Live transfiguration? Hadley was stoked. This was the part of transfiguration she was most excited for, along with human transfiguration. And todays lesson will go a long way for helping her with her self-training as an animagus.

It also made her realize she was woefully not ready for the mandrake leaf. It was time to restructure her training plan. Focus on the basics, build her skill up in transfiguration. In live transfiguration.

Hadley's eyes narrowed at Professor Ichihara. This, this would be when having a teacher instructing her training would have been helpful. Someone to give her the exercises to build up her skill. But no, she was way too young for things like that. Things like exactly what they were doing in class today. Not too young now is she?

Puh!

Hadley bent over under her desk and grabbed a piece of parchment. She took the leaf out, folded it up in the parchment and then sat back up. "It's because less drastic of a change is required. That's why it's easier. Sure a porcupine to a pin cushion is drastic, but they still retain a similar basic shape, unlike say a tea cup. It's not impossible to change a porcupine to a tea cup, it is just a bit more difficult, because you're also changing the fundamental shape too. And we are taught it, because transfiguration as well as specifically live transfiguration is a good skill to know."

That out of the way, Hadley went back to glaring at Professor Ichihara.

Ichihara's response to her had piqued her curiosity, and Nicky found her gaze drifting back to the tanks. Something she would be familiar with? Nicky began cycling through the possibilities, given the size of the tanks, not paying too much mind to the other questions being asked, and answered.

That was until one word caught her ear. Brazilian. Shifting her full attention back to Ichihara, a small smile curved her lips. She did indeed know those. Judging by how some others reacted, however, Nicky could tell that her enthusiasm was not shared.

Who cared about the actual spellwork or theory of it all. Nicky just wanted to get her hands on one of those little beasties. It was like a little bit of home in a tank.

...

Well, pretty much ALL of them had the same answer as Vivian. The characteristics were alike. Changing a porcupine into a pincushion because of its similar attributes, obviously. Yeah, anyway, they were true. Nevertheless, Vivian was TOO excited and tried to keep it inside, although her occasional wiggling on her seat was evident. Hey, who didn't like live transfiguration? That was cool!

Anyway, she did raise her hand to answer. "What they said about the two having the same attributes, Professor. I agree with them. And also because, why not? It's cool! Besides, you would never know when you'll be needing a pincushion, right? If you didn't have one in hand, transfiguring something would be the better option." Unless they'd rather find one or buy a new one, of course. But why not show your awesom Transfiguration skills instead?

Janelle always had to pay careful attention and be extra focused in Transfiguration. To say it was complicated was an understatement. So it couldn't be as simple as turning an animal into something else. They were going to learn about the Concept of Live Transfiguration. What? Janelle had a feeling this wasn't going to be easy.

Then the questions. Not one, not two, not three, not four, not five, but six questions. Well Janelle knew that there was no way that she was going to be able to answer all of them. Soooo, she would just have to pick and choose. It took a while for her to come up with something, but she raised her hand and gave it her best shot.

"I think you teach us how to transfigure porcupines into pincushions because .........I'm not really sure why. You want us to be prepared for any situation? We might need to actually do this one day?" They would have to do this for OWL's? Ok, Janelle was drowning here. It was time to move on. "It's probably easier to transfigure something if the thing you're changing and the thing you're changing it into have some of the same characteristics. It's not that big a jump from one to the other. I think you probably can transfigure an animal into something that is characteristically different, but it would be a lot harder to do. So to answer your question, it's not impossible to change a tarantula in to something non prickly.......but it would probably be really hard."

Arielle wasn't quite sure with her answer, but she did have one. "I think having similarities between objects makes it easier to visualize the transformation, which in turn makes the magic easier. But I also think you can turn anything into anything if you try hard enough." Although she thought her answer was really good, this happened to be Arielle's first ever Transfiguration lesson, which means, of course, that she knew nothing. Well, wasn't sure of anything but her hypotheses could be correct.

Did she say.....arachnids? AKA SPIDERS? That was one thing Juno couldn't handle. They gave her the willies. She shivered at the thought of being in the same room with them let a lone having to work with them today. NOT COOL PROFESSOR. NOT COOL.

But for now she needed to listen and not think about creepy bugs.

Juno pondered these questions for a few moments. There were so many possible answers, but listening to her classmates reasoning she started to think of more specific possibilities.

