Selina Skies
September 24, 2021 6:38 AM
Intermediates - Trade Ya by Selina Skies
Intermediates was a strange class. There was the ever present need to nag the fifth years about CATS, and at the same time, the newly moved-up third years. They never seemed old enough to be there, but with Oz and Billy as members of that group, the effect was amplified. Today, they were beginning their unit on switching spells. Although it wasn’t quite as bad as the summoning and banishing that Grayson had to teach them, this unit had quite a high propensity for things flying about the room. They weren’t supposed to. They were supposed to simply and seamlessly swap places, each object appearing where the other had been. But they were all still learning.She had decided not to have them switch across large distances, deciding to up the complexity in other ways, to minimise the need for there to be spells firing in all directions across the room.
“Good morning,” she greeted the class, once they were settled. “Today we will be looking at switching spells. Can anyone give me a definition or explanation?” She called on a few people, awarding house points for anything more than ‘spells that switch things,’ until they had successfully pieced together a full definition - the idea that it was between two objects, causing them to trade places completely, with no visible movement other the transformation.
“We are going to have two different tasks today. Everyone will be working on one of these targets, which you will lay flat on your desk, and place a block in the centre.” She held up something with a similar layout to an archery target, with different points values written on each of the circles. “You will switch it for a block of a different shape. I am able to tell the difference between a switching spell and items that have been moved by hand, or individually transfigured. Your homework will write up the various different ways I might be able to do that. For fifth years, and any forth years looking for a challenge, one of your blocks will be inside a box. Your aim is to switch the blocks without taking the box along for the ride.
“You will be graded both on how complete the transformations are, and how close to the centre of your target the final product stays.
“The spell is suppono. You will use this for all switching spells, and you can add the name of the object you are trying to acquire if that helps you. The wand movement is similar to an infinity loop, or sideways figure eight, but with one end open.” She gestured to the board, where the chalk had provided a diagram, showing the open end around the object inside the target, before the pathway snaked away and around the object outside of it, before crossing over itself and coming back.
“You may talk quietly with your neighbour as you work. Please begin.”
OOC: As usual, posts are graded based on length, relevance, realism, and creativity. Any questions, ask in chatzy.
Subthreads: Not my favorite class by Valentine Duell with Philippe Delachene
Confused (Tag female student who isn't Leonor or Bonabelle) by Lavender Brockert
13
Selina Skies
Intermediates - Trade Ya
26
1
5
Valentine Duell
September 26, 2021 11:27 AM
Not my favorite class by Valentine Duell
Val wasn't having much luck in her quest for an amazing boyfriend that would sweep her off her feet, and love Bonabelle just as much as she did. As such, she was feeling a little down, because on top of that the professors kept reminding the fifth years about upcoming CATS. That would be her next year, and she'd need to figure out what to with the rest of her life. Well, the professional bit anyway. The other part was easy enough; marry Bonabelle and her husband, then have kids. She supposed if her wife and her husband worked, she could just keep after the house and kids, but she did want to do something more. She just wanted it all. Would she be able to have it? Was that wrong? Should she be happy with the wonderful things that she already had? Probably, but… she still longed for more.To top things off, Valentine had Transfigurations class to deal with. It was a hard topic, but even still she struggled with it more than everyone else. Or at least it seemed that way. The extra time with Professor Skies and Bonabelle's extra help were the only thing keeping her from falling way behind. Whatever she wound up doing with her life, she hoped it didn't involve much in the way of Transfigurations.
As had become her habit, she got to class early, greeted Professor Skies with as much cheer as she could muster, then set to work on gaming club adventures until class started. It was a nice relief, to delve into another world with different problems. But it wasn't long before she was pulled back to reality as Professor Skies started class.
Valentine had done some switching last year, but still didn't volunteer an answer to Professor Skies' initial question. She was grateful that as a fourth year she had the option to not be overly challenged. That was good, though she would need to figure out how to do the 'inside the box' thing somehow this year. Her target placed and blocks in position, she sighed and contemplated the situation. With normal Transfigurations she filled out a sheet of all the differences and changes that needed to be made. Switching wasn't quite like that.
Without much putting much heart into the effort, Val looked at her two blocks, swirled her wand in the indicated manner and stated, "Suppono.". She was unsurprised when nothing happened. Turning to her neighbor with a small sigh, she asked, "Are you having any luck?"
