright orange. " Hevea ". The Teppenpaw looked down at his ball and touched it to see if it was the right texture. It was! It was rubber! It was bright orange! It was...way too small. But it had done something and that was a reason to be happy.
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Duncan Brockert, Teppenpaw
A too small one unfortunately.
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Duncan Brockert, Teppenpaw
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