Juno raised her hand and waited to be called on. "I think that transfiguring an animal that looks similar to an object helps students to learn how to transfigure quicker because the animals are already very close in looks so it is easier to visualize that animal as that object. I don't think that it would make it more difficult to transfigure a Tarantula into something that isn't prickly because once you have learned to transfigure and practiced you can change the looks of anything. It's all a matter of practicing, perfecting, and concentration. If you can visualize it, it will work." Yep. Long winded but...that was it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Callie

Live transfiguration? Hadley was stoked. This was the part of transfiguration she was most excited for, along with human transfiguration. And todays lesson will go a long way for helping her with her self-training as an animagus.

It also made her realize she was woefully not ready for the mandrake leaf. It was time to restructure her training plan. Focus on the basics, build her skill up in transfiguration. In live transfiguration.

Hadley's eyes narrowed at Professor Ichihara. This, this would be when having a teacher instructing her training would have been helpful. Someone to give her the exercises to build up her skill. But no, she was way too young for things like that. Things like exactly what they were doing in class today. Not too young now is she?

Puh!

Hadley bent over under her desk and grabbed a piece of parchment. She took the leaf out, folded it up in the parchment and then sat back up. "It's because less drastic of a change is required. That's why it's easier. Sure a porcupine to a pin cushion is drastic, but they still retain a similar basic shape, unlike say a tea cup. It's not impossible to change a porcupine to a tea cup, it is just a bit more difficult, because you're also changing the fundamental shape too. And we are taught it, because transfiguration as well as specifically live transfiguration is a good skill to know."

That out of the way, Hadley went back to glaring at Professor Ichihara.

……. Had Miss Daneker spit up a leaf? Did Nana’s sharp eyes wrong her? Squinting slightly, the witch began to slowly, but surely draw a conclusion that she did not like one bit. She glanced briefly to Hadleigh and Frankie, and realized that Haddie’s own silence mirrored their own quite closely.

She felt like a cold stone had been unceremoniously dropped into her stomach. “You’re correct, Miss Daneker. I can't help but notice that you seem to be chewing gum. Kindly spit it out and dispose of it. You know my rules.” Nana said, it would easy enough to confirm her suspicion.

Perhaps it was only gum.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Goblinfrog

Her nervousness must have shown, because now she was being asked if she was okay. "Huh? Oh, I'm okay Professor," replied Kitty in what she hoped was a brave voice, though it still came out a little shy. She sat up straighter in her chair to emphasize that she was fine.

Kitty watched as the giant spider crawled unto Professor Ichihara's arm. Even though she was not particularly frightened of spiders, she probably would have screamed if a spider had crawled on her arm. But, Kitty reasoned, Ichihara must know a lot about spiders and probably this spider in particular knew her, so there was no danger of being bitten. "My guess is that we transfigure these things (like porcupines into pin cushions) not for their own sake but for practice for when we have to transfigure something harder - or even if it isn't harder, but at least now we know how to do it." She elaborated. "Pretend you were trapped inside a deep cave and you didn't know how to Apparrate. Well, if you knew how to transfigure then you could transfigure nearby rocks and stalactites into food while you waited to be rescued or before you find another way to escape."

But after awhile of listening to her classmates answer, Kitty got the feeling that she totally misunderstood the question. She raised her hand again. "As to why we transform a porcupine into a pin cushion instead of an umbrella, it's probably because a pin cushion resembles a porcupine more than an umbrella - so it makes it easier. Yeah..."

”Part of your answer was quite correct, Miss Valentine, but you forget Gamp’s laws” Nana not unkindly said, a small smile on her lips. ”while it is possible to transfigure a rock into a cauldron cake, it is not possible to infuse necessary nutrients into it. You cannot, unfortunately, be sustained by Transfigured food.” More the pity, really.

Quote:

Originally Posted by littledhampir

He got flowers! Olly beamed at Professor Ichihara and held on to the flowers. That was a pretty good spell, sure, but it was definitely not the most exciting one. But apparently it was her favorite. That was pretty much the only thing he learned from the entire question session. He tried to pay attention to other questions and answers but there was a lot to keep up with and it was hard.