2
Valentine Duell
Not my favorite class
1490
0
5
Philippe Delachene
September 30, 2021 10:11 PM
I suppono it could be worse (sorry, everyone) by Philippe Delachene
Philippe was feeling pretty comfortable in Intermediates now. He had a year of it behind him, and his grades were good enough he was usually willing to try the harder versions of tasks when the professors offered only two tiers and let the middle grade pick which one they were more comfortable with. CATS also still felt distant enough that he wasn't terrified by their slow and steady approach. The exams were a threat on the horizon, but there was a whole class of fifth years between him and them and there was no reason to panic yet.Today was another two-tiered task, and if it had been a normal transfiguration, he thought he'd probably go for the higher difficulty version of the assignment, but it was switching spells, which he wasn't quite as comfortable with, and switching from inside a box sounded like a difficulty level he'd have to work up to rather than try right out of the gate. Which wasn't to say he didn't intend to try it, but he did think practicing the easier version first would be prudent.
To that end, he laid his target out flat on his desk, as instructed, and placed a block in the bulls-eye, also as instructed. The one currently in the middle of his target was a simple blue cube. At the edge of his desk, he placed a second block, this one red and in the shape of a four-sided die.
He waved his wand in an infinity loop, leaving the one end open, and said, "Suppono caltrop!"
They switched. Not perfectly. The cube shaped block fell off the edge of the desk, and the four sider missed the bulls eye by one circle. But it wasn't bad for a first try, after months of not attempting the spell, so he'd take it and work to improve it. Once the margin of error had been reduced, he could maybe try the box.
Before he could reset his blocks, though, Val was asking about his progress and he grinned at her. "My die got reduced a size. The six sider I was switching it with fell off the desk on your side, do you see it anywhere? It was blue." He leaned over, trying to spot where it might have clattered off to.
1
Philippe Delachene
I suppono it could be worse (sorry, everyone)
1489
0
5
Valentine Duell
October 01, 2021 10:57 PM
Ouch (you're forgiven) by Valentine Duell
Valentine giggled lightly as her one of her gaming club companions accurately described the blocks he was using. Her own weren't so nice and dice shaped, one was a purple rectangular block and the other was a flat yellow triangle. They still obstinately hadn't swapped places for her while she had been listening to Philippe. This was only a passing observation she made as her partner leaned over toward her to look for his lost block. Philippe was nice and friendly.... and currently dating Freddie. Which she assumed, as she pulled her thoughts from that particular train of thought, meant that he most likely didn't have any interest in being her (and possibly Bonabelle's) boyfriend.Wrenching her attention back to the task at hand, Val leaned over as well to get a better look at the floor in her area. It did not take her long to spot the lost blue block. Before she could reach out for it, she remembered that she should be practicing every spell she could whenever she got the chance. "I've got it," She alerted her partner as she waved her wand, "Wingardium Leviosa". The block floated obediently back up onto the table. He had gotten a good block that listened to magic, not like her stubborn ones.
"It looks like you've got this down pretty good," she observed, then added hopefully, "Have any tips?" She was pretty sure it was no secret to anyone that she was not doing all that well in transfigurations.
2
Valentine Duell
Ouch (you're forgiven)
1490
0
5
Lavender Brockert
October 02, 2021 2:51 PM
Confused (Tag female student who isn't Leonor or Bonabelle) by Lavender Brockert
Lavender couldn't quite believe that she was halfway through her time at Sonora, or rather would be when midterm came. Still, that was close enough for her to start feeling...strange. She couldn't define exactly what she felt about it. Like not exactly like time was running out, because it wasn't quite yet, she was a fourth year not a seventh year, but like...well, maybe she needed to accomplish things.Still, there were things that Lavender couldn't do quite yet. Like find her future husband-and yes, she was sure that she liked boys, just not any specific boy because all the pureblood ones around her age at Sonora were related to her. She was pretty sure that her parents would accept her being with a non-pureblood, but being with a pureblood would just make things easier. Lavender really didn't want love to be complicated and stressful. It should be this blissful, wonderful thing that never made anyone feel anything but happy. Her parents seemed to feel that way, so did Ivy and Chester and Peyton and Connor and pretty much everyone else in her family, minus possibly Uncle David and Aunt Jillian.