Spiders! Olly liked spiders. He watched with interest as the one crawled up the professors arm. Would he get to hold a spider during the lesson? Wait, why were there spiders? This was Transfiguration, not Care of Magical Creatures. Then she was talking about porcupines and pin cushions and honestly Olly just was not following. Live animal transfiguration, that was the main point. Right? That made him have questions so it was even harder to focus on the actual point of the lesson.

"Professor, wouldn't transfiguring an animal into an object...hurt it?" Changing something living into something not living. Wouldn't that kill it or something?

“Not at all. I've been transfigured many times myself by others and when I shift into my Animagus form and at can tell it doesn't hurt even a bit if done right. Feels something like a tickle along your spine.” Nana answered, giving the boy a kind smile.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Daydreamer11

Janelle always had to pay careful attention and be extra focused in Transfiguration. To say it was complicated was an understatement. So it couldn't be as simple as turning an animal into something else. They were going to learn about the Concept of Live Transfiguration. What? Janelle had a feeling this wasn't going to be easy.

Then the questions. Not one, not two, not three, not four, not five, but six questions. Well Janelle knew that there was no way that she was going to be able to answer all of them. Soooo, she would just have to pick and choose. It took a while for her to come up with something, but she raised her hand and gave it her best shot.

"I think you teach us how to transfigure porcupines into pincushions because .........I'm not really sure why. You want us to be prepared for any situation? We might need to actually do this one day?" They would have to do this for OWL's? Ok, Janelle was drowning here. It was time to move on. "It's probably easier to transfigure something if the thing you're changing and the thing you're changing it into have some of the same characteristics. It's not that big a jump from one to the other. I think you probably can transfigure an animal into something that is characteristically different, but it would be a lot harder to do. So to answer your question, it's not impossible to change a tarantula in to something non prickly.......but it would probably be really hard."

”We teach you these spells to help better your understanding of practical magic, Miss Guidry. It is important to have the basics down before you might progress into deeper waters. Transfiguration is a subject that can be very tricky and dangerous if not understood and simply launched into. This is why Animagi must be registered with the ministry, for their safety. The Transfiguration Professor offered her a small, but encouraging smile. ”you’re very correct, well said. It is indeed possible to transfigure a subject into a completely and wholly different one. For instance during the Triwizard Tournament of 1994 a student by the name of Cedric Diggory transfigured a boulder into a Labrador Retriever during the first task. So it is possible, but considered much more advanced.”





Nana nodded as the students began to speak up, many echoes of the same statement filled the classroom, but there was no inter-debate or discussion as she had hoped. Perhaps she would have to try harder to incorporate discussion into her future lessons. While it was true that this was a gifted bunch, they seemed…. Almost worried to venture out with their thoughts. To question aloud what they were being taught. Was a lack of comfort? Or perhaps it was the nature of the other, more straightforward classes being taught at the castle.

“Well said, well said. Shared properties do make the physical shift somewhat easier. The cells that make up the body of the intended subject take less energy and motivation to change due to the shared characteristics, but there is another reason, one that is partner to the larger picture we’re painting today.” was that the correct terminology? Nana mentally flicked the worry away.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cassirin

Dot was pleased with her jar full of cool water, and she sipped from it as she listened to the professor explain the activity. Bugs, though. Spiders. Not cool at all. Pass, okay?

"Maybe because they already share some similar physical properties, it makes it easier? Or maybe it just makes it easier psychologically... but it's all in our heads?" She wasn't sure. The professor sort of made Dot think in new and different ways.

“Yes, Miss-Wojack, you’ve hit both answers on the nose. Fundamentally it is much easier if your target shares attributes with it’s intended change, though even something like changing a needle into a matchstick can be a strenuous process for younger students. The key issue is not a physical one, but rather a mental hurdle that the Caster must overcome. “ Nana paused, walking over to Miss Iver who seemed quite keenly intent on Nana’s arachnid friend.she clicked her tongue and the spider crawled down her arm and onto the Ravenclaw’s desk. “If you lay your palm down Masuru will crawl right onto it.”

“Transfiguration, though at times it can be considered a very physical subject, is more closely aligned with the psychology of the practicing wizard. I’m sure some of you have experienced issues with your wands during times of duress or emotional turmoil.” It wasn’t a big deal, it happened to everyone. ”if you cannot calm your mind and feel the spell it simply will not work. You must clearly envision the transformation in your mind. This is something can be a struggle with younger witches and wizards and those from muggle house-holds.”