Of course, as she was getting older, she would certainly be able to start attending balls and meeting pureblood boys her own age, a thought that both thrilled and terrified her. Which pretty much summed up how Lavender felt about growing up in general. She wanted to meet her true love but at the same time she wanted to stay a child and be able to play pretend and use her imagination. Plus, she was also terrified that she wouldn't meet anyone that she liked, as her parents had been older than usual when they got married. Of course, Dad said that it was definitely worth the wait, but Lavender didn't want to wait. Hopefully, someone in her family knew someone. Chester's dad worked with hers and Phillip's-Amity's husband's-uncle and Uncle Robert had been roommates back in school. Or she'd meet someone down on St. Berylla's. Oooh, maybe there was a member of the Livillian nobility that Serena could introduce her to! Maybe Lavender wouldn't be a princess, like her cousin, but she could be a countess or a duchess or something!
At least schoolwork wasn't that hard. Well, okay, some of it was quite challenging and Lavender was never going to be as interested in it as Ivy was,but this growing up thing was really difficult and complicated and even Transfiguration theory was preferable. And, as a Brockert, practical Transfiguration was pretty much no problem at all. If there was one thing that the Crotalus was confident in-and there was more or less exactly one thing that she was confident in-it was this.
She entered the room, disappointed to see that there wasn't a seat available by Val. She really wanted to catch up with her friend. The Teppenpaw was always so busy, and it seemed that Bonabelle took up a lot of her time. Lavender had heard rumors that they were a couple which should have made her feel better since it was a different relationship than the Crotalus had with Val and not one that she wanted. However, it didn't. Val liking girls was fine, but for whatever reason,Lavender couldn't help but feel a little jealous when she never was about Stanley. Sure, that was awkward and all, but it didn't bother her the same way.
The fourth year tried to imagine her friend dating another girl, Janis or Rosalynn or someone.Would she feel the same way? Possibly not. There was something about Bonabelle specifically. Much like most of her feelings these days, they were totally irrational and hard to explain. Maybe it was the way that Bonabelle had never seemed that interested in being friends with her or that she hadn't been very nice to Stanley. Stanley had done a lot of stupid things and Lavender was on Val's side regarding them breaking up but the Pecari was still her cousin and she had a certain amount of loyalty to him.
Maybe that was it, that Bonabelle seemed to want Val all to herself and there was no room for Lavender or Stanley or anyone else. Which she was sure that could not possibly be something that someone as social as Val wanted. Which wasn't really that healthy. And which was not all that fair to Lavender when she actually didn't have any other friends besides her family and not a ton of options for the sort of friends that she wanted, as in friends that were girls her own age.
She should try, she would try, if there was someone else available to be her very best friend in the entire world. However, she didn't think she and Janis had much in common, and the three third year girls seemed to be good friends, so maybe one of the fifth years girls? Probably not Leonor as she didn't seem very nice. It was probably too late now to make more friends at Sonora and making friends outside of school wouldn't help her at this point when she was here most of the time.
And while that might help Lavender's own loneliness, it still wouldn't make Val's relationship with Bonabelle a healthy one. Besides, maybe the Crotalus was wrong and just jealous that Val spent more time with the Aladren than her. But then, she hadn't been jealous when it was Stanley. Nor was Lavender jealous of any of Val's other friends. Maybe it was a pecking order and she was second in it and so ahead of Gabriel and the other gaming people and Esme and everyone else except for Bonabelle. Still, her own instincts told her that Bonabelle wanted Val all to herself.
But then could she trust her own instincts now? Growing up was so frustrating and Lavender had never been all that confident in anything other than her practical transfiguation abilities to start with.
Which, fortunately, was what she had to do right now. The Crotalus received her block and her target. " Suppono ". She was pleased to see that while not perfect, she had done very well. And she would keep going on the easier task until she had gotten it exactly before attempting the harder task.
Lavender turned to her neighbor. Since there were no spaces next to Val, she had chosen to indeed sit next to one of the other girls in her class, although not Bonabelle or Leonor. She really did want to make another friend, hopefully someone who...could be her best friend. Val was her best friend, and she felt slightly like she was betraying the Teppenpaw, but at the same time, she wanted someone who could be just her best friend, someone who would consider Lavender her best friend.
So, she smiled at her classmate. "Hey, how are you doing?" Her stomach was full of butterflies, she so badly wanted this to go well, but it was still kind of terrifying making the first move like this.
OOC: Not making assumptions about the sexual orientation of Janis or Rosalynn, I just picked other random girls around their age for examples
11
Lavender Brockert
Confused (Tag female student who isn't Leonor or Bonabelle)
1504
0
5