“Now, before we delve further into this, I suggest we get accustomed to our guests for the day.” She waved her hand over the bug-infested tanks in the way a model would a showcase of fancy cars and prizes. ”The Brazilian Black Tarantulas will be the most difficult to work with not because of their disposition” - She had seen those frightened looks. - ”but for the complexity in their anatomy, so do keep that in mind. Next in difficulty is the Spiny Leaf Bug,and the Megastick Bug, both of which should be handled with care due to their delicate natures, lastly, but not least. We have our American Walking Stick Bugsand the Baron Caterpillar, These, though the most simple on their anatomy have a… Tendency to crawl away, so be weary, but gentle.”

“Choose your subject for the class - One per person please! - study and get to know your subject well, this is important for the next portion of our class.”

And with that, Nana once more returned to her desk, leaning against the frame as she took to watching.

OOC: sorry for the delay members. Internet issues and bad weather made this a difficult post to get up.

No need for catch up posts if you want to join in, if you like you may simply post your student beginning the mini activity.

This mini activity may be done in two mini posts or one long post, extra points will be given for creativity. But most of all, have fun, get messy! the next update will be in 12 hours.

Professor Itchy Mara, noticed her spitting out the leaf. Typical. But at least she gave Hadley a reasonable excuse. "I just did, Professor. Sorry. Forgot a moment." Gum, that's all it had been. Yep. Gum. Not a mandrake leaf or anything.

Nope.

Content that she'd escaped a lecture, or worse, detention with Ichihara, Hads relaxed in her seat. She instantly perked up again. Emotional states effect magic? That explained a lot actually about why she wasn't able to cast some difficult spells she had been able to last year, and why spells like Aguamenti always came out wonky and unpredictable...No wonder, with all she'd been though this last year. So she just needed to clear her mind. Check. She could do that. Right?

Hadley got up and made her way over to the tanks. Which to pick? Hads rolled on the balls of her feet as she studied the critters in the tanks. The spiny leaf bug or megastick bug were her first choices. But no. Hadley had something to prove. Not to Professor Ichihara, but to herself.

Reaching into one of the tanks, Hadley positioned her hand in front of one of the tarantulas, letting it crawl onto her hand and suppressed a shudder. She wasn't scared of spiders, not the way Rachel was, but she wasn't exactly a fan either. "Okay, Adam," because clearly that was the spider's name, "I don't hurt you, you don't hurt me. Deal?" Satisfied that she'd reached an accord with the arachnid, Hads carried him back to her desk and sat down.

She placed Adam, the tarantula on the desk and let him crawl around a bit as she took out a quill and fresh piece of parchment.

Insects. They were going to do transfiguration with Insects? Now. Hattie didn't really like insects. But she figured that they were better than spiders. She really would not be going near the spiders. But she really needed to pick a insect to do her transfiguration on. She figured she would use one of the easier ones. Not because she was trying to make it easier, but she wasn't the best at the subject, so she knew it was going to be better starting simple. She could work up to the harder things. She was only a first year, so she figured that would be okay. It wasn't like she was a 7th year and trying to get away with the easier stuff.

Okay. As she walked towards the glass tanks, she decided to go with the caterpillar. The stick insects seemed really weird, and she just could not handle that. So the caterpillar it was. She could do this. She put a smile on, trying to look happy, and she reached into the tank and carefully got one of the caterpillars out.

"Aww. You're not so bad..." She murmured as she headed back to her seat, and sat down. She still didn't really like it though. She placed it carefully down on the bench, and tried to not let it crawl away. That would be the first part of this. "Now... just stay where you are..." And she would be happy with that. For now at least.

Genny was tracing circles with her finger on the desk as the class expressed genuine interest in the topic and actually discussed. She was sad to say she lived with a bunch of nerds but she was! Look at Ace, even he was being so nerdy right now. Quick side glance his way when he answered. Pft.

Anyway. They finally reached the fun part! She sat up straight when the professor started waving her hands at the tank. They were to choose one of the little bugs to play with! Yay! Genny ran up to one of the tanks and leaned in a little too much her nose touched the hot glass. "Hiiiii," she squeaked before letting her hand dive into the glass container and scooping one of the leafy bugs out. "Oooh. You don't feel like you look." She told it with a grin. "Don't be scared, we're friends. I'm a very good witch, I won't hurt you." Considering they were to transform this bug to something.

Azura knew all about her emotional state affecting her magic, she had that problem last year while she was reeling from the whole Jace thing.. And this year a bit while she was dealing with her mother's death.

She took a breath as she closed her eyes for a moment and tried to clear her mind.. She needed to focus only on what she was doing and nothing else.. Yes..

She turned her purple eyes towards the bugs and she stood up and headed straight towards the Tarantula cage..

Yeah she wasn't a fan of spider, at least little ones.. but it would be a test of her strength and will in order to work with this creature and not run out of the room screaming.. Also.. she would have to focus on it.. and nothing else..

All right then.. She put her hand down into the cage and tried not to squeal as the spider walked right onto her hand and she looked down at her..

Fwoopers! EEEEE!!

Breathe Azura, just breath.. it's not going to hurt you."

She thought as she bit her lip and slowly raised her hand to look at the creature on it.. Welp.. This was happening.. "Hey there little one, My name is Azura and I'll be working with you today.." She said softly as she moved back to her desk..

"Hmmm, I'm going to call you Steve.." She said with a nod as she put her hand down and watched it walk along the desk a bit..

Genny sat back in her chair with the bug on her hand. It didn't have a face so she could not tell whether it was confused or scared. All she knew was it was fidgeting in its own tiny, cute bug-way. "So, professor says we should get accustomed to each other." Well, she said the students should get accustomed, but Genny was not one to break a bug's heart. "I don't really know what else to say. You look lovely I want to try and squish you to see how flexible you are because you look pretty resilient but also what if you die? I would never let that happen." Genny just babbled on with the bug for longer than she would have imagined a conversation with an insect would go.

It was not particularly what the professor meant by getting accustomed but Genny was already comfortable with insects in general (as long as they were not snakes.... were snakes insects?) so there was nothing to do here, really. Mhmm, the leafy bug looked simple enough, mhmmm.

Now, her eyes moved from her bug buddy to the rest of the class to see who was most scared of bugs.

Soooooo they were going to work with insects today. Yeah, that was so not a surprise to Esme, she just... wasn't a huge fan of them. They were gross though the tarantulas were worse. Not even going to consider one of those because they made her skin crawl. Too much thinking of Acromantulas and how they had tried to take over Hogwarts back in her First Year. There was no way that any of them would be crawling up HER arm. Shudder.

Stick insects weren't TOO bad because they looked a lot like twigs but caterpillars were baby butterflies and that counted for more in Esme's books. Yep, butterflies and ladybugs were the best insects by far because they were prettier than most. It wasn't a matter of fear, because she wasn't scared of any of them unless there were giant ones that attacked the castle. Now THAT would be a different story. These ones were small, however, and she smiled as she gently picked up one of the little caterpillars. Giggling, she watched it climb across her hand. Kind of tickled but it wasn't too bad. "Hello, there. I am Esme and I am going to be your new friend." Yep. Now she just needed a name for the little insect... "I'm going to call you Jasmine!" Because why not.

Back at her desk, she studied Jasmine, her face inches away from her as she crawled around. WAS it even a her? Honestly she had no idea. Did it really matter? Not like she could ask the insect and there was no way that she knew of to work the gender out. Worst come to worse it was a boy named Jasmine. At least Esme wasn't being abandoned... Placing her palm against the desk, she let the caterpillar climb up her hand and onto her arm. So long as it didn't try to get in her hair or walk across her face everything was good.

Glancing around the room, she took note to see how everyone else was faring. It was interesting to see who was scared of the insects and who wasn't. Esme definitely wasn't scared of Jasmine, in fact she giggled some more as the tickling continued. "You really aren't so bad and I promise that I won't squish you." Yeaaah, that happened sometimes but she was going to try her extra hardest not to let that happen. She would feel really bad otherwise!

So Dante had to touch bugs now. Great just what he wanted to do today. It was only slightly ahead of being stuck in the bathroom all day for whatever reason. On top of all that she wanted them to get to know them. No thank you. Dante would rather spend on hour talking to a ghost drone on about their past. Since he actually wanted a challenge he chose the Brazilian Black Tarantulas. Lets see how that goes.

Dante reached into the tank and let a tarantula onto his hand. Better than that weird spiny bug. That thing was ugly. Dante took it back to his desk before addressing it.

"Try anything and i will make you disappear and make it look like an accident"

Echo was glad that there were more options to choose from other than the spiders. Moving over towards the bugs she looked around and picked out one that was the least scarriest/gross looking.

Taking her Caterpillar with her she felt its little legs on her hands, they were kind of tickling her. Making her way to her spot she placed the bug down in front of her. Taking out a notebook and pen she got her face real close and tried to draw the little thing first.

Good thing she wasnt an artist because her drawings were terrible but oh well right, as long as it looked somewhat like it.

Watching her new little friend move around she scribbled down some more notes.. Also trying to figure out what it could possibly turn into??

Oh. Hello Caterpillar. It wasn't actually crawling around that much, or not as much as she had expected. But that was okay. She actually kind of glad it wasn't moving around too much. That would just make her job a lot harder. So it was actually quite good. "good. You do that. I like it" She murmured as she looked at her caterpillar. It was kind of cute. And it turned into a butterfly, so she was totally okay with that. She was sad that they couldn't use butterflies. But she figured that would be really hard, since butterflies flew around a lot. So she was content with her caterpillar for now.

"I suppose I should give you a name..." She mused, as she moved the caterpillar back into the middle of her desk. "I suppose you need a name that makes sense for an object too, since I'll be transfiguring you into something else" So that made sense too. "Hmm..." She tilted her head to the side as she thought. "I'll call you.... Lexi" No idea why. But that would make do. It was only a caterpillar, so the name didn't matter than much.

"Okay.. I'm kinda bored now. You can't talk back. This isn't the best conversation." So she was hoping that they were going to move on with the lesson soon. "But... you are kinda cool"

"Oh I didn't know that." All this time Kitty had always assumed that if you were good with transfiguration then you would never have to worry too much about being somewhere without food as you could always transform something into food. Guess she would have to research Gamp's laws later.

But now she should focus on the lesson. Her initial nervousness had gone away completely upon learning that they were NOT going to transfigure themselves. Now they could focus on the adorable insects.

Which one was she going to pick? Spider? Probably not. She wasn't scared of spiders but she wasn't sure she wanted one crawling on her hand either. Surely the spiders had a good relationship with Professor Nana which would prevent them from biting, but as Kitty did not know how to handle spiders she did not want to risk it. The stick insects looked interesting, but also delicate. Kitty was naturally gentle (no one rough could take care of nine worms) but she did not have any experience with these bugs and knew nothing about them except for pictures she had seen in books about insects. Still, they looked cool and Kitty sort of regretted not having researched them before.

"I'm going with the caterpillars," Kitty announced to no one in particular as she made her way over to one of the baron caterpillars. Caterpillars were an insect she knew a great deal about, almost as much as she did about worms. She picked one of them up gently and went back to her desk.

Right now it was curled up in a ball. Kitty knew that caterpillars did that when they were scared. The best thing to do was just to not to do anything right now while it calmed down.

Nearby she heard Esme (who had also picked a caterpillar) naming hers Jasmine. "What should your name be?" she asked the caterpillar as it slowly uncurled. "Hmmmm....how about Miles? Like you are able to crawl for miles and miles. Pretty good, right?"

Threats work. See the spider was behaving. Its better to threaten first than try and be nice later. Most people are forgiving if you fake sincerity enough. But besides those points. Nothing was going wrong right now. He still did not want to do this. But he was okay with whatever Ichihara was doing.

Dante complained about almost every class. So dont take it personal.

"I'll give you name Diablo"

Why not name his spider after the Devil.

Nicky watched as the creature climbed down Ichihara's arm and onto her desk. With a small smile, Nicky rested her hand palm up. "Why hello there, beautiful," she said as each of the eight legs climbed onto her hand. "Masuru" she repeated the name softly, turning her hand so that it could make it's way to the back of her fingers.

Nicky knew these creatures. She knew their disposition. Their anatomy. And so as Ichihara gave the assignment, Nicky was completely focused on letting Masuru walks from hand to hand. She took note of the angle of it's legs, the delicate hairs over it's body, the way it tickled on her bare skin.

"What are we going to turn you into, hm, pretty thing?" A hairbrush maybe... something articulated... Nicky chuckled a little as one of the creatures leg tickled the inside of her wrist.

The more Azura watched Steve move around, the more she thought he was pretty cute.. She tilted her head as she watched the rather adorable spider move around and her desk and she forgot what she was supposed to be doing, because she was watching it..

"Oh Steve, you are so adorable." She said with a soft smile as she reached out a hand to gently stroke the spiders fuzzy body and then she had to bite back a soft squeal as it started to lean into her touch a little.

"There now Steve! See, I'm pretty cool.."

pause..

"Well, I'm not bad at least, and we are going to get along right? Don't worry about the fact that you might be a tea cup soon.. I'll make sure you get back to your proper spider form and back in your house when we were done.."

Though now she sorta wanted to keep Steve.. She studied him as she kept petting it and watching how it moved and interacted with her.. "Fwoopers, you are just so sweet and gentle.. not at all as scary as you look." She said with a nod as she jotted down a few notes about Steve, she also carefully added that it likes it's left second to the back leg scratched and it had a brown spot on it's head..

Out of the corner of his eye, Frankie saw Hady flinch and shift in her seat. Initially, he acted like nothing had happened. He knew that she despised anything that had eight legs. Nevertheless, he couldn't help but let the small grin appear on his face the moment she inched her seat closer to him. Why, hello there.

The Gryffindor let Hady read his notes as the professor continued on with the lesson, responding to everyone's thoughts and gave some follow-up about experiencing wand issues during emotional times. The prefect caught himself nodding a bit at that, knowing exactly what Ichihara was talking about. The concluding months of 2089 had been rough on him.

His head perked up the moment the creatures were brought up again, excitement plastered on his face. Obviously he was quite eager to get his hands on one of the creatures ... but which one should he pick? His first thought was to get a tarantula for himself, mostly because it would challenge him the most. Though a glance at Hady made him change his mind. For her sake, he wasn't about to bring something she disliked even closer to her.

Rising from his desk, he casually walked over to a tank containing the extatosoma tiaratum -- the next difficult creature in the room to work with. From where he sat, he didn't quite get a good look at them. Now that he was up close and personal, he couldn't help but look at them with curiosity. They weren't exactly the prettiest of creatures, were they?

A hand was slowly placed in the tank and remained there until one of the spiny leaf insects climbed onto his hand. Carefully, Frankie removed his hand from the tank and returned to his seat with the light creature in tow.

Blue eyes watched the insect intently as it crawled onto his desk, back into his hand, up his arm a little, and back to his hand again. Noted in his mind were its light brown colour (obviously camouflage), how certain parts of its body were rounded, that it was roughly seven or eight inches long, and covering its body were thorn-like spikes. He gently brushed a finger along the stick insect, causing it to point its abdomen up in a scorpion-like fashion. It let out an odour too, one that surprisingly reminded him of peanut butter.

Easy there, Peanut. I'm not going to hurt you. He was just going to transform it into something cool at some point. No big deal.

So they were working with bugs today? Cool! Any activity that involved creatures was a-okay with Fiyero. Hmm, maybe the rest of this class wouldn't be do terrible after all...

So which one should he pick? Those spiders looked like they'd be loads of fun, but he remembered Professor Ichihara saying they were also the hardest to transfigure. Maybe not the best idea... He'd already humiliated himself enough for one day, and he didn't trust Professor Ichihara not to splash him again if he did it wrong. He decided to play it safe and opted for the caterpillar, but...

Hold on, where were the caterpillars? Fiyero peered into the tanks and saw leaves and what looked like a bunch of pine needles but no caterpillars! Was Professor Ichihara putting him on? The pine needles wiggled suddenly, and Fiyero realized they were the caterpillars. Awesome!

He started to stick his hand in the tank to pick up one of the caterpillars but quickly drew it back. He didn't want to accidentally squish it! It was better to let the bug come to him. "Come on out, don't be shy," he said, dangling a finger in front of the nearest caterpillar like a bridge for it to climb.

The caterpillar remained motionless for a few seconds, as if debating whether or not to trust him, before inching its way onto his finger. "Hey, that tickles!" Fiyero said, laughing a little bit as all those legs touched his skin. He carefully lifted his arm so as not to drop the caterpillar as he made his way back to his desk. "No, don't go in there!" he scolded the bug, gently blocking it with his other hand as it tried to crawl up his sleeve.

Fiyero looked around the room at his classmates, who were naming and talking to their bugs. So was he supposed to name it? He assumed so, since everybody else was doing it. But what name should he choose? He thought about calling it Red since it was a Baron caterpillar after all, but that would be weird, considering the bug was green! Wait a second, that was it! "I'll call you Elphaba," he said to the caterpillar. Now there was a name he knew his theater snob dad would approve of!

Fiyero picked up his quill and a parchment, taking extra care not to squish Elphaba who was keeping busy crawling all over his desk as he jotted down a few notes.

Text Cut: "Fiyero's notes"[/textcut

Baron caterpillar (aka Elphaba)
* is green (duh!)
* has a lot of legs
* looks like pine needles - possible camouflage?

As he watched Elphaba crawl back onto his arm, he almost wished he didn't have to transfigure his little friend. He was pretty sure he'd have more fun with a caterpillar than whatever he was going to be asked to turn it into!

This was a distressing dilemma. Okay, not the nod from the professor, that part was lovely, but this pick a bug thing. Dot was a seventh year and actually fairly good at Transfiguration. She shouldn't go with one of the simple bug thing that the professor had provided... but she was icked out by the complex one. The tarantula.

Fine. She could do this. It wasn't as bad as digging around in dung, like she'd done in Herbology in past terms. So a giant spider thing could... be... handled.

Just. Breathe. Dot headed up to the glass tanks and stared through the glass at the imposing giant spider thing. Giant. Spider. Thing. How was she supposed to retrieve a giant spider thing when she didn't want to touch it or look at it anymore or anything? Oh, she could wear her gloves! Dot tugged her gloves out of her bag and tucked her sleeves into them. Just to be sure that nothing crawled up her sleeve or anything.

"Hello, there, strange and hairy beastie." She carefully plucked out one of the smaller tarantulas and tried not to fling it in the air to get it away from her. EEK. Why did it have so many legs?

As she let Masuru walks from hand to hand, Nicky cause the little details of the creature's movement. How it was always the left front leg that moved first. Or how a soft click of Nicky's tongue against her teeth would cause the spider to stop and switch directions. Masuru was dark, mostly black, Nicky observed, and nearly the size of her entire palm.

The girl raised her to the professor, wondering if she would be permitted to keep one. She assumed that Masuru was off-limits, since it was already named and clearly belonged to someone. "You're such a beauty, aren't you," she said to the spider, passing it from hand to hand, allowing it to walk. "This all won't hurt a bit. And I bet you'll get fed once we're done." Nicky made some final visual observations, filing the details away in her mind and not bothering with parchment.

Feeling as if her observations were done, Nicky moved her hand so that Masuru rode on the back of it, and placed it on her shoulder. Slowly, the creature made it's way off of Nicky's hand and onto her upper arm, perching there and eventually growing still.

It was a BUG terrarium! Awwyea! As soon as the Professor gave the go signal, the leonine lad made a jump for the tanks, looking for a tarantula of his own.....

... But spiders seem to be a popular selection, specially among the older students. Hadley got what looks to be the last of them, it seems to him, so he decided to look for something else---

--- and that something else caught his eye, staring at him from behind the glass. At first he thought it looked like a clump of walnuts.....then its tail started to curve up. "Oh a scorpion!!" he breathed against the glass, blue green eyes staring back in excitement. But it wasn’t a scorpion, he realizes a few moments later. Depending on the angle, sometimes it looked like a dried up twisted leaf, sometimes a scorpion, sometimes a clump of nuts....

..... Ok super versatile bug. That’s for him yup!

"Ey c'mere buddy..." he crooned as he coaxed the Spiny Leaf Bug onto his hand. Once he got it, he walked back onto his seat and let the bug reorient itself for life on a school desk. "Duuuuude you so look like a scorpion, lookitchu!" he beamed as he observed the bug and the bug observed him and everything else "Imma name you Scorpion King!" Is it male? The bug was looking at him. "....Scorpion Queen?" It moved its body indicating it agreed, and showed off the curvature of its tail. Apparently something about it says this is what a female tail looks like.

Ok so the Professor says to handle it carefully because delicate natures. But Tenacius wasn’t sure what that meant exactly so up goes the hand "Professor, when you said they've got 'delicate natures', do you mean they get scared easily? Or do you mean they get angry easily?"